Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Policy Watch: Income-Contingent College Loans

We consider the recently proposed "income-contingent loan" (ICL), in which Congress would establish a national trust fund from which students could borrow money to finance the cost of attending college; students would repay these loans by contributing a fixed proportion of their subsequent income for a specified number of years. One key issue is whether proposed income-contingent loan plans will be self-financing; that is, will the value of loan repayments cover the initial cost of providing the loan? What about adverse selection? And how should income be defined for purposes of an income-contingent loan plan? In essence the typical income-contingent loan proposal involves three parameters: the amount of the loan; the period over which income is "taxed"; and the rate at which income is taxed. At what level must the tax rate be set for an ICL plan to be self-financing? We present several illustrative calculations that might be useful to those who wish to evaluate various proposals and present some conclusions.
Carnitine and type 2 diabetes

Studies in humans and animals demonstrate that “lipid over supply” causes or worsens insulin resistance via multiple mechanisms involving the accumulation of intracellular lipids in multiple tissues. In particular, the accumulation of fatty acyl CoA derivatives/metabolites in muscle inhibits both insulin signaling and glucose oxidation. Therefore agents that ameliorate the accumulation of fatty acyl CoA derivatives and/or their metabolites would be beneficial in the treatment or prevention of insulin resistance and T2D.
A ROADMAP FOR COMPREHENSIVE ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY

Summary Privacy is increasingly a major concern that prevents Internet users from fullyenjoying the convenience, variety and flexibility offered by online services. A variety ofprivacy enhancing technologies has been proposed. While some technologies aim atpreventing attacks that breach users’ privacy, privacy policy technologies assume acooperative relationship between service providers and users. Privacy policies allowenterprises and Internet users to communicate and negotiate privacy practices, and makeonline service privacy-aware. The proposed framework identifies key research challengesfor the deployment and management of privacy policies. The framework shows thataddressing these challenges will require close collaboration between academia andindustrial researchers from multiple disciplines. References [AEB04] A.I. Anton, J.B. Earp, D. Bolchini, Q. He, C. Jensen and W. Stufflebeam. The Lackof Clarity in Financial Privacy Policies and the Need for Standardization. IEEESecurity & Privacy, 2(2), pp. 36-45, 2004. [AHB04] A.I. Anton, Q. He and D. Baumer. The Complexity Underlying JetBlue’s PrivacyPolicy Violations. IEEE Security & Privacy, to Appear. [AHK03] P. Ashley, S. Hada, G. Karjoth, C. Powers and M. Schunter. Enterprise PrivacyAuthorization Language (EPAL 1.1). IBM Research Report, October 1, 2003. [BLP73] D. Bell and L. LaPadula. Secure Computer Systems: Mathematical Foundations.Technical Report MTR-2547, Vol. 1, MITRE Corporation, March 1973. [Cran02] L. F. Cranor. Web Privacy with P3P. O'Reilly, 2002. [HJW03] G. Hogben, T. Jackson and M. Wilikens. A Fully Compliant ResearchImplementation of the P3P Standard for Privacy Protection: Experiences andRecommendations. In Proceedings of the 7th European Symposium on Research inComputer Security (ESORICS 2002), LNCS 2502, pages 104-125, Springer, October2002.
Academic specialisation and returns to education: evidence from India

We study returns to academic specialisation for Indian corporate sector workers by analysing cross-sectional data on male employees randomly selected from six large firms. Our analysis shows that going to college pays off, as it brings significant incremental returns over and above school education. However, the increase in returns is more pronounced in the specialisations of management and engineering, and less so in the specialisations of science, arts and commerce. Some of the less attractive specialisations, such as commerce and science, tend to make up by rewarding progression from Bachelors to Masters. Short-course diplomas are also rewarding.
2×2 multimode interference coupler with low loss using 248 nm photolithography

We demonstrate a 2×2 multimode interference coupler in 220 nm silicon photonics, with 3.8 μm by 152 μm footprint. Loss is ≤0.15±0.01 dB for 1530-1565 nm, across the 200 mm wafer using 248 nm lithography. This is the lowest loss reported for sub-micron silicon 2×2 MMI.
Tenets for an Interlingual Representation Definite NPs

In the first part of this paper I draw a typology of definiteness; later I reflect on the definiteness of NPs in an IL-representation. The major result is given by the determiner generators. Definiteness should be evaluated in a Q-A system and in MT. The extensive functionality of definiteness is first elaborated in the parsing and results in an ILrepresentation; finally the determiner generators create correct morphological determiners and right determiner structures.
Functional testosterone: Biochemical assessment of hypogonadism in men – Report from a multidisciplinary workshop hosted by the Ontario Society of Clinical Chemists

Objectives. In 2004, the Ontario Society of Clinical Chemists (OSCC) held an invitational multidisciplinary workshop to establish the most reliable, cost-effective approach to the biochemical assessment of hypogonadism in men. Methods. Specialists across Canada in clinical biochemistry, endocrinology, family medicine and urology were invited to participate in this workshop which included individual presentations and a consensus component addressing two challenge statements: 1) ‘Determinations for total testosterone (TT) are equivalent to those for bioavailable testosterone (BAT) or calculated BAT (cBAT) or free testosterone (FT) (by analogue radioimmunoassay or equilibrium dialysis) or calculated FT (cFT)’; 2) ‘There is no good evidence that borderline low testosterone concentrations in men should be treated’. The main outcomes were to identify what agreement exists in Canada, what issues were still controversial, and what research remains to be addressed. Results. Six recommendations based on expert opinion addressed these main themes: investigate with morning total testosterone (TT) followed by repetition and reflexive testing of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) if testosterone is 8–15 nmol/L with automatic calculation of cBAT; discontinue the use of analogue free testosterone assays; and definitive methods and standards must be available to ensure standardized results. Conclusions. Total testosterone is a reliable marker for the initial investigation of men presenting with symptoms of hypogonadism; cBAT is a reasonable follow-up test in patients with equivocal biochemical or consistent symptomatic findings.
Do Labour Strategies Matter? An Analysis of Two Enterprise-Level Data Sets in China

This paper examines the effect of labour strategies and management types on firm performance in Chinese enterprises. We use two large panel surveys on Chinese enterprises, spanning almost two decades of transition. Our findings suggest that, as commonly thought, there are significant differences across ownership types in China in the degree to which flexible labour market strategies are utilized; and more flexible strategies (such as bonus-reward systems) do seem to significantly enhance performance. However, after controlling for different degrees of labour market flexibility, ownership differences have little influence on enterprise performance (with the exception that foreign joint ventures clearly outperform other types in growth and labour productivity). This important result suggests that the impact of Chinese ownership types on performance is felt through cost-impacts rather than via direct differences in competitive behaviour or the goals of enterprise decision-makers.
Hospital-based rotorcraft aeromedical emergency care services and trauma mortality: a multicenter study.

A group of 1,273 blunt trauma patients who were treated and transported from the site of injury by seven different hospital-based rotorcraft aeromedical emergency care services were studied using a methodology based on injury severity designed to predict the mortality of such patients. The methodology predicted that 241 patients should have died; 191 patients did die. This 21% reduction in expected mortality was highly significant (P less than .001). Each of the seven rotorcraft services had a reduction in predicted mortality. The reduction was statistically significant (P less than .05) in five of the seven aeromedical services, or 86% of the total patient cohort. Hospital-based rotorcraft aeromedical emergency care services may reduce the expected mortality of blunt trauma patients treated at the site of injury.
Fecal microbial communities of healthy adult dogs fed raw meat-based diets with or without inulin or yeast cell wall extracts as assessed by 454 pyrosequencing.

Our objective was to determine the effects of feeding raw meat-based diets with or without inulin or yeast cell wall extract (YCW) on fecal microbial communities of dogs using 454 pyrosequencing. Six healthy female adult beagles (5.5 ± 0.5 years; 8.5 ± 0.5 kg) were randomly assigned to six test diets using a Latin square design: (1) beef control; (2) beef + 1.4% inulin; (3) beef + 1.4% YCW; (4) chicken control; (5) chicken + 1.4% inulin; and (6) chicken + 1.4% YCW. Following 14 days of adaptation, fresh fecal samples were collected on day 15 or day 16 of each period. Fecal genomic DNA was extracted and used to create 16S rRNA gene amplicons, which were subjected to 454 pyrosequencing and qPCR. Predominant fecal bacterial phyla included Fusobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria. Beef-based diets increased (P < 0.05) Escherichia, but decreased (P < 0.05) Anaerobiospirillum vs. chicken-based diets. Inulin decreased (P < 0.05) Enterobacteriaceae. Inulin increased (P < 0.05) Megamonas vs. control. Inulin also decreased (P < 0.05) Escherichia vs. YCW. qPCR data showed that YCW increased (P < 0.05) Bifidobacterium vs. inulin and control and inulin increased (P < 0.05) Lactobacillus vs. YCW. Although a few changes in fecal microbiota were observed with inulin or YCW consumption, a strong prebiotic effect was not observed.
The impact of economic recession on outdoor recreation demand: an application of the travel cost method in Greece

This paper uses a travel cost method in order to assess the impact of economic recession on the demand for outdoor recreational services, for the case of a protected riparian ecosystem. For this purpose, two travel cost surveys were conducted in Paranesti (located in Northern Greece) in 2009 and 2010 (i.e. before and during the economic recession in Greece). The final results show a significant divergence between the two surveys due to the changing economic conditions. Expected trips to the reference area and consumer surplus estimates are both decreased in 2010 by approximately 15–25%, indicating a significant change of travel behaviour in a relatively short-time period.
A Monetary Theory of Nominal Income

This paper constructs a simple model for analyzing short-term economic fluctuations that bypasses the problem of the division of a change in nominal income between prices and output. The model combines one element from Irving Fisher (the difference between the nominal and the real interest rate) and one element from John Maynard Keynes (the determination of market interest rates by speculators with firmly held anticipations) with two empirical assumptions (a unit real income elasticity of demand for money and an exogenous excess of the real interest rate over the real secular rate of growth). The result is a model connecting current nominal income with current and prior nominal quantities of money.
Multidrug-Resistant Transporter Mdr1p-Mediated Uptake of a Novel Antifungal Compound

ABSTRACT The activity of many anti-infectious drugs has been compromised by the evolution of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens. For life-threatening fungal infections, such as those caused by Candida albicans, overexpression of MDR1, which encodes an MDR efflux pump of the major facilitator superfamily (MFS), often confers resistance to chemically unrelated substances, including the most commonly used azole antifungals. As the development of new and efficacious antifungals has lagged far behind the growing emergence of resistant strains, it is imperative to develop strategies to overcome multidrug resistance. Previous advances have been mainly to deploy combinational therapy to restore azole susceptibility, which, however, requires coordination of two or more compounds. We observed a unique phenotype in which Mdr1p facilitates the uptake of a specific class of compounds. Among them, we describe a novel antifungal small molecule, bis[1,6-a:5′,6′-g]quinolizinium 8-methyl-salt (BQM) (U.S. patent application no. 61/793,090,2013), that has potent and broad antifungal activity. Notably, BQM exploits the MDR phenotype in C. albicans to promote the inhibitory effect. Rather than causing an antagonism of MDR strains, it exhibits a highly potentiated activity against a collection of clinical isolates and lab strains that overexpress MDR1. The activity of BQM against MDR1-overexpressing isolates is due to its facilitated intracellular accumulation. Microarray comparisons showed an extensive upregulation of MDR1 as well as polyamine transporter genes in a fluconazole-resistant strain. We then demonstrated that the polyamine transporters augment the accumulation of BQM. Importantly, BQM had greater activity than fluconazole and itraconazole against various fungal pathogens, including MDR Aspergillus fumigatus. Thus, our findings offer a paradigm shift to overcome MDR and the promise of improving antifungal treatment, especially in MDR pathogens.
Inside the Impossible Triangle: Monetary Policy Autonomy in a Credible Target Zone

This paper examines the trade-off between exchange rate stability and monetary autonomy for a target zone. Using the guilder-mark target zone in the pre-EMU period as a case study, we empirically estimate how much policy discretion the Dutch central bank still enjoyed and how much had been ceded to the German central bank. The sum of these two measures is an estimate of the policy autonomy under a free float. We find that the narrow guilder-mark target zone still permitted a modest degree of policy independence. This result suggests that intermediate exchange rate regimes may offer an attractive trade-off compared to the corner solutions (free float and monetary union), which is consistent with the ‘fear of floating’ phenomenon.
Bringing the community in: possibilities for public sector union success through community unionism

Public sector employment relations are increasingly difficult for public sector unions. This paper uses the concept of community unionism to explore how and when relationships between unions and community organisations may enhance union power and success in bargaining and policy reform. The paper uses a case study of the NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF) and their four-year campaign for public education between 2001 and 2004. This case study shows the success of long term deep alliances between parents and teachers in achieving policy reform, while highlighting some limitations for community unionism strategy in salary negotiations. The paper concludes that community unionism is a viable strategy for public sector unions, and suggests that organisational relationships, common interest and multi-scalar forms of activity are important elements of coalitions.
Noninvasive assessment of hemodynamic and brain metabolism parameters following closed head injury in a mouse model by comparative diffuse optical reflectance approaches

Abstract. Optical techniques have gained substantial interest over the past four decades for biomedical imaging due to their unique advantages, which may suggest their use as alternatives to conventional methodologies. Several optical techniques have been successfully adapted to clinical practice and biomedical research to monitor tissue structure and function in both humans and animal models. This paper reviews the analysis of the optical properties of brain tissue in the wavelength range between 500 and 1000 nm by three different diffuse optical reflectance methods: spatially modulated illumination, orthogonal diffuse light spectroscopy, and dual-wavelength laser speckle imaging, to monitor changes in brain tissue morphology, chromophore content, and metabolism following head injury. After induction of closed head injury upon anesthetized mice by weight-drop method, significant changes in hemoglobin oxygen saturation, blood flow, and metabolism were readily detectible by all three optical setups, up to 1 h post-trauma. Furthermore, the experimental results clearly demonstrate the feasibility and reliability of the three methodologies, and the differences between the system performances and capabilities are also discussed. The long-term goal of this line of study is to combine these optical systems to study brain pathophysiology in high spatiotemporal resolution using additional models of brain trauma. Such combined use of complementary algorithms should fill the gaps in each system’s capabilities, toward the development of a noninvasive, quantitative tool to expand our knowledge of the principles underlying brain function following trauma, and to monitor the efficacy of therapeutic interventions in the clinic.
Entre faiblesse d'opportunité et persistance de la pauvreté: la pluriactivité rurale en milieu rural malgache

In Madagascar, the inequalities gap between urban and rural areas implies to draft rural specific policies. Nevertheless, the only focusing on growth might have a limited impact on persistent poverty. All households have not the same capacity to catch new opportunities generated by growth, and those with weakest resources could be durably excluded. Thanks to an applied study on income diversification in rural Madagascar, this paper shows these households are unable to carry out forms of income diversification that protect from poverty. On the contrary, they are forced to choice diversification forms associated with chronic poverty.
WHAT MAKES WORKERS HAPPY IN FORMER SOCIALIST ECONOMIES: DOES EAST NOW MEET WEST?

Who doesn’t want happy employees? After all, happiness is a worthwhile goal in itself and satisfi ed workers tend to be happier in life. Furthermore, job satisfaction has managerial implications. Happy employees tend to perform better at their jobs and tend to be better organizational citizens who perform beyond their duties. In contrast, dissatisfi ed employees are more likely to quit or to engage in absenteeism and destructive behaviors at work.
The Response of Industry Stock Returns to Market, Exchange Rate and Interest Rate Risks

This study investigates the sensitivity of stock returns at the industry level to market, exchange rate and interest rate shocks in the four major European economies: France, Germany, Italy and the UK. In addition to exposure to the market, significant levels of exposure to both exchange rate risk, in the four countries, and interest rate risk, in France and Germany, are identified. Further, responses to sources of risk are decomposed into components attributable to news about future dividends, real interest rates and excess returns. All three sources of risk contain significant information about future cash flows and excess returns.
Environmentalism as a Determinant of Housing Supply Regulation

Housing supply regulation raises the cost of building new housing. The consequences of housing supply regulation have been documented in a number of recent studies including Fischel 2000, Mayer and Somerville 2000, Quigley and Raphael 2004, Glaeser, Gyourko and Saks 2005, Schill 2005). By limiting supply in some of the most desirable cities in the United States, such regulation may contribute to the extraordinary price appreciation that has been observed in major coastal cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and New York City (Gyourko, Mayer and Sinai 2006). Why do housing supply regulations differ across space? One explanation focuses on the median voter’s narrow self interest. Home owners have a financial incentive to discourage new construction because it reduces the scarcity value of their asset (Fischel 1999). Richer communities may engage in fiscal zoning to keep the poor out. Minimum lot zoning reduces the likelihood that new entrants will be much poorer than incumbents. Communities may also enact housing supply regulation to preserve and enhance local quality of life. Environmentalist communities are especially likely to pursue such goals. Environmentalists may seek to block local growth to preserve local public goods such as open space, bike paths and clean air and to preserve the character and culture of their community. Academics have also posited that communities may justify anti-growth sentiment using environmental concerns as a politically correct justification for less noble reasons. “The actual issues that lead people to oppose homebuilding are hard to discover. By far the most frequent objections that growth opponents raise have to do with environmental impacts. These range from harm to wildlife to destruction of natural resources to increases in air pollution. Yet to label all protest as environmentalism would be a mistake. Many growth opponents use environmental arguments to mask other motives such as fears of property tax increases or anxieties about keeping their community
Structural modification of lignocellulosics by pretreatments to enhance enzymatic hydrolysis

In this work an evaluation was made of a wide variety of single and multiple pretreatment methods for enhancing the rate of enzymatic hydrolysis of wheat straw. A multiple pretreatment consisted of a physical pretreatment followed by a chemical pretreatment. The structural features of wheat straw, including the specific surface area, crystallinity index, and lignin content, were measured to understand the mechanism of the enhancement in the hydrolysis rate upon pretrement. It has been found that, in general, multiple pretreatments were not promising, since the hydrolysis rates rarely exceeded those achieved by single pretreatments. Ballmilling pretreatment was found to be effective in increasing the specific surface area and decreasing the crystallinity index. Treatment with ethylene glycol was highly effective in increasing the specific surface area, in addition to a high degree of delignification. Peracetic acid pretreatment was highly effective in delignifying substrate. Among multiple pretreatments, those involving peracetic acid treatment generally had lower crystallinity indices and lignin content values. The relationship between the hydrolysis rate and the set of structural features indicated that an increase in surface area and a decrease in the crystallinity and lignin content enhance the hydrolysis; the specific surface area is the most influential of the structural features, followed by the lignin content.
T‐cell receptor binding affinities and kinetics: impact on T‐cell activity and specificity

The interaction between the T‐cell receptor (TCR) and its peptide–major histocompatibility complex (pepMHC) ligand plays a critical role in determining the activity and specificity of the T cell. The binding properties associated with these interactions have now been studied in many systems, providing a framework for a mechanistic understanding of the initial events that govern T‐cell function. There have been various other reviews that have described the structural and biochemical features of TCR : pepMHC interactions. Here we provide an overview of four areas that directly impact our understanding of T‐cell function, as viewed from the perspective of the TCR : pepMHC interaction: (1) relationships between T‐cell activity and TCR : pepMHC binding parameters, (2) TCR affinity, avidity and clustering, (3) influence of coreceptors on pepMHC binding by TCRs and T‐cell activity, and (4) impact of TCR binding affinity on antigenic peptide specificity.