Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Augmenting Housing Sales Data to Improve Hedonic Estimates of Golf Courses

Hedonic price modeling quantified the impact of golf course frontage on single-family housing prices at 20 different golf courses across the Midwestern City of Omaha, Nebraska. Geographic information system analyses tripled a sample of golf frontage sales which allowed courses to be valued by detailed access and ownership types, and for 15 individual courses. Private-non-equity courses had the greatest impact on adjacent housing prices (28%) followed by public courses (15%), municipal courses (9%) and private-equity courses (5%). However, a wide range of price impacts across individual courses was noted which indicates the benefits of conducting course specific analyses.
Comparative Evaluation of Cytotoxic and Apoptogenic Effects of Several Coumarins on Human Cancer Cell Lines: Osthole Induces Apoptosis in p53-Deficient H1299 Cells

Natural products are excellent resources for finding lead structures for the development of chemotherapeutic agents. Coumarins are a class of natural compounds found in a variety of plants. In this study, we evaluated the cytotoxic potential of coumarins isolated from Prangos ferulacea (L.) Lindl. in PC3, SKNMC, and H1299 (p53 null) human carcinoma cell lines. Osthole proved to be an outstanding potent cytotoxic agent especially against PC3 cells. Isoimperatorin exhibited moderate inhibitory effect against SKNMC and PC3 cell lines. Oxypeucedanin and braylin did not display any cytotoxic activity. In the next set of experiments, the apoptotic potentials of osthole and isoimperatorin were investigated. Induction of apoptosis by isoimperatorin was accompanied by an increase in activation of caspase-3, -8, and -9 in SKNMC cells and caspase-3 and -9 in PC3 cells. Moreover, isoimperatorin induced apoptosis by upregulating Bax and Smac/DIABLO genes in PC3 and SKNMC cells. Osthole induced apoptosis by downregulating antiapoptotic Bcl-2 in only PC3 cells and upregulating the proapoptotic genes Bax and Smac/DIABLO in PC3, SKNMC, and H1299 cells. The effects of osthole on H1299 cells are important because the loss of p53 has been associated with poor clinical prognosis in cancer treatment.
İlköğretim Okulu Yöneticilerinin Etik Liderlik Davranışı Gösterme Düzeyleri

Bu arastirmanin amaci, ogretmen goruslerine gore, ilkogretim okul yoneticilerinin etik liderlik davranislarini gosterme duzeylerini saptamaktir. Veri toplama araci olarak, Yilmaz (2005)’in gelistirmis oldugu Etik Liderlik Olcegi kullanilmistir. Arastirmanin evrenini, Usak ili merkez ve ilcelerde (Banaz, Ulubey, Sivasli) ilkogretim okullarinda gorevli ogretmenler olusturmaktadir. Arastirmaya katilan ogretmenlerin goruslerine gore, ilkogretim okulu yoneticilerinin etik liderligin iletisimsel etik, orgutsel karar vermede etik, davranissal etik, iklimsel etik boyutlarinda iyi duzeyde davranis gosterdikleri gorulmektedir. The aim of this research is to state primary shool administrators` ethic behaviours according to teachers` opinions. Ethic Leadership Scale developed by Yilmaz (2005) was used to collect the data for the research. The population of the research is teachers working in primary schools in Usak province and it`s districts (Banaz, Ulubey, Sivasli). According to the opinions of the teachers who participated in this research, it can be seen that primary school administrators` ethic leadership shows behaviours at a middle level in the communicative ethic, decisional ethic in organizations, behavioral ethic and climatical ethic dimensions.
EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FOR AN OPTIMAL BODY SIZE IN SNAKES

Abstract The concept of optimal size has been invoked to explain patterns in body size of terrestrial mammals. However, the generality of this phenomenon has not been tested with similarly complete data from other taxonomic groups. In this study we describe three statistical patterns of body size in snakes, all of which indicate an optimal length of 1.0 m. First, a distribution of largest body lengths of 618 snake species had a single mode at 1.0 m. Second, we found a positive relationship between the size of the largest member of an island snake assemblage and island area and a negative relationship between the size of the smallest member of an island snake assemblage and island area. Best-fit lines through these data cross at a point corresponding to 1.0 m in body length, the presumed optimal size for a one-species island. Third, mainland snake species smaller than 1.0 m become larger on islands whereas those larger than 1.0 m become smaller on islands. The observation that all three analyses converge on a common body size is concordant with patterns observed in mammals and partial analyses of four other disparate animal clades. Because snakes differ so strikingly from mammals (ectotherms, gape-limited predators, elongate body shape) the concordant patterns of these two groups provide strong evidence for the evolution of an optimal body size within independent monophyletic groups. However, snakes differ from other taxonomic groups that have been studied in exhibiting a body size distribution that is not obviously skewed in either direction. We suggest that idiosyncratic features of the natural history of ectotherms allow relatively unconstrained distributions of body size whereas physiological limitations of endotherms constrain distributions of body size to a right skew.
Growth, convergence and (why not?) regional externalities

This paper considers the effects of regional externalities in economic growth. We define two types of regional spillovers: demand-driven and supply-driven. Both types seem to be significantly positive and the results show how the omission of these effects in a growth equation may downward bias the estimated rate of convergence by assingning the effect of regional externalities to the convergence parameter. We propose the use of spatial econometrics techniques to test and estimate the presence of such externalities.
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development G-24 Discussion Paper Series Reinventing Industrial Strategy: the Role of Government Policy in Building Industrial Competitiveness Research Papers for the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-four on International Monetary Affairs United Nations United

Note Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations document. * * * The views expressed in this Series are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the UNCTAD secretariat. The designations employed and the presentation of the material do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. * * * Material in this publication may be freely quoted; acknowledgement , however, is requested (including reference to the document number). It would be appreciated if a copy of the publication containing the quotation were sent to the Publications Assistant, PREFACE The G-24 Discussion Paper Series is a collection of research papers prepared under the UNCTAD Project of Technical Support to the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs (G-24). The G-24 was established in 1971 with a view to increasing the analytical capacity and the negotiating strength of the developing countries in discussions and negotiations in the international financial institutions. The G-24 is the only formal developing-country grouping within the IMF and the World Bank. Its meetings are open to all developing countries. The G-24 Project, which is administered by UNCTAD's Division on Globalization and Development Strategies, aims at enhancing the understanding of policy makers in developing countries of the complex issues in the international monetary and financial system, and at raising awareness outside developing countries of the need to introduce a development dimension into the discussion of international financial and institutional reform. The research papers are discussed among experts and policy makers at the meetings of the G-24 Technical Group, and provide inputs to the meetings of the G-24 Ministers and Deputies in their preparations for negotiations and discussions in the framework of the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee (formerly Interim Committee) and the Joint IMF/IBRD Development Committee, as well as in other forums. Abstract As liberalization and globalization gather pace, some developing countries cope well but the majority do not. Diverging industrial competitiveness is one of the causes of the growing disparities in income: the potential that globalization offers for industrial growth is being tapped by a relatively small number …
28 GHz &#62;250 mW CMOS Power Amplifier Using Multigate-Cell Design

We report a mm-wave power amplifier IC that operates over the 25 - 35 GHz band and achieves saturated output power of more than 250 mW and peak PAE of 29%. The IC is implemented with 45-nm CMOS SOI technology and employs transistor stacking to achieve high operating voltage and power, and demonstrates a novel multigate-cell technique to implement FET stacking for mmwave applications. Unit cells are defined with a single transistor (one source and one drain) with 4 gate connections of 1.2 μm width each. External gate capacitances appropriate for the desired voltage division along the transistor are implemented within the unit cell itself using the metal stack available in the CMOS technology. The unit cell can be replicated in straightforward fashion to implement larger effective gate widths. In this work, an aggregate width of 307 μm is used, with simple input and output matching, to provide an amplifier centered at 28 GHz. To the authors' knowledge, the output power is the best reported in silicon for this frequency range, for amplifiers that do not use elaborate power-combining approaches.
Neuronal Avalanches Differ from Wakefulness to Deep Sleep – Evidence from Intracranial Depth Recordings in Humans

Neuronal activity differs between wakefulness and sleep states. In contrast, an attractor state, called self-organized critical (SOC), was proposed to govern brain dynamics because it allows for optimal information coding. But is the human brain SOC for each vigilance state despite the variations in neuronal dynamics? We characterized neuronal avalanches – spatiotemporal waves of enhanced activity - from dense intracranial depth recordings in humans. We showed that avalanche distributions closely follow a power law – the hallmark feature of SOC - for each vigilance state. However, avalanches clearly differ with vigilance states: slow wave sleep (SWS) shows large avalanches, wakefulness intermediate, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep small ones. Our SOC model, together with the data, suggested first that the differences are mediated by global but tiny changes in synaptic strength, and second, that the changes with vigilance states reflect small deviations from criticality to the subcritical regime, implying that the human brain does not operate at criticality proper but close to SOC. Independent of criticality, the analysis confirms that SWS shows increased correlations between cortical areas, and reveals that REM sleep shows more fragmented cortical dynamics.
Function of the shoulder muscles during arm elevation: an assessment using positron emission tomography

Although 2‐deoxy‐2‐[18F]fluoro‐D‐glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) has been used for the assessment of skeletal muscle activities, its application to the shoulder muscles is only sparse. The purpose of this study was to investigate the activities of the shoulder muscles during arm elevation using PET. Six healthy volunteers performed an arm elevation exercise before and after FDG injection. The exercise consisted of 200 repetitions of arm elevation in the scapular plane with a 0.25‐kg weight fixed to the wrist on both arms. PET examination was performed 50 min after FDG injection. For control data, PET scan was repeated for each subject on a separate day without any exercise. The volume of interest was established for each shoulder muscle. The subscapularis was divided into three portions (superior, middle, and inferior). The standardized uptake value (SUV) was calculated in each muscle to quantify its activity. The SUVs increased significantly after exercise in the deltoid, supraspinatus, and the superior portion of subscapularis. Among three divided portions of the subscapularis, the SUV of the superior one‐third was significantly greater than the rest of the muscle after exercise. Our current study clearly indicated that there were two functionally different portions in the subscapularis muscle and the superior one‐third played an important role during arm elevation in the scapular plane.
Testing Milbrath’s 1965 Framework of Political Participation: Institutions and Social Capital

Despite its age, Milbrath’s 1965 framework of political participation is still widely cited. A computer simulation is used to empirically test the framework for the first time. The parameter estimates from the simulation provide valid results, suggesting that the framework may be viable. The simulation is then used to explore the nature of political participation. It is found that both political institutions and social capital are significant contributors to political participation. The role of social capital is revised: rather than the time spent in a community, personal contacts appear to be more important for political participation.
Sleep and activity in chronic kidney disease: a longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Commonly sleep is disrupted and physical activity is restricted among patients with CKD and those on long-term dialysis. However, few studies have assessed patients longitudinally. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS We compared the prevalence of sleep disturbances measured both subjectively using a questionnaire and objectively using actimetry among patients with CKD (n = 145), those on hemodialysis (n = 116), and people without kidney disease (n = 19). Activity level during the day was measured using actimetry, and patients were then followed for up to 2 years. RESULTS Compared with people without kidney disease, patients with CKD not on dialysis had disruption of sleep that was independent of several risk factors. However, disrupted sleep was correlated with neither estimated GFR in cross-sectional nor longitudinal assessment. Those on hemodialysis had sleep disruption that was of much greater severity than that found among those with CKD not on dialysis. Furthermore, missing or shortening the prescribed duration of dialysis was associated with greater severity of sleep disturbance in cross-sectional but not in longitudinal assessment. Day-time activity declined both in duration and intensity from controls to CKD to hemodialysis. CONCLUSIONS The loss of kidney function is related to both reduced duration and intensity of day time physical activity. Although patients with CKD have disrupted sleep, this is independent of estimated GFR. However, compared with those with CKD, dialysis patients have more severely disrupted sleep; this is related to missing dialysis. Thus, shortening patients' dialysis may reduce their sleep.
Methods for Automatically Extracting Bioacoustic Structure

This paper presents mathematical methods for automatically extracting and analysing bioacoustic signals. Automatic techniques are described for isolation of target signals from background noise, extraction of features from target signals and unsupervised classification (clustering) of the target signals based on these features. The only user-provided inputs, other than raw sound, are 6 control parameters. In particular, the number of signal categories is determined automatically. The techniques, applied to noisy hydrophone recordings of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), achieve good results, suggesting they are sufficiently general to be applicable in many other bioacoustic settings.
Active portfolio management : a quantitative approach for providing superior returns and controlling risk

Introduction. Part I: Foundations. Consensus Expected Returns: The Capital Asset Pricing Model. Risk. Exceptional Return, Benchmarks, and Value Added. Residual Risk and Return: The Information Ratio. The Fundamental Law of Active Management. Part II: Expected Returns and Valuation. Expected Returns and the Arbitrage Pricing Theory. Valuation in Theory. Valuation in Practice. Part III: Information Processing. Forecasting Basics. Advanced Forecasting. Information Analysis. The Information Horizon. Part IV: Implementation. Portfolio Construction. Long/Short Investing. Transaction Costs, Turnover, and Trading. Performance Analysis. Asset Allocation. Benchmark Timing. The Historical Record for Active Management. Open Questions. Summary. Appendice A: Standard Notation. B: Glossary. C: Return and Statistics Basics.
Poor Vitamin C Status Late in Pregnancy Is Associated with Increased Risk of Complications in Type 1 Diabetic Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

Vitamin C (vitC) is essential for normal pregnancy and fetal development and poor vitC status has been related to complications of pregnancy. We have previously shown lower vitC status in diabetic women throughout pregnancy compared to that of non-diabetic controls. Here, we evaluate the relationship between vitC status late in diabetic pregnancy in relation to fetal outcome, complications of pregnancy, diabetic characteristics, and glycemic control based on data of 47 women from the same cohort. We found a significant relationship between the maternal vitC level > or ≤ the 50% percentile of 26.6 μmol/L, respectively, and the umbilical cord blood vitC level (mean (SD)): 101.0 μmol/L (16.6) versus 78.5 μmol/L (27.8), p = 0.02; n = 12/16), while no relation to birth weight or Apgar score was observed. Diabetic women with complications of pregnancy had significantly lower vitC levels compared to the women without complications (mean (SD): 24.2 μmol/L (10.6) vs. 34.6 μmol/L (14.4), p = 0.01; n = 19 and 28, respectively) and the subgroup of women (about 28%) characterized by hypovitaminosis C (<23 μmol/L) had an increased relative risk of complications of pregnancy that was 2.4 fold higher than the one found in the group of women with a vitC status above this level (p = 0.02, 95% confidence interval 1.2–4.4). No correlation between diabetic characteristics of the pregnant women and vitC status was observed, while a negative association of maternal vitC with HbA1c at delivery was found at regression analysis (r = −0.39, p < 0.01, n = 46). In conclusion, our results may suggest that hypovitaminosis C in diabetic women is associated with increased risk of complications of pregnancy.
Dictatorships (actually) redistribute more

This paper seeks to examine the effect of political regimes on actual fiscal redistribution. We first use a simplified theoretical framework which allows us to formalize the testable implications of the relevant literature. Subsequently, employing data on Gini coefficients before and after taxes and transfers we develop a measure of fiscal redistribution which allows us to capture the targeting of government transfers. Then, our empirical analysis examines the impact of the political regime on realized fiscal redistribution for a panel of 133 developed and developing countries between 1960 and 2010. Our results suggest that dictatorial regimes redistribute more than democracies through fiscal policies. Moreover, our analysis suggests that the positive impact of the dictatorial regime on fiscal redistribution is mitigating after some years of regime’s stability and finally becomes negative. Our empirical findings remain robust across several different specifications and estimation techniques.
Payments for ecosystem services - ISSuES anD PRO-POOR OPPORTunITIES fOR DEvElOPmEnT aSSISTancE

Late 2005, Danida asked researchers from the natural resources and poverty research unit at Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) to undertake a review of experiences to date regarding payments for ecosystem services with particular emphasis on identifying pro-poor options for development assistance support. This report summarizes the main findings of this review, including a list of approximately 200 references collected as part of the study (Annex, also available at http://www.diis.dk/graphics/_Staff/hmr/pes_literature_2007.pdf ), and identifies four main options for development assistance in support of pro-poor payments for ecosystem services.
CloudFence: Enabling Users to Audit the Use of their Cloud-Resident Data

One of the primary concerns of users of cloud-based services and applications is the risk of unauthorized access to their private information. For the common setting in which the infrastructure provider and the online service provider are different, end users have to trust their data to both parties, although they interact solely with the service provider. This paper presents CloudFence, a framework that allows users to independently audit the treatment of their private data by third-party online services, through the intervention of the cloud provider that hosts these services. CloudFence is based on a fine-grained data flow tracking platform exposed by the cloud provider to both developers of cloud-based applications, as well as their users. Besides data auditing for end users, CloudFence allows service providers to confine the use of sensitive data in well-defined domains using data tracking at arbitrary granularity, offering additional protection against inadvertent leaks and unauthorized access. The results of our experimental evaluation with real-world applications, including an e-store platform and a cloud-based backup service, demonstrate that CloudFence requires just a few changes to existing application code, while it can detect and prevent a wide range of security breaches, ranging from data leakage attacks using SQL injection, to personal data disclosure due to missing or erroneously implemented access control checks.
Link group management for carrier-grade wireless mesh networks

Their distributed nature makes mesh networks easy to deploy and robust against node and link failures. However, distributing functionality adds high signalling overhead and delays. Forming resource clusters in wireless mesh networks is a well-known concept to alleviate these issues. This article describes a link group system for carrier-grade wireless mesh networks that provides absolute QoS guarantees. In order to support heterogeneous wireless mesh networks, the system interface of this link group system is implemented as a technology independent interface. Performance evaluations show a good fairness without requiring per-flow queuing, a good overall system performance, and small packet delays in multi-hop setups, which makes these link groups an important component of carrier-grade wireless mesh networks.
Regional Economic Integration and Its Impacts on Growth, Poverty and Income Distribution: The Case of Vietnam

AbstractTrade liberalization and regional economic integration have recently accelerated in East Asia, where several free trade areas have been established or are under negotiation. After acquiring ASEAN membership in 1995, Vietnam has signed a bilateral trade package with the United States and participated in the China–ASEAN free trade area. This paper attempts to analyze impacts on Vietnam of ongoing regional economic integration, focussing on growth, poverty reductions and income distribution. For this purpose, we have constructed a global linked Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model and made use of GTAP database version 6.0 andVietnam's living standards surveys. The simulation analysis shows that regional economic integration generally has positive impacts; and it both enhances welfare and improves income distribution for Vietnam. Household income and consumption increase, and poor and rural household groups benefit more than urban high income groups.