Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Demographic characteristics of women with self use of misoprostol for pregnancy interruption attending Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital.

OBJECTIVE To ascess the demographic characteristics of pregnant women and their partners including details of self use of misoprostol for pregnancy interruption. STUDY DESIGN Prospective descriptive study. SETTING Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital. SUBJECTS 103 pregnant women with self use of misoprostol for pregnancy interruption from June 1999 to June 2001. METHOD All subjects were interviewed use the same set of questionnaires. RESULTS The mean age of the women and their partners were 20.81 +/- 4.10 and 22.46 +/- 5.05 years old respectively. The mean gestational age was 13.85 +/- 5.37 weeks. The most common reason for pregnancy interruption was that they wanted to continue studying. The number of misoprostol tablets used ranged from 1-11 and 87.4 per cent of the women applied this drug via the vaginal route. The main source of drug purchasing was from friends, while the mean total cost was 663.16 +/- 711.32 Baht. No major side effect was detected in the present study. CONCLUSION Misoprostol, the agent primarily used for gastric and duodenal ulcer prevention, is now used by pregnant women to interrupt their pregnancies. The present study is only the evidence reflecting the tip of the iceberg in this society, changing in sexual behavior, change in abortion techniques, and knowledge on contraception. Though major complications were not found in this study, misoprostol should not be considered safe, because several patients have encountered bleeding or incomplete abortion and required hospital stay.
Towards Addressing Unintended Environmental Consequences: A Planning Framework

Efforts to decouple environmental impacts and resource consumption have been confounded by interactions and feedback between technical-economic, environmental and social aspects not considered prior to implementing improvement actions. This paper presents a planning framework that connects material flows and the socio-economic drivers that result in changes in these flows, in order to reduce conflicts between localized gains and global losses. The framework emphasizes the need for (i) having different settings of system boundaries (broader and narrower), (ii) explicitly accounting for causal relationships and feedback loops and (iii) identifying responsibilities between stakeholders (e.g. producers, consumers, collectors, recyclers, policy makers). Application of the framework is exemplified using the case of the global mobile phone product system. 'Product design and development' and 'Retailers and users as part of a collection system' were identified as central intervention points for implementing improvement strategies that included designing for longer life, designing for recycling and improving collection, designing for limiting phone hibernation time and internalizing external costs.
Urban Planning and Railway Corridors: Resolving Regulatory Dysfunction in Australia

In Australia, land adjacent to rail corridors has traditionally been considered blighted owing to the detrimental environmental impacts that rail operations have on their surroundings. However, this adjacent land is now increasingly being used for residential development, which means that there is an increasing number of people living next to rail corridors negatively impacted by rail operations, particularly with respect to noise and vibration. This also means that there is increasing political and regulatory pressure on rail operators and track owners to ameliorate noise impacts. There are a number of issues at play when considering the conflicting relationship between transport corridors and development adjacent to these corridors. These are 1) the willingness of governments to employ adequate planning instruments and Development Application (DA) processes that consider the potentially conflicting interactions between different land uses, 2) the level of sophistication pertaining to noise and vibration reduction technology utilised by rail industry organisations, and 3) the willingness of rail organisations responsible for rail operations and infrastructure to address these conflicts through technological upgrades and negotiate with policymakers. A qualitative research study was undertaken to determine the level of conflict between the regulation of environmental emissions (primarily noise, dust and visible diesel emissions), state-based planning regulations, and DA approvals administered at a local government level.1 As a result, regulatory inefficiency was identified in the context of urban development encroaching on rail corridors and facilities. These inefficiencies are set against a historical background resulting from the Australian federalist system of government, which has led to a disjuncture between the three tiers of government in the administration of environment-specific regulation, particularly where state governments have a high degree of control.
A Study of Impacts—Cruise Tourism and the South West of England

Abstract This study draws upon research carried out in 2003, which had the primary purpose of examining the perceived social impacts associated with increased levels of cruise tourism for a major port of call in the South West of England. A survey approach was employed focusing on the town of Falmouth in Cornwall. Data were collected from residents using email and face-to-face street surveys. The results suggest that there is a predominantly positive view of cruise tourism in Falmouth, in respect of perceived impacts. In addition, there is clear recognition within the research population that growth has resulted in an increase in job opportunities, produced financial benefits and led to the development of increased tourist attractions and facilities. There was little to no evidence in the results of negative impacts, including such events as increased levels of crime and overcrowding that are often associated with increased tourism to a destination. The results provide interesting prompts for further research.
A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Oral Intestinal Sorbent AST-120 on Renal Function Deterioration in Patients with Advanced Renal Dysfunction.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The notion that oral intestinal sorbent AST-120 slows renal disease progression has not been evaluated thoroughly. In this study, we investigated the long-term effect of AST-120 on renal disease progression (doubling of serum creatinine, eGFR decrease >50%, or initiation of RRT) in patients with advanced CKD. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS We prospectively recruited 579 patients (CKD stage 3 or 4) from 11 medical centers in Korea from March 4, 2009 to August 31, 2010 and randomized them into an AST-120 arm and a control arm. Patients in the AST-120 arm were given 6 g AST-120 in three divided doses per day, and those in the control arm received only standard conventional treatment (open-label design) for 36 months or until the occurrence of primary outcomes. RESULTS Levels of serum and urine indoxyl sulfate and β2-microglobulin decreased throughout the study period in both treatment arms; however, there was not a significant difference in change in uremic toxins in the AST-120 and control arms. The two arms were not different in the occurrence of composite primary outcomes (100 events in 272 individuals in the AST-120 arm and 100 events in 266 individuals in the control arm; hazard ratio, 1.12; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 1.48; log-rank P=0.45). The decline in eGFR and change in proteinuria were similar in the two treatment arms over time (Prandomization-time=0.64 and Prandomization-time=0.16, respectively). There was no difference in mortality (nine deaths in the AST-120 arm and 11 deaths in the control arm; log-rank P=0.73) or unplanned hospitalizations (102 in the AST-120 arm and 109 in the control arm; log-rank P=0.76) in the two treatment arms. There was no significant difference of the health-related quality of life score between the two arms. CONCLUSIONS Long-term use of AST-120 added to standard treatment did not change renal disease progression, proteinuria, mortality, and health-related quality of life in patients with advanced renal dysfunction.
Assessing the prognostic relevance of blood pressure variability: discrepant information from different indices

Methods to assess blood pressure variability Analysis of 24-h ambulatory blood pressure recordings, obtained in hypertensive patients, has demonstrated that a greater blood pressure variability is associated with either a greater degree of end-organ damage [1–6] and/or a higher rate of cardiovascular events [5–8]. This was often, but not invariably, the case even after accounting for between-subject differences in mean blood pressure levels [2–5,7,8]. In most of these studies, information on the adverse effects of an increased blood pressure variability was obtained by quantifying this phenomenon as the SD of 24-h average ambulatory blood pressure. However, calculation of 24-h blood pressure SD does not provide a fully satisfactory quantification of the features characterizing blood pressure variations over 24 h.
Does the New Managerialism Stabilise Gender Asymmetries in Street-Level Interactions? The case of Germany after ‘Hartz IV’

The new ‘basic allowance for job seekers’ (‘Hartz IV’) introduced in Germany in 2005 was accompanied by a claim that ‘activating’ labour market policies would increase gender equality, not least by requiring mothers without a breadwinning partner to take up paid work and supporting them in doing so. At the same time, the reform gave rise to concerns that the enforcement of formal gender equality in terms of work obligations – hence a ‘de-institutionalisation of gender differences’ – might paradoxically increase gender inequality by forcing women to accept any job in the strongly gender-segregated labour market and by not adequately taking account of their caring responsibilities. However, the article, which is based on job centre case studies carried out in the first few years after the reform, shows that caseworkers' strategies for implementing the new law were, in part, quite similar to the routines established under the previous system. This was not due simply to the traditionalist attitudes of street-level bureaucrats anxious to ‘protect’ mothers against the ‘adult worker model’, but at least as much to the principles of the ‘new managerialism’ and its associated incentives that stabilise traditionalist attitudes and the resulting gender asymmetries.
Perceived Firm Innovativeness in Cruise Travelers’ Experience and Perceived Luxury Value: The Moderating Effect of Advertising Effectiveness

This study examines the role of perceived firm innovativeness in forming cruise travelers’ experience and perceived luxury value. Based on a literature review, perceived firm innovativeness was expected to have positive effects on cruise travelers’ experience related to education, entertainment, esthetics, and escapism. In addition, cruise travelers’ experience was hypothesized to influence perceived luxury value. Furthermore, this study proposed the possible moderating role of advertising effectiveness (AE) in the relationship between cruise travelers’ experiences and perceived firm innovativeness. The proposed hypotheses were tested using data from 315 luxury cruise travelers in the USA. According to the results, perceived firm innovativeness was an important factor influencing the formation of cruise travelers' experience, and this experience had a significant effect on perceived luxury value. Finally, AE had a moderating effect on the relationship between cruise travelers’ experience and perceived firm innovativeness. The results have important theoretical and managerial implications.
An Experimental Test of the Public-Goods Crowding-Out Hypothesis

This paper presents an experimental test of the proposition that government contributions to public goods, funded by lump-sum taxation, will completely crowd out voluntary contributions. It is found that crowding-out is incomplete and that subjects who are taxed are significantly more cooperative. This is true even though the tax does not affect the Nash equilibrium prediction. This result is taken as evidence for alternative models that assume people experience some private benefit from contributing to public goods. Copyright 1993 by American Economic Association.
The Balkans: Democracy Without Choices

The Balkans today still appear to be an explosive mixture of weak states, nonstates, and present or future protectorates. In reports to policy makers, the region is described as a place where borders (when defined) are soft, identities are hard, reform policies have failed, and the future is cloudy. While we do not know just how many of Southeastern Europe’s de facto states are functioning, and to what extent, we do know that today they are all democracies: The parliamentary elections that took place on 17 November 2001 in the former Serbian region of Kosovo mean that each country or entity in the region now has a representative assembly. A decade ago, the region’s biggest problem was the prevalence of nondemocratic states. Today the problem is that there are more democracies than sovereign states in the region, and yet there has been less political change than supporters of democracy had expected. These contradictory trends make toting up democracy’s balance sheet in the Balkans a daunting task. On the positive side, the major political actors in the region do not question democracy’s status as the only legitimate and desirable form of government. Citizens are sorely disappointed with the status quo, but are not—or at least not yet—drawn to undemocratic alternatives. The military is in its barracks; Slobodan Miloseviae is in the dock at The Hague; elections are regularly held. In comparison with, say, the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia, Southeastern Europe shows constant progress in democratization. On the negative side, there is a justified fear that the Balkan democracies as a group are more fragile than we had suspected. Trust in Ivan Krastev is director of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria. This essay is drawn from “The Inflexibility Trap: Frustrated Societies, Weak States, and Democracy,” a report on the state of democracy in the Balkans that he initially drafted in February 2002. The final version of this report will appear on the National Endowment for Democracy’s website (www.ned.org).
On the Causal Relationship between Government Expenditures and National Income

A research strategy is suggested that separates the issue of inference from the problems of prediction or of quantitative policy analysis of an empirical parametric model and illustrates a new methodology that enables this in a test for prima facie causality. Unlike the conventional parametric test, the more powerful multiple rank F test is invariant to monotonic transformations of the variables and independent of the error distribution. Employing this test, the Wagnerian hypothesis, supported by conventional parametric analysis, is rejected and the conventional Keynesian theory is accepted. Copyright 1990 by MIT Press.
Politics and school education in Australia : a case of shifting purposes

Purpose – The paper aims to argue that there has been a privileging of the private (social mobility) and economic (social efficiency) purposes of schooling at the expense of the public (democratic equality) purposes of schooling. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a literature review, policy and document analysis. Findings – Since the late 1980s, the schooling agenda in Australia has been narrowed to one that gives primacy to purposes of schooling that highlight economic orientations (social efficiency) and private purposes (social mobility). Practical implications – The findings have wider relevance beyond Australia, as similar policy agendas are evident in many other countries raising the question as to how the shift in purposes of education in those countries might mirror those in Australia. Originality/value – While earlier writers have examined schooling policies in Australia and noted the implications of managerialism in relation to these policies, no study has analysed these policies from the perspective of the purposes of schooling. Conceptualising schooling, and its purposes in particular, in this way refocuses attention on how societies use their educational systems to promote (or otherwise) the public good.
How do corporate characteristics affect capital structure decisions of French SMEs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of various corporate characteristics on the capital structure of French small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach – OLS fixed‐effect regressions are used to estimate the influence of SME corporate characteristics on three capital structure measures, namely total, long‐term and short‐term debt. Findings – The findings suggest that size, profitability, growth and tangibility of assets influence, in a significant way, the capital structure of French SMEs. Furthermore, when decomposing the sample into two groups: small (1) and medium‐sized (2) firms, the findings indicate that corporate characteristics affect the capital structure of these two subsamples in the same direction, but with different amplitudes. Originality/value – The evidence presented and discussed in this paper extends the existing literature. From an academic perspective, the methodological approach and the empirical results provide a level of analysis unmatched by the previous research on French firms. Moreover, the findings can add to the knowledge and the understanding of SME corporate managers. They can provide useful information to assist them in their decision making regarding the capital structure of their firms at a time when difficulties of SME financing are more and more evoked in the French context.
Exploring the HRM/accounting interface on human assets

Purpose – This paper seeks is to enhance our understanding of intangible recognition by embracing an artefact‐based approach.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents an artefact‐based approach to intangible asset recognition, an artefact being a physical and visual representation (typically, documentary) of expended human intellectual and physical creativity. This output orientation (what people create: artefact‐based outputs) is compared to an input orientation (the investment inputs in human “assets”) using artefact‐based asset recognition criteria that have already received some exposure in the marketing literature in respect of brands.Findings – Emphasis is placed on outputs, i.e. what people create, rather than on the more familiar input orientation, which focuses on investments in human assets. When compared to an output orientation, the more familiar input orientation is an unsatisfactory basis on which to recognise human assets.Practical implications – The asset recognition criteria provid.
Influence of increased central venous pressure on baroreflex control of sympathetic activity in humans.

Volume expansion often ameliorates symptoms of orthostatic intolerance; however, the influence of this increased volume on integrated baroreflex control of vascular sympathetic activity is unknown. We tested whether acute increases in central venous pressure (CVP) diminished subsequent responsiveness of muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) to rapid changes in arterial pressure. We studied healthy humans under three separate conditions: control, acute 10 degrees head-down tilt (HDT), and saline infusion (SAL). In each condition, heart rate, arterial pressure, CVP, and peroneal MSNA were measured during 5 min of rest and then during rapid changes in arterial pressure induced by sequential boluses of nitroprusside and phenylephrine (modified Oxford technique). Sensitivities of integrated baroreflex control of MSNA and heart rate were assessed as the slopes of the linear portions of the MSNA-diastolic blood pressure and R-R interval-systolic pressure relations, respectively. CVP increased approximately 2 mmHg in both SAL and HDT conditions. Resting heart rate and mean arterial pressure were not different among trials. Sensitivity of baroreflex control of MSNA was decreased in both SAL and HDT condition, respectively: -3.1 +/- 0.6 and -3.3 +/- 1.0 versus -5.0 +/- 0.6 units.beat(-1). mmHg(-1) (P < 0.05 for SAL and HDT vs. control). Sensitivity of baroreflex control of the heart was not different among conditions. Our results indicate that small increases in CVP decrease the sensitivity of integrated baroreflex control of sympathetic nerve activity in healthy humans.
Impact of Swiss technology policy on firm innovation performance: an evaluation based on a matching approach

This paper investigates the impact of the promotional activities of the Swiss Commission of Technology and Innovation (CTI) on the innovation performance of the supported firms based on a matched-pairs analysis of 199 firms supported by the CTI in the period 2000–2002. CTI's promotional activities significantly improved the innovation performance of the firms that they supported with respect to six different measures of innovation performance. This could be shown by four different matching methods. A further finding was that the magnitude of the impact correlated positively with the relative size of the financial support, as measured by the quotient of the volume of financial support to the volume of a supported firm's own research and development expenditures. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.
Encountering Development: The Making and the Unmaking of the Third World

Drawing on Foucaultian critical discourse analysis and Said’s concept of Orientalism (Foucault, 1980; Said, 2003), the fi rst edition of the book – published in 1995 – presented a groundbreaking and innovative way of studying the relationship between the processes of discourse formation and power relations embedded within the fi eld of development, which, in his view, had constructed an ethnocentric apparatus for the “West” to continue dominating the “Third World” through discourses and practices analogous to their colonialist and imperialist historic counterparts. In this new edition, Escobar affi rms that “development continues to play a role in strategies of cultural and social domination”, yet acknowledges that “[his] own views on the subject have changed in important respects” (p. vii). These changes, according to Escobar (pp. vii-xii) are consequence of simultaneous and intertwined processes of global restructuring: the rise of China – and, to a lesser degree, India –; the 9/11 terrorist attacks; the so-called Washington Consensus that paved way to the advent of neoliberalism in the international politico-economic arena; the various effects of the 2008 (and ongoing) global fi nancial crisis; and the birth of the “transition studies”, which analyse the emergence of alternative discourses on development.