Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Floating or fixed exchange rates: The role of government size

This paper contributes to the resurging debate on the reform of the international monetary system by studying how the size of the public sector influences the choice of the exchange rate regime. In response to a meeting of the Bretton Woods Committee in 1993, Anna Schwartz (2000) argued that a large public sector impedes the viability of an exchange rate regime with a fixed rule for convertibility. Quantifying her line of reasoning from a welfare-based perspective leads to three main results: (1) Returning to a fixed exchange rate arrangement implies high welfare losses for countries with large public sectors; (2) The welfare loss is increasing in government size; (3) Increasing the share of public expenditures reduces output volatility, yet increasing the level of distortionary taxes enhances it
Detection of Plant Volatiles after Leaf Wounding and Darkening by Proton Transfer Reaction “Time-of-Flight” Mass Spectrometry (PTR-TOF)

Proton transfer reaction-time of flight (PTR-TOF) mass spectrometry was used to improve detection of biogenic volatiles organic compounds (BVOCs) induced by leaf wounding and darkening. PTR-TOF measurements unambiguously captured the kinetic of the large emissions of green leaf volatiles (GLVs) and acetaldehyde after wounding and darkening. GLVs emission correlated with the extent of wounding, thus confirming to be an excellent indicator of mechanical damage. Transient emissions of methanol, C5 compounds and isoprene from plant species that do not emit isoprene constitutively were also detected after wounding. In the strong isoprene-emitter Populus alba, light-dependent isoprene emission was sustained and even enhanced for hours after photosynthesis inhibition due to leaf cutting. Thus isoprene emission can uncouple from photosynthesis and may occur even after cutting leaves or branches, e.g., by agricultural practices or because of abiotic and biotic stresses. This observation may have important implications for assessments of isoprene sources and budget in the atmosphere, and consequences for tropospheric chemistry.
Nifedipine Protects INS-1 β-Cell from High Glucose-Induced ER Stress and Apoptosis

Sustained high concentration of glucose has been verified toxic to β-cells. Glucose augments Ca2+-stimulated insulin release in pancreatic β-cells, but chronic high concentration of glucose could induce a sustained level of Ca2+ in β-cells, which leads to cell apoptosis. However, the mechanism of high glucose-induced β-cell apoptosis remains unclear. In this study, we use a calcium channel blocker, nifedipine, to investigate whether the inhibition of intracellular Ca2+ concentration could protect β-cells from chronic high glucose-induced apoptosis. It was found that in a concentration of 33.3 mM, chronic stimulation of glucose could induce INS-1 β-cells apoptosis at least through the endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway and 10 μM nifedipine inhibited Ca2+ release to protect β-cells from high glucose-induced endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis. These results indicated that inhibition of Ca2+ over-accumulation might provide benefit to attenuate islet β-cell decompensation in a high glucose environment.
Event-Related Brain Potentials during a Semantic Priming Task in Children with Learning Disabilities Not Otherwise Specified

Learning disabilities (LDs) are the most common psychiatric disorders in children. LDs are classified either as “Specific” or “Learning Disorder Not Otherwise Specified”. An important hypothesis suggests a failure in general domain process (i.e., attention) that explains global academic deficiencies. The aim of this study was to evaluate event-related potential (ERP) patterns of LD Not Otherwise Specified children with respect to a control group. Forty-one children (8−10.6 years old) participated and performed a semantic judgment priming task while ERPs were recorded. Twenty-one LD children had significantly lower scores in all academic skills (reading, writing and arithmetic) than twenty controls. Different ERP patterns were observed for each group. Control group showed smaller amplitudes of an anterior P200 for unrelated than related word pairs. This P200 effect was followed by a significant early N400a effect (greater amplitudes for unrelated than related word pairs; 350–550 ms) with a right topographical distribution. By contrast, LD Not Otherwise Specified group did not show a P200 effect or a significant N400a effect. This evidence suggests that LD Not Otherwise Specified children might be deficient in reading, writing and arithmetic domains because of their sluggish shifting of attention to process the incoming information.
New Realities: The Relationship between Higher Education and Employment

The paper addresses one aspect of the`New Realities' of higher education: theemployer-higher education interface. It explores thedevelopment of the `employability' agenda in highereducation, examines the nature and implication oforganisational change for graduates and assesses whatattributes graduates will need in the next decade.Flexible organisations need flexible, and increasinglyempowered employees; that in turn calls fortransformative and empowering learning. The way thathigher education might address this, particularly inthe context of lifelong learning, is explored.
Regulation of CXCL8/IL-8 Expression by Zonula Occludens-1 in Human Breast Cancer Cells

Accumulating data now suggest that ZO-1, once delocalized from tight junctions, could be implicated in the regulation of tumor-promoting genes. Because of their major implication in different steps of tumor progression, we investigated here the influence of ZO-1 on chemokines expression in breast cancer cells. Using GeneArray analysis to compare chemokine mRNA expression in breast tumor cells transfected with a siRNA against ZO-1, we identified CXCL-8IL-8 as a major potential target of ZO-1 signaling, being strongly downregulated following ZO-1 siRNA transfection. Examining further the relationship between ZO-1 and interleukin-8 (CXCL8/IL-8), we first showed that CXCL8/IL-8 expression correlates with a relocalization of ZO-1 in several breast cancer cell lines. Moreover, CXCL8/IL-8 is downregulated in invasive BT549 cells transfected with three different ZO-1 siRNA and overexpressed in noninvasive BT20 and SKBR3 cells transfected with vectors expressing ZO-1. We also provide evidence for an activation of the CXCL8/IL-8 promoter by ZO-1. Finally, we show that the regulation of CXCL8/IL-8 by ZO-1 is independent of the β-catenin pathway. Our results thus clearly show an implication of ZO-1 in CXCL8/IL-8 regulation. Because of the major implications of CXCL8/IL-8 in tumor invasion, such a regulation could play an important role in breast cancer progression. Mol Cancer Res; 10(1); 121–32. ©2011 AACR.
One-Loop Minimization Conditions in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model

We study, in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, the electroweak symmetry breaking conditions obtained from the one-loop effective potential. Novel model-independent lower and upper bounds on $\tan \beta$, involving the other free parameters of the model, are inferred and determined analytically. We discuss briefly some of the related issues and give an outlook for further applications.
Journal of Enterprise Information Management Study of reasons for enterprise systems adoption among Indian organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify reasons for the enterprise systems adoption, their relevance to the Indian organizations and their relationship with industry and size among the Indian organizations. Design/methodology/approach – Through the content analysis of 12 research papers reasons of enterprise systems adoption have been identified. With the resultant framework of variables, 288 Indian cases have been scanned to identify and contrast adoption reasons in India with other countries. Also through w test their associations have been studied with respect to industry and size among Indian organizations. Findings – All the adoption reasons are present in Indian organizations. All the adoption reasons are indifferent to the industry of organization. Similarly it is found that all the adoption reasons but one is indifferent to the size of organization. Only organizational change is found to be significantly related with the size. Research limitations/implications – The scope of study is limited to the Indian organizations that have implemented enterprise systems software. All the manifest variables have been marked with only two values 0 for absence and 1 for presence while omitting the information on relative strength. There is potential possibility of bias toward ES implementation benefits and relative comfort in implementing the target vendor’s product. This research has utilized secondary data that might not have been created to address the current problem therefore may be limited in relevancy and accuracy. Practical implications – Adoption motivations are a good starting point to see the need for the ES. Occurrences of adoption motivations advocate the change in the application infrastructure. Following 12 motivations for the adoption of ES have been identified in the literature review. Moreover they have not varied much with respect to the size and industry of the organizations. However, some factors are showing stronger presence in Indian context than the global counterparts and some are showing weaker presence. Originality/value – Content analysis of the literature review has resulted in 12 reasons for the enterprise systems adoption after three iterations. These variables have been explained with the help of literature. Second, component of this research studies the relationship of these variables with industry and size among Indian organizations. It is established that enterprise systems are being adopted globally for the identical reasons. These reasons are also almost uniform with respect to industry and size of the Indian organizations.
Contemporary Research on Management and Human Resources in China: A Comparative Content Analysis of Two Leading Journals

This article analyses some important developments and changes in interest and research studies on management and human resources (HR) in China since the World Trade Organization accession and also suggests possibilities regarding future developments. Professionals and academics are contributing and serving this field through the dissemination of knowledge and ideas in journals. Thus, changes and trends that may have an impact on management and HR concepts, policies and practices can be determined by reviewing such articles. Through content analysis of articles from two leading academic journals, the International Journal of Human Resource Management and the Asia Pacific Business Review, the authors identify common research topics in recent years, examine the use of types of theories and compare and assess the most prevalently used research methodologies. This analysis shows that recent research on management and HR in China has several characteristics – a wide range of topics are covered, the theories used are predominantly western and most employ non-probability sampling and are descriptive in nature. The recognition of these characteristics provides a platform for considering future research and developing appropriates stances in the area.
Elevated Striatal Dopamine Function in Immigrants and Their Children: A Risk Mechanism for Psychosis

Abstract Migration is a major risk factor for schizophrenia but the neurochemical processes involved are unknown. One candidate mechanism is through elevations in striatal dopamine synthesis and release. The objective of this research was to determine whether striatal dopamine function is elevated in immigrants compared to nonimmigrants and the relationship with psychosis. Two complementary case–control studies of in vivo dopamine function (stress-induced dopamine release and dopamine synthesis capacity) in immigrants compared to nonimmigrants were performed in Canada and the United Kingdom. The Canadian dopamine release study included 25 immigrant and 31 nonmigrant Canadians. These groups included 23 clinical high risk (CHR) subjects, 9 antipsychotic naïve patients with schizophrenia, and 24 healthy volunteers. The UK dopamine synthesis study included 32 immigrants and 44 nonimmigrant British. These groups included 50 CHR subjects and 26 healthy volunteers. Both striatal stress-induced dopamine release and dopamine synthesis capacity were significantly elevated in immigrants compared to nonimmigrants, independent of clinical status. These data provide the first evidence that the effect of migration on the risk of developing psychosis may be mediated by an elevation in brain dopamine function.
The Dynamics of Economic Growth and Unemployment in Major European Countries: Analysis of Okun´s Law

This paper analyzes a vector error correction model of economic growth and unemployment in four major European economies, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK. We find that unemployment and economic growth are cointegrated, and driven be the same autoregressive unit root present in most endogenous growth models. In the long run, economic growth and unemployment are positively correlated, as suggested by recent economic theories on endogenous growth and unemployment. In the short-run, an increase in the equilibrium unemployment rate is related to a decline in economic growth rates. The short-run dynamics of economic growth and unemployment therefore remain consistent with Okun's law. Okun's coefficient is in line with previous estimates for all countries except for the UK, whose labor market appears much more flexible in accommodating adverse transitory shocks than continental labor markets.
COREQ (Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Studies)

The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Studies (COREQ) covers the reporting of studies using interviews and focus groups. It is the only reporting guidance for qualitative research to have received other than isolated endorsement although it applies to only a few of the many qualitative methods in use. The COREQ checklist was developed to promote explicit and comprehensive reporting of interviews and focus groups. The COREQ checklist consists of 32 criteria, with a descriptor to supplement each item. This chapter discusses how best to use the guideline, development process, evidence of the effectiveness of guideline, endorsement and adherence, cautions and limitations, and key features of the COREQ. It is important that researchers provide sufficient detail on their methods of data analysis and the relationship between the analysis and the findings in the research report so that reviewers can assess the rigor of the analysis and the credibility of the findings.
Actions of progestins for the inhibition of cervical ripening and uterine contractions to prevent preterm birth

The importance of progesterone (P4) for maintenance of pregnancy, its role in cervical ripening and uterine contractions is at least partly established and therefore, not surprisingly, the basis for the concept to use P4 as a treatment for preterm birth. Due to the complexity of the condition of preterm birth there are still questions concerning the optimal population that might benefit, timing of treatment, dosage, vehicle and route of administration. Recently vaginal P4 and intramuscular 17-alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17P) have been used to prevent preterm birth in patients with a high risk for early delivery. The aim of this study was to assess cervical changes throughout pregnancy in rats and the timing of term and preterm delivery after various progestin treatments given by different routes and vehicles in hope of identifying better treatment regimens. This paper presents results that suggest that there are better routes of treatment than the vaginal route (e.g. topical), that the vehicle used in many of the clinical studies (Replens®) is not appropriate due to a low release of the steroid and consequently low uptake of P4, and that inhibition of birth is primarily due to inhibition of uterine contractility that can be achieved by supplementation of P4 but not with 17P.
Joint Training Deep Boltzmann Machines for Classification

We introduce a new method for training deep Boltzmann machines jointly. Prior methods of training DBMs require an initial learning pass that trains the model greedily, one layer at a time, or do not perform well on classification tasks. In our approach, we train all layers of the DBM simultaneously, using a novel training procedure called multi-prediction training. The resulting model can either be interpreted as a single generative model trained to maximize a variational approximation to the generalized pseudolikelihood, or as a family of recurrent networks that share parameters and may be approximately averaged together using a novel technique we call the multi-inference trick. We show that our approach performs competitively for classification and outperforms previous methods in terms of accuracy of approximate inference and classification with missing inputs.
Robustness of kernel based regression: Influence and weight functions

It has been shown that kernel based regression (KBR) with a least squares loss has some undesirable properties from robustness point of view. KBR with more robust loss functions, e.g. Huber or Logistic losses, often give rise to more complicated computations. In classical statistics, robustness is improved by reweighting the original estimate. We study the influence of reweighting the LS-KBR estimate using three well-known weight functions and one new weight function called Myriad. Our results give practical guidelines in order to choose the weights, providing robustness and fast convergence. It turns out that Logistic and Myriad weights are suitable reweighting schemes when outliers are present in the data. In fact, the Myriad shows better performance over the others in the presence of extreme outliers (e.g. Cauchy distributed errors). These findings are then illustrated on toy example as well as on a real life data sets. Finally, we establish an empirical maxbias curve to demonstrate the ability of the proposed methodology.
Wavelet Estimation of Asymmetric Hedge Ratios: Does Econometric Sophistication Boost Hedging Effectiveness?

This paper utilises wavelet analysis, which is becoming popular in economics and finance, to estimate the hedge ratios for spot positions on the West Texas Intermediate crude oil, soybeans and the S&P500 index. This technique is combined with a two-stage regime switching threshold model to estimate asymmetric hedge ratios corresponding to positive and negative returns on futures contracts. Other simple and sophisticated techniques are also used as a benchmark for the purpose of comparison, including the naive model and the asymmetric error correction GJR-GARCH model. On the basis of the variance ratio test and variance reduction, it is revealed that econometric sophistication does not boost hedging effectiveness.
Collaboration Emergence in Social Networks with Informational Natural Selection

Social collaboration can benefit individuals by avoiding efforts and risks inherent of trial-and-error learning. However, social collaboration may demand considerable effort and time. We present a new model of social collaboration based on Informational Natural Selection in order to investigate social problem-solving. We performed a set of social network experiments in which individuals solved problems in a virtual environment. Results show that collaboration can be viewed as a complex system's emergence promoted by a agent's behavior that results from Informational Natural Selection.
Framing Fat: Competing Constructions in Contemporary Culture

According to public health officials, obesity poses significant health risks and has become a modern-day epidemic. A closer look at this so-called epidemic, however, suggests that there are multiple perspectives on the fat body, not all of which view obesity as a health hazard. Alongside public health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are advertisers of the fashion-beauty complex, food industry advocates at the Center for Consumer Freedom, and activists at the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. Framing Fat takes a bird's-eye view of how these multiple actors construct the fat body by identifying the messages these groups put forth, particularly where issues of beauty, health, choice and responsibility, and social justice are concerned. Samantha Kwan and Jennifer L. Graves examine how laypersons respond to these conflicting messages and illustrate the gendered, raced, and classed implications within them. In doing so, they shed light on how dominant ideas about body fat have led to the moral indictment of body nonconformists, essentially "framing" them for their fat bodies.
Classification of the Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementiaand Associated Factors in Inpatients in Psychiatric Hospitals Ã¢ÂÂ withSpecial Reference to Rehabilitation

Objective: In Japan, the number of patients hospitalized in psychiatric hospitals for the treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) continues to increase. In order to provide more effective treatment and management of BPSD for inpatients, it is necessary to clarify the target BPSD and contributing factors. Therefore, the aims of the present study were to classify BPSD and determine the associated factors. The results are discussed with a focus on cognitive and physical functions. Methods: A retrospective cross sectional study was performed to analyze data from 176 patients with dementia admitted to the acute psychogeriatric ward at Ishikawa Prefectural Takamatsu Hospital for the treatment of BPSD between April 2013 and September 2015. Patients underwent comprehensive geriatric assessment batteries including the neuropsychiatric inventory, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Nishimura-style senile activities of daily living score. Factor analysis (maximum likelihood method and promax rotation) was carried out on 12 items from the neuropsychiatric inventory. The factors associated with factor scores which were extracted by factor analysis were analyzed using multiple linear regressions. Results: Factor analysis identified three behavioral sub-syndromes: hyperactivity, affective symptoms, and psychosis. Multiple regression analysis showed that “hyperactivity” was associated with lower MMSE scores and younger age. “Affective symptoms” were associated with female gender and lower eating scores. “Psychosis” was associated with the type of dementia. Conclusion: Our study classified BPSD in inpatients into three sub-syndromes and showed that cognitive and physical functions are associated with BPSD.