Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inclusive Unions in a Dualised Labour Market? The Challenge of Organising Labour Market Policy and Social Protection for Labour Market Outsiders

Dynamics of labour market dualisation have affected most Western European countries over the last two decades and trade unions have been often seen as conservative institutions protecting the interests of their core constituencies and as such contributing to labour market dualisation. However, empirical evidence from Italy shows that unions’ stance towards atypical workers has been more inclusive than the literature expected, despite the conditions for pro-insider policies being firmly in place, and unions have emerged as important actors in the organisation of social protection for labour market outsiders. By analysing unions’ strategies towards temporary agency workers in Italy through a disaggregated approach (i.e. focussing separately on salary and job protection; active labour market policies; and income protection), I reconcile the empirical observations that conflict with the theoretical expectations. I argue that unions have indeed put in place inclusive, yet selective, policies towards atypical workers and that unions’ identity is a central explanatory variable to understand the puzzling coexistence of a dualised labour market and (selectively) inclusive unions. Through a disaggregated identity-bound analysis of unions’ strategies, I shed new light on the complex relationship between labour market dualisation and the dualisation of social protection. In particular, findings suggest that paradoxically unions’ strategies to counteract labour market dualisation may be furthering the insider-outsider divide in terms of social protection. I also suggest that a clearer analytical distinction between labour market dualisation and welfare dualisation is needed in future research and that the understanding of unions’ strategies towards marginal workers would greatly benefit from a systematic disaggregated analysis of unions’ agency.
Title Does short selling discipline overinvestment ?

We explore the disciplining effect of short selling on overinvestment. Firms with more stock lending supply have higher abnormal announcement stock returns of acquiring firms, lower subsequent abnormal capital investments, and longer spells between large investments, and higher subsequent Tobin’s Q and ROA. Alleviating the endogeneity concern, our multivariate difference-in-difference analysis shows that this disciplinary force of lending supply is more effective for firms in the Regulation SHO-PILOT Program. We identify two mechanisms through which short selling disciplines managers: managers’ wealth-performance sensitivity and likelihood of hostile takeovers. Additionally, the disciplinary force only exists for non-financial-constrained firms and nonall-cash M&A deals.
Identification of fish nursery areas in a free tributary of an impoundment region, upper Uruguay River, Brazil

This study aims to determine the importance of different environments of the Ligeiro River (upper Uruguay River, Brazil) in fish reproduction. For this purpose, three environments (sampling sites) were selected: rapids, a pool, and the mouth of the Ligeiro River. Ichthyoplankton, zooplankton, and benthos were sampled six times per month from September, 2006 to March, 2007. Zooplankton and ichthyoplankton samples were collected early in the evening with plankton nets (64 µm and 500 µm, respectively). Benthos samples were also collected early in the evening with a Van Veen dredge. Local abiotic variables (temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, electrical conductivity, water speed, alkalinity, water hardness, and water transparency) were measured simultaneously with the biotic data sampling and were complemented by regional variables (water flow and precipitation). A total of 43,475 eggs and 2,269 larvae were captured. Of these larvae, 80.1% were in the pre-flexion and larval yolk stages. Digestive tract content showed that the greatest degree of repletion among the larvae in more advanced phases occurred in the pool environment. Water speed was the main characteristic used to differentiate the river's rapids and mouth from the pool. The abundance of zooplankton and benthos was not related to the distribution of densities among the different components of the ichthyoplankton. A greater abundance of eggs and larvae with yolk was found in the rapids and river mouth. Ordination analyses showed a connection between the advanced stage larvae and the pool environment. In conclusion, the rapids and river mouth of the Ligeiro River's are important locations for fish reproduction, particularly in regard to spawning and drifting of the ichthyoplankton's initial stages, whereas the pool represents a nursery place for larval growth.
The Volume-limited A-Star (VAST) survey – I. Companions and the unexpected X-ray detection of B6–A7 stars

With an adaptive optics imaging survey of 148 B6―A7 stars, we have tested the hypothesis that unresolved lower mass companions are the source of the unexpected X-ray detections of stars in this spectral type range. The sample is composed of 63 stars detected in X-rays within the ROSAT All Sky Survey and 85 stars that form a control sample; both subsets have the same restricted distribution of spectral type, age, X-ray sensitivity and separation coverage. A total of 68 companion candidates are resolved with separations ranging from 0.3 to 26.2 arcsec, with 23 new detections. The multiple star frequency of the X-ray sample based on companions resolved within the ROSAT error ellipse is found to be 43 +6 ―6 per cent. The corresponding control sample multiple star frequency is three times lower at 12 +4 ―3 per cent - a difference of 31 ± 7 per cent. These results are presented in the first of a series of papers based on our Volume-limited A-Star (VAST) survey - a comprehensive study of the multiplicity of A-type stars.
Financial infrastructure and house prices

We argue that banks operating in a local market possess better information about the local housing market than do nonlocal banks. Possessing this information may influence their willingness to grant loans to house buyers and the specifics of the loan terms, which in turn may affect house prices because credit facilitation makes the housing market more efficient. Using a panel data set covering a period from 1993 to 2007 and involving 274 municipalities in Sweden, we establish a positive causal influence of local bank presence on local house prices. There are significant spatial and spillover effects, that is, banks in a municipality affect the housing markets in neighbouring municipalities, although to a lesser extent than in their own municipality. Similar results are obtained through a gravity model. The results are robust over time and municipality size.
Comparative evaluation of Cartosat-1 and SRTM imageries for digital elevation modelling

Digital Elevation Models (DEM) of a hilly–valley region are prepared using stereo images of Cartosat-1 and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) images. The procedure of ortho-image generation from Cartosat-1 stereo images and the estimation of ground features from ortho-image are elaborated in the paper. Comparison of DEMs prepared from both images is discussed in terms of the quality of ground features detection, hydrological applications and geometrical calculations. It is found that DEM prepared from Cartosat-1 images are more accurate in the valley region and hence it is better suited for hydrological applications. On the contrary, for hilly region, SRTM images produce better DEM. However, if ground control points and Rational Polynomial Coefficients can be obtained in the hilly region, more accurate DEM can be prepared using Cartosat-1 stereo images.
An approach to pathfinding for real-world situations

People plan their routes through new environments every day, but what factors influence these wayfinding decisions? In a world increasingly dependent on electronic navigation assistance devices, finding a way of automatically selecting routes suitable for pedestrian travel is an important challenge. With a greater freedom of movement than vehicular transport, and different requirements, an alternative approach should be taken to find an answer for pedestrian journeys than those taken in cars. Although previous research has produced a number of pedestrian route recommendation systems, the majority of these are restricted to a single route type or user group. The aim of this research was to develop an approach to route suggestion which could recommend routes according to the type of journey (everyday, leisure or tourist) a person is making. To achieve this aim, four areas of research were undertaken. Firstly, six experiments containing 450 participants were used to investigate the preference of seven different environment and route attributes (length, turns, decision points, vegetation, land use, dwellings and points of interest) for two attribute categories (simplicity and attractiveness) and three journey types (everyday, leisure and tourist). These empirically determined preferences were then used to find the rank-orders of the attributes, by comparing more of them simultaneously than earlier studies, and found either new rankings (for attractiveness, leisure journeys and tourist journey) or extended those already known (everyday journeys). Using these ranks and previously accepted relationships, an environment model was defined and built based on an annotated graph. This model can be built automatically from OpenStreetMap data, and is therefore simple enough to be applicable to many geographical areas, but it is detailed enough to allow route selection. Algorithms based on an extended version of Dijkstra’s shortest path algorithm were constructed. These used weighted minimum cost functions linked with attribute ranks, to select routes for different journey types. By avoiding the computational complexity of previous approaches, these algorithms could potentially be widely used in a variety of different platforms, and extended for different groups of users. Finally, the routes suggested by the algorithms were compared to participant recommendations for ‘simple’ routes with five start/end points, and for each of the three journey types (everyday, leisure and tourist). These comparisons determined that only length is required to select simple and everyday routes, but that the multi-attribute cost functions developed for leisure and tourist journeys select routes that are similar to those chosen by the participants. This indicates that the algorithms’ routes are appropriate for people to use in leisure and tourist journeys.
Within-Species Genomic Variation and Variable Patterns of Recombination in the Tetracycline Producer Streptomyces rimosus

Streptomyces rimosus is best known as the primary source of the tetracycline class of antibiotics, most notably oxytetracycline, which have been widely used against many gram-positive and gram-negative pathogens and protozoan parasites. However, despite the medical and agricultural importance of S. rimosus, little is known of its evolutionary history and genome dynamics. In this study, we aim to elucidate the pan-genome characteristics and phylogenetic relationships of 32 S. rimosus genomes. The S. rimosus pan-genome contains more than 22,000 orthologous gene clusters, and approximately 8.8% of these genes constitutes the core genome. A large part of the accessory genome is composed of 9,646 strain-specific genes. S. rimosus exhibits an open pan-genome (decay parameter α = 0.83) and high gene diversity between strains (genomic fluidity φ = 0.12). We also observed strain-level variation in the distribution and abundance of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) and that each individual S. rimosus genome has a unique repertoire of BGCs. Lastly, we observed variation in recombination, with some strains donating or receiving DNA more often than others, strains that tend to frequently recombine with specific partners, genes that often experience recombination more than others, and variable sizes of recombined DNA sequences. We conclude that the high levels of inter-strain genomic variation in S. rimosus is partly explained by differences in recombination among strains. These results have important implications on current efforts for natural drug discovery, the ecological role of strain-level variation in microbial populations, and addressing the fundamental question of why microbes have pan-genomes.
Convergence of explicitly coupled simulation tools (co-simulations)

Abstract In engineering, it is a common desire to couple existing simulation tools together into one big system by passing information from subsystems as parameters into the subsystems under influence. As executed at fixed time points, this data exchange gives the global method a strong explicit component. Globally, such an explicit co-simulation schemes exchange time step can be seen as a step of an one-step method which is explicit in some solution components. Exploiting this structure, we give a convergence proof for such schemes. As flows of conserved quantities are passed across subsystem boundaries, it is not ensured that system-wide balances are fulfilled: the system is not solved as one single equation system. These balance errors can accumulate and make simulation results inaccurate. Use of higher-order extrapolation in exchanged data can reduce this problem but cannot solve it. The remaining balance error has been handled in past work by recontributing it to the input signal in next coupling time step, a technique labeled balance correction methods. Convergence for that method is proven. Further, the lack of stability for co-simulation schemes with and without balance correction is stated.
Spheroid-Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Provokes Global Alterations of Breast Cancer Lipidome: A Multi-Layered Omics Analysis

Metabolic rewiring has been recognized as an important feature to the progression of cancer. However, the essential components and functions of lipid metabolic networks in breast cancer progression are not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the roles of altered lipid metabolism in the malignant phenotype of breast cancer. Using a spheroid-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) model, we conducted multi-layered lipidomic and transcriptomic analysis to comprehensively describe the rewiring of the breast cancer lipidome during the malignant transformation. A tremendous homeostatic disturbance of various complex lipid species including ceramide, sphingomyelin, ether-linked phosphatidylcholines, and ether-linked phosphatidylethanolamine was found in the mesenchymal state of cancer cells. Noticeably, polyunsaturated fatty acids composition in spheroid cells was significantly decreased, accordingly with the gene expression patterns observed in the transcriptomic analysis of associated regulators. For instance, the up-regulation of SCD, ACOX3, and FADS1 and the down-regulation of PTPLB, PECR, and ELOVL2 were found among other lipid metabolic regulators. Significantly, the ratio of C22:6n3 (docosahexaenoic acid, DHA) to C22:5n3 was dramatically reduced in spheroid cells analogously to the down-regulation of ELOVL2. Following mechanistic study confirmed the up-regulation of SCD and down-regulation of PTPLB, PECR, ELOVL2, and ELOVL3 in the spheroid cells. Furthermore, the depletion of ELOVL2 induced metastatic characteristics in breast cancer cells via the SREBPs axis. A subsequent large-scale analysis using 51 breast cancer cell lines demonstrated the reduced expression of ELOVL2 in basal-like phenotypes. Breast cancer patients with low ELOVL2 expression exhibited poor prognoses (HR = 0.76, CI = 0.67–0.86). Collectively, ELOVL2 expression is associated with the malignant phenotypes and appear to be a novel prognostic biomarker in breast cancer. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that there is a global alteration of the lipid composition during EMT and suggests the down-regulation of ELOVL2 induces lipid metabolism reprogramming in breast cancer and contributes to their malignant phenotypes.
Embodied Dyadic Interaction Increases Complexity of Neural Dynamics: A Minimal Agent-Based Simulation Model

The concept of social interaction is at the core of embodied and enactive approaches to social cognitive processes, yet scientifically it remains poorly understood. Traditionally, cognitive science had relegated all behavior to being the end result of internal neural activity. However, the role of feedback from the interactions between agent and their environment has become increasingly important to understanding behavior. We focus on the role that social interaction plays in the behavioral and neural activity of the individuals taking part in it. Is social interaction merely a source of complex inputs to the individual, or can social interaction increase the individuals' own complexity? Here we provide a proof of concept of the latter possibility by artificially evolving pairs of simulated mobile robots to increase their neural complexity, which consistently gave rise to strategies that take advantage of their capacity for interaction. We found that during social interaction, the neural controllers exhibited dynamics of higher-dimensionality than were possible in social isolation. Moreover, by testing evolved strategies against unresponsive ghost partners, we demonstrated that under some conditions this effect was dependent on mutually responsive co-regulation, rather than on the mere presence of another agent's behavior as such. Our findings provide an illustration of how social interaction can augment the internal degrees of freedom of individuals who are actively engaged in participation.
Empathic Responses for Pain in Facial Muscles Are Modulated by Actor’s Attractiveness and Gender, and Perspective Taken by Observer

Although empathy for pain is an often studied phenomenon, only few studies employing electromyography (EMG) have investigated either emotional responses to the pain of others or factors that modulate these responses. The present study investigated whether the sex and attractiveness of persons experiencing pain affected muscle activity associated with empathy for pain, the corrugator supercili (CS) and orbicularis oculi (OO) muscles, in male and female participants in two conditions: adopting a perspective of “the other” or “the self. ” Fifty one participants (27 females) watched movies showing situations that included the expression of pain, with female and male and more and less attractive actors under both conditions, while the CS and OO EMG were recorded. Perspective did not affect CS muscle activity, but OO muscle activity tended to be higher in women than men under the imagine-self condition. CS muscle activity, but not OO muscle activity, was modulated by the actors’ gender and attractiveness. CS muscle activity was stronger in response to the pain of less attractive than more attractive actors, and to the pain of female actors compared to male actors. Moreover, a positive correlation was found between empathic concern, as a trait, and CS muscle activity, but only in the imagine-self condition.
Transient Expression of GATA3 in Hematopoietic Stem Cells Facilitates Helper Innate Lymphoid Cell Differentiation

Helper Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are tissue resident lymphocytes that play a critical role in a number of biological processes. Several transcription factors are required for the differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) into ILCs. Recent studies demonstrate GATA3 as a transcriptional regulator that plays an essential role in ILC development. We aimed to modulate the differentiation of human cord blood-derived CD34+ cells into ILCs by transient and ectopic expression of mRNA encoding transcription factors known to be important for ILC lineage differentiation, including GATA3, TOX, NFIL3, ID2, and RORγt. Using this experimental protocol, only GATA3 significantly modulated HSCs to differentiate into helper ILCs. Transient overexpression of GATA3 drove the emergence of CD34+α4β7+ early ILC progenitors during the first few days of culture. These ILC progenitors further acquired IL-7Rα and CD117 to give rise to immediate ILC precursors. In support of these findings, analysis of the genes induced by GATA3 in HSCs showed an upregulation of those associated with ILC development. Moreover, we show GATA3 also acts on more committed progenitors and significantly shifts the differentiation of progenitors away from the ILC1/NK lineage to the ILC2 and ILC3 lineage. In summary, transient overexpression of GATA3 mRNA in CD34+ HSCs enhances the differentiation of HSCs into the helper ILC lineages, at the expense of NK cell development.
Fusing Mobile Phone Sensing and Brain Imaging to Assess Depression in College Students

As smartphone usage has become increasingly prevalent in our society, so have rates of depression, particularly among young adults. Individual differences in smartphone usage patterns have been shown to reflect individual differences in underlying affective processes such as depression (Wang et al., 2018). In the current study, we identified a positive relationship between smartphone screen time (e.g. phone unlock duration) and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between the subgenual cingulate cortex (sgCC), a brain region implicated in depression and antidepressant treatment response, and regions of the ventromedial/orbitofrontal cortex, such that increased phone usage was related to stronger connectivity between these regions. We then used this cluster to constrain subsequent analyses looking at depressive symptoms in the same cohort and observed partial replication in a separate cohort. We believe the data and analyses presented here provide relatively simplistic initial analyses which replicate and provide a first step in combining functional brain activity and smartphone usage patterns to better understand issues related to mental health. Smartphones are a prevalent part of modern life and the usage of mobile sensing data from smartphones promises to be an important tool for mental health diagnostics and neuroscience research.
Therapeutic Potential of Regulatory T Cells in Preeclampsia—Opportunities and Challenges

Inflammation is a central feature and is implicated as a causal factor in preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Inflammatory mediators and leukocytes, which are elevated in peripheral blood and gestational tissues, contribute to the uterine vascular anomalies and compromised placental function that characterize particularly the severe, early onset form of disease. Regulatory T (Treg) cells are central mediators of pregnancy tolerance and direct other immune cells to counteract inflammation and promote robust placentation. Treg cells are commonly perturbed in preeclampsia, and there is evidence Treg cell insufficiency predates onset of symptoms. A causal role is implied by mouse studies showing sufficient numbers of functionally competent Treg cells must be present in the uterus from conception, to support maternal vascular adaptation and prevent later placental inflammatory pathology. Treg cells may therefore provide a tractable target for both preventative strategies and treatment interventions in preeclampsia. Steps to boost Treg cell activity require investigation and could be incorporated into pregnancy planning and preconception care. Pharmacological interventions developed to target Treg cells in autoimmune conditions warrant consideration for evaluation, utilizing rigorous clinical trial methodology, and ensuring safety is paramount. Emerging cell therapy tools involving in vitro Treg cell generation and/or expansion may in time become relevant. The success of preventative and therapeutic approaches will depend on resolving several challenges including developing informative diagnostic tests for Treg cell activity applicable before conception or during early pregnancy, selection of relevant patient subgroups, and identification of appropriate windows of gestation for intervention.