Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Local Analyst Earnings Forecast Advantages in Europe

This study investigates local analyst earnings forecast advantages in Europe. Information asymmetries or different incentives may drive hypothesized local advantages. Statistically significant, but not overwhelming, evidence indicates that local analysts forecast earnings more accurately than non-local analysts. Leader and follower tests support the observation that local analysts issue timelier forecasts. Accuracy results are driven in part by the German sample and may be attributable to the DVFA/SG earnings adjustment process used by analysts. U.K. (London) based analysts are less accurate forecasters. The magnitude of the local forecast advantage is large enough to be economically interesting, particularly in Germany. The findings support the existence of geographic information asymmetries and support explanations for home equity bias.
Digital divisions and the changing cultures of the music industries (or, the ironies of the artefact and invisibility)

As has been extensively reported for a few years now, income from consumer sales of sound recordings has decreased. Sales of physical CDs are accelerating downwards. The digital artefact―the mp3 and its variants―has allowed the downloading, circulation and sharing of music in a manner that has raised questions about the social and economic value of recording. A recording is no longer a prized physical, numerically finite, collectable object; one visibly displayed in the store, under the arm when walking down the street, or in the home. Somewhere, invisible, inside a machine, when not purchased as a download, it appears to be freely available―dripping from the cloud, swimming for survival in the stream. Yet, it is paid for through subscriptions, telephone and internet connection charges, the costs of computers, phones and iPads, speakers and headphones, and fees for electricity. The irony of “free” music is that it only appears free because the listener is not obviously making a transaction to labels or musicians―but, money is being made here.
A vector for analysis of promoters in the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120

A plasmid vector containing a multiple-cloning site followed by a promoterless chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (cat) gene, protected by transcription terminators and mobilizable by conjugation from Escherichia coli into Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120, was constructed. The utility of the vector was shown by deletion analysis of the promoter region of the Anabaena psbB gene.
Megakaryocytes Contribute to the Bone Marrow‐Matrix Environment by Expressing Fibronectin, Type IV Collagen, and Laminin

Megakaryocytes associate with the bone marrow vasculature where they convert their cytoplasm into proplatelets that protrude through the vascular endothelium into the lumen and release platelets. The extracellular matrix (ECM) microenvironment plays a critical role in regulating these processes. In this work we demonstrate that, among bone marrow ECM components, fibronectin, type IV collagen, and laminin are the most abundant around bone marrow sinusoids and constitute a pericellular matrix surrounding megakaryocytes. Most importantly, we report, for the first time, that megakaryocytes express components of the basement membrane and that these molecules contribute to the regulation of megakaryocyte development and bone marrow ECM homeostasis both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, fibronectin induced a threefold increase in the proliferation rate of mouse hematopoietic stem cells leading to higher megakaryocyte output with respect to cells treated only with thrombopoietin or other matrices. However, megakaryocyte ploidy level in fibronectin‐treated cultures was significantly reduced. Stimulation with type IV collagen resulted in a 1.4‐fold increase in megakaryocyte output, while all tested matrices supported proplatelet formation to a similar extent in megakaryocytes derived from fetal liver progenitor cells. In vivo, megakaryocyte expression of fibronectin and basement membrane components was upregulated during bone marrow reconstitution upon 5‐fluorouracil induced myelosuppression, while only type IV collagen resulted upregulated upon induced thrombocytopenia. In conclusion, this work demonstrates that ECM components impact megakaryocyte behavior differently during their differentiation and highlights a new role for megakaryocyte as ECM‐producing cells for the establishment of cell niches during bone marrow regeneration. Stem Cells 2014;32:926–937
The Application of Fuzzy Logic on Transition Manoeuvre Control of a New Ducted-Fan VTOL UAV Configuration

The development of a fuzzy logic controller on a new configuration of ducted-fan VTOL UAV is presented for automating the transition manoeuvre. The design goal is to have a smooth push-over transition flight from low speed vertical flight to high speed horizontal flight in the presence of wind disturbance and without the need of using complicated control strategies. A target attitude for the transition is selected and then compared with the current vehicle attitude. This gives the attitude errors that are used to generate command signals to the vehicle controller. Simulation results demonstrate that the UAV was able to perform a smooth transition manoeuvre and has a good overall performance.
CONTACT INHIBITION, MACROMOLECULAR SYNTHESIS, AND POLYRIBOSOMES IN CULTURED HUMAN DIPLOID FIBROBLASTS.

The contact inhibition of locomnotion in human cells has been described by Abercrombie.i When normal diploid fibroblasts growing on a glass surface come inito contact, an adhesion forms and cell movement in that direction stops. As the resulting "monolayer" of diploid cells becomes confluent, their growth rate also decreases markedly. , 2 In consequence, an upper limit is set for the population density of a given diploid cell culture which is not determined by properties of the nedium. Human cell lines in which contact inhibition of growth is not operative (in general, heteroploid cells) form multilayered sheets in stationary culture, and attain population densities up to ten times those of human diploid cells. The present communication describes some of the molecular events associated with the decreasing growth rate of cultured human diploid cells as they become confluent. The possible causal role of cellular contact is also considered.
Binary SIFT: Fast image retrieval using binary quantized SIFT features

SIFT features are widely used in content based image retrieval. Typically, a few thousand keypoints are extracted from each image. Image matching involves distance computations across all pairs of SIFT feature vectors from both images, which is quite costly. We show that SIFT features perform surprisingly well even after quantizing each component to binary, when the medians are used as the quantization thresholds. Quantized features preserve both distinctiveness and matching properties. Almost all of the features in our 5.4 million feature test set map to distinct binary patterns after quantization. Furthermore, number of matches between images using both the original and the binary quantized SIFT features are quite similar. We investigate the distribution of SIFT features and observe that the space of 128-D binary vectors has sufficient capacity for the current performance of SIFT features. We use component median values as quantization thresholds and show through vector-to-vector distance comparisons and image-to-image matches that the resulting binary vectors perform comparable to original SIFT vectors. We also discuss computational and storage gains. Binary vector distance computation reduces to bit-wise operations. Square operation is eliminated. Fast and efficient indexing techniques such as the signatures used for chemical databases can also be considered.
Validation Evidence for the Netherlands Physical Activity Questionnaire for Young Children

Survey instruments continue to serve an important function in population-based studies of children’s physical activity, despite limitations including accuracy of recall and varied interpretations of questions by responders. Because young children (i.e., less than 10 years old) do not have the cognitive skills to self-report, researchers using survey methods to assess activity generally rely on parents or teachers as proxy reporters (Kohl, Fulton, & Caspersen, 2000; Montoye, Kemper, Saris & Washburn, 1996; Sallis, & Owen, 1999). In a review of the status of children’s activity measurements, Sallis and Owen (1999) suggested that many children’s physical activity proxy reports are not valid, because they require reporters to observe children’s specific activities during an entire day. This is a difficult task even for the most attentive parent. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsored an expert panel to review current knowledge of existing methods for assessing physical activity in preschool-age children and set research priorities for using assessment instruments in this population (Fulton et al., 2001). The panel prioritized the need for new research assessing the validity and feasibility of proxy reports, because it felt proxy reports were one of the most viable assessment methods available (Fulton et al., 2001). At this time, however, little information exists on the measurement properties of even the most commonly used proxy report instruments for young children (Fulton et al., 2001; Kohl et al., 2000). This deficiency has been a barrier in conducting population-based research and evaluating the quality of research that exists. In this paper, we present reliability and validity information for the Netherlands (Health Education Project) Physical Activity Questionnaire (NPAQ), a global proxy report of children’s everyday activity preferences (Montoye, Kemper, Saris, & Washburn, 1996). The NPAQ was selected for study, because it addresses children’s typical behavioral traits (assumed to be associated with physical activity levels) rather than requiring proxy reporters to describe specific physical activity characteristics, such as duration, frequency, or intensity. If reliable and valid, the NPAQ would be a useful instrument for: (a) descriptive purposes, (b) sorting children into physical activity categories, and (c) clarifying qualitative information.
The Financial Determinants of Unemployment: do they Interact with Labor Market Institutions?

The aim of this paper is to identify the financial determinants of unemployment and to analyse the way they interact with labour market institutions. We make use of macroeconomic data for 18 OECD countries over the period 19802004. We show that the impact of financial variables strongly depends on the labour market context. Market capitalisation and banking concentration respectively reduces and increases unemployment if the level of labour market regulation, union density and coordination in wage bargaining is low, and have no effect whatsoever otherwise.Intermediated credit increases unemployment when the labour market is weakly regulated and coordinated. But it reduces unemployment when labour market regulation and coordination degree are high and when union density is low. These results indicate that, when the labour market is deregulated and weakly coordinated, boosting financial markets as well as reducing banking concentration and intermediated credit allow to decrease unemployment.However, when labour markets are highly regulated and strongly coordinated, fostering intermediated credit is the only employment increasing policy. These interactions are not symmetric since the level of financial variables does not impact the way labour institutions affect unemployment. Whatever the financial system structure, reducing employment protection always increases unemployment, while lowering union density always decreases it. JEL Codes: E24, J08, G30
Plasticity of adult human retinal pigment epithelial cells

Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell damage underlies many degenerative, dystrophic, and proliferative diseases of the human retina. Primary adult human RPE cells can be used for in vitro modeling of RPE cell behavior under pathological conditions. We demonstrated previously that Wnt7а inhibits adult human RPE cell proliferation, and initiates the spread and polarization of dedifferentiated RPE cells on a plastic surface. Here, we investigated the role of Wnt7a in the regulation of RPE cell plasticity, at cellular and molecular levels. Protein expression and localization were examined by immunofluorescence analysis, while mRNA expression was quantified by real-time PCR. The obtained results showed that Wnt7а influences the expression of a range of neural differentiation markers (nestin, MAP1B, β-tubulin III, synapsin I, 200 kDa and 68 kDa neurofilaments), and increases the expression of various RPE differentiation markers (RPE65, MITF, OTX2, and Pax6). Our findings indicate that Wnt7a exerts a pleiotropic effect on RPE cells in vitro, stimulating redifferentiation (RPE properties), while maintaining neural differentiation indicators. Although this effect was shown to be reversible, Wnt7a may act as a regulator of RPE cell plasticity, and may represent a potential therapeutic target for the prevention of RPE transformation.
The Implementation of Monetary Policy in China: The Interbank Market and Bank Lending

We analyze the impact of monetary policy instruments on interbank lending rates and retail bank lending in China using an extended version of the model of Porter and Xu (2009). Unlike the central banks of advanced economies, the People's Bank of China uses changes in the required reserve ratios and open market operations to influence liquidity in money markets and adjusts the regulated deposit and lending rates and loan targets to intervene in the retail deposit and lending market. These interventions prevent the interbank lending rate from signalling monetary policy stance and transmitting the effect of policy to the growth of bank loans.
p38 Signaling-mediated Hypoxia-inducible Factor 1α and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Induction by Cr(VI) in DU145 Human Prostate Carcinoma Cells*

Chromium(VI) (Cr(VI)) is widely used in industry and is a potent inducer of tumors in animals. The present study demonstrates that Cr(VI) induces hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) activity through the specific expression of HIF-1α but not HIF-1β subunit and increases the level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in DU145 human prostate carcinoma cells. To dissect the signaling pathways involved in Cr(VI)-induced HIF-1 expression, we found that p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling was required for HIF-1α expression induced by Cr(VI). Neither phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase nor extracellular signal-regulated kinase activity was required for Cr(VI)-induced HIF-1 expression. Cr(VI) induced expression of HIF-1 and VEGF through the production of reactive oxygen species in DU145 cells. The major species of reactive oxygen species responsible for the induction of HIF-1 and VEGF expression is H2O2. These results suggest that the expression of HIF-1 and VEGF induced by Cr(VI) may be an important signaling pathway in the Cr(VI)-induced carcinogenesis.
A refined comparative map between porcine chromosome 13 and human chromosome 3

We report here the localisation of BAIAP1 (13q24), HTR1F (13q45), PTPRG (13q23) and UBE1C (13q24) by fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH), and BAIAP1 (Swr2114; 21 cR; LOD = 11.03), GATA2 (Sw2448; 37 cR; LOD = 8.26), IL5RA (Swr2114; 64 cR; LOD = 3.85), LMCD1 (Sw2450; 61 cR; LOD = 4.73), MME (CP; 50 cR; LOD = 7.75), RYK (Swc22; 12 cR; LOD = 18.62) and SGU003 (Sw1876; 6 cR; LOD = 16.99) by radiation hybrid (RH) mapping to porcine chromosome 13 (SSC13). The mapping of these 10 different loci (all mapped to human chromosome 3; HSA3) not only confirms the extended conservation of synteny between HSA3 and SSC13, but also defines more precisely the regions with conserved linkage. The syntenic region of the centromeric part of SSC13 was determined by isolating porcine bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones (842D4 and 1031H1) using primers amplifying porcine microsatellite markers S0219 and S0076 (mapped to this region). Sequence comparison of the BAC end sequences with the human genome sequence showed that the centromeric part of SSC13 is homologous with HSA3p24.
Ventilation and Heart Rate Response During Exercise in Normals: Relevance for Rate Variable Pacing

The observation of a close relationship of heart rate to oxygen uptake (HH‐VO2) and heart rate to minute ventilation (HR‐VE)has been shown to be of particular value in rate variable pacing. However, the impact of anaerobic threshold (AT)for the HH‐VO2 and HH‐VE slope has been studied Jess. Twenty‐three male and 16 female subjects, mean age 52 ± 7 years, were selected in whom complete heart catherization and extensive noninvasive sludies excluded major cardiopulmonary disease. Semisupine bicycle exercise testing with analysis of respiratory gas exchange was performed using a ramping work rate protocol with work increments of 20 watts/min. At the respiratory AT, determined by the V slope method, oxygen uptake (VO2‐AT)was 15.2 ± 3.0 mL/kg in males versus 13.8 ± 2.3 mL/kg in females and heart rate (HR‐AT)was 109 ± 18 beats/min versus 119 ± 20 beats/min, respectively. Heart rate was highly correlated (r ±0.9)to VO2 and minute ventilation (VE). A linear regression for HR‐VO2, however, was found only in 16/39 and for HR‐VE in 11/39 subjects. Assuming the AT as the breakpoint of two linear curves, it could be demonstrated that compared to low exercise HR appeared to increase at maximal exercise more in relation to VO2 but less in relation to VE; in men the individual slopes for HR‐VO2 were 2.6 ± 0.7 below but 3.2 ± 1.0 above AT (P < 0.05) and the slopes for HH‐VE were 1.6 ± 0.5 below but 1.0 ± 0,4 above AT (P < 0.05). Similarly, in women the individual slopes for HR‐VO2 were 3.7 ± 1.4 below but 4.3 ± 1.4 above AT (P < 0.05)and the slopes for HR‐VE were 2.1 ± 0.9 below but 1.3 ± 0.4 above AT (P < 0.05). The differences between male and female subjects were significant. The nonlinear behavior of the HB‐VO2 and HR‐VE relation from rest to maximal exercise should have a particular impact in respiratory controlied pacing systems.
THE ABSORPTION OF TRITIUM‐LABELLED PROSTAGLANDIN E1 FROM THE VAGINA OF NON‐PREGNANT WOMEN

Tritium labelled prostaglandin E1 was deposited for 6 hours in the posterior fornix of 7 normally menstruating volunteers who were without any signs of infection. 10-25% of the radio activity administered was recovered in the urine within 24-32 hours. The application of a cervical cup to the cervix failed to influence the absorption which was estimated to be 20-50%. The physiological significance of this absorption remains uncertain. No conclusion can be drawn from this investigation regarding the absorption rate during this period since elimination through the kidney is so slow.
A describing-function approach to antiskid design

A describing-function approach is employed in the design of an antiskid braking system. This includes the specification of the dynamics of a braking vehicle, a proposed system employing a feedback compensator to provide antiskid behavior, and the determination of the design parameters by a describing-function analysis. A wide range of tire-roadway conditions was considered in the latter. The resulting design was implemented and evaluated in field tests. The observed antiskid braking performance was approximately that predicted from the design. Thus the describing-function approach, especially in view of its ease of application and the insights it provides, appears to be a useful one for the control aspect of antiskid design.
Economic and Social Factors Driving the Third Wave of Democratization

We identify permanent democratic transitions during the Third Wave of Democratization and the nineties, when many former socialist countries moved towards representative rule. Using political freedom indicators, electoral archives, and historical resources in 174 countries in the period 1960-2005, we identify 63 democratic transitions, 3 reverse transitions from relatively stable democracy to autocracy and 6 episodes of small improvements in representative institutions. We also classify non-reforming countries to stable autocracies and always democratic. We then use the dataset to test theories on the prerequisites for democracy in these countries that enter the Third Wave as non-democracies. Examining initially autocratic countries enables us to address issues of sample selection (in the beginning of the sample most developed countries were already democratic) and reverse causality (democracy can be both a cause and a consequence of wealth, for example). Our estimates reveal that democratization is more likely to emerge in affluent and especially educated societies. Economic development and education are also key factors determining the intensity of democratic reforms and how quickly democratic transitions will occur. These results appear robust to controls like the social environment (religion and fractionalization), natural resources, trade openness and proxies of early institutions.
Optimal Lifetime Consumption-Portfolio Strategies Under Trading Constraints and Generalized Recursive Preferences

We consider the lifetime consumption-portfolio problem in a competitive securities market with essentially arbitrary continuous price dynamics, and convex trading constraints (e.g., incomplete markets and short-sale constraints). Abstract first-order conditions of optimality are derived, based on a preference-independent notion of constrained state pricing. For homothetic generalized recursive utility, we derive closed-form solutions for the optimal consumption and trading strategy in terms of the solution to a single constrained BSDE. Incomplete market solutions are related to complete markets solutions with modified risk aversion towards non-marketed risk. Methodologically, we develop the utility gradient approach, but for the homothetic case we also verify the solution using the dynamic programming approach, without having to assume a Markovian structure. Finally, we present a class of parametric examples in which the BSDE characterizing the solution reduces to a system of Riccati equations.
Correlates of the shift in heart rate variability with an active postural change in a healthy population sample: The Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities study.

BACKGROUND The heart rate variability (HRV) response to postural change is a sensitive measure of the shift in autonomic balance from parasympathetic to sympathetic predominance that, when attenuated or absent, has been correlated with prevalent disease in patient populations. In a healthy population sample, we evaluated whether the shift in HRV with postural change differed by demographic characteristics as well as whether it differed between participants with established coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors and their counterparts. METHODS HRV was measured for 2 minutes in the supine and standing positions in a biracial sample of men and women (aged 45-64 years) without clinical CHD from the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities Study (n = 7686). Mean differences among supine and standing mean R-R interval lengths, the SD of R-R intervals, and high-frequency power (HF) were compared by demographic characteristics (age, race, and sex) and CHD risk factors (smoking, obesity, physical activity, hypertension, and diabetes). Multivariable linear regression models were used to adjust for demographic characteristics. RESULTS Smaller changes in R-R intervals and larger changes in SD of R-R intervals with standing were found among participants who were obese, less physically active than their counterparts, hypertensive, and diabetic. Smaller changes in HF were identified in male and white participants, but there were no differences in HF by CHD risk factors once models were adjusted for demographic characteristics. CONCLUSIONS These simple noninvasive measures can be used to detect differences in cardiac autonomic balance that may be markers for autonomic impairment in healthy adults.