Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The household and individual-level productive impacts of cash transfer programs in Sub-Saharan Africa

Silvio Daidone is a economist and Benjamin Davis is a Strategic Program Leader, both with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. Sudhanshu Handa is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Paul Winters is the Associate Vice-President of the Strategy and Knowledge Department, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Rome, Italy. The research presented in this article has been carried out under the auspices of the “From Protection to Production” (PtoP) project, a collaborative effort of the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The project has received funding from the DFID Research and Evidence Division, the European Union through the “Improved Global Governance for Hunger Reduction Programme”, and the FAO Regular Fund. The authors would like to thank the following: two anonymous reviewers and the journal editor, who have provided excellent comments and significantly contributed to the improvement of the article; Alejandro Grinspun, Fabio Veras Soares, and Marco Knowles for technical review of previous drafts; Ervin Prifti and Noemi Pace for their useful suggestions and comments. The authors are also grateful to participants at the following conferences and workshops: 2017 APPAM International Conference, Brussels; 2016 Transfer Project workshop, Addis Ababa; 2016 IFAD-3IE Designing and implementing high-quality, policy-relevant impact evaluations, Rome; 2015 SASPEN Conference on Social Protection, Johannesburg; 2015 Global Food Security Conference, Ithaca; 2014 IPEA International Seminar “Social protection, entrepreneurship and labor market activation - Evidence for better policies”, Brasilia; 2014 University of Florence, Department of Economics & Management Seminars, Florence; 2014 Africa Community of Practice (CoP) on Conditional Cash Transfers and Cash Transfers; 2014 African Union Expert Consultation on Children and Social Protection Systems, Cape Town; 2014 IDS Graduation and Social Protection Conference, Kigali. The authors would also like to remember Josh Dewbre, a founding member of the PtoP team, who passed away in April 2015, who had participated in the fieldwork and in the analysis of several programs included in this study. All mistakes and omissions are those of the authors
The determinants of firms’ global diversification decisions

ABSTRACT Why do some firms choose to be ‘born global’ and become early internationalizing firms (EIFs) while others choose to be ‘born-again global’ and develop into late internationalizing firms (LIFs)? What are the main factors impacting a firm’s decision on the timing of global diversification? Based on the theories of diversification, this study examines the role of peer influence and desire for growth on the timing of a firm’s globalization decision. We further study the idiosyncratic risk and the adoption of technological innovation hypotheses on global diversification. Our results document that innovation efficiency strongly enhances EIFs’ propensity to global diversification. On the other hand, peer pressure and idiosyncratic risk level significantly influence EIFs not to globalize. In contrast, LIFs are positively influenced by their industry peers, showing how young and mature companies respond to the market competition in a different manner.
Discriminative Training of Complex-valued Deep Recurrent Neural Network for Singing Voice Separation

Deep neural networks (DNN) have performed impressively in the processing of multimedia signals. Most DNN-based approaches were developed to handle real-valued data; very few have been designed for complex-valued data, despite their being essential for processing various types of multimedia signal. Accordingly, this work presents a complex-valued deep recurrent neural network (C-DRNN) for singing voice separation. The C-DRNN operates on the complex-valued short-time discrete Fourier transform (STFT) domain. A key aspect of the C-DRNN is that the activations and weights are complex-valued. The goal herein is to reconstruct the singing voice and the background music from a mixed signal. For error back-propagation, CR-calculus is utilized to calculate the complex-valued gradients of the objective function. To reinforce model regularity, two constraints are incorporated into the objective function of the C-DRNN. The first is an additional masking layer that ensures the sum of separated sources equals the input mixture. The second is a discriminative term that preserves the mutual difference between two separated sources. Finally, the proposed method is evaluated using the MIR-1K dataset and a singing voice separation task. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art DNN-based methods.
Identification of a Monoclonal Thrombin Inhibitor Associated with Multiple Myeloma and a Severe Bleeding Disorder

We investigated a patient with a long‐standing IgGκ monoclonal gammopathy who developed severe haemorrhagic complications. At IgG concentrations of ∼50 g/l the patient had severe bleeding associated with prolongation of the thrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, and reptilase time. Plasmapheresis resulted in improvement in the thrombin time and resolution of bleeding. Depletion of the IgG by absorption of plasma with protein G–Sepharose in vitro resulted in normalization of the thrombin time and reptilase time. The purified IgG bound to immobilized thrombin and immunoprecipitated human α‐, β‐ and γ‐thrombin but not prothrombin, other vitamin K‐dependent coagulation factors, or fibrinogen. Purified IgG at concentrations >1×10−2 g/l decreased (∼50%) the rate of hydrolysis of a chromogenic substrate by thrombin. Addition of purified IgG to normal pooled plasma at concentrations >1×10−2 g/l prolonged the thrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time, but the reptilase time was prolonged only at IgG concentrations >1 g/l. This finding suggests that at low concentrations the IgG produces a specific antithrombin effect, but at higher concentrations it also affects fibrin polymerization; the combination of these effects probably produced clinical bleeding. This is the first report of a monoclonal antithrombin antibody associated with bleeding in a patient with multiple myeloma.
Impact of treatment changes on the interpretation of the Concorde trial

Background: The Concorde trial compared two policies of therapy with zidovudine (ZDV) in individuals with asymptomatic HIV infection: immediate or deferred ZDV. Participants in both groups could stop their blinded trial therapy for several reasons and/or could start open‐label ZDV. The difference in survival and disease progression between the two groups was estimated allowing for treatment changes. Methods: The relationship between latest CD4 count, treatment changes and time to AIDS‐related complex (ARC), AIDS or death was investigated using time‐updated proportional hazards models, but these models gave seriously biased estimates of the effect of ZDV. Therefore, a method based on the comparison of the randomized groups was used. A model relating a participant's event times to the treatment actually received was used to estimate what would have been observed if the deferred group had not received ZDV before ARC or AIDS, and to explore alternative policies for starting Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) prophylaxis. Results: The major treatment changes during the trial were the termination of blinded therapy because of adverse events or personal reasons (575 out of 1749 participants), starting open‐label ZDV (745 participants), and starting PCP prophylaxis (613 participants). Starting open‐label ZDV and PCP prophylaxis were strongly related to latest CD4 count. The uncorrected hazard ratios for immediate compared with deferred groups were 0.89 for time to ARC, AIDS or death [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.75‐1.05], 1.01 for time to AIDS or death (95% CI, 0.82‐1.24), and 1.26 for time to death (95% CI, 0.93‐1.70). After correction for treatment changes, these hazard ratios were 0.79 (95% CI, 0.57‐1.11), 1.01 (95% CI, 0.81‐1.26), and 1.37 (95% CI, 0.91‐2.08), respectively. Correction for PCP prophylaxis made little difference to the results. Conclusions: Open‐label ZDV before ARC or AIDS in the deferred group was likely to have diluted any differences between the immediate and deferred groups. After correction for this dilution, both the estimated benefit of immediate treatment in delaying progression to ARC, AIDS or death and the estimated disadvantage of immediate treatment in accelerating death were somewhat increased, but both remained consistent with chance alone. This study demonstrated the large potential bias inherent in non‐randomization‐based methods of analysis of clinical trials.
From Learning to Teach to Teaching Effectiveness: Nurse Educators Describe Their Experiences

AIM The aim of the study was to understand the lived experience of nurse educators and the characteristics, traits, practices, and experiences that influenced their development and competence. BACKGROUND The nurse and nurse faculty shortage has resulted in a continuous demand for new nurse educators. Clinical experts recruited as faculty face numerous challenges in the move to academia. METHOD A purposive sample of nurse educators with five or more years of full‐time teaching experience, peer‐nominated as effective teachers, was recruited for this phenomenological study. RESULTS Eight overarching themes were identified, including factors that supported new faculty entering academia and the process of learning to teach in higher education. Characteristics of effective teachers are explored, with implications for both new and experienced faculty. CONCLUSION Suggestions for attracting more nurses to academia and supporting retention of current faculty are provided.
Impact of Stock Market Development on Economic Growth in BRICS

The study examines Stock Market development and economic growth in BRICS, Quarterly time series data for the period 1994QI to 2015Q4 were sourced from World Bank Indicator. The Panel Least Squares based on the fixed effect estimation was employed to determine how stock market development impacts on the economic growth of BRICS. Diagnostics tests were conducted to ascertain the robustness and stability of the regression results. The findings reveal that stock market development exerts significant impact on the economic growth. The study revealed that there is a positive correlation between stock market development indicators and BRICS’s economic growth. The study recommends that the weakness of each of the BRICS member country should be taken as policy focus and strategies necessary to strengthen them should be swiftly applied by the governments.
Migratory patterns of lac‐z transfected human glioma cells in the rat brain

Malignant brain tumors are characterized by extensive tumor‐cell infiltration into the normal brain tissue. The present work describes the migratory behavior of human glioma cells transplanted into the adult rat brain with the aim of exploiting the extent of active cell migration and passive cell displacement within the central nervous system. To detect every transplanted tumor cell, a stably bacterial β‐galactosidase (loc‐z) transfected human glioma cell line was used. To distinguish between an active cell migration process and passive cell displacement, rat brains were also implanted with inert fluorescent polystyrene microspheres and the distribution of tumor cells and micro‐ spheres was studied 1 hr and 3 days after implantation. One hour after implantation the tumor cells were strictly localized at the implantation site. However, 3 days after implantation, both tumor cells and microspheres showed an extensive distribution within the brain. Confirming earlier neuropathological and experimental studies, it is shown that the loc‐z‐transfected glioma cells had the capacity to move within the Virchow‐Robin and subarachnoid spaces. However, since fluorescent micro‐spheres were also found in these areas, this spread of tumor cells may be primarily mediated by the extensive cerebrospinal fluid flow that exists within the brain. Three days after implantation, the glioma cells also showed an active migration over the corpus callosum. In comparison, the fluorescent microspheres showed only limited spread along the callosal body. It is concluded that the bacterial lac‐z gene can be stably transfected into human glioma cells and, since every tumor cell can be visualized within the brain, this model provides a tool for studying the mechanisms behind tumor‐cell invasion of the brain. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Organization of monkey superior colliculus: intermediate layer cells discharging before eye movements.

1. We investigated the characteristics of cells in the intermediate layers of the superior colliculus that increase their rate of discharge before saccadic eye movements. Eye movements were repeatedly elicited by training rhesus monkeys to fixate on a spot of light and to make saccades to other spots of light when the fixation spot was turned off. 2. The eye movement cells showed consistent variations with their depth within the colliculus. The onset of the cell discharge led the eye movement by less time and the duration of the discharge was shorter as the cell was located closer to the dorsal edge of the intermediate layers. The movements fields (that area of the visual field where a saccade into the area is preceded by a burst of cell discharges) of each successive cell also became smaller as the cells were located more dorsally. The profile of peak discharge frequency remained fairly flat throughout the movement field of the cells regardless of depth of the cell within the colliculus. 3. A new type of eye movement-related cell has been found which usually lies at the border between the superficial and intermediate layers. This cell type, the visually triggered movement cell, increased its rate of discharge before saccades made to a visual stimulus but not before spontaneous saccades of equal amplitude made in the light or the dark. A vigorous discharge of these cells before an eye movement was dependent on the presence of a visual target; the cells seemed to combine the visual input of superficial layer cells and the movement-related input of the intermediate layer cells. The size of the movement fields of these cells were about the same size as the visual fields of superficial layer cells just above them.
Role of Specific Innate Immune Responses in Herpes Simplex Virus Infection of the Central Nervous System

ABSTRACT Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) causes a spectrum of disease, including herpes labialis, herpes keratitis, and herpes encephalitis, which can be lethal. Viral recognition by pattern recognition receptors plays a central role in cytokine production and in the generation of antiviral immunity. The relative contributions of different Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in the innate immune response during central nervous system infection with HSV-1 have not been fully characterized. In this study, we investigate the roles of TLR2, TLR9, UNC93B1, and the type I interferon (IFN) receptor in a murine model of HSV-1 encephalitis. TLR2 is responsible for detrimental inflammatory cytokine production following intracranial infection with HSV-1, and the absence of TLR2 expression leads to increased survival in mice. We prove that inflammatory cytokine production by microglial cells, astrocytes, neutrophils, and monocytes is mediated predominantly by TLR2. We also demonstrate that type I IFNs are absolutely required for survival following intracranial HSV-1 infection, as mice lacking the type I IFN receptor succumb rapidly following infection and have high levels of HSV in the brain. However, the absence of TLR9 does not impact survival, type I IFN levels, or viral replication in the brain following infection. The absence of UNC93B1 leads to a survival disadvantage but does not impact viral replication or type I IFN levels in the brain in HSV-1-infected mice. These results illustrate the complex but important roles that innate immune receptors play in host responses to HSV-1 during infection of the central nervous system.
Peripheral blood monocyte and T‐lymphocyte activation levels at diagnosis predict long‐term survival in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients

This study was performed to determine whether peripheral blood (PB) monocyte and/or lymphocyte activation at diagnosis were associated with long‐term prognosis in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), and to what extent such prognostic properties relate to human papilloma virus (HPV)‐associated tumor infection of the included patients. This was a long‐term prospective study describing patient survival in relation to PB T lymphocyte and monocyte activation in patients observed for up to 14 years following diagnosis. Sixty‐four patients from a consecutive cohort of newly diagnosed HNSCC patients along with 16 non‐cancer control patients were included over a period of almost 2 years. Monocyte responsiveness was assessed at diagnosis (N = 56 HNSCC/16 non‐cancer controls) by measuring net levels of spontaneous vs lipopolysaccharide‐induced monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)‐1 secretion in vitro. PB T lymphocyte activation was determined (N = 58 HNSCC/16 controls) by measuring the percentage of T cells expressing CD69 by flow cytometry. Whether HPV infection or not was determined by PCR analysis on formalin fixed paraffin‐embedded tumor tissue. Tumor HPV‐positive patients had better prognosis than HPV‐negative patients. A low net MCP‐1 response in monocytes predicted increased survival (Relative risk (RR) = 2.1; Confidence interval (CI): 1.1–4.0; p < 0.05). A low percentage of CD69 positive T lymphocytes also predicted better prognosis (RR = 2.6; CI: 1.3–5.0; p = 0.005). The predictive power of MCP‐1 monocyte and CD69 T lymphocyte measures were retained when adjusted for age and gender of the patients and shown to be independent of each other (N = 50 HNSCC/16 controls). The results were similar in HPV tumor‐positive and ‐negative patients. Patients with high monocyte‐ and/or T lymphocyte activation status had low survival with 8% 5 year overall survival (OS) compared to 65% 5 year OS for patients with dual low activation levels (RR = 0.27; CI: 0.14–0.56; p < 0.001), mostly secondary to disease‐specific survival. Both tumor HPV‐positive and ‐negative HNSCC patients with high percentage of CD69 positive T lymphocytes and/or high monocyte MCP‐1 secretion had low long‐term survival. The data suggest that the general inflammatory and adaptive immune systems are independently linked to the clinical aggressiveness of both tumor HPV‐negative and ‐positive HNSCC patients.
Mirrored variants of the (1,4)-CMA-ES compared on the noiseless BBOB-2010 testbed

Derandomization by means of mirrored samples has been recently introduced to enhance the performances of (1,λ)-Evolution-Strategies (ESs) with the aim of designing fast and robust stochastic local search algorithms. This paper compares on the BBOB-2010 noiseless benchmark testbed two variants of the (1,4)-CMA-ES where the mirrored samples are used. Independent restarts are conducted up to a total budget of 104 D function evaluations, where D is the dimension of the search space. The results show that the improved variants are significantly faster than the baseline (1,4)-CMA-ES on 4 functions in 20D (respectively 7 when using sequential selection in addition) by a factor of up to 3 (on the attractive sector function). In no case, the (1,4)-CMA-ES is significantly faster on any tested target function value in 5D and 20D. Moreover, the algorithm employing both mirroring and sequential selection is significantly better than the algorithm without sequentialism on five functions in 20D with expected running times that are about 20% smaller.
A Bacillus subtilis Secreted Protein with a Role in Endospore Coat Assembly and Function

ABSTRACT Bacterial endospores are encased in a complex protein coat, which confers protection against noxious chemicals and influences the germination response. In Bacillus subtilis, over 20 polypeptides are organized into an amorphous undercoat, a lamellar lightly staining inner structure, and an electron-dense outer coat. Here we report on the identification of a polypeptide of about 30 kDa required for proper coat assembly, which was extracted from spores of agerE mutant. The N-terminal sequence of this polypeptide matched the deduced product of the tasA gene, after removal of a putative 27-residue signal peptide, and TasA was immunologically detected in material extracted from purified spores. Remarkably, deletion of tasA results in the production of asymmetric spores that accumulate misassembled material in one pole and have a greatly expanded undercoat and an altered outer coat structure. Moreover, we found that tasA and gerE mutations act synergistically to decrease the efficiency of spore germination. We show that tasA is the most distal member of a three-gene operon, which also encodes the type I signal peptidase SipW. Expression of the tasA operon is enhanced 2 h after the onset of sporulation, under the control of ςH. WhentasA transcription is uncoupled from sipWexpression, a presumptive TasA precursor accumulates, suggesting that its maturation depends on SipW. Mature TasA is found in supernatants of sporulating cultures and intracellularly from 2 h of sporulation onward. We suggest that, at an early stage of sporulation, TasA is secreted to the septal compartment. Later, after engulfment of the prespore by the mother cell, TasA acts from the septal-proximal pole of the spore membranes to nucleate the organization of the undercoat region. TasA is the first example of a polypeptide involved in coat assembly whose production is not mother cell specific but rather precedes its formation. Our results implicate secretion as a mechanism to target individual proteins to specific cellular locations during the assembly of the bacterial endospore coat.
Transaction Costs and Efficiency in Design-Build Contracting: Empirical Evidence from the Transportation Infrastructure Sector in Oregon

Abstract Design-build (DB) contracting as a type of public–private partnerships (PPPs) has been widely used as an alternative to the traditional contracting-out and the in-house provisions for the delivery of infrastructure in the United States. The research question this article seeks to answer is whether the efficiency motive helps explain the use of DB contracting compared to traditional contracting-out, the design-bid-build (DBB), in public infrastructure delivery. By using the transaction cost economics approach, I assessed whether DB contracting is selected to minimize transaction costs in certain infrastructure transactions that would later lead to more efficient results for those infrastructure transactions. By employing a two-stage empirical strategy (the nonparametric data envelopment analysis and the instrumental variable two-stage least squares regression approach), I examined 59 bridge and combination bridge-roadway projects in Oregon that were completed during 2005–2015 using both DB and DBB contracting. I found that when the transaction is complex, the assets in the transaction are specific, and the size of the transaction is large, the use of DB contracting significantly increases the efficiency score by 46 percentage points. The findings suggest that the transaction costs economizing motive underlies the choice of governance structure in public service deliveries.