Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
GLOBALIZATION, MARKUPS, AND THE U.S. PRICE LEVEL

This paper is the first attempt to structurally estimate the impact of globalization on markups and welfare in a monopolistic competition model. To achieve this, we work with a class of preferences that allow for endogenous markups and firm entry and exit that are especially convenient for empirical work – the translog preferences, with symmetry in substitution imposed across products. Between 1992 and 2005 we find the U.S. market experienced a series of changes that confirm the predictions of Melitz and Ottaviano (2008): import shares rose and U.S. firms exited, leading to a fall in markups, while product variety and welfare went up. We estimate the impacts of these effects on a national level, and find a cumulative drop of 5.4 percent in merchandise prices and of 1.0 percent in overall consumer prices between 1992 and 2005. Although the magnitude of the welfare gains in our translog setup is similar to that obtained by assuming CES preferences, the sources of these gains are quite different. Variety gains under translog are at least one-third smaller than in the CES case, but there is a substantial reduction in U.S. markups, resulting in a comparable welfare gain overall. Robert C. Feenstra Department of Economics University of California, Davis One Shields Avenue Davis, CA 95616 and NBER rcfeenstra@ucdavis.edu David E. Weinstein Columbia University, Department of Economics 420 W. 118th Street MC 3308 New York, NY 10027 and NBER dew35@columbia.edu
Inducing Intrinsic Motivation to Explore the Enterprise System: The Supremacy of Organizational Levers

The adoption of an organization-wide system, such as an enterprise system (ES), has often been mandated by organizational management, which may not necessarily motivate users to proactively explore the system's features and subsequently apply pertinent features that best support their job tasks. Anchoring on self-determination theory, this research investigates the antecedents and consequences of users' intrinsic motivation to explore ES features. We propose two organizational levers (i.e., autonomous job design and socialization tactics) that the management could exercise to trigger intrinsic motivation, thereby leading to improved ES feature exploration. Intrinsic motivation is manifested by hedonic motivation and normative motivation, whereas ES feature exploration is conceptualized as a dual-dimensional outcome reflected by cognitive behavior (exploratory usage) and positive affect (exploration satisfaction). Through a two-stage survey of 127 organizational users in China, we find general support for our research model. We further observe significant moderating effects of prevention focus on the association between organizational levers and intrinsic motivations. Beyond demonstrating how organizational users respond to different organizational levers, this research examines a broader, enduring challenge, which is to determine how organizational users can be induced to be intrinsically inspired to innovatively harness implemented information systems.
National estimates of severe sepsis in United States emergency departments

Objective:The emergency department (ED) often serves as the first site for the recognition and treatment of patients with suspected severe sepsis. However, few evaluations of the national epidemiology and distribution of severe sepsis in the ED exist. We sought to determine national estimates of the number, timing, ED length of stay, and case distribution of patients presenting to the ED with suspected severe sepsis. Design:Analysis of 2001–2004 ED data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Setting:National multistage probability sample of United States ED data. Patients:Adult (age, ≥18 yrs) patients with suspected severe sepsis, defined as the concurrent presence of an infec-tion (ED International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision; ICD-9) diagnosis of infection, or a triage temperature <96.8°F or ≥100.4°F) and organ dysfunction (ED ICD-9) diagnosis of organ dysfunction, intubation, or a triage systolic blood pressure ≤90 mm Hg). Interventions:None. Measurements:Estimated number of ED patients presenting with suspected severe sepsis, and their times of arrival, ED lengths of stay, and clinical characteristics. Main Results:Of 331.5 million adult ED visits, approximately 2.3 million (571,000 annually, 0.69%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.61–0.77%) were for suspected severe sepsis. Mean ED length of stay for suspected severe sepsis was 4.7 hrs (95% CI, 4.3–5.1 hrs), with 20.4% spending >6 hrs in the ED. Of suspected severe sepsis patients, 20.6% presented to a low-volume ED (≤20,000 annual visits), 15.6% presented to ED in non–Metropolitan Statistical Areas, and 53.5% presented to EDs without medical school affiliations. More than half arrived by ambulance. Conclusions:Suspected severe sepsis patients account for more than 500,000 ED visits annually, with individual patients spending an average of almost 5 hrs in the ED. These national data offer key systemwide information for designing and implementing strategies for severe sepsis treatment.
Three variants in the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase complex are associated with HCV‐related liver damage

Approximately 71 million people are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), a potentially lethal pathogen. HCV generates oxidative stress correlating with disease severity. HCV proteins increase reactive oxygen species production by stimulating nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (NOX) activity. Reactive oxygen species are necessary for host defense and cell signaling; however, elevated NOX activity contributes to cancer, and NOX overexpression is associated with hepatic fibrosis. Our aim was to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in NOX family members are associated with HCV‐related liver damage. Three hundred and thirty‐one individuals of European ancestry and 90 individuals of African ancestry, all diagnosed with HCV, were genotyped for 243 tagSNPs in NOX enzymes and their regulatory factors. Pathology scores were available for 288 Caucasians and 71 Africans, and mortality status was determined for all subjects. SNPs were tested for association with pathology scores and as predictors of mortality. In Africans, homozygosity for the A allele of rs12753665 (neutrophil cytosolic factor 2) and homozygosity for the T allele of rs760519 (neutrophil cytosolic factor 4) were associated with and predictive of higher rates of advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis compared to other genotypes after controlling for age and sex. In Caucasians, homozygosity for the T allele of rs2292464 (dual oxidase 1) was associated with and predictive of decreased periportal inflammation after controlling for age and sex. No SNPs were significant predictors of mortality. Conclusion: In this exploratory study, three NOX‐related polymorphisms in two ethnic groups were significantly associated with hepatic inflammation and fibrosis. Future studies investigating these SNPs in larger cohorts of patients with HCV are warranted. (Hepatology Communications 2017;1:973–982)
Genomic mutation rates: what high‐throughput methods can tell us

High‐throughput DNA analyses are increasingly being used to detect rare mutations in moderately sized genomes. These methods have yielded genome mutation rates that are markedly higher than those obtained using pre‐genomic strategies. Recent work in a variety of organisms has shown that mutation rate is strongly affected by sequence context and genome position. These observations suggest that high‐throughput DNA analyses will ultimately allow researchers to identify trans‐acting factors and cis sequences that underlie mutation rate variation. Such work should provide insights on how mutation rate variability can impact genome organization and disease progression.
Dose-Response Effect of Arabinoxylooligosaccharides on Gastrointestinal Motility and on Colonic Bacterial Metabolism in Healthy Volunteers

Objective: Arabinoxylooligosaccharides (AXOS) are non-digestible in the upper gastrointestinal tract and have been shown to exert prebiotic effects in animals. The aim of this study was to characterize the influence of AXOS with an average degree of polymerization of 15 and an average degree of arabinose substitution of 0.26 (AXOS-15-0.26) on gastrointestinal motility and colonic bacterial metabolism in healthy human volunteers. Methods: Twelve healthy volunteers received five test meals, containing different amounts of AXOS-15-0.26, with one week intervals between each test meal. Breath tests were used to measure gastric emptying rate, oro-cecal transit time (OCTT) and hydrogen excretion. Colonic bacterial metabolism was estimated using the biomarkers lactose-[15N, 15N′]-ureide (15N-LU) and p-cresol. Results: Gastric emptying and OCTT were not influenced by addition of varying amounts of AXOS-15-0.26. Administration of 2.2g or 4.9g AXOS-15-0.26 significantly decreased the urinary 15N-excretion (respectively p = 0.008 and p = 0.035) as compared to the baseline, whereas fecal 15N-excretion was significantly increased (respectively p = 0.034 and p = 0.019). This shift from urinary to fecal 15N-excretion suggests a higher uptake or incorporation by bacteria due to the stimulation of colonic bacterial growth and/or metabolic activity. Furthermore, a significant increase in hydrogen excretion after administration of 2.2g (p = 0.002) and 4.9g (p = 0.004) AXOS-15-0.26 was observed. No influence on urinary p-cresol excretion was observed. Conclusion: These findings suggest that a minimal dose of 2.2g AXOS-15-0.26 favorably modulates the colonic bacterial metabolism in healthy humans. However, long term studies are required to confirm a possible prebiotic effect.
Subjective visual vertical in patients with ear surgery

Conclusion: Dysequilibrium is one of the most important side effects of ear surgery. The subjective visual vertical can be used as a good indicator for the evaluation of otolithic function in patients with ear surgery. Objective: To investigate the influence of various types of ear surgery on the otolithic organs. Methods: Seventy-one patients underwent ear surgery. Subjective visual vertical (SVV) test was performed before and after ear surgery. We investigated the directional changes of SVV before and after the ear surgery. Results: The postoperative SVV of two patients who underwent translabyrinthine removal of vestibular schwannoma shifted toward the operated side, but following other surgical procedures the SVV tended to shift toward the healthy side.
How to Discern a Physical Effect from Background Noise: The Discovery of Weak Neutral Currents

In this paper I try to shed some light on how one discerns a physical effect or phenomenon from experimental background ‘noise’. To this end I revisit the discovery of Weak Neutral Currents (WNC), which has been right at the centre of discussion of some of the most influential available literature on this issue. Bogen and Woodward (1988) have claimed that the phenomenon of WNC was inferred from the data without higher level physical theory explaining this phenomenon (here: the Weinberg-Salam model of electroweak interactions) being involved in this process. Mayo (1994, 1996), in a similar vein, holds that the discovery of WNC was made on the basis of some piecemeal statistical techniques—again without the Salam-Weinberg model (predicting and explaining WNC) being involved in the process. Both Bogen & Woodward and Mayo have tried to back up their claims by referring to the historical work about the discovery of WNC by Galison (1983, 1987). Galison’s presentation of the historical facts, which can be described as realist, has however been challenged by Pickering (1984, 1988, 1989), who has drawn sociological-relativist conclusions from this historical case. Pickering’s conclusions, in turn, have recently come under attack by Miller and Bullock (1994), who delivered a defence of Galison’s realist account. In this paper I consider all of these historical studies in order to evaluate the philosophical claims that have been made on the basis of them. I conclude that—contrary to Bogen & Woodward (1988) and Mayo (1994)—statistical methods and other experimental inference procedures from the “bottom-up” (i.e. from the data to the phenomena) were insufficient for discerning WNC from their background noise. I also challenge Galison’s notion of the “end of experiments” and shall take the wind out of the sail of Miller and Bullock’s attack on some of Pickering’s claims, whilst rejecting Pickering’s sociological-relativist conclusions. Instead, I claim that an epistemic warrant from the ‘top down’ in the form of a theoretical postulate of the Weinberg-Salam model was necessary for “ending the experiments”, i.e. for the acceptance of WNC as a genuine phenomenon in the scientific community.
SILICON ALLEVIATES THE ADVERSE EFFECTS OF SALINITY AND DROUGHT STRESS ON GROWTH AND ENDOGENOUS PLANT GROWTH HORMONES OF SOYBEAN (GLYCINE MAX L.)

Agricultural industry is subjected to enormous environmental constraints, particularly due to salinity and drought. We evaluated the role of silicon (Si) in alleviating salinity and drought induced physio-hormonal changes in soybean grown in perlite. The plant growth attributes i.e., shoot length, plant fresh weight and dry weight parameters of soybean improved with elevated Si nutrition, while they decreased with NaCl and polyethylene glycol (PEG) application. The adverse effects of NaCl and PEG on plant growth were alleviated by adding 100 mg L -1 and 200 mg L -1 Si to salt and drought stressed treatments. It was observed that Si effectively mitigated the adverse effects of NaCl on soybean than that of PEG. The chlorophyll contents were found to be least affected as an insignificant increase was observed with Si application. Bioactive GA1 and GA4 contents of soybean leaves increased, when Si was added to control or stressed plants. Jasmonic acid (JA) contents sharply increased under salinity and drought stress but declined when the plants were supplemented with Si. Similarly, free salicylic acid (SA) level also increased with NaCl and PEG application. However, free SA level further increased with the addition of Si to salt treated plants, but decreased when Si was given to PEG treated plants. It was concluded that Si improves physio-hormonal attributes of soybean and mitigate adverse effects of salt and drought stress.
Oligodendrocytes as glucocorticoids target cells: functional analysis of the glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase gene

Previous research has established that the development and function of oligodendrocytes are influenced by glucocorticoids. The enzyme glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase (E.C.1.1.1.8) has been used as a model to study glucocorticoid regulation of gene expression in oligodendrocytes and the C6 glial cell line. In the rat brain this enzyme is exclusively localized to oligodendrocytes. The sequence of the 5′ flanking region for the rat gene encoding Glycerol Phosphate Dehydrogenase (GPDH; EC 1.1.1.8) was determined. 4 kb of sequence from the 5′ flanking region, exon 1, and part of intron 1 of the rat GPDH gene was compared to the corresponding mouse sequence. Dotplot matrix comparison revealed that the rat sequence is more than 80% similar to the mouse sequence, but differs from the mouse sequence in two regions: the rat sequence is devoid of 200 bp of B1 repeat sequence that is present in the mouse, and the rat sequence has an excess 700 bp of B2 repeat sequence inserted between −0.7 kb and −1.4 kb that is absent in the mouse. To determine the regulatory activity of the rat GPDH 5′ flanking region, various portions of the rat GPDH 5′ flanking region were placed in luciferase reporter constructs and tested for transcriptional activity. Transient transfection of reporter constructs into the C6 glial cell line revealed that the distal end of the 5′ flanking region was glucocorticoid‐inducible. A 385 bp Glucocorticoid Response Unit (GRU) was identified whose glucocorticoid induction was enhanced by dibutyryl‐cAMP and reduced by phorbol esters. Sequence analysis of the GRU revealed the presence of four consensus GRE sequences and other putative consensus elements. Results here suggest that the 5′ flanking region of the GPDH gene mediates the ligand‐inducible regulation of GPDH, and that multiple signaling pathways converge at the 5′ regulatory sequence to modulate GPDH gene expression in oligodendrocytes. J. Neurosci. Res. 59:436–445, 2000 © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Labor Market Outcomes , Capital Accumulation , and Return Migration : Evidence from Immigrants in Germany

In this paper I test the capital accumulation conjecture that is used to rationalize return migration decisions in the context of immigrants in Germany and examine how labor market outcomes influence return migration decisions, with particular attention to selection in these outcomes in return migration. I characterize the level and timing of return migration as well as the selection in it and derive a number of implications of these on the impact of immigrants on the host as well as source countries. Using a rich longitudinal dataset that has an over-sampled group of immigrants (German Socioeconomic Panel), I conduct a Cox proportional hazard analysis with alternative waiting-time concepts. That the sample contains immigrants from four different source countries allows me to utilize the variation in the source country characteristics as well as the time variation in them to identify the parameters of interest. I find evidence for the savings accumulation conjecture, in which return is motivated by higher purchasing power of accumulated savings in the home country. On the other hand, human capital accumulation conjecture is rejected. In the framework of savings accumulation, I examine the impact of an increase in German earnings whose theoretical impact on the return migration decision is ambiguous. In terms of labor market outcomes, both retirement and unemployment emerge as important determinants of return migration choices. Unemployment spell length determines the direction of selection with respect to unemployment in return migration. The data also reveal that the level of return migration is high and varies considerably across the source countries. The hazard function of Turkish immigrants displays a hump-shaped profile that peaks between the ages of 45 and 54 whereas EU immigrants are more likely to return at earlier ages and after retirement. JEL Classification Codes: C41, F22, J61
Arterial blood supply of the maxillary sinus

Knowledge of the arterial supply of the maxillary sinus region is essential for surgical treatment in this area (e.g., implantation of grafting materials, repair of injuries, sinus floor elevation). The goal of this study was to describe the arterial architecture of the maxillary sinus region in respect to sinus lift procedures. In 18 unfixed human cadavers, the arterial vessels of the head were injected with a mixture of latex and bariumsulfate. Afterward, the arteries entering the maxilla were prepared. The number and calibers as well as anastomoses were carefully documented. In addition, we measured the distance between the alveolar ridge and the lower main branches.
Credit risk evaluation for listed enterprise group based on PNN

Credit risk evaluation of listed enterprise group scientifically contributes to improving the risk management ability of commercial bank. The amount of connected transaction to total assets ratio was used as index which reflects the characteristic of group, and probabilistic neural network (PNN) was used to evaluate the credit risk of listed enterprises in Shanghai and Shenzhen A shares. The empirical results show that the new model can evaluate the credit risk of group companies effectively and has higher prediction accuracy than BPNN.
A morphologic and morphometric study of the vesical mucosa and urethra of castrated female rats following estrogen and/or progestogen replacement.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to analyze the morphologic and morphometric changes in the urethra and vesical mucosa following hormonal replacement METHODS We analyzed the changes in the urethra and vesical mucosa of 35 castrated adult female rats that had been subjected to estrogen and/or progestogen replacement. RESULTS Estrogen replacement, whether or not accompanied with progestogen replacement, provoked metaplasia, hyperplasia and an increased occurrence of stratified epithelia. In the proximal urethra hypoestrogenism caused a higher occurrence of pseudo-stratified and transition epithelia, whereas in the urethral-vesical junction it caused a higher frequency of pseudo-stratified epithelia. The thickness of the epithelium increased following estrogen replacement whereas only a trend towards an increase of the propria lamina thickness was identified. Nuclear volume was only altered in the bladder epithelium. CONCLUSION Estrogen replacement acted both morphometrically and morphologically on the lower urinary tract.
The Negative Priming Effect: Inhibitory Priming by Ignored Objects

A priming paradigm was employed to investigate the processing of an ignored object during selection of an attended object. Two issues were investigated: the level of internal representation achieved for the ignored object, and the subsequent fate of this representation. In Experiment 1 a prime display containing two superimposed objects was briefly presented. One second later a probe display was presented containing an object to be named. If the ignored object in the prime display was the same as the subsequent probe, naming latencies were impaired. This effect is termed negative priming. It suggests that internal representations of the ignored object may become associated with inhibition during selection. Thus, selection of a subsequent probe object requiring these inhibited representations is delayed. Experiment 2 replicated the negative priming effect with a shorter inter-stimulus interval. Experiment 3 examined the priming effects of both the ignored and the selected objects. The effect of both identity repetition and a categorical relationship between prime and probe stimuli were investigated. The data showed that for a stimulus selected from the prime display, naming of the same object in the probe display was facilitated. When the same stimulus was ignored in the prime display, however, naming of it in the probe display was again impaired (negative priming). That negative priming was also demonstrated with categorically related objects suggests that ignored objects achieve categorical levels of representation, and that the inhibition may be at this level.
Adherence of Haemophilus influenzae to buccal epithelial cells

The role of adherence of Haemophilus influenzae to epithelial surfaces in the pathogenesis of infection is unknown. Fluorescent-antibody and radiolabeled adherence methods were adapted to study H. influenzae adherence to human buccal epithelial cells. By the fluorescent-antibody method, 19 of 21 (90%) nontypable H. influenzae strains were found to be adherent compared with 2 of 42 (5%) type b strains (P less than 0.0001). Using a radiolabeled adherence method, we found that 9 of 12 (75%) nontypable H. influenzae strains were adherent to buccal epithelial cells whereas only 3 of 32 (9%) type b strains were adherent (P = 0.001). Results of H. influenzae adherence examined by both methods correlated significantly (P = 0.01). H. influenzae adherence to adult pharyngeal, nasal, and buccal epithelial cells was comparable. Type b H. influenzae did not adhere to the buccal epithelial cells of well children, children with H. influenzae type b disease, or children with upper respiratory infections. In contrast, nontypable H. influenzae did adhere to the buccal epithelial cells of well children and children with upper respiratory infections. These observed in vitro differences in adherence between nontypable and type b H. influenzae strains may explain differences in colonization, pathogenesis, and types of infection due to nontypable and type b H. influenzae.