Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Systemic competitiveness of post-socialist and capitalist economies: a broader look at the competitiveness debate

International competitiveness studies have hitherto mainly been focused on constructing ranking schemes. This article adds to the literature by analysing World Competitiveness Yearbook data in order to econometrically pinpoint the crucial competitiveness determinants for 35 countries. Applying the system GMM panel data estimator to post-socialist (PS) and capitalist countries separately, several conclusions emerge: i) small and medium enterprises are the main competitiveness generator in the PS block (in contrast to large corporations in the capitalist economies), ii) credit rating is highly relevant in both groups, iii) increasing labour market flexibility in PS countries plays a vital role in boosting competitiveness.
An Examination of Linear and Nonlinear Causal Relationships between Commodity Prices and U.S. Inflation

This article uses both linear and nonlinear causality tests to examine the causal relationships between changes in commodity prices and U.S. inflation. Prior to the Great Moderation, there is evidence that changes in commodity price indices linearly lead inflation. The stability of the causal relationship appears to vary over time with a stronger bivariate link established before the Great Moderation. Further, there is evidence of significant nonlinear causality from raw industrials and metals indices to inflation with most of this detected nonlinear relationship being captured using the Baba, Engle, Kraft, and Kroner asymmetric generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model. This implies that the observed nonlinear Granger causality is largely driven by unanticipated shocks and volatility spillovers in the run‐up of commodity prices in late 2000.
Heterogeneous three-dimensional anatomical and electrophysiological model of human atria

Investigating the mechanisms underlying the genesis and conduction of electrical excitation in the atria at physiological and pathological states is of great importance. To provide knowledge concerning the mechanisms of excitation, we constructed a biophysical detailed and anatomically accurate computer model of human atria that incorporates both structural and electrophysiological heterogeneities. The three-dimensional geometry was extracted from the visible female dataset. The sinoatrial node (SAN) and atrium, including crista terminalis (CT), pectinate muscles (PM), appendages (APG) and Bachmann's bundle (BB) were segmented in this work. Fibre orientation in CT, PM and BB was set to local longitudinal direction. Descriptions for all used cell types were based on modifications of the Courtemanche et al. model of a human atrial cell. Maximum conductances of , and were modified for PM, CT, APG and atrioventricular ring to reproduce measured action potentials (AP). Pacemaker activity in the human SAN was reproduced by removing , but including , , and gradients of channel conductances as described in previous studies for heterogeneous rabbit SAN. Anisotropic conduction was computed with a monodomain model using the finite element method. The transversal to longitudinal ratio of conductivity for PM, CT and BB was 1 : 9. Atrial working myocardium (AWM) was set to be isotropic. Simulation of atrial electrophysiology showed initiation of APs in the SAN centre. The excitation spread afterwards to the periphery near to the region of the CT and preferentially towards the atrioventricular region. The excitation extends over the right atrium along PM. Both CT and PM activated the right AWM. Earliest activation of the left atrium was through BB and excitation spread over to the APG. The conduction velocities were 0.6 m s−1 for AWM, 1.2 m s−1 for CT, 1.6 m s−1 for PM and 1.1 m s−1 for BB at a rate of 63 bpm. The simulations revealed that bundles form dominant pathways for atrial conduction. The preferential conduction towards CT and along PM is comparable with clinical mapping. Repolarization is more homogeneous than excitation due to the heterogeneous distribution of electrophysiological properties and hence the action potential duration.
Trilogies of histone lysine methylation as epigenetic landmarks of the eukaryotic genome.

landmark descriptions of the genomes of several model organisms. The significance of these findings becomes even greater following the nearly full sequence assembly of the human genome. Together, these “genome projects” have shown that more complex eukaryotic model organisms have a much bigger genome than unicellular eukaryotes, although the increased “biocomplexity” is not reflected by an equivalent expansion in the number of protein-coding genes (e.g., ~40,000 in humans vs. ~6,000 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae). These results strongly suggest that biocomplexity is only in part regulated by overall gene number, but largely depends on combinatorial control triggering a vast number of gene expression patterns. In addition, mechanisms other than DNA sequence information have been used during evolution to better index and regulate the complex developmental programs and key regulatory processes, such as chromosome segregation and cell division of eukaryotic genomes. In the nuclei of almost all eukaryotic cells, genomic DNA is highly folded and compacted with histone and nonhistone proteins in a dynamic polymer called chromatin. The discoveries that DNA methylation, nucleosome remodeling, histone modification, and noncoding RNAs can organize chromatin into accessible (“euchromatic”) and inaccessible (“heterochromatic”) subdomains reveal epigenetic mechanisms that considerably extend the information potential of the genetic code. Thus, one genome can generate many “epigenomes” (Fig. 1), as the fertilized egg progresses through development and translates its information into a multitude of cell fates. These epigenetic mechanisms are crucial for the function of most, if not all, chromatin-templated processes and link alterations in chromatin structure to allele-specific expression differences, developmental programming of cell lineages, chromosome segregation, DNA repair, and genome stability. The implications of epigenetic research for human biology and disease, including cancer and aging, are far reaching. The basic repeating unit of chromatin is the nucleosome, consisting of 147 bp of DNA wrapped around an octamer of the core histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4 (Luger et al. 1997). Posttranslational modifications of the protruding histone amino-termini (histone “tails”) were proposed 40 years ago to affect gene expression (Allfrey et al. 1964) and have since been demonstrated as important modulators of chromatin structure, culminating in the “histone code” hypothesis (Strahl and Allis 2000; Turner 2000; Jenuwein and Allis 2001). Histone modifications include acetylation, phosphorylation, methylation (arginine and lysine), ubiquitination, and ADP ribosylation (van Holde 1988). In the last 4 years, histone lysine methylation has emerged as a central epigenetic modification (Jenuwein 2001; Zhang and Trilogies of Histone Lysine Methylation as Epigenetic Landmarks of the Eukaryotic Genome
AeroMEMS Wall Hot-Wire Anemometer on Polyimide Substrate Featuring Top Side or Bottom Side Bondpads

Design, manufacturing, calibration, and basic characterization of a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) wall hot wire sensor on a flexible polyimide substrate are presented. A configuration exhibiting bond pads on the top side of the foil, as well as an improved setup featuring a through-foil metallization and bottom side bond pads were established. Both sensor designs make use of a highly sensitive nickel thin-film resistor spanning a reactive ion etched cavity in a polyimide substrate. The polyimide base material enables the sensor to be adapted to curved aerodynamic surfaces, e.g., airfoils and turbine blades. A mismatch of curvature of aerodynamic surface and silicon sensor surface, as observed with previously presented MEMS hot-wire anemometers is avoided. The combination of polyimide's low thermal conductivity and a cavity featuring FEM-optimized dimensions accounts for a very low-power consumption (<25 mW). Fluctuations in wall shear stress up to 85 kHz can be resolved in constant-temperature mode. An average sensitivity of 0.166 V/(N/m2) is achieved in a wall shear stress range from 0 to 0.72 N/m2. The specifically designed through-foil metallization process allows for electrical contacts to be positioned on the backside of the substrate, thus effectively minimizing aerodynamic disturbances.
Destination Services and Travel Experience in the Gaming Mecca: the Moderating Role of Gambling as a Travel Purpose Among Chinese Tourists

ABSTRACT Despite a growing body of research on tourist service and experience in casino gambling, there is limited research guiding how destination travel and hospitality services may impact tourist travel experience as well as what the consequences are of such an experience, especially in the increasingly popular gaming destinations. This study explores the linkage between destination services, travel experience, and behavioral outcomes among Chinese tourists visiting Macau, the world gaming capital. The moderating role of gambling as a travel motive is also explored. The findings suggest that travel experience in the gaming Mecca is driven by multiple destination service attributes that go beyond gaming and entertainment facilities. This study presents insights into how destination services might impact travel experience and, in turn, word-of-mouth and revisit intention, depending on whether gambling is the travel purpose. The authors conclude with implications for theory and practice, limitations, and future research directions.
Capacity Theorems for Distributed Index Coding

In index coding, a server broadcasts multiple messages to their respective receivers, each with some side information that can be utilized to reduce the amount of communication from the server. Distributed index coding is an extension of index coding in which the messages are broadcast from multiple servers, each storing different subsets of the messages. In this paper, the optimal tradeoff among the message rates and the server broadcast rates, which is defined formally as the capacity region, is studied for a general distributed index coding problem. Inner and outer bounds on the capacity region are established that have matching sum-rates for all 218 non-isomorphic four-message problems with equal link capacities for all the links from servers to receivers. The proposed inner bound is built on a distributed composite coding scheme that outperforms the existing schemes by incorporating more flexible decoding configurations and enhanced fractional rate allocations into two-stage composite coding, a scheme that was originally introduced for centralized index coding. The proposed outer bound is built on the polymatroidal axioms of entropy, as well as functional dependences such as the fd-separation introduced by the multi-server nature of the problem. This outer bound utilizes general groupings of servers with different levels of granularity, which allows a natural tradeoff between computational complexity and tightness of the bound, and includes and improves upon all existing outer bounds for distributed index coding. Specific features of the proposed inner and outer bounds are demonstrated through concrete examples with four or five messages.
Explaining Consumption: A Simple Test of Alternative Hypotheses

A method of testing the relative importance for consumption of risk-sharing behavior and changes in current income is proposed and estimated using data across Canadian provinces. The focus of the estimation is less on whether or not the risk-sharing model can be rejected than on how much each of these hypotheses can contribute to explaining overall variation in consumption. Both types of behavior are found to be statistically significant, but the risk-sharing model is found to explain considerably more of the growth in consumption than does changes in income.
Strategy Formation In The Family Business : The Role Of Storytelling

This paper takes an interest in the past, as depicted by family business owners, and how it is reflected in the governance of the firm. The purpose of this paper is to explore how family business owners express and perceive their family business story and the implications for the strategy formation of the firm. Through the storytelling from 20 cases, we conclude that they embrace their past through different degrees of adoption and their promotion or prevention focus. We construct four typologies: strategy formation through reinforcement, renewal, remembrance and rhetoric. The implications of storytelling and these typologies are discussed.
Integrated 122-GHz Antenna on a Flexible Polyimide Substrate With Flip Chip Interconnect

A packaging solution for the integration of an MMIC and a thin film antenna into a single surface-mountable package is presented. It is based on an air cavity in the package base into which the MMIC is placed. All package-to-MMIC interconnects are routed through the antenna substrate and all connections are realized using flip chip technology. Thus wire bonds are eliminated within the whole package. A broadband flip chip interconnect is used to connect MMIC and antenna. As the antenna is situated above an air cavity, a large bandwidth is also achieved for the antenna. An antenna-in-package prototype is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the assembly process and to test the antenna performance including the flip chip interconnect. The influence of an additional package cover is analyzed by measuring the antenna covered with two different lids.
[The role of sarcolemma and mitochondria in calcium-dependent control of myometrium relaxation].

Using atomic absorption spectroscopy, it was shown that the amount of firmly bound Ca2+ in cattle mitochondria and myometrium sarcolemma is 160 +/- 10 and 30 +/- 10 mumol/kg of wet tissue, respectively. The Ca2+ 1 accumulating capacity of mitochondria (350 nmol per mg of protein) markedly exceeds that of sarcolemmal vesicles (30 nmol per mg of protein). Using a Ca2+-EGTA buffer, it was found that the affinity of ionized Ca for the mitochondrial transport system (Km = 5.69 microM) is higher than that for the Na+-Ca2+ system of sarcolemma exchange (Km = 30 microM), but is markedly lower than that for the Mg2+, ATP-dependent Ca2+ efflux (Km = 0.35 microM). A kinetic analysis demonstrated that the sarcolemmal Ca2+ pump is incapable of causing complete relaxation of the smooth muscle within the physiologically significant time, whereas the Ca2+ transport system of mitochondria evokes this process within 21 s. However, the contribution of the Ca2+ pump to the regulation of the Ca2+ content in myocytes is paralleled with the accumulation of Ca2+ in mitochondria and is realized at low concentrations of this cation in the myoplasm, i.e., at late steps of relaxation. A mechanism of Ca2+ control over myometrium relaxation is proposed. The system of non-electrogenic Na+-Ca2+ exchange maintains Ca2+ concentration in the myoplasm as high as 10(-5) M. Mitochondria which accumulate the bulk of Ca2+ rapidly decrease its concentration in the cytoplasm down to 10(-6)-10(-7) M; at these values, the activity of the sarcolemmal Ca2+ pump with a high affinity for the transfer substrate is manifested. In this way, the Ca2+ pump accomplishes fine regulation of Ca2+ concentration in the myocytes.
FDI, private investment and public investment in Nigeria: An unravelled dynamic relation

For decades, scholars have continually emphasized the importance of FDI in the less developed countries. Some believe that FDI can fill investment gaps, either private or public and mobilizes savings (Lee and Suruga, 2005; Todaro and Smith, 2003; Hayami, 2001). This study seeks to verify the interactions and transmission mechanism between FDI, private direct investment and public direct investment in Nigeria. Furthermore, these variables were examined to ascertain their direction of causality and whether or not they have long run linear relationship. Also, the impulse responses of these variables to shocks in the extraneous variables were verified; using the Multiple-Equation VAR models with time series data ranging from 1970-2012. The co-integration result indicates that there is no long run relationship between these variables. In addition, the variance decomposition result shows that 46 percent of innovations in FDI were explained by its own past values, while 21 percent of the innovations were due to shocks, to private domestic investment with 31 percent due to public investment. The response of public and private investment to shocks in FDI is positive and significant in the short run and so is consistent with the findings of Jansen (1995), Misun and Tomsik (2002). Efficient infrastructure in terms of public investment in basic infrastructure cannot be overemphasized amongst others.
Static Ambition in a Changing World: Legislators' Preparations for, and Responses to, Redistricting

How do members of Congress anticipate and prepare for redistricting? I present data from the 1992 redistricting cycle that indicate that one reason why we rarely see changes in representation after redistricting is that incumbents change both their legislative activities and their campaigning prior to the first post-redistricting election. To examine incumbents' behavioral anticipation of redistricting in more detail, I also present a case study of incumbents' activities prior to the 1998 court-ordered congressional redistricting in North Carolina. I find that these incumbents participated actively in the redistricting process and made behavioral adjustments before they began to represent their new districts officially. These types of adjustments were often subtle, including changes in casework, local projects, and the allocation of staff and campaign resources.
The determination of wage and price inflation in Greece: An application of modern cointegration techniques

This paper investigates the determination of wage and price inflation in Greece over the last twenty years by applying recent developments in the field of multivariate cointegrated systems. In particular it draws on recent work by Hall, Henry and Greenslade (1999) which investigates the performance of a range of tests of identification in small samples and recommend a particular sequence of testing and nesting of the model. Using these techniques we argue that macroeconomic policy in Greece has been one of the main driving forces behind the determination of inflation. In particular we are able to clearly isolate successful regime periods and less successful ones. We are also able to then use the estimated model to investigate the possible effects of either extending or shortening some of these regimes on Greek economic history.
Knowledge Creation and Human Capital for Development: The Role of Graduate Entrepreneurship.

Purpose – Tackling structural and emergent problems in the labour market, valorising skilled human capital (HC) for opportunity creation, economic development and growth, are some of the key drivers for graduate entrepreneurship. This paper aims to examine developments in Africa, focusing on the significance of improving human capital through graduate entrepreneurship to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approach – Based on a unique Education Partnerships in Africa (EPA) project the paper adopts a conceptual and exploratory approach to understand the institutional, cultural and economic dimensions of change and the specific role of graduate entrepreneurship education and training in enabling productive outcomes, using an illustrative case study of the project to develop the arguments.Findings – Knowledge creation lies at the heart of entrepreneurship development in developing economies such as Nigeria. Knowledge creation (KC) for entrepreneurship (E) is based on hu.
Synthesis and fluorescent properties of CdSe quantum dots for the detection of single cells array

As novel quantum fluorescent materials, QDs have longer term photo-stability, narrower emission range, stronger intensity, and broader UV excitation spectra than that of normal fluorescent materials. Due to quantum dots' (QD) quantum scale effect, QDs of different sizes can emit fluorescence of different colors with the same excitation light, making them suitable bio-probes in multiplexed detection, by which we can achieve multiplexed analysis of cells' behaviors in real time. In this paper, we first synthesized CdSe QDs in ODE and TOPO system. To enlarge the fluorescent range and get more fluorescent colors, we utilized paraffin liquid as the solvent instead of QDE and oleic acid (OA) as the stabilizer instead of TOPO. Finally, we obtained CdSe QDs emitting colors varying from purple to red in a simple and green experimental condition, reaching the requirement of multiplexed detection. By this method, we synthesized high-quality QD probes for multi-analysis which is low cost, less contaminating and less dependent on equipments.
Competitive regionalism and the territorial governance of uncertainty

This article focuses on the model of local regulation of economic uncertainty that can be described as ‘competitive regionalism’, a governance mode characterized by its own rhetoric, key actors and political economy. The first part of the article presents a contradiction: on the one hand, private actors and market regulation have gained much importance, but on the other this process of marketization has been partly balanced by the role played by local governments, collective actors and other bodies and organizations, although trade unions are playing only a weak role, especially where they do not have a local territorial base. Thus, marketization seems to increase rather than reduce the need for intervention by public actors and collective organizations able to reduce externalities produced by the market. The second part of the article shows the impact of the economic crisis on the model of competitive regionalism and a number of possible policy implications.
Design and Simulation of Anfis Controller for Virtual-Reality-Built Manipulator

Fuzzy logic (FL) and artificial neural networks (ANNs), despite their successful use in many challenging control situations, still have drawbacks that limit them to only some applications. Their combined advantages have thus become the subject of much research into ways of overcoming their disadvantages. Neuro-fuzziness is one resulting rapidly emerging field. ANFIS network, proposed by Jang, is one popular neuro-fuzzy system [1-4].
FDA Refusals of Food Imports by Exporting Country Group

U.S. food imports grew rapidly in recent years, and some of the fastest growing imports came from the developing countries. Brooks, Buzby, and Regmi (2009) found that the share of total U.S. food imports from high-income countries declined from 51% in 2002 to 47% in 2007. In general, four-fifths of the total U.S. food imports from high-income countries are sourced either from Canada or the European Union. The loss of market share for these countries was accompanied by a growth in U.S. import market share for developing countries, particularly middle-income countries, such as Mexico, Chile, and China. In many cases, lower-income countries may not have as extensive or effective food safety standards, practices, and regulations in place as those in the United States or in other more developed countries. This challenges their food safety systems to keep pace with the growth in their food exports.