Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetically modified glyphosate-tolerant soybean in the USA: adoption factors, impacts and prospects. A review

Transgenic crops are the subject of lively debate and controversy. Despite such controversy, transgenic soybean has undergone a rapid expansion. Among various types of transgenic crops, herbicide-tolerant crops appear to many to be of limited interest, especially in Europe. Nonetheless, herbicide-tolerant crops are the most widely spread in the world. Indeed, glyphosate-tolerant soybean was notably the most cultivated transgenic plant in the world in 2006. In the USA 91% of soybean was transgenic in 2007. How can this particularly significant diffusion in the USA be explained, and what are its impacts? Such issues are addressed in this article, using surveys, studies of numerous statistical data and literature analysis. A first section underlines the importance of soybean in the current development of transgenic crops in the world, and the favourable context for their expansion in the USA. Then follows an analysis of the advantages and drawbacks of transgenic soybean for American farmers. Factors explaining the rapid diffusion of transgenic soybean are also analysed. A comparison of transgenic versus conventional soybean reveals that transgenic glyphosate-tolerant soybean allows both the simplification of weed control and greater work flexibility. Cropping transgenic soybean also fits well with conservation tillage. Transgenic soybean has an economic margin similar to conventional soybean, despite a higher seed cost. The next section describes the evolution of the use of herbicides with transgenic soybean, and some issues linked to the rapid increase in the use of glyphosate. At the beginning a smaller amount of herbicides was used, but this amount increased from 2002, though not steadily. Nonetheless, the environmental and toxicological impacts of pesticides do not only depend on the amounts applied. They also depend on the conditions of use and the levels of toxicity and ecotoxicity. The levels of ecotoxicity seem to have somewhat decreased. The success of transgenic soybeans for farmers has led to a higher use of glyphosate as a replacement for other herbicides, which has in turn led to a decline in its effectiveness. However, the issue here is not only genetic engineering in itself, but rather the management and governance of this innovation. Finally, the prospects of transgenic soybean are addressed. Transgenic soybean with new traits should be placed on the market. The conclusion describes economic context of the development of the first transgenic crops.
An ex vivo comparative analysis on shaping ability of four NiTi rotary endodontic instruments using spiral computed tomography

Objective: Analysis of shaping ability of four different rotary endodontic instruments using spiral computed tomography (CT). Materials and Methods: Eighty freshly extracted human mandibular first molars were used in the present study. Samples were randomly divided into four experimental groups with twenty samples in each group. Images of mesiobuccal canal of each sample were obtained pre- and post-operatively using spiral CT. All samples were prepared using their respective endodontic file systems (group I - ProTaper, group II - K3, group III - RaCe, and group IV - Mtwo). Image analyses were done using image analysis software for evaluation of canal transportation and centering ability. Data was then statistically analyzed using analysis of variance. Results: There was no statistically significance in transportation in their intergroup difference at any of the three locations (coronal, middle, and apical third). In centering ability there was no statistically significance in the coronal and middle third of the intergroup. However, there was a statistically significance of (P = 0.044) at the apical third between all the groups. Conclusion: Canals prepared with ProTaper had more canal transportation at all the three levels of root canal (coronal, middle, and apical third). Canals prepared with Mtwo were well centered at coronal and middle third whereas with RaCe canals were centered only at the apical third. All instruments showed some degree of canal aberrations in terms of shaping ability.
Users’ experience of a cochlear implant combined with a hearing aid

This study examined: (1) the prevalence of hearing-aid use in a clinical population of adults with unilateral cochlear implants, (2) the relationship between hearing-aid use, severity of hearing loss, duration of deafness and duration of cochlear implant use, and (3) the benefits of bimodal hearing from the users’ perspective. Using a retrospective design, 31 adults were identified as bimodal users, and 93 adults implanted in the same period were identified as non hearing-aid users. The two groups were similar in regards to duration of deafness but differed in severity of hearing loss and time since implantation. Questionnaires examining frequency and situations of hearing-aid use were completed by 24 of 31 bimodal users. Fifteen of these 24 adults reported hearing-aid use more than 50% of the time. These findings suggest that, of the 72 adults in this study with useable hearing (pure-tone average better than 110 dB), about 30% or less regularly combined a hearing aid and cochlear implant. The questionnaire results suggest that regular bimodal users prefer bimodal hearing across a variety of listening environments such as music, noise, and reverberation.
Prevalência e aspectos epidemiológicos de enteroparasitoses na população de São José da Bela Vista, São Paulo

The prevalence of intestinal parasites and its epidemiological aspects were studied in individuals of both sexes seen at the Outpatient Service of the Municipal Health Center and Sao Vicente Public Hospital in Sao Jose da Bela Vista (SP) from January 1992 to December 1996. The percentage of parasitic infestation was 44.4%, with the occurrence of protozoa and helminths. The high occurrence of parasitism was attributed to the low socioeconomic and educational level of the population and to the precarious hygiene conditions in their households.
Organized Labour and Politics in Mexico: Changes, Continuities and Contradictions

As a consequence of market-oriented reforms and historic shifts in governmentpolicy toward labor, the Mexican organized labor movement has declined substantially in size, bargaining strength, and political influence since the 1980s. Democratization has expanded workers' choices at the ballot box, and some unions have bolstered their position by forging alliances with counterparts in Canada and the United States. By analyzing the changes, continuities, and contradictions characterizing labor politics in Mexico, this book contributes to a broader assessment of organized labor's role in contemporary Latin America. Democratization has had remarkably little impact on the state-labor relations regimeinstitutionalized following the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920. This legal regimeboth underpins the position of unrepresentative union leaders and grants governmentofficials extensive controls over labor organizations. The combination of weakenedunions, unaccountable leaders, and strong government controls fundamentally constrainsworkers' capacity to defend their interests. This state of affairs - especially the failure to enact progressive labor law reform since democratic regime change in 2000 - limits democracy and imposes heavy costs on society as a whole.
Raising the participation age : an assessment of the economic benefits

In March 2007 the Government published the Green Paper: 'Raising expectations: staying in education and training post-16' [indexed at TD/IRD 88.155]. This set out the rationale and proposals for raising the participation age (RPA) to 18. This paper proposes a methodology for quantifying the potential economic benefits of RPA and goes on to provide estimates of the expected benefits under different scenarios. Under the central scenario the additional economic benefits are estimated to be around UKP2.4 billion for each cohort of young people who remain in education or training to age 18. This estimate only captures the additional productivity gains, indicated by increased wages and higher likelihoods of employment, expected as a result of RPA - it does not include any wider benefits which may accrue from more young people participating post-16, such as improved health or reduced likelihood of crime.
The Safety of Homeopathic Products

It is regrettable that Professor Kirby's editorial (May 2002 JRSM1) did not mention a review of this topic conducted and published by us2. This was a formal systematic review using prospectively defined inclusion and exclusion criteria and data extraction procedures. It comprised a review of English-language publications and enquiries with manufacturers and regulatory agencies. Table 1 shows a sample of the data: in therapeutic clinical trials (as opposed to healthy-volunteer homeopathic pathogenetic trials) the incidence of reported adverse effects (AEs) is higher in the verum group than in the placebo group (mean incidence 9.4/6.1). Table 1 Adverse effects (AEs) of homeopathy reported in therapeutic clinical trials The conclusions were based on these data and reports of apparent AEs from homeopathic pathogenetic trials (provings) and case reports. The main conclusions were: Homeopathic medicines may provoke AEs, but these are generally mild and transient There is under-reporting There are cases of ‘mistaken identity’, where herbal and other medicines were described as homeopathic The main risks associated with homeopathy are indirect, relating to the prescriber rather than the medicine. Although strictly speaking outside the remit of the editorial, the last point is particularly important. Not only is it the main risk of homeopathy, but it is a topical issue. Medical practice in the UK is currently essentially unregulated; anybody, irrespective of training or registration, can describe themselves as a homeopath. This is the main preventable source of risk. In their evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on Complementary and Alternative Medicine3, bodies representing non medically qualified acupuncturists and herbalists stated that their professions wished to become statutorily regulated, the Select Committee's report endorsed this view, and the process towards statutory regulation of these professions is now underway. The non-medical homeopaths, however, indicated that they did not currently wish statutory regulation, despite the view of the Faculty of Homeopathy (doctors and other health professionals practising homeopathy) that homeopathy should be practised only by statutorily registered professionals, and that a new profession should be created if necessary.
Is Misallocation Higher in France than in the United States

In this paper, we apply the Hsieh and Klenow (2009) methodology to French microdata on manufacturing firms to quantify the potential extent of intra-industry misallocation in France versus the United States. In contrast to what has been found for developing countries, such as China, India and some countries in Latin America, we do not find any sizeable ”efficiency gap” between France and the U.S. in the manufacturing industry. This new evidence is robust to a series of tests addressing both measurement and specification issues. In light of recent advances in the fields of productivity and misallocation, and in particular Bartelsman et al. (2013), we also discuss to what extent our new empirical findings challenge the established view on which continental European economies have higher input and output distortions than the American economy.
Strategic sourcing for supply chain agility and firms' performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the dimensions of strategic sourcing and determines its relationship with organisational supply chain agility and performance. It classifies manufacturing firms based on their level of supply chain agility and test the diffrences in firms' performnace across the clusters so obtained.Design/methodology/approach – This research employes survey method and data is collected from 128 manufacturing companies in India. Valid and reliable measures of strategic sourcing, supply chain agility and organizational performance are developed. Factor structure and initial validity is determined and K‐Means cluster analysis is applied for clustering firms based on their level of supply agility. Multiple regression and ANOVA is used for hypotheses testing.Findings – Strategic suplier partnership, sourcing flexibility, supplier evaluation and trust in supply chain members are the key dimensions of strategic sourcing. Result shows the significant effect of strategic sourcing .
Feedback: Beyond Behaviorism

Consistent behavior patterns are created by variable acts, and generally repeat only because detailed acts change. The accepted explanation of this paradox, that "cues" cause the changes, is irrelevant; it is unsupported by evidence, and incapable of dealing with novel situations. The apparent purposefulness of variations of behavioral acts can be accepted as fact in the framework of a control-system model of behavior. A control system, properly organized for its environment, will produce whatever output is required in order to achieve a constant sensed result, even in the presence of unpredictable disturbances. A control-system model of the brain provides a physical explanation for the existence of goals or purposes, and shows that behavior is the control of input, not output. A systematic investigation of controlled quantities can reveal an organism's structure of control systems. The structure is hierarchical, in that some quantities are controlled as the means for controlling higher-order quantities. The output of a higher-order system is not a muscle force, but a reference level (variable) for a lower-order controlled quantity. The highest-order reference levels are inherited and are associated with the meta-behavior termed reorganization. When controlled quantities are discovered, the related stimulus-response laws become trivially predictable. Variability of behavior all but disappears once controlled quantities are known. Behavior itself is seen in terms of this model to be self-determined in a specific and highly significant sense that calls into serious doubt the ultimate feasibility of operant conditioning of human beings by other human beings.
Headteachers and leadership in special education

Tales of heads leaders and leadership in special education pursuing equal opportunities - a passion for service and sacrifice facilitating teachers and enabling learning - the leadership task in a special school seriously seeking community education - making the special school special finite resources meeting infinite need - starting up an EBD support service in praise of inclusivity - managing special education in a large secondary school exorcising the ghosts - life, leadership and special education empowerment through communication - an integrated approach to special needs rediscover the joy of learning - managing inclusion and EBD in a primary school owning headship - an exercise in common sense and leadership making the mark - leading the way for special education leadership in special education - towards a reframed Zeitgeist.
Evaluation of locked nucleic acid–modified small interfering RNA in vitro and in vivo

RNA interference has become widely used as an experimental tool to study gene function. In addition, small interfering RNA (siRNA) may have great potential for the treatment of diseases. Recently, it was shown that siRNA can be used to mediate gene silencing in mouse models. Locally administered siRNAs entered the first clinical trials, but strategies for successful systemic delivery of siRNA are still under development. Challenges still exist about the stability, delivery, and therapeutic efficacy of siRNA. In the present study, we compare the efficacy of two methods of systemic siRNA delivery and the effects of siRNA modifications using locked nucleic acids (LNA) in a xenograft cancer model. Low volume tail vein bolus injections and continuous s.c. delivery using osmotic minipumps yielded similar uptake levels of unmodified siRNA by tumor xenografts. Both routes of administration mediated sequence-specific inhibition of two unrelated targets inside tumor xenografts. Previous studies have shown that LNA can be incorporated into the sense strand of siRNA while the efficacy is retained. Modification of siRNA targeting green fluorescent protein with LNA results in a significant increase in serum stability and thus may be beneficial for clinical applications. We show that minimal 3′ end LNA modifications of siRNA are effective in stabilization of siRNA. Multiple LNA modifications in the accompanying strand further increase the stability but negate the efficacy in vitro and in vivo. In vivo, LNA-modified siRNA reduced off-target gene regulation compared with nonmodified siRNA. End-modified siRNA targeting green fluorescent protein provides a good trade-off between stability and efficacy in vivo using the two methods of systemic delivery in the nude mouse model. Therefore, LNA-modified siRNA should be preferred over unmodified siRNA. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(3):833–43]
Phylogeographic and Demographic Analysis of the Asian Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus) Based on Mitochondrial DNA

The Asian black bear Ursus thibetanus is widely distributed in Asia and is adapted to broad-leaved deciduous forests, playing an important ecological role in the natural environment. Several subspecies of U. thibetanus have been recognized, one of which, the Japanese black bear, is distributed in the Japanese archipelago. Recent molecular phylogeographic studies clarified that this subspecies is genetically distantly related to continental subspecies, suggesting an earlier origin. However, the evolutionary relationship between the Japanese and continental subspecies remained unclear. To understand the evolution of the Asian black bear in relation to geological events such as climatic and transgression-regression cycles, a reliable time estimation is also essential. To address these issues, we determined and analyzed the mt-genome of the Japanese subspecies. This indicates that the Japanese subspecies initially diverged from other Asian black bears in around 1.46Ma. The Northern continental population (northeast China, Russia, Korean peninsula) subsequently evolved, relatively recently, from the Southern continental population (southern China and Southeast Asia). While the Japanese black bear has an early origin, the tMRCAs and the dynamics of population sizes suggest that it dispersed relatively recently in the main Japanese islands: during the late Middle and Late Pleistocene, probably during or soon after the extinction of the brown bear in Honshu in the same period. Our estimation that the population size of the Japanese subspecies increased rapidly during the Late Pleistocene is the first evidential signal of a niche exchange between brown bears and black bears in the Japanese main islands. This interpretation seems plausible but was not corroborated by paleontological evidence that fossil record of the Japanese subspecies limited after the Late Pleistocene. We also report here a new fossil record of the oldest Japanese black bear from the Middle Pleistocene, and it supports our new evolutionary hypothesis of the Japanese black bear.
The Natural History of Incident Gonococcal Infection in Adolescent Women

Background: The natural history of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) infections is largely unknown. The objective of the current study was to use sequential weekly vaginal samples and molecular techniques to describe the natural history of incident gonorrhea infections in adolescent women. Methods: A cohort of 387 adolescent women aged 14 to 17 were enrolled from urban, primary care clinics and followed longitudinally for a period of up to 8 years. Weekly vaginal swabs and daily diaries were provided during 12-week periods biannually, beginning and ending with a clinic visit, where all identified infections were treated. For this study, specimens and data from 16 women who became infected with GC during a weekly sampling period were analyzed. Results: GC organism load was highly variable between subjects. The number of organisms did not significantly differ across the first 6 weeks of infection (P = 0.59). Organism load did not differ among women with a previously documented GC infection at week 1 (P = 0.43) or across the first 6 weeks of infection (P = 0.67). The association of concurrent chlamydial infection on gonorrhea organism load was borderline significant over the first 6 weeks of infection (P = 0.06). Conclusions: Individual shedding patterns varied widely, and GC organism load did not decline in women for at least several weeks and were not associated with genitourinary symptoms. Chlamydia coinfection is associated with higher GC organism loads, potentially increasing chances of transmission. This study utilized a standardized quantification technique to assess GC organism load.
Transition and Economics: Politics, Markets, and Firms

The transition from socialism to capitalism in former socialist economies is one of the main economic events of the twentieth century. Not only does it affect the lives of approximately 1.65 billion people, but it is contributing to a shift in emphasis in economics from standard price and monetary theory to contracting and its institutional environment. Economic research in transition shows not only that institutions matter but also how their evolution toward higher efficiency depends on initial conditions and on sustained political support.Unlike early policy literature on transition economics, which focused on the so-called Washington consensus, this book provides an overview of current research, analyzing issues raised by transition for which economic theorists and policy makers had no ready answers. It shows how research on transition contributes to our understanding of capitalism as an economic system and of the dynamics of large-scale institutional change.The book is divided into three parts. The first part looks at how large-scale reforms are decided dynamically through the political process. The second part looks at the general equilibrium and macroeconomic effects of liberalization in economies without preexisting markets. The third part looks at the economic behavior of firms in the transition from state to private ownership and compares the effects of privatization, restructuring, and financial reform. Although focused on transition economics, the discussions are relevant to topics in political economics, development, public economics, corporate finance, and micro- and macroeconomics.
Activation of type I interferon system in systemic lupus erythematosus correlates with disease activity but not with antiretroviral antibodies

The objective was to investigate the relation between serum levels of interferon-α (IFN-α), the activity of an endogenous IFN-a inducing factor (SLE-IIF), clinical and immunological disease activity as well as serum levels of antiretroviral antibodies in SLE. Serum levels of IFN-α were measured in serial sera from 30 patients sampled at different stages of disease activity (SLEDAI score). The SLE-IIF activity was measured by its ability to induce IFN-α production in cultures of normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Both serum IFN-α and SLE-IIF increased markedly at flare in serially followed patients. The SLEDAI score, levels of anti-dsDNA antibodies and IL-10 correlated positively, and complement components Clq, C3 and leukocytes correlated inversely with serum concentrations of IFN-α. The extent of multiple organ involvement correlated with serum IFN-α. No relation between concentrations of retroviral peptide binding antibodies and IFN-α or SLE-IIF activity was found. The close relationship between disease activity in SLE patients and IFN-α serum levels suggests that activation of the type I IFN system might be of importance in the disease process.