Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-susceptibility trends among Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other non-fermentative Gram-negative bacteria from bacteraemias in the UK and Ireland, 2001-06.

BACKGROUND Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter spp. are important opportunists, notorious for resistance. Pseudomonas spp. are collected in the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) bacteraemia surveillance, with Acinetobacter spp. and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia well represented in the 'other Gram-negatives' group. METHODS Data for collected isolates were reviewed together with LabBase bacteraemia reports to the Health Protection Agency (HPA). Isolates with unusual resistances were subjected to molecular investigation. RESULTS From 2001 to 2006, the BSAC surveillance collected 1226 Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 240 Acinetobacter spp. -125 of them Acinetobacter calcoaceticus/baumannii (Acb) complex-and 165 S. maltophilia. Among P. aeruginosa, non-susceptibility rates to beta-lactams and gentamicin fluctuated, without trend, below 10%; those to ciprofloxacin ranged from 16% to 22%. One P. aeruginosa isolate from 2001 had VIM-2 metallo-beta-lactamase. For Acb, the BSAC data indicated frequent non-susceptibility, except to imipenem, where only five non-susceptible isolates were collected, all after 2003, four of them belonging to the OXA-23 clone 1 lineage which is prevalent in Southeast England. Reports to the HPA indicated rising imipenem non-susceptibility in Acb (P < 0.0001). Co-trimoxazole retained near-universal activity against S. maltophilia. Among new antibiotics, doripenem MICs were </=4 mg/L for most imipenem-resistant P. aeruginosa but >/=16 mg/L for Acb OXA-23 clone 1. Ceftobiprole had higher MICs than ceftazidime for P. aeruginosa, but 81% of the isolates were inhibited at </=4 mg/L. Tigecycline had activity against most Acb, including OXA-23 clone 1, and also against S. maltophilia. CONCLUSIONS Most P. aeruginosa from bacteraemias in the UK and Ireland remain relatively susceptible by international standards; in contrast, multiresistance is widespread in Acb, with imipenem non-susceptibility emerging.
Human Capital Formation and School Expansion in Asia

Human capital formation through the expansion of formal schooling has long been cited as a fundamental part of the "Asia-Pacific Rim economic miracle. " Development scholars often assume that there is a distinctly Asian model of state-sponsored school expansion because of both the cultural and institutional uniqueness of the region. This assumption is questioned here and tested with panel data (1960 to 1990) for secondary school enrollments and other indicators. A cross-regional comparison of the expansion of secondary school enrollments finds little evidence for a sustained unique Asian approach to education expansion, in that: 1) Asia is not leading the developing world in educational expansion, and 2) there is extensive variation in educational development within the region. This is followed by a short case study that compares contrasting national educational policies and expansion outcomes in two developing Asian countries. We conclude that human capital formation through school expansion is best thought of as an unevenly applied world-wide process, with little importance attached to regional cultural uniqueness.
Health Benefit Satisfaction in the Public and Private Sectors: The Role of Distributive and Procedural Justice

One of the most compelling problems outstanding in the field of employee benefits today is trying to control spiraling health care expenditures. Furthermore, as a result of the cost containment strategies being used in health plans in the recent years, health benefit satisfaction has become an important variable for employers to consider. The purpose of this study was to identify how distributive and procedural justice apply to health benefit satisfaction in two different working populations. The study was conducted using public and private sector employees for comparison purposes. MANOVAs and univariate analysis were used to determine whether any significant differences were revealed between the two employee groups. Multiple regression was used to evaluate the relative contribution of each factor to benefit satisfaction. The results of the analyses revealed that public sector employees experienced significantly greater benefit satisfaction, normative commitment to the organization, distributive justice, and greater quality and convenience of health care. In both groups, distributive justice (equity perceptions) accounted for the greatest amount of variance in benefit satisfaction, along with affective commitment. In addition, procedural justice accounted for 7% of the variance in private sector benefit satisfaction. Implications for practicing managers are discussed.
The Effect of Energy Prices on Iranian Industry Stock Returns

While previous studies have provided some evidence that energy prices have impact on stock returns across industries, to the best of our knowledge, it is surprising that no recent work is known about the Iran’s emerging stock market. However, the published daily data on Tehran’s industry stock indices since 2005 make such a study possible. Therefore, our study is considered very beneficial as it provides insights regarding information transmission and volatility estimation of oil and gas prices and Iranian industry equity returns. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of oil and gas prices on Iranian industry stock returns. To this end, we analyze 35 Iranian industry indices for the period from January 2005 to March 2010. Based on the multifactor model and using time-series regressions, our findings indicate that oil prices are an important determinant of returns in the banks, credit and other financial institutions, basic metals, electric machinery and apparatus and refined petroleum products and nuclear fuel industries. The findings also suggest that gas price movements do not seem to play a role for Iranian industry stock returns except for motor vehicles and auto parts industry. Moreover, consistent with the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), the market portfolio is a significant pricing factor in most of the (studied) industry stock returns. The results of this study help domestic and potential foreign investors to understand the effect of energy price changes on Iranian industry stock returns in order to manage their portfolios effectively.
Development of Murine Ileitis Inflammation but Are Not Essential for the Commensal Bacteria Exacerbate Intestinal

The pathogenesis of Crohn’s disease has been associated with a dysregulated response of the mucosal immune system against intraluminal Ags of bacterial origin. In this study, we have investigated the effects of germfree (GF) conditions in the SAMP1/YitFc murine model of Crohn’s disease-like ileitis. We show that the bacterial ﬂora is not essential for ileitis induction, because GF SAMP1/YitFc mice develop chronic ileitis. However, compared with disease in speciﬁc pathogen-free (SPF) mice, ileitis in GF mice is signiﬁcantly attenuated, and is associated with delayed lymphocytic inﬁltration and defective mucosal expression of Th2 cytokines. In addition, we demonstrate that stimulation with puriﬁed fecal Ags from SPF, but not GF mice leads to the generation of IL-4-secreting effector lymphocytes. This result suggests that commensal bacteria drive Th2 responses characteristic of the chronic phase of SAMP1/YitFc ileitis. Finally, adoptive transfer of CD4-positive cells from GF, but not SPF mice induces severe colitis in SCID recipients. These effects were associated with a decreased frequency of CD4 (cid:1) CD25 (cid:1) Foxp3 (cid:1) T cells in the mesenteric lymph nodes of GF mice compared with SPF mice, as well as lower relative gene expression of Foxp3 in CD4 (cid:1) CD25 (cid:1) T cells in GF mice. It is therefore apparent that, in the absence of live intraluminal bacteria, the regulatory component of the mucosal immune system is compromised. All together, our results indicate that in SAMP1/YitFc mice, bacterial ﬂora exacerbates intestinal inﬂammation,
The moderating effect of motivations on the relationship between obtaining ISO 9001 certification and organizational performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is threefold, first to investigate if ISO 9001 certified companies in an Iranian province (Kermanshah) perform better than non-certified ISO 9001. Second, what is the main motivation of the manufacturing companies of Kermanshah province on obtaining ISO 9001 certification, i.e., internal or external motivations. And finally, if ISO 9001 certified companies with high scores of internal motivations, show better levels of performance in comparison with certified companies obtaining low scores of internal motivations. Design/methodology/approach – A survey questionnaire was distributed to the 350 companies with ISO 9000 certification, and a total of 287 usable responses were returned. Using a structural equation model, this study empirically examines the relationship between ISO 9000 implementation and firm performance, and the moderating role of firm motivation on organizational performance. Findings – The results demonstrate that ISO 9001 certified companies show better o.
Semi-Federated Scheduling of Parallel Real-Time Tasks on Multiprocessors

Federated scheduling is a promising approach to schedule parallel real-time tasks on multi-cores, where each heavy task exclusively executes on a number of dedicated processors, while light tasks are treated as sequential sporadic tasks and share the remaining processors. However, federated scheduling suffers resource waste since a heavy task with processing capacity requirement x+epsilon (where x is an integer and 0 epsilon 1) needs x+1 dedicated processors. In the extreme case, almost half of the processing capacity is wasted. In this paper we propose the semi-federate scheduling approach, which only grants x dedicated processors to a heavy task with processing capacity requirement x+epsilon, and schedules the remaining epsilon part together with light tasks on shared processors. Experiments with randomly generated task sets show the semi-federated scheduling approach significantly outperforms not only federated scheduling, but also all existing approaches for scheduling parallel real-time tasks on multi-cores.
A-combined approach to high-level synthesis for dynamically reconfigurable systems

The increase in complexity of programmable hardware platforms results in the need to develop efficient high-level synthesis tools since that allows more efficient exploration of the design space while predicting the effects of technology specific tools on the design space. Much of the previous work, however, neglects the delay of interconnects (e.g. multiplexers) which can heavily influence the overall performance of the design. In addition, in the case of dynamic reconfigurable logic circuits, unless an appropriate design methodology is followed, an unnecessarily large number of configurable logic blocks may end up being used for communication between contexts, rather than for implementing function units. The aim of this paper is to present a new technique to perform interconnect-sensitive synthesis, targeting dynamic reconfigurable circuits. Further, the proposed technique exploits multiple hardware contexts to achieve efficient designs. Experimental results on several benchmarks, which have been done on our DRL LSI circuit [M. Meribout et al. [200]], [M. Meribout et al. (1997)], demonstrate that, by jointly optimizing the interconnect communication, and function unit cost, we can achieve higher quality designs than is possible with such previous techniques as Force-Directed-Scheduling.
Sustaining business excellence through a framework of best practices in TQM

Most organizations recognize that total quality management (TQM) is important but many do not know where to begin or how to sustain it in the long run. There are many examples of organizations that have successfully implemented quality management but there are also as many organizations that have failed in their implementations and perhaps many more that hesitate to embark on the quality journey. In fact, the growth and adoption of TQM in companies have to be facilitated increasingly by national governments. National governments are increasingly playing an active role in promoting and encouraging organizations to embrace TQM practices. Many countries have established national quality awards or business excellence awards to recognize deserving companies. Presents an excellence model for implementing and sustaining business excellence through a structured approach in implementing some of the best practices in TQM found in national quality award winners. Hopes that such a model would guide aspiring organizations in their quality journey. Develops the model using a case study approach on four past winners of the Singapore Quality Award.
The Long‐Term Effects of Foreign Investment Dependence on Economic Growth, 1940–19901

Does dependence of a national economy on foreign investment promote economic growth or underdevelopment? The recent exchanges between Glenn Firebaugh and William J. Dixon and Terry Boswell suggest the contentious nature of this debate. This study analyzes models similar to those tested in previous research but with data from earlier time points to examine the long‐term effects of foreign capital penetration. Accumulated stocks of foreign capital/GDP in 1938 have a short‐term (five‐year) positive effect on economic growth followed by a 20‐year lagged negative effect on economic growth beginning in 1960 and lasting at least 30 years. Similar effects are found using a second indicator of foreign investment dependence, debits on investment income, for the 1950–90 period. The international migration of capital has facilitated development of the world's natural resources and has been instrumental in transmitting the direct effects of the industrial revolution from area to area. Thereby it has helped to increase the quantities and varieties of goods and services generally available and has raised living standards for some or most of the world's populations. (Cleona Lewis, Debtor and Creditor Countries, 1948) Following an initial growth spurt this (foreign investment) will create an industrial structure in which monopoly is predominant, labor is insufficiently absorbed, and there is underutiliza‐tion of the productive forces. Thus, the peripheral countries that adopt this path of uneven development based on income inequality and foreign capital imports will experience economic stagnation, under‐ and unemployment, and increasing margin‐alization of the population relative to countries that are less
Association of ALOX12 and ALOX15 gene polymorphisms with age at menarche and natural menopause in Chinese women

Objective Lipoxygenase (LOX) is one of the major metabolic enzymes for arachidonic acid, which has been reported to be associated with many postmenopausal and many hormone-related diseases. In rats, selective inhibition of the LOX pathway led to defective ovulation. However, little is known about the association of the LOX-related genes with menstruation in women. In this study, we investigated the possible association of two key gene (ALOX12 and ALOX15) polymorphisms with age of menarche and menopause in Chinese women. Methods Six tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of ALOX12 and five SNPs of ALOX15 were genotyped. The association of single SNPs and haplotypes in two candidate genes and age at menarche (AAM) variation was tested in 401 Chinese nuclear families using the quantitative transmissing disequilibrium test. Furthermore, the association between these SNPs and haplotypes and age at natural menopause (AANM) in 710 postmenopausal Chinese women was measured. Results Using family- and population-based statistical procedures, significant association was found between SNPs rs312462 in ALOX12 and AAM in nuclear families (P = 0.043), and three SNPs (rs2292350, rs312470, and rs312462) in ALOX12 were significantly associated with AANM in postmenopausal women (P = 0.012, P = 0.045, and P = 0.033, respectively). Haplotype analyses corroborated our single SNP results (P = 0.030). However, we failed to find a significant association between ALOX15 gene polymorphisms and AAM as well as AANM (P > 0.05). Conclusions Our present results suggest that genetic variations in ALOX12 are associated with both the onset and cessation of menstruation in Chinese women living in Shanghai.
Money and government in the Roman empire

List of plates List of figures List of tables Preface Abbreviations Part I. The Economics of Empire: 1. Surplus and deficit 2. Money, prices and inflation 3. The imperial budget 4. Tax and tax-cycles Part II. The Coin-Evidence: 5. Coin-hoards and their origin 6. The implications of coin-hoards Part III. Money and Money-Supply: 7. Coinage and currency: an overview 8. The chronology of mint-output 9. Reign-studies: the chronology and structure of coin-output 10. The size of die-populations 11. The size of coin-populations 12. Mobility and immobility of coin 13. Weight-loss and circulation-speed 14. Wastage and reminting of coin 15. Change and deterioration 16. Contrast and variation in the coinage Appendices: 1. Payments of congiaria 2. The chronology of minting under Tiberius 3. Variations in land-tax in Egypt 4. Assessments of tax-revenue in the sources 5. Tax comparisons with Mughal India 6. Hoards below the sampling threshold 7. Rates of donative 8. Programs for finding negative binomial k and for estimating die-populations 9. Die-productivity in medieval evidence 10. Aureus and denarius hoards used in the main anlaysis Bibliography Index.
Five Reasons Why Wages Vary Among Employers

This paper reviews the literature on wage differences among industries and establishments. After surveying the empirical evidence on intra- and interindustry wage differentials, five alternative explanations for employer-based wage differentials among observation equivalent workers are described. The paper concludes with a summary, a discussion of policy implications, and directions for future research.
‘Good when they want to be’: migrant workers in the supermarket supply chain

Despite the increased attention paid to the role and effects of migrant labour in the contemporary economy, there has been insufficient attention to the role of employers and the employment relationship. Recent studies have highlighted distinctive labour power characteristics of new labour migrants from Central and Eastern Europe that make them ‘good workers’ in the eyes of employers. Drawing on multiple case studies across the supermarket supply chain, this paper explores what kind of human resource migrant labour is perceived to be, particularly be employers and what happens in practice as the dynamic tensions of the employment relationship unfolds in particular sector contexts. It argues that utilisation is conditioned more by the requirements of temporal flexibility – framed by the dynamics of employment within the supply chain - than any essential features of migrant labour power.
“Unexpected and Distressing”: Understanding and Improving the Experience of Transferring Palliative Care Inpatients to Residential Care

ABSTRACT The survival of patients with advanced cancer, coupled with the increased presence of end-stage chronic illnesses in an aging population, is leading to a demand in palliative care. Due to the ongoing need for acute-pain and symptom control in hospice/palliative care units, few are able to offer long-stay admission for those whose symptoms have stabilized. When a patient no longer requires specialist palliative care services, transfer from an inpatient palliative care facility may then be necessary. A core component of the role of palliative-care social workers involves working with patients and their families/carers when the care pathway shifts and the option of residential aged care facility (RACF) needs to be considered. This research explored several issues, including the impact of this transition on the patient and their families and on the interdisciplinary health care team treating the patient. An investigation was undertaken to identify concerns and barriers regarding the transition from hospice care to RACF and opportunities were highlighted to improve clinical practice in this area. A tripartite approach was adopted conducting face-to-face interviews with patients, their families/carers, and health care professionals. Members of the interdisciplinary team were interviewed and social workers working in similar inpatient palliative-care facilities undertook telephone interviews to gauge their experiences. A thematic analysis discerned a number of themes highlighting the impact of this transition on key stakeholders and incorporated recommendations to improve or best manage this process. The research has highlighted the difficulties that patients/families encounter in this transition, as well as the emphases of protecting the integrity of the patient and family. This is achieved by holding open and ongoing dialogue, particularly through family meetings and working in collaboration with the patient, the family, and the team. Understanding the experience and impact of this transition on key stakeholders is helpful in building up a knowledge base and to ensure a more effective relationship occurs. This research incorporated the voices of terminally ill patients, families, and members of the health care team in order to understand their views and recommendations for best managing the transition from a hospice/inpatient palliative-care facility to a RACF. This enables their input to have some real impetus in clinical practice and service delivery.
The area of freedom, security and justice in the Lisbon Treaty: commission policy entrepreneurship?

Abstract Scholars may rightly claim the European Union's (EU) area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) has become one of the most significant developments in the European integration process. The Lisbon Treaty (LT) has the potential to push the AFSJ towards tremendous growth, and has provided the policy area with instruments that were unthinkable after the third pillar was created during the Maastricht Treaty negotiations. This article investigates the role of the European Commission in the process of constructing an ‘AFSJ’. It argues that the Commission (through alliances with other institutional actors) managed to incrementally contribute to this shift in political norms. This shift derived from the policy-making level from 1999 onwards. It manifested itself specifically during the negotiations of the Constitutional Treaty (CT) and the subsequent re-negotiation of the LT. Here, the Commission acted with the support and the use of other supranational actors during the Convention, without which this result would have been difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. Firstly, the article will deal with the main advances of the CT which resulted in the LT. Subsequently, the role of the Commission and other EU institutional actors will be examined, resulting in an overall evaluation.
Bequest Receipt and Family Size Effects

"This article tests the connection between credit constraints and negative family size effects on child earnings using bequest receipt to signal access to credit markets. The dominant economic model of fertility predicts a negative relationship between family size and child achievement. In the model, limits on borrowing create this "quality-quantity trade-off. " This article tests for the relevance of credit constraints using Panel Study of Income Dynamics data to compare family size effects across groups defined by bequest receipt. Contrary to the credit constraints explanation, those receiving large bequests exhibit large family size effects, while those not receiving bequests show little to no effect". ("JEL" J13, D1, I2) Copyright (c) 2009 Western Economic Association International.