Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Security, emotions, affect

In her influential essay ‘The Passion of World Politics’ (2000), Neta Crawford argued that emotions have been neglected in the study of global politics, although they actively shaped the world around us. Since then, a growing number of scholars have sought to re-centre emotions in our study of international politics (see Edkins 2003; Mercer 2006; Ross 2006; Sylvester et al. 2011). However, as Roland Bleiker and Emma Hutchison (2008) point out, there has been limited discussion about how one might actually proceed with studying emotions. The purpose of this intervention, then, is not only to show how emotions matter to Security Studies but also to reflect upon avenues for future research. We identify three broad themes: emotions as feelings, what emotions do and emotions as affect. In the first essay, Crawford reflects on how our approach to emotions has changed since her original article was published over a decade ago. She argues that we still ignore emotions at our peril and highlights some of the potential reasons for this. Crawford mentions emotions such as fear, anger and anxiety and encourages us to pay particular attention to how emotions might become institutionalized. In a similar vein, most of the research on emotions and security to date has demonstrated where emotions are and as such focused on singular emotions as feelings, in particular negative feelings such as ‘humiliation’ (see Danchev 2006; Saurette 2006; Fattah and Fierke 2009). In their essay, Katherine Brown and Elina Penttinen argue that we have been too preoccupied with negative feelings in relation to security and war. Instead, Brown and Penttinen urge us to pay attention to how ‘positive’ emotions, such as humour and joy, function in theatres of war; in particular, how positive emotions might enable resilience and resistance to official political discourses. Furthermore, this intervention is also concerned with what emotions do, recognizing that emotions not only represent a particular feeling or sensibility but also actively shape the world around us and the bodies of those that populate it. In The Cultural Politics of Emotions (2004), for example, Sara Ahmed shows how emotions are complicit in a normative violence that circumscribes who or what can appear as a recognizable human subject. Emotions in this respect do not refer to a particular state or disposition but are part of an exclusionary process that produces certain subjects to the detriment of others, reinscribing the boundary between the human and the non-human, the loved and the unloved, and the terrorized and the terrorist. Similarly, Judith Butler has shown that the politics of grief serves to delineate between those lives that are grievable and those that are not, describing how non-western lives have become un-markable within the dominant
Career Choices and Challenges Among Agricultural Economists

A number of trends regarding specific factors that influence employment decisions and challenges affecting careers for men, women, and minorities in the agricultural economics profession are both ongoing and emerging. In 1998, the Committee on Women in Agricultural Economics (CWAE) began a tracking system to more closely examine and report on these issues. The study shows that although individual job preferences and career challenges vary among the respondents, those encountered by women and minorities seem to differ from their white male counterparts.
Combined neonatal therapies for cardiac function in adulthood – live together, die alone?

The healthy development of a fetus and the continued health of a newborn child are of primary interest to all beings. Unfortunately, pregnancy does not always progress favourably and can result in premature birth. Preterm infants are at high risk of complications in the neonatal period, such as chronic lung disease, and may develop cardiorespiratory problems in later life. As a consequence, different therapeutic strategies have been developed to improve the cardiorespiratory health of neonates. One popular choice is the use of glucocorticoid therapy, such as dexamethasone, because it reduces the relatively high prevalence of chronic lung disease in prematurely born offspring. However, negative side-effects of neonatal dexamethasone therapies are also known. For instance, the beneficial short-term effects of glucocorticoid therapy are accompanied by a variety of severe long-term cardiovascular complications, including pathological cardiac and vascular remodelling, hypertension, renal damage and insulin resistance (for specific references see Niu et al. 2013). These negative cardiovascular outcomes highlight the need for alternative therapies that achieve improved maturation of the respiratory system and alleviation of acute inflammatory symptoms associated with neonatal chronic lung disease, as well as maintained survival of the offspring into adulthood. To date, little is known about neonatal therapies that achieve these ambitious aims.
Moral Hazard and Information Sharing: A Model of Financial Information Gathering Agencies

We propose a theory of information gathering agencies in a world of informational asymmetries and moral hazard. In a setting in which true firm values are certified by screening agents whose payoffs depend on noisy ex post monitors of information quality, the formation of information gathering agencies (groups of screening agents) is justified on two grounds. First, it enables screening agents to diversify their risky payoffs. Second, it allows information sharing. The first effect itself is insufficient despite the risk aversion of screening agents and the stochastic independence of the monitors used to compensate them. THIS PAPER DEVELOPS A model that explains the formation of financial institutions which acquire and process information for the purpose of certifying asset qualities, but do not get involved in funding. The model makes two basic assumptions. The first is that there is an informational asymmetry in the capital market, involving "insiders" possessing more accurate information about the true economic values of their firms than "outsiders", and the second is that those engaged in the production of information to rectify this asymmetry can gain from sharing their information. Examples of the information gathering agencies (IGA's) we study are creditrating agencies, financial newsletters, Standard and Poor's Value Line, investment counselors, credit bureaus, etc. IGA's are distinct from funding financial intermediaries (FFI's)-like banks and credit unions-that, in addition to acquiring and processing information, also issue claims against themselves, fund their customers' needs, and transform asset characteristics. From a modeling standpoint, a key distinction between IGA's and FFI's is that, in the case of the latter, "outsiders" (depositors, for instance) do not necessarily have to assess the quality of the intermediary's information since the intermediary can be made "accountable" for this quality through the positions it takes in the screened assets. Thus, models that explain FFI's focus on how the contracts offered by the intermediary ensure information reliability without reliance on explicit monitoring. On the other hand, because of the absence of loan- and deposit-type contracts to dissipate informational problems, a model explaining IGA's must rely on monitoring-related mechanisms.
C02 Emission Limits: An Economic Cost Analysis for the USA

This paper provides a cost-benefit analysis of controlling or decreasing CO2 emissions. It uses an analytical framework, called Global 2100, which is designed to evaluated C02 energy economy interactions and estimate the cost of a carbon emissions limit. It analyzes three demand parameters (potential GNP growth, elasticity of price induced substitution between capital-labour and energy, and the rate of autonomous energy efficiency improvements) which are crucial to the debate over energy and environmental futures. The paper discusses various energy sources which are either presently in use or will possibly be in use in the future, and analyzes their impact on cost-benefit analyses. Finally, the paper analyzes the results of carbon constraints and suggests that there is need for more research and development on the subject.
Depressive Symptoms in Low-Income Women in Rural Mexico

Background: Depression is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. This paper reports a cross-sectional analysis of demographic, socioeconomic, physical, and psychosocial factors associated with depressive symptoms among poor women in rural Mexico. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 5457 women, age 20–70 years, were interviewed from a random sample of households from 279 poor communities with fewer than 2500 inhabitants in 7 rural Mexican states. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Spanish translation of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale. Several other individual- and household-level variables were also obtained. Using hierarchical modeling, linear regression analysis, and population intervention model parameters, we explored correlates of depressive symptoms in this population. Results: Most of the variation in depressive symptoms was at the individual level. Psychosocial factors were most strongly correlated with depressive symptoms; perceived stress, lack of personal control or social support, and low social status exhibited the strongest associations. Using the US-based standard Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression cutoff score of 16, 51% of this population fall into the category “at risk” for clinical depression; however, this cutoff may not be the most appropriate in this context. Conclusion: This sample of low-income women in rural Mexico reported a relatively high prevalence of depressive symptoms. The analyses suggest that reducing perceived stress would have the largest potential impact on depressive symptoms in this population. However, any interventions should take into account the broad context of the population’s overall health. The alleviation of poverty, improvement of educational opportunities, and other interventions to address root causes of poor mental health must also be considered.
A critical evaluation of training needs for child protection in UK sport

Child protection is a relatively new topic in sport about which there was no professional education until the mid-1990s. This paper presents the findings from a study of delegates attending 12, regional, one-day National Coaching Foundation courses for policy makers in sport during 1997 and 1998 ( n = 235). The course was designed to give delegates a basic awareness of the different forms of child abuse and protection and was intended to help them develop appropriate policies and procedures for child protection. This paper identified key issues facing policy makers, administrators, practising sports coaches and volunteers. Results point to a serious training gap around child protection in sport. Sports personnel, at both junior and senior levels, are committed to improving child protection policy and practice; however, they appear to lack the confidence, knowledge or organizational systems for doing this effectively. Conclusions are drawn about further research and training needs identified by this study.
Performance assessment of bi-scalar beamformers in practical phased array feed systems

We assess the sensitivity and polarimetric performance of a polarimetric phased array feed (PAF) system in which the two sets of nominally orthogonally polarized elements are beamformed separately. Out simulations of an actual PAF system indicate that such bi-scalar instead of full-polarimetric beamforming results in about 4% sensitivity loss and an XPD of about 45 dB. Our measurements confirm the sensitivity loss, but indicate worse polarimetric performance than the simulations. We indicate how the performance of a PAF system with bi-scalar beamforming can be improved by beamforming of the cross-polarization signals and polarimetric corrections to the beamformer outputs.
Signalling, Agency Theory and Accounting Policy Choice

Abstract Signalling and agency theories appear in the accounting literature to be competing theories. This article demonstrates that they are actually consistent theories, in that one set of sufficient conditions of signalling theory is at least consistent with one set of sufficient conditions of agency theory. Indeed, a considerable overlap exists between the two theories: rational behaviour is common to both; information asymmetry in signalling theory is implied by positive monitoring costs in agency theory; ‘quality' in signalling theory can be defined in terms of agency theory variables; and signalling costs are implicit in some bonding devices of agency theory. Examples are given where both theories’ predictions about lobbying, accounting choices, and voluntary auditor selection are added together.
Strategy development in UK higher education: towards resource‐based competitive advantages

Britain's higher education institutions (HEIs) face fundamental and unprecedented competitive pressures due to lower government funding (Cm 5735, The Future of Higher Education, Department for Education and Skills, 2003) and a government agenda focused on a “widening participation agenda”. We employ the resource‐based view (RBV) of strategy development to explore potential coping strategies. The RBV has not previously been applied to HEIs, partly because of limited relevant strategic data. The paper explores whether or not universities possess sustainable competitive advantages and concludes that they do, particularly knowledge‐based, reputational, innovative and architectural related advantages. Further research is proposed into the competitive advantages of individual HEIs. The paper argues that a resource‐based perspective could provide new and valuable insights for strategy development at UK universities and that these same principles can be applied in other parts of the world.
The Global Politics of Intellectual Property Rights and Pharmaceutical Drug Policies in Developing Countries

One of the major characteristics of the emerging international economic order is the treatment of intellectual property rights (iprs). Developing country Members are very concerned about the impact that the World Trade Organization (wto) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (trips) will have on their economies. Of particular concern are those aspects of the Agreement that relate to the issue of access to new pharmaceutical inventions. trips emphasizes a property rights approach whereby private “owners” of the inventions can restrict access on the basis of commercial considerations. As a consequence, higher prices for pharmaceuticals and other healthcare inventions can prevent low-income consumers in developing countries from obtaining life-saving medications and equipment. It is true, of course, that exploitative business practices are possible only to the extent that monopoly positions are tolerated. Many developing countries, however, lack the necessary financial resources and have not yet developed appropriate competition rules to deal effectively with the challenges presented by the trips Agreement.
Perspectives of Speech-Language Pathologists on the Use of Telepractice in Schools: Quantitative Survey Results

This research surveyed 170 school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in one northeastern state, with only 1.8% reporting telepractice use in school-settings. These results were consistent with two ASHA surveys (2002; 2011) that reported limited use of telepractice for school-based speech-language pathology. In the present study, willingness to use telepractice was inversely related to age, perhaps because younger members of the profession are more accustomed to using technology. Overall, respondents were concerned about the validity of assessments administered via telepractice; whether clinicians can adequately establish rapport with clients via telepractice; and if therapy conducted via telepractice can be as effective as in-person speech-language therapy. Most respondents indicated the need to establish procedures and guidelines for school-based telepractice programs.
Distribution of 5'-triphosphate termini on the mRNA of Escherichia coli

We have determined the distribution of 5'-nucleoside triphosphates on the RNA in Escherichia coli. These groups represent the initial nucleoside triphosphate incorporated when RNA polymerase initiates transcription. It was estimated that at least 15% of polysome-associated messengers had triphosphates. This was interpreted to mean that removal of the triphosphate or messenger leader is not necessary for the functioning of most mRNAs but that a substantial amount of messenger processing occurs in the polysome pool. We found that the ratio of GTP- to ATP-initiated messengers was about 2 to 1. Since prior work has indicated that G- and A-initiated RNAs decay at the same rate and since a compilation of messenger start sites shows an A preference, this value implies that there is a significant physiological selection of G-initiated transcripts. We also characterized the 5'-terminal groups on RNAs in other fractions. A small amount was found associated with 30S ribosomes, presumably in initiation complexes; such complexes have not previously been detected in situ. In addition, it was concluded that the 5' terminus of rRNA precursors is processed more rapidly than is implied by the current literature.
On the distribution of positive-definite Gaussian quadratic forms

Quadratic signal processing is used in detection and estimation of random signals. To describe the performance of quadratic signal processing, the probability distribution of the output of the processor is needed. Only positive-definite Gaussian quadratic forms are considered. The quadratic form is diagonalized in terms of independent Gaussian variables and its mean, moment-generating function, and cumulants are computed; conditions are given for the quadratic form to be \chi^{2} distributed and distributed like a sum of independent random variables having a Gamma distribution. A new method is proposed to approximate its probability distribution using an expansion in Laguerre polynomials for the central case and in generalized \chi^{2} distributions in the noncentral case. The series coefficients and bounds on truncation error are evaluated. Some applications in average power and power spectrum estimation and in detection illustrate our method.
Do Divergent Opinions Explain the Value Premium?

The risk explanation for value stocks’ long-run outperformance (i.e., the value premium) is theoretically compelling, but what these risks are remains controversial. Doukas et al. [2004] suggest that the risk may be divergent opinions. Specifically, using analysts’ forecast dispersion as a proxy for divergent opinions, they find that value stocks have significantly higher divergent opinions. This article further explores the divergent opinions explanation of the value premium by directly examining how divergent opinions affect stock returns. Contrary to the prediction of the divergent opinions explanation, we find that firms with greater exposure to divergent opinions do not earn higher excess returns, and the results hold for both value and growth stocks. In fact, firms with higher divergent opinions seem to earn slightly lower (though insignificant) returns than those with lower exposure to divergent opinions. Our results therefore cast doubt on the divergent opinions explanation of the value premium.
Insider Trading without Normality

In this paper, we analyse the existence and uniqueness of equilibrium in a particular class of monopolistic rational expectations models. We show the equivalence between the Kyle (1985) model of insider trading where the insider observes the amount of noise trading and the Kyle (1989) model of informed speculation when there is one risk-neutral insider and many risk-neutral market makers. We show that in these two equivalent models: (i) There exists a unique equilibrium independently of the distribution of uncertainty; (ii) This equilibrium minimizes the expected gains of the informed agent under incentive compatibility constraints. We extend our results to a class of signalling games.
Application of glycerol as a foliar spray activates the defence response and enhances disease resistance of Theobroma cacao.

Previous work has implicated glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) as a mobile inducer of systemic immunity in plants. We tested the hypothesis that the exogenous application of glycerol as a foliar spray might enhance the disease resistance of Theobroma cacao through the modulation of endogenous G3P levels. We found that exogenous application of glycerol to cacao leaves over a period of 4 days increased the endogenous level of G3P and decreased the level of oleic acid (18:1). Reactive oxygen species (ROS) were produced (a marker of defence activation) and the expression of many pathogenesis-related genes was induced. Notably, the effects of glycerol application on G3P and 18:1 fatty acid content, and gene expression levels, in cacao leaves were dosage dependent. A 100 mm glycerol spray application was sufficient to stimulate the defence response without causing any observable damage, and resulted in a significantly decreased lesion formation by the cacao pathogen Phytophthora capsici; however, a 500 mm glycerol treatment led to chlorosis and cell death. The effects of glycerol treatment on the level of 18:1 and ROS were constrained to the locally treated leaves without affecting distal tissues. The mechanism of the glycerol-mediated defence response in cacao and its potential use as part of a sustainable farming system are discussed.
Board Structure and Modified Audit Opinions: Evidence from the Portuguese Stock Exchange

Prior research has found evidence that some characteristics of the board of directors influence the quality of financial reporting. In this study we extend the literature by analysing a different dimension of financial reporting quality, the probability of a firm receiving a modified audit opinion. To this end, we considered a sample of companies listed on Euronext Lisbon where, unlike the current situation in other markets such as the US, firms can publish financial statements not in accordance with GAAP. Using 171 firm-year observations for the period 2002–05, the evidence we report is consistent with the hypotheses that firms with more diligent and independent boards are less likely to receive a modified audit opinion. Results are robust to different specifications and also show that the existence of dividend payments, financial health, performance and growth opportunities are additional factors associated with the likelihood of a modified audit opinion. Our analysis also shows that the transition in 2005 to a reporting framework based on international accounting standards is strongly related with better financial reporting quality.