Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neoliberalism and the new international financial architecture

ABSTRACT This paper theorizes about the new international financial architecture as a manifestation of the ‘second face of neoliberalism’ – financial market reregulation through technocratic obfuscation and insularity from democratic political pressure. Using a more expansive definition of the new international financial architecture, one that includes the institutional nexus of international monetary management along with the rules and regulatory bodies governing capital, this argument is developed through an analysis of the origins and functions of two institutions comprising the new international financial architecture – the Basel Capital Accord and the diffusion of inflation targeting regimes across central banks. This paper excavates the neoliberal logic inscribed in these institutions and further shows how these new forms of institutional logic contributed to the financial crisis of 2008 by putting in place a set of opportunities and constraints that led to rapid growth in the market for asset-backed securities. The implications of this analysis for the future of regulatory reform are discussed, with particular attention paid to the question of what role central banks should play in this process.
Informetrics and webometrics for measuring impact, visibility, and connectivity in science, politics, and business

The paper reports the application of classical bibliometric methods to evaluate the impact of scientific, political, and business developments. The novel aspect is to regard the Web as a citation network where the traditional information entities (scientific articles and the citations given to and taken from them) are replaced by webpages with external and internal links. The methodological studies are intended to test the usability of large international citation databases and the World Wide Web as feasible and reliable tools in quantitative analyses for gathering useful information for business intelligence. Formerly, the impact of authors and their scientific production was measured by the average citation frequencies of journals publishing their research: the Journal Impact Factor (JIF), calculated by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in the United States and published annually in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR)—the most frequently used quantitative indicator to measure the quality/value/impact of research works published in the core international journals. It has been suggested that, by calculating the number of webpages pointing to a given site, analogously, a Web Impact Factor can be calculated as a way of comparing the attractiveness of sites or domains on the World Wide Web. A key to webometric studies has been the use of large-scale Web search engines such as Alta Vista that allow measurements to be made of the total number of pages in a Web space and links to those Web spaces. These search engines provide similar possibilities for the investigation of links between documents to those provided by the citation databases created by ISI. To illustrate the scope and nature of informetric research methods applied in competitive intelligence analysis, a short presentation is given of samples of research studies carried out at the Centre for Informetic Studies in Copenhagen (CIS). © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Architecting cloud‐enabled systems: a systematic survey of challenges and solutions

The literature on the challenges of and potential solutions to architecting cloud‐based systems is rapidly growing but is scattered. It is important to systematically analyze and synthesize the existing research on architecting cloud‐based software systems in order to build a cohesive body of knowledge of the reported challenges and solutions. We have systematically identified and reviewed 133 papers that report architecture‐related challenges and solutions for cloud‐based software systems. This paper reports the methodological details, findings, and implications of a systematic review that has enabled us to identify 44 unique categories of challenges and associated solutions for architecting cloud‐based software systems. We assert that the identified challenges and solutions classified into the categories form a body of knowledge that can be leveraged for designing or evaluating software architectures for cloud‐based systems. Our key conclusions are that a large number of primary studies focus on middleware services aimed at achieving scalability, performance, response time, and efficient resource optimization. Architecting cloud‐based systems presents unique challenges as the systems to be designed range from pervasive embedded systems and enterprise applications to smart devices with Internet of Things. We also conclude that there is a huge potential of research on architecting cloud‐based systems in areas related to green computing, energy efficient systems, mobile cloud computing, and Internet of Things. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The relationship between intellectual capital, firms’ market value and financial performance: Empirical evidence from the ASEAN

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore and compare the extent of intellectual capital (IC) and its four components among ASEAN countries, and examine the relationship between firms’ IC, market value, and financial performance. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses the data of 213 technology firms listed on five ASEAN stock exchanges. Pulic’s Value Added Intellectual Coefficient model is modified by adding an extra component, namely, relational capital efficiency (RCE). The Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA and multiple regression analysis have been utilized to test the hypotheses. Findings – The results reveal that there is no significant difference in Modified Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (MVAIC) across five ASEAN countries; however, firms in each country tend to place a different degree of emphasis on components of MVAIC to generate corporate value. The results further indicate a positive relationship between IC and market value, confirming that firms with greater IC tend to have gr.
'DOING HOPE' MENTORING WITH PEOPLE DOING CARE, WORKING AND DEALING WITH TRAUMA IN A TOWNSHIP IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Working in a township is a challenging but also rewarding way of living. In this dissertation the researcher, in collaboration with the co-searchers, explore ways to mentor one another as they learn how to deal with trauma, either by experiencing trauma directly or witnessing secondary trauma. This leads to new ways of being ‘in the moment’, coping with trauma, forming a community of care and learning to be in an aware and empowered position. The responsibility of practical theology and the commitment to pastoral care are explored in the context of theology, and spesifically feminist theology, contributing to ‘do hope’ in Mamelodi. Key terms: practical theology, G/god/dess, trauma, witnessing, pastoral care, feminist theology, community of care, co-searchers, mentoring, doing hope, township, ethics, education, music, research, post-modern discourse.
Action observation as a tool for neurorehabilitation to moderate motor deficits and aphasia following stroke

The mirror neuron system consists of a set of brain areas capable of matching action observation with action execution. One core feature of the mirror neuron system is the activation of motor areas by action observation alone. This unique capacity of the mirror neuron system to match action perception and action execution stimulated the idea that mirror neuron system plays a crucial role in the understanding of the content of observed actions and may participate in procedural learning. These features bear a high potential for neurorehabilitation of motor deficits and of aphasia following stroke. Since the first articles exploring this principle were published, a growing number of follow-up studies have been conducted in the last decade. Though, the combination of action observation with practice of the observed actions seems to constitute the most powerful approach. In the present review, we present the existing studies analyzing the effects of this neurorehabilitative approach in clinical settings especially in the rehabilitation of stroke associated motor deficits and give a perspective on the ongoing trials by our research group. The data obtained up to date showed significant positive effect of action observation on recovery of motor functions of the upper limbs even in the chronic state after stroke, indicating that our approach might become a new standardized add-on feature of modern neurorehabilitative treatment schemes.
Corporate Politics, Governance, and Value Before and After Citizens United

This paper explores corporate politics, governance and value in the S&P 500 before and after Citizens United. In regulated and government-dependent industries (e.g., banking, telecommunications), political activity is nearly universal, and uncorrelated with measures of shareholder power, managerial agency costs, or value. But 11% of CEOs in 2000 who retired by 2011 obtained political positions after retiring, and in a majority of industries (e.g., apparel, retail), political activity is common but varied, and correlates negatively with measures of shareholder power (concentration, rights), positively with signs of managerial agency costs (corporate jet use by CEOs), and negatively with shareholder value (industry-relative Tobin’s q). The negative politics-value relationship is stronger in firms making large capital expenditures, suggesting that politics may lead firms to pursue value-destroying projects, and the relationship is also stronger in regressions with firm and time fixed effects, which rule out many potential omitted variables. After the exogenous shock of Citizens United, corporate lobbying and PAC activity jumped, in both frequency and amount, and firms that were politically active in 2008 had lower value in 2010 than other firms, consistent with politics at least partly causing and not merely correlating with lower value. Overall, the results are inconsistent with politics generally serving shareholder interests, and support proposals to require disclosure of political activity to shareholders.
Viewers' Perception of TV Ads: The Role of Sex Appeal

Sex appeal is on its way to pop up Indian advertising industry and its impact on the target audience’s perception has gained less academic attention. The question which seems to be less addressed in literature is that sex appeal will be an effective and a worthy tool of promotion in a market place, like India where stringent regulatory measures are in place and controversies and bans over such appeal in ads (advertisements) are quite common. The present study investigated the youth’s general perception towards the use of sexual appeal in advertising and its influence on effectiveness of ads. General linear model was applied to study the effect of perception on effectiveness of different sexual appeals. The results suggest that there is an influence of perception on ads effectiveness at the multivariate level.
Oil price shocks and its effect on the Brazilian, German, and Norwegian stock markets

Oil is a vital commodity; hence any changes in the price of oil have a significant impact on the economy. This dissertation analyses the relationship between oil price shocks and the stock market for Brazil, Germany and Norway by using monthly data from January 2003 to October 2013. The methodology used follows very closely Sadorksy’s (1999) paper whereby he focuses on the oil price shocks and its impact on real stock returns. Therefore, the Unrestricted Multivariate Vector Autoregression (VAR) with 4 economic variables (interest rates, changes in real oil prices, industrial production and real stock returns) is estimated as well as the impulse response function and variance decomposition. The findings of this thesis are similar to Sadorsky’s (1999) results. Whereby, oil price shocks have a significant impact on the stock market. Oil price shocks on Germany, an oil importing country, have negative effect on the stock market in the same month or in a short period of time. Brazil, an oil exporting country, shows a significantly negative effect on stock returns. Norway, on the other hand, also an oil exporting country, shows a significantly positive response of real stock returns to oil price shocks. An important result obtained was that the economic variables, that is, interest rates, changes in real oil prices, industrial production and real stock returns are influenced by movements in oil prices; vice-versa however is not the case. Key-words: Stock Market, Vector Autoregression, Interest Rates, Oil Price Shocks,
Investigating the Roles of Homeobox Containing Transcription Factors Iroquois 3/5 in Mammalian Heart Development and Electrophysiology

Iroquois homeobox (Irx) family members, a group of highly conserved homeodomain containing transcription factors, are involved in the patterning and the proper functions of vertebrate organs. They can act as transcriptional activators or repressors in a context-dependent manner. Preliminary data indicated that Irx3 and Irx5 are functionally redundant during cardiac morphogenesis, and they physically interact with other cardiac transcription factors. At E14.5, outflow tract septation failure and ventricular septation failure were observed in Irx3/5DKO mouse hearts. Loss of Irx3/5 in neural crest and endothelial cell lineages led to outflow tract septation failure and ventricular septal defect. In adult mice, Irx3 is expressed in the atrioventricular conduction system, and loss of Irx3 leads to slower ventricular conduction velocity. qRT-PCR analysis and immunofluorescence staining revealed that the expression of gap junction proteins, Cx40 and Cx43, are affected by the loss of Irx3. Over-expression of Irx3 and a dominant repressor form of Irx3, Irx3-EnR, resulted in Cx40 upregulation, indicating that Irx3 acts as an indirect positive regulator of Cx40. Irx3-EnR over-expression in vivo resulted in postnatal onset of atrial enlargement, ventricular hypertrophy, and conduction failure. Taken together, this study demonstrates the significance of Irx3/5 in both cardiovascular development and cardiac electrophysiology.
Evaluation of the microcirculation on perfusion-phase analysis of ultrasound contrast echocardiography using intuitive and easy-to-use software tools

The principal idea of these software tools is to endow the cardiologists with an appropriate ability covering all their necessities, looking for the detection and analyze of the interesting regions of the myocardium under consideration. To be exactly, the study of the microcirculation in the walls of the myocardium lead us to the analysis of ultrasound contrast echocardiography on perfusion phase after the administration of the adequate contrast agent. The specialists have enough and complete instrumentation to get myocardial contrast echocardiography, but the possibility of analysing is reduced. There are several techniques to detect the infarction area, but the facility to quantify its level of damage (necrosis) by specific data is still limited nowadays. These programs offer the user a complete capacity to display different parameters on perfusion images. This is the lack that covers the software presented in this article together with the results obtained using them during the evaluation of the microvasculation.
Fertility and mother's labour market behaviour: Evidence from the 2011 South African Census

The relationship between fertility and female labour force participation has been a subject of attention for several decades. Most of the literature focuses on developed countries and responds to the interest in understanding the evolution of the increasing female role in labour markets during the last century and the possible effect that controlled fertility may have on it. Fertility, however, is a choice variable and thus endogenous. Therefore, disentangling its impact is not straight forward and several approaches have been proposed over time in order to isolate it. One of those methods is the use of multiple births occurrence as an instrument for exogenous fertility which was introduced by Rosenzweig and Wolpin (1980) and also used by Bronars and Grogger (1994) and Jacobsen et al. (1999) in the context of developed countries and by Careces-Delpiano (2012) and Ponczek and Souza (2012) for developing countries.
Glycosides from Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni Possess Insulin-Mimetic and Antioxidant Activities in Rat Cardiac Fibroblasts

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is a shrub having a high content of sweet diterpenoid glycosides in its leaves, mainly stevioside and rebaudioside A, which are used as noncaloric, natural sweeteners. The aim of this study was to deepen the knowledge about the insulin-mimetic effect exerted by four different mixtures of steviol glycosides, rich in stevioside and rebaudioside A, in neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts. The potential antioxidant activity of these steviol glycosides was also assessed, as oxidative stress is associated with diabetes. Likewise the insulin effect, steviol glycosides caused an increase in glucose uptake into rat fibroblasts by activating the PI3K/Akt pathway, thus inducing Glut4 translocation to the plasma membrane. The presence of S961, an insulin antagonist, completely abolished these effects, allowing to hypothesize that steviol glycosides could act as ligands of the same receptor engaged by insulin. Moreover, steviol glycosides counteracted oxidative stress by increasing reduced glutathione intracellular levels and upregulating expression and activity of the two antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase and catalase. The present work unravels the insulin-mimetic effect and the antioxidant property exerted by steviol glycosides, suggesting their potential beneficial role in the cotreatment of diabetes and in health maintenance.
Molecular Characteristics of Rifampin- and Isoniazid-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis Strains Isolated in Vietnam

ABSTRACT Molecular characterization of the drug resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains with different origins can generate information that is useful for developing molecular methods. These methods are widely applicable for rapid detection of drug resistance. A total of 166 rifampin (RIF)- and/or isoniazid (INH)-resistant strains of M. tuberculosis have been isolated from different parts of Vietnam; they were screened for mutations associated with resistance to these drugs by sequence analysis investigating genetic mutations associated with RIF and INH resistance. Seventeen different mutations were identified in 74 RIF-resistant strains, 56 of which (approximately 76%) had mutations in the so-called 81-bp “hot-spot” region of the rpoB gene. The most common point mutations were in codons 531 (37.8%), 526 (23%), and 516 (9.46%) of the rpoB gene. Mutations were not found in three strains (4.05%). In the case of INH resistance, five different mutations in the katG genes of 82 resistant strains were detected, among which the nucleotide substitution at codon 315 (76.83%) is the most common mutation. This study provided the first molecular characterization of INH and RIF resistance of M. tuberculosis strains from Vietnam, and detection of the katG and rpoB mutations of the INH and RIF-resistant strains should be useful for rapid detection of the INH- and RIF-resistant strains by molecular tests.
The Social Sustainability of Medium Density Housing: A Conceptual Model and Christchurch Case Study

Although there is no broad consensus on the meaning of the term, this paper uses the notions of social equity and social justice as a starting point for analyzing ‘social sustainability’. Planning strategies such as compact city design and urban intensification are claimed to positively affect levels of social sustainability within the city, but is this actually the case? Medium density housing is one component of an urban compaction approach that is becoming more prevalent in the New Zealand context. This paper develops a model of the social sustainability of housing derived from key themes in the literature. The model is then used to ascertain the extent to which medium density housing in the central area of Christchurch is meeting residents' social needs. Information from in-depth interviews is used as a basis for examining the way such housing may be contributing to the overall ‘social sustainability’ of this city.
Selective and potent urea inhibitors of cryptosporidium parvum inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase.

Cryptosporidium parvum and related species are zoonotic intracellular parasites of the intestine. Cryptosporidium is a leading cause of diarrhea in small children around the world. Infection can cause severe pathology in children and immunocompromised patients. This waterborne parasite is resistant to common methods of water treatment and therefore a prominent threat to drinking and recreation water even in countries with strong water safety systems. The drugs currently used to combat these organisms are ineffective. Genomic analysis revealed that the parasite relies solely on inosine-5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) for the biosynthesis of guanine nucleotides. Herein, we report a selective urea-based inhibitor of C. parvum IMPDH (CpIMPDH) identified by high-throughput screening. We performed a SAR study of these inhibitors with some analogues exhibiting high potency (IC(50) < 2 nM) against CpIMPDH, excellent selectivity >1000-fold versus human IMPDH type 2 and good stability in mouse liver microsomes. A subset of inhibitors also displayed potent antiparasitic activity in a Toxoplasma gondii model.
Hypersensitivity of ataxia telangiectasia fibroblasts to ionizing radiation is associated with a repair deficiency of DNA double-strand breaks.

We have studied the intrinsic radiosensitivity, repair of potentially lethal damage (PLD) and the repair rate of radiation-induced DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) in 11 non-transformed human fibroblast cell lines, four of which were homozygous for the A-T mutation and two that were heterozygous (A-TH). All the experiments were done on cells in plateau phase of growth (97-99% of cells in G0/G1). With a dose of 30 Gy delivered at 4 degrees C, the A-T cell lines had faster repair rates of up to 6 h, after which the repair curve crossed that of the control so that the residual damage at 24 h was higher in the A-T cells. Irradiation at 37 degrees C at low dose rate 1 cGy.min-1) produced even more marked differences between the A-T cells and controls: the residual DSB level was always higher in A-T cells than controls at doses of 5-40 Gy, due to defective repair of a small fraction of DSB in A-T cells. The two protocols showed DSB repair rates for the A-TH cell lines that were intermediate between those of the A-T and control cells. There was a quantitative relationship between the residual DSB after irradiation at 37 degrees C and the intrinsic radiosensitivity, and with the extent of PLD repair. There were very few apoptotic cells in the non-transformed control and A-T cell line, both before and after irradiation. In combination, these result support the contention that the defective repair of DSB is a mechanism of the hypersensitivity linked to the A-T mutation.