Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Civil Servants and Their Constitutions

Public administration as an American profession originated in the early twentieth century with urban reformers advocating the application of scientific and business practices to rehabilitate corrupt city governments. That approach transformed governance in the United States but also guaranteed recurrent debate over the proper role of public administrators, who must balance the often contradictory demands of efficiency and politically defined notions of the public good. Currently the business approach holds sway. Legitimated by Al Gore's National Performance Review, the New Public Management movement promotes entrepreneurs over civil servants, performance over process, decentralization over centralization, and flexibility over rules. John Rohr demurs, arguing that the movement goes too far in downplaying the distinctively American challenges arising from the separated powers principle. Consequently, the NPM alienates public management from its natural home - a nation-state established within a constitutional order. According to Rohr, "nothing is more fundamental to governance than a constitution; and therefore to stress the constitutional character of administration is to establish the proper role of administration as governance that includes management but transcends it as well. " This is not a novel argument for Rohr, who was recognized in 1999 by the Louis Brownlow Committee of the National Academy of Public Administration for his lifetime contributions on the "constitutional underpinnings" of public administration. But this new version of his rule-of-law critique directly addresses the NPM's excesses, framed convincingly as a comparative study of cases found in four countries spanning three centuries. The first half of the book examines the linkages between constitutions and administrations in France, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The second half of the book examines American cases in three categories: separation of powers, individual rights, and federalism. American administrative law, Rohr concludes, has structured safeguards to protect the integrity of administrative decision-making while also holding it accountable. He summarizes his findings from the case studies by saying that the constitutional role of American civil servants comes not only from specific American experiences but also from the very nature of civil service.
H i ASYMMETRIES IN THE ISOLATED GALAXY CIG 292

We present Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) D-array observations of the 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen (H i) of CIG 292, an isolated SA(s)b galaxy at a distance of ∼24.3 Mpc. From previous H i single dish observations the galaxy was known to have a mildly asymmetric H i profile (Aflux = 1.23 ± 0.3). Our EVLA observations show there is ∼12% more H i projected south of the optical center (approaching velocities) than in the north (receding velocities), despite the H i extending ∼16% further to the north than the south. The H i projected within the optical disk must have been perturbed within the H i relaxation time (∼108 yr) which implies that this cannot have been caused by any of the three nearest companions, as their distance (∼0.5 Mpc) is too large. Neither H i-rich companions nor tidal tails were found within our field of view and velocity range covered. Our kinematical data suggest that the inner part harbors an oval distortion whereas the outer regions show signs of a modest warp. The mild asymmetry in the H i global profile thus actually masks stronger asymmetries in the two-dimensional distributions of gas and star-forming regions in this galaxy. Since the galaxy is isolated, this must predominantly be due to processes related to its formation and secular evolution.
Cosmological constraints from X-ray AGN clustering and Type Ia supernova data

We put constraints on the main cosmological parameters of different spatially flat cosmological models by combining the recent clustering results of XMM–Newton soft (0.5–2 keV) X-ray sources, which have a redshift distribution with median redshift z∼ 1.2, and Type Ia supernova data. Using a likelihood procedure we find that the model that best reproduces the observational data and which is consistent with stellar ages is the concordanceΛ cold dark matter model with Ωm≃ 0.28, w ≃−1, H0≃ 72 km s-1 Mpc−1 and t0≃ 13.5 Gyr, and has an X-ray active galactic nucleus clustering evolution which is constant in physical coordinates. For a different clustering evolution model (constant in comoving coordinates) we find another viable model, although less probable because of the smaller age of the universe, with Ωm≃ 0.38, w ≃−1.25, H0≃ 70 km s−1 Mpc−1 and t0≃ 12.9 Gyr.
Intervention with fish oil, but not with docosahexaenoic acid, results in lower levels of hepatic soluble epoxide hydrolase with time in apoE knockout mice

Long-chain n-3 PUFA from fish oil protect against death from CHD but mechanisms are not well understood. Preliminary results indicate that fish oil may affect the enzyme soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) and influence inflammatory pathways in a time-dependent manner. In the present study male apoE knockout (Apoe− / − ) mice were randomised to three dietary groups receiving a high-fat high-cholesterol diet supplemented with 2 % (w/w) high-oleic acid sunflower-seed (HOSF) oil, DHA oil or fish oil. Livers and proximal aortas were collected on day 2 and on weeks 1, 2, 4 and 10 to determine hepatic sEH levels, hepatic fatty acid composition, hepatic proteome and atherosclerotic plaque size in the aortic root. Intervention with fish oil, but not with DHA, resulted in significantly lower levels of hepatic sEH levels with time compared with HOSF oil. DHA and fish oil caused differential regulation of thirty-five hepatic proteins which were mainly involved in lipoprotein metabolism and oxidative stress. All mice developed atherosclerosis without differences in plaque size between the three groups. Thus EPA may be responsible for lowering levels of hepatic sEH and both fish oil and DHA could beneficially affect lipoprotein metabolism and oxidative stress.
Consumer willingness to communicate in a second language

Purpose – The service management literature emphasizes the importance of communication, but language difficulties can make communicating in business settings more difficult. The purpose of this paper is to address consumer willingness to communicate in a second language to identity the antecedents that drive consumer language preferences. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents the findings from two empirical studies in two multilingual countries with a total of 361 adult respondents. Findings – The findings show perceived control to be the strongest antecedent of consumer willingness to communicate in a second language, and identifies second language skills as an antecedent in countries with little political tensions related to language, while political considerations is a strong antecedent in countries where language use is political. Research limitations/implications – The studies are limited to countries with more than one official language. While multilingual countries make up around two-thi.
Nonivamide Enhances miRNA let‐7d Expression and Decreases Adipogenesis PPARγ Expression in 3T3‐L1 Cells

Red pepper and its major pungent principle, capsaicin (CAP), have been shown to be effective anti‐obesity agents by reducing energy intake, enhancing energy metabolism, decreasing serum triacylglycerol content, and inhibiting adipogenesis via activation of the transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1). However, the binding of CAP to the TRPV1 receptor is also responsible for its pungent sensation, strongly limiting its dietary intake. Here, the effects of a less pungent structural CAP‐analog, nonivamide, on adipogenesis and underlying mechanisms in 3T3‐L1 cells were studied. Nonivamide was found to reduce mean lipid accumulation, a marker of adipogenesis, to a similar extent as CAP, up to 10.4% (P < 0.001). Blockage of the TRPV1 receptor with the specific inhibitor trans‐tert‐butylcyclohexanol revealed that the anti‐adipogenic activity of nonivamide depends, as with CAP, on TRPV1 receptor activation. In addition, in cells treated with nonivamide during adipogenesis, protein levels of the pro‐adipogenic transcription factor peroxisome‐proliferator activated receptor γ (PPARγ) decreased. Results from miRNA microarrays and digital droplet PCR analysis demonstrated an increase in the expression of the miRNA mmu‐let‐7d‐5p, which has been associated with decreased PPARγ levels. J. Cell. Biochem. 116: 1153–1163, 2015. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Cellular Biochemistry published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The work of policy : an international survey

Part 1 Is there a standard model of policy work ? Chapter 2 Policy, Models and the Construction of Governing Chapter 3 Professionalization and Policy Analysis: the Case of the United States Part 4 Policy work and the State Bureaucracy Chapter 5 How policy workers define their job: a Netherlands case study Chapter 6 The Changing Policy Environment in Japan Chapter 7 Decentralization and Policy Analysis in Croatia Part 8 Policy Work and Political Change Chapter 9 The Development of Women's Policy in South Korea Chapter 10 Policy Work and Public Management Reform in New Zealand Chapter 11 Policy-making in Finland: Consensus and Change Part 12 Institutionalization and Discourse in Policy Work Chapter 13 Gender, Budgetary Processes and Policy in Korea Chapter 14 The Voice of Reason in Policy Discourse: Whispers from the Local Level of Government Chapter 15 Policy Knowledge for Policy Work Chapter 16 Mapping the Work of Policy
Processing Complex Sounds Passing through the Rostral Brainstem: The New Early Filter Model

The rostral brainstem receives both “bottom-up” input from the ascending auditory system and “top-down” descending corticofugal connections. Speech information passing through the inferior colliculus of elderly listeners reflects the periodicity envelope of a speech syllable. This information arguably also reflects a composite of temporal-fine-structure (TFS) information from the higher frequency vowel harmonics of that repeated syllable. The amplitude of those higher frequency harmonics, bearing even higher frequency TFS information, correlates positively with the word recognition ability of elderly listeners under reverberatory conditions. Also relevant is that working memory capacity (WMC), which is subject to age-related decline, constrains the processing of sounds at the level of the brainstem. Turning to the effects of a visually presented sensory or memory load on auditory processes, there is a load-dependent reduction of that processing, as manifest in the auditory brainstem responses (ABR) evoked by to-be-ignored clicks. Wave V decreases in amplitude with increases in the visually presented memory load. A visually presented sensory load also produces a load-dependent reduction of a slightly different sort: The sensory load of visually presented information limits the disruptive effects of background sound upon working memory performance. A new early filter model is thus advanced whereby systems within the frontal lobe (affected by sensory or memory load) cholinergically influence top-down corticofugal connections. Those corticofugal connections constrain the processing of complex sounds such as speech at the level of the brainstem. Selective attention thereby limits the distracting effects of background sound entering the higher auditory system via the inferior colliculus. Processing TFS in the brainstem relates to perception of speech under adverse conditions. Attentional selectivity is crucial when the signal heard is degraded or masked: e.g., speech in noise, speech in reverberatory environments. The assumptions of a new early filter model are consistent with these findings: A subcortical early filter, with a predictive selectivity based on acoustical (linguistic) context and foreknowledge, is under cholinergic top-down control. A prefrontal capacity limitation constrains this top-down control as is guided by the cholinergic processing of contextual information in working memory.
Social Security in Portugal: An Update of Long-Term Projections

At the request of the Laeken European Council, Portugal has prepared a National Strategy Report on its pension system, in view of objectives like adequacy, financial sustainability, and modernisation. This paper documents the official longterm projections of social security revenues and expenditures therein, using PROST, an actuarial model developed by the World Bank. Taking on board the pension reform effective Jan-1-2002 (Law 17/2000), simulation results suggest that, in light of the expected ageing of the population from 2000 to 2075, overall social security expenditure as a percentage of GDP is projected to grow by 3.2 pp, from 12.9 to 16.1%. Public pensions paid to former private-sector workers increase by 1.7 pp, while those paid to former civil servants rise by 1.4 pp, a larger relative increase given the latter's reduced size. As a result, the reserve fund is expected to go dry in 2029, three years earlier than if no pension reform had taken place. The 2002 pension reform entails changes to the benefit formula with offsetting financial effects: the reference wage is lowered by eventually being calculated using the whole contribution history, and the accrual rate is, in effect, increased.
Running Head : CONTEXT AND PERSONALITY JUDGMENT Research Report : Rich Contexts Do Not Always Enrich the Accuracy of Personality Judgments

We test the common assumption that information ‘rich’ contexts lead to more accurate personality judgments than information ‘lean’ contexts. Pairs of unacquainted students rendered judgments of one another’s personalities after interacting in one of three, increasingly rich, contexts: Internet ‘chat’, telephone, or face-to-face. Accuracy was assessed by correlating participants’ judgments with a measure of targets’ personalities that averaged self and informant ratings. As predicted, the visible traits of extraversion and conscientiousness were judged more accurately than the less visible traits of neuroticism and openness. However, judgment accuracy also depended on context. Judgments of extraversion and neuroticism improved as context richness increased (i.e., from Internet ‘chat’ to face-to-face), whereas judgments of conscientiousness and openness improved as context richness decreased (i.e., from face-to-face to Internet ‘chat’). Our findings suggest that context richness shapes not only the availability of personality cues but also the relevance of cues in any given context.
Adaptive Response in Mice Exposed to 900 MHz Radiofrequency Fields: Primary DNA Damage

The phenomenon of adaptive response (AR) in animal and human cells exposed to ionizing radiation is well documented in scientific literature. We have examined whether such AR could be induced in mice exposed to non-ionizing radiofrequency fields (RF) used for wireless communications. Mice were pre-exposed to 900 MHz RF at 120 µW/cm2 power density for 4 hours/day for 1, 3, 5, 7 and 14 days and then subjected to an acute dose of 3 Gy γ-radiation. The primary DNA damage in the form of alkali labile base damage and single strand breaks in the DNA of peripheral blood leukocytes was determined using the alkaline comet assay. The results indicated that the extent of damage in mice which were pre-exposed to RF for 1 day and then subjected to γ-radiation was similar and not significantly different from those exposed to γ-radiation alone. However, mice which were pre-exposed to RF for 3, 5, 7 and 14 days showed progressively decreased damage and was significantly different from those exposed to γ-radiation alone. Thus, the data indicated that RF pre-exposure is capable of inducing AR and suggested that the pre-exposure for more than 4 hours for 1 day is necessary to elicit such AR.
A randomised crossover study investigating the effects of galacto-oligosaccharides on the faecal microbiota in men and women over 50 years of age

Faecal microbial changes associated with ageing include reduced bifidobacteria numbers. These changes coincide with an increased risk of disease development. Prebiotics have been observed to increase bifidobacteria numbers within humans. The present study aimed to determine if prebiotic galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) could benefit a population of men and women of 50 years and above, through modulation of faecal microbiota, fermentation characteristics and faecal water genotoxicity. A total of thirty-seven volunteers completed this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial. The treatments – juice containing 4 g GOS and placebo – were consumed twice daily for 3 weeks, preceded by 3-week washout periods. To study the effect of GOS on different large bowel regions, three-stage continuous culture systems were conducted in parallel using faecal inocula from three volunteers. Faecal samples were microbially enumerated by quantitative PCR. In vivo, following GOS intervention, bifidobacteria were significantly more compared to post-placebo (P = 0·02). Accordingly, GOS supplementation had a bifidogenic effect in all in vitro system vessels. Furthermore, in vessel 1 (similar to the proximal colon), GOS fermentation led to more lactobacilli and increased butyrate. No changes in faecal water genotoxicity were observed. To conclude, GOS supplementation significantly increased bifidobacteria numbers in vivo and in vitro. Increased butyrate production and elevated bifidobacteria numbers may constitute beneficial modulation of the gut microbiota in a maturing population.
The Effects of Conservative Reporting on Investor Disagreement

Abstract We examine whether the level of a firm's conditional conservatism affects investor disagreement around earnings announcement dates. Investor disagreement is relevant for its repercussions on stock market efficiency. However, the literature related to the effect of firms’ reporting policies on disagreement is scant. Prior research suggests that conservatism, by requiring higher verifiability of profits, constrains earnings overstatements and encourages more complete revelations of losses, thus improving the information environment. In this paper, we further hypothesize that these effects of conservatism enhance news credibility and decrease information asymmetry, particularly for bad news announcements. This results in a lower disagreement and improved interpretation of earnings news. We consistently find that conservatism measures are negatively associated with proxies of announcement-time investor disagreement and that this effect is stronger when the firm is reporting bad news. Additional analyses indicate that the impact of conservatism is stronger when market surprise to the announcement is greater, while it is weaker in the presence of frequent and precise voluntary disclosure that preempts the earnings announcement. Finally, we show that a higher percentage of institutional investors’ ownership and a higher level of commitment to conservatism reinforce the impact of the latter.
Favorable cardiac risk among elderly breast carcinoma survivors

There are two reasons why women who survive breast carcinoma may be at a lower risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD) compared with women without a history of breast carcinoma. First, estrogens may be etiologic in the development of breast carcinoma and protective of CHD. Second, a common therapy for breast carcinoma (tamoxifen) may be associated with cardiac protection.
Progressing Science Education: Constructing the Scientific Research Programme into the Contingent Nature of Learning Science

Progressing Science Education: Constructing the scientific research programme into the contingent nature of learning science. 1. Science education as a research field within a domain of enquiry. 2. 'Scientific' Research in Education. 3. A model of science: Lakatos and Scientific Research Programmes. 4. A scientific research programme within science education. 5. The negative heuristic and criticisms of constructivism in science education. 6. Building the protective belt of the progressive research programme. 7. The 'positive heuristic': directions for progressing the field. Final thoughts: is there really a RP, and does it matter? Index.
Influence of far upstream element binding protein 1 gene on chemotherapy sensitivity in human U251 glioblastoma cells

Introduction The aim of this study was to determine the influence of the far upstream element binding protein 1 gene (FUBP1) on chemotherapy sensitivity in human U251 glioblastoma cells. Material and methods Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to determine the expression of the FUBP1 gene in 43 cases of human brain gliomas. Western blot analysis was used to determine the inhibitory effect of RNA interference on FUBP1 gene expression. Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay (MTT) and flow cytometry methods were used to determine the growth inhibitory rate and apoptosis rate of the U251 cells with FUBP1 silencing. The growth inhibitory rate and apoptosis rate were further determined after treatment of those U251 cells with cisplatin (DDP). Results The expression of FUBP1 mRNA was up-regulated significantly in gliomas, 177.65% as much as in peri-cancerous tissues (p < 0.05). The expression of FUBP1 protein was inhibited significantly with siRNA-FUBP1 (p < 0.05). In FUBP1-silenced cells, the growth inhibitory rate increased from 1.4% to 29.5%, and the apoptosis rate increased from 2.68% to 5.84% (p < 0.05 for both). After treating with DDP at various concentrations (1, 3, 5 µg/ml), the growth inhibitory rate of FUBP1-silenced cells increased from 14.42%, 17.46% and 23.55% to 21.69%, 27.51% and 37.57%; the apoptosis rate increased from 8.85%, 14.37% and 18.21% to 13.25%, 18.46% and 26.52%. Conclusions The up-regulation of FUBP1 relates to the carcinogenesis of gliomas. FUBP1 silencing increases the growth inhibitory rate and apoptosis rate of the U251 cells, and enhances the chemotherapy sensitivity of U251 cells to DDP.
3D path planning with novel multiple 2D layered approach for complex human-robot interaction

Navigating cluttered indoor environments is a difficult problem in indoor service robotics. The Acroboter concept, a novel approach to indoor locomotion, represents unique opportunity to avoid obstacles in indoor environments by navigating the ceiling plane. This mode of locomotion requires the ability to accurately detect obstacles, and plan 3D trajectories through the environment. This paper presents the development of a resilient object tracking system, as well as a novel approach to generating 3D paths suitable for such robot configurations. Distributed human-machine interfacing allowing simulation previewing of actions is also considered in the developed system architecture.
The Long-Term Stability of Oscillations during Thermonuclear X-Ray Bursts: Constraining the Binary X-Ray Mass Function

We report on the long-term stability of the millisecond oscillations observed with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer during thermonuclear X-ray bursts from the low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) 4U 1728-34 and 4U 1636-53. We show that bursts from 4U 1728-34 spanning more than 1.5 yr have observed asymptotic oscillation periods that are within 0.2 μs of each other, well within the magnitude that could be produced by the orbital motion of the neutron star in a canonical LMXB. This stability implies a timescale to change the oscillation period of more than 23,000 yr in this system and suggests a highly stable process, such as stellar rotation, as the mechanism producing the oscillations. For 4U 1636-53, which has an orbital period of 3.8 hr, we show that the offsets in the asymptotic oscillation periods from three different bursts can be consistently interpreted as due to the orbital velocity of the neutron star with vsini/c ≈ 4.25 × 10−4. An updated optical ephemeris for the epoch of maximum light from V801 Arae would provide a strong test of this interpretation. We discuss the constraints on the X-ray mass function, which in principle can be derived using this technique.