Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Theophylline-rifampicin interaction: non-selective induction of theophylline metabolic pathways.

The effect of rifampicin pre-treatment (600 mg daily for 6 days) on theophylline disposition at steady state was investigated in six healthy males. Following rifampicin treatment total plasma clearance of theophylline increased by 82%. Theophylline clearance through each metabolic pathway was increased, 1-demethylation by (116 +/- 34%) (mean +/- s.e. mean), 3-demethylation by (91 +/- 16%) and 8-oxidation by (81 +/- 17%). Renal clearance of unchanged drug was not altered. Previous studies have suggested that two forms of cytochrome P-450 are involved in theophylline metabolism, one mediating the N-demethylations and the other 8-oxidation. Thus, unlike the selective inductive effect of rifampicin on antipyrine metabolic pathways, rifampicin does not differentially affect those forms of cytochrome P-450 involved in theophylline metabolism. The extent to which theophylline metabolism is induced by rifampicin is likely to have important clinical consequences.
Rapid genetic divergence in postglacial populations of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus): the role of habitat type, drainage and geographical proximity

The goal of this study was to evaluate the role of common ancestry, and of geographical or reproductive isolation, in genetic divergence in populations of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Using seven DNA microsatellite loci we compared the effects of habitat type, drainage system and geographical proximity on genetic distance among 16 populations situated in an area in Schleswig‐Holstein (Germany) that became deglaciated ≈12 000 years ago. Stickleback population structure correlated only weakly with drainage system, whereas the primary divergence was among habitat types. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that lake (n = 7) and river (n = 5) populations formed two distinct clades (Cavalli‐Sforza’s and Edwards’ chord distance, 82–100% bootstrap support) at approximately equal genetic distances to a third clade, comprising putative estuarine (n = 4) ancestors. Allele frequencies in lake and river populations represented different subsets of the genetically more diverse estuarine populations. In nested amovas approximately twice the genetic variance was distributed among lake vs. river vs. estuarine populations as compared with the combined effects of drainage system and geographical distance. Limited gene flow between habitat types must have been established after postglacial colonization, suggesting ecological hybrid inferiority or behavioural mating barriers between ecotypes. Within estuarine and lake populations, population differentiation followed an isolation‐by‐distance model. Given the high observed heterozygosities within the 16 study populations (HO = 0.65–0.87), the mean divergence between lake and river population pairs (FST = 0.18 ± 0.007) would be reached after 300–6000 generations in a stepwise mutation model, depending on the size of Ne. This demonstrates both the utility of hypervariable microsatellites for detecting recent population divergences and the danger of operating at temporal or spatial scales which are beyond their resolution.
The role of cultural context in direct communication

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine how the cultural context and other institutional factors may influence the amount of direct communication with employees in nine European countries.Design/methodology/approach – Nine countries were selected from the Cranfield Network on Comparative Human Resource Management database varying from high to low context. The dependent or criterion variable, was direct communication, independent variables were organization size age and industry, strategic role of human resource management (HRM), union presence and communication culture context. Data were analysed using one‐way analysis of variance and hierarchical regression.Findings – The results show that cultural communication context, union presence and strategic role of HRM all have an influence on direct communication. The authors also see that union presence and cultural context interact.Research limitations/implications – The paper relied on data collected from the human resource managers of the organization.
Automatizing the detection of rotor failures in induction motors operated via soft-starters

Implementation of unsupervised induction motor condition monitoring systems has drawn an increasing attention recently among motor drives manufacturers. In the case of soft-starters the possibility of incorporating fault detection features to their conventional functions provides an added value to those elements. Design and development of advanced algorithms that are able to automatically detect and alert about possible failures without requiring continuous human inspection is a challenging research goal. In this paper, an algorithm for the automatic detection of rotor damages in induction motors in the case of soft starting is proposed. The twofold approach relies, first, on the application of a time-frequency transform to the starting current signal and, second, on a pattern recognition stage based on the treatment of the time-frequency representation as a symbolic sequence. The innovation of this work is the implementation of the proposed approach for the automatic detection of rotor cage faults in soft-started motors. The experimental results prove the usefulness of the approach for the automatic detection of such faults and its potential for possible future implementation in soft-started machines.
The impact of targeted social assistance on labor market in Georgia : a regression discontinuity approach

This report contributes not only to the existing literature, but also provides suggestions for future policy-design related to the TSA program in Georgia. This study shows that Georgia’s TSA program does generate disincentives to search for jobs or work around the threshold of eligibility, with this effect being concentrated among women. This report is structured as follows: Section two discusses the existing literature and provides a more detailed overview of the TSA program. Section three describes the sampling frame, the sampling method and the data used. Section four explains the empirical approach of the study. Section five elaborates on the main results. Section six concludes with a discussion on policy implications.
Epidermal expression of serine protease, neuropsin (KLK8) in normal and pathological skin samples

Aim: The expression of human neuropsin (KLK8) mRNA in normal and pathological skin samples was analysed and the results compared with those for tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) mRNA. Methods: Northern blot and in situ hybridisation analyses of KLK8 mRNA in normal and lesional skin of patients with cutaneous diseases were performed. Results: A weak signal for KLK8 mRNA and no signal for tPA mRNA was seen in normal skin on northern blot analysis. Weak signals for KLK8 were localised to the superficial cells beneath the cornified layer in normal skin on in situ hybridisation. Psoriasis vulgaris, seborrheic keratosis, lichen planus, and squamous cell carcinoma skin samples, which show severe hyperkeratosis, displayed a high density of KLK8 mRNA on northern and in situ hybridisation analyses. The signals were localised in granular and spinous layers of lesional skin in all hyperkeratic samples, including the area surrounding the horn pearls of squamous cell carcinoma. To examine the relation between mRNA expression and terminal differentiation, the expression of KLK8 mRNA was analysed in cell cultures. When keratinisation proceeded in high calcium medium, a correlative increase in the expression of KLK8 mRNA was observed. Conclusion: The results are consistent with a role for this protease in the terminal differentiation of keratinocytes.
Valuation Effects of Greenmail Prohibitions

Abstract Greenmail payments are widely viewed as actions designed by managers to perpetuate their tenure in office. This view, which suggests that greenmail prohibitions would enhance shareholder wealth, receives mixed empirical support in this paper. The average market reaction to charter amendments prohibiting greenmail payments is weakly negative, suggesting there is a value to maintaining managerial flexibility. Nonlinear maximum likelihood estimation, however, reveals a strong positive correlation between the market reaction and the firm's abnormal stock price runup over the three months just prior to the proxy mailing date. For the subsample of firms with a relatively large prior runup, the precommitment not to pay greenmail is value enhancing. If the prior runup reflects takeover rumors, then this evidence is consistent with the proposition that greenmail payments amidst takeover speculations are value decreasing.
Commonwealth principles—compliance or complaisance?

The Commonwealth in 1995 established a Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to monitor adherence to the values in its Harare Declaration, but only in the context of the political principles and not of the many economic and social commitments made in that same Declaration. The Group has met 21 times over the past eight years but its achievements, even with a limited mandate, are extremely modest. While the creation of the Group represented a notable development, its work in practice does not justify much optimism that the Commonwealth can become a values-based organization.
A 5-D Localization Method for a Magnetically Manipulated Untethered Robot Using a 2-D Array of Hall-Effect Sensors

This paper introduces a new 5-D localization method for an untethered meso-scale magnetic robot, which is manipulated by a computer-controlled electromagnetic system. The developed magnetic localization setup is a 2D array (8 × 8) of mono-axial Hall-effect sensors, which measure the perpendicular magnetic fields at their given positions. We introduce two steps for localizing a magnetic robot more accurately. First, the dipole-modeled magnetic field of the electromagnet is subtracted from the measured data in order to determine the robot's magnetic field. Second, the subtracted magnetic field is twice differentiated in the perpendicular direction of the array, so that the effect of the electromagnetic field in the localization process is minimized. Five variables regarding the position and orientation of the robot are determined by minimizing the error between the measured magnetic field and the modeled magnetic field in an optimization method. The resulting position error is 2.1 ± 0.8 mm and angular error is 6.7 ± 4.3° within the applicable range (5 cm) of magnetic field sensors at 200 Hz. The proposed localization method would be used for the position feedback control of untethered magnetic devices or robots for medical applications in the future.
International manufacturing and location decisions: balancing configuration and co‐ordination aspects

Questions on configuration and co‐ordination are seldom integrated in research on international manufacturing and location decisions. Suggests a way in which these two aspects can be linked by combining concepts from international business and manufacturing strategy. Elaborates the practical relevance of this integration in the experiences of Dutch investors locating plants in Thailand. Simultaneous attention to configuration and co‐ordination enhances the understanding of the functioning of foreign plants in international networks and yields some important implications for managers responsible for international location issues.
Fiscal Deficits and Inflation

Macroeconomic theory postulates that fiscal deficits cause inflation. Yet empirical research has had limited success in uncovering this relationship. This paper reexamines the issue in light of broader data and a new modeling approach that incorporates two key features of the theory. Unlike previous studies, we model inflation as nonlinearly related to fiscal deficits through the inflation tax base and estimate this relationship as intrinsically dynamic, using panel techniques that explicitly distinguish between short- and long-run effects of fiscal deficits. Results spanning 107 countries over 1960-2001 show a strong positive association between deficits and inflation among high-inflation and developing country groups, but not among low-inflation advanced economies.
Distinct localization of prokineticin 2 and prokineticin receptor 2 mRNAs in the rat suprachiasmatic nucleus

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is the master circadian clock that regulates physiological and behavioral circadian rhythms in mammals. Prokineticin 2 (PK2) is highly expressed in the SCN, and its involvement in the generation of circadian locomotor activity has been reported previously. In the present study, using in situ hybridization methods, we investigated the localization of PK2 and prokineticin receptor 2 (PKR2), a specific receptor for PK2, in the rat SCN. In steady light : dark (L : D = 12 : 12 h) and constant dark conditions, rPK2 mRNA displayed a robust circadian oscillation with a peak occurring during the day. Moreover, during peak expression, the rPK2 mRNA‐positive neurons were scattered in both the dorsomedial and ventrolateral SCN, which are two functionally and morphologically distinct subregions. Furthermore, double‐labeling in situ hybridization experiments revealed that greater than 50% of the rPK2 mRNA‐containing neurons co‐expressed either vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), gastrin‐releasing peptide (GRP) or arginine vasopressin (AVP) in the SCN. In contrast, the rPKR2 mRNA levels did not show significant diurnal alterations. rPKR2 mRNA‐containing neurons were also clustered in the dorsolateral part of the SCN, which shows negligible labeling of either rAVP, rVIP, rGRP or rPK2 transcripts. In addition, this region exhibited a delayed cycling of the rPer1 gene. These results suggest an intrinsic PK2 neurotransmission and functionally distinct roles for PKR2‐expressing neurons in the SCN.
Effective Price Mechanisms

It is known that the price mechanism whereby the rate of change of a price is proportional to the excess demand of the corresponding commodity need not converge to a competitive equilibrium for a pure exchange economy with more than two commodities. On the other hand, there exist convergent price mechanisms, similar to the Newton iterative process, where the rate of change of the prices is determined by the excess demand and the marginal excess demands of all the commodities. This is a considerable informational requirement. It is shown that this requirement cannot be substantially reduced for any convergent price mechanisms, that is for price mechanisms expressed in terms of a difference or differential equation where the solutions converge to a competitive equilibrium.
Book symposium

Jeff rey Green’s The Eyes of the People (EOP) poses the question of what popular empowerment might mean in twenty-fi rst-century liberal democracies. It diagnoses and takes critical aim at the widespread assumption that popular power must relate to the legislative capacity to determine the laws and norms shaping political life. Whereas leading paradigms of democracy—deliberative, aggregationist, and pluralist models—all equate popular sovereignty with self-legislation, Green argues that it is both possible and desirable to conceive of popular sovereignty in nonrepresentational terms. Specifi cally, EOP argues that popular empowerment might involve the conditions under which leaders appear on the public stage and not just familiar, representational aspirations that the government’s laws and policies accord with the underlying preferences of an electorate. That is, rather than worry only about the content of what leaders do and say, Green’s theory calls for greater attention to the form in which political communication is disseminated. Specifi cally, Green defends the ideal of candor, which he defi nes as the norm that leaders not be in control of the conditions under which they appear on the public stage. According to this defi nition, press conferences in which leaders extemporaneously fi eld questions are more candid than monologic public relations events, leadership debates where candidates are cross-examined are more candid than prerehearsed stump speeches, and interviews where journalists have the opportunity to aggressively challenge the assertions of leaders are more candid than those in which follow-up questions are not allowed. Although candor overlaps to some degree with more traditional democratic values like publicity and transparency, it is diff erent in at least one key respect: candor is committed fi rst and foremost to regulating the person of the leader, not the information that the leader produces. While one might expect that, ceteris paribus, more candor will lead to more plentiful and more accurate information, there are cases when this is not necessarily the case. For example, a contentious leadership debate, where leaders aggressively challenge each other, might be less informative than a more sober and dispassionate questioning from moderators, but it is
The Gender Earnings Differential in the Russian Transition Economy

Using data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS), the first nationally representative household survey in the Russian Federation, the author examines the gender earnings differential in Russia during the country's transition to a market economy. The gender wage ratio is calculated at 71.7%, and most of the difference is found to be attributable to occupational and industrial employment segregation by gender. The author argues that the lower pay in “female” industries and occupations is determined by the interaction of the institutional factors inherited from the Soviet past with the forces of the emerging market.
Uni-Economic & Innovative Property Price Prediction in the HKSAR

Abstract Historically, the study of the world's economy was classified into Micro-economics and Macroeconomics. Perhaps, contemporary economists should learn from the 'astronomists' about the universe which we are part of. We shall name this 'Uni-economics'. Many scientists have found that sunspots affect human behaviour. Some research findings even relate the 11 year periodic cycle to war and peace of mankind. It is also widely-known in the medical profession that sunspot radiation actually affects the physiology of our human body. With all these evidence in mind, the aim of this exploratory research paper is to investigate how sunspot activities can affect the investors' sentiment in the financial world since 1970 when the first post-war financial crisis was built up resulting from the oil crisis in the early '1970s. Time series techniques were deployed to track down the changes of Sunspot Counts over the last 44 years and their impact on the world's 4 main financial indices, i.e., S&P, FTSE, Nikkei & HSI. It was pretty astonishing to find out that, whilst there are insignificant correlations amongst the 4 financial indices over the period under investigation, the impact of the Sunspot Counts on them are highly significant, even on a day-to-day time series analysis. As a corrolary of the finding, the HK Property Market is used as a test case for the research output. It was interesting to find out that, apart from the Solar Minima, the Change-of-Slope from positive to negative also has a significant impact on the HK property prices. Hence, it was evident that there are 2 property clashes during the 11 year sunspot cycle, and their timing can be predicted pretty accurately (2014 & 2019) within +/- one year.
A 60-GHz Passive Broadband Multibeam Antenna System in Fused Silica Technology

In this letter, we present a coplanar-fed, broadband passive multibeam antenna system. The module is composed by a 4 × 4 Butler matrix connected to a linear array of four elements and realized in a via-less two-metal-layer (i.e., top and bottom) fused silica technology. The accurate process resolution (1 μm) allows manufacturing small design features to implement low-loss, broadband (10% relative bandwidth) millimeter-wave building blocks, using conventional microstrip designs. The measured insertion loss of the via-less transition is 0.4 dB at 62 GHz. The Butler matrix exhibits between 59 and 66 GHz maximum simulated phase and amplitude imbalances of ±7° and ±0.8 dB, respectively. The experimentally characterized radiation patterns of the entire system show a half-power beamwidth (HPBW) of 30° at 60 GHz, and the beam-steering angles show a maximum variation of 7° in the 60-66-GHz band.
Workplace Training in Europe

This paper reviews the existing evidence on workplace training in Europe in different data sources - the CVTS, OECD data and the European Community Household Panel. We outline the differences in training incidence and relate these differences to the private costs and benefits of training, and to institutional factors such as unions, employment protection and product market competition. We ask whether there is a case for under-provision of training in Europe and examine alternative policies aiming both at raising training incidence and at reducing inequalities in the provision of skills.
Determinants of corporate cash holdings: evidence from the emerging market of Turkey

This study analyses the factors that might explain the level of corporate cash holdings in a broad sample of Turkish-listed nonfinancial firms over the period 1997 to 2011. The empirical results reveal that, on average, Turkish firms hold 9.1% of their total assets as cash and cash equivalents. There is a steadily increasing trend in cash holding across the years. Both the system GMM and the difference GMM regression results are consistent; almost exactly the same variables are significant and going in the same direction. The findings indicate that the previous year’s cash holding is positive and significant determinant at the current year’s cash level, suggesting that these firms have a targeted cash level. Furthermore, the results reveal that cash flow and growth opportunities have positive and significant impact on the cash level. However, the amount of capital expenditures, liquid assets used as cash substitute, the degree of tangibility of assets, financial debt ratio and leverage have negative and significant impact on the cash level. Most of these explanatory variables were in line with our theoretical background and with previous studies as well.
CR 04 report – Breaking Symmetric Cryptosystems using Quantum Period Finding

Quantum computers are a severe threat to our modern cryptography, as with Shor’s algorithm [14], assymetric cryptography may not be secure anymore. However, the problem has been less studied for symmetric cryptography in the past. Using Grover’s algorithm [5], one can find the private key of an encryption scheme using O( √ n) operations instead of an optimal O(n) in the classical setting (where n is the number of possible keys). This means that in the general case, doubling the key size could be enough to restore the same level of security as before. But is this result still optimal for schemes of symmetric cryptography? The paper [6] proves that it is not the case: using Simon’s algorithm [15] and some properties of its behavior in the non-ideal case that we are going to detail next, the authors manage to break the security of some symmetric cryptographic constructions, followed by many widely used message authentication and authenticated encryption modes (ie, algorithms used to forge authentication codes supposedly unforgeable by an unauthenticated user). The complexity of the attack goes from an exponential one in the classical setting to a linear one. It ends by detailing how to speed-up a known attack strategy in the quantum setting: slide attacks.