Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heart rate alterations in different types of pranayamas.

Pranayama is a state of voluntarily regulated breathing while the mind is directed to the feeling of the flow of breath or prana (1). A typical cycle of the slow type pranayamic breathing involves the phases of inhalation, exhalation, and timed breath-holding (kumbhak) either at end-inspiration stage or at endexpiration, or at both stages. There are different kinds of pranayamas, varying according to the durations of the phases in the breathing cycle, and in other details like the nostrils used, and bandhas employed.
Regulation of the statutory auditor in the European Union: a comparative survey of the United Kingdom, France and Germany

In this paper we discuss regulation of the statutory auditor in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Previous research has addressed regulation of statutory auditors with respect to regulatory harmonization and the reduction of barriers to intra-European trade in professional services. While these are important goals, it has also been the policy of the European Commission to encourage high standards of auditing, which the Commission anticipates will evolve within the legal and regulatory frameworks of the Member States of the EU. In this regard, our paper seeks to investigate how auditor regulation is organized in three important EU economies. In particular we examine several key functions of auditor regulation and how these are deployed in the three countries investigated. In addition we provide some forward-looking comments concerning regulation of statutory auditors in the EU.
Mergers, Agency Costs, and Social Welfare

We examine the impact of a merger to monopoly in a Cournot duopoly framework where managers make cost-reducing investment or effort decisions prior to choosing output. A well-established result is that, absent agency costs, the merger leads to greater investment and lower production costs. We show that, when agency costs are present, this result may be reversed, with mergers leading instead to lower investment/effort, higher production costs, and lower social welfare. (JEL L40, L13, D21, D82)
Contentious political pressure and democratisation in Nigeria - a focus on Mosop

The paper is on contentious political pressures and democratization in Nigeria - A focus on MOSOP. The aim is to show the impact of contentious political pressures on the process of democratization in Nigeria using MOSOP as a case study. Political economy refers to the rapacious exploitation and devastation of Ogoni kingdom by Shell as well as government support of this nefarious activity and the resultant resistance by MOSOP. Content analysis and historical approach as methodological guides were largely applied to explain the relationship between contentious political pressure and democratization in Nigeria. The study discovers that the unfeigned and consistent contentious political pressures mounted by MOSOP in an attempt to protect its environment and people from complete devastation had serious contributing effects on the transition from autocracy to electoral democracy in Nigeria. Arising from this, the paper recommends that more of contentious political pressures should be encouraged among depressed societies to compel unresponsive regimes to address the problems of the society. Global Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 6 (1) 2007: pp. 77-84
Migration of leukocytes across endothelium and beyond: molecules involved in the transmigration and fate of monocytes

Passage of leukocytes across the endothelial lining into sites of inflammation has been shown to be regulated largely by platelet/endothelial cell adhesion molecule‐1 (PECAM/CD31). We summarize recent work from our laboratory documenting that PECAM is involved both in diapedesis and the subsequent step of migration across the basal lamina. The former process involves a homophilic interaction between the amino‐terminal extracellular domains of PECAM on the leukocyte and on the endothelial cell. The latter process involves a heterophilic interaction between the membrane‐proximal extracellular domain of PECAM and an unknown ligand(s) in the subendothelial basal lamina. These findings are demonstrated in both in vitro and in vivo models. For monocytes, however, transmigration is just the first step in the next phase of their lives. In addition to their specific recruitment during the inflammatory response, many monocytes constitutively leave the bloodstream to enter tissues. However, only a fraction of these become tissue macrophages. In an in vitro model of monocyte emigration, approximately half of the leukocytes that initially transmigrate an endothelial monolayer migrate back out in the basal‐to‐apical direction within the next 2 days. This reverse transmigration cannot be blocked by anti‐PECAM reagents, but involves p‐glycoprotein and tissue factor expressed on the leukocytes. The reverse transmigrating cells are phenotypically dendritic cells (DC). Their maturation to mature DC can be accelerated by inclusion of inflammatory stimuli in the co‐culture. The cells that remain behind in the subendothelial collagen are phenotypically macrophages. We postulate that a major source of DC in lymph nodes is cells derived from monocytes that enter a tissue via the blood and leave several days later via afferent lymphatic channels. J. Leukoc. Biol. 66: 698–704; 1999.
Research of Fixed Strike Lookback Put Option on Extremes in Diffusion Model (B,S) – Financial Market

Abstract The problem under consideration is that of risk hedging in the financial market by means of the put option which belongs to the options extremes class when there is a capital inflow in the form of dividends by an underlying asset. The formulas defining costs of options and also evolution in time of portfolios and capitals, i.e. hedging strategy and corresponding to them are obtained. Some properties of decisions are investigated.
Toward A Reform Framework for Good Governance: Focus On Anti-Corruption

The experience of the Philippines in the continuing efforts to address graft and corruption, red tape, and inefficiencies in the bureaucracy is the basis in designing a framework for reform to promote accountability and transparency. The following are the areas of reform: (1) reforms in institutions and structures, including reforms in organizations, processes, and procedures; (2) reforms in mindsets, paradigms, and behavior; (3) reforms in leadership (at various levels); and (4) reforms in citizens, i.e., citizens’ engagement and/or citizens’ participation. The authors begin with the contextualization of corruption in the Philippines, along with its causes and effects, and a discussion of issues and challenges of corruption. They examine how the four imperatives of reform can contribute in minimizing if not to totally eradicating corruption and in promoting good governance in the country.
Focusing on public value: Something new and something old

This article develops two propositions. First, that the public sector needs new stories that make sense of recent storms of change. Second, that focusing on ‘public value’ helps tell a useful new story. Much contemporary commentary comes from analysts working within a particular field of thought. However, problems of public policy and management are hard to discipline. Public value is not the property of particular political parties, public service institutions, academic disciplines or professions. Public value is defined and redefined through social and political interaction. Such interaction involves politicians, officials and communities. Focusing on public value enables one to aggregate issues for scholarly analysis in terms that should also make sense to citizens and communities, political activists and people responsible for delivering public services. The article argues that: recent agendas for public sector change overlap and that implementation is incomplete; the skills of analysts and activists in the public sector, and in associated sectors delivering public services, need large components of expertise in interpreting ambiguous patterns and the management of complex relationships; and that the cumulative impact of succeeding agendas is to widen the scope of issues in play. Large components in both reform and agendas have involved bringing the public sector firmly under political control. However, the later emphasis on consultation and participation places political executives under great pressure. The more deliberation is promised the more is demanded. There is increasing pressure for the task of exploring for public value to be shared more widely. The article develops its key propositions by exploring three main themes: first, the notion of public value and the emphasis in it on search and interaction as a basis for political and managerial leadership; second, the contested impacts of recent agendas of change in the public and other affected sectors which have widened the scope of issues in play but have left key institutional and policy issues unresolved; and, third, a sample of current and emerging issues in which asking questions about public value may help activists, politicians and managers more creatively focus their attention. Focusing on public value can help communities, service providers and political leaders ask and answer a new and wider range of questions while continuing to learn from recent experience, however complex and contested.
Increasing prevalence of gout and hyperuricemia over 10 years among older adults in a managed care population.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether the prevalence of gout and/or clinically significant hyperuricemia increased in a managed care population over 10 years. METHODS The study was a descriptive analysis utilizing an administrative claims database to ascertain 10-year trends in prevalence of gout and/or hyperuricemia. Prevalence rates were calculated cross-sectionally for each year (1990-99) and expressed/compared as rates per 1000 enrollees. RESULTS The prevalence of gout and/or hyperuricemia in the overall population increased by about 2 cases per 1000 enrollees over 10 years. In the > 75 year age group, rates increased from 21 per 1000 persons in 1990 to 41 per 1000 in 1999. In the 65-74 year age group, prevalence increased from between 21 and 24 per 1000 persons in the years 1990-92 to over 31 per 1000 during the years 1997-99. Prevalence rates in younger age groups (< 65 years) stayed consistently low during the years under study. There were sex differences in most age groups, with men having the greater burden of disease at every time point. CONCLUSION Prevalence of gout and/or hyperuricemia in the overall study population increased during the 10-year period. When stratified by age, there were increases in prevalence among groups over age 65 in both sexes. Although gout prevalence increased in both sexes over the 10-year period, men still had most of the burden of disease. In ages younger than 65, men had 4 times higher prevalence than women (4:1 ratio), but in the older age groups (> 65), the gender gap narrowed to 1 woman to every 3 men with gout and/or hyperuricemia (3:1 ratio).
The Ex‐Dividend Day Behavior of Canadian Stock Prices: Tax Changes and Clientele Effects

With some simple assumptions the ex-dividend day price drop and the associated dividend can be used to measure the market's marginal tax rate. Previous research has estimated the implied tax rate for the U.S. This paper extends the analysis to Canada, where the tax treatment of dividends and capital gains is completely different from that in the U.S. The paper also presents estimates from 1970–80 to include four distinct periods when the tax treatment was different. Hence, we include an implied test of market efficiency as well as those for the “relevance” of taxes and the existence of tax based dividend clienteles.
The Inflation Tax in a Convex Model of Equilibrium Growth

A general equilibrium monetary economy is described that exhibits equilibrium growth. The production technology is consistent with Jones and Manuelli (1990) and Rebelo (1991). The inflation tax and nominal interest rates are shown to be inversely related to the equilibrium growth rates of real variables until a critical point is reached. At this point, equilibrium growth is eliminated and the predictions of Stockman (1981) and Abel (1985) concerning the 'level effects' of distortionary monetary policies appear. For the nominal side of the model, a version of the prediction of Friedman (1969) is shown to hold for a particular balanced growth path. Following King and Rebelo (1990), a linear growth version of the model is calibrated to illustrate the potentially large growth and welfare effects of moderate inflations. Copyright 1995 by The London School of Economics and Political Science.
Economic reforms, industrial relations and human resources in the People's Republic of China: an overview

In this article, the impact of the post-1978 economic reforms on the Chinese labour-management system on the main sectors of employment (state, collective, private and joint ventures) is systematically discussed. The author concludes that as greater enterprise autonomy becomes more common, the labour-management system will evolve into a more ‘marketised’ hybrid form albeit ‘with Chinese characteristics’.
Adverse Selection in a High-Frequency Trading Environment

Fear of adverse selection has been cited by buy-side traders as one of the reasons for the decline in block market share, and concerns of adverse selection from executing in dark pools and with high frequency trading firm contras have also been raised. The authors describe and define adverse selection for both block and non-block executions. They define some quantitative metrics to characterize the degree of adverse selection exhibited by Canadian dark executions as well as to capture both the idiosyncratic volatility of the stock being measured and the size of the execution. In the next step, they look at actual executions, both block and non-block, and characterize the level of observed adverse selection. The authors compare their results to a randomized control group for the block trades and compute previously published adverse selection metrics for the non-block execution set. They find statistically significant levels of adverse selection for both block and non-block executions, more traditional adverse selection in the open access dark ATS than in the buy-side-only dark ATS, and a small but statistically significant amount of adverse selection for midsize trades in the open access ATS as a result of resting liquidity in the dark pool interacting with continuous flow passing through. Finally, the authors discuss the implications of the results on algorithmic trading and transaction cost analysis.
Active control of micro-droplets by hybrid magnetically driven microtool

We propose a hybrid polymer-metal magnetically driven microtool (MMT) featuring elasticity and rigidity. An electroplated magnetic metal axle is installed directly at the center of the MMT during molding. The result is a hybrid MMT whose fixed axes move elastically in a specific direction and whose center axle is rigid, preventing bending by unwanted external force. The axle' s higher magnetism contributes to powerful actuation. The hybrid MMT we designed provides on-demand droplet dispensation on chips. Its parallel plate is constrained translationally. Hybrid MMT displacement is 300 μm — 6 times greater than that of the conventional MMT. On-demand droplet generation produces a 177.7 ±2.3 μm droplet.
Chemical probing suggests redox‐regulation of the carbonic anhydrase activity of mycobacterial Rv1284

The mycobacterial enzyme Rv1284 is a member of the β‐carbonic anhydrase family that is considered essential for survival of the pathogen. The active site cavity of this dimeric protein is characterized by an exceptionally small volume and harbours a catalytic zinc ion coordinated by two cysteine and one histidine residue side chains. Using the natural products polycarpine and emodin as chemical probes in crystallographic experiments and stopped‐flow enzyme assays, we report that the catalytic activity can be reversibly inhibited by oxidation. Oxidative conditions lead to the removal of one of the active site cysteine residues from the coordination sphere of the catalytic metal ion by engagement in a disulfide bond with another cysteine residue close by. The subsequent loss of the metal ion, which is supported by crystallographic analysis, may thus render the protein catalytically inactive. The oxidative inhibition of Rv1284 can be reversed by exposing the protein to reducing conditions. Because the physical size of the chemical probes used in the present study substantially exceeds the active site volume, we hypothesized that these compounds exert their effects from a surface‐bound location and identified Tyr120 as a critical residue for oxidative inactivation. These findings link conditions of oxidative stress to pH homeostasis of the pathogen. Because oxidative stress and acidification are defence mechanisms employed by the innate immune system of the host, we suggest that Rv1284 may be a component of the mycobacterial survival strategy.
Cavity-type directional couplers with simple structure

This paper treats directional couplers consisting of a rectangular cavity with four waveguide ports. Since the present couplers possess a very simple structure, they are useful for applications at higher microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies, and in a high-power microwave system. Directional couplers with various power-split ratios at X-band are investigated theoretically and experimentally. Furthermore, improvement of their bandwidth is presented.
A Framework for Speculating about Future Urban Growth Patterns in the US

This article undertakes a formalised speculation about the ways in which patterns of urban development in the US may exacerbate or relieve the manifold problems of the declining central city and the growth problems of the suburbs. To this end, it defines an appropriate conceptual framework, and examines certain evidence about post-war trends in urban development. Urban patterns are seen as being shaped by certain entities (which we have called 'Locators') making location choices, in which they assess disparities in the circumstances of alternative places relating to the needs and goals of the Locator. We give special attention to the issue of the relative accessibility of alternative places. Although the major focus, because of data limitations, is on city versus suburb, we also offer some evidence and some speculations about development trends within the suburbs. The key questions for the future are defined as follows: how will the mix of Locators and their requirements change; how will place disparities change; and how will the relative accessibility of places change?
Régimes Monétaires et Théorie Quantitative du Produit Nominal au Portugal (1854-1998)

L’economie portugaise, comme d’ailleurs d’autres economies occidentales, a connu differents regimes monetaires depuis la moitie du XXe siecle. Nous voulons savoir si la theorie quantitative de la monnaie appliquee au revenu nominal, et non aux prix, peut expliquer le comportement du revenu nominal dans differents regimes monetaires. Nous concentrons notre analyse sur les periodes suggerees par les historiens economiques et nous les concentrons en utilisant la methodologie de Bai-Perron pour l’identification des ruptures structurelles des series temporelles. Apres avoir pris la decision de savoir quelles periodes utiliser et connaissant les caracteristiques de stationnarite de l’offre de monnaie et du revenu nominal, nous appliquons la methode de co-integration de Johansen a ces deux series. Notre conclusion est tres interessante : la theorie quantitative du revenu nominal de la monnaie ne peut etre appliquee au regime de l’etalon-or. La confirmation empirique suggere que cette theorie ne peut etre appliquee que dans un regime de monnaie inconvertible.
Influences of the neighbourhood food environment on adiposity of low-income preschool-aged children in Los Angeles County: a longitudinal study

Background Few studies have examined the association between the food environment and adiposity in early childhood, a critical time for obesity prevention. The objective of this study was to examine the longitudinal association between neighbourhood food environment and adiposity among low-income preschool-aged children in a major metropolitan region in the USA. Methods The study sample was 32 172 low-income preschool-aged children in Los Angeles County who had repeated weight and height measurements collected between ages 2 and 5 years through a federal nutrition assistance programme. We conducted multilevel longitudinal analyses to examine how spatial densities of healthy and unhealthy retail food outlets in the children's neighbourhoods were related to adiposity, as measured by weight-for-height z-score (WHZ), while controlling for neighbourhood-level income and education, family income, maternal education, and child's gender and race/ethnicity. Results Density of healthy food outlets was associated with mean WHZ at age 3 in a non-linear fashion, with mean WHZ being lowest for those exposed to approximately 0.7 healthy food outlets per square mile and higher for lesser and greater densities. Density of unhealthy food outlets was not associated with child WHZ. Conclusions We found a non-linear relationship between WHZ and density of healthy food outlets. Research aiming to understand the sociobehavioural mechanisms by which the retail food environment influences early childhood obesity development is complex and must consider contextual settings.
A Framework for Analyzing Language and Welfare

The paper proposes a general model that will encompass trade and social benefits of a common language, a preference for a variety of languages, the fundamental role of translators, an emo-tional attachment to maternal language, and the threat that globalization poses to the vast ma-jority of languages. With respect to people’s emotional attachment, the model considers minor-ities to suffer losses from the subordinate status of their language. In addition, the model treats the threat to minority language as coming from the failure of the parents in the minority to transmit their maternal language (durably) to their children. Some familiar results occur. In particular, we encounter the usual social inefficiencies of decentralized solutions to language learning when the sole benefits of the learning are communicative benefits (though translation intervenes). However, these social inefficiencies assume a totally different air when the con-sumer gains of variety are brought in. One fundamental aim of the paper is to bring together contributions to the economics of language from labor economics, network externalities and international trade that are typically treated separately.
Evidence of a near-merger in western sydney australian English vowels

Research on various dialects of English has demonstrated the existence of so-called near-mergers. The present study examines the identification and discrimination of the vowels of Western Sydney Australian English, for which no such mergers have been previously documented. We find evidence for perceptual confusion of / (cid:1) /-/ (cid:2)(cid:3) / (in /hVb (cid:1) /), despite significant acoustic differences in productions of these two vowels. This meets the defining features of a near-merger.