Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of environmental enrichment on hippocampal electrophysiological changes in the pentylenetetrazole model of epilepsy

Amaç: Epilepsi, hipokampusta işlevsel/morfolojik değişikliklerle karakterize nörolojik bir hastalıktır. Deney hayvanlarında bu işlevsel değişiklikler sinaptik plastisitede artma ya da azalma şeklinde ortaya çıkmaktadır. Sunulan çalışmada amacımız, zenginleştirilmiş çevrenin hipokampal işlevsel değişiklikler üzerine olan etkisini epileptik sıçanlarda araştırmaktı. Gereç ve Yöntem: Pentilentetrazol (PTZ) ile oluşturulan kindling modeli sıçanlara uygulandı. Sıçanlar epileptik ve kontrol grubu olarak standart kafes ya da zenginleştirilmiş kafeste bir ay kaldılar. Ardından bütün hayvanlara Morris yüzme testi yapıldı ve hipokampusa ait medial perforan yol dentat girus sinapslarından in vivo olarak uzun süreli güçlenme (USG) kaydı alındı. Bulgular: Çalışmamızda zenginleştirimiş kafeste bulunan epileptik sıçanların daha erken tutuştuğu görüldü. Epileptik sıçanlar morris yüzme testinde zayıf performans gösterdiler ve zenginleştirilmiş çevre bu durumu iyileştirdi. Bununla birlikte elektrofizyolojik kayıt bulgularımızda, zenginleştirilmiş çevre epileptik sıçanlarda USG üzerinde pozitif etki göstermedi. Sonuç: Sonuç olarak, PTZ-nedenli kindling modeli ile birlikte zenginleştirilmiş çevre uygulaması, sıçanlarda alışkın olunan güvenli çevrenin bozulması nedeniyle ortaya çıkan strese bağlı olarak nöbetleri şiddetlendirebilir.
The Chinese Lunar New Year and Reverse Disposition Effect

The Chinese Lunar New Year (CLNY) traditionally symbolizes a fresh start, including for investment performance. Therefore, we assume the presence of a reverse disposition effect prior to the CLNY in the Taiwanese stock market, that is, investors are more willing to sell losers than winners to reset the reference prices of losers so as to realize gains in future as predicted by Ingersoll & Jin (2013). Consistent with the predictions, we find that the arbitrage portfolios of longing paper-winners and shorting paper-losers generate significantly negative returns in the post-CLNY period but the portfolios yield only weak negative returns in the pre-CLNY period. More importantly, this strong negativity is primarily attributable to a price reversal of losers. Furthermore, we use the lagged change of M1B to inversely proxy for the necessity to sell stocks to satisfy the customary liquidity demands prior to the CLNY and thereby hypothesize an inverse relationship between the money supply and the reverse disposition effect. Moreover, we assume that mutual fund holdings are negatively associated with the effect because (due to year-end portfolio pumping behaviors) mutual funds provide a buying force against the aforementioned selling forces. Consistent with the assumptions, the evidence indicates that a significant negative arbitrage return is observed during the post-CLNY period when there is a decreased lagged change in M1B and for stocks with low or medium levels of mutual fund holdings. The conditional negative arbitrage returns survive tests of the three risk factors identified by Fama & French (1993).
SLOVENIAN CATCHING UP WITH THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES: WHEN AND HOW? 8 th Bi-Annual European Association for Comparative Economic Systems Conference "EU Enlargement - What Comes After 2004?" Belgrade (Serbia and Montenegro)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide assessment of the current status of economic development and policy suggestions as to how Slovenia can catch up with developed countries and close the development gap.Design/methodology/approach – The paper first analyses world development scenarios. Part two is devoted to the calculation of development gaps by novel time distance methodology in order to identify major reasons for lagging behind and concludes by providing policy ideas how to close these gaps.Findings – The time lag for GDP per capita with the EU 15 average is 18 years, and larger when Slovenia is compared to the successful small EU member states. The optimistic scenario of catching up in 16 years would require 2 per cent higher growth rate than EU 15 average. This time would be shorter if the government policy would promote the knowledge‐based economy, internationalisation, innovative capabilities and become more effective, responsive, flexibile and closing persistent implementation and co.
Can designed student responses support ...act with students in a productive way?

responses support teachers to interact with students in a productive way? A report from the Formative Assessment Working Group (2015 ISDDE conference) Sheila Evans, University of Nottingham, England Michal Ayalon, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel Abstract This paper introduces the use of pre-designed student responses to unstructured mathematics problems as a possible resource for teachers to develop their capacity of acting contingently in the mathematics classroom in a productive way, whilst teaching. We frame our argument around the notion that contingent moments can be regarded as problem-situations that are, at times, too demanding for the teacher to effectively solve. We provide an unstructured mathematics problem and accompanying designed student responses to illustrate and explain our thinking, considering how this approach has the potential to help teachers flexibly and productively engage with students’ reasoning in-themoment of instruction. We end the paper with a call for empirical studies to explore these ideas further.
The Political Economy of Unsustainable Fiscal Deficits

This paper uses an intertemporal model of public finances to show that political instability can cause taxes to be tilted to the future, resulting in a fiscal deficit that is suboptimal and only weakly sustainable (in the sense of Quintos). This occurs because political instability gives the government an incentive to implement a myopic fiscal policy in order to increase its chances of remaining in office. The government achieves this by delaying taxes (or advancing spending) in order to buy political support, which in turn causes an upward trend in the deficit process and a financial crisis. Using annual data for Chile for the 1833-1999 period, we present statistical test results that support the model.
European integration and EU eastward enlargement process in international trade: using a gravity approach for exploring bilateral trade flows

The paper is going to give an overview of the comparative evaluation of the Baltic Sea region countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany, Russia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) competitiveness based on various methodological approaches ranking countries according to their level of international competitiveness. The study mainly bases on the data of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID), International Institute for Management Development (IMD) and national and international statistical authorities. Factor analysis as a data reduction method is used in order to elaborate generalized indicators (factors) of a country's competitiveness level and to compare the factor analysis based rankings of the Baltic Sea region economies with the ranking results based on the other methodological approaches (HIID methodology for evaluation of the economies' in transition competitiveness, World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) methodology). According to the results of using factor analysis, the main generalized indicators that explain a country's competitiveness level are the size of economy and level of economic development, which explain more than 50% of variation of initial indicators of a country's macroeconomic environment. Other generalized indicators could be interpreted as the factors that characterize development of infrastructure and/or human resources, and also openness of economy. Based on the results of the study, it is possible to conclude that the Baltic Sea region countries have good competitive position among the leading world economies and the economies in transition. The countries around the Baltic Sea have historical and cultural traditions for developing trade relations and economic cooperation. The development of mutually beneficial economic co-operation between the capital abundant countries such as Germany and the Scandinavian countries and the transitional countries of the region, which provide the possibilities of entrance into the new markets and also rather cheap and qualified labour force, has positively influenced economic environment of all Baltic Sea region countries. For the Baltic economies in transition, the regional co-operation has created conditions that support their rapid economic restructuring, development of infrastructure and human capital, and quick rise of competitiveness. To sum up, the Baltic Sea region has good potential for competitive economic development due to its favourable location between East and West and dynamic interdependence between transition and integration, stimulating both processes.
Surface roughness of medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and edge-glued panel (EGP) after edge milling

The mean arithmetic deviation of the roughness profile (Ra) was investigated for the edge surface after edge milling of medium-density fiberboard, medium-density fiberboard with single-sided lamination, and spruce edge-glued panel. Tungsten carbide blades with three different compositions and treatment (HW1, HW2, and HW1 + CrTiN coating) were used. During edge milling, the feed rate (4, 8, and 11 m/min) and cutting speed (20, 30, 40, and 60 m/s) were changed. The lowest roughness values were found in spruce timber, and the highest values were found in untreated MDF. The highest edge surface roughness was measured after using the HW2 tool. Slightly lower values were found using HW1 CrTiN, and the lowest values were found using HW1. Increasing the cutting speed led to a very slight increase in roughness. Increasing the feed rate had the same effect, but its effect was more significant. The article provides an understanding of the interaction of the most frequently occurring factors relative to the quality of the work surface of the large-area materials.
Perinatal complications, environmental factors and autism spectrum disorders

Objectives: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by qualitative impairment of social interactions, impairment of verbal and nonverbal communication, as well as restricted interests and repetitive behavior. ASD represent a group of complex psychiatric disorders, with both genetic and environmental factors implicated in their etiology. Recent neuroanatomical and epidemiological studies point out to prenatal and early postnatal genesis of ASD. Aim: In this review, we present recent studies that explored the effect of environmental, prenatal and perinatal risk factors on development of ASD. Also, we point out those factors that have been proven to have the strongest association with ASD, and emphasize a very complex interaction of individual factors that might eventually lead to manifestation of this group of disorders. Conclusion: A precise defining of risk factors might provide more insight not only into etiology of ASD, but might also give us a possibility for early recognition and possible prevention of autism spectrum disorders, especially in susceptible individuals. It is also a first step in defining the basis of the gene-environment interaction mechanism, which might enable the development of an individualized therapeutic approach for this group of disorders.
Neutrino oscillations from relativistic flavor currents

By resorting to recent results on the relativistic currents for mixed ~flavor ! fields, we calculate a space-time dependent neutrino oscillation formula in quantum field theory. Our formulation provides an alternative to existing approaches for the derivation of space dependent oscillation formulas and it also accounts for the corrections due to the nontrivial nature of the flavor vacuum. By exploring different limits of our formula, we recover already known results. We study in detail the case of one-dimensional propagation with Gaussian wave packets both in the relativistic and in the nonrelativistic regions: in the last case, numerical evaluations of our result show significant deviations from the standard formula.
Ontogeny of a new cyrtosymboline trilobite from the Famennian of Morocco

Abundant trilobite remains were recovered from late mid−Famennian marlstones from various sites in Eastern Tafilalet, southeast Morocco. All belong to a single taxon previously identified as Cyrtosymbole (Waribole) prima. This taxon is designated the type species of Osmolskabole gen. nov. A redefinition of this species, including the description of newly discovered, disarticulated exuviae both in limestone and silicified state of preservation, is given. In particular, silicified sclerites of various sizes allow the first complete growth series of a cyrtosymboline proetid to be presented. The close morphological resemblance of its protaspid stages to known proetoid larvae emphasizes the homogeneity of the early on− togeny in this superfamily. The Famennian proetoid anaprotaspis is also of comparable size to that of other Devonian proetoid larvae. However, their size−range is much less than that observed in Carboniferous larvae. This suggests that the survival of proetoid trilobites at the Frasnian−Famennian Kellwasser crisis did not result from a modification of the devel− opmental strategy, as it might have been the case at the terminal Devonian extinction event. Moreover, O. prima possesses a plectrum from the metaprotaspid to the mid meraspid periods. This implies that the natant hypostomal condition is not steadily acquired early in the ontogeny of the Proetida. Thus we preclude the use of this character in the diagnosis of this order.
Response of local rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars to recommended NPK fertilizer dose under upland rainfed conditions

The present investigation was conducted to study the growth and yield response of local rice cultivars to application of recommended dose of NPK fertilizers under upland rainfed conditions. It was found that the application of recommended NPK fertilizer dose (60:30:30 kg/ha) resulted in significantly superior expression of rice growth and yield attributes by the different cultivars recording increased grain yields up to 36.51 q/ha and straw yields of 60.96 q/ha. Among the 8 local rice cultivars tested signification variations in plant growth, yield and yield attributes were observed. However, the cultivar ‘Muntse’ was found to be the most adaptable rice variety recording the highest grain yield of 42.94 q/ha followed by ‘Temeseng’, ‘Leikhumo’ and ‘Chongloi Mann’. Application of recommended fertilizer dose (60:30:30 kg/ha) to the cultivar ‘Mumtse’ was found to record the highest gross return/ha (Rs.51,342), net return/ha (Rs. 30,169) as well as BCR (1.42) compared to the rest of the treatments tested.
Flexural motions under accelerating loads of structurally prestressed beams with general boundary conditions

The transverse vibration of a prismatic Rayleigh beam resting on elastic foundation and continuously acted upon by concentrated masses moving with arbitrarily prescribed velocity is studied. A procedure involving generalized finite integral transform, the use of the expression of the Dirac delta function in series form, a modification of the Struble's asymptotic method and the use of the Fresnel sine and cosine functions is developed to treat this dynamical beam problem and analytical solutions for both the moving force and moving mass model which is valid for all variant of classical boundary conditions are obtained. The proposed analytical procedure is illustrated by examples of some practical engineering interest in which the effects of some important parameters such as boundary conditions, prestressed function, slenderness ratio, mass ratio and elastic foundation are investigated in depth. Resonance phenomenon of the vibrating system is carefully investigated and the condition under which this may occur is clearly scrutinized. The results presented in this paper will form basis for a further research work in this field.
Development of Biscuit Type Cookie with Partial Replacement of Fat by Inulin

Cookies are bakery products rich in fat and sugars. Lipids have in general important nutritional and technology factors, but excessive intake can bring health risks. The reduced caloric value and lipid content is a common demand among biscuits consumers, which come to own up to 60% fat. This study aimed at developing formulations of cookies with partial replacement (Standard-0%, R1-25%, R2-50% and R3-75%) of fat by inulin as well as evaluating physical, physicochemical and sensory characteristics. Through the present study, it was observed that the partial replacement of fat by inulin in the production of cookies was effective in reducing the percentage of total lipids in the final product, with maximum reduction of 86% in formulation R3, without changing the parameters for moisture, crude fiber and instrumental color. Once insulin was increased, the size of the cookies after baking decreased, therefore increasing the crispness of the cookies made from the formulation with the highest level of replacement, represented by R3, which negatively impacted the sensory evaluation of flavor and purchase intention for the product, while formulation R2, with 50% fat replacement by inulin, presented similar results to the standard product, being the formulation with the greatest sensory acceptance and physical characteristics. Therefore formulation R2 was been good in nutritional and sensorial performance, and then it is best formulation.
Five Facts About Beliefs and Portfolios

This paper explores the economic impacts of two related tracks of China's expected transformation—economic slowdown and rebalancing away from investment toward consumption—and estimates the spillovers for the rest of the world, with a special focus on Sub-Saharan African countries. The paper finds that an average annual slowdown of gross domestic product in China of 1 percent over 2016–30 is expected to result in a decline of gross domestic product in Sub-Saharan Africa by 1.1 percent and globally by 0.6 percent relative to the past trends scenario by 2030. However, if China's transformation also entails substantial rebalancing, the negative income effects of the economic slowdown could be offset by the positive changes brought along by rebalancing through higher overall imports by China and positive terms of trade effects for its trading partners. If global supply responds positively to the shifts in relative prices and the new sources of consumer demand from China, a substantial rebalancing in China could have an overall favorable impact on the global economy. Economic growth could turn positive and higher on average, by 6 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa and 5.5 percent globally, as compared with the past trends scenario. Finally, rebalancing reduces the prevalence of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa compared with the isolated negative effects of China's slowdown, which slightly increase the incidence of poverty. Overall, China's slowdown and rebalancing combined are estimated to increase gross domestic product in Sub-Saharan Africa by 4.7 percent by 2030 and reduce poverty, but the extent of this varies by country.
The Optimal Taxation of Asset Income When Government Consumption is Endogenous: Theory, Estimation and Welfare

This paper derives the Ramsey optimal policy for taxing asset income in a model where government expenditure is a function of net output or the inputs that produce it. Extending Judd (1999), I demonstrate that the canonical result that the optimal tax on capital income is zero in the medium to long term is a special case of a more general model. Employing a vector error correction model to estimate the relationship between government consumption and net output for the United States between 1947Q1 to 2013Q2, I demonstrate that this special case is empirically implausible, and show how the cointegrating vector can be used to determine the optimal tax schedule. I simulate a version of the model using the empirical estimates to measure the welfare implications of changing the tax rate on asset income, and contrast these results with those generated in a version of the model where government consumption is purely exogenous. The shifting pattern of welfare measurements confirms the theoretical results. I calculate that the prevailing effective tax rate on net asset income in the US between 1995 and 2011 averaged 0.441. Hence abolishing the tax completely does generate welfare improvements, though only by the equivalent of less than a one percent permanent increase in consumption---less than a third the implied welfare benefit when the endogeneity of the government consumption is ignored. The maximum welfare improvement from shifting part of the burden of tax from capital to labour is the equivalent of a permanent increase in consumption of between only 1.173 and 1.304% and is attained when the tax rate on asset income is lowered to between 0.18 and 0.2. Allowing the tax rate to vary over time raises the maximum welfare benefit to 1.31%. All the results are very robust to a wide range of elasticities of labour supply.
Agreeableness and Conscientiousness as Antecedents of Deviant Behavior in Workplace

In recent years, there has been an increase in the interest of workplace deviant behavior (WDB) among industrial and organizational psychologists. Many scholars believe that WDB decreases overall organizational productivity. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of both agreeableness and conscientiousness (two factors of big five model of personality traits) with deviant behavior. The study also looked at the role of two demographic factors (gender and age) on deviant behavior in workplace. Data were collected from 212 subjects who were working as civil servants in Malaysia using a set of questionnaire that measures the variables studied. The results showed that personality traits predicted workplace deviant behavior. There were negative relationships between agreeableness and conscientiousness with workplace deviance. Although the findings of the present study showed differences in WDB between subjects with different age levels, it was unable to find differences in WDB between subjects with different gender. Implications for future research are discussed.
Services : Service Provision , Concerns and Tensions

Public accounting firms provide a necessary and important service for rural and regional areas. However, the provision of high-quality services is hindered by a number of factors. This paper reports the findings from a large-scale survey of professional accounting firm practitioners located in rural and regional Australia, identifying factors causing concerns and tensions and quantifying their scope and importance. Prominent concerns and tensions identified include adverse effects arising from the employment market, communications technology developments and legislation such as the Corporate Law Economic Reform Program (Audit Reform and Corporate Disclosure) Act 2004 and the Financial Services Reform Act 2001.