Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Agenda-setting strategies in EU policy processes

This paper develops a typology of strategies used by political actors to place issues on the Europena Union (EU) agenda. In doing so, it builds on a theoretically derived twofold distinction between two challenges in putting issues on the agenda (gaining attention and building credibility) and two factors that actors can affect (venues and frames). The resulting four types of strategy are further specified on the basis of the existing case study literature on EU agenda-setting. This results in a typology that elucidates the political rationales behind agenda-setting strategies and applies to all types of actors in EU policy-making. The typology can be used to understand the interrelationships between different (types of) strategies, to identify opposing strategies meant to keep issues off the EU agenda, and to compare agenda-setting processes in the EU and domestic political systems.
Assessment of Tophus Size: A Comparison Between Physical Measurement Methods and Dual-Energy Computed Tomography Scanning

BackgroundDual-energy computed tomography (DECT) has recently been described as a sensitive method to detect urate deposits in patients with gout. ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to compare the reproducibility of DECT with various physical measurement methods of tophus size assessment. MethodsSixty-four tophi from 25 patients were analyzed. Each tophus was assessed by 2 independent observers using Vernier calipers and tape measure. All patients proceeded to DECT scanning of both feet. Urate volume within index tophi was assessed by 2 independent observers using automated DECT volume assessment software (n = 55 tophi). Five patients returned within 1 week for repeat physical assessment of tophus size. Dual-energy computed tomography scans from the returning patients were scored twice by both observers. Intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and limits-of-agreement analysis. ResultsOverall, DECT was more reproducible than the physical methods with interobserver ICCs for DECT of 0.95, for calipers 0.78, and for tape measurement 0.88, and intraobserver ICCs for DECT of 1.00, for calipers 0.75, and for tape measurement 0.91. Vernier caliper and tape measurements correlated highly with each other (rs = 0.84, P < 0.0001) but less well with DECT (for index tophi, rs = 0.46, P = 0.004 for both). Large variation was observed in the amount of urate deposits documented by DECT in tophi of similar physical size. ConclusionsDual-energy computed tomography scanning is a highly reproducible method for measuring urate deposits within tophi. This imaging modality reveals the composition of tophi that contain variable urate deposits embedded within soft tissue.
A new solution method for stochastic differential equations via collocation approach

The objective of this paper is to propose a novel solution method for Itô stochastic differential equations (SDEs). It is discussed that how the SDEs could numerically be solved as matrix problems. To improve the accuracy of this technique in contrast to the existing solvers, some non-uniform grids of points for discretizations along the time direction are applied. Finally, the high accuracy of approximated solutions in this way are illustrated by several experiments.
PUBLIC CHOICE ABOUT THE VALUE OF A STATISTICAL LIFE FOR COST-BENEFIT ANALYSES: THE CASE OF ROAD SAFETY

Cost-benefit analysts involved in evaluating projects influencing the risk of death and injury have access to a wide group of studies that provide a large range of estimates of the value of a statistical life. It is a difficult task to pick the right estimate. This paper discusses the potential avenues available to analysts looking for values of a statistical life to be used in cost-benefit analyses of projects involving changes in road safety. First, it discusses the relevance of looking for an original set of estimates involving a new study and the collection of new data. Second, if the time or the resources necessary to conduct a new study are not available, an analytical framework that allows a choice of estimates is offered. Another contribution of this paper is to present an up-to-date survey of studies on the value of a statistical life. © The London School of Economics and the University of Bath 2004
Management implications of foreign players in the English Premiership League football

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how one of the biggest phenomena of the twenty‐first century is the internationalisation of professional sports and how premier league football epitomises this. With the influx of foreign players, managers and now owners, European League Football has become big business. This paper aims to provide a theoretical analysis of the management implications of foreign players in the English Premiership League football – renamed the Barclays Premier League to suit the needs of its major sponsors.Design/methodology/approach – The approach adopted is purely qualitative in nature, evaluating the top Barclays Premier League teams and the impact of globalisation on their reconfigurations since the early 1990s to date. The study draws mainly from a review of the extant literature on sports and management, as well as a critical analysis of media reports.Findings – Globalisation has emerged as a new force that has changed the way corporations are managed. Financial services,.
Germany's Institutional Power and the EMU Regime after the Crisis: Towards a Germanized Euro Area?

In this article we examine the constraints on Germany's influence over reforms of the Economic and Monetary Union's (EMU) macroeconomic governance regime. Drawing on the insights of historical institutionalism, we show that the German government's control over the process is constrained by the increased sunk costs of European monetary integration and the unintended negative spillovers from its management of the eurozone crisis. While the German government attempted to promote the domestic societal interests underpinning its creditor preferences by deflecting the burden of macroeconomic and institutional adjustment onto the debtor countries, negative feedback loops linked to the pursuit of these preferences induced it to accept a less orthodox and increasingly accommodative central bank to make the EMU sustainable.
Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Novel Benzoyl Diarylamine/ether Derivatives as Potential Anti‐HIV‐1 Agents

A series of benzoyl diarylamine/ether derivatives were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their activity against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in MT‐4 cells. Three compounds (3b, 5a, and 6a1) exhibited moderate activities against wild‐type (wt) HIV‐1 with EC50 values ranging from 11 to 56 μm. Among them, compound 5a was the most potent inhibitor with a novel chemical skeleton, affording a new lead compound for further molecular optimization. An enzyme assay was also implemented to confirm the binding target of the active compounds represented by 6a1. Molecular simulation studies on compound 5a, 6a1, and 7a4 were carried out to understand their binding mode with wt HIV‐1 reverse transcriptase (RT) and provided useful information for further rational design of NNRTIs.
Entry and industry evolution: the UK car industry, 1958—83

This paper models entry and the subsequent changes in market structure in three segments of the UK car industry, 1958–83. The entry equation emerges from a dynamic optimization model which allows for the costs of acquiring market share. The model is used to explore the hypothesis that the market penetration of entrants in this industry was facilitated by a post-entry advertising war which the incumbent firms lost. The basic hypothesis under examination is that advertising both facilitates and restricts entry, but that it does so in a way that varies systematically over time. The data are consistent with this view, showing that high advertising shares readily translate into high market shares, but that the escalation of industry advertising caused by entry can make high advertising entry strategies increasingly costly over time.
Tests of Financial Intermediation and Banking Reform in China

We develop tests of financial intermediation by national banking systems that exploit regional financial and economic data. Derived from a model of bank profit maximization, the tests are based on the expectation that in efficient systems, financial intermediation should not be overly influenced by policy variables; should be greater where projects are more profitable and require greater financing - typically in faster growing, richer, industrial areas; and should direct funds to the best projects regardless of where deposits originate. We apply these tests to Chinese provincial data from 1991-97 for all state banks, the Agricultural Bank of China, rural credit cooperatives, and other financial institutions. China implemented a series of widely publicized financial reforms in the mid-1990s designed to improve bank performance. However, descriptive and estimation results suggest that the importance of state bank policy lending (to support SOEs and finance agricultural procurement) has increased, not fallen, during the recent period, and lending does not respond to economic fundamentals. Only the group of smaller, less-regulated financial institutions appear commercially oriented. Despite reforms, significant barriers to efficient inter-regional financial intermediation remain.
Dengue virus envelope glycoprotein structure: New insight into its interactions during viral entry

Amajor step in understanding the molecular interactions that lead to entry of enveloped viruses into their target cells is obtaining structural information on the viral surface glycoproteins at the atomic level. In addition to carrying the main antigenic determinants of the virus, these proteins are responsible for the major steps involved in the entry process, which involve receptor recognition and fusion between viral and cellular membranes. A huge step forward in the field was made >20 years ago, when the laboratories of Don Wiley and John Skehel obtained the crystal structure of the influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) (1), which carries both receptor-binding and membrane fusion functions. Since then, the x-ray structures of relatively few soluble ectodomains of viral glycoproteins have been determined, compared to the exponential increase of protein structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank in the same period. In particular, structural information on viral envelope proteins combining both receptor-binding and membrane fusion functions is very scarce. Over the years, only the structures of the tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) flavivirus major envelope (E) protein (2) and of the influenza C virus HA-esterase glycoprotein (3) were added to the database. In this issue of PNAS, Modis et al. (4) report the crystal structure of the E protein from dengue virus, a mosquito-borne flavivirus responsible for the highest rate of disease and mortality among members of this viral genus. This structure is therefore a very important addition to the current repertoire. Dengue virus is the most important arthropod-borne human pathogen. The incidence of dengue fever epidemics has increased dramatically over the last few decades (5), and it is estimated that up to 100 million cases occur annually. In addition, a severe form of the disease, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), has emerged in the same period causing ≈ 500,000 cases worldwide each year …
Skewing and notching configurations for torque pulsation minimization in spoke-type interior permanent magnet motors

Interior permanent magnet (IPM) motors become popular and commonly used in industry and domestic applications. One of them is spoke-type IPM. Spoke-type interior permanent magnet (IPM) machines are an attractive topology for high-performance electric motors. In most of the applications, the high strength of permanent magnets causes the undesirable effects of high cogging torque that can aggravate motor performance. Consequently, the reduction of cogging torque becomes an important topic in IPM motor. In this paper, to minimize the effect of cogging torque in IPM motor, two common techniques for cogging torque reduction such as skewing, and notching, has been analyzed in order to compare the cogging torque, back EMF and efficiency effect. 3D finite element analysis (FEA) by JMAG software is carried out for each technique. The results showed the reduction of cogging torque up to 98.6%, followed by 81.84%, 45.24% and 36.79% compared to the initial model design.
Goodwill—an Example of Puzzle-Solving in Accounting—a Reply

Grinyer and Russell's (G&R, 1992) contention that Ma and Hopkins (1988) have imposed the mutually exclusive rules of the valuation-based paradigm on the matching-based paradigm that underlies accounting practice is overly defensive and misguided. Our 1988 paper was an attempt to throw light on why there was so little agreement on the rules governing the treatment of goodwill. G&R's comment does not change our view that the only answer to the ‘puzzle’ lies in the lack of a full understanding of the nature of goodwill.
Impact of ethnic density on adult mental disorders: narrative review

Background The ‘ethnic density hypothesis' is a proposition that members of ethnic minority groups may have better mental health when they live in areas with higher proportions of people of the same ethnicity. Investigations into this hypothesis have resulted in a complex and sometimes disparate literature. Aims To systematically identify relevant studies, summarise their findings and discuss potential explanations of the associations found between ethnic density and mental disorders. Method A narrative review of studies published up to January 2011, identified through a systematic search strategy. Studies included have a defined ethnic minority sample; some measure of ethnic density defined at a geographical scale smaller than a nation or a US state; and a measure ascertaining mental health or disorder. Results A total of 34 papers from 29 data-sets were identified. Protective associations between ethnic density and diagnosis of mental disorders were most consistent in older US ecological studies of admission rates. Among more recent multilevel studies, there was some evidence of ethnic density being protective against depression and anxiety for African American people and Hispanic adults in the USA. However, Hispanic, Asian–American and Canadian ‘visible minority’ adolescents have higher levels of depression at higher ethnic densities. Studies in the UK showed mixed results, with evidence for protective associations most consistent for psychoses. Conclusions The most consistent associations with ethnic density are found for psychoses. Ethnic density may also protect against other mental disorders, but presently, as most studies of ethnic density have limited statistical power, and given the heterogeneity of their study designs, our conclusions can only be tentative.
The Solanum lycopersicum Zinc Finger2 Cysteine-2/Histidine-2 Repressor-Like Transcription Factor Regulates Development and Tolerance to Salinity in Tomato and Arabidopsis1[W]

A tomato transcriptional repressor regulates development and salinity response in Arabidopsis and tomato plants. The zinc finger superfamily includes transcription factors that regulate multiple aspects of plant development and were recently shown to regulate abiotic stress tolerance. Cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Zinc Finger2 [SIZF2]) is a cysteine-2/histidine-2-type zinc finger transcription factor bearing an ERF-associated amphiphilic repression domain and binding to the ACGTCAGTG sequence containing two AGT core motifs. SlZF2 is ubiquitously expressed during plant development, and is rapidly induced by sodium chloride, drought, and potassium chloride treatments. Its ectopic expression in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and tomato impaired development and influenced leaf and flower shape, while causing a general stress visible by anthocyanin and malonyldialdehyde accumulation. SlZF2 enhanced salt sensitivity in Arabidopsis, whereas SlZF2 delayed senescence and improved tomato salt tolerance, particularly by maintaining photosynthesis and increasing polyamine biosynthesis, in salt-treated hydroponic cultures (125 mm sodium chloride, 20 d). SlZF2 may be involved in abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis/signaling, because SlZF2 is rapidly induced by ABA treatment and 35S::SlZF2 tomatoes accumulate more ABA than wild-type plants. Transcriptome analysis of 35S::SlZF2 revealed that SlZF2 both increased and reduced expression of a comparable number of genes involved in various physiological processes such as photosynthesis, polyamine biosynthesis, and hormone (notably ABA) biosynthesis/signaling. Involvement of these different metabolic pathways in salt stress tolerance is discussed.
Sen's Capability Approach as a framework to the practice of development

Amartya Sen's Capability Approach is increasingly influential in the literature of development economics. It has contributed to development discourse by strengthening the multidimensional approach to poverty analysis and stressing the importance of focusing on agency and empowerment. Nevertheless, the Capability Approach has not yet been applied comprehensively beyond development economics. This article assesses the contribution of the Capability Approach to the field of development planning, by comparing it with the rights-based approach (RBA) and the sustainable-livelihoods framework (SLF). The article argues that by focusing on the capability space, power relations, and participation, the Capability Approach has the potential to become a normative framework to radicalise development practices.
Derivatives and inverse of cascaded linear+nonlinear neural models

In vision science, cascades of Linear+Nonlinear transforms are very successful in modeling a number of perceptual experiences. However, the conventional literature is usually too focused on only describing the forward input-output transform. Instead, in this work we present the mathematics of such cascades beyond the forward transform, namely the Jacobian matrices and the inverse. The fundamental reason for this analytical treatment is that it offers useful analytical insight into the psychophysics, the physiology, and the function of the visual system. For instance, we show how the trends of the sensitivity (volume of the discrimination regions) and the adaptation of the receptive fields can be identified in the expression of the Jacobian w.r. t. the stimulus. This matrix also tells us which regions of the stimulus space are encoded more efficiently in multi-information terms. The Jacobian w.r. t. the parameters shows which aspects of the model have bigger impact in the response, and hence their relative relevance. The analytic inverse implies conditions for the response and model parameters to ensure appropriate decoding. From the experimental and applied perspective, (a) the Jacobian w.r. t. the stimulus is necessary in new experimental methods based on the synthesis of visual stimuli with interesting geometrical properties, (b) the Jacobian matrices w.r. t. the parameters are convenient to learn the model from classical experiments or alternative goal optimization, and (c) the inverse is a promising model-based alternative to blind machine-learning methods for neural decoding that do not include meaningful biological information. The theory is checked by building and testing a vision model that actually follows a modular Linear+Nonlinear program. Our illustrative derivable and invertible model consists of a cascade of modules that account for brightness, contrast, energy masking, and wavelet masking. To stress the generality of this modular setting we show examples where some of the canonical Divisive Normalization modules are substituted by equivalent modules such as the Wilson-Cowan interaction model (at the V1 cortex) or a tone-mapping model (at the retina).
Deliberative Speak at the Turbine Face: Community Engagement, Wind Farms, and Renewable Energy Transitions, in Australia

In late 2007, a new Australian federal government committed to significantly boosting Australia's energy consumption from renewable energy by 2020. With wind farms the most viable technology for such expansion, nothing, however, was suggested of how to address intense social conflict surrounding wind farm location; a situation provoked by inadequate community involvement in state government approval processes for wind farms. In seeking to redress that democratic deficit, in 2006, the prior federal government proposed a strong participatory National Code for Wind Farms. State governments rejected the proposal as a constraint to wind power and claimed adequate community engagement. In overviewing the debate, we find in favour of the prior federal government's position, refer to European participatory policy lessons, and find the National Code heavily featuring ‘deliberative speak’ in an approach suggesting placation of communities instead of its purported one of consensus-building. That informs some tentative suggestions of how to better engender a more socially viable and constructive approach for wind farm, and more broadly, renewable, energy transitions in Australia.
Streaming Word Embeddings with the Space-Saving Algorithm

We develop a streaming (one-pass, bounded-memory) word embedding algorithm based on the canonical skip-gram with negative sampling algorithm implemented in word2vec. We compare our streaming algorithm to word2vec empirically by measuring the cosine similarity between word pairs under each algorithm and by applying each algorithm in the downstream task of hashtag prediction on a two-month interval of the Twitter sample stream. We then discuss the results of these experiments, concluding they provide partial validation of our approach as a streaming replacement for word2vec. Finally, we discuss potential failure modes and suggest directions for future work.
The Future of Workplace Diversity in the New Millennium

SUMMARY This chapter explores practical issues and challenges that the future of workforce diversity brings in the new millennium. The dramatic and ongoing changes in the world’s social and economic arrangements in the last year ••• present profound implications for any notion of inclusiveness and equality that have so far guided communities and organizations. The chapter summarizes current thought leadership and the need for new paradigms to manage diversity, and also proposes a method to measure and progress equity in the workplace. The authors propose a standard that is primarily customizable to any organization’s need to address its issues around the management of diversity which impacts on organizational effectiveness, credibility, performance, reputation, and development of capabilities. The standard can be used to benchmark the organization externally. It is with optimism that the authors feel that beginning with a shared understanding of where we are, where we stand ••• and where we want to go with working on our differences and similarities enables us to have a better chance of procuring peaceful and progressive communities.