Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Labour Migration to the Construction Sector in India and its Impact on Rural Poverty

The present article studies the impact of migration to the construction sector on rural poverty in India based on field survey. The survey has been carried out in two phases, the first phase involving the survey of construction workers in National Capital Region and the second phase comparing the well-being of migrant households with non migrant households in selected source villages. The study finds that at destination, workers have poor living and working conditions, lack citizenship rights, entitlements and voice. However, at the cost of hardship, low consumption levels, and possibly a smaller working life span, they manage to save a good portion of their income which they remit or take back home. At origin, migrant households report higher expenditure on consumption, residential housing, and children’s education, as well as some other assets. These differences are a result of higher employment and wage incomes among migrants. However, we were not able to control for differences in initial conditions, and life cycle and other issues, which influence both participation in migration, as well as long-term impacts.
Are Belgian hospitals prepared for an H5N1-pandemic?

Objective Virulent airborne diseases can be a real burden to a nation's health system. The most recent threat is the fear of a mutation-induced H5N1-influenza pandemic. We studied whether Belgian hospitals are able to deal with H5N1-influenza infected patients in the case of a pandemic. Many patients, including children, may require artificial ventilation within 48 h after admission. Methods A survey aimed at determining ‘availability and preparedness’ was sent by e-mail to the different Belgian Emergency Departments. Results and discussion Sixty-five hospitals were finally included. The amount of patients being potentially admitted is limited, owing to the reduced number of intensive care beds equipped with automatic ventilators. Furthermore, the number of available intensive care beds for children is still lower than for adult patients. The number of mortuary places, in the case of a catastrophe, is also insufficient. Although most hospitals set up a disaster plan on H5N1, there are only limited stocks of antiviral medication to protect the hospital staff in the acute phase. A separate triage area is only available in a limited number of hospitals. We conclude that Belgian hospitals and emergency departments are not equipped to deal with potential pandemic situations.
9‐O‐acetyl GD3 protects tumor cells from apoptosis

The ganglioside GD3 (Neu5Acα8Neu5Acα3Galβ4GlcCer) is an intracellular lipid messenger that induces apoptosis by targeting mitochondria in various cell types. GD3 can also promote apoptosis when externally added to cells. Previous studies showed that the proapoptotic effects of GD3 can be counteracted by 9‐O‐acetylation. To determine whether 9‐O‐acetyl GD3 (acGD3) has a general antiapoptotic potential, the apoptosis‐sensitive Jurkat cell line and an apoptosis‐sensitive variant of the cell line Molt‐4 were preincubated with micromolar concentrations of acGD3 and then treated with inducers of apoptosis. A reduced apoptotic index and an increased cell viability were observed. On the other hand, when the Jurkat cells were treated with GD3 for extended periods of time, a population was selected that was resistant to apoptosis induction by N‐acetyl sphingosine as well as by the anti‐leukemic drug daunorubicin. Comparative analysis of gangliosides revealed the formation of acGD3 in the resistant Jurkat cells that was not found in the apoptosis‐sensitive cells. Conversely, exposing the acGD3 positive and apoptosis‐resistant cell line Molt‐4 to the O‐deacetylating activity of salicylate resulted in a complete disappearance of acGD3 and an enhanced sensitivity to N‐acetyl sphingosine‐mediated apoptosis. Formation of acGD3 might thus represent a new mechanism how tumor cells can escape apoptosis. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
External debt among HIPCs in Africa: accounting and panel VAR analysis of some determinants

Purpose - The management of external debt among highly indebted poor countries (HIPCs) in Africa still remains a challenge despite numerous packages and attempts to ameliorate the consequences of such odious debt. The purpose of this paper is to establish the factors that contribute to the growth rate of external debt and how these factors respond to shocks to external debt growth rate in Africa. Design/methodology/approach - Data were obtained from 24 African countries and analyzed using a panel vector autoregression estimation methodology. Findings - The study found that external debt growth rates respond positively to unit shock or changes in government investment spending, consumption spending, and domestic borrowings over a long period of time. In the medium term, external debt growth rates respond negatively to shocks in tax revenue, inflation, and output growth rates. The paper also provides empirical support that external debt may be consumed rather than invested among HIPCs in Africa. Research limitations/implications - The findings of this paper are limited to only HIPCs in Africa. Practical implications - This study has some few debilitating implications for external debt management among HIPCs in Africa. First, the paper suggests that debt repayment may be a problem. This is largely because external debt is consumed rather than invested. External debt sustainability needs a holistic approach in less developed countries. The findings place much emphasis on improvements in gross domestic product and tax revenues as the principal routes out of the debt doldrums. However, this option must be exploited with great caution as there is ample evidence that these poor countries increase their external borrowing capacities with improvements in economic outlook. Originality/value - This paper fills a research gap that identifies specific components of government deficit budgets that may be contributing to the growth rate of external debts among HIPCs.
Domestic Resource Mobilization in Africa: State, Capacity Imperatives and Policy Actions

In Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030, Africa has its major development aspirations defined in the broader global and continental economic development context. Implementation of the two Agendas calls for substantial financial resources at a time when the global development finance landscape is changing, from a model centered on official development assistance and the coverage of remaining financing needs through external debt, to a framework with greater emphasis on the mobilization of domestic resources. This paper looks at the capacity dimensions of domestic resource mobilization, which have received relatively little attention in the development arena and literature. Capacity being the missing link, this paper analyzes the capacity challenges associated with the effective mobilization and utilization of domestic resources in Africa, largely drawing on the 2015 Africa Capacity Report whose focus was on the capacity imperatives for domestic resource mobilization. The analysis finds that capacity challenges in domestic resource mobilization are largely around weak tax administration, inefficient collection of tax in the agriculture and informal sectors, low savings and financial non-inclusiveness, and high levels of illicit financial outflows. The paper recommends soft, human and institutional capacity building at the country, regional, and continental levels in the identified areas. Besides, it suggests the modernization of tax administration, and political will and mindset change at all levels. While the paper calls for concerted efforts by all stakeholders, it also proposes some research areas aimed at supporting the domestic resource mobilization agenda.
Updated Budget Projections: 2016 to 2026

Abstract : As it typically does after the Presidents budget is released, the Congressional Budget Office has updated the 10-year baseline budget projections it published early in the year. CBO now estimates that if no further legislation is enacted this year that affects the federal budget, the total federal deficit for fiscal year 2016 will be $534 billion, about $100 billion greater than the shortfall posted in fiscal year 2015 (see Table 1). If current laws generally remained unchanged, the deficit would increase (in dollar terms) in nearly every year over the next decade and, CBO projects, by 2026 it would be considerably larger as a share of the nations output (gross domestic product, or GDP) than its average over the past 50 years (see Figure 1). Debt held by the public also would rise significantly from its already high level, reaching 86 percent of GDP by 2026.
Global Diffusion of the Internet - I: India: Is the Elephant Learning to Dance?

With his proclamation in 1998 that "IT is India's tomorrow", Prime Minister Vajpayee captured a vision of a 21 st century India substantially different from that of the previous century, with its high levels of poverty, bloated bureaucracies, and protectionist policies. He envisioned the new India as a major IT power, fully integrated with the global economy, bringing about substantial domestic and international benefit. The Internet is a key to this vision, both as an enabler of technologybased change, and as an indicator of the vision's fulfillment. Using an analytic framework developed by the authors and others, this study documents the growth of the Internet in India, from the pre-Internet networks through the boom of the Internet from 1998 to 2003. The Indian experience provides an example of how fundamental, focused changes in policy and legislation can unleash forces that accelerate Internet diffusion. Private sector initiatives greatly expanded the Internet infrastructure and Internet services market. At the same time, government initiatives promoted the expansion of the Internet into parts of the country not well served by private ISPs. Poverty and limited telecommunications infrastructure currently limit the rate and extent of Internet expansion. However, time is an ally; the basic elements for continued growth of the Internet are largely in place.
Economic liberalization and sources of productivity growth in Indonesian Banks: is it efficiency improvement or technological progress?

ABSTRACT This article investigates the sources of productivity growth in the Indonesian banking sector during 23 years period from 1993 to 2015. The industry has gone through several episodes of policy reforms, starting from the radical deregulation in the late 1980s, the restructuring period following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the consolidation period in the mid-2000s to the economic expansion in the 2010s. Using panel data of 98 commercial banks, we explore productivity growth using Malmquist indices complemented with bootstrapping technique to provide measures of the statistical precision of the results. The Malmquist index measures total factor productivity, efficiency change and technological change. Results show that productivity improves moderately and appears to be less volatile towards the end of the period. Furthermore, efficiency change tends to be the main source of productivity improvement rather than technological change.
Cone-associated c-fos gene expression in the light-damaged rat retina.

PURPOSE To examine whether light-controlled c-fos gene expression is mediated by a cone specific pathway in the rat retina. METHODS To produce a cone-rich retina, rats were placed under continuous lighting for 21 days. The illuminance in the cages ranged from 1200 to 2000 lux. The presence of cones was determined by peanut agglutinin and rods by the monoclonal antibody 1-E7. The presence of c-fos transcripts in the retinas was analyzed by in situ hybridization using single-stranded RNA probes. RESULTS After long-term exposure to continuous light, the 1-E7 immunoreactivity was not detected in the outer nuclear layer. The cone photoreceptors and cells in the ganglion cell (GCL) and inner nuclear layers (INL) survived. In normal retinas, there was strong hybridization for c-fos expression in the GCL and the INL 30 minutes after the onset of the light cycle. Light-damaged retinas also showed hybridization in the GCL but not in the INL under the same light regime. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that c-fos gene expression can be controlled through a cone specific pathway in the retina.
Soluble Neuregulin-1 Has Bifunctional, Concentration-Dependent Effects on Schwann Cell Myelination

Members of the neuregulin-1 (Nrg1) growth factor family play important roles during Schwann cell development. Recently, it has been shown that the membrane-bound type III isoform is required for Schwann cell myelination. Interestingly, however, Nrg1 type II, a soluble isoform, inhibits the process. The mechanisms underlying these isoform-specific effects are unknown. It is possible that myelination requires juxtacrine Nrg1 signaling provided by the membrane-bound isoform, whereas paracrine stimulation by soluble Nrg1 inhibits the process. To investigate this, we asked whether Nrg1 type III provided in a paracrine manner would promote or inhibit myelination. We found that soluble Nrg1 type III enhanced myelination in Schwann cell-neuron cocultures. It improved myelination of Nrg1 type III+/− neurons and induced myelination on normally nonmyelinated sympathetic neurons. However, soluble Nrg1 type III failed to induce myelination on Nrg1 type III−/− neurons. To our surprise, low concentrations of Nrg1 type II also elicited a similar promyelinating effect. At high doses, however, both type II and III isoforms inhibited myelination and increased c-Jun expression in a manner dependent on Mek/Erk (mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase) activation. These results indicate that paracrine Nrg1 signaling provides concentration-dependent bifunctional effects on Schwann cell myelination. Furthermore, our studies suggest that there may be two distinct steps in Schwann cell myelination: an initial phase dependent on juxtacrine Nrg1 signaling and a later phase that can be promoted by paracrine stimulation.
Job satisfaction of the oral health labour force in Australia.

BACKGROUND Job satisfaction among registered clinical dentists in Australia was measured to identify issues influencing recruitment and retention. METHODS A questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of 2202 dentists, stratified by state and gender, selected from the 2005 Australian Dental Association directory. RESULTS A total of 61.9% of dentists responded. Analyses showed significant differences in levels of satisfaction for various dimensions of job satisfaction by gender, age group, practice type and geographic area. Differences in satisfaction between male and female dentists related to the relationships with colleagues and administrative responsibilities dimensions. Dentists of different age groups differed on eight dimensions: relationships with colleagues, patients, staff; personal time; intrinsic satisfaction; community; administrative responsibilities and resources. Differences among private and public dentists related to autonomy, relationships with patients, staff, community, compensation and resources dimensions. Dentists working in different geographic areas differed on relationships with staff and community dimensions. CONCLUSIONS Differences existed between private and public dentists, metropolitan and non-metropolitan dentists, male and female dentists and dentists of different ages. Such differences should be addressed in order to improve recruitment and retention rates of dentists. Workplaces that offer job autonomy, competitive pay, flexible working hours and minimal administrative burden may improve dentist job satisfaction.
Methionine challenge paradoxically induces a greater activation of the antioxidant defence in subjects with hyper- vs. normohomocysteinemia

To determine whether hyperhomocysteinemia induced post-methionine loading (PML) is associated with different response in the aminothiol redox state and oxidative stress vs. normohomocysteinemia, we assessed PML plasma thiols, vitamins, free malondialdehyde (MDA), and blood reduced glutathione (GSH) in 120 consecutive subjects (50 [35–56] years, 83 males), divided into two groups according to PML plasma total Hcy < 35 μM (Group 1, n = 65) or ≥ 35 μM (Group 2, n = 55). In the group as a whole, plasma reduced cysteine and cysteinylglycine, blood reduced GSH (all p for time = 0.0001) and plasma total GSH (p for time = 0.001) increased from baseline to PML. MDA values were unchanged. Group 1 and 2 differed in blood reduced GSH (p for group = 0.004, higher in Group 2), and MDA levels (p for group = 0.024, lower in Group 2). The oxidative stress induced by methionine challenge seems to be opposed by scavenger molecules activation, namely GSH, and lipid peroxidation does not increase. This mechanism paradoxically appears to be more efficient in hyperhomocysteinemic subjects.
Plan3D

We introduce a new method that efficiently computes a set of viewpoints and trajectories for high-quality 3D reconstructions in outdoor environments. Our goal is to automatically explore an unknown area and obtain a complete 3D scan of a region of interest (e.g., a large building). Images from a commodity RGB camera, mounted on an autonomously navigated quadcopter, are fed into a multi-view stereo reconstruction pipeline that produces high-quality results but is computationally expensive. In this setting, the scanning result is constrained by the restricted flight time of quadcopters. To this end, we introduce a novel optimization strategy that respects these constraints by maximizing the information gain from sparsely sampled viewpoints while limiting the total travel distance of the quadcopter. At the core of our method lies a hierarchical volumetric representation that allows the algorithm to distinguish between unknown, free, and occupied space. Furthermore, our information gain-based formulation leverages this representation to handle occlusions in an efficient manner. In addition to the surface geometry, we utilize free-space information to avoid obstacles and determine collision-free flight paths. Our tool can be used to specify the region of interest and to plan trajectories. We demonstrate our method by obtaining a number of compelling 3D reconstructions, and we provide a thorough quantitative evaluation showing improvement over previous state-of-the-art and regular patterns.
In children with premature adrenarche, bone age advancement by 2 or more years is common and generally benign

Abstract Background: Premature adrenarche (PA) is often associated with bone age (BA) advanced by ≥2 years, which increases the concern for underlying pathology, but the frequency and clinical significance of this is unknown. Our objective was to identify the proportion of PA patients with very advanced BA and normal BA and compare the clinical characteristics of the two groups. Methods: Charts of 427 patients aged 5–9 years, referred for early puberty over a 2-year period, were reviewed for clinical diagnosis, growth, parental heights, hormone levels and BA. We divided the PA patients into three separate groups based on degree of BA advancement. Predicted adult heights (PAH) were calculated and compared to mid-parental target height (TH). Results: Of 427 patients, 266 (62%) had PA (82% female). Of the 121 with BA, 30.6% had very advanced BA (≥2 years) and this group was taller (Ht SD+1.72 vs. +0.72, p<0.00001) and had higher BMI (SD+1.70 vs. +0.99, p<0.001) than patients with BA advanced by <1 year, but hormone levels were quite similar. Mean PAH was slightly less than TH for patients with very advanced BA, but there were no girls with PAH <60 inches 152.4 cm or boys with PAH <65 inches 165.1 cm in height. Conclusions: Very advanced BA is common in PA, and patients were significantly taller and more overweight than their peers. The impact of advanced BA on PAH appears to be minor. We question the need for ordering a BA in patients with PA, and suggest that extensive testing is unnecessary simply because of advanced BA.
Who Trusts Others? Community and Individual Determinants of Social Capital in a Low Income Country

This study presents new evidence on individual and community-specific determinants of social trust using data from 96 villages in Bangladesh. We find perceived institutional trust to be positively correlated with stated inter-personal trust. At the same time, there is significant social distance among various faith groups in our data: both Hindus and Muslims trust their coreligionists more than they trust those from other religions. Hindus in districts bordering India trust non-Hindus significantly less, compared to those in interior regions, which suggests that the results do not simply capture the effect of minority/majority status. Trust towards non-Muslims is negatively correlated with Islamic school attendance among Muslim respondents, while religiosity tends not to play any role. Compared to religion, the effects of institutional trust and local economic development are modest. These findings are robust to control for a range of individual- and community-level correlates, and enumerator fixed-effects.
Functional rhythmogenic domains defined by astrocytic networks in the trigeminal main sensory nucleus

Stimuli that induce rhythmic firing in trigeminal neurons also increase astrocytic coupling and reveal networks that define the boundaries of this particular population. Rhythmic firing depends on astrocytic coupling which in turn depends on S100β. In many nervous functions that rely on the ability of neuronal networks to generate a rhythmic pattern of activity, coordination of firing is an essential feature. Astrocytes play an important role in some of these networks, but the contribution of astrocytic coupling remains poorly defined. Here we investigate the modulation and organization of astrocytic networks in the dorsal part of the trigeminal main sensory nucleus (NVsnpr), which forms part of the network generating chewing movements. Using whole‐cell recordings and the dye coupling approach by filling a single astrocyte with biocytin to reveal astrocytic networks, we showed that coupling is limited under resting conditions, but increases importantly under conditions that induce rhythmic firing in NVsnpr neurons. These are: repetitive electrical stimulation of the sensory inputs to the nucleus, local application of NMDA and decrease of extracellular Ca2+. We have previously shown that rhythmic firing induced in NVsnpr neurons by these stimuli depends on astrocytes and their Ca2+‐binding protein S100β. Here we show that extracellular blockade of S100β also prevents the increase in astrocytic coupling induced by local application of NMDA. Most of the networks were small and remained confined to the functionally distinct area of dorsal NVsnpr. Disrupting coupling by perfusion with the nonspecific gap junction blocker, carbenoxolone or with GAP26, a selective inhibitor of connexin 43, mostly expressed in astrocytes, abolished NMDA‐induced rhythmic firing in NVsnpr neurons. These results suggest that astrocytic coupling is regulated by sensory inputs, necessary for neuronal bursting, and organized in a region specific manner.