Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Displacement Effect on Government Expenditure of Two Oil Crises: Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States

The purpose of this paper is to examine the displacement effect on government expenditure for Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States over the periods of the first and second oil price shocks. Following J. Diamond (1977) and P. A. Watt (1978), the displacement effect can be interpreted as a structural change. The author examines the displacement effect by using the Chow test and the modified Wald test proposed by Y. Honda and K. Ohtani (1986). Copyright 1991 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd and The Victoria University of Manchester
European Securitization

Asset-backed securitization is a highly flexible yet complex refinancing technique that involves the issuance of contingent claims with varying seniority on the cash flow performance of a designated pool of asset exposures. Efficient risk management of ABS obligations requires both investors and issuers to thoroughly understand the inherent spread dynamics in this growing segment of fixed income markets. We model the heteroskedasticity of weekly secondary market spreads of European CDO, MBS, and Pfandbrief transactions in a multi-factor GARCH process for valuation and forecasting purposes. We find that expected spread changes follow a positive trend with asymmetric mean reversion depending on the direction of past spread changes. A statistically and economically stronger contribution by negative first moments of past spreads on mean spread changes indicates stronger difference stationarity when spreads are tightning. However, we observe a random stochastic process if spreads widen over several consecutive period. Also most of the conditional spread volatility is informed by negative past innovations, which constitute most of the economic significance of a positive general GARCH effect. These spread dynamics over our sample period imply that a higher risk premium from a sudden contraction of spreads seems to induce higher spread volatility at times when widening spread levels testify to negative investor sentiment.
Estonian‐Swedish wood fuel trade and market integration: a co‐integration approach

Purpose – In the Baltic Sea area, wood fuels have been traded internationally on a relatively large‐scale since the 1990s, with trade flows primarily from the Baltic States to Sweden and Denmark. This has been driven by strong demand for renewable energy in Scandinavia, inexpensive wood resources in the Baltic States and relatively low costs of sea transport. The purpose of this paper is to clarify if this trade has contributed to integration between the wood fuel markets of Sweden and Estonia.Design/methodology/approach – The authors use co‐integration analysis of quarterly price series data from 1998 to 2010, in order to determine whether there are interconnections between wood fuel prices in the two countries. As wood fuels generally are rather bulky, transport costs often have an important impact on price levels. For this reason the analysis is expanded to include estimated transport costs from Estonia to Sweden.Findings – It is concluded that wood fuel prices in Sweden and Estonia are not co‐integrat.
High prevalence of food insecurity among HIV-infected individuals receiving HAART in a resource-rich setting

Abstract This study aimed to assess the prevalence and correlates of food insecurity in a cohort of HIV-infected individuals on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Adults receiving HAART voluntarily enrolled into the Longitudinal Investigations into Supportive and Ancillary Health Services (LISA) cohort. Individual food insecurity was measured using a modified version of the Radimer/Cornell Questionnaire. We performed bivariate analyses to determine differences between explanatory variables for individuals who were food secure and food insecure. We performed logistic regression to determine independent predictors of food insecurity. Of the 457 individuals enrolled in the LISA cohort, 324 (71.0%) were found to be food insecure. Multivariate analysis indicated that individuals who had an annual incomes less than $15,000 (odds ratio [OR] 3.15, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.83, 5.44), used illicit drugs (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.03, 3.33), smoked tobacco (OR 2.30, 95% CI 1.30, 4.07), had depressive symptoms (OR 2.34, 95% CI 1.38, 3.96), and were younger (OR 0.95, 95% CI, 0.92, 0.98) were more likely to be food insecure. Our results demonstrated a high (71%) prevalence of food insecurity among HIV-infected individuals receiving HAART in this resource-rich setting, and that food insecurity is associated with a compendium of environmental and behavioral factors. More research is needed to understand the biological and social pathways linking food insecurity to these variables in order to identify program strategies that can effectively improve food security among HIV-infected populations.
A novel N-terminal motif of dipeptidyl peptidase-like proteins inactivates KV4.2 channels by a pore-blocking mechanism

The somatodendritic subthreshold A-type K+ current in neurons (ISA) depends on its kinetic and voltage-dependent properties to regulate membrane excitability, action potential repetitive firing, and signal integration. Key functional properties of the Kv4 channel complex underlying ISA are determined by dipeptidyl peptidase-like proteins known as dipeptidyl peptidase 6 (DPP6) and dipeptidyl peptidase 10 (DPP10). Among the multiple known DPP10 isoforms with alternative N-terminal sequences, DPP10a confers exceptionally fast inactivation to Kv4.2 channels. To elucidate the molecular basis of this fast inactivation, we investigated the structure-function relationship of the DPP10a N-terminal region and its interaction with the Kv4.2 channel. Here, we show that DPP10a shares a conserved N-terminal sequence (MNQTA) with DPP6a (aka DPP6-E), which also induces fast inactivation. Deletion of the NQTA sequence in DPP10a eliminates this dramatic fast inactivation, and perfusion of MNQTA peptide to the cytoplasmic face of inside-out patches inhibits the Kv4.2 current. DPP10a-induced fast inactivation exhibits competitive interactions with internally applied tetraethylammonium (TEA), and elevating the external K+ concentration accelerates recovery from DPP10a-mediated fast inactivation. These results suggest that fast inactivation induced by DPP10a or DPP6a is mediated by a common N-terminal inactivation motif via a pore-blocking mechanism. This mechanism may offer an attractive target for novel pharmacological interventions directed at impairing ISA inactivation and reducing neuronal excitability.
Climate and environmental triggers of acute myocardial infarction

Over the past few decades, a growing body of epidemiological and clinical evidence has led to heightened concerns about the potential short- and long-term deleterious effects of the environment on cardiovascular health, including the risk for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This review highlights the increased risk of AMI caused by exposure to air pollution and cold temperatures. These factors should be considered modifiable risk factors in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. The current body of knowledge about the biological mechanisms linking environmental changes to atherothrombotic events and the impact of climate change on cardiovascular health are discussed. Finally, recommendations for prevention and public policy are presented.
Innovation for Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality

Innovation and womens empowerment are rarely discussed in the same context but each has essential value for human progress. This research is the first scholarly assessment of its kind to understand how innovations have improved womens well-being empowered women and advanced gender equality. We examine eight catalytic innovations in three domains that intersect areas with the greatest need and most creative entry points for realizing womens empowerment: (1) technology use (2) social norm change and (3) economic resilience. Through this analysis we identify seven core levers essential for innovation to catalyze meaningful change for women in developing countries.
Residential Demand for Electricity Under Block Rate Structures: Evidence from a Controlled Experiment

Block-rate structures are used extensively in public-utility pricing, including residential electricity. Estimating price elasticities in this context is complicated by the resulting nonlinearity of the consumer's budget constraint. This article estimates the demand for electricity under inverted block rates using data from a residential rate experiment. The study provides an opportunity to obtain short-run price elasticities in an experimental setting and to compare alternative estimators developed for nonlinear budget constraints. Elasticities of demand with respect to individual components of the block rate are developed using a modification of the structural maximum likelihood estimator.
A note on the periodic conversion of measures of risk

The conversion of monthly or quarterly standard deviations to their annual equivalent presents few problems if the underlying returns series is serially uncorrelated. If however the same procedure is used to convert serially correlated returns then the annual equivalent risk measures may be seriously understated. Using continuous rates of return this paper presents a compact solution which makes allowance for serial correlation and can be used for making the conversion over any interval.
The induction of DNA adducts in mammalian cells exposed to 1-nitropyrene and its nitro-reduced derivatives.

1-Nitropyrene, 1-nitrosopyrene and 1-aminopyrene were investigated for their ability to induce covalently bound DNA adducts in calf thymus DNA and Chinese hamster lung fibroblasts. Xanthine oxidase catalysed the induction of one major and one minor DNA adduct in 1-nitropyrene- or 1-nitrosopyrene-treated calf thymus DNA, whilst 1-aminopyrene was inactive. These compounds did not form detectable DNA adducts in the absence of xanthine oxidase. The major DNA adduct produced by 1-nitropyrene and 1-nitrosopyrene in calf thymus DNA co-migrated on h.p.l.c. , and the structure was consistent with that previously described by others as N-(deoxyguanosin-8-yl)-1-aminopyrene. The compounds were investigated for their ability to form DNA adducts in Chinese hamster lung fibroblasts. 1-Nitropyrene (5.2 pmol/mg DNA/h) and 1-nitrosopyrene (129 pmol/mg DNA/h) formed a single DNA adduct in Chinese hamster lung cells which co-eluted on h.p.l.c. with the C-8 deoxyguanosine adduct isolated from 1-nitropyrene-treated calf thymus DNA. 1-Nitrosopyrene was the most efficient compound investigated for the production of the C-8 guanine adducts. In contrast, 1-aminopyrene (14.7 pmol/mg DNA/h) induced the formation of a DNA adduct which did not co-elute with the C-8 guanine adduct. The data presented here suggest that 1-nitropyrene and 1-aminopyrene are metabolized to reactive intermediates which form different DNA adducts in Chinese hamster lung fibroblasts.
The Learning Development Team: Three developers, one pedagogy

With the inception of Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs), the demand for learning developers has increased in many institutions across the UK. Operating largely in small teams, yet within the remit of facilitating large-scale institutional change, CETLs often find themselves outside established institutional structures, with developers fulfilling newly defined roles and responsibilities. This short paper focuses on the way learning development support has been integrated in one particular CETL, in order to explore issues, challenges and experiences that are part of the role.
Different Antisemitisms: On Three Distinct Forms of Antisemitism in Contemporary Europe. With Special Focus on Sweden

This article studies eight European countries, investigating how the level of antisemit­ism as registered in national populations relates to the perception of antisemitism by the Jewish population in the same country. Furthermore, the article empirically identifies distinct aspects of antisemitism, deconstructing the concept of antisemitism and breaking it up into three kinds of empirically differently based and composed antisemitisms (note the plural! ): classic antisemitism, Israel-derived antisemitism and Enlightenment-based antisemitism. The article also elaborates on some more general implications for the understanding of the character of antisemitism in contemporary Europe, and based on that, presents some perspectives on the development of the three distinct antisemitisms in contemporary Europe.
Changing Fortunes: Income Mobility and Poverty Dynamics in Britain

Most information about the incomes of people in Britain today, such as provided by official statistics, tells us how much inequality there is or how many poor people there are in a given year and compares those numbers with the corresponding statistics from the previous year. Missing from snapshot pictures like these is information about whether the people who were poor one year are the same people who are poor the following year; and the circumstances of those with middle-income or top-income origins are not tracked over time. This book fills in the missing information. The author likens Britain's income distribution to a multi-story apartment building with the numbers of residents on the different floors corresponding to the concentration of people at different income levels in any particular year. The poorest are in the basement, the richest are in the penthouse, and the majority somewhere in between. This book assesses how much movement there is between floors, the frequency of moves, whether the distance travelled has been changing over the last two decades, and whether basement dwellers ever reach the penthouse. Using the British Household Panel Survey, which has followed and interviewed the same people annually since 1991, it documents the patterns of income mobility and poverty dynamics in Britain, shows how they have changed over the last two decades, and explores the reasons why. It draws attention to the relationships between changes in income and changes in other aspects of people's lives - not only in their jobs, earnings, benefits, and credits, but also in the households within which they live (people marry and divorce; children are born). Trends over time are also related to changes in Britain's labour market and the reforms to the tax-benefit system introduced by the Labour government in the late-1990s.
[Construction and characterization of a mutant strain of Listeria monocytogenes with a deletion of actA and plcB].

UNLABELLED The virulence of Listeria monocytogenes is directly related to its ability to spread from cell to cell without leaving the intracellular milieu. Among the bacterial factors involved in cell-to-cell spread, actin-polymerizing protein ActA is required for bacterial spread to adjacent cells, while the broad-range phospholipase C (PC-PLC) contributes to bacterial escape from secondary vacuoles. METHODS Based on homologous recombination technology, we constructed a double gene-mutant strain by deleting two virulence factors, ActA and PC-PLC. OBJECTIVE Its toxicity and immunopotency was evaluated in murine model. RESULTS And then, the mutant strain was further verified the absence of ActA and PC-PLC using Western blot analysis and phospholipase activity assay. It showed highly attenuated and its 50% lethal dose in BLAB/c mice was increased at least 10(3)-fold compared to the parent strain. Nevertheless, mice preimmunized with the mutant strain elicited strong T-cell responses and fully protected against a lethal challenge with the virulent strain. CONCLUSION These results not only verified that ActA and PC-PLC were essential virulence factors for L. monocytogenes, but also demonstrated that the mutant strain possessed good immunogenicity with higher safety. The mutant strain could be further studied as a vaccine candidate to prevent listeriosis and used as a vector to deliver heterologous antigens. Furthermore, it provided the possibilities to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis and immune response triggered by L. monocytogenes.
Treatment of periocular wrinkles with topical nifedipine

Abstract The appearance of facial expression wrinkles is the result of chronic contraction of mimic muscles. Nifedipine is a dihydropyridinic calcium antagonist which blocks muscular cells' calcium channels, therefore inhibiting their contraction. We assumed that topical nifedipine was able to relax mimic muscular fibres in the same way, thus reducing the depth of wrinkles. We performed a clinical and experimental study, enrolling 64 female patients with periocular wrinkles. They applied a cream containing 0.5% nifedipine (Antrox®; Bracco, Milan, Italy) once daily for 90 days. The length and depth of wrinkles (measured by a digital profilometer), moisturizing of periocular skin (measured by a corneometer), and trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL; measured by a tewameter), were evaluated. All parameters were measured before the beginning of treatment, and 45 and 90 days later. At the end of the study, topical nifedipine proved statistically effective in reducing the depth of wrinkles. No significant differences in the length of wrinkles were recorded. No significant changes were observed in moisturizing. TEWL gradually improved, although without statistical significance. On the basis of the results of this study, 0.5% nifedipine cream seems to be effective in reducing the depth of periocular wrinkles. Other studies are necessary in order to confirm these results.
Challenges to cervical cancer screening in the Western Cape province.

5and models of the natural history of the disease. 6 The incidence of invasive cancer in South Africa begins to rise for women between the ages of 35 and 39 years, with 87% of cases occurring in women over 35. 1 A lifetime total of three Pap smears, taken at 10-year intervals, is to be made available free to all women aged over 30 years, with follow-up and treatment for abnormal tests also free. The goal is to screen 70% of women in the target age group within 10 years of initiating the programme. Screening and treatment based on this model should theoretically decrease cancer incidence by 64%. 5
Strategy and Sustainable Competitive Advantage of International Retailers in China

This article focuses on the relationship between international retailers' core competences, resources, and strategy in the Chinese context. The authors first review the key concepts and dimensions of core competences, then analyze the field data generated by in-depth interviews with key managers of the main international retail subsidiaries in China. They then point out the impact of the competitive structure of distribution, which is the most important environmental factor in China. Then they describe how an international retail subsidiary in China can create and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage. Finally, they consider the managerial implications of this.
Essential role of Ubr11, but not Ubr1, as an N‐end rule ubiquitin ligase in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

The N‐end rule pathway degrades proteins bearing a destabilization‐inducing amino acid at the N‐terminus. In this proteolytic system, Ubr ubiquitin ligases recognize and ubiquitylate substrates intended for degradation. Schizosaccharomyces pombe has two similar Ubr proteins, Ubr1 and Ubr11. Both proteins have unique roles in various cellular processes, although the ubr1∆ strain shows more severe defects. However, their involvement in the N‐end rule pathway is unclear, and even the N‐end rule pathway‐dependent proteolytic activity has not been demonstrated in Sz. pombe. Here, we show that: (a) Sz. pombe has the N‐end rule pathway in which only Ubr11, but not Ubr1, is responsible; and (b) the C‐terminal fragment of the meiotic cohesin Rec8 (denoted as Rec8c) generated by separase‐mediated cleavage is an endogenous substrate of the N‐end rule pathway. Forced overexpression of stable Rec8c was deleterious in mitosis and caused a loss of the mini‐chromosome. In unperturbed mitosis without overexpression, the rate of mini‐chromosome loss was five‐fold higher in the ubr11∆ strain. Since Rec8 is normally produced in meiosis, we examined whether meiosis and sporulation were affected in the ubr11∆ strain. In unperturbed meiosis, chromosome segregation occurred almost normally and viable spores were produced in the ubr11∆ cells, irrespective of the presence of undegraded endogenous Rec8c peptides. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Developmental issues of university students in Hong Kong

Abstract Four domains of developmental issues of university students in Hong Kong are examined in this paper. First, behavioral and lifestyle problems of university students are identified, including alcohol consumption, Internet addiction, cyber-pornography, irregular sleep patterns, and interpersonal violence. Second, the mental health problems of university students, including suicidal ideation, depression and anxiety problems, are outlined. Third, issues on self-determination (including establishment of personal goals), self-confidence, and materialism of the students are reviewed. Fourth, issues related to students’ connection to the society, including egocentrism and civic engagement, are discussed. The views of employers about university graduates in Hong Kong are also examined. With the emergence of developmental issues among Hong Kong university students, it is argued that promoting the psychosocial competencies of university students via positive youth development programs is an important strategy in addressing such issues.
Track structure calculations on intracellular targets responsible for signal release in bystander experiments with transfer of irradiated cell-conditioned medium

Abstract Purpose: To investigate alternative scenarios for the dose-dependent emission of bystander signals by irradiated cells in medium transfer experiments. Methods: Energy deposition patterns to hypothetical intracellular targets whose hit by radiation initiates the emission of bystander signals have been simulated by Monte Carlo code PARTRAC, evaluating the effects of target size, multiplicity and threshold energy for activation. Scenarios in which individual irradiated cells release signals independently as well as those with signal amplification by neighbour cells have been analyzed. The non-linear response of unirradiated cells to signals in the transferred medium has been considered. Results: The experimentally observed dose dependence of bystander effects is consistent with cell-autonomous signal release with a wide distribution of characteristic doses, covering the range of 3 mGy to 3 Gy. Alternatively, the data can be explained by assuming that only cells receiving a high specific energy (3 Gy to 0.5 μm targets) release primary signals, which are then amplified by secondary signalling by neighbour cells within about a millimetre distance. Conclusion: Alternative signal emission scenarios are consistent with the observed dose dependence of bystander effects in medium transfer experiments. Thus, further experimental research is needed to identify the actual mechanism of bystander signal emission.
Negotiating a supply contract in China. Case comment: Negotiating a supply contract in China

This case highlights the challenges inherent in strategy implementation in the Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) context, especially the impact of cultural context on the negotiation process. It also illustrates the role that multiple providers within a global supply chain can play in strengthening a negotiator's hand. The accompanying commentary from Robert Nudelman, an executive with extensive business development experience in Asia, offers suggestions for companies contemplating market entry into China, including the importance of having the right people involved in a negotiation. He also emphasizes the importance of prenegotiation planning to the outcome of the negotiation. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.