Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants and Sustainability of External Debt in a Deregulated Economy : A Cointegration Analysis from Nigeria ( 1986-2010 )

The relatively high level of Nigeria’s external indebtedness, and rising debt burden which has serious implications on the country’s development and debt sustainability in terms of ability to pay has led to continued deterioration in Nigeria’s economic performance. This study examines the extent to which Nigeria’s external debt relates to indices of ability to pay in order to ascertain the sustainability of it and to identify the main determinants of her external indebtedness for the period 1986 to 2010. Based on available data and the use of statistical methods, we observed that Nigeria’s external debt is not sustainable in terms of willingness and ability to pay, and that the country’s external debt is characterised by capital flight as a results of external debt accumulation which is evident in the ratio of the country’s reserves to external debt. Using theoretical framework that justifies the demand for external borrowing by developing countries and relying on error correction mechanism and the Johansen cointegration test, we estimated our model after conducting stationarity test, using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test. The result from cointegration test showed presence of long run relationship between external debt and the explanatory variables. The study also found that the main determinants of Nigeria’s external debt are gross domestic product, debt service and exchange rate. To reduce the adverse effects of external debt on the Nigerian economy and make it sustainable the study recommends that an analysis of the economic and social profitability of all external debt financial projects be carried out to ensure that the returns would be in excess of the interest and principal repayment. The aim is to prevent the deadweight effect of external debt on the economy and make it sustainable. The study also recommends that Government should ensure that external finance be used only for projects of highest priority and productivity and adequate machinery should be put in place by all sectors of government to arrest corruption and penalize those who divert and embezzle public funds. This will help to reduce the rising profile of Nigeria’s external debt.
Health services research in breast cancer: background paper for a Canadian Breast Cancer Research Initiative workshop.

OBJECTIVE To describe a systematic review of breast cancer health services research that was conducted to guide a Canadian Breast Cancer Research Initiative workshop. DESIGN A literature review of major citation databases was conducted. The National Cancer Institute of Canada Framework for Cancer Control was adopted to classify articles by theme area and by type of health services research. RESULTS The majority of the studies focused on screening for breast cancer and were descriptive studies on accessibility. Relatively few studies examined quality and outcomes of breast cancer services or interventions to improve such services. Furthermore, few health services research studies examined the areas of supportive care or palliation. CONCLUSIONS The results help to identify the gaps in the Canadian and international research in this area. The material from the review was used as background for a workshop to support the work of the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Initiative Task Force on Health Services Research.
Expression of major surface protein 2 antigenic variants during acute Anaplasma marginale rickettsemia

Antigenic variants of Anaplasma marginale major surface protein 2 (MSP-2), a target of protective immune responses, have been detected by use of copy-specific monoclonal antibodies reactive with some, but not all, organisms during acute rickettsemia. The presence of polymorphic msp-2 genes was confirmed by cloning and sequencing two gene copies, 11.2 and DF5, each of which encodes a full-length MSP-2 with a unique amino acid sequence. Transcription of msp-2 genes during acute rickettsemia was analyzed by use of cDNA cloning of hybrid-selected msp-2 mRNA. Sequencing of cDNA clones, designated AR1 to AR14, indicated that DF5 msp-2 was transcribed during acute rickettsemia. Two classes of variant msp-2 genes were also transcribed during acute rickettsemia. The first class of variant transcripts, typified by clones AR3, AR4, AR7, and AR14, each encoded a single or small number of amino acid substitutions relative to DF5. The second type, AR5, encoded a large region of amino acid polymorphism, including additions, deletions, and substitutions, as compared to DF5. Specific antibody directed against the AR5 polymorphic region bound a unique MSP-2 expressed on A. marginale that was not recognized by antibody generated against DF5. Similarly, anti-AR5 peptide antibody reacted with a different MSP-2 that was not bound by anti-DF5 antibody. This expression confirmed that variant msp-2 transcripts encode structurally distinct MSP-2 molecules which bear unique B-cell epitopes. These results support the hypothesis that the large msp-2 gene family, which constitutes a minimum of 1% of the genome, encodes antigenic variants critical to evasion of protective immune response directed against surface MSP-2 epitopes.
OTORITAS JASA KEUANGAN

Financial system is a network consisting of units of financial institution. In financial institutions there are banking institutions and non-bank financial institutions. Financial institutions have space for each activity. An institution may act as a regulator that regulates the activities of the banking sector or supervisors who supervise banking activities. Regulators and supervisors who are at a certain entity called the financial system authority or OJK (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan). Three authority models developed according to financial market development are the three pillars model that evolved into a twin peaks model and the latter being a model of a single authority. Indonesia is one country that introduced a single authority model in the financial services authority
Cognitive Hypnotherapy for Major Depressive Disorder

Since the publication of the special issue on cognitive hypnotherapy in the Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly (1994), there have been major developments in the application of hypnosis to the treatment of depression. However, there is no “one-size-fits-all” treatment for depressive disorders as the conditions represent a complex set of heterogeneous symptoms, involving multiple etiologies. It is thus important for therapists to promote a multimodal approach to treating depressive disorders. This article describes cognitive hypnotherapy (CH), an evidence-based multimodal psychological treatment that can be applied to a wide range of depressed patients. CH combines hypnosis with cognitive behavior therapy as the latter provides the best integrative lodestone for assimilating empirically supported treatment techniques derived from various psychotherapies.
Factors Influencing Assimilation of Dietary Starch in Beef and Dairy Cattle

Summary: • The process of starch assimilation in the ruminant is complex and remains an avenue by which increases in production efficiency can be gained. • Ruminal starch digestion is typically 75 to 80% of starch intake. Starch that escapes fermentation and flows to the small intestine may be more resistant to enzymatic digestion. On average, 35 to 60% of starch entering the small intestine is degraded there, and of the fraction that escapes small intestinal digestion, 35 to 50% is degraded in the large intestine. This suggests that limitations to small intestinal starch digestion do exist.
Impact of gender on risk stratification by exercise and dobutamine stress echocardiography: long-term mortality in 4234 women and 6898 men.

AIMS Prior research is limited with regard to the diagnostic and prognostic accuracy of commonplace cardiac imaging modalities in women. The aim of this study was to examine 5-year mortality in 4234 women and 6898 men undergoing exercise or dobutamine stress echocardiography at three hospitals. METHODS AND RESULTS Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate time to cardiac death in this multi-centre, observational registry. Of the 11 132 patients, women had a greater frequency of cardiac risk factors (P<0.0001). However, men more often had a history of coronary disease including a greater frequency of echocardiographic wall motion abnormalities (P<0.0001). During 5 years of follow-up, 103 women and 226 men died from ischaemic heart disease (P<0.0001). Echocardiographic estimates of left ventricular function (P<0.0001) and the extent of ischaemic wall motion abnormalities (P<0.0001) were highly predictive of cardiac death. Risk-adjusted 5-year survival was 99.4, 97.6, and 95% for exercising women with no, single, and multi-vessel ischaemia (P<0.0001). For women undergoing dobutamine stress, 5-year survival was 95, 89, and 86.6% for those with 0, 1, and 2-3 vessel ischaemia (P<0.0001). Exercising men had a 2.0-fold higher risk at every level of worsening ischaemia (P<0.0001). Significantly worsening cardiac survival was noted for the 1568 men undergoing dobutamine stress echocardiography (P<0.0001); no ischaemia was associated with 92% 5-year survival as compared with death rates of >/=16% for men with ischaemia on dobutamine stress echocardiography (P<0.0001). CONCLUSION Echocardiographic measures of inducible wall motion abnormalities and global and regional left ventricular function are highly predictive of long-term outcome for women and men alike.
Effect of Industry Type on Adoption of ICT among SMEs In Nigeria. A Case Study of SMEs In Oyo State.

Small and medium enterprises have gradually emerged as potential solutions to the myriad of challenges faced by the modern society and most especially, developing economies. Rising level of industrial sophistication and technical advancement has created a very stiff competition for survival. Nonetheless, the contributions of SME’s to gross domestic product of many developing economies is still hampered by poor business-ICT integration. Survey data was collected from 80 SMEs in Oyo State across different sectors using stratified random sampling technique with the aid of a structured questionnaire. Analysis of regression showed that demographic variable (Staff Strength) significantly influences use of ICT among SMEs while SME service delivery had no influence on ICT use. Also, analysis of variance on the categories of SMEs was not a determinant factor on the use of ICT. The outcome of this study has implications for owners of SMEs, stakeholders, government and academic researchers in developing countries as it can provide patterns to help bridge the existing digital divide especially among Nigerian SMEs.
Society for Advancement of Management 2011 International Business Conference

This research objective is to observe the influences of good corporate governance, analyst coverage, company life cycle, investment opportunities set, size, and profitability towards the dividend policy. This study employs the corporate data from Indonesian Stock Exchange during 2005-2008 and weighted least square methods. The latest sample is 279 years of observation. The result shows that only life cycle stage of the company and its profitability are influential towards the dividend policy. The findings show that the relationship between the good corporate governance is consistent with the hypothesis but not significant.
Sustainability of Marketing Food Crops through the Internet in Lagos, Nigeria

The study investigated sustainability of marketing food crops through the Internet in the Lagos metropolis. Survey and in-depth interview were employed for the execution of the study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 85 questionnaire respondents and communication officer of an online farm produce shopping mall while snowball was adopted for agricultural engineers. The data collected through questionnaire were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics while the interviews with the communication officer and agricultural engineers were analysed through discursive analysis. The study found that unless there is an improvement, the present organisational factors and available technical infrastructure are not favourable to support the sustainability of the medium (r=.798, p <.000) as a means of marketing farm produce. In essence, t he study did not find any clear link between existing information and communication technological infrastructure to the sustainability (marketing) of food crops. Given these, government, telecommunications operators and other Internet service providers should upgrade the broadband connectivity across the country, particularly in the cities.
Night Fever: Investor Inattention and the Timing of Corporate Filings

This paper studies the strategic release of relevant corporate news. Most aspects of relevant news disclosures are regulated, but firms retain flexibility about timing them within the day. We document new stylized facts about investor attention and trading opportunities which create three distinct regimes within the after-trading-hours period. Firms strategically select the regime to release news, leading to sharp discontinuities in news characteristics across sub-periods: (1) big news is released right after market closure allowing for trading opportunities without price feedback, (2) complex news later in the evening when investor attention is maximized, and (3) bad news is more frequent in the overnight period, where an informational blackout generates minimal investor attention.
Documents de Treball de l ’ IEB 2016 / 7 DOUBLE TOIL AND TROUBLE : GRADE RETENTION AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Most recent available evidence points to the scarce efficacy of grade retention for levelling the performance of students. Yet, the fact that many countries persist in applying this measure reflects longstanding traditions, cultural factors and social beliefs as well, it would seem, the lack of robust empirical evidence to do otherwise. We contribute to the literature by analysing the impact of grade retention on the reading competencies of lower secondary school students in Spain, a country where almost one out of every three students will repeat at least one grade by age 16. We overcome the absence of longitudinal data by creating a pseudo-panel that combines microdata from two international assessments, PIRLS and PISA. Having controlled for reverse causality, our study confirms the negative and heterogeneous impact of grade retention. This paper provides new evidence of the pressing need to rethink this educational policy, and our results highlight the importance of early intervention as opposed to only employing remedial measures. JEL Codes: I21, I28, I24
Serving sizes and energy values on the nutrition labels of regular and diet/light processed and ultra-processed dairy products sold in Brazil

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse and compare the serving sizes and energy values reported on the nutrition information of all processed and ultra-processed dairy products in their regular and diet/light versions available for sale in a large supermarket in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach – A check was done for associations between the compliance of reported serving sizes, energy values per serving and energy density for regular foods and foods advertised at “diet/light” (with reduced fat and calories). Findings – The data included information from 451 dairy product labels. Most of the products had serving sizes smaller than the reference set by Brazilian law. A high variability of serving sizes was found for similar products. “Diet/light” foods tend to report serving sizes that are even smaller and more inadequate. Moreover, the energy density of these products was similar to that of the regular foods. Smaller serving sizes may be being presented on “diet/light” foods in order to repo.
On the Movements of the North Atlantic Subpolar Front in the Preinstrumental Past

AbstractThree sediment records of sea surface temperature (SST) are analyzed that originate from distant locations in the North Atlantic, have centennial-to-multicentennial resolution, are based on the same reconstruction method and chronological assumptions, and span the past 15 000 yr. Using recursive least squares techniques, an estimate of the time-dependent North Atlantic SST field over the last 15 kyr is sought that is consistent with both the SST records and a surface ocean circulation model, given estimates of their respective error (co)variances. Under the authors’ assumptions about data and model errors, it is found that the 10°C mixed layer isotherm, which approximately traces the modern Subpolar Front, would have moved by ~15° of latitude southward (northward) in the eastern North Atlantic at the onset (termination) of the Younger Dryas cold interval (YD), a result significant at the level of two standard deviations in the isotherm position. In contrast, meridional movements of the isotherm in.
The successional status of sugar maple (Acer saccharum), revisited

Two complementary experimental designs at two contrasting scales (landscape/long term; individual tree/short term) were used for an in-depth evaluation of the successional status of sugar maple (AS: Acer saccharum Marsh.). First, forest disturbances during the 20th century and composition were mapped for two landscapes in the Du Lièvre watershed of southern Quebec. Our results show that, as well as dominating stands in the absence of fire, AS often rapidly developed dominance after fire, especially in the south of our study area. Similarly, a majority of AS-dominated stands clearcut in 1928 continued to be AS-dominated 60 years later. Second, we examined AS seedlings planted under two very contrasting light regimes. AS seedlings showed a combination of traits particularly adapted to tolerate shade under a low light regime. However, owing to a surprisingly high phenotypic plasticity, AS also exhibited efficient development under high light. This suggests the classification of AS as a late-successional species should indeed be revised and that generalist or trans-successional would be a more appropriate designation for this species. We discuss the ramifications of such a status revision, with an emphasis on the implications for its silviculture. RésuméDeux dispositifs expérimentaux complémentaires, établis à deux échelles différentes (paysage/long terme et individu/court terme), ont été utilisés afin de mieux évaluer le statut successionnel de l’érable à sucre (AS : Acer saccharum Marsh.). D’abord, une cartographie des perturbations et de la composition forestière au cours du 20e siècle a été réalisée pour deux paysages du bassin du Lièvre dans le Sud du Québec. Nos résultats ont démontré qu’en plus de dominer les peuplements en absence de perturbation du couvert, AS établissait souvent et rapidement une dominance dans les peuplements ayant brûlé, et cela, particulièrement dans le paysage le plus au sud de l’air d’étude. De la même façon, une majorité de peuplements dominés par AS et coupés à blanc en 1928 s’est révélée encore dominée par AS à peine 60 ans après coupe. Ensuite, en réalisant le suivi de semis plantés sous deux régimes lumineux très différents, AS a montré un ensemble de caractéristiques particulièrement adaptées à une bonne tolérance à l’ombre. Cependant, grâce à une étonnante plasticité phénotypique, AS a aussi démontré un développement compétitif sous des régimes lumineux plus élevés. L’ensemble de ces résultats suggère donc une remise en question du statut de fin de succession de AS, lequel répondrait mieux à une appellation d’espèce généraliste ou trans-successionnelle. Les implications d’une telle révision sur la sylviculture de cette essence sont discutées.
Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptors Participate in the Control of Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Activity during Nerve Growth Factor-induced Neuronal Differentiation of PC12 Cells*

The current paradigm for the role of nerve growth factor (NGF) or FGF-2 in the differentiation of neuronal cells implies their binding to specific receptors and activation of kinase cascades leading to the expression of differentiation specific genes. We examined herein the hypothesis that FGF receptors (FGFRs) are involved in NGF-induced neuritogenesis of pheochromocytoma-derived PC12 cells. We demonstrate that in PC12 cells, FGFR expression and activity are modulated upon NGF treatment and that a dominant negative FGFR-2 reduces NGF-induced neuritogenesis. Moreover, FGF-2 expression is modulated by NGF, and FGF-2 is detected at the cell surface. Oligonucleotides that specifically inhibit FGF-2 binding to its receptors are able to significantly reduce NGF-induced neurite outgrowth. Finally, the duration of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activity upon FGF or NGF stimulation is shortened in FGFR-2 dominant negative cells through inactivation of signaling from the receptor to the Ras/MAPK pathway. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that FGFR activation is involved in neuritogenesis induced by NGF where it contributes to a sustained MAPK activity in response to NGF.
Investor Behavior Over Business Cycles with Tacit and Endogenous Market Signals

Investors often behave in puzzling ways. In this paper, we develop a theory that implies “unusual” investor behaviors in a market equilibrium with heterogeneous investors who formulate their investment strategies based on their individual assessments of market signals, where market signals are tacit information and endogenously dependent on the individual assessments. Tacit information requires experience and knowledge to interpret and understand. We find that (1) differences in investors’ knowledge, experience, risk attitudes and incomes can give rise to “unusual” investor behaviors under economic rationality; (2) investor behaviors are normal in normal periods, but abnormal in abnormal periods (a reversal of investor behaviors) when a swing market drives many inexperienced and highly risk-averse investors in and out of the market; (3) a change in the population shares of different types of investors in the market can cause a reversal of investor behaviors among those same types of investors; and (4) empirical evidence clearly supports our theory.
Quantitative and qualitative analysis of small RNAs in human endothelial cells and exosomes provides insights into localized RNA processing, degradation and sorting

Exosomes are small vesicles that mediate cell–cell communication. They contain proteins, lipids and RNA, and evidence is accumulating that these molecules are specifically sorted for release via exosomes. We recently showed that endothelial-cell-produced exosomes promote angiogenesis in vivo in a small RNA-dependent manner. Recent deep sequencing studies in exosomes from lymphocytic origin revealed a broad spectrum of small RNAs. However, selective depletion or incorporation of small RNA species into endothelial exosomes has not been studied extensively. With next generation sequencing, we identified all known non-coding RNA classes, including microRNAs (miRNAs), small nucleolar RNAs, yRNAs, vault RNAs, 5p and 3p fragments of miRNAs and miRNA-like fragments. In addition, we mapped many fragments of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and mitochondrial RNAs (mtRNAs). The distribution of small RNAs in exosomes revealed a considerable overlap with the distribution in the producing cells. However, we identified a remarkable enrichment of yRNA fragments and mRNA degradation products in exosomes consistent with yRNAs having a role in degradation of structured and misfolded RNAs in close proximity to endosomes. We propose that endothelial endosomes selectively sequester cytoplasmic RNA-degrading machineries taking part in gene regulation. The release of these regulatory RNAs via exosomes may have implications for endothelial cell–cell communication.