Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Minimum Economic Dividend for Joining a Currency Union

Abstract A two-country model is developed to show how the optimality of a currency union depends on whether it brings an economic dividend in terms of potential growth and the Balassa-Samuelson (BS) effect (the steady appreciation of the real exchange rate due to cross-country differences in intersectoral productivity gaps). The model shows that such dividend needs to be larger, the higher the BS effect, the smaller the size of the economy, the larger the cross-country difference in the standard deviation of the supply shocks, the smaller their correlation and the larger the standard deviation of real exchange rate shocks. We calibrate the model to quantify such dividend as a function of plausible ranges of the parameter values. The results suggest that both the BS effect and the size of real exchange rate shocks play a key role in evaluating the optimality of accessing the currency union.
β‐Ionone suppresses mammary carcinogenesis, proliferative activity and induces apoptosis in the mammary gland of the Sprague‐Dawley rat

β‐Ionone demonstrates potent anticancer activity both in vitro and in vivo. We determined tumor incidence and the number of rats bearing tumors as well as cell proliferation and apoptosis in a rat mammary cancer model induced by 7, 12‐dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA). Rats were fed an AIN‐76A diet containing β‐ionone (0, 9, 18 or 36 mmol/kg), starting 2 weeks before DMBA administration and continuing for 24 weeks. A dose‐dependent inhibition of mammary carcinogenesis by dietary β‐ionone was observed. Corresponding tumor incidence values were 82.1, 53.3, 25.9 and 10.0% (p < 0.01 or 0.05). Time to tumor appearance increased and tumor multiplicity decreased with increasing dietary β‐ionone. Histopathological and immunohistochemical evaluations of tumors were performed on the 64, 31, 15 and 3 tumors, respectively, identified in rats from the respective groups of 30. The proportions of adenocarcinomas, adenomas and benign masses were equally distributed in the latter group. In proportions within the other groups, the proportions of adenocarcinomas and benign masses decreased and increased with increasing dietary β‐ionone. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), cyclin D1 and Bcl‐2 expression decreased, and Bax expression and nuclear fragmentation increased with increasing dietary β‐ionone. These results demonstrate the potent capacity of dietary β‐ionone to suppress DMBA‐initiated mammary cancer in rats. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Biodegradation of Chitosan-Tripolyphosphate Beads: In Vitro and In Vivo Studies

In this study, chitosan [(1 → 4) linked 2-amino-2-deoxy-β-D-glucopyranose] beads were prepared by interacting this polycation (> 90% deacetylated) with the tripolyphosphate (TPP) polyanion. The resulting chitosan-TPP beads (C) were modified either by coating with sodium alginate (CA) or by cross-linking with glutaraldehyde (CGA). The in vitro degradation of C beads was found to be faster than its CA and CGA counterparts. C beads degraded faster at pH 6.5, compared to pH 7.4 conditions. At pH 7.4, about 41%, 37% and 10% of dry mass loss after 12 months was determined for C, CA and CGA, respectively. At pH 6.5, the dry mass loss of CA and CGA after the same period of time was found to be 73% and 37%, respectively. However, C beads completely degraded at pH 6.5 after 8 months of in vitro incubation. The in vivo biodegradation experiments were performed on Wistar rats (n = 24) for a duration of 6 months. No sign of fibrotic capsule formation was observed around any of the implanted beads at 2 and 6 months post-transplantation. At 2 months, the in vivo-degradation was slow-going and the beads in all groups were intact; CGA beads had more tissue reaction than C and CA beads at this time point. While the C beads had almost completely degraded after 6 months, the biodegradation process in CA and CGA beads was progressing. Histomorphometric analysis revealed that the in vivo biodegradation was in the order of C (∼85%) > CA (∼50%) > CGA (∼25%) after 6 months. Neovascularization was observed at the vicinity of the bead implants close to major blood vessels, both at 2 and 6 months time-points.
Assessment of hormone receptor status in breast cancer

The aim of the present paper was to investigated the most adequate method for the assessment of hormone receptor status in breast cancer in routine clinical settings. Subjects were 486 patients with primary breast cancer who underwent surgery and postoperative tamoxifen monotherapy in 1982–1993. Using representative sections of the primary lesion in each patient, estrogen receptors (ER) were immunohistochemically stained. Patients were divided into ER‐positive and ER‐negative groups using various methods, and then overall and 5 year recurrence‐free survival rates were compared. The results of ER status, which are diagnosed on entire cancer area and invasive cancer area, matched in 98% of cases. When assessing prognosis based on the proportion of positive cells, a significant difference in 5 year recurrence‐free survival was seen between ER‐positive and ER‐negative patients for a cut‐off of 10%, and in overall and 5 year survival for a cut‐off of 33%. Based on the proportion and the intensity of positive cells (Allred score), a significant difference was seen in overall and 5 year survival for a cut‐off in total scores between 4 and 5 points. When assessing hormone receptors of breast cancer in routine clinical settings, it is sufficient to determine the proportion of positive cells in the entire cancer area.
Corporate governance and accounting enforcement actions in Italy

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is a relation between corporate governance and the publication of corporate accounts that fail to comply with legal and regulatory provisions governing their preparation. Design/methodology/approach - The paper analyses all the Italian listed companies that from 2002 to 2010 were subject to accounting enforcement actions. From the literature review, 11 hypotheses were developed in relation to six issues: CEO Chairman duality, board size, board independence, the presence of an audit committee and its composition, the presence of nomination and remuneration committees and, finally, the presence of a big audit firm. Using non parametric tests, the paper compares the governance characteristics of fraudulent firms with those of a control sample of comparable firms. Findings - It is found that board independence is the sole effective mechanism in detecting financial reporting fraud. The results show that firms committing accounting fraud have a lower percentage of independent directors on the board and fewer non-executive and independent directors on the audit committee than the matched control sample. Research limitations/implications - The main limit of this research is the small number of companies observed, even if this limit reflects the size of the Italian Stock Exchange. Another caveat is the endogeneity problem that impacts much of the board literature. Originality/value - This paper extends the accounting literature related to financial reporting fraud since it analyses the issue for the first time with reference to Italy, one of the most relevant European Union countries.
Infection of immune mast cells by Harvey sarcoma virus: immortalization without loss of requirement for interleukin-3

Cells from adult mouse spleens were cultured in WEHI-3 cell-conditioned medium, which contains the lymphokine interleukin-3 (IL-3). Under these conditions, cells grow well for 4 to 8 weeks; the cultures contain a variety of cell types for the first 1 to 2 weeks but are subsequently composed largely of immune mast cells. We found that infection of these cultures with Harvey sarcoma virus (HaSV) profoundly enhanced the growth potential of the cells, resulting in the reproducible isolation of long-term cell lines. These HaSV-infected cells appeared to be phenotypically identical to the immune mast cells found in uninfected cultures as determined by biochemical, immunological, and cytological tests. Although the cells expressed protein p21Ha-ras at levels similar to those in HaSV-transformed fibroblasts, they continued to require IL-3 for growth in vitro. Similar IL-3-dependent, long-term mast cell lines were also cultured from the enlarged spleens present in HaSV-infected mice. These results suggest that high-level expression of an activated Ha-ras oncogene enhances growth in these cells, perhaps by stimulating the progression of the cells into S, without affecting differentiation or altering the requirements for normal growth factor.
Order‐to‐delivery process performance in delivery scheduling environments

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to generate a performance model for an order-to-delivery (OTD) process in delivery scheduling environments. It aims to do this with a triadic approach, encompassing a customer, a supplier and a logistics service provider. Design/methodology/approach - The paper takes the form of a conceptual analysis and a triadic case study on performance measurement requirements in an OTD process characterized by delivery scheduling, and generating performance models. Findings - Two OTD process performance models, one for the supplier's delivery sub-process and one for the customer's delivery scheduling, the logistics service provider's transportation and the customer's good receipt sub-process, in delivery scheduling environments are generated. Research limitations/implications - A single case study limits the levels of external validity and reliability to analytical generalization. Practical implications - The generated performance models include definitions of four sub-processes and outline ten performance dimensions that should be of relevance for several companies to apply. Originality/value - This is the first approach that generates performance models for a triadic OTD process for use in delivery scheduling environments.
Key Characteristics of the Large Innovating Firm

SUMMARY Large innovating firms are a major source of the world's technology, and in the 20th century have shown great resilience in absorbing successive waves of radical innovations. The key characteristics of these firms derive from the properties of their innovative activities. First, given the specific, differentiated and cumulative nature of technological development, the range of possible choices about both product and processed technologies open to the firm depends on its accumulated competence. Second, given functional and professional specialization, the implementation of technological choices requires organization and orchestration across disciplinary, functional and divisional boundaries. Third, given cumulative development and uncertainty, the improvement of these competences requires continuous and collective learning. Fourth, in the light of these characteristics, systems for allocating resources must take into account the benefits of learning by doing, as well as the benefits of outcomes. As a consequence, the technical function in large firms involves not just the implementation of innovations, but also the definition of appropriate divisional objectives and boundaries, the exploration of radical technologies, and the formation of technological expectations about the future.
A Laser Point Interaction System Integrating Mouse Functions

The computer has become an essential tool in modern life, and the combined use of a computer with a projector is very common in teaching and presentations. However, as typical computer operating devices involve a mouse or keyboard, when making presentations, users often need to stay near the computer to execute functions such as changing pages, writing, and drawing, thus, making the operation time-consuming, and reducing interactions with the audience. This paper proposes a laser pointer interaction system able to simulate mouse functions in order that users need not remain near the computer, but can directly use laser pointer operations from at a distance. It can effectively reduce the users’ time spent by the computer, allowing for greater interactions with the audience. Keywords—laser pointer, presentation, interaction, mouse function
Does the Framingham Stroke Risk Profile predict white-matter changes in late-life depression?

ABSTRACT Background: Cardiovascular risk factors and diseases are important etiological factors in depression, particularly late-life depression. Brain changes associated with vascular disease and depression can be detected using magnetic resonance imaging. Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), we investigated whether the Framingham Stroke Risk Profile (FSRP), a well-validated risk prediction algorithm, is associated with changes in white-matter connectivity. We hypothesized that depressed participants would show reduced white-matter integrity with higher FSRP, and non-depressed controls (matched for mean vascular risk) would show minimal co-variance with white-matter changes. Methods: Thirty-six participants with major depression (age 71.8 ± 7.7 years, mean FSRP 10.3 ± 7.6) and 25 controls (age 71.8 ± 7.3 years, mean FSRP 10.1 ± 7.7) were clinically interviewed and examined, followed by 60-direction DTI on a 3.0 Tesla scanner. Image analysis was performed using FSL tools (www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/fsl) to assess the correlation between FSRP and fractional anisotropy (FA). Voxelwise statistical analysis of the FA data was carried out using Tract Based Spatial Statistics. The significance threshold for correlations was set at p < 0.05 using threshold-free cluster-enhancement. Partial correlation analysis investigated significant correlations in each group. Results: Participants in the depressed group showed highly significant correlations between FSRP and FA within the body of corpus callosum (r = −0.520, p = 0.002), genu of corpus callosum (r = −0.468, p = 0.005), splenium of corpus callosum (r = −0.536, p = 0.001), and cortico-spinal tract (r = −0.473, p = 0.005). In controls, there was only one significant correlation in the body of corpus callosum (r = −0.473, p = 0.023). Conclusions: FSRP is associated with impairment in white-matter integrity in participants with depression; these results suggest support for the vascular depression hypothesis.
School to work transitions and the impact of Public Expenditure on Education

In this paper we analyse how the decentralization process of the Spanish educational system has affected the school-to-work transition of youths over the last years. Using individual data from the Spanish Labor Force Survey for the period 1993-2002, we estimate a simultaneous equation model for the unemployment and employment hazard rates of these workers. We include public expenditure on education, at the regional level, as an explanatory factor in both hazards. Furthermore we account for cross-regional differences regarding the decision-making authority over education. Our results reveal that for both, university and non-university levels, public expenditure on education significantly improves the chances of Spanish youths in finding the first job after completing the educational system. However, it seems that the decentralization of university education has negative effects on youths’ labor market prospects in terms of exiting from unemployment, while no effects are observed for the case of non-university education.
A State-Trait Model of Negative Life Event Occurrence in Adolescence: Predictors of Stability in the Occurrence of Stressors

Stressful life events are an important risk factor for psychopathology among children and adolescents. However, variation in life stress may be both stable and time-varying with associated differences in the antecedents. We tested, using latent variable modeling, a state-trait model of stressful life events in adolescence, and predictors of stability in the occurrence of life events, using a high risk sample of children of alcoholic parents and matched controls (n = 422). Variation in the number of stressful life events reported at any time point in adolescence could be separated into both stable and time-varying sources of variance, and stability in the occurrence of life events was predicted by parental alcoholism, parenting support, and adolescent temperament. These findings suggest that parental psychopathology, poor relationship with parents, and temperament contribute to produce stable stress during adolescence.
Separation technologies for stem cell bioprocessing

Stem cells have been the focus of an intense research due to their potential in Regenerative Medicine, drug discovery, toxicology studies, as well as for fundamental studies on developmental biology and human disease mechanisms. To fully accomplish this potential, the successful application of separation processes for the isolation and purification of stem cells and stem cell‐derived cells is a crucial issue. Although separation methods have been used over the past decades for the isolation and enrichment of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells for transplantation in hemato‐oncological settings, recent achievements in the stem cell field have created new challenges including the need for novel scalable separation processes with a higher resolution and more cost‐effective. Important examples are the need for high‐resolution methods for the separation of heterogeneous populations of multipotent adult stem cells to study their differential biological features and clinical utility, as well as for the depletion of tumorigenic cells after pluripotent stem cell differentiation. Focusing on these challenges, this review presents a critical assessment of separation processes that have been used in the stem cell field, as well as their current and potential applications. The techniques are grouped according to the fundamental principles that govern cell separation, which are defined by the main physical, biophysical, and affinity properties of cells. A special emphasis is given to novel and promising approaches such as affinity‐based methods that take advantage of the use of new ligands (e.g., aptamers, lectins), as well as to novel biophysical‐based methods requiring no cell labeling and integrated with microscale technologies. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2012; 109: 2699–2709. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Evidence for a cluster of collective 1(+) states in 150Nd near 3 MeV.

Compton polarimeters have been used to measure the linear polarization of resonantly scattered photons. In the deformed nucleus /sup 150/Nd the first direct and model-independent evidence has been obtained that in a cluster of enhanced dipole excitations near 3 MeV the three strongest transitions are of the same, /ital positive/ parity.
Influence of Capacity Building on Technical Efficiency of vegetables and rice farmers in Bangladesh: JICA intervention in Comilla project

This study examines the influence of Capacity Building (CB) on Technical Efficiency (TE) of farming community in the Comilla project area, Bangladesh, which occurred due to the intervention of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The results indicated a significant variation in TE of vegetable and rice Production Inside (IP) and outside the project area. The farmers with low-, medium- and high-CB have incurred a significant amount of loss compared with the maximum obtainable total return due to inefficiency. The study identified that the components of CB play a significant role in increasing TE as well as obtaining maximum achievable total return of the sample farmers.
The ecological rationality of children's option generation and decision making

In everyday life, before deciding what to do, one has to think about what could be done. We investigate option generation from a developmental perspective, testing the predictions of the Take-The-First-heuristic (TTF). Moreover, we examine the influence of time limitation on decision-making processes. Using soccer as a testbed, 6to 13-year-old children (N = 97) were tested in a video-based option-generation paradigm. Children’s performance was aligned with predictions of TTF: Children generated a mean of 2.21 options, did so in a meaningful way and selected the first as final option in 74%. With shorter time, children generated fewer and higher quality options, selected better options and more often the first option as final decision. Further, with age, an increase of the number of options generated and an increase in quality of the final decisions emerged. This age effect was more pronounced with shorter time. Implications for real-life decision-making are discussed.
A structural model for credit risk with switching processes and synchronous jumps

This paper studies a switching regime version of Merton's structural model for the pricing of default risk. The default event depends on the total value of the firm's asset modeled by a switching Lévy process. The novelty of this approach is to consider that firm's asset jumps synchronously with a change in the regime. After a discussion of dynamics under the risk neutral measure, two models are presented. In the first one, the default happens at bond maturity, when the firm's value falls below a predetermined barrier. In the second version, the firm can enter bankruptcy at multiple predetermined discrete times. The use of a Markov chain to model switches in hidden external factors makes it possible to capture the effects of changes in trends and volatilities exhibited by default probabilities. With synchronous jumps, the firm's asset and state processes are no longer uncorrelated. Finally, some econometric evidence that switching Lévy processes, with synchronous jumps, fit well historical time series is provided.
In Vitro Reconstitution of Functional Hepadnavirus Reverse Transcriptase with Cellular Chaperone Proteins

ABSTRACT Initiation of reverse transcription in hepadnaviruses (hepatitis B viruses) depends on the specific binding of an RNA signal (the packaging signal, ε) on the pregenomic RNA template by the viral reverse transcriptase (RT) and is primed by the RT itself (protein priming). We have previously shown that the RT-ε interaction and protein priming require the cellular heat shock protein, Hsp90. However, additional host factors required for these reactions remained to be identified. We now report that five cellular chaperone proteins, all known cofactors of Hsp90, were sufficient to reconstitute a duck hepatitis B virus RT active in ε binding and protein priming in vitro. Four proteins, Hsp90, Hsp70, Hsp40, and Hop, were required for reconstitution of RT activity, and the fifth protein, p23, further enhanced the kinetics of reconstitution. RT activation by the chaperone proteins is a dynamic process dependent on ATP hydrolysis and the Hsp90 ATPase activity. Thus, our results have defined a minimal complement of host factors necessary and sufficient for RT activation. Furthermore, this defined in vitro reconstitution system has now paved the way for future biochemical and structural studies to elucidate the mechanisms of RT activation and chaperone functions.
Caspases on the brain

The basic mechanisms that underlie neurodegenerative diseases are unknown. Loss of function of specific regions of the brain is due to incapacitation of cells that constitute those regions. Cells can simply stop functioning normally (neurons may cease to transmit signals), or they may die. There is now evidence that the pathology of several neurodegenerative diseases is due to inappropriate apoptosis. This being the case, an understanding of the mediators of apoptosis, their identities, and their role in orchestrating death would be a vital step toward remedying the diseases. The central components of apoptotic pathways, proteases of the caspase family, are present in latent forms in all nucleated cells. Their activity is balanced by specific activation and inactivation events, and the molecular and biochemical controls have been well established in vitro and in model transformed cell lines. In this Mini‐Review, we consider the current status of the basic control mechanisms and how these may be subverted during neurodegeneration. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.