Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ex Post Bidding and Efficient Coordination Unemployment

We study the implementation of constrained-efficient allocations in labour markets where a basic coordination problem leads to an equilibrium matching friction. We argue that these allocations can be achieved in a non-cooperative equilibrium if wages are determined by ex post bidding. This holds true even in finite-sized markets where the equilibrium-matching process has decreasing returns to scale - where the 'Hosios rule' does not apply - both with and without heterogeneity.
Analgesic effect of the synthetic cannabinoid CT-3 on chronic neuropathic pain: a randomized controlled trial.

CONTEXT 1',1'dimethylheptyl-Delta8-tetrahydrocannabinol-11-oic acid (CT-3), a potent analog of THC-11-oic acid, produces marked antiallodynic and analgesic effects in animals without evoking the typical effects described in models of cannabinoids. Therefore, CT-3 may be an effective analgesic for poorly controlled resistant neuropathic pain. OBJECTIVE To examine the analgesic efficacy and safety of CT-3 in chronic neuropathic pain in humans. DESIGN AND SETTING Randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover trial conducted in Germany from May-September 2002. PARTICIPANTS Twenty-one patients (8 women and 13 men) aged 29 to 65 years (mean, 51 years) who had a clinical presentation and examination consistent with chronic neuropathic pain (for at least 6 months) with hyperalgesia (n = 21) and allodynia (n = 7). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to two 7-day treatment orders in a crossover design. Two daily doses of CT-3 (four 10-mg capsules per day) or identical placebo capsules were given during the first 4 days and 8 capsules per day were given in 2 daily doses in the following 3 days. After a washout and baseline period of 1 week each, patients crossed over to the second 7-day treatment period. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Visual analog scale (VAS) and verbal rating scale scores for pain; vital sign, hematologic and blood chemistry, and electrocardiogram measurements; scores on the Trail-Making Test and the Addiction Research Center Inventory-Marijuana scale; and adverse effects. RESULTS The mean differences over time for the VAS values in the CT-3-placebo sequence measured 3 hours after intake of study drug differed significantly from those in the placebo-CT-3 sequence (mean [SD], -11.54 [14.16] vs 9.86 [21.43]; P =.02). Eight hours after intake of the drug, the pain scale differences between groups were less marked. No dose response was observed. Adverse effects, mainly transient dry mouth and tiredness, were reported significantly more often during CT-3 treatment (mean [SD] difference, -0.67 [0.50] for CT-3-placebo sequence vs 0.10 [0.74] for placebo-CT-3 sequence; P =.02). There were no significant differences with respect to vital signs, blood tests, electrocardiogram, Trail-Making Test, and Addiction Research Center Inventory-Marijuana scale. No carryover or period effects were observed except on the Trail-Making Test. CONCLUSIONS In this preliminary study, CT-3 was effective in reducing chronic neuropathic pain compared with placebo. No major adverse effects were observed.
The potential for coffee tourism development in Rwanda – Neither black nor white

The potential for tourism development in many African nations remains largely untapped because of a range of destination management and image issues. This is the case for Rwanda, which, despite successful development of gorilla viewing tourism, needs to diversify its tourism offerings in order to grow the industry. Rwanda is a known for its high quality coffee, which contributes substantially to its export earnings. This paper explores the opportunity for synergistic, cross-sectoral development of coffee tourism in Rwanda. We draw upon a case study of a large coffee company in Rwanda, utilising in depth qualitative interviews with coffee and tourism stakeholders, to identify the barriers and facilitators for coffee tourism. Primary concerns lie around the connection of the two separate sectors, coffee and tourism, with issues around governance, and reliance upon the growing and availability of coffee production, which is largely governed by unstable international commodity prices. Rwanda’s destination image, especially the impact of the genocide on perceptions of safety and security, is still being seen as a barrier to further development. Access, seasonality and the logistics of coffee tourism also pose challenges, especially in the rural parts of the country where infrastructural problems are more pronounced: similarly so for accommodation and the provision of skilled hospitality providers. Despite the above, we see coffee tourism as providing poor Rwandan farmers the opportunity to link with wealthy consumers from the north and to take greater control of their product, and add value through developing various tourism activities associated with coffee. Coffee tourism also offers a supplementary attraction for Rwanda’s uni-dimensional (gorilla tourism) product which could increase length of stay and visitor spend.
Missing tag identification in open RFID systems

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has been widely used in missing tag identification to reduce the economic loss caused by theft. Although many advanced works have been proposed, they cannot work properly in an open RFID system with unexpected tags. To solve the problem, this paper proposes an order-based missing tag identification protocol (OMTI) that efficiently identifies all missing tags even with the presence of unexpected tags. The key of OMTI is that we dynamically assign each tag a slot rather than use random hashes in traditional design. Namely, OMTI off-line sorts all known tags in advance by assigning each of them a unique and continuous slot, on-line identifies missing tags by checking tags' responses in each slot, and dynamically updates the slot assignment to ensure the high efficiency of the next execution. Besides, we enhance OMTI to make it works in the case of newly added tags. The simulation results demonstrate that OMTI can reduce the execution time by a factor of 12, compared with the polling-based approach.
Parliamentary election outcomes in the Netherlands during 1981-2010: Have they become more determined by regional than national (economic) performance?

Parliamentary election outcomes have recently shifted significantly in some small open economies with high living standards. As regional differences widened, this study goes down to the regional level and investigates whether or not regional factors have been driving the election outcomes. An econometric model is designed explaining the election outcomes of the left-wing, middle and right-wing parties per municipality by latent variables at the country and regional levels. A panel of ten Parliamentary election outcomes of municipalities in the Netherlands during the period 1981-2010 is used to calculate the sizes of the national and regional factors' impact in three steps. First, principal component analyses are applied to measure the latent variables. Second, the econometric model is estimated by Seemingly Unrelated Regressions. Third, the responses of the election outcomes per party in reaction to country and regional shocks are simulated. The results indicate that regional factors have indeed determined election outcomes more than national factors in the period 2002-2010 in comparison with the period 1982-1994 for the left-wing, the middle and also the right-wing parties. Part of the explanation comes from regional differences in unemployment, demographic developments (greenness and greyness) and committed crimes.
Prescribing pattern of zinc and antimicrobials in acute diarrhea.

IAP Task Force on Management of Acute Diarrhea recommends 20mg of elemental zinc to be given to all children with acute diarrhea older then 6 months and 10 mg to all children aged 2 to 6 months for 14 days(1). We studied the pattern of prescriptions of zinc in acute diarrhea and its relationship to the antimicrobial prescribing patterns in a private tertiary care children's hospital. We carried out a retrospective analysis of case records of children aged 1 month-5 years who were admitted for acute watery diarrhea between June 2004 to May 2007, at Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital, a private tertiary care hospital for children. These case records were analyzed for prescriptions of zinc, their formulation, dosage and the details of prescriptions of antibiotics. During this period, 1700 children were hospitalized for acute diarrhea out of 37,296 (4.5%) admissions. Of these 1700 children, 120 were aged 2 to 6 months, 728 between 6 months to 1 year and 852 children between 1 and 5 years of age. Of these, 163(9.5%) children had features of severe dehydration and 24 (1.4%) had grade IV protein energy malnutrition (as per IAP Classification). Zinc was prescribed in 1,111(65%) out of 1,700 children. Over the period of 3 years, prescriptions of zinc increased gradually from 51% in 2004 to 75% in 2007. Amongst the various formulations of zinc (syrup, tablet and capsules), syrup formulation was commonly prescribed in 59%. Of the 1,700 children, 712 (41.8%) received antimicrobials. Ceftriaxone was the most commonly used antimicrobial in 25.8% followed by amikacin in 25%. Persistence of fever >38oC and loose stools for more than 48 hours was noted to be the common parameter for antimicrobial prescriptions. The usage of antimicrobial significantly dropped from 54.9% in 2004 to 28% in 2007, thus suggesting that zinc use might have resulted in reduced usage of antimicrobials in acute diarrhea. However, other variables which could have influenced the decline in antimicrobial use were not studied. Our findings reinforce the need to propagate the use of zinc which might reduce the indiscriminate antimicrobial usage in acute diarrhea.
Productivity of product design and engineering processes: unexplored territory for production management techniques?

Purpose – Maintaining and improving productivity of product design and engineering processes has been a paramount challenge for design-driven companies, which are characterised a high degree of development of products and processes in order to meet particular customer requirements. Literature on this issue is fragmented and dispersed and a concise and systematic overview is lacking. Hence, it remains unclear, which methods are applicable for design-driven companies to improve the productivity of limitedly available engineering resources (a challenge companies and nations face currently). The purpose of this paper is to develop such a systematic overview. Design/methodology/approach – An unusual approach was utilised by combining the outcomes from a systematic literature review and the results of a Delphi study. From both research approaches complementary and overlapping methods for improving the productivity of product design and engineering processes could be drawn. Findings – The unique systematic overv.
Corpus cavernosal relaxation in impotent men.

OBJECTIVE To investigate smooth muscle responsiveness in isolated preparations of corpus cavernosum from men with vasculogenic impotence. PATIENTS AND METHODS Biopsies of corpus cavernosum were obtained from 63 men undergoing penile surgery. These included a control group of eight men (mean age 59 years, range 38-82) undergoing penile amputation for carcinoma, 47 men with vasculogenic impotence (mean age 58, range 36-72) who were further sub-divided into arterial (n = 9), venous (n = 24) or mixed arterial/venous (n = 14) impotence according to the results of pre-operative haemodynamic investigation, and eight men with non-vasculogenic impotence (mean age 49 years, range 34-66). Smooth muscle contractile responses to alpha-adrenoceptor activation and relaxant responses to stimulation of intrinsic nerves and exposure to papaverine and sodium nitroprusside were recorded in tissue strips prepared from the biopsies. Morphology was assessed histologically using haematoxylin and eosin staining of tissue sections together with immunocytochemical labelling of intrinsic nerves. RESULTS Nerve-evoked relaxation was markedly impaired in tissue from men with venous or mixed arterial/venous impotence. A lesser degree of impairment was found in tissue from men with arterial impotence alone. Tissue from men with all types of vasculogenic impotence also showed a decreased contractile response to alpha-adrenoceptor stimulation. The magnitude of relaxant responses to papaverine and sodium nitroprusside in the vasculogenic group was similar to that of the control. There were no differences in smooth muscle content or nerve density between the vasculogenic group and the control. In the non-vasculogenic group responses to relaxant nerve stimulation, alpha-adrenoceptor activation and relaxant drugs were similar to those of the control. Nerve density in this group was similar to the control but smooth muscle content was reduced. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study demonstrate a functional impairment of smooth muscle contractility and neurogenic relaxation in corpus cavernosum from impotent men with abnormal penile haemodynamics. Altered smooth muscle responsiveness is likely to be a factor in the aetiology of impotence in such men and may contribute to the relatively poor results of vascular surgery for impotence.
Toll-like receptor 2 enhances ZO-1-associated intestinal epithelial barrier integrity via protein kinase C.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Protein kinase C (PKC) has been implicated in regulation of intestinal epithelial integrity in response to lumenal bacteria. Intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) constitutively express Toll-like receptor (TLR)2, which contains multiple potential PKC binding sites. The aim of this study was to determine whether TLR2 may activate PKC in response to specific ligands, thus potentially modulating barrier function in IECs. METHODS TLR2 agonist (synthetic bacterial lipopeptide Pam(3)CysSK4, peptidoglycan)-induced activation of PKC-related signaling cascades were assessed by immunoprecipitation, Western blotting, immunofluorescence, and kinase assays-combined with functional transfection studies in the human model IEC lines HT-29 and Caco-2. Transepithelial electrical resistance characterized intestinal epithelial barrier function. RESULTS Stimulation with TLR2 ligands led to activation (phosphorylation, enzymatic activity, translocation) of specific PKC isoforms (PKCalpha and PKCdelta). Phosphorylation of PKC by TLR2 ligands was blocked specifically by transfection with a TLR2 deletion mutant. Ligand-induced activation of TLR2 greatly enhanced transepithelial resistance in IECs, which was prevented by pretreatment with PKC-selective antagonists. This effect correlated with apical tightening and sealing of tight junction (TJ)-associated ZO-1, which was mediated via PKC in response to TLR2 ligands, whereas morphologic changes of occludin, claudin-1, or actin cytoskeleton were not evident. Downstream the endogenous PKC substrate myristoylated alanine-rich C kinase substrate (MARCKS), but not transcriptional factor activator protein-1 (AP-1), was activated significantly on stimulation. CONCLUSIONS The present study provides evidence that PKC is an essential component of the TLR2 signaling pathway with the physiologic consequence of directly enhancing intestinal epithelial integrity through translocation of ZO-1 on activation.
Sources of Financing, Profitability and Productivity: First Evidence from Matched Firms

This paper contributes to the literature on capital structure and firm performance. Using firm-level data covering over 11,000 firms from 47 countries over a recent period of 1997-2007, we address the effect of different sources of financing on corporate performance, employing a matching process, which allows an adequate `like-for-like’ comparison between high and low level of financing by firms. Robust to different matching estimators, the main findings are consistent with the theories of capital structure, in that firms with high debt-to-equity ratio tend to have lower returns to shareholders (profitability) and lower internal efficiency (productivity). The results become more robust when we separate the firms into advanced and emerging country-groups or countries with high/low levels of financial development. Given the lower level of leverage below 50% on average in emerging markets (or in countries with lower level of financial reforms), firms in these economies face lower risk of financial distress and thereby less adverse effect on firm profitability and productivity, relative to their counterparts in advanced economies. We also find that retained earnings and equity financing improve performance, while debt financing by firms particularly in the form of bank loans leads to lower performance, although not so in the case of debt raised through issuing bonds.
Suatu Catatan Matematika Model Ekonomi Diamond

Model matematika diberikan untuk menjelaskan fenomena dalam dunia ekonomimakro seperti modal/kapital, tenaga kerja, pengetahuan, inovasi dalam riset danpengembangannya. Ketergantungan elemen elemen dalam ekonomi makro antara satudengan lainnya diberikan dalam hubungan fungsional sebagaimana dalam modelekonomi Solow yang dikenal luas dalam dunia ekonomi makro.Model Diamondmerupakan modifikasi dari model ekonomi Solow yang serba kontinu ke model yangdiskrit dengan mengkaji dua lapisan masyarakat.
Participation or Pathology: Contradictory Tensions in Area-Based Policy

This paper discusses some of the tensions revealed in the development and implementation of recent area-based approaches to social policy in England. Such programmes are now a central feature of Government policy practice, although similar programmes have been developed in the past in the UK and other welfare capitalist countries. They reflect concerns to combat social exclusion and ‘join-up’ service provision. They are also evidence of a shift towards more agency based policy practice – from ‘top-down’ to ‘bottom-up’ planning. Thus participation of citizens is a key element in all programmes. Some of the problems of securing such participation are discussed, including in particular the tendency for expectations of participation to lead to pathological interpretations of the causes of (and solutions too) social exclusion.
Absence of detrimental effect of the carrier state for the cystic fibrosis gene.

The most frequent, lethal, hereditary disease among white children in the United States is the recessively inherited cystic fibrosis of the pancreas, the birth incidence rate being approximately 4 per 10,000, as judged from a comprehensive survey in New England (1). This high frequency would be associated with a high frequency of heterozygous carriers, approximately 4 per cent among white persons. If, as has been suggested (2-10), carriers of the cystic fibrosis · gene have an increased susceptibility to, or incidence of, respiratory disease, they could comprise an important segment of the population so afflicted. The present study was undertaken in an effort to determine whether cystic fibrosis heterozygotes are, in fact, more susceptible to respiratory disease, or, for that matter, to any disease.
Flame Detection in Surveillance

This paper presents a powerful video surveillance system that can automatically detect a flame after the target has been captured by the camera. Due to the increased number of web-cameras being installed in many locations, the flame, with its own visible characteristics has a lot of potential research interests in safety protection services.When a flame scenario occurs, the corresponding input video frame will be marked by a rectangle which covers the flame area after being analyzed by the system. Further to this research the detection algorithms and methods will be more robust and this system allows for the classification of the type of fuel that is burning. Our research contributions are towards the development of an almost real-time flame detection system to aid with fire safety precautions in all kinds of environments with appropriate storage of these fire scenario pictures in a fixed file for further exploration of these flame features.
A Novel Role for Copper in Ras/Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Signaling

ABSTRACT Copper (Cu) is essential for development and proliferation, yet the cellular requirements for Cu in these processes are not well defined. We report that Cu plays an unanticipated role in the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway. Ablation of the Ctr1 high-affinity Cu transporter in flies and mouse cells, mutation of Ctr1, and Cu chelators all reduce the ability of the MAP kinase kinase Mek1 to phosphorylate the MAP kinase Erk. Moreover, mice bearing a cardiac-tissue-specific knockout of Ctr1 are deficient in Erk phosphorylation in cardiac tissue. in vitro investigations reveal that recombinant Mek1 binds two Cu atoms with high affinity and that Cu enhances Mek1 phosphorylation of Erk in a dose-dependent fashion. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments suggest that Cu is important for promoting the Mek1-Erk physical interaction that precedes the phosphorylation of Erk by Mek1. These results demonstrate a role for Ctr1 and Cu in activating a pathway well known to play a key role in normal physiology and in cancer.
Anti-Correlation Digital Halftoning by Generalized Russian Roulette

A new class of digital halftoning algorithms is introduce Anti-correlation digital halftoning (ACDH) combines th idea of a well-known game, Russian roulette, with the s tistical approach to bilevel quantization of images. A re resentative of the class, serpentine anti-correlation d tal halftoning, is described and compared to error dif sion, ordered dither, and other important digital halfton algorithms. Digital halftoning means image quantizati by algorithms that exploit properties of the vision syste to create the illusion of continuous tone. Common pro lems often accompanying digital halftoning include co touring, correlated artifacts, edge enhancement, and pleasant boundary effects. Serpentine ACDH causes fe unwanted correlated artifacts and less contouring than benchmark algorithms. Two intensity distortion criter similar to those applied earlier to evaluate quality of no uniform sampling are used to demonstrate that serpen ACDH represents the average intensity remarkably w Unlike popular algorithms based on error diffusion, s pentine ACDH does not enhance edges. A simple pre cessing technique allows one to introduce edge enha ment if desired, while keeping it more isotropic than th of error diffusion. Serpentine ACDH does not cause s nificant boundary effects.