Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Empirical Analysis of Asymmetric Responses of Sri Lankan Commercial Banks to Monetary Policy

This study investigates how Sri Lankan commercial banks respond to countercyclical monetary policy over the post economic liberation 1990:06-2011:11period when the latest data available. First, the Perron’s endogenous unit root test function with the intercept, slope, and trend were specified and estimated to test the hypothesis that the Sri Lankan commercial bank lending-Central Bank discount rate spread has a unit root. The results of this test suggest that the Sri Lankan lending-discount rate spread followed a stationary trend process with a break date beginning in July 2006. Secondly, the threshold autoregressive (TAR) and the momentum threshold autoregressive (M-TAR) models are estimated. The Akaike information Criterion (AIC) and the Schwarz information criterion (SIC) indicate that the M-TAR model fits the sample data better than the TAR model. Therefore, the M-TAR model’s specification is utilized for further investigation in this study. The empirical findings suggest the asymmetrical response of Sri Lankan commercial banks to countercyclical monetary policy and monetary authority successfully utilizes monetary policy to achieve its objectives. Additionally, the results can interpreted as indications that the Sri Lankan commercial banks exhibit predatory pricing behavior, which is consistent with their monopolistic/oligopolistic operating environment. The estimation results of the Asymmetric Error Correction Model reveal bi-directional Granger causality between the Sri Lankan commercial banks’ lending rate and the Central Bank’s discount rate. Finally, the estimation results also describe the length of the impact lag of the Sri Lankan countercyclical monetary policy.
Structural Change and Financial Instability in an Open Economy

This study examines financial structural change and the degree to which international capital mobility affects the dynamic fixed and floating exchange rate systems. It analyzes the financial structural change in the Korean economy by applying VAR analysis. Before 1997, the Korean financial structure was fragile and the risks associated with international lenders were a trigger for the monetary crisis under the fixed exchange rate system. However, it appears that by 2007, the Korean economy had become relatively strong to withstand the international monetary crisis. Using empirical analyses, this study argues that the Korean financial structure has improved and become robust since the monetary crisis of 1997 and the financial structural robustness has stabilized the dynamic floating exchange rate system. This study concludes that the financial structural robustness and the floating exchange rate system are the main reasons for the Korean economy’s relative strength, which withstood the international monetary crisis of 2007.
Transferring human resource practices from the United Kingdom to China: the limits and potential for convergence

Substantial effort has been devoted to exploring the transfer of human resource management practices within multinational companies. Particular attention has been paid to countries with ‘strong’ HRM traditions, to transfers between economically developed countries and to firms in the manufacturing sector. This paper addresses the transfer of a British-owned retail firm's HRM practices from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China. From a variety of perspectives the expectation might be that the transfer of parent-country practices in this instance would be limited: HRM has not been considered a particular strength of UK firms; retail firms operate in a multi-domestic context directly serving local customers rather than as part of an integrated international production network; and there is a high cultural distance between the UK and China. When this multinational retailer entered the China market the express intention was to replicate as nearly as possible the management style of its UK stores. This paper examines the extent to which the firm's parent-country HRM practices, which the company increasingly considers as a key source of competitive advantage, have in fact been transferred to the Chinese stores. The paper seeks to provide fresh insights on the phenomenon of transfer by adopting a qualitative case study approach. This study also focuses on shopfloor employees' perspectives rather than purely the view of managerial staff, as has tended to be the case. Several aspects of HRM transfer are explored briefly: communication with the workforce, work pattern, age composition of the workforce, reward system, training, and employee representation. Attention then focuses on the transfer of the firm's relatively flat organizational structure to a country which is perceived to place a high value on hierarchy, and where hierarchies tend to be quite rigid and clearly demarcated. This provides useful insights into the nature of the transfer process. It is suggested that structural dimensions such as the country of origin, the degree of international production integration and the nature of product markets appear to have less utility in explaining the transfer of HRM practices than institutional and cultural features of the host-country environment and, above all, specific firm-level practices and the presence of expatriates in key management roles.
Airport Expansion, Direct Flights, and Consumer Choice of Travel Destinations: The Case of Hawaii's Neighbor Islands

This article reports a time series analysis of the impact of direct flights on tourism to Hawaii's Neighbor Islands beginning in 1983. Direct flights resulted in a modest gain in tourism and diverted travelers away from Oahu, and relieved congestion at Honolulu International Airport. To the extent that travelers were diverted from Oahu to the Neighbor Islands, income was redistributed as well.
Experimental Evaluation of Probabilistic Similarity for Spoken Term Detection

In this paper, the use of probabilistic similarity and the likelihood ratio for spoken term detection is investigated. The object of spoken term detection is to rank retrieved spoken terms according to their distance from a query. First, we evaluate several probabilistic similarity functions for use as a sophisticated distance. In particular, we investigate probabilistic similarity for Gaussian mixture models using the closedform solutions and pseudo-sampling approximation of Kullback–Leibler divergence. And then we propose additive scoring factors based on the likelihood ratio of each individual subword. An experimental evaluation demonstrates that we can achieve an improved detection performance by using probabilistic similarity functions and applying the likelihood ratio.
Effects of wheelchair training on [Vdot]O2 kinetics in the participants with spinal-cord injury

Purpose. We tested the hypothesis that, in eight participants (seven males, one female; 46.5 ± 8.3 years) with spinal-cord injury (complete lesions, T7-L1), the effects of exercise training on pulmonary O2 uptake ([Vdot]O2) on- and off- kinetics would appear early in this pilot study. Methods. The subjects underwent the wheelchair-training program (3 day/w, 30 min/day, and 50% HRreserve), and were evaluated before training (“time 0”, T0), and after 7 (T7), 15 (T15), 30 (T30), and 60 (T60) days of training. Breath-by-breath peak [Vdot]O2 was determined during the incremental exercise until their exhaustion. At another day following the incremental exercise, the subjects performed three repetitions of a constant exercise at 50% peak [Vdot]O2 workload so that [Vdot]O2 could be determined for both on- and off-kinetics. Results and conclusion. Peak [Vdot]O2 showed a tendency to increase with training; the increases became significant at T30. The time constants (τ2) during “phase II” of the [Vdot]O2 on-kinetics were 62.4 ± 13.0 (s) (T0), 51.2 ± 8.7 (T7), 46.1 ± 7.4 (T15), 45.0 ± 7.2 (T30), and 43.4 ± 6.4 (T60); a significant difference compared to T0 was observed from T7 onward. The same pattern of change as a function of training was described for the [Vdot]O2 off-kinetics. It is concluded that in SCI participants, the acceleration of [Vdot]O2 kinetics at the onset of exercise was observed over a short term.
Relationship Between Non-small Cell Lung Cancer FDG Uptake at PET, Tumor Histology, and Ki-67 Proliferation Index

Introduction: We compared primary non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake at positron emission tomography (PET) to tumor histologic features and Ki-67 proliferation index. This large, prospectively-recruited patient cohort has previously been analyzed based on differences in FDG uptake across stage groups; the current analysis adds further dimensions to this characterization. Materials and Methods: One hundred seventy-eight patients with potentially-resectable NSCLC were scanned with FDG PET before therapy. A partial volume correction algorithm was used to correct FDG uptake values for their dependence on tumor size. Primary tumor resection specimens, core biopsies, and biopsies of metastatic lymph nodes were used to assess each tumor’s NSCLC histologic subtype, degree of differentiation, and Ki-67 proliferation index. Results: Bronchioalveolar carcinomas were found to have lower FDG uptake at PET and lower Ki-67 scores than any other histologic subtype. Non-bronchioalveolar adenocarcinomas had lower FDG uptake and Ki-67 scores than squamous cell carcinomas or large cell undifferentiated carcinomas. Better differentiated NSCLCs had lower FDG uptake and Ki-67 scores than more poorly differentiated NSCLCs. There was a significant positive correlation between FDG uptake and Ki-67 scores. Partial volume correction increased the strength of this correlation, while also diminishing the strong positive correlation between FDG uptake and tumor size. Conclusions: There are significant differences in NSCLC FDG uptake across histologic subtypes and differentiation groups. These differences parallel nearly identical differences in Ki-67 scores, implying that differences in NSCLC tumor cell proliferation may give rise to commensurate differences in tumor glucose metabolism.
Specific Human Capital: An Application to Quit Rates and Layoff Rates

This study develops the concept of firm-specific human capital which results from training, search, and transfer investments of peculiar value to a particular firm. The effects of firm-specific human capital on firm turnover and wage policies are examined. The optimal sharing of such investments between firm and worker is explored. The important propositions that layoff rates and quit rates are negatively related to the firm's and worker's investments, respectively, in specific capital are tested using cross-section data for a broad set of manufacturing industries. The results support the hypotheses and reconcile past, apparently contradictory, empirical efforts along these lines.
Technological Accumulation and Industrial Growth: Contrasts Between Developed and Developing Countries

Several areas of economic analysis have given renewed attention during the 1980s to the long run importance of technological learning and technical change. These issues have become a central feature in the new trade and growth theories (e.g. Krugman, 1986; Lucas, 1988; Grossman and Helpman, 1990; Romer, 1986, 1990). They have emerged as one of the major factors explaining differences among the developed countries in growth and trade performance (e.g. Fagerberg, 1987, 1988;Cantwell, 1989), and they underlie analyses of the extent to which, as a result of differing growth paths, economies with different initial income levels have been converging or diverging over time (e.g. Abramovitz, 1986; Baumol, 1986; De Long, g 1988; Dowrick and Gemmell, 1991). This paper contributes to these areas of debate. It draws heavily on the j understanding of technological accumulation in the industrialized world in I order to illuminate the situation in contemporary developing countries. N And, since the basic processes of technological accumulation and technical | change differ fundamentally between the agricultural and industrial sectors I in low income economies, it focuses on the industrial sector. This is the sector in which, at least relative to earlier expectations, disappointment at the realized extent of'catching up' over the last four or five decades is perhaps I greatest. o Even at the beginning of that period, it was widely recognized that there ' were difficulties in transferring agricultural technologies from developed to
Analysis of the long-term relationships of the underlying rates of inflation in the EMU member states

The aim of this paper is to analyse whether or not there is a long-term stable equilibrium relationship between the underlying rates of inflation of the member states that have adhered to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). This longterm equilibrium represents an essential requirement for compliance with the convergence criterion of price stability, through which it is possible to guarantee the maintenance of the levels of relative competitiveness of these member states. To that end, the concept of underlying inflation is defined, obtained on the basis of the trend-cycle component of the consumer price series, having first eliminated the calendar and Easter effects, as well as the outliers, from these original series. After applying a bivariate cointegration test to these components, essentially pessimistic conclusions are obtained with respect to compliance with the said stability criterion.
Bovine Herpesvirus 1 Regulatory Proteins bICP0 and VP16 Are Readily Detected in Trigeminal Ganglionic Neurons Expressing the Glucocorticoid Receptor during the Early Stages of Reactivation from Latency

ABSTRACT Bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) establishes a lifelong latent infection in sensory neurons following acute infection. Increased corticosteroid levels, due to stress, increases the incidence of reactivation from latency. Within minutes, corticosteroids activate the glucocorticoid receptor and transcription of promoters containing a glucocorticoid receptor element. A single intravenous injection of the synthetic corticosteroid dexamethasone consistently induces reactivation from latency in calves. Lytic cycle viral gene expression is detected within 6 h after dexamethasone treatment of calves latently infected with BHV-1. Cellular transcription factors are induced by dexamethasone in trigeminal ganglionic neurons within 1.5 h after dexamethasone treatment, suggesting they promote viral gene expression during the early phases of reactivation from latency, which we operationally defined as the escape from latency. In this study, immunohistochemistry was utilized to examine viral protein expression during the escape from latency. Within 1.5 h after dexamethasone treatment, bICP0 and a late protein (VP16) were consistently detected in a subset of trigeminal ganglionic neurons. Most neurons expressing bICP0 also expressed VP16. Additional studies revealed that neurons expressing the glucocorticoid receptor also expressed bICP0 or VP16 at 1.5 h after dexamethasone treatment. Two other late proteins, glycoprotein C and D, were not detected until 6 h after dexamethasone treatment and were detected in only a few neurons. These studies provide evidence that VP16 and the promiscuous viral trans-activator (bICP0) are expressed during the escape from latency, suggesting they promote the production of infectious virus in a small subset of latently infected neurons.
Lon protease inactivation, or translocation of the lon gene, potentiate bacterial evolution to antibiotic resistance

Previous work demonstrated that selection for Escherichia coli mutants with low antibiotic resistance frequently resulted in co‐selection of lon mutations and that lon− mutants evolved higher‐level resistance faster than a lon+ strain. Here we show that lon mutation causes a very low multidrug resistance by inducing the AcrAB‐TolC pump via stabilization of the acrAB transcriptional activators MarA and SoxS, which are substrates of the Lon protease. Fast evolution of lon− mutants towards higher resistance involves selection of frequent next‐step mutations consisting of large duplications including acrAB and the mutated lon gene. Resistance results from the combined effects of acrAB duplication and lon mutation increasing dosage of efflux pump. In contrast, when acrAB duplication occurs as the first step mutation, increased Lon activity caused by lon+ co‐duplication mitigates the effect of acrAB duplication on resistance, and faster evolution towards higher resistance is not observed. As predicted, when the functional lon gene is relocated far from acrAB to prevent their co‐duplication, first‐step acrAB duplication confers higher resistance, which then allows selection of frequent next‐step mutations and results in faster evolution towards higher resistance. Our results demonstrate how order of appearance of mutations and gene location can influence the rate of resistance evolution.
BUILDING EORA: A GLOBAL MULTI-REGION INPUT–OUTPUT DATABASE AT HIGH COUNTRY AND SECTOR RESOLUTION

There are a number of initiatives aimed at compiling large-scale global multi-region input–output (MRIO) tables complemented with non-monetary information such as on resource flows and environmental burdens. Depending on purpose or application, MRIO construction and usage has been hampered by a lack of geographical and sectoral detail; at the time of writing, the most advanced initiatives opt for a breakdown into at most 129 regions and 120 sectors. Not all existing global MRIO frameworks feature continuous time series, margins and tax sheets, and information on reliability and uncertainty. Despite these potential limitations, constructing a large MRIO requires significant manual labour and many years of time. This paper describes the results from a project aimed at creating an MRIO account that represents all countries at a detailed sectoral level, allows continuous updating, provides information on data reliability, contains table sheets expressed in basic prices as well as all margins and taxes, and contains a historical time series. We achieve these goals through a high level of procedural standardisation, automation, and data organisation.
CD4-independent, productive infection of a neuronal cell line by human immunodeficiency virus type 1

One neuronal cell line (SK-N-MC) was found to be susceptible to productive infection by multiple isolates of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Characterization of SK-N-MC cells showed that these cells are neuroectodermal in origin in that they express dopamine hydroxylase, catecholamines, neuron-specific enolase, and neurofilaments. Despite their susceptibility to HIV-1 infection, SK-N-MC cells had no detectable CD4 and this infection was not blocked by anti-CD4 monoclonal antibodies (OKT4A, Leu3A) or recombinant soluble CD4. These experiments demonstrated that certain cells of neuroectodermal origin are susceptible to infection in vitro by HIV-1 via a CD4-independent mechanism.
The Measurement of Interests in Relation to Human Adjustment

^he work which has so far been done is summarized impartially and there is no eagerness ? hurry to premature generalizations. Indeed, . ls fair to say that the main result of the /^Vestigation of interests has been to show what ^ay not be assumed and so to define the proper c? Pe 0f thg enquiry. It is shown, for example, flat there is no necessary relation between interns and abilities or even between subjective and elective interests. Moreover, the fluctuation interests especially in childhood and adolesnce makes them a completely unreliable basis for guidance. What does emerge as the most significant conclusion from present research is that there is
Cryptosporidiosis-associated mortality following a massive waterborne outbreak in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

OBJECTIVES This study estimated the magnitude of cryptosporidiosis-associated mortality in the Milwaukee vicinity for 2 years following a massive waterborne outbreak. METHODS Death certificates were reviewed. RESULTS During approximately 2 years before the outbreak, cryptosporidiosis was listed as an underlying or contributing cause of death on the death certificates of four Milwaukee-vicinity residents. In the approximately 2 years after the outbreak, this number was 54, of whom 85% had acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) listed as the underlying cause of death. In the first 6 months after the outbreak, the number of death certificates indicating AIDS, but not cryptosporidiosis, as a cause of death was 19 (95% confidence interval = 12.26) higher than preoutbreak trends would have predicted. CONCLUSIONS Waterborne outbreaks of cryptosporidium infection can result in significant mortality, particularly among immunocompromised populations. Any discussion of policies to ensure safe drinking water must consider the potential fatal consequences of waterborne cryptosporidiosis among immunocompromised populations.
New Partnerships in Global Environmental Policy: The Clean Development Mechanism

Today’s fragmented world demands creative institutional arrangements to allow governments, international organizations, and civil society actors to join forces in addressing global environmental problems. This article discusses the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as foreseen under Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol in the context of new models of governance. To do so, it depicts CDM’s history, institutional setting and participatory elements. The CDM serves as a concrete example of how new collaborative networks consisting of nation states and nonstate actors can help in implementing international treaties. The articles traces the history of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process to provide a sufficient background for a more detailed discussion of the CDM. On that basis, it provides an analysis of the CDM, and depict the Prototype Carbon Fund, administered by the World Bank, as an example for an innovative model of cooperation between the private and the public sectors.
Coalitions and Cabinet Government

The formal study of coalitions is active in Europe, whereas the formal study of political institutions preoccupies American scholars. We seek to integrate aspects of these two bodies of research. For nearly thirty years models of coalition government have focused more on coalition than on government. Thus, these theories are essentially extensions of the theory of voting in legislatures. Unlike passing a bill or “dividing a dollar,” however, forming a government is not the end of politics but the beginning. During the formation process, rational actors must entertain expectations of subsequent government behavior. We provide a model of rational expectations with an emphasis on the credibility of the policy promises of prospective government partners as determined by the allocation of portfolios in the new government. Portfolio allocation becomes the mechanism by which prospective coalitions make credible promises and so inform the expectations of rational agents in the coalition formation process.
Nationality as a Segmentation Criterion in Tourism Research: The Case of International Tourists' Expenditures While on Trips in Norway

The practice of using nationality or its equivalents as a segmentation criterion in tourism research has been both warned against and advocated among tourism scholars. Whenever a nationality, country-of-residence, country-of-origin or similar variable has been included in multivariate statistical modelling, however, its role has tended to be that of one of many control variables. The main purpose of this paper is to quantify and describe more comprehensively than in past research how variations in expenditure levels are associated with the nationality of foreign tourists in Norway during the summers of 2007 and 2009. The results show that nationality has both gross and net (unadjusted and ceteris paribus) effects on expenditures, and that this variable solely accounts for over 35% of the overall explained variance in tourism expenditures. The implications of the results are discussed.