Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
'Price Levels and Economic Growth: Making Sense of Revisions to Data on Real Incomes': A Comment

In his recent paper, Ravallion (2013) proposes a new method to predict changes in purchasing power parities (PPPs), arguing that a model that includes economic growth and exchange rate movements is superior to the standard approach of using inflation differences. In this comment, I argue that his test is wrong and I show that with a correct specification of the test, there is no robust and stable relationship between changes in PPPs and economic growth while the usefulness of the standard approach is confirmed. I also suggest an approach that could be more helpful to understand changes in PPPs.
Polyphonic Music Retrieval by Local Edition of Quotiented Sequences

Melody is an important property for the perceptual description of Western musical pieces. A lot of applications rely on the comparison of two melodies. Several existing techniques assume a monophonic context or extracts a monophonic melody from polyphonic pieces. In this paper, we evaluate the contribution of a method which considers a polyphonic context. We propose an algorithm that computes a similarity measure between polyphonic musical sequences. All the notes are taken into account, even if they sound at the same time. Melodies are represented by quotiented sequences. A quotiented sequence is a sequence graph defined with an additional equivalent relation on its vertices and such that the quotient graph is also a sequence graph. The core of the method relies on an adaptation of edit-distance metrics, regularly applied in bioinformatic context. These methods are currently being used to evaluate the similarity between a monophonic query and a database of polyphonic musical pieces. First experiments show that the adaptation to polyphony does not degrade the quality of the algorithm with monophonic musical pieces. Furthermore, the results of experiments with polyphonic pieces are promising, even if they show some limitations.
Monetary Policy Actions and Agricultural Sector Outcomes: Empirical Evidence from South Africa

This study looks at the impact of monetary policy on South African agriculture, making use of the linkages that exist between interest rates, the macroeconomic environment and the agricultural sector. Utilising yearly data from 1970 to 2011, this study empirically investigates the impact of monetary policy on agricultural gross domestic product in South Africa using Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The study finds that inflationary shocks and the money market rate have an enormous negative impact on the performance of the Agricultural GDP whilst the manufacturing index and the stock market help to improve the agricultural GDP. A unit increase in money market rate results in a decrease in the Agricultural GDP by approximately 0.021 percentage points. The study concludes that it is imperative for South Africa’s monetary policy authorities’ and agricultural sector policy makers as well participants to consider carefully the interaction between the macroeconomic environment, agricultural sector and stock prices. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014. v5n1p613
Insulin‐like growth factor‐I and binding protein‐3 in relation to childhood leukaemia

The aetiology of most cases of childhood leukaemia remains unknown, but several studies have indicated that increased birthweight and height are risk factors for the disease. Since insulin‐like growth factor‐I (IGF‐I) mediates the effect of growth hormone and has been positively associated with prostate cancer, we have evaluated the role of this hormone and its principal binding protein, IGFBP‐3, in the aetiology of childhood leukaemia. Incident cases of childhood leukaemia from those recorded by a national network of childhood oncologists were enrolled in our study. Controls were children hospitalised for acute conditions of no more than moderate severity with matching for gender, age and maternal place of residence. Blood measurements of IGF‐I and IGFBP‐3 were undertaken using commercially available radioimmunoassays. Serum IGF‐I values decreased by about 1.7% per month, and the rate of decline was higher, though not significantly so, among cases (2.1% per month) than among controls (1.4%). There was no significant association between IGF‐I and the likelihood of childhood leukaemia, but an increment of 1 μg/ml of IGFBP‐3 was associated with a substantial and statistically significant reduction of childhood leukaemia by 28% (95% confidence interval 7% to 45%). Because IGFBP‐3 is essentially a binding protein, we interpret our findings as indicating that bioavailable IGF‐I may play an important role in the aetiology of childhood leukaemia. The much smaller quantities and the inherent instability of IGF‐I in the blood in comparison to those of IGFBP‐3 are likely to hinder documentation of an underlying positive association of IGF‐I with the disease. Int. J. Cancer80:494–496, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
High Cut-off Point Membranes in Septic Acute Renal Failure: A Systematic Review

Objectives To review the literature on the experimental, physiological and clinical effects of blood purification with high cut-off (HCO) point membranes in septic acute renal failure (ARF). Study Design MEDLINE and PubMed database search combining relevant terms and integrating data from studies on the use of HCO membranes. Setting and Population Ex vivo studies of endotoxemia, animal studies of bacteremia and clinical studies using HCO membranes in patients with septic ARF. Selection Criteria for Studies: Original data from primary publications. Interventions: HCO membrane-based hemodialysis, hemodiafiltration or hemofiltration. Outcomes: Plasma cytokine clearance, immunological and physiological effects and safety parameters of HCO membranes. Results HCO membranes effectively remove cytokines from blood. Treatment using HCO membranes has beneficial effects on immune cell function and increases survival in animal models of sepsis. Preliminary clinical studies show that HCO membranes decrease plasma cytokine levels and the need for vasopressor therapy. HCO membrane-based blood purification has now been applied in four pilot randomized controlled studies of 70 patients with septic ARF with no reports of serious adverse effects. Limitations Because of substantial heterogeneity, no formal quantitative analysis could be performed. Conclusions The available evidence on HCO blood purification justifies larger randomized controlled trials in patients with septic ARF.
Where Did National Hockey League Fans Go During the 2004-2005 Lockout? An Analysis of Economic Competition between Leagues

Identifying and evaluating competitors is a critical aspect of operating a sport organisation. However, North American sports franchises have a limited understanding of competitors in their geographic market – particularly when calculating the degree of competition from other sport teams. Increasing the understanding of local sport competitors, whether in the same or different professional leagues, is critical not only to future franchise operations, but also for potential litigation concerning relevant product markets. This article utilises a natural experiment involving the National Hockey League’s (NHL) 2004-2005 lockout to assess the competitiveness of the NHL with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and four minor hockey leagues. On average, the five potential competitor leagues attained a 2% increase in demand, all else equal, during the lockout period. For the NBA this translates into more than US$1 million per team in increased incremental ticket revenue.
Enhancing climate change adaptation in Africa assessing the role of local institutions in Southern Benin

The paper analyses the capacities of different local institutions to enhance farmers' climate change adaptation (CCA) strategies in Southern Benin. Results are used to reflect on the international support to CCA for developing countries. The study is based on field researches led among farmers' households in Southern Benin, on interviews conducted among governmental and non-governmental institutions, and on analysis of relevant literature. Constraints and opportunities to the development of adaptation practices, and their relation to institutional support (or lack of support) are examined. In addition, the impact of farmers' perceptions of institutions is studied. Results highlight that State institutions are currently unable to support adaptive capacities. On the contrary, non-governmental organizations have promoted agricultural adaptive strategies to cope with changing climate patterns. Findings, furthermore, highlight a lack of trust in state institutions among farmers, while traditional chiefs and local organizations are trusted, even when their capacities to provide support are limited. The results question the ability of state institutions to enhance adaptation in the local communities: they, therefore, challenge the significant role given to governmental structures in the international support to CCA in developing countries, for instance, in the National Adaptation Programmes of Action. Suggestions to better support adaptive capacities at the local level are discussed in the concluding section.
Camel milk inhibits inflammatory angiogenesis via downregulation of proangiogenic and proinflammatory cytokines in mice

Camel milk has traditionally been used to treat cancer, but this practice awaits scientific scrutiny, in particular its role in tumor angiogenesis, the key step involved in tumor growth and metastasis. We aimed to investigate the effects of camel milk on key components of inflammatory angiogenesis in sponge implant angiogenesis model. Polyester‐polyurethane sponges, used as a framework for fibrovascular tissue growth, were implanted in Swiss albino mice and camel milk (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg/day) was administered for 14 days through installed cannula. The implants collected at day 14 post‐implantation were processed for the assessment of hemoglobin (Hb), myeloperoxidase (MPO), N‐acetylglucosaminidase (NAG), and collagen, which were used as indices for angiogenesis, neutrophil, and macrophage accumulation and extracellular matrix deposition, respectively. Relevant inflammatory, angiogenic, and fibrogenic cytokines were also determined. Camel milk treatment attenuated the main components of the fibrovascular tissue, wet weight, vascularization (Hb content), macrophage recruitment (NAG activity), collagen deposition and the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), interleukin (IL)‐1β, IL‐6, IL‐17, tumor necrosis factor‐α, and transforming growth factor‐β. A regulatory function of camel milk on multiple parameters of the main components of inflammatory angiogenesis has been revealed, giving insight into the potential therapeutic benefit underlying the anti‐cancer actions of camel milk.
Manufacturing flexibility: a strategic perspective

To help meet competitive realities operations managers need to know more about the strategic aspects of manufacturing flexibility. This paper takes steps toward meeting that need by critically reviewing the literature and establishing a research agenda for the area. A conceptual model, which places flexibility within a broad context, helps to identify certain assumptions of theoretical studies which need to be challenged. The model also provides a basis for identifying specific flexibility dimensions. The manner in which these dimensions may limit the effectiveness of a manufacturing process, and the problems in operationalizing them are discussed. Focusing next on the neglected area of applied work, concepts are presented for analyzing whether desired amounts of flexibility are being achieved and whether the potential for flexibility built into a manufacturing process is being tapped. Once more, a procedure is outlined for altering a plant's types and amounts of flexibility over time. The research agenda, which grows out of the appraisal of theoretical and applied work, indicates the value in studying generic flexibility strategies, the flexibility dimensions, methods of delivery, ways of evaluating and changing a process's flexibility, and above all measurement problems. The conclusions indicate principles for strategic research, some of which have relevance for the development of mathematical models.
Is it true that social responsibility studies can cause an assimilation problem, and why?

There are a variety of definitions of CSR and no overall agreement. Johnson's (2003) definition is: “CSR is concerned with treating the stakeholders of the firm ethically or in a responsible manner”. ‘Ethically or responsible’ means treating stakeholders in a manner deemed acceptable in civilized societies. Social responsibility includes economic responsibility. Stakeholders exist both within a firm and outside. The natural environment is a stakeholder. The wider aim of social responsibility is to create ever higher standards of living, while preserving the profitability of the corporation, for people both within and outside the corporation. CSR therefore means the ethical behaviour of a business towards its constituencies or stakeholders. Nevertheless, there are a wide variety of concepts and definitions associated with the term “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)”, but no general agreement of terms .
Heart rate variability in patients with major depressive disorder and healthy controls during non-REM sleep and REM sleep

The objectives of this study are to investigate heart rate variability (HRV) in major depressive disorder patients (MDD) and healthy controls during different sleep stages, and to examine the association of HRV during sleep and depression severity. Polysomnography was recorded from 15 depressive patients with a higher beck depression inventory index (BDI > 25, H-BDI-D), 15 depressive patients with a lower BDI index (BDI ≤ 25, L-BDI-D) and 15 healthy controls. HRV was calculated during the first three rapid eye movements (REM) periods and non-REM stages (i.e. sleep stage 2 and 3) with time domain, power spectral and fractal analysis. As a result, H-BDI-D patients showed the highest short-term fractal alpha-1 exponent during first REM period and healthy controls had the lowest values. Our results suggest an association between the depression severity and the autonomic nerve function, especially during the first REM sleep. The pathophysiological analysis for this property should be conducted in future prospective studies.
Antibody isotype responses to antigens of Ascaris lumbricoides in a case-control study of persistently heavily infected Bangladeshi children

SUMMARY Antibody responses to Ascaris lumbricoides worm antigens were examined by ELISA in a case-control study of 2 groups of Bangladeshi children, one of which had been shown over a period of 12 months to be consistently lightly infected (controls) and the other consistently heavily infected (cases). The children showed a wide range in intensity of infection; children identified as cases were on average 4 times more heavily infected than the controls. There were no significant differences in weight, height, mid-upper arm circumference and skinfold thickness between the case or control subjects at the time blood samples for analyses by ELISA were collected. Children with repeatedly heavy infections with A. lumbricoides had higher concentrations of antibody isotypes to the antigens of A. lumbricoides than children who are repeatedly lightly infected. IgG1, IgG4 and IgE to worm antigens occurred in significantly higher concentrations in heavily infected subjects. This suggests that these antibody responses simply reflect the intensity of infection and may not play a significant role in protecting against heavy infections.
CONSTANCY OF THE PENTAMEROUS COROLLA PHENOTYPE IN NATURAL POPULATIONS OF LINANTHUS

The fact that genetic variability is a prerequisite for evolutionary advance has become obvious to essentially every biologist; in fact, evolution, reduced to its barest essentials, is simply a change in frequency of different gene alleles (Wright, 1931). While the modern synthetic theory of evolution has quite adequately answered the question of how genetic variability is obtained in natural populations, we are less certain when confronted with questions about its magnitude, and how it is maintained. The studies of natural plant populations to date have concerned measurement characters that are normally highly variable in their reaction to the environment, and therefore, are usually considered as noncanalized (Waddington, 1940a, b, 1942). Examples of such characters are: number of days to emergence, tiller number, heading date, plant height, etc., which would be expected to show considerable phenotypic variation within populations and between ecotypes, regions, etc. For these characters, it is evident that considerable genetic variation exists in natural populations of both outbreeders and inbreeders (see Allard, 1965). This supplies a partial answer to the question on magnitude of genetic variability, but does not include data on characters tending to remain constant within populations and throughout a species' range. It is also of importance to
Human action recognition based on GMM-UBM supervector using SVM with non-linear GMM KL and GUMI

In recent years, Human Action Recognition (HAR) has attracted much attention from the research community due to its challenges as well as wide applications. In this paper, we investigate GMM supervector based Universal Background Model (UBM) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) with dense trajectories and motion bound features for HAR system. A GMM supervector is obtained by adapting with UBM and cascading all the mean vector components. After that, supervectors are applied as input features to SVM classifier. Moreover, we also adopted two modified GMM KL and GUMI kernels in this research. Then we make a comparison and critical analysis of our method with previous systems. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach performs more efficient than current systems.
Low temperature stress Induced changes in biochemical parameters, protein banding pattern and expression of Zat12 and Myb genes in rice seedling

Low temperature stress is one of the main abiotic factors that reduce the productivity of many crops in hilly areas around the world. In this study, rice seedling were exposed to low temperature stress (control, 0°C, -2°C, -4°C and -6°C) for 2 hr to observe its effect on two rice varieties (Basmati385 and Shaheen Basmati) through ion and proline contents, photosynthetic pigments, total protein content, protein banding pattern and expression of Zat12 and Myb genes. Resulted showed different patterns of accumulation of Na K and Ca ions with the decrease in temperature in both varieties. Proline accumulation was gradually increased in both varieties with the decrease in temperature. Photosynthetic pigments (Chlorophyll (Chl) a, b and carotene) were negatively affected by low temperature stress in both varieties, however, carotene content was much affected than Chl a and b. Nonsignificant variation in protein contents was observed at all levels of low temperature, but the effects of low temperature stress on protein banding pattern of Basmti-385 and Shaheen Basmati were different at different treatments. RT-PCR results indicated that ZAT12 was upregulated by short term low temperature stress while OsMYB show slight upregulation at -2C as compared to the other treatments. This study identified that ZAT12 and OsMYB function as a positive regulator to mediate tolerance of rice seedlings at low temperature stress.
Determinants of influenza vaccination among the adult and older Italian population with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A secondary analysis of the multipurpose ISTAT Survey on Health and Health Care use

We analyzed seasonal flu vaccination rates among the Italian population suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in order to identify socio-demographic and clinical determinants for vaccination. We used data from the survey “Health and health care use in Italy”, which interviewed 5,935 persons (age 15 – 102 years) suffering from COPD in the period 2004-2005. For each respondent, information on socioeconomic and health conditions, smoking status and patterns of health care utilization were retrieved. After bivariate analysis, we used two multilevel regression models to assess determinants of vaccination among the adult and the older Italian population. Overall 30.5% of adults (N=670) and 74.8% (N=2,796) of older people reported being vaccinated against seasonal flu. After controlling for potential confounders, older age increases the odds of vaccine uptake. Single marital status among the older people, smoking and not having contact with GPs in both age groups, are factors associated with non vaccination. Higher-educated elderly are less likely to be vaccinated, while coverage is higher among the wealthier adults. Vaccine coverage among adults with COPD in Italy remains low, especially among those with no comorbidities, and aged less than 44 years. It is only in older age that vaccination rates increase substantially. We found several risk factors for non vaccination, such as smoking, single marital status, and not having contacts with GPs, which should be considered in developing strategies to increase the coverage of influenza vaccine among people with COPD in Italy.
Measurement and analysis of customer satisfaction: company practices in Spain and Portugal

Purpose – The research objective is to analyze the situation and outlook for the future of the measuring and analysis practices used to determine customer satisfaction in 305 ISO 9000‐certified organizations of the Euro‐region Galicia (Spain)‐North of Portugal.Design/methodology/approach – The empirical study was conducted on a random sample of 305 ISO 9000 companies. Data were gathered by personally interviewing those responsible for quality management at the companies.Findings – Certified companies in the Euro‐region Galicia‐North Portugal have a high awareness of the need to measure and analyze the satisfaction of their customers and a predisposition towards it but, when it comes to putting said practice into action, they fall into certain methodological deficiencies that lead to their usefulness being only moderate.Research limitations/implications – This is a basically descriptive work concerning the practice of measuring and analyzing customer satisfaction in certified companies, within the Galicia .
Transformation, integration and inequality: the case of the czech republic

The paper concentrates on the criticism of the Czech neo-liberal transformation strategy resulting from its implementation. It brings about an analysis of major factors leading to adverse effects on the restructuring of former big state-owned enterprises, on the structure of Czech exports (due to its stress on the "traditional" industrial comparative advantages and especially cheap labor), and on the development of earnings distribution from the point of view of a "meritocratic ideal". This analysis of earnings distribution and its development during the 1990s shows an important role plaid by factors that have lead to creating suitable conditions for predatory and speculative patterns of behavior. This analysis serves as a basis for supporting an alternative modernization strategy of transformation of former Soviet-type economies and societies.