Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Empirical Examination of International Diversification Benefits in Central European Emerging Equity Markets

The objective of this paper is to examine the short and long-term relationships between the seven developed equity markets of United-States, Canada, United-Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and three Central European emerging equity markets of Czech-Republic, Hungary and Poland in order to study their implications on the potential gains from international diversification in these emerging markets. The shortterm relationships measured by the correlation matrix indicate a lower level of correlation between developed and emerging equity markets of Central Europe. In order to carry out the long-term relationships we resorted to Johansen cointegration techniques recently developed. The tests show that there is no long-term relationship between G7 developed equity markets and Central European emerging equity markets. Theses results indicate that the increase of financial integration degree and comovement between equity markets has not significantly affected the expected benefits from international diversification in these emerging markets. These gains remain significantly important for the G7 industrial investors in the Central European emerging equity markets.
β-Lactam Antibiotics Induce the SOS Response and Horizontal Transfer of Virulence Factors in Staphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACT Antibiotics that interfere with DNA replication and cell viability activate the SOS response. In Staphylococcus aureus, the antibiotic-induced SOS response promotes replication and high-frequency horizontal transfer of pathogenicity island-encoded virulence factors. Here we report that β-lactams induce a bona fide SOS response in S. aureus, characterized by the activation of the RecA and LexA proteins, the two master regulators of the SOS response. Moreover, we show that β-lactams are capable of triggering staphylococcal prophage induction in S. aureus lysogens. Consequently, and as previously described for SOS induction by commonly used fluoroquinolone antibiotics, β-lactam-mediated phage induction also resulted in replication and high-frequency transfer of the staphylococcal pathogenicity islands, showing that such antibiotics may have the unintended consequence of promoting the spread of bacterial virulence factors.
A Choice Modeling Application for Greek Heritage Attractions

The article adopts a discrete choice modeling methodology with a focus on capturing systematic heterogeneity to evaluate tourists’ preferences for two Greek heritage attractions. This methodology provides useful insights on the preferences of tourists belonging in different demand segments while also providing direction for future policy making in this area. The article presents empirical justification for the frequently cited argument for adopting a more customer-oriented rationale for the optimal use of heritage resources. Overall, the article supports the claim that tourists value positively the introduction of services and amenities that improve the quality of customer service. Thus, policy makers and heritage managers should pay more attention to visitors’ needs and their particular requirements.
Reoperation for malignant astrocytoma

We evaluated 15 consecutive patients with malignant astrocytomas who were reoperated for functional status and survival. Their Karnovsky Performance Status (KPS) was not changed by surgery. None suffered perioperative death, wound infection, or complications. Patients with glioblastoma maintained KPS unchanged for a mean of 13 weeks (median, 10 weeks); with anaplastic astrocytoma, mean, 37.2 weeks (median, 24 weeks). Life spans were approximately twice that of non-reoperated historical controls. Reoperation for patients with recurrent malignant astrocytoma should be seriously considered when a gross total re-resection can be the goal in a patient whose tumor is in an accessible brain region.
Optimal linear representations of images for object recognition

Simplicity of linear representations (of images) makes them a popular tool in imaging analysis applications such as object recognition and image classification. Although several linear representations, namely PCA (principal component analysis), ICA, and FDA (Fisher discriminant analysis), have frequently been used, these representations are generally far from optimal in terms of actual application performance. We argue that representations should be chosen with respect to the application and the databases involved. Fixing an application, say object recognition, and assuming that recognition performance is computable for any linear basis (given a classifier and a database), we propose a Monte Carlo simulated annealing method that leads to optimal linear representations by maximizing the recognition performance over all fixed-rank subspaces. We illustrate this method on two popular databases.
General equilibrium pricing of nonredundant forward contracts

We derive the general equilibrium of a dynamic financial market in which the investors' opportunity set includes nonredundant forward contracts. We show that Breeden's (1979) consumption‐based CAPM equation for forward contracts contains an extra term relative to that for cash assets. We name this term a strategy risk premium. It compensates investors for the (systematic) risk that stems from their very portfolio strategies when the latter involve nonredundant forward contracts. We also show that Merton's (1973) multibeta intertemporal CAPM must be amended for forward contracts to exhibit adjusted risk premia for the market portfolio and all relevant state variables, as opposed to the usual risk premia for cash assets. Our results are shown not to depend on the usual cash‐and‐carry relationship, which, in general, does not hold. We, nevertheless, provide a well‐known special case where it does hold, albeit not grounded on the usual no‐arbitrage argument. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 23:817–840, 2003
Creative Destruction and Unemployment in an Open Economy Model

I develop a model of endogenous economic growth and search and matching frictions in the labor market. I study the effect of trade liberalization between two identical economies on unemployment. I solve for two versions of the growth model, the first one where trade liberalization has only a temporary effect on growth, a semi-endogenous growth model. In the second version trade liberalization has a permanent effect on growth, a fully endogenous growth model. I show that in both versions trade liberalization has a steady state effect on unemployment that can be either negative or positive depending on parameters.
Towards water security: political determination and human adaptation crucial

Although high-level attention has been drawn to the escalating world water problems, few changes are noticeable in terms of actual management of the water resource. Politicians continue to be misled by the apparent simplicity of water. The environment-oriented community tends to focus only on problems arising from man-induced side-effects, and most people tend to take water for granted. The double challenge of providing adequate water supplies and meeting increasing food requirements of expanding populations, in addition to already existing water management problems, requires special attention. In addition, the intensifying pollution of water systems will have to be dealt with. Considerable human adaptation to physical realities as well as ingenious action are needed. There is a brief discussion of the risk of hydrocide, a condition of serious water-quality degradation where available water is no longer sufficient, or cannot be used for the purposes needed. However, the main focus of the paper is on water quantity issues, highlighting the confusion arising from different methods of assessing water scarcity. Levels of regional water scarcity predicaments are discussed in terms of distinct regional clusters. Attention is drawn to the limitations of dry climate regions to achieve food self sufficiency, and the emerging need in many areas to import food; related trade and price aspects are also discussed. A distinction is made between efficiency of use and efficiency of allocation. The need for a global ethic regarding upstream–downstream water-sharing is stressed, especially in cases of consumptive (evaporative) use of water for cultivating crops, which may deplete river flows available to downstream users. In conclusion, four key concerns are highlighted that call for global consensus.
Evidence for Regulation of Myelin Protein Synthesis by Contact between Adjacent Schwann Cell Plasma Membranes

The spontaneously immortalized S16 Schwann cell line expresses higher levels of myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) and PO glycoprotein and their messenger RNAs when grown at high density than at low density [Sasagasako et al: J Neurochem 1996;66:1432–1439]. This up-regulation of myelin protein expression at high density is not associated with decreased cellular proliferation and may be caused by direct cell-to-cell contact. To investigate the hypothesis that increased mRNA levels for myelin proteins are caused by contact between Schwann cells, sparse S16 cell cultures were treated for 48 h with plasma-membrane-enriched fractions isolated from dense S16 cells. The treatment had no effect on the proliferation of the cells, but MAG and PO mRNAs were elevated 2- and 1.3-fold, respectively, in comparison to untreated cells. These effects on levels of myelin protein mRNAs were eliminated by pretreatment of the membrane fraction with heat or trypsin and were not caused by plasma membrane fractions from NIH 3T3 cells. These data support the hypothesis that homotypic contact between Schwann cells up-regulates expression of myelin proteins and suggest the possibility of autotypic contact-mediated regulation of myelinogenesis by adjacent spiraled membranes of individual Schwann cells.
HIGH AND VARIABLE INFLATION: FURTHER EVIDENCE ON THE FRIEDMAN HYPOTHESIS

This note, employing a GARCH model, finds a positive and significant relationship between the level and variability of inflation in South Africa in the period 1957:1-2005:9. This provides evidence in support of Friedman's hypothesis that high inflation leads to more variable inflation. Copyright (c) 2006 The Author. Journal compilation (c) 2006 Economic Society of South Africa.
L‐Homocysteate Preferentially Activates N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate Receptors to CA1 Rat Hippocampal Neurons

Intracellular recordings and current and single‐electrode voltage‐clamp techniques were used to study the membrane responses of CA1 pyramidal neurons to bath application of L‐homocysteic acid (L‐HC) in the rat hippocampal slice preparation. In control artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF), L‐HC (25 ‐ 250 μM) depolarized the membrane and induced a burst‐like firing pattern. Both the membrane depolarization and the burst firing were blocked by the N‐methyl‐D‐aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor antagonists D‐(‐)‐2‐amino‐5‐phosphonovaleric acid (AP‐5, 50 μM), D‐(‐)‐2‐amino‐7‐phosphonoheptanoic acid (AP‐7, 50 μM) and (±)‐3‐(2‐carboxy‐pipera‐zin‐4‐yl)‐propyl‐1‐phosphonic acid (CPP, 20 μM). In ACSF containing tetrodotoxin (1 μM), L‐HC (100–300 μM) induced at resting membrane potential a depolarization which was associated with a small increase in input conductance. These effects were unaffected by 6‐cyano‐7‐nitroquinoxaline‐2, 3‐dione (CNQX, 10–20 μM) but were fully blocked by AP‐5, AP‐7 (50 μM) and CPP (10–20 μM). In voltage‐clamp experiments, L‐HC induced slow inward currents which were voltage‐dependent between ‐ 70 and ‐ 30 mV and reversed polarity near 0 mV. The L‐HC‐induced inward current was unaffected by CNQX (10–20 μM) but was strongly reduced by AP‐5 or AP‐7 (50 μM). The L‐HC‐induced inward current was temperature‐dependent. Between ‐60 and ‐70 mV, its amplitude increased by 320% when the temperature was lowered from 33 to 22°C. The L‐HC‐induced current was also potentiated by the specific L‐HC uptake blocker β‐p‐chlorophenylglutamate (Chlorpheg, 0.5–2 mM). These data suggest that L‐HC preferentially activates NMDA receptors in CA1 hippocampal neurons.
The effects of double-counting and expensing on the measured returns to r&d

This article focuses on the effects of double-counting and expensing on the measured returns to R&D. The contribution of research and development (R&D) to economic growth has been measured in two general ways. The first is to compute total factor productivity in a growth accounting framework and to attribute this "residual" growth to R&D. The prevailing view is that, in the presence of double-counting, the measured contribution of R&D represents the return above and beyond the normal remuneration to traditional capital. Author demonstrate that this excess returns interpretation (ERI) is essentially correct in the growth accounting framework and that the resulting bias in the measured contribution of R&D to growth is large. In postwar U.S. manufacturing the measured residual is biased downward by as much as 30%. The expensing bias is downward and reinforces the excess returns bias in this case, and the total bias is large. In both the growth accounting and econometric contexts, the magnitude of the biases may vary across samples and over time. There is simply no substitute for properly measured variables.
Turkey as a U.S. security partner

Strains in U.S.-Turkish have grown since the end of the Cold War. Divergences have been particularly visible in policy toward the Middle East. As a result, Turkey is likely to be an increasingly difficult and less predictable partner in the future.Turkey has long been an important ally, but Ankara is increasingly behaving more independently and assertively in ways that must factor into future U.S. planning for the region.
Dubious benefits from future exchange: an explanation of payment arrears from ‘continuing clients’ in Mainland China

Clients and contractors are frequently advised to adopt a collaborative attitude and approach in construction projects in general, with ‘continuing clients’, i.e. clients with continuous large projects portfolios, expected to be in the forefront of such initiatives. Although such a governance approach has been argued to be beneficial in construction transactions, it is not uncommon to hear contractors complaining that clients do not fulfil their payment obligations. For example, in Mainland China, a large proportion of deliberate payment arrears are from ‘continuing clients’. Gametric models are used in this research to show that three prerequisites are needed for inducing continuing clients to be cooperative. Empirical evidence from legislation and a questionnaire survey indicates that these preconditions are not fulfilled in Mainland China. Prevalent institutional arrangements, differentials in appreciation of the value of relationships, and opaque payment track records are found to contribute to continuing clients’ deviation from the often advocated amicable approaches. Thus, transaction attributes seem to only suggest a theoretically optimal governance structure from the perspective of transaction costs, but other factors may also substantially influence parties’ calculation and choice.
Organisational knowledge transfer through human resource management: international diffusion of managerial performance management

Little is known about the role and characteristics of managerial performance management systems in diverse international settings. An exploratory analysis of the purposes and practices of these systems on a cross national basis is in demand. Results indicate significant differences between managerial performance management in 11 US and European multinationals. The degree to which the system was used as an instrument of intra-organisational cross-border knowledge flows had a significant impact on the selection of managerial performance management system.
Misregulation of pre-mRNA splicing that causes human diseases

Summary About one third of all human genes are subject to alternative splicing. The molecular mechanisms that regulate alternative splice site usage are beginning to emerge and show that transcription and premRNA processing are integrated processes that can be modified by cellular signals. Several diseases are caused by mutations in sequences that regulate pre-mRNA processing. Their molecular characterization indicates that contributions of pre-mRNA splicing defects to human diseases have been underestimated and could account for pleiotropic phenotypes. The understanding of the molecular mechanisms allows the development of therapeutic strategies.
Competitive monetary easing: is it yesterday once more?

Given weak post-crisis aggregate demand both advanced economies and emerging economies engage in competitive monetary easing, creating financial risks. To ensure stable and sustainable growth, the international rules of the game need to be revisited. Since internalizing spillovers to other countries may be difficult, large central banks could reinterpret their domestic mandate to take into account other country reactions over time (and not just the immediate feedback effects) and thus become more sensitive to spillovers. This weak ‘coordination’ could be supplemented with improvement of global safety nets.
Approximate method of variational Bayesian matrix factorization with sparse prior

We study the problem of matrix factorization by variational Bayes method, under the assumption that observed matrix is the product of low-rank dense and sparse matrices with additional noise. Under assumption of Laplace distribution for sparse matrix prior, we analytically derive an approximate solution of matrix factorization by minimizing Kullback-Leibler divergence between posterior and trial function. By evaluating our solution numerically, we also discuss accuracy of matrix factorization of our analytical solution.
Dispersion-enhanced photonic crystal fiber array for a true time-delay structured X-band phased array antenna

Tunable optical true time-delay modules based on highly dispersive photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) are demonstrated to provide continuous radio-frequency squint-free beam scanning for an X-band (8-12 GHz) phased array antenna system. The dispersion of the fabricated PCF is as high as -600 ps/nm /spl middot/ km at 1550 nm. The time delay is continuously tunable from -31 to 31 ps between adjacent delay lines by tuning the laser wavelength continuously from 1528 to 1560 nm. The far field radiation patterns of a 1/spl times/4 subarray were measured from -45/spl deg/ to 45/spl deg/ scanning angles. Squint-free operation is experimentally confirmed.
Tegumental surface changes in adult Paramphistomum microbothrium (Fischoeder 1901) following in vitro administration of artemether

Abstract The treatment of paramphistomiasis, a neglected tropical disease, has been carried out with different fasciolicidal compounds, all showing weak efficacy. Therefore, the search for alternative paramphistomicidal drugs is warranted. In the present study, the in vitro effects of artemether on adult Paramphistomum microbothrium were evaluated, for the first time, using scanning electron microscopy. After 24 h of incubation with 10 μg ml− 1 artemether, tegumental damage of both anterior and posterior ends of the fluke had occurred in the majority of the specimens examined. Sensory papillae surrounding the oral aperture were ruptured, while those at the acetabular region appeared to be sunken due to tegumental swelling. The tegumental disruption became more pronounced and both oral sucker and acetabulum were severely distorted, on increasing the concentration to 20 μg ml− 1. With higher concentration of 30 μg ml− 1, gross swellings of the body of the fluke, clearly visible to the naked eye, were observed, and damage to both oral sucker and acetabulum was so extreme that little recognizable structure remained.
The determinants of leveraged buyout activity : Free cash flow vs. financial distress costs

This paper investigates the determinants of leveraged buyout activity by comparing firms that have implemented leveraged buyouts to those that have not. Consistent with the free cash flow theory, the authors find that firms that initiate leveraged buyouts can be characterized as having a combination of unfavorable investment opportunities (low Tobin's q) and relatively high cash flow. Leveraged buyout firms also tend to be more diversified than firms that do not undertake leveraged buyouts. In addition, firms with high expected costs of financial distress (e.g, those with high research and development expenditures) are less likely to do leveraged buyouts. Copyright 1993 by American Finance Association.
Comparison of three rapid methods, tributyrine, 4-methylumbelliferyl butyrate, and indoxyl acetate, for rapid identification of Moraxella catarrhalis

Moraxella catarrhalis can easily be differentiated from other oxidase-positive, gram-negative cocci with tributyrine, 4-methylumbelliferyl butyrate, or indoxyl acetate. All M. catarrhalis give positive reactions, and all Neisseria spp. give negative reactions. The 4-methylumbelliferyl butyrate tube test and indoxyl acetate strip test provide same-day identification of M. catarrhalis isolates.
Gendered and Racialised Constructions of Work in Bureaucratised Care Services in Italy

Scholarship on migrant care work argued that we need to broaden our understanding of the international division of reproductive labour by incorporating into the analysis other agents of social reproduction besides the household such as the non-profit sector, the market and the State. In response to these debates, the article focuses on migrant labour within the bureaucratised care sector, by comparing Latin American and Eastern European women employed in social cooperatives proving home-based elderly care services in Italy. Ethnographic data are used to show how both the workers and the cooperatives’ managers negotiate racialised and gendered constructions of care work and skill. We argue that the dominant gendered and racialised perceptions of paid care as non-skilled ‘feminine’ work, which are at play in private employment, are activated in specific ways in the bureaucratised sector too. Bureaucratised care thus comes into sight as being in strong continuity with the traditional forms of care work, as far as the social construction of the job is concerned. However, it does represent a general improvement for migrant workers in so far as it allows them to achieve better living and working conditions if compared to live-in domestic service.
MicroRNA-Directed Cleavage of HOXB8 mRNA

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous ∼22-nucleotide RNAs, some of which are known to play important regulatory roles in animals by targeting the messages of protein-coding genes for translational repression. We find that miR-196, a miRNA encoded at three paralogous locations in the A, B, and C mammalian HOX clusters, has extensive, evolutionarily conserved complementarity to messages of HOXB8, HOXC8, and HOXD8. RNA fragments diagnostic of miR-196–directed cleavage of HOXB8 were detected in mouse embryos. Cell culture experiments demonstrated down-regulation of HOXB8, HOXC8, HOXD8, and HOXA7 and supported the cleavage mechanism for miR-196–directed repression of HOXB8. These results point to a miRNA-mediated mechanism for the posttranscriptional restriction of HOX gene expression during vertebrate development and demonstrate that metazoan miRNAs can repress expression of their natural targets through mRNA cleavage in addition to inhibiting productive translation.