Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of Fixed Foreign Direct Investment in Botswana

In this article, we explain the determinants of foreign direct investment in Botswana for the period 1980–2007. The government of Botswana has over the years provided investment incentives to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country but, despite these efforts, FDI has continued to be relatively low and skewed towards mining, especially diamond mining. Recent literature on investment is silent on the impact of economic growth rates on FDI inflows in developing countries such as this one. We examined economic variables that determined FDI in Botswana, and our study used the accelerator theory of investment to uncover the effects of FDI on the nation’s economy. The dependent variable, FDI is expressed as a function of GDP growth rates, human capital, terms of trade, domestic investment, and government expenditure. We used time series annual data from Botswana Central Statistics Office (CSO) and employed both the co-integration and vector error correction model to find the short-term and long-term effects of FDI. The econometric results showed that economic growth rates better explains FDI flows in Botswana. The significance of economic growth is consistent with the acceleration theory of investment. This finding confirms that the accelerator theory is useful as a policy tool for planning investment outlay in developing countries. The findings are also useful for policy-makers in shading light on investment determinants that could be employed to achieve more FDI in Botswana.
Deadweight Loss in Oligopoly: A New Approach

Ever since Harberger's [18] pioneering article, researchers have attempted to estimate the welfare loss resulting from the exercise of market power. Despite nearly four decades of work in this area, however, surprisingly few researchers disagree with Harberger's finding that deadweight loss is quite small. While many dispute his claim that deadweight loss in manufacturing amounts to only about 0.1% of GNP, few estimates exceed more than 1-3% of the value of output. ' Some of the higher estimates, moreover, include losses of a broader nature than the purely allocative losses on which Harberger focuses. In this paper I use a generalization of a recent model of oligopoly to estimate the magnitude of deadweight loss in the U.S. manufacturing sector. While the exact magnitude of the losses depends on several parameters, the estimates indicate that deadweight loss may be considerably higher than earlier work suggests, ranging from roughly 6-10% of the value of shipments if demand is inelastic to over 20% if demand is elastic.
The Cognitive and Affective Bases of Political Tolerance Judgments

James H. Kuklinski, Department of Political Science and Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois Ellen Riggle, Department of Political Science, University of Kentucky Victor Ottati, Department of Political Science, State University of New York at Stony Brook Norbert Schwarz, ZUMA, Mannheim, Federal Republic of Germany Robert S. Wyer, Jr., Department of Psychology, University of Illinois
Outpatient palliative care for chronic heart failure: a case series.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Although the palliative care needs of outpatients with chronic heart failure (HF) are numerous, there is limited published experience in providing outpatient HF palliative care. This article describes the patients seen and the issues addressed in an outpatient palliative care program for patients with HF. METHODS Case series involving a retrospective medical record review using descriptive quantitative and qualitative analysis. RESULTS Over a 3 ½ year time period, 50 patients were seen, resulting in 228 total visits. Fifty percent of patients were seen only once. Fifty-eight percent of patients had New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class III-IV HF. Within a year of the initial palliative care visit, 14% of patients died. Depression, anxiety, pain, fatigue, breathlessness, and sleep disturbance were common symptoms addressed during visits. Advance care planning topics were discussed with 48% of patients; hospice and resuscitation status were each discussed with 16% of patients. Fears or concerns about the future arose in 34% of patients. Care coordination was commonly addressed with patients' other health care providers (58%). The most common referrals were to social work (26%) and rehabilitation/physical therapy (20%). CONCLUSIONS Several findings reflect how outpatient HF palliative care differs from that of inpatient hospital-based palliative care. Many of the issues addressed, including care coordination, advance care planning, and psychosocial issues, imply that palliative HF care is complementary to standard HF care at all stages of the disease process and that future programs should consider dedicating a nurse and/or social worker. Research is needed to test how such a care model affects patient-centered outcomes, utilization, and cost.
A Taxonomy of Inter-Team Coordination Mechanisms in Large-Scale Agile

In large-scale agile software development, many teams work together to achieve overarching project goals. The more teams, the greater the coordination requirements. Despite the growing popularity of large-scale agile, inter-team coordination is challenging to practice and research. We conducted a case study over 1.5 years in a large-scale software development firm to better understand which inter-team coordination mechanisms are used in large-scale agile and how they support inter-team coordination. Based on a thematic analysis of 31 interviews, 113 hours of observations, and supplemental material, we identified 27 inter-team coordination mechanisms. From this, we offer the following contributions. First, we propose a taxonomy of inter-team coordination with three categories: coordination meetings, such as communities of practice, inter-team stand-ups, and retrospectives; coordination roles, such as the program architects and the platform team; and coordination tools and artefacts, such as Slack and JIRA as well as inter-team task boards, product backlogs, and roadmaps. Second, the coordination mechanisms displayed combinations of four key characteristics, technical, organizational, physical, and social (TOPS), which form the basis of the TOPS framework to capture the multifaceted characteristics of coordination mechanisms. Technical relates to the software product and/or technical tools supporting software development. Organizational pertains to the structural aspects of the organization. Physical refers to tangible or spatial characteristics. Social captures interpersonal and community-based characteristics. Finally, the taxonomy and the TOPS framework provide a knowledge base and a structured approach for researchers to study as well as for software practitioners to understand and improve inter-team coordination in large-scale agile.
Exposure to the Sobriety “Checkpoint Strikeforce” Campaign in Maryland: Impact on Driver Perceptions of Vulnerability and Behavior

Objectives: To compare drivers who were: (1) exposed to Maryland's sobriety “Checkpoint Strikeforce” campaign; (2) not exposed but were aware of it; and (3) neither exposed nor aware of it. This six-month campaign involved periodic road-side sobriety checkpoints, in which police attempted to detect and arrest drunk drivers and a series of radio Public Service Announcements (PSAs) that promoted public awareness. Methods: A statewide sample of 1725 drivers were interviewed by telephone to determine their exposure to and awareness of this campaign, as well as their beliefs and behaviors concerning drunk driving and seat belt usage. Results: Relatively few people (9.6%) were exposed in any way to the campaign; however almost 30% were aware of it. Significant increases in perceived vulnerability to arrest for drinking and driving were found among those who were exposed. There were no differences in reported drinking and driving, but seat belt usage in the last 30 days was higher among those who were exposed. There were no differences among those people who had been directly exposed to the campaign (i.e., personally gone through a sobriety checkpoint) and those who were indirectly exposed (i.e., knew a family member or someone else who went through a checkpoint). Conclusions: Exposure to a sobriety checkpoint was associated with increased perceptions of drink-driving risk (i.e., likelihood of getting caught by the police), which was not dependent upon having personally experienced it. Awareness without exposure appears to be insufficient to change perceived risk. The need to increase the reach and frequency of the sobriety “Checkpoint Strikeforce” campaign is indicated.
State‐dependent blockade of haloperidol‐induced sensitization of catalepsy by MK‐801

NMDA receptor antagonists have been shown to block several forms of neural and behavioural plasticity. The prototypical and most widely‐used noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist is dizocilpine (MK‐801). Here we have examined the effect of MK‐801 on the context‐dependent augmentation (‘sensitization’) of catalepsy in rats which develops with repeated administration of haloperidol. It was found that over a 7‐day treatment period animals receiving haloperidol (0.25 or 0.5 mg/kg) plus MK‐801 (0.16 mg/kg) showed a context‐dependent day‐to‐day increase in catalepsy similar to animals that received haloperidol alone. However, when all animals were treated with haloperidol alone on day 8 of the experiment, animals that had received haloperidol plus MK‐801 before displayed a much smaller cataleptic response, similar to that observed in the haloperidol group on the first treatment day, i.e. the previously‐established enhancement of catalepsy was no longer expressed. These results may be explained in terms of state‐dependency effects induced by MK‐801. Implications of these findings for the clinical use of NMDA receptor antagonists in the treatment of Parkinson's disease are discussed.
Selective Soft Tissue Release Preserves Growth Plate Architecture During Limb Lengthening

Although distraction osteogenesis has proven successful in children, concerns remain regarding potential growth inhibition of the lengthened limb. Twenty-one 8-week-old New Zealand White rabbits underwent a unilateral 40% tibial lengthening with the contralateral tibia as control. The animals were divided into Achilles tendon release and non-release groups. Radiographs and histomorphometric analysis of the proximal tibial growth plate was performed 5 and 10 weeks after distraction. The corrected length of tibias without tenotomy was significantly shorter than the contralateral controls, whereas those with tenotomy were statistically equivalent to the contralateral control tibias. Histologically, the operated limbs without tenotomy showed a significant decrease in thickness and loss of cellular architecture of the proximal tibial growth plate compared with the tenotomy groups, which were of near-normal appearance. A concomitant tendo Achilles lengthening performed with 40% tibial lengthening preserves proximal tibial growth plate architecture in this model.
Connectome and schizophrenia

Purpose of review The neural connections, interconnections and organized networks of the central nervous system (CNS), which represent the human connectome, are critical for intact brain function. Consequently, disturbances at any level or juncture of these networks may alter behaviour and/or lead to brain dysfunction. In this review, we focus on highlighting recent work using advanced imaging methods to address alterations in the structural and functional connectome in patients with schizophrenia. Recent findings Using structural, diffusion, resting-state and task-related functional imaging and advanced computational analysis methods such as graph theory, more than 200 publications have addressed different aspects of structural and/or functional connectivity in schizophrenia over the last year. These studies have focused on determining how brain networks differ from those in controls, interact with symptom profiles within and across diagnoses, interface with disease-related cognitive impairments and confer genetic risk for the disorder. Summary Much existing evidence supports the view that schizophrenia is a disorder of altered brain connectivity. Recent and continued characterization of the structural and functional connectome in schizophrenia patients have advanced our understanding of the neurobiology underlying clinical symptoms and cognitive impairments in a particular patient, their overlaps with other neuropsychiatric disorders sharing common features as well as the contributions of genetic risk factors. Although the clinical utility of the schizophrenia connectome remains to be realized, recent findings provide further promise that research in this area may lead to improved diagnosis, treatments and clinical outcomes.
The effect of degenerative morphological changes of the intervertebral disc on the lumbar spine biomechanics: a poroelastic finite element investigation

Intervertebral disc degeneration involves changes in the spinal anatomical structures. The mechanical relevance of the following changes was investigated: disc height, endplate sclerosis, disc water content, permeability and depressurisation. A poroelastic nonlinear finite element model of the L4–L5 human spine segments was employed. Loads represented a daily cycle (500 N compression combined with flexion–extension motion for 16 h followed by 200 N compression for 8 h). In non-degenerative conditions, the model predicted a diurnal axial displacement of 1.32 mm and a peak intradiscal pressure of 0.47 MPa. Axial displacement, facet force and range of motion in flexion–extension are decreased by decreasing disc height. By decreasing the initial water content, axial displacement, facet force and fluid loss were all reduced. Endplate sclerosis did not have a significant influence on the calculated results. Depressurisation determined an increase of the disc effective stress, possibly inducing failure. Degenerative instability was not calculated in any simulations.
Education without frontiers? International participation in an online astronomy program

Online programs that include international students among their cohort are becoming commonplace. As the leading international online astronomy program, Swinburne Astronomy Online (SAO) is distinctive in that students from the program’s country of origin are in the minority among a cohort located in over 30 countries, taught by instructors who are also located around the world. We discuss factors that have helped make SAO successful internationally, plus issues that arise when teaching astronomy in an international context.
Pannarin inhibits cell growth and induces cell death in human prostate carcinoma DU-145 cells

In the course of our continuing search for new natural anticancer compounds for treatment and/or prevention of prostate cancer, our laboratory has focused its search on poorly investigated lichen metabolites, sphaerophorin, pannarin and epiphorellic acid-1. To this end, we treated DU-145, a cell line resembling the last stage of prostate carcinoma, with different concentrations (6–50 μmol/l) of these compounds for 72 h. Our data clearly evidenced that these lichen metabolites inhibit the growth of human prostate carcinoma DU-145 cells, but pannarin exhibits a higher effect. Our data show an induction of apoptotic death of advanced prostate cancer cells by sphaerophorin, pannarin and epiphorellic acid-1. In fact, a significant (P<0.001) increase in caspase-3 enzyme activity occurred in DU-145 cells treated with all lichen compounds at 12 and 25 μmol/l concentrations, correlated to a high DNA fragmentation, but without the disruption of the plasma membrane, as evaluated by the percentage of lactic dehydrogenase release. Alternatively, we found a low, but significant (P<0.01) lactic dehydrogenase release at higher concentrations (50 μmol/l), suggesting that in these experimental conditions sphaerophorin, pannarin and epiphorellic acid-1 induce necrosis in DU-145 cells, through the increase in reactive oxygen species generation. The experimental evidence is further confirmed by caspase-3 activity results, evidencing a reduction in the activity of this protease at a higher concentration, 50 μmol/l.
Indoor radio communications for factories of the future

The need for reliable, real-time communication for automated factories is discussed. The ability of narrowband digital radio systems to meet that need is examined. The major problems encountered in multipath propagation, resulted from multiple reflections of the transmitted signal from the building structure and surrounding inventory. Radio wave propagation experiments at 1300 MHz, which were conducted by the author in five operational factories, are described. Other studies of multipath propagation are discussed, and techniques for overcoming it are considered. Research on multiple-access networking is summarized. <<ETX>>
Axial Hox9 activity establishes the posterior field in the developing forelimb

Current models hold that the early limb field becomes polarized into anterior and posterior domains by the opposing activities of Hand2 and Gli3. This polarization is essential for the initiation of Shh expression in the posterior margin of the limb bud, but how this polarity is established is not clear. Here we show that initial anteroposterior polarization of the early forelimb field requires the function of all four Hox9 paralogs (Hoxa9, Hoxb9, Hoxc9, and Hoxd9). This is unexpected, given that only HoxA and HoxD AbdB group genes have been shown to play a role in forelimb patterning, regulating the activation and maintenance of Shh expression and subsequent proximal-distal patterning of the forelimb. Our analysis of Hox9 quadruple mutants demonstrates that Hox9 function is required for the expression of Hand2 in the posterior limb field. Subsequently, Gli3 expression is not repressed posteriorly, Shh expression is not initiated, and collinear expression of HoxA/D10–13 is not established, resulting in severely malformed forelimbs lacking all posterior, Shh-regulated elements. This Hox9 mutant phenotype is restricted to the forelimbs; mutant hindlimbs are normal, revealing fundamental differences in the patterning mechanisms governing the establishment of forelimb and hindlimb fields.
Analysis of the Central Pattern Generator for Swimming in the Mollusk Clione a

Abstract: The pteropod mollusk Clione limacina swims by rhythmic movements of two wings. The central pattern generator (CPG) for swimming, located in the pedal ganglia, is formed by three groups of interneurons. The interneurons of the groups 7 and 8 are of crucial importance for rhythm generation. They are endogenous oscillators capable of generating rhythmic activity with a range of frequencies typical of swimming after extraction from the ganglia. This endogenous rhythmic activity is enhanced by serotonin. The interneurons 7 and 8 produce one prolonged action potential (about 100 ms in duration) per cycle. Prolonged action potentials contribute to determining the duration of the cycle phases. The interneurons of two groups inhibit one another determining their reciprocal activity. The putative transmitters of groups 7 and 8 interneurons are glutamate and acetylcholine, respectively. Transition from one phase to the other is facilitated by the plateau interneurons of group 12 that contribute to termination of one phase and to initiation of the next phase. Maintaining the rhythm generation and transition from one phase to the other is also promoted by postinhibitory rebound. The redundant organization of the swimming generator guarantees the high reliability of its operation. Generation of the swimming output persisted after the inhibitory input from interneurons 8 to 7 had been blocked by atropine. Activity of the swimming generator is controlled by a set of command neurons that activate, inhibit or modulate the operation of the swimming CPG in relation to a behaviorally relevant context.
Exposure study to examine chemosensory effects of ɛ-caprolactam in healthy men and women

Abstract Context: ε-Caprolactam is an important industrial chemical with a relatively low human toxicity; of importance is the irritations that occur after exposure to ε-caprolactam as aerosols or vapors. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine symptoms and objective effects, which occur on the mucous membranes of the eyes and the upper respiratory tract. Methods: A total of 52 healthy volunteers (26 women and 26 men, aged between 19 and 50 years) were exposed by random to different ε-caprolactam concentrations (0.05, 0.5 and 5.0 mg/m³) and the control condition (0.0 mg/m³) for 6 h on four consecutive days. Eye blinking frequency, tear film break-up time, eye redness, nasal flows and resistance, olfactory function as well as total protein and interleukin-8 in nasal lavage fluid were determined daily before, during and after exposure. Questionnaires were used to record both subjective symptoms and personality factors. Results: There were no significant specific effects on the subjective and objective endpoints examined. Statistical analysis yielded no evidence of concentration-response relationships. Evaluation of olfactory symptoms showed that the duration of the stay in the chamber and not the ε-caprolactam concentration was decisive for the perception of “impure air”. Personality factors had no significant influence on the reported symptoms. Conclusions: Exposure to ε-caprolactam concentrations of 5.0 mg/m³ at maximum for 6 h did not cause chemosensory effects on the upper respiratory tract or eyes of healthy volunteers. Therefore, the concentration of 5.0 mg/m³ corresponds to the No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL).
Location of the targets of the hpr-97, sacU32(Hy), and sacQ36(Hy) mutations in upstream regions of the subtilisin promoter

A number of mutations have been described with pleiotropic effects on the expression of genes for degradative enzymes in Bacillus subtilis. The sacU32(Hy) and sacQ36(Hy) mutations increase the expression of a wide variety of enzymes that degrade biological polymers. The phenotypes caused by mutations at the hpr locus are more restricted; they are known to increase expression of the alkaline and neutral proteases. The alkaline protease (aprE) promoter was analyzed to determine the target site for stimulation by these loci. Deletion of upstream regions of the aprE promoter could abolish or greatly reduce stimulation by mutations at these loci. A region upstream of -200 was necessary for full stimulation by an hpr-97 mutation, whereas a region between -141 and -164 was necessary for full stimulation by the sacU32(Hy) and sacQ36(Hy) mutations. Northern analyses of mRNA preparations showed that the levels of aprE mRNA were increased in strains carrying the sacU32(Hy) or hpr-97 mutation. Moreover, primer extension analysis of these mRNA preparations revealed that the transcription start point was identical to that in a wild-type strain. We hypothesize that upstream activation of the subtilisin promoter mediated by these genes is a mechanism for global responses to a variety of nutritional conditions.