Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synthetic Functions, multiscale MoM analysis of arrays

In this paper, a technique is presented for the accurate analysis of large and/or complex arrays with limited numerical effort is presented. The method combines the Synthetic basis Function eXpansion (SFX) approach and the Dual-IsoScalar Multi-Resolution (DIS-MR) approach. The SFX generates few global basis functions on portions of the array, and uses them as basis functions in the array analysis; the DIS-MR approach manages to generate "wavelet-like" hierarchical multiscale vector functions for any meshed geometry, and well controls the MoM condition number. Their combination naturally extends SFX to a multigrid scheme.
Assigning the protonation states of the key aspartates in β-Secretase using QM/MM X-ray structure refinement.

β-Secretase, a.k. a. β-APP cleaving enzyme (BACE), is an aspartyl protease that has been implicated as a key target in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The identification of the protonation states of the key aspartates in β-secretase is of great interest both in understanding the reaction mechanism and in guiding the design of drugs against AD. However, the resolutions of currently available crystal structures for BACE are not sufficient to determine the hydrogen atom locations. We have assigned the protonation states of the key aspartates using a novel method, QM/MM X-ray refinement. In our approach, an energy function is introduced to the refinement where the atoms in the active site are modeled by quantum mechanics (QM) and the other atoms are represented by molecular mechanics (MM). The gradients derived from the QM/MM energy function are combined with those from the X-ray target to refine the crystal structure of a complex containing BACE and an inhibitor. A total number of 8 protonation configurations of the aspartyl dyad were considered and QM/MM X-ray refinements were performed for all of them. The relative stability of the refined structures was scored by constructing the thermodynamic cycle using the energetics calculated by fully quantum mechanical self-consistent reaction field (QM/SCRF) calculations. While all 8 refined structures fit the observed electron density about equally well, we find the mono-protonated configurations to be strongly favored energetically, especially the configuration with the inner oxygen of Asp32 protonated and the hydroxyl of the inhibitor pointing towards Asp228. It was also found that these results depend on the constraints imposed by the X-ray data. We suggest that one of the strengths of this approach is that the resulting structures are a consensus of theoretical and experimental data and remark on the significance of our results in structure based drug design and mechanistic studies.
Financial development and economic growth: literature survey and empirical evidence from sub-Saharan African countries

In this paper we review the literature on the finance-growth nexus and investigate the causality between financial development and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa for the period 19752005. Using panel co-integration and panel GMM estimation for causality, the results of the panel co-integration analysis provide evidence of no long-run relationship between financial development and economic growth. The empirical findings in the paper show a bi-directional causal relationship between the growth of real GDP per capita and the domestic credit provided by the banking sector for the panels of 24 sub-Saharan African countries. The findings imply that African countries can accelerate their economic growth by improving their financial systems and vice versa.
Quantitative effects of hypophysectomy on testis and prostate of dogs.

SOME of the chemical changes occurring after hypophysectomy in the prostate and testis of dogs are described in this paper. For several reasons it has become important to study the involution of normal tissues, particularly since the methods which induce regression in them can sometimes be applied to produce dysfunction in neoplastic cells; the endocrine glands, as implied by definition, exert remote control of certain other tissues. Despite many and extensive studies of the results of extirpation of the pituitary, few quantitative data exist concerning its effect on the testis. The principal concern of previous investigators has been with changes in weight and cytology and with tissue metabolism.
Cruise Tourism: Emerging Issues and Implications for a Maturing Industry

Cruise tourism is increasingly recognised as a successful and dynamic subsector of the global tourism industry, with the major cruise lines occupying ' the highest ranks of the tourism and leisure sector, as measured by shareholder capital and annual profits' (World Tourism Organization [WTO], 2010, xi). However, while initially characterised by its rapid speed of development, and noted for more than two decades of high growth levels, more recently some markets have experienced demonstrably slower rates of growth. For example, the North American market, acknowledged to be the largest in the world, has lately undergone decline in its share of the global cruise activity in terms of both passenger numbers and spend. While this may be due in part to the economic volatility of key source markets during the second half of the last decade (Cruise Lines International Association [CLIA], 2009), it is clear that operators have for some time been keen to reposition ships in order to offer new destinations to additional geographic markets. At the same time, while recognising that regional markets may be in different stages of their life cycles, the sector has been placing greater emphasis on competitive pricing, sales promotions and onboard revenue maximisation. Not only do these activities illustrate the keenly competitive nature of the cruise business but they also serve as key indicators of market maturity.
Revisiting the productivity growth and spillovers debate: the case of Malaysian manufacturing sector

Malaysia, a country which aspires to be an industrialised nation by the year 2020 is now facing the dilemma of industrialisation slowdown – ‘the middle-income trap’. The search for sources of economic growth in this paper drew attention to the productivity growth debate a la Krugman's ‘Perspiration vs. Inspiration’ discussion. The paper hypothesised that increase in productivity growth is viewed as the key for breaking free from the middle-income trap. Based on Malaysia's early experiences in hosting multinational corporations, this paper also examines the incidence of spillovers from foreign to local industries as a way to improve productivity growth. Findings suggest that increase in skill intensity and capital utilisation may allow countries to move up the value chain and move out of the middle-income trap. Finally, evidence of spillovers may imply that the industrial dualism concerns may be less profound in the later years of a country's industrialisation phase.
Neoliberal Policies, Income Distribution Inequality and the Financial Crisis

In the last 20 years, the within countries income and wealth inequality has continuously increased. This trend largely depends on the diffusion of neoliberal policies which, along with financial globalization, is among the causes of the recent international financial crisis. Neoliberal financial globalization (Washington Consensus) went along with reforms of labour and financial markets which caused income and wealth concentration to rise. All this contributed to the growth of debt bubbles in several countries and, after 1990, gave rise to a series of local financial crises that eventually ended in the global crisis of 2008. The austerity-based response of the EU governments to the crisis is another example of policies prescription based on neoliberal theories that cannot work. The example of Latin America countries, which in the 2000s abandoned the Washington Consensus view and have been able to reduce inequalities, shows us that alternatives to neoliberal policies are feasible.
Utilization of electromigration in civil and environmental engineering—Processes, transport rates and matrix changes

Electromigration (movement of ions in an applied electric field) is utilized for supply or extraction of ions from various porous materials within both civil and environmental engineering. In civil engineering, most research has been conducted on the removal of chlorides from concrete to hinder reinforcement corrosion while in environmental engineering remediation of heavy metal polluted soil is the issue most studied. Never the less, experiments have been conducted with utilization for several other materials and purposes within both engineering fields. Even though there are many topics of common interest in the use of electromigration for the two fields, there is no tradition for collaboration. The present paper is a review with the aim of pointing out areas of shared interest. Focus is laid on the purposes of the different processes, transport rates of various ions in different materials and on changes in the matrix itself. Desorption and dissolution of the target elements into ionic form is a key issue to most of the processes, and can be the limiting step. The removal rate is generally below 1 cm day− 1, but it can be much less than 1 mm day− 1 when desorption is slow and insufficient. Matrix changes occurs under the action of the applied electric field and it includes both physico-chemical and hydrological changes. Some of the solid phases is weathered and new can be formed. Increased fundamental understanding of the effects and side effects, when applying the electric field to a porous material, can lead to improvement of the known technologies and possibly to new applications.
Open-Economy Inflation Targeting

The paper extends previous analysis of closed-economy inflation targeting to a small open economy with forward-looking aggregate supply and demand, and with stylized realistic lags in the different transmission channels for monetary policy. The paper compares targeting of CPI and domestic inflation, strict and exhibitable inflation targeting, inflation targeting instrument rules and the Taylor Rule, and inflation targeting and exchange-rate targeting. The paper also clarifies how a conditional inflation forecasts can be consistently constructed and used as an intermediate target variable when there are forward-looking expectations.
A Community-Based Tourism Model: Its Conception and Use

Community participation in the tourism planning process is advocated as a way of implementing sustainable tourism. There are, however, few studies that detail tangible and practical ways to promote or measure participation. This paper reviews the principal theories used to discuss community participation, including the ‘ladder of citizen participation’, power redistribution, collaboration processes and social capital creation. These theories form the basis for defining a community-based tourism (CBT) model. The paper shows how this model can be used to assess participation levels in a study site, and suggests further actions required. The model is applied in a case study in Palawan, the Philippines, where an indigenous community previously initiated a community-based ecotourism project. The project resulted in a number of problems, including conflicts with non-indigenous stakeholders. The model identifies the current situation of the project and provides suggestions for improvement.
ADAPTIVE RADIATION AND THE TOPOLOGY OF LARGE PHYLOGENIES

The idea that some organisms possess adaptive features that make them more likely to speciate and/or less likely to go extinct than closely related groups, suggests that large phylogenetic trees should be unbalanced (more species should occur in the group possessing the adaptive features than in the sister group lacking such features). Several methods have been used to document this type of adaptive radiation. One problem with these attempts is that evolutionary biologists may overlook balanced phylogenies while focusing on a few impressively unbalanced ones. To overcome this potential bias, we sampled published large phylogenies without regard to tree shape. These were used to test whether or not such trees are consistently unbalanced. We used recently developed null models to demonstrate that the shapes of large phylogenetic trees: 1) are similar among angiosperms, insects, and tetrapods; 2) differ from those expected due to random selection of a phylogeny from the pool of all trees of similar size; and 3) are significantly more unbalanced than expected if species diverge at random, therefore, conforming to one prediction of adaptive radiation. This represents an important first step in documenting whether adaptive radiation has been a general feature of evolution.
The strategic use of corporate insurance in China

We use the agency theory to conduct a novel test of the strategic use of property insurance in China's corporate sector. With regard to our main test hypotheses, we find that the incidence of property insurance purchased is directly related to the degree of product–market competitiveness, and positively related to market liquidity and firms’ growth opportunities. However, the homogeneity of market operations is not statistically significant. In our second-stage Cragg regression, market liquidity becomes insignificant while firms’ growth opportunities are now inversely related to the amount of insurance purchased. Additionally, the homogeneity of market operations becomes significantly related to the corporate purchase of property insurance. Therefore, different factors (e.g. cost considerations) may influence the decisions to purchase property insurance and subsequently, the level of coverage provided. We argue that our results are relevant for companies in other emerging markets such as Eastern Europe and companies operating in more developed Western economies such as the European Union (EU).
Teams in Public Administration: A Field Study of Team Feedback and Effectiveness in the Israeli Public Healthcare System

ABSTRACT Over recent years, public organizations have increasingly adopted work teams as an organizational tool for improving task coordination, communication, and knowledge transfer. In this research, I discuss action teams in public organizations and the importance of team feedback for the effectiveness of such professionally heterogeneous public teams. I examine two alternative approaches to team feedback, guided team reflexivity and peer assessment, and hypothesize regarding their effects on team processes and performance. Using a field-based, experimental design involving surgical teams in a large public tertiary health care center, I compared the effects of team reflexivity and peer assessment on specific team-related processes and task duration. I found that guided team reflexivity is related to higher levels of team attention to detail, cooperation, and psychological safety than peer assessment, and that team attention to detail mediates the relationship between feedback type and performance.
Accounting aspects of ocean iron fertilization

Diminishing emission budgets and increasing risks of catastrophic damages from climate change require analyses of rapid response options including geoengineering options such as ocean iron fertilization (OIF). To decide whether or not OIF might be such an option an assessment of its potential as an abatement option as well as its possible side effects is required. To explore the potential of OIF knowledge on the change of carbon stocks over time is needed. However, economic aspects including accounting of carbon credits need to be considered as well. In our analysis we use data from OIF modeling experiments for different years and analyze how many carbon credits would be generated and could be used for compliance. The amount of credit varies with the accounting method applied. Applying an accounting method which measures the net effect of OIF for the duration of 100 years leads to an annual carbon uptake of 0.56 to 1.69 GtC. For a shorter fertilization period, e.g. ten years the upper range increases to 2.57 GtC per year. Offsets due to other GHGs, especially N2O, as well as operational carbon emissions can be addressed by a discount factor. Considering all experiments and all accounting methods we find a maximum discount factor of 15 percent and an average value of 9 percent. From an economic as well as from an environmental perspective issuing temporary carbon credits which have to be replaced in the next commitment period seems most appropriate for short-term OIF and would provide the largest amount of credits at an early stage. This is equivalent to the existing tCER regulation under the Kyoto Protocol.
Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic considerations for the optimization of antimicrobial delivery in the critically ill

Purpose of reviewAntimicrobials are very commonly used drugs in the intensive care setting. Extensive research has been conducted in recent years to describe their pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics in order to maximize the pharmacological benefit and patient outcome. Translating these new findings into clinical practice is encouraged. Recent findingsThis article will discuss mechanistic data on factors causing changes in antimicrobial pharmacokinetics in critically ill patients, such as the phenomena of augmented renal clearance as well as the effects of hypoalbuminemia, renal replacement therapy, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Failure to achieve clinical cure has been correlated with pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics target nonattainment, and a recent meta-analysis suggests an association between dosing strategies aimed at optimizing antimicrobial pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics with improvement in clinical cure and survival. Novel dosing strategies including therapeutic drug monitoring are also now being tested to address challenges in the optimization of antimicrobial pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics. SummaryOptimization of antimicrobial dosing in accordance with pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics targets can improve survival and clinical cure. Dosing regimens for critically ill patients should aim for pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics target attainment by utilizing altered dosing strategies including adaptive feedback using therapeutic drug monitoring.
South Africa urgently needs a ‘social compact / dialogue’: are there any historical lessons to learn from Irish system of social compacts?

In the face of sluggish economic growth, debilitating triangle of unemployment, poverty and inequality the South African policy makers are at their wit’s end. Recognisably, most stake holders are evoking the need to forge a ‘Social Compact/ dialogue’ if South Africa will make significant strides in solving its problems. The latest contested policy framework, the National Development Plan (2012), also revoke the need for “A social compact to reduce poverty and inequality, and raise employment and investment. ” Ireland provides some lessons for the needed social compacts in South Africa since it managed to pursue the route of policy negotiations when it was hit by an economic crisis in 1987. The Irish compacts were without problems and there is no consensus as to the real effects of the social compacts implemented in Ireland. This paper argues that Social compacts in South Africa are a possibility albert with huge challenges to be overcome before they can be achieved and the Irish case illuminates such challenges.
Aero-tactile influence on speech perception of voicing continua

Previous work [9, 7] has established that puffs of air applied to the skin and timed with listening tasks bias the perception of voicing by naive listeners. The current study has replicated and extended these findings by testing air puff effects on gradations of a voicing continuum rather than the voiced and voiceless exemplars of the original work. This design has the advantage of distinguishing responses differentially along the continuum, and our results show that while overall coincident air puffs bias listener judgments towards increased voiceless responses, the effects are least at the continuum endpoints. This suggests that during integration auditory and aerotactile inputs are weighted differently by the perceptual system, with the latter exerting greater influence in cases where the auditory cues to voicing are ambiguous.
Renal and Cardiovascular Role of the Neuropeptide Y Y1 Receptor in Ischaemic Heart Failure Rats

The cardiovascular role of the neuropeptide Y Y1 receptors in‐vivo and in‐vitro in ischaemic heart failure was evaluated by using the novel neuropeptide Y Y1 selective antagonist BIBP 3226 (R‐N2‐(diphenylacetyl)‐N‐[(4‐hydroxyphenyl)methyl]‐D‐arginine‐amide).
In Vitro Activities of Broad-Spectrum Cephalosporins against Nonmeningeal Isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae: MIC Interpretation Using NCCLS M100-S12 Recommendations

ABSTRACT Publication of the NCCLS M100-S12 document in January 2002 introduced ceftriaxone and cefotaxime MIC interpretative breakpoints of ≤1 μg/ml (susceptible), 2 μg/ml (intermediate), and ≥4 μg/ml (resistant) for nonmeningeal isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae. To estimate the effect of these breakpoint changes on clinical laboratory susceptibility testing results, nonmeningeal pneumococcal isolate (blood and respiratory) data from The Surveillance Network Database-USA, an electronic surveillance database, for the years 1996 to 2000 were collated and studied. Of 9,863 nonmeningeal isolates tested against ceftriaxone, 82.7% were susceptible, 13.2% were intermediate, and 4.1% were resistant by the M100-S11 NCCLS breakpoints (2001); by M100-S12 breakpoints, 95.9% of the isolates were susceptible, 3.1% were intermediate, and 1.0% were resistant. Of 10,777 nonmeningeal isolates tested against cefotaxime, 79.2% were susceptible, 14.3% were intermediate, and 6.5% were resistant by M100-S11 breakpoints; by M100-S12 breakpoints, 93.5% were susceptible, 4.2% were intermediate, and 2.3% were resistant. Overall, the new M100-S12 ceftriaxone and cefotaxime interpretative breakpoints for nonmeningeal isolates of S. pneumoniae decreased the number of isolates interpreted as intermediate by 10% and as resistant by 3 to 4%.
Self-employment policies and migrants' entrepreneurship in Germany

This paper presents results from a European project on policy and migrants' entrepreneurship in Germany. It develops a concept of biographical policy evaluation by analysing the extent to which the biographical processes that have led to self-employment among migrants in individual cases correspond to those anticipated by policy. The study identifies a biographical structure composed of two phases that shape the status passage to self-employment. During these phases, personal resources are mobilized and/or attempts are made to access policy support. Self-employment policies are fragmented in that they are designed to address specific stages of the process. Migrants are often excluded from policy participation, either as a result of policy failures or through a manner of implementation that is frequently influenced by prejudices and stereotypes. Deprived of class resources and sometimes unable to utilize ethnic resources, migrant would-be entrepreneurs require public support. The ‘bridging allowance’ scheme to encourage self-employment among the unemployed currently in place in Germany (Überbrückungsgeld) could serve as a model for a more adequate support policy for non-privileged business starters that would better allow for the participation of migrants.