Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Anticipated Sectoral Adjustment to the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement: An Event Study Analysis

In this paper, a stock market event study is employed to investigate investors' expectations about the consequences of the Canada-U. S. Free Trade Agreement for manufacturing industries in Canada. The author finds that industry-level abnormal returns corresponding to only one event, reaching the agreement in October 1987, are jointly significant and consistent with prior hypotheses about the impact of the agreement. Although only a few of these abnormal returns are statistically significant, all of them have the anticipated signs and some are quite large, suggesting substantial profits and losses during the adjustment to free trade.
Controlled trial of external negative pressure ventilation in patients with severe chronic airflow obstruction.

The effect of intermittent external negative pressure ventilation (ENPV) with the Emerson Pulmowrap ventilator upon leg cycle endurance time (ET), maximal transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdimax), breathing pattern as expressed by the tension time index (TTdi), and sense of well being was studied in 16 patients with severe chronic airflow obstruction (CAO). The patients were randomized to 3 wk of in-hospital pulmonary rehabilitation (Group I, seven patients) or the same program plus ENPV (Group II, nine patients). Both groups were similar in terms of age (65 +/- 8 versus 61 +/- 13 yr), severity of CAO (FEV1 of 0.64 +/- 0.14 versus 0.59 +/- 0.18 L), and PaCO2 (44 +/- 9 versus 45 +/- 7 mm Hg). Blood theophylline levels and nutritional status were also similar in both groups. Baseline ET (2.9 +/- 0.6 versus 3.8 +/- 1.6 min) and Pdimax (45 +/- 15 versus 56 +/- 18 cm H2O) were decreased in both groups. Baseline TTdi was high but similar in both groups; at rest the values were 0.15 +/- 0.05 versus 0.16 +/- 0.04, and at end-exercise they were 0.17 +/- 0.06 versus 0.21 +/- 0.12. After treatment FEV1 and Pdimax remained unchanged, but the patients in both groups manifested clinical improvement and had a significant increase in mean ET (Group I from 2.9 to 6.9 and Group II from 3.8 to 6 min, p less than 0.01). TTdi decreased both at rest (0.14 +/- 0.07 versus 0.13 +/- 0.04) and at end-exercise (0.14 +/- 0.06 versus 0.15 +/- 0.09) with no difference between groups. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Entrepreneurial Universities

In the knowledge economy, academic entrepreneurship occurs at the boundaries of different scientific and professional backgrounds, creating a need for support mechanisms to transcend those limits. The entrepreneurial university is seen as an important catalyst for regional economic and social development, particularly because it generates and exploits knowledge as entrepreneurial opportunities. However, evidence about this phenomenon is fragmented and disorganized. By adopting institutional economics, resource-based view, and endogenous growth approaches, this study provides a better understanding of the socioeconomic impacts of the entrepreneurial university. Using the case study methodology, the study presents the experience of entrepreneurial universities in a European Region (Catalonia, Spain). It describes some practical implications that could stimulate the entrepreneurial activity of universities and thus foster their contribution to the development of the modern knowledge economy.
Some curious involutions of spheres

SOME CURIOUS INVOLUTIONS OF SPHERES BY MORRIS W. HIRSCH AND JOHN MILNOR Communicated by Deane Montgomery, December 31, 1963 Consider an involution T of the sphere S n without fixed points. Is the quotient manifold S n /T necessarily isomorphic to projective n- space? This question makes sense in three different categories. One can work either with topological manifolds and maps, with piecewise linear manifolds and maps, or with differentiable manifolds and maps. For n^3 the statement is known to be true (Livesay [6]). In these cases it does not matter which category one works with. On the other hand, for n = 7> in the differentiable case, the statement is known to be false (Milnor [lO]). This note will show that, in the piecewise linear case, the statement is false for all n*z5. Furthermore, for w = 5, 6, we will construct a differentiable involution T: S n —>S n so that the quotient manifold is not even piecewise linearly homeomorphic to projective space. Our proofs depend on a recent theorem of J. Cerf. Let us start with the exotic 7-sphere M\ as described by Milnor [7]. This differentiable manifold MI is defined as the total space of a certain 3-sphere bundle over the 4-sphere. It is known to be homeo- morphic, but not diffeomorphic, to the standard 7-sphere. Taking the antipodal map on each fibre we obtain a differentiable involution T: Ml—>Ml without fixed points. (The quotient manifold M\/T can be considered as the total space of a corresponding projec- tive 3-space bundle over S 4 .) The following lemma was pointed out to us, in part, by P. Conner and D. Montgomery. LEMMA 1. There exists a differentiably imbedded 6-sphere, S$C.Ml, which is invariant under the action of T, and a differentiably imbedded 3JIC»So which is also invariant. Thus in this way one constructs a differentiable involution of the standard sphere in dimensions 5, 6. The proof will depend on the explicit description of Ml (or more generally of Ml) which was given in [7]. Take two copies of R A XS Z and identify the subsets (R*— (0)) XS Z under the diffeomorphism (u, v) -> («', v') = (u/\\u\\\ u*vu? /\\u\\), using quaternion multiplication, where h-\-j= 1, h—j = k. The involu- tion T changes the sign of v and v'. Let S% be the set of all points of Ml such that ( 0ft(v') = dl(uv)=O 1 where dt(uv) *=$t(vu) denotes the real
Making Strategic Investment Decisions - Real Options Theory and Strategic Cost Management: Two Bottles for the Same Wine?

Since the end of the ’70s, many researchers have been pointing out some criticisms to the application of advanced financial techniques (e.g. Internal Rate of Return and Net Present Value) for valuing strategic investment decisions: a) their inability to take into account the value of managerial flexibility; b) their poor relationship with strategy. Real Options Theory (ROT) and Strategic Cost Management (SCM) have been proposed as the solutions for the two criticisms. The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it offers a fully-comparison between ROT and SCM articulating around a series of differentiating elements: 1) the relationship with the firm strategy; 2) the epistemological models surrounding SCM and ROT; 3) the way they focus on the risk and the uncertainty inherent in the decision; 4) their incentive towards an active management of the strategic investment; 5) the degree of formalisation of the structure of the two approaches; 6) the scope of their applicability; and 7) the most prominent difficulties linked to their implementation. Secondly, the paper examines whether ROT and SCM can be seen merely as two competing methods for firm decision-making, or if some integration between them is also possible. The underlying idea which is here purported is that ROT and SCM can be combined into a unitary and hybrid model for valuing strategic decisions, where the major advantages of the two techniques can be strengthened through their integration.
ANIMAL MODELS OF HUMAN LUNG DISEASE Animal models of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Wright JL, Cosio M, Churg A. Animal models of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 295: L1–L15, 2008. First published May 2, 2008; doi:10.1152/ajplung.90200. 2008. —The mechanisms involved in the genesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are poorly defined. This area is complicated and difficult to model because COPD consists of four separate anatomic lesions (emphysema, small airway remodeling, pulmonary hypertension, and chronic bronchitis) and a functional lesion, acute exacerbation; moreover, the disease in humans develops over decades. This review discusses the various animal models that have been used to attempt to recreate human COPD and the advantages and disadvantages of each. None of the models reproduces the exact changes seen in humans, but cigarette smoke-induced disease appears to come the closest, and genetically modified animals also, in some instances, shed light on processes that appear to play a role.
A collaborative outreach clinic for pregnant youth and adolescent mothers: Description of a pilot clinic and its patients.

OBJECTIVE To describe the pregnant youth and adolescent parents seen at an adolescent health outreach clinic in an urban community setting during a two-year pilot project. METHODS A retrospective chart review of all adolescents who presented at the monthly half-day clinics from January 2008 through January 2010 (n=36) was performed. Measures extracted from charts included demographic information, reason for referral, social history, mental health history and outcome of assessment. RESULTS All participants were female (mean age 17 years). Forty-two percent were pregnant at initial assessment, while the remainder had one or two children, or a recent pregnancy loss. Sixty-one percent had no primary care physician. The primary reason for referral was mental health concerns, most commonly depression. Almost one-half of patients relied on social assistance and almost one-third were living in shelters. At the time of first visit, 42% of patients were not attending school; the highest level of school completed for most patients was grade 8. The majority had a history of mental health issues and previous drug and/or alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS Adolescents presenting to the clinic had a history of disadvantage in terms of income, educational attainment, living arrangements and mental health background, and are in need of various health services including primary care practitioners. These findings will help to inform future program development for these vulnerable youth, and have implications for practitioners caring for this population.
Design, fabrication and characterization of a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic probe for medical imaging

In this paper we report the design, fabrication process, and characterization of a 64-elements capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT), 3 MHz center frequency, 100% fractional bandwidth. Using this transducer, we developed a linear probe for application in medical echographic imaging. The probe was fully characterized and tested with a commercial echographic scanner to obtain first images from phantoms and in vivo human body. The results, which quickly follow similar results obtained by other researchers, clearly show the great potentiality of this new emerging technology. The cMUT probe works better than the standard piezoelectric probe as far as the axial resolution is concerned, but it suffers from low sensitivity. At present this can be a limit, especially for in depth operation. But we are strongly confident that significant improvements can be obtained in the very near future to overcome this limitation, with a better transducer design, the use of an acoustic lens, and using well matched, front-end electronics between the transducer and the echographic system.
Pastoral Accounting in Pre-Federation Victoria: A Case Study on the Jamieson Family

Abstract This Australian study of the surviving pre-Federation pastoral accounting records of the pioneering Jamieson family in the Western District of Victoria examines the structure and usage of accounting information prepared in an isolated setting in a time-specific context. The study endeavours to identify the key variables affecting the accounting practices observed for one particular case of pastoral industry management throughout the fifty years to 1900. Although further research of other sets of surviving Western District pastoral accounting records is necessary to provide more generalised results, tentative conclusions are drawn about the impact of cultural, educational, legal, political, professional skill and economic factors as key explanatory variables.
Comparing the Effect of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia's (AIM) Microcredit Program on Quality of Life in Urban and Rural Malaysia

This study was undertaken to measure and compare the impact of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia’s (AIM) microcredit programs on low-income household’s quality of life between urban and rural Peninsular Malaysia. To achieve the aforementioned objective, this study employed a cross-sectional data analysis using stratified random sampling method to examine whether participation in AIM’s microcredit programs improved the quality of life of low-income households. A quality of life index was developed using eleven selected indicators, namely, use of permanent housing materials for the walls, floors and roofs, environmentally safe cooking fuel, better access to public water supply and healthy sanitary facilities. Findings of this study revealed that with participation in AIM’s microcredit programs, the quality of life index as measured by these indicators improved for urban households. In fact, the overall quality of life among AIM borrowers was found to improve after participation. The current level of quality of life of the low-income urban households also appeared to be better than that of poor rural borrowers’ households. The results suggest that AIM should, therefore, focus on increasing the outreach by targeting ‘low income clients’ in urban as well as rural Malaysia. Moreover, AIM also should review and re-organize their programs in order to come up with a dynamic and well-diversified microfinance program to fulfill all financial needs of urban clients.
The Wellbeing of Future Generations: New Perspectives on Economic Growth

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the idea about the generational equity should be placed at the base of the legal reforms, in order to focus on the needs of new generations, and of the fiscal policy, in order to maintain the same capital stock and the same opportunities between present and future generations. The work omits to deepen the intra-generational equity or equity within the same generation, but deals mostly the inter-generational equity, between different generations living at the same time (young and old) and between the present generations and future generations.
Delay-QoS Aware Adaptive Resource Allocations for Free Space Optical Fronthaul Networks

Statistical delay quality-of-service (QoS) aware adaptive resource allocation scheme is proposed for a multi-carrier coherent free space optical (FSO) communications based fronthaul network. The proposed resource allocation assigns remote radio heads (RRHs) to the suitable aggregation nodes (ANs) and allocates the transmit power to the orthogonal optical carriers. Specifically, the proposed resource allocation provides delay-QoS at the link layer by maximizing the effective sum capacity of the all the RRHs subject to transmit power budgets at the RRHs and capacity constraint of the wired fronthaul links connecting the ANs with the baseband unit (BBU) pool. The considered resource allocation is formulated as a mixed-integer non-linear programing (MINLP) problem. We use two transmission link optimization techniques, namely, independent link optimization (ILO) and joint link optimization (JLO), in order to solve the proposed MINLP problem. Under both optimization techniques, the proposed MINLP problem is decomposed into two subproblems which are iteratively solved in order to obtain the optical transmit power allocation and assignments of RRHs to the ANs. Our analysis reveals that the optical transmit power allocation and RRH-AN assignments depend on both the atmospheric turbulence fading and delay-QoS requirements. Numerical results demonstrate that the JLO technique achieves significant higher effective capacity (EC) compared to the ILO technique in the strict statistical delay-QoS constraints. However, the EC performance gap between the JLO and ILO techniques is reduced in the loose statistical delay-QoS constraints.
Racially Discriminatory Service in Full-Service Restaurants

Most of the scholarly and popular discourse to date on the topic of racial discrimination within the restaurant industry has centered on the unjust treatment experienced by employees who are racial minorities. However, discriminatory service based on race also is—or should be—an industry concern. Based on a review of evidence, race-based discrimination in restaurants is a systemic, industry-wide problem. One source of this problem is a social psychological process involving the diffusion and reinforcement of racial stereotypes that servers use to inform the nature of their interactions with customers. Using social psychological principles, restaurateurs should first interdict the diffusion of inappropriate stereotypes by immediately squelching all such talk. Then management must reverse existing damage, by demonstrating the inaccuracy or exaggerated nature of certain beliefs. This article concludes with a call for increased engagement with the issue of racially motivated discriminatory service in our nation’s restaurants.
Potential epigenetic biomarkers of obesity-related insulin resistance in human whole-blood

ABSTRACT Obesity can increase the risk of complex metabolic diseases, including insulin resistance. Moreover, obesity can be caused by environmental and genetic factors. However, the epigenetic mechanisms of obesity are not well defined. Therefore, the identification of novel epigenetic biomarkers of obesity allows for a more complete understanding of the disease and its underlying insulin resistance. The aim of our study was to identify DNA methylation changes in whole-blood that were strongly associated with obesity and insulin resistance. Whole-blood was obtained from lean (n = 10; BMI = 23.6 ± 0.7 kg/m2) and obese (n = 10; BMI = 34.4 ± 1.3 kg/m2) participants in combination with euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamps to assess insulin sensitivity. We performed reduced representation bisulfite sequencing on genomic DNA isolated from the blood. We identified 49 differentially methylated cytosines (DMCs; q < 0.05) that were altered in obese compared with lean participants. We identified 2 sites (Chr.21:46,957,981 and Chr.21:46,957,915) in the 5’ untranslated region of solute carrier family 19 member 1 (SLC19A1) with decreased methylation in obese participants (lean 0.73 ± 0.11 vs. obese 0.09 ± 0.05; lean 0.68 ± 0.10 vs. obese 0.09 ± 0.05, respectively). These 2 DMCs identified by obesity were also significantly predicted by insulin sensitivity (r = 0.68, P = 0.003; r = 0.66; P = 0.004). In addition, we performed a differentially methylated region (DMR) analysis and demonstrated a decrease in methylation of Chr.21:46,957,915–46,958,001 in SLC19A1 of −34.9% (70.4% lean vs. 35.5% obese). The decrease in whole-blood SLC19A1 methylation in our obese participants was similar to the change observed in skeletal muscle (Chr.21:46,957,981, lean 0.70 ± 0.09 vs. obese 0.31 ± 0.11 and Chr.21:46,957,915, lean 0.72 ± 0.11 vs. obese 0.31 ± 0.13). Pyrosequencing analysis further demonstrated a decrease in methylation at Chr.21:46,957,915 in both whole-blood (lean 0.71 ± 0.10 vs. obese 0.18 ± 0.06) and skeletal muscle (lean 0.71 ± 0.10 vs. obese 0.30 ± 0.11). Our findings demonstrate a new potential epigenetic biomarker, SLC19A1, for obesity and its underlying insulin resistance.
Phospholipid Scramblase 1 Modulates a Selected Set of IgE Receptor-mediated Mast Cell Responses through LAT-dependent Pathway*

Engagement of the IgE receptor (FcϵRI) on mast cells leads to the release of preformed and newly formed mediators as well as of cytokines. The signaling pathways responsible for these responses involve tyrosine phosphorylation of multiple proteins. We previously reported the phosphorylation on tyrosine of phospholipid scramblase 1 (PLSCR1) after FcϵRI aggregation. Here, PLSCR1 expression was knocked down in the RBL-2H3 mast cell line using short hairpin RNA. Knocking down PLSCR1 expression resulted in significantly impaired degranulation responses after FcϵRI aggregation and release of vascular endothelial growth factor, whereas release of MCP-1 was minimally affected. The release of neither leukotriene C4 nor prostaglandin D2 was altered by knocking down of PLSCR1. Analysis of FcϵRI-dependent signaling pathways revealed that whereas tyrosine phosphorylation of ERK and Akt was unaffected, tyrosine phosphorylation of LAT was significantly reduced in PLSCR1 knocked down cells. Tyrosine phosphorylation of phospholipase Cγ1 and consequently the mobilization of calcium were also significantly reduced in these cells. In nonactivated mast cells, PLSCR1 was found in part in lipid rafts where it was further recruited after cell activation and was constitutively associated with Lyn and Syk but not with LAT or Fyn. Altogether, these data identify PLSCR1 as a novel amplifier of FcϵRI signaling that acts selectively on the Lyn-initiated LAT/phospholipase Cγ1/calcium axis, resulting in potentiation of a selected set of mast cell responses.
Merit Goods and Public Choice: The Case of Higher Education--Reply

This paper examines the supply and demand behavior of taxpayers as "suppliers" and students as "beneficiaries" of the higher-education process. The authors treat higher education as a merit good, and present an argument in favor of an assumption of nonreciprocal interdependence between the taxpayers and the beneficiaries. They conclude that there is no evidence to support the proposition that subsidies-in-kind, in the form of attendance at and only at a state institution, have had a retardative effect on the aggregate product ion/consumption of higher education.
Use of practice system tools by medical groups for depression.

OBJECTIVE To describe the types of practice system tools that medical groups use for depression care, and to compare these with the tools used for care of other chronic conditions. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. METHODS We surveyed the medical directors of 41 medical groups in Minnesota with sufficient numbers of patients with depression to be included in public reporting of performance measures for depression. The survey asked about the presence of practice systems used for depression and other chronic conditions. RESULTS The response rate to the survey was 100%. Group sizes ranged from 7 to 2000 physicians and were evenly divided between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. About 60% of the groups were multispecialty. Medical groups were most likely to have information support, decision support, and performance tools (such as a registry, flow sheets or check lists, written standards of care, reminder systems, and performance feedback to physicians) to support management of diabetes (ranging from 65% with a registry to 95% with written standards of care). In general, the fewest of these system tools were in place for management of depression (ranging from 12% with a registry to 58% with written standards of care). One exception was the use of patient self-assessment tools, which was most common for depression (51%). CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that a lack of practice system tools may be one element that is hampering improvement in depression care. Further study is needed to demonstrate that implementing and maintaining these changes will improve depression care in diverse medical practices.
Research development at a South African university of technology : a case study

This article portrays the research development strategies followed by a University of Technology in an attempt to increase and sustain a research culture. It discusses the approach of research development through building structural and intellectual capacity amongst the existing population of researchers which includes, predominantly, lecturing staff and postgraduate students. The article is based on a case study of the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT). Results have shown that through various innovative strategies such as the establishment of an Office for Research and Development, the University has seen notable improvement in research participation. However, it is apparent that the CUT is still faced with challenges in sustaining accredited research outputs.