Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impacts of Workers' Remittances on Human Capital and Labor Supply in Developing Countries

This study investigates the impacts of workers' remittances on human capital and labor supply by using data for 122 developing countries from 1990 to 2015. This topic has not been explored thoroughly at the aggregate level, mainly due to endogeneity of remittances and the difficulty in finding instruments to resolve this issue. To address the endogeneity of remittances, I estimate bilateral remittances and use them to create weighted indicators of remittance-sending countries. These weighted indicators are used as instruments for remittance inflow to remittance-receiving countries. Results obtained in this study indicate that remittances raise per capita health expenditures and reduce undernourishment prevalence, depth of food deficit, prevalence of stunting, and child mortality rate. Remittances also raise school enrollment, school completion rate, and private school enrollment. Although there is no difference in the impact of remittances on the health outcome of boys and girls, remittances improve the educational outcome of girls more than the educational outcome of boys. Further, remittances decrease the female labor force participation rate but do not affect the male labor force participation rate.
Decoupling is in the Eye of the Beholder? EuropeanParliament Voting and Perceptions of Economic Indivisibility in Europe

The rise of Euroskeptic or anti-­‐European Union (EU) parties in the European Parliament (EP) has been popularly attributed to citizens’ frustrations with economic stagnation and an out-­‐of-­‐touch, pro-­‐EU political elite. The EU’s defenders have, in turn, argued that policies promoted by anti-­‐EU parties, such as leaving the euro or rolling back the EU’s single market, are economically irrational due to the deep interdependence of EU economies. Do voters actually perceive their national economy to be linked to that of the EU, and do pro-­‐EU parties fare better or worse in countries where such a linkage is more extensively perceived? This paper examines the conceptual and empirical contours of Euroskepticism in EP elections, and assesses the possible effects of publically perceived economic interdependence on these election results. The paper ultimately aims to speak to the EU’s popular legitimacy and the status of Robert Schuman’s goal to attain “concrete achievements which…create a de facto solidarity. ”
Network Revenue Management with Cancellations and No‐Shows

Customer cancellations and no‐shows have an important impact on the performance of an airline's revenue management system. In this study, we study airline network revenue management problems with customer cancellations and no‐shows, considering two types of demand models: independent‐demand and choice‐based‐demand models. In independent‐demand models, the booking request rates for different products are independent of the assortment of products offered by the airline (exogenous), whereas in choice‐based‐demand models they depend on the airline's assortment (endogenous). The stochastic problems of optimizing the booking policies for the two demand models are not tractable because of the high‐dimensional state space. Therefore, for each model, we use the corresponding deterministic, continuous‐time, and continuous‐state model, known as the fluid model. A booking policy based on the fluid solution can be implemented for the original stochastic, discrete model. This fluid policy is shown to be asymptotically optimal when the arrival rates become high and the seat capacities become large. In the independent‐demand setting, an optimal fluid solution can be computed by solving a convex optimization problem for which efficient algorithms exist, whereas for some choice‐based‐demand models, the fluid control problems are known to be intractable. We also develop mixed fluid policies for the independent‐demand setting, taking advantage of the real‐time booking state, to improve the performance over the fluid policy. In a factorial experiment of 20 small‐sized single‐leg problems, the revenue loss under one of the mixed fluid policies is demonstrated to be less than 1% of the optimal value for all problems.
The relationship between obesity and race on inhibin B during the menopause transition

Objective: Data are lacking on the effects of obesity and race on inhibin B levels during the menopause transition. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship among inhibin B levels, body mass index (BMI), and race during the menopause transition. Design: In the Penn Ovarian Aging Study, a prospective cohort study of reproductive aging, 436 women aged 35 to 47 years were followed up with serial hormones, anthropometric measures, and questionnaires for 6 years. Univariate and multivariable analyses were performed comparing mean log transformed inhibin B levels among menopause stages, age groups, BMI categories, races, and smoking groups. Results: In the univariate analyses, mean inhibin B levels were negatively associated with menopause stage, age, and BMI, but not significantly with race or smoking. Interactions of menopause status and BMI were significant (P < 0.001). Premenopausal women with a BMI of 25 or higher had significantly lower inhibin B levels compared with women with a BMI of less than 25 (41.8 pg/mL vs 58.4 pg/mL, P < 0.001), whereas postmenopausal women with a BMI of 30 or higher had significantly higher inhibin B levels compared with the postmenopausal women with a BMI of less than 25 (29.1 pg/mL vs 26.7 pg/mL, P < 0.001). Conclusions: Although BMI is a significant independent predictor of inhibin B levels, the relationship between BMI and inhibin B changes with advancing menopause stage. These data provide additional evidence that obesity influences hormones during the menopause transition.
Does Corporate Social Responsibility Influence Corporate Tax Avoidance of Chinese Listed Companies?

The primary objective of this paper is to empirically examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) influences corporate tax avoidance (CTA) of Chinese listed companies. The study is based on a sample of 3481 firm-year observations from 2009 to 2015 using CSR ratings from the Rankins (RKS) corporate social responsibility ratings agency in China, and all financial data extracted from the China Stock Market and Accounting Research (CSMAR). The authors foundthat CSR is negatively related to the current and cash effective tax rate (proxies of corporate tax avoidance), suggesting that responsible firms are more involved in tax avoidance as compared to less responsible firms. Their findings are robust against different control variables. Additionally, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper is one of the first to document an empirical association between CSR and corporate tax avoidance of Chinese listed companies.
Effects of changes in depressive symptoms and cognitive functioning on physical disability in home care elders.

BACKGROUND This study sought to investigate the effect of changes in depression status on physical disability in older persons receiving home care, examine whether the effect is due to concomitant changes in cognitive status, and test whether affective state and cognitive ability interact to influence physical disability. METHODS Multilevel analyses were conducted using longitudinal data collected about every 3 months from older participants in Michigan's community-based long-term care programs (N = 13,129). The data set provided an average of nine repeated measures of depressive symptoms, cognitive functioning, and physical disability. We estimated the lag effects of within-person changes in depression and cognitive status, and their interaction, on physical disability measured by activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), controlling for health-related events that occurred in the interim. RESULTS Changes between not having and having depressive symptoms, including subsyndromal symptoms, are critical to physical disability for home care elders. The effects are independent of concomitant changes in cognitive status, which also have significant adverse effects on physical disability. There is some evidence that improvement of depression buffers the adverse effect of cognitive decline on IADL disability. CONCLUSIONS Providers should monitor changes in depression and cognitive status in home care elders. Early detection and treatment of subthreshold depression, as well as efforts to prevent worsening of cognitive status in home care elders, may have a meaningful impact on their ability to live at home.
A 20-to-75 dB gain 5-dB noise figure broadband 60-GHz receiver with digital calibration

This work presents a broadband 60-GHz heterodyne receiver with digital calibration. In the LNA, low-coupling-coefficient transformer based matching networks are employed to improve its RF bandwidth. Digital gain control and phase tuning schemes are used for the receiver gain tuning and I/Q mismatch calibration. Measurement results show that the conversion gains of 75 dB (the high-gain mode) and 20 dB (the low-gain mode) are achieved. In the high-gain mode, the measured average noise figure is about 5 dB. Moreover, in the single-channel (i.e. 1.76 GHz RF bandwidth) and two-channel bonding (i.e. 3.52 GHz) measurements, the receiver achieves good in-band gain flatness performance. Fabricated in a 65 nm CMOS, the receiver occupies a silicon area of 1.9 mm × 0.7 mm (including all the pads) and consumes 142 mW dc power from a 1.2 V supply.
Percutaneous vertebroplasty for osteoporotic fractures.

BACKGROUND Vertebral augmentation has been widely used to treat vertebral body compression fractures caused by varied pathologies. The lifetime risk of a vertebral body compression fracture is 16% for women and 5% for men, and exponential increase of osteoporotic fractures worldwide. PURPOSE To determine the efficacy and durability of percutaneous vertebroplasty for the treatment of back pain associated with osteoporotic vertebral fractures. DESIGN A prospective study. MATERIALS AND METHODS A prospective evaluation of pain relief in 30 patients, with mean age of 73.7 years, who underwent percutaneous injection of polymethyl methacrylate into 54 vertebrae under fluoroscopic guidance over a period of 35 months was done. Before the procedure and at follow up, patients were asked to quantify their pain on a visual analogue scale. RESULTS The procedure was technically successful in all the patients. Mean duration of follow up was 21.5 months (6-44 months). Ninety-seven percent of the patients reported a significant relief 24 hours after the procedure. Ninety-two percent reported significant improvement in back pain, previously associated with a compression fracture, as well as improved ambulatory ability. Before vertebroplasty, the VAS score was 8.91+/- 1.82 compared to a score of 2.02+/- 1.95 at follow up. The mean difference in VAS score was significant (p<.0001). One patient had an asymptomatic epidural leak of PMMA, however did not require any further intervention. CONCLUSION Percutaneous vertebroplasty of symptomatic osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures is a minimally invasive procedure that provides immediate and sustained pain relief in patients with refractory pain.
Smoking during pregnancy is associated with alterations in markers of endothelial function.

OBJECTIVE Alterations in endothelial function may explain the reduced risk of preeclampsia that is associated with smoking. We hypothesized that markers of endothelial function increase over pregnancy but decrease with smoking. STUDY DESIGN Plasma samples were obtained throughout pregnancy from 63 primiparous women with normal pregnancies. The samples were assayed for cellular fibronectin, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, and intracellular adhesion molecule-1. Smoking status was determined by urinary cotinine concentrations. RESULTS Mean cellular fibronectin concentrations were different by time (P<.001) and smoking status (P=.01); the lowest concentrations were found in smokers. In contrast, intracellular adhesion molecule-1 was different by smoking status (P=.046); the highest concentrations were found in smokers. Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 was different over time (P<.001), but not by smoking status. CONCLUSION Smoking during pregnancy is associated with reduced cellular fibronectin and increased intracellular adhesion molecule-1. These differences may be the result of different aspects of endothelial function or the source of the marker. The explanation for reduced preeclampsia in smokers remains elusive.
Linking family planning with HIV/AIDS interventions: a systematic review of the evidence

Objective:To conduct a systematic review of the literature and examine the effectiveness, optimal circumstances, and best practices for strengthening linkages between family planning and HIV interventions. Design:Systematic review of peer-reviewed articles and unpublished program reports (‘promising practices’) evaluating interventions linking family planning and HIV services. Methods:Articles were included if they reported post-intervention evaluation results from an intervention linking family planning and HIV services between 1990 and 2007. Systematic methods were used for searching, screening, and data extraction. Quality assessment was conducted using a 9-point rigor scale. Results:Sixteen studies were included in the analysis (10 peer-reviewed studies and six promising practices). Interventions were categorized into six types: family planning services provided to HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) clients, family planning and VCT services provided to maternal and child health clients, family planning services provided to people living with HIV, community health workers provided family planning and HIV services, VCT provided to family planning clinic clients, and VCT and family planning services provided to women receiving postabortion care. Average study design rigor was low (3.25 out of 9). Most studies reported generally positive or mixed results for key outcomes; no negative results were reported. Conclusion:Interventions linking family planning and HIV services were generally considered feasible and effective, though overall evaluation rigor was low.
Expression and function of calcium‐activated potassium channels in human glioma cells

Ca2+‐activated K+ (KCa) channels are a unique family of ion channels because they are capable of directly communicating calcium signals to changes in cell membrane potential required for cellular processes including but not limited to cellular proliferation and migration. It is now possible to distinguish three families of KCa channels based on differences in their biophysical and pharmacological properties as well as genomic sequence. Using a combination of biochemical, molecular, and biophysical approaches, we show that human tumor cells of astrocytic origin, i.e. glioma cells, express transcripts for all three family members of KCa channels including BK, IK, and all three SK channel types (SK1, SK2, and SK3). The use of selective pharmacological inhibitors shows prominent expression of currents that are inhibited by the BK channel specific inhibitors iberiotoxin and paxilline. However, despite the presence of transcripts for IK and SK, neither clotrimazole, an inhibitor of IK channels, nor apamin, known to block most SK channels inhibited any current. The exclusive expression of functional BK channels was further substantiated by shRNA knockdown experiments, which selectively reduced iberiotoxin sensitive currents. Western blotting of patient biopsies with antibodies specific for all three KCa channel types further substantiated the exclusive expression of BK type KCa channels in vivo. This finding is in sharp contrast to other cancers that express primarily IK channels. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Sustainability indicators for festival tourism: A multi-stakeholder perspective

ABSTRACT To assist the assessment of sustainable festival tourism, this study develops sustainability indictors for festival tourism by including perspectives from four stakeholders: tourists, local residents, business owners, and government agencies. Using the Delphi technique, a panel of 15 tourism experts identified evaluation indicators from the literature. The experts reached consensus on 20 indicators: tourists (four indicators), local residents (four indicators), government agencies (six indicators), and business owners (six indicators). An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was conducted to calculate the relative weight of each indicator. Experts placed the greatest importance on tourists (0.4015) then on local residents (0.3275) followed by governmental agencies (0.1605) and business owners (0.1105) in order.
$\hbox{Ge}_{2}\hbox{Sb}_{2}\hbox{Te}_{5}$  as a Ferroelectric: A Single-Element Low-Voltage Dynamic Memory

Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) is normally employed as a current-driven and heat-triggered structural phase-change material in multielement phase-change memories. This work identifies GST as a ferroelectric material suitable for a single-element memory operating at low voltages without heat-based transformation. With GST as a floating gate, hysteretic behavior that is opposite of that arising from charge trapping and consistent with ferroelectric phase transition is characterized. Saturating memory window of ~1 V under ±4 V cycling and retention times of hundreds of seconds constrained by depolarization are observed. Extracted remnant polarization is ~0.13 μC/cm2. The result suggests potential for embedded use with the advantages of a retention time that is competitive or better than DRAMs, a single-element transistorlike structure and technologically easy integration.
Influence of time after ensiling on distribution of nitrogen in corn silage treated with ammonia.

Chopped whole corn plant was treated before ensiling with 1.4% ammonia (of dry matter) to which . 36% atom excess of 15N had been added. About 50 kg of material (14 kg dry matter) were placed in . 5-mm polyethylene bags (of double thickness) which were evacuated and served as experimental silos. Silage samples were taken on days 0, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 50 and analyzed for N fractions. The 15N content of these fractions was analyzed by a mass spectrophotometer. N fractions of untreated silage were also determined. Between days 0 and 7 of fermentation, ammonia N decreased from 50 to 39% of the total silage N, with a corresponding increase in nonammonia N, from 50 to 60%. Thereafter, little change was noted in these fractions. Approximately 40% of the increase in non-ammonia N was in the soluble portion and 60% was in the insoluble portion. Insoluble N of treated silage was 50% higher than that of control silage. Initially, 89% of the N from added ammonia was recovered as ammonia, but this proportion decreased to 68% by day 7 and changed little thereafter. There was immediate incorporation of 43% of the ammonia into the insoluble N fraction. Most of the initial binding was as intact ammonia, with a subsequent release during fermentation. Because direct ammonia incorporation accounted for a higher percentage of the insoluble N increase on day 0 than on subsequent days, these data support earlier studies which showed that ammonia decreased breakdown of protein of the ensiled corn plant.
Charateristics of Stocks That Frequentley Hit Price Limits: Empirical Evidence from Japan

This paper examines the characteristics of stocks that hit the limits listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Most of studies on price limit hits are carried out on stock markets that apply tight price limits rules such as the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the Stock Exchange of Thailand and Korea Stock Exchange. A market that applies tighter price limit rules experiences many limit-hit occurrences; this makes analysis simpler because the analysis can use a smaller number of stocks and a reasonable sample period. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature by examining the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which applies wide price limit rules. We analyzed the characteristics of stocks that hit the limits more frequently, stocks that hit the upper limits and stocks that hit the lower limits. Daily data were collected for all stocks listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange from 2003 to 2007. The data were downloaded from the Datastream and the Tokyo Stock Exchange website. Three binary logistic regression models were applied. The first model tested the characteristics of stocks that hit upper and lower limits more frequently. The second model was for the characteristics of stocks that hit the upper limits, and the final model was for the characteristics of stocks that hit the lower limits. The results show that stocks that hit the upper limits tend to have a smaller systematic risk, while stocks that hit the lower limit tend to have a high systematic risk. This indicates that lower limit hits are due mostly to market-driven downward movements while upper limit hits are more likely related to company-driven upward movements. This means that price limits rules were effective in Japan in curbing undesired fluctuations of stock prices and in protecting the market from crashes. The results of the three models show that both upper and lower limit hits and upper and lower limit hits individually vary from year to year throughout the sample period. In general, high market value stocks, high volatility stocks, high residual risk stocks and low systematic risk stocks tend to hit the limits more frequently. The results also show that high market value stocks, high volatility stocks, high residual risk stocks, low liquidity stocks and low systematic risk stocks tend to hit the upper limits. Meanwhile, high market value stocks, high volatility stocks, high residual risk stocks, low liquidity stocks and high systematic risk stocks tend to hit the lower limits. Our study can be viewed as providing complementary evidence. By documenting some regularity with which price limit hit events occur, we offer new considerations to the current discussions surrounding price limit mechanisms. In spite of the negative effects shown by scholarly researchers, the popularity of price limits among both practitioners and stock exchange officials may be partially justified through our empirical evidence.
Contralateral Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity Changes after Intracarotid Amobarbital Injection

Background and Purpose. The intracarotid amobarbital procedure (IAP) leads to a prompt decrease in ipsilateral middle cere bral artery (MCA) mean blood flow velocity (MFV). Little is known about contralateral MFV changes. Methods. The authors investigated bilateral MCA MFV using transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD) in 8 patients with epilepsy undergoing IAP. Measurements were excluded from analysis if angiography revealed any signs of interhemispheric cross‐flow. Results. With in 64 seconds after amobarbital injection, ipsilateral MFV decreased to a mean of 44.4%± 7.5% of baseline value (P < .01). In the absence of interhemispheric cross‐flow and within 68 seconds, contralateral MFV decreased to 83.1%± 7.9% (P < .01). Conclusions. The observed decrease of contralateral MFV was not caused by amobarbital cross‐perfusion. A possible underlying mechanism may be interhemispheric deafferentation.