Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Communication by Central Bank Committee Members: Different Strategies, Same Effectiveness?

The paper assesses the communication strategies of the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, and the European Central Bank and their effectiveness. We find that the effectiveness of communication is not independent from the decision-making process. The paper shows that the Federal Reserve has been pursuing a highly individualistic communication strategy amid a collegial approach to decision making, while the Bank of England is using a collegial communication strategy and highly individualistic decision making. The European Central Bank (ECB) has chosen a collegial approach both in its communication and in its decision making. Assessing these strategies, we find that predictability of policy decisions and the responsiveness of financial markets to communication are equally good for the Federal Reserve and the ECB. This suggests that there may not be a single best approach to designing a central bank communication strategy. Copyright 2007 The Ohio State University.
Global multiple‐sequence alignment with repeats

Repeating fragments in biological sequences are often essential for structure and function. Over the years, many methods have been developed to recognize repeats or to multiply align protein sequences. However, the integration of these two methodologies has been largely unexplored to date. Here, we present a new method capable of globally aligning multiple input sequences under the constraints of a given repeat analysis. The method supports different stringency modes to adapt to various levels of detail and reliability of the repeat information available. Proteins 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Human myotube differentiation in vitro in different culture conditions

Human muscle cells derived from satellite cells, maintained in standard tissue culture conditions, do not differentiate as rapidly or as completely as myoblasts from other species (chicken, rat, mouse). In an attempt to improve myogenesis, we studied the effects of modifying the culture media and of coculturing muscle with nerve cells, using myoblasts grown in standard culture media as the basis for comparison. Myogenesis was measured by fusion index, creatine kinase (CK) activity; acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity (total and molecular forms); and the number of acetylcholine receptors (AChR). Modification of culture media accelerated fusion of myoblasts, but the cell density decreased and myotubes were unable to survive for long periods. In contrast, coculturing muscle with nerve cells increased both cell density and the number of myotubes. CK, AChE and AChR increased in the presence of defined media. In the nerve‐muscle cocultures the increase was less marked. Manipulating culture conditions modified the molecular forms of AChE. Only a (4 + 6.5) S peak was present in control cultures, but a 10S peak appeared in defined media. The 16S form was detected only in nerve‐muscle cocultures. This study shows that fusion of human myoblasts and differentiation of myotubes in tissue culture can be accelerated by removal of serum macromolecules. Further differentiation of myotubes was achieved only in the nerve‐muscle cocultures.
A comprehensive examination of the compass rose pattern in futures markets

This article provides a comprehensive examination of the existence, or the lack thereof, of the compass rose pattern in futures markets. The results from 118 futures contracts traded on 31 futures exchanges in 15 countries show that the compass rose pattern exists only in some futures contracts, in contrast to the robust existence among stocks documented by Crack and Ledoit (1996) and Chen (1997). Not all contracts on the same exchange exhibit this pattern. However, the pattern appears to be concentrated in some sectors. Although this evidence suggests that effective tick sizes that are different among contracts may be the determining factor for the existence of the pattern, contradicting evidence also suggests that there are other yet‐to‐be‐identified determinants at work. Furthermore, whereas the pattern is absent in the daily returns of primary stock index futures contracts such as the Major Market Index (MMI), it is very easily observable in the intraday returns of the same futures contract. The elusiveness of the pattern is further demonstrated in the returns on the cash S&P 500 Index, which does not exhibit the pattern until the focus is on returns that are within a 1% boundary. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 19: 541–564, 1999
Effect of caffeine on meiotic maturation of porcine oocytes

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of caffeine on the meiotic maturation of porcine oocytes. Oocyte–cumulus complexes were collected from slaughterhouse-derived ovaries and cultured for 24, 32 or 48 h in medium 199 supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum, 10 μg/ml FSH, 50 μg/ml sodium pyruvate and 50 μg/ml gentamicin in the presence or absence of 2.5 mM caffeine. Caffeine inhibited the meiotic resumption of pig oocytes effectively after 24 h of culture, and 95.5% of oocytes were arrested at the germinal vesicle (GV) stage (control 17.8%, p<0.05). Prolonged culture with caffeine up to 32 h or 48 h, however, resulted in a significant decrease in the inhibitory effect (GV: 13.8% and 8.2%). The number of oocytes at metaphase II after 48 h of culture in the presence of caffeine was significantly lower than that in the control medium (65.3% vs 94.7%, p<0.05). The withdrawal of caffeine after 24 h of culture resulted in the resumption of meiotic maturation, and the oocytes reached metaphase II after 48 h. However, the ability of caffeine-treated oocytes to develop to blastocysts after artificial activation was lower than that of the control (5.5% vs 9.1%, p<0.05). Caffeine treatment significantly increased cAMP levels in the oocytes after 24 h of culture, while both Cdc2 kinase and MAP kinase activation were inhibited in the oocytes. These results suggest that caffeine, similarly to other purine derivatives, prolongs the meiotic arrest of porcine oocytes at the GV stage, perhaps by its action of increasing the cAMP level and by the suppression of Cdc2 kinase and MAP kinase activities in the oocytes.
Expatriate career support: predicting expatriate turnover and performance

This study aimed at explaining why multinational companies have difficulty retaining their repatriates as well as how multinational companies can improve in- and expatriate performance. In the study 100 in- and expatriates of a multinational company operating in the food and personal care industry reported the career support they experienced, their perceived career prospects within and outside the home organization, their intentions to leave, and their performance. As predicted, it was found that perceived career support negatively related to intentions to leave. Additionally, it was found that perceived career support positively related to perceived career prospects within the home organization and expatriate performance. Interestingly, no relationship was found between perceived career prospects outside the home organization and intentions to leave. Implications and directions for future research and HR practices in multinational companies are discussed.
Perpetual Options on Multiple Underlyings

Abstract We study three classes of perpetual option with multiple uncertainties and American-style exercise boundaries, using a partial differential equation-based approach. A combination of accurate numerical techniques and asymptotic analyses is implemented, with each approach informing and confirming the other. The first two examples we study are a put basket option and a call basket option, both involving two stochastic underlying assets, whilst the third is a (novel) class of real option linked to stochastic demand and costs (the details of the modelling for this are described in the paper). The Appendix addresses the issue of pricing American-style perpetual options involving (just) one stochastic underlying, but in which the volatility is also modelled stochastically, using the Heston (1993) framework.
Convergence across Canadian Provinces, 1961 to 1991

The purpose of this study is to provide a new look at the evolution of regional disparities in Canada in the light of the recent convergence studies produced by European and American economists. The degree of convergence of a variety of per capita income and output measures from 1961 to today is analysed. The empirical analysis suggests that there is evidence of convergence in Canada for different measurements of per capita income and output since the early 1960s. During this period convergence has been helped by a favorable change in terms of trade and by government transfers and taxes. Our estimates of the convergence speed for Canadian provinces are of the same magnitude as those found for regions within the same country, and across countries, in European and American studies.
Volatility and stock price indexes

The stochastic approach to index numbers has been successfully applied to the estimation of inflation, the world interest rate and international competitiveness. One distinct advantage of this approach is that it provides the whole distribution of the index, not simply one value. In this article, we extend the stochastic approach to the estimation of a stock market index. We demonstrate how this approach can be used to identify ‘redundant stocks’ that do not contribute significantly to the overall index. For index tracking purposes, these stocks can be safely excluded.
Mapping the Spatial Deprivation of Pakistan

Geographical targeting may be a viable way to allocate resources for poverty alleviation in developing countries. Efficiency can be increased, and leakages to the nonpoor reduced substantially, by targeting needy areas. A national and regional database of substantial poverty maps or deprivation indices are not readily available in Pakistan. Further, existing activities of poverty alleviation are carried out on ad hoc basis in the absence of identified pockets of poverty. This paper presents indices of multiple deprivations based on the 1998 Population and Housing Census data. Possible applications of this exercise include identifying areas of need, making decisions on regional and sectoral priorities, facilitating targeted public interventions through special poverty alleviation programmes, understanding the relationship between poverty and its causes, and helping federal and provincial governments in determining financial awards.
Extraction of Substrate Resistance in Bulk FinFETs Through RF Modeling

A new method to extract substrate resistance (Rsub) for small-sized nano-scale metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) including bulk FinFETs is proposed and compared with conventional method. The Rsub's extracted from small-size MOSFETs by using the proposed method are shown to have frequency independent characteristics, unlike those from the conventional method. Proposed equivalent circuit explains well the Rsub behavior with body width. The proposed model showed very good agreement (error in Y22~3%) with three-dimensional device simulation
Looking for Regional Systems of Innovation: Evidence from the Italian Innovation Survey

The empirical target of this article is two-fold: exploring the variety of regional innovative patterns in Italy; and assessing whether innovation systems can be found, and how they operate, at a sub-national scale. The empirical analysis is based on an in-depth analysis of the data provided by the first Community Innovation Survey (CIS). The article shows that the traditional north-south distinction does not give full account of the wider spectrum of regional patterns in Italy. In particular, regional innovative patterns differ not only according to the specific strategies and technological performances of firms, but also according to the relevance of systemic interactions and the presence of contextual factors favourable to innovation. However, proper regional systems of innovation are found only in a few well-defined areas. In most regions, systemic interactions and knowledge flows between the relevant actors are simply too sparse and too weak to reveal the presence of systems of innovation at work.
PET reconstruction artifact can be minimized by using sinogram correction and filtered back-projection technique

Abstract Filtered Back-Projection (FBP) has become an outdated image reconstruction technique in new-generation positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) scanners. Iterative reconstruction used in all new-generation PET scanners is a much improved reconstruction technique. Though a well-calibrated PET system can only be used for clinical imaging in few situations like ours, when compromised PET scanner with one PET module bypassed was used for PET acquisition, FBP with sinogram correction proved to be a better reconstruction technique to minimize streak artifact present in the image reconstructed by the iterative technique.
Evaluating software engineering simulation games: The UGALCO framework

The increasing interest in Software Engineering simulation games leads to the problem of how to assess these games in order to measure their real benefits. Until the current days, few attempts were proposed in order to support practitioners evaluating simulation games. This paper introduces UGALCO, a five-dimension framework for simulation games evaluation. Besides a detailed assessment of player's learning, usability, motivation, and user experience, we also included a communicability evaluation from the Human Computer Interaction field. Since our framework is not prescriptive, there are no restrictions regarding its attributes, evaluation perspectives or techniques. Instead, we present how a set of tools and attributes can be used together, bringing more effective results for assessing the game as a whole. We applied this framework for the evaluation of a specific simulation game. Results indicate that this framework can be used to gain better and more understanding of simulation games aspects.
Negative Moments, Risk Aversion, and Stochastic Dominance

Abstract A simple moment-ordering condition is shown to be necessary for stochastic dominance. Closely related results on generalizations of the geometric and harmonic means are also provided. An ordering of the moment-generating functions is shown to be necessary and sufficient for stochastic dominance. The results have a straightforward and useful interpretation in terms of constant relative and absolute risk aversion utility functions. These results are used to provide necessary and sufficient conditions for optimality of distributions on an important class of utility functions.
Tourism and Economic Growth: A Panel Data Analysis for Pacific Island Countries

The contribution of tourism to the economic growth of Pacific Island countries (PICs) has achieved significance in the past decade. The shift in the economic policies of the PICs from the late 1980s has been decisively away from import substitution and agriculture to urban-based manufacturing and services sectors. Tourism is the main component of the services sector in the PICs. The contribution of tourism to economic growth in Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea is expected to grow. The authors use panel data for the four PICs to test the long-run relationship between real GDP and real tourism exports. They find support for panel cointegration and the results suggest that a 1% increase in tourism exports increases GDP by 0.72% in the long run and by 0.24% in the short run.
Authoritarian States, Capital-Owning Classes, and the Politics of Newly Industrializing Countries: The Case of Indonesia

In the past three decades, the Suharto regime has presided over the rapid industrialization of Indonesia and the development of its capital-owning classes. A complex relationship between state and capital has emerged, based upon structural factors (the need to maintain investment, economic growth, and a revenue base) as well as instrumental factors (the involvement of officials in business as state managers of capital and private investors). Recently, however, significant tensions have emerged between the interests of the regime and its officials on the one hand, and the interests of various elements of the capital-owning classes on the other, in response to broader structural pressures for economic change. These tensions and pressures are a challenge to the pact of domination between state officials and their corporate allies, the system monopolies and protection from which corporate capital emerged, and the nature of political domination exerted by officials over the state apparatus. Although the growing social and economic power of the capital-owning classes is not being converted into formal instrumental control over the state apparatus, economic strategies and political and economic alliances are being restructured, resulting in important shifts in the nature of Indonesian authoritarianism.
A Compact Bandpass Wilkinson Power Divider With Ultra-Wide Band Harmonic Suppression

A Wilkinson power divider (WPD) with bandpass property and an ultra-wide band harmonic suppression is proposed in this letter. The frequency-selecting coupling structure is embedded to the conventional quarter-wavelength transmission line, which can realize an ultra-wide harmonic suppression with three transmission zeros. Short-ended meander line stubs are shunted at the both output ports for dc block and provide an extra transmission zero for the passband. The proposed WPD operates with a −20 dB bandwidth from 1.74 to 3.71 GHz with an ultra-wide stopband to suppress the dc, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$3f_{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$5f_{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$7f_{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> harmonic components. The proposed WPD has a compact size of 14.65 mm <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times19.64$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.19\lambda _{g} \times 0.25\lambda _{g})$ </tex-math></inline-formula>.
On Optimal Commodity Taxes When Consumption is Time Consuming

This paper studies the problem of optimal taxation of commodities when consumption is a time-consuming activity. This is done under two distinct preference separability assumptions: between goods and labor supply, and between goods and leisure. It argues that with the labor separability, the traditional uniform taxation results of optimal tax theory continue to hold. With leisure separability, on the other hand, consumption time is a major ingredient of optimal tax rates. However, the relationship between consumption time and optimal tax rates depends crucially on the representation of the economy. In representative consumer economies, time differences determine the pattern of optimal tax rates so that goods whose consumption take more time are subjected to higher tax rates. When individuals have different earning abilities, re-distributive, incentive, and efficiency considerations also come into play resulting in a complex relationship. The paper derives formulas for optimal commodity taxes in this case on the basis of three different tax structures: linear commodity taxes in combination with linear and nonlinear income taxes, and nonlinear commodity taxes in combination with nonlinear income taxes.
Interspecies Major Histocompatibility Complex-Restricted Th Cell Epitope on Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Capsid Protein VP4

T-cell epitopes within viral polypeptide VP4 of the capsid protein of foot-and-mouth disease virus were analyzed using 15-mer peptides and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from vaccinated outbred pigs. An immunodominant region between VP4 residues 16 and 35 was identified, with peptide residues 20 to 34 (VP4-0) and 21 to 35 (VP4-5) particularly immunostimulatory for PBMC from all of the vaccinated pigs. CD25 upregulation on peptide-stimulated CD4+CD8+ cells—dominated by Th memory cells in the pig—and inhibition using anti-major histocompatibility complex class II monoclonal antibodies indicated recognition by Th lymphocytes. VP4-0 immunogenicity was retained in a tandem peptide with the VP1 residue 137 to 156 sequential B-cell epitope. This B-cell site also retained immunogenicity, but evidence is presented that specific antibody induction in vitro required both this and the T-cell site. Heterotypic recognition of the residue 20 to 35 region was also noted. Consequently, the VP4 residue 20 to 35 region is a promiscuous, immunodominant and heterotypic T-cell antigenic site for pigs that is capable of providing help for a B-cell epitope when in tandem, thus extending the possible immunogenic repertoire of peptide vaccines.
Human development and alcohol abuse in adolescence

The aim of this article is to analyse the development of human capital in adolescents, as represented by their state of health and educational attainment, when this capital is affected by the abusive consumption of alcohol measured by grams of ethanol. To that end, we adopt a theoretical framework derived from the Model of Rational Addiction, the Model of Health Demand and the Model of Schooling Demand, which is then estimated by using data drawn from the Spanish National Survey on Drug Use in the School Population (1996, 1998, 2000). Results confirm that higher alcohol consumption leads to worse health states and lower academic efficiency among adolescents, which suggests the need to implement effective policies aimed at reducing alcohol abuse among this population group.
Development and evaluation of thin-film flexible microelectrode arrays for retinal stimulation and recording

We have described the development of a flexible microelectrode array with potential applications in the large scale recording of neural signals and in focal electrical stimulation for use as a prosthetic implant in degenerative retinal diseases. The array under test consisted of 61 platinum electrodes of 5 µm diameter with 60 µm spacing connected by 8 µm wide gold tracks encased in a flexible polyimide substrate of 15 µm thickness from which recordings were taken from 16 electrodes. The device was tested on an exposed frog eyecup preparation which is characterized by small retinal ganglion cells of similar dimensions to those present in the human retina. The responses of these cells evoked by photic stimulation consisted of trains of action potentials of high signal-to noise ratio at each of the recording sites. Delivery of cathodal constant voltage pulses and constant current pulses to specific electrodes in the array led to the generation of action potentials in adjacent electrodes, implying that retinal ganglion cells in the proximity had been stimulated. Since prolonged stimulation with supra-threshold voltages impaired neither electrode structure nor retinal function, these results provide a sound basis for scaling up the number of array electrodes to deliver focal electrical pulses to the retina, as would be required by a viable epiretinal prosthesis.
How did the demise of international commodity agreements affect volatility of primary commodity prices?

This article has used the T-GARCH and E-GARCH models to answer the following two questions regarding the pattern of volatility of commodity prices following the demise of international commodity agreements (hereafter ICAs) in five key commodities: firstly, the question of whether the collapse or suspension of ICAs contributed to asymmetry in price volatility and secondly, the question of whether the collapse or suspension of ICAs led to an increase in persistence in price volatility. The results show that breakdown of ICAs was generally followed by higher degree asymmetry in price volatility but lower persistence in volatility.