Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Carry Trades and Tail Risk: Evidence from Commodity Markets

I investigate the relationship between carry trades and tail risk for a panel of commodity futures contracts. Unlike other asset classes, carry in commodities is highly volatile both in the time series and in the cross section. By using a panel quantile regression with commodity fixed effect, I document the tail-specific effect of carry on the conditional distribution of futures returns both in the short-term and in longer-term. The main empirical results show that carry has a significant effect on tail risk mostly in the short term and for the front end of the futures curve. In addition, the empirical evidence shows that such relationship can be explained by the role of non-natural hedgers, such as non-commercial traders, money managers and index traders, which tend to unwind their net-long futures positions when exposed to deteriorating aggregate financial conditions and increasing market uncertainty. This is consistent with existing theoretical models in which speculators and insurance providers are subject to limited risk capacity and financing liquidity constraints.
Institutional Investors and CEO Pay Performance in Malaysian Firms

ABSTRACT This study uses Malaysian data to examine whether institutional investors affect the association between firm performance and CEO compensation. Overall, we find that total institutional investor ownership has a negative effect on the positive association between firm performance and CEO compensation, which suggests ineffective monitoring. When the institutional investors are categorized into local and foreign, we find that the negative effect is driven by local institutional ownership, consistent with the argument that foreign institutional investors are associated with better monitoring. Our results provide new insights on the association between institutional investors and the CEO compensation-firm performance relationship in an emerging economy. JEL Classifications: G34; J33.
Neuropathology of experimental vitamin B12 deficiency in monkeys

We have produced severe vitamin B12 deficiency in rhesus monkeys by feeding them a defined experimental diet under controlled conditions. Five years after institution of the deficient diet, the morphology and counts of peripheral blood and bone marrow are normal. Gross visual impairment appeared in five of the monkeys between 33 and 45 months after the Institution of the vitamin B12 deficient diet. Subsequently, in three of the visually impaired animals, a gradually progressive spastic paralysis of their hind limbs developed. Autopsies of six deficient animals showed degeneration of the peripheral visual pathway in all and of white matter in the spinal cord in four. Degeneration of several cranial nerve roots was found in four monkeys and a mild diffuse degeneration of cerebral white matter in four. The lesions in all affected parts of the central nervous system were bilaterally symmetrical and were indistinguishable from those due to B12 deficiency in the human. No abnormalities were found in one B12 supplemented control animal.
Ownership Restrictions and Farmland Values: Evidence from the 2003 Saskatchewan Farm Security Act Amendment

&NA; An underlying issue in discussions of farmland ownership restrictions is their impact on farmland values and on land acquisition costs for local farmers. In this article, I examine the farmland value consequences of relaxing a particularly stringent farmland ownership restriction in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan Farm Security Act was introduced in 1974 and prohibited non‐Saskatchewan residents and corporations from owning Saskatchewan farmland. In 2003, the act was amended to allow Canadian residents and Canadian corporations to acquire farmland, bringing Saskatchewan in line with neighboring provinces and states that restrict foreign ownership but are open to domestic ownership. I estimate the impact of the 2003 amendment on Saskatchewan farmland values using 1995 through 2010 parcel‐level farmland transactions in Saskatchewan and its neighboring province of Manitoba. The impact of the 2003 amendment is assessed in a series of econometric models that use differential trends in farmland prices in the two provinces before and after the amendment. I find that the 2003 amendment led to a 1.9% to 3.1% per year increase in Saskatchewan farmland values.
Factors Influencing Consumers' Intention to Use Mobile Applications for Online Shopping in the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

This study examines factors influencing consumers' intention to use mobile applications for online shopping in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The research employed quantitative methodology, using study sample consisting of 150 participants randomly selected from the Saudi community. A questionnaire was developed to collect the primary data, resulting in one hundred (100) usable responses, i.e. a response rate of 66.67% (100/150). The collected data was subsequently analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Software (SPSS) and the Amos programme, to establish the path of the independent variables using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The study results identified the following: firstly, a positive or strong significant correlation between subjective norms and customer intention to use mobile applications for online shopping in KSA. Secondly, a positive, significant correlation between customer intention and the use of mobile applications for online shopping in KSA. Thirdly, that Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC) had a negative correlation with customer intention to mobile applications for online shopping in KSA. Finally, that that the main factors influencing consumers' intention to use mobile applications for online shopping in KSA consisted of: (1) attitude; (2) perceived behaviour control; (3) subjective norms; and (4) perceived trust. This research therefore contributes to the current literature by offering important evidence of how key players in the Saudi e-commerce sector can leverage consumers' intention to use mobile applications for online shopping in KSA. Due to its contribution to the picture of customer intentions towards online shopping in KSA, this study has significance for the Saudi e- commerce sector, online shopping companies and technological sector, as well as for online consumers.
SEROSURVEY FOR SELECTED INFECTIOUS DISEASE AGENTS IN FREE-RANGING BLACK AND WHITE RHINOCEROS IN AFRICA

Two hundred and eighty one serum samples collected from free-ranging black (Diceros bicornis) and white (Ceratotherium simum) rhinoceros, in the Republic of South Africa (RSA), Namibia, and Kenya from 1987–97, were examined for antibody to 16 different infectious agents. Positive antibody titers were detected against Akabane (59.8%), bluetongue (55%), African horse sickness (27.9%), epizootic haemorrhagic disease of deer (19.4%), parainfluenza type 3 (25.3%), bovine herpes virus 1 (3.1%), equine herpes virus 1 (8.8%) and bovine viral diarrhea (1.2%) viruses, and four serovars of Leptospira interrogans, (ranging 1.2 to 8.8%). No antibody was detected against Rift Valley fever virus, encephalomyocarditis virus, Brucella abortus, and Trypanosoma equiperdum. Interspecies differences were detected for African horse sickness, epizootic haemorrhagic disease of deer and parainfluenza type 3 viruses. There appeared to be some geographic variation in the prevalence of antibody for African horse sickness, bluetongue, epizootic haemorrhagic disease of deer, parainfluenza type 3, equine herpes virus 1 and Leptospira interrogans serovar bratislava.
Ranolazine antagonizes catecholamine-induced dysfunction in isolated cardiomyocytes, but lacks long-term therapeutic effects in vivo in a mouse model of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

AIMS Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is often accompanied by increased myofilament Ca(2+) sensitivity and diastolic dysfunction. Recent findings indicate increased late Na(+) current density in human HCM cardiomyocytes. Since ranolazine has the potential to decrease myofilament Ca(2+) sensitivity and late Na(+) current, we investigated its effects in an Mybpc3-targeted knock-in (KI) mouse model of HCM. METHODS AND RESULTS Unloaded sarcomere shortening and Ca(2+) transients were measured in KI and wild-type (WT) cardiomyocytes. Measurements were performed at baseline (1 Hz) and under increased workload (30 nM isoprenaline (ISO), 5 Hz) in the absence or presence of 10 µM ranolazine. KI myocytes showed shorter diastolic sarcomere length at baseline, stronger inotropic response to ISO, and drastic drop of diastolic sarcomere length under increased workload. Ranolazine attenuated ISO responses in WT and KI cells and prevented workload-induced diastolic failure in KI. Late Na(+) current density was diminished and insensitive to ranolazine in KI cardiomyocytes. Ca(2+) sensitivity of skinned KI trabeculae was slightly decreased by ranolazine. Phosphorylation analysis of cAMP-dependent protein kinase A-target proteins and ISO concentration-response measurements on muscle strips indicated antagonism at β-adrenoceptors with 10 µM ranolazine shifting the ISO response by 0.6 log units. Six-month treatment with ranolazine (plasma level >20 µM) demonstrated a β-blocking effect, but did not reverse cardiac hypertrophy or dysfunction in KI mice. CONCLUSION Ranolazine improved tolerance to high workload in mouse HCM cardiomyocytes, not by blocking late Na(+) current, but by antagonizing β-adrenergic stimulation and slightly desensitizing myofilaments to Ca(2+). This effect did not translate in therapeutic efficacy in vivo.
Genetic Evaluation of Dairy Buffaloes

Buffalo contributes 38.0 % milk in Asia. A total of 5033 records were utilized to investigate breeding efficiency (BE) and its various contributors. Effect of herd, period, season of calving, birth weight (BW), age at puberty (AAP), lactation yield (LY) and calving interval (CI) were analyzed. The effect of year and season of calving, lactation yield, calving interval, age at first calving and birth weight was found significant (P<0.001), while that of herd was non significant. BE correlated positively with BW and LY and negatively with AAP, AFC and CI. It was concluded that birth weight was the most significant contributor. In the succeeding study herd, sire nested into herd and parity had a significant effect on lactation yield, while the effects of year, season of calving, year x season and age at puberty x season was found non significant. It was suggested that the milk production ability of dairy buffaloes was improved by increasing birth weight and an increasing maturity. The last study suggested that heritability estimates of first lactation economic traits provided a better tool for selective breeding.
Designing power aware self-reconfiguring topology for mobile wireless personal area networks using fuzzy logic

In mobile wireless personal area networks (WPAN), the position of each node changes over time. A network protocol that is able to dynamically update its links in order to maintain strong connectivity is said to be "self-reconfiguring. " We propose a mobile wireless personal area networks (WPAN) design method with self-reconfiguring protocol for power efficiency. The WPAN is self-organized to clusters using an unsupervised clustering method, fuzzy c-means. A fuzzy logic system is applied to master/controller election for each cluster. A self-reconfiguring topology is proposed to manage the mobility and recursively update the network topology. We also modify the mobility management scheme with hysteresis to overcome the ping-pong effect. Simulation results show that our scheme performs much better than the existing algorithm.
Cell Salvage in Hip and Knee Arthroplasty: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

BACKGROUND Cell salvage is used to reduce allogeneic red blood-cell (RBC) transfusions in total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA). We performed a meta-analysis to assess the effectiveness of cell salvage to reduce transfusions in THA and TKA separately, and to examine whether recent trials change the conclusions from previous meta-analyses. METHODS We searched MEDLINE through January 2013 for randomized clinical trials evaluating the effects of cell salvage in THA and TKA. Trial results were extracted using standardized forms and pooled using a random-effects model. Methodological quality of the trials was evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration's tool for risk-of-bias assessment. RESULTS Forty-three trials (5631 patients) were included. Overall, cell salvage reduced the exposure to allogeneic RBC transfusion in THA (risk ratio [RR], 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.51 to 0.85) and TKA (RR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.39 to 0.68). However, trials published in 2010 to 2012, with a lower risk of bias, showed no significant effect of cell salvage in THA (RR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.66 to 1.02) and TKA (RR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.63 to 1.31), suggesting that the treatment policy regarding transfusion may have changed over time. CONCLUSIONS Looking at all trials, cell salvage still significantly reduced the RBC exposure rate and the volume of RBCs transfused in both THA and TKA. However, in trials published more recently (2010 to 2012), cell salvage reduced neither the exposure rate nor the volume of RBCs transfused in THA and TKA, most likely explained by changes in blood transfusion management.
Identification of Highly Specific and Cross‐Reactive Antigens of Leishmania Species by Antibodies from Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi Naturally Infected Dogs

The Leishmania species present a genetic homology that ranges from 69 to 90%. Because of this homology, heterologous antigens have been used in the immunodiagnosis and vaccine development against Leishmania infections. In the current work, we describe the identification of species‐specific and cross‐reactive antigens among several New World Leishmania species, using symptomatic and asymptomatic naturally Leishmania chagasi‐infected dog sera. Soluble antigens from five strains of New World Leishmania were separated by electrophoresis in SDS‐PAGE and immunoblotted. Different proteins were uniquely recognized in the L. chagasi panel by either symptomatic or asymptomatic dog sera suggesting their use as markers for the progression of disease and diagnosis of the initial (sub‐clinical) phase of the infection. Cross‐reactive antigens were identified using heterologous antigenic panels (L. amazonensis strains PH8 and BH6, L. guyanensis and L. braziliensis). L. guyanensis panel showed the highest cross‐reactivity against L. chagasi specific antibodies, suggesting that proteins from this extract might be suitable for the diagnosis of visceral canine leishmaniasis. Interestingly, the 51 and 97 kDa proteins of Leishmania were widely recognized (77.8% to 100%) among all antigenic panels tested, supporting their potential use for immunodiagnosis. Finally, we identified several leishmanial antigens that might be useful for routine diagnosis and seroepidemiological studies of the visceral canine leishmaniasis.
The Retirement Belief Model: Understanding the Search for Pension Information

Many individuals avoid information relevant for retirement planning. This behavior is worrying as pension systems shift risks and responsibilities to individuals. Individuals who avoid pension information fail to discover whether they save too little for retirement, negatively affecting their long-run financial well-being. We generate knowledge about the factors that stimulate or hinder the search for pension information. Using an interdisciplinary lens, we develop a unifying model - the Retirement Belief Model (RBM) - and empirically validate it with field data from the Netherlands and United Kingdom. We find that the RBM core beliefs (susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and self-efficacy) as well as trust and emotions significantly explain search for pension information. Our findings help both pension providers and policy makers in improving pension communication by stressing, for example, the benefits of information acquisition and designing segment specific approaches.
The importance of the will to improve: how ‘sustainability’ sidelined local livelihoods in a carbon-forestry investment in Uganda

ABSTRACT This paper describes a ‘win–win’ discourse on local sustainable development and global climate change mitigation regarding Kachung, a Swedish–Norwegian climate forestry investment in Uganda certified under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). In many ways, this investment is a typical example of how private interests and capital accumulation are prioritised over local concerns in natural resource management under neoliberalism. This study, however, indicated that investors had genuine intentions of creating mutual benefits for the global environment and local people. Drawing on Li (2007), we show that this ‘will to improve’ was nevertheless constructed in ways that resulted in prioritisation of global climate change mitigation over local context-specific concerns. We identify three core factors making the win–win discourse around Kachung plantation especially resilient: (i) the perceived urgency of climate change mitigation, (ii) the apolitical framing of ‘sustainability’ as an environmental issue that can be fixed through external technical interventions and (iii) the devaluation of local and context-specific knowledge. We end by suggesting that research on the neoliberalisation of nature focus more on analysing the rationales behind specific interventions. This would leave us better equipped to suggest how such interventions should be modified to produce true wins for local contexts.
Hyperbrain features of team mental models within a juggling paradigm: a proof of concept

Background Research on cooperative behavior and the social brain exists, but little research has focused on real-time motor cooperative behavior and its neural correlates. In this proof of concept study, we explored the conceptual notion of shared and complementary mental models through EEG mapping of two brains performing a real-world interactive motor task of increasing difficulty. We used the recently introduced participative “juggling paradigm,” and collected neuro-physiological and psycho-social data. We were interested in analyzing the between-brains coupling during a dyadic juggling task, and in exploring the relationship between the motor task execution, the jugglers’skill level and the task difficulty. We also investigated how this relationship could be mirrored in the coupled functional organization of the interacting brains. Methods To capture the neural schemas underlying the notion of shared and complementary mental models, we examined the functional connectivity patterns and hyperbrain features of a juggling dyad involved in cooperative motor tasks of increasing difficulty. Jugglers’ cortical activity was measured using two synchronized 32-channel EEG systems during dyadic juggling performed with 3, 4, 5 and 6 balls. Individual and hyperbrain functional connections were quantified through coherence maps calculated across all electrode pairs in the theta and alpha bands (4–8 and 8–12 Hz). Graph metrics were used to typify the global topology and efficiency of the functional networks for the four difficulty levels in the theta and alpha bands. Results Results indicated that, as task difficulty increased, the cortical functional organization of the more skilled juggler became progressively more segregated in both frequency bands, with a small-world organization in the theta band during easier tasks, indicative of a flow-like state in line with the neural efficiency hypothesis. Conversely, more integrated functional patterns were observed for the less skilled juggler in both frequency bands, possibly related to cognitive overload due to the difficulty of the task at hand (reinvestment hypothesis). At the hyperbrain level, a segregated functional organization involving areas of the visuo-attentional networks of both jugglers was observed in both frequency bands and for the easier task only. Discussion These results suggest that cooperative juggling is supported by integrated activity of specialized cortical areas from both brains only during easier tasks, whereas it relies on individual skills, mirrored in uncorrelated individual brain activations, during more difficult tasks. These findings suggest that task difficulty and jugglers’ personal skills may influence the features of the hyperbrain network in its shared/integrative and complementary/segregative tendencies.
Effect of Cataract Opacity Type and Glaucoma Severity on Visual Field Index

Purpose To determine the effect of cataract opacity type and glaucoma severity on the visual field index (VFI). Methods A total of 152 eyes of 152 patients were analyzed. Patients with glaucoma, previous evaluation with the Swedish Interactive Threshold Algorithm-standard 24-2 VFs, visually significant cataracts, and VFs before surgery were included in this study. Cataract opacity was classified as cortical, nuclear sclerotic, or posterior subcapsular. The patients underwent phacoemulsification cataract extraction surgery. A postoperative VF test was done within 10 months of the previous VF. Glaucoma severity was classified by the postoperative mean deviation (MD) value. Changes in MD, pattern standard deviation (PSD), and VFI value before and after surgery were compared according to cataract opacity and glaucoma severity. Results The mean age at cataract surgery was 72 ± 10 years. The MD, PSD, and VFI values were less influenced by nuclear sclerotic cataract opacity. In patients with early glaucoma (MD > −6), particularly with cortical cataract opacity, MD, PSD, and VFI improved after cataract extraction (p < 0.05). Cataract opacity could make interpreting the VF indices more difficult in patients with early glaucoma. VFI was a reliable index that was less affected by cataract extraction, except in patients with early glaucoma (MD > −6) and cortical cataract opacity. Conclusions Existing cataract opacity and the type of cataract opacity may affect the VF test results. Therefore, both glaucoma severity and the type of cataract opacity should be considered when interpreting VF results.