Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Struggles In State Building In Multi-Ethnic And Multi-Religious Lebanon And Bosnia

Lebanon and Bosnia are quite possibly the most divided nations on earth with each having multiple ethnic and religious populations. Both nations have had disastrous civil wars that included some of the most brutal killing in the 20th century. With the intervention of foreign powers both nations were able to set aside their differences and come to a peace settlement. In both cases the peace settlements accomplished its ultimate goal of ending the violence. The subsequent scholarship however created unrealistically high expectations for these settlements to foster a democratic culture and build a national consensus. This paper seeks to understand the historical origins of the conflict and why Lebanon and Bosnia have yet to pull themselves from the past, through exploration of the civil wars, their aftermath and the current political systems. This will be achieved using primary source opinions and accounts from individuals today and during the peace negotiations. Sources will also include current patterns of voting and political rule as well as contemporary newspaper articles highlighting the stagnation in economic growth, the decision-making process and political reforms within both nations. We find that ultimately the root causes of these issues stem from outside interference and lingering tensions between rival factions. The paper will also include a brief overview of the impact of how nation building failed in Lebanon and Bosnia-Herzegovina and the lessons we can learn from it.
Stock Return Extrapolation, Option Prices, and Variance Risk Premium

This paper presents a tractable dynamic equilibrium model of stock return extrapolation in the presence of stochastic volatility. In the model, consistent with survey evidence, investors expect future returns to be higher (lower) but also less (more) volatile following positive (negative) stock returns. The biased volatility expectation introduces a new channel through which past returns and investor sentiment affect derivative prices. In particular, through this novel channel, the model reconciles the otherwise puzzling evidence of past returns affecting option prices and the evidence of variance risk premium predicting future stock market returns even after controlling for the realized variance.
Ghana’s Growing Debt and Its Implications for the Economy

Management of public debt remains a major economic challenge to governments across the globe. Public debt management is more challenging to countries classified as least developed, less developed, and developing than those termed as developed or advanced economies. Challenges to economic management in some countries led to their description as highly indebted poor countries (HIPC) and low-income countries (LICS). In spite of high interest charges, most governments of developing economies borrow from international financial institutions to support their annual budgets; and to embark on social and institutional infrastructural developments in their respective economies. However, many economic experts and citizens in most of these developing economies have raised concerns about whether or not their governments use the contracted loans for the purposes intended. The purpose of this research was to assess trends in Ghana’s debt, and the relative effect of debt on the economy. The present study relied on the quantitative approach to scientific inquiry. Specifically, a cross-sectional design, an example of survey design, was adapted and used in the research. This allowed the researcher to gather relevant research data over a specific period of time. Data required for the research were obtained from secondary sources including text books, journals, research papers, newspaper publications; Google search engine, index mundi, and electronic databases of the bank of Ghana and international bodies such as the international monetary fund, and world economic outlook, among others. Descriptive statistics and regression models were used to describe the research variables; and to evaluate their behavior over the stated time frame in the Ghanaian and other economies. Findings from the research revealed a positive relationship between debt and the economy; the findings revealed debt accounts for about 98% of the variation in GDP. The study recommended the need for redefinition of debt sustainability and effective implementation of the succession plan principle. Government must ensure relative stability of the cedi against the major foreign currencies to avert the possibility of issuing more notes to settle the same outstanding debts at maturity dates. Intensification of the industrialization campaign is necessary to reduce unemployment rate; and minimize the need for regular borrowing to balance government’s annual economic budget.
Observational study identifies non-attendance characteristics in two hospital outpatient clinics.

INTRODUCTION Non-attended hospital appointments are receiving increasing attention in times when rapid access and efficient service delivery at public hospitals are on the agenda. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent of non-attendance in a Danish outpatient setting and its association with user-level and provider-level characteristics. METHODS The study was based on appointments scheduled from June 2013 to March 2015 at an orthopaedic and a radiologic outpatient clinic. Data on outcomes of cancellation on the part of the user or the provider, and non-attendance without giving notice were collected from administrative systems along with appointment characteristics. Logistic regression was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS Of the 54,987 and 31,538 appointments scheduled at the two departments, 4,524 (8%) and 5,479 (17%) were cancelled and 2,905 (5%) and 1,249 (4%) were unattended without notice. The latter was significantly associated with male gender, younger age and longer time since referral. Other characteristics were identified as significant, but differed between departments. CONCLUSION There seems to be a potential for a targeted effort aiming to reduce non-attendance and thereby to improve the efficiency of Danish outpatient services. Future studies should investigate the effect of initiatives such as nudging and fines targeting the appointments that have the highest non-attendance rates. FUNDING Danish Regions, the Danish Ministry of Health and the Central Denmark Region funded the study. TRIAL REGISTRATION not relevant.
A Strategy-Proof Mechanism Should Be Announced to Be Strategy-Proof: An Experiment for the Vickrey Auction

We conduct laboratory experiments for the multi-unit Vickrey auction with and without providing advice to subjects on strategy-proofness. Although the rate of truth-telling among the subjects stays at 20% without advice, the rate increases to 47% with advice. By conducting similar experiments for the pay-your-bid auction, which is not strategy-proof, we confirm that our results are not due to so-called experimenter demand effects. Moreover, advice improves efficiency in the Vickrey auction, particularly in early periods in which subjects are less experienced. It is well known that subjects tend to overbid in several Vickrey auction experiments. Our results indicate the possibility that simple advice decreases such overbidding by promoting better understanding of the strategy-proofness property in the Vickrey auction. Strategy-proof mechanisms are sometimes criticized because players often fail to find the benefit of truth-telling, but our observations show that introducing advice on the property of strategy-proofness helps them to behave "correctly. "
Glutathione peroxidases and redox-regulated transcription factors

Abstract Analysis of the selenoproteome identified five glutathione peroxidases (GPxs) in mammals: cytosolic GPx (cGPx, GPx1), phospholipid hydroperoxide GPx (PHGPX, GPx4), plasma GPx (pGPX, GPx3), gastrointestinal GPx (GI-GPx, GPx2) and, in humans, GPx6, which is restricted to the olfactory system. GPxs reduce hydroperoxides to the corresponding alcohols by means of glutathione (GSH). They have long been considered to only act as antioxidant enzymes. Increasing evidence, however, suggests that nature has not created redundant GPxs just to detoxify hydroperoxides. cGPx clearly acts as an antioxidant, as convincingly demonstrated in GPx1-knockout mice. PHGPx specifically interferes with NF-κB activation by interleukin-1, reduces leukotriene and prostanoid biosynthesis, prevents COX-2 expression, and is indispensable for sperm maturation and embryogenesis. GI-GPx, which is not exclusively expressed in the gastrointestinal system, is upregulated in colon and skin cancers and in certain cultured cancer cells. GI-GPx is a target for Nrf2, and thus is part of the adaptive response by itself, while PHGPx might prevent cancer by interfering with inflammatory pathways. In conclusion, cGPx, PHGPx and GI-GPx have distinct roles, particularly in cellular defence mechanisms. Redox sensing and redox regulation of metabolic events have become attractive paradigms to unravel the specific and in part still enigmatic roles of GPxs.
[Lateralized distribution of motor areas involved in voluntary movement].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the brain functional laterality in motor areas during motor execution systematically. METHODS Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed combined with right hand sequential finger movement task to investigate brain activation pattern and laterality in 8 right-handed subjects. 3dDeconvolve program of AFNI was used to estimate the hemodynamic response function and to generate activation maps. Then the laterality index (LI) was calculated and tested statistically. RESULT All motor areas including the areas which were previously considered to be engage in movement preparation only were activated in movement execution. In the activation map, it appeared left lateralization in cerebra and right lateralization in cerebella. After further statistical test, it was found that in primary motor area (M1), supplementary motor area (SMA) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC), there were left lateralization. While in premotor cortex (PMC), cingulate gyrus and basal ganglia (BG), the lateralization tendency was not obvious. The activation in cerebella is characterized with right lateralization. CONCLUSION Though there are tiny differences among subjects, most of the motor areas appear lateralized activation. Past studies only observed laterality in several motor areas. It may be due to the difficulty of the task or the experimental design.
The Influence of High Spinal Anesthesia on Sensitivity to Midazolam Sedation

We tested whether a high spinal anesthesia may alter the susceptibility to the soporific effects of sedatives.Twenty ASA grade I and II women undergoing elective abdominal hysterectomy were randomly allocated into two groups. Patients in Group I were given a subarachnoid injection of 12 mg hyperbaric tetracaine and those patients who after 10 min had a sensory level of T4-6 (10 patients) were included in the study. Ten additional patients (Group II) received no spinal injection. Induction of anesthesia was performed on all patients by injecting 1 mg of midazolam intravenously every 30 s until the patient failed to respond to three repeated commands to squeeze the anesthetist's hand. This was considered the induction dose or end-point for the purposes of the study. Patients were then given a neuromuscular blocker, ventilated with oxygen, nitrous oxide, and a volatile anesthetic, tracheally intubated, and maintained under general anesthesia for the remainder of the operation. The dose of midazolam administered to the point of patient failure to respond to command was 7.6 +/- 0.72 mg SEM for Group I and 14.7 +/- 1.16 mg SEM for Group II, (P < 0.0001). These results support the conclusion that patients having a high spinal anesthetic are more sensitive to the sedative effects of midazolam. (Anesth Analg 1995;81:525-8)
Validation of body adiposity index as a measure of obesity in overweight and obese postmenopausal white women and its comparison with body mass index

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the recently developed body adiposity index (BAI) in Mexican American and African American women could be validated in postmenopausal American white women and to determine if it is a better obesity classification measure than body mass index (BMI) is in the latter population. MethodsTotal body percentage adiposity (%adiposity) measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was compared with total body %adiposity predicted by BAI in 187 overweight/obese postmenopausal white women (mean ± SD %adiposity, 45.9 ± 4.9% and 38.3 ± 6.2% for DXA and BAI, respectively). SPSS 19.0 and Medcalc 11.6. 1.0 were used to conduct Pearson’s correlations (r), paired t test, receiver operating curve, and Lin’s concordance coefficient (&rgr;c) and to create Bland and Altman’s limit-of-agreement plot. ResultsPearson’s correlation analysis revealed a strong association between DXA %adiposity and BAI (r = 0.78, P < 0.001), DXA %adiposity and BMI (r = 0.75, P < 0.001), and BMI and BAI (r = 0.90, P < 0.001). Bias correction factor was 0.51 between DXA %adiposity and BAI. Paired t test showed a significant mean difference between measurements (P < 0.0001), and the plot showed that BAI underestimated DXA %adiposity by 7.56%. Concordance coefficient (&rgr;c = 0.39; 95% CI, 0.33-0.46) revealed a poor agreement strength. There was no difference between the area under the curve statistic for BAI and BMI. ConclusionBased on our results, BAI has limitations for use in a clinical setting in overweight/obese postmenopausal white women but may be practical for research applications and eventually developed into an easy method to estimate overweight/obesity in other settings.
Tubulin equilibrium unfolding followed by time‐resolved fluorescence and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

The pathway for the in vitro equilibrium unfolding of the tubulin heterodimer by guanidinium chloride (GdmCl) has been studied using several spectroscopic techniques, specifically circular dichroism (CD), two‐photon Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS), and time‐resolved fluorescence, including lifetime and dynamic polarization. The results show that tubulin unfolding is characterized by distinct processes that occur in different GdmCl concentration ranges. From 0 to 0.5 M GdmCl, a slight alteration of the tubulin heterodimer occurs, as evidenced by a small, but reproducible increase in the rotational correlation time of the protein and a sharp decrease in the secondary structure monitored by CD. In the range 0.5–1.5 M GdmCl, significant decreases in the steady‐state anisotropy and average lifetime of the intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence occur, as well as a decrease in the rotational correlation time, from 48 to 26 nsec. In the same GdmCl range, the number of protein molecules (labeled with Alexa 488), as determined by two‐photon FCS measurements, increases by a factor of two, indicating dissociation of the tubulin dimer into monomers. From 1.5 to 4 M GdmCl, these monomers unfold, as evidenced by the continual decrease in the tryptophan steady‐state anisotropy, average lifetime, and rotational correlation time, concomitant with secondary structural changes. These results help to elucidate the unfolding pathway of the tubulin heterodimer and demonstrate the value of FCS measurements in studies on oligomeric protein systems.
Towards a method for automated classification of 1H MRS spectra from brain tumours

Recent studies have shown that MRS can substantially improve the non‐invasive categorization of human brain tumours. However, in order for MRS to be used routinely by clinicians, it will be necessary to develop reliable automated classification methods that can be fully validated. This paper is in two parts: the first part reviews the progress that has been made towards this goal, together with the problems that are involved in the design of automated methods to process and classify the spectra. The second part describes the development of a simple prototype system for classifying 1H single voxel spectra, obtained at an echo time (TE) of 135 ms, of the four most common types of brain tumour (meningioma (MM), astrocytic (AST), oligodendroglioma (OD) and metastasis (ME)) and cysts. This system was developed in two stages: firstly, an initial database of spectra was used to develop a prototype classifier, based on a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) of selected data points. Secondly, this classifier was tested on an independent test set of 15 newly acquired spectra, and the system was refined on the basis of these results. The system correctly classified all the non‐astrocytic tumours. However, the results for the the astrocytic group were poorer (between 55 and 100%, depending on the binary comparison). Approximately 50% of high grade astrocytoma (glioblastoma) spectra in our data base showed very little lipid signal, which may account for thepoorer results for this class. Consequently, for the refined system, the astrocytomas were subdivided into two subgroups for comparison against other tumour classes: those with high lipid content and those without. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Saving–investment correlations and the mobility of capital in the OECD countries: New evidence from cointegration breakdown tests

ABSTRACT This study examines the long-run relationship between domestic saving and investment and undertakes an in-depth account of short-period breaks in the cointegrating vector for 24 OECD countries. The analysis is carried out in a time-series setting to take a country-by-country account of the evidence. The end-of-sample cointegration breakdown tests are performed on both FMOLS and FIML estimates of the model. The cointegrating relationship between domestic saving and investment prevails and the implied intertemporal budget constraint holds for most countries. The cointegration breaks down for some countries during the sub-sample periods. The results are generally consistent across various cointegration breakdown tests.
The understanding of olympic values by Brazilian olympic athletes

The Olympism is structured in educational and humanistic perspectives. The Olympic Games, the public face of the Olympic Movement, exposes the greatest legacy of this socio-cultural mega event which are the athlete. Besides competing, enchanted by the high level of motor skills and inspire new generations athletes are a major means of communication and promotion of the Olympic values. They represent the Olympic values that are essentially human values. The objective of this paper is to present, through the biographical narratives of Olympic athletes, the understanding of a group of seven Olympic values: friendship, excellence, respect, courage, determination, inspiration and equality. The values found in the narratives allow understand how formant understanding of the athlete's career with so many demands for victory and success.
The Monothiol Glutaredoxin Grx4 Exerts an Iron-Dependent Inhibitory Effect on Php4 Function

ABSTRACT When iron is scarce, Schizosaccharomyces pombe cells repress transcription of several genes that encode iron-using proteins. Php4 mediates this transcriptional control by specifically interacting with the CCAAT-binding core complex that is composed of Php2, Php3, and Php5. In contrast, when there is sufficient iron, Php4 is inactivated, thus allowing the transcription of many genes that encode iron-requiring proteins. Analysis by bimolecular fluorescence complementation and two-hybrid assays showed that Php4 and the monothiol glutaredoxin Grx4 physically interact with each other. Deletion mapping analysis revealed that the glutaredoxin (GRX) domain of Grx4 associates with Php4 in an iron-dependent manner. Site-directed mutagenesis identified the Cys172 of Grx4 as being required for this iron-dependent association. Subsequent analysis showed that, although the thioredoxin (TRX) domain of Grx4 interacts strongly with Php4, this interaction is insensitive to iron. Fine mapping analysis revealed that the Cys35 of Grx4 is necessary for the association between the TRX domain and Php4. Taken together, the results revealed that whereas the TRX domain interacts constitutively with Php4, the GRX domain-Php4 association is both modulated by iron and required for the inhibition of Php4 activity in response to iron repletion.
Vascular actions of calcimimetics: role of Ca2+‐sensing receptors versus Ca2+ influx through L‐type Ca2+ channels

The calcimimetic, (R)‐N‐(3‐(3‐(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)propyl)‐1‐(1‐napthyl)ethylamine hydrochloride (cinacalcet), which activates Ca2+‐sensing receptors (CaR) in parathyroid glands, is used to treat hyperparathyroidism. Interestingly, CaR in perivascular nerves or endothelial cells is also thought to modulate vascular tone. This study aims to characterize the vascular actions of calcimimetics.
Foreign aid, poverty and economic growth in developing countries: A dynamic panel data causality analysis

Abstract This article examines the causal relationship between foreign aid, poverty, and economic growth in 82 developing countries for the period 1981–2013. Taking advantage of the recently developed dynamic panel data estimation techniques, the paper tests for both panel unit roots and cointegration before employing the panel vector error-correction model (VECM) Granger causality test. The main findings are that in the short run, there is evidence of (a) a bidirectional causal relationship between economic growth and poverty; (b) a unidirectional causal relationship from economic growth to foreign aid; and (c) unidirectional causality from poverty to foreign aid. In the long-run, the study found that (a) foreign aid tends to converge to its long-run equilibrium path in response to changes in economic growth and poverty; and (b) both economic growth and poverty jointly Granger cause foreign aid.
Suitability of public records for evaluating health effects of treated sewage sludge in North Carolina.

BACKGROUND Exposure to potentially harmful agents because of waste disposal practices is receiving increased attention. Treated sewage sludge (TSS), or biosolid material, is the solid waste generated during domestic sewage treatment after it has undergone processes to reduce the number of pathogens and vector attractants. Application of TSS to land, which is the most common method for disposal, is promoted as a soil amendment and fertilizer. Few studies have examined the effects of land application on the health and quality of life of neighboring populations. We describe and summarize publicly available records that could be used to study the public health impact of practices associated with land application in North Carolina. METHODS We abstracted public records from the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources Division of Water Quality, to determine the following activities associated with land application of TSS in 8 counties in central North Carolina: the process for obtaining permits, reported applications, violations, documented concerns of residents, and penalties assessed. RESULTS The Division of Water Quality routinely collects records of permits and approvals for land application of TSS, amounts applied, and reported pollutant levels. Documentation was useful in summarizing land application practices, but lack of standardization in reporting was a concern. Research into the public health impacts of the land application program is hindered by inconsistency in documenting inspections and resident concerns. LIMITATIONS We were not able to validate state records with direct observation of land application of TSS. CONCLUSIONS Records from the Division of Water Quality would be of limited use in epidemiologic studies of the health effects of land application of biosolids. Information about locations, amounts, and dates of application are relevant to exposure potential, but additional information is needed for health investigations.