Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monetary policy and financial stability - a simple story

The depth of the recent financial crisis in many economies has forced policymakers and researchers to rethink thoroughly the connection between monetary policy and financial stability. Many argue that central banks, because of their key role in the financial system, should assume greater responsibility in preventing financial crises. Before the recent financial crisis, a common view in central banking was that, rather than deliberately leaning against potential financial imbalances, it is better to just mop up after financial crises. Because overborrowing likely contributes to financial imbalances, many now welcome the emergence of an array of micro and macroprudential policies to limit borrowing. But neither such new policies nor monetary policy can be expected to completely rule out the possibility of a financial crisis.
Family background of modern health worries, somatosensory amplification, and health anxiety: A questionnaire study

In the development of somatosensory amplification, health anxiety, and modern health worries, environmental factors seem more important than genetic background. Parental attitudes might represent a major source of learning. In total, 186 adolescents and their parents completed a questionnaire assessing modern health worries, somatosensory amplification, health anxiety, and somatic symptoms. Adolescents’ modern health worries, somatosensory amplification, and health anxiety were positively related to respective parental characteristics in regression analyses even after controlling for sociodemographic variables and somatic symptoms. Parental beliefs may play a role in the development of these characteristics.
Assessment of the influence of jogging on the shape of female foot arches.

INTRODUCTION Both walking and its faster, running, consist of cyclical subsequent phases of swing and support; however, they differ in their time proportions as well as magnitude of acting forces. There is a lack of studies concerning the long-term consequences of repeated jogging cycles on the function of feet and, above all, on their permanent impact on the shape of foot arches. OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to answer the question whether regular jogging changes the shape of the transverse and medial longitudinal arches of the feet. MATERIAL AND METHODS The research material consisted of 96 women with an average age of 26.57, and included 50 actively jogging women, and 46 of non-joggers. The study was performed with the use of EMED-SF force platform. The plantar surface of the foot was divided into 10 regions according to Cavanagh, for which peak pressure and contact time were established. Two indicators were defined: metatarsal bone pressure distribution pattern acc. to Kantali, and longitudinal arch index acc. to Cavanagh. RESULTS The data obtained revealed more frequent occurrence of the greatest pressure under the centrally located metatarsal heads (lack of functional foot transverse arch) among the female joggers, compared with the non-joggers. Moreover, the findings indicate the higher frequency of medial longitudinal foot arch flattening among female runners, with a great deal of consistency between both feet, whereas results for the control group show asymmetrical medial arch shapes with right foot propensity to normal arch shape and left foot tendency for excessive arch. CONCLUSIONS The observed differences in feet arch shapes between female joggers and non-joggers indicate the influence of jogging on feet functional adaptations.
Targeting Critical Thinking Skills in a First-Year Undergraduate Research Course

TH! NK is a new initiative at NC State University focused on enhancing students’ higher-order cognitive skills. As part of this initiative, I explicitly emphasized critical and creative thinking in an existing bacteriophage discovery first-year research course. In addition to the typical activities associated with undergraduate research such as review of primary literature and writing research papers, another strategy employed to enhance students’ critical thinking skills was the use of discipline-specific, real-world scenarios. This paper outlines a general “formula” for writing scenarios, as well as several specific scenarios created for the described course. I also present how embedding aspects of the scenarios in reviews of the primary literature enriched the activity. I assessed student gains in critical thinking skills using a pre-/posttest model of the Critical Thinking Assessment Test (CAT), developed by Tennessee Technological University. I observed a positive gain trend in most of the individual skills assessed in the CAT, with a statistically significant large effect on critical thinking skills overall in students in the test group. I also show that a higher level of critical thinking skills was demonstrated in research papers written by students who participated in the scenarios compared with similar students who did not participate in the scenario activities. The scenario strategy described here can be modified for use in biology and other STEM disciplines, as well as in diverse disciplines in the social sciences and humanities.
Assessment of utilisation of PMTCT services at Nyanza Provincial Hospital, Kenya

The main objective of the study was to assess the utilisation of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services among mothers registered for services at Nyanza Provincial Hospital in Kenya. A cross-sectional exploratory study was conducted, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect primary and secondary data. The study population was 133 clients registered for PMTCT services. The study revealed that 52.4% of clients received PMTCT information at the health facility without prior knowledge about intervention, 96% waited for more than 90 minutes, and 89% took less than 10 minutes for post-test counselling. Knowledge of MTCT and PMTCT was inadequate even after counselling, as participants could not recall the information divulged during counselling. In addition, 80% of clients did not present for follow-up counselling irrespective of HIV status, and 95% did not disclose positive HIV status to spouses/relatives for fear of stigma, discrimination and violence. Inadequate counselling services delivered to clients affected service utilisation, in that significant dropout occurred at the stages of HIV result (31.5%), enrollment (53.6%), and delivery (80.7%). Reasons for dropout included fear of positive HIV result, chronic illness, stigma and discrimination, unsupportive spouse and inability to pay for the services.
Offshore financial activity and tax policy: evidence from a leaked data set*

Abstract We assess the European Union’s (EU) most significant international tax policy. The 2005 Tax and Savings Directive obliges cooperating jurisdictions to withhold tax or report on interest income earned by entities whose beneficial owner is an EU resident. As the Directive applies only to beneficial ownership in cooperative jurisdictions, it can be circumvented by transferring ownership to a non-EU resident or company or by transferring the entity to a non-cooperative jurisdiction. Using a database on individual offshore entities leaked from two firms in 2013, we compare the response of EU-owned entities with a control group of non-EU-owned entities. We show that the growth of EU-owned entities declined immediately after the Directive’s implementation, whereas that of non-EU-owned entities remained stable. We observe the substitution of EU ownership for non-EU ownership, as well as the substitution of cooperative for non-cooperative offshore jurisdictions. This calls for anti-evasion policies that are broader in scope and scale.
Cell Sheet‐Based Cardiac Tissue Engineering

Tissue engineering is indispensable for the advancement of regenerative medicine and the development of tissue models. Cell sheet‐based method is one the promising strategies for cardiac tissue engineering. To date, cell sheet transplantation using wide variety of cells has been performed for the treatment of various heart diseases. These cell sheet transplantations have shown to ameliorate cardiac dysfunction and improve symptoms of heart failure. Recent progress of the technologies on the layering of cardiac cell sheets accompanied with vascularization and the large scale cultivation system of embryonic stem cell and induced pluripotent stem cell is about to turn the fabrication of thickened human cardiac tissue for transplant and tissue models into reality. Anat Rec, 297:65–72. 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Quality of sleep in primary focal dystonia: a case–control study

Background: Sleep disturbances are common in patients with movement disorders. Evaluating quality of sleep is of primary importance because of the effect that nocturnal and daytime sleep abnormalities exert on general health status. However, quality of sleep has never been addressed in detail in patients with dystonia. The aim of this case–control study was to analyse quality of sleep in patients with the two most common forms of primary focal dystonia, blepharospasm (BSP) and cervical dystonia (CD).
Altered Neural Correlates of Emotion Associated Pain Processing in Persistent Somatoform Pain Disorder: An fMRI Study

Patients with persistent somatoform pain disorder (PSPD) suffer from long‐term pain and emotional conflicts. Recently, accumulating evidence indicated that emotion has a significant role in pain perception of somatoform pain disorder. To further understand the association between emotion and pain‐related brain activities, functional activities of patients with PSPD fulfilling ICD‐10 criteria and healthy controls were assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging technology, while participants viewed a series of positive, neutral, or negative pictures with or without pinprick pain stimulation. Results showed that patients with PSPD had altered brain activities in the parietal gyrus, temporal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, and parahippocampus in response to pinprick pain stimuli during different emotions compared with the healthy control group. Moreover, patients with PSPD consistently showed hyperactivities in the prefrontal, the fusiform gyrus and the insula in response to negative stimuli under pinprick pain vs. non‐pain condition. The current findings provide some insights into the underlying relationship between emotion and pain‐related brain activity in patients with PSPD, which is of both theoretical and clinical importance.
Perceptions of pre-service teachers in foundation phase mathematics about their professional development

III ABSTRAK . V TABLE OF CONTENTS . VII LIST OF FIGURES . XI LIST OF TABLES . XIV LIST OF APPENDICES . XVII 1. CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION . 1 1.1. PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS’ SCHOOL MATHEMATICS EXPERIENCES . 1 1.2. CHALLENGES IN THE INITIAL PREPARATION OF PROSPECTIVE MATHEMATICS TEACHERS . 2 1.3. OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES. 4 1.4. EMPHASIS ON KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IN HIGHER EDUCATION . 6 1.5. OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH ON TEACHING EXPERTISE . 7 1.6. RESEARCH INTEREST IN VIEW OF KNOWLEDGE GAPS . 9 1.7. PSTS’ PERSPECTIVES CONSIDERED . 11 1.8. PROBLEM STATEMENT . 13 1.9. THE GENERAL STRUCTURE OF PRE-SERVICE TRAINING IN SOUTH AFRICA . 13 1.10. RESEARCH AIM . 14 1.11. RESEARCH QUESTIONS . 15 1.12. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY. 16 1.13. PROVISIONAL CHAPTERING . 19 1.14. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS . 22 1.15. ACCRONYMS AND ABREVIATIONS . 22 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za
Clinical Experience with Everolimus (Certican) in Young Renal Transplant Recipients

Background. Young transplant recipients benefit most from graft longevity, but are at high risk of rejection. Thus, in young recipients, the challenge is provision of effective immunosuppression resulting in good renal function while minimizing the toxicities of immunosuppressant therapy. Methods. The following two case studies describe the clinical experience of achieving stable graft function in two young female transplant recipients of older living donor kidneys. As part of an ongoing clinical trial (A2307), immunosuppressant therapy consisted of everolimus (Certican) in combination with reduced-exposure cyclosporine (CsA) and prednisone. Results. The two case studies demonstrate that rejection can be prevented and good, stable renal graft function achieved with everolimus 0.75–1.5 mg bid (long-term everolimus blood trough levels: 2.3–6.5 ng/ml in Case 1 and 3.8–9.3 ng/ml in Case 2) plus reduced-exposure CsA. CsA was reduced from an initial dose of 100 mg bid (C2 target levels of 500–700 ng/ml) to 75 mg and 35 mg bid in the two cases, respectively, in order to reach maintenance C2 target levels of 230–450 ng/ml. Maintenance prednisone dose was low in both cases (7–7.5 mg/day). Both patients tolerated the immunosuppressant regime well, and at 31–33 months follow-up they remained free of acute rejection episodes and toxicities associated with CsA. Conclusion. Everolimus plus reduced-dose CsA can provide safe, adequate immunosuppression resulting in prevention of acute rejection in young recipients. Reducing CsA exposure minimizes risk of nephrotoxicity and other adverse events that affect compliance in these patients for whom long-term graft survival is vital.
Financial literacy and financial health among Malaysian

The aim of this research paper is to examine the level of financial literacy and financial health among Malaysian aged between 18 to 45 years old. This research carries out three objectives; (i) to analysis determinants of financial literacy among Malaysian, (ii) to explore strategies to enhance financial literacy among Malaysian and (iii) to examine the relationship between financial literacy and financial health in Malaysia. Primary data collection method, through a well-structured questionnaire is used to test the level of financial literacy and financial health among Malaysian. A total of 2500 respondents were randomly selected from Peninsular Malaysia to answer this questionnaire. This study further employed various research design namely, descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, Independent Samples T-Test, One-Way ANOVA and regression analysis using enter and stepwise method to test the level of financial literacy and financial health of individuals in Malaysia. The finding of this study revealed that saving management, investment skills, parent’s characteristics and debt management have a significant correlation with financial literacy. In addition, this study also identified men aged between 18 to 25 years old as well as earn monthly income less than RM1500 are weak in terms of financial literacy. Moreover, results of this study also prove that, certificate holders as well as self-employed are financially illiterate and need to be given extra attention to these groups to enhance their financial literacy level. In this regards, this paper has suggested various strategies to improve the level of financial literacy among Malaysian. The enforcement of financial education start early at primary school level or at pre-school level is the best strategy to enhance the financial literacy of Malaysian. This is because; good financial literacy can save a person from debt burden and bankruptcies as well as help to improve their financial health overall
How effortful decisions get enacted: the motivating role of decision processes, desires, and anticipated emotions

Building on recent research examining the influence of decision making on subsequent goal striving and decision enactment, we consider and elaborate on the mechanisms through which effortful decisions are made, maintained, and enacted. Our proposed framework builds on the Dholakia and Bagozzi (2002) model, distinguishes between two important types of intentions and desires, and shows that the motivation-mustering function of the decision process is mediated by goal and implementation desires. In addition to decision processes, the roles of goal feasibility, anticipated emotions, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control are also elaborated on. Through a two-wave field study tracking real decisions and their pursuit by participants, we find empirical support for our model of effortful decision making and enactment. Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ESSAYS ON MONETARY POLICY WITH ISLAMIC BANKS

I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III DECLARATION V PUBLICATIONS AND CONFERENCES VI List of Tables XI List of Figures XIII CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER TWO MONETARY POLICY RULES IN THE EMERNING COUNTRIES: EVIDENCE FROM THE ESTIMATION OF NONLINEAR TAYLOR RULE 2.
The designer in the city and the city in the designer

The symbolic attributes of commodities as a basis for economic competitiveness in late capitalism has been a focus of analysis in the bourgeoning literature on cultural industries. This literature, and most notably the works of Allen Scott, contends that aesthetic features can serve as a source of distinctiveness in the marketplace when most key innovations have become ubiquitous and that those regions and places that are best situated to exploit such attributes will come to define the leading edge of advanced capitalism. The system whereby symbolic attributes evolve, however, remains a veritable black box. Few studies have considered the process by which these attributes are produced, reproduced and commodified, i.e. deconstructing how ‘culture’ is produced. In this paper, I examine the production of New York City fashion. I document the innovation system for the high-end women’s wear industry and look at the ways in which fashion designers exploit local artistic and commercial institutions in the city for the conception, physical design and marketing of their products. A detailed examination of the system by which designers create distinctive commodities sheds light on the complex interplay between products and place. It reveals how a fashion design infrastructure in New York City actually shapes, conditions and gives meaning to the seemingly idiosyncratic act of producing ‘culture’.
Structure and Evolution of the Alternatively Spliced Fast Troponin T Isoform Gene*

The vertebrate fast skeletal muscle troponin T gene, TnTf, produces a complexity of isoforms through differential mRNA splicing. The mechanisms that regulate splicing and the physiological significance of TnTf isoforms are poorly understood. To investigate these questions, we have determined the complete sequence structure of the quail TnTf gene, and we have characterized the developmental expression of alternatively spliced TnTf mRNAs in quail embryonic muscles. We report the following: 1) the quail TnTf gene is significantly larger than the rat TnTf gene and has 8 non-homologous exons, including a pectoral muscle-specific set of alternatively spliced exons; 2) specific sequences are implicated in regulated exon splicing; 3) a 900-base pair sequence element, composed primarily of intron sequence flanking the pectoral muscle-specific exons, is tandemly repeated 4 times and once partially, providing direct evidence that the pectoral-specific TnT exon domain arose by intragenic duplications; 4) a chicken repeat 1 retrotransposon element resides upstream of this repeated intronic/pectoral exon sequence domain and is implicated in transposition of this element into an ancestral genome; and 5) a large set of novel isoforms, produced by regulated exon splicing, is expressed in quail muscles, providing insights into the developmental regulation, physiological function, and evolution of the vertebrate TnTf isoforms.
Survival outcome of patients with spontaneously ruptured hepatocellular carcinoma treated surgically or by transarterial embolization.

AIM To evaluate clinical outcomes of patients that underwent surgery, transarterial embolization (TAE), or supportive care for spontaneously ruptured hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS A consecutive 54 patients who diagnosed as spontaneously ruptured HCC at our institution between 2003 and 2012 were retrospectively enrolled. HCC was diagnosed based on the diagnostic guidelines issued by the 2005 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. HCC rupture was defined as disruption of the peritumoral liver capsule with enhanced fluid collection in the perihepatic area adjacent to the HCC by dynamic liver computed tomography, and when abdominal paracentesis showed an ascitic red blood cell count of > 50000 mm(3)/mL in bloody fluid. RESULTS Of the 54 patients, 6 (11.1%) underwent surgery, 25 (46.3%) TAE, and 23 (42.6%) supportive care. The 2-, 4- and 6-mo cumulative survival rates at 2, 4 and 6 mo were significantly higher in the surgery (60%, 60% and 60%) or TAE (36%, 20% and 20%) groups than in the supportive care group (8.7%, 0% and 0%), respectively (each, P < 0.01), and tended to be higher in the surgical group than in the TAE group. Multivariate analysis showed that serum bilirubin (HR = 1.09, P < 0.01), creatinine (HR = 1.46, P = 0.04), and vasopressor requirement (HR = 2.37, P = 0.02) were significantly associated with post-treatment mortality, whereas surgery (HR = 0.41, P < 0.01), and TAE (HR = 0.13, P = 0.01) were inversely associated with post-treatment mortality. CONCLUSION Post-treatment survival after surgery or TAE was found to be better than after supportive care, and surgery tended to provide better survival benefit than TAE.
A Glucose Transporter Can Mediate Ribose Uptake

Sugars, the major energy source for many organisms, must be transported across biological membranes. Glucose is the most abundant sugar in human plasma and in many other biological systems and has been the primary focus of sugar transporter studies in eukaryotes. We have previously cloned and characterized a family of glucose transporter genes from the protozoan parasite Leishmania. These transporters, called LmGT1, LmGT2, and LmGT3, are homologous to the well characterized glucose transporter (GLUT) family of mammalian glucose transporters. We have demonstrated that LmGT proteins are important for parasite viability. Here we show that one of these transporters, LmGT2, is a more effective carrier of the pentose sugar d-ribose than LmGT3, which has a 6-fold lower relative specificity (Vmax/Km) for ribose. A pair of threonine residues, located in the putative extracellular loops joining transmembrane helices 3 to 4 and 7 to 8, define a filter that limits ribose approaching the exofacial substrate binding pocket in LmGT3. When these threonines are substituted by alanine residues, as found in LmGT2, the LmGT3 permease acquires ribose permease activity that is similar to that of LmGT2. The location of these residues in hydrophilic loops supports recent suggestions that substrate recognition is separated from substrate binding and translocation in this important group of transporters.