Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
User-made immobilities: a transitions perspective

Abstract In this paper we aim to conceptualize the role of users in creating, expanding and stabilizing the automobility system. Drawing on transition studies we offer a typology of user roles including user-producers, user-legitimators, user-intermediaries, user-citizens and user-consumers, and explore it on the historical transition to the automobile regime in the USA. We find that users play an important role during the entire transition process, but some roles are more salient than others in particular phases. Another finding is that the success of the transition depends on the stabilization of the emerging regime that will trigger upscaling in terms of the numbers of adopters. The findings are used to reflect on potential crossovers between transitions and mobilities research.
Earnings Management Response to Debt Covenant Violations and Debt Restructuring

The study investigates whether the choice of income-increasing or income-decreasing discretionary accruals is related to the severity of financial distress and whether this choice is also influenced by the creditors' waivers of debt covenant violations. Financially distressed firms experiencing debt covenant violations and/or debt restructuring during the 1989–96 period are used to evaluate the management's choice of discretionary accruals. Discretionary accruals are calculated based on four different accrual models. The results show that managers of financial distressed firms use income-increasing discretionary accruals if they are able to obtain waivers for debt covenant violations, and use income-decreasing discretionary accruals if debt restructuring takes place or debts are renegotiated because waivers are denied. These findings thus provide support to the expectation that the choice of income-increasing or -decreasing discretionary accruals is influenced by the severity of financial distress. They also provide an explanation for divergence in the results of earlier studies on the use of income-increasing or -decreasing discretionary accruals by financially distressed firms.
Electrical Balance Duplexer Field Trials in High-Speed Rail Scenarios

Electrical balance duplexers (EBDs) present a potential alternative to the fixed-frequency duplexing filters used for frequency division duplexing in cellular handset radio frequency front ends. However, the transmit-to-receive (Tx–Rx) isolation can be affected by interaction between the antenna and the environment, and therefore, the EBDs balancing impedance must adaptively track time-domain antenna impedance variation. A rail scenario presents a potentially demanding use case for an EBD, as fast moving trains in the vicinity of the antenna may cause dynamically changing reflections, which can be received as self-interference. In this paper, measured dynamic antenna reflection coefficients at 745 and 1900 MHz from train mounted antennas are included in the EBD circuit simulations in order to investigate the resulting variation in Tx–Rx isolation, and determine requirements for balancing impedance adaptation. This paper also presents the results from rail-based field trials of a hardware prototype EBD, which implements real-time antenna impedance tracking. Results show that the rail scenario does result in variation in Tx–Rx isolation, but that rebalancing the EBD at the intervals of 5 ms was sufficient to maintain >50 dB isolation for ~95% of the time.
Policy Coordination in the Euro Area

The paper deals with the problems of coordination between monetary and fiscal policies in the Euro area. It examines how the existing institutions handle these problems and how the literature evaluates their working, deriving from these evaluations a proposal to reorganise them. The paper points out that there is a need for coordination between monetary and fiscal policies when both cyclical (short-run) and structural (long-run) problems are dealt with. Then it assesses how coordination is carried out under the existing institutional arrangements and identifies which parts of them, according to the existing literature, are in need of modification. Finally, on the basis of the content of this literature, it formulates a proposal to reform the institutional arrangements and the economic content of the Stability and Growth Pact, which aims at making them work effectively.
Changes in Apoptosis and Mitotic Index, p53 and Ki67 Expression in Various Types of Oral Leukoplakia

Introduction: Leukoplakia is the most frequent pre-blastomatous alteration in the oral cavity. Its potential for malignant transformation is unpredictable. The aim of the present study was to provide data about the processes and molecular genetic background of this disease. Materials and Methods: Leukoplakias of 15 patients and oral squamous cell carcinomas of 3 patients treated at the Department of Periodontology and Oral Surgery, Semmelweis University, were studied by histological and immunohistochemical methods. The samples were fixed in 4% formalin and embedded in paraffin. Hematoxylin and eosin staining, TUNEL reaction (Apop-Detect kit), and immunohistochemical reactions for Ki67 and p53 were applied. The severity of dysplasia, the mitotic and apoptotic indices and expression as well as distribution of Ki67 and p53 were examined and compared to the clinical appearance of leukoplakia. Results: The mitotic and apoptotic indices and Ki67 expression increased significantly in parallel with the severity of dysplasia and also with the clinical stage (homogenous, nodular, erythroleukoplakia). The positivity and intracellular localization of (mutant) p53 varied according to the clinical form of leukoplakia. Homogenous and nodular forms showed cytoplasmic staining, while erythroleukoplakia and carcinoma cases were characterized by nuclear positivity. Conclusions: The increased apoptotic and Ki67 indices may indicate an unfavorable prognosis for leukoplakia. The expression of Ki67 and p53 in various forms of leukoplakia point to the increasing instability of the genome in parallel with the severity of leukoplakia.
Soil Pro fi le Water Content Determina on : Spa otemporal Variability of Electromagne c and Neutron Probe Sensors in Access Tubes

926 S of root water uptake, crop water use and water use effi ciency, irrigation methods and effi ciency, and soil hydrology all require accurate determination of the volumetric soil water content (θv, m 3 m−3) and of the water content considered as a depth, S (m), stored in a soil profi le. Most of these studies require knowledge of the change in water, ΔS, stored in a soil prism of given x, y, and z dimensions, known as the control volume, to which the soil water balance equation is applied, e.g.:
Is Price in Hong Kong That Flexible? Evidence from the Export Sector

Using the Johansen procedure, this paper estimates and compares the adjustment speeds of Hong Kong’s export volume and export price. Result of this will have profound implications on the debate of the appropriateness of Hong Kong’s current exchange-rate system. Two cointegrating vectors were found in our system, with one postulating the export volume equation and another postulating the export price equation. It was found that export volume will adjust relatively fast to shocks in the export volume equation, and that export price will adjust relatively slow to shocks in the export volume equation. On the other hand, export volume will be insensitive, and export price will adjust at moderate speed, to disequilibrium in the export price equation. Based on the estimated model, we also conducted simulation exercises to highlight the impacts of the appreciation of the US Dollar and the reduction in world demand on Hong Kong’s export volume during the crisis and post-crisis periods.
Understanding the World Wool Market: Trade, Productivity and Growers Incomes

Applying recent estimates of total factor productivity (TFP) growth on Australian sheep farms, we analyse the long-run effects of TFP growth on the world wool market using a detailed model of the world wool market that treats raw wool, wool textiles and wool garments as heterogeneous commodities. The model divides the world wool market into nine regions and eight major industrial sectors capturing the extreme nature of the multistage production system through which wool passes. We find that regional sheep producer's welfare responds by between -0.9 per cent and 0.7 per cent assuming conservative TFP growth over the period 1995/96-2003/04. Sensitivity analysis shows the welfare effects to be robust with respect to all model parameters, but sensitive to the size of the TFP growth and the degree of TFP spill-over. Our realistic representation of the multistage nature of the wool production system shows that wool inputs steadily decline in importance in moving from early- to late-stage processing. This production structure indicates that the productivity of sheep farmers has little effect on the prices of and demand for wool garments. In contrast, trade in wool inputs is very responsive to the productivity of sheep farmers. Copyright 2007 The Authors Journal compilation 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/University of Adelaide and Flinders University .
A Comparison of Slack Resources in High and Low Performing British Companies

Theory predicts that slack resources provide the means for achieving flexibility in developing strategy options. The outcome of generating and investing slack resources to achieve flexibility should be improved company performance. There is also a prediction that low performing companies are likely to have lower levels of slack than high performing companies, and therefore are likely to have less potential for achieving flexibility to impact on performance. However, as the literature features several inadequacies a comparative study of high and low performing British companies was carried out to address these inadequacies. While multiple measures of slack were found to be predictors of company performance in high performing companies, they seemingly have negligible impact on performance in low performing companies. Also, only certain types of slack resources are seemingly more prominent in high performers than in low performers. The results provide a development and refinement of the previous limited knowledge about slack resources.
Assessing the Time-Varying Interest Rate Sensitivity of Real Estate Securities

Abstract This paper examines the sensitivity of real estate securities to changes in both market and central bank interest rates. It is commonly viewed that the traded real estate market is one of the industry sectors most susceptible to interest rate movements. This is due to traditional high levels of borrowing, the impact of rate changes on property yields and indirectly upon occupational demand and thus rental income. The results which are the first to examine the UK sector, highlight the impact of interest rates on UK property companies, in relation to both returns and volatility. The paper also illustrates that this sensitivity is not confined to periods of high and volatile interest rates as the sample period under examination is characterized by historically low and stable rates.
Pediatric nurses' perceptions of obstacles and supportive behaviors in end-of-life care.

BACKGROUND Each year 55 000 children die in the United States, and most of these deaths occur in hospitals. The barriers and supportive behaviors in providing end-of-life care to children should be determined. OBJECTIVE To determine pediatric intensive care unit nurses' perceptions of sizes, frequencies, and magnitudes of selected obstacles and helpful behaviors in providing end-of-life care to children. METHOD A national sample of 1047 pediatric intensive care unit nurses who were members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses were surveyed. A 76-item questionnaire adapted from 3 similar surveys with critical care, emergency, and oncology nurses was mailed to possible participants. Nurses who did not respond to the first mailing were sent a second mailing. Nurses were asked to rate the size and frequency of listed obstacles and supportive behaviors in caring for children at the end of life. RESULTS A total of 474 usable questionnaires were received from 985 eligible respondents (return rate, 48%). The 2 items with the highest perceived obstacle magnitude scores for size and frequency means were language barriers and parental discomfort in withholding and/or withdrawing mechanical ventilation. The highest supportive behavior item was allowing time alone with the child when he or she has died. CONCLUSIONS Pediatric intensive care unit nurses play a vital role in caring for dying children and the children's families. Overcoming language and communication barriers with children's families and between interdisciplinary team members could greatly improve the end-of-life experience for dying children.
ARE THE OUTPUT EFFECTS OF MONETARY POLICY ASYMMETRIC? EVIDENCE FROM A SAMPLE OF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

This paper examines whether the effects of monetary policy on output in Europe are asymmetric. Data from the 1953-90 period are used to identify money-supply shocks and their effects on output for a panel of 18 European countries. Many different specifications and estimation methods strongly support asymmetry: negative money-supply shocks are shown to have a statistically significant effect on output, whereas the effect of positive shocks is statistically insignificant. A similar asymmetry governs the output effects of interest rate changes. The sources of these asymmetries are traced to similar behavior for consumption and investment. These findings imply that positive money-supply shocks may be an ineffective anti-recession policy, and more generally, that the monetary component of the optimal stabilization policy should be less activist than generally thought. Copyright 1996 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
When Do Purchase Intentions Predict Sales?

Marketing managers routinely use purchase intentions to predict sales. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors associated with an increased or decreased correlation between purchase intentions and actual purchasing. In two studies, we examine data collected from a wide range of different settings that reflect the real world diversity in how intentions studies are conducted. The results indicate that intentions are more correlated with purchase: 1) for existing products than for new ones, 2) for durable goods than for non-durable goods, 3) for short than for long time horizons, 4) when respondents are asked to provide intentions to purchase specific brands or models than when they are asked to provide intentions to buy at the product category level, 5) when purchase is measured in terms of trial rates than when it is measured in terms of total market sales, and 6) when purchase intentions are collected in a comparative mode than when they are collected monadically.
Policy punctuations in the UK: fluctuations and equilibria in central government expenditure since 1951

Jones and Baumgartner's punctuated equilibrium model of agenda change has reinvigorated decision-making theory; moreover their US budget project offers a set of techniques to apply to UK data. We replicate the method by plotting percentage budget changes in central government budgets to see whether the distribution is normally distributed as predicted by the incrementalist account or leptokurtic as hypothesized by the punctuated equilibrium model. Taking the period 1951–96, we create 405 data points from budget changes from the National Income Accounts (‘Blue Book’) on agriculture, defence, social security, education, health, housing, industry, law and order and transport, all adjusted using the GDP deflator at factor cost. We find that the budget changes form a leptokurtic distribution. Such a pattern appears in most policy sectors.
Evaluation of the physicochemical and biological stability of reconstituted and diluted SB2 (infliximab)

Objectives To evaluate the critical quality attributes that might affect the stability of an infliximab biosimilar (SB2, Flixabi) when reconstituted or diluted and stored under refrigeration and at room temperature. Methods We largely adhered to the UK's National Health Service guidance requirements for the design of a robust stability study and for robust testing methods. Protocol components included evaluation of visual appearance, chemical stability, physical stability, pH, particle sizes and biological activity. The stability of reconstituted SB2 was assessed for 60 days at 5°C and for 7 days at 25°C. Stability of diluted SB2 at concentrations that ranged from 240 mg/250 mL (3 mg/kg; 80 kg patient) to 400 mg/250 mL (5 mg/kg; 80 kg patient) was assessed for 7 days at both temperatures. Dilutions were made in polyethylene bags containing 0.9% NaCl. Forced degradation studies were conducted with SB2 and its reference product (USA-sourced and European Union-sourced Remicade). Stress conditions of heat or light occurred before product reconstitution. Results In a laboratory environment under aseptic conditions, stability acceptance criteria with regard to physicochemical and biological properties were met for all reconstituted and diluted SB2 samples for all time periods and temperatures assessed. After either heat or light stress, similar stability and biological activity were noted for SB2 and both reference products. Conclusions When prepared under aseptic conditions in accordance with the product's Summary of Product Characteristics, exposed for prolonged periods at 5°C and 25°C and assessed with the described methods, SB2 appears to remain a stable monoclonal antibody maintaining its expected biological function.
Temporal and spatial dissociation of expression patterns between Zif268 and c‐Fos in rat inferior olive during vestibular compensation

WE examined the expression of the inducible transcription factors Zif268 and c-Fos in the inferior olive during the behavioural recovery following unilateral labyrinthectomy known as vestibular compensation. These transcription factors were differentially induced in the two subnuclei of the inferior olive. In the beta nucleus, c-Fos induction was restricted to the side contralateral to the lesion whereas Zif268 was induced on both the ipsilateral and contralateral side. In the dorsal cap, both proteins were expressed mostly on the contralateral side. In addition to this spatial difference, the expression of Zif268 attenuated faster than that of c-Fos. The present data suggest a functional difference between these two subnuclei of the inferior olive at the level of gene expression in vestibular compensation.
The Impact of Family Involvement on SMEs’ Performance: Theory and Evidence

By complementing agency theory with behavioral assumptions, we explore the effects of family involvement on small and medium enterprises’ (s) performance. We identify three separate dimensions of family involvement and hypothesize nonlinear, direct, and interaction effects on the performance of an . The evidence on 787 suggests that an inverted ‐shaped relationship exists between family ownership and performance, and ownership dispersion among family members negatively affects performance. Balancing family and nonfamily members in the top management team () is found to be beneficial to s’ performance, but the family ratio in the becomes crucial only at high levels of family ownership.
ASYMMETRY, SHORT STATURE, AND VARIATIONS IN SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT. A SYNDROME OF CONGENITAL MALFORMATIONS.

In 1953, we described the first of a series of patients with congenital asymmetry, shortness of stature, and elevated urinary gonadotropins.65Although the asymmetry in the original cases involved an entire side of the body, in some of the later ones63,67,73the variation in size was limited to the spine or the extremities. These reports also indicated that an increased excretion of gonadotropins represented only one of the variations in the pattern of sexual maturation that may occur in children with this Syndrome. * Other findings which were noted in many of the cases included small size at birth despite being born at term, the presence of cafe au lait areas of the skin, unusually short and/or incurved fifth fingers, a tendency for the face to be triangular with a broad forehead tapering down to a narrow chin, downturning of the corners of the mouth which has the shape
Search, Sticky Prices, and Inflation

This paper examines equilibrium in a market with free entry where consumers search and firms set prices on individual units of the commodity. The prices attached to newly produced goods are continuously adjusted. Prices attached to previously produced goods can only be changed at a cost. Thus inflation reduces the real price of goods in inventory awaiting sale. The presence of previously priced goods lowers the reservation price of customers. Thus, inflation cuts into the market power created by the need to search for the good. Consumer welfare is inverse u-shaped in inflation with a strictly positive optimal inflation rate.
RAD4 and RAD23/HMR Contribute to Arabidopsis UV Tolerance

In plants, exposure to solar ultraviolet (UV) light is unavoidable, resulting in DNA damage. Damaged DNA causes mutations, replication arrest, and cell death, thus efficient repair of the damaged DNA is essential. A light-independent DNA repair pathway called nucleotide excision repair (NER) is conserved throughout evolution. For example, the damaged DNA-binding protein Radiation sensitive 4 (Rad4) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is homologous to the mammalian NER protein Xeroderma Pigmentosum complementation group C (XPC). In this study, we examined the role of the Arabidopsis thaliana Rad4/XPC homologue (AtRAD4) in plant UV tolerance by generating overexpression lines. AtRAD4 overexpression, both with and without an N-terminal yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) tag, resulted in increased UV tolerance. YFP-RAD4 localized to the nucleus, and UV treatment did not alter this localization. We also used yeast two-hybrid analysis to examine the interaction of AtRAD4 with Arabidopsis RAD23 and found that RAD4 interacted with RAD23B as well as with the structurally similar protein HEMERA (HMR). In addition, we found that hmr and rad23 mutants exhibited increased UV sensitivity. Thus, our analysis suggests a role for RAD4 and RAD23/HMR in plant UV tolerance.
Cardiac dynamics during upright cycle exercise in boys

Insight into the cardiac responses to exercise necessitates an understanding of both physiological data and cardiac dimensional changes. This study was designed to assess cardiovascular alterations during progressive upright cycle exercise in ten healthy 10–12‐year‐old boys. Doppler echocardiography was used to estimate stroke volume, and 2‐dimensional echocardiography was used to evaluate changes in left ventricular systolic and diastolic dimensions. Test–retest reproducibility was high for both techniques. Mean peak stroke index and cardiac index values were 62 ± 12 ml m−2 and 11.79 + 2.62 L min−1 m−2, respectively. Stroke volume rose by 40% over resting values with early exercise (50 watt work load), but beyond moderate intensities (approximately 50% VO2max) little change was seen. The left ventricular diastolic dimension rose slightly at the onset of exercise and then declined slowly. A progressive and more precipitous decline was observed in systolic dimension, resulting in an increase in shortening fraction from 29% to 47%. This was accompanied by a dramatic fall in peripheral vascular resistance from 13.9 to 8.0 units at the onset of exercise. These findings suggest a close matching of increases in heart rate and systemic venous return and imply a significant role of peripheral pump function in the circulatory responses to exercise in children. The cardiac dynamics observed in this study mimic those previously described in adult subjects. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 12:749–757, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.