Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intermediate tariffs and intraregional intermediate exports: Implications for regional value chains in ECOWAS

Abstract This paper primarily aims at analysing the impact of (intermediate) tariffs on intraregional intermediate exports between 2000 and 2015 with the aim of predicting the likely implications this has for regional value chains within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). As a secondary objective, the paper investigates whether corresponding effectively applied tariffs significantly affect other classification of exports—all products, raw products and consumer products. Paying attention to the Heckman Two-step technique, we find that tariffs on intermediate products do not significantly drive intermediate exports, inter alia. And as garnered from the auxiliary regression, generally, tariffs are not sufficiently low as to bolster intraregional exports in ECOWAS. The statistical insignificance of intermediate tariffs implicates that the prevailing effectively applied tariff levels is not likely to augur well for formation and strengthening of new and existing value chains in ECOWAS. The need for this regional economic community to consider reviewing tariffs downwards is exigent for both the success of value chains and regional trade integration in general.
PRICE DISPERSION, SEARCH COSTS AND CONSUMERS AND SELLERS HETEROGENEITY IN RETAIL FOOD MARKETS

Price dispersion, i.e. a homogeneous product being sold at different prices by different sellers, is among the most replicated findings in empirical economics. The paper assesses the extent and determinants of spatial price dispersion for 14 perfectly homogeneous food products in more than 400 retailers in a market characterized by the persistence of a large number of relatively small traditional food stores, side by side large supermarkets. The extent of observed price dispersion is quite high, suggesting that monopolistic competition prevails as a result of the heterogeneity of consumers and services offered. When prices in an urban area (where the spatial concentration of sellers is much higher and consumer search costs significantly lower) are compared with those in smaller towns and rural areas, differences in search costs and the potentially higher degree of competition do not yield lower prices; quite the contrary, they are, on average, higher in the urban area for 11 of the 14 products considered. Supermarkets proved to be often, but not always, less expensive than traditional retailers, although average savings from food shopping at supermarkets were extremely low. Finally, the results of the study suggest that retailers have different pricing strategies; these differences emerge both at the firm level and for supermarkets within the same chain. The results presented in the paper suggest that what is important in explaining price dispersion is the contemporaneous heterogeneity of retailers (in terms of services) and consumers (in terms of search and shopping preferences), which makes it possible for a monopolistic competition structure of the market to emerge and for small traditional food retailers to remain in business.
Molecular content of polar-ring galaxies

We have searched for CO lines in a sample of 21 new morphologically determined polar-ring galaxies (of which nine are kinematically confirmed), obtained from a wide search in the Galaxy Zoo proj ect by Moiseev and collaborators. Polar-ring galaxies (PRGs) are a unique class of objects, tracing special episodes in the ga laxy mass assembly: they can be formed through galaxy interaction and merging, but also through accretion from cosmic filament s. Furthermore, they enable the study of dark matter haloes in three dimensions. The polar ring itself is a sub-system rich in gas, where molecular gas is expected, and new stars are formed. Among the sample of 21 PRGs, we have detected five CO-rich systems, that can now be followed up with higher spatial resolution. Their average molecular mass is 9.4 10 9 M⊙, and their average gas fraction is 27% of their baryonic mass, with a range from 15 to 43%, implying that they have just accreted a large amount of gas. The position of the detected objects in the velocity-magnitude diagram is offset from the Tully-Fisher relation of normal spirals, as was alr eady found for PRGs. This work is part of our multi-wavelength project to determine the detailed morphology and dynamics of polar-ring galaxies, test through numerical models their formation scenario, and deduce their dark matter content and 3D-shape.
A dichotomy in satellite quenching around L* galaxies

We examine the star formation properties of bright (~0.1 L*) satellites around isolated ~L* hosts in the local Universe using spectroscopically confirmed systems in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. Our selection method is carefully designed with the aid of Nbody simulations to avoid groups and clusters. We find that satellites are significantly more likely to be quenched than a stellarmass-matched sample of isolated galaxies. Remarkably, this quenching occurs only for satellites of hosts that are themselves quenched: while star formation is unaffected in the satellites of star-forming hosts, satellites around quiescent hosts are more than twice as likely to be quenched than stellar-mass-matched field samples. One implication of this is that whatever shuts down star formation in isolated, passive L* galaxies also play at least an indirect role in quenching star formation in their bright satellites. The previously reported tendency for 'galactic conformity' in colour/morphology may be a by-product of this host-specific quenching dichotomy. The Sersic indices of quenched satellites are statistically identical to those of field galaxies with the same specific star formation rates, suggesting that environmental and secular quenching give rise to the same morphological structure. By studying the distribution of pairwise velocities between the hosts and satellites, we find dynamical evidence that passive host galaxies reside in dark matter haloes that are~45 per cent more massive than those of star-forming host galaxies of the same stellar mass.We emphasize that even around passive hosts, the mere fact that galaxies become satellites does not typically result in star formation quenching: we find that only ~30 per cent of ~0.1L* galaxies that fall in from the field are quenched around passive hosts, compared with ~0 per cent around star-forming hosts. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Knowledge, attitude and practices of pastoral communities from Ayssaita, North-Eastern Ethiopia in relation to cystic echinococcosis and public health risks

Hydatidosis is an important public health problem and economic importance worldwide. A cross-sectional survey carried out to investigate risk factors on public awareness, attitude and practices of hydatidosis on 280 pastoralists, 80 human health and 20 animal health assistants between October 2013 and May 2013 in Ayssaita district. The main objectives of this study was assess on the knowledge, attitude and practices of public health significance on human hydatidosis. The questionnaire survey clearly indicated that there is knowledge gap that may predispose the pastoralists to hydatidosis infection. Only 4.29% of pastoralists responded that they were aware of the occurrence of the disease in man. But none of them were knowledgeable on its sources and transmission. 85.7% pastoralists dog ownership in the area. However, none of their dogs have ever been dewormed. Moreover, pastoralists' response also showed that 71.4% had contact with dogs and 90.7% of the pastoralists did not wash vegetables before raw consumption. On the other hand, 80% of the pastoralists confirmed that they provide raw infected organ and inedible offals like lung for their dog and cats. Similarly, small proportions (10.7%) of study participants assume that dogs transmit health risks to human or other animals. Survey on health professionals and animal health assistants in the area have demonstrated very low level of knowledge on hydatidosis. Therefore, it is concluded as the disease is less aware in the pastoral communities and it is highly imperative to impart public health education to build up public awareness about the sources of infection and its control in the pastoral area that are at higher risk and collaboration between veterinary and medical personnel should also be strengthened in Ayssaita in sharing knowledge on zoonoses and working together to identify and control zoonoses.
Adjustment of the Seismic Collapse Fragility Curves of Structures by Considering the Ground Motion Spectral Shape Effects

The influence of the indicator η on the collapse capacity of structural systems has been investigated in this article. Eta has been introduced recently as an indicator of spectral shape which has strong influence on the structural nonlinear response. In this article, a closed form formula has also been developed to predict the collapse capacity of structures as a function of their structural behaviour parameters. The collapse fragility of a given structure can be determined for different hazard levels by adjusting the single fragility which results from a general set of ground motion records. The results of a seismic collapse risk analyses of a four- and an eight-story reinforced concrete test structure have confirmed the consistency of the proposed simple approach which is valid for period range of 0.25–3.0 s and the ductility range of 4–12.
Perceptions of University Instructors When Listening to International Student Speech.

Intensive English Program (IEP) Instructors and content faculty both listen to international students at the university. For these two groups of instructors, this study compared perceptions of international student speech by collecting comprehensibility ratings and transcription samples for intelligibility scores. No significant differences were found between the two groups, suggesting that the perceptions of these two groups are reasonably well-matched. Seven linguistic features were assessed, and grammatical accuracy was found to have the strongest effect on content faculty’s ratings of comprehensibility. None of the linguistic features correlated significantly with intelligibility. These results raise questions about IEP assessment practices for speaking. Rankings of speech samples based on comprehensibility, intelligibility, and linguistic features all yielded different pictures of who was most understandable, highlighting the implications of using different criteria to assess student speech.
Root fungal endophytes improve the growth of antarctic plants through an enhanced nitrogen acquisition

1 Centro Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Sustentable de Atacama (CRIDESAT), Universidad de Atacama, Copiapo, Region of Atacama, Chile 2 Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile 3 Laboratorio de Genómica y Biodiversidad (LGB), Departamento de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad del Bío-Bío, Chillán, Región de Ñuble, Chile 4 Laboratorio de Complejidad Microbiana y Ecología Funcional, Instituto Antofagasta, Universidad de Antofagasta, Antofagasta, Región de Antofagasta, Chile 5 Laboratorio de Bacteriología Molecular, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Región Metropolitana, Chile 6 Laboratorio de Anatomía y Ecología Funcional de Plantas (AEF), Instituto de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Región de Valparaíso, Chile 7 Centro de Ecología Molecular y Funcional, Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Región del Maule, Chile 8 Research Program "Adaptation of Agriculture to Climate Change" PIEI A2C2, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Región del Maule, Chile
CORE Curriculum and Students Perceptions: Approach to Curriculum Review

A quantitative study addressing student's perceptions of three higher education institutions CORE curriculum within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study utilized survey methodology to collect the perceptions of students across all four levels of freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior students. The data collected was analyzed using percentages for descriptive statistics and T-test for identifying relationships between the dependent and independent variables, the strength of the relationships was determined using (phi) since the variable were all categorical. The literature review of the following study will cover the Role of CORE curriculum in post-secondary education. The frame work of the current study is that the students' perception of their university curriculum affects the effectiveness of the learning process, and is to be considered in universities curriculum reviews. The major findings of the study show that students confidence levels with their CORE curriculum is greater than that of the overall curriculum, English courses ranked first in confidence level followed by Math courses and finally Natural science courses. The CORE curriculum model utilized affected students responses in relation to the level of agreement for the need to add new courses to the CORE curriculum, where students from universities apply the scholarly discourse model reported a higher agreement. Universities are recommended to provide additional resources to the Match course, and additional resources and knowledge base to the Natural Science courses. Limitations of study are the sampling strategies utilized in deciding the sample and the sample size. Recommendations of future research on students perceptions of universities curriculum and its importance in curriculum reviews, also a duplication of the following research is encouraged.
Streptococcus thermophilus ST 28 Ameliorates Colitis in Mice Partially by Suppression of Inflammatory Th 17 Cells

The effects of Streptococcus thermophilus ST28 on cytokine production by murine splenocytes stimulated with transforming growth factor-β plus interleukin(IL-) 6 were evaluated. The addition of ST28 significantly repressed IL-17 production compared to ATCC 19258 (type strain). ST28 also decreased the number of Th17 cells in the stimulated splenocytes. The anti-inflammatory effects of ST28 administration were evaluated in mice with colitis induced by dextran sodium sulphate (DSS). Oral treatment of mice with ST28 ameliorated the intestinal lesions by DSS. Upon DSS treatment, IL-17 production in lamina propria lymphocytes (LPLs) was induced, but ST28 significantly decreased its production. ST28 also decreased the percentage of Th17 cells in LPL from DSSinduced colitis. The present results imply that ST28 suppresses the Th17 response in inflamed intestines and would be useful in the treatment of Th17-mediated diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease.
Starting an R & D project under uncertainty ∗ Sabien DOBBELAERE

We model a two-stage R&D project with an abandonment option. Two types of uncertainty influence the decision to start R&D. Demand uncertainty is modelled as a lottery between a proportional increase and decrease in demand. Technical uncertainty is modelled as a lottery between a decrease and increase in the cost to continue R&D. Both lotteries become more divergent when the difference between the outcomes of the lottery increases. A potential entrant is endowed with a superior technology and threatens to drive the incumbent out of the market. The incumbent has a time lead over the entrant and can obtain the same superior technology by completing the R&D project before the entrant can enter the market. We derive under which lottery probabilities more divergent demand and supply lotteries positively or negatively affect the decision to start R&D. We test the derived hypotheses using a unique dataset containing proxies for demand and technical uncertainty as well as perceived entry threat for about 4000 German firms in manufacturing and services (CIS IV). Strongly confirming our model predictions, we find that for firms facing lotteries where the good outcome is more likely to prevail (i) a 10% increase in the degree of divergence of the demand lottery increases the likelihood of undertaking R&D by 1.3% and (ii) a 10% increase in ∗This research initiated when the first author was visiting the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) whose hospitality is greatly acknowledged. We are grateful to participants at the International Industrial Organization Conference (Washington, 2008), the ZEW Conference on the Economics of Innovation and Patenting (Mannheim, 2008), the Danish Research Unit for Industrial Dynamics Conference (Copenhagen, 2008) and the International Schumpeter Society Conference (Rio de Janeiro, 2008) for helpful comments and suggestions. All remaining errors are ours. †Ghent University, K.U. Leuven, IZA Bonn. Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). Corresponding author: Sabien.Dobbelaere@UGent.be ‡SHERPPA, Ghent University and CORE, Université Catholique de Louvain. Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). §Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW).
The Effects of Ganoderma lucidum on Initial Events Related to the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Efficacy and Toxicity on High-Risk Uroepithelial Cells: An in Vitro Preliminary Study

A novel prophylactic regimen is demanded for preventing bladder cancer recurrence, because of the high side-effect tolls of conventional adjuvant Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) immunotherapy, in addition to its only moderate efficacy. In vitro and animal studies have demonstrated the anti-cancer properties of a medicinal mushroom called Ganoderma lucidum (GL). In this study, a pre-malignant human uroepithelial cells (HUC-PC) model was utilized to compare the effectiveness between ethanol extract of GL (GLe) and BCG on interleukin-6 (IL-6) secretion and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) cytotoxicity. Additionally, parameters relevant to the BCG efficacy and safety, including free soluble fibronectin (FN) and cell-surface glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) levels were tested, following the exposure of GLe to the cells. GLe at 100 μg/ml and BCG at 4.8 × 107 CFU were shown to induce equivalent levels of IL-6, suggesting the potential synergism, while the tested concentrations of GLe were non-cytotoxic. During the initial four hours of GLe exposure, the free FN concentrations in harvested media were significantly reduced that might facilitate the binding of BCG for uroepithelial internalization to enhance BCG efficacy. Furthermore, the cell membrane-bound GAGs levels of HUC-PC cells were significant increased in response to GLe to suggest cellular protection from BCG infection. In summary, current findings suggest the potential additive synergism of GLe with the BCG efficacy, as well as its protective effects, and thus reducing the BCG toxicity.
Deriving Einstein's Field Equation (EFE) and Modified Gravity by Statistical Mechanics and Quantization of Anti Commuting Space

In this paper, we derive the Einstein's field equation (EFE) by considering an non-commuting two dimensional quantized space, which can be excited by absorbing energy. Any variation of the energy level of space quantas, will result in a change in the quanta's area state. This means, that the geometry of space depends on the energy which exists in it. Using Holographic principle and Unruh effect, without any further assumptions like equipartition theorem, our model leads to Newton's law of gravity in the limit $\hbar \to 0$.
The Internationalisation of the RMB: New Starts, Jumps and Tipping Points

We investigate the process of currency internationalisation of the Chinese Renminbi (RMB). Aggregated cross-border data provided by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) allows better measurement of the role played by a currency in trade and settlement. RMB transactions are significant and increasing but remain concentrated in key financial centres. Analysis using an asset pricing framework shows that the footprint of Chinese corporations in international markets has at times been significant, with the size of these transactions prompting many to reassess the likely pace of RMB internationalisation and its usage as an alternate vehicle currency.
A simple three-dimensional macroscopic root water uptake model based on the hydraulic architecture approach

Many hydrological models including root water uptake (RWU) do not consider the dimension of root system hydraulic architecture (HA) because explicitly solving water flow in such a complex system is too time consuming. However, they might lack process understanding when basing RWU and plant water stress predictions on functions of variables such as the root length density distribution. On the basis of analytical solutions of water flow in a simple HA, we developed an “implicit” model of the root system HA for simulation of RWU distribution (sink term of Richards’ equation) and plant water stress in three-dimensional soil water flow models. The new model has three macroscopic parameters defined at the soil element scale, or at the plant scale, rather than for each segment of the root system architecture: the standard sink fraction distribution SSF, the root system equivalent conductanceKrs and the compensatory RWUconductance Kcomp. It clearly decouples the process of water stress from compensatory RWU, and its structure is appropriate for hydraulic lift simulation. As compared to a model explicitly solving water flow in a realistic maize root system HA, the implicit model showed to be accurate for predicting RWU distribution and plant collar water potential, with one single set of parameters, in dissimilar water dynamics scenarios. For these scenarios, the computing time of the implicit model was a factor 28 to 214 shorter than that of the explicit one.We also provide a new expression for the effective soil water potential sensed by plants in soils with a heterogeneous water potential distribution, which emerged from the implicit model equations. With the proposed implicit model of the root system HA, new concepts are brought which open avenues towards simple and mechanistic RWU models and water stress functions operational for field scale water dynamics simulation.
Morphogenetic effects of Congo red on hyphal growth and cell wall development of the fungus Saprolegnia monoica

SUMMARY: Cultures of Saprolegnia monoica were treated with Congo red, a dye which prevents glycan microfibril assembly. In the presence of the dye, the fungus developed cell wall thickenings and exhibited aberrant hyphal tips which expanded into spherical swellings. In the thickened cell walls, cellulose was produced as short microfibrils or amorphous material. These morphological anomalies were accompanied by changes in the localization of glucose incorporation into the cell wall which was not limited to the hyphal tips. Congo red uncouples the polymerization and crystallization of cellulose into normal microfibrils and it is suggested that the regular assembly of glucan chains into microfibrils is needed for normal hyphal morphogenesis.
Comparative analysis of morphological and .morphometrical characters in six isolates of Pratylenchus vulnus Allen & Jensen, 1951 (Nemata : Tylenchida)

Marcelo DOUCET *, Jorge PINOCHET ** and Julio A. DI RIENZO *** * Facullad de Ciencas Agropecuarias, Escuela Para Graduados, Universidad Nacional de Cm'doba, CC 509, 5000 C6rdoba, Argenlina, ** Departamento de Patologia Vegetal, Institut de Ricerca i Technologia Agroalimentàries, IRTA , Cira. de Cabrils 5/11. , 08348, Cabrils, Barcelona, Spain and *** Unidad de Procesamiento Electronico de Datos, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuanas, Universidad Nacional de C6rdoba, Argentina.