Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rethinking the four dimensions of power: domination and empowerment

In the literature, there have been two essentially contrasting views of power: one of power as domination, largely characterized as power over, and the other of power as empowerment, frequently theorized as power to. To date, the four (Lukes and Foucault) dimensions of power have been considered forms of domination. In this article it is argued that the processes of four-dimensional power also constitute the process of normatively desirable power, as emancipation. Key is the realization that structured power over has the potential to be positive-sum, rather than zero-sum; furthermore, that the exclusions of two-dimensional power also constitute the conditions of possibility for justice. The fact that normatively desirable power and domination are constituted through the same processes is not chance: the effectiveness of power as domination is parasitic upon power as emancipation.
Wearable impedance monitoring system for dialysis patients

This paper describes the development and the validation of a prototype wearable miniaturized impedance monitoring system for remote monitoring in home-based dialysis patients. This device is intended to assess the hydration status of dialysis patients using calf impedance measurements. The system is based on the low-power AD8302 component. The impedance calibration procedure is described together with the Cole parameter estimation and the hydric volume estimation. Results are given on a test cell to validate the design and on preliminary calf measurements showing Cole parameter variations during hemodialysis.
The detection of periapical pathoses using digital periapical radiography and cone beam computed tomography in endodontically retreated teeth - part 2: a 1 year post-treatment follow-up.

AIM Part 2 of this prospective clinical study aimed to compare the 1-year outcome of root canal retreatments, when individual roots and teeth were assessed by periapical radiographs and cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). METHODOLOGY Subjects participating in this study had been referred for management of an endodontic problem associated with one or more root filled teeth. Root canal retreatment was performed by Specialists or postgraduate students under the direct supervision of Specialist endodontic staff. A total of 98 teeth (84 patients) were reassessed clinically and radiographically 1 year after completion of root canal retreatment. The postoperative periapical radiographs and CBCT scans were compared with their respective pre-treatment (diagnostic) periapical radiographs and CBCT scans. The increase or decrease in size of existing periapical radiolucencies and development of new radiolucencies were assessed by a consensus panel consisting of two calibrated examiners. They also determined an appropriate management plan for each case based on the radiographical findings. Comparison of the outcome diagnosis of individual roots and teeth and case management, when assessed by periapical radiographs and CBCT scans, was performed using chi-squared and McNemar's tests. RESULTS An overall favourable result of 93% success for teeth (96% roots) was recorded when the assessment was undertaken by periapicals compared with 77% success for teeth (87% roots) when assessed by CBCT. A significant difference in outcome diagnosis of single paired roots (P < 0.0001) and teeth (P = 0.0001) was observed when comparing periapicals to CBCT for the cohort of teeth as a whole. When comparing the future management plan on the basis of radiographic information alone, there was a significant difference between periapicals and CBCT-based management (P = 0.01). CONCLUSION Diagnosis using CBCT revealed a significantly lower number of favourable outcomes than periapicals in root canal retreatment. This significantly affected the future management of cases attending for a review.
Homicide in the Canadian Prairies: Elderly and Nonelderly Killings

Objective: To examine the psychosocial and clinical characteristics of male perpetrators of elderly and nonelderly homicides in the Canadian Prairies. Method: We examined data drawn from a study of 901 adult homicide offenders who were incarcerated or on parole between 1988 and 1992 in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Results: Of those studied, 67 men were convicted of homicide involving 79 elderly victims, and 671 were convicted of homicide involving 675 nonelderly victims. Most perpetrators were single and engaged in irregular patterns of employment at the time of their index offence. Fourteen (20.8%) offenders with elderly victims had a history of psychiatric treatment, compared with 98 (14.6%) offenders with nonelderly victims; however, this difference was not statistically significant. Approximately 30% of both groups were diagnosed with personality disorders. A comparison of the index-offence characteristics showed no significant differences between the 2 groups. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that elderly individuals are more likely to be killed in their own homes by strangers. Social isolation appears to be a significant risk factor in cases of elderly homicide.
Aluminum tolerance in maize is associated with higher MATE1 gene copy number

Genome structure variation, including copy number variation and presence/absence variation, comprises a large extent of maize genetic diversity; however, its effect on phenotypes remains largely unexplored. Here, we describe how copy number variation underlies a rare allele that contributes to maize aluminum (Al) tolerance. Al toxicity is the primary limitation for crop production on acid soils, which make up 50% of the world’s potentially arable lands. In a recombinant inbred line mapping population, copy number variation of the Al tolerance gene multidrug and toxic compound extrusion 1 (MATE1) is the basis for the quantitative trait locus of largest effect on phenotypic variation. This expansion in MATE1 copy number is associated with higher MATE1 expression, which in turn results in superior Al tolerance. The three MATE1 copies are identical and are part of a tandem triplication. Only three maize inbred lines carrying the three-copy allele were identified from maize and teosinte diversity panels, indicating that copy number variation for MATE1 is a rare, and quite likely recent, event. These maize lines with higher MATE1 copy number are also Al-tolerant, have high MATE1 expression, and originate from regions of highly acidic soils. Our findings show a role for copy number variation in the adaptation of maize to acidic soils in the tropics and suggest that genome structural changes may be a rapid evolutionary response to new environments.
Development and validation of an instrument for measuring Total Quality Service

Abstract Total Quality Service (TQS) is a comprehensive approach in which the various critical factors of total quality management are integrated and implemented in a service organization to achieve customer satisfaction. In the current industrial scenario, more studies have been conducted on the quality management practices in the manufacturing industries than the service industries. The critical dimensions of quality management from the management's perspective have not yet been addressed completely in the service organizations. Hence, to fill the void, the present research work has been conducted in the service industries with specific reference to the automobile service stations. After an extensive literature survey, this research work has identified 12 dimensions as critical for implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in service industries. The importance of each of these dimensions is discussed in detail. An instrument for measuring TQS with specific reference to automobile service stations has been developed. Data have been collected from executives of automobile service stations in a developing economy. The instrument has been empirically tested for unidimensionality, reliability and convergent validity using the confirmatory factor analysis approach. The research work has found that all 12 critical dimensions in the instrument are independent and highly correlated among themselves. The present research work explains the critical dimensions of TQS and their implementation in a service industry effectively.
Abnormal Resting-State Functional Connectivity of Insular Subregions and Disrupted Correlation with Working Memory in Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Objectives Executive function (EF) deficits are major impairments in adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Previous studies have shown that the insula is involved in cognitive and EFs. However, the insula is highly heterogeneous in function, and few studies have focused on functional networks which related to specific insular subregions in adults with ADHD. We explored the functional networks of the insular subregions [anterior insula (AI), mid-insula (MI), and posterior insula (PI)]. Furthermore, their correlations with self-ratings of ecological EFs, including inhibition, shifting, and working memory were investigated. Methods Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data in 28 adults with ADHD and 30 matched healthy controls (HCs) were analyzed. The seed-based resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) of the insular subregions was evaluated. We also investigated their associations with the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version (BRIEF-A) inhibition, working memory, and shifting factor scores. Results Compared with HCs, adults with ADHD showed altered RSFC of the AI, with the precuneus, precentral gyrus, and inferior temporal gyrus extended to the middle temporal gyrus, lingual gyrus, and superior occipital gyrus, respectively. There were no significant differences in RSFC of the MI and PI between the two groups. Within the HC group, working memory scores were associated with the RSFC of AI with precuneus and temporal gyrus. However, there was no correlation between these variables in the ADHD group. Conclusion The study evaluated RSFC patterns of the insular subregions in adults with ADHD for the first time. Altered RSFC of the AI which is a crucial region of salience network (SN) and part of regions in default mode network (DMN), were detected in adults with ADHD in both results with and without global signal regression (GSR), suggesting that disrupted SN-DMN functional connectivity may be involved in EF impairments in adults with ADHD, especially with respect to working memory. Deficits of the AI which is involved in salient stimuli allocation, might be associated with the pathophysiology of ADHD. The inconsistent results of MI and PI between analyses with and without GSR need further exploration.
Alterations in gamma-actin and tubulin-targeted drug resistance in childhood leukemia.

BACKGROUND Proteomic investigations have revealed alterations in cytoskeletal proteins expressed in human acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells that are resistant to microtubule-disrupting agents. We characterized gamma-actin expression in antimicrotubule drug-resistant leukemia and examined the effect of altered gamma-actin in resistance of acute lymphoblastic leukemia to antimicrotubule agents. METHODS Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry were used to identify actin proteins in human acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines resistant to vinblastine (CCRF-CEM/VLB100 cells) and desoxyepothilone B (CCRF-CEM/dEpoB140 cells). Fluorescence-based cycle sequencing was used to detect gene mutations. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to generate mutant gamma-actin expression plasmids, which were used to transfect mouse NIH/3T3 cells. Clonogenic analysis was used for drug sensitivity studies. A small interfering RNA (siRNA) was used to block gamma-actin gene expression in human neuroblastoma SH-EP cells. Expression of gamma-actin (normalized to that of beta2-microglobulin [beta2M]) in primary leukemia cells obtained from patients at diagnosis (n = 44) and relapse (n = 25) was examined using semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Statistical significance of changes in the ratio of gamma-actin to beta2M expression between diagnosis and relapse samples was determined by two-sided unpaired Student's t tests. RESULTS We identified novel mutant forms of gamma-actin and the concomitant loss of wild-type gamma-actin in CCRF-CEM/VLB100 cells and CCRF-CEM/dEpoB140 cells. Mouse NIH/3T3 cells that expressed the mutant gamma-actin proteins were more resistant to antimicrotubule agents than cells transfected with empty plasmid. Human neuroblastoma SH-EP cells transfected with gamma-actin siRNA displayed higher relative resistance to paclitaxel (P<.001), vinblastine (P = .04), and epothilone B (P = .045) than mock-transfected cells. No gamma-actin gene mutations were identified in 37 samples of primary leukemia cells (eight from patients at diagnosis, 29 from patients at relapse). Gamma-actin gene expression was lower in acute lymphoblastic leukemia samples collected at clinical relapse (n = 25; mean gamma-actin/beta2M = 0.53) than in samples collected at diagnosis (n = 44; mean gamma-actin/beta2M = 0.68; difference = 0.15, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.04 to 0.27, P = .01). CONCLUSIONS These data provide functional and associative clinical evidence of a novel form of drug resistance that involves interactions between gamma-actin and microtubules.
Multiattribute Utility Analysis: The Case of Filipino Rice Policy

Major uncertainties and conflicting objectives often arise in public policy analysis. This paper advances a framework that is appropriate for public policy problems frequently encountered in agriculture and food systems. Among other possible benefits, its principal value is to provide focus on the major conflicts, trade‐offs, and subjective perceptions among affected groups. It can be used to isolate major disagreements, needed empirical evidence, appropriate degrees of risk aversion, equity value judgments, and consensus solutions. In an empirical setting, the framework is used to evaluate price policy for rice in the Philippines.
Detection of Chlamydia pneumoniae in peripheral blood mononuclear cells: correlation with inflammation and atherosclerosis in haemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND Chlamydia pneumoniae has been implicated as an inflammatory agent in atherosclerosis. Clinical studies in this field have yielded conflicting results, which may have resulted from a lack of standardization for C.pneumoniae detection. We attempted to accurately estimate C.pneumoniae prevalence and to examine whether C.pneumoniae is associated with atherosclerosis and inflammation in haemodialysis (HD) patients. To do this, we assessed C.pneumoniae presence by a combination of methods and correlated its levels with inflammatory and atherosclerotic indexes in these patients. METHODS Chlamydia pneumoniae was identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in DNA extracted from cell cultures inoculated with patient buffy coats and by serum IgG antibodies against C.pneumoniae (IgGCp). Inflammation was assessed by C-reactive protein and serum amyloid A and atherosclerosis was evaluated from clinical and laboratory data. RESULTS Of the 130 patients, only nine had viable C.pneumoniae in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) while 64 had serum IgGCp. Although patients with viable C.pneumoniae had higher atherosclerotic scores, seropositive and negative patients showed similar scores. Patients with atherosclerosis exhibited higher inflammatory indexes. Neither patients with detectable C.pneumoniae in PBMCs nor seropositive subjects had higher inflammation than negative patients. CONCLUSIONS We found that viable C.pneumoniae in PBMCs, assessed by cell culture and PCR, was present in a small percentage of HD patients and was correlated with atherosclerosis. Seropositivity was much higher in HD patients but was not associated with viable C.pneumoniae or with atherosclerosis. Further studies in HD patients using high sensitivity and specificity methods in larger populations will be necessary to clarify the relationship between C.pneumoniae and atherosclerosis.
Effects of cone-induction treatments on black spruce (Picea mariana) current-year needle development and gas exchange properties.

Both drought and root pruning (RP) increased the number of cones induced when black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) grafts were injected with gibberellins A(4/7) (GA), but their effects on predawn shoot water potential and current-year needle development differed. Drought decreased predawn shoot water potential (Psi(pd)), but only during the period when irrigation was withheld, and it had no effect on the growth or gas exchange properties of current-year needles. Conversely, root pruning had little effect on Psi(pd), but it resulted in trees with smaller current-year needles that had lower nitrogen and chlorophyll concentrations and reduced rates of gas exchange up to the later stages of shoot elongation compared with needles of control trees. These findings are discussed in relation to potential effects on the development of induced cones in the following growth cycle.
Social capital as an instrument for common pool resource management: a case study of irrigation management in Sri Lanka

Although social capital is considered to be a key instrument for common pool resource (CPR) management, its effect among heterogenous players such as upstream and downstream farmers along an irrigation canal is not clear. Using a combination of lab-in-the-field experiments to measure social capital and household survey data in a unique natural experimental setting, this study shows that upstream farmers with higher trust toward the downstream farmers are more likely to be satisfied with their water usage. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that upstream farmers with higher trust demand less water and leave more water in a canal because they expect reciprocal behaviour from downstream farmers. Since the incentive structures of irrigation management closely resemble those of the standard experiments to measure social capital, this finding also provides a unique case study of the real-world relevance of these experiments.
Labour demand and efficiency in Swedish savings banks

The paper is concerned with the estimation of labour demand. The model is generalized to incorporate a variance function. A flexible translog functional form is used where the demand for labour is a function of wages, outputs, quasi-fixed inputs and a time variable. The variance function appears multiplicatively with the demand function and it accommodates both positive and negative marginal effects with respect to the determinants of employment. The model includes features of the usual panel data models. A multi-step procedure is used to estimate the parameters of the model. Focus is on the estimation of productivity and efficiency of labour in Swedish savings banks. The labour productivity and efficiency is defined in terms of a shift in the labour demand over time and the bank's distance from the labour demand frontier, respectively. Empirical results show that the average labour efficiency is about 96%.
Brokered Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Migrants in Japan

Faced with an aging workforce, Japanese firms are hiring foreign workers in ever-increasing numbers. In 1990 Japan's government began encouraging the migration of Nikkeijin (overseas Japanese) who are presumed to assimilate more easily than are foreign nationals without a Japanese connection. More than 250,000 Nikkeijin, mainly from Brazil, now work in Japan. The interactions between Nikkeijin and natives, says Joshua Hotaka Roth, play a significant role in the emergence of an increasingly multicultural Japan. He uses the experiences of Japanese Brazilians in Japan to illuminate the racial, cultural, linguistic, and other criteria groups use to distinguish themselves from one another. Roth's analysis is enriched by on-site observations at festivals, in factories, and in community centers, as well as by interviews with workers, managers, employment brokers, and government officials.Considered both "essentially Japanese" and "foreign," nikkeijin benefit from preferential immigration policy, yet face economic and political strictures that marginalize them socially and deny them membership in local communities. Although the literature on immigration tends to blame native blue-collar workers for tense relations with migrants, Roth makes a compelling case for a more complex definition of the relationships among class, nativism, and foreign labor. Brokered Homeland is enlivened by Roth's own experience: in Japan, he came to think of himself as nikkeijin, rather than as Japanese-American.
Rapid Method for Identification of Six Common Species of Mycobacteria Based on Multiplex SNP Analysis

ABSTRACT A multiplex method using the SNaPshot technique was developed to screen for six common mycobacterial species: Mycobacteria tuberculosis, M. avium, M. intracellulare, M. chelonae, M. kansasii, and M. gordonae. A total of 468 mycobacterial clinical isolates were subjected to analysis for the presence of the six mycobacterial species by the multiplex SNaPshot method. Of the 468 mycobacterial isolates, 464 (99.15%) could be correctly identified by this assay. The multiplex SNaPshot technique is a promising discriminatory tool for rapid and accurate identification of frequently encountered clinical mycobacterial species.
The Effect of Solicitation and Independence on Corporate Bond Ratings

Abstract: This comparison of solicited and independent bond rating agencies performance reveals that the ratings assigned by Moody's and Standard & Poor's are consistently lower than those assigned by Duff and Phelps and Fitch IBCA and are consistently higher than those assigned by MCM. While Moody's and S&P generally downgrade bond ratings sooner than Duff and Phelps and Fitch IBCA, the four major agencies upgrade at the same time. Moody's tends to have a higher upgrade magnitude than Duff and Phelps, but the downgrade magnitudes do not differ. MCM upgrades its ratings more quickly than either Moody's or S&P. The results give support to the timeliness and accuracy of ratings provided by the independent agencies. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2004.
Scale Economies and Industry Agglomeration Externalities: A Dynamic Cost Function Approach

Scale economies and agglomeration externalities are alleged to be important determinants of economic growth. To assess these effects, the authors outline and estimate a microfoundations model based on a dynamic cost function specification. This model provides for the separate identification of the impacts of externalities and cyclical utilization on short- and long-run scale economies and input substitution patterns. The authors find that scale economies are prevalent in U.S manufacturing; cost savings and scale effects often attributed to internal inputs may be due to external factors; and supply-side agglomeration effects are greater than demand-side, especially in the long run.