Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Case-study of ISO 14001-based Environmental Management System Implementation in the People's Republic of China

The ISO 14001 implementation process among certified firms in China was examined by conducting a questionnaire survey distributed to all certified firms as of December 1998. Results showed that the ISO 14001-based environmental management system (EMS) has a significant effect on firms' daily environmental activities and performance. Recycling, natural resource consumption and released pollutants have been managed in a better way and, in some cases, pollutants have been reduced. The study showed that firms' main targets for adopting the system were to: enhance the firm's public image; enhance employees' environmental awareness; improve the EMS inside the firm; improve the environmental aspects and performance inside the firm; and improve relations with government offices and local citizens. ISO 1400-based EMS implementation showed that it is a promising tool for helping build a better partnership between three main stakeholders, government, local citizens and enterprises. The system has enabled firms to consider the role of the local people in a more effective way. For example, special consideration is given to involving local citizens in health and emergency preparedness during firms' daily environmental activities. Moreover, enhancing environmental awareness among the local citizens and giving more consideration to co-operation with other firms from the same industrial groups are reported by certified firms. Finally, there are strong demands for government support to build more reliable information systems, ISO 14001-related research, more incentives for eco-labelling and tax exemptions.
Evidence of a direct role for Bcl‐2 in the regulation of articular chondrocyte apoptosis under the conditions of serum withdrawal and retinoic acid treatment

The regulation of chondrocyte apoptosis in articular cartilage may underlay age‐associated changes in cartilage and the development of osteoarthritis. Here we demonstrate the importance of Bcl‐2 in regulating articular chondrocyte apoptosis in response to both serum withdrawal and retinoic acid treatment. Both stimuli induced apoptosis of primary human articular chondrocytes and a rat chondrocyte cell line as evidenced by the formation of DNA ladders. Apoptosis was accompanied by decreased expression of aggrecan, a chondrocyte specific matrix protein. The expression of Bcl‐2 was downregulated by both agents based on Northern and Western analysis, while the level of Bax expression remained unchanged compared to control cells. The importance of Bcl‐2 in regulating chondrocyte apoptosis was confirmed by creating cell lines overexpressing sense and antisense Bcl‐2 mRNA. Multiple cell lines expressing antisense Bcl‐2 displayed increased apoptosis even in the presence of 10% serum as compared to wild‐type cells. In contrast, chondrocytes overexpressing Bcl‐2 were resistant to apoptosis induced by both serum withdrawal and retinoic acid treatment. Finally, the expression of Bcl‐2 did not block the decreased aggrecan expression in IRC cells treated with retinoic acid. We conclude that Bcl‐2 plays an important role in the maintenance of articular chondrocyte survival and that retinoic acid inhibits aggrecan expression independent of the apoptotic process. J. Cell. Biochem. 71:302–309, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Beyond familiar landmarks and integrated routes: goal-oriented navigation by birds

Many birds are able to find their previously established home site after passive displacement to distant localities far from any familiar landmarks. It is evident that they determine their position relative to home neither by path integration nor by deducing it from location-specific solar, stellar, magnetic or infrasonic signals. They need, however, unobstructed olfactory contact with the local atmosphere, and they must have experienced natural winds at the home site over at least several weeks. Further, they require the sun or the geomagnetic field as a directional compass reference. The empirical findings proving and characterizing olfactory navigation by birds (mainly homing pigeons) have been reported elsewhere and are briefly itemized here. It is further shown that trace gases are dispersed in the ground-level atmosphere with some regularity, including differently oriented gradients of ratios among certain hydrocarbons. A preliminary navigation model is based on such long-range ratio gradients and on their relation to wind direction. Within a familiar area around home, pigeons rely not only on olfactory inputs but also on the visual landscape for home-finding. The olfaction-based mechanism has been linked to the piriform cortex, the vision-based mechanism to the hippocampal formation. Adequacy of the term 'map' is discussed with respect to either mechanism. Remaining gaps in our knowledge and challenges for future research are addressed.
Genetic and physical mapping of two centromere-proximal regions of chromosome IV in Aspergillus nidulans.

Chromosome IV is the smallest chromosome of Aspergillus nidulans. The centromere-proximal portion of the chromosome was mapped physically using overlapping clones of a cosmid genomic library. Two contiguous segments of a physical map, based on restriction mapping of cosmid clones, were generated, together covering more than 0.4 Mb DNA. A reverse genetic mapping approach was used to establish a correlation between physical and genetic maps; i.e., marker genes were integrated into physically mapped segments and subsequently mapped by mitotic and meiotic recombination. The resulting data, together with additional classical genetic mapping, lead to a substantial revision of the genetic map of the chromosome, including the position of the centromere. Comparison of physical and genetic maps indicates that meiotic recombination is low in subcentromeric DNA, its frequency being reduced from 1 crossover per 0.8 Mb to approximately 1 crossover per 5 Mb per meiosis. The portion of the chromosome containing the functional centromere was not mapped because repeat-rich regions hindered further chromosome walking. The size of the missing segment was estimated to be between 70 and 400 kb.
Desiring China

Through window displays, newspapers, soap operas, gay bars, and other public culture venues, Chinese citizens are negotiating what it means to be cosmopolitan citizens of the world, with appropriate needs, aspirations, and longings. Lisa Rofel argues that the creation of such “desiring subjects” is at the core of China’s contingent, piece-by-piece reconfiguration of its relationship to a post-socialist world. In a study at once ethnographic, historical, and theoretical, she contends that neoliberal subjectivities are created through the production of various desires—material, sexual, and affective—and that it is largely through their engagements with public culture that people in China are imagining and practicing appropriate desires for the post-Mao era. Drawing on her research over the past two decades among urban residents and rural migrants in Hangzhou and Beijing, Rofel analyzes the meanings that individuals attach to various public cultural phenomena and what their interpretations say about their understandings of post-socialist China and their roles within it. She locates the first broad-based public debate about post-Mao social changes in the passionate dialogues about the popular 1991 television soap opera Yearnings . She describes how the emergence of gay identities and practices in China reveals connections to a transnational network of lesbians and gay men at the same time that it brings urban/rural and class divisions to the fore. The 1999–2001 negotiations over China’s entry into the World Trade Organization; a controversial women’s museum; the ways that young single women portray their longings in relation to the privations they imagine their mothers experienced; adjudications of the limits of self-interest in court cases related to homoerotic desire, intellectual property, and consumer fraud—Rofel reveals all of these as sites where desiring subjects come into being.
Prevalence of genital human papillomavirus among females in the United States, the National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey, 2003-2006.

BACKGROUND Genital human papillomaviruses (HPV) include >40 sexually transmitted viruses. Most HPV infections do not progress to disease, but infection with certain types of HPV can cause cervical and other anogenital and oropharyngeal cancer, and other types of HPV are associated with anogenital warts. HPV vaccines prevent infection with HPV 16 and 18, which account for 70% of cases of cervical cancer, and HPV 6 and 11, which cause 90% of the cases of anogenital warts. METHODS Using data and self-collected cervicovaginal specimens from 4150 females, 14-59 years of age, from consecutive National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2003-2006), we estimated the prevalence of type-specific HPV DNA and examined sociodemographic and sexual determinants. RESULTS The overall prevalence of HPV was 42.5% in females 14-59 years of age and varied significantly by age, race or ethnicity, and number of sex partners. Individual type prevalence was less than 7%, ranging from <0.5% through 6.5%. The most common type was nononcogenic HPV 62 (found in 6.5% of subjects), followed by HPV 53 and HPV 16 (4.7%), both of which are oncogenic types. The most prevalent species was nononcogenic α3. CONCLUSIONS HPV infection is common among US females, with the highest burden of infection found in young females 20-24 years of age. Monitoring trends in HPV type distribution will contribute to our understanding of the early impact of HPV vaccines.
Morphometry of macaca mulatta forelimb. III. moment arm of shoulder and elbow muscles

The conversion of muscle activity into smooth, purposeful movement of the limb depends complexly on the morphometry of muscles and their mechanical action on the skeleton. Although nonhuman primates are common subjects in motor control experiments (Scott [2000] Can J Physiol Pharmacol 78:923–933), little information is available on the morphometric properties of their upper limbs. One key variable is muscle moment arm, or mechanical advantage, which defines how linear motion or force of a muscle is translated into angular motion or torque at a joint. This study reports moment arm values with respect to joint angle (flexion/extension) of 14 muscles spanning the shoulder and elbow in Macaca mulatta. The magnitude of moment arm values ranged widely across muscles. In some muscles mechanical advantage remained constant with joint angle, whereas the moment arm of others varied strongly. The angle (Θ fo ) at which optimal fascicle length (L fo ) occurred showed strong trends, where the elbow‐spanning muscles had Θ fo values clustered at mid‐flexion and the shoulder musculature Θ fo values tended to be grouped around the neutral joint angle of 0°. Estimates of peak muscle torque for flexor and extensor muscle groups at each joint were surprisingly similar in both magnitude and dependency on joint angle. The present study, along with the previous two in this series (Cheng and Scott [2000] J Morphol 245:206–224; Singh et al. [2002] J Morphol 251:323–332), provides a comprehensive description of the morphology of the proximal portion of the limb suitable for the development of a musculoskeletal model of the M. mulatta upper limb. J. Morphol. 255:301–314, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Are estimates of earnings inequality sensitive to measurement choices? A case study of Canada in the 1980s

While it is necessary that researchers make choices in order to estimate inequality, the reasons for the measurement choices and their impact on inequality estimates have not been widely assessed. This paper uses Canadian data from the 1980s to analyse whether inequality estimates are sensitive to common measurement choices. Seemingly minor technical choices about the treatment of outlying observations, such as the use of top-income coded data, exclusion of very high and low observations, and differences among data sets in the capture of very high observations affect estimates of inequality. Further, the impact of the treatment of outlying observations on inequality estimates are at least as large as the impact of measurement choices of a conceptual nature, such as the income definition and population selection. The sensitivity of inequality estimates to measurement choices, which often remain invisible, affect inferences about the relative degree of inequality at a given point in time among countries and changes over time.
A Call Auction’s Impact on Price Formation and Order Routing: Evidence from the NASDAQ Stock Market

Electronic call auctions are used globally to open and close equity market trading; as such, they are a critically important facility that needs to be better understood. The paper focuses on the impact NASDAQ's calls (introduced in 2004) have had on bid-ask spreads, price volatility, and order routing in the continuous market that follows daily openings and which precedes daily closings. NASDAQ's closing call has significantly reduced both spreads and volatility for all market capitalization groups. Its opening call similarly reduced spreads, while a generally similar, though somewhat weaker, pattern of volatility reduction was realized. Although the pattern of trading volume has, for the most part, not been significantly affected, our findings, comprehensively viewed, suggest that the calls have had a positive spillover effect on the dynamic behavior of price formation in NASDAQ's continuous market.
Lone‐parent Families in Europe: A Variety of Economic and Social Circumstances

The third wave of the European Community Household Panel Survey (ECHP) shows that 12 per cent of European families were lone-parent families in 1996. Nine single parents out of ten are women, usually divorced or separated. The proportion of lone parents under 30 varies from 3 per cent in Italy to 20 per cent in the United Kingdom. Most lone parents are in work, and very often occupy a full-time job, but the employment rate ranges from only 40 per cent in Ireland and the United Kingdom to 75 per cent in France and Denmark. Lone-parent families benefit from social transfers more often than other families, and for higher amounts, but poverty is more common than in other households, except in Denmark, Greece and Portugal. The housing circumstances of lone-parent families vary widely from country to country. In the south of Europe, 25 to 40 per cent are lodging in a larger household, suggesting solidarity within the extended families. This paper classifies the nations of Europe into five groups in terms of the overall circumstances of lone-parent families. Anglo-Saxon countries have the highest proportion of lone parents, with the least labour market participation and lower incomes. In contrast, lone parents in Scandinavian countries are more often at work and no more affected by poverty than other types of households.
The Delisting Bias in CRSP Data

The author documents a delisting bias in the stock return data base maintained by the Center for Research in Security Prices. He finds that delists for bankruptcy and other negative reasons are generally surprises and that correct delisting returns are not available for most of the stocks that have been delisted for negative reasons since 1962. Using over-the-counter price data, the author shows that the omitted delisting returns are large. Implications of the bias are discussed. Copyright 1997 by American Finance Association.
Echocardiography in Nigeria: experience from University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu

This study evaluated our experience with echocardiographic studies over a period of 10 years (February 1991 to January 2001). Two thousand five hundred and twenty seven patients (1577 males, 950 females), aged between 3 weeks to 85, years were referred for echocardiography at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu. The commonest indications for echocardiography were found to be Valvular Heart Diseases (16%), Hypertensive Heart Disease (15%) and Congenital Heart Diseases (14.3%). Echocardiography was able to confirm 868 (34.4%) of Valvular Heart Diseases (n = 868), 436 (17.3%) Hypertensive heart Diseases, (13.2%) Congenital Heart Diseases and Cardiomyopathies 237(9.5%). Normal studies were documented in 275(10.9%) of the patients. The functional states of prosthetic valves as well as the position of pacemakers were some of the clinical usefulness of echocardio-graphic studies documented by the study. More accurate diagnoses and influencing the direction of management were definitely the outcomes of the echocardiographic studies of these patients.
Angiotensin II and oxidative stress: an unholy alliance.

Angiotensin II (AngII) is a vasopressor agent, but is acute vasoconstriction all there is to the hypertensinogenic action of AngII? In a seminal study from decades ago Dickinson et al. ([1][1]) demonstrated the slow pressor action of AngII; the rabbit infusions of AngII that initially were
New insights on the importance of agency costs for corporate debt maturity decisions

This study provides new insights on the relationship between corporate debt maturity and agency costs by investigating empirically the impact of managerial ownership and the divergence between control and cash-flow rights on debt maturity. A significant negative effect of managerial ownership on debt maturity is observed. Moreover, the results reveal that the wedge between control and cash-flow rights also exerts a negative influence. The analysis further suggests that the negative effect of managerial ownership decreases in widely-held firms and increases with the discrepancy between control and cash-flow rights.
New Zealand, Britain and the Survival of the Ottawa Agreement, 1945–77*

Unlike Australia, which diversified its markets after 1950 (to the extent that Japan superseded Britain as Australia's foremost customer in the late 1960s), New Zealand remained dependent on outlets in the United Kingdom. New Zealand's reliance on the British market was a consequence of its emphasis on the export of livestock products, imports of which were restricted by other major industrial countries. This paper argues that New Zealand's trade policy was tightly constrained by its short- and medium- term reliance on UK markets. As a small country, New Zealand had little bargaining power. In order to induce the British to safeguard New Zealand's traditional export trade, Wellington had to offer generous tariff preferences to British manufacturers, who retained a dominant position in New Zealand in the 1960s. New Zealand found it difficult to escape from this situation, because it had even less bargaining power with other countries, and it feared British retaliation against its lamb and butter exports. Failure to match Australia's record of diversification left New Zealand particularly vulnerable when Britain joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973.
The estimation of self‐containment and catchment size indicators for use in small area classification

Whilst geodemographic classification methods are well established, little attention has been given to the inclusion of indicators that capture the role that areas play in providing jobs. This paper focuses on the estimation of two variables based on commuting flows that represent the functional linkages between residence and workplace areas. We adopt a modelling and GIS-based methodology to estimate self-containment and catchment area size for postal sectors in Yorkshire and the Humber which uses Special Workplace Statistics from the Census of Population, postal sector population estimates from the Experian database, and employment data from the Annual Employment Survey. Model distance decay parameters are compared between different industry groups, and spatial variations in self-containment and catchment area size are analysed. Using the example of Selby in North Yorkshire, the paper shows how these modelled indicators, and other indicators relating to the provision of employment, contribute to an extended geodemographic classification. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Understanding the pace, scale and pattern of firm internationalization: An extension of the ‘born global’ concept

Since the growth of the ‘born global’ concept, much of the established literature has tended to overlook the development of its characteristics outside high technology sectors. To further enhance our understanding of this phenomenon, this article draws on the ‘born global’ literature to identify common internationalization behaviours with which rapidly internationalizing firms are involved. Six propositions are developed related to the key dimensions of pace, scale and pattern of firm internationalization. The results from a comprehensive case study of four non-high-tech Australian ‘born global’ firms suggest that entrepreneurial interpretation is a factor in determining the pace with which a firm internationalizes. Other key implications include the importance of product imitability in assessing the extent of a firm’s international operations, the significance of psychic distance in the assessment of prospective international markets, and that entry mode choice is influenced by the prevailing trends established in each firm’s industry and the need to maximize its internal resources.
Early energy and protein reduction: effects on growth, blood profiles and expression of genes related to protein and fat metabolism in broilers

1. A total of 320-d-old Ross broilers were used in a 6-week study to investigate the effects of feeding lower energy and protein diets from d 8 to 14 on growth performance, blood profiles, and gene expression of leptin and myostatin. 2. Broilers were randomly allotted to 4 treatments, each treatment applied to 4 pens with 20 birds in each. During first week, all the birds were fed on a common starter diet (13·4 MJ ME/kg, 230 g/kg CP and 11·0 g/kg lysine). The birds were then subjected to their respective treatment diets from d 8 to 14. Treatment diets comprised two ME levels, 13·4 and 12·0 MJ/kg, each with two levels of CP, 230 and 184 g/kg. This was followed by feeding common starter and finisher diets for the last 4 weeks. 3. Dietary protein reduction resulted in poor performance and feed efficiency while energy reduction resulted in poor feed efficiency between d 8 and 14. From d 14 to 42 birds previously fed diets lower in energy and protein showed similar body weight gain and feed intake to well-fed birds. Moreover from d 8 to 14, birds fed on energy and protein-reduced diets had lower nutrient metabolisability coefficients. 4. The blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and relative weights of heart and breast muscle were lower in birds fed protein-reduced diets while energy reduction resulted in lower plasma glucose, abdominal fat and intestinal weight at d 14. At d 42, birds fed on the protein-reduced diets had lower BUN, breast muscle weight and small intestine length, while feeding on the energy-reduced diets resulted in lower abdominal fat. 5. Upregulated myostatin mRNA expression in breast muscle and downregulation of leptin mRNA expression in abdominal fat were observed in birds fed on protein and energy-reduced diets, respectively. 6. In conclusion, early nutrient reduction affected growth performance and produced lesser abdominal fat in broilers. Moreover, early energy and/or protein reduction could change muscle and fat metabolism by regulating the expressions of myostatin and leptin.