Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Catching up and lagging behind in a balance-of-payments-constrained dual economy

The success of nations in the path towards economic development hinges heavily on the emergence and dynamism of a modern sector capable of simultaneously absorbing an increasing share of the labour force while reducing the technological gap with the worlds frontier. Failure to do so would eventually lead the economy to low- or middle- income traps, in which only a small fraction of the population would benefit from the gains of economic growth and technological progress. Building on previous contributions from Post-Keynesian, Neo-Schumpeterian and Latin-American Structuralism literature, this paper sets up a theoretical model of catching-up among nations aimed at formalizing this idea by exploring the dynamic interactions between structural change and technological upgrading in the process of economic development. The focus of the model is on a representative nation of the South that is characterized by having a dual structure i.e., a large share of labour force working on low-productive-traditional activities that coexists with a small fraction of workers employed in modern activities; ii a high degree of technological backwardness in the modern activities; and iii a binding restriction on the external accounts. Under these circumstances, the dynamic behaviour of two key variables will determine the success or failure of this economy over time the share of labour in the modern sector and the relative stock of technological knowledge of the modern sector compared to that of the world technological leader. Depending on initial conditions and underlying parameters, the southern economy would be attracted towards four different equilibrium points, each of them entailing extremely different implications in terms of long-run development. After analysing the dynamic properties of the model, simple simulations are implemented in order to illustrate a number of structural trajectories that might shed new light on the complex forces acting behind the success or failure of economic development.
Review of somatic cell nuclear transfer in pig

It is now more than 8 years, since the first cloned pig from nuclear transfer was reported. Success of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) in pig is still low compared to that in bovine. Embryonic and neonatal abnormalities of cloned piglets are probably a result of incorrect or incomplete reprogramming of the transferred donor cell nuclei. Recently, technical refinements have resulted in a considerable increase of SCNT efficiency. The current level of efficiency is already sufficient for special purposes with high scientific and commercial impact including xenotransplantation, generation of human disease models and for biomedical studies. In this paper, we review current pig cloning methodologies for the technical and potential applications. Key words : Pig, somatic cell, nuclear transfer, oocyte and embryo.
Association between functional dentition with inadequate calorie intake and underweight in elderly people living in "Pondok" in Kelantan

This study was to investigate the association between functional dentition with inadequate calorie intake and underweight in elderly people living in "Pondok" in Kelantan. A cross-sectional study participated by 369 elderly people was carried out. A simple random sampling method was utilized for the selection of the subjects. Subjects were interviewed using a structured form to collect information about subjects' demographic background and self-reported health status. The 24-hour recall method was used to provide information on the subject's exact food intake during the previous 24 hours. Body mass index was calculated from subjects' weight and height, followed by oral assessment. The "Nutrical Software" was used for nutrient calculation, followed by SPSS version 11.5 for data analysis. The response rate was 95.6%. Majority of the respondents were female (92.4%). The percentage of subjects who had inadequate calorie intake and underweight was 71.0% and 25.7% respectively. The percentage of edentulism was 81.0%. The proportion of elderly with compromised functional dentition was 48.2% and majority was edentate elderly without wearing any complete dentures or wearing defective dentures, 23.6% and 56.2% respectively, while 20.2% was dentate elderly. The odds of having inadequate calorie intake and getting underweight among elderly with a compromised functional dentition was 3.7 times and 42.0 times respectively, compared to elderly with a non-compromised functional dentition. There was a significant association between inadequate calorie intake and underweight with functional dentition among elderly living in "Pondok" in Kelantan.
Are Financial Constraints Priced? Evidence from Firm Fundamentals and Stock Returns

Using comprehensive firm- and aggregate-level data, this paper studies the real and financial implications of capital market imperfections. We first examine whether financially constrained firms' business fundamentals (capital spending and operating earnings) are more sensitive to macroeconomic movements than unconstrained firms' fundamentals. We then examine whether financial constraint "return factors" respond to macroeconomic shocks in tandem with the responses from business fundamentals. The evidence in this paper points to financial constraints affecting both fundamental quantities and asset returns. Copyright (c) 2010 The Ohio State University.
CARDIOPROTECTIVE EFFECT OF CILOSTAZOL VERSUS CLOPIDOGREL IN EXPERIMENTALLYINDUCED MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION IN MALE ALBINO RATS

Antiplatelet agents remain the cornerstone treatment in patients with ischemic heart diseases, as they decrease the mortality as well as the recurrence of cardiovascular complications. This study aimed to assess and compare the possible cardioprotective effect of cilostazol, clopidogrel and their combination in experimentally induced myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R) in rats.In this study ninety-six rats were divided into six equal groups (each of 16 rats): group 1, control normal received the vehicle; group 2, sham-operated and received the vehicle; group 3 (MI/R-treated) where myocardial infarction was induced by left coronary artery ligation (LCAL) for 30 min, followed by 2 h. reperfusion; group 4 received cilostazol (20 mg/kg, p.o.); group 5 received clopidogrel (30 mg/kg, p.o.); group 6 received combination of both drugs in the same doses. In all treated groups (groups 4, 5 & 6), drugs were administered for 3days, then they were exposed to MI/R. Results of the present study revealed that MI/R injury induced a significant decrease in mean arterial blood pressure (MABP), increase in heart rate (HR), elevation in T-wave voltage along with increased infarct size, plasma cardiac troponin I (cTnI) level and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and heart content ofmalondialdehyde (MDA), consequently with reduction in heart tissue glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity. Cilostazol, clopidogrel or their coadministration exerted cardioprotective effect manifested by significant reductions in the T-wave voltage, infarct size and cTnI level via enhancement of antioxidant capacity and prevention of inflammatory and oxidative stress cascades. Additionally, cilostazol increased the HDL and decreased the LDL levels. It could be concluded that cilostazol is an effective cardioprotective agentin treatment of myocardial infarction particularly when used as an adjuvant to clopidogrel. 84 Az. J. Pharm Sci. Vol. 51, March, 2015.
Testing the concentration-performance relationship in the Tunisian banking sector

This aim of this paper is to investigate whether concentration affects profitability of the Tunisian banking sector for the period 1980-2009. Our sample is made up of 9 banks and our empirical analysis is based panel data analysis. In this paper, profitability is measured by the conventional return on equities (ROE) and return on assets (ROA). In the robustness checks we add a third indicator of profitability which is net interest margin (NIM). The main results of the paper reveal that concentration had positive impacts on Tunisian banking profitability. Moreover, the paper demonstrates that the adoption of industrial strategies by Tunisian banks were advantageous for the banking sector and for the economy as a whole.
Evaluation of analytical methodologies to derive vulnerability functions

The recognition of fragility functions as a fundamental tool in seismic risk assessment has led to the development of more and more complex and elaborate procedures for their computation. Although vulnerability functions have been traditionally produced using observed damage and loss data, more recent studies propose the employment of analytical methodologies as a way to overcome the frequent lack of post-earthquake data. The variation of the structural modelling approaches on the estimation of building capacity has been the target of many studies in the past, however, its influence in the resulting vulnerability model, impact in loss estimations or propagation of the uncertainty to the seismic risk calculations has so far been the object of restricted scrutiny. Hence, in this paper, an extensive study of static and dynamic procedures for estimating the nonlinear response of buildings has been carried out in order to evaluate the impact of the chosen methodology on the resulting vulnerability and risk outputs. Moreover, the computational effort and numerical stability provided by each approach were evaluated and conclusions were obtained regarding which one offers the optimal balance between accuracy and complexity.
Ovine and Caprine Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis, caused by Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), is an economically important disease of livestock, especially sheep and goats, where it can cause early embryonic death and resorption, fetal death and mummification, abortion, stillbirth, and neonatal death. Cats are the main reservoir for the toxoplasmosis which can contaminate the environments of other animal and human beings by their faeces that contain sporulated oocysts. Toxoplasmosis is diagnosed mainly by direct smear, Immunohistochemistry, serology testing and PCR. Preventive measures include education of the farmers, reduce environmental contamination by oocysts, reducing the number of cats capable of shedding oocysts, limiting the breeding of cats to maintain healthy adults, control of future breeding and adequate continuous control programs of stray cats. Feeding cats with commercial diets or with food processed either by cooking or freezing can reduce the risk of disease transmission. A live vaccine (Toxovax®) is commercially marketed in some countries for reducing losses to the sheep industry from congenital toxoplasmosis. History, Life cycle, Clinical signs, Diagnosis, Mode of transmission, Epidemiology, Treatment, Control, Prevention and Vaccination against T. gondii infection in small animals have been reviewed in this article.
Reducing noise in moving-grid codes with strongly-centroidal Lloyd mesh regularization

A method for improving the accuracy of hydrodynamical codes that use a moving Voronoi mesh is described. Our scheme is based on a new regularization scheme that constrains the mesh to be centroidal to high precision while still allowing the cells to move approximately with the local fluid velocity, thereby retaining the quasi-Lagrangian nature of the approach. Our regularization technique significantly reduces mesh noise that is attributed to changes in mesh topology and deviations from mesh regularity. We demonstrate the advantages of our method on various test problems, and note in particular improvements obtained in handling shear instabilities, mixing, and in angular momentum conservation. Calculations of adiabatic jets in which shear excites Kelvin Helmholtz instability show reduction of mesh noise and entropy generation. In contrast, simulations of the collapse and formation of an isolated disc galaxy are nearly unaffected, showing that numerical errors due to the choice of regularization do not impact the outcome in this case.
Can Trade-Ins Hurt You? Exploring the Effect of a Trade-In on Consumers' Willingness to Pay for a New Product

When consumers decide to upgrade to a new or better product, they often trade in their currently owned or used product for the new one. The authors examine whether such trade-in behavior, in which consumers must negotiate the price for both the new and the used product, affects their willingness-to-pay price for the new good. Drawing on research on mental accounting, the authors reason that when consumers engage in a transaction involving a trade-in (i.e., when they act as both buyer and seller simultaneously), they place more importance on getting a good value for the used product than on getting a good price for the new product. As a result, such consumers exhibit a higher willingness-to-pay price for the new product than consumers who just buy the new product alone. The results from a series of laboratory experiments provide systematic support for this hypothesis. Finally, the authors lend external validity to their results by confirming the hypothesis using real-world transaction data from the automobile market.
Modeling Floating Object Entry and Exit Using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

This paper investigates fluid and floating object interaction using a novel adaptation of the weakly compressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (WCSPH) method by incorporating a floating object model. In particular, this paper examines the water impact, hydrodynamic forces, fluid motions, and movement of objects in the conventional case studies of object entry and exit from still water. A two-dimensional wedge drop analysis was examined, and the hydrodynamic forces show acceptable agreement with published experimental and numerical results. The movement of the object is well predicted. The velocity field of the fluid domain is also captured. Simulations for water entry and exit of a buoyant and neutral density cylinder compares well with previous experimental, numerical, and empirical studies in penetration, free surface comparisons, and object movement. These results provide a good foundation to evaluate the accuracy and stability of WCSPH for modeling the interaction between free surface flow and free.
ERP Implementation in a Developing World Context: a Case Study of the Waha Oil Company, Libya

This article examines the implementation and functioning of a major Enterprise Resource Planning software package in a Libyan oil company. The study uses a process mapping and systems profiling approach to establish the current status of a 10 year project - which the company embarked upon in 2007 - to implement the new company-wide software. It examines the project from the point of view of progress in new technology, new people skills and process change, and concludes that a balanced approach to these three change elements has underpinned successful project outcomes.
TEC variations over the Mediterranean during the seismic activity period of the last quarter of 2005 in the area of Greece

Abstract. In this paper the Total Electron Content (TEC) data of eight Global Positioning System (GPS) stations of the EUREF network (AUT1, Thessaloniki, TUC2, Crete in Greece, MATE, Matera, LAMP, Lampedusa in Italy, GAIA, in Portugal, RABT, Rabat, EVPA, Evpatoria in Ukrain and TRAB, Trabson in Turkey) were analysed using wavelet analysis in order to detect any frequency dependence of the correlation between TEC over different stations. In the same time frequency dependence of Dst (Global geomagnetic field disturbances) and TEC variations over each GPS station are searched in order to detect any correlation between them. The main conclusion of this analysis is that the components of TEC variation with periods
Estimating the prevalence of adult problem gambling in Italy with SOGS and PGSI

Two assessment measures, the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), and the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), were administered to 1,979 participants (53% males, mean age 44.81 years). Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed the presence of one single dimension underlying the SOGS and PGSI items. The 2 scales showed high levels of reliability. SOGS and PGSI results were highly correlated and showed positive and significant correlations with measures of gambling behaviour. Probable pathological gamblers identified by SOGS represented 2.05% (95% confidence interval [CI] [1.17, 2.93]) of the adult Italian population, and problem gamblers identified by PGSI represented 2.17% (95% CI [1.26, 3.07]) of the population. A more conservative estimate of the prevalence of problem gambling in Italy, corresponding to 1.01% (95% CI [0.39, 1.63]) of the adult population, was identified by considering only those participants for whom SOGS and PGSI were in perfect agreement concerning risk categories.
Microanatomical Studies on the Renal Cortex Of Guinea Fowl

In the renal cortex of guinea fowl, cortical and juxta-medullary renal corpuscles were observed. The intermediate renal corpuscles could not be noticed. The cortical renal corpuscles were distributed throughout the cortex but concentrated more in the periphery of the cortex. The cortical renal corpuscles were found to be numerous than that of juxtamedullary corpuscles in guinea fowl. Proximal convoluted tubules of nephrons were distributed throughout the cortex along with other segments of nephrons. The brush border of the proximal convoluted tubules was positive to PAS along with the basement membrane of cells, in all age groups studied except in day-old. Further, the microanatomical studies of other components of nephrons in the cortex were discussed.
Does Income Taxation Affect Partners' Household Chores?

We study the impact of income taxation on both partners‟ allocation of time to market work and unpaid house work in households with two adults. We estimate a structural household utility model in which the marginal utilities of leisure and house work of both partners are modelled as random coefficients, depending on observed and unobserved characteristics of the household and the two partners. We use a discrete choice model with choice sets of 2,401 points for each couple, distinguishing seven market work intervals and seven house work intervals for each partner. The model is estimated using data for France, which taxes incomes of married couples jointly, like, for instance, Germany and the US. We find that both partners‟ market and non-market time allocation decisions are responsive to changes in the tax system or other policy changes that change the financial incentives. Women‟s time allocation is more responsive to the own and the partner‟s wage rate than men‟s. Tax policy simulations suggest that moving from joint taxation for married couples to separate taxation of each spouse would go a small step in the direction of equalizing market and non-market work of spouses. Selective taxation with smaller tax rates for women than for men would magnify these effects.
Urban and regional labour mobility performance in Norway

Across Europe the competitiveness of urban and regional labour markets becomes an increasingly important task for regional and sector policies. Efficient matching of local demand and supply of labour at different qualification levels is considered to be an important prerequisite both for economic growth and social cohesion in every region. The expectation is that higher mobility of the labour force should increase the general level of employment. Moreover, increased total labour mobility is seen as a tool for reaching the goals of the labour market policy, employing as large as possible part of the labour force into ordinary employment. Furthermore high mobility is expected to satisfy the employer's claim of filling in the vacancies with suitable labour as quickly as possible in a flexible labour market in continually structural change. Use of annual gross-flow labour market statistics may be very relevant in such analyses. Such data may allow multidimensional analysis of labour market mobility, i.e. in geographical terms as well as between sectors and according to the qualifications of the labour force. Theoretical considerations may advantageously be taken from e.g. the human capital theory and theories of segmented labour markets and regional division of labour. According to human capital theory, it is the most highly educated persons that are considered to benefit most from mobility. Inter-sector mobility is also expected to be more frequent among younger people, who have not yet embedded branch-specific knowledge through a long professional career. The main purpose of the project is to analyse the performance and competitiveness of cities and regions in terms of growth of employment and especially focusing on the number and quality of the persons that enter and leave the local labour markets. As a point of departure cities and regions in Norway will be classified into different categories according to a large set of production conditions. It is perhaps not surprising that cities and regions with uneven production conditions perform different according to employment growth and mobility, but when similar regions to some extent also perform different, this demand more sophisticated explanations. Labour market mobility is analysed by measuring regional labour market transitions by use of longitudinal gross-flow data during the 1990s specified by a concise regional vacancy-account.
Welfare economic impacts of transportation improvements in a peripheral region

We set out to investigate whether transportation improvements can trigger welfare economic impacts in a peripheral region. The paper addresses this issue through the development of a general equilibrium labor market model with a transportation component. The model is implemented to a set of 101 core and peripheral cities in Israel. Numeric simulations are carried out to test the research hypotheses regarding positive relationship between improved accessibility and enhanced economic welfare. Economic welfare is measured in terms of efficiency and equity impacts. The results of the simulations show that transportation improvements in the form of auto travel time reductions may lead to substantial welfare benefits in the peripheral region considered in terms of increased output, productivity and wages.
Cleavage modelling with experimental particle size distribution and novel particle failure criterion

Most of the existing local approaches for cleavage fracture derive from the assumptions that global failure is a weakest-link event and that only the tail of the size distribution of micro-crack initiating features is significant. This appears to be sufficient in predicting lower shelf toughness under high constraint conditions, but may fail when attempting to predict toughness in the transition region or for low constraint conditions when using the same parameters. While coupled ductile damage models with Beremin-like failure probability could be useful in the transition region, uncoupled models with ? a posteriori? probability calculations are advantageous to the engineering community. Cleavage toughness predictions in the transition regime, which can be extended to low constraint conditions, are here made with improved criterion for particle failure and experimentally based size distribution of initiators for specific RPV steel. The model is shown to predict experimentally measured locations of cleavage initiators. Further, the model predicts the fracture toughness in a large part of the transition region and accurately predicts a measured shift with irradiation. All results are obtained without changes in model parameters. This suggests that the model can be used for assessing toughness changes due to constraint- and temperature-driven plasticity changes.