Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perceptions of service delivery and happiness

An important task for students of development is to monitor progress in bringing basic services to all South Africans, one of the major objectives of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). This article reports on a subjective indicator study which began in February 1995, nine months after the April 1994 elections. The study, commissioned by Information Update, a Human Sciences Research Council research publication, inquired into personal happiness and assessments of local public services including access to water, education, electricity, health care, roads and transport. Over 5 700 South Africans were polled during 1995 in three nationally representative sample surveys. Secondary data analysis showed that perceived improvements to local services were closely associated with increases in happiness among all sectors of the population, including rural dwellers and the poor. The article discusses the policy implications of this finding for future voting behaviour and efficient local government.
Local Currency Effect on Volatility Asymmetry in Asian Stock Markets

asymmetry for 14 country stock markets to obtain time series of volatility asymmetry estimates. Repeating the same procedure with stock market returns measured in the local currency and in the US dollars, we can isolate the effect of currency exchange rates to the volatility asymmetry. This enables to compare whether currency exchange rates can contribute to the volatility asymmetry present in most of the sample countries. We find that the effect from the exchange rates to the equity market volatility asymmetry is minimal. Standard statistical tests do not find significant effect for any of the 14 countries. Comparison of the obtained detailed volatility asymmetry time series enables to distinguish short periods when currency rates can affect equity market volatility asymmetry. But even advanced wavelet based semblance analysis of (7) does not enable to spot any significant effects from the currency rates and correlation of the asymmetries obtained in the returns measured in the local currency or in the USD, remain near 90% for most of the countries and the whole sample on average. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 gives an overview of the literature of volatility asymmetry of equity and currency markets. Section 3 describes the data and summarizes the methodology used in the study. Section 4 presents the results of comparing the obtained asymmetry data series and concluding remarks are brought in Section 5.
Parameter estimation of dual-rate stochastic systems by using an output error method

In this note, a new gradient-based recursive algorithm for estimating parameters of dual-rate sampled-data systems is presented. The basic idea is, by using an output error method, to identify the single-rate models and the unknown noise-free outputs (true outputs) directly from dual-rate input-output data. Further, convergence properties of the proposed algorithm in parameter and output estimation are analyzed; and the result is illustrated and tested with an experimental water-level system.
Appearing Competent

As a CEO’s reputation and symbolic power have been found to have positive effects on organizational effectiveness, corporate reputation, and financial analysts’ stock recommendations, companies have an interest in presenting their CEOs as competent vis-à-vis audiences, such as employees, the press, and the financial community. Departing from impression management, this article examines a sample of CEO profiles from corporate websites of large North American and European companies in a content-analytic design. The results indicate that impression management is more prevalent in North American CEO profiles. In particular, leadership roles in associations, the CEO’s social stance, nominations in the press, and the CEO’s involvement in political activities play a bigger role in the construction of CEO competence in North America. Whereas CEO profiles of North American companies show CEOs as active participants in social, political, and public life, European CEOs are presented as primarily business-focused.
#iranElection: quantifying online activism

a retrospective analysis of the Iran national election protests, the meteoric rise of the Twitter platform as a purported tool of dissidence has become a subject of debate and importance in the burgeoning field of online activism. By using methods of data collection novel to Web 2.0 social media applications, can a finer granularity be achieved in directly measuring the impact of the internet on politics and society? KeywordsOnline Activism, Iran Election 2009
Sustained Elevation of Circulating Growth and Differentiation Factor-15 and a Dynamic Imbalance in Mediators of Muscle Homeostasis Are Associated With the Development of Acute Muscle Wasting Following Cardiac Surgery*

Objectives:Acute muscle wasting in the critically ill is common and causes significant morbidity. In a novel human model of acute muscle wasting following cardiac surgery, known or potential circulating modulators of muscle mass—insulin-like growth factor-1, myostatin, and growth and differentiation factor-15—were measured over a week. It was hypothesized that patients who developed acute muscle wasting would show distinct patterns of change in these mediators. Design:A prospective longitudinal observational study of high-risk elective cardiac surgical patients identifying, by ultrasound, those developing muscle wasting. Setting:Tertiary cardiothoracic referral center: Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK. Patients:Forty-two patients undergoing elective high-risk cardiothoracic surgery. Interventions:Circulating insulin-like growth factor-1, myostatin, and growth and differentiation factor-15 were assayed preoperatively and over the first week postoperatively. The ability of growth and differentiation factor-15 to cause muscle wasting in vitro was determined in C2C12 myotubes. Measurements and Main Results:Of the 42 patients, 23 (55%) developed quadriceps atrophy. There was an acute decrease in insulin-like growth factor-1 and unexpectedly myostatin, known mediators of muscle hypertrophy and atrophy, respectively. By contrast, plasma growth and differentiation factor-15 concentrations increased in all patients. This increase in growth and differentiation factor-15 was sustained at day 7 in those who developed muscle wasting (day 7 compared with baseline, p < 0.01), but recovered in the nonwasting group (p > 0.05). Insulin-like growth factor-1 did not recover in those who developed muscle wasting (day 7 compared with baseline, p < 0.01) but did in the nonwasting group (p > 0.05). Finally, we demonstrated that growth and differentiation factor-15 caused atrophy of myotubes in vitro. Conclusion:These data support the hypothesis that acute muscle loss occurs as a result of an imbalance between drivers of muscle atrophy and hypertrophy. Growth and differentiation factor-15 is a potential novel factor associated with muscle atrophy, which may become a therapeutic target in patients with ICU acquired paresis and other forms of acute muscle wasting.
Effects of One-Way Spillovers on Market Shares, Industry Price, Welfare, and R & D Cooperation

With one-way spillovers, the standard symmetric two-period R&D model leads to an asymmetric equilibrium only, with endogenous innovator and imitator. We show how R&D decisions and measures of firm heterogeneity - market shares, R&D shares, and profits - depend on spillovers and on R&D costs. While a joint lab always improves on consumer welfare, it yields higher profits, cost reductions and social welfare only under extra assumptions, beyond those required with multi-directional spillovers. Finally, the novel issue of optimal R&D cartels (with an endogenous spillover parameter) is addressed. In particular, the latter can be zero under some conditions.
Dynamic secretion changes in the salt glands of the mangrove tree species Avicennia officinalis in response to a changing saline environment.

The specialized salt glands on the epidermis of halophytic plants secrete excess salts from tissues by a mechanism that is poorly understood. We examined the salt glands as putative salt and water bi-regulatory units that can respond swiftly to altering environmental cues. The tropical mangrove tree species (Avicennia officinalis) is able to grow under fluctuating salinities (0.7-50.0 dS m(-1)) at intertidal zones, and its salt glands offer an excellent platform to investigate their dynamic responses under rapidly changing salinities. Utilizing a novel epidermal peel system, secretion profiles of hundreds of individual salt glands examined revealed that these glands could secrete when exposed to varying salinities. Notably, rhythmic fluctuations observed in secretion rates were reversibly inhibited by water channel (aquaporin) blocker, and two aquaporin genes (PIP and TIP) preferentially expressed in the salt gland cells were rapidly induced in response to increasing salt concentration. We propose that aquaporins are involved and contribute to the re-absorption of water during salt removal in Avicennia officinalis salt glands. This constitutes an adaptive feature that contributes to salt balance of trees growing in saline environments where freshwater availability is limited.
Preserving Waterfowl Habitat on the Canadian Prairies: Economic Incentives versus Moral Suasion

This paper examines a pilot project of NAWMP that encourages farmers to promote or maintain waterfowl habitat by relying not only on economic incentives but on awareness, education, and moral suasion. The pilot project relies on farmers' attitudes to keep payments low because project payments substitute for grain program subsidies, thus constituting a transfer from Canadian taxpayers to U.S. contributors to NAWMP. A survey instrument and regression analysis are used to examine attitudes, economic incentives, and willingness to pay and willingness to accept compensation for modifying land use in order to conserve waterfowl habitat. The results indicate that current economic incentives offered to agricultural producers are inadequate because they ignore nonmarket costs, and that a positive attitude toward habitat preservation cannot be used as a substitute for monetary incentives.
Income Polarization in Latin America: Patterns and Links with Institutions and Conflict

This paper presents a set of statistics that characterize the degree of income polarization in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The study is based on a dataset of household surveys from 21 LAC countries in the period 1989–2004. Latin America is characterized by a high level of income polarization. On average, income polarization mildly increased in the region in the period under analysis. The paper suggests that institutions and conflict interact in different ways with the various characteristics of the income distribution. In particular, countries with high income polarization and inequality are more likely to have high levels of social conflict.
Can the Corporation Survive

One of the tactics politicians use in their quest for power is to draw a false distinction between human rights and property rights. Property rights are, in the last analysis, rights of individuals. As investors, who have a direct stake in the property rights of corporation, become less certain that society will honor those rights, the capitalized values of corporate securities will erode - ultimately to the point that many corporations will be able to remain in business only so long as they can finance their operations from internally generated cash flow or public subsidy.
Why firms hedge with currency derivatives: an examination of transaction and translation exposure

This article examines Swedish firms' use of currency derivatives to provide empirical evidence on the determinants of firms' hedging decisions. The study uses survey data in combination with publicly available data.The use of survey data makes it possible to differentiate between currency derivative usage aimed at hedging translation exposure and that aimed at hedging transaction exposure. This is of interest since translation exposure and transaction exposure tend to affect firms differently. The results are consistent with the conjecture that firms hedge transaction exposure with currency derivatives to increase firm value by reducing indirect costs of financial distress or alleviating the underinvestment problem. No evidence is found to support the notion that translation exposure hedges are used to increase firm value.
Hepatocellular Heme Oxygenase-1: A Potential Mechanism of Erythropoietin-Mediated Protection After Liver Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

ABSTRACT Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion (IR) results in progressive injury; initiated by oxidative stress during ischemia and compounded by cytokine-mediated inflammation during reperfusion. Recovery requires strict regulation of these events. Recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) is thought to mitigate hepatocellular IR injury by altering the nonparenchymal liver microenvironment. This study sought to identify additional mechanisms whereby rhEPO is protective after liver IR injury. Mice were treated with rhEPO (4 units/g s.c.) at the onset of partial liver ischemia and assessed for transaminase and histologic injury at intervals after reperfusion. Induction of cytokines, activation of signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs), suppressors of cytokine signaling (Socs1, Socs3, Cis), caspase-3 activation, and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression were assessed in postischemic liver. Effects of rhEPO stimulation were further characterized in whole-liver lysates from mice undergoing rhEPO injection alone and in cultured AML-12 hepatocytes. Recombinant human erythropoietin treatment at the onset of severe (90 min) hepatic IR confirmed commensurate biochemical and histological protection without affecting tissue cytokine levels. Although Socs3 and STAT5 activation were induced in normal liver after in vivo rhEPO injection, this treatment did not augment expression beyond that seen with IR alone, and neither was induced in cultured hepatocytes treated with rhEPO. Recombinant human erythropoietin inhibited caspase-3 activation in nonparenchymal cells, whereas hepatocellular HO-1 was rapidly induced both in vivo and in vitro with rhEPO treatment. These data suggest HO-1 as a potent mechanism of rhEPO-mediated protection after liver IR, which involves both direct hepatocellular and nonparenchymal mechanisms.
Mixing in a drop moving through a serpentine channel: A computational study

The chaotic mixing in a drop moving through a winding channel is studied computationally in a two-dimensional setting. The molecular mixing is ignored and only the mixing due to the chaotic advection is considered. Passive tracer particles are used to visualize the mixing patterns and mixing is quantified by two distinct methods. It is found that both the quantification methods are consistent with visual observations as well as with each other. The effects of various non-dimensional parameters on the quality of mixing are studied and it is found that the capillary number, the ratio of the drop phase fluid viscosity to that of the ambient fluid and the relative size of the drop compared to the average channel width are the most critical parameters influencing the mixing. The mixing is found to be weakly dependent on Reynolds number.
Politique d'attractivité des IDE et dynamique de croissance et de convergence dans les Pays du Sud Est de la Méditerranée

In this paper, we ask if the convergence in policies leads to a convergence in growth dynamics for MENA countries. We first show that FDI promotion policies have been very similar in the South East Mediterranean countries during the last decade. Then, we try to find clubs of convergence in this area through KPSS and ADF models, and show the difficulty of observing such clubs among Mediterranean countries.
This time is different: eight centuries of financial folly

incentives that lead to cronyism and bailouts. Would democratic nations, especially, appreciate the wisdom of Lerner’s two-handed economics (on the one hand, on the other hand)? The need for secrecy, he notes, works against the constant democratic demand for transparency. Implicitly, the advice leans against democratic success and toward authoritarian political economy and/or the military-industrial complex. For example, the USA success stories evolved from the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency! Indeed, Lerner begins and ends his book by highlighting Singapore as a country that gets it right. From beginning to end, Lerner warns readers that there is much ambiguity in his analysis. Past public efforts failed but government always aided the successful hubs of entrepreneurship that did develop. If anything, Lerner is fair and balanced to a fault: the ambiguity, nuance, and frequent caveats lead the reader to ask whether, on balance, public venture capitalism is worth doing. After all, the alternative to ‘try, try again’ is ‘doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’ – the classic definition of stupidity. There are no easy answers offered, just good advice summed up in the introduction and conclusion. Lerner lays out the problems and prospects and lets readers decide for themselves. This small volume is a handy reference for those looking for an honest primer on public venture capital.
The Findings of Preoperative Cardiac Screening Studies in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

Introduction: We sought to evaluate findings of screening cardiac studies in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients by reviewing the echocardiograms and electrocardiograms (EKGs) performed at their preoperative evaluation for spinal fusion. Methods: Retrospective chart review of all surgical AIS patients from 2000 to 2007 was completed (n=212). Patients with neuromuscular scoliosis, known connective tissue disease, or known/suspected cardiac disease were excluded. In presurgical screening, 12 lead EKG, 2dimensional-Doppler, and M-mode echocardiograms were analyzed. Results: A total of 154 (73%) female and 58 (27%) male patients (aged 12 to 18 y, avg: 14.8 y) were analyzed. EKG findings, 180/212 (85%), were within normal limits. Twenty-eight of 212 (13%) patients were found to have normal variant readings. Four of 212 (2%) patients met criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy on EKG, but were subsequently found to have normal echocardiograms. Significant echocardiogram findings revealed 2 (0.94%) subjects with atrial septal defects (ASDs) (that delayed surgery) and 7 (3.3%) subjects with aortic root/valve abnormalities. Conclusions: In our cohort of preoperative AIS patients, cardiac abnormalities ranged from mild to severe, and in 2 cases, affected the surgical timing. Novel findings of aortic abnormalities were identified in 3.3% of patients. In a study which examined the prevalence of heart disease in randomly selected healthy adolescents with previously unknown cardiac disease (Steinberger), there was a rate of 3.6% (13/357) of cardiac anomalies. Of note, only 0.6% had aortic root/valve findings. The results of our retrospective review indicate that EKG does not provide significant information compared with echocardiogram as part of the preoperative evaluation of asymptomatic and otherwise healthy patients with AIS who are undergoing spinal deformity surgery. However, use of the echocardiogram may be appropriate for the diagnosis of previously unknown cardiac abnormalities in this population, as aortic root/valve abnormalities seem to be unique findings in these patients. Level of Evidence: Level IV, Retrospective, descriptive case series.
The Information Content of Corporate Offerings of Seasoned Securities: An Empirical Analysis

American corporations raised approximately $287.84 billion annually between 1980 and 1991 through public issues of debt and equity. This paper analyzes the post-issue operating performance of both debt and equity issuers, controlling for factors which have been shown to explain post-issue firm operating performance, such as free cash flow, performance "run up", and investment in real assets. If finds that security offering announcements convey negative information about the future operating performance of the issuer.
Arab regional systems of innovation: characteristics and implications

This paper employs both the descriptive and comparative approaches and uses the definition of systems of innovation used in the literature to discuss the systems of innovation in the Arab region. We explain that the two common characteristics of poor Arab regional systems of innovation is apparent from both the poor subsystems of education, S&T and R&D and ICT institutions across the Arab countries and the heavy concentration of R&D activities within both public and universities sectors and very limited small contribution of the private sector in R&D activities. We find that the major implications are the poor performance of the Arab region in terms of S&T indicators, local technological capabilities, technology achievement index, increasing technological and knowledge gap and distance between the Arab region and the other advanced regions in the world and poor integration in the global knowledge economy. Therefore, the major policy implication from our analysis is that it is essential for policy making in the Arab region to confirm commitment to enhance the institutions and systems of higher education, S&T, R&D, technological infrastructure, ICT and scientific cooperation to build the Arab regional systems of innovation and to achieve economic development in the Arab region.
Affording the Unaffordable: Cost Sharing in Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

The purpose of this article is to discuss some financial aspects of the future development of higher education in Africa entering the 21st century. Two main aspects can be distinguished: first, problems that concern the economy as a whole, the macroeconomic problems; second, questions that apply to the individual institutions of higher education. The former group includes questions such as: How much will the future expansions of higher education in Africa cost? How large is the capacity of African economies to finance this expansion and to what extent can tuition be applied? The article makes three recommendations to Africa's higher education: flexible tuition fees; a well-designed loan scheme; and a proactive measure to promote access and quality.
What do venture capitalists think of venture capital research?

Abstract Given the growing economic impact of venture capital and the increasing amount of scholarly work in this field, an assessment of the relevance and value of venture capital research to practicing venture capitalists is appropriate. To better understand its usefulness, we employed a Delphi methodology to solicit professional venture capitalists’ insight on existing research, on expected changes in the venture capital environment, and on the most relevant research topics going forward. We found VCs seek more research in exit strategies and performance, and less in fundraising. VCs also indicated that ongoing structural changes in the industry can inform future research directions.