Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling Central Bank Intervention as a Threshold Regression: Evidence from Turkey

We conjecture that the Central Bank of Turkey intervenes differently depending on whether or not a single measure of market disorder exceeds a threshold value. In view of such possible measures we consider deviation from the trend and excess volatility of the spot exchange rate. The questions we ask are what is the threshold value and whether the measure of market disorder is consistent with the announced policy of the Bank. Interestingly, during the managed float period we find no support for a threshold in the Bank's reaction function; during the free float period we find evidence of a threshold in volatility, which is in line with the Bank's policy objectives.
Partial correlation-based functional connectivity analysis for functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals

Abstract. A theoretical framework, a partial correlation-based functional connectivity (PC-FC) analysis to functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data, is proposed. This is based on generating a common background signal from a high passed version of fNIRS data averaged over all channels as the regressor in computing the PC between pairs of channels. This approach has been employed to real data collected during a Stroop task. The results show a strong significance in the global efficiency (GE) metric computed by the PC-FC analysis for neutral, congruent, and incongruent stimuli (NS, CS, IcS; GEN=0.10±0.009, GEC=0.11±0.01, GEIC=0.13±0.015, p=0.0073). A positive correlation (r=0.729 and p=0.0259) is observed between the interference of reaction times (incongruent–neutral) and interference of GE values (GEIC−GEN) computed from [HbO] signals.
Emphases of Japanese total quality management in the 1980s

The activities of company-wide quality control in Japan are wide ranging from policy deployment and internal QC audit to the QC circle of activities in the workshop. It also covers the job enlargement of employees and quality assurance in the process of new product development. Japan lacks natural resources, and her population density is virtually the highest in the world. The energy crises caused heavy blows to her economy, and due to the recent strong Japanese yen, export-oriented industries are faced with serious problems. However, these problems have also helped to increase Japanese economic strength. The major fields of importance described in the present paper are: (1) Establishment of long- and short-term plans. (2) Branching out into foreign countries and co-operation. (3) Expansion into new fields. (4) Development of new products and technology.
p53 Binds and Activates the Xeroderma Pigmentosum DDB2 Gene in Humans but Not Mice

ABSTRACT The DDB2 gene, which is mutated in xeroderma pigmentosum group E, enhances global genomic repair of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and suppresses UV-induced mutagenesis. Because DDB2 transcription increases after DNA damage in a p53-dependent manner, we searched for and found a region in the human DDB2 gene that binds and responds transcriptionally to p53. The corresponding region in the mouse DDB2 gene shared significant sequence identity with the human gene but was deficient for p53 binding and transcriptional activation. Furthermore, when mouse cells were exposed to UV, DDB2 transcription remained unchanged, despite the accumulation of p53 protein. These results demonstrate direct activation of the human DDB2 gene by p53. They also explain an important difference in DNA repair between humans and mice and show how mouse models can be improved to better reflect cancer susceptibility in humans.
Children’s health and fitness day: a student‐led health awareness outreach programme – a London experience

School children should not only be educated from books, but also on life and its associated practicalities such as health promotion. Throughout decades, there has been a paradigm shift in prevalent health issues pertaining to child and adolescent health, especially child obesity as demonstrated in the National Study of Health and Growth (1). Consequently, child obesity can cause both health, psychological and social problems which can continue well into adulthood (2,3). An innovative health awareness outreach programme was piloted by Imperial College London Fitness Society in association with National Health Service Change 4 Life scheme in which we promoted their aims and objectives (e.g. five fruits and 1 h of exercise a day). Five primary state schools in inner London participated in the inaugural year. The healthcare fraternity is reminded of a social responsibility to act as advocates of health, nutrition and fitness from as early as starting medical school. This scheme is also an opportunity to volunteer in the community and promote constructive lifestyle factors for free. Most importantly, student volunteers are educating at a grassroot level which is a privilege often lost along the career path. We coordinated an interactive sports day to teach and endorse health routines for primary school children aged 5–11 years. A circuit of five gender-neutral competitive stations was set up, each lasting 20 min. The children were divided into groups of four and sent to a station. Finally, they were given information leaflets to involve their parents who would ideally maintain healthy habits at home. The following stations were featured on school grounds, without the need of any complex equipment:
Synthetic Lethal Interactions Identify Phenotypic “Interologs” of the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint Components

Here, we report genetic interactions with mdf-1(gk2)/MAD1 in Caenorhabditis elegans. Nine are evolutionarily conserved or phenotypic “interologs” and two are novel enhancers, hcp-1 and bub-3. We show that HCP-1 and HCP-2, the two CENP-F-related proteins, recently implicated in the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) function, do not have identical functions, since hcp-1(RNAi), but not hcp-2(RNAi), enhances the lethality of the SAC mutants.
Japanization and/or Toyotaism?

Recently there has been a proliferation of neologisms to describe the Japanese model of management and its diffusion to other countries - for example, Toyotaism, and Japanization. Some have argued that such terms can be used to describe the direction in which, at least, British industry or work organization has been heading. This paper reviews some of this `Japanization' literature and shows that there is a good deal of confusion and lack of precision in the terms being used. Rather than necessarily abandoning all such terms, the author makes a case for retaining both Toyotaism and Japanization but also for clearly differentiating between them. His starting point is that Toyotaism should be limited to the just-in-time management method (JIT) and that this is a model even in Japan. This should be separated, conceptually, from the context in which it has thus far been successfully embodied, namely Japanese employment and supplier relations. The term Japanization can then be used to refer to the evolution and diffusion of Japanese-style employment and inter-firm relations. The author then (a) draws out some of the implications of these conceptions, including the point that the diffusion of JIT in Japan itself has been under-researched and misunderstood, and (b) assesses through the case of the car industry, the extent to which Toyotaism and Japanization apply to recent developments in British industry. Whilst developing JIT has become important to managements, there is little evidence of any serious attempts, with the exception of the Japanese Nissan (U.K.), to change systems of supervision, training, assessment and payment along the lines which the author suggests are central to the Japanese systems. He concludes that it seems premature to talk of a Japanization of work systems and that there is a need to acknowledge the limited nature of the concepts of both Toyotaism and Japanization.
Dynamic Hedge Fund Exposures: One Size Estimation Interval Doesn’t Fit All

Investors frequently use rolling regressions to estimate dynamic factor exposures. The estimation interval is an important parameter, but is often set unsystematically. The author studies interval selection through a model in which a fund’s factor exposure switches between high and low states, and investors track or clone this exposure with a rolling regression. The mean square error between the fund and clone depends on the fund’s exposure turnover and idiosyncratic risk, as well as the estimation interval. Lower idiosyncratic risk and higher turnover favor shorter intervals, but when turnover is sufficiently high, an expanding window is superior to fixed intervals. Consistent with the article’s model, expanding interval clones of some popular hedge fund indexes have smaller errors than those based on rolling intervals of any length.
Measuring and Controlling Shortfall Risk in Retirement

A key challenge for retired investors is determining the stock-bond asset allocation that, for a given spending rate, provides an acceptable probability of shortfall—having real wealth drop below a specified floor during the investor's lifetime. Standard portfolio analysis yields the well known tradeoff between risk and return described by the Markowitz frontier. For retirement planning, we reconceptualize this as a tradeoff between shortfall probability (risk) and the median value of terminal wealth (return). For specified assumptions, there is a stock-bond asset allocation that minimizes shortfall risk. Portfolios with more stocks increase the median values of terminal wealth, but at the expense of higher shortfall risk. Portfolios with fewer stocks are inferior in that they decrease the median value of terminal wealth and increase shortfall risk. We find that for a variety of plausible assumptions about asset returns, investment strategies, and what constitutes a shortfall, the minimum-risk portfolio generally has between 50 and 70% stocks.
Society of Urologic Oncology position statement: Redefining the management of hormone‐refractory prostate carcinoma

Because patients with hormone‐refractory prostate carcinoma are a very diverse group, management of these patients represents a unique challenge. Despite much research, to the authors' knowledge few studies published to date have provided definitive treatment answers. The Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) convened a multidisciplinary panel of urologists, oncologists, and radiation oncologists to develop a treatment algorithm for patients with hormone‐refractory prostate carcinoma. The resulting treatment outline was based on a review of the literature review and on the expert opinions of the panelists. The current article provided a logical progression of treatment choices that included hormonal manipulations, chemotherapeutic options, and adjunctive therapies. Future clinical trials and therapies were also discussed by the authors. Management strategies should be targeted toward the individual patient. Although significant progress has been made in understanding and treating hormone‐refractory prostate carcinoma, earlier interventions would be ideal and better therapeutic approaches to prolong survival are necessary. Cancer 2005. © 2004 American Cancer Society.
Courting the European growth firms: A survey of attitudes towards listing alternatives

The paper analyses the results of a survey of European issuers on the NASDAQ market to obtain a better understanding of their motivations in selecting a first public listing market and to outline the conditions necessary and sufficient to entice such firms, or similar firms, to list their shares in Europe. The motivations of these technology leaders provide valuable insights in designing more effective risk-equity markets in Europe and the policies needed to support them. The survey responses indicate a high degree of incredulity as far as the ability of the new European equity markets to deliver large amounts of capital, repeatedly and at good valuations. On the positive side, it is also clear that most firms are taking a wait-and see attitude, giving these exchanges the chance to demonstrate their strengths. Most firms recognized the utility of a European listing, if only for its public relation impact
Stability of Alphas and Betas over Bull and Bear Markets: An Empirical Examination

This paper examines the influence of bull and bear markets on the stability of alpha and beta for the single index market model. The data for the study is collected for the period March 01, 1996 to March 31, 2001. The data pertains to the adjusted daily closing prices of 74 scrips that form a part of BSE-100 index. Two definitions of bull and bear markets are used. The analysis is carried out by estimating dummy variable regression, conducting a joint test (F-test) on alphas and betas, test for correlation coefficient and the paired t-test. The results indicate that alpha varies over both definitions of bull and bear market conditions whereas beta varies for one definition and is stable for the other. The variability of beta also dependents upon specific industry groups. However, one should take large samples from each industry group to draw any generalizations. The implications of the results for a portfolio manager are explained. It is also observed that the stability of alpha and beta depends upon the choice of bull and bear market conditions.
Regulation of leucine transport and binding proteins in Escherichia coli

The branched-chain amino acids are transported into the bacteria Escherichia coli by two types of transport systems, a high affinity transport system (LIV-I) which requires periplasmic binding proteins and a low affinity membrane bound system (LIV-11). The LIV-I system is sensitive to osmotic shock while the LIV-I1 system can be observed in membrane vesicle preparations (Kaback, ’71). Berger and Heppel (‘74) have recently shown that the membrane bound transport systems such as the LIV-I1 system derive their energy from the “energy rich membrane state” while the shock-sensitive systems tend to utilize ATP more directly. We have shown that high affinity leucine transport activity is highly regulated and responds to the level of leucine in the growth medium (Rahmanian et al., ’73). The changes in transport activity closely correspond to similar changes in the levels of the leucine-binding proteins. Table 1 shows the correlation between transport activity and the extractable level of the leucine-binding protein. There is a direct relationship between the level of leucine in the medium, the level of the leucine binding protein, and the level of the leucine transport systems (Penrose et al., ’68). These results show that the level of binding protein determines the maximum transport capacity; therefore, the receptor site is the rate limiting component in the transport of leucine into E . coli. Since this behavior was analogous to the regulation of leucine biosynthesis in E. coli, we explored the possibility that these two cellular processes were regulated in a concerted manner. For this project we collaborated with Dr. Umbarger of Purdue University who has extensively studied the biosynthesis of branched-chain amino acids (‘71). We provided mutants to Dr. Umbarger that were derepressed for leucine transport and he gave us several mu-
Valuing health for policy : an economic approach

Preface 1: Overview George Tolley, Donald Kenkel, Robert Fabian. 2: Framework for Valuing Health Risks Mark Berger, Glenn Blomquist, Donald Kenkel, George Tolley. 3: Cost of Illness Approach Donald Kenkel 4: Contingent Valuation of Health Donald Kenkel, Mark Berger, Glenn Blomquist. 5: Household Health Production, Property Values, and the Value of Health Richard Clemmer, Donald Kenkel, Robert Ohsfeldt, William Webb. 6: The Qualy Approach Robert Fabian 7: Issues in Questionnaire Design Robert Fabian, George Tolley. 8: Empirical Results from Household Personal Interviews Michael Brien, Donald Kenkel, Austin Kelly, Robert Fabian. 9: Empirical Results from Mail Questionnaires Wallace Wilson 10: Defining and Measuring Health over Life Lyndon Babcock, Anthony Bilotti. 11: The Quantity and Quality of Life: A Conceptual Framework Sherwin Rosen 12: Modeling of Choices with Uncertain Preferences Charles Kahn 13: Design of Contingent Valuation Approaches to Serious Illness Robert Fabian, Lyndon Babcock, Anthony Bilotti, George Tolley. 14: Future Directions for Health Value Research George Tolley, Robert Fabian. 15: State-of-the-Art Health Values George Tolley, Donald Kenkel, Robert Fabian. 16: The Use of Health Values in Policy George Tolley, Donald Kenkel, Robert Fabian, David Webster. References Contributors Index
Producer Services and the Regions: The Case of Large Accountancy Firms

This paper contains a review of recent trends and developments in the UK accountancy profession, and an analysis of the decentralisation of branch offices to the regions. Original material is used to explore the reasons for such growth in one region, Wales, and to analyse the social implications of the tertiarisation of subregional local economies as a result of the growth of service sector activities, such as accountancy.
Topotecan inhibits human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection through a topoisomerase-independent mechanism in a cell line with altered topoisomerase I

Topotecan (TPT), a known inhibitor of topoisomerase I, has previously been shown to inhibit the replication of several viruses. The mechanism of inhibition was proposed to be the inhibition of topoisomerase I. We report that TPT decreased replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in CPT-K5, a cell line with a topoisomerase I mutation. TPT inhibited production of HIV-1 RNA and p24 in CPT-K5 and wild-type cells equally effectively. The antiviral effects of TPT were observed not only in the topoisomerase-mutated CPT-K5 line but also in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) acutely infected with clinical isolates and in OM10.1 cells latently infected with HIV and activated by tumor necrosis factor alpha. Little toxicity from TPT was noted in HIV-1-infected PBMC and in CPT-K5 and OM10.1 cells as measured by cell growth and proliferation assays. These observations suggest that TPT targets factors in virus replication other than cellular topoisomerase I and inhibits cytokine-mediated activation in latently infected cells by means other than cytotoxicity. These results suggest a potential for TPT and for other camptothecins in anti-HIV therapy alone and in combination with other antiretroviral drugs.
Demonstrating Active Network Adaptability in Wireless Networks

The IP-based Internet, although wildly successful, is limited in its ability to evolve and adapt, in particular at the network layer. For example, after almost a decade, IP multicast is still not widely available, although applications that might take advantage of its functionality are popular. Mobile/wireless networking is an important emerging area in which adaptivity and evolvability is likely to be especially important due to the widely varying nature of the underlaying communication channels themselves, as well as the rapidly improving understanding of key protocols. We believe that active networking (AN) enables valuable adaptivity that existing technologies currently lack. This is because AN enables, highly flexible packet functionality, on-the-fly protocol deployment, even on a packet-by-packet granularity, and cost-effective network expansion. Because adaptivity and evolvability is at a premium, we have chosen to test our belief in this domain using two case studies: ad hoc routing and TCP over wireless. In our work, we demonstrate AN’s adaptivity by developing a series of designs, simulation studies, and working prototypes. Ad hoc networks are infrastructureless networks in which hosts are typically mobile and must act as routers. Mobility makes routing hard because the state of links changes frequently and routing heterogeneity is likely. In our study, we show how AN can be used to adapt routing to host mobility and traffic activity. We achieve this adaptivity using remote evaluation of active packets, which are good at
Long-term government bond yields and economic forecasts: evidence for the EU

I use a panel of semi-annual vintages of growth and fiscal forecasts of the European Commission, covering the period 1998:II–2008:II, to assess its effects on 10-year government yields for 14 EU countries. Results show that yields increase with better growth forecasts and with decreases in budget balance-to-GDP rations, signaling that sovereigns may need to pay more to finance higher budget deficits in the market.
Does Evidence on Regional Economic Convergence Depend on the Estimation Strategy? Outcomes from Analysis of a Set of NUTS2 EU Regions

Abstract The regional economic convergence/divergence issue has been discussed extensively recently, but results obtained are not always interpretable unequivocally as a consequence of the different estimation strategies used. As it is widely recognized, the most common theoretical framework applied to measure the speed of economic convergence among countries or regions remains the β-convergence approach, linked to the neoclassical Solow model. There have been many attempts to consider variations of the basic cross-sectional specification ranging from panel data models to Bayesian spatial econometric techniques. The application of spatial econometric methodologies is an essential tool for proper statistical inference on regional data. In this context, the aim of this paper is to connect the different results obtained in the literature. More specifically, we address whether or not evidence on convergence depends upon the estimation strategy, by taking the same set of data and systematically comparing the results obtained from different estimation strategies. The results from a set of NUTS2 EU regions conclude that both the model implied by the cross-sectional analysis and the one referring to the space-time dynamics incorporated in the panel specification point to convergence. The concept of convergence implied is, however, quite different, as demonstrated throughout the paper.
Child-headed households in South Africa: What we know and what we don't

Household structures in many countries in Africa have been drastically changed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Traditionally, orphans were absorbed by members of the extended family but today this safety net no longer works so well and many children are left to fend for themselves. The South African Government recognises the problem, but views differ on the effectiveness of the programmes for assisting these children. This article looks at what is known and what needs further research. It is known that child-headed households do exist in South Africa and that children living in these households are vulnerable. What is not known is the prevalence of these households and how to deal with the children's psycho-social problems. The article argues that the definition of child-headed households needs to be refined if we are to understand the extent of the problem. This will facilitate assessment of the programmes established for these children.
CD30-positive Cutaneous Pseudolymphoma Caused by Tocilizumab in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Case Report and Literature Review.

Tocilizumab is a biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) that targets interleukin 6 (IL-6) receptor, blocking IL-6 signalling (1). Tocilizumab has shown efficacy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (2); however, it sometimes induces cutaneous adverse reactions. We report here a case of pseudolymphoma caused by tocilizumab, manifesting as an unusual cutaneous eruption. We also review the literature concerning drug eruption caused by tocilizumab, and pseudolymphoma caused by biologics in general.