Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Policy and the Dynamics of Early Childhood Poverty in Turkey

Abstract This paper analyses the dynamics of child poverty in Turkey using a nationally representative four-year panel. The results show that 51.4% of 0–6-year-olds are touched by poverty over a four-year period, which is substantially higher than the cross-sectional head count ratio of 32.2%. Totally 30% of the poor children or 15.4% of the child population experience poverty for the entire observation window. Furthermore, nearly half experience severe material deprivation. Although we find substantial movements in and out of poverty, the exit rate is lower and the entry rate is higher than the rates reported for the total population and those reported in the literature for children in developed countries. The limited amount of social assistance available to children in Turkey means that children’s welfare depends heavily on the labour market outcomes of their parents. Children who live in households headed by younger and less-educated persons without work or in precarious employment are more likely to be persistent poor and face persistent severe material deprivation.
Pricing Shocks to Conditional Market Beta

We estimate monthly conditional market beta of 10 momentum and 25 size and book-to-market portfolios between 1946 and 2016 using a multivariate GARCH model. In the ICAPM conditional market beta are important determinants of expected returns and covariances of assets. Thus, shocks to conditional market beta imply shocks to the investment opportunity set. We define shocks to conditional market beta as state variables, and document that they carry economically large and statistically significant risk premia. Moreover, we show that shocks to conditional market beta are related to but clearly distinct from the Fama-French-Carhart size, book-to-market and momentum factors.
Role of iron in carcinogenesis: Cancer as a ferrotoxic disease

Iron is abundant universally. During the evolutionary processes, humans have selected iron as a carrier of oxygen inside the body. However, iron works as a double‐edged sword, and its excess is a risk for cancer, presumably via generation of reactive oxygen species. Thus far, pathological conditions such as hemochromatosis, chronic viral hepatitis B and C, exposure to asbestos fibers, as well as endometriosis have been recognized as iron overload‐associated risks for human cancer. Indeed, iron is carcinogenic in animal experiments. These reports unexpectedly revealed that there are target genes in iron‐induced carcinogenesis and that iron‐catalyzed oxidative DNA damage is not random in vivo. Several iron transporters and hepcidin, a peptide hormone regulating iron metabolism, were discovered in the past decade. Furthermore, a recent epidemiological study reported that iron reduction by phlebotomy decreased cancer risk in the apparently normal population. These results warrant reconsideration of the role of iron in carcinogenesis and suggest that fine control of body iron stores would be a wise strategy for cancer prevention. (Cancer Sci 2009; 100: 9–16)
Short wheat challenge is a reproducible in‐vivo assay to detect immune response to gluten

It has been reported that interferon (IFN)‐γ‐secreting T cells reactive to gluten can be detected in the peripheral blood of individuals with treated coeliac disease (CD) after a short consumption of wheat‐containing food. By contrast, very little is known about the reproducibility of this in‐vivo procedure in the same patient cohort which underwent two, or more, gluten consumptions. Fourteen coeliac patients in remission consumed wheat bread for 3 days; 13 underwent a second gluten challenge after a wash‐out of 3–10 months on a strict gluten‐free diet. Immune reactivity to gluten was analysed in peripheral blood by detecting IFN‐γ before and 6 days after commencing a gluten diet. Gliadin‐specific IFN‐γ‐secreting CD4+ T cells increased significantly on day 6 of the first challenge. These cells resulted as prevalently human leucocyte antigen (HLA)‐DQ restricted and with a phenotype of gut homing, as suggested by the expression of β7‐integrin. Similarly, reactiveness to gliadin was observed after the second wheat consumption, although with an individual variability of responses at each challenge. Our findings confirmed that the short wheat challenge is a non‐invasive approach to investigate the gluten‐related immune response in peripheral blood of subjects intolerant to gluten. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the in‐vivo procedure can be reproduced in the same subject cohort after a gluten wash‐out of at least 3 months. Our study has important implications for the application of this procedure to clinical practice.
Development of a novel multiplex beads‐based assay for autoantibody detection for colorectal cancer diagnosis

Humoral response in cancer patients can be used for early cancer detection. By screening high‐density protein microarrays with sera from colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and controls, we identified 16 tumor‐associated antigens (TAAs) exhibiting high diagnostic value. This high number of TAAs requires the development of multiplex assays combining different antigens for a faster and more accurate prediction of CRC. Here, we have developed and optimized a bead‐based assay using nine selected TAAs and two controls to provide a multiplex test for early CRC diagnosis. We screened a collection of 307 CRC patients’ and control sera with the beads assay to identify and validate the best TAA combination for CRC detection. The multiplex bead‐based assay exhibited a similar diagnostic performance to detect the humoral response in comparison to multiple ELISA analyses. After multivariate analysis, a panel composed of GTF2B, EDIL3, HCK, PIM1, STK4, and p53, together with gender and age, was identified as the best combination of TAAs for CRC diagnosis, achieving an AUC of 89.7%, with 66% sensitivity at 90.0% fixed specificity. The model was validated using bootstrapping analysis. In summary, we have developed a novel multiplex bead assay that after validation with a larger independent cohort of sera could be utilized in a high‐throughput manner for population screening to facilitate the detection of early CRC patients.
Men caring for wives or partners with dementia: Masculinity, strain and gain

Over the last three decades, demographic changes in the developed world have meant more older men find themselves in caregiving roles. Little research has been undertaken with male caregivers in dementia care. Although there is general consensus that men construe care differently to women, gender has seldom been treated as an independent variable that can inform supportive interventions. This study, underpinned by an assumption of the benefits of men's differential response to managing illness, sought to explore how facets of masculinity might relate to male caregivers’ appraisals of strain and gain in dementia care. Seventy men, currently caring for a partner with dementia, completed questionnaires exploring their gender identity (Personal Attributes Questionnaire), gender role conflict (Gender Role Conflict Scale), and appraisals of carer strain and gain (Brief Zarit Burden Interview and Caregiving Satisfaction Scale). They were also asked to provide demographic information and, since caregiver strain is significantly affected by a care-receiver's cognitive and behavioural difficulties, to complete the revised Memory and Behaviour Problems Checklist. Carers’ age and duration of caregiving was broadly representative of previous studies. A series of regression analyses revealed contrasting findings to previous studies. Gender identity did not appear important in carer's evaluations of strain or gain, and only the ‘restrictive affectionate behaviour between men’ subscale of gender role conflict had explanatory power in analyses with all strain and gain variables. Findings are discussed with regard to response bias and defended masculinity. Consideration is made about how men can successfully access services.
[Clinical characteristics and psychotropic therapy of depressive and anxious symptoms of patients with somatic diseases].

OBJECTIVE To explore the characteristics of depressive and anxious symptoms and the drug therapy response of patients with somatic diseases. METHODS All the subjects were inpatients in a general hospital. The depressive and anxious symptoms met with the following conditions: hospital anxiety and depression scale (HAD) > 7 scores, Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) > 12, Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) > 10, Clinical Global Impression (CGI) > or = 3. RESULTS In patients 200, 195 received the therapy, and 5 discontinued. The severity of depressive symptom in descending order was tumor group, blood disease group, endocrine disease group, depressive group, cardiovascular disease group, renal disease group. The effects of Seroxat (serotonin selective reuptake inhibitor, SSRI): showed that the overall efficacy against depressive and anxious symptoms, measured with 50% reduction rate in endpoint scales scores, was 61.6% and 61.5% respectively. CONCLUSION Different characteristics of emotional symptoms existed among different somatic diseases. Seroxat is effective in treating emotional problems of patients with somatic diseases.
Integration of polymer optical waveguides by using flexographic and aerosol jet printing

As a tribute to the continuously increasing volume of data traffic, optical waveguides have become a serious alternative to electrical circuitries. The potential of precise spaceresolved strain measurements or the capacity to transmit very large amounts of data are two examples of the beneficial use of optical systems. Apart from the general advantages of the optical signal line, like high electromagnetic compatibility, usage in explosive atmosphere or the reduced weight compared to copper cables, modern technologies make use of the possibilities to integrate optical waveguides into structural components. The printing of polymer optical waveguides is part of the current research in functional printing technology. Optimizing the transmission quality and the resolution are key objectives to establish integrated optical data transmission in industry. The manufacturing of multimode waveguides presented in this work is accomplished by a combination of two printing processes. Before producing the optical waveguide itself, using Aerosol Jet Printing, pre-conditioned areas with either hydrophobic or hydrophilic behavior are generated on flexible substrates with an adapted flexographic printing mechanism. This two-stage process allows for the fabrication of step index waveguides featuring parabolic cross sections with minimum widths down to 10 μm and aspect ratios of about 0.3. Conditioning the substrate, which itself forms the bottom cladding, provides a low surface roughness of the optical core. This paper shows the latest results of printing polymer optical waveguides, focusing on actual challenges and optical transmission quality.
Probability of failure of safety-critical systems subject to partial tests

A set of general formulas is proposed for the probability of failure on demand (PFD) assessment of MooN architecture (i.e. k-out-of-n) systems subject to proof tests. The proof tests can be partial or full. The partial tests (e.g. visual inspections, partial stroke testing) are able to detect only some system failures and leave the others latent, whereas the full tests refer to overhauls which restore the system to an as good as new condition. Partial tests may occur at different time instants (periodic or not), up to the full test. The system performances which are investigated are the system availability according to time, the PFD average in each partial test time interval, and the total PFD average calculated on the full test time interval. Following the given expressions, parameter estimations are proposed to assess the system failure rates and the partial test effectiveness according to feedback data from previous test policies. Subsequently, an optimization of the partial test strategy is presented. In the 2oo6 system given as example, an improvement of about 10% of the total PFD average has been obtained, just by a better (non-periodic) distribution of the same number of partial tests, in the full test time interval.
800-nA Process-and-Voltage-Invariant 106-dB PSRR PTAT Current Reference

This brief presents a novel process-and-voltage-invariant proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) current reference. The proposed circuit is designed and fabricated in 180-nm mixed-mode CMOS technology. Measurement results show that the IPTAT varies only by ±2.4% (±3σ/mean) across 18 test chips. One thousand Monte Carlo simulation runs show that the maximum deviation (±3σ/mean) from the desired value of the PTAT current is ±5.4%. The proposed PTAT current reference uses a process, voltage, and temperature (PVT)-invariant resistor circuit having RON variation reduced by 4.2 times, as compared to a fixed biased MOSFET. The proposed PTAT current reference draws only 800-nA current from the supply voltage and also exhibits a high dc power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) of 106 dB. This brief also presents a PVT-invariant transconductance using the implemented PVT-invariant resistor.
Did China Effectively Manage Its Foreign Exchange Reserves? Revisiting the Currency Composition Change

ABSTRACT To estimate the currency composition of China’s foreign exchange reserves and assess its effectiveness of management, the constrained least square method and variance sensitive analysis are utilized, respectively. Based on portfolio accounting identities, the change of foreign exchange reserves was decomposed into the net purchase change and the non-purchase change. The newly constructed non-purchase change was used to estimate the latent currency composition. Empirical results show that by the end of 2015Q1, China held about 63.6% of its reserves in the U.S. dollar, 19.6% in the euro, 3.09% in the Japanese yen, 4.89% in the pound sterling, 2.22% in the Canadian dollar, 2.03% in the Australian dollar, and 0.09% in the Swiss franc. Although the currency composition kept relatively stable, more attention had been paid to the emerging international currencies. China decreased the U.S. dollar share during the subprime crisis, while resorted to the portfolio rebalance strategy since 2011. The euro share and the pound sterling share declined during the European sovereign debt crisis. The first derivative of the U.S. dollar was positive while those of other currencies were negative before 2014Q3, and vice versa after 2014Q4. In general, the currency composition management of China’s foreign exchange reserves was effective.
Low-temperature Raman fingerprints for few-quintuple layer topological insulator Bi2Se3 films epitaxied on GaAs

Topological insulators (Bi2Se3) of single- and few-quintuple-layer (few-QLs) films were investigated by Raman spectroscopy and epitaxied on a GaAs substrate. At a measurement temperature of 80 K, we observed the emergence of additional A2u and Eu modes (Raman inactive in the bulk crystal) below 9-QLs film thicknesses, assigned to the crystal-symmetry breakdown in ultrathin films. Furthermore, the out-of-plane A1g modes changed in width, frequency, and intensity for decreasing numbers of QL, while the in-plane Eg mode split into three Raman lines, not resolved in previous room temperature experiments. The out-of-plane Raman modes showed a strong Raman resonance at 2.4 eV for around 4-QLs film thickness, and the resonant position of the same modes shifted to 2.2 eV for 18-QLs-thick film. The film thickness-dependence of the phonons frequencies cannot solely be explained within models of weak van der Waals interlayer coupling. The results are discussed in terms of stacking-induced changes in inter- and intralayer bonding and/or the presence of long-range Coulombic interlayer interactions in topological insulator Bi2Se3. This work demonstrates that Raman spectroscopy is sensitive to changes in film thickness over the critical range of 9- to 4-QLs, which coincides with the transition between a gapless topological insulator (occurring above 6-QLs) to a conventional gapped insulator (occurring below 4-QLs).
Are There Causal Relationships between Islamic versus Conventional Equity Indices? International Evidence

Abstract This paper investigates Islamic Versus Conventional market indexes’ performance. It analyzes also their short and long term relationship by testing cointegration, causality and impulse response functions. The sample period is from 2003 to 2011 and splited into 3 sub-periods: pre, during and post subprime crisis. Our findings provide evidence that first, index performance are somewhat mixed over the different period and through the different indices under consideration, and support the hypothesis that the impact of faith-based screens on investment performance is insignificant. Second, over the three sub-periods, there is no long run relationship between the Islamic indices and their conventional counterparts’ performance, except for the Islamic emerging markets indices. Third, in the short-run, we find different causal links between Islamic Versus non-Islamic indices over the three sub-periods. This finding is robust even after testing an impulse responses functions. Our findings have important implications for international portfolio diversification.
Angiotensin II Enhances Adenylyl Cyclase Signaling via Ca2+/Calmodulin

Cardiac fibroblasts regulate formation of extracellular matrix in the heart, playing key roles in cardiac remodeling and hypertrophy. In this study, we sought to characterize cross-talk between Gq and Gs signaling pathways and its impact on modulating collagen synthesis by cardiac fibroblasts. Angiotensin II (ANG II) activates cell proliferation and collagen synthesis but also potentiates cyclic AMP (cAMP) production stimulated by β-adrenergic receptors (β-AR). The potentiation of β-AR-stimulated cAMP production by ANG II is reduced by phospholipase C inhibition and enhanced by overexpression of Gq. Ionomycin and thapsigargin increased intracellular Ca2+ levels and potentiated isoproterenol- and forskolin-stimulated cAMP production, whereas chelation of Ca2+ with 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N′, N′-tetraacetic acid/AM inhibited such potentiation. Inhibitors of tyrosine kinases, protein kinase C, or Gβγ did not alter this cross-talk. Immunoblot analyses showed prominent expression of adenylyl cyclase 3 (AC3), a Ca2+-activated isoform, along with AC2, AC4, AC5, AC6, and AC7. Of those isoforms, only AC3 and AC5/6 proteins were detected in caveolin-rich fractions. Overexpression of AC6 increased βAR-stimulated cAMP accumulation but did not alter the size of the ANG II potentiation, suggesting that the cross-talk is AC isoform-specific. Isoproterenol-mediated inhibition of serum-stimulated collagen synthesis increased from 31 to 48% in the presence of ANG II, indicating that βAR-regulated collagen synthesis increased in the presence of ANG II. These data indicate that ANG II potentiates cAMP formation via Ca2+-dependent activation of AC activity, which in turn attenuates collagen synthesis and demonstrates one functional consequence of cross-talk between Gq and Gs signaling pathways in cardiac fibroblasts.
Exploring Neuro-Physiological Correlates of Drivers' Mental Fatigue Caused by Sleep Deprivation Using Simultaneous EEG, ECG, and fNIRS Data

Investigations of the neuro-physiological correlates of mental loads, or states, have attracted significant attention recently, as it is particularly important to evaluate mental fatigue in drivers operating a motor vehicle. In this research, we collected multimodal EEG/ECG/EOG and fNIRS data simultaneously to develop algorithms to explore neuro-physiological correlates of drivers' mental states. Each subject performed simulated driving under two different conditions (well-rested and sleep-deprived) on different days. During the experiment, we used 68 electrodes for EEG/ECG/EOG and 8 channels for fNIRS recordings. We extracted the prominent features of each modality to distinguish between the well-rested and sleep-deprived conditions, and all multimodal features, except EOG, were combined to quantify mental fatigue during driving. Finally, a novel driving condition level (DCL) was proposed that distinguished clearly between the features of well-rested and sleep-deprived conditions. This proposed DCL measure may be applicable to real-time monitoring of the mental states of vehicle drivers. Further, the combination of methods based on each classifier yielded substantial improvements in the classification accuracy between these two conditions.
High‐resolution DTI with 2D interleaved multislice reduced FOV single‐shot diffusion‐weighted EPI (2D ss‐rFOV‐DWEPI)

Diffusion tensor MRI (DTI), using single‐shot 2D diffusion weighted‐EPI (2D ss‐DWEPI), is limited to intracranial (i.c.) applications far from the sinuses and bony structures, due to the severe geometric distortions caused by significant magnetic field inhomogeneities at or near the tissue‐air or tissue‐bone interfaces. Reducing these distortions in single‐shot EPI by shortening the readout period generally requires a reduced field of view (and the potential of wraparound artifact) in the phase‐encoding direction and/or reduced spatial resolution. To resolve the problem, a novel 2D reduced FOV single‐shot diffusion‐weighted EPI (2D ss‐rFOV‐DWEPI) pulse sequence applicable for high resolution diffusion‐weighted MRI of local anatomic regions, such as brainstem, cervical spinal cord, and optic nerve, has been developed. In the proposed technique, time‐efficient interleaved acquisition of multiple slices with a limited FOV was achieved by applying an even number of refocusing 180° pulses with the slice‐selection gradient applied in the phase‐encoding direction. The two refocusing pulses used for each slice acquisition were separated by a short time interval (typically less than 45 ms) required for the 2D EPI echotrain acquisition. The new technique can be useful for high resolution DTI of various anatomies, such as localized brain structures, cervical spinal cord, optic nerve, heart, or other extra‐cerebral organ, where conventional 2D ss‐DWEPI is limited in usage due to the severity of image distortions. Magn Reson Med, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Is Real Exchange Rate Misalignment a Leading Indicator of Currency Crises in Nigeria?

This paper constructs an early warning system (EWS) for currency crises in Nigeria based on selected key macroeconomic indicators. It estimates the probabilities of currency crises as a logistic function of the included variables within the framework of a logit model. Particularly, the extent to which real exchange rate misalignment (RERMIS) could be used as a leading indicator of currency crisis is investigated by including its lag in the model. Our findings show that the likelihood of currency crisis increases when the real exchange rate is misaligned; the exchange rate is volatile; oil price declines; debt/GDP ratio increases; and the current account balance to GDP ratio declines. Based on the size, sign and statistical significance of its coefficient in the currency crisis model, the study confirms that RERMIS represents a useful leading indicator of currency crisis in the country. Besides, its inclusion improves overall model performance substantially. The paper therefore recommends regular assessments of the value of the Naira exchange rate vis-a-vis its equilibrium level with a view to implementing appropriate policy responses to arrest or avoid prolonged and substantial misalignments. Since all the variables enter the equation in their one period lags, the estimated model constitutes a reliable early warning system to policy makers on the possibility of impending currency crisis in the country.