Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Operationalising Guidelines for Inter-Organisational Systems Planning: Exploring a Learning Model

This paper addresses the issue of operationalising guidelines for IOS planning. The authors explore the usefulness of Triple Loop Learning in light of the IOS development experiences of three inter-organisational networks. They conclude that the principles of Triple Loop Learning explain the evolutionary planning process studied, and that further analysis must be undertaken to determine the suitability of the underlying techniques.
Audiological Manifestations in Vitiligo Patients

Introduction: The hallmark of vitiligo is the disappearance of melanocytes from the skin due to an as yet unidentified mechanism. The presence of melanocytes in the auditory apparatus suggests that this system could possibly be affected by vitiligo, which targets the melanocytes of the whole body and not just the skin. The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of auditory alterations in patients with vitiligo Materials and Methods: A total of 21 patients diagnosed with vitiligo were enrolled in this study. A group of 20 healthy subjects served as a control group. Pure tone audiometry (PTA) and measurements of auditory brain stem responses (ABR) were carried out in all participants. Results: High frequency sensory neural hearing loss was detected in 8 patients (38.09%). Analysis of ABR revealed that 10 patients (47.61%) had an abnormal increase in the latency of Wave III and 6 (28.57%) had an abnormal prolongation of the inter peak latency between Wave I and III. There was no correlation between age, duration of disease, and any of the recorded parameters. Conclusion: This study highlights the involvement of the auditory system in patients with vitiligo, suggesting that vitiligo is a systemic disease rather than a purely cutaneous problem.
Gender equality and participation in housework: A cross-national perspective

This paper examines men's and women's participation in housework in the United States, Sweden, Norway, Canada and Australia. While there has been considerable research into the factors relating to the division of housework between husbands and wives within countries, very little research has examined the way in which housework patterns vary across countries. The results show that women continue to undertake the bulk of domestic labor in all five countries, and that the factors determining men's and women's participation in housework do not vary markedly across countries. This suggests that variations across countries in levels of gender equality at a broader level have only very limited effects on levels of gender equality in the home.
How Real People Make Long-Term Decisions: The Case of Retirement Preparation

A canonical but untested assumption in economics is that choices are determined only by preferences and budget constraints, but not by how people approach decision making. In particular, it is believed that people behave “as if they optimized”, even if they do not engage in any formal planning. We test this empirically in the domain of retirement saving using a specifically designed survey. We find that people who rely on a rule of thumb indeed behave like literal planners/optimizers. However, people without any systematic approach save substantially less. We discuss the implications of this finding.
Educational Differences in Postmenopausal Breast Cancer – Quantifying Indirect Effects through Health Behaviors, Body Mass Index and Reproductive Patterns

Studying mechanisms underlying social inequality in postmenopausal breast cancer is important in order to develop prevention strategies. Standard methods for investigating indirect effects, by comparing crude models to adjusted, are often biased. We applied a new method enabling the decomposition of the effect of educational level on breast cancer incidence into indirect effects through reproductive patterns (parity and age at first birth), body mass index and health behavior (alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, and hormone therapy use). The study was based on a pooled cohort of 6 studies from the Copenhagen area including 33,562 women (1,733 breast cancer cases) aged 50–70 years at baseline. The crude absolute rate of breast cancer was 399 cases per 100,000 person-years. A high educational level compared to low was associated with 74 (95% CI 22–125) extra breast cancer cases per 100,000 person-years at risk. Of these, 26% (95% CI 14%–69%) could be attributed to alcohol consumption. Similar effects were observed for age at first birth (32%; 95% CI 10%–257%), parity (19%; 95%CI 10%–45%), and hormone therapy use (10%; 95% CI 6%–18%). Educational level modified the effect of physical activity on breast cancer. In conclusion, this analysis suggests that a substantial number of the excess postmenopausal breast cancer events among women with a high educational level compared to a low can be attributed to differences in alcohol consumption, use of hormone therapy, and reproductive patterns. Women of high educational level may be more vulnerable to physical inactivity compared to women of low educational level.
QRS complex widening as a predictor of appropriate implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy and higher mortality risk in primary prevention ICD patients.

BACKGROUND AND AIM Effectiveness of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) in patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction after myocardial infarction has been documented in large randomised trials. We analysed the predictive value of clinical factors at the time of implantation for adequate ICD interventions and mortality risk. METHODS We analysed 121 consecutive patients (15 women, 106 [88%] men; mean age 62 ± 10 years) with coronary artery disease in whom ICD was implanted for primary prevention between 2001 and 2007. Mean duration of follow-up was 876 ± 538 days. RESULTS Forty-four (36.4%) patients had adequate ICD interventions. In the Cox analysis, wider QRS complexes (hazard ration [HR] per each 10 ms increment: 1.13, confidence interval [CI] 1.039-1.229, p = 0.0045) and younger age at the time of ICD implantation (HR per each 10 year increment: 0.7, CI 0.5-0.9, p = 0.0081) were associated with a higher probability of adequate intervention. Wider QRS complexes were associated with a higher probability of electrical storm (HR 1.059, CI 1.014-1.045, p = 0.0002). During follow-up, 21 (17.4%) patients died. In the Cox analysis, wider QRS complexes (HR per each 10 ms increment: 1.123, CI 1.011-1.248, p = 0.0306 [in univariate analysis only]), older age at the time of implantation (HR per each 10 year increment: 1.7, CI 1.1-2.8, p = 0.0396) and higher NYHA class (HR 4.4, CI 1.7-11.5, p = 0.0022) were associated with increased mortality. Mortality was reduced by previous revascularisation (HR 0.3, CI 0.1-0.7, p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS Patients with wider QRS complexes at the time of ICD implantation had a higher probability of adequate device intervention and mortality risk. QRS complex widening was also associated with a higher incidence of electrical storm.
A User-centered Music Recommendation Approach for Daily Activities

The number of songs available on the Internet has grown steadily over the last decade, with the recent growth being due mainly to streaming services. As a consequence, it is extremely dicult for users to find the appropriate music that suit their needs, in particular, while using systems that do not have any previous information about them. This is further exacerbated while selecting appropriate songs for daily activities, like shopping, running or sleeping. In this paper we describe Improvise, a personalized music recommendation solution for daily activities, whose approach associates music content (acoustic features) with activities (context). Each activity is characterized by determining intervals for each content feature, which are then used to filter out songs to be suggested to users. While the initial intervals are generic enough to provide recommendations for di↵erent activities without having previous knowledge about the user’s tastes, our approach also considers users’ feedback to personalize the recommendations for each user and activity. This is done by adapting the intervals according to the feedback from users. Preliminary evaluation shows that we are on the good path to achieve the goal of developing a solution to e↵ectively recommend songs for daily activities, and able to adjust to individual user’s tastes, increasing their satisfaction.
EVALUATING EU REGIONAL POLICY

This article presents a challenge to the ways in which EU regional policy has been evaluated in the past. Given the complexity of the ‘policy framework’ and its objectives, it is argued that existing evaluation methodologies are not only inappropriate but create a real risk of misleading policy-makers in their search for identifying which programmes and initiatives are the most effective in tackling the scale of regional disparity that exists across the European Union. For example, the search for an ‘average effect’ of intervention, whether in terms of jobs created or GVA generated, does not adequately recognise the context within which policy operates. The article argues that only by attempting to adopt a realist evaluation framework can the discourse on effective regional policy be advanced. Examples are provided from a body of work on the evaluation of business support interventions in the UK as well as a broader study of the way in which regulations impacts upon firm performance and growth. This methodological approach provides an opportunity for the evaluator to identify the causal mechanisms which connect the range of policy interventions and their outcomes. In brief, it has greater potential to inform the policy-maker as to what works and, more importantly, in what contexts.
The Determinants of Regional Variation in New Firm Formation

While much of the literature on new firm formation in the 1980s was motivated by high levels of unemployment, much of the focus on new firm start-ups today is motivated by high technology. Using a new database we examine the role of human capital, training and education, and entrepreneurial environment on new firm formation. We find significant differences in new firm formation rates from industrial regions to technologically progressive regions. Variations in firm birth rates are explained by industrial density, population and income growth. These results are consistent with thick labour markets and localized knowledge spillovers. Alors que le chômage constituait le principal moteur de la documentation sur la création d'entreprise dans les années 80, de nos jours c'est plutôt la nouvelle technologie qui en est le moteur. A partir d'une nouvelle base de données, cet article cherche à examiner le rôle du capital humain, de la formation et de l'éducation, et du milieu propice à la création d'entreprise. Il s'avère d'importants écarts dans les taux de création d'entreprise entre les régions industrielles et les régions plus à la pointe de la technologie. La variation du taux de création d'entreprise s'explique par la densité industrielle, la démographie et la croissance du revenu. Ces résultats-là correspondent aux notions de marchés du travail forts et de retombées des connaissances localisées. Während in den achtziger Jahren ein Großteil der Literatur über die Gründung neuer Firmen durch den hohen Grad der Erwerbslosigkeit veranlaßt worden war, verdankt sie heute das Interesse an Firmengründungen hauptsächlich der Hochtechnologie. Mit Hilfe einer neuen Datenbank werden die Einflüsse von Menschenkapital, Ausbildung und Erziehung und einer unternehmerfreundlichen Umwelt auf Firmengründungen untersucht. Es werden signifikante Unterschiede in den Raten neuer Firmengründungen in Industriegebieten und technologisch fortschrittlichen Gebieten festgestellt. Schwankungen in Firmengründungsraten finden ihre Erklärung in Industriedichte, Bevölkerung und Einkommensanstieg. Diese Ergebnisse stimmen mit starken Arbeitsmärkten und örtlich beschränkter Verbreitung von Kenntnisen überein.
Probiotic Bifidobacteria Protect Mice from Lethal Infection with Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli O157:H7

ABSTRACT The anti-infectious activity of probiotic Bifidobacteria against Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H7 was examined in a fatal mouse STEC infection model. Stable colonization of the murine intestines was achieved by the oral administration of Bifidobacterium breve strain Yakult (naturally resistant to streptomycin sulfate) as long as the mice were treated with streptomycin in their drinking water (5 mg/ml). The pathogenicity of STEC infection, characterized by marked body weight loss and subsequent death, observed in the infected controls was dramatically inhibited in the B. breve-colonized group. Moreover, Stx production by STEC cells in the intestine was almost completely inhibited in the B. breve-colonized group. A comparison of anti-STEC activity among several Bifidobacterium strains with natural resistance to streptomycin revealed that strains such as Bifidobacterium bifidum ATCC 15696 and Bifidobacterium catenulatum ATCC 27539T did not confer an anti-infectious activity, despite achieving high population levels similar to those of effective strains, such as B. breve strain Yakult and Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum DSM 20439. The effective strains produced a high concentration of acetic acid (56 mM) and lowered the pH of the intestine (to pH 6.75) compared to the infected control group (acetic acid concentration, 28 mM; pH, 7.15); these effects were thought to be related to the anti-infectious activity of these strains because the combination of a high concentration of acetic acid and a low pH was found to inhibit Stx production during STEC growth in vitro.
Prosodic Structure in Child French: Evidence for the Foot

There is disagreement in the literature on whether French has stress and on whether it has a foot projection. The disagreement stems from the observation that French is unusual in that the phrase rather than the word is the domain of stress assignment, there is optional initial stress in addition to obligatory final stress, and there are rampant violations of word minimality. In view of these observations, this paper examines the outputs of a child learner of Quebec French in an attempt to determine the conclusions she has arrived at concerning the status of the foot in the language being acquired. It is demonstrated that, in spite of the challenge that the facts of the target language present, from the onset of production, the child’s outputs are compatible with standard views on prosodic structure. Word minimality effects, the distribution of final lengthening, the emergence of word-final consonants, and the organisation of functional material into prosodic structure are all examined. The paper also provides a preliminary analysis of stress in target French which is, to the greatest extent possible, consistent with standard views on prosodic structure.
Multi-Stakeholder Decision Aid for Improved Prioritization of the Public Health Impact of Climate Sensitive Infectious Diseases

The effects of climate change on infectious diseases are an important global health concern and necessitate decisions for allocation of resources. Economic tools have been used previously; however, how prioritization results might differ when done using broader considerations identified by local stakeholders has yet to be assessed. A multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach was used to assess multi-stakeholder expressed concerns around disease prioritization via focus groups held in Quebec and Burkina Faso. Stakeholders weighted criteria and comparisons were made across study sites. A pilot disease prioritization was done to examine effects on disease rankings. A majority of identified criteria were common to both sites. The effect of context specific criteria and weights resulted in similar yet distinct prioritizations of diseases. The presence of consistent criteria between sites suggests that common concerns exist for prioritization; however, context-specific adjustments reveal much regarding resource availability, capacity and concerns that should be considered as this impacts disease ranking. Participatory decision aid approaches facilitate rich knowledge exchange and problem structuring. Furthermore, given multiple actors in low- and middle-income countries settings, multi-actor collaborations across non-governmental organizations, local government and community are important. Formal mechanisms such as MCDA provide means to foster consensus, shared awareness and collaboration.
How do Open Economies Adjust to Large Immigration Flows? Sectoral Specialization, Household Services, and Other Mechanisms

Several countries have received large-scale population inflows over the last few decades. Besides altering the social fabric of the host country, large immigration episodes present an interesting case study for analyzing how economies absorb sudden increases in labor supply. In particular, they generate useful data for testing economic theories that are widely used to interpret economic data and formulate policies with implications for the labor market.
The limit-price exchange process

We define a continuous-time trading process for Arrow-Debreu exchange economies such that (1) At each time, myopic traders play a (weakly) dominant strategy in Mertens' (2003) limit price strategic market game ; (2) existence of continuous trade curves holds under weak conditions and in particular even if there is no static Walras equilibrium ; (3) every trade curve converges to some Pareto optimal point ; (4) for a generic choice of utilities and initial endowments, there is a piecewise unique trade curve, which is smooth and depends continuously upon initial conditions ; (5) in the 2 x 2 case, for every interior starting point, the vector field corresponding to our dynamics is real-analytic ; moreover, trade and price curves can be fully characterized and numerically simulated.
Survey of mycoplasmal bacteremia detected in children by polymerase chain reaction.

To determine whether mycoplasmal bacteremia occurs during ordinary or complicated diseases due to M. pneumoniae (and if so, how frequently), we used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect M. pneumoniae in serum samples. The PCR primers used were modified for nested amplification. The genome of this organism was detected in 1 of the 25 patients with pneumonia and 10 of the 17 patients without pneumonia (P < .001, chi test). The genome was detected more frequently in patients who had encephalitis of which the neurological onset was within 7 days of the onset of fever rather than later. We hypothesize that mycoplasmal bacteremia occurs more frequently than previously appreciated, specifically in the absence of pneumonia, and that certain types of complications (e.g., encephalitis of early onset) are associated with its occurrence.
Division of Labor between Lateral and Ventral Extrastriate Representations of Faces, Bodies, and Objects

The occipito-temporal cortex is strongly implicated in carrying out the high-level computations associated with vision. In human neuroimaging studies, focal regions are consistently found within this broad region that respond strongly and selectively to faces, bodies, or objects. A notable feature of these selective regions is that they are found in pairs. In the posterior-lateral occipito-temporal cortex, focal selectivity is found for faces (occipital face area), bodies (extrastriate body area), and objects (lateral occipital). These three areas are found bilaterally and at close quarters to each other. Likewise, in the ventro-medial occipito-temporal cortex, three similar category-selective regions are found, also in proximity to each other: for faces (fusiform face area), bodies (fusiform body area), and objects (posterior fusiform). Here we review some of the extensive evidence on the functional properties of these areas with two aims. First, we seek to identify principles that distinguish the posterior-lateral and ventro-medial clusters of selective regions but that apply generally within each cluster across the three stimulus kinds. Our review identifies and elaborates several principles by which these relationships hold. In brief, the posterior-lateral representations are more primitive, local, and stimulus-driven relative to the ventro-medial representations, which in contrast are more invariant to visual features, global, and linked to the subjective percept. Second, because the evidence base of studies that compare both posterior-lateral and ventro-medial representations of faces, bodies, and objects is still relatively small, we seek to provoke more cross-talk among the research strands that are traditionally separate. We identify several promising approaches for such future work.
Juvenile Waivers in Tennessee: Justice Officials Speak

During the last 20 years, efforts to “get tough” on crime in America has resulted in the initiation of a number of punitive sanctions designed to send a message to criminal offenders and society. This new message has been “if you do the crime, you do the time. ” This philosophy has spilled over into the juvenile court arena as well, where more and more juvenile offenders have been transferred to the adult criminal court to receive adult punishment for their crimes. Such punitive sanctions are in opposition to the original foundation of the juvenile court system, a system designed more than a century ago to deal specifically with youthful offenders. Ideally, juvenile delinquents would receive the benefit of treatment and rehabilitation efforts, with the belief that, due to their young ages, they should not be handled in the same fashion as adult offenders. As violent juvenile crime escalated in the late 1980s, a more punitive response emerged in which juveniles who committed serious crimes against persons and society would be addressed in the much harsher adult court. Responding to the American public’s outcry regarding the perceived juvenile crime wave, many states enacted stronger penalties for juvenile offenders and instituted various mechanisms that made the transfer of youthful offenders to the adult court easier and more efficient. Many states implemented legislative (statutory) waivers, in which the state statutes would identify which cases would be handled by the adult court. Other states provided the prosecutor’s office with the ability to determine which court would have jurisdiction over the case. The state of Tennessee, however, did not increase the methods of transfer; instead, this state utilized, and continues to utilize, judicial waiver as its only form of transfer mechanism. This research addresses how justice officials in the state of Tennessee view the juvenile court, their roles in dealing with youthful offenders, and how the determination is made that decides which cases remain under the paternalistic goals of juvenile court versus those cases that are moved to the more punitive adult criminal court. The justice officials in the state of Tennessee overwhelmingly support
Apartheid In Theory And Practice: An Economic Analysis

Economic discrimination in a too-good model a crowding approach to discrimination with decreasing returns to scale employer discrimination with and without substitution a note on the Thurow model discriminatory wage policy land alienation, dualism and economic discrimination - South Africa and Rhodesia the rationale of apartheid apartheid - cui bono? - what simple analytical models can tell us about the effectiveness of economic sanctions in ending apartheid in South Africa racial discrimination, dualistic labour markets and foreign investment a social clause against discrimination in the labour market international trade sanctions against occupational discrimination - the full employment case the economic effects of a trade and investment boycott against South Africa South Africa in the 1990s pressure for change.