Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Where Ricardo and Mill Rebut and Confirm Arguments of Mainstream Economists Supporting Globalization

Most noneconomists are fearful when an emerging China or India, helped by their still low real wage rates, outsourcing and miracle export-led developments, cause layoffs from good American jobs. This is a hot issue now, and in the coming decade, it will not go away. Prominent and competent mainstream economists enter into the debate to educate and correct warm-hearted protestors who are against globalization. Here is a fair paraphrase of the argumentation that has been used recently by Alan Greenspan, Jagdish Bhagwati, Gregory Mankiw, Douglas Irwin and economists John or Jane Doe spread widely throughout academia. Yes, good jobs may be lost here in the short run. But still total U.S. net national product must, by the economic laws of comparative advantage, be raised in the long run (and in China, too). The gains of the winners from free trade, properly measured, work out to exceed the losses of the losers. This is not by mysterious fuzzy magic, but rather comes from a sharing of the trade-induced rise in total global vectors of the goods and services that people in a democracy want. Never forget to tally the real gains of consumers alongside admitted possible losses of some producers in this working out of what Schumpeter called “creative capitalist destruction. ” Correct economic law recognizes that some American groups can be hurt by dynamic free trade. But correct economic law vindicates the word “creative” destruction by its proof [sic] that the gains of the American winners are big enough to more than compensate the losers.
Thermodynamics of Ras/Effector and Cdc42/Effector Interactions Probed by Isothermal Titration Calorimetry*

Proliferation, differentiation, and morphology of eucaryotic cells is regulated by a large network of signaling molecules. Among the major players are members of the Ras and Rho/Rac subfamilies of small GTPases that bind to different sets of effector proteins. Recognition of multiple effectors is important for communicating signals into different pathways, leading to the question of how an individual GTPase achieves tight binding to diverse targets. To understand the observed specificity, detailed information about binding energetics is expected to complement the information gained from the three-dimensional structures of GTPase/effector protein complexes. Here, the thermodynamics of the interaction of four closely related members of the Ras subfamily with four different effectors and, additionally, the more distantly related Cdc42/WASP couple were quantified by means of isothermal titration calorimetry. The heat capacity changes upon complex formation were rationalized in light of the GTPase/effector complex structures. Changes in enthalpy, entropy, and heat capacity of association with various Ras proteins are similar for the same effector. In contrast, although the structures of the Ras-binding domains are similar, the thermodynamics of the Ras/Raf and Ras/Ral guanine nucleotide dissociation stimulator interactions are quite different. The energy profile of the Cdc42/WASP interaction is similar to Ras/Ral guanine nucleotide dissociation stimulator, despite largely different structures and interface areas of the complexes. Water molecules in the interface cannot fully account for the observed discrepancy but may explain the large range of Ras/effector binding specificity. The differences in the thermodynamic parameters, particularly the entropy changes, could help in the design of effector-specific inhibitors that selectively block a single pathway.
Nationalism, Islam, ‘secularism’ and the state in contemporary Indonesia

This article seeks to explain the impact of Muslim politics on the Indonesian nation and, in particular, why Islamism has found so little political traction. It argues that Islamist ideas were late in emerging in modern Indonesia, and long remained marginal to Indonesians' ideas of what their nation should be and do. It notes, however, that Indonesia's deepening Islamisation has resulted in a sense of growing sectarianism and a developing accommodation of Islamic agendas by Indonesia's pseudo-secular state that requires careful management if respectful pluralism and mutual tolerance is to be maintained.
Changes in G protein expression account for impaired modulation of hepatic cAMP formation after BDL

BERNARD BOUSCAREL,1,2 YASUSHI MATSUZAKI,3 MAN LE,3 THOMAS W. GETTYS,4 AND HANS FROMM1 1Division of Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, and 2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia 20037; 3Division of Gastroenterology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan; and 4Division of Gastroenterology, Departments of Medicine and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425-2223
The socioeconomic effects of a landslide in Western Washington

Abstract Landslides can create permanently unstable sites that cannot be repaired or developed, and as a result, can cause severe economic and social consequences for families and communities. This study examines the economic and social effects of a landslide that struck Western Washington in February 1999. Two years after the landslide, property owners completed a confidential questionnaire. Property owners experienced significant personal financial losses and received little financial assistance to recover. Most (93%) did not receive any relief from their insurance policies, and 7% received only temporary rental assistance. Participants reported a variety of monetary and personal losses that were associated with emotional distress. They also reported a variety of gains and new perspectives on life. In this paper, we consider mechanisms to reduce the economic losses of landslides as well as implications and future research directions.
Delimitation of Functional Regions Using a p-Regions Problem Approach

Various spatial data analyses have been used for the identification of functional regions. Functional regions are identified by grouping many areal units into fewer clusters to classify the areal units in terms of similar properties, as well as to constrain the spatial contiguity of the areal units in each cluster. This article proposes a spatial optimization model, called the p-functional regions problem, to solve a regionalization problem by considering geographic flows. The magnitude of geographic flows, such as journey-to-work, is widely considered a good indicator of functional relationships between areas so that regionalization models incorporating various criteria, such as the maximum intraregion flows or the total inflows from other units, may be used to identify the p regions. We also propose an analytical target reduction approach to enhance the model tractability in generating optimal solutions to large problems and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the optimization model using journey-to-work data from Seoul (South Korea) and South Carolina (the United States).
The Impact of Longevity Improvements on U.S. Corporate Defined Benefit Pension Plans

This paper provides the first empirical assessment of the impact of life expectancy assumptions on the liabilities of private U.S. defined benefit (DB) pension plans. Using detailed actuarial and financial information provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, we construct a longevity variable for each pension plan and then measure the impact of varying life expectancy assumptions across plans and over time on pension plan liabilities. The results indicate that each additional year of life expectancy increases pension liabilities by about 3 to 4 percent. This effect is not only statistically highly significant but also economically: each year of additional life expectancy would increase private U.S. DB pension plan liabilities by as much as $84 billion.
Liver Cirrhosis is Independently Associated With 90-Day Mortality in ARDS Patients

Background: In a few studies, cirrhosis has been associated with increased mortality in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). These studies were, however, conducted mostly before 2000. Over the last 15 years, the prognosis of cirrhotic patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) seems to have improved and major changes in the management of mechanical ventilation (MV) of ARDS have appeared. The aim of this study was to determine whether cirrhosis remains a factor for poor prognosis despite improvements in MV techniques and supportive therapies for ARDS. Methods: Retrospective analysis of data recorded from 232 patients (42 with cirrhosis and 290 without cirrhosis) who received lung-protective ventilation for ARDS defined according to American-European Consensus Conference criteria and admitted from 2006 to 2013. Alcohol was the most common aetiology of the cirrhosis. The end point was mortality at day-90 from the diagnosis of ARDS, survival was calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method, and we used a Cox-proportional hazard model to determine whether cirrhosis remained independently associated with mortality after adjustment for other prognostic variables for ARDS described previously. Organ dysfunctions were assessed based on the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) criteria, pulmonary and nonpulmonary dysfunctions were distinguished and compared between cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients on the first 3 days of VM. Results: Comparison of survival curves showed that cirrhotic patients had a poorer 90-day prognosis than non-cirrhotic patients (P = 0.03 by the log-rank test). After adjusted analysis, cirrhosis remained independently associated with mortality at day 90 (adjusted hazard ratio 2.09, 95% CI, 1.27–3.45, P = 0.004). Non-pulmonary SOFA scores were significantly higher in cirrhotic patients than in non-cirrhotic patients on day 1 (P < 0.001), day 2 (P = 0.003), and day 3 (P = 0.002) of MV for ARDS whereas pulmonary SOFA scores did not differ significantly. Conclusions: Despite improvements in the management of cirrhotic patients admitted to the ICU and in the management of MV for the treatment of ARDS, cirrhosis remained associated with a poorer prognosis in ARDS patients. The prognosis of cirrhotic patients with ARDS appears related to extrapulmonary organ dysfunctions rather than pulmonary dysfunction.
Diabetes and fasting during Ramadan

Abstinence from food and liquid during daylight hours is observed by Muslim individuals during the month of Ramadan. Even though the Koran exempts the sick from fasting, many people with diabetes still fast during this religious period. It is essential for patients, family and healthcare professionals to be aware of the religious attitude to and health implications of fasting. Major changes in dietary habits, daily physical activities and sleeping patterns during Ramadan have significant impact on the glycaemic control, lipid profile, weight and dietary intake. Hence, the patient is encouraged to have appropriate pre‐Ramadan assessment and education in order to stratify and modify his or her risk with fasting. Dose and timing adjustments to insulin and to some oral hypoglycaemic agents, especially sulphonylureas, may well be necessary during Ramadan. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Multicenter Experience With Catheter Ablation for Ventricular Tachycardia in Lamin A/C Cardiomyopathy

Background— Lamin A/C (LMNA) cardiomyopathy is a genetic disease with a proclivity for ventricular arrhythmias. We describe the multicenter experience with percutaneous catheter ablation of sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia (VT) in LMNA cardiomyopathy. Methods and Results— Twenty-five consecutive LMNA mutation patients from 4 centers were included (mean age, 55±9 years; ejection fraction, 34±12%; VT storm in 36%). Complete atrioventricular block was present in 11 patients; 3 patients were on mechanical circulatory support for severe heart failure. A median of 3 VTs were inducible per patient; in 82%, mapping was consistent with origin from scar in the basal left ventricle, particularly the septum, but also basal inferior wall and subaortic mitral continuity. After multiple procedures (median 2/patient; transcoronary alcohol in 6 and surgical cryoablation in 2 patients), acute success (noninducibility of any VT) was achieved in only 25% of patients. Partial success (inducibility of a nonclinical VT only: 50%) and failure (persistent inducibility of clinical VT: 12.5%) was attributed to intramural septal substrate in 13 of 18 patients (72%). Complications occurred in 25% of patients. After a median follow-up of 7 months after the last procedure, 91% experienced ≥1 VT recurrence, 44% received or were awaiting mechanical circulatory support or transplant for end-stage heart failure, and 26% died. Conclusions— Catheter ablation of VT associated with LMNA cardiomyopathy is associated with poor outcomes including high rate of arrhythmia recurrence, progression to end-stage heart failure, and high mortality. Basal septal scar and intramural VT origin makes VT ablation challenging in this population.
Difficulties for small firms to invest in research prerogatives. An empirical analysis of a sample of Italian firms

It is a commonly accepted fact that a quite strong relation exists between research investments and the general wealth of a given area. The main goal of this study is to analyse and determine which financing sources better serve this need for innovation, taking a sample of 1000 private firms in current economic downturn. Small firms from Southern Italy often have no access to debt capital on nondeterministic research activities, and more importantly, it still seems like banks cannot afford to finance these kinds of operations, mainly because of their indeterminate nature. This research draws the conclusion that only self-evidently solvent firms have a chance of getting the financial help needed to innovate.
Evidence on the Efficient Market Hypothesis from 44 Global Financial Market Indexes

This paper employs Granger causality tests to identify the impacts of historical information from global financial markets on their current levels in 30-day windows. The dataset consists primarily of the daily index levels of the (1) open, (2) close, (3) intra-day high, (4) intra-day low, and (5) trading volume series for the world’s 37 most influential equity market indexes, two crude oil prices, a gold price, and four major money market prices in the United States are used as controls. Our results indicate a persistent impact of historical information from global markets on their current levels, and this impact duplicates itself in a cyclical pattern consistently over decades. Such persistence in the patterns causes some market indexes to be upgraded to global or regional market leaders. These findings can be interpreted as constituting violations of the weak-form efficient market hypothesis. The results also reveal recursive impacts of information in these markets and the existence of an information digestion effect.
Growth Opportunities and the Stock Price Response to New Financing

The author documents the effect of growth opportunities on the stock price response to security offerings. For equity offerings, the stock price decline for mature firms exceeds the decline for growth firms. For straight and convertible debt offerings, mature firms experience a significant price decline while growth firms experience no significant price change. Regression analysis indicates that the stock price response to new financing is significantly, positively related to a variety of growth opportunity measures. Holding growth opportunities fixed, the stock price response depends on the type of security offered (equity vs. debt) and, for straight debt offerings, Moody's bond ratings. Copyright 1992 by University of Chicago Press.
Tax Revenue in Sub-Saharan Africa: Effects of Economic Policies and Corruption

An analysis of data for 39 sub-Saharan African countries during 1985-96 indicates that the variations in tax revenue-GDP ratios within this group are influenced by economic policies and the level of corruption. Namely, these ratios rise with declining inflation, implementation of structural reforms, rising human capital (a proxy for the provision of public services by the government), and declining corruption. The paper confirms that the tax revenue ratio rises with income, and that elements of a country`s tax base (such as the share of agriculture in GDP and the degree of openness) influence tax revenue.
Motivations for attending a multicultural festival: visitor ethnicity matters

Early tourism studies took travel motivation as a focus. Several theoretical frameworks (e.g., the Travel Career Patterns, the Push/Pull model, the Escaping–Seeking Dimensions model) were identified. Festival studies also attempt to understand visitors’ motivations, with some common festival motivations identified. These include “socialization”, “family togetherness”, “novelty”, “escape”, “excitement”, “cultural exploration”, “event attractions”, and “entertainment” (Lee, 2000). Many festival motivation studies have been conducted following theoretical frameworks of travel motivation as appropriate foundations (Li & Petrick, 2006); previous studies also emphasized that the type and aim of festivals needs to be considered when examining festival motivations (Nicholson & Pearce, 2001). As such, common festival motivations may not be applicable to understanding motivations of different kinds of festivals. Festivals may take a wide range of contexts, from local food and wine celebration to international cultural exhibitions. As a theorizing effort, it is important to differentiate context-free motivations (e.g., novelty) from context-specific motivations (e.g., “desire to taste new wine and food” for a food and wine festival). Researchers have noted contextual differences as a confounding factor in differentiating motivations across different festivals (Nicholson & Pearce, 2001). This study, positioning itself in the context of multicultural festivals, hereby explores both context-free and context-specific motivations. Research on multicultural festivals is limited (Lee, Arcodia, & Lee, 2012a). A multicultural festival is a public multicultural themed celebration where people of different ethnicities can have extraordinary and significant experiences (Lee et al., 2012a). Previous research has examined the characteristics of multicultural festivals, and the benefits of visiting a multicultural festival (Lee et al., 2012a, 2012b). Comparatively, single cultural theme festivals have been more extensively studied. As multicultural festivals feature a variety of ethic cultures in a society, they may attract visitors from a wider range of cultural backgrounds. Therefore, a compelling research question arises: what makes people participate in a multicultural festival? An associated question is: what are the differences of motivations between visitors whose culture is presented in a multicultural festival and those whose culture is not presented? This exploratory study aims to answer these two questions.
Identification of a BAHD acetyltransferase that produces protective acyl sugars in tomato trichomes

Glandular secreting trichomes on the surface of tomato plants and many of its relatives in the Solanaceae produce a mixture of O-acyl sugars that contribute to insect resistance. The majority of acyl sucroses produced by the cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) contain three or four short chain aliphatic acyl esters, and tetra-acyl sucroses have an acetyl group as one of the acyl chains. We previously reported overlapping S. lycopersicum × Solanum pennellii introgression lines (ILs) that fail to accumulate high levels of acetylated tetra-acyl sucroses. A survey of the annotated genes in this region of cultivated tomato chromosome 1 revealed three candidate acyltransferases that were tested for function using virus-induced gene silencing. A member of the BAHD family of acyltransferases (Solyc01g105580, SlAT2) was shown to encode an acetyl-CoA–dependent acyltransferase enzyme capable of acyl sucrose acetylation in vitro. RNAi suppression of SlAT2 in transgenic S. lycopersicum cv. M82 resulted in reduced acyl sugar acetylation, whereas expression of the functional S. lycopersicum allele of SlAT2 in the triacyl sucrose producing IL1-3 restored the ability of the IL to synthesize acetylated tetra-acyl sugars. Transgenic plants with the SlAT2 promoter driving GFP expression showed fluorescence in tips cells of long, slender trichomes that is consistent with acyl sugar acetylation occurring in these cells.
Private provision of public goods in the local interaction model

This paper analyses the evolutionary version of the Public Good game (Eshel, Samuelson, and Shaked (1998)) when agents can use imitation and best reply decision rules. I provide a condition, which completely describes agent behavior in the long run, for any number of neighbors and any total number of agents. Moreover, it is shown that it is enough to have just one decision rule per agent in order to obtain the same long run outcomes. The paper gives an explanation why we might observe irrational cooperation in the rational World. (JEL C70, C72, C73)