Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
REVISITING THE FINANCIAL VOLATILITY–DERIVATIVE PRODUCTS RELATIONSHIP ON EURONEXT.LIFFE USING A FREQUENCY DOMAIN ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT:The present paper analyses the relationship between the volume of transactions with futuresequity index products and the return volatility of their underlying assets. The study addressesthe case of five stock markets, members of the Euronext.liffe. We employ a frequency domainanalysis to identify the direction of the causality. In addition, we test the relationship betweenthe volume of futures contracts and both negative and positive shocks in terms of the historicalvolatility of index returns. Our results indicate the frequency causality only in the case ofBrussels financial market. For Lisbon, the causality is present, but it is not validated by theconfidence level tests, while for London, Paris and Amsterdam, no causality can be observed. Inthe case of Brussels, the causality is bidirectional, both in the short and long run frequencies.The futures equity index volume Granger-causes the positive shocks in terms of volatility in thelong run and the negative shocks in the short run.
Using Chinese managerial values to win the war for talent

China's rising importance as an economic and political power makes it crucial for Western business to understand what drives Chinese managers and leaders. For foreign investors in China, this is even more important as they compete for increasingly scarce managerial talent. This contribution uses original research, including in-depth interview and survey data, to examine the values of two generations of Chinese business managers. We use these data to help understand employees' motivations and how multinational corporations (MNCs) can more effectively design human resource management systems to attract, retain and leverage talent in China. The piece concludes by suggesting successful strategies for attracting, managing and retaining staff in MNCs in China and winning the war for talent.
Unconditional aid and accountability: reassessing chinese unconditional engagement in africa

Many Western observers appraise Chinese aid to Africa very critically. Especially what is considered “unconditional assistance” has raised concerns of undermining western “conditional aid”. The current policy of international aid adopted by most western donors, including the IMF and the World Bank, is that aid is only given following conditions which have to be met by the host country (e.g. Good Governance, Democracy, Human Rights and anti-corruption measures). A country that provides aid in return for access to commodities rather than such conditions (e.g. China) is therefore considered as undermining these efforts. This paper criticizes this belief by arguing that the model of conditional aid does not work. The very nature of aid which is a one way flow of information is unaccountable. Despite conditions not having been met in the past, Western aid to Africa had been kept running, which renders conditionality ineffective. Only a flow of tangible goods in the opposite direction (e.g. commodities) as promoted in the Chinese “package deals” adds accountability to the process. Keywords: China, Africa, aid conditionality,democracy, human rights, pro market reforms
Agent-Based Modeling of Non-Walrasian Markets with Entrance and Exit of Agents ⁄

Housing is a widely-studied but ultimately poorly-understood sector of the national economy. In particular, the process by which prices are created and the market-outcome is determined is of interest, but very di‐cult to model mathematically. Previous work has focused on attempting to analytically determine what assumptions are strictly necessary to achieve a competitive equilibrium, but has required perfect information even in the cases where the agents themselves are only boundedly rational. In this paper I use agent-based modeling to explore not only the efiects of bounded rationality, but also the efiects of asymmetric information on markets. I flnd that even small departures from perfect information cause large changes in both the total surplus and the distribution of that surplus. Furthermore, the magnitude of these efiects suggests that very few actual markets are likely to have outcomes anywhere near the competitive equilibrium.
[Seroprevalence rates of Toxoplasma gondii, rubella, cytomegalovirus, syphilis, and hepatitis B, seroprevalences rate in the pregnant population in İstanbul].

OBJECTIVE We retrospectively evaluated the rate of Toxoplasma gondii, rubella, syphilis, cytomegalovirus, and hepatitis B in Istanbul to compare these results with those of other literature and to contribute to the national screening program. METHODS The study was conducted in 2011 with women in the first trimester of pregnancy, with ages ranging between 16 and 48 years, in Bakırköy Training and Research Hospital's outpatient pregnancy clinic between January 2008 and January 2013. The mean age of pregnant women was 28.12±5.53, and the mean gravidity was 1.76+0.84. The seropositivities of T. gondii IgM and IgG, cytomegalovirus IgM and IgG, rubella IgM and IgG, VDRL (syphilis), HbsAg, anti-HBsAg were evaluated by ELISA method and evaluated in relation with age and parity. RESULTS The seropositivity rates were as follows: T. gondii IgM: 0.8%, T. gondii IgG: 31.4%, cytomegalovirus IgM: 0.8%, cytomegalovirus IgG: 99.3%, rubella IgM: 0.2%, rubella IgG: 95.7%, VDRL: 0%, HbsAg: 1.2%, and anti-HbsAg: 26.3%. Also, pregnant women with T. gondii IgG(+) were older than pregnant women with T. gondii IgG(-), and this was statistically significant (p<0.005). Pregnant women with anti-HbsAg(+) were older than pregnant women with anti-HbsAg IgG(-), and this was statistically significant (p<0.005). Also, pregnant women with anti-HbsAg(+) had higher gravidity rates than pregnant women with anti-HbsAg(-), and this was statistically significant (p<0.005). CONCLUSION To protect from perinatally transmitted diseases, vaccination programs against rubella and hepatitis B should be extended, and educational programs including the whole country should be arranged. Screening of high-risk pregnant women will be more appropriate when considering the financial charges of screening programs performed for early detection of perinatal infections and for protecting the fetus.
Household Work, Labor Time And The Schooling Of Girls In Rural South Asia

This paper uses an applied general equilibrium framework in which family labor use, including the labor of male and female children, is incorporated to examine the effect of income subsidy schemes designed to encourage schooling of children on intra-household resource allocation within rural households in Bangladesh. Various subsidy schemes that are tied to hours of schoolwork by girls or all children are examined under existing preferences and under altered preferences that increase the desire for schooling. The effects of these subsidy schemes are compared to a general income subsidy as well as a scenario where the demand for increased paid domestic work, which often is female child intensive, increases. It is found that household welfare increases most when a subsidy is combined with households altering their preferences by placing greater value on the education of girls. The success of policy experiments that have combined advocacy and educational reform with economic incentives can be explained from this finding.
The rise of women to leading positions in manufacturing SMEs from 1990 to 2005

The massive arrival of women in the labour market, combined with their more recent arrival in the university sector, should have given them access to senior executive positions in industry. The results of our research reveal that, in Quebec, Canada, although women have been able to move into management positions in SME's, between 1990 and 2005, much still remains to be done to achieve equality in the areas of production and senior management. However, our research also provides some grounds for optimism, since younger and newer firms are in fact tending to hire women to fill their senior management positions.
Nonsustained ventricular tachycardia in 193 U.S. military aviators: long-term follow-up.

BACKGROUND Despite its importance to the aeromedical community, the occupational implications of asymptomatic, nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) are not well described. We sought to clarify this issue via a review of military aviators evaluated for nonsustained VT by defining event rates for sudden cardiac death, syncope, presyncope and sustained VT, and by determining whether any cofactors predicted a subgroup at increased risk for such outcomes. METHODS We reviewed the records of 193 military aviators evaluated at the U.S. Air Force Aeromedical Consultation Service for nonsustained VT from September 1960 to December 1992. Follow-up information was available on 192 of the 193 aviators over a mean of 10.6 yr. Cofactor analysis focused on idiopathic VT (no associated underlying cardiac disease) and VT associated with mitral valve prolapse (MVP). RESULTS There was no documented sustained VT; 9 (4.6%) had events including syncope (1), presyncope (5) and sudden death (3). Of these 9, 4 had idiopathic VT. The 3 deaths were associated with coronary artery disease, MVP and cardiomyopathy. No cofactors predicted events in aviators initially presenting with asymptomatic nonsustained VT. For asymptomatic nonsustained VT, the maximum predicted annual event rate was 0.33% for idiopathic VT and 2.3% for VT with MVP (95% confidence limit). CONCLUSIONS Nonsustained VT did not predict future documented sustained VT. Cofactors failed to predict a subgroup at increased risk for events. Idiopathic nonsustained VT appeared to be a low risk population for whom expanded waiver criteria are proposed with suggested limits on duration and number of episodes of VT.
Information Retrieval System for Indonesian Manuscript using Semantic Web

The increase number of manuscripts and their diversity add the difficulty of searching and arranging for relevant manuscripts. The quality of search results provided by search engines has not been maximized in response to user requests because it does not involve semantic elements in the search process. It is necessary to build a information retrieval system for manuscript that makes it easier for researchers finding the title of the manuscript accordance with the topic of their research. Information retrieval system for manuscript is built using semantic web. Manuscript data used in this research are Indonesian manuscript. Stages build system include data crawler process, build ontologies, NLP process, SPARQL query representation process and indexing process. Information retrieval system for Indonesian manuscript can display the title and link of manuscript based on the search sentence entered. Tests are conducted on 3 types of search sentences with recall and precision methods. The recall value indicates that the owned manuscripts are returned 93.3% by information retrieval system. The precision value indicates that the results are returned 100% relevan by information retrieval system. General Terms Semantic Web
A "News" View of Japan's Lost Decade

In this comment, I first propose a discussion of Braun and Waki’s “Monetary Policy during Japan’s Lost Decade” paper, by examining their model properties following a technological surprise. I then propose some empirical evidence suggesting that the Japanese lost decade could have been triggered by a downward revision of future TFP growth rather by a unexpected TFP slowdown. I show that a plain RBC model is unable to account for the eect of such a revision in expectation, while a sticky price model in the lines of Braun and Waki, or a flex-price model with a rich sectorial structure give more realistic predictions. These results favor a “News” view of the Nineties in Japan. Indeed, a downward revision of future TFP growth expectations act as a demand shock in the short run, while the actual slowdown act as a supply shock in the medium and long run.
Pirfenidone Attenuates Cardiac Fibrosis in a Mouse Model of TAC-Induced Left Ventricular Remodeling by Suppressing NLRP3 Inflammasome Formation

Objectives: Left ventricular remodeling is a frequent complication of hypertension with no therapeutic treatment available for the subsequent onset of myocardial fibrosis. Pirfenidone is an antifibrotic small-molecular-size drug with anti-inflammatory properties that is used as a treatment for fibrotic diseases, but its effects on hypertension-induced myocardial fibrosis are unknown. Therefore, we tested whether pirfenidone could ameliorate hypertension-induced left ventricular remodeling and whether hypertension-induced NLRP3 (Nod-like receptor pyrin domain containing 3), a critical protein in NLRP3 inflammasome formation, is involved in the therapeutic mechanism. Methods: A TAC-induced mouse model of hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy was treated with pirfenidone, and survival, collagen deposition by histopathologic examination, heart function by echocardiography, concentrations of fibrosis-related inflammatory cytokines TGF-β1, IL-1β in heart homogenate and in vitro cell cultures by ELISA, levels of ROS and inflammatory cells by flow cytometry, and levels of NLRP3 by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry were measured. Results: Pirfenidone increased the survival rate and attenuated myocardial fibrosis and inflammatory mediators in the TAC-induced hypertension-complicated left ventricular remodeling mouse model. The inhibition of NLRP3 expression by pirfenidone attenuated the expression of IL-1β and IL-1β-induced inflammatory and profibrotic responses. Conclusions: Pirfenidone may be useful in the treatment of hypertension-induced myocardial fibrosis by inhibiting NLRP3-induced inflammation and fibrosis.
Teaching Entrepreneurship to Indigenous and Other Minorities: Towards a Strong Sense of Self, Tangible Skills and Active Participation Within Society

Successful commercial enterprise born of entrepreneurial activity is increasingly recognised as a means through which the world’s impoverished Indigenous minority peoples might attain financial independence. Previous research has shown that owner-operators of successful Indigenous commercial enterprises have little to no entrepreneurial training and that the key to successful entrepreneurship education for Indigenous peoples is the combination of an empowering pedagogical approach and socioculturally relevant content. This paper is the product of over a decade of independent research within North America, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland that examined the attributes of successful Indigenous entrepreneurs and educational programs that benefited Indigenous students.
Effects of CCR5-Δ32 and CCR2-64I alleles on HIV-1 disease progression: the protection varies with duration of infection

Objective: To examine temporal variation in the effects of CCR5-Δ32 and CCR2-64I chemokine receptor gene polymorphisms on HIV-1 disease progression. Design: Pooled analysis of individual patient data from 10 cohorts of HIV-1 seroconverters from the United States, Europe, and Australia. Methods: We studied HIV-1 seroconverters of European (n = 1635) or African (n = 215) ancestry who had been genotyped for CCR5-Δ32 and CCR2-64I. We used Cox proportional hazards models with time-varying coefficients to determine whether the genetic protection against AIDS (1987 case definition) and death varied with time since seroconversion. Results: Protection against AIDS conferred by CCR5-Δ32 held constant at a 31% (RH 0.69, 95% CI 0.54, 0.88) reduction in risk over the course of HIV-1 infection, whereas protection against death held constant at a 39% reduction in risk (RH 0.61, 95% CI 0.45, 0.88). When the period from AIDS to death was isolated, the survival benefit of CCR5-Δ32 diminished 2 years after AIDS. Protection against AIDS conferred by CCR2-64I was greatest early in the disease course. Compared with individuals without CCR5-Δ32 or CCR2-64I, individuals with one or two copies of CCR2-64I had a 58% lower risk of AIDS during the first 4 years after seroconversion (RH 0.42, 95% CI 0.23, 0.76), a 19% lower risk during the subsequent 4 years (RH 0.81, 95% CI 0.59, 1.12), and no significant protection thereafter. Conclusion: The protection against AIDS provided by CCR5-Δ32 is continuous during the course of infection. In contrast, the protection provided by CCR2-64I is greatest early in the course of infection.
Economically Feasible Crop Production Alternatives to Peanuts in Southwestern Oklahoma

Changes in the U.S. peanut program have resulted in drastically decreased planted acres and forced many peanut producers in the Southwest to consider alternative crops. This study examined the economic risk associated with producing peanuts and common alternatives to peanuts. Seedless watermelon is an alternative for risk preferring farmers whereas, irrigated peanut is the best choice for risk averse farmers.
Minimum wages, earnings and employment

Abstrect We anaZyze the impact of minimum rdage regulattons on employment and the earnings distrtbutfon using a micro-econometric frametoork. Account is taken of expZictt minimum aiage regulations in coLlective Labour agreements. Thus we can tdentify the impact of mtnimum arage regulations on ruage rates above the mínimum using cross-section vartatton of mtntmum mages across sectors. We estimate a static model and taw dynamic modeZs mhich ineZude Zagged employment status as an ezpZanatory vartable. Zn the Zatter models, Zong run effects of changtng mintmum mage regulattons can be dtsttngutshed.Estimation and simulatton results are based on data jor Dutch males jrom three consecutive years. Minimum mage regulattons appear to have a substantiaZLy negative effect on employment of young males and males mith Zom educatíon ZeveZ, mhereas the tmpact on r,iages of uwrkers mith a roage above the mintmum appears to be significantly posttive. The efjects on both employment and earnings are Zarger than comparabZe US findings. Zn the dynamic models, Long run eLasticíttes oJ employment mtth respect to mtnimum mage rates exceed short run eZasticittes. expressed not reflect
Symptom Control in a Regional Cancer Centre: An Innovative Outpatient Approach

The number of patients per year diagnosed with cancer continues to increase dramatically; this growth is predicted to persist into the twenty-first century. Palliative care, working in con-junction with the family doctor, has shown that a significant and possibly cost-effective contribution to the care of these patients can be made through use of outpatient clinics and in-home service. The Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre initiated such a clinic in mid-1990; this report gives details of its first six months of operation and its first series of 25 patients. The provision of outpatient and home care services in most instances fulfilled the desires of both patient and family for a dignified and comfortable death in the patient's home.
Annealing of electrical steel

Annealing of electrical steel, while classified as a heat treating operation and subject to conventional CQI-9 audit principles, is almost exactly the opposite of most other heat treating operations. One of the primary reasons for heat treating of steel is to harden or strengthen it via carburizing, nitriding or similar where performance is measured in terms of hardened case depth. Conversely, annealing of electrical steel is designed to remove carbon (decarburizing) from the bulk of the steel with concurrent grain growth and stress relief. For electrical steel the annealing performance is therefore measured in terms of reduction in electrical losses. Data are presented showing that core loss in electrical steel is increased by any form of plastic and elastic stress. Furthermore, core loss is also highly dependent on residual carbon, therefore any additional reduction in carbon beyond that achieved in the manufacturing process utilized by the steel mill, even in the parts per million (ppm) range, further reduces core loss. As a result, annealing can enable significant electrical performance benefits by reducing core loss and exciting current by as much as a steel grade level or more. The chemistry and thermodynamic conditions for the decarburization reaction must be carefully controlled so that decarburization occurs without deleterious subsurface oxidation. Examples are presented for both annealing of semi-processed as well as fully processed electrical steels. Even with highly alloyed, thin electrical steels, that are used in high frequency applications, such as for Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) and Electric Vehicle (EV) motor designs, annealing provides a material performance benefit, but the property improvement is limited to frequencies under 800 Hz, after which thickness and resistivity become the dominant factors in controlling losses.
The Content and Context of Hate Speech: Is There a Case for Banning Hate Speech?

During the past few decades, there has been an almost universal trend toward banning so-called hate speech directed at individuals or groups on the basis of their race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion. The prohibited forms of expression vary from country to country, but the basic thrust is the same. Britain bans abusive, insulting, and threatening speech; Denmark and Canada prohibit speech that is insulting and degrading; and India and Israel ban speech that incites racial and religious hatred or is likely to stir up hostility between groups. In the Netherlands, it is a criminal offense to express publicly views insulting to groups of persons. Australia prohibits speech that offends, insults, humiliates, or intimidates individuals or groups, and some of its states have laws banning racial vilification. Germany goes further, banning speech that violates the dignity of an individual, implies that he or she is an inferior being, or maliciously degrades or defames a group. Many of these countries claim to be guided by or find support in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, particularly Article 20, which requires a ban on “any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination. ” Some of them are also signatories to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Article 4 of which requires parties to “condemn all propaganda or organisations based on theories of racial superiority and incitement to racial discrimination and acts of violence” and to eradicate “all dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, incitement to racial discrimination, as well as all acts of violence or incitement to such acts against any race or group of persons of another colour or ethnic origin, and also the provision of any assistance to racist activities, including the financing thereof. ” Although the United States restricts some speech on the grounds that it threatens national security, constitutes obscenity or child pornography, presents a danger of an imminent breach of peace, or is patently offensive and directed at a captive audience or used in a workplace, it is, with the recent exception of Hungary, the only country to resist the trend to ban hate speech. Even here, however, such a broad interpretation of the First Amendment of its Constitution is of relatively recent origin, going back no further than the 1960s, and several writers have argued that the country needs to reconsider its position.
Gold Prices and Inflation

Using data for 14 countries over the 1994 to 2005 period, we assess the leading indicator properties of gold at horizons ranging from 6 to 24 months. We find that gold contains significant information for future inflation for several countries, especially for those that have adopted formal inflation targets. This finding may arise from the manner in which inflation expectations are formed in these countries, which may result in more rapidly mean-reverting inflation rates. Compared to other inflation indicators for Canada, gold remains statistically significant when combined with variables such as the output gap or the growth rate of a broad monetary aggregate.