Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Cost of Living and Terror: Does Consumer Price Volatility Fuel Terrorism?

Do fluctuations of consumer prices prompt terrorist activity? A latent assumption among conflict scholars is that price volatilities for basic consumer goods produce hardships for people that increase popular grievances, damage government legitimacy, and raise the chances for terrorism. In this study, I use a series of regression estimations to test volatility in consumer price indices for energy, housing, and foods as predictors of domestic and transnational terrorism in a cross section of countries. I produce several findings. First, food price fluctuations are significant predictors of multiple measures of terrorism, while energy and housing prices are not. Second, rapid food price increases, not decreases, promote terrorist attacks. Third, the relationship between food price volatility and terrorism is most consistently present in nondemocratic and “hybrid” political regimes and in medium human development countries rather than in democracies or in countries characterized by very high or very low economic development.
Frequency of anti‐heparin‐platelet factor 4 antibodies in hemodialysis patients and correlation with recurrent vascular access thrombosis

Heparin‐induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), characterized by the formation of antibodies to a complex of platelet factor 4 (PF4) and heparin, is a well‐recognized risk factor for thromboembolic complications. The frequency of antibody development varies among patient populations. Hemodialysis patients have repeated heparin exposure and should be at risk of developing HIT. This might, contribute to the development of vascular access thrombosis. We prospectively evaluated 88 hemodialysis patients for the presence of anti‐PF4/heparin antibodies. Eighteen patients (20%) had a prior history of 1 or more prior access thrombosis. One patient (1.14%), without a history of graft thrombosis, tested positive for anti‐PF4/heparin antibodies. In our study, the presence of anti‐PF4/heparin antibodies was rare and was not increased in patients with a history of vascular access thrombosis. Am. J. Hematol. 69:72‐73, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Rising Returns to Schooling in Argentina, 1992-2002: Productivity or Credentialism?

There has not been much change in the premium to primary education, while the returns to secondary education increased, but by less than the premium to university. The returns to incomplete university also increased significantly. There is a signal that there might be credentialism at the tertiary level, but 15 years of schooling also represents a significant threshold. The returns to schooling are higher in the private sector. There is little evidence of screening or credentialism driving the returns to schooling, which increased significantly in Argentina from 1992 to 2002.
Evidence on the Tradeoff Between Risk and Return for Ipo and Seo Firms

Do the low long-run average returns of equity issuers reflect Do the low long-run average returns of equity issuers reflect underperformance due to mispricing or the risk characteristics of the issuing firms? We shed new light on this question by examining how institutional lenders price loans of equity-issuing firms. We find that equity-issuing firms' expected debt return is equivalent to the expected debt return of non-issuing firms with similar characteristics, implying that institutional lenders perceive equity issuers to be as risky as similar non-issuing firms. We also find that institutional lenders perceive small and high book-to-market borrowers as systematically riskier than larger borrowers with low book-to-market ratios, consistent with the asset pricing approach in Fama and French (1993). Finally, we find that firms' expected debt returns decline after equity offerings, consistent with recent theoretical arguments suggesting that firm risk should decline following an equity offering if equity is issued to exercise a real option. Overall, our analysis provides novel evidence consistent with risk-based explanations for the observed equity returns following IPOs and SEOs.
Dialogues of the deaf in Dutch eel management policy. Explaining controversy and deadlock with argumentative discourse analysis

Scientists claim the European eel stock is in a state of crisis. Although stakeholders in the Netherlands agree, also upon the need for action, for a long time no concrete measures were decided upon. Drastic protection measures were only taken 70 years after the first warning signs and 11 years after explicit advice by ICES. Our argumentative discourse analysis shows that ‘dialogue of the deaf’ among discourse coalitions explains the deadlocked policy process. Argumentative discourse analysis not only contributes to a better understanding of knowledge utilisation in controversial fish stock management, but also to conflict resolution in this field.
The Role of Support Networks in the Initial Stages of Integration: The Case of West African Newcomers in the Netherlands

This study focuses on the role of support networks in West African migration to the Netherlands. The authors examine the interactions of non-State support groups with West African newcomers and explore the nature, scope and function of support. What type of support networks do respondents rely on, under which circumstances, and for how long? What is the scope of support? Is it to be taken for granted? What alternatives are there for those left out of the loop? The findings suggest that support is mainly punctual, in response to a specific need, and for a limited period of time. It is not to be taken for granted, as support groups have limited capacities, and protect themselves from excessive demands. They play a significant role in providing assistance to migrants, yet this role should not be overestimated.
The Buncefield oil depot explosion: where there's smoke, there's (stock market) fire?

This study examines the stock market response to the Buncefield oil depot explosion in 2005. Like previous studies on technological disasters, we find an adverse effect on security prices. However, average abnormal return is only −0.58% for the four oil firms involved in the accident; that is, the explosion did not throw shareholders into panic selling.
Scientists' Commitment to Underperforming Research Projects: Linking Past Success and the Social Environment

This article investigates scientists' commitment to underperforming research projects based on the concomitant consideration of their past success and social environments. Based on escalation of commitment and network theory, the model hypothesizes that past success triggers the commitment to underperforming projects but that the strength of this influence varies depending on the characteristics of decision makers' social networks. Results from the analysis of 3,072 scenario assessments nested within 96 scientists show that the positive relationship between past success and continued investment in underperforming projects is more positive when the network is larger, when the ties within the network are stronger, and when feedback from network partners is predominantly positive. Surprisingly and contrary to model predictions, results also show that the relationship between past success and scientists' tendency to commit to underperforming projects becomes stronger with lower communication frequency with network partners. This study extends current research by exploring the boundary conditions of the impact of decision makers' social environment on commitment to failing projects. Further, it adds to literature on the downside of success by emphasizing that decision makers, particularly those in some social environments, are driven to commit additional resources to underperforming – and potentially failing – projects. Decision makers acting in such environments should be aware that they are prone to overinvestment of resources, and the findings of this study can help them increase their awareness. Based on this study's results, decision makers (including scientists) can thus better reflect on and improve their research project evaluations. Finally, the findings of this study open up various opportunities for future research.
Model‐based identifiable parameter determination applied to a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process model for bio‐ethanol production

In this work, a methodology for the model‐based identifiable parameter determination (MBIPD) is presented. This systematic approach is proposed to be used for structure and parameter identification of nonlinear models of biological reaction networks. Usually, this kind of problems are over‐parameterized with large correlations between parameters. Hence, the related inverse problems for parameter determination and analysis are mathematically ill‐posed and numerically difficult to solve. The proposed MBIPD methodology comprises several tasks: (i) model selection, (ii) tracking of an adequate initial guess, and (iii) an iterative parameter estimation step which includes an identifiable parameter subset selection (SsS) algorithm and accuracy analysis of the estimated parameters. The SsS algorithm is based on the analysis of the sensitivity matrix by rank revealing factorization methods. Using this, a reduction of the parameter search space to a reasonable subset, which can be reliably and efficiently estimated from available measurements, is achieved. The simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process for bio‐ethanol production from cellulosic material is used as case study for testing the methodology. The successful application of MBIPD to the SSF process demonstrates a relatively large reduction in the identified parameter space. It is shown by a cross‐validation that using the identified parameters (even though the reduction of the search space), the model is still able to predict the experimental data properly. Moreover, it is shown that the model is easily and efficiently adapted to new process conditions by solving reduced and well conditioned problems. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog. , 29:1064–1082, 2013
The Recent Shift of United States Population to Nonmetropolitan Areas, 1970-75

Net movement of people into the nonmetropolitan areas of the United States has developed in recent years, reversing a long term trend of out-movement. This new trend is not limited to counties adjacent to metropoli tan areas. The association between 11 demographic, economic, and regional characteristics of nonmetropolitan counties weakened considerably between the 1960-70 and 1970-75 periods, as these areas shifted from a predominant pattern of declining or nearly stationary population to one of growth. Some of the major regions of the country deviate substantially from the national pattern in the factors associated with recent nonmetropolitan change and in the strength of the associations, but the existence of a reversal of trend is very pervasive.
Performance Evaluation of Hedge Funds with Option-Based and Buy-and-Hold Strategies

Since hedge fund returns exhibit non-linear option-like exposures to standard asset classes (Fung and Hsieh (1997a, 2000a)), traditional linear factor models offer limited help in evaluating the performance of hedge funds. We propose a general asset class factor model comprising of excess returns on passive option-based strategies and on buy-and-hold strategies to benchmark the performance of hedge funds. Our model is a generalized version of Glosten and Jagannathan (1994) and it explicitly accounts for non-linear nature of payoffs displayed by hedge funds. Although in practice hedge funds can follow a myriad of dynamic trading strategies, we find that a few simple option writing/buying strategies are able to explain a significant proportion of variation in the hedge fund returns over time. In general, we find that hedge fund strategies added significant value (in excess of estimated survivorship bias) in the early nineties but less so in the late nineties. We also find that aggregated across all funds in our sample, hedge funds that do not use leverage show, on average, larger alphas and better information ratios compared to the funds that use leverage, across different time periods.
Dlx genes encode DNA‐binding proteins that are expressed in an overlapping and sequential pattern during basal ganglia differentiation

The Dlx gene family encodes homeodomain proteins that are required for forebrain and craniofacial development. Towards elucidating the roles for each of these genes, we have isolated cDNA clones encoding the full‐coding sequence for murine Dlx‐5 and partial coding sequence for murine Dlx‐6. Three different classes of sense Dlx‐5 cDNA clones were characterized, two of which lack the homeobox. We also identified an antisense Dlx‐6 transcript. Genomic analysis shows that the Dlx‐5 and ‐6 genes are linked. Biochemical analysis using gel shift assays demonstrate that DLX‐1, ‐2 and ‐5 have very similar DNA‐binding properties. The expression of Dlx‐1, ‐2, ‐5, ‐6 and antisense Dlx‐1 and ‐6 was studied in the midgestation mouse brain. We found that the Dlx genes are expressed in overlapping patterns at different stages of differentiation within the primordia of the basal ganglia. Dlx‐1 and ‐2 are expressed in the least mature cells (in the ventricular and subventricular zones). Dlx‐5 appears to be co‐expressed with Dlx‐1 and ‐2 in the SVZ, but is also expressed in the postmitotic cells of the mantle. Dlx‐6 expression is strongest in the mantle. Antisense Dlx‐1 and ‐6 have their highest expression in the SVZ. These results suggest that each of these Dlx genes may have a distinct role in different steps of differentiation in the basal ganglia. Dev. Dyn. 1997;210:498–512. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Motor Neuron Pools of Synergistic Thigh Muscles Share Most of Their Synaptic Input

Neural control of synergist muscles is not well understood. Presumably, each muscle in a synergistic group receives some unique neural drive and some drive that is also shared in common with other muscles in the group. In this investigation, we sought to characterize the strength, frequency spectrum, and force dependence of the neural drive to the human vastus lateralis and vastus medialis muscles during the production of isometric knee extension forces at 10 and 30% of maximum voluntary effort. High-density surface electromyography recordings were decomposed into motor unit action potentials to examine the neural drive to each muscle. Motor unit coherence analysis was used to characterize the total neural drive to each muscle and the drive shared between muscles. Using a novel approach based on partial coherence analysis, we were also able to study specifically the neural drive unique to each muscle (not shared). The results showed that the majority of neural drive to the vasti muscles was a cross-muscle drive characterized by a force-dependent strength and bandwidth. Muscle-specific neural drive was at low frequencies (<5 Hz) and relatively weak. Frequencies of neural drive associated with afferent feedback (6–12 Hz) and with descending cortical input (∼20 Hz) were almost entirely shared by the two muscles, whereas low-frequency (<5 Hz) drive comprised shared (primary) and muscle-specific (secondary) components. This study is the first to directly investigate the extent of shared versus independent control of synergist muscles at the motor neuron level. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Precisely how the nervous system coordinates the activity of synergist muscles is not well understood. One possibility is that muscles of a synergy share a common neural drive. In this study, we directly compared the relative strength of shared versus independent neural drive to synergistically activated thigh muscles in humans. The results of this analysis support the notion that synergistically activated muscles share most of their neural drive. Scientifically, this study addressed an important gap in our current understanding of how neural drive is delivered to synergist muscles. We have also demonstrated the feasibility of a novel approach to the study of muscle synergies based on partial coherence analysis of motor unit activity.
Apical GLUT2 and Cav1.3: regulation of rat intestinal glucose and calcium absorption

We have proposed a model of intestinal glucose absorption in which transport by SGLT1 induces rapid insertion and activation of GLUT2 in the apical membrane by a PKC βII‐dependent mechanism. Since PKC βII requires Ca2+ and glucose is depolarizing, we have investigated whether glucose absorption is regulated by the entry of dietary Ca2+ through Cav1.3 in the apical membrane. When rat jejunum was perfused with 75 mm glucose, Ca2+‐deplete conditions, or perfusion with the L‐type antagonists nifedipine and verapamil strongly diminished the phloretin‐sensitive apical GLUT2, but not the phloretin‐insensitive SGLT1 component of glucose absorption. Western blotting showed that in each case there was a significant decrease in apical GLUT2 level, but no change in SGLT1 level. Inhibition of apical GLUT2 absorption coincided with inhibition of unidirectional 45Ca2+ entry by nifedipine and verapamil. At 10 mm luminal Ca2+, 45Ca2+ absorption in the presence of 75 mm glucose was 2‐ to 3‐fold that in the presence of 75 mm mannitol. The glucose‐induced component was SGLT1‐dependent and nifedipine‐sensitive. RT‐PCR revealed the presence of Cavβ3 in jejunal mucosa; Western blotting and immunocytochemistry localized Cavβ3 to the apical membrane, together with Cav1.3. We conclude that in times of dietary sufficiency Cav1.3 may mediate a significant pathway of glucose‐stimulated Ca2+ entry into the body and that luminal supply of Ca2+ is necessary for GLUT2‐mediated glucose absorption. The integration of glucose and Ca2+ absorption represents a complex nutrient‐sensing system, which allows both absorptive pathways to be regulated rapidly and precisely to match dietary intake.
Asset Bubbles: An Application to Residential Real Estate

Behavioural models offer new insights into why bubbles are ubiquitous in residential real estate markets. These markets are dominated by unsophisticated households who often develop optimistic views by extrapolating from past returns. Rational investors cannot easily trade against an overvaluation of housing assets because of high transaction costs and a binding short sale constraint. Circumventing the effect of the latter, the supply of housing frequently increases in response to rising prices. This helps to mitigate bubbles but often leads to overbuilding, which slows down the recovery after a bubble bursts. Models that incorporate the effects of perverse incentives and limits to arbitrage are especially helpful in explaining the bubble that developed in mortgage‐backed securities and helped fuel the recent real estate bubble by relaxing home buyers’ borrowing constraints. The literature is ambiguous about whether governments should intervene to burst bubbles, as a better response may lie in improving incentives of key market players.
Progressive Ambition in the House: A Probabilistic Approach

The effectiveness of elections as instruments of popular control is at a minimum predicated upon the desire of elected officeholders to retain at least their current position. Additionally, a substantial body of research has pointed to the role differential ambition plays in shaping the careers and behavior of officeholders. The following analysis evaluates decisions by members of the U.S. House of Representatives either to seek reelection or to pursue higher office. Probit analysis is employed to disentangle the relative influence of factors contributing to decisions to seek higher office. This method also allows for the estimation of the influence of each of these factors in terms of how they contribute to the probability a member would seek higher office. Among the influences evaluated, factors conditioning the nature of the opportunity for higher office emerge as the more salient determinants of decisions to pursue that office. It is believed that this technique holds promise for future inquiries into the role ambition plays in the roll call and electoral activities of House members.
The False Messiah of Tax Policy: What Elimination of the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction Promises and a Careful Look at What It Delivers

This article explores the potential effects of eliminating the home mortgage interest deduction. Estimates of the tax expenditures generated by the home mortgage deduction usually exceed $40 billion, which give the impression that much additional tax revenue can be obtained by eliminating it. We argue otherwise. Many households, especially wealthy households, would change the way they finance their homes if the mortgage interest deduction were eliminated; they would rely less on mortgage debt and more on their own assets.Roughly $10 billion in additional tax revenue is generated by eliminating the mortgage interest deduction when such portfolio reshuffling is taken into account. Those hardest hit would be younger, upper-middle-income households. Wealthy households, low-income households, and many elderly households would be less affected.
Recovery of signals from nonuniform samples using iterative methods

An iterative method for recovering a bandlimited signal from its ideal nonuniform samples is proposed. The convergence of iterations is proved, and general regions for the convergence factor are found. It is shown that the iterative method is applicable to other forms of nonuniform sampling, i.e. natural sampling and interpolated sampling (such as sample and hold). <<ETX>>
Multiple indicators model of long-term mortality in traumatic brain injury

Objective: To examine the prognostic ability of protein S100B, neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) for prediction of 1-year mortality in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in relation to clinical and radiological characteristics of TBI. Methods: Brain injury was quantified in 84 patients (Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] ≤ 12) using clinical (GCS, pupils), radiological (computed tomography [CT] classification and individual CT characteristics) and biochemical (S100B, NSE and GFAP) data at admission and in the acute post-injury period. Results: Initial and peak S100B, NSE and GFAP concentrations were higher in non-survivors (n = 26) than in survivors (p-value range: <0.001–0.018). Cox regression showed that GFAP and S100B concentration and the temporal profile of S100B were more powerful independent predictors of mortality than baseline clinical and radiological characteristics or clinical and radiological indicators of neurological deterioration. The prognostic models containing admission variables and those available during the subsequent clinical course showed the same discrimination ability (area under receiver characteristic curve 0.92), but the model based on variables available in the acute post-injury period calibrated better (p = 0.428). Conclusion: Mortality at 1-year post-TBI is accurately predicted by the combination of GFAP and S100B concentration and clinical and radiological characteristics at admission or in the acute post-injury period.
Genetic analysis of IDDM: Summary of GAW5 IDDM results

This paper summarizes the analyses by participants in the insulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) component of Genetic Analysis Workshop 5 (GAW5). The data were obtained from 94 families with two or more IDDM sibs. Topics treated in the Workshop analysis included the following: methods for detecting associations and linkage, the contribution by HLA‐linked and ‐unlinked loci to IDDM susceptibility, the role of subtypes of the serologically defined HLA specificities, the implications of associated diseases other than IDDM in the families, the significance of antibodies to Coxsackie viruses, and of autoantibodies to pancreatic islet cells and insulin, and the use of genetic models to analyze the inheritance of IDDM.