Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Possible Connection between Categorical and Coordinate Spatial Relation Representations

Kosslyn (1987) theorized that the visual system uses two types of spatial relations. Categorical spatial relations represent a range of locations as an equivalence class, whereas coordinate spatial relations represent the precise distance between two objects. Data indicate a left hemisphere (LH) advantage for processing categorical spatial relations and a right hemisphere (RH) advantage for processing coordinate spatial relations. Although generally assumed to be independent processes, this article proposes a possible connection between categorical and coordinate spatial relations. Specifically, categorical spatial relations may be an initial stage in the formation of coordinate spatial relations. Three experiments tested the hypothesis that categorical information would benefit tasks that required coordinate judgments. Experiments 1 and 2 presented categorical information before participants made coordinate judgments and coordinate information before participants made categorical judgments. Categorical information sped the processing of a coordinate task under a range of experimental variables; however, coordinate information did not benefit categorical judgments. Experiment 3 used this priming paradigm to present stimuli in the left or right visual field. Although visual field differences were present in the third experiment, categorical information did not speed the processing of a coordinate task. The lack of priming effects in Experiment 3 may have been due to methodological changes. In general, support is provided that categorical spatial relations may act as an initial step in the formation of more precise distance representations, i.e., coordinate spatial relations.
Will Trespassers Be Prosecuted or Assessed According to Their Merits? A Consilient Interpretation of Territoriality in a Group-Living Carnivore, the European Badger (Meles meles)

Socio-spatial interactions of Carnivores have traditionally been described using the vocabulary of territoriality and aggression, with scent marks interpreted as ‘scent fences’. Here, we investigate the role of olfactory signals in assumed territorial marking of group-living solitary foragers using European badgers Meles meles as a model. We presented anal gland secretions (n = 351) from known individuals to identifiable recipients (n = 187), to assess response-variation according to familiarity (own-group, neighbours, strangers) and spatial context (in-context: at a shared border; out-of-context: at an unshared border/ the main sett). Sniffing and over-marking (with subcaudal gland secretion) responses were strongest to anal gland secretions from strangers, intermediate to neighbouring-group and weakest to own-group members. Secretions from both, strangers and neighbours, were sniffed for longer than were own-group samples, although neighbour-secretion presented out-of-context evoked no greater interest than in-context. On an individual level, responses were further moderated by the relevance of individual-specific donor information encoded in the secretion, as it related to the physiological state of the responder. There was a trend bordering on significance for males to sniff for longer than did females, but without sex-related differences in the frequency of subcaudal over-marking responses, and males over-marked oestrous female secretions more than non-oestrous females. There were no age-class related differences in sniff-duration or in over-marking. Evaluating these results in the context of the Familiarity hypothesis, the Threat-level hypothesis, and the Individual advertisement hypothesis evidences that interpretations of territorial scent-marks depicting rigid and potentially agonistic discrimination between own- and foreign-group conspecifics are overly simplistic. We use our findings to advance conceptual understanding of badger socio-spatial ecology, and the general context of territoriality and group-range dynamics.
Interstellar TiII in the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds

We discuss several sets of Ti II absorption-line data, which probe a variety of interstellar environments in our Galaxy and in the Magellanic Clouds. Comparisons of high-resolution [full width at half-maximum (FWHM) ∼ 1.3–1.5 km s −1 ]T i II spectra of Galactic targets with corresponding high-resolution spectra of Na I ,K I and Ca II reveal both similarities and differences in the detailed structure of the absorption-line profiles – reflecting component-tocomponent differences in the ionization and depletion behaviour of those species. Moderateresolution (FWHM ∼ 3.4–4.5 km s −1 ) spectra of more heavily reddened Galactic stars provide more extensive information on the titanium depletion in colder, denser clouds – where more than 99.9 per cent of the Ti may be in the dust phase. Moderate-resolution (FWHM ∼ 4.5– 8.7 km s −1 ) spectra of stars in the Magellanic Clouds suggest that the titanium depletion is generally much less severe in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds than in our Galaxy [for ag ivenN(H tot), E(B − V ), or molecular fraction f (H2)] – providing additional evidence for differences in depletion patterns in those two lower-metallicity galaxies. We briefly discuss possible implications of these results for the interpretation of gas-phase abundances in quasistellar object absorption-line systems and of variations in the D/H ratio in the local Galactic interstellar medium.
Effect of levosimendan on survival and adverse events after cardiac surgery: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE Left ventricular systolic dysfunction is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. The authors performed a meta-analysis investigating the effects of levosimendan in cardiac surgery patients with and without preoperative systolic dysfunction. DESIGN Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. SETTING Hospital. PARTICIPANTS The 1,155 patients who participated in 14 randomized controlled trials of perioperative levosimendan were included. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane database of clinical trials, and conference proceedings were searched for clinical trials of perioperative levosimendan in patients undergoing cardiac surgery through May 1, 2012. Studies were grouped by mean ejection fraction (EF). Those with a mean EF <40% were designated as low-EF. Pooled results demonstrated a reduction in mortality with levosimendan (risk difference [RD]-4.2%; 95% CI -7.2%, -1.1%; p = 0.008). Subgroup analysis showed that this benefit was confined to the low-EF studies (RD -7.0%; 95% CI -11.0%, -3.1%; p < 0.001). No benefit was observed in the preserved-EF subgroup (RD +1.1%; 95% CI -3.8%, +5.9%; p = 0.66). Significant reductions also were seen in the need for dialysis (RD -4.9%; 95% CI -8.2%, -1.6%; p = 0.003), myocardial injury (RD -5.0%; 95% CI -8.3%, -1.7%; p = 0.003), and postoperative atrial fibrillation (RD -8.1%; 95% CI -13.3%, -3.0%; p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS Levosimendan was associated with reduced mortality and other adverse outcomes in patients undergoing cardiac surgery, and these benefits were greatest in patients with reduced EF. These data support the need for adequately powered randomized clinical trials to confirm the benefits of levosimendan in patients with reduced EF undergoing cardiac surgery.
Vascular metallomics: Copper in the vasculature

Owing to recent progress in analytical techniques, metallomics are evolving from detecting distinct trace metals in a defined state to monitor the dynamic changes in the abundance and location of trace metals in vitro and in vivo. Vascular metallomics is an emerging field that studies the role of trace metals in vasculature. This review will introduce common metallomics techniques including atomic absorption spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry with a summary table to compare these techniques. Moreover, we will summarize recent research findings that have applied these techniques to human population studies in cardiovascular diseases, with a particular emphasis on the role of copper in these diseases. In order to address the issue of interdisciplinary studies between metallomics and vascular biology, we will review the progress of efforts to understand the role of copper in neovascularization. This recent advance in the metallomics field may be a powerful tool to elucidate the signaling pathways and specific biological functions of these trace metals. Finally, we summarize the evidence to support the notion that copper is a dynamic signaling molecule. As a future direction, vascular metallomics studies may lead to the identification of targets for diagnosis and therapy in cardiovascular disease.
Gender, Culture and Career: Two Junior High School Women Teachers' Conceptualization

This study used a qualitative approach to explore two junior high school women teachers’ conceptualization of their teaching careers. Subjective career experiences were the foci for investigation. However, contextual factors were also analyzed, providing understanding of how individual conceptions were shaped within the context. The results suggested that traditional cultural values and societal expectations of gender role influenced teachers’ entry into teaching. Older generation’s share of child-raising responsibility was conducive to the continuity of teachers’ career. Career path was not planned in advance. Devoted to working, having mother-like love and tolerance, experiencing stress and struggle, and being busy between school and home were portraits of their teaching lives. _____________________________________________________________________
Optimal Transparency in a Dealer Market with an Application to Foreign Exchange

This paper addresses a fundamental tradeoff in the design of multiple-dealer markets. Namely, though greater transparency can accelerate revelation of information in price, it can also impede dealer risk management. If dealers could choose the transparency regime ex-ante, which regime would they choose? We show that dealers prefer incomplete transparency (meaning marketwide order-flow is observed with noise). Slower price adjustment provides time for non-dealers to trade, thereby sharing risk otherwise borne by dealers. At some point, however, further reduction in transparency impedes risk sharing: too noisy a public signal provides non-dealers too little information to induce them to trade.
Volatility, Efficiency, and Trading: Evidence from the Japanese Stock Market

The authors study the joint effect of the trading mechanism and the time at which transactions take place on the behavior of stock returns using data from Japan. The Tokyo Stock Exchange employs a periodic clearing procedure twice a day, at the opening of both the morning and the afternoon sessions. This enables them to discern the effect of the clearing mechanism from the effect of the overnight trading halt. While the periodic clearing at the beginning of the trading day is noisy and inefficient, the midday clearing transaction appears to be no worse than the two closing transactions. Copyright 1991 by American Finance Association.
Issue Convergence Is Nothing More than Issue Convergence

It is widely assumed that candidate issue convergence or “dialogue” is beneficial for voters in campaigns. Using a lagged weekly measure of issue convergence in political advertising about specific campaign issues from the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns, I show that dialogue, as it is currently defined by campaigns and elections scholars, is as likely to harm voters as it is to help them. These findings require scholars to think more deeply about what role, if any, issue convergence plays in deliberative campaigns.
Mass media and American politics

This eighth edition of Graber's classic text is thoroughly updated to reflect major structural changes that have shaken the world of political news. Graber combines comprehensive coverage and cutting-edge theory as she shows students how the media influence governmental institutions and functions, and in turn how the government shapes the way the media disseminate information. Her broad coverage has three focal points: the media's role in both the public and private sectors; its impact on the attitudes of ordinary Americans and political elites; and, the ways in which the news media cover government and politics. In addition to new photos, cartoons, screen shots, and data, this edition includes: major changes in reporting, notably in the 2008 elections, brought about by the Internet; the subsequent erosion of the mainstream media's influence on the political agenda; new media, including more on blogging, social networking, and political entertainment shows; the latest on media laws and recent court cases; the evolution and current state of war-time reporting; and, how the FCC regulates media ownership and content.
UAE corporations‐specific characteristics and level of risk disclosure

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the UAE corporations-specific characteristics, mainly – size, level of risk, industry type and reserves – and level of corporate risk disclosure (CRD). Design/methodology/approach - Since the UAE is an emerging capital market, the paper relies on the positive accounting and the institutional theories to generate testable hypotheses and explain the empirical findings. The paper draws results depending on a sample of 41 corporations. A risk disclosure index – based on accounting standards, prior literature, and the UAE regulatory framework – has been crafted and calculated for each corporation in the sample. The relationship between the level of CRD and corporations' characteristics is examined using multiple regression analysis. Findings - The results show that corporate size is not significantly associated with the level of CRD. However, the corporate level of risk and corporate industry type are significant in explaining the variation of CRD. Finally, in contrast with reserves-CRD hypothesized relationship, corporate reserve is insignificant and negatively associated with level of CRD. Research limitations/implications - The risk disclosure index items reflect their existence in annual reports rather than their level of importance. Practical implications - The empirical findings suggest that corporate reserve, as an explanatory variable, needs further investigation as explained in the paper. Originality/value - The crafting process of the CRD index depends on the UAE regulatory framework. The paper seems to add to the extremely limited literature relating to CRD in Arab countries in general and the UAE in particular.
A Compact Angular Rate Sensor System Using a Fully Decoupled Silicon-on-Glass MEMS Gyroscope

This paper presents the development of a compact single-axis angular rate sensor system employing a 100- mum-thick single-crystal silicon microelectromechanical systems gyroscope with an improved decoupling arrangement between the drive and sense modes. The improved decoupling arrangement of the gyroscope enhances the robustness of sensing frame against drive-mode oscillations and therefore minimizes mechanical crosstalk between the drive and sense modes, yielding a small bias instability. The gyroscope core element is fabricated by through-etching a 100-mum -thick silicon substrate which is anodically bonded to a recessed glass handling substrate. A patterned metal layer is included at the bottom of the silicon substrate, both as an etch-stop layer and a heat sink to prevent heating- and notching-based structural deformations encountered in deep dry etching in the silicon-on-glass process. The fabricated-gyroscope core element has capacitive actuation/sensing gaps of about 5 mum yielding an aspect ratio close to 20, providing a large differential sense capacitance of 18.2 pF in a relatively small footprint of 4.6 mm times 4.2 mm. Excitation and sensing electronics of the gyroscope are constructed using off-the-shelf integrated circuits and fit in a compact printed circuit board of size 54 mm times 24 mm. The complete angular rate sensor system is characterized in a vacuum ambient at a pressure of 5 mtorr and demonstrates a turn-on bias of less than 0.1 deg/s, bias instability of 14.3 deg/h, angle random walk better than 0.115 deg/radic(h), and a scale-factor nonlinearity of plusmn0.6% in full-scale range of plusmn50 deg/s. [2007-0158].
Death is not a success: Reflections on business exit

This article is a critical evaluation of claims that business exits should not be seen as failures, on the grounds that may constitute voluntary liquidation, or because they are learning opportunities. This can be seen as further evidence of bias affecting entrepreneurship research, where failures are repackaged as successes. This article reiterates that the majority of business exits are unsuccessful. Drawing on ideas from the organisational life course, it is suggested that business ‘death’ is a suitable term for describing business closure. Even cases of voluntary ‘harvest liquidation’ such as retirement can be meaningfully described as business deaths.
The Study of International Tourism Demand: A Survey of Practice

International tourism demand and its determinants have been the subjects of numerous studies over the past three decades. Previous reviews of this body of research have identified only a small number of these studies. In contrast, this survey has attempted a comprehensive review of the literature. In this article, the first in a three-part series, similarities and dissimilarities in approach are discussed as a guide to researchers wishing to conduct similar studies.
Board Monitoring and Antitakeover Amendments

Abstract This study examines the joint influence of board composition, leadership structure, and board ownership structure on the market's reaction to corporate antitakeover amendment proposals. The stock price reaction to antitakeover amendments is more negative when the board is dominated by inside and affiliated outside board members. Further, for firms in which the CEO also chairs the board, the reaction becomes increasingly negative as inside and affiliated outside board members increase their ownership stake in the firm and proportional representation on the board. In contrast, board composition and ownership structure have little power to explain the stock price reaction when the CEO does not chair the board. We conclude that monitoring by outside independent board members is important particularly when the CEO is also the board chair.
Endocytosis of MHC molecules by distinct membrane rafts

In B-lymphocytes, endocytosis of MHC I and MHC II molecules is important for the cross-priming and presentation of labile antigens, respectively. Here, we report that MHC I and MHC II were internalized by separate endocytic carriers that lacked transferrin receptor. Cholera toxin B was co-internalized with MHC II, but not with MHC I, suggesting that the CLIC/GEEC pathway is involved in the uptake of MHC II. Endocytosis of MHC I and MHC II was inhibited by filipin, but only MHC II showed a strong preference for a membrane raft environment in a co-clustering analysis with GM1. By using a novel method for the extraction of detergent-resistant membranes (DRMs), we observed that MHC I and MHC II associate with two distinct types of DRMs. These differ in density, protein content, lipid composition, and ultrastructure. The results of cell surface biotinylation and subsequent DRM isolation show that precursors for both DRMs coexist in the plasma membrane. Moreover, clustering of MHC proteins at the cell surface resulted in shifts of the respective DRMs, revealing proximity-induced changes in the membrane environment. Our results suggest that the preference of MHC I and MHC II for distinct membrane rafts directs them to different cellular entry points.
Solidarity-conflict and ambivalence: testing two conceptual frameworks and their impact on quality of life for older family members.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to test empirically two major conceptualizations of parent-child relations in later adulthood-intergenerational solidarity-conflict and ambivalence paradigms-and their predictive validity on elders' quality of life using comparative cross-national data. METHODS Data were from a sample of 2,064 elders (aged 75 and older) from the five-country OASIS study (Old Age and Autonomy: The Role of Service Systems and Intergenerational Family Solidarity; Norway, England, Germany, Spain, and Israel). Multivariate and block-recursive regression models estimated the predictivity of the two conceptualizations of family dynamics on quality of life controlling for country, personal characteristics, and activity of daily living functioning. RESULTS Descriptive analyses indicated that family solidarity, especially the affective/cognitive component (called Solidarity A), was high in all five countries, whereas conflict and ambivalence were low. When I entered all three constructs into the regression Solidarity A, reciprocal intergenerational support and ambivalence predicted quality of life. Controlling for activity of daily living functioning, socioeconomics status, and country, intergenerational relations had only a weak explanatory power, and personal resources explained most of the variance. DISCUSSION The data suggest that the three constructs exist simultaneously but in varying combinations, confirming that in cross-cultural contexts family cohesion predominates, albeit with low degrees of conflict and ambivalence. The solidarity construct evidenced relatively robust measurement. More work is required to enhance the ambivalence measurement.
R&D Efficiency and Barriers to Entry: A Two Stage Semi-Parametric DEA Approach

This paper assesses the relative efficiency of knowledge production in the OECD using a nonparametric DEA approach. In general, resources allocated to R&D are limited and therefore must be used efficiently, given the institutional and legal constraints. The efficiency scores presented are based on an intertemporal frontier estimation for the period 1995 to 2004. We analyze the impact of the regulatory environment using the single bootstrap procedure suggested by Simar and Wilson (2007a). The empirical evidence supports our hypothesis that barriers to entry aimed at reducing competition actually lower R&D efficiency by attenuating the incentives to innovate and to allocate resources efficiently.
How to quickly get a job? The transition from higher education to French labour market by a survival model

This article analyses how long former university students stay unemployed, when searching for a new job after the leaving of the French higher education. Cox duration models are used to account for the proportional hypothesis. The main result of this article is that the worker's recruitment is based more on the choice of the faculty of initial training than the educational level attainment. Some policy implications are derived from our results to give some recommendations for individual job search and policy-makers in education.
Who leaves after entering the primary sector? : Evidence from Swedish micro-level data

Using 14 waves of panel data, this paper investigates why employees entering the primary sector exit subsequently. Transition probabilities are explained by a rich set of individual, regional and sectoral characteristics and a discrete-time competing risks model with unrestricted base-line hazards is used to distinguish between exits into a job in other sectors and other exits. The results confirm Jovanovic's suggestion of 'survival of the fittest matches' as workers and firms learn more about the quality of the match between them. It is found that agricultural education, higher income and sector wage differences are the main determinants of the hazard of moving to another sector, whereas marriage and higher education lower the hazard of leaving for non-employment. Oxford University Press and Foundation for the European Review of Agricultural Economics 2008; all rights reserved. For permissions, please email journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.