Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trade Liberalization, Poverty, and Inequality: Evidence from Indian Districts

Although it is commonly believed that trade liberalization results in higher GDP, little is known about its effects on poverty and inequality. This paper uses the sharp trade liberalization in India in 1991, spurred to a large extent by external factors, to measure the causal impact of trade liberalization on poverty and inequality in districts in India. Variation in pre-liberalization industrial composition across districts in India and the variation in the degree of liberalization across industries allow for a difference-in-difference approach, establishing whether certain areas benefited more from, or bore a disproportionate share of the burden of liberalization. In rural districts where industries more exposed to liberalization were concentrated, poverty incidence and depth decreased by less as a result of trade liberalization, a setback of about 15 percent of India's progress in poverty reduction over the 1990s. The results are robust to pre-reform trends, convergence and time-varying effects of initial district-specific characteristics. Inequality was unaffected in the sample of all Indian states in both urban and rural areas. The findings are related to the extremely limited mobility of factors across regions and industries in India. The findings, consistent with a specific factors model of trade, suggest that to minimize the social costs of inequality, additional policies may be needed to redistribute some of the gains of liberalization from winners to those who do not benefit as much.
EXCHANGE MARKET PRESSURE, MONETARY POLICY, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: ARGENTINA, 1993–2004

The exchange market pressure (EMP) against a currency has been frequently measured as the sum of the loss of international reserves plus the loss of nominal value of that currency. This paper follows the tradition of investigating the interactions between such a measure of EMP and monetary policy; but it also questions the usual omission of output growth in empirical investigations. The focus of this work is Argentina between 1993 and 2004. As in previous studies, we found some evidence of a positive and double-direction relationship between EMP and domestic credit. But output growth also played a role in the determination of EMP, even more than domestic credit or interest rates. Also, there is some evidence that EMP affected growth negatively.
Prevalence of Gardnerella vaginalis in the urinary tract

Midstream urine samples from 106 patients presenting to the Casualty Department of The Royal Melbourne Hospital with frequency or dysuria were cultured for Gardnerella vaginalis and conventional uropathogens. Urine samples collected via an open-end catheter from 70 healthy pregnant women were examined similarly. Midstream urine and other samples, including the seminal fluids and swabs of the mouths, throats, rectums, and vaginas of 33 healthy subjects, were cultured for G. vaginalis. Another 15 female patients with proven G. vaginalis bacteriuria were given a bladder washout localization test to determine the site of infection in the urinary tract. G. vaginalis in counts greater than 10(3) CFU/ml was recovered from the midstream urine of 27 of 106 patients (25%), 7 of whom also harbored conventional pathogens in counts greater than 10(4) CFU/ml. Another 11 patients with cultures negative for G. vaginalis yielded greater than 10(4) CFU of conventional pathogens per ml. G. vaginalis was cultured (greater than 10(3) CFU/ml) from catheter samples of 19 of 70 healthy pregnant women (27%), 6 of whom also harbored greater than 10(3) CFU of conventional uropathogens per ml. Two women yielded growths of conventional pathogens only. Midstream urine samples from 13 of 13 healthy males were free of G. vaginalis, whereas 5 of 20 healthy nonpregnant females yielded greater than 10(3) CFU of G. vaginalis per ml from midstream urine samples. G. vaginalis was recovered from 4 of 12 semen samples and from urethral samples from four of seven males and four of eight females. All four culture-positive females also harbored G. vaginalis in their vaginas. There was no evidence of oral or rectal carriage of G. vaginalis in 15 healthy subjects. Localization studies with 15 female patients having underlying renal disease showed that 11 patients harbored G. vaginalis in their kidneys. The result suggest that colonization or infection of the bladder and upper urinary tract by G. vaginalis is very largely a phenomenon of females, with the highest frequency in pregnant women. The prevalence of G. vaginalis in the urinary tracts of healthy females is similar to that of symptomatic subjects. However, G. vaginalis in counts greater than 10(5) CFU/ml is more likely to be associated with urinary tract symptoms. In males, this bacterial species infects the genital tract rather than the urinary tract.
Cross-Reactivity between Anisakis spp. and Wasp Venom Allergens

Background: Anisakiasis is caused by the consumption of raw or undercooked fish or cephalopods parasitized by live L3 larvae of nematode Anisakis spp. Larvae anchor to stomach mucosa releasing excretion/secretion products which contain the main allergens. It has been described that nematode larvae release venom allergen-like proteins among their excretion/secretion products. We investigated potential cross-reactivity between Anisakis and wasp venom allergens. Methods: Two groups of 25 patients each were studied: wasp venom- and Anisakis-allergic patients. Sera from patients were tested by ImmunoCAP, dot-blotting with recombinant Anisakis allergens and ADVIA-Centaur system with Hymenoptera allergens. Cross-reactivity was assessed by IgE immunoblotting inhibition assays. Role of cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants (CCDs) was studied by inhibition with bromelain and periodate treatment. Results: A total of 40% of wasp venom-allergic patients had specific IgE to Anisakis simplex and 20% detected at least one of the Anisakis recombinant allergens tested. Likewise, 44% of Anisakis-allergic patients had specific IgE to Vespula spp. venom and 16% detected at least one of the Hymenoptera allergens tested. Wasp venom-allergic patients detected CCDs in Anisakis extract and peptide epitopes on Anisakis allergens rAni s 1 and rAni s 9, whereas Anisakis-allergic patients only detected CCDs on nVes v 1 allergen from Vespula spp. venom. The only Anisakis allergen inhibited by Vespula venom was rAni s 9. Conclusions: This is the first time that cross-sensitization between wasp venom and Anisakis is described. CCDs are involved in both cases; however, peptide epitopes are only recognized by wasp venom-allergic patients.
An empirical study of age discrimination in Norway and Germany

Using a questionnaire and a sample of students and personnel managers we establish the existence of age discrimination in the hiring process in Germany and Norway. As expected, age discrimination is more prominent in Germany where the hiring probability of equally qualified applicants is reduced by about 22 percentage points due to an age differential of 14 years as opposed to only 12 percentage points in Norway. Within both countries the tendency to discriminate does not differ between students and personnel managers and does not depend on the age of the decision maker. ‘The phenomenon of unemployment among older workers […] is characterized less by the risk of becoming unemployed than by the problem of remaining unemployed and failing to find new work. ’ Frerichs and Naegele (1998, p. 59)
Changing Roles of Aurora-B Kinase in Two Life Cycle Stages of Trypanosoma brucei

ABSTRACT Aurora-B kinase is a chromosomal passenger protein essential for chromosome segregation and cytokinesis. In the procyclic form of Trypanosoma brucei, depletion of an aurora-B kinase homologue TbAUK1 inhibited spindle formation, mitosis, cytokinesis, and organelle replication without altering cell morphology. In the present study, an RNA interference knockdown of TbAUK1 or overexpression of inactive mutant TbAUK1-K58R in the bloodstream form also resulted in defects in spindle formation, chromosome segregation, and cytokinesis but allowed multiple rounds of nuclear DNA synthesis, nucleolus multiplication, and continuous replication of kinetoplast, basal body, and flagellum. The typical trypanosome morphology was lost to an enlarged round shape filled with microtubules. It is thus apparent that there are distinctive mechanisms of action of TbAUK1 in regulating cell division between the two developmental stages of trypanosome. While it exerts a tight control on mitosis, organelle replication, and cytokinesis in the procyclic form, it regulates cytokinesis without rigid control over either nuclear DNA synthesis or organelle replication in the bloodstream form. The molecular basis underlining these discrepancies remains to be explored.
Design of PWM controller for monolithic boost converter

In the design of monolithic boost converter, it is difficult to design a fixed on-chip compensator to stabilize the converter system for a wide operation range. So the loop stability design for the monolithic boost converter becomes very challenging. In this paper, a PWM controller without error amplifier is investigated, and a PWM comparator is designed for it. It is demonstrated that this scheme facilitates the design of the loop-stability. The simulation results from HSPICE using UMC 0.6-mum BiCMOS process, verify the good functionality and performance of the circuit designed. Finally, the proposed method can also be widely utilized in switching-mode DC-DC converter.
Are Business Startups Debt-Rationed?

Using a large random sample of U.K. start-ups and a rich data set, the paper demonstrates that human capital is the 'true' determinant of survival and that the correlation between financial capital and survival is spurious. Provision of finance is demand-driven, with banks supplying funds elastically and business requests governing take-up. Firms self-select for funds on the basis of the human capital endowments of the proprietors with 'better' businesses more likely to borrow. A reason why others have seemingly identified start-up debt gaps may be the failure to test a sufficiently rich empirical model. Copyright 1996 by Royal Economic Society.
Foreign Aid and Economic Growth in Egypt and Jordan: An Empirical Analysis

This paper empirically examines the long-run relationship between per capita real foreign aid and per capita real GDP for Egypt (1960-2005) and Jordan (1965-2005) using a newly developed approach to cointegration by Pesaran et al. (2001) that performs well with small samples and regardless of the orders of the respective time series (it makes no difference whether time series are I (0), I (1), or I (0)/I (1)). The empirical results reveal that in the case of Jordan a long-run relationship exists between the variables, while there is no evidence to support that a long-run relationship exists in the case of Egypt. The Granger causality test supports a long-run causality from foreign aid to GDP in the case of Jordan. However, in the case of Egypt, the results show no support of Granger causality between foreign aid and GDP.
Group Sparse Bayesian Learning for Active Surveillance on Epidemic Dynamics

Predicting epidemic dynamics is of great value in understanding and controlling diffusion processes, such as infectious disease spread and information propagation. This task is intractable, especially when surveillance resources are very limited. To address the challenge, we study the problem of active surveillance, i.e., how to identify a small portion of system components as sentinels to effect monitoring, such that the epidemic dynamics of an entire system can be readily predicted from the partial data collected by such sentinels. We propose a novel measure, the gamma value, to identify the sentinels by modeling a sentinel network with row sparsity structure. We design a flexible group sparse Bayesian learning algorithm to mine the sentinel network suitable for handling both linear and non-linear dynamical systems by using the expectation maximization method and variational approximation. The efficacy of the proposed algorithm is theoretically analyzed and empirically validated using both synthetic and real-world data.
Video Pollution on the Web

Videos have become a predominant part of users’ daily lives on the Web, especially with the emergence of video sharing services, such as YouTube. Part of the huge success of multimedia content in the Web is due to the change on the user perspective from content consumer to content creator. However, by allowing users to publicize their independently generated content, video sharing networks become susceptible to different types of pollution. As example, users can pollute the system spreading video messages containing undesirable content. Users can also associate metadata with videos in attempt to fool video search engines (i.e., popular tags, but unrelated to the content). Moreover, users can upload identical videos, generating duplicates of the same content on the system. Such pollution compromises not only the user satisfaction, but it also consumes system resources and can impact negatively aspects related to infrastructure. In this work we provide a general overview of pollution in video sharing systems. We define the different kinds of existent pollution, their negative impact to users and system and possible strategies to minimize the problem.
Bottlenecks and Governance Structures: Open Access and Long-Term Contracting in Natural Gas

In a number of regulated industries, market evolution has made one (or more) vertical stages of production increasingly competitive.1 The challenge for public policy is to deregulate these largely competitive activities while maintaining adequate antitrust and/or regulatory safeguards over remaining "bottleneck" facilities such as local telephone switches, pipelines, and electric transmission lines.2 These industries historically provided a tied or bundled3 product, combining upstream production with transportation to downstream markets. However, recent policy has generally involved unbundling upstream supply from transportation through the bottleneck, and requiring bottleneck facilities to operate as common carriers providing transportation services on a
Active Hedging Greeks of an Options Portfolio integrating churning and minimization of cost of hedging using Quadratic & Linear Programing

This paper proposes a methodology for active hedging Greeks of an option portfolio integrating churning and minimization of cost of hedging. In the first section, hedging strategy is implemented by taking positions in other available options, while simultaneously minimizing the net premium paid for the hedging and then churning the portfolio to take into account the changed value of Greeks in the new portfolio. In the second section, the paper extends the model to incorporate the transaction cost while hedging the portfolio and churning it in Indian Scenario. Both constant and nonlinear shape of transaction cost has been considered as per the Security Transaction Tax and Brokerage charges in India. A quadratic programming has been presented which has been approximated by a linear programming solution. The prototype software has been developed in MS Excel using Visual Basic.
Introduction: agency governance in the European Union

The literature on European Union (EU) agencies has proliferated rapidly since the first essay collection on EU agencies was published by the Journal of European Public Policy in 1997. This collection picks up three thematic threads contained in the initial collection and provides state-of-the-art treatises on these different themes. The first theme addresses the causes and dynamics of the creation and design of regulatory bodies in EU governance, focusing not only on EU agencies but also on alternatives to the agency format, such as regulatory networks. Second, once agencies are established the consequences and trajectories of governance with and by EU agencies will be explored. Third, the design of EU agencies as independent, non-majoritarian institutions poses pressing questions with a view to their legitimacy and accountability.
Rhinorrhea is increased in Parkinson's disease

We have observed that rhinorrhea is increased in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) but only a single publication supports this. We performed two separate case control studies to assess the prevalence of rhinorrhea in PD in Rhode Island. One was cross‐sectional and the other in consecutive de novo patients. We further questioned subjects as to whether rhinorrhea might be associated with olfactory impairment. We found that rhinorrhea affects about half of PD patients in Rhode Island, is an early feature, being present at the time of presentation, was significantly more common than in controls and was associated with self‐perceived reduced olfaction. These observations confirm that rhinorrhea is a common problem and raise the questions as to whether some olfactory impairment found in PD could be confounded by rhinorrhea and also whether rhinorrea may be a premotor symptom. © 2007 Movement Disorder Society
Trends in production relocation and backshoring activities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical investigation of recent trends and changes in companies' production relocation and backshoring behaviour against the background of the global economic crisis.Design/methodology/approach – The empirical research is based on a large data set of 1,484 German manufacturing companies as part of the European Manufacturing Survey (EMS). The paper employs a structured set of probit analyses to identify the differences of production relocation and backshoring determinants before and within the crisis.Findings – Against common belief the paper finds that not only the relocation of production to emerging countries, but also the backshoring of once offshored manufacturing capacities to the home base is a relevant phenomenon. Since the emergence of the global economic crisis, relocation activities declined significantly, whereas the level of backshoring activities has remained stable. Far‐shore destinations in Asia gain in attractiveness over near‐shore lo.
Survey research on activity-based costing: a reply to Dugdale and Jones

Abstract In January 1996 we responded positively to a request by David Dugdale for assistance in accessing 14 respondents to our postal questionnaire survey of activity-based costing (ABC) in the U.K.'s largest companies (Innes and Mitchell, 1995). While the survey covered a broad range of ABC applications these respondents were the only ones who had stated that their firms had used ABC to value stock. Dugdale and Jones (1997) made contact by telephone (and subsequently by post) with individuals in 12 of the 14 cases (however only seven of the individuals contacted were the original respondents to our questionnaire). Eight of the 12 confirmed using ABC methods to value stock (five of these using what Dugdale and Jones term a ‘weak form’ of ABC) while the remaining four suggested that the original questionnaire must have been completed incorrectly due to ‘error or misunderstanding’.
Sex Differences in Urban Commuting Patterns

This paper takes a new look, both theoretical and empirical, at the general question of what determines the pattern of urban workers' commuting journeys and at the specific question of how women workers' commuting journeys differ from those of men. Commuting journey length for urban workers has proved difficult to model because it stands at the intersection of urban and labor economic theories concerning the spatial location patterns of jobs and housing. Urban economists view workers as having fixed job locations at the center of the city and being compensated for longer commuting journeys by lower housing prices in the suburbs. Labor economists, in contrast, tend
Eradication rates of helicobacter pylori infection with second-line treatment: non-ulcer dyspepsia compared to peptic ulcer disease.

BACKGROUND/AIMS Initial proton pump inhibitor (PPI)-based triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is less effective in patients with nonulcer dyspepsia (NUD) than those with peptic ulcer disease (PUD). To date, there have been no studies on the difference in eradication rates in NUD compared to PUD with regard to second-line therapy. Therefore, we retrospectively analyzed the difference in eradication rates of a second-line quadruple therapy for NUD and PUD patients. METHODOLOGY Between June 2003 and December 2005, patients who failed to respond to initial PPI-based triple therapy, received 7 days of quadruple therapy (PPI b.i.d., bismuth 300mg q.i.d., metronidazole 500mg t.i.d., tetracycline 500mg q.i.d.) as a second-line treatment regimen. Four weeks after the completion of the course of medication, a 13C-urea breath test was performed for detection of H. pylori. RESULTS A total of 87 patients received second-line quadruple therapy. Of these, 43 patients had NUD and 44 patients had PUD (19 gastric ulcers, 23 duodenal ulcers, 2 both ulcers). The eradication rates were 76.7% (33/43) in the NUD group and 90.9% (40/44) in the PUD group by per-protocol analysis. Therefore, the eradication rates in the NUD group were significantly lower than those in the PUD group (p = 0.034). CONCLUSIONS A 7-day bismuth-based second-line quadruple therapy for H. pylori infection was less effective in patients with NUD than those with PUD. Therefore, a more potent second-line treatment regimen or extension of treatment duration of quadruple therapy should be considered for the eradication of H. pylori in patients with NUD.
A new tool for maintenance performance measurement using value stream mapping and time-driven activity-based costing

The current paper is one of many contributions in lean maintenance studies. Its purpose is to demonstrate how maintenance activities and wastes can be studied to optimise this process. The methodology followed in this paper is based on two major parts. The first part deals with the maintenance mapping using value stream mapping (VSM). The second part concerns the combination between cost modelling using TDABC and maintenance lead time indicator. The paper presents two contributions for the industrial field. Firstly, a contribution to lean maintenance modelling through an original model, and secondly an application using technical and financial data. The proposed model gives managers the possibility to map maintenance process and identify easily cost of activities and potential wastes in order to implement appropriate lean maintenance actions. This document is one from the few papers that experiment VSM in maintenance field and associate the cost analysis to waste optimisation in maintenance trough TDABC. The research findings are experimented in multinational automotive supplier based in Morocco. Further researches could experiment the proposed model in other industrial companies and sectors.
N-Ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor: a redox sensor in exocytosis

Abstract Vascular injury triggers endothelial exocytosis of granules, releasing pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic mediators into the blood. Nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) limit vascular inflammation and thrombosis by inhibiting endothelial exocytosis. NO decreases exocytosis by regulating the activity of the N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF), a central component of the exocytic machinery. NO nitrosylates specific cysteine residues of NSF, thereby inhibiting NSF disassembly of the soluble NSF attachment protein receptor (SNARE). NO also modulates exocytosis of other cells; for example, NO regulates platelet activation by inhibiting α-granule secretion from platelets. Other radicals besides NO can regulate exocytosis as well. For example, H2O2 inhibits exocytosis by oxidizing NSF. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we have defined the critical cysteine residues of NSF, and found that one particular cysteine residue, C264, renders NSF sensitive to oxidative stress. Since radicals such as NO and H2O2 inhibit NSF and decrease exocytosis, NSF may act as a redox sensor, modulating exocytosis in response to changes in oxidative stress.