Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
COMT Val158Met Influences the Perception of Others＇ PainYasuyuki Nomura

It is known that COMT (catechol-O-methyltransferase) Val158Met gene polymorphism is involved in the perception and processing of physical pain, as well as emotional faces. However, it is not yet clear whether this gene also influences the processing of other individuals’ pain reactions. We investigated whether COMT gene polymorphism mediates individual differences in the processing of others’ pain and whether these individual differences influence subsequent processing of others’ emotional reactions. Twenty-seven healthy individuals participated in the present study. Participants were presented with stimuli depicting others in varying degrees of pain as primes (high pain/low pain/no pain), and were subsequently presented with stimuli depicting emotional expressions as targets (happy faces/neutral faces/sad faces). Participants evaluated their own pain experienced during the prime stimuli as well as levels of their own relief experienced during the target stimuli. Val/Val carriers evaluated low pain stimuli as more painful than Met/Met carriers. However, we found no significant group difference of relief and pleasure evaluations. We demonstrate that COMT gene polymorphism influences sensitivity to the pain of others, with Val/Val carriers being more sensitive to perceptions of others’ pain.
Entropy generation at multi-fluid magnetohydrodynamic shocks with emphasis to the solar wind termination shock

In a series of earlier papers, we developed expressions for ion and electron velocity distribution functions and their velocity moments at the passage over the solar wind termination shock. As we have shown there, with the introduction of appropriate particle invariants and the use of Liouville’s theorem one can get explicit solutions for the resulting total downstream pressure by adding up from partial pressure contributions of solar wind protons, solar wind electrons and pick-up protons. These expressions are the first step toward delivering the main contributions to the total plasma pressure in the downstream plasma flow and consistently determine the shock compression ratio. Here we start from these individual fluid pressures downstream of the shock and thereafter evaluate for the first time the shock-induced entropy production of the different fluids, when they are passing over the shock to the downstream side. As shown here, the resulting ion entropy production substantially deviates from earlier calculations using a pseudo-polytropic reaction of the ions to the shock compression, with polytropies selected to describe fluid-specific reactions at the shock passage similar to those seen by the Voyagers. From these latter models, ion entropy jumps are derived that depend on the pick-up ion abundance, while our calculations deliver an abundance-independent ion entropy production that only depends on the shock compression ratio and the tilt angle between the upstream magnetic field and the normal to the shock surface. We also show here that the thermodynamically permitted upper limit in the entropy production is only reached when strongly heated electrons are included in the entropy balance.
Industrial growth and spatial spillovers in XIX century Italy

This paper represents a rst attempt to investigate the early steps of Italian industrialization at the local level accounting for spillovers. The analytical framework is the conditional convergence model augmented to account for spatial effects. The geographic unit of analysis is constituted by provinces (NUTS 3 units) and the time period considered goes from 1871 to 1911. Estimation of the conditional convergence model augmented with human capital, social capital, and social overhead capital suggests that education, a cooperative culture, and spatial spillovers are able to explain, other things being equal, much of the variability of value added growth in the manufacturing industry in 19th century Italy. Since northern provinces generally had a more educated population and a more cooperative culture the polarization between dynamic, high-growth areas and backward areas seems to go back to the very beginning of Italy’s economic history.
A critical reading of the European Union’s social innovation policy discourse: (Re)legitimizing neoliberalism

In this article, we conduct a critical reading of the European Union social innovation policy discourse. We argue that rather than being a transformative discourse within European Union policy, European Union social innovation policy discourse reinforces neoliberal hegemony by (re)legitimizing it. Inspired by post-foundational discourse theory and Glynos and Howarth’s logics of critical explanation, we analyse three central European Union social innovation policy documents. We characterize what kind of political project is articulated in and through European Union social innovation policy discourse, and uncover how it relates to neoliberal political rationality. Our contribution lies in showing (1) how the social logics of European Union social innovation policy can be understood as both ‘roll-out’ and ‘roll-with-it’ neoliberalization, thereby relegitimizing and naturalizing neoliberalism; (2) how the political logics of European Union social innovation policy pre-empt the critique of ‘roll-back’ neoliberalization and thus legitimize decreased public expenditure; and (3) how the fantasmatic logics make European Union social innovation policy ideologically useful in relegitimizing neoliberalism through the win-win-win fantasy and the ethical responsibilization of subjects. We argue that resisting the neoliberalizing power of European Union social innovation policy discourse implies resisting the fantasmatic grip of social innovation as carrying a sublime win-win-win. Instead of accepting social innovation as driven by a replication of best practices, we need to understand social innovations as conceived and suited for particular social issues in particular contexts: we call for a different win-win mindset that does not blind innovators to possible negative impacts of social innovations.
The Common Component in the Forward Premium: Evidence from the Asia-Pacific Region

This paper empirically analyzes the behavior of the forward premium. Unlike previous research, we use data from Asia-Pacific countries and adopt the panel data approach (Bai and Ng 2004) which allows us to decompose the forward premium into common and idiosyncratic (country-specific) components. Our data suggest the presence of one common factor and the stationarity of both common and idiosyncratic factors for short maturities, leading to the conclusion of a stationary forward premium. In contrast, the stationarity of the premium is less supported by the longer maturity data. Furthermore, a large portion of the premium fluctuation is shown to be due to a common factor, particularly over the short time horizon, which in turn can be explained by economic and financial developments in the US. In particular, when the US interest rate increases and the economy declines, the common factor tends to fall.
Post-Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction Efforts: The Emergence of Civil Society in China?*

Abstract Many analysts contend that participation in the Sichuan earthquake relief efforts strengthened Chinese civil society. I examine these claims based on interviews with civil society organizations, academics and local officials in Sichuan, and argue that participation in relief efforts has strengthened civil society through increased capacity, publicity and interaction with local government. Conversely, relief efforts also reveal weaknesses in civil society and their governing institutions which inhibit further development, such as the trust and capacity deficit of these organizations. Participation in relief efforts served as a learning process whereby government, society and civil society groups learned how to work together effectively. However, in order to consolidate these gains and further strengthen civil society, there must be greater institutionalization of these groups' roles, increased capacity building, and greater trust between society, groups and the local state.
Audit Fees and IAS/IFRS Adoption: Evidence from the Banking Industry

The adoption of International Accounting Standards/International Financial Reporting Standards (IAS/IFRS) has two opposite effects on audit fees: on the one hand, greater effort is required from auditors, which is likely to be reflected by higher fees; on the other hand, if IAS/IFRS improve the quality of financial reporting, expected liability costs could decrease and lower fees may be demanded. We consider a large sample of Italian banks and we examine the effect of IAS/IFRS adoption on audit fees. The results show that higher fees (19.29 per cent in real terms) are paid after the switch to the new standards. Using a standard earnings management model, we do not find support for the idea that financial reporting quality is affected by the adoption of IAS/IFRS. The observed increase in fees is positively associated with the presence of financial derivatives held for hedging purposes. This paper extends the findings of prior research on the effect of IAS/IFRS adoption on audit fees; contrary to prior contributions, our analysis concentrates on the banking industry. Furthermore, unlike prior works, we consider both listed and non-listed firms.
Calibrating the sqHIMMELI v1.0 wetland methane emission model with hierarchical modeling and adaptive MCMC

Abstract. Estimating methane (CH4) emissions from natural wetlands is complex, and the estimates contain large uncertainties. The models used for the task are typically heavily parameterized and the parameter values are not well known. In this study, we perform a Bayesian model calibration for a new wetland CH4 emission model to improve the quality of the predictions and to understand the limitations of such models. The detailed process model that we analyze contains descriptions for CH4 production from anaerobic respiration, CH4 oxidation, and gas transportation by diffusion, ebullition, and the aerenchyma cells of vascular plants. The processes are controlled by several tunable parameters. We use a hierarchical statistical model to describe the parameters and obtain the posterior distributions of the parameters and uncertainties in the processes with adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), importance resampling, and time series analysis techniques. For the estimation, the analysis utilizes measurement data from the Siikaneva flux measurement site in southern Finland. The uncertainties related to the parameters and the modeled processes are described quantitatively. At the process level, the flux measurement data are able to constrain the CH4 production processes, methane oxidation, and the different gas transport processes. The posterior covariance structures explain how the parameters and the processes are related. Additionally, the flux and flux component uncertainties are analyzed both at the annual and daily levels. The parameter posterior densities obtained provide information regarding importance of the different processes, which is also useful for development of wetland methane emission models other than the square root HelsinkI Model of MEthane buiLd-up and emIssion for peatlands (sqHIMMELI). The hierarchical modeling allows us to assess the effects of some of the parameters on an annual basis. The results of the calibration and the cross validation suggest that the early spring net primary production could be used to predict parameters affecting the annual methane production. Even though the calibration is specific to the Siikaneva site, the hierarchical modeling approach is well suited for larger-scale studies and the results of the estimation pave way for a regional or global-scale Bayesian calibration of wetland emission models.
Tonsillectomy and its effect on ASO titre

Background: Acute tonsillitis is one of the most common manifestations of the upper respiratory tract infections. It is common in children and accounts for an incidence of about 32 per 1000 patients per year. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of tonsillectomy on ASO titre and to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of throat swab culture. Methods: Present study performed a prospective study, a total number of 50 children were screened, out which 25 patients under the age of 15 years (16 male and 9 female), were included in the study, who were having chronic tonsillitis with raised anti-streptolysin O titre (>200IU/ml). All the patient underwent tonsillectomy and serological estimation of ASO titre was done at the end of first, second and third month post-surgery. Throat swab culture was performed prior to tonsillectomy and at the third month of follow up. Results: Twelve children (48%), twenty children (80%) and twenty-two children (88%) became serologically negative for ASO antibody at the end of first, second and third month respectively, with a statistically significant p value of 0.0001. The sensitivity and specificity of throat swab culture was 16% and 100% respectively. Conclusions: Tonsillectomy has a significant role in reducing the serological levels of anti-streptolysin O antibody and its reactivation, thereby decreasing the rate of complications associated with Group A-beta haemolytic streptococci.
Local time variations in Jupiter's magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling system

The ionization of neutral material ejected by Jupiter's volcanically active moon, Io, results in a plasma disc that extends from Io's orbit out through the Jovian magnetosphere. This magnetospheric plasma is coupled to the planetary ionosphere via currents which flow along the magnetic field. Inside of ∼40 RJ, these currents transfer angular momentum from the planet to the magnetospheric plasma, in an attempt to keep the plasma rigidly corotating with the planet. Jupiter's main auroral emission is a signature of this current system. To date, one‐dimensional models of Jupiter's magnetosphere‐ionosphere (M‐I) coupling have either assumed a dipole field or used a field description appropriate to the postmidnight region of the Jovian magnetosphere. Vogt et al. (2011) described the variation of the N‐S component of the magnetic field in the center of the current sheet, BN, with local time and radius. We apply a 1‐D model of Jupiter's M‐I current system every hour in local time using a modified description of the Vogt et al. (2011) magnetic field to investigate how local time variations in the magnetosphere affect the auroral currents and plasma angular velocity. Our model predicts the strongest aurora at dawn, with a minimum in the auroral currents existing from noon through dusk. This is a few hours duskward of the discontinuity predicted by Radioti et al. (2008). While our model predictions are consistent with some of the observations, future MI coupling models must account for the azimuthal bendback in the magnetic field.
Bounding Surface Hypoplasticity Model for Sands under Cyclic Loading

A modified bounding surface hypoplasticity model is developed to capture distinct dilatancy behaviors of loose and dense sandy soils during various phases of undrained cyclic loading. Based on observations from laboratory tests, newmodulus formulations are proposed to improve the simulation of cyclic mobility and postliquefaction behaviors of both loose and dense sands. The state-dependent dilatancy and effects of accumulated plastic strains on the plastic moduli are also incorporated in this model. The model demonstrates excellent capabilities through systematic comparison between the model predictions and a series of undrained cyclic simple shear tests on Fraser River sand. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0000654. © 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers. Author keywords: Constitutive model; Bounding surface hypoplasticity; Liquefaction; Cyclic response.
Behavioral management and task performance in organizations: Conceptual background, meta-analysis, and test of alternative models.

In this study, we provide the conceptual background, meta-analyze available behavioral management studies (N= 72) in organizational settings, and examine whether combined reinforcement effects on task performance are additive (sum of individual effects), redundant (combined effects are less than the additive effects), or synergistic (combined effects are greater than the sum of the individual effects). We found a significant overall average effect size of (d.) = . 47 (16% improvement in performance; 63% probability of success), and a significant within-group heterogeneity of effect sizes. To account for this variation, we conducted a theory-driven moderator analysis, which indicated that money, feedback, and social recognition each had a significant impact on task performance. However, when these 3 reinforcers were used in combination, they produced the strongest (synergistic) effect on task performance. Based on our findings, we offer directions for future research, and suggestions for effective application of behavioral management at work.
DISABILITY AND THE SCOPE OF PUBLIC REASON

Elvio Baccarini, in his recent book that is entitled In a better world? Public reason and biotechnologies, argues that interventions of genetic engineering to prevent a certain class of disabilities are justified. This paper suggests some refinements of Baccarini’s way of individuating the relevant class of disabilities. While two suggested amendments require minor clarifications, a third one is more substantial. Baccarini appears to endorse the medical account of disability. I argue that he should adopt, instead, an explicitly normative social account of disability. In particular, this would enable an enlargement of the scope of his public reason approach to the discussion of disabilities. Besides constraining the legitimate responses to disability, such an approach could help in offering justified grounds for specifying what should be regarded as a disability.
Supernova-driven winds in simulated dwarf galaxies

We investigate galactic winds driven by supernova (SN) explosions in an isolated dwarf galaxy using high-resolution (particle mass $m_{\rm gas} = 1{\rm M_\odot}$) hydrodynamical simulations that include non-equilibrium cooling and chemistry, individual star formation, stellar feedback and metal enrichment. We find that the system reaches a quasi-steady state on a Gyr-timescale though with strong temporal fluctuations. Clustered SNe lead to the formation of superbubbles which break out of the disk and vent out hot gas, launching the winds. At the virial radius, the time-averaged loading factors of mass, momentum and energy are 3, 1 and 0.05, respectively, and the metal enrichment factor is 1.5. Winds that escape the halo consist of two populations that differ in their launching temperatures. Hot gas acquires enough kinetic energy to escape when launched while warm gas does not. However, warm gas can be further accelerated by the ram pressure of the subsequently launched hot gas and eventually escape. The strong interactions between different temperature phases highlight the caveat of extrapolating properties of warm gas to large distances based on its local conditions (e.g. the Bernoulli parameter). Our convergence study finds that wind properties converge at $m_{\rm gas}=5 {\rm M_\odot}$ (with an injection mass of $500 {\rm M_\odot}$), and the winds weaken dramatically once the cooling masses of individual SNe become unresolved. We demonstrate that injecting the terminal momentum of SNe (neglecting the residual thermal energy), a popular sub-grid model in the literature, fails to capture pressure-driven winds. The failure owes to its assumption that most thermal energy is radiated away right after injection even for highly clustered SNe.
Exploring the Link between Poverty-Pollution-Population (3Ps) in Pakistan: Time Series Evidence

The relationship between poverty, population growth and environment has been widely debated inside the academic circles. There is a general consensus that poverty is a major cause of population growth and environmental degradation and reversely population growth is the major cause of poverty and environmental degradation. The present study examines the impact of poverty on environment (air pollution) and population and reversely the impact of population on environment (air pollution) and poverty in the specific context of Pakistan during a period of 1975-2009. Data is analyzed using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression method and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL)-bounds testing approach to examine the linkage. The results of the OLS test show that rapid population and air pollution has a significant contributor to poverty in Pakistan. However, the results nullify the conventional view that poverty is a major cause of environmental degradation (or air pollution), while the result supports the hypothesis that population have a deleterious impact on increasing poverty. The results of bounds test show that there is a stable long-run relationship between population, poverty and pollution in Pakistan. On the other hand, results of the causality test show that there is a unidirectional causal flow from population to carbon dioxide emission. The post reform period is observed with the estimated coefficient of the poverty dummy variable (POVDUM) which shows that poverty in Pakistan has increased due to deprived performance of federal policies on pro-poor reforms in Pakistan. The post reform period is observed with the population dummy variable (POPDUM) reflecting that population growth has increased significantly during the said reform period. Keywords: Population, Air Pollution, Poverty, Headcount Ratio, Population Dynamics, Carbon Dioxide Emission, Time Series, Bounds Test, Pakistan.
Plasmoid in the high latitude boundary/cusp region observed by Cluster

A plasmoid‐like structure without a core magnetic field has been observed by Cluster spacecraft in the high latitude magnetopause region when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is northward and has a dominant duskward component. Bursty electrons and ions are found to be well confined in this plasmoid‐like structure. The structure possesses a bipolar signature in the BN component. The structure is associated with a dramatic change of the plasma flow direction from tailward to dawnward. The plasma density in this structure is slightly enhanced whereas the ion temperature is twice as large as that of the ambient plasma. The plasma parallel temperature is higher than the perpendicular one. The observed structure is different from the traditional Flux Transfer Events (FTEs). The Walén test shows that change of plasma flow velocity are closely associated with change of Alfven velocity which indicates this structure is formed by reconnection process. The observed plasmoid is suggested to be formed by multiple X‐line reconnection in the dusk (dawn) side of the stagnant cusp region when the IMF is northward and possesses a dominant positive (negative) BY component.