Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Mediterranean Diet to Improve Cardiovascular and Cognitive Health: Protocol for a Randomised Controlled Intervention Study

The Mediterranean diet has demonstrated efficacy for improving cardiovascular and cognitive health. However, a traditional Mediterranean diet delivers fewer serves of dairy and less dietary calcium than is currently recommended in Australia, which may limit long-term sustainability. The present study aims to evaluate whether a Mediterranean diet with adequate dairy and calcium can improve cardiovascular and cognitive function in an at-risk population, and thereby reduce risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cognitive decline. A randomised, controlled, parallel, crossover design trial will compare a Mediterranean diet supplemented with dairy foods against a low-fat control diet. Forty participants with systolic blood pressure above 120 mmHg and at least two other risk factors of CVD will undertake each dietary intervention for eight weeks, with an eight-week washout period between interventions. Systolic blood pressure will be the primary measure of interest. Secondary outcomes will include measures of cardiometabolic health, dietary compliance, cognitive function, assessed using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), psychological well-being and dementia risk. This research will provide empirical evidence as to whether the Mediterranean diet can be modified to provide recommended dairy and calcium intakes while continuing to deliver positive effects for cardiovascular and cognitive health. The findings will hold relevance for the field of preventative healthcare and may contribute to revisions of national dietary guidelines.
Exponential Convergence to Equilibrium for Kinetic Fokker-Planck Equations

A class of linear kinetic Fokker-Planck equations with a non-trivial diffusion matrix and with periodic boundary conditions in the spatial variable is considered. After formulating the problem in a geometric setting, the question of the rate of convergence to equilibrium is studied within the formalism of differential calculus on Riemannian manifolds. Under explicit geometric assumptions on the velocity field, the energy function and the diffusion matrix, it is shown that global regular solutions converge in time to equilibrium with exponential rate. The result is proved by estimating the time derivative of a modified entropy functional, as recently proposed by Villani. For spatially homogeneous solutions the assumptions of the main theorem reduce to the curvature bound condition for the validity of logarithmic Sobolev inequalities discovered by Bakry and Emery. The result applies to the relativistic Fokker-Planck equation in the low temperature regime, for which exponential trend to equilibrium was previously unknown.
The UK Labour Force Participation Rate: Business Cycle and Trend Influences

In this paper the extent to which recent patterns in UK labour force participation have been influenced by trend and business cycle factors is investigated. A modelling strategy is proposed that pools the available micro and aggregate-level data, to produce a mutually consistent model of the trend and cyclical components of participation. A significant procyclical pattern is established, but some distinct trend influences on the participation rate are also identified. The approach allows for the construction of forecasts, which would be a useful input into the sort of macroeconometric models used by policymakers. The model outperforms some conventional macroeconometric forecasts in out-of-sample forecast tests.
Performance of initial public offerings and privatized offers: Evidence from a developing country

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate returns of initial public offerings (IPOs) in an emerging market and differences in the returns of privatized and non-privatized offerings. Design/methodology/approach - Market-adjusted return is computed as daily cumulative excess returns for six- and 12-month periods. Long-run performance is measured by calculating market-adjusted buy and hold return assuming that shareholders pursue strategies of 1, 2 and 3 years. Findings - The paper finds that underpricing exists even in emerging markets and at a higher level than in developed countries. Average returns are over 55 per cent and is comparable with that of Malaysia, Mexico, Poland and Thailand. POs generally outperform the market, with the privatized IPOs offering superior excess returns than the non-privatized IPOs. Excess returns diminish by the end of three years. The pattern of the returns seen in this case is different to similar studies elsewhere, where excess returns are observed over four to five years after the initial listing. Research limitations/implications - The number of IPOs investigated here is comparatively small. However, because the sample consists of a mix of privatized vs non-privatized companies, the results provide useful insights on factors that may drive the unusual returns. While underpricing is common in most IPOs, the state when privatizing enterprises seem to be offering investors excessive returns. Originality/value - This paper provides researchers and policymakers some insights into the workings of capital markets in emerging economies.
Randomized multicentre trial of gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI versus conventional MRI or CT in the staging of colorectal cancer liver metastases

This multicentre international randomized trial compared the impact of gadoxetic acid‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MRI with extracellular contrast medium (ECCM‐MRI) and contrast‐enhanced computed tomography (CE‐CT) as a first‐line imaging method in patients with suspected colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRCLM).
The new product design process and design for environment "Crossing the chasm"

This paper examines the role played by environmental issues during the new product design process. These issues are studied through an exploratory research project based on case studies of ten companies. The firms studied can be categorized into one of five major groups: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. These groups strongly parallel the model of new product acceptance initially developed in the computer industry, as presented by Moore (1991). Of interest is the gap that exists between the early adopters and early majority users. This gap forms a chasm. Those factors that account for acceptance of environmentally responsible manufacturing in the innovators and early adopters are significantly different from those factors observed in the early majority, late majority, and laggards. This paper examines these and other differences, and the impact of these differences on the acceptance and use of environmental concerns within the new product design process.
Optimal Cooperative Jamming for Multiuser Broadcast Channel with Multiple Eavesdroppers

Cooperative jamming for multiuser multiple input multiple output (MIMO) broadcast channel is studied to enhance the physical layer security with the help of a friendly jammer. We assume the base station transmits multiple independent data streams to multiple legitimate users. During the transmission, however, there are multiple eavesdroppers with multiple antennas that have interests in the streams from the base station. In order to wiretap the desired streams, the eavesdroppers may collude or not, and maximize the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of the desired streams using receive beamforming. The optimal cooperative jammer is designed to keep the achieved SINR at eavesdroppers below a threshold to guarantee that the transmission from the base station to legitimate users is confidential. One main advantage of the proposed cooperative jamming scheme is that no modification is needed for the existing precoding schemes at the base station and decoding schemes at legitimate users. Thus, any existing practical precoding/decoding schemes for multiuser MIMO broadcast channel can be applied directly with the help of a friendly jammer using the proposed cooperative jamming.
Protective Effects of Thymoquinone against Methotrexate-Induced Germ Cell Apoptosis in Male Mice

Background Toxic effects of anti-cancer and other drugs on the normal tissues could be reduced by the herbal plants and their fractions. This study investigated the protective effect of thymoquinone (TQ) as a fraction of Nigella sativa on methotrexate (MTX)- induced germ cell apoptosis in male mice. Materials and Methods In this experimental study, thirty male Balb/c mice were divided randomly into 5 groups (n=6). A single dose of MTX (20 mg/kg) and different concentrations of TQ were administrated for 4 consecutive days. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay was performed on paraffin embedded tissue sections to analysis the occurrence of apoptosis in the testis. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of apoptosis-related genes was performed with RNA extracted from testes of the mice. Statistical analysis was done using one-way ANOVA. Results In the MTX group, there was a significant increase in morphologic sign of germ cell degeneration of tubules (48 ± 0.6%), apoptotic index (AI; 2.3 ± 0.6%), as well as mRNA expression of p53 (P=0.008), caspase 8 (P=0.002), caspase 3 (P=0.005), caspase 9 (P=0.000), bax (P=0.004) and the ratio of bax/bcl-2 (P=0.000), whereas there was an decrease in the expression of bcl-2 (P=0.003), as compared to control group. In MTX+TQ groups, the data showed that different concentrations of TQ could improve the harmful effects caused by the MTX. The best protective effects were achieved in MTX+TQ (10 mg/kg). Conclusion TQ protects testicular germ cell against MTX-induced apoptosis by affecting related genes regulation.
Low Free Testosterone Levels Are Associated With All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in Postmenopausal Diabetic Women

OBJECTIVE Hyperandrogenemia is associated with cardiovascular risk factors in women but evidence about the relationship of testosterone levels with mortality is sparse. We aimed to evaluate whether total testosterone (TT), free testosterone (FT), and sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) are associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in a cohort of postmenopausal women. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We measured TT and SHBG levels in 875 postmenopausal women who were referred for coronary angiography (during 1997–2000). FT was calculated according to the Vermeulen method. The main outcome measures were Cox proportional hazard ratios (HRs) for mortality from all causes and from cardiovascular causes. RESULTS After a median follow-up time of 7.7 years, 179 women (20.5%) had died. There were 101 deaths due to cardiovascular disease (56.4% of all deaths). We found no association of FT, TT, and SHBG levels with mortality in all postmenopausal women. In postmenopausal diabetic women, multivariable-adjusted HRs (with 95% CIs) in the fourth compared with the first FT quartile for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality were 0.38 (0.08–0.90), P = 0.025, and 0.28 (0.08–0.90), P = 0.032, respectively. We found no association of TT and SHBG with mortality in diabetic postmenopausal women. CONCLUSIONS In postmenopausal diabetic women referred for coronary angiography, low FT levels are independently associated with increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.
Greening of industries for sustainable growth: An exploratory study on durable, non‐durable and services industries

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to aim in general to understand the perception of industries in India – a fast growing economy, towards green philosophy and to investigate further what initiatives those industries have taken for becoming green. Design/methodology/approach - The study is exploratory in nature and attempts to understand the behaviour of three types of industries, namely, durable, non-durable and services towards green philosophy. Findings - Results of the study reflect that industries in India, in general have a positive view for practicing green philosophy. They feel becoming green will help them in gaining the competitive advantage and will support them in sustainable growth. Also the industries that have a positive attitude towards greening have taken some measures and initiatives in this direction to establish a sustainable competitive advantage for succeeding in today's highly challenging and dynamic global markets. Research limitations/implications - The present exploratory study provides a starting-point for further research. Researchers can further explore whether industries using green philosophy were able to register a competitive advantage and could gain added market share and profits by becoming green. They can investigate the reason behind this green attitude, whether industries are using green practices for cutting costs in turn to increase their profits or whether they have a genuine concern for environmental protection and society's welfare and therefore adopting green practices in their industry. Originality/value - Most of such studies in the field of green marketing and social economics are done in developed countries and remain conspicuously missing in the context of fast developing Asian countries. This research is a step to filling this gap and providing a platform for further research in this area.
Management of competition among sellers and its performance implications for business-to-business electronic platforms: Dynamic analysis by VAR model

Purpose - – This paper aimed to analyze the short- and long-term effects of the breadth and depth of seller competition on the performance of platform companies, and investigated the underlying mechanisms of customers’ two-sided marketing tactics on the structure of the competition between sellers. Design/methodology/approach - – A longitudinal research design was adopted by gathering daily market objective data on e-commerce platforms for 250 days, and the dynamic evolution effects was analyzed by using a vector autoregression model which compared the differences between the short- and long-term effectiveness of different customer relationship management (CRM) strategies. Findings - – The breadth of competition amongst sellers improves the performance of platforms, whilst the depth of competition among sellers has a positive effect on the short-term performance. However, it has a negative effect on the long-term performance of their platforms. In both the short and long terms, advertising tactics that attract new buyers contribute more to increases in the breadth of seller competition than those that attract existing buyers do. Subsidies for new sellers decrease the depth of seller competition more than those for old sellers. Research limitations/implications - – Further research could be undertaken to investigate the validity of marketing tactics other than advertising tactics, and thus expand the time windows of the available data. Practical implications - – It is imperative for platform companies to implement effective control over seller competition to balance the interests of the sellers and of themselves. Originality/value - – The dyadic paradigm of CRM research has been extended by considering the perspective of the electronic platform company, how the tactics of exploitation and exploration of two-sided customers impact upon seller competitive structures have been delved into and why new customers have a unique value to platform companies has been identified.
Identity economics : social networks & the informal economy in Nigeria

Why have informal enterprise networks failed to promote economic development in Africa? Although social networks were thought to offer a solution to state incapacity and market failure, the proliferation of socially embedded enterprise networks across Africa has generated disorder and economic decline rather than development. This book challenges the prevailing assumption that the problem of African development lies in bad cultural institutions by showing that informal economic governance in Nigeria is shaped, not just by culture, but by the disruptive effects of rapid liberalization, state decline and political capture. 'Identity Economics' traces the rise of two dynamic informal enterprise clusters in Nigeria, and explores their slide into trajectories of Pentecostalism, poverty and violent vigilantism. Drawing on over twenty years of empirical research on African informal economies, the author highlights the institutional legacies, networking strategies and globalizing dynamics that shape the regulatory role of social networks in Africa's largest and most turbulent economy. Through an ethnography of informal economic governance, this book shows how ties of ethnicity, class, gender and religion are used to restructure enterprise networks in response to contemporary economic challenges. Moving beyond primordialist interpretations of African culture, attention is drawn to the critical role of the state and the macro-economic policy environment in shaping trajectories of informal economic governance. KATE MEAGHER is a former Research Associate at Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford and is currently a Lecturer in the Development Studies Institute at the London School of Economics. Nigeria: HEBN
Study 1 : Evidence for CER in English

Recent work proposes that language production is organized to facilitate efficient communication by means of transmitting information at a constant rate. However, evidence has almost exclusively come from English. We present new results from Mandarin Chinese supporting the hypothesis that Constant Entropy Rate is observed cross-linguistically, and may be a universal property of the language production system. We show that this result holds even if several important confounds that previous work failed to address are controlled for. Finally, we present evidence that Constant Entropy Rate is observed at the syllable level as well as the word level, suggesting findings do not depend on the chosen unit of observation.
Window to the West: Memories of Watching Finnish Television in Estonia During The Soviet Period

This study is concerned with the memories of Estonians of watching Finnish television during the last decades of the Soviet occupation . We will look at the practices of watching Finnish television in Soviet Estonia and the meanings attributed to it. Finnish television took North-Estonians into a colourful world of consumption and entertainment, while at the same time educating them about Western values and encouraging them to dream a better future.
The Empirical Evidence on the Monetary Approach to the Balance of Payments and Exchange Rates

This paper is a critical review of the empirical evidence on the operation of the international monetary mechanism under both fixed and floating exchange rates. I limit the discussion to recent studies on the monetary approach to balance of payments (BOP) and foreign exchange rate (EX rate) determination for individual countries. The "monetary approach" contrasts with the "component accounts" approach to the BOP (see, e.g., Martin Prachowny); according to the latter, the BOP is determined by combining behavioral equations for all of the components of the BOP with the BOP accounts identity. The two approaches can be reconciled in a general equilibrium framework with goods, assets and money. But reduced-form estimates of equilibrium in any one of the three markets should include the exogenous determinants of equilibrium in the other two markets. On this score, some of the monetarists err, just as some trade flow and capital flow empiricists, in estimating only a single structural equation rather than a reduced-form equation. This error notwithstanding, research efficiency dictates that if we want a simple (Occam's razor) explanation of the BOP and FX rates, then we should examine international money markets directly rather than the international markets for eggs, potatoes and AAA bonds. Critics counter that the monetarists actually apply Occam's scimitar to the research victim and that while they succeed in getting down to bare bones, the skeletal remains sustain insufficient life to be worthy of continued scientific interest. This critique misses the point that the monetary approach is a macro theory and that simplicity is an important criterion for any theory which must be understood and used by policy makers. A second virtue of the monetary approach is that it avoids the error easily made by component analysts of identifying movements in the BOP components with identical movements in the BOP. For example, increases in home income and prices reduce trade balances and decreases in interest rates cause capital account deterioration. However, all three of these phenomena lead to increases in the demand for money, and hence improvements in the BOP (or appreciation of the FX rate) according to the monetarists. We turn to the empirical evidence on these monetary pre* Associate Professor, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago. The author is indebted to the National Science Foundation for research support and to Robert Aliber, John Bilson, Paul Evans, Jacob Frenkel, Harry Johnson, Richard Karplus, Arthur Laffer, Aris Protopapadakis and Myles Wallace for useful discussions. They are absolved from any responsibility for the views expressed and for errors.
The Parameterized Complexity of Relational Database Queries and an Improved Characterization of W[1]

It is well known that for a fixed relational database query φ in m free variables, it can be determined in time polynomial in the size n of the database whether there exists an m-tuple x that belongs to the relation defined by the query. For the best known algorithms, however, the exponent of the polynomial is proportional to the size of the query. We study the data complexity of this problem parameterized by the size k = |φ| of the query, and answer a question recently raised by Yannakakis [Yan95]. Our main results show: (1) the general problem is complete for the parametric complexity class AW [∗], and (2) when restricted to monotone queries, the problem is complete for the fundamental parametric complexity class W [1]. The practical significance of these results is that unless the parameterized complexity hierarchy collapses, there are unlikely to be algorithms that solve this problem (even under the restriction to monotone queries) in time f(k)n where f is an arbitrary function of k and c is a constant independent of k. An important consequence of the proof of (2) is a significantly improved characterization of the parameterized complexity class W [1]. Previous results by Downey and Fellows characterize W [1] in terms of the kWeighted Circuit Satisfiability problem, for families of circuits that satisfy: (1) the depth of the circuits is bounded by a constant c, (2) on any input-output path there is at most one gate having unbounded fanin (termed a large gate), with all other gates having fan-in bounded by c (that is, small gates). We show that the definition can be broadened by allowing circuits of depth bounded by an arbitrary function f(k). If we denote this parameterized complexity class W ∗[1], then our corollary ⋆ Research supported by the New Zealand Marsden Fund for Basic Science ⋆⋆ Research supported by the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. is: W ∗[1] = W [1]. As a consequence, the k-Weighted Satisfiability problem for Boolean expressions that are products of k-sums is complete for W [1]. Part of our argument establishes a general normalization lemma for W ∗[t] for all t.
Polymer Electrolyte-Gated Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistor

Single-walled carbon nanotube field-effect transistors were fabricated using solid electrolyte (PEO plus LiClO4) as gating materials. The SWNT FETs demonstrated strong gate-channel coupling with improved device characteristics compared with back-gated devices. More importantly, the nanotubes can be easily doped using different concentrations of electron acceptor mixed in the polymer materials. The transport type of the devices can be easily controlled through doping.