Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is the Italian Public Debt Really Unsustainable? An Historical Comparison (1861-2010)

The aim of this paper is to analyze the sustainability of public debt in Italy during the last 150 years (1861-2010) by employing a database containing several statistical novelties: new time series estimates of public debt and GDP (respectively Bank of Italy and Baffigi, 2011) and an original reconstruction of the revenues of the State. The key economic indicators analyzed include public debt, primary and total deficits, nominal and real GDP rates of growth. Long-term analysis of new homogeneous statistical series has led to a different perspective, in particular when compared with the existing Italian literature on the debt-to-GDP ratio. Two main issues are addressed. First, we examine the size and dynamics of public finance aggregates in a long-term perspective. In particular, we carry out a detailed historical analysis, aiming to identify the determinants of public debt and its ratio to GDP. Second, following the approach proposed both by Bohn (1998, 2005) and Doi et al. (2011), we test for the sustainability of public debt in Italy, comparing four different historical periods.
Real-Time Ball Position Measurement for Football Games Based on Ball's Appearance and Motion Features

A novel ball tracking system that can be used for actual football games is developed. It measures the positions of a ball from multiple video sequences in real time. The positions can be used for calculating various statistical data and making visual effects for a broadcast program. Although a number of methods for visual object tracking have been proposed, tracking a small ball is still a challenging task. We focused on the motion features of a ball object, adding to its appearance features. We created two discriminate models for tracking a ball in the manner of supervised machine learning. The appearance classifier was trained with visual features of ball images, and the motion classifier was trained with ball trajectories. Tracking results from multiple cameras are integrated in consideration of their reliabilities, and the final ball position is robustly measured. The system was evaluated with two professional football games. The results showed that the proposed system is effective for practical use at football games.
SOLAR WATER HEATING IN QUEENSLAND: THE ROLES OF INNOVATION ATTRIBUTES, ATTITUDES AND INFORMATION IN THE ADOPTION PROCESS

The public acceptance of solar domestic water heaters in Australia is explored with special reference to Queensland. Classical diffusion-of-innovations theory is used as the basis for a telephone survey of over 400 new Queensland householders. Survey results indicate that solar water heaters were readily available for purchase and imply that limited effort needs to be expended on further establishing consumer awareness in the market examined. Householders typically established technical feasibility before serious consideration of the solar option and financial viability before adoption. Friends, neighbours and social networks were very important in communicating relevant information. Survey responses suggest that government agencies and electricity authorities played a limited role in promoting the use of solar water heaters for new housing in Queensland. Some policy implications and promotional measures are discussed.
Capturing organizational learning

Relates the process of organizational change to the opportunities to align strategy and learning that this affords. Argues that an embedded system for accredited action learning is needed to ensure that both personal and organizational learning can flourish in tandem and concludes that a learner‐centred knowledge network is the best way to capture and utilize “experience from doing” as well as “new knowledge” generated by learners as they find, develop and implement solutions to problems.
RELACIONES INTRADÍA ENTRE VOLUMEN Y CAMBIOS EN EL PRECIO EN EL CONTRATO DE FUTUROS SOBRE IBEX 35

En este trabajo analizamos las relaciones intradia entre el volumen de negociacion y los cambios en el precio en el mercado de futuros sobre Ibex 35 como respuesta u la llegada de nueva informacion, utilizando como variable proxy de esta el volumen de negociacion inesperado. Encontramos evidencias de una relacion positiva y simetrica entre los cambios en el precio y el volumen inesperado independientemente del signo del cambio en el precio, en concordancia con los resultados predichos por los modelos teoricos sobre mercados especulativos previa su adaptacion al caso particular de los mercados de futuros. Los resultados de la segunda parte confirman que el flujo de informacion esta integrado por distintos componentes, mostrando que los shocks inesperados de actividad tienen un efecto asimetrico sobre el precio dependiendo de su signo, siendo mayor el impacto de los shocks positivos. Por ultimo, se constata la existencia de relaciones dinamicas lineales bidireccionales entre las dos variables estudiadas.
On the role of the CP47 core antenna in the energy transfer and trapping dynamics of Photosystem II

The CP47–RC complex of photosystem II (PS II) has an antenna subunit of 16 chlorophyll a molecules attached to the reaction center (RC) at the side of its inactive branch. The X-ray structure of PS II revealed that the shortest interpigment distances between CP47 and RC are about 21 A, which is two-three times larger than within each subunit. Such long distances may slow down the energy transfer from CP47 to RC. In order to evaluate the influence of the CP47 antenna on the energy transfer and trapping dynamics in the RC we performed a comparative analysis of CP47–RC and RC complexes from spinach by transient difference absorption and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy at room temperature. Our data reveal a complex multiexponential decay of the excited states in both complexes. The main trapping lifetimes are 2–3, 30–40 and 360–460 ps in the RC and 2–6, 80–85 and 650–700 ps in the CP47–RC, the latter two phases being two to three times longer than in the RC. The data could be fitted well with a kinetic model consisting of three reversible radical pair states, the first one being nearly isoenergetic with P680*, and identical energy levels and kinetics of processes occurring within the RC in both complexes. We conclude that there is no kinetic limitation of the energy transfer between CP47 and RC on the two slowest trapping phases and that this transfer occurs in 20 ps or less. The two factors that influence the observed slower trapping in CP47–RC are the highly reversible charge separation reaction in the RC and the presence in CP47 of states with energy lower than the primary electron donor P680.
Farm household risk balancing: implications for policy from an EU perspective

Purpose - – Building on the risk balancing theory and on recent discussions the appropriateness of using farm income maximization as behavioural assumption, this paper extends the risk balancing framework by accounting for business-household interactions. The purpose of this paper is to theoretically introduce the concept of farm household risk balancing, a theoretical framework in which the farm household sets a constraint on the total household-level risk and balances farm-level and off-farm-level risk. Design/methodology/approach - – The paper argues that the risk behaviour of farmers is better understood by considering risk at the household level. Using an analytical framework, equations are derived linking the farm activities, off-farm activities, consumption and business and private liquidity. Findings - – The framework shows that a farm household that wants to minimize the risk that total household cash flow falls below consumption needs, may exhibit a wide variety of behavioural responses to changes in the policy and economic environment. Social implications - – The framework suggests multiple ways for policy makers and individual farmers to support risk management. Originality/value - – Risk management is at the core of the agricultural policy and it is of paramount importance to be able to understand behavioural responses to market and policy instruments. This paper contributes to that by suggesting that the focus of current risk analysis and management studies may be too narrowly focused at the farm level.
Capital Mobility and Monetary Policy in Colombia

This paper estimates a model of financial markets in Colombia to examine: 1) the authorities` control over domestic interest rates and the money stock; and 2) the effects of the crawling peg exchange rate policy on exchange rate expectations and domestic interest rates. The authorities appeared to possess some control over the money stock in the short run, mostly because of the existence of capital controls, but most of this control was eroded once asset demands adjust to their desired banks. The expected rate of depreciation is not closely linked to the crawling peg.
Changing trends in the epidemiology of Vibrio cholerae in an outbreak of 2013 in Solapur, Maharashtra

Background: Cholera, one of the Notifiable Diseases is known to cause serious epidemics and pandemics in developing countries like India. An outbreak had occurred in 2013 in Solapur and the isolates revealed certain change in the trends of the epidemiological markers. Methods: A total of 30 cases presented with gastroenteritis during the months of July and August of 2013. 30 stool specimens were cultured on Blood agar, Mac Conkey agar and TCBS medium and enriched on alkaline peptone water broth. Identification of the isolates was done by standard Biochemical and Serological Agglutination tests. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was done using Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method, according to CLSI guidelines. Phage typing was done at the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata. Results: Out of the 30 stool specimen cultured, 14 strains of V.cholerae biotype El Tor serotype Ogawa was isolated. Phage Typing could be done on 6 isolates. All the strains identified belonged to T-2 phage type, according to Basu and Mukherjee scheme. According to the new scheme, two isolates belonged to T-27 phage type, two belonged to T-3 phage type, while one each belonged to T-6 and T-12 phage types. Most of the strains isolated in 2013 epidemic were sensitive to tetracycline, cotrimoxazole, and ciprofloxacin and resistant to ampicillin and gentamicin. Interpretation and Conclusion: Due to the changing epidemiological markers of V.cholerae such as Phage type and Antibiogram, all the epidemics must be thoroughly investigated and the isolates must be subjected to complete identification and Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing.
Match Performance Comparison in Top English Soccer Leagues

Abstract The purpose of this study was to compare motions of soccer players in the English Premier (1st) and Championship (2nd) League. A total of 26 449 observations were obtained from players during 4 seasons (2006–2010) in the 2 leagues. Time-motions of all players (attackers, central defenders, central midfielders, wide defenders, wide midfielders) were recorded during each match using the Prozone® System, (Leeds, UK), and categorized by speed intensity. Number of actions, total distance and the mean distance covered at each speed intensity were measured. Players in the Championship league covered a total match distance of 11.1±0.9 km compared with 10.8±1.0 km for players from the Premiership (p<0.001). Championship players also covered greater distances during jogging, running, high-speed running, and sprinting. Premiership players covered more distance walking. Players in the Soccer League Championship had more instances of each condition. Although these differences were statistically significant, they were negligible in practical terms, suggesting match-related activities do not explain the general superiority of Premiership players over Championship players in England.
Social Exclusion and Crime

This chapter explores different notions of ‘social exclusion’ and questions the British government’s overall approach to the problem on two main grounds. One is that it has tended to define the problem in terms of its symptoms rather its causes; and the other is its over-reliance on getting people into paid work as the solution. Employment will not of itself ensure that people are able to participate in to-day’s society in a meaningful sense; and the impact of changes in the labour market on crime pose long-term challenges which governments have tended to overlook. Instead, many of the criminal justice policies pursued by the present British government have actively contributed to social exclusion. They have reflected the both government’s commitment to being tough on crime (rather than on the causes of crime) and the premium it has attached to measurable indicators of performance. Together these have eroded the scope for discretion within the criminal justice system, resulting in unprecedented rates of incarceration and the criminalisation of young people in particular. However, the impact has not fallen evenly across the population. It has fallen disproportionately on sections of society (including minority communities) who already had a heightened risk of social exclusion in the first place.
Dioxolane Guanosine 5′-Triphosphate, an Alternative Substrate Inhibitor of Wild-type and Mutant HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase

The frequency of human immunodeficiency virus, type 1 (HIV-1) mutations in response to antiviral therapy and resulting drug resistance is of major concern. Amdoxovir ((–)-β-d-2,6-diaminopurine dioxolane), the prodrug of dioxolane guanosine (DXG), is currently in phase I/II clinical development for the treatment of HIV-1 infection. In vitro, HIV-1 mutants resistant to 3′-azido-3′-deoxythymidine (M41L/D67N/K70R/T215Y/K219Q) and (–)β-l-2′,3′-dideoxy-3′-thiacytidine (3TC) (M184V) remain sensitive to DXG. HIV-1 with the reverse transcriptase mutations K65R, L74V, and/or Q151M were less sensitive to DXG, whereas the mutation K103N re-sensitized the virus to the inhibitory effect of DXG. In order to understand these observations at the enzyme level, we investigated the inhibition of the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase-catalyzed viral DNA synthesis by dioxolane guanosine 5′-triphosphate (DXG-TP), 3′-azido-3′-deoxythymidine-TP, and 3TC-TP by using steady state kinetic analysis and the incorporation of DXG-5′-monophosphate by using pre-steady state kinetic analysis. This mechanistic study provided detailed information on the amdoxovir-related drug resistance at a molecular level. Overall, the enzymatic data correlated well with the antiviral data obtained from cell culture experiments and further supported the use of amdoxovir for the treatment of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-experienced patients.
Generational Accounting: The Case of Italy

This paper considers the implications of the current course of Italian fiscal policy for existing and future generations of Italians. Italy has a very high debt-to-GDP ratio as well as a significant Social Security program. These aspects of fiscal policy would, by themselves, raise concerns about the size of the burden to be passed on to future generations. But the concern is compounded by the demographic transition under way in Italy. Like the United States, Japan, and most other western European nations, Italy is "aging" due to its low fertility rate. Unless this rate increases, the proportion of Italians aged 60 and over will rise during the next four decades from 20 percent to almost 30 percent. At the same time, the absolute size of the Italian population will fall by 27 percent. The implication of this aging process is that there will be relatively few young and middle-aged workers in future years to share the burden of the Italian government's massive implicit and explicit liabilities.
Relationship Between First-Phase Insulin Secretion and Age, HLA, Islet Cell Antibody Status, and Development of Type I Diabetes in 220 Juvenile First-Degree Relatives of Diabetic Patients

Objective To assess the adequacy of the first-phase insulin response for predicting development of insulin-dependent diabetes. Research Design and Methods Determinations were made of 1- and 3-min insulin responses to glucose (0.5 g/kg i.v.), islet cell antibodies (ICAs), insulin autoantibodies (IAAs), and HLA. We studied 220 first-degree relatives (aged 3–29 yr) of diabetic patients; 75 underwent two or more tests. Results At the first test, insulin responses correlated with age in ICA− children ≤ 11 yr old (r = 0.46, P < 0.001). Individual responses varied widely in all ages, and low values were common (5th percentile: 108 pM in children < 5 yr old, 180 pM thereafter). No correlation was found between insulin responses and IAAs or HLA. The responses of 15 ICA+ subjects were not significantly different from those of ICA− subjects after excluding the influence of age. At subsequent tests, ICA+ and ICA− subjects displayed distinct changes; the mean ± SE insulin response increased in ICA− subjects from 619.2 ± 40.8 to 716.4 ± 50.4 pM (P < 0.001) but declined in ICA+ subjects from 403.2 ± 91.8 to 313.8 ± 67.2 pM (P < 0.02). During follow-up, 5 of 9 (56%) consistently ICA+ siblings developed diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance compared with 1 of 54 (2%) consistently ICA− subjects. The sensitivity and specificity of two or more low insulin responses (300 pM) for predicting progression to diabetes were 60 and 96%, respectively; the predictive value was 43%. The highest predictive value (75%) was achieved by the combination consistently ICA+, consistently low insulin response, and HLA-DR3/4. However, in no subject could the time of onset of diabetes be deduced from the decline of the insulin response. Conclusions Consecutive intravenous glucose tolerance tests are a useful complement for predicting progression to diabetes but not its onset.
Ultrasound assessment of ocular vascular effects of repeated intravitreal injections of ranibizumab for wet age‐related macular degeneration

Determine the effect of repeated intravitreal injections of ranibizumab (0.5 mg; 0.05 ml) on retrobulbar blood flow velocities (BFVs) using ultrasound imaging quantification in twenty patients with exudative age‐related macular degeneration treated for 6 months.
Cooperative multi-AUV localization using distributed extended information filter

Cooperative multi-AUV localization has the potential to outperform single-AUV localization, by taking advantage of data sharing among the team members. Unlike terrestrial communication links, underwater communication links have many issues pertaining to the channel stability and bandwidth, and therefore a decentralized localization is preferred. However this opens up new challenges to team members working in cooperation. This paper uses analytical examples to illustrate the cooperation problems in the decentralized architecture. To solve these problems, we propose a new cooperative multi-AUV localization algorithm using distributed extended information filter (DEIF). The proposed method only requires small transmission packets and is designed for use under constrained underwater communication. It is robust to packet loss, providing consistent position estimates when fusing correlated data. We demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed method with comparative results using data from simulation and field experiments.
Hypoxia Imaging With PET Correlates With Antitumor Activity of the Hypoxia-Activated Prodrug Evofosfamide (TH-302) in Rodent Glioma Models

High-grade gliomas are often characterized by hypoxia, which is associated with both poor long-term prognosis and therapy resistance. The adverse role hypoxia plays in treatment resistance and disease progression has led to the development of hypoxia imaging methods and hypoxia-targeted treatments. Here, we determined the tumor hypoxia and vascular perfusion characteristics of 2 rat orthotopic glioma models using 18-fluoromisonidozole positron emission tomography. In addition, we determined tumor response to the hypoxia-activated prodrug evofosfamide (TH-302) in these rat glioma models. C6 tumors exhibited more hypoxia and were less perfused than 9L tumors. On the basis of these differences in their tumor hypoxic burden, treatment with evofosfamide resulted in 4- and 2-fold decreases in tumor growth rates of C6 and 9L tumors, respectively. This work shows that imaging methods sensitive to tumor hypoxia and perfusion are able to predict response to hypoxia-targeted agents. This has implications for improved patient selection, particularly in clinical trials, for treatment with hypoxia-activated cytotoxic prodrugs, such as evofosfamide.
Identification of Drosophila Genes Modulating Janus Kinase/Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription Signal Transduction

The JAK/STAT pathway was first identified in mammals as a signaling mechanism central to hematopoiesis and has since been shown to exert a wide range of pleiotropic effects on multiple developmental processes. Its inappropriate activation is also implicated in the development of numerous human malignancies, especially those derived from hematopoietic lineages. The JAK/STAT signaling cascade has been conserved through evolution and although the pathway identified in Drosophila has been closely examined, the full complement of genes required to correctly transduce signaling in vivo remains to be identified. We have used a dosage-sensitive dominant eye overgrowth phenotype caused by ectopic activation of the JAK/STAT pathway to screen 2267 independent, newly generated mutagenic P-element insertions. After multiple rounds of retesting, 23 interacting loci that represent genes not previously known to interact with JAK/STAT signaling have been identified. Analysis of these genes has identified three signal transduction pathways, seven potential components of the pathway itself, and six putative downstream pathway target genes. The use of forward genetics to identify loci and reverse genetic approaches to characterize them has allowed us to assemble a collection of genes whose products represent novel components and regulators of this important signal transduction cascade.
Evaluation of information technology investment

Traditional accounting methods used for evaluating new information technology (IT) projects such as Net present value (NPV) and Internal rate of return (IRR) have been criticized in the academic and practitioners’ literature as being grossly inadequate. This is because these methods do not quantify benefits that are considered to be intangible. Similarly, they do not incorporate many “hidden” costs associated with new IT projects. Thus, traditional methods have been stated to be only appropriate for simple “cost saving” projects and not for evaluating complicated IT investments. New methods suggested in the academic literature have been criticized as being too esoteric for practitioners. Presents the results of a case study and shows how many intangible benefits previously ignored can actually be quantified and incorporated in traditional NPV models by holding discussions with personnel of all departments affected by the new IT. Also demonstrates how many of the costs considered hidden (and thus ignored) .