Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Macroeconomic Policy in an Oil-exporting Economy with Foreign Exchange Controls

The sudden and sharp increases in oil prices during the past decade and the discovery and extraction of oil in the North Sea have recently contributed to a renewal of interest in the macroeconomic problems of oil-exporting countries in general, and those of industrialized and semi-industrialized oilexporting countries, such as the UK and Mexico, in particular. The economic implications of the North Sea oil revenues for the British economy have been hotly debated by Forsyth and Kay (1980, 1981), Worswick (1980), Barker (1981), Corden (1981) and Byatt et al. (1982). The effects of oil and gas revenues on the economies of Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK have also been the subject of analysis and discussion in Barker and Brailovsky (1981). Despite their important contribution, these studies fall short of formulating a comprehensive theoretical framework for the study of macroeconomic policy in oil-exporting countries in general. The resurgence of interest in the macroeconomics of oil-exporting economies and the lack of a satisfactory theoretical framework emphasize the need for the explicit introduction of an oil sector into macroeconomic models of the open economy. The more recent studies by Buiter and Purvis (1983), Eastwood and Venables (1982), Corden and Neary (1982), and Neary and Purvis (1982) have gone some way towards meeting this need, but they are better suited to the study of macroeconomic policy in developed oil-exporting countries such as the United Kingdom, where highly developed financial markets already exist.1 Without exception, all these studies assume that the economy under consideration operates with a floating exchange rate and that the private capital is internationally mobile. They also invariably ignore the short-term and the long-term financial repercussions of changes in oil income that operate via the government budget constraint and the asset position of the private sector. These assumptions are, however, inappropriate for most oil-exporting countries in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. The purpose of this paper is to examine the short-run and long-run macroeconomic consequences of an increase in oil revenues in an oil-exporting country characterized by strict foreign exchange controls on private capital flows. We attempt to do this in the context of a Keynesian underemployment model of the type analysed, for example, by Turnovsky and Kaspura (1974), Branson (1976), and Argy and Salop (1979), but with domestic prices set according to a mark-up rule along the lines advocated for example by Fetherston and Godley (1978, 1981). Unlike Argy and Salop, but in line with other recent contributions to the macroeconomic theory of open economies, the present paper explicitly allows for the existence of the government budget constraint and analyses the macroeconomic effects of changes in oil revenues, both in the short run, when
Stabilization of discrete-time interval type-2 fuzzy-model-based systems

This paper investigates the state-feedback control problem for the discrete-time interval type-2 (IT2) fuzzy systems. The IT2 fuzzy controller can be characterized by two predefined functions, and the membership functions together with the number of the IT2 controller fuzzy rules can be chosen freely. Using Lyapunov stability theory, sufficient criteria of asymptotic stability are derived for the discrete-time IT2 fuzzy-model-based systems. Based on the criterion, the desired IT2 state-feedback controller is designed to guarantee the asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system. Finally, a practical example is given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed design scheme.
Correlation between metastatic potential and variants from colorectal tumor cell line HT-29.

AIM To evaluate the relationship between uPA, PAI-1, CEA, PI3K and metastatic potential in three colorectal tumor cell lines. METHODS Metastatic model in nude rats was established by variants HT-29c and HT-29d cell lines and the metastatic potential of two tumor cell variants was compared. Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) were determined using ELISA in colorectal carcinoma WiDr, HT-29 and HT-29d cell lines with different metastatic potentials. Expression of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3-Kinase) was analyzed using immunohistochemistry (IHC) in these cell lines in vitro and in vivo. CEA expression was compared using fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) in vitro. RESULTS The number of HT-29d cells arrested in liver dramatically decreased within the initial 24 hours after injection. The taking rate of liver metastases in the variant HT-29d increased as compared with parental HT-29 cells (70% versus 50%) and a variant HT-29b cells (70% versus 60%), and extensive organs were synchronously involved in metastases. The uPA concentration of variant HT-29d cell line was significantly higher than that of the non-metastatic WiDr and the low metastatic HT-29 cell lines. The variant HT-29d cells produced stronger PI3-kinase expression as compared with the non-metastatic WiDr cells and the low metastatic HT-29 cells in vivo. CONCLUSION The selected variant HT-29d cell exhibited an enhanced metastatic potential. The level of uPA and PAI-1 is positively correlated with the metastatic capacity of tumor cells. The expression of PI3-kinase correlates with tumor development and metastasis.
Sources of Variation in Life Cycle Assessments of Desktop Computers

Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of desktop personal computers (PCs) are analyzed to assess the environmental impact of PCs and to explain inconsistencies and disagreements across existing studies. Impacts, characterized in this work in terms of primary energy demand and global warming potential, are decomposed into inventory components and impact per component in order to expose such inconsistencies. Additional information from related studies, especially regarding use‐phase energy consumption, helps interpret the LCA results. The weight of evidence strongly suggests that for primary energy demand and contribution to climate change, the use phase is the dominant life cycle phase; manufacturing impacts are smaller but substantial, and impacts due to product transportation and end‐of‐life activities are much smaller. Each of the few LCA studies that report manufacturing impacts as being greater than use‐phase impacts make unrealistically low assumptions regarding use‐phase energy consumption. Estimates of manufacturing impacts, especially those related to printed circuit boards and integrated circuits, are highly uncertain and variable; such estimates are very difficult to evaluate, and more systematic research is needed to reduce these uncertainties. The type of computer analyzed, such as low‐power light desktop or high‐power workstation, may dominate the total impact; future studies should therefore base their estimates on a large sample to smooth out this variation, or explicitly restrict the analysis to a specific type of computer.
Poly(ADP-Ribose) Polymerase Inhibition Reduces Atherosclerotic Plaque Size and Promotes Factors of Plaque Stability in Apolipoprotein E–Deficient Mice: Effects on Macrophage Recruitment, Nuclear Factor-&kgr;B Nuclear Translocation, and Foam Cell Death

Background— Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) was suggested to play a role in endothelial dysfunction that is associated with a number of cardiovascular diseases. We hypothesized that PARP may play an important role in atherogenesis and that its inhibition may attenuate atherosclerotic plaque development in an experimental model of atherosclerosis. Methods and Results— Using a mouse (apolipoprotein E [ApoE]−/−) model of high-fat diet–induced atherosclerosis, we demonstrate an association between cell death and oxidative stress–associated DNA damage and PARP activation within atherosclerotic plaques. PARP inhibition by thieno[2,3-c]isoquinolin-5-one reduced plaque number and size and altered structural composition of plaques in these animals without affecting sera lipid contents. These results were corroborated genetically with the use of ApoE−/− mice that are heterozygous for PARP-1. PARP inhibition promoted an increase in collagen content, potentially through an increase in tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2, and transmigration of smooth muscle cells to intima of atherosclerotic plaques as well as a decrease in monocyte chemotactic protein-1 production, all of which are markers of plaque stability. In PARP-1−/− macrophages, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 expression was severely inhibited because of a defective nuclear factor-&kgr;B nuclear translocation in response to lipopolysaccharide. Furthermore, PARP-1 gene deletion not only conferred protection to foam cells against H2O2-induced death but also switched the mode of death from necrosis to apoptosis. Conclusions— Our results suggest that PARP inhibition interferes with plaque development and may promote plaque stability, possibly through a reduction in inflammatory factors and cellular changes related to plaque dynamics. PARP inhibition may prove beneficial for the treatment of atherosclerosis.
The Influence of Consumer Price Information on Retail Pricing and Consumer Behavior

Comparative price information for major Ottawa supermarkets was collected over a twenty-eight-week period and published in daily newspapers during a five-week test period. In response to the information, the dispersion of prices across stores and chains narrowed, the average level of prices of the market dropped, and consumer satisfaction increased relative to the control market. Consumers transferred patronage to the lower priced stores. Consumers indicated a willingness to pay 34¢ per week on average for the price comparison information. Estimated consumer benefits far exceeded the cost of the program.
Cultural and legal challenges in implementing code of conduct in supply chain management of mobile phone industries: Sony Ericsson case study

Purpose - This paper seeks to identify the practical challenges of implementing a code of conduct in the supply chain management of multinational mobile phone industries from diverse cultural and legal contexts by analysing critically how a multinational company manages the CSR concept in its supply chain. Design/methodology/approach - This study is based on qualitative interviews, analysis of codes of conduct and the practices of Sony Ericsson as well as of one of its suppliers. Findings - Codes of conduct should be perceived differently within different contexts. Therefore, cultural and legal issues have to be considered when formulating and implementing codes of conduct, and when assessing compliance. The development of codes of conduct in the mobile phone industry is an ongoing process. Both cultural and legal challenges have to be considered. Originality/value - Each company should define its own standards and limits of responsibility within the context of ethical sourcing, while some basic codes of conduct compliance should be forced on the whole mobile phone industry.
Sources of Durability and Change in Market Classifications: A Study of the Reconstitution of Product Categories in the American Mutual Fund Industry, 1944-1985

Categories are key elements of classification systems that segregate things into groups and impose coherence. Sociologists have studied how categories shape action in a wide variety of contexts but have spent much less time investigating the sources of category durability and change. We address this gap by investigating how existing product categories are reconstituted by field-level industry media. While standard accounts of industry media suggest that existing product categories will be edited on the basis of changes in the technical features of categories, we emphasize the political nature of markets and argue that powerful producers can preserve the existing structure of categories. We test these arguments in a study of the American mutual fund industry during the period from 1945 until 1985 and outline implications for research on institutional change and the political dynamics of market classification.
Contribution of temporal data to predictive performance in 30-day readmission of morbidly obese patients

Background Reduction of readmissions after discharge represents an important challenge for many hospitals and has attracted the interest of many researchers in the past few years. Most of the studies in this field focus on building cross-sectional predictive models that aim to predict the occurrence of readmission within 30-days based on information from the current hospitalization. The aim of this study is demonstration of predictive performance gain obtained by inclusion of information from historical hospitalization records among morbidly obese patients. Methods The California Statewide inpatient database was used to build regularized logistic regression models for prediction of readmission in morbidly obese patients (n = 18,881). Temporal features were extracted from historical patient hospitalization records in a one-year timeframe. Five different datasets of patients were prepared based on the number of available hospitalizations per patient. Sample size of the five datasets ranged from 4,787 patients with more than five hospitalizations to 20,521 patients with at least two hospitalization records in one year. A 10-fold cross validation was repeted 100 times to assess the variability of the results. Additionally, random forest and extreme gradient boosting were used to confirm the results. Results Area under the ROC curve increased significantly when including information from up to three historical records on all datasets. The inclusion of more than three historical records was not efficient. Similar results can be observed for Brier score and PPV value. The number of selected predictors corresponded to the complexity of the dataset ranging from an average of 29.50 selected features on the smallest dataset to 184.96 on the largest dataset based on 100 repetitions of 10-fold cross-validation. Discussion The results show positive influence of adding information from historical hospitalization records on predictive performance using all predictive modeling techniques used in this study. We can conclude that it is advantageous to build separate readmission prediction models in subgroups of patients with more hospital admissions by aggregating information from up to three previous hospitalizations.
How Strongly Did the 2007/08 Oil Price Hike Contribute to the Subsequent Recession?

What were the economic consequences of the 2007/08 oil price hike for Germany? In this paper we use a structural vector autoregressive model to study the effects of oil price changes driven by different supply and demand shocks on the German economy. We find that a higher oil bill always stifles private consumption expenditures but the response of GDP crucially depends on the underlying shock. On the one hand, an oil supply disruption clearly provokes a recession. On the other hand, positive demand shocks prompt a temporary increase in exports and investment that initially outweigh the cutback on consumption induced by soaring oil prices and thus boost GDP for a while. A disaggregate analysis of the manufacturing sector suggests that a demand-driven oil price rise leads to a shift in world demand towards German export goods. In a counterfactual analysis we show that the world demand shocks that led to the 2007/08 oil price hike triggered a delayed 0.8 percent reduction of German GDP in 2009 and, therefore, notably contributed to the recession of that year.
Choice of casual and regular labour contracts in Indian agriculture : a theoretical and empirical analysis

The dissertation examines the choice between casual and regular labour contracts in Indian agriculture. In particular, it deals with two relevant decision problems: (i) how an employer chooses between casual and regular contracts and (ii) how a labourer chooses between casual and regular contracts. Several models of contractual choice are developed. In the implicit contract model, regular labour contracts are a means through which risk-neutral employers offer some insurance against the wage and employment fluctuations to labourers, in return for lower wages. In the shirking model, regular contracts are used to perform non-monitorable tasks for which casual contracts are not incentive compatible: regular contracts with wages above the reservation wage act as a device to induce the workers not to shirk in non-monitorable tasks. In the collateral model, regular contracts with advance wage payments provide labourers with a means of using their labour services as a collateral substitute. The time constraint model shows that landless labourers have a comparative advantage in regular labour contracts, because the opportunity cost of precommitting labour time tends to be lower for them. In each of these models, it is shown that casual and regular contracts may coexist in equilibrium. Empirical evidence bearing on these different theories is examined using data from three South Indian villages. The evidence is consistent with the implicit contract model, the collateral model and the time constraint model. However, we find no support for the shirking model. Other relevant aspects of labour contracts are also investigated, including labour force participation decisions, unemployment rates, the relative levels of casual-labour and regular-labour wages, the links between labour and credit contracts, and the determinants of labour demand. The thesis concludes with a discussion of recent trends in the incidence of casual and regular contracts in rural India. The incidence of regular contracts has steadily declined in recent years. We argue that this decline primarily reflects a decline in supply (due, inter alia, to an improvement of credit facilities and an expansion of alternative employment opportunities) rather than a decline of demand.
Design of a spatial data structure using the relational normal forms

Abstract In previous work, a relational data structure aimed at the exchange of spatial data between systems was developed. As this data structure was relational it was of first normal form, but compliance with the higher normal forms was not investigated. Recently, a new procedural method for composing fully normalized data structures from the basic data fields has been developed by H. C. Smith, as an alternative to the process of non-loss decomposition which is difficult to understand. Smith's method has been applied to data fields required to store points, lines and polygons in a chain-node spatial data model. When geographic domain, coverage layer and map are also considered, the procedure naturally leads to a catalogue model, needed for the exchange of spatial data. Although the method produces a fully normalized data structure, it is not as easy to identify which normal forms are responsible for the ultimate arrangement of the data fields into relations, but the benefits of these criteria for data b.
Amber, ochre and opal suppressor tRNA genes derived from a human serine tRNA gene.

Amber, ochre and opal suppressor tRNA genes have been generated by using oligonucleotide directed site‐specific mutagenesis to change one or two nucleotides in a human serine tRNA gene. The amber and ochre suppressor (Su+) tRNA genes are efficiently expressed in CV‐1 cells when introduced as part of a SV40 recombinant. The expressed amber and ochre Su+ tRNAs are functional as suppressors as demonstrated by readthrough of the amber codon which terminates the NS1 gene of an influenza virus or the ochre codon which terminates the hexon gene of adenovirus, respectively. Interestingly, several attempts to obtain the equivalent virus stock of an SV40 recombinant containing the opal suppressor tRNA gene yielded virus lacking the opal suppressor tRNA gene. This suggests that expression of an efficient opal suppressor derived from a human serine tRNA gene is highly detrimental to either cellular or viral processes.
How to contribute occupationally to ecological sustainability: A literature review

Abstract Objective: Climate change is of great concern today, and is an important health issue. The changes are related to human occupations and, therefore, an occupational perspective can make important contributions to ecological sustainability. The aim of this scoping literature review was to explore and describe what has recently been written about how occupational therapy/therapists/science can contribute to ecological sustainability and the prevention of more severe climate change. Methods: Publications were used as data. Searches were conducted in databases, journals, reference lists, and citations. Fourteen items, with content related to the contribution of occupational therapy/therapists/science to climate change and ecological sustainability; written in English; having an occupational therapist among the authors; and published between 2008 and 2013; were included. Results: The results revealed four different ways that occupational therapists/scientists can contribute: by adapting to prevent climate change and to existing changes; by cooperating with others; by exploring people's occupational choices and the relationship between occupation and ecology; and by warning of the consequences of the changes. Conclusion: These ways of contributing can be used as a point of departure for further research on this important topic.
(Quantum) Min-Entropy Resources

We model (interactive) resources that provide Alice with a string $X$ and a guarantee that any Eve interacting with her interface of the resource obtains a (quantum) system $E$ such that the conditional (smooth) min-entropy of $X$ given $E$ is lower bounded by some $k$. This (abstract) resource specification encompasses any setting that results in the honest players holding such a string (or aborting). For example, it could be constructed from, e.g., noisy channels, quantum key distribution (QKD), or a violation of Bell inequalities, which all may be used to derive bounds on the min-entropy of $X$. As a first application, we use this min-entropy resource to modularize key distribution (KD) schemes by dividing them in two parts, which may be analyzed separately. In the first part, a KD protocol constructs a min-entropy resource given the (physical) resources available in the specific setting considered. In the second, it distills secret key from the min-entropy resource---i.e., it constructs a secret key resource. We prove security for a generic key distillation protocol that may use any min-entropy resource. Since the notion of resource construction is composable---security of a composed protocol follows from the security of its parts--- this reduces proving security of a KD protocol (e.g., QKD) to proving that it constructs a min-entropy resource. As a second application, we provide a composable security proof for the recent Fehr-Salvail protocol [EUROCRYPT 2017] that authenticates classical messages with a quantum message authentication code (Q-MAC), and recycles all the key upon successfully verifying the authenticity of the message. This protocol uses (and recycles) a non-uniform key, which we model as consuming and constructing a min-entropy resource.
The Effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement on Corporate and Labor Pac Contributions

This study investigates the impact congressional roll call votes on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) had on corporate and labor political action committee (PAC) contributions during the 1994 House elections. The results show that corporate PACs gave more money to incumbents who voted in favor of NAFTA and that labor PACs contributed less money to pro-NAFTA incumbents, including Democrats in competitive races. The findings mark a departure from the existing literature, which indicates that corporations and unions rarely place an emphasis on particular roll call votes when providing their campaign money to candidates.