Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Outcome uncertainty in sporting competition: the Olympic games 1896-1996.

This paper examines uncertainty of outcome within the context of international sporting competition through analysing the ratio of medal winning to participating nations for the history of the Summer Olympics. A deficiency within the economics of professional team sports literature concerns the investigation into the determinants of uncertainty per se, although it has prominently featured as an explanatory factor in demand studies. Additionally, previous research on the Olympics has primarily focused upon ';success' in terms of medals won or event placings. An analysis of outcome uncertainty is poignant to the Olympics given the degree of national prestige frequently placed upon success together with the policy debate in relation to their increasing scope. The relationship examined between Olympic uncertainty and a series of hypothesized factors indicates that significant determinants include the level of participation in each Olympiad, Communist-let boycotts and their overall trend.
On the Measurement of Capacity Utilization

Capacity utilization is usually defined as the ratio of actual output to the output corresponding to (1) the minimum point on the short-run average total cost curve, and (2) the point of tangency between the long-run average total cost and short-run average total cost curves. In practice, however, capacity utilization is often measured as the ratio of actual to the maximum potential output consistent with a given capital stock. This paper demonstrates how to estimate the theoretical measures of capacity utilization, and examines the correlation between three measures of capacity utilization, and the McGraw-Hill estimates of capacity utilization, using data from a sample of U.S. privately-owned electric utilities for 1961-83. Copyright 1989 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Modulation of Dengue Virus Infection in Human Cells by Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Interferons

ABSTRACT A role for interferon (IFN) in modulating infection by dengue virus (DV) has been suggested by studies in DV-infected patients and IFN receptor-deficient mice. To address how IFN modulates DV type 2 infection, we have assayed IFN-α, -β, and -γ for the ability to enhance or diminish antibody-independent and antibody-dependent cell infection using a competitive, asymmetric reverse transcriptase-mediated PCR (RT-PCR) assay that quantitates positive and negative strands of viral RNA, a flow cytometric assay that measures viral antigen, and a plaque assay that analyzes virion production. Our data suggest that IFN-α and -β protect cells against DV infection in vitro. Treatment of hepatoma cells with IFN-α or -β decreases viral RNA levels greater than 1,000-fold, the percentage of cells infected 90 to 95%, and the amount of infectious virus secreted 150- to 100,000-fold. These results have been reproduced with several cell types and viral strains, including low-passage isolates. In contrast, IFN-γ has a more variable effect depending on the cell type and pathway of infection. Quantitative RT-PCR experiments indicate that IFN inhibits DV infection by preventing the accumulation of negative-strand viral RNA.
The National Service Life-Insurance Dividend of 1950 and Consumption: A Further Test of the "Strict" Permanent-Income Hypothesis

T~'~HE permanent-income hypothesis (PIH) regards both measured income and measured consumption as the sum of permanent and transitory components. In Milton Friedman's original exposition [9], the ratio of permanent consumption to permanent income is postulated to be independent of the level of permanent income, although this ratio may vary with several other factors (for example, the interest rate, the ratio of non-human [property] wealth to total wealth, and other taste variables). Furthermore, the permanent and transitory components of income are assumed to be uncorrelated, as are the permanent and transitory components of consumption. A final crucial postulate in Friedman's original formulation of the PIH is that of a zero correlation between the transitory components of income and consumption. This strand of the PIH, together with the other postulates, implies that total consumption (measured consumption) and transitory income are uncorrelated.2 Thus, the implied mar-
A low stress bond pad design for low temperature solder interconnections on through silicon vias (TSVs)

Low temperature bonds are thin intermetallic bonds that are formed between devices when plated layers of different metals on each side of the component come into contact under relatively low temperature and high pressure. These joints comprised completely of intermetallic compounds, will fail in a sudden unexpected manner, compared to normal solder joints which fail in a ductile manner where cracks grow more slowly. This problem of weak interconnects is further exacerbated when these thin interconnections are formed on pads located above through-silicon vias (TSVs). When a change in temperature occurs, the mismatch in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) causes the copper inside the TSV to expand or contract much more than the surrounding silicon. This could result in unexpectedly high tensile stresses in the joints. This additional tensile stress on post-formation cooling to room temperature increases the likelihood of joint failure. This paper presents a novel pad design to overcome the situation of high stress in the joints. The proposed design does not involve any additional fabrication or material cost. Simulation results show that with the proposed pad design, the maximum tensile stress in the interconnect decreases by 50%. Reliability assessment has also done in order to compare the proposed pad design with the conventional design. It is found that the samples with the proposed design have a better drop impact reliability performance and higher shear strength than the samples with the usual pad design.
Before Crisis: Gender and Economic Outcomes of the Two Largest Immigrant Communities in Spain 1

In this study, we compare labor force outcomes of the two largest immigrant communities in Spain (Moroccans and Romanians) before the economic crisis hit. We are interested in understanding if and how gender influences the labor force outcomes (wage per hour, labor force participation, and unemployment rate) of these two immigrant groups. Our analyses show that, overall, gender is an important variable on Spanish labor market, but it affects differently the two groups. There is a male job market and a female job market for both Romanian and Moroccan immigrants, with men earning significantly higher wages than women. However, while for Moroccans, working women differ significantly from men in terms of demographic characteristics, Romanian women and men have similar demographic characteristics and comparable levels of labor force participation, but differ in terms of wage levels.
Fault-tolerant operation of an open-end winding five-phase PMSM drive with inverter faults

Multi-phase machines are known for their fault-tolerant capability. However, star-connected machines have no fault tolerance to inverter switch short-circuit fault. This paper investigates the fault-tolerant operation of an open-end five-phase drive, i.e. a multi-phase machine fed with a dual-inverter supply. Inverter switch short-circuit faults are considered and handled with various degrees of reconfiguration. Theoretical developments and experimental results validate the proposed strategies.
Prevention and treatment of glucocorticoid‐induced osteoporosis in daily dermatologic practice

Background Systemic glucocorticoids (GCs) are often needed to treat dermatologic patients. The long‐term use of GCs, however, is associated with potentially severe side‐effects. GC‐induced osteoporosis (GIO) is one of the most serious complications, but the risk of the occurrence of GIO seems to be generally underestimated.
miR-221 and miR-222 synergistically regulate hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 to promote cell proliferation and migration in gastric cancer

Gastric cancer is a common malignancy with limited treatment options and poor prognosis. Introduction of novel pathways of gastric cancer will provide candidates for target therapy. Hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 is an integral-membrane proteinase inhibitor. Hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 abnormality is found in various cancers and correlates with tumor progression and metastasis. However, the mechanisms underlying the dysregulation of hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 expression in gastric cancer remain unclear. Although microRNAs have been reported to be involved in the development of cancer, the roles of miR-221 and miR-222 in gastric cancer have not been reported yet. In this study, we showed that hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 protein was downregulated, while miR-221 and miR-222 were significantly increased in gastric cancer tissues. Bioinformatic predictions and luciferase assay verified that the 3′-untranslated region of the HAI-1 gene is a direct target site for miR-221 and miR-222. Overexpression of miR-221 and miR-222 in MGC-803 cells leads to the inhibition of hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 protein expression, thus promoting cell proliferation and migration; whereas knockdown of miR-221 and miR-222 showed opposite effects. Moreover, we found that the expression level of hepatocyte growth factor activator protein was increased when hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 was knocked down in MGC-803 cells. Thus, gastric cancer is probably an autocrine tumor, and the antitumor mechanism of hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 in vitro might be mediated by regulating the expression of hepatocyte growth factor activator protein. Therefore, our data illustrated a novel pathway comprising miR-221and miR-222 and hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 in gastric cancer, which is a potential target for future clinical use.
A Low-Delay Digital PWM Control Circuit for DC/DC onverters

This paper is descried about a proposed scheme of a low-cost digital pulse width modulation (DPWM) control circuit for non-isolated DC-DC converter without A/D converter. Also, real-time PID control technique for DPWM is described. Some experimental results are revealed the proposed circuit and scheme. The purpose of this research is striking a balance between minimizing cost increase by digitalizing of the control circuit of DC-DC converter and speeding up the control circuit.
Novel intermode decision algorithm in H.264/AVC

H.264/AVC employs variable-size motion compensation with multiple reference frames that can significantly improve the coding performance compared with the previous video coding standards. However, the computational complexity of the H.264/AVC encoder increases dramatically due to the various size modes used. One of the most challenging problems in implementing this encoder is mode decision. We propose a novel intermode decision algorithm (NIMDA) to reduce the candidate mode set, which utilizes two basic elements, the sum absolute difference (SAD) of each 44 block from the initial test of the inter-1616 and the texture characteristic. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm can save about 46% in computational complexity, with negligible loss of coding efficiency.
A recursive algorithm for diagnosis in hierarchical finite-state machines

The authors have recently developed a framework for failure diagnosis in hierarchical finite-state machines (HFSMs). This diagnosis method reduces random access memory requirements and changes the complexity of the diagnosis computations from exponential to polynomial if the subsystems of the HFSM do not have common unobservable events. In this paper, a recursive algorithm is provided for diagnosis computations (and more generally, observer design) in multilevel HFSMs. Some of the procedures provided in this work for diagnosis computations are equivalent to those proposed in the authors' previous work. However these computations have been reformulated in terms of an updator function so that they lend themselves better for extension to a recursive algorithm for the more general case of multi-level HFSMs.
Stimulus Categorization and Response Time

Generally, in disjunctive reaction time experiments there is a one-to-one correspondence between the number of stimulus alternatives and the number of response alternatives. Consequently, the roles of stimulus recognition or categorization processes and response choice processes are confounded in the data. Two experiments were conducted in which the stimulus set was mapped onto the response set in a many-to-one-fashion. In each case S's task was to press a key in response to those stimuli designated as “critical” and to not press the key in response to stimuli designated as “non-critical. ” In the first experiment RT increased monotonically as the number of different stimuli in the critical stimulus category was increased from one to four. In the second experiment RT varied with the number of independent disjunctively combined attributes used to designate the critical category.
LIGHT-INDUCED RICE1 Regulates Light-Dependent Attachment of LEAF-TYPE FERREDOXIN-NADP+ OXIDOREDUCTASE to the Thylakoid Membrane in Rice and Arabidopsis

Light-dependent degradation of LIR1 regulates the distribution of LFNR, which may play an important role in the allocation of reducing power depending upon environmental conditions. LIR1 (LIGHT-INDUCED RICE1) encodes a 13-kD, chloroplast-targeted protein containing two nearly identical motifs of unknown function. LIR1 is present in the genomes of vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, and algae, but not in cyanobacteria. Using coimmunoprecipitation assays, pull-down assays, and yeast two-hybrid analyses, we showed that LIR1 interacts with LEAF-TYPE FERREDOXIN-NADP+ OXIDOREDUCTASE (LFNR), an essential chloroplast enzyme functioning in the last step of photosynthetic linear electron transfer. LIR1 and LFNR formed high molecular weight thylakoid protein complexes with the TIC62 and TROL proteins, previously shown to anchor LFNR to the membrane. We further showed that LIR1 increases the affinity of LFNRs for TIC62 and that the rapid light-triggered degradation of the LIR1 coincides with the release of the LFNR from the thylakoid membrane. Loss of LIR1 resulted in a marked decrease in the accumulation of LFNR-containing thylakoid protein complexes without a concomitant decrease in total LFNR content. In rice (Oryza sativa), photosynthetic capacity of lir1 plants was slightly impaired, whereas no such effect was observed in Arabidopsis thaliana knockout mutants. The consequences of LIR1 deficiency in different species are discussed.
Regional Variations in Cyclical Employment

In this paper the author develops and tests a model of regional responses to national business-cycles. The model divides cyclical decline in each state into two sectors: a basic sector and a nonbasic sector. The industrial mix, capital—labor ratio, age of capital stock, level of unemployment insurance benefits, labor shortage, and extent of labor-force unionization of a state are hypothesized to influence the response to national recessions by the economy of a state. Employment decline in the nonbasic sector of the economy of a state is a function of employment decline in basic industries and is transmitted through a short-run multiplier. The model is tested on data from five post World War 2 recessions between 1950 and 1975. The findings indicate that industry mix at the two-digit Standard Industrial Code level explains 36% of the across-state variation in cyclical employment. The results also indicate that an old capital-stock, a nonunion labor force, and generous unemployment insurance benefits promote cyclical stability in state economies.
An electroclinical case‐control study of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) accounts for approximately 1 in 5 deaths in patients with epilepsy, but its cause remains unexplained. A recorded seizure resulting in death in our center appeared to suggest that postictal generalized electroencephalographic (EEG) suppression (PGES) and apnea are implicated in SUDEP. Our objective was to determine the association between PGES, as a possible identifiable EEG marker of profound postictal cerebral dysfunction, and SUDEP.
The Logic of Strategic Defection: Court–Executive Relations in Argentina Under Dictatorship and Democracy

Building on the separation-of-powers approach in American politics, this article develops a new micro-level account of judicial decision-making in contexts where judges face institutional insecurity. Against conventional wisdom, I argue that under certain conditions the lack of judicial independence motivates judges to “strategically defect” against the government once it begins losing power. The result is a reverse legal–political cycle in which antigovernment decisions cluster at the end of weak governments. Original data on more than 7,500 individual decisions by Argentine Supreme Court justices (1976–1995) are used to test hypotheses about why, when, and in which types of cases judges are likely to engage in strategic defection. Consistent with the theory's predictions, the results of the analysis show a significant increase in antigovernment decisions occurring at the end of weak dictatorships and weak democratic governments. Examining subsets of decisions and controlling for several additional variables further corroborate the strategic account.
Differential regulation of NF-kappaB2(p100) processing and control by amino-terminal sequences

Proteolytic degradation of the C-terminal region of NF-(kappa)B precursors to their active DNA binding forms represents an important regulatory step in the activation of NF-(kappa)B. NF-(kappa)B2(p100) is found ubiquitously in the cytoplasm; however, the site and mechanism of processing to p52 have not previously been defined. We show by deletion mapping that processing of NF-(kappa)B2(p100) terminates at alanine 405 to generate p52 and is prevented by specific inhibitors of the multicatalytic proteinase complex. Although the C-terminal I(kappa)B-like domain of NF-(kappa)B2(p100) was constitutively phosphorylated, disruption of this phosphorylation by mutagenesis demonstrated that it was not required as a signal to mediate processing. Mutational analysis further showed that cleavage of NF-(kappa)B2 is not dependent on a specific sequence motif adjacent to alanine 405, the ankyrin repeats, or other C-terminal sequences but is directed by structural determinants amino terminal to the cleavage site, within the Rel homology domain and/or the glycine hinge region. The level of processing of NF-(kappa)B2(p100) was much lower than that of NF-(kappa)B1(p105) and differed from that of I(kappa)B-alpha, suggesting differential control of processing of NF-(kappa)B/I(kappa)B family members.
Emotion recognition via agent-based modelling

Emotion recognition is one of the most popular research areas in recent times. Emotion recognition is also made from facial expressions and sound signals, as can be done biomedical signals. Especially when face-to face communication is not possible, emotion can be recognized from the sound data. In this study, emotion recognition was performed from the sound data. One of the most important steps in feeling recognition is feature selection. Feature selection can be done in many different ways. In this study, a new agent-based approach to emotion recognition is presented. The agent-based modeling features were then selected by opt-ainet optimization method. The goal is automatic selection of features that give the best classification accuracy.
Ventilation of the Very Immature Lung In Utero Induces Injury and BPD-Like Changes in Lung Structure in Fetal Sheep

Preterm infants are at high risk of developing ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI), which contributes to bronchopulmonary dysplasia. To investigate causes of VILI, we have developed an animal model of in utero ventilation (IUV). Our aim was to characterize the effects of IUV on the very immature lung, in the absence of nonventilatory factors that could contribute to lung pathology. Fetal sheep were ventilated in utero at 110 d gestation for 1, 6, or 12 h (two groups; n = 5 each). Lung tissue was collected at 12 h after initiating IUV in the 1, 6, and one 12 h IUV groups. Lung liquid was replaced in the second 12 h IUV group and tissues collected at 117 d. Operated, nonventilated 110 and 117 d fetuses were controls. IUV reduced secondary septal crest densities, simplified distal airsacs, caused abnormal collagen and elastin deposition, and stimulated myofibroblast differentiation and cellular proliferation. IUV causes VILI in very immature lungs in the absence of other complicating factors and reproduces bronchopulmonary dysplasia -like changes in lung morphology. IUV offers a novel method for dissociating VILI from other iatrogenic factors that could contribute to altered lung development caused by VILI.
CDM contribution to RES penetration in the power generation sector of China and India

The clean development mechanism (CDM) could play an important role in the power generation sector of developing countries and emerging economies by providing additional revenue to support the diffusion of renewable energy sources (RES). This paper investigates the contribution of the CDM to deployment of renewable electricity projects in China and India, and highlights the main potentialities and limitations of this mechanism for their support. The outcome of our analysis shows many differences and similarities in the way and scale of CDM projects for renewable electricity generation have been implemented in the two countries. In both cases, the CDM has made a contribution to greening investments in the power generation sector, which is still largely dominated by subcritical coal-fuelled power plants. Nonetheless, some major problems still remain and they are mainly related to the distribution of projects across different technologies and to the environmental integrity of the mechanism. In view of the likely revision of the CDM in the post-Kyoto period, we find that the differentiation of the credit generation rate of different project categories could bring some level of improvement without significantly altering the current system functionality.
Capital Inflows and Economic Growth: Does the Role of Institutions Matter?

Recent evidence shows that institutions figure prominently in explaining the ‘Lucas paradox’. Using a threshold regression model, we extend this evidence to a situation where institutions index the relationship between foreign capital inflows and economic growth. We find strong and robust evidence that portfolio equity (including foreign direct investment) and debt inflows have positive effects on growth only in countries with high‐quality institutions. Countries that fall below the threshold level of institutional quality record either insignificant or negative effects. This paper provides a possible explanation on the so‐called Lucas paradox. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development Theory and the Cold War: The Influence of Politics on Latin American Structuralism

This paper analyzes the origins of economic development theory by focusing on the work of Raúl Prebisch. When Prebisch put forward his theoretical framework, he was faced with the challenges of creating a foundation for development policies in the context of the Cold War. Moreover, Prebisch was immersed in a determined mentalité; he was part of a social network and institutional setting that transformed his ideas into an influential theory. The objective is to highlight that economic theories do not rely on natural laws, and rather result from a historical and social context and that economists are not passive, isolated theoreticians; they are socialized and directly impact the issues on which they theorize. To strengthen the argument, archival research on the Prebisch Papers at the UN Archives as well as interviews from the UN Oral History Project are included.