Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The euro's effect on trade: an analysis of "old" and "new" EMU members

This paper provides new empirical evidence of the ``euro effect" on bilateral trade by allowing for a heterogeneous impact on ``new" and ``old" EMU members. By applying a Poisson estimator and focusing on a sample of 38 countries, our results show a positive but statistically insignificant euro’s effect on bilateral exports. However, disaggregating this effect, we report a relatively large euro’s effect on bilateral trade for the “new” EMU countries. We also find no evidence of trade diversion, thus corroborating existing evidence. These results are robust to a number of sensitivity checks and, especially, to the use of a larger sample of countries. Finally, using country-pair and country-industry-pair data, our results indicate a reduction in export concentration in the bilateral trade of ``old" EMU countries. Instead, we find an increase in concentration in trade between ``new" and ``old" EMU countries.
Executive functioning in school-aged children who were born very preterm or with extremely low birth weight in the 1990s.

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency, nature, and severity of executive dysfunction (EDF) at 8 years of age in extremely low birth weight (ELBW)/very preterm infants who were born in the 1990s, compared with normal birth weight (NBW) control subjects. METHODS A geographically determined cohort study was conducted in Victoria, Australia. The ELBW/very preterm cohort comprised 298 consecutive survivors at 2 years of age who had gestational ages <28 completed weeks or birth weights <1000 g and were born during 1991-1992. The NBW cohort comprised 262 randomly selected children of birth weight >2499 g matched on date of birth, gender, ethnicity, and health insurance status. The participation rate was 92% (275 of 298) for the ELBW/very preterm cohort and 85% (223 of 262) for the NBW cohort. Cognitive and behavioral measures of executive functioning were administered. RESULTS The ELBW/very preterm cohort exhibited significant EDF compared with their NBW peers in all areas assessed. The cognitive assessment revealed global impairment rather than deficits in specific executive domains. The ELBW/very preterm children also displayed more behavioral problems indicative of EDF than the NBW children. Severe impairments were exhibited in only a small minority of ELBW/very preterm children. No statistical conclusions were altered after adjustment for sociodemographic variables or when children with substantial neurosensory impairment were excluded. CONCLUSIONS School-aged children who were born in the 1990s and were very preterm or had ELBW are at greater risk for developing EDF and require ongoing neuropsychological review throughout middle childhood.
An Horizontal Innovation Growth Model with Endogenous Time Allocation and Non-Stable Demography

We propose a decentralized endogenous growth model in order to study the transitional dynamics associated with the process of population aging in a small open economy, that has endogenous time allocation and two growth engines: R&D and human capital accumulation. Growth of per capita output is affected negatively by the difference in the rates of growth of labor force and of the total population in the period where the weight of the labor force decreases to a new and lower level. The biggest impact on per capita output growth should be during the period where labor force grows at a lower rate than the popu- lation unless it is compensated by some other effect. Under some assumptions, a decrease in the corporate tax improves growth.
Effect of Eccentric Strengthening on Pain, Muscle Strength, Endurance, and Functional Fitness Factors in Male Patients with Achilles Tendinopathy

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of eccentric strengthening on pain, muscle strength, endurance, and functional fitness factors in Achilles tendinopathy patients. Design Thirty-two male patients with Achilles tendinopathy were assigned to either the experimental group that performed eccentric strengthening or the control group that performed concentric strengthening (n = 16, both groups) for 8 wks (50 mins per day, three times per week). A visual analog scale, an isokinetic muscle testing equipment, the side-step test, and the Sargent jump test were used to assess pain, muscle strength, endurance, and functional fitness factors before and after the intervention. Results In comparison with the control group, the experimental group showed significant improvement in pain, ankle dorsiflexion endurance, total balance index, and agility after the intervention (P < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference in dexterity between the two groups. Conclusions Eccentric strengthening was more effective than concentric strengthening in reducing pain and improving function in patients with Achilles tendinopathy; therefore, regular eccentric strengthening is important for patients in a clinical setting.
A re-examination of welfare states and inequality in rich nations: How in-kind transfers and indirect taxes change the story

Previous studies find large crossnational differences in inequality amongst rich Western nations, due in large part to differences in the generosity of welfare state transfers. The United States is the least generous nation and the one having the most aftertax and transfer inequality. But these analyses are limited to the effects of cash and nearcash transfers and direct taxes on incomes, while on average, half of welfare state transfers in rich nations are inkind benefits-health insurance, education, and other services. Counting inkind benefits at government cost and accounting for the indirect taxes used to finance transfers substantially reduces crossnational differences in inequality at the bottom of the income distribution. The findings have implications for how we think about tradeoffs across welfare state domains that all nations face and we illustrate this with reference to the current U.S. debate about health insurance. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management
Immunocompromised status in patients with necrotizing soft-tissue infection.

IMPORTANCE There is a scarcity of research on immunocompromised patients with necrotizing soft-tissue infection (NSTI). OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of immunocompromised status in patients with NSTI. DESIGN AND SETTING Single-institution retrospective cohort study at a tertiary academic teaching hospital affiliated with a major cancer center. PARTICIPANTS Patients with NSTI. EXPOSURE Treatment at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute between November 25, 1995, and April 25, 2011. MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURE Necrotizing soft-tissue infection-associated in-hospital mortality. RESULTS Two hundred one patients were diagnosed as having NSTI. Forty-six were immunocompromised (as defined by corticosteroid use, active malignancy, receipt of chemotherapy or radiation therapy, diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus or AIDS, or prior solid organ or bone marrow transplantation with receipt of chronic immunosuppression). At presentation, immunocompromised patients had lower systolic blood pressure (105 vs 112 mm Hg, P = .02), glucose level (124 vs 134 mg/dL, P = .03), and white blood cell count (6600/μL vs 17 200/μL, P < .001) compared with immunocompetent patients. Immunocompromised patients were less likely to have been transferred from another institution (26.1% vs 52.9%, P = .001), admitted to a surgical service (45.7% vs 83.2%, P < .001), or undergone surgical debridement on admission (4.3% vs 61.3%, P = .001). Time to diagnosis and time to first surgical procedure were delayed in immunocompromised patients (P < .001 and P = .001, respectively). Immunocompromised patients had higher NSTI-associated in-hospital mortality (39.1% vs 19.4%, P = .01). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Immunocompromised status in patients with NSTI in this study is associated with delays in diagnosis and surgical treatment and with higher NSTI-associated in-hospital mortality. At presentation, immunocompromised patients may fail to exhibit typical clinical and laboratory signs of NSTI. Physicians caring for similar patient populations should maintain a heightened level of suspicion for NSTI and consider early surgical evaluation and treatment.
Interferon-γ release assays for active pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosis in adults in low- and middle-income countries: systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND The diagnostic value of interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs) for active tuberculosis in low- and middle-income countries is unclear. METHODS We searched multiple databases for studies published through May 2010 that evaluated the diagnostic performance of QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) and T-SPOT.TB (T-SPOT) among adults with suspected active pulmonary tuberculosis or patients with confirmed cases in low- and middle-income countries. We summarized test performance characteristics with use of forest plots, hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC) curves, and bivariate random effects models. RESULTS Our search identified 789 citations, of which 27 observational studies (17 QFT-GIT and 10 T-SPOT) evaluating 590 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-uninfected and 844 HIV-infected individuals met inclusion criteria. Among HIV-infected patients, HSROC/bivariate pooled sensitivity estimates (highest quality data) were 76% (95% confidence interval [CI], 45%-92%) for T-SPOT and 60% (95% CI, 34%-82%) for QFT-GIT. HSROC/bivariate pooled specificity estimates were low for both IGRA platforms among all participants (T-SPOT, 61% [95% CI, 40%-79%]; QFT-GIT, 52% [95% CI, 41%-62%]) and among HIV-infected persons (T-SPOT, 52% [95% CI, 40%-63%]; QFT-GIT, 50% [95% CI, 35%-65%]). There was no consistent evidence that either IGRA was more sensitive than the tuberculin skin test for active tuberculosis diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS In low- and middle-income countries, neither the tuberculin skin test nor IGRAs have value for active tuberculosis diagnosis in adults, especially in the context of HIV coinfection.
Environmental Impact Associated with the Supply Chain and Production of Biodiesel from Jatropha curcas L. through Life Cycle Analysis

The energy market is diversifying, allowing for the development of biofuels that seek to reduce environmental impact and be energetically competitive with conventional fuels. One of the aforementioned biofuels is the biodiesel that is produced from the oil extracted from the seeds of Jatropha curcas L. This research uses life cycle analysis (LCA) tool to analyze the following environmental impacts associated with its production: energy, water footprint, carbon footprint, mineral resource depletion, fossil resource depletion, terrestrial ecotoxicity, and human toxicity. The following stages were evaluated: (i) cultivation, (ii) the extraction of oil, and (iii) the biodiesel manufacturing process. The results showed that the overall process has an accumulated energy demand of 37.9 MJ/kg biodiesel, and generates 2.16 kg CO2 eq. of greenhouse gases (GHG) per kg of biofuel. The cultivation stage had the greatest contribution towards its energy and carbon footprints, taking up 45% and 60%, respectively. However, considering the energy valorization of the coproducts that are generated in the agricultural and extraction stages for self-consumption into the product system, both categories of impact mentioned above were reduced by 35% and 41%, respectively.
On capturing malware dynamics in mobile power-law networks

The increasing convergence of power-law networks such as social networking and peer-to-peer sites, web applications and mobile platforms makes today's users highly vulnerable to entirely new generations of malware that exploit vulnerabilities in web applications and mobile platforms for new infections, while using the power-law connectivity for finding new victims. The traditional epidemic models based on assumptions of homogeneity, averagedegree distributions, and perfect-mixing are inadequate to model this type of malware propagation. In this paper, we study three aspects crucial to modeling malware propagation in such environments: application-level interactions among users of such networks, local network structure, and user mobility. Since closed-form solutions of malware propagation in such environments are difficult to obtain, we describe an open-source, flexible agent-based emulation framework that can be used by malware researchers for studying today's complex malware. The framework, called Agent-Based Malware Modeling (AMM), allows different applications, network structure and user mobility in either a geographic or a logical domain to study various infection and propagation scenarios. The majority of the parameters used in the framework can be derived from real-life network traces collected from these networks, and therefore, represent realistic malware propagation and infection scenarios. As representative examples, we examine two well-known malware spreading mechanisms: (i) a malicious virus such as Cabir spreading among the subscribers of a cellular network using Bluetooth, and (ii) a hybrid worm that exploit email and file-sharing to infect users of a social network. In both cases, we identify the parameters most important to the spread of the epidemic based upon our extensive simulation results.
Mucoadhesive nanomedicines: characterization and modulation of mucoadhesion at the nanoscale

Introduction: The benefits of mucoadhesive systems are related to the increased in situ residence and intimate contact of the delivery vehicle with the mucosa. The recent emergence of nanomedicine and the properties of nanoparticulate systems have created new challenges in understanding the nature and mechanisms of nanoscale mucoadhesion and in the development of methodologies for measuring its mucoadhesive potential. Even when usually regarded as an advantageous property, mucoadhesion can be an inconvenience for nanosystems, and strategies have been developed for minimizing interactions with the mucosal tissues/fluids. Areas covered: This article summarizes the basic concepts of mucoadhesion at the nanoscale, different techniques used for measuring the mucoadhesive potential of nanosystems and strategies for increasing/decreasing mucoadhesive interactions. Expert opinion: The mucoadhesion behavior of materials in bulk and at the nanoscale can significantly differ. Advances in the methodology used for studying the mucoadhesion phenomenon have contributed to its better understanding and, more importantly, the development of strategies to increase/decrease mucoadhesion. However, development of new methodologies for studying mucoadhesion at the nanoscale and the refinement of existing methodologies are still required. Also, a substantial amount of information is still lacking, particularly related to formulation issues, on how to translate lessons learnt at the bench top to the bed side.
Ceramide Synthase Inhibition by Fumonisin B1 Causes Accumulation of 1-Deoxysphinganine

Fumonisin B1 (FB1) is a mycotoxin that inhibits ceramide synthases (CerS) and causes kidney and liver toxicity and other disease. Inhibition of CerS by FB1 increases sphinganine (Sa), Sa 1-phosphate, and a previously unidentified metabolite. Analysis of the latter by quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry assigned an m/z = 286.3123 in positive ionization mode, consistent with the molecular formula for deoxysphinganine (C18H40NO). Comparison with a synthetic standard using liquid chromatography, electrospray tandem mass spectrometry identified the metabolite as 1-deoxysphinganine (1-deoxySa) based on LC mobility and production of a distinctive fragment ion (m/z 44, CH3CH=NH +2) upon collision-induced dissociation. This novel sphingoid base arises from condensation of alanine with palmitoyl-CoA via serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT), as indicated by incorporation of l-[U-13C]alanine into 1-deoxySa by Vero cells; inhibition of its production in LLC-PK1 cells by myriocin, an SPT inhibitor; and the absence of incorporation of [U-13C]palmitate into 1-[13C]deoxySa in LY-B cells, which lack SPT activity. LY-B-LCB1 cells, in which SPT has been restored by stable transfection, however, produce large amounts of 1-[13C]deoxySa. 1-DeoxySa was elevated in FB1-treated cells and mouse liver and kidney, and its cytotoxicity was greater than or equal to that of Sa for LLC-PK1 and DU-145 cells. Therefore, this compound is likely to contribute to pathologies associated with fumonisins. In the absence of FB1, substantial amounts of 1-deoxySa are made and acylated to N-acyl-1-deoxySa (i.e. 1-deoxydihydroceramides). Thus, these compounds are an underappreciated category of bioactive sphingoid bases and “ceramides” that might play important roles in cell regulation.
The Distribution of the Capacity for Sentience in the Animal Kingdom

• The use of animals for meat, for hide, for their labour and in laboratories has been justified with the assumption that unlike humans, animals aren't fully sentient beings. • This book challenges that assumption with groundbreaking new research that brings into question everything we've ever thought about the ways animals experience the world. • Over twenty contributions from internationally-renowned experts on animal behaviour and agriculture include big names such as Jane Goodall, Tim Lang and Vandana Shiva.
Family Entrepreneurship Orientation in Family Owned SMEs: A Key Resource for Internationalization?

A B S T R A C T Objective : The main goal of this article is to find the answer to the questions: what is the nature of the internationalization of family businesses from Poland? Do they internationalize ad hoc or do they plan an internationalization strategy? Which resources are needed for the internationalization process? Research Design & Methods : The author used qualitative approach with CATI ( Computer Assisted Telephone Interview ), PAPI ( Paper & Pen Personal Interview ) and CAII ( Computer Assisted Internet Interview ) methods. 420 questionnaires were used in the statistical analysis. Findings: This study focuses on the evaluation of entrepreneurship orientation as the main resource of the internationalization nature (ad hoc or a strategic plan) of family businesses from Poland and measured it through the four elements proposed by Covin and Slevin (1989): Innovation, Proactivity, Autonomy and Risk. Implications & Recommendations: To internationalise, family business families need to apply entrepreneurship orientation, especially proactiveness towards new challenges, and strategic planning and tools. Contribution & Value Added: The research provides evidence of a higher degree of EO in the behaviour of a family. More successful family businesses are in international markets. They also have a challenge oriented culture, which means that such companies are oriented towards new ventures, new relations, new solutions and new markets. But they plan new challenges using the strategic approach.
Hydration of the calcium ion. An EXAFS, large-angle x-ray scattering, and molecular dynamics simulation study.

The structure of the hydrated calcium(II) ion in aqueous solution has been studied by means of extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (EXAFS), large-angle X-ray scattering (LAXS), and molecular dynamics (MD) methods. The EXAFS data displayed a broad and asymmetric distribution of the Ca-O bond distances with the centroid at 2.46(2) A. LAXS studies on four aqueous calcium halide solutions (1.5-2 mol dm(-)(3)) gave a mean Ca-O bond distance of 2.46(1) A. This is consistent with a hydration number of 8 determined from correlations between mean distances and coordination numbers from crystal structures. The LAXS studies showed a second coordination sphere with a mean Ca.O(II) distance of 4.58(5) A, and for the hydrated halide ions the distances Cl.O 3.25(1) A, Br.O 3.36(1) A, and I.O 3.61(1) A were obtained. Molecular dynamics simulations of CaCl(2)(aq) were performed using three different Ca(2+)-OH(2) pair potentials. The potential from the GROMOS program gave results in agreement with experiments, i.e., a coordination number of 8 and an average Ca-O distance of 2.46 A, and was used for further comparisons. Theoretical EXAFS oscillations were computed for individual MD snapshots and showed very large variations, though the simulated average spectrum from 2000 snapshots gave satisfactory agreement with the experimental EXAFS spectra. The effect of thermal motions of the coordinated atoms is inherent in the MD simulation method. Thermal disorder parameters evaluated from simulated spatial atom distribution functions of the oxygen atoms coordinated to the calcium ion were in close agreement with those from the current LAXS and EXAFS analyses. The combined results are consistent with a root-mean-square displacement from the mean Ca-O distance of 0.09(2) A in aqueous solution at 300 K.
Upholding labour productivity under climate change: an assessment of adaptation options

ABSTRACT Changes in labour productivity feed through directly to national income. An external shock, like climate change, which may substantially reduce the productivity of workers is therefore a macroeconomic concern. The biophysical impact of higher temperatures on human performance is well documented. Less well understood are the wider effects of higher temperatures on the aggregate productivity of modern, diversified economies, where economic output is produced in contexts ranging from outdoor agriculture to work in air-conditioned buildings. Working conditions are at least to some extent the result of societal choices, which means that the labour productivity effects of heat can be alleviated through careful adaptation. A range of technical, regulatory/infrastructural and behavioural options are available to individuals, businesses and governments. The importance of local contexts prevents a general ranking of the available measures, but many appear cost-effective. Promising options include the optimization of working hours and passive cooling mechanisms. Climate-smart urban planning and adjustments to building design are most suitable to respond to high base temperature, while air conditioning can respond flexibly to short temperature peaks if there is sufficient cheap, reliable and clean electricity. Key policy insights The effect of heat stress on labour productivity is a key economic impact of climate change, which could affect national output and workers’ income. Effective adaptation options exist, such as shifting working hours and cool roofs, but they require policy intervention and forward planning. Strategic interventions, such as climate-smart municipal design, are as important as reactive or project-level adaptations. Adaptation solutions to heat stress are highly context specific and need to be assessed accordingly. For example, shifting working hours could be an effective way of reducing the effect of peak temperatures, but only if there is sufficient flexibility in working patterns.