Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growth and the International Transmission of Business Cycles

Two-country single-good real business cycle models predict that the cross-country correlation of output is smaller than the cross-country correlations of consumption and productivity, in contrast to the evidence in historical samples. The objective of this paper is to reproduce the observed empirical evidence in a two-country real business cycle model with endogenous growth. Central features of the model include a nonmarket sector and international externalities in production. The model generates realistic cross-country correlations for output, consumption, and productivity with standard parameter values. Copyright 1996 by Economics Department of the University of Pennsylvania and the Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association.
A Theory of Gradual Trade Liberalization

This paper proposes a theory of gradual trade liberalization. I consider countries that are limited to self-enforcing arrangements in their trade relations. I argue that enforcement problems associated with the maintenance of low cooperative tariffs are exacerbated by the presence of resources in the import-competing sector that are (or potentially could be) earning rents from their sector-specific skills. Intuitively, by being able to transform into rents a portion of what otherwise would be dead weight loss under a tariff hike, the presence of such resources makes deviation from a low cooperative tariff to a high tariff more desirable for the deviating country, and makes punishments under reciprocally high tariffs less painful. Hence, the presence of rent-collecting resources in an import-competing sector acts as a deterrent to trade liberalization. But if an initial 'round' of liberalization can induce at least a portion of these resources in the import-competing sector to relocate to the rest of the economy, and if by not using their sector-specific skills these resources stand to lose them, then the enforcement issues associated with their presence will also diminish over time, and further rounds of liberalization are made possible by the effects of the initial round. I formalize this gradual process of trade liberalization, and explore the consequences of a failed round of liberalization for the ability to maintain current levels of cooperation.
Using Digital Photographs to Stimulate a Group Portfolio Learning Journey

The use of portfolios in teacher education has grown in popularity over the last decade. Attempts to harness the potential of portfolios as a means to enhance learning and reflection have sometimes led to a complex or document-driven process that appears several steps removed from the act of teaching. In response this paper describes the development of a portfolio process based upon digital photographs taken to document the first teaching practicum of student teachers. Central to students’ initial experiences of learning portfolios is a process that is based upon team discussion and reflection, which leads to the successful completion of a group-based portfolio product.
Multiple cryotherapy applications attenuate oxidative stress following skeletal muscle injury

ABSTRACT Objectives: To investigate the effects of multiple cryotherapy applications after muscle injury on markers of oxidative stress. Methods: Following cryolesion-induced skeletal muscle injury in rats, ice was applied at the injured site for 30 minutes, three times per day, on the day of injury, and for 2 days after injury. To determine the effect of the cryotherapy treatment on markers of oxidative stress, biochemical analyses were performed 3, 7, and 14 days after injury. Results: Compared with non-treated animals, cryotherapy reduced dichlorofluorescein at 7 and 14 days post-injury and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances levels at 3 and 7 days post-injury (P < 0.05). Additionally, cryotherapy maintained methyl thiazol tetrazolium reduction levels compared to the control group at all analyzed time points (P > 0.05), whereas non-treated groups demonstrated lower levels than the control group (P < 0.05). Superoxide dismutase activity at 7 and 14 days post-injury and catalase activity at 3 days post-injury were lower in cryotherapy groups compared with non-treated groups (P < 0.05). Cryotherapy prevented the reduction of non-protein thiol levels and maintained within control group level, at 3 days post-injury (P = 0.92). Discussion: Cryotherapy reduced the production of reactive oxygen species after muscle injury, resulting in an attenuated response of the antioxidant system. These findings suggest that using multiple cryotherapy applications is efficient to reduce oxidative stress.
How important are the cognitive skills of teenagers in predicting subsequent earnings

How important are teenagers' cognitive skills in predicting subsequent labor market success? Do cognitive skills pay off in the labor market only for students who go to college? Does college benefit only students who enter with strong basic skills? These questions are often parts of current policy debates about how to improve the earnings prospects for young Americans. This paper addresses these questions using two longitudinal data sets with earnings information from the mid-1980s and early 1990s. It shows that the same evidence can be used to support the claim that cognitive skills are important determinants of subsequent earnings, and that the effect of cognitive skills is modest. It also shows that while some evidence indicates that college pays off more for students who enter with strong cognitive skills than for students who enter with weaker skills, the bulk of the evidence does not support this conclusion. © 2000 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.
Immigrant Enclaves: An Analysis of the Labor Market Experiences of Cubans in Miami

Data from a longitudinal sample of Cuban emigres are used to test competing hypotheses about the mode of incorporation of new immigrants into the U.S. labor market. Classic theories of assimilation assumed a unified economy in which immigrants started at the bottom and gradually moved up occupationally, while they gained social acceptance. Recent dual labor market theories define new immigrants mainly as additions to the secondary labor market linked with small peripheral firms. Multivariate analyses confirm the existence of the primary/secondary dichotomy but add to it a third alternative condition. This is the enclave economy associated with immigrant-owned firms. While most immigrant enterprises are samll, competitive ones, enclave workers show distinct characteristics, including a significant return to past human capital investments. Such a return is absent among immigrant workers in the secondary labor market. Causes and implications of these findings are discussed.
Arendt and the American Pragmatists: Her Debate with Dewey and Some American Strains in Her Thought

Arendt and Dewey argue that action is only political when undertaken in a certain way and fear the abolition of a realm in which action can remain political in the strongest sense of the term. But unlike Dewey, Arendt seems to bar some activities from admittance to the public sphere on the grounds that they are insufficiently political. These purportedly nonpolitical activities include urgent measures undertaken to alleviate human want, the application of the sciences to human life, and endeavors to free the populous from political life itself. Dewey however selectively allows these activities to be considered political if and when they prove they are not a threat to the plurality, the hallmark of the public realm. Science must accommodate rather than stifle plurality of opinion, political activity must strive toward an end other than freedom from political life, and action must be performed by actors exercising judgment, in accord with principles. In this way, Dewey's work show us in more concrete detail than Arendt's, but in the same spirit, how the private sphere can overlap with the political sphere without infiltrating it or robbing it of its distinctness.
The effects of amlodipine and S(-)-amlodipine on vascular endothelial function in patients with hypertension.

BACKGROUND Amlodipine has been shown to improve vascular endothelial function in hypertensive patients, but whether S(-)-amlodipine has a similar effect remains controversial. This study compared the effects of amlodipine and S(-)-amlodipine on vascular endothelial function in hypertensive patients and investigated relevant mechanisms of action in cell culture. METHODS Twenty-four patients with essential hypertension received amlodipine and S(-)-amlodipine for 6 weeks in a randomized, crossover study. Associated flow-mediated dilation (FMD), nitric oxide (NO), and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) levels were determined. NO levels were measured after exposure of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) to amlodipine, S(-)-amlodipine, the eNOS inhibitor N w-nitro-L-arginine (L-NA), and the Protein Kinase C (PKC) inhibitor Ro 31-8220. Phosphorylation levels of Ser(1177) and Thr(495) in eNOS were determined after exposure to amlodipine, S(-)-amlodipine, and Ro 31-8220. RESULTS FMD, NO, and eNOS levels significantly improved after treatment with amlodipine and S(-)-amlodipine. The levels were all higher with amlodipine, although the between-treatment difference was not statistically significant. Amlodipine and S(-)-amlodipine significantly increased NO levels in cultured HUVECs, but increases in NO levels were more marked with amlodipine. Western blot assay showed that both amlodipine and Ro31-8220 induced Ser(1177) phosphorylation and weakened Thr(495) phosphorylation in eNOS. S(-)-amlodipine had no similar effects. Amlodipine, but not S(-)-amlodipine, decreased the PKC phosphorylation in a time-dependent manner. CONCLUSIONS Amlodipine and S(-)-amlodipine can both improve endothelial function in hypertensive patients. Amlodipine has greater potential for vascular endothelial protection than S(-)-amlodipine. It affects eNOS phosphorylation at Ser(1177) and Thr(495) by the PKC pathway, further enhancing eNOS activation.
Quantifying environmental sustainability using an aggregate index reflecting increasing marginal damage costs

In an environmental economics context increasing marginal damage costs are usually assumed, and a methodology for calculating a sustainability index in accordance with this assumption is presented. The aggregate index is constructed from an n-element vector including the values of the (n) subset indicators, and the length of this vector in Euclidian space is perceived as an alternative measurement scale. Increasing values for any of the elements in the vector will influence the total result more than proportionately and hence in accordance with an assumption of increasing marginal damage costs.
Capturing data on medicines usage: the potential of community pharmacy databases.

AIMS The initial aim of the research projects was to examine the geographic distribution, patronage patterns, and loyalty of prescription clients around individual community pharmacies. A second aim was to explore the geographical and socioeconomic variation in the use of prescription medicines and prescribing trends both between and within therapeutic classes. METHODS Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology (including the tabulating, geocoding, and mapping functions) was used to analyse the information that is held in community pharmacy databases. RESULTS These studies demonstrated the use of this technology to show variation in local use of prescription medicines, at both an individual level and a population level, through the analysis of data already held in community pharmacy databases. CONCLUSION The use of GIS technology and pre-existing community pharmacy databases enables improved data capture on the prescription--and medication-related behaviour of health-service consumers.
Going Private: Minority Freezeouts and Stockholder Wealth

GJOING private restructures corporate ownership by replacing the entire public stock interest with full equity ownership by an incumbent management group. In many going-private transactions, or minority freezeouts as they are frequently called, current managers have majority control of the public corporation and obtain complete equity ownership of the surviving private corporation. In some cases, managers share subsequent equity ownership with outside private investors who help finance the acquisition of publicly held stock. The reorganization of corporate ownership is effected through a variety of legal vehicles, a common example of which is a cash-out merger of the public firm into a shell corporation created expressly for the transaction and wholly owned by the management group. Managerial conflicts of interest in going-private transactions are widely believed to result in "unfair" treatment of public stockholders (hence the
Building Biotech in Shanghai: A Perspective of Regional Innovation System

Abstract This paper examines the development of biotech in Shanghai using the perspective of regional innovation system (RIS). Three important components of RIS, namely land, human capital and the regional system, are investigated. The development of these components has to be understood in the specific Chinese context. For the land, the role of Zhangjiang High-Tech Park Development Corporation is discussed with reference to the land development mechanism after the establishment of Chinese land markets. For human capital, the policy of the central and local governments in talent concentration is analysed. For the regional system, the spatial distribution of biotech in Shanghai is introduced to create interconnected innovation spaces in the metropolitan region. The paper enriches our understanding of RIS in the context of biotech development in Shanghai.
Web 2.0 usage and security practices of online users at a South African university

The proliferation of Web 2.0 technologies and the increasing number of risks that exist online have resulted in more emphasis being placed on creating awareness in users on the use of Web 2.0 technologies and related risks. South-African university students are taught about the risks and related security controls that exist within Web 2.0 technologies. The question arises as to whether they change their online behaviour, in terms of the nature and amount of information they disclose online when using Web 2.0 technologies in light of the fact that they are taught about the risks that exist within Web 2.0 technologies. Against this background, a survey was conducted of South-African university students to determine which online practices they employed when using Web 2.0 technologies. 660 students completed the survey resulting in a response rate of 22.4%. The respondents indicated they accessed Web 2.0 at least once a week and that social networking sites were accessed more frequently. Nearly half of the respondents indicated that they amended and submitted content frequently. The respondents indicated that they were aware of the risks; however, this did not influence their online activities or they implemented safeguards in a haphazard manner. It may appear that educating users on the risks that exist in Web 2.0 technologies is being flogged to death in the popular press, but reality shows that this is taken too lightly. Key words: Web 2.0, social media, controls, risks, user’s behaviour.
Application of biological activated carbon as a low pH biofilter medium for gas mixture treatment

Packing material is a crucial component of a bioreactor as it is the microbial population's habitat. This study assessed potential improvements to current biofiltration processes by investigating use of a novel support medium. Biological activated carbon (BAC) with microorganisms growing on granular activated carbon can produce a novel medium in which both adsorption and biodegradation contribute to pollutants removal. Investigation of carbon characteristics demonstrated that BAC was an ideal packing medium for biofiltration. The application of the novel packing medium for gas mixture treatment was evaluated in a low pH biofilter. Results demonstrated that BAC biofilter obtained high removal efficiency for both H2S and toluene. The removal mechanisms of BAC were investigated after the biofilter operation and it demonstrated that the performance of the BAC system was mainly controlled by the additive contributions of two removal mechanisms—adsorption and biodegradation. This study also indicated the potential for simultaneous treatment of hydrogen sulfide and toluene at low pH condition. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2007;96:1092–1100. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Increasing efficiency in the supply chain for short shelf life goods using RFID tagging

Short shelf‐life grocery goods present some of the biggest challenges for supply chain management due to a high number of product variants, strict traceability requirements, short shelf‐life of the products, the need for temperature control in the supply chain, and the large volume of goods handled. A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based data capture system can help solve the problems associated with the logistics of short shelf life products. This article discusses the potential of utilising RFID technology for increasing efficiency in the supply chain of short shelf life products. The focus of this article is a RFID trial conducted at Sainsbury’s, which is discussed to study the potential benefits of RFID for short shelf‐life products retailers. Further this article analyses the potential impact of RFID for other supply chain participants. We conclude that when applied with recyclable transport containers, RFID investments can provide quick amortisation of capital whilst offering a range of operational benefits.
Reviewing a Review

1. Duncan Foley’s review (Foley, 2001) of Pierangelo Garegnani’s Festschrift (Mongiovi & Petri, 1999) goes far beyond what is commonly meant by a review. What it does is, in fact, to provide a comprehensive critical account of the classical–Marxian–Sraffian ‘surplus approach’ to political economy, as clarified and developed by Garegnani in more than 40 years of unremitting theoretical activity. All adherents to the surplus approach (among whom I reckon myself) should be grateful to Foley for his contribution. For to know what an intelligent, learned and honest scholar is able to read in their position allows them to observe themselves, as it were, from outside, and may be of invaluable help in making them aware of deficiencies and obscurities in what they maintain; this being so not only when the criticism hits the nail on the head, but even when it appears based on a misunderstanding. For misunderstandings may often have causes that deserve close examination. Garegnani’s reconstruction of the classical–Marxian–Sraffian paradigm is described by Foley as characterized by three basic tenets: (a) the centres of gravitation, towards which the economy is led by the action of ‘free competition,’ are not, in general, full-employment positions (‘capitalist economies typically operate with a substantial and varying margin of unemployed labour’: Foley, 2001, p. 366); (b) no inverse relationship can be established between the demand for the ‘factors of production’ and their respective rates of remuneration (‘there is no reason to believe that the level of the wage has a systematic impact on the demand for labour’: Foley, 2001, p. 366); and (c) ‘The factors affecting the composition of output and the average wage or profit rate belong to a different conceptual realm from the competitive processes that enforce long-period natural prices as a centre of gravitation for market prices’ (Foley, 2001, pp. 365–366). While tenets (a) and (b) are actually traceable back to the classical economists and Marx, Foley (2001, p. 375) contends, this is not so with tenet (c): ‘I doubt that Ricardo had any strong allegiance to the methodological proposition that the composition of social output was, in fact, determined at a different level from the equalization of the profit rate’. Moreover, as we shall presently see, he Review of Political Economy, Volume 19, Number 2, 249–261, April 2007
Short-term effects of organic amendments on properties of a Vertisol

Application of organic waste products as amendments has been proposed as a management option whereby soil quality of Vertisols could be improved. An incubation experiment was, therefore, conducted for 4 weeks under controlled temperature conditions (30°C) to identify those potential organic amendments that might improve the quality of a Vertisol. Twelve organic amendments were investigated: cotton gin trash from three sources, cattle manure from two sources, green waste compost, chicken manure from three sources including a commercial product, biosolids and two commercial liquefied vermicomposts. Except for the biosolids, no other organic amendments had any effect on soil microbial biomass and respiration. Compared with NO3-N levels in the control, there was a 50% decrease in soil amended with 10 t ha—1 green waste compost (65 µg g—1). The three different types of chicken manures increased the NO3-N concentration from 75% (228 µg g—1) to 226% (424 µg g— 1) over the control. Approximate recovery of P added by the amendment as resin-extractable soil P was 53% for cattle manure and 39% for chicken manure. Application of cattle manure resulted in a 22% increase in soil-exchangeable K over levels found in control. Organic amendments application also resulted in a significant increase in exchangeable Na concentration. Some of the organic wastes, viz. cotton gin trash (10 t ha— 1), cattle manure (10 t ha—1), biosolids (10 t ha—1) and composted chicken manure (3 t ha—1) have value as a source of nutrients to soil and hence showed potential to improve Vertisol properties.
The Economics of Nonfunctional Variety

The economic theory of the firm provides a substantial basis for management decisions regarding the level at which production or merchandising activities are to be carried out. The basic criteria for such decisions are generally found in marginal profits to be gained or marginal return of investment to be achieved. The present study extends the application of marginal analysis to that area of decision making which is concerned not with volume or quantity, but with the amount of variety that is to be provided. For this purpose, variety is measurable in terms of the number of varieties or subclasses existing of a given commodity or product group, and in terms of the distribution among the different subclasses of total units of the commodity produced or sold over an appropriate time period. The relations that have been developed can be demonstrated, for the moment, to apply only in areas where variety is predominantly of a nonfunctional nature---that is, pertaining to appearance or style rather than functional performance. They may be presumed to apply in other areas of variegation also, but tend to be obscured where technological, functional, or market factors play an important part.