Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DETERMINANTS, CONSEQUENCES AND A POLICY RESPONSE TO PRIVATE CAPITAL FLOWS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This dissertation analyzes how developing countries could attract more private capital flows and benefit from these flows with higher productivity levels while avoiding some negative effects such as the appreciation of the real exchange rate. The first part of the dissertation analyzes the determinants of private flows from a macroeconomic perspective. The results show that infrastructure and financial development positively affect FDI and portfolio investment and that lax monetary policy significantly reduces portfolio investment (chapter 2). A firm-level analysis of the determinants of FDI strengthens the macroeconomic findings (chapter 3) and shows that better infrastructure, finance, and institutions stimulate FDI in the manufacturing sector. Human capital constraints are major obstacles for foreign firms exporting their production while financing constraints have more effect on foreign firms supplying the local market. In contrast with other developing countries, tax incentives do not seem to be successful in attracting capital flows to the manufacturing sector in Sub-Saharan African countries. The second part of the dissertation shows that public and private capital flows appreciate the real exchange rate, reducing countries' competitiveness (chapter 4). Among private flows, the real appreciation is higher for short-term flows such as portfolio investments than long-term flows (FDI and remittances). Exchange rate flexibility helps countries to dampen the appreciation of the real exchange rate stemming from capital inflows. A better investment climate for foreign firms significantly explains their higher productivity compared to local companies (chapter 5). Aggregate productivity would be significantly boosted if all firms face the investment climate of foreign firms. Finally, local firms supplying foreign companies with intermediate inputs exhibit higher productivity, highlighting the importance of vertical spillovers through backward linkages.
The Role of NUP98 Gene Fusions in Hematologic Malignancy

Chromosomal aberrations occur with great frequency and some specificity in leukemia and other hematologic malignancies. The most common outcome of these rearrangements is the formation of a fusion gene, comprising portions of 2 genes normally present in the cell. These fusion proteins are presumed to be oncogenic; in many cases, animal models have proven them to be oncogenic. One of the most promiscuous fusion partner genes is the newly identified NUP98 gene, located on chromosome 11p15.5, which to date has been observed fused to 15 different fusion partners. NUP98 encodes a 98 kD protein that is an important component of the nuclear pore complex, which mediates nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of protein and RNA. The fusion partners of NUP98 form 2 distinct groups: homeobox genes and non-homeobox genes. All NUP98 fusions join the N-terminal GLFG repeats of NUP98 to the C-terminal portion of the partner gene, which, in the case of the homeobox gene partners, includes the homeodomain. Clinical findings are reviewed here, along with the findings of several in vivo and in vitro models have been employed to investigate the mechanisms by which NUP98 fusion genes contribute to the pathogenesis of leukemia.
Maintaining Hope at the 11th Hour

Four studies tested the hypothesis that limited time perceptions are associated with lower levels of hope, and that this effect is buffered by high levels of authenticity. Study 1 (n = 256) utilized a cross-sectional design in which participants completed dispositional measures of time perspective, hope, and authenticity. Three subsequent studies tested our hypothesis experimentally. In a pilot study (n = 124), participants reported their perceived authenticity, future time perspective (FTP) was manipulated (limited vs. open-ended), and state hope was assessed. Study 2 (n = 156) introduced a new manipulation of FTP, and Study 3 (n = 242) replicated Study 2 with the addition of a neutral control condition. Across all studies, individuals who perceived time as limited reported lower levels of hope relative to those who perceived time as open-ended (or those in a neutral control condition), but, importantly, this effect was attenuated for highly authentic individuals.
Using subsidised seed to catalyse demand-driven bean seed systems in Malawi

ABSTRACT Through an innovative public-private partnership, Demeter Agricultural Limited, along with the Malawi National Bean Programme and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, supplied 2,559 tons of certified bean seed between 2009 and 2012 through the government's Targeted Farm Input Programme. Farmers were satisfied with the variety supplied, timeliness of the operation, pack size, and information provided. Growing numbers also accessed new improved varieties, from 264,661 households in 2009 to 344,200 in 2012. These emerging farmers’ demands and the subsequent DAL responses suggest a base for building sustainable delivery systems. However, decentralised seed-based systems will be needed for promoting varieties suited to micro-ecological niches.
Plantar Fasciitis: Evaluation and Treatment

Abstract Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of plantar heel pain. Its characteristic features are pain and tenderness, predominately on the medial aspect of the calcaneus near the sole of the heel. Considering a complete differential diagnosis of plantar heel pain is important; a comprehensive history and physical examination guide accurate diagnosis. Many nonsurgical treatment modalities have been used in managing the disorder, including rest, massage, nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs, night splints, heel cups/ pads, custom and off‐the‐shelf orthoses, injections, casts, and physical therapy measures such as shock wave therapy. Most reported treatment outcomes rely on anecdotal experience or combinations of multiple modalities. Nevertheless, nonsurgical management of plantar fasciitis is successful in approximately 90% of patients. Surgical treatment is considered in only a small subset of patients with persistent, severe symptoms refractory to nonsurgical intervention for at least 6 to 12 months.
Startup valuation by venture capitalists: an empirical study

How to value a new venture is critical in entrepreneurial financing. This article develops an integrated theoretical framework to examine whether venture capitalists' valuation of a new venture can be explained by factors identified in the strategy theories as important to firm performance. Empirical results from the analyses of 184 rounds of early-stage venture capital investments in 102 new ventures support the central proposition that venture capitalists do take into consideration those factors that are important to firm performance in their valuation of new ventures. More specifically, this article finds that attractiveness of the industry, the quality of the founder and top management team, as well as external relationships of a new venture significantly and positively affect its valuation by venture capitalists when it seeks venture capital financing in its early stages of development. These empirical findings help to establish an initial linkage between the well-developed theories in strategic management and under-researched venture capital valuation practice. It brings more theoretical rigor to the venture capital investment literature by introducing a systematic approach to identify and measure factors important to new venture valuation. It explores a possibility to develop a supplementary method to value an early-stage new venture when extant valuation methods fail to yield consistent results because these methods require accounting information that a new venture typically cannot provide.
An analysis of the relationship between the perceived leadership styles of educational leaders and the job satisfaction of faculty members who serve under them within community colleges

The purpose of this study is threefold: (a) identify the leadership practices of educational leaders at community colleges as rated by full-time and part-time faculty members and by using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire form 5x; (b) explore the relationship between the educational leaders’ perceived leadership styles and the job satisfaction levels of full-time and part-time faculty members as measured by Paul Spector’s Job Satisfaction Survey; (c) examine gender, educational level, years of teaching experience and employment status differences, if any, with regards to the total score of job satisfaction for full-time and part-time faculty. This study's sample of full-time and part-time faculty was obtained from three community colleges in Southern California. Three survey instruments were utilized for this study: a demographic survey, the MLQ-5x, and the JSS. The surveys were administered to all the full-time and part-time faculty members in three selected colleges. A total of 131 respondents participated in this study. Faculty members who worked for a transformational leader as well as a leader whose score were high on contingent reward (a subscale for transactional leadership style) had a higher correlation with their satisfaction with pay, promotion, supervision, contingent rewards, coworkers, and communication. There were no significant differences in the overall satisfaction between full-time and part-time faculty members, nor between male and female faculty. Likewise, years of teaching experience was not related to any differences in the
Insulin Requirement in Non‐insulin‐dependent Diabetes Mellitus: Relation to Simple Tests of Islet B‐cell Function and Insulin Sensitivity

Evaluation of simple tests of islet B‐cell function and insulin sensitivity as predictors of metabolic control was performed during 3 months of insulin withdrawal in 25 insulin‐treated diabetic subjects. All patients had a glucagon stimulated plasma C‐peptide concentration above 0.33 nmol/l and a fasting plasma C‐peptide concentration above 0.20 nmol/l a few days before insulin withdrawal. Insulin sensitivity was measured as the glucose disappearance rate (k) during an intravenous insulin tolerance test. Two patients were considered insulin‐requiring due to high fasting blood glucose levels (>20 mmol/l) and two patients due to an increase in glycosylated haemoglobin of more than 1.1% (>∼3SD) in combination with weight loss. None of the remaining patients had a significant increase in glycosylated haemoglobin.
After Bali: WTO Rules Applying to Public Food Reserves

Abstract Once more, agriculture threatened to prevent all progress in multilateral trade rule-making at the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference in December 2013. But this time, the “magic of Bali” worked. After the clock had been stopped mainly because of the food security file, the ministers adopted a comprehensive package of decisions and declarations mainly in respect of development issues. Five are about agriculture. Decision 38 on Public Stockholding for Food Security Purposes contains a “peace clause” which will now be shielding certain stockpile programmes from subsidy complaints in formal litigation. This article provides contextual background and analyses this decision from a legal perspective. It finds that, at best, Decision 38 provides a starting point for a WTO Work Programme for food security, for review at the Eleventh Ministerial Conference which will probably take place in 2017. At worst, it may unduly widen the limited window for government-financed competition existing under present rules in the WTO Agreement on Agriculture – yet without increasing global food security or even guaranteeing that no subsidy claims will be launched, or entertained, under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. Hence, the Work Programme should find more coherence between farm support and socioeconomic and trade objectives when it comes to stockpiles. This also encompasses a review of the present WTO rules applying to other forms of food reserves and to regional or “virtual” stockpiles. Another “low hanging fruit” would be a decision to exempt food aid purchases from export restrictions.
Committee Deliberation under Strong Party Rule: A Study of Legislative Organization in Eight Mexican States, 1999-2008

Legislative politics in Mexico is driven by strong parties. And yet, how parties control the parliamentary process, particularly at the state level, is a topic which remains largely unexplored. The purpose then of this analysis is to better understand how Mexican parties use key deliberative bodies like standing committees to dictate policy in the country’s local assemblies. Using original data collected from eight state legislatures, I evaluate several hypotheses initially developed to explain committee composition in the U.S. Congress. The evidence strongly suggests leaders of the ruling party assert their influence over legislative production by assigning their most loyal members to ‘prestige’ committees. These panels – which govern state/municipal budgets, introduce constitutional reforms, and conduct government oversight – discharge over 90% of the legislative proposals the plenary approves. Conversely, the opposition is more likely to enjoy greater representation on those panels deemed less influential, settling instead for the material benefits these bodies provide rather than have a say over policy. Although these findings are preliminary, they do provide a glimpse into an institution which has only begun to assert its constitutional position. Moreover, this study is an opportunity to evaluate the generalizability of established organizational theory when faced with a case as unique as modern-day Mexico.
LazerLab: A 3D scanner/tracer laser system with stereoscopic vision

The project presented in this paper is to develop a prototype of a 3D scanner/tracer laser with stereoscopic vision. This device has the capabilities to automatically acquire templates for cutting materials and reproduce these materials. Both aspects are addressed in this article. The first is the description of the electronic architecture of this system. The second aspect deals with image processing algorithms developed to consider the use of two cameras, to detect areas for future cutting templates and to allow camera calibration by Harris detection. For cutting templates, Hough transform was used in order to automatically detect borders of planes in a picture.
Short-term forecasting with business surveys: Evidence for German IHK data at federal state level

We investigate the performance of the IHK business climate indices as forecasting tools within a growth framework at the level of four federal states in Northern Germany. In doing this, we match quarterly index scores with estimates of quarterly production data, generated through a Chow-Lin procedure. Estimating the model reveals strong linkages of the index scores to short-term output growth at the regional level, even after controlling for prior information on the position in the business cycle as well as for nation-wide fluctuations. Examining the forecasting accuracy of our model by means of out-of-sample predictions confirms these results: the model clearly outperforms an autoregressive benchmark. This can to a large part be traced back to information conveyed by the IHK index.
Insulin-like growth factor I receptor antagonism augments response to chemoradiation therapy in colon cancer cells.

BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer remains one of the most prevalent malignancies in the United States. Improvement in local disease control is seen when 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is used in combination with pelvic irradiation for rectal adenocarcinoma. The frequent overexpression of insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-I-R) in rectal adenocarcinoma suggests that inhibition of the signal transduction pathway may be a novel approach to enhance tumor response. This investigation seeks to define the role of IGF-I-R antagonism, using monoclonal antibody alpha-IR3, in augmenting cytotoxicity to adjuvant chemoradiation therapy for adenocarcinoma of the rectum. MATERIALS AND METHODS SW 480 colon cancer cells were cultured to semiconfluent conditions with dose titrations performed for 5-FU to determine that the IC(50) (inhibitory concentration of 50% of the cells) was 0.5 microg/ml. The IC(50) for 5-FU was reassessed in the presence of IGF-I. Experimental groups included colon cancer cells combined with 5-FU; 6-MeV external beam radiation (100-500 cGy); and alpha-IR-3. RESULTS The addition of 100 ng/ml IGF-I 1 h prior to 5-FU or radiation significantly blunted the expected cytotoxicity, resulting in a 10-fold increase in the IC(50) (from 0.5 to 5 microg/ml). Receptor antagonism using the monoclonal antibody alpha-IR-3 (100-400 ng/ml) produced a dose-dependent increase in cytotoxicity compared with 5-FU alone. The addition of radiation produced synergistic amplification of this response. CONCLUSIONS IGF-I-R activation blocks the expected cytotoxic effects of 5-FU and external beam radiation. Receptor antagonism increased the cytotoxic response of chemoradiation therapy. These data suggest the utility of inhibiting IGF-I-R signal transduction in the treatment of rectal adenocarcinoma.
The Impact of Medicaid Managed Care on Primary Care Physician Participation in Medicaid

Objectives:Medicaid managed care has been touted as an important vehicle for increasing physician participation in Medicaid. Although there is anecdotal evidence that the opportunity to participate in Medicaid via managed care increases physician participation, no empirical study has validated the claim. This study explores the relationship between Medicaid managed care penetration at the county-level and the likelihood that a physician practicing in that county will participate in Medicaid. Research Design:We used 3 waves of a large, nationally representative sample of primary care physicians from the Community Tracking Study followed across time (1996–2001) to estimate the impact of changing Medicaid managed care penetration levels on physician participation in the program. County-level Medicaid managed care penetration rates were collected directly from state Medicaid agencies for the study. Findings:In cross-sectional bivariate and multivariate analyses, Medicaid managed care penetration is significantly associated with physician participation in Medicaid; however, the relationship is nonmonotonic, of small magnitude and generally not in the anticipated direction. Our analyses indicate that a 10 percentage point increase in managed care penetration would reduce the likelihood that physicians participate in Medicaid on average by 2.9 percentage points. Although commercial MCO penetration exhibited a small positive, linear relationship with physician participation, this was not sufficient to offset the effects of Medicaid-dominant MCO penetration. Panel data analysis supported these findings. Conclusions:This study failed to find that increases in Medicaid managed care lead to increased primary care physician participation in Medicaid during the period 1996–2001.
Staging of Functional Damage in Glaucoma Using Frequency Doubling Technology

PurposeTo evaluate three new approaches for staging severity of glaucomatous visual field defects using frequency doubling technology. Patients and MethodsOne hundred and four patients with either ocular hypertension or chronic glaucoma were tested with both standard automated perimetry (SAP, 30-2 Humphrey threshold test) and frequency doubling technology (N-30 threshold test). Standard automated perimetry results were classified into four groups (normal tests, early defects, moderate defects, and severe defects) using the Glaucoma Staging System. Frequency doubling technology tests were also classified in four groups using three different approaches: frequency doubling technology probability map analysis, considering the number and location of disturbed points, frequency doubling technology MD and PSD indices, graphed on a two-axis diagram (FDT Staging System), and an abnormality score, based on both the statistical significance and the spatial location of depressed points. A control group of 20 eyes from 20 normal subjects was also tested and classified in the same way. The Cohen Kappa was used to compare the level of agreement between the three frequency doubling technology methods of classification and the glaucoma staging system. ResultsMeasure of agreement was 0.679 using probability map assessment, 0.793 using the frequency doubling technology staging system, and 0.663 using the abnormality score. The specificity rate was 95% for all three methods. ConclusionsAll the studied approaches were able to correctly stage the glaucomatous functional damage, but the frequency doubling technology staging system was the easiest and quickest method. Moreover, it is the only method that supplies information on the characteristics of the defect, without requiring any other time-consuming procedures.
Directed forgetting in animals.

Directed-forgetting research with animals suggests that animals show disrupted test performance only under certain conditions. Important variables are (a) whether during training, the cue to forget (F cue) signals nonreward (i.e., that the trial is over) versus reward (i.e., that reinforcement can be obtained) and (b) given that reinforcement can be obtained on F-cue trials, whether the post-F-cue response pattern is compatible with the baseline memory task. It is proposed that some findings of directed forgetting can be attributed to trained response biases, whereas others may be attributable perhaps to frustration-produced interference. It is suggested that directed forgetting in animals should be studied using procedures similar to those used to study directed forgetting in humans. This can be accomplished by presenting, within a trial, both to-be-remembered and to-be-forgotten material.
Age influences inflammatory responses, hemodynamics, and cardiac proteasome activation during acute lung injury

ABSTRACT Background: Acute lung injury (ALI) is a significant source of morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients. Age is a major determinant of clinical outcome in ALI. The increased ALI-associated mortality in the older population suggests that there are age-dependent alterations in the responses to pulmonary challenge. The objective of this observational study was to evaluate age-dependent differences in the acute (within 6 hours) immunological and physiological responses of the heart and lung, to pulmonary challenge, that could result in increased severity. Methods: Male C57Bl/6 mice (young: 2–3 months, old: 18–20 months) were challenged intratracheally with cell wall components from Gram-positive bacteria (lipoteichoic acid and peptidoglycan). After 6 hours, both biochemical and physiological consequences of the challenge were assessed. Alveolar infiltration of inflammatory cells and protein, airspace and blood cytokines, cardiac function and myocardial proteasome activity were determined. Results: In young mice, there was a dose-dependent response to pulmonary challenge resulting in increased airspace neutrophil counts, lung permeability, and concentrations of cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and plasma. A midrange dose was then selected to compare the responses in young and old animals. In comparison, the old animals displayed increased neutrophil accumulation in the airspaces, decreased arterial oxygen saturation, body temperatures, plasma cytokine concentrations, and a lack of myocardial proteasome response, following challenge. Conclusions: Age-dependent differences in the onset of systemic response and in maintenance of vital functions, including temperature control, oxygen saturation, and myocardial proteasome activation, are evident. We believe a better understanding of these age-related consequences of ALI can lead to more appropriate treatments in the elderly patient population.