Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Macroeconomics of Market Regulation

In each country, a complex set of laws and institutions regulates the functioning of product and labour markets. Broadly defined, the regulation of labour directly affects hiring and firing decisions, the number of working hours, the intensity of job search and wage dynamics. Examples include employment protection legislation, the generosity and duration of unemployment benefits, restrictions on the length of contracts, the level of centralization in wage bargaining, labour unions and International Finance 18:3, 2015: pp. 343–360 DOI: 10.1111/infi.12077
Primary mediastinal histiocytic sarcoma presenting as pleural effusion

Histiocytic sarcoma (HS) is a rare malignant neoplasm showing morphological and immunophenotypic features of mature tissue histiocytes. As HS may mimic non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) pathologically, before the era of immunohistochemistry, many previously reported cases were misdiagnosed NHL. Up to date, there are only a few reports delineating the cytological features in fine‐needle aspiration or bronchoalveolar lavage, but not in the effusion fluid yet. Herein, we report the case of a 61‐year‐old male with a mediastinal tumor presenting with malignant pleural effusion. The effusion cytology showed atypical epithelioid (histiocytoid) cells, both in loose clusters and a dispersed pattern, with scanty admixed inflammatory infiltrate. Distinct from the benign histiocytes, these tumor cells exhibited evident cytological atypia, including irregular nuclear contours, significant nuclear pleomorphism, brisk mitotic figures, and apoptotic bodies in the Papanicolaou stain. With the Liu stain, most tumor cells showed abundant blue‐gray cytoplasm, some with small cytoplasmic vacuoles and formation of pseudopods. Subsequent biopsies of the tumor nodules in the right lower lung and pleura showed diffuse sheets of neoplastic cells expressing CD4, CD45, CD68, and lysozyme by immunohistochemistry, confirming the diagnosis. Usually subtyping the lymphoma in the effusion fluid is not an important issue since most patients already have previously confirmed lymphoma. In rare situation, like our patient, the disease may present initially as a malignant effusion. Immunophenotyping using cell blocks and/or excisional specimens is mandatory for a definitive diagnosis.
‘Mmm … I love it, bro!’: Performances of masculinity in YouTube gaming

Despite being ubiquitous and embedded in everyday life, ‘the centrality of the Internet is still under-theorized in much masculinities research’. Contributing to the knowledge base in this area, here we place under the microscope the performance of hetero-masculinities undertaken by the three most popular YouTube gaming vloggers in 2015–2016: PewDiePie, VanossGaming and Sky Does Minecraft. The focus of this article thus sits at the intersection of YouTube vlogging and gaming cultures, a site that is of particular sociological interest given the latter’s associations with the (re)production and function of hegemonic masculinity. In examining the performances and constructions of gender by male gamers on YouTube, our research adds to the growing body of work highlighting the emergence of increasing levels of complexity in the construction of contemporary masculine identities.
Rapid monitoring of oxygenation by 19F magnetic resonance imaging: Simultaneous comparison with fluorescence quenching

The aim of this study was to develop an MRI fluorocarbon oximetry technique using snapshot inversion recovery and compare it with fluorescence quenching fiber‐optic probe oximetry (OxyLite) performed simultaneously in experimental mouse tumors. The oxygen reporter probe hexafluorobenzene (HFB) was injected directly into the tumors, along with the insertion of the OxyLite probe. Tumor oxygenation (pO2) was modified using carbogen or lethal doses of the anesthetic gas. MRI pO2 maps were generated in 1.5 min with an in‐plane spatial resolution of 1.88 mm. MRI and OxyLite showed consistent baseline and postmortem pO2 values. Increases in tumor pO2 during carbogen breathing showed similar kinetics for the two methods. The pO2 values observed using the OxyLite corresponded with relatively hypoxic values observed by MRI. The apparent discrepancy between mean values might be due to the difference in sampling volumes of the techniques and the observation of multiple locations using 19F MRI versus a single location using the large optical fiber. Overall, the present method provides a rapid way to map the tumor oxygenation and is particularly suitable to monitor acute changes of pO2 in tumors. Magn Reson Med, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Evaluation of the Role of Induced Uterine Contraction on Blood Loss during Caesarean Section under Different Types of Anesthesia: A Double Blind Controlled Study

Background: Delivery by Caesarean section (CS) can cause more complications than normal vaginal delivery and one of its common complications is postpartum bleeding which can be life threatening. To reduce maternal mortality and morbidity caused by bleeding, it is important to reduce the extent of bleeding during and after CS. Objectives: To compare between the efficacy of using prostaglandin F2α under spinal or general anesthesia on decreasing the amount of blood loss during elective caesarean section. Settings and design: A prospective, double blind controlled randomized and comparative study. Methods: 60 patients undergoing elective lower segment caesarean section were divided into two groups: Group A received general anesthesia with subtypes A1 (general anesthesia=control group), and A2 (general anesthesia +prostaglandin F2α) and Group B received spinal anesthesia with subtypes B1 (spinal anesthesia=control group), and B2 (spinal anesthesia+prostaglandin F2α), hemodynamics, total blood loss , Hemoglobin Hb (gm/dl) and hematocrit Hct (%) values were recorded before and after the operation. Results: There was significant difference in total blood loss (ml) between general and spinal anesthesia groups which was 772.333 ± 144.287 in group A and 623.667 ± 119.779 in group B and significant increase in total blood loss in group A1 when compared with other three groups, significant increase in group A2 when compared with B2, insignificant changes between A2 and B1 and significant increase in total blood loss in group B1 when compared with group B2. Also the same manner present in MAP and HR where there was significant difference in MAP and HR in group A1 when compared with other three groups, significant difference in group A2 when compared with B2, insignificant changes between A2 and B1 and significant difference in MAP and HR in group B1 when compared with group B2 at 10 and 20 min but there was insignificant changes at preoperative and immediately postoperative measurements between 4 subgroups. Conclusion: PGF2α under spinal anesthesia decreases the amount of blood loss during cesarean section.
Technological Engagement and Musical Eclecticism: An Examination of Contemporary Listening Practices

The ways in which technology mediates the relationship between people and music has increasingly evolved since the advent of playback devices. With the arrival of digital music, and its inherent culture of digitality, new issues have emerged regarding musical engagement at the level of fan and/or consumer. This paper will explore how and what people are engaging with music, as mediated by technology. These two issues will be categorized by: (1) the immense quantity of popular music available digitally is promoting a culture of eclecticism, whereby people are not tied to specific genres when defining their tastes. Personal genre alliance has fallen out of favour, and replaced by fluid definitions of genres and artists, that are user-driven and highly personalized and subjective: for example, folksonomies. (2) One of the primary ways in which people consume music is through portable media devices, such as the iPods. It is shown that there are statistically significant differences in genre preference between those who use MP3 players and those who do not. This paper utilises a dataset comprised from both qualitative and quantitative means.
Alteration of inflammatory adipokines after four months of smoking abstinence in multidisciplinary intervention program.

BACKGROUND many endocrine-metabolic changes are involved in smoking. OBJECTIVES to evaluate serum concentrations of inflammatory adipokines in smokers at baseline and after four months of treatment for smoking cessation. METHODS the serum concentrations of inflammatory cytokines were evaluated in smokers and abstinent. Nutritional assessment was based on measurements of body weight, height, and waist circumference (WC), to calculate body mass index (BMI), body adiposity index (BAI) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Biochemical parameters were analyzed: total cholesterol, LDL-c, HDL-c, triglycerides, glucose, cortisol and insulin. The serum levels of leptin, adiponectin and ghrelin were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The leptin/adiponectin ratio (L/A) was calculated. RESULTS a total of 29 subjects were included in this study (22 women and seven men). The mean age of participants was 50.7 ± 10.47 years. The medium values of WHtR and BAI were above of the proposed cutoff point, indicating abdominal obesity. The biochemical parameters did not present statistically significant differences when comparing the initial and final values. At the end of treatment, the abstinent had higher levels of adiponectin when compared to those who remained smoker (p = 0.024). There was an increase in leptin levels and L/A, and a reduction in adiponectin levels after the treatment in abstinent and smokers (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION this study has demonstrated that smoking cessation improves adiponectin levels when compared with smokers. Leptin and L/A levels increased throughout the treatment in both groups. The increased values of leptin and L/A in abstinent participants may indicate risk of metabolic events associated with smoking history that should be investigated.
Effects of replacing soya bean meal with fermented African locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) meal on the growth performance and condition factor of Tilapia zilli fingerlings

The study was conducted to evaluate the performance characteristics of Tilapia zilli fingerlings fed with locust bean meal as a replacement for soya bean meal in the diet. Two hundred and ten (210) heterogeneous sexes of Tilapia zilli fingerlings with mean weight of 15.24±0.01g were reared for 84 days in five rectangular glass tanks measuring 0.9 m x 0.45 m x 0.45 m and partitioned into three replicates with 14 fingerlings in each replicate. Five experimental diets were formulated at 0% (soya bean meal only), 25%, 50%, 75% and 100 % locust bean meal inclusion levels at T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 respectively. Results showed that there were no significant differences (p>0.05) among the treatments as compared to mean weight gained, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, specific growth rate, protein efficiency, mortality/survival rate. Fish fed 100% locust bean meal showed the best growth performance in body weight gain, food conversion ratio and specific growth rate (SGR) but with poor condition factor and high mortality rate (54.76%). The study indicated that fermented African locust bean meal could be included in the diets of Tilapia zilli at 50% inclusion level from the view point of low mortality rate and final condition factor over other treatments. African locust bean meal could also be recommended for food security management purposes in replacing soya bean meal in order to reduce conflict that could emanates from the wide range of usage for other dietary purposes.
Formation of Immune Complexes with a Tetanus-Derived B Cell Epitope Boosts Human T Cell Responses to Covalently Linked Peptides in an Ex Vivo Blood Loop System

Enhancing T cell responses against both viral and tumor Ags requires efficient costimulation and directed delivery of peptide Ags into APCs. Long peptide vaccines are considered favorable vaccine moieties from a clinical perspective, as they can harbor more than one immunogenic epitope enabling treatment of a broader target population. In addition, longer peptides are not extracellularly loaded on MHC class I; rather, they require intracellular processing and will thereby be presented to T cells mainly by professional APCs, thereby avoiding the risk of tolerance induction. The drawback of peptide vaccines regardless of peptide length is that naked peptides are not actively targeted to and taken up by APCs, and the standard nonconjugated adjuvant-peptide mixtures do not ensure cotargeting of the two to the same APC. We have identified a tetanus toxin–derived B cell epitope that can mediate the formation of immune complexes in the presence of circulating Abs. In this study, we show that these immune complexes improve both Ag uptake by APCs (blood monocytes and CD1c+ dendritic cells) and consequently improve CD8+ T cell recall responses in a human ex vivo blood loop system. The uptake of the peptide conjugate by blood monocytes is dependent on Abs and the complement component C1q. We envision that this strategy can be used to facilitate active uptake of Ags into APCs to improve T cell responses against pathogens or cancer.
An empirical framework to predict idiosyncratic risk in a time of crisis: Evidence from the restaurant industry

Purpose The purpose of this study is to invoke prospect theory to construct an empirical framework to predict idiosyncratic risk, and argue that when a firm performs better than its benchmarks, the firm tends to play safe by avoiding firm-specific risk to maintain its satisfactory performance level, but when a firm performs worse than its benchmarks, the firm may become aggressive with taking more risks to achieve an increased level of performance. Design/methodology/approach This study tested the relationships between restaurant firms’ future idiosyncratic risk and the proposed firm financial characteristics. Heteroscedasticity- and autocorrelation-consistent (HAC) standard errors (Newey and West, 1994) were used to deal with potential problems of autocorrelations and heteroscedasticity. The standard error of residuals from the Fama-French three-factor model (Fama and French, 1993) was estimated to proxy for restaurant idiosyncratic risk. Findings The main analysis reveals that five financial characteristics are significant predictors for restaurant firms’ future idiosyncratic risk in accordance with the proposed, negative relationship based on the prospect theory. Practical implications Managers may predict their competitors’ future risk-taking behaviors using the current study’s findings, which will provide competitive advantage in a highly competitive business environment that we have now. Also, in practice, restaurant investors may consider findings of this study in forecasting future risks of their portfolio to help evaluate and revise their portfolios. Originality/value First, this is a new endeavor of its kind dealing with the restaurant industry, filling the void in the literature in predicting the risk-taking behavior of restaurant firms in a time of crisis. Second, this study forms a prediction model that establishes “predictive causality” (Diebold, 2001) motivated by prospect theory. Third, building upon prior research, this study comprehensively examines relationships between the firm characteristics that capture firm-specific strategies (Ou and Penman, 1989) and the idiosyncratic risk that are “associated with firm-specific strategies” (Luo and Bhattacharya, 2009) in a restaurant setting. Finally, the findings of this study bear significant implications for practitioners and other parties of interest.
Coordinated Longitudinal and Lateral Motion Control for Four Wheel Independent Motor-Drive Electric Vehicle

For four wheel independent motor-drive electric vehicle, the vehicle longitudinal and lateral motion can be controlled by distributing the driving and regenerative braking torques of four wheel motors. To meet the driving command of driver and keep the vehicle lateral stability, a hierarchical control system is proposed in this paper. In the upper layer, a nonlinear model predictive control is implemented to solve the nonlinear multiinput multioutput, over-actuated problem. The controller is based on a nonlinear three degree-of-freedom model with nonlinear tire model, considering wheel slips as virtual control input. In the lower layer, the wheel slips are manipulated by a PID controller for generating driving and regenerative braking torques of the independent motors. This proposed controller is tested in a hardware-in-the-loop system with four typical maneuvers, which are constant velocity, accelerating, decelerating, and low road adhesion coefficient situations to show different driver command. The results show that the driver command of longitudinal and lateral motion control are both satisfied.
Title A Two-step Estimation Approach for Logistic Varying Coefficient Modeling of Longitudinal Data Permalink

Varying coefficient models are useful for modeling longitudinal data and have been extensively studied in the past decade. Motivated by commonly encountered dichotomous outcomes in medical and health cohort studies, we propose a two-step method to estimate the regression coefficient functions in a logistic varying coefficient model where the outcome is binary. The model depicts time-varying covariate effects without imposing stringent parametric assumptions. The proposed estimation is simple and can be conveniently implemented using existing statistical packages such as SAS and R. We study asymptotic properties of the proposed estimators which lead to asymptotic inference and also develop bootstrap inferential procedures to test whether the coefficient functions are indeed time-varying or are equal to zero. The proposed methodology is illustrated with the analysis of a smoking cessation data set. Simulations are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed method compared to an alternative estimation method based on local maximum likelihood and two parametric modeling approaches: generalized estimating equations (GEE) for logistic regression and the generalized linear mixed models (GLMM).
Cardioprotective role of IGF-1 in the hypertrophied myocardium of the spontaneously hypertensive rats : A key effect on NHE-1 activity

See Editorial Commentary: Baartscheer, A. 2018. Is IGF‐1 a useful inhibitor of Na/H‐exchanger activity? Acta Physiol 223, e13164. Abstract Aim: Myocardial Na/H exchanger-1 (NHE-1) hyperactivity and oxidative stress are interrelated phenomena playing pivotal roles in the development of pathological cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Exercise training is effective to convert pathological into physiological hypertrophy in the spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), and IGF-1—key humoral mediator of exercise training—inhibits myocardial NHE-1, at least in normotensive rats. Therefore, we hypothesize that IGF-1 by hampering NHE-1 hyperactivity and oxidative stress should exert a cardioprotective effect in the SHR. Methods: NHE-1 activity [proton efflux (JHþ) mmol L 1 min ], expression and phosphorylation; H2O2 production; superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity; contractility and calcium transients were measured in SHR hearts in the presence/absence of IGF-1. Results: IGF-1 significantly decreased NHE-1 activity (JHþ at pHi 6.95: 1.39 0.32, n = 9 vs C 3.27 0.3, n = 20, P < .05); effect prevented by AG1024, an antagonist of IGF-1 receptor (2.7 0.4, n = 7); by the PI3K inhibitor wortmannin (3.14 0.41, n = 7); and the AKT inhibitor MK2206 (3.37 0.43, n = 14). Moreover, IGF-1 exerted an antioxidant effect revealed by a significant reduction in H2O2 production accompanied by an increase in SOD activity. In addition, IGF-1 improved cardiomyocyte contractility as evidenced by an increase in sarcomere shortening and a decrease in the relaxation constant, underlined by an increase in the amplitude and rate of decay of the calcium transients. Conclusion: IGF-1 exerts a cardioprotective role on the hypertrophied hearts of the SHR, in which the inhibition of NHE-1 hyperactivity, as well as the positive inotropic and antioxidant effects, emerges as key players.
Exploiting Linguistic Resources for Neural Machine Translation Using Multi-task Learning

Linguistic resources such as part-of-speech (POS) tags have been extensively used in statistical machine translation (SMT) frameworks and have yielded better performances. However, usage of such linguistic annotations in neural machine translation (NMT) systems has been left under-explored. In this work, we show that multi-task learning is a successful and a easy approach to introduce an additional knowledge into an end-to-end neural attentional model. By jointly training several natural language processing (NLP) tasks in one system, we are able to leverage common information and improve the performance of the individual task. We analyze the impact of three design decisions in multi-task learning: the tasks used in training, the training schedule, and the degree of parameter sharing across the tasks, which is defined by the network architecture. The experiments are conducted for an German to English translation task. As additional linguistic resources, we exploit POS information and named-entities (NE). Experiments show that the translation quality can be improved by up to 1.5 BLEU points under the low-resource condition. The performance of the POS tagger is also improved using the multi-task learning scheme.
More Form Than Substance?: Collective Bargaining and Employee Voice in the Auckland Luxury Hotel Industry

Drawing on interview and archival data, collective employment contract formation in the Auckland luxury hotel industry under the first seven years of New Zealand's Employment Contracts Act 1991 is reviewed. Five cases are examined in detail. While little variation in contract structure is found, real differences are observed in the processes adopted. In some hotels, contract formation, best described as 'consultation', is almost exclusively determined by management. Non-union mechanisms to gauge employees' views are evolving which represent a significant departure from traditional patterns of employment relations. Other hotels follow a more traditional pattern of bargaining. Here the industry union, having retained relatively higher levels of union membership, plays a more substantial role. Discussions of employee voice and collective bargaining under liberalised bargaining regimes such as the Employment Contracts Act 1991 must recognise qualitative changes in collective bargaining at enterprise level that leave a collective 'shell', and mask erosion in employee voice. Further research is necessary into the extent of 'hollow' collective bargaining and to construct a theoretical framework to assist investigation into the nature of collective bargaining.
Interactions between real economic and financial sides of the US economy in a regime-switching environment

This objective of this study is to examine the linkages between real (economic) and financial variables in the United States in a regime-switching environment that accounts explicitly for high volatility in the stock market and high stress in financial markets. Since the linearity test shows that the linear model should be rejected, we employ the Markov-switching VECM to examine the same objective using the Bayesian Markov-chain Monte Carlo method. The regime-dependent impulse response function (RDIRF) highlights the increasing importance of the financial sector of the economy during stress periods. The responses and their fluctuations are significantly greater in the high-volatility regime than in the low-volatility regime.