Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Initiative Familiar Choices : Reconsidering the Institutional Effects of the Direct

Empirical evidence suggests that voters in states with direct democracy feel better prepared to cast competent votes and that they do so at a greater rate than voters elsewhere. What causal mechanism explains why the presence of direct democracy leads to better civic citizenship and differences in political behavior? We use a survey experiment in which we randomly vary the text used to describe the policy proposals to consider one possible pathway that explains higher levels of political competence among voters in initiative states. In contrast to the focus on campaign mobilization in the existing literature, we rely on insights from consumer decision theory to derive testable hypotheses about voter behavior. We find evidence that voters in initiative states approach political campaigns in a fundamentally different way than voters in noninitiative states. In particular, we show that individuals in initiative states are less susceptible to framing effects—in our experiment, strategic efforts to craft a ballot measure’s title and summary.
Proteinuria in Preeclampsia Excess LIGHT Contributes to Placental Impairment , Increased Secretion of Vasoactive

Roxanna A. Irani, Weiru Zhang, Chen Ning, Yujin Zhang, Sean C. Blackwell, Lieping Chen, Wei Wang, Nicholas F. Parchim, Takayuki Iriyama, Renna Luo, Cheng Zhao, Chen Liu, Factors, Hypertension, and Proteinuria in Preeclampsia Excess LIGHT Contributes to Placental Impairment, Increased Secretion of Vasoactive Print ISSN: 0194-911X. Online ISSN: 1524-4563 Copyright © 2013 American Heart Association, Inc. All rights reserved. is published by the American Heart Association, 7272 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75231 Hypertension doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.113. 02458 2014;63:595-606; originally published online December 9, 2013; Hypertension. http://hyper.ahajournals. org/content/63/3/595 World Wide Web at: The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is located on the http://hyper.ahajournals. org/content/suppl/2013/12/09/HYPERTENSIONAHA.113. 02458.DC1. html Data Supplement (unedited) at:
Explicit Inflation Targets , Communication , and Central Bank Independence : Friends or Foes ? ∗

The paper studies the relationship between two recent institutional innovations in monetary policy central bank independence (CBI) and explicit inflation targeting (EIT) (the latter characterized by a high degree of transparency and accountability). Our reduced-form model unifies several approaches in the literature, and this comprehensiveness combined with simplicity offers three novel institutional findings, all of which we support empirically. First, instrument-CBI is a complement to EIT, whereas goal-CBI acts as a strategic substitute to EIT in ensuring policy credibility. Second, out of these two ‘commitment technologies’, EIT is shown to be socially superior to goal-CBI. Third and controversially, countries that first implement goal-CBI are then less likely to adopt EIT. Our analysis therefore implies that countries should follow the example of e.g. New Zealand, Canada, and the UK and legislate EIT together with instrument-CBI, but stay well clear of goal-CBI. Unfortunately, many countries have followed the opposite route, which seems to have had adverse consequences through several channels.
ASSESSING TOURISTS ’ SATISFACTION WITH THEIR SHOPPING EXPERIENCE IN ISTANBUL

Even though it is rarely the main motivator for travel, shopping is a very important activity once tourists have arrived at the destination. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, this study has investigated whether or not tourists visiting Istanbul were satisfied with their shopping experience. We found that the great majority of them had indeed had an excellent or good shopping experience. With the exception of gender and “shopping as a secondary motivation to travel”, demographic, travel, and motivation attributes were not found to determine statistically significant differences in shopping satisfaction levels. Most of the complaints referred to the behavior of the salespersons, considered to be too aggressive and, sometimes, dishonest, price variations and the culture of bargaining, the low quality and lack of originality of some products and the lack of variety in Turkish shops. Tourism planners could act to eliminate or, at least minimize, the main shortcomings to a satisfactory shopping experience as evidenced by tourists in our interviews while marketers could use the results to better target their customers.
Relative Effectiveness of Monetary and Fiscal Policies on Output Growth in Bangladesh : A Co-integration and Vector Error Correction Approach 1

This paper investigates the relative importance of monetary and fiscal policies in altering real output growth in Bangladesh. Broad money supply (M2) and government consumption expenditure have been used as a proxy for monetary and fiscal policies while GDP growth at constant prices is used as proxy for real output growth. Anderson and Jordan (1968) St. Louis equation is used to estimate the relative effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policies. Various charts, graphs, correlation, granger causality test, co-integration and vector error correction approach are used to examine the validity of St. Louis equation in measuring relative effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policies in Bangladesh. The empirical results show that both the monetary and fiscal policies have significant and positive impact on real output growth in Bangladesh with varying degree. The outcomes of the study demonstrate that monetary policy has relatively stronger impact than that of fiscal policy in altering output growth in Bangladesh. This support the view of the proponent of St. Louis Model that avowed monetary policy is relatively more effective than fiscal policy in stimulating real economic activity.
Improvement of CO 2 hydrate formation and flow using chemical additives in a slurry loop and a stirred reactor : applications to refrigeration and CO 2 capture

Secondary refrigeration and thermal energy storage techniques could be interesting solutions to improve refrigerating system performances and to re duc power consumption and propagation of refrigerants in the atmosphere. In order to combine a more efficient secondary loop and fluids with higher energy storage capacity, a phase change mat rial (PCM) slurry, also called phase change slurry (PCS), could be used as secondary ref rigerant. In addition, hydrate-based processes could be an interesting option to separate the CO 2 from various gas mixtures. In these two applications, the flow properties of the CO 2 hydrate slurry are of paramount importance. In the present study, small amounts of Sodium Dodecyl Sulf ate (SDS) were added to the aqueous phase, and this system was tested under CO 2 pressure both in a dynamic flow loop and in a stir red reactor. The results obtained with the flow loop de monstrate that SDS has anti-agglomerant properties for the CO 2 hydrate: SDS significantly decreases agglomeration and thus improves flowing capacities of the slurry. The results obtai ned in the reactor shows that the presence of SDS increases the kinetics of the hydrate growth ra te both in agitated and in quiescent hydrate forming conditions. Consequently, the addition of S DS could be very promising in industrial applications, such as secondary refrigeration or ga s separation, where hydrate slurries must be easily handled and where the hydrate formation rate is of great importance.
ECB, BoE and Fed Monetary-Policy announcements: price and volume effects on European securities markets

As a response to the recent global financial crisis, the main central banks implemented several programs of unconventional monetary policies. This paper assesses the announcement effects of the policy measures taken by the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve on European securities markets. We measure the impact of these announcements on government bond and stock prices and trading volumes. Using the event study methodology, we evaluate the reaction of some of the major European market indices around the announcement dates of unconventional monetary policies, over the period between 2008 and 2016. Our results show that the overall impact of the announcements of unconventional monetary policy measures is significant for European stock markets. Further, results suggest that the impact was more significant with the announcement of “Forward Guidance” and “Asset Purchases” policy measures, respectively, on stock prices and trading volumes. If events are categorized using a narrow definition of “Forward Guidance”, the effects for this category are positive but not always statistically significant.
Assessment of liquefaction potential at a site in Ottawa using SPT and shear wave velocities

Liquefaction potential assessment of subsurface soil needs detail geotechnical investigations, and testing which is usually beyond the scope of conventional geotechnical investigations. Therefore, using simplified methods to assist with preliminary site assessments can be beneficial in advance of more elaborate field and laboratory works. Shear wave velocity measurement (Vs) is a promising tool for this purpose. However, the available analysis techniques are based on limited experiments and need further verification. A case is presented where Vs measurement was successfully used to delineate a liquefiable soil layer at a Site. Low Vs values were observed within the upper 15 m of soil layers based on measurements using MASW method. Supplementary calculations showed the potential for liquefaction. Thus, a deep borehole was installed at the site with soil sampling at regular intervals using SPT method. Selected samples were subjected to laboratory tests. Detail calculations using SPT values showed that about 12 m of the subsurface soil is prone to liquefaction. Despite some discrepancies between the Vs and SPT calculations, Vs measurement showed to be a promising tool for preliminary liquefaction assessments. RÉSUMÉ L’évaluation du potentiel de liquéfaction des sols nécessite des investigations géotechniques plus élaborées et des essais qui excèdent les besoins des études géotechniques courantes. En conséquence, il peut s’avérer avantageux d’utiliser des méthodes simplifiées dans l’évaluation préliminaire de sites avant de procéder à des travaux de terrain et de laboratoire plus élaborés. Dans ce but, la mesure des vitesses des ondes de cisaillement (Vs) est une technique prometteuse. Cependant, les méthodes d’analyse disponibles s’appuient sur une expérience limitée et nécessitent d’être vérifiées d’avantage. Une étude de cas est présentée où la mesure de Vs a été utilisée pour identifier une couche de sol liquéfiable. Basé sur des relevés avec la méthode MASW, de faibles valeurs de Vs ont été observées dans les premiers 15 m de sol. Des calculs additionnels ont confirmé le potentiel de liquéfaction. Ensuite on a réalisé un forage profond avec des essais SPT à intervalles réguliers pour obtenir les indices de pénétration standard (N) du sol. Des échantillons de sol représentatifs ont été soumis à des essais de laboratoire. Les calculs détaillés avec les indices N ont montré que les sols sont effectivement susceptibles à la liquéfaction sur près de 12 m. Malgré cet écart entre les résultats des calculs réalisés avec Vs et ceux avec les indices N, la mesure de Vs se présente comme un outil prometteur pour les évaluations préliminaires du potentiel de liquéfaction.
Benzocaine and menthol as anesthetics for rainbow trout males ( Oncorhynchus mykiss Walbaum 1792 )

The efficiency of benzocaine and menthol in rainbow trout males (Oncorhynchus mykiss) of three years old, with an average weight of 1,590 ± 0.2 g and a pattern length of 6.60 ± 2.3 cm was compare. In evaluation, it was consider three times: sedation (ST), manipulation (MT) and recovery (RT). Anesthetics were prepared from stock solutions: benzocaine: 12 g in a litter of alcohol and it was use in doses of 3 mL L of water. For menthol with 100 g L of alcohol and 1 mL L of water was use. Results with benzocaine were ST 225.50 ± 96 sec; MT 153 ± 37 sec and RT 325 ± 248 sec while in menthol it was obtain ST 244 ± 80 sec; MT 152.6 ± 37 sec and RT 399 ±163 sec. Organisms were sedate and recover faster with benzocaine. ANDEVA just pointed out significate differences (P<0.05) and in RT between treatments. Organisms sedation using both anesthetics allow manipulation during 152 sec, enough time for morphometric parameters determination or for other type of sampling like semen obtention, sanitary sampling, among others. With both treatments it was obtained an average of ST= 234 sec and in RT 362 sec. In any treatment, mortality was observe after 24 hours. Both anesthetics are available in markets and have low prices, so it was recommend in manipulation of this species with high commercial value.
Pulmonary but not subcutaneous vaccination confers protection to TB susceptible mice by an IL 17-dependent mechanism

Some of the most promising novel tuberculosis (TB) vaccine strategies currently under development are based on respiratory vaccination, mimicking the natural route of infection. In this work, we have compared pulmonary and subcutaneous BCG immunization in the TB susceptible DBA/2 mouse strain, a model in which parenteral BCG does not protect. Our data show that intranasal but not subcutaneous BCG confers robust protection against pulmonary TB challenge. In addition, our results indicate that pulmonary vaccination triggers a TB-specific mucosal immune response orchestrated by IL17A. Thus, IL17A neutralization in vivo reduces protection, as well as it abrogates TB-specific IgA secretion to respiratory airways and lung expression of pIgR induced following intranasal vaccination. Altogether, our results demonstrate that pulmonary BCG vaccination can overcome lack of protection observed when BCG is given by parenteral route, suggesting that respiratory TB vaccines could have an advantage in TB endemic countries, where intradermal BCG results inefficient against pulmonary TB.
Monge: Geographic Monitor of Diseases Monge: Monitor Geogr´aﬁco de Enfermedades

: Monge is a prototype of a geographic monitor of diseases, based on tweets. After the recovering phase of tweets, located in diﬀerent Spanish cities, these tweets are processed and ﬁltered with techniques and tools of Human Language Technologies. Tweets are ﬁltered with three criteria: location, language (Spanish and Catalan) and bag of words of diseases (generated using synonyms of WordReference and embeddings). The processed information is presented in an interactive way allowing to predict possible epidemic outbreaks of diﬀerent diseases (e.g. ﬂu, asthma). This demo could be very useful because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention take between 1-2 weeks from the moment the patient is diagnosed until the data is available, while with this prototype a real-time monitoring of diseases is oﬀered.
College of Business 4-29-2011 Product marketcompetitionandcorporategovernance

This paper investigates whether product market competition acts as an external mechanism for disciplining management and also whether there is any relationship between the degree of competition a firm faces and its corporate governance. We find that firms in competitive industries or with low market power tend to have weak corporate governance structures. Results are robust to various competition measures at firm and industry levels, even after controlling for firm-specific variables. We further find that corporate governance quality has a significant effect on performance only when product market competition is weak. The overall evidence suggests that product market competition has a substantial impact on corporate governance and that it substitutes for corporate governance quality. Finally, we provide evidence that the disciplinary force of competition on management is from the fear of liquidation. © 2011 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Africagrowth Institute. JEL classification: G18; G34
How Does Refugee Immigration Influence Redistribution Politics ? Evidence from Finland ∗

We study whether establishing new asylum seeker centres influences the redistribution related policy positions of candidates in local elections in Finland –a country where municipalities have significant control over fiscal policies. The sudden and unprecedentedly large inflow of the asylum seekers in autumn 2015 and the resulting establishment of asylum centres facilitates a difference-in-differences research design. We focus on the supply side of politics and find that on average candidates do not respond to the presence of the centres by proposing less (or more) redistribution in a voting aid application survey. Our estimates are precise enough to rule out even fairly small effects both for all the candidates and the elected ones. In contrast, there is evidence of various voter responses on average suggesting that electoral politics may limit to some extent the impact of voter preferences on policies. However, in the very smallest municipalities where there are many refugees per capita also the candidates become less favourable towards redistribution. Moreover, a similar result obtains for the ethnically most homogenous municipalities.
Word , and Phoneme Frequency Effects in Spanish Phonological Speech Errors : The David Effect on the Source of the Error

The present study examines the frequency of syllable, word, and phoneme units in a corpus of 1477 Spanish phonological speech errors. Phoneme targets were of equivalent frequency to matched controls, whereas phoneme sources and error phonemes were lower in frequency than chance and than target phonemes (the David effect). Error, target, and source syllables were of lower frequency than chance, without differences across them. Target and source words were of lower frequency than chance, and error words were lowest in frequency. Contrary to most current theories, which focus on processing of the target, present results suggest that phonological speech errors arise partly from faulty processing of the source phoneme, in the context of weak syllables and words.
Testing for Salience Effects in Choices under Risk

We construct and run an experiment to test the most basic choice effect predicted by Salience Theory. Subjects allocate wealth between a risky and a safe investment. While we vary an apparent payoff ratio to influence salience, treatments have economically equivalent consequences. Most other theories of behavior then predict zero effect. Our experimental findings are strongly consistent with the behavioral implication of a continuous version of Salience Theory. We provide a novel structural estimate on the strength of salience. In our setting, increasing the relative payoff contrast by one percent is equivalent to an increased odds ratio by about 0.4 percent.
Interaction of th Channel , MscS , through Lipid In Pockets

All membrane proteins have dynamic and intimate relationships with the lipids of the bilayer that may determine their activity. Mechanosensitive channels sense tension through their interaction with the lipids of the membrane. We have proposed a mechanism for the bacterial channel of small conductance, MscS, that envisages variable occupancy of pockets in the channel by lipid chains. Here, we analyze protein–lipid interactions for MscS by quenching of tryptophan fluorescence with brominated lipids. By this strategy, we define the limits of the bilayer for TM1, which is the most lipid exposed helix of this protein. In addition, we show that residues deep in the pockets, created by the oligomeric assembly, interact with lipid chains. On the cytoplasmic side, lipids penetrate as far as the pore-lining helices and lipid molecules can align along TM3b perpendicular to lipids in the bilayer. Cardiolipin, free fatty acids, and branched lipids can access the pockets where the latter have a distinct effect on function. Cholesterol is excluded from the pockets. We demonstrate that introduction of hydrophilic residues into TM3b severely impairs channel function and that even “conservative” hydrophobic substitutions can modulate the stability of the open pore. The data provide important insights into the interactions between phospholipids and MscS and are discussed in the light of recent developments in the study of Piezo1 and TrpV4. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
281 UNEMPLOYMENT AND MIGRATION : DOES MOVING HELP ?

This paper studies the migration behaviour of the unemployed in Finland, and analyses the causal effect of moving on individual employment status. In 1994 17 per cent of the labour force was unemployed and the unemployment rate exhibited a very slow decline in 1994-96. Over half of those who were unemployed at the end of 1994 were still unemployed two years later. The propensity to find a job is somewhat greater among migrants. However, the positive effect of moving diminishes once other personal characteristics are accounted for. Moreover, when endogenous migrant selectivity is controlled for, an insignificant or even a negative effect on employment status emerges. This indicates that the better “quality” of the migrants (e.g. age, education, human capital and unobserved ability), rather than the act of moving itself, causes an improvement in re-employability. Hence, migration alone may not be a very effective mechanism for alleviating individual unemployment.
The effect of bacteriocins derived from lactic acid bacteria on growth and biofilm formation of clinical pathogenic strains

s: Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of bacteriocins derived from lactic acid bacteria on the growth and biofilm formation of clinical pathogenic strains of bacteria. Methods: Ten patients with culture-proven staphylococcal and Streptococcus pneumoniaere spiratory tract infections were selected and S. aureusor S. pneumoniae were isolated fromtheir sputum. The antibacterial effect of the bacteriocins on the growth and biofilm formation of these strains was evaluated by colony counting and scanning electron microscopy. Results The bacteriocins showed significant antibacterial effects on 9 strains of S. aureus and S. pneumoniae. For the biofilm experiments, counts of the S. aureus and S. pneumoniae strains in biofilms significantly decreased after 24 h (P<0.05). Conclusions: In conclusion, the bacteriocins derived from lactic acid bacteria strongly reduced the growth and biofilm formation of S. aureus and S. pneumoniae in vitro, and the use of this class of antimicrobial agents may be an important new approach in controlling respiratory tract infections.
TITLE: Role and Mechanism of Structural Variation in Progression of Breast Cancer

The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this report are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as an official Department of the Army position, policy or decision unless so designated by other documentation. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. As part of a large cohort of cancer samples we analyzed structural variants and their mechanism from a set of 12 basal type Breast invasive BLOCKIN