Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Execution of Monetary Policy: A Tale of Two Central Banks

At the inception of economic and monetary union (EMU), an open question was whether execution of monetary policy by the Eurosystem could effectively stabilize liquidity and short-term interest rates. Potential problems could arise from the central bank’s limited knowledge of the new euro area market’s response to shocks, and from market participants’ limited understanding of the monetary authorities’ policy execution framework, which minimizes the central bank’s presence in the market and assigns a key liquidity-stabilization role to standing facilities and to depository institutions’ own reserve management. We find that the euro area money market has displayed a remarkable degree of stability since the inception of EMU: overnight euro rates have behaved very similarly to US federal funds rates, which are managed much more actively by the US Federal Reserve. Recent operational changes by both the Eurosystem and the Federal Reserve are leading to convergence in style of policy execution on the two sides of the Atlantic, and may foster even closer similarity in the next few years.
Status and trend of the Kittlitz's Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris in Glacier Bay, Alaska

Glacier Bay has long been known to harbor significant populations of Kittlitz’s Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris . Grinnell (1910) noted: “One of the more surprising results of the 1907 Alexander Expedition’s explorations was the discovery of large numbers of the Kittlitz’s Murrelet on the waters of Glacier Bay . ” During July, Dixon (in Grinnell 1910) “saw at least five hundred of these gray murrelets in one flock . They were feeding in the channels among the numerous islands that lie near the mouth of the bay”—referring probably to Beardslee Channel, where large concentrations of Kittlitz’s Murrelets are still found . Early surveys in the upper reaches of the bay and in proximity to tidewater glaciers were infrequent because of heavy ice, but those that were conducted revealed that Kittlitz’s Murrelet and the closely related Marbled Murrelet B. marmoratus were distributed throughout the bay and that Kittlitz’s Murrelets, in particular, were concentrated in the vicinity of tidewater glaciers (Bailey 1927, Wik & Streveler 1967) .
ENVIRONMENTAL GEOCHEMISTRY AND HEALTH ISSUES IN HUNGARY

The geochemical exploration of the Geological Institute of Hungary made clear, that the country is geochemically not uniform, but 4 regions can be divided. Those environmental-geochemical circumstances which connected to health issues in Hungary is coming from the lack of certain elements, rather than having too much from them. From the literature that is known that the bigger part of the country is suffer from the lack of I, Se, F and Mo, and this results already some health consequences in humans, animals or plants. Other kind of geochemical anomalies occur in the eastern region which was separated because of the mining-heavy industrial contamination of the area, so there are more non-ferrous metals with concentration significantly over the contamination limit value (mainly Cd). To find out whether these heavy metals could get into the food chain or not, it will be one of our future research topics.
Salt removal efficiency as influenced by phyto-amelioration of salt-affected soils

Salt-affected soils are steadily expanding in arid and semi-arid regions, as is the case in Jordan, due to climatic conditions, water shortage and nonsustainable agricultural practices. The restoration of productivity of such soils in a sustainable way is an urgent need to fulfill the ever-increasing food demands. For this purpose, fodder beet (Beta vulgaris L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) were grown in soil columns to investigate the influence of phyto-ameliorating a saline-sodic soil brought from Al-Karameh, Jordan Valley (EC 1:1 60 dS m-1, SAR 23.1, pH 1:1 7.6) on salt removal efficiency without soil leaching, i.e. removal of greater amounts of salts from soil with less amount of water in a relatively short time (65 days). This approach has not been experimented yet. Cropped soil was irrigated (but not leached) with 200-300 µS cm -1 water, whereas the control treatment was a leached uncropped soil. Fodder beet was significantly more efficient salt and Na includer than barley. In the harvested aboveground biomass, fodder beet removed Na 156 kg ha -1 while barley removed 75 kg ha -1 representing 12% of the total amount of removed Na from the topsoil (10-cm deep) for the two crops. Phyto-amelioration significantly enhanced soil aggregate stability and hydraulic conductivity in the topsoil as compared to leaching treatment in which both physical properties became even lower than those of the original soil. Thus, significant removal of salts from topsoil (Na, Ca+Mg, K and Cl tons ha-1) was enhanced, particularly in case of fodder beet, as compared to leaching treatment with respect to the original soil leading to higher salt removal efficiency. Consequently, soil EC was 70, 61 and 57% less than that of the original soil for soil cultivated with beet, barley and leached control, respectively. SAR was, however, significantly reduced by fodder beet by 37% compared to barley and leaching treatment (6.0% less) with respect to the original soil. Therefore, it is concluded that fodder beet is a potential candidate for rapid and efficient phyto-amelioration of saline-sodic soils without leaching, leading thus to saving plentiful amounts of irrigation water.
Potential Design, Implementation, and Benefits of a Feebate Program for New Passenger Vehicles in California

Feebates are market‐based policies for encouraging emissions reductions from new passenger vehicles by levying fees on relatively high-emitting vehicles and providing rebates to lower‐emitting vehicles. Feebate policies can be used in California to achieve additional reductions in greenhouse gases from new passenger vehicles beyond those projected from emission standards alone at a net negative social cost. Different feebate program configurations could lead to greater reductions, but require tradeoffs. A California‐only feebate would lack the leverage to induce major vehicle design changes, with most of the emissions reductions coming instead from sales‐mix shifts. If national emissions standards become very stringent, feebates offer reduced incremental benefits because only relatively expensive technology will be available for adoption in response to feebates. A statewide survey indicates that consumers would support feebate programs. Modeling results suggest that new vehicle sales levels would decline under all feebate programs.
Virulence of Pertactin-Negative Bordetella pertussis Isolates from Infants, France

Bordetella pertussis isolates that do not express pertactin (PRN) are increasing in regions where acellular pertussis vaccines have been used for >7 years. We analyzed data from France and compared clinical symptoms among infants <6 months old infected by PRN-positive or PRN-negative isolates. No major clinical differences were found between the 2 groups.
Online experimentation

18 acm Inroads 2011 March • Vol. 2 • No. 1 to which computing departments should aspire (e.g. Edwards et al., 2009; Norris et al., 2008; Robins, Haden and Garner, 2006; Winters & Payne, 2005). I am sometimes asked questions like “What has computing education research contributed to the day-to-day practice of teaching? ” I have to concede that computing education research has thus far contributed little, but in its defense, I think that there is no computing department at the managed level, from where the department could take advantage of computing education research. By the time I retire, I hope to see some computing departments at this level, with many other departments recognizing the existence of this level, and aspiring to achieving it. Only then, to echo Humphrey, will significant quality improvements in computing education begin. The fifth level is known as the optimizing level. Until computing departments begin to recognize the existence of the managed level, there is little point in discussing the optimizing level. At this time, it is suffice to say that this is the level to which computing education researchers aspire to take their departments and their discipline. ir
UTILIZACIÓN DE MICORRIZACIÓN CONTROLADA EN LA REFORESTACIÓN DE UN SUELO AGRÍCOLA CON PINO CARRASCO The use of controlled mycorrhiza formation in the reforestation of an agricultural soil with aleppo pine

An experimental plantation with mycorrhized Pinus halepensis was carried out at Monte La Une, Letur, Albacete, Spain. The mycorrhizal fungi used were Pisolithus tinctorius, Suillus mediterraneensis, S. collinitus and Rhizopogon roseolus. The objective was to improve plant restoration techniques in semiarid ecosystems of South-East Spain, mainly focused on the recovery of abandoned agricultural lands.Three years after plantation, mycorrhized seedlings showed a higher percentage of survival than non-mycorrhized ones. In general, an increase on plant growth parameters was noted in plants incoculated with Suillus and Rhizopogon.
C ENTER F OR I NTERNATIONAL E CONOMICS Working Paper Series

Customers continuously evaluate the credibility and reliability of a range of signals both separately and jointly. However, existing econometric studies pay insufficient attention to the interactions and complex combinations of these signals, and are typically limited as a result of difficulties controlling for multicollinearity and endogeneity in their data. We develop a novel theoretical approach to address these issues and study different signaling effects (i.e., word-of-mouth, brand reputation, and distribution strategy) on customer perceptions. Using data on the US video games market, we apply a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to account for cause-effect relationships. The results of our study address a number of key issues in the economics and management literature. First, our results support the contention that reviews from professional critics act as a signal of product quality and therefore positively influence unit sales, as do the discriminatory effects of prices and restricted age ratings. Second, we find evidence to support the use of brand extension strategies as marketing tools that create spillover effects and support the launch of new products.
KIR2DL3 and KIR2DL1 show similar impact on licensing of human NK cells

Killer cell immunoglobulin‐like receptor/HLA class I (KIR/HLA‐I) combinations are associated with disease risk, implicating functional roles for NK cells (NKCs) or KIR+ T cells. KIR/HLA‐I interactions can act through inhibition of NKC activation by target cells and NKC licensing for greater intrinsic responsiveness. We compared licensing conferred by the weaker, HLA‐C group 1/KIR2DL3, and the stronger, HLA‐C group 2/KIR2DL1, inhibitory combinations. The “rheostat model” predicts weaker licensing by HLA‐C1/KIR2DL3 interactions than HLA‐C2/KIR2DL1. We analyzed degranulation in NKC subsets expressing single and multiple receptors for HLA‐I. NKG2A had the strongest licensing impact, while KIR2DL3, KIR2DL1, and KIR3DL1 were weaker, and not significantly different to each other. Presence of one or two matched HLA‐C allotypes did not alter licensing of KIR2DL3+ and KIR2DL1+ NKC. Coexpression of activating KIR2DS1 disarmed KIR2DL3+ and KIR2DL1+ NKC to a similar extent. KIR3DL1 and NKG2A combined for more enhanced licensing of double‐positive NKC than the combination of KIR2DL3 and KIR2DL1. Thus, KIR2DL3 and KIR2DL1 have similar capacity to license NKC, suggesting that inhibitory signal strength and amount of available HLA‐C ligands do not correlate with NKC licensing. Altogether, our results show that the basis for disease associations of HLA‐C and KIR2DL likely encompasses factors other than licensing.
Emphysematous cholecystitis. Report of four cases and review of the literature.

EMPHYSEMATOUS cholecystitis is a rare form of acute, usually gangrenous, cholecystitis caused by gas-forming organisms and characterized radiologically by the presence of gas within the gallbladder. There may be gas within the wall of the gallbladder as well as in the pericholecystic area. This clinical entity has been reported in the medical literature under such names as gas in the gallbladder, gaseous cholecystitis, pyopneumocholecystitis, pneumocholecystitis, gas phlegmon of the gallbladder, cholecystitis emphysematosa, and gangrenous cholecystitis. Emphysematous cholecystitis is the terminology usually used. It is the purpose of this paper to report on 105 cases—four new cases together with a brief review of 101 cases found in the world literature since 1901. Pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment will be discussed. History In 1901, Stolz 1 reported three cases discovered incidentally at autopsy in which gas was present in the gallbladder and bile ducts. It is not certain that these were true cases
English language learners perceptions of their target and learning needs in a Technical and Technological Female Institution in Colombia

This study describes the development of a language needs analysis for an English Language Program at a higher education female institution in Silvania, Colombia. The study aimed at examining students’ target and learning needs as perceived by the learners themselves, their English instructors and their content teachers. A mixed method procedure was followed collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data were collected by means of a questionnaire including items with four-point rating scales and multiple choice. Questions in the survey addressed learner’s target and learning needs in terms of preferences regarding their future occupational field and current learning situation. Qualitative data were collected through open questions in the questionnaires, a formal interview with English instructors and a focus group with students. Findings reveal both concurrences and discrepancies between subjective and objective needs regarding English language learners’ target and learning needs at the institution. The study also suggests that learners are motivated to learn English in view of the fact that this language is highly connected to their envisaged future ‘possible selves’. Suggestions are made for areas of focus for curriculum renewal, including addressing particular needs of learners’ advancing different programs.
Numerical Experiment of Cumulus Convection under the Pseudo-adiabatic Process

The numerical experiments are tried in a simple two dimensional atmospheric model in order to investigate the evolution of a cumulus convection from a dynamical aspect. In the first place, a system of the equations governing a thermal convection in cumulus scale is derived by making use of the perturbation method. It is suggested, especially, that the assumption of non-divergent motion is appropriate and the introduction of eddy exchange is inevitable. Secondly, a non-linear system of the equations designed on the basis of the perturbation analysis is integrated numerically for some cases during several tens of minutes. An isolated convection 5 km thick and 10 km wide is investigated assuming the pseudo-adiabatic process in some conditionally unstable layers at rest. The convection is further assumed to be without supply of energy through the boundary of rectangular domain. In general, a lifetime of convection ranges from 20 to . 30 min. The development in an early stage of the convection is characterized by the intensification of convective circulation associated with narrowing an updraft region. Immediately after the convection attains the mature stage with maximum upward velocity and rate of condensation, it plunges into the decaying stage with damping oscillation. Finally a great difference between the convections in warm and cold layers is illustrated.
Comparison of Reference-set Selection Methods for Reference-based Scheme

Reference-based representation scheme achieves significant reduced dimensionality and better discriminability compared to using original image features. More specifically, a greater degree of diversity among the reference-set increases the probability that the descriptor of different images will be unique and well-spread in the data space while maintaining low redundancy. To ensure good diversity of reference-set, we study and compare five different methods to automatically construct the reference-set, including max-variation scheme, max-mean scheme, max-correlation scheme, min-correlation scheme, and affinity propagation algorithm to the task of scene categorization on some benchmark datasets. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed reference-set selection methods improves reference-based scene categorization method and outperforms state-of-the-art methods.
Bearing capacity and regularity of development of water resources and water environment of Yangtze River Delta and measures for sustainable development

With superior climatic conditions, the Yangtze River Delta is an economically developed area in China. According to the data for 2001, the land area, population, and GDP of this area account for 1%, 6 05%, and 17 1% respectively of the figures of the whole China, so this region occupies an important position in China. However, the severe unbalance between the bearing capacity of natural environment and social economic development of this region results in the deterioration of water environment and water pollution-induced water shortage, which become the main problems for the Yangtze River Delta at present. The local per capita volume of water resources is only one-third of the mean value of China, and the water quality there mostly belongs to Grade-IV. Moreover, the deterioration of coastal water quality, frequent occurrence of red tides, settlement of ground surface, and severe flood and water-logging bring high pressure of resources and environment to the Yangtze River Delta. To solve the water problems of this region, some key proposals are made: 1. The hydrological and channel characteristics of the mainstream of the Yangtze River Delta and the causes and regularities of their variation be clarified. 2.Quantitative analysis be made of the water cycle and the bearing capacity of water environment of this region and their characteristics and regularities of variation. 3.measures be taken and management systems be developed for water environment remediation, pollution prevention, effective utilization of clean water and payment for the utilization, and discharge of treated wastewater. 4.Integrated planning be formulated for the Yangtze River Delta, and effective control of flood, waterlogging, and tidal disasters be exercised according to plans. 5. Planning be made for the ecological environment construction for the whole region. 6.Integrated water environment and water resources management be adopted. 7. Mass education be implemented.
State dependence of climatic instability over the past 720,000 years from Antarctic ice cores and climate modeling

Global cooling in intermediate glacial climate with northern ice sheets preconditions climatic instability with bipolar seesaw. Climatic variabilities on millennial and longer time scales with a bipolar seesaw pattern have been documented in paleoclimatic records, but their frequencies, relationships with mean climatic state, and mechanisms remain unclear. Understanding the processes and sensitivities that underlie these changes will underpin better understanding of the climate system and projections of its future change. We investigate the long-term characteristics of climatic variability using a new ice-core record from Dome Fuji, East Antarctica, combined with an existing long record from the Dome C ice core. Antarctic warming events over the past 720,000 years are most frequent when the Antarctic temperature is slightly below average on orbital time scales, equivalent to an intermediate climate during glacial periods, whereas interglacial and fully glaciated climates are unfavourable for a millennial-scale bipolar seesaw. Numerical experiments using a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model with freshwater hosing in the northern North Atlantic showed that climate becomes most unstable in intermediate glacial conditions associated with large changes in sea ice and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Model sensitivity experiments suggest that the prerequisite for the most frequent climate instability with bipolar seesaw pattern during the late Pleistocene era is associated with reduced atmospheric CO2 concentration via global cooling and sea ice formation in the North Atlantic, in addition to extended Northern Hemisphere ice sheets.
Early Diagenetic Spherulitic Siderites from Pennsylvanian Palaeosols in the Boss Point Formation, Maritime Canada

The Boss Point Formation of Maritime Canada comprises alternating successions of braidplain sandstone, lacustrine mudstone, and lacustrine fluvio-deltaic sandstone and mudstone. These rocks were deposited within an active strike-slip basin during the early Pennsylvanian (Westphalian A), at a palaeolatitude of 8°S. Palaesols comprise a small but distinct proportion of the formation, and typically occur at the tops of fining upward sandstone-siltstone cycles. Spherulitic siderites from the Boss Point Formation occur within sandy and silty palaeosols. They occur as ‘large’ (>200 μm) and ‘small’ (<200 μm) diameter spherulitic nodules within calcrete, and show either a radially arranged ferroan calcite and siderite spar morphology, or contain a core of ferroan calcite, surrounded by a later formed sheath of siderite. Analytical data indicate that with respect to Ca-Mg-Mn, wide compositional variation occurs within the siderites. The Boss Point Formation siderites are similar to, but contain less Ca for a given Mg/Mn ratio, than previously published siderite compositional data. Published data, together with the results from the Boss Point Formation, indicate that a continuum exists in freshwater siderites, between the relatively Mn-depleted and the Mg-enriched analytical fields that were previously reported. The relatively low Ca values determined in the Boss Point Formation samples reflect the general lack of calcium in the sedimentary basin during sedimentation. Both chlorite and smectite clays may have been important sources of iron. It is concluded that the spherulitic siderites are eogenetic, and formed within small anoxic ponds rich in organic matter, under reducing and low dissolved sulphate conditions. With time these pools dried up, ferroan calcite precipitating as calcrete nodules around the earlier formed siderite spherulites.
Absolute pollen productivity and pollen–vegetation relationships in northern Finland

Pollen productivity is one of the most critical parameters for pollen–vegetation relationships, and thus for vegetation reconstruction, in either pollen percentages or pollen accumulation rates. We obtain absolute pollen productivity of three major tree types in northern Finland: pine (Pinus sylvestris), spruce (Picea abies) and birch (Betula pubescens ssp. pubescens and B. pubescens ssp. czerepanovii treated as one taxon). Long‐term monitoring records of pollen traps from 15 sites (duration: 5–23 years) and tree volume estimates within a 14 km radius of each trap were compared to estimate pollen productivity (grains m−3 a−1) of these trees using a regression method. The slope of the linear relationship between pollen loading and distance‐weighted plant abundance represents pollen productivity. Estimated productivities of pollen (×108 grains m−3 a−1) for pine, spruce and birch are 128.7 (SE 31.5), 341.9 (SE 81.3) and 411.4 (SE 307.7), respectively. The birch estimate (P > 0.05) is not as good as the others and should be used with caution. Pollen productivities of pine, spruce and birch in northern Finland are, in general, comparable to those of congeneric species in other regions of Europe and Japan. Although the year‐to‐year variations are significant, our volume‐based estimates of pollen productivity for pine and spruce will be essential for quantitative reconstruction of vegetation in the region. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.