Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How Much Labor Do South African Exports Contain?

Like many emerging economies, South Africa has identified exports as an engine for more inclusive, job-intensive growth. However, employment growth did not follow the substantial export growth that South Africa experienced in the 2000s. This paper uses a newly developed World Bank database -- the Labor Content of Exports -- to show that the composition of South Africa's export growth helps to understand the weak relationship between export and employment growth. Minerals exports, which propelled export as well as wage growth, are not job intensive and as a result supported far less job growth. Minerals have also increasingly become an enclave sector with few backward linkages to the domestic economy. In contrast, manufacturing exports support jobs and wages primarily in input-providing sectors, where indirect manufacturing employment is nearly 4.5 times greater than direct manufacturing employment. The paper also documents a shift in the labor content of global value chain–intensive manufacturing sectors away from direct manufacturing to indirect services. Such a shift has been biased toward skilled labor. As a results of these trends, labor in services sectors has been the main beneficiary of South Africa's export growth, absorbing more than half of the growth in wage income from exports over the 2000s, primarily by supplying inputs to other sectors' exports.
Bank Capital Structure, Fire Sales, and the Social Value of Deposits

We describe a model in which bank deposits yield liquidity services and therefore earn a lower rate of return than equity. In this sense, deposits are a cheaper source of funding for banks than equity. The banks’ equilibrium capital structure is determined by a trade off between the funding advantages of deposits and the risk of costly default. The cost of default, however, is an illusion associated with the transfer of value in fire sales. This transfer is a private cost for the owners of failed banks but not a deadweight loss for society. As a result, deposits are under-used and banks’ funding costs receive a subsidy from depositors. This subsidy eventually causes banks to grow too large and overaccumulate assets. Policies that force banks to hold higher capital buffers, motivated by a desire to make banks “safer,” will make deposits even cheaper and increase the overaccumulation problem. Increasing leverage, on the other hand, will increase the cost of debt finance and reduce overaccumulation, but may increase the external costs of financial distress, which bankers ignore.
SOA Migration - Approaches and Experience

Due to their economic and technological benefits, Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) are valued more and more by companies in all industries and sizes. This paper explains SOA briefly and presents approaches for migrating to an SOA in ‘real life’. We will discuss how SOA design methods and proven software reengineering technology can be combined in order to support a company’s SOA adoption roadmap.
A survey of qualitative spatial representations

Abstract Representation and reasoning with qualitative spatial relations is an important problem in artificial intelligence and has wide applications in the fields of geographic information system, computer vision, autonomous robot navigation, natural language understanding, spatial databases and so on. The reasons for this interest in using qualitative spatial relations include cognitive comprehensibility, efficiency and computational facility. This paper summarizes progress in qualitative spatial representation by describing key calculi representing different types of spatial relationships. The paper concludes with a discussion of current research and glimpse of future work.
Impact of Serious Games on Health and Well-being of Elderly: A Systematic Review

Besides their entertainment value, serious games can have beneficial therapeutic effects for elderly people that improve their health and well-being. Games are likely to be accepted by elderly persons who have enjoyed games their lives, and because there are more and more of such elderly, it is important to investigate games as a therapeutic device. This research reviewed the literature focusing on the effects of games on elderly persons in three main types of effects: physical, cognitive, and social effects. The majority of reviewed papers focused on physical and cognitive effects, and were published in recent years, which emphasizes the relative novelty of this topic and suggests that future research will need to address social impact as well. In addition, while many papers claimed positive impacts as a result of using games, our review found that more attention should be given to research designs.
Firm Level Innovativeness: Antecedents and Consequences

The study proposes a conceptual model, identifying the antecedents and consequences of innovativeness. Study suggests firm level conceptualization of innovativeness and proposes product and process innovation as key dimensions of firm level innovativeness. The conceptual model purposes a positive effect of firm level innovativeness on competitiveness and performance of an organization. Study assumes the moderating effect of organizational culture on the degree of firm level innovativeness. Study provides a rich agenda for future researchers to ponder upon.
Heatwaves, Homes & Health: Why household vulnerability to extreme heat is an electricity policy issue

Heatwaves and extreme heat are a significant risk to household health. As electricity costs rise, more households are experiencing difficulty paying energy bills. Householder concerns about energy bills already contribute to self-rationing of heating and negative outcomes for health and wellbeing in cold weather. During hot weather, the electricity sector aims to reduce peak electricity demand via 'price signals' - higher prices for electricity used at times when many households use air conditioning to cool their homes. To manage the risk of electricity outages at peak times, public messages to reduce consumption are also used. Little is known about how current electricity costs and messaging impact heat vulnerable households or what effects pricing reforms could have on household practices during hot weather and health outcomes. The Heatwaves, Homes, & Health project sought to address this knowledge gap. The role of electricity costs, price signals and messaging in shaping household cooling practices and strategies during extreme heat, and outcomes for health and wellbeing were investigated.
Polyparasitism with Schistosoma haematobium and soil‐transmitted helminth infections among school children in Loum, Cameroon

Prevalence and abundance of Schistosoma haematobium and soil‐transmitted helminths (STH) were assessed among a total of 1600 pupils (urine, n = 1190; faecal samples, n = 1454) attending five schools in Loum, Littoral Province, Cameroon, with the specific aim of assessing the extent of polyparasitism and the extent to which infections were focused in particular subsets of the study group. Prevalence of S. haematobium was 62.8% with an abundance (arithmetic mean of egg counts) of 54 eggs/10 ml urine. For the STH these were 47.7% and 619 eggs per gram of faeces (EPG) for Trichuris trichiura, 65.5% and 3636 EPG for Ascaris lumbricoides, and 1.4% and <0.1 EPG for hookworms. Most children (90.3%) were infected with at least one of these four species, the largest proportion (34.3%) carrying two species; 27.4% carried three and 1.1% carried concurrently all four species of parasites. The average number of species harboured increased with age, as did the prevalences of S. haematobium and T. trichiura but not that of A. lumbricoides. All STH showed marked differences in prevalence between the five schools but only T. trichiura varied significantly between sexes. Mean abundance of infection varied significantly between age classes, among schools and between the sexes, with females showing heavier mean EPGs for A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura and males higher mean eggs/10 ml urine for S. haematobium infections. A highly significant association was detected between A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura, that was not context‐dependent. This was confirmed in quantitative analyses after controlling for differences in abundance between schools, sexes and age classes. A weaker context‐dependent association (prevalence data) was detected between S. haematobium and A. lumbricoides (sex‐ and age‐dependent) but quantitative associations between these two species, as well as between S. haematobium and T. trichiura, were not convincing.
Normal nigrostriatal innervation but dopamine dysfunction in mice carrying hypomorphic tyrosine hydroxylase alleles

We investigated the use of the mouse tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) gene to drive knock‐in constructs in catecholaminergic neurons. Two targeting constructs representing truncated forms of either of the BMP receptors ALK‐2 or BMPR‐II preceded by an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) were introduced into the 3′ untranslated region of TH. An frt‐flanked neomycin‐resistance (neor) cassette was placed in the 3′ end of the targeting constructs. Mice homozygous for the knock‐in alleles showed various degrees of hypokinetic behavior, depending mainly on whether the neor cassette was removed. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry showed that TH mRNA and protein were variously down‐regulated in these mouse strains. Reduced levels of dopamine and noradrenalin were found in several brain areas. However, number and morphology of neurons in substantia nigra and their projections to striatum appeared normal in the neor‐positive TH hypomorphic mice as examined by markers for L‐aromatic amino acid decarboxylase and the dopamine transporter. Elimination of the neor cassette from the knock‐in alleles partially restored TH and dopamine levels. The present neor‐positive TH hypomorphic mice show that nigrostriatal innervation develops independently of TH and should find use as a model for conditions of reduced catecholamine synthesis, as seen in, for example, L‐dihydroxyphenylalanine‐responsive dystonia/infantile parkinsonism. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Human Resource Factor in Small Business Decision Making

Activities of a group of small firms were studied over a six-year period to determine the manner In which their performance reflected the results of a counseling program. The effects of counseling In a number of functional areas were explored. Findings of the Investigation suggest that while adequate attention to marketing, financial, and technological matters Is essential, firms that Ignore the requirements of sound human resource management may fall to remain competitive.
Flavonoids such as Luteolin, Fisetin and Apigenin Are Inhibitors of Interleukin-4 and Interleukin-13 Production by ActivatedHuman Basophils

Background: We have previously shown that fisetin, a flavonol, inhibits IL-4 and IL-13 synthesis by allergen- or anti-IgE-antibody-stimulated basophils. This time, we investigated the inhibition of IL-4 and IL-13 production by basophils by other flavonoids and attempted to determine the fundamental structure of flavonoids related to inhibition. We additionally investigated whether flavonoids suppress leukotriene C4 synthesis by basophils and IL-4 synthesis by T cells in response to anti-CD3 antibody. Methods: Highly purified peripheral basophils were stimulated for 12 h with anti-IgE antibody alone or anti-IgE antibody plus IL-3 in the presence of various concentrations of 18 different kinds of flavones and flavonols. IL-4 and IL-13 concentrations in the supernatants were then measured. Leukotriene C4 synthesis was also measured after basophils were stimulated for 1 h in the presence of flavonoids. Regarding the inhibitory activity of flavonoids on IL-4 synthesis by T cells, peripheral blood mononuclear cells were cultured with flavonoids in anti-CD3-antibody-bound plates for 2 days. Results: Luteolin, fisetin and apigenin were found to be the strongest inhibitors of both IL-4 and IL-13 production by basophils but did not affect leukotriene C4 synthesis. At higher concentrations, these flavonoids suppressed IL-4 production by T cells. Based on a hierarchy of inhibitory activity, the basic structure for IL-4 inhibition by basophils was determined. Conclusions: Due to the inhibitory activity of flavonoids on IL-4 and IL-13 synthesis, it can be expected that the intake of flavonoids, depending on the quantity and quality, may ameliorate allergic symptoms or prevent the onset of allergic diseases.
Toxicity and Immune System Effects of Dietary Deltamethrin Exposure in Tiger Salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum)

One theory proposed to explain the global declines in amphibian populations involves contaminant-induced immune alteration and subsequent increased susceptibility to infectious disease. The goal of this study was twofold, to (1) study acute oral toxicity of deltamethrin (cyclopropanecarboxylic acid, 3-(2,2-dibromoethenyl)-2,2-dimethyl cyano(3-phenoxyphenyl)methyl ester) in tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum), and (2) evaluate whether the insecticide deltamethrin produces immunosuppression in these animals. In the acute toxicity study, tiger salamanders receiving single doses of deltamethrin ranging from 1 to 35 mg/kg displayed intention tremors, hypersalivation, ataxia, choreoathetosis (writhing), severe depression (immobility with minimal response to stimuli), and death. For acute effects, based on clinical signs, the median lethal dose (LD50) and lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) were estimated to be 5 to 10 mg/kg and 1 mg/kg, respectively. The LOAEL in animals dosed 3 times per week for 4 wk was 400 μg/kg/d. The endpoints for the immunotoxicity study included lymphoid organ mass and histopathology, hematological variables, and functional assays of phagocytosis, oxidative burst, and lymphoblastic transformation. Tiger salamanders in 4 treatment groups (0, 4, 40, or 400 μg/kg/d) were dosed with deltamethrin via the diet 3 times per week for 4 wk. Deltamethrin exposure resulted in increased liver mass, packed cell volume, and total plasma protein concentration, but these effects were not dose dependent. The relative mass of kidney and spleen, plasma albumin and globulin concentrations, and circulating leukocyte numbers were not affected by deltamethrin exposure, nor were phagocytosis, oxidative burst, and lymphoblastic transformation. This study shows that at moderate levels of exposure, deltamethrin may be neurotoxic to tiger salamanders. However, based on the immune assays considered in this study there was no evidence of immunosuppression from dietary exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of deltamethrin. In light of these findings, it is unlikely that exposure to environmental concentrations of deltamethrin has produced immunosuppression and contributed to the emergence of iridovirus outbreaks in tiger salamander populations.
Cloning and expression of the leukotoxin gene from Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans

The leukotoxin produced by Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans has been implicated in the etiology of juvenile periodontitis. To initiate a genetic analysis of the role of this protein in disease, we have cloned the leukotoxin gene in Escherichia coli. Recombinant colonies carrying toxin gene sequences were isolated by screening a genomic A. actinomycetemcomitans library with a DNA probe for the leukotoxin gene from a related bacterium, Pasteurella haemolytica. To demonstrate that the cloned A. actinomycetemcomitans DNA contained a functional leukotoxin gene, protein extracts of E. coli containing the A. actinomycetemcomitans clone were tested directly for leukotoxic activity against human cell lines in chromium release assays. A construct containing the entire cloned region produced a functional toxin. No cytotoxicity was seen when extracts from cells containing plasmids with deletions in the putative coding region were used. Furthermore, the toxin produced by the cloned gene has the same target cell specificity as the leukotoxin extracted directly from A. actinomycetemcomitans. These results indicate that sequences encoding a functional leukotoxin have been cloned and are expressed in E. coli. Southern blot analysis of DNA from leukotoxin-producing (Lkt+) and non-leukotoxin-producing (Lkt-) strains indicated that the Lkt- strain also contained a copy of the gene.
The Analysis of Foreigner Satisfaction and Service Quality of Immigration Office Padang

The aims of this research were to see the influence of immigration service quality on foreigner satisfaction that was assessed by using Citizen Satisfaction Index (CSI) directly and the influence of it when it was interfered by equity and disconfirmation. Quantitative method was used to approach these aims. All 191 respondents were taken in 2 phases; cluster and proportional stratified random sampling. The data were collected by using a valid and a reliable questionnaire and were analyzed by using path analysis. The result showed the direct influence of immigration service quality on foreigner satisfaction that was assessed by using CSI and the indirect influence when the model was interfered by equity and disconfirmation variables. All these findings lead to an important conclusion, the influence of immigration service quality on foreigner satisfaction (CSI) when it was interfered by equity and disconfirmation was greater than its direct influence on CSI. Keywords—Immigration Service Quality; Disconfirmation; Foreigner; Equity; Citizen Satisfaction Index
Orthostatic hypotension in acute geriatric ward: is it a consistent finding?

BACKGROUND Orthostatic hypotension (OH) is a common finding among older patients. We designed a study to examine the prevalence and consistency of OH during the day. METHODS A total of 502 inpatients (241 men and 261 women) with a mean age of 81.6 years were included in the study. Orthostatic tests were performed 3 times during the day, 30 minutes after meals. In 13 patients only 2 sets of measurements were obtained, and they were omitted from some of the calculations. Orthostatic hypotension was defined as a fall of at least 20 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure and/or 10 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure on assuming an upright posture. RESULTS Three hundred thirty-two (67.9%) of 489 patients experienced OH at least once during the day. Of these, 170 patients (34.8% of the 489) had OH at least twice (persistent OH) and 162 patients (33.1%) experienced OH only once (variable OH). Diastolic OH was more prevalent than systolic OH (57.3% vs 43.4%; P<.001). The intraindividual consistency of OH was low (kappa = 0.2). Orthostatic hypotension was observed less frequently during the evening than during the morning and afternoon (P<.05 vs morning and P =.003 vs afternoon). The difference between meals' constituents (light vs heavy meals) did not affect the prevalence of OH. CONCLUSIONS Orthostatic hypotension is very common in the elderly, and diastolic OH is more common than systolic OH. The prevalence of OH is the lowest during the evening, and meals do not increase the prevalence of OH. The intraindividual consistency of OH during the day is poor. Thus, in elderly patients, more attention should be paid to diastolic OH and the diagnosis should be based on repeated measurements.
Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria enhance mucosal B cell responses and differentially modulate systemic antibody responses to an oral human rotavirus vaccine in a neonatal gnotobiotic pig disease model

B cells play a key role in generation of protective immunity against rotavirus infection, a major cause of gastroenteritis in children. Current RV vaccines are less effective in developing countries compared to developed countries. Commensals/probiotics influence mucosal immunity, but the role of early gut colonizing bacteria in modulating intestinal B cell responses to RV vaccines is largely unknown. We co-colonized neonatal gnotobiotic pigs, the only animal model susceptible to HRV diarrhea, with 2 dominant bacterial species present in the gut of breastfed infants, Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG and Bifidobacterium animalis lactis Bb12 to evaluate their impact on B cell responses to an attenuated (Att) human rotavirus (HRV) Wa strain vaccine. Following HRV challenge, probiotic-colonized, AttHRV vaccinated piglets had significantly lower fecal scores and reduced HRV shedding titers compared to uncolonized, AttHRV vaccinated pigs. The reduction in HRV diarrhea was significantly correlated with higher intestinal IgA HRV antibody titers and intestinal HRV-specific IgA antibody secreting cell (ASC) numbers in probiotic-colonized, AttHRV vaccinated pigs compared to uncolonized, vaccinated pigs. The significantly higher small intestinal HRV IgA antibody responses coincided with higher IL-6, IL-10 and APRIL responses of ileal mononuclear cells (MNCs) and the immunomodulatory effects of probiotics genomic DNA on TGF-β and IL-10 responses. However, serum RV IgG antibody titers and total IgG titers were significantly lower in probiotic-colonized, AttHRV vaccinated pigs compared to uncolonized, vaccinated pigs, both pre- and post-challenge. In summary, LGG and Bb12 beneficially modulated intestinal B cell responses to HRV vaccine.
Peer Effects in Service Usage

Researchers in marketing, sociology, and economics have been interested in the role of social interactions in consumer choice and consumption behaviors. Social interactions, labeled variously as peer effects, social contagion, and neighborhood effects, have important implications for firms’ allocation of marketing efforts. In this research, we test and provide empirical evidence for peer effects in consumers’ service usage in the context of gym-going behaviors. Using a detailed individual-level membership and attendance data at one of the largest health club chains in the U.S., we document that a focal member’s gym-going behavior is influenced by the behaviors and characteristics of the peers at the same branch.
Macromodel of switched-capacitor sigma-delta modulator

This paper presented a set of macromodels in terms of HSPICE-acceptable elements and introduced an approach how to perform time domain simulations of switched-capacitor sigma-delta modulators with these macromodels. The proposed simulation method is validated by comparing the simulation result with the corresponding matlab behavioral simulation result.
The scope for mdb leverage and innovation in climate finance

1 Work on this paper was coordinated by a team from the World Bank Group, comprising Priya Basu, Lisa Finneran, Veronique Bishop and Trichur Sundararaman. The team gratefully acknowledges contributions from many colleagues within the World Bank as well as from the Regional Development Banks (the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank). P ub lic D is cl os ur e A ut ho riz ed
Recognizing Actions in 3D Using Action-Snippets and Activated Simplices

Pose-based action recognition in 3D is the task of recognizing an action (e.g., walking or running) from a sequence of 3D skeletal poses. This is challenging because of variations due to different ways of performing the same action and inaccuracies in the estimation of the skeletal poses. The training data is usually small and hence complex classifiers risk over-fitting the data. We address this task by action-snippets which are short sequences of consecutive skeletal poses capturing the temporal relationships between poses in an action. We propose a novel representation for action-snippets, called activated simplices. Each activity is represented by a manifold which is approximated by an arrangement of activated simplices. A sequence (of action-snippets) is classified by selecting the closest manifold and outputting the corresponding activity. This is a simple classifier which helps avoid over-fitting the data but which significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods on standard benchmarks.