Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Women across Subfields in Economics: Relative Performance and Beliefs

The relative scarcity of female students enrolling in economics has become entrenched over the last decade. We provide evidence of gender differences in performance and in preferences across subfields of the discipline and explore students’ beliefs about the profession and their opinions on different subjects. The areas where women stand out relative to men are those that seem to be least well known to our students. We work on three fronts. First, using web scraping and machine learning techniques, we document the relative presence of women across subfields in recent AEA annual meetings. Macroeconomics and finance register the greatest scarcity of women. Second, using administrative records for economics students in a large public university in Spain from 2010 to 2014, we find that women outperform men in microeconomics, while men outperform women in macroeconomics, more evidently in the upper tail of the grades distribution. Finally, data gathered through a self-statement survey given to economics majors reveal that (i) they hold a macroeconomics-biased view of the economics profession; (ii) they exhibit gender differences in their perceptions of the interest and difficulty inherent in different subfields (macro vs. microeconomics); and (iii) their interests and performance are influenced differently by their male and female peers in macro and microeconomics subjects. Taken together, these three pieces of evidence provide a plausible explanation as to why women are relatively less attracted than men to economics, and suggest lines of action to redress the imbalance
‘I don’t get time only’: an apparent-time investigation of clause-final focus particles in Asian Englishes

ABSTRACT Research on the historical development of varieties of English usually tracks influence from established, so-called Inner Circle, varieties of English (such as British English) to less established Outer Circle varieties (such as Indian English). Recently, evidence of convergent patterns of language use in a number of Outer Circle Asian varieties has emerged, which might have been caused by the influence of Indian English in the region, but the existing evidence is strictly synchronic. Using the apparent-time method, this article investigates the focus particles ‘also’ and ‘only’, which have developed new uses in Asian Englishes. We provide evidence of language change in progress in Indian English and Hong Kong English, suggesting that Indian English might have influenced Hong Kong English, while evidence of Indian English influencing Philippine English remains tentative. The results lend support to a description of Indian English as a ‘super-central variety’ that has some influence over other varieties, thus challenging the traditional account of the development of varieties of English.
Understanding public perception, knowledge and behaviour for water quality management of the river Yamuna in India

The paper aims to understand how the public perceives river water quality and related risks and behaviour. Using the stratified semi-purposive sampling process, the study explores the perception of people residing along the river Yamuna in India. The method applied involved a structured questionnaire survey of 2706 respondents and four focused group discussions with people residing within two kilometres of the river bank. Non-parametric tests such as Kruskal Wallis, Mann Whitney U-test and One-Sample Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test were used to analyse the data. The findings suggest that the majority of the respondents formulate their perceptions using non-scientific methods like sensorial and heuristics. Perception on sources of pollution is shaped by personal experiences and people do not perceive diffused sources of pollution that affect river water quality. Respondents attributed the pollution in the river to anthropogenic activities and their risk perception was found to be linked to their direct dependence on the river for their daily needs. The paper suggests behavioural change strategies to focus on social, governance, and technological drivers.
Let’s FOCUS

With the increasingly frequent appearance of mobile phones in college classrooms, there have been growing concerns regarding their negative aspects including distractive off-task multitasking. In this work, we design and evaluate Let’s FOCUS, a software-based intervention service that assists college students in self-regulating their mobile phone use in classrooms. Our preliminary survey study (with 47 professors and 283 students) reveals that it is critical to encourage voluntary participation by framing intervention as a learning tool and to raise awareness regarding appropriate mobile phone usage by establishing social norms in colleges. Let’s FOCUS introduces a virtual limiting space for each class (or a virtual classroom) where the students can explicitly restrict their mobile phone use voluntarily. Furthermore, it promotes students’ willing participation by leveraging social facilitation and context-aware reminders associated with virtual classrooms. We conducted a campus-wide campaign for approximately six weeks to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed approach. The results confirm that 379 students used the app to limit 9,335 hours of mobile phone usage over 233 classrooms. Let’s FOCUS was used in diverse learning contexts and for different purposes and its social learning and context-awareness features significantly motivated prolonged participation. We present the design considerations of software-based intervention.
Institutionalizing Diversity Agendas: Presidents’ Councils for Diversity as Mechanisms for Strategic Change

Researchers examined the potential of Presidents’ Councils on Diversity (PCDs) to position advancing diversity and inclusion agendas at 11 higher education institutions. Researchers investigated strategies and the degree that PCDs set up agendas through the mobilization (i.e., creating vision and setting priorities), implementation (i.e., creating systems to support change), and institutionalization (i.e., embedding initiatives in the culture and practices of the institution) phases as outlined by Kezar’s Phased Leadership Strategies for Institutionalizing Diversity Agendas.
Women working in sport media and public relations: no advantage in a male-dominated world

ABSTRACT Globally, the public relations industry is overwhelmingly female, while sport media is overwhelmingly male. This positions the women who work in sport public relations at the intersection of two gendered industries. Drawing on analytic frameworks understanding organisations as gendered, this study explores the experiences of women in public relations, communications, and media relations roles in Australian sport organisations. From a survey (n = 123) and interviews (n = 16) this research found – surprisingly – that the Australian sport public relations workforce was almost equally male and female. However, women were not equal across other variables, and participants also reported that their gender had negatively influenced their work. This study found that despite being employed in almost equal numbers in a traditionally male-dominated field, the context within women work is still gendered.
Mutations in the telomere capping complex in bone marrow failure and related syndromes

Dyskeratosis congenita and its variants have overlapping phenotypes with many disorders including Coats plus, and their underlying pathology is thought to be one of defective telomere maintenance. Recently, biallelic CTC1 mutations have been described in patients with syndromes overlapping Coats plus. CTC1, STN1 and TEN1 are part of the telomere-capping complex involved in maintaining telomeric structural integrity. Based on phenotypic overlap we screened 73 genetically uncharacterized patients with dyskeratosis congenita and related bone marrow failure syndromes for mutations in this complex. Biallelic CTC1 mutations were identified in 6 patients but none in either STN1 or TEN1. We have expanded the phenotypic spectrum associated with CTC1 mutations and report that intracranial and retinal abnormalities are not a defining feature, as well as showing that the effect of these mutations on telomere length is variable. The study also demonstrates the lack of disease-causing mutations in other components of the telomere-capping complex.
Substrate Specificity and Expression Profile of Amino Acid Transporters (AAPs) in Arabidopsis(*)

Three amino acid transporter genes (AAP3-5) were isolated from Arabidopsis by complementation of a yeast mutant defective in histidine uptake. Transport is driven against a concentration gradient and sensitive to protonophores. Analysis of the substrate specificity demonstrates that the carriers have a broad substrate specificity covering the major transport forms of reduced nitrogen, i.e. glutamine and glutamate. The transporters have similar affinities for glutamate, glutamine, and alanine but differ with respect to valine, phenylalanine, histidine, arginine, and lysine. AAP3 and AAP5 efficiently transport arginine and lysine and are involved in basic amino acid transport. The predicted polypeptides of 53 kDa are highly hydrophobic with 12 putative membrane-spanning regions and show significant homologies to Arabidopsis amino acid transporters AAP1 and AAP2. Each of the genes has a different organ-specific expression in the plant. AAP3 is exclusively expressed in roots and AAP4 mainly in source leaves, stems, and flowers, whereas AAP5 is found in all tissues. The specific distribution in the plant and the different substrate specificities of AAP transporters may indicate that tissues differ both qualitatively and quantitatively regarding import or export of amino acids.
Raloxifene acutely relaxes rabbit coronary arteries in vitro by an estrogen receptor-dependent and nitric oxide-dependent mechanism.

BACKGROUND Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) have been defined as compounds that display tissue specificity with regard to estrogenic effects. They appear to share the beneficial effects of estrogen on bone and lipids but are not associated with an increased risk of breast or uterine carcinoma. Estrogen relaxes coronary arteries and has long-term protective effects on the vascular system. The effect of SERMs on the coronary vasculature is unknown. We therefore investigated the effects of the SERM raloxifene on isolated rabbit coronary arteries. METHODS AND RESULTS Rings of coronary artery from adult male and nonpregnant female New Zealand White rabbits were suspended in organ baths containing Krebs solution; isometric tension was then measured. Raloxifene induced coronary arterial relaxation in male and female coronary arteries by an endothelium-dependent and estrogen receptor-dependent mechanism involving nitric oxide. Raloxifene also had a direct calcium antagonistic effect on the coronary myocyte. Estrogen, however, induced only endothelium-independent coronary arterial relaxation. The endothelium-dependent component of relaxation induced by raloxifene 10(-6) mol/L resulted in almost 100% (79+/-7% versus 43+/-3%, P<0.001) more relaxation than that induced by estrogen 10(-6) mol/L. CONCLUSIONS These data demonstrate that raloxifene has vascular relaxing properties. The surprising finding is that the receptor-dependent effects via the endothelium are observed in coronary arteries from both male and female animals.
The Interdependence of Economic Growth, Human Development and Political Institutions

Abstract The causal links between growth, human development and institutions are central to understanding the long-run development process. The turn of the millennium has seen influential research in development economics attempting to uncover some of these links, but a focus on root-causes of growth has limited its insights in both scope and method. This paper provides a fresh analysis of the interdependence of growth, human development and institutions using a general equilibrium framework. The framework is tested using 4 different cross-sectional and panel-data specifications including data from 1820>. Findings implicate that both growth and human development, but also human development and institutional progress strongly depend on each other in the long run. The results imply the existence of significant general-equilibrium effects shaping the long-run trajectories of countries. These mechanisms defy overly deterministic views of development, and invite careful further study. Keywords Growth, Human Development, Institutions, General Equilibrium, Structural Modelling, Long-term Development.
A Comparison of the Ability of the Physiologic Components of Medical Emergency Team Criteria and the U.K. National Early Warning Score to Discriminate Patients at Risk of a Range of Adverse Clinical Outcomes*

Objective:To compare the ability of medical emergency team criteria and the National Early Warning Score to discriminate cardiac arrest, unanticipated ICU admission and death within 24 hours of a vital signs measurement, and to quantify the associated workload. Design:Retrospective cohort study. Setting:A large U.K. National Health Service District General Hospital. Patients:Adults hospitalized from May 25, 2011, to December 31, 2013. Interventions:None. Measurements and Main Results:We applied the National Early Warning Score and 44 sets of medical emergency team criteria to a database of 2,245,778 vital signs sets (103,998 admissions). The National Early Warning Score’s performance was assessed using the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve and compared with sensitivity/specificity for different medical emergency team criteria. Area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (95% CI) for the National Early Warning Score for the combined outcome (i.e., death, cardiac arrest, or unanticipated ICU admission) was 0.88 (0.88–0.88). A National Early Warning Score value of 7 had sensitivity/specificity values of 44.5% and 97.4%, respectively. For the 44 sets of medical emergency team criteria studied, sensitivity ranged from 19.6% to 71.2% and specificity from 71.5% to 98.5%. For all outcomes, the position of the National Early Warning Score receiver-operating characteristic curve was above and to the left of all medical emergency team criteria points, indicating better discrimination. Similarly, the positions of all medical emergency team criteria points were above and to the left of the National Early Warning Score efficiency curve, indicating higher workloads (trigger rates). Conclusions:When medical emergency team systems are compared to a National Early Warning Score value of greater than or equal to 7, some medical emergency team systems have a higher sensitivity than National Early Warning Score values of greater than or equal to 7. However, all of these medical emergency team systems have a lower specificity and would generate greater workloads.
Macroscopic & mesoscopic dynamics of financial markets

With hundreds trillion dollars of capital floating in the stock market, it is extremely important to understand market structures and dynamics of stock markets. In this thesis, we studied the macroscopic and mesoscopic dynamics of financial markets, from the econophysics (a marriage between physics and economics) point of view. When econophysicists study stock markets, they frequently borrow methods developed in other areas of physics. However, because of the nature of their problems, econophysicists sometimes also invent new methods. In this thesis, we have also contributed methodological innovations (MI), to contrast the phenomenological discoveries (PD) that we have also made. The first of these methodological innovations is (MI1) the method of partial hierarchical clustering (PHC), a supervised clustering method with the advantage of using multiple thresholds to determine clusters. Through the PHC results, we demonstrated (PD1) the existence of hierarchical structures in the Singapore Exchange and Hong Kong Stock Exchange: from market sectors, to country markets, and to global markets. Furthermore, we also investigated the dynamics of these hierarchical structures across market crashes. To do this, we (MI2) extend the complete-linkage hierarchical clustering algorithm, to obtain robust clusters of stocks with high intra-cluster homogeneity and high inter-cluster heterogeneity. By visualizing these robust clusters using (MI3) the fusion-fission diagram, we observed that (PD2) when approaching market crashes, the movements of stock prices become synchronized, causing most of stocks to merge into a giant cluster. Right after the crash, this giant cluster fragmented and thereafter mixed strongly. This discovery points us to the fusion-fission processes in the market, which we can exploit to forecast market crashes. We assume that the traders strategies form strategy clusters in the constantly changing strategy space, and the stock price movements are governed by the dynamics of these strategy clusters. Moreover, this dynamic can be described by a statistical physics fusion-fission model: the soup-of-groups model (SoG). We (MI4) derived a mean-field SoG forecasting equation and showed that some market crashes can be predicted. Specifically, by fitting the continuous returns of the component stocks of the Straits Times Index to the SoG forecasting equation, we (PD3) found episodes of heightened crash likelihoods close to the Chinese Correction (27 Feb 2007), beginning of the Subprime Crisis (17 Aug 2007), and the Asian Correction (9 Mar 2009), with early warning four to six months prior to the crashes. Thesis Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Cheong Siew Ann
Identification of a Functionally Critical Protein Kinase C Phosphorylation Residue of Cardiac Troponin T *

Cardiac Troponin T (cTnT) is one prominent substrate through which protein kinase C (PKC) exerts its effect on cardiomyocyte function. To determine the specific functional effects of the cTnT PKC-dependent phosphorylation sites (Thr197, Ser201, Thr206, and Thr287) we first mutated these residues to glutamate (E) or alanine (A). cTnT was selectively mutated to generate single, double, triple, and quadruple mutants. Bacterially expressed mutants were evaluated in detergent-treated mouse left ventricular papillary muscle fiber bundles where the endogenous troponin was replaced with a recombinant troponin complex containing either cTnT phosphorylated by PKC-α or a mutant cTnT. We simultaneously determined isometric tension development and actomyosin Mg-ATPase activity of the exchanged fiber bundles as a function of Ca2+ concentration. Our systematic analysis of the functional role of the multiple PKC phosphorylation sites on cTnT identified a localized region that controls maximum tension, ATPase activity, and Ca2+ sensitivity of the myofilaments. An important and novel finding of our study was that Thr206 is a functionally critical cTnT PKC phosphorylation residue. Its exclusive phosphorylation by PKC-α or replacement by Glu (mimicking phosphorylation) significantly decreased maximum tension, actomyosin Mg-ATPase activity, myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity, and cooperativity. On the other hand the charge modification of the other three residues together (T197/S201/T287-E) had no functional effect. Fibers bundles containing phosphorylated cTnT-wt (but not the T197/S201/T206/T287-E) exhibited a significant decrease of tension cost as compared with cTnT-wt.
Synergistic Roles of Helicobacter pylori Methionine Sulfoxide Reductase and GroEL in Repairing Oxidant-damaged Catalase*

Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) produced via the enzyme myeloperoxidase is a major antibacterial oxidant produced by neutrophils, and Met residues are considered primary amino acid targets of HOCl damage via conversion to Met sulfoxide. Met sulfoxide can be repaired back to Met by methionine sulfoxide reductase (Msr). Catalase is an important antioxidant enzyme; we show it constitutes 4–5% of the total Helicobacter pylori protein levels. msr and katA strains were about 14- and 4-fold, respectively, more susceptible than the parent to killing by the neutrophil cell line HL-60 cells. Catalase activity of an msr strain was much more reduced by HOCl exposure than for the parental strain. Treatment of pure catalase with HOCl caused oxidation of specific MS-identified Met residues, as well as structural changes and activity loss depending on the oxidant dose. Treatment of catalase with HOCl at a level to limit structural perturbation (at a catalase/HOCl molar ratio of 1:60) resulted in oxidation of six identified Met residues. Msr repaired these residues in an in vitro reconstituted system, but no enzyme activity could be recovered. However, addition of GroEL to the Msr repair mixture significantly enhanced catalase activity recovery. Neutrophils produce large amounts of HOCl at inflammation sites, and bacterial catalase may be a prime target of the host inflammatory response; at high concentrations of HOCl (1:100), we observed loss of catalase secondary structure, oligomerization, and carbonylation. The same HOCl-sensitive Met residue oxidation targets in catalase were detected using chloramine-T as a milder oxidant.
Processing of stimulus content but not of emotional valence is altered in persons with Williams syndrome.

BACKGROUND Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) exhibit hypersociability and may respond atypically to emotional information in social and nonsocial stimuli. It is not yet clear whether these difficulties are specific to emotional content or stimulus type. This study examined the neural processes supporting social and emotional information processing in WS. METHOD Visual event-related potentials were recorded in 19 adults with WS and 10 typical peers during a picture-viewing task requiring detection of smiling faces among other social and nonsocial images with positive and negative emotional content. RESULTS The participant groups were not significantly different in affective processing of positive and negative stimuli and perceived faces as different from nonsocial images. Participants with WS showed subtle differences in face-specific perceptual processes (e.g. face inversion, N170 lateralisation), suggesting a more feature-based processing. They also demonstrated reduced attention and arousal modulation (P3, late positive potential) in response to faces vs. nonsocial images. These differences were independent of intelligence quotient. CONCLUSIONS There was no evidence of greater than typical perceptual, attentional or affective processing of social information in WS. The results support the idea that altered face perception processes and not the increased salience of social stimuli or difficulties with emotion discrimination may contribute to the hypersocial phenotype in WS.
Indonesian Teachers’ Perception on the Implementation of Lesson Study: Exploring Teachers’ Awareness of Pedagogical Knowledge

This study aims to know Indonesian teachers’ perception of the implementation of lesson study. A case study was used as the design of this study with six teachers of Islamic Elementary School in Semarang, Indonesia, were chosen by using purposive sampling. A questionnaire with the Likert Scale of 1 to 4 was distributed to the respondents after implementing lesson study. A deep interview was also given to the teachers to explore their awareness of pedagogical knowledge. The quantitative data were analyzed statistically and they were used to support the qualitative data got from the interview. The result showed that the teachers had a new perspective in the pedagogical context in which a preparation of teaching could be prepared well by formulating and designing the lesson collaboratively with the other teachers to achieve the learning goal. Through the intensive collaboration with the teachers, they were more aware to create the effective and meaningful teaching to the students. They knew how to teach the students through the instructional strategies designed.