Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intergenerational earnings mobility in France : Is France more mobile than the US ?

This paper examines the extent and evolution of intergenerational earnings mobility in France. We use data from five waves of the French Education-Training-Employment (FQP) surveys covering the period 1964 to 1993. Our estimation procedure follows Bjorklund and Jantti (1997)’s two-sample instrumental variable method. On our samples, the elasticity of son’s (respectively daughter’s) long-run income with respect to father’s long run income is around.4 (resp.3) with no significant change over the period under scrutiny. Comparing these estimates to results obtained from other studies suggest that intergenerational mobility is higher in France than in the United States and United Kingdom and lower than in Scandinavian countries.
An analysis of the problems and obstacles to global accounting harmonization

Traces the history of efforts to harmonize global accounting and presents a study analysing obstacles to it, using multidimensional scaling. Illustrates the environmental influences on global accounting, groups 37 factors obstructing harmonization into economic, social, political/legal and cultural groups; and assesses their impact in both developing and industrially developed countries (IDCs). Finds that political, economic and social variables create more difficulties for IDCs, but that cultural factors affect both groups equally. Displays the results graphically, discusses them further and calls for extended research to explore this “great challenge to the accounting profession”.
Indian Ecological Consumer Market Profile

The consumers, today, are becoming increasingly conscious of environmental issues. This has a positive impact on their attitude towards the eco-friendly companies and products. However, the level of environmental consciousness in emerging economies like India is unknown. This study gives an insight into the environment consciousness among the Indian consumers, and profiles the Indian consumer market into four clusters employing a two-step cluster analysis. It characterizes these four clusters for the marketers so as to supplement the makers with valuable inputs so as to target the customers.
Arithmetic versus geometric mean estimators: Setting discount rates for capital budgeting

This paper addresses an issue central to the estimation of discount rates for capital budgeting: should the geometric mean or arithmetic mean of past data be used when estimating the discount rate? the use of the arithmetic mean ignores estimation error and serial correlation in returns. Unbiased discount factors have been derived that correct for both these effects. In all cases, the corrected discount rates are closer to the arithmetic than the geometric mean.
Institutional, social and economic roots of deforestation: a cross-country comparison

The emphasis on pure economic explanations for economic development has recently shifted to cultural, social and institutional factors. An ordinary least squares (OLS) regression equation is used to examine the relationship between deforestation and economic, institutional and social capital variables for 117 countries. Institutional, economic, and social capital variables are significantly related to deforestation, although there is no evidence to support the existence of an environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). While the results cannot be used to discuss any one country specifically, they do provide insight into the general roles of social and institutional factors in deforestation.
Study on Injection Characteristics of Diesel and DME

Dimethyl ether (DME) can be used as a clean high-efficiency compression ignition fuel with reduced NO x , SO x , CO x and particulate matter. The subject of this work is to investigate of the injection characteristics of diesel and DME within the same specifications of injection system. The mathematical model is established for the conventional pump-pipe-nozzle fuel injection system and numerical simulation is conducted to obtain a series of injection characteristics such as injection rate, cumulative mass flow, needle valve lift, SMD, penetration, spray angle under different temperatures. The results show that the injection characteristics of DME are less affected than diesel by temperature and DME has better injection characteristics than diesel. Also, the fuel injection delay and maximum injection rate of DME are shorter and lower than those of diesel at the same injection conditions respectively.
Vehicle detection with a part-based model for complex traffic conditions

In complex urban traffic conditions, occlusion between vehicles is a common problem which is challenging to current vehicle detection methods. In this paper, we have proposed a vehicle detection method based on a part-based model which can deal with the occlusion problem. Our method includes two steps: constructing the part-based model and detecting vehicles from traffic images. In the first step, a vehicle is divided into two parts representing an easily-occluded region around license plate and a commonly-visible region around vehicle window. Each part has low intra-class difference and is modeled by hybrid image template (HIT) with multiple types of feature descriptors in this paper. These two parts constitute our part-based model which is beneficial to vehicle detection with occlusion because the occlusion of one part has no impact on the detection of the other part. In the second step, we detect vehicles from the input image. The detection process first identifies the part candidates by using template matching and then combines the part candidates for detecting vehicles. To test our method, we have done several experiments on complex urban traffic conditions with occlusions. The experimental results show that our method can effectively cope with partial occlusion. Moreover, our method can also adapt in slight vehicle deformation and different weather conditions.
CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND SUBSIDIARITY: THE CASE OF CULTURAL TOURISM IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

1 Many thanks to members of the staff of the Committee for Culture and Education at the European Parliament for agreeing to answer our questions. Many thanks to all the experts interviewed in the context of PICTURE and those that returned a questionnaire. This article has been prepared in the framework of the PICTURE project ‘Pro-active management of the Impact of Cultural Tourism upon Urban Resources and Economies’. The PICTURE project is financed by the European Commission, Sixth Framework Programme of Research, under the theme ‘Policy support and anticipating scientific and technological needs’, Priority 3 ‘Underpinning the economic potential and cohesion of a larger and more integrated European Union’, Topic 3.6. ‘The protection of cultural heritage and associated conservation strategies’. The contract number of the PICTURE project is SSP1-CT-2003-502491.
The Survival of Employee Participation Programs in Unionized Settings

Data from two surveys are analyzed to identify determinants of the survival of participative programs in unionized settings. The first survey responses were collected in 1987 from local union representatives of 86 bargaining units involved in a participation program; the second were collected from 66 of those same representatives, as well as 49 of their management counterparts, three years later. A surprisingly low failure rate of approximately 20–30% was reported. The results indicate that the perspectives of managers and union representatives differed sharply. For example, union representatives, but not managers, often ascribed program failure to poor labor-management relations and concessionary bargaining; and union respondents were considerably more likely than management respondents to perceive a program as defunct.
Cloning, sequencing, and expression of the apa gene coding for the Mycobacterium tuberculosis 45/47-kilodalton secreted antigen complex

Effective protection against a virulent challenge with Mycobacterium tuberculosis is induced mainly by previous immunization with living attenuated mycobacteria, and it has been hypothesized that secreted proteins serve as major targets in the specific immune response. To identify and purify molecules present in culture medium filtrate which are dominant antigens during effective vaccination, a two-step selection procedure was used to select antigens able to interact with T lymphocytes and/or antibodies induced by immunization with living bacteria and to counterselect antigens interacting with the immune effectors induced by immunization with dead bacteria. A Mycobacterium bovis BCG 45/47-kDa antigen complex, present in BCG culture filtrate, has been previously identified and isolated (F. Romain, A. Laqueyrerie, P. Militzer, P. Pescher, P. Chavarot, M. Lagranderie, G. Auregan, M. Gheorghiu, and G. Marchal, Infect. Immun. 61:742-750, 1993). Since the cognate antibodies recognize the very same antigens present in M. tuberculosis culture medium filtrates, a project was undertaken to clone, express, and sequence the corresponding gene of M. tuberculosis. An M. tuberculosis shuttle cosmid library was transferred in Mycobacterium smegmatis and screened with a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect the clones expressing the proteins. A clone containing a 40-kb DNA insert was selected, and by means of subcloning in Escherichia coli, a 2-kb fragment that coded for the molecules was identified. An open reading frame in the 2,061-nucleotide sequence codes for a secreted protein with a consensus signal peptide of 39 amino acids and a predicted molecular mass of 28,779 Da. The gene was referred to as apa because of the high percentages of proline (21.7%) and alanine (19%) in the purified protein. Southern hybridization analysis of digested total genomic DNA from M. tuberculosis (reference strains H37Rv and H37Ra) indicated that the apa gene was present as a single copy on the genome. The N-terminal identity or homology of the M. tuberculosis and M. bovis BCG purified molecules and their similar global and deduced amino acid compositions demonstrated the perfect correspondence between the molecular and chemical analyses. The presence of a high percentage of proline (21.7%) was confirmed and explained the apparent higher molecular mass (45/47 kDa) determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis resulting from the increased rigidity of molecules due to proline residues. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Pensions, Social Security, Wealth and Lifetime Earnings: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study

Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we calculate the relationship between socio-economic status and a utility based measure of annuity value. We find considerable variation between groups once we take account of not only socio-economic differences in mortality, but also pre-annuitized wealth and longevity risk pooling in marriage. Using HRS data on subjective survival probabilities, we then construct a subjective life table for each individual in the HRS. We show that these tables vary appropriately between groups and aggregate closely to group level averages. We calculate the value each household would place on annuitization, based on the husband and wife's subjective life tables, and the household's degree of risk-aversion and proportion of pre-annuitized wealth. A significant minority would perceive themselves as suffering a net loss from mandatory annuitization.
Investigation of solar thermal power technology

The increasing cost of fossil fuel and crisis of energy has led the world in a quest for exploiting the free and naturally available energy from the sun to produce electric power. This paper summarizes the development situation of the solar thermal electric technology with description and comparison for three prevalent power generation methods: parabolic trough, parabolic dish-engine, and solar power. A 10 kW parabolic trough design scheme is proposed for potential development practically.
Performances and spending efficiency in higher education: a European comparison through non‐parametric approaches

The objective of this paper is an efficiency analysis concerning higher education systems in European countries. Data have been extracted from OECD data‐sets (Education at a Glance, several years), using a non‐parametric technique – data envelopment analysis – to calculate efficiency scores. This paper represents the first attempt to conduct such an efficiency analysis at a system‐level in a cross‐country comparison, while focusing only on tertiary education. The role of the public sector has also been analysed, by looking at the percentage of public spending devoted to higher education, and the way the public funds are used (channelled through private subsidies or directly assigned to institutions). It has been found that there is a small core of efficient units (e.g. Switzerland, United Kingdom), and that the influence of the public sector seems to play a role in determining efficiency scores. Many elements, related to critical policies, have also been analysed adopting a semi‐parametric approach, to better explain the performances and efficiency differentials. Some key‐policy implications have been derived.
Flattened Inflation-Output Tradeoff and Enhanced Anti-Inflation Policy: Outcome of Globalization?

The paper provides a unified analysis of globalization effects on the Phillips curve and monetary policy, in a New-Keynesian framework. The main proposition of the paper is twofold. Labor, goods, and capital mobility flatten the tradeoff between inflation and activity. If policy makers are guided by the welfare criterion of the representative household, globalization forces also lead monetary policy to be more aggressive with regard to inflation fluctuations but, at the same time, more benign with respect to the output-gap fluctuations.
TGF-&bgr;1 RNA Interference in Mouse Primary Dura Cell Culture: Downstream Effects on TGF Receptors, FGF-2, and FGF-R1 mRNA Levels

Background: Transforming growth factor (TGF)-&bgr;1 and fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2 have both been shown to have significant roles in the regulation of murine calvarial suture fusion. Methods to decrease gene expression of these cytokines and their respective receptors have been established, but because of side effects, clinical applications are limited. In this study, the authors examined the effect of TGF-&bgr;1–specific small interfering RNA (siRNA) on the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of TGF-&bgr;1, its TGF-&bgr;R1 and TGF-&bgr;R2 receptors, and FGF-2 and its R1 receptor in murine dura cells. Methods: A primary dura cell line was established from CD-1 mice. Transfection efficiency using Lipofectamine was determined using BLOCKiT. Dura cells were transfected with serial concentrations of TGF-&bgr;1 siRNA to determine the optimal dose. In subsequent experiments, cells were transfected with 16 nM TGF-&bgr;1 siRNA and harvested on posttransfection days 4, 7, 10, and 14 for RNA isolation and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results: Optimal inhibition of TGF-&bgr;1 mRNA expression was achieved at 16 nM siRNA. On posttransfection day 4, TGF-&bgr;1 mRNA levels were significantly decreased but returned to baseline by day 14. TGF-&bgr;R1 mRNA expression remained unaffected by transfection throughout the time course. However, TGF-&bgr;R2, FGF-2, and FGF-R1 demonstrated significant inhibition of mRNA expression on posttransfection day 4. Conclusions: These results indicate that TGF-&bgr;1 siRNA has the potential to alter the murine dura cytokines responsible for suture fusion in vitro. Manipulating underlying cranial suture biology with siRNA technology may ultimately allow control over suture fusion. This intervention may ultimately function as an effective adjunct to surgical intervention for craniosynostosis.
A peptide antagonist of Prep1-p160 interaction improves ceramide-induced insulin resistance in skeletal muscle cells

Prep1 is a homeodomain transcription factor belonging to the TALE protein family. Its overexpression affects glucose metabolism in several tissues. In particular, in skeletal muscle tissue the interaction of Prep1 with its cofactor p160 impairs GLUT4 expression and glucose uptake. In this study, we show that ceramides (C2cer), a class of lipids antagonizing insulin signalling, increase the levels of Prep1 and p160 in a dose and time-dependent fashion in L6 cells and induce their association by 80%. We find that C2cer exposure inhibits insulin receptor, IRS1 and Akt phosphorylation and reduces insulin-stimulated glycogen content and glucose uptake by 1.3- and 2.1-fold, respectively. The synthetic Prep1(54-72) peptide, mimicking the Prep1 region involved in the interaction with p160, reduces in vitro Prep1-p160 binding in a dose-dependent way (IC50 = 0.20μM). In C2cer-treated L6 cells, 10μM Prep1(54-72) restores insulin signalling impaired by ceramide treatment. Prep1 overexpressing L6 cells display similar metabolic alterations observed in ceramide-treated L6 cells and the presence of Prep1(54-72) mitigates these events. All these findings suggest that disruption of the Prep1/p160 molecular interaction enhances insulin sensitivity impaired by ceramides in skeletal muscle cells and indicate this complex as an important target for type 2 diabetes.
Towards a governance of sustainable consumption transitions: how institutional factors influence emerging local food systems in Belgium

System innovations and transitions in the realm of sustainable consumption policies will seldom emerge automatically from the present socio-political and socio-technical contexts. This paper explores a set of perspectives related to the governance of transitions and develops their application to the relatively unexplored governance of sustainable consumption transitions. Empirical material stems from an extensive case study which analyses a food consumption niche in the form of collectively organised local food systems (LFS) in Belgium. More specifically, we analyse and discuss the institutional contexts and socio-political configurations within which the investigated system innovation cases are embedded. The results explore the role of governmental interplay in fostering innovative consumption practices for a transition towards a more sustainable, autonomous, citizen-based, LFS.
Purification and characterization of cytosolic aconitase from beef liver and its relationship to the iron-responsive element binding protein

In recent reports attention has been drawn to the extensive amino acid homology between pig heart, yeast, and Escherichia cofi aconitases (EC 4.2.1.3) and the iron-responsive element binding protein (IRE-BP) of ma cells [Rouault, Biochem. 204, 599-609]. Iron-responsive elements (IREs) are stem-loop structures located in the untranslated regions of mRNAs. IRE-BP is required in the posttranscriptional regu-lation of ferritin mRNA translation and stabilization of transferrin receptor mRNA. In spite of substantial homology between the amino acid sequences of mammalian mitochondrial aconitase and IRE-BP, the mitochondrial protein does not bind IREs. However, there is a second aconitase, found only in the cytosol of tissues, that might serve as an IRE-BP. To test this possibility, we have prepared sufficient quantities of the heretofore poorly characterized beef liver cytosolic aconitase. This enzyme is isolated largely
This item is the archived peer-reviewed author-version of: Distributed low-cost microphone array for 3D localization for bio-acoustic applications

—In this paper we present a multi-scale microphone array aimed at 3D source localization, with applications in bioacoustic animal tracking. We propose a hardware architecture for wirelessly synchronized sensor nodes consisting of small 5-element microphone arrays. Using this distributed sensor array we set up a probabilistic source localization problem, which we subsequently demonstrate to be able to estimate the position of a bat-like sound source in three dimensions. The proposed hardware architecture allows scalable source localization in a wide variety of application domains
A survey on software methods to improve the energy efficiency of parallel computing

Energy consumption is one of the top challenges for achieving the next generation of supercomputing. Codesign of hardware and software is critical for improving energy efficiency (EE) for future large-scale systems. Many architectural power-saving techniques have been developed, and most hardware components are approaching physical limits. Accordingly, parallel computing software, including both applications and systems, should exploit power-saving hardware innovations and manage efficient energy use. In addition, new power-aware parallel computing methods are essential to decrease energy usage further. This article surveys software-based methods that aim to improve EE for parallel computing. It reviews the methods that exploit the characteristics of parallel scientific applications, including load imbalance and mixed precision of floating-point (FP) calculations, to improve EE. In addition, this article summarizes widely used methods to improve power usage at different granularities, such as the whole system and per application. In particular, it describes the most important techniques to measure and to achieve energy-efficient usage of various parallel computing facilities, including processors, memories, and networks. Overall, this article reviews the state-of-the-art of energy-efficient methods for parallel computing to motivate researchers to achieve optimal parallel computing under a power budget constraint.
Social transmission of nectar-robbing behaviour in bumble-bees

Social transmission of acquired foraging techniques is rarely considered outside of a vertebrate context. Here, however, we show that nectar robbing by bumble-bees (Bombus terrestris)—an invertebrate behaviour of considerable ecological significance—has the potential to spread through a population at the accelerated rates typical of social transmission. Nectar robbing occurs when individuals either bite through the base of a flower to ‘steal’ nectar (primary robbing) or use robbing holes that others have made (secondary robbing). We found that experience of foraging from robbed flowers significantly promoted the development of primary robbing in previously legitimate foragers, thus implying that the acquisition of nectar robbing by one individual will facilitate its adoption in others. Our findings suggest that the positive feedback effects of social transmission may potentially play an ecologically important role in the relationship between plants and pollinators.
Quantifying amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta) aggregation using the Congo red-Abeta (CR-abeta) spectrophotometric assay.

Congo red (CR) is a histologic dye that binds to many amyloid proteins because of their extensive beta-sheet structure. The absorbance spectrum of the dye changes upon binding to amyloid. This spectral change has previously been exploited to develop a method to study the interaction of CR with fibrillar beta-sheet insulin fibrils, a model amyloid protein. The amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta) is an amyloid protein which is deposited in the brains of Alzheimer's disease victims. Abeta is toxic to neurons in vitro in a manner that is highly dependent on the assembly of this peptide into beta-sheet fibrils. The CR-insulin assay has been applied as a means of studying the aggregation of Abeta, despite the fact that the CR-insulin procedure was never adequately developed for this purpose. In this study, we modify our original CR-insulin assay specifically for the purpose of quantifying Abeta aggregation and discuss the reasons why application of the CR-insulin method is not valid for this purpose. The CR-Abeta method is equally simple and retains the advantages of speed and lack of necessity for specialized instrumentation or expensive/radioactive reagents. Furthermore, this method can directly provide quantitation of aggregated Abeta in absolute terms (i.e., microg/ml).