Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Asymmetric Volume-Return Relation and Concentrated Trading in LIFFE Futures

This study demonstrates that intraday volume and return on LIFFE interest rate and currency futures exhibit an asymmetric volume-return relationship characterised by significantly larger volume associated with negative returns than with non-negative returns. This finding is unlike the stylised asymmetric relation often observed in equity markets, where the volume on price rise is larger than the volume on price decline. The asymmetric relationship in LIFFE futures is also found to be dynamic as the direction of asymmetry can reverse during the day. It has been argued in the past that a costly short sale restriction that requires a higher transaction cost on a short position than on a long position is responsible for the asymmetric effect in equity markets. Since such a restriction is absent in futures markets, they should not exhibit any asymmetric volume behaviour. Based on the results of this research, the costly short sale hypothesis is rejected. An alternative explanation of the asymmetric relation observed in futures is presented based on recent information models that take into consideration asymmetrically-informed traders, their dispersion of beliefs, quality and quantity of the information signal, and how the traders process it. The paper also confirms a strong U-shape trading pattern in 15-minute volume, but no such pattern is identified in intraday returns.
Policy variations of multinational enterprises' labor practices in China

Purpose – Supporters of globalization highlight a major increase in the standard of living for many workers in China while critics argue that the amazing economic growth has led to an increase in pollution and harsh labor conditions in the country. The purpose of this research is to investigate policy variations of multinational enterprises (MNEs) labor practices in China.Design/methodology/approach – The empirical research is based on a questionnaire survey that collected data from MNEs in China.Findings – This study finds that both Hong Kong/Taiwanese and US/European MNEs comply with minimum wages, benefits, health insurance, and legal requirements in China, but do not go beyond meeting or exceeding Chinese standards. This study also finds that US/European MNEs tend to make better decisions in dealing with safety in the workplace and environmental pollution.Practical implications – It appears that as firms expand globally and have more overseas experience, they approach issues of ethics with caution and.
Triple‐stimulation technique in multifocal neuropathy with conduction block

In patients with multifocal neuropathy with conduction block (CB), CBs located between the root and Erb's point are not detected in nerve conduction studies. We therefore examined whether the triple‐stimulation technique (TST) might provide a useful means of detecting CB proximal to Erb's point. Clinical assessments, extensive nerve conduction studies (NCS), conventional transcranial magnetic stimulation, and TST were performed on 10 patients with multifocal motor neuropathy with CB (MMNCB) and 6 patients with Lewis–Sumner syndrome. Conduction blocks located proximal to Erb's point were detected in 9 patients. Of the CBs, 58% were associated with muscle weakness. The use of TST to detect proximal CB improved the sensitivity of the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine criteria for definite or probable MMNCB from 60% to 90%. Thus, the TST is a useful means for detection of proximal CB and gives NCS considerable additional diagnostic power. Muscle Nerve, 2007
Border Tourism and Border Communities: An Overview

Abstract In examining border tourism and border communities this paper employs a political science definition that demarcates the external limits of a nation state and its exercise of sovereignty. Other types of borders and boundaries, such as those of a national park or cultural heritage reserve, that exist within a country, are referred to only in passing. The way in which advances in the technologies of mobility and modes of transport have influenced the expansion of territorial boundaries over the centuries, from terrestrial to marine to aerial dimensions, is examined and related to contemporary forms of tourism. The focus is therefore on international tourism – visitation involving travel across the borders of sovereign states. To explore the social and cultural spaces of border communities where politics often play a significant role, cultural studies are combined with anthropological and sociological theory. This section of the paper draws in particular upon the social construction of space and place as expounded by Lefebvre and the concept of interstitiality advanced by Homi Bhabha and his ‘halfway populations’ occupying ‘Third Space’. With these theoretical foundations outlined, this paper then considers tourism-specific elements of borders, such as principles of human mobility (of which tourism flows are one component), typologies of political relations that affect cross-border tourism flows and tourism partnerships, and particularities of transnational tourism development, with an emphasis on the Greater Mekong SubRegion of South East Asia.
Maurice Dobb, Joan Robinson and Gerald Shove on Accumulation and the Rate of Profits

One of Joan Robinson's favorite sayings was: “As I never learnt mathematics, I have had to think. ” A by-product of this characteristic is that her writings abound with striking intuitive propositions, often tossed off as asides from the flow of the main argument. We mention this aspect of Robinson's personality as the introduction to the history of one such aside.
Association of mu-opioid receptor gene polymorphism (A118G) with variations in morphine consumption for analgesia after total knee arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND Morphine consumption after a given surgical procedure can vary considerably. Studies show that single nucleotide polymorphism involving the nucleotide position 118 at exon 1 of the mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) may play a role in mediating the effects of opioids. This study was performed to correlate the A118G polymorphism at OPRM1 with morphine consumption in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. METHODS Post-operative pain was relieved by patient-controlled analgesia (PCA). The analgesic effect was evaluated using a visual analogue scale. Side-effects, such as sedation, nausea and vomiting, and pruritus, were recorded systematically. The genotypes were determined by sequencing polymerase chain reaction-amplified DNA. The differences in demographics and consumed morphine from the PCA device between the different genotypes were tested using one-way analysis of variance. The prevalence of side-effects from morphine and sex distribution were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test. RESULTS One hundred and forty-seven patients were included in the study. Twenty-seven patients who required rescue analgesia were excluded; these patients did not differ demographically or genetically from the 120 who completed the study. Of the latter, 74 were A118 homozygous (AA), 33 were heterozygous (AG) and 13 were G118 homozygous (GG). Group GG consumed significantly more morphine (40.4 +/- 22.0 mg) than group AA (25.3 +/- 15.5 mg) and group AG (25.6 +/- 11.7 mg) during the first 48 h post-operatively. The groups did not differ with respect to reported pain, age, sex, weight and adverse effects. CONCLUSIONS G118 homozygotes have a poorer response to morphine for post-operative pain control than A118 homozygotes or heterozygotes. The genotype may thus influence the post-operative response to pain and cause differences in the amounts of analgesic consumed by patients after total knee arthroplasty.
Unraveling the Mysterious Relationship Between Obesity and Outcomes in Patients With Sepsis.

2104 www.ccmjournal. org November 2016 • Volume 44 • Number 11 As clinicians, we are taught that the best way to live a healthy lifestyle is to exercise, eat a balanced diet, get enough sleep, and keep one’s weight in the normal range. There is abundant data to support the statement that obesity has significant negative medical implications: it is a known risk factor for type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, obstructive sleep apnea, and certain types of cancer. Data from the World Health Organization reveals that 2.8 million deaths worldwide are attributable to obesity, with recent studies demonstrating that as many as one in five deaths in America are related to obesity (1–3). Given the aforementioned information, one might hypothesize that being obese (having a body mass index [BMI] of ≥ 30 kg/m) would have negative consequences for critically ill patients as well. Unfortunately, the answer is not only not clear but is rather dizzyingly confusing. Early work suggested that an elevated BMI leads to worse outcomes for critically ill patients (2, 4), while other more recent work has actually found an association with improved outcomes with an elevated BMI (2, 5–13). These results have led to the term “obesity paradox. ” Leaders in the field still debate the underlying mechanism of this phenomenon, as to whether it really exists, whether it is perhaps due to extra nutritional reserves, or, potentially, that patients with an elevated BMI are not receiving as much fluid per kilogram during their resuscitation, and that this lack of over-resuscitation may be the etiology of their improved outcomes.
Introduction: Mars, Venus or Mercury? AFRICOM and America's Ambiguous Intentions

This special issue of Contemporary Security Policy really started as a conversation following the refereeing of a paper about the new US Africa Command, AFRICOM. The contention was that, although the paper itself was very good, well researched and well written, but controversial amongst the wider international community of African scholars and particularly amongst Africans themselves. Consequently, we decided to put together a special issue drawing on the experience of several people who are either based or who have worked on African issues for some time and who would be willing to comment on the original article by James Forest and Rebecca Crispin. The papers produced within this review really fall within three main groups. One group (Forest and Crispin, Stephen F. Burgess, J. Peter Pham), discuss the issue from a US-centric perspective. All are US based, engaged or close to the emergence of AFRICOM. Forest and Crispin and Burgess can all be said to be AFRICOM insiders and provide valuable insight into the formation and philosophy of AFRICOM itself. Forest and Crispin’s article provides the core of the discussion within this volume so I will not summarize it here, but Burgess offers an excellent summary of the issues involved in establishing AFRICOM and some of the mixed reaction. What is particularly valuable is the documenting of some of the existing activities on the continent, since, as he points out, American military involvement in Africa is not new. Burgess is more critical. He agrees that the United States has completely failed to enter a dialogue with Africa over AFRICOM, but rightly points out that many African states fail to agree amongst themselves and are frequently weak, hence the inability of organizations like the African Union (AU) to act decisively on issues such as piracy. His analysis of the ‘regional hegemons’, particularly South Africa and Nigeria, is an important issue that links with other papers in this volume (e.g. Laurie Nathan) and raises some important issues. Burgess concludes that one reason why there is so much opposition to AFRICOM is that the regional hegemons are concerned about the erosion of their own power. Whilst this may be true, it is also true that they may not be better replaced by a global hegemon from outside the continent. If the United States wishes to support Africans in maintaining their own security then engagement with the most militarily capable states on the continent must be a key part of that strategy. Pham reinforces the point that AFRICOM is actually a consolidation of a number of different current military activities in Africa. He concentrates on the formation of AFRICOM as an internal consolidation of American activities, which is probably the least contentious area of the institution. He does come to a controversial conclusion,
Delivering joined–up government in the UK: dimensions, issues and problems

In the UK, joined–up government (JUG) was a central part of the first Blair government’s programme for public sector reform. It remains a pivotal, if more muted, feature of the second term. We will identify the range of disparate activities that have been branded as ‘joined up’. We then look at the variety of official guidance coming from the centre of government to highlight the overlapping and competing strategies that underpinned the implementation of joined–up government. Various competing strategies have been advocated and implemented at any one time. Therefore the situation was more fluid and more contested than might be inferred from the use of the homogenizing term ‘joined–up government’. We conclude by briefly considering what this implies for our understanding of intra–state relationships, of the relationships between public agencies and civil society, and the relationship between JUG and the politics of the Third Way.
A low fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND Diet has been implicated in prostate cancer risk and there is evidence of risk reduction with a healthy diet. The objective of this population-based case control study was to examine whether a low fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer in Mumbai, India. METHODS Included in this study were microscopically proved cases of prostate cancer diagnosed during 1998 to 2000 and registered by Bombay Population Based Cancer Registry (n=594). The controls were healthy men belonging to the resident general population of Mumbai, India. Two controls for each case matched by age and place of residence were selected as the comparison group. Data on oil/fat consumption, fruits and vegetable consumption and other probable confounding factors were obtained by structured face-to-face interview. After exclusions, 390 cases and 780 controls were available for final analysis and confounding was controlled by multiple logistic regression. RESULTS 58.7% of the control group consumed more than 3 kg of fruits and vegetables per week compared to 52.1% of the case group. Controlling for age and probable confounding factors, a statistically significant protective effect for prostate cancer was observed for those who consumed fruits and vegetables 2 to 3 kg (OR 0.5, 95%CI 0.3-0.8) and more than 3 kg (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.3-0.6) per week compared to those who consumed less than 2 kg per week. The linear trend for the protective effect was highly significant with increase in the consumption of fruits and vegetables (p = 0.001). Even though not statistically significant, oil/fat consumption showed an elevated risk (OR 1.7, 95%CI 0.9-3.3) for those who consumed more than 2 kg of oil/fat per month compared to those who consumed less than 1 kg. CONCLUSION The findings from this study support the hypothesis that a low fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
Economic costs and impacts of climate-induced sea-level rise and storm surge in Canadian coastal provinces: a CGE approach

ABSTRACT We estimated the economic costs and impacts of future sea-level rise (SLR) and storm surge due to climate change in Canada’s coastal provinces using regional, dynamic computable general equilibrium models that track provincial welfare, GDP, trade, prices and inputs over the 2009–2054 period. We also assessed the economic costs of coastal adaptation investments, to determine whether such investments can be justified on economic grounds. Results indicated that SLR and storm surge could cost Canada in the range of $4.6–$25.5 billion in present value welfare, and between $53.7 and $108.7 billion in present value GDP. We found significant variation in costs and impacts across coastal provinces, with some provinces such as Newfoundland and Labrador experiencing only marginal costs/impacts, and others such as British Columbia experiencing costs as high as $21 billion in welfare over the period. Coastal adaptation investments were supported on economics grounds. Overall, this study provides the first (and preliminary) provincial economic impact estimates of climate-induced SLR and storm surge, as well as adaptation investments, in Canada. Additional research is needed to refine the analysis in order to produce reliable estimates that can be used to guide coastal adaptation policies in Canada.
Cutting Edge: Telomerase Activation in Human T Lymphocytes Does Not Require Increase in Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (hTERT) Protein But Is Associated with hTERT Phosphorylation and Nuclear Translocation

Capacity for cellular replication is critically important for lymphocyte function and can be regulated by telomerase-dependent maintenance of telomere length. In contrast to most normal human somatic cells that do not express telomerase due to the failure to transcribe telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), lymphocytes express telomerase in a highly regulated fashion yet constitutively transcribe hTERT during development and activation. Here, we report that hTERT protein is present in both thymocytes and blood T cells at equivalent levels despite their substantial differences in telomerase activity, and that induction of telomerase activity in resting CD4+ T cells is not dependent on net hTERT protein increase. Moreover, hTERT is phosphorylated and translocated from cytoplasm to nucleus during CD4+ T cell activation. Thus, human T lymphocytes regulate telomerase function through novel events independent of hTERT protein levels, and hTERT phosphorylation and nuclear translocation may play a role in regulation of telomerase function in lymphocytes.
Robust Sensorless Control for Induction Motor Drives Fed by a Matrix Converter with Variable Structure Model Reference Adaptive

This paper presents a new robust sensorless control system for high performance induction motor drives fed by a matrix converter with variable structure. The lumped disturbances such as parameter variation and load disturbance of the system are estimated by a variable structure approach based on model reference adaptive scheme. A Reduced Order Extended Luenberger Observer (ROELO) is also employed to bring better responses at the low speed operation. Experimental results are shown to illustrate the performance of the proposed system.
The Price of Asymmetric Dependence

We examine the relative importance of asymmetric dependence (AD) and systematic risk in the cross-section of US equities. Using a �-invariant AD metric, we demonstrate a lower-tail dependence premium that is only 35% of the market risk premium, compared with an upper-tail dependence discount that is 41% of the market risk premium. Lower tail dependence displays a constant price between 1989-2009. Subsequently, we find that return changes in US equities between 20072009 reflected changes in systematic risk and upper-tail dependence. This suggests that both systematic risk and AD should be managed in order to reduce the return impact of market downturns.
Topology and control analysis of single-DC-source five-level packed U-cell inverter (PUC5)

This paper presents a thorough study on Five-Level Packed U-Cell inverter called PUC5. The main advantage of PUC5 topology over other popular multilevel ones is the redundant switching states, which facilitate the voltage balancing of the flying capacitor in its configuration. Switching states of the PUC5 inverter are analyzed to ensure an easy voltage balancing process. That voltage controlled auxiliary capacitor helps generating five identical voltage levels at the output using a single DC source. A full comparison is done to other 5-level inverter topologies to reveal the dominant features of the PUC5 structure. Moreover, some discussion on the controller design for the PUC5 inverter is conducted in grid-connected applications which indicates similar procedure performed for conventional 2-level ones due to featuring single-dc-source configuration. Various experimental results are shown in each discussion for better understanding.
Asymmetries between assimilation and epenthesis

2. The typologies of place and voice assimilation appear to be inconsistent with the typology of vowel epenthesis:  Consonant clusters that are prone to elimination by assimilation are not specifically targeted by epenthesis although epenthesis could also eliminate these clusters.  E.g. nasals are particularly prone to assimilation to major place of following stops, but vowel epenthesis never specifically targets nasal-stop clusters.  Epenthesis targets obstruent-sonorant clusters, which appear unmarked based on assimilation, sonority sequencing, etc.
A Prospective Randomized Controlled Study of Two Fluid Regimens in the Initial Management of Septic Shock in the Emergency Department

Objectives: To compare the impact of 40 mL/kg of fluid over 15 minutes followed by dopamine and further titration of therapy to achieve therapeutic goals (study protocol) versus 20 mL/kg over 20 minutes up to a maximum of 60 mL/kg over 1 hour followed by dopamine (control protocol) in septic shock. Design and Setting: Prospective randomized controlled study in the emergency department of a public hospital in India. Patients: One hundred forty-seven children older than 1 month presenting with septic shock were enrolled into the study. Outcome Measures: Hospital mortality (primary outcome), 72-hour survival, achievement of therapeutic goals of shock resolution, incidence of hypoxia, hepatomegaly, intubation at 20, 40, and 60 minutes (secondary outcomes) were compared between the arms. Results: Seventy-four and 73 children were assigned to the study and control group, respectively. Overall mortality was 17.6%, 26 deaths with 13 in each arm. Mortality in the study cohort was lower than our historical mortality of 50% (P < 0.0001), 95% confidence interval (CI), 11.9-24.8. Cumulative survival at 72 hours was 72.5% (95% CI, 58.9-86.1) and 77.6% (95% CI, 66.0%-89.2%) in the control and study groups, respectively. Resolution of shock in the emergency department was associated with survival odds ratio (OR) 9.2 (95% CI, 2.1-40.8). Rapidity of achieving therapeutic goals was not significantly different between groups. Intubation rates were also the same (46.5% in the control group versus 55% in the study group; P = 0.28). At 20 minutes, 35.6% of the control group and 70% of the study group had hepatomegaly (P < 0.01). Conclusion: There was no difference in the overall mortality, rapidity of shock resolution, or incidence of complications between the groups. The occurrence of hepatomegaly at 20 minutes following 40 mL/kg is of concern in settings with limited access to post-resuscitation ventilator care.
A Parsimonious Model for Intraday European Option Pricing

A stochastic model for pure-jump diffusion (the compound renewal process) can be used as a zero-order approximation and as a phenomenological description of tick-by-tick price fluctuations. This leads to an exact and explicit general formula for the martingale price of a European call option. A complete derivation of this result is presented by means of elementary probabilistic tools.