Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Metabolic syndrome in Poland - the PONS Study.

INTRODUCTION In Central and Eastern European countries, cardiovascular disorders (CVD) in middle age are much more common than in Western Europe, and it is imperative to understand the causes underlying this excess disease burden. The metabolic syndrome comprises a constellation of metabolic abnormalities that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. METHODS Data were obtained by structured interview, and by measurements of anthropometric factors and blood analyses among 3,862 individuals. Metabolic syndrome was defined according the International Diabetes Federation Task Force on Epidemiology and Prevention, as the presence of at least 3 of 5 abnormalities: 1) abdominal obesity, 2) glucose intolerance, 3) high triglycerides, 4) low HDL cholesterol, 5) high blood pressure. RESULTS Overall, 1,518 participants (39.5%) had metabolic syndrome. The prevalence among females was 34.3% (877 females) vs. 49.9% (641 males) among males, and increased with age in both genders. Abdominal obesity was the most common abnormality (2,897 participants, 75.1%), followed by high blood pressure (2,741 participants, 71%), glucose intolerance (1,437 participants, 37.3%), elevated triglycerides (817 participants, 21.2%) and low HDL (615 participants, 15.9%). CONCLUSION The prevalence of metabolic syndrome and metabolic abnormalities is high and represents strong risk factors for CVD morbidity and mortality. However, these factors are all potentially preventable by lifestyle modification and/or by pharmacological treatment. There is an urgent need for the health service to act, and to increase public awareness of metabolic syndrome.
Internet Usage and Online Shopping Experience as Predictors of Consumers’per Preferences to Shop Online Across Product Categories

This paper studies how adoption and usage behaviour of the Internet and online shopping respectively influence the preference to use electronic commerce to purchase different types of products. We empirically model the preference for electronic commerce when consumers have to buy different types of products and thus face different types of risks (Cox and Rich, 1964). Unlike previous research, we find that consumers who have previously shopped online display stronger preferences to buy products on the Internet irrespective of the perceived level of product specific risks of online shopping. This paper provides an interesting and novel insight into how both adoption and usage of electronic commerce impact on the attitude and risk perception of buying less predictable (more risky) products on the Internet.
Iterative contouring controller design for biaxial feed drive systems

This article proposes a new approach for high speed and precision motion control of feed drive systems by considering both tracking and contour errors. Iterative learning control is used whereby the tracking error is considered in the feedback controller and the contour error in the feedforward controller. Without changing the original trajectory assigned by NC code, the proposed controller improves the tracking performance under sharp corner motion. The combination of errors and the use of iterative learning control lead to fast convergence within a few iterations. To analyse the performance, the conventional approach that uses only the tracking error has been considered for comparison. Simulation results show that the designed controller can significantly improve the performance of feed drive systems. The proposed method has demonstrated that the maximum contour error can be reduced by 46.3 %.
Measuring technological distance for patent mapping

Recent works in the information science literature have presented cases of using patent databases and patent classification information to construct network maps of technology fields, which aim to aid in competitive intelligence analysis and innovation decision making. Constructing such a patent network requires a proper measure of the distance between different classes of patents in the patent classification systems. Despite the existence of various distance measures in the literature, it is unclear how to consistently assess and compare them, and which ones to select for constructing patent technology network maps. This ambiguity has limited the development and applications of such technology maps. Herein, we propose to compare alternative distance measures and identify the superior ones by analyzing the differences and similarities in the structural properties of resulting patent network maps. Using United States patent data from 1976 to 2006 and the International Patent Classification (IPC) system, we compare 12 representative distance measures, which quantify interfield knowledge base proximity, field‐crossing diversification likelihood or frequency of innovation agents, and co‐occurrences of patent classes in the same patents. Our comparative analyses suggest the patent technology network maps based on normalized coreference and inventor diversification likelihood measures are the best representatives.
Attracting the attention of a fly

Organisms with complex visual systems rarely respond to just the sum of all visual stimuli impinging on their eyes. Often, they restrict their responses to stimuli in a temporarily selected region of the visual field (selective visual attention). Here, we investigate visual attention in the fly Drosophila during tethered flight at a torque meter. Flies can actively shift their attention; however, their attention can be guided to a certain location by external cues. Using visual cues, we can direct the attention of the fly to one or the other of the two visual half-fields. The cue can precede the test stimulus by several seconds and may also be spatially separated from the test by at least 20° and yet attract attention. This kind of external guidance of attention is found only in the lower visual field.
Are high-performance work practices related to individually perceived stress? A job demands-resources perspective

This study investigates the relationship between high-performance work practices (HPWP) and individually perceived stress. Contrary to most past research, which evaluates HPWPs positively, this study emphasizes the potential downside of HPWPs, and suggests that some HPWPs are more strongly associated with enhanced stress than others. Drawing on the job demands-resources model, we differentiate between challenge demand HPWPs (i.e., performance evaluation systems, continuing education) and job resource HPWPs (i.e., flexible working hours, participation in decision-making). We then analyze 197 employees and their work environments, demonstrating that there is a positive relationship between challenge demands and individual stress among employees. Contrary to what we predicted, no empirical evidence indicates that the two analyzed job resources relate negatively to stress.
Institutional differentiation and the accommodation of enrollment expansion in Brazil

This paper addresses the subject of institutional differentiation, i.e., the impact this differentiation may have on enrollment capacity, and the ability to absorb an anticipated enrollment expansion. Based on theory and experience, the report is focused on higher education in Brazil during the late 1990s, and stems from an international comparative study on the subject with perspectives on economics, finance, governance, and public policy. The report further discusses academics between and within institutions, and their relationships to Government, examining both the ownership range as well as the extent of government control. Following a review on the types of higher education institutions, the paper examines the enrollment expansion through an agenda analysis on reform, modernization, growth, and democratization. Recommendations are suggested for more effective federal roles in higher and post secondary education, where a strengthened differentiation would be better suited for an inevitable enrollment expansion.
Turbulent Combustion of Polydisperse Evaporating Sprays with Droplet Crossing: Eulerian Modeling and Validation in the Infinite Knudsen Limit

The accurate simulation of the dynamics of polydisperse evaporating sprays in unsteady gaseous flows with large-scale vortical structures is both a crucial issue for industrial applications and a challenge for modeling and scientific computing. The difficulties encountered by the usual Lagrangian approaches make the use of Eulerian models attractive, aiming at a lower cost and an easier coupling with the carrier gaseous phase. Among these models, the multi-fluid model allows for a detailed description of the polydispersity and size/velocity correlations for droplets of various sizes. The purpose of the present study is twofold. First, we extend the multi-fluid model in order to cope with crossing droplet trajectories by using the quadrature method of moments in velocity phase space conditioned by size. We identify the numerical difficulties and provide dedicated numerical schemes in order to preserve the velocity moment space. Second, we conduct a comparison study and demonstrate the capability of such an approach to capture the dynamics of an evaporating polydisperse spray in a 2-D free jet configuration. We evaluate the accuracy and computational cost of Eulerian models and related discretization schemes vs. Lagrangian solvers and show that, even for finite Stokes number, the standard Eulerian multi-fluid model can be accurate at reasonable cost.
Quality of Spirometry in Primary Care for Case Finding of Airway Obstruction in Smokers

Background: Diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its severity determination is based on spirometry. The quality of spirometry is crucial. Objectives: Our aim was to assess the quality of spirometry performed using a spirometer with automated feedback and quality control in a general practice setting in Switzerland and to determine the prevalence of airflow limitation in smokers aged ≧40 years. Method: Current smokers ≧40 years of age were consecutively recruited for spirometry testing by general practitioners. General practitioners received spirometry training and were provided with an EasyOne™ spirometer. Spirometry tests were assigned a quality grade from A to D and F, based on the criteria of the National Lung Health Education Program. Only spirometry tests graded A–C (reproducible measurements) were included in the analysis of airflow limitation. Results: A total of 29,817 spirometries were analyzed. Quality grades A–D and F were assigned to 33.9, 7.1, 19.4, 27.8 and 11.8% of spirometries, respectively. 95% required ≤5 trials to achieve spirometries assigned grade A. The prevalence of mild, moderate, severe and very severe airway obstruction in individuals with spirometries graded A–C was 6, 15, 5 and 1%, respectively. Conclusion: Spirometries in general practice are of acceptable quality with reproducible spirometry in 60% of measurements. Airway obstruction was found in 27% of current smokers aged ≧40 years. Office spirometry provides a simple and quick means of detecting airflow limitation, allowing earlier diagnosis and intervention in many patients with early COPD.
Modelling the composition of personal sector wealth in the United Kingdom

The allocation of UK personal sector wealth across five broad asset categories (net financial wealth, housing (and durable assets) wealth, state pension wealth, private pension wealth, and human capital) is investigated using the FAIDS (financial AIDS) model. Apart from total wealth and returns, additional variables relating to capital market imperfections, and demographic, labour market and cross- sector spillover effects turn out to be significant. The adjustment of portfolio weights to shocks is very slow, taking up to 21 years for some asset categories.
Risk Aversion and Income Tax Enforcement

This paper characterizes optimal income tax and audit schemes in the presence of costly enforcement when the agent is risk averse and not necessarily risk neutral. It is shown that the results under risk-neutrality (Chander and Wilde (1998)) largely hold under risk aversion. We first show that in an optimal scheme the tax evasion decision of the agent is equivalent to risking his entire income against a possible gain in terms of lower tax payment. We then introduce a measure of aversion to such large risks. In contrast, the Arrow-Pratt coefficients of risk aversion measure aversion to small risks only. We show that the optimal tax function is non-decreasing and concave if the agentâ€™s aversion to large risks, as defined in terms of our measure, is decreasing with income. The optimal audit function is non-increasing and the audits may be random or deterministic.
Semigroup and Ring Theoretical Methods in Probability

This is an expanded version of a series of four lectures designed to show algebraists how ring theoretical methods can be used to analyze an interesting family of finite Markov chains. The chains happen to be random walks on semigroups, and the analysis is based on a study of the associated semigroup algebras. The paper is divided into four sections, which correspond roughly to the four lectures: 1. Examples. 2. Semigroup interpretation. 3. Algebraic analysis. 4. Connections with Solomon’s descent algebra. Two appendices give a self-contained treatment of bands (also called idempotent semigroups) and their linear representations. The work described here grew out of my joint work with Persi Diaconis [5]. It is a pleasure to thank him for many stimulating conversations.
Genetic restrictions for the induction of suppressor T cells by hapten- modified lymphoid cells in tolerance to 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene contact sensitivity. Role of the H-2D region of the major histocompatibility complex

Genetic restrictions governing the induction and expression of suppressor T cells (Ts) in tolerance to 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrogenzene (DNFB) contract sensitivity were studied. Tolerance was induced by using 2,4-dinitrophenyl (DNP)-modified lymphoid cells (DNP-LC) as tolerogen. Two kinds of Ts were found-those produced by DNP-LC syngeneic to the donor of the Ts (syninduced Ts), and those produced by DNP-LC allogeneic to the donor of Ts (alloinduced Ts). Studies employing congenic resistant mouse strains indicated that recognition of DNP-modified-major histocompatibility region determinants on the tolerogenic DNP-LC was essential for the induction of both types of Ts. Non-H-2 genetic background was irrelevant to Ts induction. Mapping studies indicated that induction of both syninduced and alloinduced Ts was associated with recognition of DNP-modified-MHC region determinants which map to the right of the H-2G region (i.e., H-2D gene products). Tolerization of donor mice with DNP-LC which were H-2D region compatible, but not with H-2K or I region compatible DNP-LC, was both sufficient and required for the induction of hapten-specific syninduced Ts. Tolerization of donor mice with DNP-LC which were incompatible only at the H-2D region was sufficient for the induction of alloinduced Ts. These Ts were capable of suppressing recipient mice only if the recipients shared the H-2D region with the strain providing the DNP-LC tolerogen, and were not capable of suppressing recipients sharing all but the H-2D region with the tolerogen.
Coping with the multiple dimensions of R&D performance analysis

This study examines the challenging area of R&D performance analysis. Our purpose is to increase the understanding of the essential factors and dimensions related to R&D performance analysis, and to introduce and facilitate a process of choosing applicable metrics of R&D performance for a specific need, context and situation. The research results show the linkages of the measurement dimensions to the selection of R&D measures, which is ultimately a case-specific process.
The Family and the Welfare State: The Impact of Public Provision for Families on Young People’s Demand for Public Childcare across 21 Nations

This chapter presents an analysis of the impacts of family policy regimes and of family solidarity on young people’s attitudes towards public childcare across 21 advanced industrial democracies. We test these explanations by applying binary logit regressions to the ISSP Social Networks II (2001) for 21 OECD countries. Estimation results are consistent with a two-stage model of preference formation: First, individuals learn from the existing mix of welfare institutions and the public childcare services they provide how much to expect from the welfare state for families. Here, it is most importantly the difference between market-oriented family policy regimes with no state involvement and all others regimes that influence citizens’ expectations. In the second stage, the young are cognitively constrained in their expectations for public childcare. In very active welfare states high levels of family solidarity increases demand for public childcare, indicating that the young are motivated by reciprocal exchange across generations within the family rather than age-based self-interest. In passive welfare states, the involvement with the family does not matter because individuals have learned that the state does not do much in the area of family policies. In sum, demand for public childcare by young people is embedded in welfare state institutions, personal family structures and the socially constructed nexus between the family and the welfare state.
Hope Vi: Market Means/Public Ends

In 1992, Congress enacted HOPE VI, a demonstration program that evolved within a few years into an ambitious plan to replace distressed public housing projects with attractively designed mixed-income housing communities. HOPE VI attempts to learn from the public housing mistakes of past decades. It seeks to reduce the concentration of very poor, minority families; create racial and economic diversity; blend projects architecturally into the adjacent community; ensure full participation of public housing tenants and other community residents in planning and implementation; and provide ongoing services to support family self-sufficiency. Through HOPE VI, HUD has moved aggressively to "re-invent" public housing by requiring PHAs to retain private developers, leverage public subsidies with private investment, and enter the private real estate marketplace. The use of new financing structures, combined with efforts to evaluate the reasonableness of builders' profits, developers' fees, and syndication costs, has led to complex negotiations among HUD, public housing authorities, private developers, and public housing resident organizations, as each seeks to advance its own interests. This article describes the evolution of HOPE VI over its first six years and its recent authorization as part of the Housing Reform Act of 1998. It examines the historical and intellectual sources of HOPE VI's ambitious and often conflicting goals. It also explores the issues that HUD and PHAs must face in harnessing market means to achieve public ends, including the difficulties of marketing mixed-income housing built on sites formerly occupied by distressed public housing.
State of play on biofuel subsidies: are policies ready to shift?

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) contributes to sustainable development by advancing policy recommendations on international trade and investment, economic policy, climate change and energy, and management of natural and social capital, as well as the enabling role of communication technologies in these areas. We report on international negotiations and disseminate knowledge gained through collaborative projects, resulting in more rigorous research, capacity building in developing countries, better networks spanning the North and the South, and better global connections among researchers, practitioners, citizens and policy-makers. IISD's vision is better living for all—sustainably; its mission is to champion innovation, enabling societies to live sustainably. IISD is registered as a charitable organization in Canada and has 501(c)(3) status in the United States. IISD receives core operating support from the Government of Canada, provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and from the Province of Manitoba. The Institute receives project funding from numerous governments inside and outside Canada, United Nations agencies, foundations and the private sector.
The Effect of Spatial Attention on Contrast Response Functions in Human Visual Cortex

Previous electrophysiology data suggests that the modulation of neuronal firing by spatial attention depends on stimulus contrast, which has been described using either a multiplicative gain or a contrast-gain model. Here we measured the effect of spatial attention on contrast responses in humans using functional MRI. To our surprise, we found that the modulation of blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) responses by spatial attention does not greatly depend on stimulus contrast in visual cortical areas tested [V1, V2, V3, and MT+ (middle temporal area)]. An additive model, rather than a multiplicative or contrast-gain model best describes the attentional modulations in V1. This inconsistency with previous single-unit electrophysiological data has implications for the population-based neuronal source of the BOLD signal.
Open for Business: Conservatives' Opposition to Environmental Regulation

Since the 1970s, conservative activists have invoked free markets and distrust of the federal government as part of a concerted effort to roll back environmental regulations. They have promoted a powerful antiregulatory storyline to counter environmentalists' scenario of a fragile earth in need of protection, mobilized grassroots opposition, and mounted creative legal challenges to environmental laws. But what has been the impact of all this activity on policy? In this book, Judith Layzer offers a detailed and systematic analysis of conservatives' prolonged campaign to dismantle the federal regulatory framework for environmental protection. Examining conservatives' influence from the Nixon era to the Obama administration, Layzer describes a set of increasingly sophisticated tactics--including the depiction of environmentalists as extremist elitists, a growing reliance on right-wing think tanks and media outlets, the cultivation of sympathetic litigators and judges, and the use of environmentally friendly language to describe potentially harmful activities. She argues that although conservatives have failed to repeal or revamp any of the nation's environmental statutes, they have influenced the implementation of those laws in ways that increase the risks we face, prevented or delayed action on newly recognized problems, and altered the way Americans think about environmental problems and their solutions. Layzer's analysis sheds light not only on the politics of environmental protection but also, more generally, on the interaction between ideas and institutions in the development of policy.
Featuring Tax Education in Non-accounting Curriculum: Survey Evidence

Purpose –This paper aimed (i) to solicit undergraduates‟ opinions on tax education, and (ii) to identify undergraduates‟ preferences on taxation topics. Design/methodology/approach – The paper used a survey to collect data. Survey questionnaires were personally administered on 575 undergraduates from accounting and non-accounting faculties in one of the public universities in Malaysia. Findings – The findings revealed that more than 90% of the respondents perceived that tax education is important and relevant, and should be introduced at the undergraduate levels. The survey also found that „Personal Taxation‟ and „Tax Planning for Individuals‟ were the two most preferred tax topics that undergraduates wished to learn. Originality/value – The paper support the call to introduce tax education into non-accounting curriculum in disseminating tax knowledge for better tax compliance among future taxpayers.