Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Representative Relation: Home Styles in European Democracies

Almost by definition legislators spend part of their time in the capital and part in the district. They spend time ‘connecting’ to constituents in a myriad of ways. It is the assumption that a legislator’s constituency attentiveness and choice of home style is contingent on the electoral environment he competes in for reelection. Using data from the IAP PARTIREP cross-national survey among national and regional legislators in eleven European democracies, it is demonstrated that electoral rules shape a legislator’s role orientation and the time he spends in the district. But the effect electoral rules have on any one constituency-oriented behaviour is further mediated by the contingencies of the electoral environment (e.g. the number of constituents that can and need to be reached) …
The Role of Foreign Direct Investment on Income Convergence in China after Early 1990s from a Spatial Econometric Perspective

This paper introduces foreign direct investment (FDI) as an endogenous variable based on a neoclassical model of economic growth and investigates the impact of FDI on income convergence in China using provincial panel data from 1991 to 2007. A spatial model is later exploited to further examine the effect of FDI on convergence in China in light of remarkable and positive spatial correlations among neighboring regions. Results of estimates confirm the role of FDI inflow as a significant driving force to promote conditional convergence in China after the early 1990s. They also confirm that the non-spatial classical model underestimates the impact of FDI on regional economic growth and also underestimates the speed of convergence.
Effects of Debt Collection Practices on Loss Given Default

In this article, we propose an LGD model that is solely based on legal and internal debt collection actions. Our model is supported by empirical tests in which it performs better than a usual firm specific model. This result is noteworthy when we recall that the model has only binary variables that indicate whether an action was taken. Our model can be applied to update the LGD of distressed firms in a timely manner reflecting the actions taken during the debt collection period. It also can be used to assess the effect of a recovery action and to determine whether to apply an action to certain types of debt.
Negative Regulation of Gq-mediated Pathways in Platelets by G12/13 Pathways through Fyn Kinase*

Platelets contain high levels of Src family kinases (SFKs), but their functional role downstream of G protein pathways has not been completely understood. We found that platelet shape change induced by selective G12/13 stimulation was potentiated by SFK inhibitors, which was abolished by intracellular calcium chelation. Platelet aggregation, secretion, and intracellular Ca2+ mobilization mediated by low concentrations of SFLLRN or YFLLRNP were potentiated by SFK inhibitors. However, 2-methylthio-ADP-induced intracellular Ca2+ mobilization and platelet aggregation were not affected by PP2, suggesting the contribution of SFKs downstream of G12/13, but not Gq/Gi, as a negative regulator to platelet activation. Moreover, PP2 potentiated YFLLRNP- and AYPGKF-induced PKC activation, indicating that SFKs downstream of G12/13 regulate platelet responses through the negative regulation of PKC activation as well as calcium response. SFK inhibitors failed to potentiate platelet responses in the presence of Gq-selective inhibitor YM254890 or in Gq-deficient platelets, indicating that SFKs negatively regulate platelet responses through modulation of Gq pathways. Importantly, AYPGKF-induced platelet aggregation and PKC activation were potentiated in Fyn-deficient but not in Lyn-deficient mice compared with wild-type littermates. We conclude that SFKs, especially Fyn, activated downstream of G12/13 negatively regulate platelet responses by inhibiting intracellular calcium mobilization and PKC activation through Gq pathways.
Extreme Underpricing: Determinants of Chinese Ipo Initial Returns

The average underpricing of Chinese IPOs is 267 percent, the highest of any major world market. Using a sample of 1,124 IPOs listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges between 1991 and 2000, we examine empirically the determinants of this extreme level of underpricing. We find it is caused partly by very high investment risks, of the type documented in many other markets, but mostly results from uniquely Chinese regulatory risks and costs. The government regulator sets a cap on pricing IPO shares and stipulates IPO allocation quotas to control the supply of IPO shares. There is also a very long time gap (34 day median, 305 days average) between going public and the actual listing of shares for trading, causing high lockup risk. Investors in China's primary market also discount IPO shares for extreme tunneling and grabbing risks, since these high initial returns benefit governmental political and financial interests and maximize the private benefits of key social elites.
Cruise Line Product Differentiation Practice: A Cluster Analysis Approach

The cruise business is a big one. With 67 cruise lines that operate 224 ships, just about every combination of ship descriptions can be found. The cruise business has served an estimated 90 million passengers. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the ways cruise lines and their ships can be differentiated. Using data from Ward’s compendium, cluster analysis is used to determine how these ships differ from each other. The analyses reveal six clusters by which the cruise lines differentiate their services. These results have implications for the marketing of services in the cruise line industry.
Estimating impact in empirical microeconomics: Two applications for the case of Tajikistan and a simulation study

The three chapters of this dissertation all deal with some aspect ofquantitative impact evaluation in a microeconomic context. The first chapter investigates the effects of labor migration from Tajikistan on household expenditure patterns, observing a non-linear time effect of remittances. While sending a labor migrant initially worsens the household’s situation, this is reversed to some extend in the long run. The second chapter deals with the impact of the recent financial crisis on labor market outcomes in Tajikistan. Since a methodologically rigorous impact evaluation is impossible, due to the lack of a control group, a heterogeneous exposure approach is used, where pre-crisis employment in the highly affected manufacturing sector serves as a measure of exposure to the crisis. The main findings suggest an increase of the probability of moving out of paid work during the crisis, while there are no signs of absorption of labor by the informal sector. Finally results indicate that labor migration in times of crisis is used to finance labor market exit of household members remaining at home. The third chapter is a simulation study, investigating the sensitivity of the recursive bivariate probit model to misspecifications of the error-term distributions. The recursive bivariate probit model is useful in quantitative impact evaluation when both outcome and treatment variables are binary. Under the assumption of bivariate normally distributed errors, treatment effects can consistently be estimated without an exclusion restriction, relying on identification by functional form, which is an attractive feature, given the difficulties involved in finding suitable instruments. Results indicate that the estimator is indeed sensitive to misspecifications of the error-term distributions, resulting in usually intolerable bias when errors depart from normality. The simulation also reveals that adding a truly exogenous instrument cannot remedy this situation, while the inclusion of a faulty (endogenous) instrument leads to a deterioration of the results obtained when errors are indeed bivariate normally distributed.
Identification of tryptase‐ and chymase‐related gene clusters in human mast cells using microarrays

Tryptase and chymase are the two major granular proteases present in human mast cell (MC)s. We used oligonucleotide microarray to measure the levels of approximately 22 000 transcripts in cord blood‐derived MCs at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks and 18 weeks in culture. Tryptase (TPSB2) was expressed at the highest level among all transcripts and its expression level reached a plateau at 8 weeks. On the other hand, the expression level of chymase (CMAI) doubled every 4–6 weeks. A similar tendency was found at the protein levels with FACS analysis. After filtering the transcripts with MC‐specificity, hierarchical clustering analysis identified 494 and 81 transcripts in the same clusters with tryptase and chymase, respectively. MC‐specific genes, KIT and HDC were found in the tryptase cluster. In the chymase cluster, a critical suppressor for cell senescence, BMI1 and the several related genes were found, suggesting that chymase expression may be closely related to cell senescence/quiescence events.
Gender equality and food security : women's empowerment as a tool against hunger

There is a strong relationship between gender-based discrimination and the different channels through which households and individuals access food—through own-production, access to waged employment, or social protection. The report shows that while equality of treatment between women and men and food security are mutually supportive, gender equality remains an elusive goal in many parts of Asia and the Pacific. A transformation of traditional gender roles is urgently needed. Such a transformation should build on improved information about the range of inequalities and specific constraints facing women. In addition, in order for gender equality strategies and food security strategies to complement each other and for their synergies to be maximized, a combination should be found between the recognition of the constraints women face, the adoption of measures that help relieve women of their burdens, and the redistribution of gender roles in the discharging of family responsibilities. The report explores how this combination can be achieved, identifying the best practices that have emerged both in the Asian and Pacific region and in other parts of the world.
In vitro activity of ciprofloxacin compared to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole against Campylobacter spp., Shigella spp. and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli causing travellers' diarrhea in Egypt.

The in vitro activity of ciprofloxacin against bacterial enteropathogens isolated from cases of travellers' diarrhea in Egypt was compared to trimethoprim (TMP) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT). No resistance to ciprofloxacin was noted for any of the Campylobacter jejuni/coli, Shigella spp. , and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli strains examined. However, resistance to TMP and SXT was noted among these same strains. Because of its broad spectrum and lack of resistance, ciprofloxacin is potentially a useful drug for the treatment of diarrhea caused by bacterial enteropathogens encountered in this region of the world.
Calculation of the dispersive characteristics of acoustic waves in piezoelectric layered structures under the effect of DC electric field [Correspondence]

Relations used for calculation of the layered piezoelectric structures parameters, including the influence of the uniform dc electric field, have been obtained. Dispersive dependences and anisotropy of phase velocities, electromechanical coupling coefficients, power flow angle, and the influence of controlling coefficients of the dc electric field as a function of the h × f product for the Rayleigh and Love modes in bismuth germanium oxide/fused silica and langasite/fused silica layered structures have been calculated.
Propargyl alcohols as β-oxocarbenoid precursors for the ruthenium-catalyzed cyclopropanation of unactivated olefins by redox isomerization.

An atom-economical method for the direct synthesis of [3.1. 0]- and [4.1. 0]-bicyclic frameworks via Ru-catalyzed redox bicycloisomerization of enynols is reported. The presented results highlight the unique reactivity profile of propargyl alcohols, which function as β-oxocarbene precursors, in the presence of a ruthenium(II) complex. Furthermore, a rare case of a formal vinylic C-H insertion reaction is described.
CEO Pay for Performance Sensitivity in the Restaurant Industry: What Makes it Move?

ABSTRACT The changing business conditions and the inefficient corporate governance in the restaurant industry turned shareholders' attention to the executive compensation. This study examines determinants of the sensitivity in Corporate Executive Officers' (CEOs) cash compensation. The contribution of this study is that it uses pooled regression and analyzes annual percentage change in CEO cash compensation. The findings revealed that company stock returns and return on assets emerged as significant determinants of CEO pay sensitivity. The results of this study show that almost 90% of the variation in the sensitivity of CEO compensation in the restaurant industry remains unexplained and is left for future research.
Acute Effects of 30 Minutes Resistance and Aerobic Exercise on Cognition in a High School Sample

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine differences in cognition between acute bouts of resistance exercise, aerobic exercise, and a nonexercise control in an untrained youth sample. Method: Ninety-four participants performed 30 min of aerobic exercise, resistance exercise, or nonexercise separated by 7 days each in a randomized crossover design. After each exercise intervention, participants were assessed using 2 cognitive tests. The Dot, Word, and Color elements of the Stroop Test (Victoria version) and Parts A and B of the Trail-Making Test were used to measure cognition. Results: Acute resistance and aerobic exercise resulted in similar improvements over nonexercise in all forms of the Stroop Test. Acute aerobic exercise led to improved performance over nonexercise and resistance exercise in Part B of the Trail-Making Test. Neither exercise intervention showed significant changes in time to complete Part A of the Trail-Making Test. Boys outperformed girls on the Stroop Dot and Color Test following acute aerobic exercise, in the Stroop Dot, Word, and Color Test following acute resistance exercise, and in the Stroop Color Test and Trail-Making Test Part B following nonexercise. Conclusions: Both acute resistance and aerobic exercise increased measures of cognition over a nonexercise control in untrained high school youth. These findings suggest the merits of acute resistance exercise as an alternative or complement to aerobic activity for educators aiming to increase youth physical activity and cognitive function concurrently.
Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Rights and Duties of Autonomous Agents (RDA2) 2012

This talk considers the issue of rights and duties in the context of social relations based on persistent exchange processes, occurring at both the micro and the macro social levels. Rights and duties that acquire a functional nature in such context are characterized in a tentative formal way. A possible connection between functional rights and duties and the issue of morality as a regulation mechanism for persistent micro social relations is investigated in a preliminary way. The relevance of functional rights and duties at the macro social level for the issue of the modularity of multiagent systems is indicated. 1 Centro de Cilncias Computacionais, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Brasil, email: ac.rocha. costa@gmail.com
Mixed-Mode Universal Biquadratic Filter with No Need of Matching Conditions

None of the previously reported mixed-mode universal filters can achieve the following important advantage: no need of component matching conditions. This paper presents a new mixed-mode (including voltage, current, transadmittance, and transimpedance modes) universal biquadratic filter with no need of matching conditions (including no need of component matching and no need of input matching conditions). The proposed filter structure with nine outputs employs two plus-type fully differential current conveyors (P-type FDCCIIs), two grounded capacitors, four grounded resistors and one floating/grounded resistor, which can realize voltage, current, transadmittance, and transimpedance modes universal filtering responses (lowpass, highpass, bandpass, notch, and allpass) from the same topology without matching conditions. Moreover, the proposed circuit still offers many important advantages: the employment of two grounded capacitors, the simultaneous realizations of a lot of filtering functions, using only grounded resistors as the control factors of all filter parameters and gains, having controllable gains in current and transimpedance modes without disturbing filter parameters ω0, ω0/Q, and Q, cascadably connecting the former voltage-mode (VM) stage and the latter current-mode (CM) stage, no capacitors bringing extra poles degrading high-frequency performance, and low active and passive sensitivity performances. H-spice simulations with TSMC 0. 18μm 1P6M CMOS process technology validate theoretical predictions.
Remote Health Coaching System and Human Motion Data Analysis for Physical Therapy with Microsoft Kinect

This paper summarizes the recent progress we have made for the computer vision technologies in physical therapy with the accessible and affordable devices. We first introduce the remote health coaching system we build with Microsoft Kinect. Since the motion data captured by Kinect is noisy, we investigate the data accuracy of Kinect with respect to the high accuracy motion capture system. We also propose an outlier data removal algorithm based on the data distribution. In order to generate the kinematic parameter from the noisy data captured by Kinect, we propose a kinematic filtering algorithm based on Unscented Kalman Filter and the kinematic model of human skeleton. The proposed algorithm can obtain smooth kinematic parameter with reduced noise compared to the kinematic parameter generated from the raw motion data from Kinect.
The Politics of Public College Tuition and State Financial Aid

What explains the different levels of tuition and financial aid observed in the United States? This study hypothesizes that state-level political characteristics account for much of the variation observed. Of particular importance are the ideology of state legislators and the relative influence of public and private institutions. Estimates of a simultaneous equation model utilizing panel data for 47 states over 15 years supports the hypothesis that state political characteristics are associated with the observed differences in tuition and financial aid across states.
The language teacher as go-between

In a world of increased multilingualism and multiculturalism, foreign language teachers seem to be challenged to be less authoritative transmitters of linguistic or pragmatic knowledge, than mediators between various identities, discourses and worldviews. This article attempts to define the challenges and the paradoxes in language teacher education, suggests a way of conceptualizing such an education in the multilingual/multicultural environments we live in today, and examines on a concrete example how a view of the language teacher as a go-between can lead to a more democratically oriented foreign language education.
Anti-Impulse-Noise Edge Detection via Anisotropic Morphological Directional Derivatives

Traditional differential-based edge detection suffers from abrupt degradation in performance when images are corrupted by impulse noises. The morphological operators such as the median filters and weighted median filters possess the intrinsic ability to counteract impulse noise. In this paper, by combining the biwindow configuration with weighted median filters, anisotropic morphological directional derivatives (AMDDs) robust to impulse noise are proposed to measure the local grayscale variation around a pixel. For ideal step edges, the AMDD spatial response and directional representation are derived. The characteristics and edge resolution of two kinds of typical biwindows are analyzed thoroughly. In terms of the AMDD spatial response and directional representation of ideal step edges, the spatial matched filter is used to extract the edge strength map (ESM) from the AMDDs of an image. The spatial and directional matched filters are used to extract the edge direction map (EDM). Embedding the extracted ESM and EDM into the standard route of the differential-based edge detection, an anti-impulse-noise AMDD-based edge detector is constructed. It is compared with the existing state-of-the-art detectors on a recognized image dataset for edge detection evaluation. The results show that it attains competitive performance in noise-free and Gaussian noise cases and the best performance in impulse noise cases.
Capsaicinoids in the Hottest Pepper Bhut Jolokia and its Antioxidant and Antiinflammatory Activities

Hot peppers are known for medicinally important capsaicinoids. Bhut Jolokia, Capsicum chinense/Capsicum frutescens, is the hottest pepper in the world. However, its bioactivity and quantity of heat principles are not reported. We have now quantified capsaicin (C) and dihydrocapsaicin (DHC) in Bhut Jolokia and compared it with commonly consumed hot peppers, Jalapeno (Capsicum annuum) and Scotch Bonnet (Capsicum chinense). The concentration of C and DHC in Bhut Jolokia was 5.36%, which is about 338 and 18 times greater than in Scotch Bonnet and Jalapeno, respectively. We have also isolated capsaicin (C) and dihydrocapsaicin (DHC) in pure form and determined lipid peroxidation (LPO) and cyclooxygenase (COX-1 and -2) enzymes inhibitory concentrations. This is the first report of the quantification of C and DHC in Bhut Jolokia, comparison of capsaicinoids content in Bhut Jolokia with Jalapeno and Scotch Bonnet hot peppers and the COX and LPO inhibitory activities of C and DHC.
Investment in Human Capital and Economic Growth in Singapore

Since independence in 1965, the economy of Singapore has transited from a low-income economy to a high-income developed economy. Over the period, the educational policy of the country has been framed consistent with the national economic policy and human capital formation. The article examines whether investment in human capital and employment contributed to economic growth in Singapore over the last three decades. Johansen cointegration tests find a long-run relation among economic growth, human capital investment and employed labour force. The article also enquires the dynamics of economic growth maintained with human capital investment and labor force employment involving a battery of econometric techniques. It is found that both human capital investment and employment contributes to rise in economic growth. Human capital investment at the initial stage has growth-retarding effect and eventually accelerates sustained growth with a gestation lag of 4 years. If the maintained relation persisted over time, study exhibits that human capital innovation would lead to perpetual rise in economic growth. Labour force employment innovation, in this regard, may lead to temporary rise in economic growth.