Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Small‐ and Medium‐Sized Enterprise Financing and Securitization: Firm‐Level Evidence from the Euro Area

This paper analyzes the impact of securitization on access to finance for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the euro area. Using firm‐level survey data on SME financing conditions, we show that an increase in securitization issuance reduces the probability of SMEs facing credit constraints and decreases the costs of bank financing for nonconstrained firms. Our results reveal that in addition to the volume of securitization, its type and quality matter for credit extension to SMEs. The paper thus provides empirical support for recent initiatives to revive securitization in Europe and for effective monetary policy transmission in the euro area. (JEL D22, E44, E51, E58, G21)
A test case for structure‐based functional assignment: The 1.2 Å crystal structure of the yjgF gene product from Escherichia coli

The YER057c/YIL051c/YjgF protein family is a set of 24 full‐length homologs, each ∼130 residues in length, and each with no known function or relationship to proteins of known structure. To determine the function of this family, the structure of one member–the YjgF protein from Escherichia coli–was solved and refined at a resolution of 1.2 Å. The YjgF molecule is a homotrimer with exact threefold symmetry. Its tertiary and quaternary structures are related to that of Bacillus subtilis chorismate mutase, although their active sites are completely different. The YjgF protein has an active site curiously similar to protein tyrosine phosphatases, including a covalently modified cysteine, but it is unlikely to be functionally related. The lessons learned from this attempt to deduce function from structure may be useful to future projects in structural genomics.
Will U.S. Forests Continue to Be a Carbon Sink?

This paper develops structural dynamic methods to project future carbon fluxes in forests. These methods account for land management changes on both the intensive and extensive margins, both of which are critical components of future carbon fluxes. When implemented, the model suggests that U.S. forests remain a carbon sink through most of the coming century, sequestering 128 Tg C y−1. Constraining forestland to its current boundaries and constraining management to current levels reduce average sequestration by 25 to 28 Tg C y−1. An increase in demand leads to increased management and greater sequestration in forests. The results are robust to climate change. (JEL Q23, Q54)
Dithiocarbamates Induce Apoptosis in Thymocytes by Raising the Intracellular Level of Redox-active Copper (*)

Dithiocarbamates are metal-chelating compounds that can exert either pro-oxidant or antioxidant effects in different situations. They have recently been found to potently inhibit apoptotic cell death, an activity attributed to their antioxidant action. However, when thymocytes were exposed to pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, an oxidation of the glutathione pool occurred within 90 min. Longer incubation resulted in cell shrinkage, chromatin fragmentation, glutathione depletion, and eventual cell lysis, which is typical of apoptosis in these cells. These changes were inhibited by inclusion of non-permeable metal chelators in the incubation medium, suggesting that pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate exerts its toxic effect by transporting a redox-active metal into the cell. This was directly confirmed when sustained 8-fold elevations of intracellular copper were detected after addition of pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate. In agreement with this, supplementation of the incubation medium with submicromolar concentrations of copper significantly potentiated pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate toxicity. We conclude that pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate exerts a powerful pro-oxidant effect on thymocytes due to its ability to transport external redox-active copper into cells. The resulting increase in glutathione disulfide may also explain the temporary anti-apoptotic activity of this compound described in other systems.
The (Dis)Connection between Secondary English Education Assessment Policy and Practice: Insights from Bangladesh

Given the instrumental wave of globalization, English language has received a more pragmatic attitude and development interventionist promotion in developing countries including Bangladesh. This attitudinal shift and promotion have also led the policy makers of Bangladesh to revise and develop English education related policies including its curriculum, methods, materials and assessment system. Considering the scope of journal writing, the paper critically presents a policy trajectory study of secondary English education assessment in Bangladesh. This qualitative study was conducted as part of a doctoral project employing content analysis of pertinent policy documents and semi-structured interviews with a set of English curriculum policy implementation stakeholders including teacher trainers, school principals and English teachers. The findings highlighted a clear ‘disconnection’ between the intended English assessment policy directions and the practiced pattern. The analysis of data also indicated that, as a washback of such ‘disconnection’ between policy and practice substantially intercedes the overall quality of secondary English education. By accenting the assessment system as the wire-puller, the paper finally suggested that the strict monitoring of the government would facilitate the extent of proper implementation of secondary English assessment policy in Bangladesh.
An Exploration of Change, Progression and Transition in, Through and Beyond Community Education.

This thesis sets out to examine the experiences of adult learners in, through and beyond community education. To interrogate this question a qualitative study was carried out using semi structured interviews with five adult learners at and two adult guidance counsellors were carried out. This research was underpinned by an interest in the impact of early education on adult education, the effect of the social distribution and use of power with regard to education and an interest in the transformative nature of transformative learning. The results of the research showed the contrast between enforced education in childhood and its transformative nature as adult learners in community education settings. Substantial barriers to participation in community education were identified which included issues around previous experiences with education, identity, caring roles and persistence in education. These findings demonstrate the need for changes in the structured way adult education is offered to support persistence, an increased investment in early education and provision of educational spaces conducive to transformative learning.
Anti‐breast cancer potential of SS5020, a novel benzopyran antiestrogen

Treatment with tamoxifen (TAM) increases the risk of developing endometrial cancer in women. The carcinogenic effect is thought to involve initiation and/or promotion resulting from DNA damage induced by TAM as well as its estrogenic action. To minimize this serious side‐effect while increasing the anti‐breast cancer potential, a new benzopyran antiestrogen, 2E‐3‐{4‐[(7‐hydroxy‐2‐oxo‐3‐phenyl‐2H‐chromen‐4‐yl)‐methyl]‐phenyl}‐acrylic acid (SS5020), was synthesized. Unlike TAM, SS5020 exhibits no genotoxic activity to damage DNA. Furthermore, SS5020 does not present significant uterotrophic potential in rats; in contrast, the structurally related compounds, TAM, toremifene, raloxifene (RAL) and SP500263 all have uterotrophic activity. At the human equivalent molar dose of TAM (0.33 or 1.0 mg/kg), SS5020 had much stronger antitumor potential than those same antiestrogens against 7,12‐dimethylbenz(a)anthracene‐induced mammary carcinoma in rats. The growth of human MCF‐7 breast cancer xenograft implanted into athymic nude mice was also effectively suppressed by SS5020. SS5020, lacking genotoxic and estrogenic actions, could be a safer and stronger antiestrogen alternative to TAM and RAL for breast cancer therapy and prevention.
cAMP-Dependent Signaling as a Core Component of the Mammalian Circadian Pacemaker

The mammalian circadian clockwork is modeled as transcriptional and posttranslational feedback loops, whereby circadian genes are periodically suppressed by their protein products. We show that adenosine 3′,5′-monophosphate (cAMP) signaling constitutes an additional, bona fide component of the oscillatory network. cAMP signaling is rhythmic and sustains the transcriptional loop of the suprachiasmatic nucleus, determining canonical pacemaker properties of amplitude, phase, and period. This role is general and is evident in peripheral mammalian tissues and cell lines, which reveals an unanticipated point of circadian regulation in mammals qualitatively different from the existing transcriptional feedback model. We propose that daily activation of cAMP signaling, driven by the transcriptional oscillator, in turn sustains progression of transcriptional rhythms. In this way, clock output constitutes an input to subsequent cycles.
A Technology Roadmap on SOA for smart embedded devices: Towards intelligent systems in manufacturing

Intelligent systems, composed by devices with embedded computing capability, sensors and actuators interacting with the environment, will enhance and support manufacturing in the future. SOCRADES (Service-oriented cross-layer infrastructure for distributed smart embedded devices) is a European research project that focuses on the development of a platform for next-generation industrial intelligent systems, exploiting SOA paradigm. Within SOCRADES a Technology Roadmap is being developed. Its aim is to provide inputs for the orientation of technological research to achieve the long term objectives required for the enhanced and pervasive exploitation of intelligent systems for manufacturing support. We present the Expected Features of Technology Areas (EFTAs) identified within SOCRADES Technology Roadmap. Then we show how the outcome of SOCRADES Technology Roadmap addresses important needs such as those pointed out by the Strategic Research Agenda developed by ARTEMIS (European Technology Platform for Embedded systems).
Isoniazid – and rifampicin–induced oxidative hepatic injury – protection by N–acetylcysteine

The role of N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a glutathione (GSH) precursor, was investigated in protection against isoniazid-(INH) and rifampicin-(RIF) induced oxidative hepatic injury in young Wistar rats. The hepatotoxic dose of INH and RIF was 50 mg kg-1 day-1 each and the hepatoprotective dose of NAC was 100 mg kgday-. All drugs were administered intraperitoneally (i.p.) in sterile water (4.0 ml kg-1 day-1) over a period of 3 weeks. Status of oxidative/antioxidative profiles was the mechanistic approach to assess the hepatotoxicity and/or hepatoprotection. The oxidative injury in INH-RIF co-exposed animals was closely associated with significant decline of GSH and related thiols, as well as with compromised antioxidant enzyme system. The oxidative stress was further supported by increased lipid peroxidation observed in these animals. The co-administration of NAC prevented the induction of oxidative stress in INH-RIF co-exposed animals. The amelioration of oxidative stress by NAC was faithfully reflected as normal morphology in these animals, except the presence of mild degree of portal triaditis in one animal co-exposed to INH-RIF and NAC. In contrast, the animals co-exposed to INH-RIF alone showed histological lesions which ranged from intralobular inflammation to patchy necrosis. These results suggest that INH-RIF-induced oxidative injury can be prevented by supporting the cellular antioxidant defense mechanism by NAC.
Superiority in Quality of Life Improvement of Biologics over Conventional Systemic Drugs in a Swiss Real-Life Psoriasis Registry

Background: Randomized controlled trials have shown the efficacy of systemic treatments in moderate-to-severe psoriasis. Clinical outcomes in psoriasis patients under real-world conditions are less well understood. Objective: This study compared Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) and Dermatological Life Quality Index (DLQI) improvement in all psoriasis patients registered in the Swiss Dermatology Network for Targeted Therapies. We asked whether outcomes differed between 4 treatment strategies, namely biologic monotherapy versus conventional systemic monotherapy, versus combined biologic and conventional systemic drugs, and versus therapy adaptation (switching from one type to another). Methods: PASI and DLQI within 1 year after onset of systemic treatment, measured at 3, 6, and 12 months, were compared among the 4 groups using generalized linear mixed-effects models. Results: Between March 2011 and December 2014, 334 patients were included; 151 received conventional systemic therapeutics, 145 biologics, 13 combined treatment, and 25 had a therapy adaptation. With regard to the absolute PASI, neither the biologic cohort nor the combined treatment cohort significantly differed from the conventional systemic therapeutics cohort. The odds of reaching PASI90 was significantly increased with combined therapy compared to conventional systemic therapeutics (p = 0.043) and decreased with a higher body mass index (p = 0.041). At visits 3 and 4, the PASI was generally lower than at visit 2 (visit 3 vs. visit 2, p = 0.0019; visit 4 vs. visit 2, p < 0.001). After 12 months, patients with biologic treatment had a significantly lower DLQI than those with conventional systemic therapeutics (p = 0.001). Conclusion: This study suggests that after 1 year of treatment, biologics are superior in improving the subjective disease burden compared to conventional systemic drugs.
Inflation and Income Inequality in Developed and Developing Countries

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate both linear and/or nonlinear effects of inflation on income inequality and to test the Kuznets hypothesis using panel data of 24 developed countries (DCs) and 66 developing countries (LDCs) observed over the period of 1990–2014. Design/methodology/approach This paper explores the short- and long-run Granger causality relationship between inflation and income inequality using the Toda and Yamamoto (1995) procedure and a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) approach. The existence of a nonlinear relationship between inflation and income inequality is confirmed implying as inflation rises income inequality decreases. Income inequality then reaches a minimum and then starts rising again. The findings of this paper show the existence of Kuznets “U-shaped” hypothesis between income inequality and real GDP per capita in DCs group, and the existence of Kuznets’ inverted “U-shaped” hypothesis for LDCs group. Findings The results indicate that there is no bi-directional Granger causality between inflation and income inequality in the short-run, but, there is bi-directional Granger causality in the long-run for both the DCs and LDCs group. The results help us to assess the effectiveness of monetary policy in reducing income inequality in both the DCs and LDCs group. As a policy implication, monetary policy is often aimed at controlling the annual rate of inflation in the long-run with a short-run focus on reducing output gaps and creating employment. However, managing inflation may have implications for income inequality. Originality/value This is original research paper which analyzes the “U-shaped” and inverted “U-shaped” paths of income inequality and real GDP per capita for large sample of two group countries including developed and developing countries, respectively. Also, this paper analyzes the nonlinear relationship between inflation and income inequality in two groups. Furthermore, this paper investigates the short- and long-run relationship between variables. The results are important for policy makers.
A Trellis Error Modeling Approach to Decoding Distributed Turbo Codes

In this paper, we re-examine the decoding problem of a distributed turbo code (DTC) over the three-node one-way relay channel based on the decode-and-forward protocol. In the traditional DTC scheme, the decoder at the destination assumes the error-free Viterbi decoding at the relay. However, the error propagation effect resulting from unsuccessful decoding at the relay may cause significant performance loss in some practical scenarios. Improved decoders reported in the literature typically assume a certain memoryless error model, which ignores the fact that relay decoding errors are correlated and bursty. In this paper, we propose a novel trellis error model (TEM) to accurately represent the statistics of relay decoding errors and construct two TEM-based iterative decoders (TEM-IDs) with two and three components, respectively. The TEM-ID with three components has a lower complexity than that of the TEM-ID with two components at the cost of minor performance loss. We also derive a new BER bound for the near maximum likelihood decoding of the DTC using a uniform interleaver. In addition, the extrinsic information transfer chart analysis is applied to estimate the threshold performance of the TEM-ID for large code lengths. Extensive simulation results verify that the new decoders can perform close to the derived BER bound and outperform existing decoders. Finally, we show that the TEM-ID can be extended for general distributed concatenated coding systems.
Supervised Agricultural Experience Programs: An Examination of the Development and Implementation of Urban Programs.

Urban schools and school-based agricultural education programs (SBAE) face challenges to engage students in the educational system. Specifically, urban SBAE programs face unique challenges engaging students in the development and implementation of SAE programs. While SAE continues to be considered a central component to the total SBAE program, a lack of research exists on the utilization of SAE in urban programs. Therefore, this qualitative study sought to identify factors present in the development and implementation of exemplary SAE programs in urban schools. Two urban SBAE programs were purposively sampled through a one-day on-site visit, focus group sessions, and one-on-one interviews. Through the use of the constant comparative method, five themes emerged from the data: 1) Engaged Teachers, 2) In-Class Supervision, 3) Student Interest, 4) Partnerships in SAE, and 5) Development of an SAE Culture. The presence of an SAE culture was found throughout the data and was an essential factor to the development and implementation of student SAE programs. The researchers recommend further investigation of the development of an SAE program and the development of a model to assist agricultural education teachers in successfully creating a culture for SAE in their local SBAE programs.
La statistique internationale des valeurs mobilières III

ion faite des charges de la dette flottante, les seules dettes consolidées amortissable et extérieure absorbent 32.756 contos, soit 44 % des recettes du budget. Si on tient compte des charges de la dette flottante, on peut conclure que le service de la dette générale portugaise absorbe plus de 52 % des recettes du budget.
The Maximal Sustainable Public Debt in a Portfolio Balance and Global Version of the Diamond Overlapping Generations Model

Public debt is considered in a multiâ€ country version of the Diamond OLG model with a focus on its maximal sustainable value. Imperfect asset substitutability gives rise to a further nonlinearity through a risk premium, and, if primary deficits are exogenous, it is an additional source of bifurcation maximum. The merits of this portfolio approach are (i) an analysis that can embrace the broad empirical pattern of relative rates of return, and (ii) the result that a large amount of public debt may reflect a persistently low demand for it, so that potential crises may emanate from the demand side of its market.
The performance of aminoalkyl/fluorocarbon/hydrocarbon-modified xerogel coatings against the marine alga Ectocarpus crouaniorum: relative roles of surface energy and charge

The effect of a series of xerogel coatings modified with aminoalkyl/fluorocarbon/hydrocarbon groups on the adhesion of a new test species, the filamentous brown alga Ectocarpus crouaniorum, has been explored, and compared with the green alga Ulva linza. The results showed that E. crouaniorum adhered weakly to the less polar, low wettability coatings in the series, but stronger adhesion was shown on polar, higher surface energy coatings containing aminoalkyl groups. The results from a separate series of coatings tuned to have similar surface energies and polarities after immersion in artificial seawater (ASW), but widely different surface charges, demonstrated that surface charge was more important than surface energy and polarity in determining the adhesion strength of both E. crouaniorum and U. linza on xerogel coatings. No correlation was found between adhesion and contact angle hysteresis. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of samples after immersion in ASW confirmed the presence of charged ammonium groups on the surface of the aminoalkylated coatings.
A Hierarchical Learning Solution for Anti-Jamming Stackelberg Game With Discrete Power Strategies

This letter investigates the anti-jamming problem with discrete power strategies, and then a Stackelberg game is formulated to model the competitive interactions between the user and jammer. Specifically, the user acts as the leader, whereas the jammer is the follower. Based on their own utilities, the user and jammer select their power strategies and determine their respective optimal strategies. Also, a hierarchical power control algorithm (HPCA) is proposed to obtain the Stackelberg equilibrium, and the asymptotic convergence is analyzed. In addition, we consider the impact of the imperfect information due to the jammer’s bounded rationality and inaccurate observation of the user’s action. Finally, simulations are conducted to show the effectiveness of the proposed HPCA algorithm, and simulation results demonstrate that the jammer’s bounded rationality and limited observation lead to the increase of the user’s utility.
Insights into the Rotary Catalytic Mechanism of F0F1 ATP Synthase from the Cross-linking of Subunits b and c in the Escherichia coli Enzyme*

The transmembrane sector of the F0F1 rotary ATP synthase is proposed to organize with an oligomeric ring of c subunits, which function as a rotor, interacting with two b subunits at the periphery of the ring, the b subunits functioning as a stator. In this study, cysteines were introduced into the C-terminal region of subunit c and the N-terminal region of subunitb. Cys of N2C subunit b was cross-linked with Cys at positions 74, 75, and 78 of subunit c. In each case, a maximum of 50% of the b subunit could be cross-linked to subunit c, which suggests that either only one of the twob subunits lie adjacent to the c-ring or that both b subunits interact with a single subunitc. The results support a topological arrangement of these subunits, in which the respective N- and C-terminal ends of subunitsb and c extend to the periplasmic surface of the membrane and cAsp-61 lies at the center of the membrane. The cross-linking of Cys between bN2C andcV78C was shown to inhibit ATP-driven proton pumping, as would be predicted from a rotary model for ATP synthase function, but unexpectedly, cross-linking did not lead to inhibition of ATPase activity. ATP hydrolysis and proton pumping are therefore uncoupled in the cross-linked enzyme. The c subunit lying adjacent to subunit b was shown to be mobile and to exchange withc subunits that initially occupied non-neighboring positions. The movement or exchange of subunits at the position adjacent to subunit b was blocked by dicyclohexylcarbodiimide. These experiments provide a biochemical verification that the oligomeric c-ring can move with respect to the b-stator and provide further support for a rotary catalytic mechanism in the ATP synthase.