Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Productivity Growth: A Puzzle

We explore empirically the relationship between economic growth, factor inputs, institutions, and entrepreneurship. In particular, we investigate whether entrepreneurship and institutions, either independently or in combination in an ecosystem, represent the “missing link” in explaining cross country differences in productivity. To do this, we introduce a new concept: namely National Entrepreneurial Ecosystem that is based on a methodology that combines institutions and human agency into an interdependent system of complementarities. We argue that entrepreneurship operating in particular institutional contexts, perhaps via the National Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, impacts efficiency which measures how effectively given technology and factors of production are actually used. We explore the empirical relevance of these ideas using data from a representative global survey and institutional sources for 46 counties over the period 2002-2011. We find support for the independent impact of institutions as well as for the role of the ecosystem in less developed economies.
Technology Spillovers, Information Externality, and Stock Price Crash Risk

Technology spillovers have previously been shown to positively affect a firm’s market value and innovation activities. We build on this literature by showing that value-relevant information from technology spillovers significantly reduces the likelihood of the focal firm experiencing a stock price crash. This result is robust to alternative measures and potential endogeneity. We further demonstrate two likely channels for the crash risk-reducing effect of technology spillovers. The first channel is managerial learning: the effect is more pronounced for firms whose managers are more likely to learn from technological peers. The second channel is investor learning: the effect is stronger for more opaque firms. Our findings provide novel evidence that the information externality associated with peer firms’ technology activities helps to reduce the focal firm’s stock price crash risk.
Variety, sex and ontogenetic differences in the pelvic limb muscle architectural properties of leghorn chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) and their links with locomotor performance

Leghorn (layer) chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) differ in locomotor morphology and performance due to artificial selection for standard (large) and bantam (small) varieties, sexual dimorphisms and ontogenetic stage. Here, the hind limb skeletal muscle architectural properties of mature and juvenile standard breeds and mature bantams are compared and linked to measures of locomotor performance. Mature males possessed greater relative muscle physiological cross‐sectional areas (PCSAs) than their conspecific females, indicative of greater force‐generating capacity, and in line with their greater maximum sustainable speeds compared with females. Furthermore, some of the relative fascicle lengths of the pennate muscles were greater in mature males than in mature females, which may permit greater muscle contractibility. Immature standard leghorns, however, did not share the same dimorphisms as their mature forms. The differences in architectural properties between immature and mature standard males indicate that with the onset of male sexual maturity, concomitant with increasing muscle mass in males, the relative fascicle lengths of pennate muscles and the relative PCSAs of the parallel‐fibred muscles also increase. The age‐related differences in standard breed male muscle architecture are linked to the presence and absence of sex differences in maximum aerobic speeds. Males of bantam and standard varieties shared similar muscle proportions (% body mass), but exhibited intrinsic muscle differences with a tendency for greater force‐generating capabilities in bantams and greater contractile capabilities in standards. The metabolic costs associated with the longer fascicle lengths, together with more crouched limbs in standard than in bantam males may explain the lack of allometry in the minimum metabolic cost of transport between these birds of different size.
Possible Incremental Benefits of Specialized Rehabilitation Bed Units Among Veterans After Lower Extremity Amputation

Background:Little is known about the effect of different types of inpatient rehabilitation on outcomes of patients undergoing lower extremity amputation for nontraumatic reasons. Objective:To compare outcomes between patients who received inpatient rehabilitation on specific rehabilitation bed units (specialized) to patients who received rehabilitation on general medical/surgical units (generalized) during the acute postoperative period. Methods:This was an observational study including 1339 veterans who underwent lower extremity amputation between October 1, 2002 and September 30, 2004. Data were compiled from 9 administrative databases from the Veterans Health Administration. Propensity score risk adjustment methodology was used to reduce selection bias in looking at the effect of type of rehabilitation on outcomes (1-year survival, home discharge from the hospital, prescription of a prosthetic limb within 1 year post surgery, and improvement in physical functioning at rehabilitation discharge). Results:After applying propensity score risk adjustment, there was strong evidence that patients who received specialized versus generalized rehabilitation were more likely to be discharged home (risk difference = 0.10), receive a prescription for a prosthetic limb (risk difference = 0.13), and improve physical functioning (gains on average 6.2 points higher). Specialized patients had higher 1-year survival (risk difference = 0.05), but the difference was not statistically significant. The sensitivity analysis demonstrated our findings to be unaffected by a moderately strong amount of unmeasured confounding. Conclusions:Receipt of specialized compared with generalized rehabilitation during the acute postoperative inpatient period was associated with better outcomes. Future studies will need to look at different intensity, timing, and location of rehabilitation services.
The Speed of Large-Scale Transformation of Political and Economic Institutions

This article compares the applicability of both the gradual and the shock therapy approach to reform implementation in large-scale change. Using quantitative data, it aims to provide more evidence for the lessons learned from post-socialist transformation. Hence it adds a theoretical and an empirical contribution to the body of literature on great transformations, focusing on their speed and the acceptability of related policy solutions. Despite the predominant inclination towards the gradualist approach to reforms in the initial transition years, economic indicators suggest that the big bang reformers have demonstrated a superior performance over the last (few) decade(s). Still, the approach to (post-)transition processes should be multidimensional and include more than the speed of transformation and key economic indicators. Therefore, a quantitative analysis covers several aspects of socioeconomic change. The analysis of the quality of democracy, market economy, and management performance in post-socialist EU member states indicates that over the last decade the countries that applied the shock therapy approach have performed significantly better in all these areas. This suggests that slow reformers are lagging behind in the development of democratic institutions and a modern market economy, and presumably have insufficient capacities to rapidly catch up with fast reformers. Further research on this topic should tackle the deep roots of socioeconomic development and path-dependent choices (reform speed included), proximity to Western countries, the possible effects of other specific circumstances (such as war), the importance of selected institutions on the performance of post-socialist non-EU member states, and other limitations.
Proactive telephone counseling for smoking cessation: meta-analyses by recruitment channel and methodological quality.

BACKGROUND Systematic reviews demonstrated that proactive telephone counseling increases smoking cessation rates. However, these reviews did not differentiate studies by recruitment channel, did not adequately assess methodological quality, and combined different measures of abstinence. METHODS Twenty-four randomized controlled trials published before December 31, 2008, included seven of active recruitment, 16 of passive recruitment, and one of mixed recruitment. We rated methodological quality on selection bias, study design, confounders, blinding, data collection methods, withdrawals, and dropouts, according to the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. We conducted random effects meta-analysis to pool the results according to abstinence type and follow-up time for studies overall and segregated by recruitment channel, and methodological quality. The level of statistical heterogeneity was quantified by I(2). All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS Methodological quality ratings indicated two strong, 10 moderate, and 12 weak studies. Overall, compared with self-help materials or no intervention control groups, proactive telephone counseling had a statistically significantly greater effect on point prevalence abstinence (nonsmoking at follow-up or abstinent for at least 24 hours, 7 days before follow-up) at 6-9 months (relative risk [RR] = 1.26, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.11 to 1.43, P < .001, I(2) = 21.4%) but not at 12-15 months after recruitment. This pattern also emerged when studies were segregated by recruitment channel (active, passive) or methodological quality (strong/moderate, weak). Overall, the positive effect on prolonged/continuous abstinence (abstinent for 3 months or longer before follow-up) was also statistically significantly greater at 6-9 months (RR = 1.58, CI = 1.26 to 1.98, P < .001, I(2) = 49.1%) and 12-18 months after recruitment (RR = 1.40, CI = 1.23 to 1.60, P < .001, I(2) = 18.5%). CONCLUSIONS With the exception of point prevalence abstinence in the long term, these data support previous results showing that proactive telephone counseling has a positive impact on smoking cessation. Proactive telephone counseling increased prolonged/continuous abstinence long term for both actively and passively recruited smokers.
Bailing Out the People? When Private Debt Becomes Public

This paper documents a form of private sector bailout that is much more common (and yet unnoticed) than the typical bank bailout. Building on the newly-created Global Debt Database, we show that excess private debt systematically turns into higher public debt, regardless of whether the credit boom resulted in a crisis or a more orderly deleveraging process. This debt migration operates mainly through growth rather than explicit bailouts: private deleveraging weighs on activity, prompting a countercyclical government response to support economic activity. Ultimately, whether this debt substitution results in a net increase or a net decline of overall indebtedness in the economy depends on the extent of the growth slowdown during the deleveraging spell. These findings suggest that markets and policymakers should move away from looking at private and sovereign debt in silos and pay closer attention to the total stock of debt in the economy, as the line between the two tends to become blurry.
Cortical thickness in frontoparietal and cingulo-opercular networks predicts executive function performance in older adults.

OBJECTIVE This study examined the relationship between cortical thickness in executive control networks and neuropsychological measures of executive function. METHOD Forty-one community-dwelling older adults completed an MRI scan and a neuropsychological battery including 5 measures of executive function. RESULTS Factor analysis of executive function measures revealed 2 distinct factors: (a) Complex Attention Control (CAC), comprised of tasks that required immediate response to stimuli and involved subtle performance feedback; and (b) Sustained Executive Control (SEC), comprised of tasks that involved maintenance and manipulation of information over time. Neural networks of interest were the frontoparietal network (F-P) and cingulo-opercular network (C-O), which have previously been hypothesized to relate to different components of executive function, based on functional MRI studies, but not neuropsychological factors. Linear regression models revealed that greater cortical thickness in the F-P network, but not the C-O network, predicted better performance on the CAC factor, whereas greater cortical thickness in the C-O network, but not the F-P network, predicted better performance on the SEC factor. CONCLUSIONS The relationship between cortical thickness and performance on executive function measures was characterized by a double dissociation between the thickness of cortical regions hypothesized to be involved in executive control and distinct executive processes. Results indicate that fundamentally different executive processes may be predicted by cortical thickness in distinct brain networks.
Ion transport studies and determination of the cell wall elastic modulus in the marine alga Halicystis parvula

Using cultured cells of the marine alga, Halicystis parvula, we measured the concentrations of 11 inorganic ions in the vacuolar sap and the electrical potential difference (PD) between the vacuole and the external solution. In normal cells under steady-state conditions a comparison of the electrochemical equilibrium (Nernst) potential for each ion with the PD of -82 mV (inside negative) indicates that Na+ and K+ are actively transported out of the vacuole whereas all anions are pumped into the cell. Although the [K+] in the vacuole is only 9 mM, the cytoplasmic [K+] is about 420 mM, which suggests that the outwardly directed pump is at the tonoplast. Using large Halicystis cells we perfused the vacuole with an artificial seawater and conducted a short- circuit analysis of ion transport. The short-circuit current (SCC) of 299 peq - cm-2-s-1 is not significantly different from the net influx of Cl-. There is a small, but statistically significant net efflux of K+ (less than 1 pmol-cm-2.-1), while the influx and efflux of Na+ are not significantly different. Therefore, the SCC is a good measure of the activity of the Cl- pump. Finally, we measured the volumetric elastic modulus (epsilon) of the cell wall by measuring the change in cell volume when the internal hydrostatic pressure was altered. The value of epsilon at applied pressures between 0 and 0.4 atm is about 0.6 atm, which is at least 100-fold lower than the values of epsilon for all other algae which have been studied.
Are Suicide Rate Fluctuations Transitory or Permanent? Panel KSS Unit Root Test with a Fourier Function through the Sequential Panel Selection Method

The purpose of this study is to examine whether suicide shocks are transitory or permanent in 23 OECD countries. The Panel KSS Unit Root Test with a Fourier Function through the Sequential Panel Selection Method (SPSM) that allow us to control for structural breaks and nonlinearity as well as cross-section dependency and heterogeneity is applied to test whether suicide rates across 23 OECD countries for the period from 1961 to 2006 are stationary. The SPSM classifies the whole panel into a group of stationary series and a group of non-stationary series that is very suitable to identify how many and which series in the panel are stationary processes. The empirical results from several conventional unit root tests indicate that the suicide rates for the OECD countries are non-stationary. Nevertheless, when the proposed panel unit root test is used to test for the unit root hypothesis of suicide rates, we find that the suicide rates are stationary in 7 out of the 23 OECD countries. Our results thereby point out the importance of the proper modelling of both structural breaks and nonlinearities to test for the unit root hypothesis of suicide rates. These findings also imply that suicide rates in these OECD countries are overall not transitory and the government should progressively intervene into unexpected shocks that would increase suicide rates for suicide prevention.
A Novel Function for CRISP1 in Rodent Fertilization: Involvement in Sperm-Zona Pellucida Interaction1

Abstract Epididymal protein CRISP1 participates in rat and mouse gamete fusion through its interaction with complementary sites on the egg surface. Based on in vivo observations, in the present study we investigated the possibility that CRISP1 plays an additional role in the sperm-zona pellucida (ZP) interaction that precedes gamete fusion. In vitro fertilization experiments using zona-intact rat and mouse eggs indicated that the presence of either an antibody against rat CRISP1 (anti-CRISP1) or rat native CRISP1 (rCRISP1) during gamete co-incubation produced a significant decrease in the percentage of fertilized eggs. However, differently to that expected for a protein involved in gamete fusion, no accumulation of perivitelline sperm was observed, suggesting that the inhibitions occurred at the sperm-ZP interaction level. Bacterially expressed recombinant CRISP1 (recCRISP1) also significantly inhibited egg fertilization. In this case, however, an increase in the number of perivitelline sperm was observed. Subsequent experiments evaluating the effect of anti-CRISP1 or rCRISP1 on the number of sperm bound per egg indicated that the protein is involved in the initial step of sperm-ZP binding. In agreement with these functional studies, indirect immunofluorescence experiments revealed that although rCRISP1 is capable of binding to both the ZP and the oolema, recCRISP1 only binds to the egg surface. The finding that deglycosylated rCRISP1 behaves as the untreated protein, whereas the heat-denatured rCRISP1 associated only with the oolema, indicates that the protein ZP-binding ability resides in the conformation rather than in the glycosydic portion of the molecule. The interaction between rCRISP1 and the ZP reproduces the sperm-ZP-binding behavior, as judged by the failure of the protein to interact with the ZP of fertilized eggs. Together, these results support the idea that CRISP1 participates not only in sperm-egg fusion but also in the prior stage of sperm-ZP interaction.
Dual-Regularized Feedback and Precoding for D2D-Assisted MIMO Systems

This paper considers the problem of efficient feedback design for massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) downlink transmissions in frequency division duplexing (FDD) bands, where some partial channel state information (CSI) can be directly exchanged between users via device-to-device (D2D) communications. Drawing inspiration from classical point-to-point MIMO, where efficient mechanisms are obtained by feeding back directly the precoder, this paper proposes a new approach to bridge the channel feedback and the precoder feedback by the joint design of the feedback and precoding strategy following a team decision framework. Specifically, the users and the base station (BS) minimize a common mean squared error (MSE) metric based on their individual observations on the imperfect global CSI. The solutions are found to take similar forms as the regularized zero-forcing (RZF) precoder, with additional regularizations that capture any level of uncertainty in the exchanged CSI, in case the D2D links are absent or unreliable. Numerical results demonstrate superior performance of the proposed scheme for an arbitrary D2D link quality setup.
Does support from government help firms survive? Evidence on financial and political assistance in China, 1998–2007

ABSTRACT Using the National Bureau of Statistics data set over the period 1998–2007, this article examines the dual roles of financial assistance and strong political links on firm survival in China by applying a semi-parametric duration model. We find that generally either financial assistance or strong political links had a positive effect on the likelihood of firm survival. Furthermore, if firms received both types of support from government, their survival rate was around two times as high compared to only receiving a single support. The likelihood of survival depended on the amount of assistance a firm received. We also find firm ownership impacts on its survival pattern. Lastly, China joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO) coincided with (cet. par.) higher firm failure, especially with regard to state-owned firms; however, this period also saw the authorities targeting political and financial help on the ‘better’ firms (especially SOEs) with characteristics likely to increase their chance of survival.
Examining whites’ anti-black attitudes after Obama’s presidency

ABSTRACT We develop and test competing theoretical expectations about the level and effects of white prejudice against blacks in the aftermath of America’s first black presidency. Using both cross-sectional and panel survey datasets of nationally representative samples of Americans, we find little evidence that any of the following declined during Obama’s presidency: white opposition to black leaders, white opposition to policies intended to benefit blacks, white prejudice against blacks, or the impact of prejudice on white vote choice. Furthermore, the impact of prejudice on policy opinion appears to have increased over this time period, even beyond existing findings indicating a spillover of racialization. These findings suggest that Obama’s rise to power increased whites’ perception that blacks threaten their dominant position in the United States.
Toddler hand preference trajectories predict 3‐year language outcome

A growing body of work suggests that early motor experience affects development in unexpected domains. In the current study, children's hand preference for role-differentiated bimanual manipulation (RDBM) was measured at monthly intervals from 18 to 24 months of age (N = 90). At 3 years of age, children's language ability was assessed using the Preschool Language Scales 5th edition (PLS™-5). Three distinct RDBM hand preference trajectories were identified using latent class growth analysis: (1) children with a left hand preference but a moderate amount of right hand use; (2) children with a right hand preference but a moderate amount of left hand use; and (3) children with a right hand preference and only a mild amount of left hand use. Stability over time within all three trajectories indicated that children did not change hand use patterns from 18 to 24 months. Children with the greatest amount of preferred (i.e., right) hand use demonstrated higher expressive language scores compared to children in both trajectories with moderate levels of non-preferred hand use. Children with the greatest amount of right hand use also had higher scores for receptive language compared to children with a right hand preference but moderate left hand use. Results support that consistency in handedness as measured by the amount of preferred hand use is related to distal language outcomes in development.