Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of a triallelic serotonin transporter gene promoter region (5-HTTLPR) polymorphism with stressful life events and severity of depression.

OBJECTIVE The lower expressing allele of the serotonin transporter gene 5' promoter region (5-HTTLPR) polymorphism is reported to be associated with susceptibility to depression and suicidality in response to stressful life events. The authors examined the relationship of a triallelic 5-HTTLPR polymorphism to stressful life events, severity of major depression, and suicidality. METHOD Mood disorder subjects (N=191) and healthy volunteers (N=125), all Caucasian subjects of European origin, were genotyped for the triallelic 5-HTTLPR polymorphism (higher expressing allele: L(A); lower expressing alleles: L(G), S). All subjects underwent structured clinical interviews to determine DSM-IV diagnoses, ratings of psychopathology, stressful life events, developmental history, and suicidal behavior. CSF 5-HIAA was assayed in a subgroup of subjects. RESULTS Lower expressing alleles independently predicted greater depression severity and predicted greater severity of major depression with moderate to severe life events compared with the higher expressing L(A) allele. No associations with suicidal behavior and CSF 5-HIAA were found. CONCLUSIONS Lower expressing transporter alleles, directly and by increasing the impact of stressful life events on severity, explain 31% of the variance in major depression severity. The biological phenotype responsible for these effects remains to be elucidated.
The Greek Hyperinflation and Stabilization of 1943–1946: A Comment on Makinen

In a recent article in this JOURNAL (Sept. 1986, pp. 795-806) Gail Makinen contended that "the Greek hyperinflation started during the Axis occupation and was the result of an excessive reliance by the puppet government on the inflation tax. The Greek government undertook three stabilization efforts spread over eighteen months before price level stability was achieved. The final effort involved fiscal reform and the creation of an independent supracentral bank. " The purpose of this comment is to point out that his conclusions about the Greek hyperinflation and stabilization programs are questionable, and to a lesser extent factually incorrect. In tracing the origins of hyperinflation, Makinen asserts not only that "the Greek hyperinflation . was the result of an excessive reliance by the puppet government on the inflation tax," but also that "the Greek puppet government by choice or necessity did not tax to cover its expenditures. " On the contrary, from the beginning of the country's occupation by the Axis forces, the Greek government, faced with declining public revenues, attempted to maintain a strong fiscal stance by imposing higher consumption taxes and lowering tax exemptions. Concurrently, it imposed taxes on farmers, to be paid in money or in kind. ' Nevertheless these tax measures proved ineffective. They were strongly resisted by the general population because most Greeks realized that much of any additional government revenues would simply pay the expenses of the enemy occupation forces. Makinen then says that the first stabilization program, of November 11, 1944, was hastily conceived. I submit that failure did not result from its being "prepared . in haste," but was brought about by the strong opposition that surfaced six days before the first stabilization program on the part of the Swedes and the Americans with regard to the Greek government's proposal to sell war relief supplies in order to raise revenues. Acting on behalf of the International Red Cross, the Swedes would not consent to relief supplies being sold at predetermined prices. This greatly contributed to the failure of the first stabilization program.2 Makinen constructs real balances by dividing the volume of notes in circulation by the market price of the gold sovereign. This price index is inappropriate in this case since it was strongly influenced by government policies. The central bank actively intervened in the gold market from November 1944 to August 1945; its draconian open-market operations in gold sovereigns prevented the market price of the gold sovereign from reflecting the general price level accurately.3 Nevertheless, Makinen assumes that the price of gold sovereigns moves in tandem with the cost of living, suggesting that these two variables are highly correlated. In order to test the assumption, I ran a regression
Transcriptional response of Arabidopsis seedlings during spaceflight reveals peroxidase and cell wall remodeling genes associated with root hair development.

UNLABELLED • PREMISE OF THE STUDY Plants will be an important component of advanced life support systems during space exploration missions. Therefore, understanding their biology in the spacecraft environment will be essential before they can be used for such systems. • METHODS Seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana were grown for 2 wk in the Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC) hardware on board the second to the last mission of the space shuttle Discovery (STS-131). Transcript profiles between ground controls and space-grown seedlings were compared using stringent selection criteria. • KEY RESULTS Expression of transcripts associated with oxidative stress and cell wall remodeling was repressed in microgravity. These downregulated genes were previously shown to be enriched in root hairs consistent with seedling phenotypes observed in space. Mutations in genes that were downregulated in microgravity, including two uncharacterized root hair-expressed class III peroxidase genes (PRX44 and PRX57), led to defective polar root hair growth on Earth. PRX44 and PRX57 mutants had ruptured root hairs, which is a typical phenotype of tip-growing cells with defective cell walls and those subjected to stress. • CONCLUSIONS Long-term exposure to microgravity negatively impacts tip growth by repressing expression of genes essential for normal root hair development. Whereas changes in peroxidase gene expression leading to reduced root hair growth in space are actin-independent, root hair development modulated by phosphoinositides could be dependent on the actin cytoskeleton. These results have profound implications for plant adaptation to microgravity given the importance of tip growing cells such as root hairs for efficient nutrient capture.
Noninvasive staging of non-small cell lung cancer: a review of the current evidence.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To determine the test performance characteristics of CT scanning, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, MRI, and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) for staging the mediastinum, and to evaluate the accuracy of the clinical evaluation (ie, symptoms, physical findings, or routine blood test results) for predicting metastatic disease in patients in whom non-small cell lung cancer or small cell lung cancer is diagnosed. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Systematic searches of MEDLINE, HealthStar, and Cochrane Library databases to July 2001, and of print bibliographies. Studies evaluating the staging results of CT scanning, PET scanning, MRI, or EUS, with either tissue histologic confirmation or long-term clinical follow-up, were included. The performance of the clinical evaluation was compared against the results of brain and abdominal CT scans and radionuclide bone scans. MEASUREMENT AND RESULTS Pooled sensitivities and specificities for staging the mediastinum were as follows: for CT scanning: sensitivity, 0.57 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49 to 0.66); specificity, 0.82 (95% CI, 0.77 to 0.86); for PET scanning: sensitivity, 0.84 (95% CI, 0.78 to 0.89); specificity, 0.89 (95% CI, 0.83 to 0.93); and for EUS: sensitivity, 0.78 (95% CI, 0.61 to 0.89); specificity, 0.71 (95% CI, 0.56 to 0.82). For the evaluation of brain metastases, the summary estimate of the negative predictive value (NPV) of the clinical neurologic evaluation was 0.94 (95% CI, 0.91 to 0.96). For detecting adrenal and/or liver metastases, the summary NPV of the clinical evaluation was 0.95 (95% CI, 0.93 to 0.96), and for detecting bone metastases, it was 0.90 (95% CI, 0.86 to 0.93). CONCLUSIONS PET scanning is more accurate than CT scanning or EUS for detecting mediastinal metastases. The NPVs of the clinical evaluations for brain, abdominal, and bone metastases are > or = 90%, suggesting that routinely imaging asymptomatic lung cancer patients may not be necessary. However, more definitive prospective studies that better define the patient population and improved reference standards are necessary to more accurately assess the true NPV of the clinical evaluation.
Inside China's "Growth Miracle:" A Structural Framework of Firm Concentration, Innovation and Performance with Policy Distortions

Author(s): Howell, Anthony | Advisor(s): Fan, Cindy | Abstract: Since the first economic reforms were enacted in 1978, China experienced double digit growth for over three decades leading it to become the second largest economy by 2010. What accounts for China's unparalleled economic growth in a relatively short time period? To provide new insights into the unique dimensions of China's spectacular growth "miracle", this dissertation relies on a set of micro-economic analyses into the changing firm, industrial and regional dynamics underway in China. Drawing from theories emanating from the innovation, economic geography and public policy literatures, a key aspect of this research empirically estimates the direct and cross-scalar interaction effects of firm-level characteristics, industrial agglomeration and the policy environment on firm performance. Using detailed firm-level data, the heterogeneous short- and long-run impacts of policy-induced economic distortions are respectively evaluated within three separate relationships to firm performance: (1) innovation; (2) agglomeration; and (3) a geo-economic innovation framework. The results produced in this dissertation highlight the importance of institution building, coinciding along with the need to reduce the role of state intervention in the market. Building a solid institutional environment reduces the high risks associated with pursuing innovation and will help facilitate the transfer of tacit knowledge leading to positive externalities, thereby reducing firm dependency on state protectionism, and spurring firm competitiveness.
Free Trade Agreements in the Americas: Are the Trade Effects Larger than Anticipated?

This paper argues that the 'competitive liberalisation' of national governments of the past several decades reflects national governments' expectations of larger trade impacts from regional economic integration agreements (EIAs) than typical ex ante economic models have suggested. Moreover, we show that previous (typically cross-section) ex post empirical evaluations of the effects of EIAs on trade have seriously over- or underestimated the effects, partly due to ignoring the (endogenous) self-selection bias of country pairs into EIAs. Accounting for this bias, we find that economic integration agreements in the Americas have had much larger impacts on trade over the period 1960-2000 than previously found and the ex post estimates are less fragile than those in earlier cross-section analyses. The results shed further light on understanding the causes and consequences of the growth of regionalism in the world. Copyright 2007 The Authors Journal compilation 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd .
Unified Unit Commitment Formulation and Fast Multi-Service LP Model for Flexibility Evaluation in Sustainable Power Systems

Classical unit commitment (UC) algorithms may be extremely time-consuming when applied to large systems and for long-term simulations (for instance, a year) and may not consider all the features required for flexibility assessment, including analysis of different reserve types. In this light, this paper presents a novel flexibility-oriented unified formulation of a large-scale scheduling model considering multiple types of plants (including storage) and reserves, which can seamlessly model binary (BUC), mixed integer linear programming (MILP), and relaxed linear programming (LP) UC. Comparisons are carried out on several case studies for a reduced model of Great Britain, assessing loss of accuracy (as measured according to various metrics specifically introduced) against computational benefits in different renewables scenarios with more or less flexible systems. It is demonstrated how the computational time of the LP model is significantly less than the BUC and MILP approaches while capturing with relatively high precision all the relevant flexibility requirements and allocation of multiple types of reserves to different types of plants. The results indicate that the proposed fast LP model could be suitable for various computationally intensive flexibility studies (e.g., Monte Carlo simulations or planning), with significant reduction in simulation time and only minor errors relative to established MILP models.
Why Free Markets Should Not Be Blamed for the Current Recession

Interventionist thinkers are now claiming intellectual victory, blaming the free-market system and its ideology for the current economic collapse. We find this thesis untenable, drawing on the Austrian Business Cycle Theory. Instead, we argue that the roots of our present downturn lie in the monetary system, whose institutional structure is far from any free-market ideal. Moreover, several government policies have contributed to the problems.
Phillips Curves and the measurement of disinflation costs: Traditional vs. New Keynesian perspectives

The sacrifice ratio for the US economy during 1974-2008 is calculated in this study. The latter is derived from estimated Phillips Curves. Two different specifications are employed, i.e. New Keynesian and traditional ones. We investigate the stability of the relationship using rolling and recursive windows. The presence of nonlinearity is examined using STR models and asymmetry through quantile regressions. We extend the exiting literature in two ways; by getting an estimate of the cost of disinflation from rival specifications and by examining the issues of nonlinearity, instability and asymmetry. Although both types of Phillips Curve produce quantitatively similar results, the New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) outperforms the traditional one.
Sex ratio at birth and latitude

Editor,—Grech et al 1 report that sex ratio (proportion male) at birth declines highly significantly with increase in geographical latitude in Europe. They wonder if this is an effect of temperature variation. This may be so, but I suggest that variations in maternal hormone levels are a proximate cause. The reason for suggesting this is as follows. …
Oligarchic Capitalism and Financial Development

In most countries, large corporations are controlled by a few very wealthy individuals or families. However, whether a large concentration of control over major assets leads to poor financial development remains an open question. In this article, we present a political economy model of financial development in countries characterized by a pattern of oligarchic capitalism. We consider an entrepreneur's decision to go public in such an environment, an oligarch's decision to make additional investments and to lobby, and the market equilibrium. The model predicts that a large concentration of control over major corporations might be conducive to weak investor protection, resulting in the low capitalization of firms, few initial public offerings, and low dividends paid by a typical firm. It also sheds light on capital structure decisions made by firms in oligarchic countries. We illustrate the model using examples from several countries.
MED12, the Mediator Complex Subunit 12 Gene, Is Mutated at High Frequency in Uterine Leiomyomas

Uterine fibroids frequently harbor mutations in a specific gene that has been implicated in transcriptional regulation. Uterine leiomyomas, or fibroids, are benign tumors that affect millions of women worldwide and that can cause considerable morbidity. To study the genetic basis of this tumor type, we examined 18 uterine leiomyomas derived from 17 different patients by exome sequencing and identified tumor-specific mutations in the mediator complex subunit 12 (MED12) gene in 10. Through analysis of 207 additional tumors, we determined that MED12 is altered in 70% (159 of 225) of tumors from a total of 80 patients. The Mediator complex is a 26-subunit transcriptional regulator that bridges DNA regulatory sequences to the RNA polymerase II initiation complex. All mutations resided in exon 2, suggesting that aberrant function of this region of MED12 contributes to tumorigenesis.
PRELIMINARY DRAFT

Toll Facilities (Tollways): A toll road or turnpike is a highway that requires toll collections from all drivers (usually with the exception of emergency vehicles). Typically, those tolls are used to support operations and maintenance, as well as to pay debt service on the bonds issued to finance the toll facility. Tolls may be collected at a flat rate at toll plazas, or based on distance traveled using tickets, electronic transponders, or video recording of license plates. Many existing, traditional toll roads are converting to some form of electronic toll collection, and most new toll projects incorporate the option to pay electronically.
O uso de dados de alta freqüência na estimação da volatilidade e do valor em risco para o IBOVESPA

This paper investigates the use of high frequency data in the estimation of daily and intradaily volatility, in order to compute value at risk (VaR) forecasts for the IBOVESPA. GARCH models and deterministic methods for the filtering of seasonal patterns have been used in the computation of intraday volatility and VaR forecasts. For daily VaR two simple methods seek to extract the volatility information conveyed by the high frequency data. The first method is based on the sample standard deviation with a moving window, while the second is based on exponencially wheighted moving average. Both methods tested presented good performance. For intraday VaR the results indicate that the filtering of the seasonal pattern is a fundamental step in obtaining useful forecasts of volatility and VaR.
Packing dimension results for anisotropic Gaussian random fields

Let $X=\{X(t), t \in \R^N\}$ be a Gaussian random field with values in $\R^d$ defined by $$X(t) = \big(X_1(t), \ldots, X_d(t)\big), \qquad \forall \ t \in \R^N, $$ where $X_1, \ldots, X_d$ are independent copies of a centered real-valued Gaussian random field $X_0$. We consider the case when $X_0$ is anisotropic and study the packing dimension of the range $X(E)$, where $E\subseteq \R^N$ is a Borel set. For this purpose we extend the original notion of packing dimension profile due to Falconer and Howroyd (1997) to the anisotropic metric space $(\R^N, \rho)$, where $\rho(s, t) = \sum_{j=1}^N |s_j - t_j|^{H_j}$ and $(H_1, \ldots, H_N) \in (0, 1)^N$ is a given vector. The extended notion of packing dimension profile is of independent interest.
Broad-band U-slot rectangular patch antenna on a microwave substrate using a novel feeding technique

A broad-band U-slotted rectangular patch antenna printed on a microwave substrate is investigated. The dielectric constant of the substrate is 2.2. The antenna is fed through via-hole connecting between patch antenna and feeding line at a lower microwave substrate with dielectric constant equal to 3. The characteristics of the U-slotted patch antenna are analyzed by the method of moments (MoM). The results show maximum impedance bandwidth of more than 20% of centered frequency around 17.25 GHz, with good pattern characteristics.
Profiling the Nature-Based Tourist: A Multinomial Logit Approach

Nature-based tourism, also known as ecotourism and green tourism, is a rapidly expanding area in the U.S. tourism travel sector. States with a well-established urban-based tourism industry, such as Louisiana, may have expansion opportuni ties through development of complementary nature-based tourism. This study used a multinomial logit analysis and a primary data sample of 1,579 individuals to evaluate deci sions to participate in Louisiana tourism (including nature- based tourism). This research presents an economic frame work for simultaneously evaluating multiple travel choices and empirically identifies factors, including psychographic, that appear to influence Louisiana tourists' decision to par ticipate in nature-based tourism. Empirical results support the hypotheses that upper-income ecotourists do not select Louisiana as a green tourism destination, while family size and proximity to Louisiana positively influence the decision to participate in Louisiana ecotourism. As hypothesized, en vironmental attitudes also influence tourism decisions.
Time Perception in Children with ADHD: The Effects of Task Modality and Duration

The purpose of the current study was to examine the performance of children with and without ADHD in time reproduction tasks involving varying durations and modalities. Twenty children with ADHD and 20 healthy controls completed time reproduction tasks in three modalities (auditory, visual, and a unique combined auditory/visual condition) and six durations (1 second, 4 seconds, 12 seconds, 24 seconds, 48 seconds, and 60 seconds). Consistent with our predictions, we found main effects of group (participants with ADHD were significantly less accurate than those without ADHD), duration (accuracy decreased as temporal duration increased), and modality (responses in the combined condition were more accurate than those in the auditory condition, which in turn were more accurate than those in the visual condition). Furthermore, predicted interactions between group and duration (the discrepancy in performance between the two groups grew as temporal duration increased), and group and modality (the modality effect was of greater for participants with ADHD) were supported. A marginal, nonsignificant interaction between group, modality, and duration was also found. These findings are discussed in relation to current theory on the nature of cognitive deficits evident in individuals with ADHD, and methodological limitations are noted.
Presenteeism and burnout among teachers in public and private Portuguese elementary schools

This research aims to study the possible relation between presenteeism and burnout in the public and private education sector. Presenteeism – a groundbreaking concept in organizational behaviour literature – refers to productivity losses that occur when employees come to work but under-perform due to physical and psychological causes. Next, we further clarified the burnout criterion with three groups of predictors: personal, contextual and presenteeism. Results from a sample of 281 elementary school teachers from private and public institutions revealed that personal and contextual characteristics as well as presenteeism were predictive of teacher burnout. We also found that public school teachers exhibited higher levels of both presenteeism and burnout. Finally, the implications of these results are discussed and directions for future research in the field are provided.
Revitalizing privatized Russian enterprises

Executive Overview Managers and directors of privatized Russian enterprises face enormous challenges in revitalizing their businesses to compete in both the domestic and global economies. Managers from more than 300 privatized enterprises in six major industrial regions in Russia were surveyed about the market orientation plans they developed and established to effect the transition and to survive as enterprises. Survivors must then pursue new strategies for revitalization. Foreign investors, similarly, must examine the assets and liabilities of entering the Russian market. Although wholly-owned new ventures and acquisitions have merit under certain circumstances, joint ventures and strategic alliances with Russian partners appear to be the strategy that most fits the current situation for industrial firms.