Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The economic Effects of Democracy in Pakistan: An Empirircal Analysis

Pakistan is facing political and economical problems which directly or indirectly effects on people. Soon after the independence, representatives failed to build a healthy political system in a country which affects badly the whole economy. Current study emphasizes on the role of democracy in Pakistan using time series macroeconomic and democracy related variables. The study utilizes the regression technique for estimating the relationship and shows that democracy and durability of democracy effects economic growth positively and internal conflicts effects negatively the economic growth. The study also proposes some valuable policy implications which help policy makers to understand the reality.
Re-Examining Our Understanding of Inclusion

JOPERD • Volume 81 No. 7 • September 2010 V ew pint The idea of teaching students with disabilities in physical education evokes a variety of responses depending on who your students are, where you teach, your personal skill set, and the type of support you receive from your administration (Soodak, Podell, & Lehman, 1998). While some states have special requirements for teaching students with disabilities in physical education, most just rely on the expertise of the physical educator to provide instruction. Despite the best intentions of teachers, students with disabilities continue to be marginalized in physical education (Block & Obrusnikova, 2007). Skill differences, behavioral concerns, and a lack of information for making adaptations and accommodations can frustrate teacher efforts to get all students involved. Disparities in mobility and cognitive skills can make team sports challenging for students with disabilities, and many students’ social skills prevent them from engaging meaningfully with peers. Relying on a paraprofessional (teacher aide) is no guarantee for participation either, because he or she often lacks experience in making the necessary adaptations. Furthermore, a full teaching schedule makes communication between teachers and special education staff difficult. A look at the historical imperatives that have affected students with disabilities in physical education should provide insight into current concerns related to inclusive practices.
Follow-My-Lead: Intuitive Indoor Path Creation and Navigation Using Interactive Videos

We present Follow-My-Lead, an alternative indoor navigation technique that uses visual information recorded on an actual navigation path as a navigational guide. Its design revealed a trade-off between the fidelity of information provided to users and their effort to acquire it. Our first experiment revealed that scrolling through a continuous image stream of the navigation path is highly informative, but it becomes tedious with constant use. Discrete image checkpoints require less effort, but can be confusing. A balance may be struck by adding fast video transitions between image checkpoints, but precise control is required to handle difficult situations. Authoring still image checkpoints is also difficult, and this inspired us to invent a new technique using video checkpoints. We conducted a second experiment on authoring and navigation performance and found video checkpoints plus fast video transitions to be better than both image checkpoints plus fast video transitions and traditional written instructions.
AGE AS A FACTOR DETERMINING INCOME INEQUALITY IN SRI LANKA

HANGE in age structure is one of the important factors affecting the long-term behavior of income inequality trends. Although literature on the relationship between age and income inequality has increased considerably since Paglin (1975), empirical studies regarding developing countries are still not adequate. Even though the demographic transition is rapid in these countries, longterm data on income distribution by age structure are not widely available. In this context, Sri Lanka is a special case. On the one hand, demographic transition in Sri Lanka started quite early in comparison to other low-income countries. Implementation of free health facilities reduced the death rate by one-third in the mid-1940s. Furthermore, legalization of family planning programs in the early 1970s led to a significant decline in the birth rate. In addition, expansion of educational facilities and other social development achievements also influenced the rapid demographic transition. On the other hand, data on income distribution by age groups have been available in Sri Lanka since the 1960s. However, to the best of this author’s knowledge, this paper is the first empirical illustration of the relationship between age and income inequality in Sri Lanka. Age structure affects the level and trends of income inequality in developing countries in several ways. First, the population pyramid no longer exists in many developing countries, including Sri Lanka. With the considerable decline in the birth rate during the past two decades, the bottom age proportion of the total population (infants) has become smaller than that of the child population. A declining fertility rate and less infant care has accelerated female participation in the labor force. By contrast, employment opportunities have increased at a very low speed in these countries. As a result, unemployment remains a vital issue and income inequality exists.
Multi-cultural leadership teams and organizational identification in international joint ventures

Many international joint ventures (IJVs) fare poorly. An important factor is that members of an IJV top management team (TMT), which generally comprises people from different cultures, often find it difficult to work together. In this paper we argue that social identity theory and organizational identification processes can help us understand why this is so. We propose that factionalism in a TMT is a significant hazard posed by member identification with different parents. In addition, identification with both the IJV and a parent firm can lead to significant role conflict for IJV top managers. Factionalism and role conflict in turn can result in poor intra-TMT communications and inefficient decision making. Literature in social identity theory and organizational identification suggests that the relative status and power of parents as well as successes of IJVs can affect TMT members' identification with the IJV or the parent company. Preliminary field interviews provide general support for these propositions. Our analysis suggests that organizational identity and identification can be a valuable tool to facilitate the understanding of TMT functioning and IJV performance.
What is Money? How is it Created and Destroyed?

What follows is a short essay on the theory of money. By a theory of money, I mean an explanation for why money is useful or necessary to facilitate trade. Having such a theory is useful because it helps us understand (or at least, interpret) the apparent demand for money. And as the demand for any product or service is likely to generate a supply to satisfy it, the theory can also help us understand the business of money creation; and whether the regulation of this business is in any way desirable.
Naftidrofuryl Exerts Antiserotonergic But No Endothelin-Receptor Blocking Effects in AS4.1 Cells, Juxtaglomerular Cells and Isolated Perfused Rat Kidneys

Naftidrofuryl, a 5-hydroxytryptamine 2 (5-HT 2 ) serotonergic receptor antagonist with vasodilator effects, has successfully been used for intermittent claudication, some forms of dementia, and glaucoma. Recently, an additional mode of action of naftidrofuryl (i.e., mixed endothelin receptor antagonism) has been suggested. However, in the current study naftidrofuryl was unable to block endothelin-3–induced free intracellular calcium increases, in contrast to a mixed endothelin receptor antagonist, bosentan. The inhibition of forskolin-induced renin secretion by endothelin-3 in primary cultures of mouse juxtaglomerular cells and by endothelin-1 in the isolated perfused rat kidney could not be blocked by naftidrofuryl. Naftidrofuryl was unable to block marked endothelin-1–induced renal vasoconstriction in isolated perfused rat kidney. In contrast, naftidrofuryl markedly attenuated serotonin-induced renal vasoconstriction and nearly completely blocked serotonin's renin inhibitory properties in isolated perfused rat kidney. The present results suggest that naftidrofuryl is a potent antagonist of serotonin's renal effects, but has no endothelin receptor–blocking properties.
The Impact of Schooling on Wages

between schooling and wages: Schooling raises wages. The standard empirical questions of when are wages raised and by how much have gone unaddressed. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the conventional efficiency units model of human capital accumulation provides answers to these questions. The model deals with investment both in school and on the job. The existence of post-schooling investment implies a path of wages that rises over time. Proposition 1 is that the marginal impact of schooling on the log of wages at each point in time is a constant equal to the interest rate if and only if the human capital production function is locally unit elastic in accumulated stocks of capital. A constant marginal effect on log wages is what is usually assumed in empirical work. Further, extrapolating from a model with no post-schooling investment, the constant effect is expected to equal the interest rate. Proposition 1 indicates that this assumption severely restricts the underlying structure. Propositions 2 and 3 deal with intertemporal variation in the marginal effect of schooling on wages. For example, if the output elasticity of accumulated stocks in the human capital production function falls short of one, the marginal impact of schooling on log wages is shown to decline over time. Further, under a reasonable additional assumption, the marginal impact of schooling on the level of wages rises over time. The propositions arise from the fact that wealth maximization involves maximization of an appropriately discounted flow of rents. Wages at a point in time provide information on the current flow of rents. The relationship between wealth maximization and the implied optimal pattern of flow rents yields the results. The model is laid out in Section 2. Section 3 deals with optimal schooling choice. Propositions 1-3 are presented in Section 4. In Section 5 the results are employed to discuss several "stylized facts" in the empirical literature on the wage-schooling relation. Proofs of the propositions are straightforward and are therefore presented in an appendix.
Countries' Historical Emission Responsibilities: A Normative Perspective

This paper raises six critical normative questions on accounting countries' historical emission responsibilities of climate change: (i) What should be the time period? What should be the start date and the end date? (ii) Should the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) and non-CO2 gases be included or not? (iii) Should the embedded emissions in trade be accounted or not? (iv) Should countries be assigned responsibilities for emissions before 1990 or not? (v) Should the historical responsibilities be discounted or not? (vi) Should subsistence emissions be exempted or not? From the perspectives of ethics and justice, legal, economics, and politics, we think that (i) the contributions should include past, current, and future emissions, and responsibilities should be assigned for historical emissions before 1990; (ii) CO2 and non-CO2 emissions from the AFOLU sectors should be exempted from countries' responsibilities since they are subsistence emissions in order to satisfy basic needs; (iii) the historical emissions should be discounted based on both physical and economic reasons. Finally, we claim that the discounting approach is an innovative, systematic, and pragmatic method to solve the deadlock historical responsibilities, which can decrease the historical responsibility and financial responsibility to a reasonable level for the developed countries while insisting on the equity principles.
Visual system of calliphorid flies: Motion‐ and orientation‐sensitive visual interneurons supplying dorsal optic glomeruli

Intracellular recordings accompanied by dye fills were made from neurons associated with optic glomeruli in the lateral protocerebrum of the brain of the blowfly Phaenicia sericata. The present account describes the morphology of these cells and their electrophysiological responses to oriented bar motion. The most dorsal glomeruli are each supplied by retinotopic efferent neurons that have restricted dendritic fields in the lobula and lobula plate of the optic lobes. Each of these lobula complex cells represents a morphologically identified type of neuron arranged as an ensemble that subtends the entire monocular visual field. Of the four recorded and filled efferent types, three were broadly tuned to the orientation of bar stimuli. At the level of optic glomeruli a relay neuron extending centrally from optic foci and a local interneuron that arborizes among glomeruli showed narrow tuning to oriented bar motion. The present results are discussed with respect to the behavioral significance of oriented motion discrimination by flies and other insects, and with respect to neuroanatomical data demonstrating the organization of deep visual neuropils. J. Comp. Neurol. 500:189–208, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Tax Arbitrage and the Existence of Equilibrium Prices for Financial Assets

In a model where both investors and securities are subject to different ial taxation, there may be no set of prices that rule out infinite ga ins to trade, or "tax arbitrage. " This paper characterizes the join t restrictions on financial-asset returns and investors' tax schedule s that preclude tax arbitrage in the absence of short-sale constraint s. The authors show that if there exists any configuration of margina l tax rates on investors' tax schedules that rule out infinite gains to trade, then "no-tax-arbitrage" prices will exist. They also show that the existence of "no-tax-arbitrage" prices ensures the existe nce of equilibrium prices. Copyright 1987 by American Finance Association.
Characterization of the Genetic Program Linked to the Development of Atrial Fibrillation in CREM-Ib&Dgr;C-X Mice

Background— Reduced expression of genes regulated by the transcription factors CREB/CREM (cAMP response element-binding protein/modulator) is linked to atrial fibrillation (AF) susceptibility in patients. Cardiomyocyte-directed expression of the inhibitory CREM isoform CREM-Ib&Dgr;C-X in transgenic mice (TG) leads to spontaneous-onset AF preceded by atrial dilatation and conduction abnormalities. Here, we characterized the altered gene program linked to atrial remodeling and development of AF in CREM-TG mice. Methods and Results— Atria of young (TGy, before AF onset) and old (TGo, after AF onset) TG mice were investigated by mRNA microarray profiling in comparison with age-matched wild-type controls (WTy/WTo). Proteomic alterations were profiled in young mice (8 TGy versus 8 WTy). Annotation of differentially expressed genes revealed distinct differences in biological functions and pathways before and after onset of AF. Alterations in metabolic pathways, some linked to altered peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor signaling, muscle contraction, and ion transport were already present in TGy. Electron microscopy revealed significant loss of sarcomeres and mitochondria and increased collagen and glycogen deposition in TG mice. Alterations in electrophysiological pathways became prominent in TGo, concomitant with altered gene expression of K+-channel subunits and ion channel modulators, relevant in human AF. Conclusions— The most prominent alterations of the gene program linked to CREM-induced atrial remodeling were identified in the expression of genes related to structure, metabolism, contractility, and electric activity regulation, suggesting that CREM transgenic mice are a valuable experimental model for human AF pathophysiology.
Siomycin A Induces Apoptosis in Human Lung Adenocarcinoma A549 Cells by Suppressing the Expression of FoxM1

Forkhead box M1 (FoxM1), a transcription factor of the Forkhead family, is demonstrated to be critical for proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion of lung cancer. In this study, we extensively investigated the anticancer effect of siomycin A, which was identified as an inhibitor of FoxM1 transcriptional activity, on human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells. Our study indicated that treatment with siomycin A resulted in the suppression of FoxM1 expression, which consequently contributed to its effect of cell growth inhibition and cell apoptosis induction in A549 cells. Then the molecular mechanism of siomycin A's apoptotic action on A549 cells was further investigated. The results revealed that siomycin A induced apoptosis by influencing the downstream events of FoxM1, including inhibiting the expression of Bcl-2 and Mcl-1, as well as leading to caspase-3 cleavage. Taken together, our findings may be useful for understanding the mechanism of action of siomycin A on lung cancer cells and provide new insights into the possible application of such a compound in lung cancer therapy in the future.
Evaluating cultural industries: investigating visitors' satisfaction in theatres

This study investigates visitors' satisfaction with their subjective experience in theatres. Reconciling research on theatre marketing and theatre studies, a model of visitors' satisfaction in theatre is suggested and an instrument to capture visitors' satisfaction and its determinants is developed. Results from a field study (n = 158) on three performances of ‘Twelfth Night or What You Will’ (Shakespeare) in a German community theatre revealed spectators' perception of stage direction and their emotional response as significant determinants. Comparing experienced to inexperienced visitors' judgements, no differences were found. Conclusions for theatre marketing are drawn.
Two Distinct crt Gene Clusters for Two Different Functional Classes of Carotenoid in Bradyrhizobium*

Aerobic photosynthetic bacteria possess the unusual characteristic of producing different classes of carotenoids. In this study, we demonstrate the presence of two distinct crt gene clusters involved in the synthesis of spirilloxanthin and canthaxanthin in a Bradyrhizobium strain. Each cluster contains the genes crtE, crtB, and crtI leading to the common precursor lycopene. We show that spirilloxanthin is associated with the photosynthetic complexes, while canthaxanthin protects the bacteria from oxidative stress. Only the spirilloxanthin crt genes are regulated by light via the control of a bacteriophytochrome. Despite this difference in regulation, the biosyntheses of both carotenoids are strongly interconnected at the level of the common precursors. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the canthaxanthin crt gene cluster has been acquired by a lateral gene transfer. This acquisition may constitute a major selective advantage for this class of bacteria, which photosynthesize only under conditions where harmful reactive oxygen species are generated.
Confabulations: a conceptual history.

Confabulations are inaccurate or false narratives purporting to convey information about world or self. It is the received view that they are uttered by subjects intent on "covering up" for a putative memory deficit. The epidemiology of confabulations is unknown. Speculated causes include amnesia, embarrassment, "frontal lobe" damage, a subtype of "personality", a dream-like event, and a disturbance of the self. Historical analysis shows that "confabulation" was constructed at the turn of the century as part of a network of concepts (e.g. delusion, fixed idea, etc.) meant to capture narratives with dubious content. This paper deals with the history of the construction of the word and concept of confabulation and with earlier recognitions of the behaviours that serve as their referent and puts forward a model based on historical data. Two phenomena are included under "confabulation": "untrue" utterances by subjects with memory impairment and "fantastic" utterances marshalled with conviction by subjects suffering from psychoses and no memory deficit. Under different disguises, the "covering up" or "gap filling" hypothesis is still going strong. Although superficially plausible, it poses problems in regards to the issue of "awareness of purpose": if full awareness is presumed then the semantics of the concept of "purpose" is severely stretched and confabulations cannot be differentiated from delusions.
An Action Plan or a Plan for Action? Israel and the European Neighbourhood Policy

The European Neighbourhood Policy appears to mark a major shift in the European Union's approach in its relations with Mediterranean non-member countries. As such, the new policy seems to divert its attention from the regional approach advocated in the Barcelona Process to bilateralism, whereby the partners can further and deepen their relations on the basis of common interests and good will. In this regard, the Action Plan agreed by Israel and the European Union offers a vast range of opportunities for deeper integration and enhancement of all spheres of relations. This article focuses on the capacity of the Neighbourhood Policy to foster new horizons for integration and trade in services. It specifically addresses the case study of the European Union and Israel, as both countries possess a highly-developed service sector, yet their trade relations in this field are governed exclusively by the World Trade Organization multilateral agreement on trade in services. By concentrating on the issue of trade in services, the article, on the one hand, draws conclusions as to the actual prospects for integration in this field, and on the other hand examines the significance of this for the overall European Neighbourhood Policy and its foreseeable shortcomings.
Drug treatment of functional dyspepsia: a systematic analysis of trial methodology with recommendations for design of future trials.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate drug treatment of functional dyspepsia (including Helicobacter pylori) and provide guidelines for future trials based on a critical systematic overview of published studies. METHODS Data sources were a Medline search for articles published in English going back to 1966 and a manual search of four GI journals going back to 1980. Original randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials were selected that enrolled at least 20 patients. Using a standardized, pretested data extraction form, studies were evaluated independently by two observers for study design, outcome measures, and results. RESULTS Fifty two eligible studies were evaluated. Many studies suffered from important weaknesses in study design and execution. Only five studies used previously validated outcome measures. CONCLUSIONS Because of suboptimal design and/or unclear presentation of the data, none of the trials provided unequivocal evidence that there is efficacious therapy for the treatment of functional dyspepsia.
An overview of the predatory mortgage lending process

Abstract This overview of the predatory lending process provides an introduction to the structure of the larger mortgage lending industry and the way predatory lending fits into it. The article begins with a description of the mortgage marketplace and its players. Next, it examines distinctions among the prime, subprime, and predatory segments of this market, particularly as they relate to risk, pricing, and borrower characteristics. The remainder of the article describes the characteristics of predatory loans and their life cycle, from marketing and origination to securitization and servicing. The article closes with a description of the revenue source(s) for each of the actors and the effect of that revenue stream on the actor's incentives. The conclusion summarizes observations about the goals of predatory lenders and notes that by accomplishing these goals, lenders undermine the wealth‐building capacity of affected homeowners.