Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The dynamics of synchronized neurotransmitter release determined from compound spontaneous IPSCs in rat dentate granule neurones in vitro

1 The properties of GABAA receptor‐mediated spontaneous IPSCs generated in hippocampal dentate granule neurones were analysed using whole‐cell voltage‐clamp techniques in order to explore the functional consequences of the low number (6‐12) and close proximity of synaptic contacts made by single GABAergic interneurones. 2 Spontaneous IPSCs (sIPSCs) occurred with a frequency of 14.0 ± 9.1 Hz (n= 31) and revealed a multi‐modal positively skewed amplitude distribution (39.0 ± 19.8 pA, median values). 3 The variance of 10–90 % rise times and decay kinetics between IPSCs decreased with increasing peak amplitude. Larger amplitude events had significantly faster rise times, consistent with their site of generation being proximal to the soma. The decay kinetics of sIPSCs did not significantly change with amplitude. 4 Large amplitude sIPSCs occurred singularly or in discrete bursts, repeated regularly at low frequency. The rising phase of such sIPSCs were multi‐phasic, composed of clear step‐like inflections that were not a product of noise. The variability between the rising phase of individual sIPSCs was quantified by calculating their standard deviation, which produced fast rising (0.22 ± 0.05 ms time to peak, n= 16) functions with half‐widths of 0.38 ± 0.10 ms, which declined to plateaux. 5 Computer simulations demonstrated that IPSCs with properties similar to those recorded experimentally could be generated by the linear summation of groups of temporally dispersed component events. Standard deviation functions of the rising phase of simulated IPSCs accurately described distributions of the temporal dispersion of unitary components. 6 The GABA uptake inhibitor (R)‐N‐[4,4‐bis(3‐methyl‐2‐thienyl)but‐3‐enl‐yl] nipecotic acid (tiagabine) (10 μM, n= 12) significantly prolonged the decay of mIPSCs (6.5 ± 0.8 to 8.7 ± 1.0 ms, median values) and sIPSCs (6.2 ± 0.4 to 7.3 ± 1.2 ms, median values), but failed to alter the frequency of occurrence, 10–90 % rise times or peak amplitude of events. The application of flurazepam (30 μM, n= 7; 50 μM, n= 4) prolonged the decay of sIPSCs regardless of their amplitude. 7 These data indicate that sIPSCs are formed by the summation of unitary components that occur asynchronously and that GABA released from multiple sites has independent postsynaptic actions.
The Politics of Financial Crisis Response in Japan and the United States

Abstract We examine the politics of financial crisis response in Japan and the United States. Many existing accounts of Japan's ‘lost decade’ of the 1990s have emphasized Japan-specific factors, such as structural problems, policy errors, and political dysfunction. We argue that Japan may have been subject to a form of first-mover disadvantage. Like innovation in the private sector, developing effective solutions to novel policy problems requires a messy process of discovery, experimentation, and repeated failure. Much as late-industrializing countries adapted the methods and technologies of early developers, second-movers can apply effective policies demonstrated by first-movers in a more targeted, efficient, and rapid manner. We show that the behavior of Japan and the United States during their respective financial crises is broadly consistent with this theory. In addition, policy adoption in the United States most clearly reflected lessons from Japan in areas where the lessons were considered clear and implementation was less politicized.
Clinical evaluation of dietary modification for treatment of spontaneous chronic renal failure in dogs.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether a diet used for dogs with renal failure (renal food [RF]) was superior to an adult maintenance food (MF) in minimizing uremic crises and mortality rate in dogs with spontaneous chronic renal failure. DESIGN Double-masked, randomized, controlled clinical trial. ANIMALS 38 dogs with spontaneous chronic renal failure. PROCEDURE Dogs were randomly assigned to a group fed adult MF or a group fed RF and evaluated for up to 24 months. The 2 groups were of similar clinical, biochemical, and hematologic status. The effects of diets on uremic crises and mortality rate were compared. Changes in renal function were evaluated by use of serial evaluation of serum creatinine concentrations and reciprocal of serum creatinine concentrations. RESULTS Compared with the MF, the RF had a beneficial effect regarding uremic crises and mortality rate in dogs with mild and moderate renal failure. Dogs fed the RF had a slower decline in renal function, compared with dogs fed the MF. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Dietary modifications are beneficial in minimizing extrarenal manifestations of uremia and mortality rate in dogs with mild and moderate spontaneous chronic renal failure. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that delay in development of uremic crises and associated mortality rate in dogs fed RF was associated, at least in part, with reduction in rate of progression of renal failure.
THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENT ON DISCLOSURE PRACTICES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Prior studies on accounting and its environment that included culture as an explanatory variable have limitations because of their failure to operationalize it properly. The purpose of this study is to apply two of Hofstede's cultural value dimensions as alternative measures to represent national culture and to examine the impact of these two variables along with economic and equity market factors on accounting disclosure practices in different countries. A sample of thirty‐nine countries was chosen based on the availability of information on the explanatory variables. To empirically test the hypothesis, three regression models, with disclosure practices as the dependent variable and five economic and cultural factors as the explanatory variables, were developed. The Price Waterhouse survey (1979) and Gray, Campbell and Shaw's survey (1984) were used to construct three indexes to operationalize disclosure practices. The five explanatory variables are: (1) type of economy, (2) size of the equity market, (3) equity market activity, (4) uncertainty avoidance, and (5) individualism. The results showed that out of the five explanatory variables, only two, namely, uncertainty avoidance and size of the equity market, are significantly associated with disclosure practices. The results are consistent with prior theoretical and empirical studies.
The Determinants of Operational Risk in U.S. Financial Institutions

Abstract We examine the incidence of operational losses among U.S. financial institutions using publicly reported loss data from 1980 to 2005. We show that most operational losses can be traced to a breakdown of internal control, and that firms suffering from these losses tend to be younger and more complex, and have higher credit risk, more antitakeover provisions, and chief executive officers (CEOs) with higher stock option holdings and bonuses relative to salary. These findings highlight the correlation between operational risk and credit risk, as well as the role of corporate governance and proper managerial incentives in mitigating operational risk.
The role of human resource management in cross-border mergers and acquisitions

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have become the dominant mode of growth for firms seeking competitive advantage in an increasingly complex and global business economy. Although human resource management (HRM) can play a value-adding role in the merger process, existing research and evidence does not clearly demonstrate how it can do so. This paper addresses the neglected human side of M&As by providing a strategic fit framework to assess the link between M&A strategy and HRM strategy. Because cross-border M&As are of an order of magnitude more complex than domestic mergers, we examine contingencies in national contexts that influence outcomes in the merger process. We draw on recent empirical evidence to highlight HRM roles in terms of resources, processes and values that reflect the influence of both strategic fit and national context in the integration stage of cross-border M&A.
Plerixafor (Mozobil): A Stem Cell-Mobilizing Agent for Transplantation in Lymphoma Patients Predicted to Be Poor Mobilizers - A Pilot Study

Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the standard therapy for refractory/relapsed aggressive lymphoma. The initial step of the procedure involves mobilization and collection of hematopoietic stem cells. G-CSF fails to achieve mobilization in 15-25% of lymphoma patients. Plerixafor is a novel CXCR4 antagonist that can promote mobilization. It has been used successfully in patients after the failure of G-CSF. It is reasonable to test whether plerixafor should become the mobilizing agent of choice in patients expected to exhibit difficulties in mobilization. We initiated a study to assess the use of plerixafor as a first-line stem cell mobilizer in 20 elderly or heavily pretreated patients with non-Hodgkin or Hodgkin lymphoma. The minimum defined CD34+ cell dose of ≥2 × 106 cells/kg was achieved by 90% of the patients, and for 83% of them with one apheresis procedure. The target CD34+ dose of ≥5 × 106 cells/kg was achieved by 70% of the patients. The median number of circulating CD34+ cells before and after plerixafor was 14.4 and 42.8 cells/μl, respectively. The post-plerixafor adverse events were mild. All patients promptly engrafted after high-dose chemotherapy treatment. We conclude that plerixafor administration is safe and efficient for upfront mobilization in lymphoma patients predicted to be poor mobilizers.
Economic Growth, Energy Consumption And Environmental Pollutants: The Case Of Turkey

Turkey is an emerging economy, a candidate country for full membership to the European Union (EU) and one of the important countries which has a high carbon emission in the world. Turkey will likely to face significant pressures to decrease her emission of carbon dioxide. Energy conversations policies are one of the most important elements of Turkey’s policy package reduce its carbon dioxide emission. In this Study, we examine the long run and short run relationshipsbetween economic growth, carbon emissions, energyconsumption , controlling for capital and employment variables in Turkey by using autoregressive distributed lag boundstesting approach of cointegration and error-correction based Granger causalitymodels for Turkey over 1970–2007 period.Our findings suggest thatenergy conservation policies will have adverse effect on economic growth and such policies by themselves are not adequate for reducing environmental pollution as the energy consumption reduction may hinder the economic growth. However, it was found that that controlling for carbon emissions is likely to have desirable effect on the real output growth of Turkey.
The effects of training and overeducation on career mobility in a segmented labour market

This paper analyses the effects of both training and overeducation on upward mobility in the internal labour market, the professional market and the “supplementary labour market”. The latter segment can be considered as a broadly defined secondary labour market as it is not restricted to the low‐level unskilled jobs only. This broader definition – also found in initial segmentation theory – allows for the changed character of the secondary labour market in the industrialized countries. As expected, “career training” influences upward mobility positively. However, contrary to the predictions of segmentation theory, particularly in the supplementary labour market career training is a means of gaining promotion to a higher level job. Overeducation also affects upward mobility positively, which indicates that overeducation is to some extent a temporary phenomenon at the individual level. However, this also holds in particular in the supplementary segment of the labour market. The estimation results show that the supplementary labour market is less of a dead end than the segmentation theory predicts and is a more valuable place to get training than has been recognized. The supplementary market probably plays an important role in the transition process between initial education and the labour market. Although workers may be initially overeducated in their first jobs, a supplementary segment job could be an attractive step towards reaching a more suitable position in the labour market.
The Self Selection of Complexity in Choice Experiments

We investigate whether individuals will voluntarily increase the complexity of the tasks they complete within a discrete choice experiment (DCE). We do this via a 'self selection of complexity' design in which respondents choose whether to face choice sets comprising 3, 4 or 6 alternatives. We link this approach with the emerging Excessive Choice Effect (ECE) literature. We find that 30% of the sample opt for the largest sets. We test whether this choice of complexity reveals information about respondents' capability/commitment. We find that it does since those with lowest initial error variance levels are most likely to later select the highest level of task complexity. We argue that this result offers insights regarding the design of more cognitively efficient DCE designs. We consider the matching of respondents to the appropriate level of task complexity as analogous to the principal-agent problem with asymmetric information. Rather than trying to understand respondents' cognitive capability or commitment ex ante we propose that participants self-select designs that achieve the researcher's objective of minimizing error variance. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.
A Vortical Hot Tower Route to Tropical Cyclogenesis.

Abstract A nonhydrostatic cloud model is used to examine the thermomechanics of tropical cyclogenesis under realistic meteorological conditions. Observations motivate the focus on the problem of how a midtropospheric cyclonic vortex, a frequent by-product of mesoscale convective systems during summertime conditions over tropical oceans, may be transformed into a surface-concentrated (warm core) tropical depression. As a first step, the vortex transformation is studied in the absence of vertical wind shear or zonal flow. Within the cyclonic vorticity-rich environment of the mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) embryo, the simulations demonstrate that small-scale cumulonimbus towers possessing intense cyclonic vorticity in their cores [vortical hot towers (VHTs)] emerge as the preferred coherent structures. The VHTs acquire their vertical vorticity through a combination of tilting of MCV horizontal vorticity and stretching of MCV and VHT-generated vertical vorticity. Horizontally localized and exhibiting conve.
Why National States Comply with Supranational Law

European Union (EU) member states have at times failed to implement EU directives, thus falling short of their treaty obligations. Implementation is crucial to this loosely quasifederal organization because compliance is the foundation of cooperation in Europe. This paper addresses the inability of states to comply and state reluctance to conform. I demonstrate that cross-national factors rather than idiosyncratic characteristics are responsible for non-compliance. I have crafted hypotheses regarding implementation that can be tested in a systematic fashion. Using count data of infringements, I use negative binomial regression to test the hypotheses. I find modest support for many of the hypotheses in the literature, but little support for others. Bureaucratic efficiency, corruption, power in the Council of Ministers, economic power, length of membership, and public approval of EU membership are the most important predictors of compliance.
Corporate volunteering – business implementation issues

The importance of corporate volunteering has been acknowledged internationally, particularly in practitioner literature relating to corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, while a growing number of businesses support corporate volunteering initiatives, existing research on the challenges of implementing such CSR activities is scarce. This paper provides practice-based insights into CSR implementation by examining business managers' understandings of the drivers and operating practices for corporate volunteer schemes and the challenges facing business managers in implementing such initiatives. Results from this study indicate that managers perceive corporate volunteering programmes as being driven by an array of motivations, representing an uneasy mix of business efforts to satisfy internal and external stakeholder concerns. Managers face challenges organising corporate volunteering programmes in ways that support significant social goals, while serving strategic business interests and offering meaningful experiences for employees.
The Dynamics of Sovereign Debt: Smoothing and Impatience

We consider the allocation of resources between a borrower and lender in the absence of third-party enforcement of loan contracts. The two parties differ in two respects: (1) The borrower is risk averse and subject to fluctuations in endowments while the lender is risk neutral. (2) The borrower discounts the future at a higher rate than the lender. The first difference provides a consumption-smoothing motive for borrowing and the second a long-term impatience motive for borrowing. In contrast to a situation in which only the first effect operates, sovereignty constraints preclude the unconstrained Pareto optimal allocation. However, the relationship provides sufficient surplus to each party to sustain some lending. The constrained allocation can imply a negative correlation between change in indebtedness and consumption. The equilibrium is supported by the renegotiation-proof and coalition-proof punishments demonstrated by Kletzer and Wright (2000).
Molecular detection of transfusion transmitted virus coinfection with some hepatotropic viruses.

CONTEXT A novel human DNA virus was isolated from the serum of a patient with posttransfusion hepatitis; it was named transfusion transmitted virus (TTV). OBJECTIVE To ascertain the influence of TTV (detected by polymerase chain reaction amplification of a conserved region of the viral genome) coinfection in individuals infected with hepatitis viruses (A, B, and C) and to investigate the putative role played by TTV in hepatic dysfunction in individuals with acute non-A-E hepatitis. DESIGN Sixty-two patients with viral hepatitis were included in the study in addition to 18 blood donors. Viral study of 4 hepatotropic viruses (A, B, C, and E) was carried out. Study for TTV DNA was performed by nested polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS The prevalence of TTV was not statistically different between hepatitis patients and blood donors, and it was not correlated to the levels of the hepatic aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase between individuals evidencing dual infection with hepatitis B and C viruses and healthy blood donors. However, in the group of patients with viral hepatitis of unknown etiology (non-A-E), those evidencing TTV viremia had statistically significant lower levels of alanine aminotransferase (P = .03) and aspartate aminotransferase (P = .04) than those who were TTV negative. CONCLUSIONS We can conclude that TTV is a frequent virus isolated from patients with various types of viral hepatitis, from cases of hepatitis without obvious viral agent, and from the healthy population. TTV has no effect on biochemical markers of associated viral hepatitis. It may be associated with a mild form of non-A-E hepatitis.
Content-based top-N recommendations with perceived similarity

Similarity-based recommender systems can be used to pre-compute distance between item pairs, and then to quickly recommend similar items to users. The content-based approach to similarity uses the item's description, which in movies could mean genre, director or cast. These similarity methods are often built with unsupervised learning, which means the notion of similarity is defined by those who write the method. This notion may not match that of the users, resulting in poor user experience. In this paper we used user-contributed labels representing perceived similarity between movies to build a supervised content-based (CB) model for movie recommendations. Our user study shows that the CB method with human perception factored in was significantly preferred over the CB model without.
Rat globus pallidus neurons: Functional classification and effects of dopamine depletion

The rat globus pallidus (GP) is homologous to the primate GP externus. Studies with injectable anesthetics suggest that GP neurons can be classified into Type‐I and Type‐II cells based on extracellularly recorded spike shape, or positively coupled (PC), negatively coupled (NC), and uncoupled (UC) cells based on functional connectivity with the cortex. In this study, we examined the electrophysiology of rat GP neurons using the inhalational anesthetic isoflurane which offers more constant and easily regulated levels of anesthesia than injectable anesthetics. In 130 GP neurons recorded using small‐tip glass electrodes (<1 μm), all but one fired Type‐II spikes (positive/negative waveform). Type‐I cells were unlikely to be inhibited by isoflurane since all GP neurons also fired Type‐II spikes under ketamine‐induced anesthesia. When recorded with large‐tip electrodes (∼2 μm), however, over 70% of GP neurons exhibited Type‐I spikes (negative/positive waveform). These results suggest that the spike shape, recorded extracellularly, varies depending on the electrode used and is not reliable in distinguishing Type‐I and Type‐II neurons. Using dual‐site recording, 40% of GP neurons were identified as PC cells, 17.5% NC cells, and 42.5% UC cells. The three subtypes also differed significantly in firing rate and pattern. Lesions of dopamine neurons increased the number of NC cells, decreased that of UC cells, and significantly shifted the phase relationship between PC cells and the cortex. These results support the presence of GP neuron subtypes and suggest that each subtype plays a different role in the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease. Synapse 69:41–51, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A Test Of Bayesian Learning From Farmer Trials Of New Wheat Varieties

In this study, elicited estimates of farmers' subjective beliefs about the mean and variance of wheat variety yields were used to test propositions about Bayesian learning developed in the recent literature on innovation adoption. A series of empirical tests of the Bayesian adoption model were conducted using beliefs elicited from farm surveys conducted in 1982, 1983 and 1984. The results of the analysis neither confirm nor reject the Bayesian approach as a model of how farmers revise subjective beliefs, but do raise serious doubts about its realism, and suggest some issues requiring further investigation. Shortcomings in the elicitation techniques are discussed and the assumptions of the Bayesian model are reviewed.
Content vs. process in the HRM-performance relationship: an empirical examination

This study investigates the impact of a human resource management (HRM) system, which integrates both content and process of human resource (HR) practices, on organizational performance, through collective employee reactions. The analysis is based on a sample of 1,250 Greek employees working in 133 public- and private-sector organizations, which operate in the present context of severe financial and economic crises. The findings of the structural equation modeling suggest that content and process are two inseparable faces of an HRM system that help to reveal a comprehensive picture of the HRM-organizational performance relationship. Based on the findings that collective employee reactions mediate the HRM content (i.e., organizational performance relationship) and HRM process moderates the HRM content (i.e., employee reactions relationship), the study has several theoretical and practice implications.