Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Firm-level heterogeneity and the demand and supply side of foreign direct investment spillovers

The prime rationale to expect spillover effects from foreign firms to domestic firms is the superior technology and productivity level of the former (Markusen, 1995). In this paper, we put this rationale to the test. We draw on a large firm-level database for 25 European countries to analyse productivity differences between foreign firms and domestic firms across Europe. On the basis of an analysis inspired by Bernard and Jensen (1999), we find that the foreign total factor productivity premium is on average about 48% in the countries covered. We further document the process of building this large firm-level database -the Augmented Amadeus databasefor 25 European countries. We show that this database adequately approximates the structure of the European economy across countries and industries as portrayed by the Eurostat Structural Business Statistics data.
Rates of convergence for conditional gradient algorithms near singular and nonsingular extremals

Two conditional gradient algorithms are considered for the problem min ¿F, with ¿ a bounded convex subset of a Banach space. Neither method requires line search; one method needs no Lipschitz constants. Convergence rate estimates are similar in the two cases, and depend critically on the continuity properties of a set valued operator T whose fixed points, ¿, are the extremals of F in ¿. The continuity properties of T at ¿ are determined by the way a(¿) = inf{¿= |y¿¿,||;y-¿||>¿} grows with increasing ¿. It is shown that for convex F and Lipschitz continuous F', the algorithms converge like o(1/n), geometrically, or in finitely many steps, according to whether a(¿)>0 for ¿>0, or a(¿)>A¿2 with A>0, or a(¿)>A¿ with A>0. These three abstract conditions are closely related to established notions of nonsingularity for an important class of optimal control problems with bounded control inputs. The first con-- dition is satisfied (in L1)when meas {t|s(t)=0} =0, where s(¿) is the switching function associated with the extremal control ¿(¿); the second condition is satisfied when s(¿) has finitely many zeros, all simple (typical of the bang-bang extremal); the third condition is satisfied when s(¿) is bounded away from zero. Strong or uniform convexity assumptions are not invoked in the main: convergence theorems. One of the theorems can be extended to a large subclass of quasiconvex functionals F.
Evidence for the covalent binding of aflatoxin B1-dichloride to cytosine in DNA.

In vitro studies of the effect of aflatoxin B1-dichloride (AFB1-Cl2) on the template function for RNA synthesis of several single- and double-stranded synthetic DNAs containing cytosine and/or hypoxanthine bases are reported. The results indicate: (i) AFB1-Cl2 strongly inhibits the template function of the single-stranded homopolymer polydC and has no effect on polydI, (ii) the inhibition is stronger when cytosine is in the double-stranded alternating copolymer poly[d(I-C)], and (iii) polydI directed RNA synthesis can be inhibited if it is in the double-stranded homopolymer polydI.polydC, although the template function of the polydC strand is still inhibited to a greater extent. The evidence that the selective inhibition of the DNA template function is a direct reflection of the binding specificities of AFB1-Cl2 is provided by the binding studies of [3H]AFB1-Cl2 to these DNAs. The binding of AFB1-Cl2 to polydC is substantiated by the dose-response template inhibition and by the dose-response template binding studies. Additionally, these results show that AFB1 per se has neither inhibitory nor binding activity. Auto radiography of [alpha-32P]GTP labeled RNAs suggests that the mechanism of inhibition of polydC template function by AFB1-Cl2 is mainly due to the inhibition of the elongation of RNA synthesis. Spectrum measurement of the products of enzyme digestion of the AFB1-Cl2 modified polydC reveals that the deoxycytidine fraction gives a typical cytosine absorption peak at 275 nm followed by a broad peak between 300 and 400 nm with a maximum at 390 nm. High performance liquid chromatography confirms the existence of a cytosine-AFB1 adduct which absorbs strongly in the regions between 250 and 400 nm with peaks identifiable at 260, 350 and 390 nm. These results strongly suggest that AFB1 in the activated form of AFB1-Cl2 is able to covalently bind to cytosine in DNA.
Identification of 12 Piroplasms Infecting Ten Tick Species in China Using Reverse Line Blot Hybridization

Abstract Piroplasmosis, a disease of domestic and wild animals, is caused by tick-borne protozoa in the genera of Theileria and Babesia. There is limited information available about the prevalence of piroplasmosis in ticks in China, and to assess the potential threat of piroplasmosis in China, we investigated the infections of ovine and bovine Babesia and Theileria species in ticks collected from cattle, yaks, sheep, horses, and camels in several regions of China where tick-borne diseases have been reported. In total, 652 ticks were collected from the animals in 6 provinces of China. Babesia spp. and Theileria spp. were detected with a PCR-RLB method and identified by sequencing. Overall, 157 ticks (24.1%) were infected with 5 Babesia and 4 Theileria species. Among tested tick samples, 134 (20.6%) were single infections with 1 of 7 piroplasm species, with Theileria annulata (118/652, 18.1%) being dominant. Only 23 (3.5%) tick samples were double or triple infected, Theileria luwenshuni and Theileria sinensis (18/652, 2.8%) were frequently observed in co-infections. Some piroplasm species were carried by ticks that were not previously reported to be vectors.
Analysis of EEG signal from right and left hand writing movements

This paper studies on the characteristics of electroencephalogram (EEG) which generated from writing using right and left hand. The EEG signals were recorded from 4 channels, C3, C4, P3 and P4 and processed using band pass filter (8-30Hz). Two method of analysis were performed; Fast Fourier transform and power spectral density. The results showed that Power Spectral Density can be used to distinguish right and left hand writing movements from EEG signals.
Minimizing gain roll-off in rotman lens antenna using phase gradient transmission lines

We present a simple method to minimize the gain roll-off of the Rotman lens antenna with wide scans. Phase gradient transmission lines are used to neutralize a precipitous drop in the power efficiency of Rotman lens when the scan angle increases. To validate the proposed method, a Rotman lens antenna at X band with 8 beam ports and 9 array ports are designed and simulated. The results show that the gain roll-off of Rotman lens antenna can be improved from 5.5 dB to 2 dB over a 90-degree beam coverage.
Value Efficiency Analysis of Health Systems

Measuring the performance of health systems is necessary to orient policy decisions. Lacking a theoretical health production function, benchmarking is the best feasible strategy to establish a relationship between health resources and outcomes. This paper uses Value Efficiency Analysis (VEA) to measure the efficiency of the health systems of 166 countries using data on healthy life expectancy and infant mortality as health outcomes. Expenditure in health and education are used as inputs. The results show that the public share in health expenditure and the weight of health expenditure on public budgets are two factors positively associated with health systems’ performance.
Visualization research and implementation based on ATM alarm data

With the development of science and technology, it generates a large amount of data. Data visualization is an important branch to help people get a better understanding of the changing trend of data. Data visualization is a significant method to Big Data Analysis, which shows the importance of data in a visual form. By using data visualization, people can easily find the association between data. According to the requirement of ATM service, this paper designs and implements the information visualization system of ATM alarm data.
How to configure blended problem based learning–Results of a randomized trial

Background: Problem based learning (PBL) may be successfully complemented by Blended Learning approaches. However, the precise effect of combining different eLearning components in PBL-courses is yet unclear. Aim: This study aims at comparing the effects of the different combinations of three interactive components (Wiki, Chat, and, Interactive Diagnostic Context – a diagnostic related link collection to expert sources) on learning, aspects of group process, and individual learner satisfaction. Methods: A mixed-method study addressed all possible combinations of the three components. Tests and controls were assigned by group randomization. Hypotheses were tested by the Friedman- and the Mann–Whitney U test. Results: The results prove Wiki to positively influence the ratings given by students to the course, whereas no evidence supports the expected advantages of Chat. The Interactive Diagnostic Context led to only few significant effects concerning the diagnostic approach and general score. Conclusion: Blended PBL (bPBL) profits best from supporting asynchronous communication (i.e. Wiki). Synchronous communication components and hypothesis-driven information retrieval do not yield further improvements. Thus, bPBL should concentrate on technically fostering the group process and avoid overloading the course configuration by other eLearning components.
Business Process Reengineering: Worthwhile Lessons From Quality of Work-Life and Employee Involvement

Business process reengineering is changing the way employees work, both collectively and individually. Reengineering is reunfying the tasks into coherent business processes with changes such as adding new tasks to each job, reducing functional specialization of jobs, moving decision making down to the lowest levels of the organization, installing multiple process paths, and organizing workers into teams. Reengineering means that jobs will be more fluid, more complex, and less predictable. Jobs change, roles change, job preparation changes, values change, and compensation and performance measures change (Hammer & Champy, 1993). This blurs the functional structures and concentrates on process driven organization in the hope of aiding effectiveness for breakthrough gains and dramatic performance. Yet many reengineering projects either fail or do not produce the desired results as the people issues are not addressed satisfactorily. This paper proposes a Bottom Line = Quality Of Worklife / Employee Involvement Model which argues that reengineering can learn from the Quality of Worklife and Employee Involvement paradigm in handling the emerging dissonances from the change initiative. Spea7ically, the paper assesses the Implied shift in mode of performance appraisal, the emerging roles of human resource development and the subsequent implications on training, compensation, and general employee satisfaction for the success of BPR.
Trade in services negotiations: a review of the experience of the United States and the European Union in Latin America

Since the entry into force of the results of the Uruguay Round, Latin American Countries have embarked in active trade policy based on negotiations of Free Trade Agreements. These agreements cover a wide range of goods, services and new trade issues. The models followed in negotiations with the United States are based on NAFTA provisions. The European Union has adopted a GATS type approach although some difference exists. This paper analyses the services provisions negotiated by the United States and the European Union with Latin American countries. The paper focuses its analysis on the differences between the different models and the results achieved.
Temperature and Water Quality-Related Patterns in Sediment-Associated Symbiodinium Communities Impact Symbiont Uptake and Fitness of Juveniles in the Genus Acropora

The majority of corals acquire their photo-endosymbiont Symbiodinium from environmental sources anew each generation. Despite the critical role that environmental availability of Symbiodinium plays in the potential for corals to acclimate and adapt to changing environments, little is known about the diversity of free-living Symbiodinium communities and how variation in these communities influences uptake and in hospite communities in juvenile corals. Here we characterize Symbiodinium community diversity in sediment samples collected from eight reefs representing latitudinal and cross-shelf variation in water quality and temperature regimes. Sediment-associated Symbiodinium communities were then compared to in hospite communities acquired by A. tenuis and A. millepora juveniles following 11 – 145 days of experimental exposure to sediments from each of the reefs. Communities associated with juveniles and sediments differed substantially, with sediments harbouring four times more unique OTUs than juveniles (1125 OTUs vs. 271). Moreover, only 10.6% of these OTUs were shared between juveniles and sediments, indicating selective uptake by acroporid juveniles. The diversity and abundance of Symbiodinium types differed among sediment samples from different temperature and water quality environments. Symbiodinium communities acquired by juveniles also differed among the sediment treatments, despite juveniles having similar parentage. Moreover, Symbiodinium communities displayed different rates of infection, mortality, and photochemical efficiencies, important traits for coral fitness. This study demonstrates that the biogeography of free-living Symbiodinium types found within sediment reservoirs follows patterns along latitudinal and water quality environmental gradients on the Great Barrier Reef. We also demonstrate a bipartite strategy for Symbiodinium uptake by juvenile corals of two horizontally-transmitting acroporid species, whereby uptake is selective within the constraints of environmental availability.
Superbackscattering Antenna Arrays

This paper discusses the theory, design, and practical implementation of superbackscattering antenna arrays. In analogy with Uzkov's maximal directivity theorem, it is demonstrated that the maximal backscattering cross-section, normalized to the wavelength squared, of a linear array of N isotropic scatterers whose separation tends to zero is N2(N+1)2/(4π). This analytical result is validated via numerical optimization of the excitation coefficients, and the same procedure is utilized to assess the maximal backscattering of arrays of electric Hertzian dipoles (EHDs). It is found that electrically small arrays of two and three EHDs can enhance the backscattering by factors of 6.22 and 22.01, respectively, with respect to the maximum value generated by a single element. In addition, physical realizations of arrays featuring comparable enhancement factors can be straightforwardly designed by using a simple procedure inspired by Yagi-Uda antenna concepts. The practical implementations of such arrays based on copper wires and printed circuit technologies is also addressed.
Reduction of ultrasonic indoor localization infrastructure based on the use of graph information

This paper presents a constrained navigation on a Metric Description Graph (MDG) based on the use of a H-Infinity Filter (H-∞) including the restriction on the graph as a fictitious observation. The main goal is to reduce the number of the required ultrasonic beacons for covering an extensive indoor area. This reduction of the localization infrastructure involves an increment of the error in the estimation of the position, which can be acceptable depending on the application (i. e. people navigation). This approach is especially useful when the target is navigating along corridors or narrow passing areas since it is not necessary an accurate position estimation. The proposal has been simulated in a localization area describing a real environment. It has been applied for different noise conditions of the relative information (odometry) comparing the performance between a traditional beacon infrastructure and the reduced one including the constraints of the MDG.
When Bookbuilding Meets IPOs

Bookbuilding, the dominant offering mechanism for IPOs in the U.S. and other markets, is controversial because of the power it gives underwriters over IPO allocations. Critics point to the fact that allocations could be abused to generate kickbacks for underwriters while proponents argue that allocation power could improve pre-market price discovery. We examine the effect of varying underwriter power over IPO allocations in the Indian IPO market, exploiting its natural variation due to regulatory changes. When underwriters control allocations, bookbuilding is associated with lesser underpricing, but this effect quickly dissipates when regulations bar allocation discrimination. Using a proprietary dataset of IPO books, we find that allocation discrimination is pervasive, economically significant, and is used to differentiate between institutional investors based on hard information in bids, issue and bidder characteristics and soft information possessed by underwriters. Our evidence supports bookbuilding theories in which discretion in allocation helps in pre-market price discovery.
Prion protein genotype survey confirms low frequency of scrapie-resistant K222 allele in British goat herds

Scrapie in goats is a transmissible, fatal prion disease, which is endemic in the British goat population. The recent success in defining caprine PRNP gene variants that provide resistance to experimental and natural classical scrapie has prompted the authors to conduct a survey of PRNP genotypes in 10 goat breeds and 52 herds to find goats with the resistant K222 allele. They report here the frequencies in 1236 tested animals of the resistance-associated K222 and several other alleles by breed and herd. Eight animals were found to be heterozygous QK222 goats (0.64 per cent genotype frequency, 95 per cent CI 0.28 to 1.27 per cent) but no homozygous KK222 goats were detected. The K222 allele was found in Saanen, Toggenburg and Anglo-Nubian goats. The fact that only a few goats with the K222 allele have been identified does not preclude the possibility to design and implement successful breeding programmes at national level.
Calbindin Independence of Calcium Transport in Developing Teeth Contradicts the Calcium Ferry Dogma*

Cytosolic calcium-binding proteins termed calbindins are widely regarded as a key component of the machinery used to transport calcium safely across cells. Acting as mobile buffers, calbindins are thought to ferry calcium in bulk and simultaneously protect against its potentially cytotoxic effects. Here, we contradict this dogma by showing that teeth and bones were produced normally in null mutant mice lacking calbindin28kDa. Structural analysis of dental enamel, the development of which depends critically on active calcium transport, showed that mineralization was unaffected in calbindin28kDa-null mutants. An unchanged rate of calcium transport was verified by measurements of 45Ca incorporation into developing teeth in vivo. In enamel-forming cells, the absence of calbindin28kDa was not compensated by other cytosolic calcium-binding proteins as detectable by 45Ca overlay, two-dimensional gel, and equilibrium binding analyses. Despite a 33% decrease in cytosolic buffer capacity, cytotoxicity was not evident in either the null mutant enamel or its formative cells. This is the first definitive evidence that calbindins are not required for active calcium transport, either as ferries or as facilitative buffers. Moreover, in challenging the broader notion of a cytosolic route for calcium, the findings support an alternative paradigm involving passage via calcium-tolerant organelles.
Long-term effects of benidipine hydrochloride on severe left ventricular hypertrophy and collagen metabolism in patients with essential hypertension.

OBJECTIVES The long-term effects of benidipine on left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and collagen metabolism were examined in patients with essential hypertension. METHODS Forty patients with untreated essential hypertension were given benidipine at a dose of 6 mg a day. Routine echocardiographic parameters, serum concentrations of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) were analyzed before and 12 months after treatment with benidipine. Patients were classified according to left ventricular mass index (LVMI) into three groups: severe LVH (LVMI > or = 159), mild LVH (159 > LVMI > or = 125) and no LVH (LVMI < 125). RESULTS Serum levels of free TIMP-1 to MMP-1 ratio were significantly higher in patients with severe LVH than in the other two groups before treatment. There was a significant positive correlation between the free TIMP-1 to MMP-1 ratio and LVMI in all study subjects (r = 0.51, p < 0.01). Twelve months after treatment, percentage changes of the LVMI and free TIMP-1 to MMP-1 ratio were significantly larger in the patients with severe LVH (-27% and -54%) than with mild LVH (-12% and -23%) or no LVH (-4% and -11%), respectively. Changes in the systolic blood pressure but not changes in the free TIMP-1 to MMP-1 ratio correlated with changes in the LVMI in patients with mild LVH (r = 0.78, p < 0.01). Changes in the free TIMP-1 to MMP-1 ratio but not changes in the systolic blood pressure correlated with changes in the LVMI in patients with severe LVH (r = 0.69, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Long-term administration of benidipine reduced left ventricular mass and normalized systemic collagen type I degradation abnormalities in essential hypertensive patients with severe but not mild LVH.
Airborne house dust particles and diesel exhaust particles as allergen carriers

Indoor suspended particulate matter (SPM) consists of many different types of particles, the vast majority of which are less than 2.5 μm in diameter. The question arises how these particles may contribute to asthma and respiratory symptoms. One possibility is that airborne dust particles act as carriers of allergens into the airways, as several allergens have been found to be associated with inhalable airborne dust particles.
Diagnostic memory assessment in Italian-born Australians

ABSTRACT Background: In many English-speaking countries neuropsychological assessment of non-English speakers is often performed in English or through an interpreter. Relying on interpreters often involves unstandardized and ad hoc translations of tests which may limit valid assessment. Methods: In a sample of 75 Italian-born elderly Australians from the general community (48 women and 27 men, aged 56–90 years) we administered standardized and normed psychological tests in both English (WMS-III, WAIS-III, BNT, Schonell Graded Word Reading Test) and Italian (Milan Overall Dementia Assessment, MODA). We examined the hypothesis that long-term retrieval ability assessed in English is primarily influenced by cognitive abilities assessed in Italian and by English language competence. Results: Regression analysis showed that the strongest predictor of long-term retrieval in English was long-term retrieval in Italian (R2 = 0.229, F(72) = 29.12, p<0.01). After inclusion of an estimate of general cognitive ability in Italian, English language competence failed to add significantly to variance explained in memory tested in English (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Results of the present study support the view that long-term retrieval memory is not significantly affected by second language proficiency after control of cognitive ability assessed in Italian. As a consequence, if an Italian-born elder Australian with English as a second language scores poorly on a diagnostic memory test, this result may be due to cognitive impairment rather than language issues. If, instead, we attribute poor performance to language competence, an increased risk of false negative diagnosis may arise.