Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evolution of property investment markets in Central Europe: opportunities and constraints

The forces of globalization with implications for competitiveness present opportunities and challenges for the future development of cities. In central Europe the economic transformation of the 1990s has coincided with the growth of global forces; however due to their post-war history cities in this region are starting from an uncompetitive base. This paper examines the extent to which capital cities in central Europe have adapted to global forces specifically in relation to the development of commercial property markets. The research methodology is from a qualitative perspective and primarily draws upon an evaluation of expert opinion based on focus groups conducted in Budapest, Prague and Warsaw supported by evidence from market reports, survey and structured interview. Themes include the rationale for investment, factors influencing/barriers to investment and development, policy and institutional considerations, and future scenarios for each city within the region. Conclusions are drawn on the evolving property investment market. Constraints include administrative structures, planning policies, land ownership, information sources, valuation methods and the absence of effective city marketing.
Household demand for fats and oils: two-step estimation of a censored demand system

A censored system of household fat and oil demand equations is estimated with a two-step procedure, using cross-sectional data from the 1987–1988 US Nationwide Food Consumption Survey. Own price and total expenditure elasticities are close to unity and there is no evidence of gross substitutability. Compensated elasticities suggest net substitution among the products considered.
Ubiquitous fiber exposure in selected sampling sites in Europe.

OBJECTIVES This study evaluates personal exposure to respirable inorganic and organic fibers during normal human lifetimes and assesses the order of magnitude of the contribution of inorganic fibers other than asbestos to total fiber exposure from man-made and natural sources. METHODS Four groups (suburban schoolchildren, rural retired persons, office workers, and taxi drivers), with five persons per group, were monitored for 24 h four times during one year. Personal sampling pumps collected airborne dust on gold-precoated Nuclepore filters. The fibers were analyzed for fiber sizes specified by the World Health Organization. RESULTS The geometric mean concentrations ranged from 9000 fibers.m-3 (office workers) to 20000 fibers.m-3 (schoolchildren) for organic fibers, and from 600 fibers.m-3 (taxi drivers) to 4000 fibers.m-3 (schoolchildren) for gypsum fibers. For other inorganic fibers the concentrations were around 5000 fibers.m-3. The contribution of fibers with an elemental composition similar to that of man-made vitreous fibers (MMVF) was less than about one-quarter of the content of other inorganic fibers. The fiber size distributions were uniform across the groups, and the organic fibers were the longest and thinnest nonasbestos fibers. CONCLUSIONS Lifetime exposure to fibers can be ranked as organic fibers > other inorganic fibers > fibers with an elemental composition similar to MMVF > MMVF. Information on the biological effects of fibers is difficult to interpret for use in assessing the health risk from exposure to low levels of ubiquitous fibers, and there is a lack of knowledge on the effects of organic fibers.
Joint clustering and alignment for nucleosome occupancy analysis

Several studies show that nucleosome occupancy patterns around transcription starting sites provide evolutionary and regulatory information about genes. However, as transcription starting sites may not accurately reflect physical nucleosome occupancy patterns, clustering of nucleosome occupancy patterns centered at transcription starting sites may give rise to inaccurate and blurred cluster centers, leading to potentially inaccurate conclusions. In this paper, we propose a joint clustering and alignment method and apply it to clustering of nucleosome occupancy patterns around transcription starting sites. The experimental results using the human genome-wide data show that alignment affects the significant majority of genes and leads to more pronounced local nucleosome occupancy patterns.
Excellence in the knowledge-based economy: from scientific to research excellence

ABSTRACT In 2013, the European Union (EU) unveiled its new ‘Composite Indicator for Scientific and Technological Research Excellence’. This is not an isolated occurrence; policy-based interest in excellence is growing all over the world. The heightened focus on excellence and, in particular, attempts to define it through quantitative indicators can have important implications for research policy and for the conduct of research itself. This paper examines how the EU's understanding of excellence has evolved in recent years, from the presentation of the Lisbon strategy in 2000 to the current Europe 2020 strategy. We find a distinct shift in the understanding of excellence and how success in the knowledge-based economy should be achieved: in the early period, excellence is a fuzzy concept, intrinsically embedded in research and researchers and revealed by peer review. In the later period, excellence is more sharply defined and connected with a particular sort of knowledge that which produces breakthroughs; the result is that policy-makers have turned their focus towards directly steering and controlling what is increasingly considered to be the key element for success in the knowledge-based economy. This change is evidenced by the ‘Composite Indicator for Scientific and Technological Research Excellence’, its rationale and its components.
Dealing With Terrorism: Stick Or Carrot?

Emphasising a positive approach to dealing with terrorism (the carrot), this book provides a critique of deterrence policy (the stick) which can be ineffective and even counterproductive, and proposes three alternative and effective anti-terrorist policies: Decentralisation reduces vulnerability to terrorist attacks. A system with many different centres is more stable due to its diversity, enabling one part to substitute for another; Positive incentives can be offered to actual and prospective terrorists not to engage in violent acts. Incentives include: reintegrating terrorists into society, welcoming repentents and offering them valued opportunities; and Diverting attention by naming several terrorist groups potentially responsible for a particular terrorist act. The government thus supplies more information than the terrorist responsible would wish.
Scientific Inquiry in Agricultural Education Teacher Preparation: A Look at Teacher Educators' Perceptions.

The specific objectives of this study were to identify the attitudes of U.S. agricultural education teacher educators toward using scientific inquiry as an instructional method and to determine their level of comfort and awareness with new information and teaching methodologies in science. A mailed survey was sent to all agricultural education teacher preparation institutions in the United States. One-half of the respondents who indicated that they presented scientific inquiry to their pre-service teachers during the methods of teaching course indicated they were very comfortable with teaching technical agriculture content, while one in eight said they were very comfortable with teaching technical science content. A majority of respondents who said they presented scientific inquiry also indicated that they felt comfortable or very comfortable with presenting the scientific inquiry teaching method. Respondents rated themselves less than knowledgeable on “general science content” and “current discoveries in science. ” When asked their opinions of their comfort with various content areas and teaching methodologies 95% of teacher educators responded that they felt very comfortable or comfortable teaching technical agriculture content. Only 68% felt as confident when asked about teaching technical science content.
Efficient encoding of natural optic flow

Statistically efficient processing schemes focus the resources of a signal processing system on the range of statistically probable signals. Relying on the statistical properties of retinal motion signals during ego-motion we propose a nonlinear processing scheme for retinal flow. It maximizes the mutual information between the visual input and its neural representation, and distributes the processing load uniformly over the neural resources. We derive predictions for the receptive fields of motion sensitive neurons in the velocity space. The properties of the receptive fields are tightly connected to their position in the visual field, and to their preferred retinal velocity. The velocity tuning properties show characteristics of properties of neurons in the motion processing pathway of the primate brain.
The Economics of Dairy Anaerobic Digestion with Coproduct Marketing

Increasing national focus on renewable energy has prompted a reappearance of anaerobic digestion technology installations on dairy farms. The focus of this study is on an operational digester in Washington State. Using the first two years of physical and financial data from the operational digester, a base scenario is constructed. The analysis focuses on the impact of developing various coproduct markets on the digestion system's feasibility. The coproduct markets analyzed include electricity, digested fiber, tipping fees, and carbon credits. The results of the economic analysis show that tipping fees and electricity are key revenue sources for the digester. Copyright 2009 Agricultural and Applied Economics Association
Fine structure of the spore sheath of some Streptomyces species.

SUMMARY: The fine structure of the spore sheaths of some Streptomyces species was studied by carbon replication of intact and freeze-etched specimens and by negative staining. Young vegetative hyphae lacked a sheath but developed one before the onset of sporing. Substructures were observed on all sheath material; these differed between species and in sporogenous hyphae at different stages of development. Four components were recognized: hollow or grooved elements; amorphous material; fine fibrillar elements; and subunits of spines and hairs. The interrelationships of the components and the possible roles of the sheath were discussed.
A Multilevel Growth Assessment of the Diffusion of Management Innovation Nested in State Levels: The Case of US Local Economic Development Programs

The practice of local public programs is an interesting topic for the study of the diffusion of management innovation. Based on previous research on the diffusion of innovative policy in state governments, this research employs a panel design to analyse the passage of management innovation related to local economic development programs. Panel data drawn from 1994, 1999, and 2004 USA International City/County Management Association (ICMA) surveys on economic developments of municipal and county governments were used. Using a multilevel growth curve model, the findings indicated that the diffusion of management innovation (e.g., adoption of economic development plans and performance measures) did not spread as expected between and within the localities sampled, even if management innovation has become a widespread practice in federal and state governments. However, our estimates found that the diffusion factors (e.g., internal determinants, learning, and competitiveness) contributed to the adoption of a performance measure and to an economic development plan to retain and attract local businesses and to drive economic growth. Using a panel design (rather than a cross-sectional study) to look at the changes of adoption of management innovation, this research examined the diffusion of policy innovations in local management. State factors are found to have an impact on local practices in the USA.
Heightened Responses to Stressors in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

OBJECTIVES:Several studies suggest that stressful situations (stressors) worsen the course of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but the mechanism is not known. Based on several lines of evidence, we hypothesized that psychosocial stress activates the brain-gut axis (BGA) and mucosal mast cells (MC), and activated MC produce proinflammatory cytokines. To test this hypothesis, we determined whether stressor-induced activation of BGA is exaggerated in IBD patients.METHODS:Stress was induced in 15 IBD patients who were in remission (inactive IBD) and in seven controls by a widely used stressor, the cold pressor test (CPT), daily for five consecutive days. Induction of stress was confirmed objectively by measurement of stress hormones (serum cortisol and ACTH), and hemodynamic parameters and subjectively by questionnaire. Activation of the BGA by this stressor was assessed by evaluating colonic mucosal MC histology and degranulation, using electron microscopy (EM). The effects of the stressor on the intestinal mucosa were assessed by changes in inflammatory cell histology, epithelial mitochondria (EM), and oxidative tissue injury (assays for protein oxidation). RESULTS:In both study groups, the stressor resulted in (1) increased levels of stress hormones, (2) the expected changes in hemodynamic parameters, (3) activation and degranulation of MC, (4) mitochondrial damage to epithelial cells, and (5) mucosal protein oxidation. These changes were more marked in IBD patients.CONCLUSIONS:The heightened response to the stressors and the greater epithelial damage in IBD patients suggests that stress-induced activation of the BGA and of mucosal MC is important in the initiation and/or flare up of IBD.
Foreign Direct Investment in India: Emerging Horizon

It has been more than ten years since India embarked on a bold new policy on economic front. In these fourteen odd years there has been progress in both quantity and the way country attracted FDI. There has been a paradigm shift in the flow of FDI and consequent evolution of the country into a low cost, high-tech, R&D intensive behemoth which can not only sustain R&D-intensive industries but also show significant growth in both quality and quantity. This paper intends to study this qualitative shift in the FDI inflow in India in-depth. It reveals that the country is not only cost-effective but also hot destination for R&D activities. Two models appropriate for the study have been made use of. While Panel Data model gives a holistic view, Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) model gives a more detailed view of the changes taking place in the FDI space in India. Results are in conformity with changes taking place at ground level.
Contribution of rpoB Mutations to Development of Rifamycin Cross-Resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

ABSTRACT The contributions of 23 insertion, deletion, or missense mutations within an 81-bp fragment of rpoB, the gene encoding the β-subunit of the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, to the development of resistance to rifamycins (rifampin, rifabutin, rifapentine, and KRM-1648) in 29 rifampin-resistant clinical isolates were defined. Specific mutantrpoB alleles led to the development of cross-resistance to all rifamycins tested, while a subset of mutations were associated with resistance to rifampin and rifapentine but not to KRM-1648 or rifabutin. To further study the impact of specific rpoBmutant alleles on the development of rifamycin resistance, mutations were incorporated into the rpoB gene of M. tuberculosis H37Rv, contained on a mycobacterial shuttle plasmid, by in vitro mutagenesis. Recombinant M. tuberculosis clones containing plasmids with specific mutations in either codon 531 or 526 of rpoB exhibited high-level resistance to all rifamycins tested, whereas clones containing a plasmid with a mutation in codon 516 exhibited high-level resistance to rifampin and rifapentine but were susceptible to both rifabutin and KRM-1648. These results provided additional proof of the association of specificrpoB mutations with the development of rifamycin resistance and corroborate previous reports of the usefulness of rpoB genotyping for predicting rifamycin-resistant phenotypes.
The Law of One Price in Scandinavian Duty-Free Stores

Many empirical studies have rejected the law of one price. That prices of a good differ across locations has been explained by differences in product attributes and costs of local inputs, transport costs, trade barriers, and that buyers have imperfect information about prices in different locations; see Penelopi K. Goldberg and Michael M. Knetter (1997) for a survey. We examine the law of one price in situations where none of the mentioned reasons for its failure can be invoked. It has also been suggested that deviations from the law of one price are a consequence of rigid nominal prices and that different countries typically have different currencies. We explore whether this can contribute to our understanding of deviations from the law of one price. Our data are taken from three Scandinavian duty-free outlets, where each product (at the same location) has price tags in at least two currencies. Hence, a consumer has the option to choose between several prices for the same identical good. In such a setting there is a strong prior that the law of one price (LOP hereafter) holds well. However, the potential for arbitrage will arise because nominal prices are not continuously adjusted while exchange rates fluctuate daily. Based on standard tests, we reject LOP at all duty-free outlets. Given that LOP does not hold here, it is less surprising that many previous studies have found that prices of similar products at different locations differ significantly. Nevertheless, the main conclusion of the paper is that in this "natural experiment," LOP remains a useful guide to the behavior of relative prices. As deviations become large, nominal prices are adjusted to reduce the deviations from LOP, thereby limiting arbitrage opportunities. The patterns at the duty-free outlets suggest that there is a band of inaction so that "small" deviations from LOP may persist (for almost a decade in one case), but that large deviations quickly lead firms to adjust relative prices. The findings are consistent with costly arbitrage and fixed costs of adjusting nominal prices.
Correlation of Clinical Features With Argyrophilic Grains at Autopsy

Argyrophilic grains (AGs) are a pathologic feature found in association with neurodegenerative disease. Some have suggested that these features may occur as a distinctive condition. We reviewed 80 subjects from our tissue bank with pathologically confirmed AGs and identified their clinical features. We compared these subjects' features to the features of subjects with matched clinical diagnoses but without AGs. Subjects with AGs represented 21.7% of the entire autopsy sample from 1999 to 2005 (80 out of 367). Of Alzheimer disease (AD) subjects, 43 out of 233 had AGs (18.4% of AD subjects); 11 out of 42 Parkinson disease with dementia subjects had AGs (26.1% of Parkinson disease with dementia subjects); 2 out of 9 dementia with Lewy bodies subjects had AGs (22.2% of dementia with Lewy bodies subjects); 4 out of 15 mild cognitive impairment subjects had AGs (26.7% of mild cognitive impairment subjects); and 20 out of 68 cognitively normal subjects had AGs (29.4% of cognitively normal). Subjects with AGs tended to be older but only significantly so in AD. Many comorbid non-neurologic health conditions were seen in cases of AGs without any single predilection emerging. AGs occur in approximately 22% of the entire autopsy cohort and are likely associated with advanced age. No distinctive antemortem clinical features were over represented in the AG cases. AGs can occur with or without neurodegenerative conditions and can occur in the absence of significant cognitive decline. AGs are not clearly associated with any single comorbid health condition.
A heuristic method for module sizing under fixed-outline constraints

In this paper, a heuristic method for module sizing is proposed as a post-processing of the fixed-outline floorplanning. The heuristic method is based on horizontal and vertical slacks of blocks in the floorplan. By evaluating the distances of each block to the chip boundaries, x-slack and y-slack can be calculated. On the one hand, the heuristic focuses on the blocks has non-zero x-slack or non-zero y-slack but not both. These blocks will be first sorted by the amount of x/y-slack. The block having the most slack will be selected and reshaped, it has a potential to reduce the fixed-outline violation. On the other hand, the heuristic makes use of a marked flag for each block. After reshaping the block, the marked flag of the block will be set to 1. The slack of all the blocks will be recomputed and the focused blocks with marked flag 0 are reselected and sorted. If the set of focused blocks with marked flag 0 is empty, the marked flag of all the blocks will be reset to 0 and repeat the previous steps. If the fixed-outline constraint is not satisfied, we will repeat the procedure with defined maximum iteration number. Experimental results show that, the proposed heuristic could efficient achieve highly success rate without sacrificing much wire-length.
“Sell in May and Go Away” Just Won’t Go Away

The authors performed an out-of-sample test of the sell-in-May effect documented in previous research. Reducing equity exposure starting in May and levering it up starting in November persists as a profitable market-timing strategy. On average, stock returns are about 10 percentage points higher for November–April half-year periods than for May–October half-year periods. The authors also found that the sell-in-May effect is pervasive in financial markets. In this study, we performed a comprehensive out-of-sample analysis of a calendar anomaly studied by previous researchers and identified by the adage “Sell in May and go away. ” We found that the adage remains good advice: Reducing equity exposure beginning in May and levering it up beginning in November persists as a profitable market-timing strategy. We found that the sell-in-May effect not only persists but also maintains the same economic magnitude as in the sample of previous researchers. On average across 37 countries, stock returns are roughly 10 percentage points higher for November–April half-year periods than for May–October half-year periods. This out-of-sample persistence indicates that the effect is enduring and not a statistical fluke. We also showed how the sell-in-May effect could have been profitably exploited through low-cost trading strategies using extremely liquid securities. Simple market-timing strategies based on the effect deliver high Sharpe and information ratios. For example, a trading strategy with 0% in stocks in May–October half-year periods and 200% in stocks (spot plus futures) in November–April half-year periods would have a Sharpe ratio 40% larger than that of a buy-and-hold strategy. The annualized information ratio would equal 0.34, placing the sell-in-May market timer in the top quartile of the distribution of active equity mutual fund managers in the United States. We also presented novel evidence consistent with widespread seasonal variation in aggregate risk aversion as the cause of the sell-in-May effect. In addition to its presence in the equity risk premium, as documented by previous researchers, we found an economically large and statistically significant sell-in-May effect in strategies that exploit the size, value, foreign exchange carry trade, equity volatility risk, and credit risk premiums. Because these other trading strategies are outside the realm of typical retail investors, our results indicate that risk aversion seasonality may affect not only retail investors but also professional market participants. Therefore, widespread seasonality in financial markets’ aggregate risk aversion is likely the proximate cause of the sell-in-May effect. To the extent that this seasonality is ultimately irrational, our results suggest that markets may be slower to arbitrage away inefficiencies than previously thought.