Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Misexpression of miR482, miR1512, and miR1515 Increases Soybean Nodulation1[W][OA]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of plant growth and development. Previously, we identified a group of conserved and novel miRNA families from soybean (Glycine max) roots. Many of these miRNAs are specifically induced during soybean-Bradyrhizobium japonicum interactions. Here, we examined the gene expression levels of six families of novel miRNAs and investigated their functions in nodule development. We used northern-blot analyses to study the tissue specificity and time course of miRNA expression. Transgenic expression of miR482, miR1512, and miR1515 led to significant increases of nodule numbers, while root length, lateral root density, and the number of nodule primordia were not altered in all tested miRNA lines. We also found differential expression of these miRNAs in nonnodulating and supernodulating soybean mutants. The expression levels of 22 predicted target genes regulated by six novel miRNAs were studied by real-time polymerase chain reaction and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. These results suggested that miRNAs play important roles in soybean nodule development.
Prevalence and Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Victims of Violence Applying for State Compensation

Many studies have focused on the predictive value of victims’ emotions experienced shortly after violence exposure to identify those vulnerable for development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, many victims remain unidentified during the initial recovery phase, yet may still be highly in need of psychological help after substantial time since victimization has passed. Professionals involved in the settlement of civil damage claims filed by victims of violence may play an important role in referring victims with current psychological problems to appropriate treatment services, as they are likely to maintain relations with victims until all compensation possibilities have been exhausted. As an exploratory examination of this topic, the current study investigates the potential utility of file characteristics as predictors of chronic PTSD among 686 victims of violence who had applied for state compensation with the Dutch Victim Compensation Fund (DVCF) in 2006. Identification of significant predictors is preceded by estimating prevalence rates of PTSD. Results indicate that approximately 1 of 2 victims applying for state compensation in the Netherlands still have PTSD many years after victimization and claim settlement. Age, female sex, time since victimization, acquaintance with the perpetrator, violence-related hospitalization, and compensation for immaterial damage prove to be predictive of PTSD, although female sex and immaterial damage compensation fail to reach significance after adjusting for recalled peritraumatic distress severity. Implications for policy practice as well as strengths and limitations of the study are discussed.
Stress, time use and gender

This paper studies the gender aspect of stress within a Scandinavian welfare state regime with high employment rates for both women and men. By applying an economic model, an extended model and a stress-level model, we find that higher incomes lead to stress among women, somewhat confirming findings for Australia, Germany, Canada, Korea, and the US. The number of working hours on the labour market, however, has no impact on stress. In terms of employed women, household work acts as de-stressors, whereas rush hour pressure, which is introduced for the first time here, acts as stressors. Moreover, the wife’s contribution to household work almost increases the husband’s feeling of being “always” stressed, while the husband’s contribution implies that the wife is nearly less stressed. These results underline the importance of including financial as well as cross-partner information when analysing the presence of stress.
Crises and Liquidity: Evidence and Interpretation

In a large panel of countries, we find that less liquid countries are more likely to default on their external debt. Specifically, for given total external debt, the probability of a crisis is increasing in the proportion of short-term debt and of debt service due and decreasing in foreign exchange reserves. This correlation, however, is consistent with a standard model of optimal default and need not be ascribed to self-fulfilling creditor runs. Also, the correlation with short-term debt appears to be driven by joint endogeneity. The policy implications are discussed.
Functional Consequences of Alterations to Thr247, Pro248, Glu340, Asp813, Arg819, and Arg822 at the Interfaces between Domain P, M3, and L6-7 of Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Ca2+-ATPase

Point mutants with alterations to amino acid residues Thr247, Pro248, Glu340, Asp813, Arg819, and Arg822 of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase were analyzed by transient kinetic measurements. In the Ca2+-ATPase crystal structures, most of these residues participate in a hydrogen-bonding network between the phosphorylation domain (domain P), the third transmembrane helix (M3), and the cytoplasmic loop connecting the sixth and the seventh transmembrane helices (L6-7). In several of the mutants, a pronounced phosphorylation “overshoot” was observed upon reaction of the Ca2+-bound enzyme with ATP, because of accumulation of dephosphoenzyme at steady state. Mutations of Glu340 and its partners, Thr247 and Arg822, in the bonding network markedly slowed the Ca2+ binding transition (E2 → E1 → Ca2E1) as well as Ca2+ dissociation from Ca2+ site II back toward the cytosol but did not affect the apparent affinity for vanadate. These mutations may have caused a slowing, in both directions, of the conformational change associated directly with Ca2+ interaction at Ca2+ site II. Because mutation of Asp813 inhibited the Ca2+ binding transition, but not Ca2+ dissociation, and increased the apparent affinity for vanadate, the effect on the Ca2+ binding transition seems in this case to be exerted by slowing the E2 → E1 conformational change. Because the rate was not significantly enhanced by a 10-fold increase of the Ca2+ concentration, the slowing is not the consequence of reduced affinity of any pre-binding site for Ca2+. Furthermore, the mutations interfered in specific ways with the phosphoenzyme processing steps of the transport cycle; the transition from ADP-sensitive phosphoenzyme to ADP-insensitive phosphoenzyme (Ca2E1P → E2P) was accelerated by mutations perturbing the interactions mediated by Glu340 and Asp813 and inhibited by mutation of Pro248, and mutations of Thr247 induced charge-specific changes of the rate of dephosphorylation of E2P.
The logic of causation and the risk of paralytic poliomyelitis for an American child

Beginning in January 1997, American immunization policy allowed parents and physicians to elect one of three approved infant vaccination strategies for preventing poliomyelitis. Although the three strategies likely have different outcomes with respect to prevention of paralytic poliomyelitis, the extreme rarity of the disease in the USA prevents any controlled comparison. In this paper, a formal inferential logic, originally described by Donald Rubin, is applied to the vaccination problem. Assumptions and indirect evidence are used to overcome the inability to observe the same subjects under varying conditions to allow the inference of causality from non-randomized observations. Using available epidemiologic information and explicit assumptions, it is possible to project the risk of paralytic polio for infants immunized with oral polio vaccine (1·3 cases per million vaccinees), inactivated polio vaccine (0·54 cases per million vaccinees), or a sequential schedule (0·54–0·92 cases per million vaccinees).
Bounding Treatment Effects with Contaminated and Censored Data: Assessing the Impact of Early Childbearing on Children

Abstract Empirical researchers commonly invoke instrumental variable (IV) assumptions to identify treatment effects. This paper considers what can be learned under two specific violations of those assumptions: contaminated and corrupted data. Either of these violations prevents point identification, but sharp bounds of the treatment effect remain feasible. In an applied example, random miscarriages are an IV for women’s age at first birth. However, the inability to separate random miscarriages from behaviorally induced miscarriages (those caused by smoking and drinking) results in a contaminated sample. Furthermore, censored child outcomes produce a corrupted sample. Despite these limitations, the bounds demonstrate that delaying the age at first birth for the current population of non-black teenage mothers reduces their first-born child’s well-being.
The Baseball Draft

This article provides an analysis of the baseball draft. The objective is to determine whether the ability to recognize talent, that is, a player who will reach the major leagues, varies with the position of the player across different baseball clubs or with the level of schooling attoined by the player when he is drafted. The data set is a choice-based sample, and the author uses econometric techniques specifically developed for such samples. It is found that in the long term, there is no statistically significant difference between clubs in terms of their ability to find major league prospects. Also, the value of one attribute, namely college experience, was underestimated by the market for a substantial period of time. Eventually, however, the value of college experience was assimilated by the market.
Shared hesitance, joint success: Denmark, Finland, and Sweden in the European Union policy process

This paper analyses the roles of Denmark, Finland, and Sweden in the area of EU legislative decision-making. After reviewing the literature, a research design is presented which incorporates information on the policy preferences of these three political states for seventy recent EU legislative decisions. The findings of the analysis are that the positions of the Nordics are quite similar and that these three states are rather successful. Denmark is doing slightly worse than Finland and Sweden Sanneke Kuipers, Department of Public Administration, Leiden University, PO Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands. email: kuiperss@fsw.leidenuniv. nl
Social Surplus Maximization Model to Find an Optimal Urban Form and Policy Package

In this paper, a social surplus maximization model to find an optimal urban form and a policy package is developed. Its social surplus function is defined by three factors: 1) household's EV (equivalent variation). 2) vehicle's CO2 emission cost, and 3) changes in land rent. The behaviors of households, developers and landowners in the model are formulated by using a Computable Urban Economic Model (CUE model). To solve this maximization problem, an algorism is developed by using a modified Fowkes's method. Furthermore, the model is applied to Nagoya. Japan in order to show the model's usefulness.
Glycemic Control in a Sample of Black and White Clinic Patients with NIDDM

OBJECTIVE To compare glycemic control of black and white patients under treatment for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Medical records of patients with NIDDM were reviewed at 19 of 24 clinics or health centers in a specified area of north central Florida. Data were abstracted from the charts of all non-Hispanic black (n = 248) or white (n = 280) patients who met preset eligibility criteria. RESULTS The mean ± SD age was 58 ± 14 years; the mean ± SD duration of diabetes was 9 ± 7.5 years. Of 528 patients, 220 were treated with oral hypoglycemic agents, 269 were treated with insulin, 28 were treated with diet alone, and 11 were treated with a combination of oral agents, diet, and insulin. Glycosylated hemoglobin was ≥8% for 47% of black women, 41% of black men, 38% of white men, and 29% of white women. The less favorable control status of the black women persisted within categories of age (40–59 years or ≥60 years), treatment (insulin or oral hypoglycemic agents), time since diagnosis (less than versus greater than or equal to the median of 7 years), and obesity (noted versus not noted in chart). In multiple logistic regression analyses controlling simultaneously for these variables, the odds (95% confidence interval [CI]), compared with white women, of having glycosylated hemoglobin ≥8% were 2.2 (1.4, 3.4) for black women and 1.5 (0.8, 2.9) and 1.4 (0.8, 2.5) for black and white men, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Black women were more likely than white women or men to have glycosylated hemoglobin ≥8%. This difference was not readily explained by age, type of treatment, time since diagnosis, or a notation of obesity in the medical record, although an effect of obesity cannot be excluded on this basis.
The Association of Mental Health Conditions With Employment, Interpersonal, and Subjective Functioning After Intimate Partner Violence

This study explored the associations of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and depressive symptoms with employment, social support, and subjective functioning in 100 women who were seeking mental health assistance after intimate partner violence. Depressive disorders showed significant associations with low levels of social support, diminished self-esteem, reduced quality of life, and elevated negative social problem-solving orientation. PTSD severity was significantly associated with low self-esteem and elevated negative problem orientation, while severity of GAD was only associated with negative problem orientation. Results are discussed in light of current service models for women who have experienced intimate partner violence.
Tagging the triggers: an empirical analysis of information events prompting sell-side analyst reports

In order to fulfill their function as information intermediaries in capital markets, sell-side equity analysts regularly issue updated forecasts on the stocks they cover. Quite often, the publication of (revised) analysts’ reports is subject to certain trigger events such as the publication of annual figures or the announcement of an upcoming merger. In this exploratory study, we develop a two-step procedure to identify the core events that trigger the release of analysts’ reports on companies that constitute the Dow Jones EuroSTOXX50 index during the three-year period from 2004 to 2006. These can be grouped into Financial Disclosures, Corporate Management, Corporate Strategy, Business Activity, Operating Environment and Share. The results suggest that sell-side analysts attach great importance to non-financial information events when transforming their earnings estimates into valuation forecasts and stock recommendations. Additionally, we link the information events identified as reasons of issuance to the summary measures disclosed in the reports in order to investigate the relationship between the report trigger and associated analyst reaction. Our findings indicate that the forecasting activity of sell-side analysts is greatly influenced by forward-looking statements made by management, strategy-related news flow, and non-company-specific information relating to the covered firm’s operating environment.
Improving Twitter Sentiment Classification Using Topic-Enriched Multi-Prototype Word Embeddings

It has been shown that learning distributed word representations is highly useful for Twitter sentiment classification.Most existing models rely on a single distributed representation for each word.This is problematic for sentiment classification because words are often polysemous and each word can contain different sentiment polarities under different topics.We address this issue by learning topic-enriched multi-prototype word embeddings (TMWE). In particular, we develop two neural networks which 1) learn word embeddings that better capture tweet context by incorporating topic information, and 2) learn topic-enriched multiple prototype embeddings for each word.Experiments on Twitter sentiment benchmark datasets in SemEval 2013 show that TMWE outperforms the top system with hand-crafted features, and the current best neural network model.
Wage-Pension Trade-offs in Collective Agreements

Analyzing 98 matched collective agreements and flat benefit pension plans in Ontario in 1984, the authors find evidence of a significant trade-off between wages and an actuarially constructed summary measure of the expected future pension costs for employers. With respect to the separate components of the pension plans, they find a significant trade-off between wages and the main item that is bargained over—the flat benefit rate—but not between wages and most of the early and postponed retirement options. These results obtain when the pension variables are specified as a proportion of wages, to capture the assumption that the generosity of pension plans is reflected in replacement rates, and when simultaneous equation procedures are used to account for the possible endogeneity of pensions; the trade-off disappears, however, when the pension variables are specified in dollar amounts.
Cascaded Feature Network for Semantic Segmentation of RGB-D Images

Fully convolutional network (FCN) has been successfully applied in semantic segmentation of scenes represented with RGB images. Images augmented with depth channel provide more understanding of the geometric information of the scene in the image. The question is how to best exploit this additional information to improve the segmentation performance. ,,In this paper, we present a neural network with multiple branches for segmenting RGB-D images. Our approach is to use the available depth to split the image into layers with common visual characteristic of objects/scenes, or common “scene-resolution”. We introduce context-aware receptive field (CaRF) which provides a better control on the relevant contextual information of the learned features. Equipped with CaRF, each branch of the network semantically segments relevant similar scene-resolution, leading to a more focused domain which is easier to learn. Furthermore, our network is cascaded with features from one branch augmenting the features of adjacent branch. We show that such cascading of features enriches the contextual information of each branch and enhances the overall performance. The accuracy that our network achieves outperforms the stateof-the-art methods on two public datasets.
Does the Stock Market Rationally Reflect Fundamental Values

This paper examines the power of statistical tests commonly used to evaluate the efficiency of speculative markets. It shows that these tests have very low power. Market valuations can differ substantially and persistently from the rational expectation of the present value of cash flows without leaving statistically discernible traces in the pattern of ex-post returns. This observation implies that speculation is unlikely to ensure rational valuations, since similar problems of identification plague both financial economists and would be speculators. THE PROPOSITION THAT securities markets are efficient forms the basis for most research in financial economics. A voluminous literature has developed supporting this hypothesis. Jensen [10] calls it the best established empirical fact in economics.1 Indeed, apparent anomalies such as the discounts on closed end mutual funds and the success of trading rules based on earnings announcements are treated as indications of the failures of models specifying equilibrium returns, rather than as evidence against the hypothesis of market efficiency.2 Recently the Efficient Markets Hypothesis and the notions connected with it have provided the basis for a great deal of research in macroeconomics. This research has typically assumed that asset prices are in some sense rationally related to economic realities. Despite the widespread allegiance to the notion of market efficiency, a number of authors have suggested that certain asset prices are not rationally related to economic realities. Modigliani and Cohn [14] suggest that the stock market is very substantially undervalued because of inflation illusion. A similar claim regarding bond prices is put forward in Summers [20]. Brainard, Shoven and Weiss [4] find that the currently low level of the stock market could not be rationally related to economic realities. Shiller [16, 17] concludes that both bond and stock prices are far more volatile than can be justified on the basis of real economic events. Arrow [2] has suggested that psychological models of "irrational decision making" of the type suggested by Tversky and Kahneman [22] can help to explain behavior in speculative markets. These types of claims are frequently
Sarbanes–Oxley Act and Patterns in Stock Returns Around Executive Stock Option Exercise Disclosures

type="main" xml:id="acfi12100-abs-0001"> We document negative stock returns and elevated trading volumes around executives’ early option exercise disclosures post-SOX, but not pre-SOX. This stock price reaction is incomplete, and the negative stock price drift is smaller post-SOX compared to pre-SOX. We also show effects of media coverage in the stock price response to exercise disclosures in the post-SOX period. These findings provide evidence that the requirement mandated by SOX to disclose executives’ stock option exercises within two business days, and the increased media coverage, improves investors’ ability to incorporate into stock prices in a timely fashion the information conveyed by these exercises.
Information transmission around block trades on the Spanish stock exchange

This study investigates the informational effects of large transactions, or Block Trades (BT), in the Spanish Stock Exchange (SSE). In the open market period, this topic was not facilitated in the SSE as it was in other markets until 1998. The SSE thus provides a special environment for analysing the information transmission of these specific transactions. Easley and O’Hara (1987) show how BTs significantly increase the probability market participants attach to the existence of private information. Seppi (1990) develops a model where, under not very restricted circumstances, information-based BTs are traded in a partial-pooling equilibrium. It is assumed that information can be better reflected by changes in true asset value, proxied by the midpoint of bid-ask best quotes. Therefore, we will look at changing true asset value orders instead of trades. Three different effects are studied around BTs: price, liquidity and information transmission. To capture them, three different endogenous variables are considered: true asset returns, relative spreads and adverse selection spread component. With this approach, no clear effects of BTs are found. The main result of the study is that there seems to be an increase in information asymmetries when one looks at the adverse selection spread component in some of the different subsample classifications (buyer, seller and sweeping BT), but there is no significant permanent effect on returns. This result could be related to insiders trading in the market. In sharp contrast with adverse selection evidence, a temporary decrease in bid/ask spread around BTs is also observed. These changes reflect temporary liquidity effects related to other spread components (order processing costs and inventory costs).