Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Social and Economic Impact of Native American Casinos

In the late 1980s, a series of legal rulings favorable to tribes and the subsequent passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 legalized gaming operations on reservations in many states. Today, there are over 310 gaming operations run by more than 200 of the nations' 556 federally-recognized tribes. Of these operations, about 220 are Las Vegas' style casinos with slot machines and/or table games. We use a simple difference-in-difference framework where we compare economic outcomes before and after tribes open casinos to outcomes over the same period for tribes that do not adopt or are prohibited from adopting gaming. Four years after tribes open casinos, employment has increased by 26 percent, and tribal population has increased by about 12 percent, resulting in an increase in employment to population ratios of five percentage points or about 12 percent. The fraction of adults who work but are poor has declined by 14 percent. Tribal gaming operations seem to have both positive and negative spillovers in the surrounding communities. In counties where an Indian-owned casino opens, we find that jobs per adult increase by about five percent of the median value. Given the size of tribes relative to their counties, most of this growth in employment is due to growth in non-Native American employment. The increase in economic activity appears to have some health benefits in that four or more years after a casino opens, mortality has fallen by 2 percent in a county with a casino and an amount half that in counties near a casino. Casinos do, however, come at some cost. Four years after a casino opens, bankruptcy rates, violent crime, and auto thefts and larceny are up 10 percent in counties with a casino.
SMALL TRADERS IN CURRENCY FUTURES MARKETS

This study examines the interrelation between small traders' open interest and large hedging and speculation in the Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, British pound, and Japanese yen futures markets. The results, based on Granger‐causality tests and vector autoregressive models, suggest that small traders' open interest is closely related to large speculators' open interest. Small traders and speculators tend to herd, which means that small traders are long [short] when speculators are long [short] as well. Moreover, small traders and speculators are positive feedback traders whereas hedgers are contrarians. Regarding information flows, speculators lead small traders in three of the four currency futures markets. The results therefore suggest that small traders are small speculators who follow the large speculators, indicating that they are less well informed than the large speculators. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 31:898–913, 2011
ATTAINING DEVELOPMENT GOALS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES: IMPLICATIONS FOR INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Education has three main roles: it is developmental because it develops the unique qualities of a child; it differentiates between learners because it treats every child as an individual, appreciating individual differences; and it is integrative because it accommodates people of varying backgrounds (culture, beliefs and values) thereby allowing for a cooperative approach in problem solving (Abosi, 1996). It is therefore absolutely necessary that the components of the curriculum for teacher training programs, teaching and learning at all levels should reflect these roles, if we are to attain the development goals which include education for all. The development goals for individuals with disabilities will include elimination of poverty, acquisition of practical and survival skills, employment, empowerment and total integration in the social world. All these could be achieved through a well planned inclusive education system. Special education provides opportunity for education for all. Special education is part of general education which treats every one involved in it as individuals. Special education identifies problems which are specific to individual learner and adopts relevant personnel, methods and materials to overcome the problems. Special needs education ensures that everyone has equal opportunity to participate in classroom and play activities. This paper examines how special needs education uses the inclusive aspect of it to fulfill the aspiration of fundamental human right to education for children with disabilities. This paper will also examine some issues involved in inclusive education in some developing countries with specific reference to issues such as the concept of inclusive education, historical perspective, policies, barriers, the impact of culture, traditional values and beliefs on inclusive education, solutions and the current practice of inclusive education.
Estimating the Inflation Threshold for South Africa

Abstract How detrimental is inflation to economic growth in South Africa? At what level? Motivated by the adoption of inflation targeting in many countries, the author of this paper sets out to empirically determine the threshold level of inflation in South Africa. Quarterly time-series data spanning the period 1980:Q2 to 2010:Q3 was adopted for this study. The threshold regression model developed by Khan and Senhadji (2001) was used in this study. The econometric technique that was used is the ordinary least squares (OLS) model, which was re-estimated using the two-stage least squares instrumental variable (2SLS-IV) to check for robustness. The results show that the inflation threshold level occurs at 4%. At inflation levels below and up to 4%, there is a positive but insignificant relationship between inflation and growth. The relationship becomes negative and significant when the inflation rate is above 4%. The tests of robustness support these findings.
Meta–analyses of the association between Chlamydia psittaci and ocular adnexal lymphoma and the response of ocular adnexal lymphoma to antibiotics

There are conflicting reports regarding the association between Chlamydia psittaci (Cps) and ocular adnexal lymphoma (OAL) and the efficacy of antibiotics for OAL. In the current study, the authors attempted to clarify the association between Cps and OAL and the efficacy of antibiotics for OAL.
Transatlantic divergence: GE–Honeywell and the EU's merger policy*

This paper analyses the reasons for the severe EU–US disagreement over the proposed merger of two US firms, General Electric and Honeywell, which would have been the largest industrial merger in history. The case, one of the relatively rare instances where the European Commission prohibited a merger, is interesting because the EU and US authorities took opposing decisions even though the merger affected world markets. The paper argues that the Commission's investigation of this complex case was undermined by its relative autonomy, combined with procedures, processes and a lack of resources that left it vulnerable to inadequate analysis. The deal broke down not because of failures in communication between US and EU officials, but rather because of the limited and flawed assessment by Brussels which the EU system allowed.
MTNA: A Neural Multi-task Model for Aspect Category Classification and Aspect Term Extraction On Restaurant Reviews

Online reviews are valuable resources not only for consumers to make decisions before purchase, but also for providers to get feedbacks for their services or commodities. In Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis (ABSA), it is critical to identify aspect categories and extract aspect terms from the sentences of user-generated reviews. However, the two tasks are often treated independently, even though they are closely related. Intuitively, the learned knowledge of one task should inform the other learning task. In this paper, we propose a multi-task learning model based on neural networks to solve them together. We demonstrate the improved performance of our multi-task learning model over the models trained separately on three public dataset released by SemEval workshops.
HEMATOLOGIC AND SERUM BIOCHEMICAL PROFILE OF THE NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL (MIROUNGA ANGUSTIROSTRIS): VARIATION WITH AGE, SEX, AND SEASON

The foraging success, and thus the survival and reproductive success, of deep-diving pinnipeds such as the northern elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris, depends on the ability to withstand repetitive breath-hold dives. Health parameters can be incorporated as potential explanatory variables for differences observed in diving and migratory performance of individual seals. Furthermore, biomedical samples from apparently healthy individuals can provide valuable baseline data for evaluating effects of natural or anthropogenic threats to individuals and populations. We evaluated 42 blood parameters in 134 northern elephant seals during the breeding and molting seasons (1992–1999) to test for age, sex, and seasonal differences and to develop reference ranges. Adult males sampled during the breeding season differed from all other adult groups for a suite of parameters often associated with inflammation, infection, or other stressors: lower hematocrit, higher white blood cell count, higher band neutrophils, higher neutrophil count, lower albumin, and lower serum iron. Adult females during the breeding season differed from all other adult categories for two parameters (lower platelet counts, lower alanine aminotransferase activity). Molting males had higher blood urea nitrogen than all other classes; creatinine did not differ between breeding and molting adult males, but was higher in males than in females in both seasons. We found significant differences among age classes for 24 of 42 parameters measured, including higher levels of triglycerides, total protein, calcium, and iron in pups than we found in juveniles or adults. Unlike other mammals which undergo substantial decreases in energy expenditure during prolonged fasting (e.g., hibernation), northern elephant seals defend territories, give birth and suckle large offspring, mate, and molt during their bi-annual fasts. Nonetheless, many studies have described physiologic homeostasis during fasting in elephant seals. The genus Mirounga is superbly adapted to going without feeding for extended periods, and this is reflected in our hematologic and serum biochemical profiles.
Linking Inter-Individual Variability in Functional Brain Connectivity to Cognitive Ability in Elderly Individuals

Increasing evidence suggests that functional brain connectivity is an important determinant of cognitive aging. However, the fundamental concept of inter-individual variations in functional connectivity in older individuals is not yet completely understood. It is essential to evaluate the extent to which inter-individual variability in connectivity impacts cognitive performance at an older age. In the current study, we aimed to characterize individual variability of functional connectivity in the elderly and to examine its significance to individual cognition. We mapped inter-individual variability of functional connectivity by analyzing whole-brain functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging data obtained from a large sample of cognitively normal older adults. Our results demonstrated a gradual increase in variability in primary regions of the visual, sensorimotor, and auditory networks to specific subcortical structures, particularly the hippocampal formation, and the prefrontal and parietal cortices, which largely constitute the default mode and fronto-parietal networks, to the cerebellum. Further, the inter-individual variability of the functional connectivity correlated significantly with the degree of cognitive relevance. Regions with greater connectivity variability demonstrated more connections that correlated with cognitive performance. These results also underscored the crucial function of the long-range and inter-network connections in individual cognition. Thus, individual connectivity–cognition variability mapping findings may provide important information for future research on cognitive aging and neurocognitive diseases.
Intraparty Democracy and the Selection of Parliamentary Candidates: the Belgian Case

Leaders and activists in most Western political parties, appreciating Schattschneider's adage1 that parties are controlled by those who control nominations to public offices, jealously guard their right to choose parliamentary candidates. They realize that candidates play a crucial role in shaping voters’ images of the parties as well as in formulating the party policies. Not surprisingly, candidates are usually recruited through rather oligarchical procedures. Extra-parliamentary party leaders normally pick the nominees in closed private meetings and then submit their choices to rank-and-file party members and/or delegates who nearly always grant their approval. Such procedures reduce the role of party members to one of docile acquiescence, and completely exclude party voters.
The Determinants of Students' Destination Choice for their Summer Vacation Trip

This paper examines how a number of determinants affect students' destination choices for their summer vacation trip. By means of a multinomial regression procedure on 583 students attending a medium‐sized Norwegian university college, two main findings are presented. General vacation motives and trip‐specific motives are very important determinants of destination choice. By contrast, socio‐demographic characteristics are not. Both managerial and scholarly implications of the study's findings are discussed.
Using a Validation Process to Develop Market Segmentation Based on Travel Motivation for Major Metropolitan Areas

Studies on market segmentation based on travelers' push motivation have been conducted without implementing a statistically validated procedure for establishing the segmented markets. The purpose of this study is to identify validated traveler market segments by examining what travelers' push motivation dimensions are among the heterogeneity of travelers to a major metropolitan area. The six push motivation dimensions were extracted from the 20 motivation items by conducting factor analysis (i.e., Social/Interaction, Excitement/Fun, Relaxation, Sightseeing, Family/Friends, and Sports). Cluster analysis identified the three homogeneous groups of travelers. Subsequent discriminant analysis verified the existence of the three travelers' markets in the metropolitan area. Managerial implications are suggested for the three push motivation‐based segments.
Düşük Sosyoekonomik Düzeydeki Mahallede Bulunan Bir İlköğretim Okulunda Akademik Başarıyı Düşüren Faktörler Nelerdir

This research was conducted in order to determine the factors negatively affecting academic achievement in a primary school located in a neighborhood consisting of families with low socioeconomic status in the city center of Erzurum, by a teacher working in that school and an academic of Ataturk University in 2011-2012 academic year. Case study was used as a research method, and interview technique as a data collection tool. The research was conducted with the participation of two administrators, eight teachers, five parents and five students from the school. As a result of the study, it was determined that the leading factor that negatively affected the academic achievement in a school located in a neighborhood with low socio-economic status was the socio-economic conditions of the families; which was followed by the settlement of the school, students, parents, teachers, school facilities and some characteristics of school administrators; respectively.
How BPEL and SOA Are Changing Web Services Development

E very organization faces the challenge of integrating diverse IT systems. Developers must first solve communication-level integration issues, ensuring that systems using different transport protocols and data formats can exchange information. Once these issues are resolved, organizations must decide how their various IT systems can interact to support business processes. Business process modeling (BPM) environments seek to solve these issues. Historically, however, these systems have been proprietary, locking an organization — and sometimes its business partners — into a single product. BPMs also have had limited interoperability with various IT systems, creating further integration problems. Increasingly, developers are using the Business Process Execution Language (ftp://www6.soft ware.ibm.com/software/developer/library/ws-bpel. pdf) for modeling business processes within the Web services architecture.1 BPEL is an XML-based standard for defining business process flows. In addition to facilitating the orchestration of synchronous (client-server) and asynchronous (peerto-peer) Web services, BPEL provides specific support for long-running and stateful processes. BPEL is an open standard, making it interoperable and portable across many environments. BPEL is ideally suited to the service-oriented architecture, a set of guidelines for integrating disparate systems by presenting each system as a service that implements a specific business function. BPEL provides an ideal way to orchestrate services within SOA into complete business processes. Here, I describe how BPEL fits into the Web services stack, some of BPEL’s key benefits, and how targeting Web services for use with BPEL makes the creation of an SOA easier than ever. To illustrate some of the SOA principles and how BPEL affects Web service design, I’ll use a sample integration project in which a phone company wants to automate its sign-up process for new customers. This process involves four separate systems based on different technologies:
Neighborhood Dynamics and Price Effects of Superfund Site Clean-Up

Numerous hedonic price analyses estimate price effects associated with hazardous waste site remediation or other environmental variation. This paper estimates a neighborhood transition model to capture the direct price effect from Superfund site clean-up and the indirect price effects arising from residential sorting and changes in investment in the housing stock following clean-up. First-difference models of neighborhood change and a national sample are used. This approach fails to find consistent positive direct price effects. Positive indirect effects, however, may arise through residential sorting and neighborhood investment spurred by remediation. The findings can be sensitive to policy endogeneity and model specification.
PRICING POLICIES AND INFLATION DYNAMICS

The paper proposes a New Keynesian monetary model where firms' pricing policies feature a forward-looking optimal choice of the rate of price growth. The model can be thought of as a reduced form model of rational inattention that has only one additional state variable relative to the Calvo model [Journal of Monetary Economics 12 (1983), 383–398]. Like the model of backward-looking automatic indexation to past aggregate inflation, it generates a gradual and persistent reaction of the inflation rate, and output losses, following highly persistent monetary shocks. But unlike that model, its price setters behave very similarly to Calvo price setters when shocks are transitory.
Bounded Rationalities and Computable Economies

This paper studies economic equilibrium theory with a 'uniformity principle' constraining the magnitudes (prices, quantities, etc.) and the operations (to perceive, evaluate, choose, communicate, etc.) that agents can use.We look at the special case of computability constraints, where all price s, quantities, preference relations, utility functions, demand functions, etc. are required to be computable by finite algorithms.
Cultural Considerations in International Construction Contracts

International construction projects involve multinational participants from different political, legal, economic, and cultural backgrounds. As one of the major issues affecting the management of international construction projects, culture deserves wide research. This paper aims to establish a valid groundwork for further research on the impact of cultural issues on contractual arrangements; conflict causation, and the selection of dispute resolution mechanisms for international construction projects. The paper reviews the characteristics of international construction activities and discusses the cultural context. It sets the research background for disseminating the findings of two surveys, carried out in Hong Kong and in London and Sydney. The study identifies the important features expected for the contract of international construction projects and ascertains their significance to further in-depth research.
Analysis of potential fumonisin-producing Fusarium species in corn products from three main maize-producing areas in eastern China.

BACKGROUND Fusarium species are common fungal contaminants of maize and a number of them can produce mycotoxin fumonisins. China is one of the largest maize producers in the world. This study investigated the contamination of maize samples from three areas in eastern China by Fusarium and fumonisin-producing fungi as well as their fumonisin-producing potential. RESULTS A total of 22 Fusarium strains were isolated, 19 of which were able to produce fumonisin. Among the 19 strains, 16 belonged to F. verticillioides, two to F. subglutinans and one to F. proliferatum. The majority (17/19) of the fumonisin-forming strains were high FB(1) producers, which is a potential health risk for the population in these areas. Fusarium contamination in samples from the mideastern area was the most serious (11 Fusarium strains, with nine producing fumonisin, isolated from 24 samples), followed by the northeastern area (nine Fusarium strains, with all nine producing fumonisin, isolated from 21 samples) and the southeastern area (two Fusarium strains, with one producing fumonisin, isolated from 19 samples). CONCLUSION Although the overall levels of FBs and contamination by fumonisin-producing fungi in corn samples were not serious, the contaminating Fusarium strains possessed fairly strong toxicogenic ability and potential risk for food safety.
Japanese Yen Behavior since 1980

The objective of this paper is to investigate the Japanese real Yen behavior during the Japan’s economically turbulent period since 1980. Using empirical specification of the real Yen following Obstfeld (1993), we have found the real Yen does not follow a trend stationary process, but a unit root process over some sample period since 1980. In the second section of this paper, we have deeply extended Obstfeld (1993)’s approach in showing that the downward trend of real interest rate can be attributed to the appreciation of real currency. Departing from real factors of production or consumption, we have emphasized nominal factors in influencing the real Yen behavior. To show this, we have set up the real interest parity condition and also elicited some testable restrictions: Even though we find no evidence that the real Yen was affected by Japanese money supply over some sub sample period, the real interest parity condition does hold surprisingly over the whole sample period: Relative easing of Japanese domestic money supply causes the real Yen to depreciate while its relative tightened money causes the real Yen to appreciate. Thus, some nominal monetary factors are influential in the behavior of real Yen besides real shocks emphasized in section 1 and section 2.1.