Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multimarket Exploitation: The Case of Biotechnology and Chemicals

Biotechnology enables rapid development of products with specific characteristics. We show that those who control the direction of biotechnology development influence the resulting industry structure. Through multimarket exploitation, chemical companies develop biotechnology that increases dependence on chemicals, whereas nonchemical companies tend toward development of biotechnology that substitutes for chemicals. Chemical companies tend to both underinvest and underproduce. Conversely, firms without vested chemical interests tend to overinvest and overproduce—even with monopoly-enabling patents. Results show how the consequent industry structure can be affected by choice of agricultural policy.
Two-Stage Reranking for Remote Sensing Image Retrieval

Image reranking is a popular postprocessing method for remote sensing image retrieval (RSIR), which aims at enhancing the initial retrieval performance. In general, it takes either users’ opinions or the relationships between images into consideration to find an optimal reranked list based on the initial retrieved results. In this paper, we present a reranking method for improving RSIR, which is named two-stage reranking (TSR). Suppose the ${k}$ -nearest neighbors of a query RS image have been obtained by the initial retrieval. The first step of our TSR is to edit these neighbors using the editing scheme. A handful of informative and representative RS images are selected by the active learning algorithm, and their binary labels are provided by the users relative to the query image. Then, a binary classifier is trained using the selected RS images and their labels to classify the rest of the neighbors. Finally, both classification results and rank information in the initial retrieval results are considered to decide which neighbor should be excluded. In the next step, the remaining RS images are reranked by the proposed reranking scheme, i.e., multisimilarity fusion reranking. Both the user’s experience and image relationships are taken into account in TSR to ensure the performance of the reranking. The efficiency and the robustness of our method are validated by experiments conducted on two different types of RS images. Compared with the existing visual reranking approaches, our method achieves improved performance.
Did the 2008–2009 Food and Financial Crises Affect Child Mortality? The Case of Sub-Saharan Africa

We estimate an aggregate model of child mortality on a panel of 40 African countries over the period 1995–2007. This model is then used to assess the impact of the 2008–2009 food and financial crises on child mortality, by comparing the number of child deaths computed under a “business-as-usual scenario” with those computed under the actual 2008–2009 “crisis scenario”. According to the simulation results, the 2008–2009 food price rise and recession caused a statistically non-significant additional 27,000 child deaths. However, if the 2008–2009 changes in other determinants of child mortality are factored in, the number of child deaths declined by 15,000. This unexpected result is explained by the fact that the effects of the rise in domestic food prices and the recession were offset in most of the region by the protective effect on the under-five mortality rate of a surge in food production, and by a rise in public expenditure on and foreign aid to the health sector.
Environmentally Sustainable National Income: Indispensable Information for Attaining Environmental Sustainability

Environmental functions are defined as the possible uses of the non-human-made physical surroundings on which humanity is entirely dependent. Competing functions are by definition economic goods, indeed the most fundamental humanity disposes of. Environmental sustainability is defined as the dynamic equilibrium by which vital environmental functions remain available for future generations. Environmentally sustainable national income (eSNI) is defined as the maximum attainable production level by which vital environmental functions remain available for future generations. Thus the eSNI provides information about the distance between the current and a sustainable situation. In combination with the standard national income (NI), the eSNI indicates whether the part of the production that is not based on sustainable use of the environment is increasing or decreasing in the course of time. Calculation of the eSNI involves the use of environmental models and a static general economic equilibrium model. It is shown that asymmetric entries are obscuring what is happening with both environment and production and that there is no conflict between employment and safeguarding the environment.
Endogenous Growth: Lessons for and from Economic History

The paper surveys both the usefulness of endogenous innovation models of growth in economic history and the implications of historical research for new growth theorists. It is suggested that economic historians should take endogenous innovation models seriously and that this will help them to integrate traditional historians' emphasis on the impact of institutions and policy with cliometric research. A review of historical research suggests that growth economists should pay more attention to learning effects and technological shocks. Further research into measurement issues is shown to be seriously needed, notably, into establishing the magnitude and sources of total factor productivity growth.
Increased Adhesion of Listeria monocytogenes Strains to Abiotic Surfaces under Cold Stress

Food contamination by Listeria monocytogenes remains a major concern for some food processing chains, particularly for ready-to-eat foods, including processed foods. Bacterial adhesion on both biotic and abiotic surfaces is a source of contamination by pathogens that have become more tolerant or even persistent in food processing environments, including in the presence of adverse conditions such as cold and dehydration. The most distinct challenge that bacteria confront upon entry into food processing environments is the sudden downshift in temperature, and the resulting phenotypic effects are of interest. Crystal violet staining and the BioFilm Ring Test® were applied to assess the adhesion and biofilm formation of 22 listerial strains from different serogroups and origins under cold-stressed and cold-adapted conditions. The physicochemical properties of the bacterial surface were studied using the microbial adhesion to solvent technique. Scanning electron microscopy was performed to visualize cell morphology and biofilm structure. The results showed that adhesion to stainless-steel and polystyrene was increased by cold stress, whereas cold-adapted cells remained primarily in planktonic form. Bacterial cell surfaces exhibited electron-donating properties regardless of incubation temperature and became more hydrophilic as temperature decreased from 37 to 4°C. Moreover, the adhesion of cells grown at 4°C correlated with affinity for ethyl acetate, indicating the role of cell surface properties in adhesion.
Impressions

An act of the Canadian Parliament in 1886 established the Queen's Printer as a deputy minister at the head of a new department, responsible for all official printing, and paved the way for the Government Printing Bureau, opened three years later. This handsome volume celebrates the centennials of the two events. Hana Aach traces the evolution of the office of Queen's Printer from the first government printers in Halifax, Quebec, and Upper Canada in the late eighteenth century to die civil service post of 1886. She tells a complex story, part political, part biographical, part technological, in which patronage and scandal frequently featured. An attempt to reform the system in 1869 was only partly successful. Printing was still contracted out under tender, and when a huge bid-rigging scheme was revealed some years later, a parliamentary committee recommended the establishment of a government printing facility. Controversy did not end with opening of the bureau in 1889, but by the turn of the century it was recognized as one of the finest establishments of its kind in the world.
Structural and immunological characterization of a linear virus-neutralizing epitope of the rabies virus glycoprotein and its possible use in a synthetic vaccine

We have mapped a linear epitope recognized by the virus-neutralizing monoclonal antibody 6-15C4 within the primary sequence of the G protein from the Evelyn-Rokitnicki-Abelseth strain of rabies virus. This was accomplished by using fragments of the rabies virus G protein and deduced amino acid sequences of neutralization-resistant variant rabies viruses. The monoclonal antibody 6-15C4 specifically recognized a synthetic peptide (peptide G5-24) which resembles the 6-15C4 epitope in structure. In addition, a tandem peptide constructed from the G5-24 peptide and a dominant TH cell epitope of the rabies virus N protein induced protective immunity against lethal rabies virus challenge infection in mice.
Enhancement of Fault Injection Techniques Based on the Modification of VHDL Code

Deep submicrometer devices are expected to be increasingly sensitive to physical faults. For this reason, fault-tolerance mechanisms are more and more required in VLSI circuits. So, validating their dependability is a prior concern in the design process. Fault injection techniques based on the use of hardware description languages offer important advantages with regard to other techniques. First, as this type of techniques can be applied during the design phase of the system, they permit reducing the time-to-market. Second, they present high controllability and reachability. Among the different techniques, those based on the use of saboteurs and mutants are especially attractive due to their high fault modeling capability. However, implementing automatically these techniques in a fault injection tool is difficult. Especially complex are the insertion of saboteurs and the generation of mutants. In this paper, we present new proposals to implement saboteurs and mutants for models in VHDL which are easy-to-automate, and whose philosophy can be generalized to other hardware description languages.
The economic determinants of the Brazilian nominal term structure of interest rates

The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of monetary policy and macroeconomic shocks on the dynamics of the Brazilian term structure of interest rates. We estimate a near-VAR model under the identification scheme proposed by Christiano et al. (1996, 1999). The results resemble those of the US economy: monetary policy shocks that flatten the term structure of interest rates. We find that monetary policy shocks in Brazil explain a significantly larger share of the dynamics of the term structure than in the USA. Finally, we analyse the importance of standard macroeconomic variables (e.g. GDP, inflation and measure of country risk) to the dynamics of the term structure in Brazil.
Total Quality Management in Higher Education.

When Hillary decided to climb the Mount Everest, more than half-acentury ago, he was well aware that it was a horrendous task and could make it only with the guidance of Tensing, the Sherpa. A guide/guru effects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. The influence of guru will be great and long lasting and will create an epoch and history provided his / her influence is ‘qualitative and deep’.
Pruning sparse non-negative matrix n-gram language models

In this paper we present a pruning algorithm and experimental results for our recently proposed Sparse Non-negative Matrix (SNM) family of language models (LMs). We show that when trained with only n-gram features SNMLM pruning based on a mutual information criterion yields the best known pruned model on the One Billion Word Language Model Benchmark, reducing perplexity with 18% and 57% over Katz and KneserNey LMs, respectively. We also present a method for converting an SNMLM to ARPA back-off format which can be readily used in a single-pass decoder for Automatic Speech Recognition.
The Relative Ability of Earnings and Cash Flow from Operations in Predicting Future Cash Flows: Evidence from India

The current study examines ability of earnings and cash flow from operations in predicting future cash flow from operations of Indian companies listed in Bombay stock exchange from 2002 to 2014. The study used cash flow from operations directly reported in the cash flow statement. For the purpose of estimating regression models, Ordinary least square approach used and in measuring the predictive power of each models in forecasting future cash flow adjusted R-squared used as forecasting measure. The findings of this study reported cash flow from operations to have more power in than earnings in predicting future cash flow, which do not support the assertion given out by Financial Accounting Standards Board. The findings of this study provide additional insights to Indian capital market researchers and also benefit users of accounting information in India by providing them with empirical evidence on the beneficial ability of cash flow data in predicting future cash flow and that would assist them in making their investment decisions, lending and other decisions and also knowing the financial status of company they wish to invest.
Starting even? Job mobility and the wage gap between young single males and females

Standard econometric analysis of male–female earnings differentials ignores job mobility despite its vital role in theories of discrimination and its demonstrated importance in explaining the earnings of young men. This paper develops a model of male and female earnings and job mobility and estimates it for young single men and women in Canada using the 1981 Survey of Work History. The results, corrected for sample selection bias arising from job mobility, suggest that male and female earnings determination differs considerably by job mobility status. Returns to mobility are much greater for males than for females. The results also show significantly different mobility behaviour for men and women but, if anything, females are more mobile than males faced with the same earnings opportunities. Thus differential job mobility behaviour does not appear to account for any portion of the male–female earnings gap.
Are Short Sellers Informed? Evidence from the 2007–2008 Subprime Mortgage Crisis

This paper examines the short selling activities around financial firms’ announcements of asset write‐downs during the 2007–2008 subprime mortgage crisis. We find that short sellers accumulate short positions prior to write‐down announcements, and that stocks experience significantly negative returns around such announcements. These results suggest that the return predictability of short interests is due to short sellers’ informational advantage. Furthermore, we show that short sellers increase their positions significantly in the announcement month and keep increasing their positions afterward, suggesting the feedback effect of the disclosed write‐downs on financial firms’ existing exposures. The valuable information contained in the short interest should encourage regulators to mandate stock exchanges disclose short selling activities more frequently.
Firm Exit, Vintage Effect and the Business Cycle in Norway

In spite of the large and growing literature on producer heterogeneity and firm exit behavior, little attention has been paid to the vintage capital theory of firm exits as an alternative hypothesis to learning/selection. Interpreted at the firm level the vintage capital theory predicts that exit rates increase in the age of capital. The present paper uses a panel of Norwegian manufacturing plants and constructs an index of capital age in addition to the age of the establishment in order to disentangle the effects of selection/learning and vintage capital on exit rates. The empirical results suggest a U-shaped exit function in the age of the plant implying both a learning effect and a vintage capital effect. The vintage capital effect is present under different assumption concerning reinvestments and controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. The exit rates are found to depend on the business cycle in that exits increase in a severe downturn. Our results also support the assertion that recessions are periods of cleansing where old capital equipment is scrapped via exiting plants.
Are Broad Market Shocks Anticipated by Investors? Evidence from Major Equity and Index Options Markets

This paper examines trading activity in five index options markets before significant price shocks in the underlying asset (S&P100, FTSE100, CAC40, DAX30, and AEX). The results indicate abnormal call and put option trading volume before price shocks for a large number of cases, implying that market participants anticipate shocks and use the options market as the venue for their trading. This pattern is similar for all markets and persistent for three different pre-event periods (10, 20, and 30Â days), two different periods used to calculate the benchmark period trading volume (100 and 140Â days), and of whether open interest is used instead of trading volume. Further tests suggest that investors may use both long and short strategies.
Time-Varying Behavior and Asymmetry in EMS Exchange Rates

This paper explores the time-varying behavior of five EMS exchange rates namely, the Belgian Franc, Dutch Guilder, French Franc, Italian Lira and the Spanish Peseta vis-à-vis the Deutschemark from 1979 to 1998. The returns were examined using the Sign- and Volatility-Switching GARCH model, which is capable of accounting for potential asymmetries and the reversals in a series' volatility structure. The results point to significant sensitivities of the conditional variances of the French franc, the lira and the peseta to adverse shocks but notable responsiveness to favorable shocks by those of the other rates. Although asymmetry in the volatility structure of all rates is found in the period prior to Germany's reunification in 1990, it vanishes thereafter. Volatility persistence for all rates is noticeable in the first period but becomes more pronounced in the second, [F23, F31]
SGK 1 regulation by miR-466 g in cortical collecting duct cells

Jacobs ME, Kathpalia PP, Chen Y, Thomas SV, Noonan EJ, Pao AC. SGK1 regulation by miR-466g in cortical collecting duct cells. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 310: F1251–F1257, 2016. First published February 24, 2016; doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00024. 2016. —Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are noncoding RNAs that bind target mRNA transcripts and modulate gene expression. In the cortical collecting duct (CCD), aldosterone stimulates the expression of genes that increase activity of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC); in the early phase of aldosterone induction, one such gene is serum and glucocorticoid regulated kinase 1 (SGK1). We hypothesized that aldosterone regulates the expression of miRNAs in the early phase of induction to control the expression of target genes that stimulate ENaC activity. We treated mpkCCDc14 cells with aldosterone or vehicle for 1 h and used a miRNA microarray to analyze differential miRNA expression. We identified miR-466g as a miRNA that decreased by 57% after 1 h of aldosterone treatment. Moreover, we identified a putative miR466g binding site in the 3=-untranslated region of SGK1. We constructed an SGK1 3=-untranslated region luciferase reporter and found that cotransfection of miR-466g suppressed luciferase activity in human embryonic kidney-293 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Deletion or introduction of point mutations that disrupt the miR-466g target site attenuated miR-466g-directed suppression of luciferase activity. Finally, we generated stably transduced mpkCCDc14 cell lines overexpressing miR-466g. Cells overexpressing miR-466g demonstrated 12.9-fold lower level of SGK1 mRNA compared with control cells after 6 h of aldosterone induction; moreover, cells overexpressing miR-466g exhibited 25% decrease in amiloride-sensitive current after 6 h of aldosterone induction and complete loss of amiloride-sensitive current after 24 h of aldosterone induction. Our findings implicate miR-466g as a novel early-phase aldosterone responsive miRNA that regulates SGK1 and ENaC in CCD cells.
'World Bank Capital Neither Complements Nor Substitutes for Private Capital'

What should the World Bank optimally do with the US$10 to $20 billion it can loan each year? Has it, in fact, done what is optimal? These two questions, one theoretical and one empirical, have been around for a long time and remain controversial in both academic and policy circles. This study seeks to contribute to the debate by suggesting a simple framework within which to measure the World Bank against an optimal international public financier for development. It goes on to argue that a careful treatment of the empirical evidence on Bank lending strongly contradicts optimal behavior under different assumptions. The evidence, in fact, rejects any notion that the Bank has substituted for private capital or that it has successfully catalyzed private development finance. These questions of fact are separate from the normative issues of whether to “mend” or “end” the current system of multilateral development finance.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza A virus H5N1 non-structural protein 1 is associated with apoptotic activation of the intrinsic mitochondrial pathway

Outbreaks of avian influenza A (H5N1) virus infection have significant health and economic consequences. Non-structural protein 1 (NS1) is an essential virulence factor of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus and of the apoptosis associated with the pathogenesis of H5N1. Previous studies have revealed that the NS1 protein is able to induce apoptosis via an extrinsic pathway. However, it remains unclear whether the intrinsic pathway is also associated with this apoptosis. The present study used a clone of the NS1 gene from avian influenza A/Jiangsu/1/2007 and observed the localization of the NS1 protein and cytochrome c release from mitochondria and the change of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in lung cancer cells. Cytotoxicity was detected using an MTT assay and the number of apoptotic cells was counted using a flow cytometer. Following the isolation of mitochondria, western blotting was performed to compare cytochrome c release from the mitochondria in cells before and after apoptosis. The change of MMP was detected using JC-1 staining. Furthermore, the results reveal that the majority of the NS1 protein was localized in the cell nucleus, and that it may induce apoptosis of human lung epithelial cells. The apoptosis occurred with marked cytochrome c release from mitochondria and a change of the MMP. This indicated that the NS1 protein may be associated with apoptosis induced by an intrinsic mitochondrial pathway.