Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Physiological Activation of Cholinergic Inputs Controls Associative Synaptic Plasticity via Modulation of Endocannabinoid Signaling

Cholinergic neuromodulation controls long-term synaptic plasticity underlying memory, learning, and adaptive sensory processing. However, the mechanistic interaction of cholinergic, neuromodulatory inputs with signaling pathways underlying long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) remains poorly understood. Here, we show that physiological activation of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) controls the size and sign of associative long-term synaptic plasticity via interaction with endocannabinoid signaling. Our findings indicate that synaptic or pharmacological activation of postsynaptic M1/M3 converts postsynaptic Hebbian LTP to presynaptic anti-Hebbian LTD in principal neurons of the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN). This conversion is also dependent on NMDA receptor (NMDAR) activation and rises in postsynaptic Ca2+. While NMDAR activation and Ca2+ elevation lead to LTP, when these events are coordinated with simultaneous activation of M1/M3 mAChRs, anti-Hebbian LTD is induced. Anti-Hebbian LTD is mediated by a postsynaptic G-protein-coupled receptor intracellular signaling cascade that activates phospholipase C and that leads to enhanced endocannabinoid signaling. Moreover, the interaction between postsynaptic M1/M3 mAChRs and endocannabinoid signaling is input specific, as it occurs only in the parallel fiber inputs, but not in the auditory nerve inputs innervating the same DCN principal neurons. Based on the extensive distribution of cholinergic and endocannabinoid signaling, we suggest that their interaction may provide a general mechanism for dynamic, context-dependent modulation of associative synaptic plasticity.
Interference within the Focus of Attention: Working Memory Tasks Reflect More than Temporary Maintenance We Thank Candice Morey for Sharing Her Visual Arrays Tasks with Our Lab. We Additionally Thank

One approach to understanding working memory (WM) holds that individual differences in WM capacity arise from the amount of information a person can store in WM over short periods of time. This view is especially prevalent in WM research conducted with the visual arrays task. Within this tradition, many researchers have concluded that the average person can maintain approximately 4 items in WM. The present study challenges this interpretation by demonstrating that performance on the visual arrays task is subject to time-related factors that are associated with retrieval from long-term memory. Experiment 1 demonstrates that memory for an array does not decay as a product of absolute time, which is consistent with both maintenance-and retrieval-based explanations of visual arrays performance. Experiment 2 introduced a manipulation of temporal discriminability by varying the relative spacing of trials in time. We found that memory for a target array was significantly influenced by its temporal compression with, or isolation from, a preceding trial. Subsequent experiments extend these effects to sub-capacity set sizes and demonstrate that changes in the size of k are meaningful to prediction of performance on other measures of WM capacity as well as general fluid intelligence. We conclude that performance on the visual arrays task does not reflect a multi-item storage system but instead measures a person's ability to accurately retrieve information in the face of proactive interference. Working memory (WM) is often conceptualized as a cognitive system that provides dynamic storage and processing of information in the service of ongoing cognition (Miyake & Shah, 1999). For researchers who emphasize storage as the mechanism that gives rise to individual differences in WM capacity has at least two critical properties that differentiate it from long-term memory (LTM). First, within WM, the focus of attention 1 is used to maintain information in a fully activated state (e.g., Cowan, 1999, 2001). Thus, information that is stored in WM is protected from retrieval-based competition (i.e., proactive interference). Second, WM has a fixed capacity of about four chunks of information (Cowan, 2001, 2010; Luck & Vogel, 1997). This estimate is assumed to vary among individuals (3–5 chunks) and to account for documented links between WM capacity and novel reasoning ability (i. Much of the evidence for maintenance-based perspectives of WM has been collected via the visual arrays task (e.g., Luck & Vogel, 1997). This simple, but effective, computer-based measure of WM capacity begins with the brief …
Quality and Quantity Competition

This article develops an oligopoly model where both prices and quality levels are determined at the equilibrium. Multiple symmetric equilibria arise when the distribution of consumers according to their willingness to pay is not uniform and more than one firm participates in the market. With a uniform distribution, we demonstrate that the impact of entry is to reduce average quality and to increase aggregate output. The implications for social welfare are ambiguous.
Exploratory research on internet-enabled work exchanges and employability. Analysis and synthesis of qualitative evidence on crowdsourcing for work, funding and volunteers

This report provides analysis of qualitative research into the relationship between the internet-enabled exchanges mentioned and employability. In doing so, it focuses on three areas of crowdsourcing: using the internet to access funding (CSF); using the internet to access and undertake paid work (usually remotely) (CSW); and using the internet to access unpaid work in the form of reciprocal exchanges or volunteering opportunities (which may be undertaken remotely), especially with the aim of developing skills for paid work (CSV).
Agricultural and Trade Policy Reform and Inequality: The Distributive Effects of Direct Payments to German Farmers under the EU's New Common Agricultural Policy

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union has been in a process of reform since the early 1990s. As a result of reforms, agricultural market regulations have become more liberal and direct payments have been introduced which are to a large extent decoupled from production. In this paper, we analyze the effects of the direct payments to farmers on inequality of profits in German agriculture. For this purpose, we decompose measures of absolute and relative inequality in total farm profits into the partial effects of the direct payments and all other profit determinants. Key results of the analysis are that the system of direct payments under the New CAP accounts for about one third of the observed inequality in family farms and for almost two thirds of inequality in the large incorporated farms.
Segmental quantitative analysis of myocardial contrast echocardiography images using a bullseye representation

In this study, we describe a new method for representing myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) images, which provides an integrated and objective evaluation of left ventricular (LV) myocardial perfusion. MCE images were obtained in parasternal short axis views at mitral valve, papillary muscles and apical levels in an animal model of acute myocardial infarction. A software was developed to analyse MCE images, providing: 1) manual definition of myocardial borders; 2) automated division of LV in 16 segments; 2) quantitation of blood flow and texture analysis in each LV segment; 3) Color and numerical quantitation of blood flow distribution and texture entropy for each segment displayed as a bulls-eye representation of the 16 LV segments. This bull-eye representation provides additional quantitative information regarding global distribution of perfusion.
Students' level of satisfaction with an on-line seminar based on a social-constructivist pedagogic design

The research reported in This work is part of a 2-years evaluation activity of an on-line seminar based on a social-constructivist pedagogic design. Its purpose is to investigate the level of students' satisfaction with five different dimensions of the seminar, namely the organization and clarity, the pedagogic approach, the interaction within learning groups, the delivery platform, and their learning experiences. The relationships between the students' level of satisfaction with these dimensions and their gender, age, professional category, and prior experience in online courses are further explored.
Expectations and Perceptions of Benefits, Barriers, and Success in Public Sector Knowledge Networks

As public programs become more complex and interdependent, their effectiveness increasingly relies on interorganizational networks in which knowledge and information are the main currencies of interaction. This paper reports the results of a study of seven knowledge-networking projects in New York State government. Each project was followed for 3 years as a case study. In addition, the participants took part in two surveys that gathered expectations at the beginning of the study and perceptions of actual experience near the end. The surveys focus on the benefits, barriers, and extent of success associated with knowledge and information sharing. The results show that prior expectations changed as a result of experience. After engaging in the projects for more than 2 years, participants perceived that achieved benefits of knowledge networking were not as great as they expected and the barriers were not as formidable. In addition, the survey shows that organizational and individual networking successes are separable from project success. Perceived technological barriers appear to limit individual networking success. Perceived policy and legal barriers appear to constrain the achievement of substantive project goals. Expected and perceived organizational barriers were negatively associated with all three kinds of success.
A larger audience, please! — Encouraging people to listen to a guide robot

Tour guidance is a common task of social robots. Such a robot must be able to encourage the participation of people who are not directly interacting with it. We are particularly interested in encouraging people to overhear its interaction with others, since it has often been observed that even people who hesitate to interact with a robot are willing to observe its activity. To encourage such participation as bystanders, we developed a robot that walks backwards based on observations of human tour guides. Our developed system uses a robust human tracking system that enables a robot to guide people by walking forward/backward and allows us to scrutinize people's behavior after the experiment. We conducted a field experiment to compare the ratios of overhearing in “walking forward” and “walking backward. ” The experimental results revealed that in fact people do more often overhear the robot's conversation in the “walking backward” condition.
PENGARUH PENGANGGARAN PARTISIPATIF PADA SENJANGAN ANGGARAN DENGAN KETIDAKPASTIAN LINGKUNGAN DAN KOMITMEN ORGANISASI SEBAGAI VARIABEL PEMODERASI

This study aims to determine the "Effects of Participative Budget on budgetary slack with Environmental Uncertainty and Organizational Commitment as moderating variables (Case Study on PT (Persero) Varuna Tirta Prakasya). This study was conducted in all branches of PT (Persero) Varuna Tirta Prakasya located in Indonesia. Sampling technique used is stratified random sampling. Data collection methods used were questionnaire and interview methods. The results showed a significant positive effect of participative budgeting on budgetary slack. Environmental uncertainty is not able to moderate the relationship between participative budgeting on budgetary slack, and organizational commitment are able to moderate the relationship between participative budgeting on budgetary slack.
Integrated approach of nutritional and molecular epidemiology, mineralogical and chemical pollutant characterisation: the protocol of a cross-sectional study in women

Introduction Environmentally-related health and disease are the result of the exposome, the totality of a person's environmental exposures, from all sources and routes, across their lifespan. Epigenetic phenomena, including DNA methylation, can be potentially modified by environmental and lifestyle factors, and result in environmental reprogramming of the genome for exposed individuals and for future generations of offspring. Objective The objective of the project is to evaluate the risk of DNA hypomethylation due to air pollution, Mediterranean diet adherence, folate intake, and demographic and socioeconomic factors, in healthy women living in the metropolitan area of Catania, Italy. Methods and analysis Non-pregnant healthy women will be enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Sociodemographic, lifestyle and dietary intake information will be collected. LINE-1 methylation will be measured by pyrosequencing. The participants' home addresses will be geocoded and each woman will be assigned to the closest monitoring station for particulate matter (PM) exposure assessment. Mineralogical-chemical characterisation of PM and cellular model assays will be performed. An integrated approach will be designed to estimate the combined possible effect of air pollution, Mediterranean diet adherence, folate intake and other lifestyle characteristics on LINE-1 methylation levels. Ethics and dissemination The project has been approved by the ethics committees of the involved institution and funded by the University of Catania (Finanziamento della Ricerca, FIR 2014). All participants will be fully informed of the purpose and procedures of the study, and signed written consents will be obtained. All the data collected will be treated confidentially and analysed in an aggregate and anonymous way. The results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and communicated to local public health agencies, in order to provide essential information for timely and effective public health action.
Estimating The Cyclically Adjusted Budget Balance For The Romanian Economy. A Robust Approach

This paper provides estimates for the structural fiscal balance for the Romanian economy over the period 1998-2008. The calculation of the structural fiscal balance is useful, since it provides a clear picture of the fiscal stance of the economy and it is essential in the context of a medium term fiscal framework. In order to ensure the robustness of the estimation, we employed two methodologies for the computation of the elasticities of various categories of government revenues and expenditures with respect to the output gap. The two approaches issued similar results, the overall average budget sensitivity being equal to 0.285 and 0.290, respectively. The amplitude of the cyclical budget balance is around 1% of GDP. After constant improvement, the structural balance worsened in 2008, due mainly to the current crisis.
THE EFFECTS OF TAXES AND RATES OF RETURN ON FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN THE UNITED STATES: SOME ECONOMETRIC COMMENTS

IN (1988) a recent has article presented of this some Journal econometric , Young (1988) has presented some econometric evidence on the effects of domestic taxes and rates of return on foreign investment in the United States for the period 195384, using a modified version of the Hartman model (1984). 1 Young regresses foreign direct investment in the United States (I) on the after-tax rate of return actually realized by the foreign investors in the United States (r(l t)), overall after-tax rate of return on U.S. capital applicable to foreigners (r'(l t)), net-of-tax rate of return received by domestic investors relative to that received by foreigners on the same investment in the U.S., ((1 t')/(l t)) and on U.S. GNP. In some of Young's regression equations, there is the possible presence of autocorrelation between the residuals in the time-series data used. In this note, an attempt is made to adjust for the presence of autocorrelation using an alternative estimator and the resulting findings are contrasted with Young's conclusions. Young's results are presented in Table 1. Standard errors are presented in parentheses. Strictly speaking, he has not tested for the presence of autocorrelation in his equation. If one of the regressors is the lagged value of the dependent variable, then the application of Durbin's h-test or m-test is appropriate to detect autocorrelation [See Durbin (1970). ] It is evident from Table 1, that autocorrelation is present in equations II and III. For equation V, using the m-test the null-hypothesis of no autocorrelation cannot be rejected. However, applying the Lagrange multiplier test [see Engle (1984)], we can reject the null-hypothesis of no autocorrelation at the 25 percent level. The usual Cochrane-Orcutt procedure is not employed here to correct for auto*Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska 68178. correlation because it has been found that in equations with lagged dependent variables, if the Cochrane-Orcutt procedure is used, each of the estimated parameters of the explanatory variables will be inconsistent and under certain circumstances they may even be biased. [See Aschheim and Tavlas (1988). ] As a remedy, the maximum likelihood procedure (ML) is recommended. The maximum likelihood estimation (ML) has been used to correct for autocorrelation in equations II, III and for comparison ML estimates of equation V and VI and the results are reported in Table 2. 3 Since the maximum likelihood estimators are more efficient than the ordinary least-squares estimators, most of the ML standard errors are smaller than
CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISONS OF CORPORATE INCOME TAXES

We use publicly available financial statement information for 11,602 public corporations from 82 countries from 1988-2009 in an attempt to isolate the impact of domicile on corporate taxes. We find that the country in which the parent of a multinational is located and to a lesser extent its subsidiaries are located substantially affects its worldwide effective tax rate (ETR). Japanese firms always face the highest ETRs. U.S. multinationals are among the highest taxed. Multinationals based in tax havens face the lowest taxes. We find that ETRs have been falling over the last two decades; however, the ordinal rank from high-tax countries to low-tax countries has changed little. We also find little difference between the ETRs of multinationals and domestic-only firms. Besides enhancing our knowledge about international taxes, these findings should provide some empirical underpinning for ongoing policy debates about the taxation of multinationals.
A Late Presentation of a Fatal Disease: Juvenile Hemochromatosis

Juvenile hemochromatosis is a rare and severe form of hereditary hemochromatosis. We report the case of a 39-year-old female who presented with heart failure and cirrhosis from previously unrecognized juvenile hemochromatosis. This is the latest presentation described in the literature. An important clue to the diagnosis was a history of amenorrhea since the age of 20 that had never been investigated. The patient died of intractable heart failure two months after the initial presentation. Juvenile hemochromatosis should be suspected in a young patient with endocrine or cardiac manifestations. Early diagnosis is crucial since phlebotomy can improve the prognosis and delay or prevent progression to heart failure and cirrhosis.
Convergence innovation in railway technology: how ERL of Malaysia attained its co-evolution structure for systemic development

By examining the co-evolution structure between two processes – accumulation and assimilation – of Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd's (ERL) system over the past decade, this paper explores the transformation of ERL of Malaysia; from a mere user of Siemens's technology, to Siemens's technology partner capable of attaining state-of-the-art operating systems for a high-speed rail (HSR) technological system. Both accumulation and assimilation processes of ERL are examined in detail to elucidate the dynamic process of the ‘multilateral model’ of a HSR system. The approaches have led ERL to witness convergence innovation between Siemens's technology and ERL's knowledge in operating systems. The convergence innovation between the two processes has enabled ERL to venture into engineering consulting services, exporting innovative operating solutions to other firms abroad. The strategic approaches discussed in this paper may thus provide policy lessons for other firms in developing countries aspiring to emulate the upgrading process of rail technology.
The linkages among intellectual capital, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility

Purpose – The purpose of present study is to explore the linkages among Intellectual Capital (IC), Corporate Governance (CG) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through direct and indirect empirical inquiry. Design/methodology/approach – The main setting is designed for exploring the relationship among IC, CG and CSR. Therefore, these three constructs are examined directly in which their statistical relation is evaluated among themselves and indirectly in which their possible effects are examined onto firms’ unsystematic factors such as cash flow, short-term solvency, long-term solvency, profitability and asset utilization. Findings – Empirical investigation is conducted on manufacturing firms listed in Istanbul Stock Exchange from 2007 to 2011. Empirical results do support a positive relationship among these important constructs. Research limitations/implications – The empirical research is carried out in manufacturing firms only. Originality/value – IC, CG and CSR are three demanding research area.
Measuring Resource Utilization in the Labor Market

In the U.S. labor market unemployed individuals that are actively looking for work are more than three times as likely to become employed as those individuals that are not actively looking for work and are considered to be out of the labor force (OLF). Yet, on average, every month twice as many people make the transition from OLF to employment than do from unemployment to employment. These observations on labor market transitions suggest that the standard unemployment rate and its extensions proposed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics are both too coarse and too narrow as measures of resource utilization in the labor market. These measures are too narrow since they exclude a large part of the population that is potentially employable, and they are too coarse since they assume the same labor force attachment for all nonemployed individuals. We construct a measure of resource utilization in the labor market, a nonemployment index, that is both comprehensive and accounts for differences in labor force attachment. Prior to 2007, the standard unemployment rate was highly correlated with our nonemployment index but, during the recession of 2007--09 and its aftermath, the standard unemployment rate overstated the extent of underutilization in the labor market.