Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Insider Trading, Liquidity, and the Role of the Monopolist Specialist

Trading on private information creates inefficiencies because there is less than optimal risk sharing. This occurs because the response of marketmakers to the existence of traders with private information is to reduce the liquidity of the market. The institution of the monopolist specialist may ease this inefficiency somewhat by increasing the liquidity of the market. While competing marketmakers will expect a zero profit on every trade, the monopolist will average his profits across trades. This implies a more liquid market when there is extensive trading on private information. Copyright 1989 by the University of Chicago.
FDI in China: Facts and Impacts on China and the World Economy

This paper provides a comprehensive review on foreign direct investment in China in the last three decades. It reviews the growth, the sources and the distribution of FDI in China and analyzes the major determinants of FDI into China. Moreover, the paper summarizes the major contributions of FDI to Chinese economy in terms of economic growth, total factor productivity, exports and technology progress. Finally, the paper discusses the potential impacts of FDI in China to the rest of the world: the countries competing for FDI with China and the ones as the source of FDI in China.
Endocrine biomarkers and symptom clusters during the menopausal transition and early postmenopause: observations from the Seattle Midlife Women’s Health Study

ObjectiveDuring the menopausal transition and early postmenopause, participants in the Seattle Midlife Women’s Health Study were likely to belong to one of three symptom severity classes: severe hot flashes with moderate sleep, mood, cognitive, and pain symptoms (high-severity hot flash); moderate levels of all but hot flashes (moderate severity); and low levels of all (low severity). We tested models of the differential effects of hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian (HPO) axis, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and autonomic nervous system (ANS) biomarkers on the three symptom severity classes. MethodsThe Seattle Midlife Women’s Health Study participants recorded symptoms monthly in diaries and provided overnight urine samples several times per year that were analyzed for estrone, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), cortisol, testosterone, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. Multilevel latent class analysis with multinomial regression was used to determine the effects of HPO axis, HPA axis, and ANS biomarkers on symptom severity class membership. ResultsHaving lower estrogen and higher FSH levels was significantly associated with belonging to the high-severity hot flash class versus the low-severity class. Having lower epinephrine and higher norepinephrine levels increased the likelihood of belonging to the high-severity hot flash class versus the low-severity class. Having lower epinephrine levels was significantly associated with belonging to the moderate-severity class versus the low-severity class. Cortisol and testosterone were unrelated to symptom severity class membership. ConclusionsThe association of HPO axis biomarkers (estrogen and FSH) with the high-severity hot flash class is anticipated based on prior hot flash research, and the associations of HPA axis biomarkers are as expected based on earlier laboratory studies. The association of lower epinephrine levels with the moderate-severity class suggests that these symptoms may be mediated by the ANS.
The burden of proof lies with the prosecution: is snoring guilty?

615 Letter to the Editor—Marshall et al We are in broad agreement with Drs. Kezirian and Chang’s letter1 regarding our publication describing no statistically discernible increase in the risk for death, incident cardiovascular disease, or stroke that can be linked to snoring over 17 years observation in the Busselton Sleep Cohort.2 They have quite rightly highlighted the fact that as a small cohort study, we were unable to rule out the possibility that snoring has subtle effects on cardiovascular health because our confidence intervals were quite wide. But as our editorialist noted,3 there do not appear to be any other community-based cohort studies with sufficient follow-up that might provide additional high-quality data. So even with all of the problems highlighted by us2 and by the letter,1 our study seems to be the only one of its type. The study by Rich and colleagues did report a subtle association between a measured snoring index and all-cause mortality, but only in a subset of patients (n = 5,955) without sleep apnea and with a BMI < 30 (OR = 1.16; 95% CI, 1.01-1.32) when the background mortality rate in the whole cohort was 2.1% in n = 77,260 patients.4 But that study was not a community-based cohort, and the authors regretted being unable to control for basic risk factors such as cholesterol and smoking. And so we must be left wondering whether those explain the risk in that subgroup analysis. Because of the relatively small size of our study we chose to provide the power we had to detect quite large increases in the relative risk (i.e., 3 times the risk). Whilst some cardiovascular risk factors have a relatively small relative increase in risk, they tend to have important increases in absolute risk for bad outcomes if the risk factor and the outcome are common—but the stroke outcome in our study was quite rare. We still agree with Kezirian and Chang that the Busselton cohort shows that there probably is not a strong association, but there may be a weak association (i.e., an odds ratio of 1.2-1.5 between the lowest and highest quartile of snoring). As we stated in the paper,2 we were severely underpowered to detect subtle associations, particularly with a rare occurrence such as the biologically plausible stroke association. To borrow their legal metaphor: in both law and medicine the burden of proof is on the accuser. So far there is still very little reliable evidence from studies of the right scientific design that snoring is a killer. The fatal snoring hypothesis seems unlikely to us given the difficulty in showing that mild sleep apnea deleterious consequences.5-8 In addition, the influential Spanish LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Comparison of pollinators and natural enemies: a meta‐analysis of landscape and local effects on abundance and richness in crops

To manage agroecosystems for multiple ecosystem services, we need to know whether the management of one service has positive, negative, or no effects on other services. We do not yet have data on the interactions between pollination and pest‐control services. However, we do have data on the distributions of pollinators and natural enemies in agroecosystems. Therefore, we compared these two groups of ecosystem service providers, to see if the management of farms and agricultural landscapes might have similar effects on the abundance and richness of both. In a meta‐analysis, we compared 46 studies that sampled bees, predatory beetles, parasitic wasps, and spiders in fields, orchards, or vineyards of food crops. These studies used the proximity or proportion of non‐crop or natural habitats in the landscapes surrounding these crops (a measure of landscape complexity), or the proximity or diversity of non‐crop plants in the margins of these crops (a measure of local complexity), to explain the abundance or richness of these beneficial arthropods. Compositional complexity at both landscape and local scales had positive effects on both pollinators and natural enemies, but different effects on different taxa. Effects on bees and spiders were significantly positive, but effects on parasitoids and predatory beetles (mostly Carabidae and Staphylinidae) were inconclusive. Landscape complexity had significantly stronger effects on bees than it did on predatory beetles and significantly stronger effects in non‐woody rather than in woody crops. Effects on richness were significantly stronger than effects on abundance, but possibly only for spiders. This abundance‐richness difference might be caused by differences between generalists and specialists, or between arthropods that depend on non‐crop habitats (ecotone species and dispersers) and those that do not (cultural species). We call this the ‘specialist‐generalist’ or ‘cultural difference’ mechanism. If complexity has stronger effects on richness than abundance, it might have stronger effects on the stability than the magnitude of these arthropod‐mediated ecosystem services. We conclude that some pollinators and natural enemies seem to have compatible responses to complexity, and it might be possible to manage agroecosystems for the benefit of both. However, too few studies have compared the two, and so we cannot yet conclude that there are no negative interactions between pollinators and natural enemies, and no trade‐offs between pollination and pest‐control services. Therefore, we suggest a framework for future research to bridge these gaps in our knowledge.
REGIONAL CONVERGENCE AND THE ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF PERIPHERAL AREAS IN TURKEY

The objective of this paper is to examine regional convergence and coreâ€ periphery relations in Turkey. The main question explores the degree to which there has been a transformation of interregional disparities in terms of â€œconvergenceâ€ and performance of peripheral regions in Turkey by considering GDP per capita over the 1980â€ 97 period. As a result of Iƒ and I² convergence (absolute and conditional) analyses, following Barro and Salaâ€ iâ€ Martin (1995), there is no evidence for convergence across both provinces and the functional regions in Turkey from 1980 to 1997. Moreover, a high level of the spatial dependence was revealed. Therefore, the level of regional GDP per capita growth was highly related to the neighbors and disparities are still obvious between the east and west of Turkey. Most of the new dynamic areas are also located in the west. Notwithstanding policies for â€œPriority Provinces in Developmentâ€ (PPD), the findings of the convergence analysis indicates that PPDs do not grow faster than coreâ€ developed provinces. Moreover, the majority of them remained as poor regions with their neighbors. While the PPDs share similar features compare to the developed provinces, they are differentiated in terms of their performance.
Tacrolimus trough levels after month 3 as a predictor of acute rejection following kidney transplantation: a lesson learned from DeKAF Genomics

Most calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)‐based protocols reduce blood trough goals approximately 2–3 months post‐transplant in clinically stable kidney transplant recipients. The CNI target trough level to prevent rejection, after reduction, is unknown. Using a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model, we determined the association of time‐varying tacrolimus (TAC) trough levels with acute rejection (AR) occurring in the first 6 months post‐transplant, but specifically we assessed this association after 3 months. A total of 1930 patients received TAC‐based immunosuppression prior to AR in a prospective study. Of the 151 (7.8%) who developed AR, 47 developed AR after 3 months post‐transplant. In an adjusted time‐varying multivariate model, each 1 ng/ml decrease in TAC trough levels was associated with a 7.2% increased risk of AR [hazards ratio (HR) = 1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.01, 1.14) P = 0.03] in the first 6 months. There was an additional 23% increased risk of AR with each 1 ng/ml decrease in the TAC trough levels in months 3–6 [HR = 1.23, 95% CI (1.06, 1.43) P = 0.008]. In conclusion, lower TAC trough levels were significantly associated with increased risk of AR in the first 6 months post‐transplant with additional risk of AR between months 3 and 6 post‐transplant. The timing and practice of TAC dose reduction should be personalized based on the individual's risk factors.
Research Note: Estimating the Work Time Effect on Hotel Room Demand

The introduction of the five-day working week in Taiwan constitutes a natural experiment with treatment and control groups that lends itself to the difference-in-difference approach used in this study. Based on this empirical design, a treatment group consisting of domestic guests and a control group consisting of foreign guests are formed. The study hypothesizes that, after the introduction of this work day system, room demand in the treatment group will exceed the corresponding increase in the control group. This hypothesis is based on the findings of Taiwanese international tourist hotels, which suggest that the implementation of the five-day working week system in 2001 accounted for a significant increase in hotel demand.
Diagnostic Value of Spinal MR Imaging in Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension Syndrome

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) presents with orthostatic headache, and the diagnosis is made on the basis of low CSF pressure and brain MR imaging findings characteristic of the disorder. However, a broad spectrum of symptoms and MR imaging findings of SIH is recognized, and some cases have no typical MR imaging abnormalities. SIH is believed to be caused by CSF leakage from the spinal dural sac, whereas the usefulness of MR imaging of the spine remains unclear. Our aim was to elucidate the diagnostic value of brain and spinal MR imaging MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sensitivities for the detection of SIH were retrospectively evaluated in 18 patients with SIH treated in our institutions between January 1998 and August 2007. RESULTS: Brain MR imaging detected abnormalities in 15 of the 18 patients (83%): diffuse pachymeningeal enhancement in 15 (83%), descent of the cerebellar tonsil in 13 (72%), brain stem sagging in 13 (72%), enlargement of the pituitary gland in 12 (67%), and subdural fluid collection in 13 (72%). Spinal MR imaging detected abnormalities in 17 of the 18 patients (94%): distention of the epidural veins in 14 (78%), epidural fluid collection on fat-saturated T2-weighted images in 16 (89%), and abnormal visualization of the nerve root sleeve in only 1 (6%). The sensitivity for SIH was 83% for brain MR imaging and 94% for spinal MR imaging. CONCLUSIONS: Spinal MR imaging is useful for the diagnosis of SIH, especially in the early stage.
The Bankrupt “Revolution”

The role of businesses in public schools in the United States has expanded during the era of standards-based reform. This article provides a critical analysis of (a) the argument fundamental to that business influence across the spectrum of involvement; “schools should be run like businesses” and (b) the assertion that “if done so,” kids would learn more, parents would be happier, and society would gain immensely. ” Examined here are the arguments of William G. Ouchi, one of prominent proponents of implementing business management practices in school districts. Ouchi claims to have found exemplary school districts that have, through implementing “seven keys to success,” turned themselves around. The authors conclude that neither academic nor financial data from Seattle Public Schools, one of Ouchi’s putative exemplars, support the claim.
Bioassay to detect small differences in resistance of tomato to late blight according to leaf age, leaf and leaflet position, and plant age

A detached-leaf bioassay was developed to quantify relatively small differences in resistance expression of tomato. Using either of two inoculation methods, ‘drop’ or ‘spray’, the bioassay indicated that older leaves, and older leaflets of a single leaf, were more susceptible to attack by Phytophthora infestans than younger leaves and leaflets. Although the age of the tissue clearly influenced lesion expansion, the age of the whole plant did not significantly affect the level of resistance.
Tau is a candidate gene for chromosome 17 frontotemporal dementia

Frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism, chromosome 17 type (FTDP‐17), a recently defined disease entity, is clinically characterized by personality changes sometimes associated with psychosis, hyperorality, and diminished speech output, disturbed executive function and nonfluent aphasia, and rigidity. Neuropathological changes include frontotemporal atrophy often associated with atrophy of the basal ganglia, substantia nigra, and amygdala. Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) are seen in some but not all families. Inheritance is autosomal dominant and the gene has been regionally localized to 17q21‐22 in a 2‐ to 4‐centimorgan (cM) region flanked by markers D17S800 and D17S791. The gene for tau, the primary component of NFTs, is located in the same region of chromosome 17. Tau was evaluated as a candidate gene. Physical mapping studies place tau within 2 megabases or less of D17S791, but it is probably outside the D17S800‐D17S791 FTDP‐17 interval. DNA sequence analysis of tau coding regions in affected subjects from two FTDP‐17 families revealed nine DNA sequence variants, eight of which were also identified controls and are thus polymorphisms. A ninth variant (Val279Met) was found in one FTDP‐17 family but not in the second FTDP‐17 family. Three lines of evidence indicate that the Val279Met change is an FTDP‐17 causative mutation. First, the mutation site is highly conserved, and normal valine is found at this position in all three tau interrepeat sequences and in other microtubule associated protein tau homologues. Second, the mutation co‐segregates with the disease in family A. Third, the mutation is not found in normal controls.
A super low power MICS band receiver in 65 nm CMOS for high resolution epi-retinal prosthesis

We report a super low power MICS band receiver for a high resolution epi-retinal prosthesis (BionicEye). The FSK receiver consumes less than 1.5 mW power with 1 V supply. It can achieve a maximum data rate of 400 kb/s. In this paper, we present the research work carried out on designing a fully-integrated sub-threshold receiver fabricated on a 65nm CMOS chip. In order to achieve super low power consumption, more than 90% of the transistors in all analog building blocks are operated in sub-threshold region. System level issues, such as required receiver architecture and specifications are also addressed1.
Cancer Biology and Signal Transduction Preferential Estrogen Receptor b Ligands Reduce Bcl-2 Expression in Hormone-Resistant Breast Cancer Cells to Increase Autophagy

Acquired resistance to selective estrogen receptor (ER)modulators (SERM) and downregulators (SERD) is a significant clinical problem in the treatment of estrogen (E2) receptor-positive (ERþ) breast cancers. There are two ER subtypes, ERa and ERb, which promote and inhibit breast cancer cell proliferation, respectively. Although ERþ breast cancers typically express a high ratio of ERa to ERb, the acquisition of SERM resistance in vitro and in vivo is associated with increased relative expression of the ERb. On some gene enhancers, ERb has been shown to function in opposition to the ERa in the presence of E2. Here, we demonstrate that two different ERb agonists,WAY-20070 and a novel "A-CD" estrogen called L17, produce amarked reduction inG2–Mphase correlated with effects on cyclin D1 and cyclin E expression in a SERM/SERD-resistant breast cancer cell line. ERb agonists recruited both the ERa and ERb to the Bcl-2 E2-response element strongly reducing Bcl-2mRNA and protein in an ERb-dependent manner. L17 recruited RIP140 to the Bcl-2 promoter in cells overexpressing ERb. Exposure to the ERb ligands also resulted in increased processing of LC3-I to LC3-II, indicative of enhancedautophagic flux. The coaddition of ERb agonist and the autophagy inhibitor chloroquine resulted in a significant accumulation of sub-G1 DNA which was completely prevented by the addition of the caspase inhibitorZ-VAD-FMK.Wepropose that combined therapieswith anERb agonist andan inhibitor of autophagy may provide the basis for a novel approach to the treatment of SERM/SERD-resistant breast cancers. Mol Cancer Ther; 13(7); 1882–93. 2014 AACR.
From Semi‐presidentialism to Parliamentary Government: Political and Constitutional Developments in Finland

Within the framework of a ‘mixed constitution’, the Finnish political system wavered during a period of 80 years between genuine parliamentarism and effective semi-presidential rule. The new constitution, adopted in the parliament almost unanimously and carried into effect on 1 March 2000, aimed to reduce the powers of the president and to bind the exercise of the president’s remaining powers more tightly to the cooperation of the parliamentary government. The constitution will act as a buffer, preventing any recurrence of the presidential activism of the 1960s and 1970s, and the political climate is in fact amenable to the further development of parliamentary modes of operation. It is clearly to be expected that the strengthening of the parliament–government axis and the reduction of the president’s powers will distance the head of state from the everyday policy making and emphasize his or her role as a support of the government of the time, a moderator in conflicts and a mirror of popular opinion. In the future, the functioning of the political system will not be directed so much by reference to the political capital and personal activities of the president, but rather by reference to the parliamentary constellation, party interrelations and the ebb and flow of governing coalitions.
Energy storage and release of prosthetic feet Part 1: Biomechanical analysis related to user benefits

The energy storing and releasing behaviour of 2 energy storing feet (ESF) and 2 conventional prosthetic feet (CF) were compared (ESF: Otto Bock Dynamic Pro and Hanger Quantum; CF: Otto Bock Multi Axial and Otto Bock Lager). Ten trans-tibial amputees were selected. The study was designed as a double-blind, randomised trial. For gait analysis a VICON motion analysis system was used with 2 AMTI force platforms. A special measuring device was used for measuring energy storage and release of the foot during a simulated step. The impulses of the anteroposterior component of the ground force showed small, statistically non-significant differences (deceleration phase: 22.7–23.4 Ns; acceleration phase: 17.0–18.4 Ns). The power storage and release phases as well as the net results also showed small differences (maximum difference in net result is 0.03 J kg−1). It was estimated that these differences lead to a maximum saving of 3% of metabolic energy during walking. It was considered unlikely that the subjects would notice this difference. It was concluded that during walking differences in mechanical energy expenditure of this magnitude are probably not of clinical relevance. Ankle power, as an indicator for energy storage and release gave different results to the energy storage and release as measured with the special test device, especially during landing response. In the biomechanical model (based on inverse dynamics) used in the gait analysis the deformation of the material is not taken into consideration and hence this method of gait analysis is probably not suitable for calculation of shock absorption.