Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Families and family policies in Europe

* List of Figures and Tables Part One: Constructing and Deconstructing the Family * Statistical Definitions of the Family * Institutional Definitions of the Family * Public Policy Definitions of the Family * Sociological Definitions of the Family Part Two: The Family-Employment Relationship * Conceptualising Women's and Mother's Employment * The Relationship Between Women's Paid and Unpaid Work * Policies for Women and Mothers as Paid Workers Part Three: From Social Policies to Family Policies * Family Policy Making in Europe * The Family Impact of Social Policies * Integrating European Families and Family Policies * Bibliography * Index
The outlook for airport finance: How forecasting techniques can adapt to reflect changeable market conditions

In this paper, the author discusses current global market trends and ways in which demand forecasting techniques can enhance the overall business planning process. While there are many ways to approach forecasting and it is a challenge to determine one approach's ability to predict the future over another, the author suggests that risk should be considered explicitly and key drivers influencing demand should be understood. Enhancing the transparency of the forecasting process can allow for a more considered view of the implications, which can then provide the basis for more informed judgement in decision making. Among the questions to be asked when considering the ways in which demand forecasting techniques can respond to the overall business planning process, the author specifies three: 1) what is the current outlook in demand for air travel? ; 2) what are the key issues which forecasting needs to consider? and 3) how do we best manage the risks inherent in any future forecast?
A Mechanistic Study of Enhanced Doxorubicin Uptake and Retention in Multidrug Resistant Breast Cancer Cells Using a Polymer-Lipid Hybrid Nanoparticle System

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the potential of a polymer-lipid hybrid nanoparticle (PLN) system to enhance cellular accumulation and retention of doxorubicin (Dox), a widely used anticancer drug and an established P-glycoprotein (Pgp) substrate, in Pgp-overexpressing cancer cell lines and to explore the underlying mechanisms. Nanoparticles containing Dox complexed with a novel anionic polymer (Dox-PLN) were prepared using an ultrasound method. Two Pgp-overexpressing breast cancer cell lines (a human cell line, MDA435/LCC6/MDR1, and a mouse cell line, EMT6/AR1) were used to investigate the effect of nanoparticles on cellular uptake and retention of Dox. Endocytosis inhibition studies and fluorescence microscopic imaging were performed to elucidate the mechanisms of cellular drug uptake. Treatment of Pgp-overexpressing cell lines with Dox-PLNs resulted in significantly enhanced Dox uptake and more substantial increases in drug retention after the end of treatment compared with free Dox solutions (p < 0.05). Fluorescence microscopic images showed improved nuclear localization of Dox and uptake of lipid when the drug was delivered in the Dox-PLN form to MDA435/LCC6/MDR1 cells. Endocytosis inhibition studies revealed that phagocytosis is an important pathway in the membrane permeability of the nanoparticles. These findings suggest that some of the Dox physically associated with the nanoparticles bypass the membrane-associated Pgp when delivered as Dox-PLNs, and in this form, the drug is better retained within the Pgp-overexpressing cells than the free drug. The present study suggests a new mechanism for overcoming drug resistance in Pgp-overexpressing tumor cells using lipid-based nanoparticle formulations.
IntelligenTester - Software Test Sequence Optimization Using Graph Based Intelligent Search Agent

Software testing plays a vital role in quality software development. Usually, the number of test cases required to develop error-free software, will be very high. Since, exhaustive testing is not possible; the test cases that we need to generate should be optimal and also should cover the entire software and reveal as many errors as possible. In the proposed approach, the intelligent search agent (ISA) will take the decision of optimized test sequences by searching through the SUT, which is represented as a graph in which each node is associated with a heuristic value and each edge is associated with an edge weight. The intelligent agent will find the best sequence by following the nodes that satisfy the fitness criteria and generates the optimized test sequences from the set of all test paths of the SUT. Finally, we compared ISA with ACO and proved that ISA is taking less time and cost in generating optimal test sequences.
Essays on Economic Integration and Labour Demand

By using theoretical model and empirical analysis, we investigate the effects of economic integration on the elasticity of labour demand with own price. Using a general theoretical model of intra-industry trade, we analyze how economic integration changes labour-demand elasticity. We show that intensified trade competition increases labourdemand elasticity, whereas better advantage of economies of scale decreases the elasticity of labour demand by decreasing the elasticity of substitution between differentiated products. If integration gives rise to an increase in input-substitutability and/or outsourcing activities, labour demand will become more elastic. We test the idea of whether European integration has changed labour-demand elasticities in Finland using data from the manufacturing sector from 1975 to 2002. Overall, the results provide support for the hypothesis that economic integration has contributed to increased elasticities of total labour demand.
Biopersistent Granular Dust and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective Applying a systematic review to identify studies eligible for meta-analysis of the association between occupational exposure to inorganic dust and the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and conducting a meta-analysis. Data Sources Searches of PubMed and Embase for the time period 1970–2010 yielded 257 cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on people exposed to inorganic dust at the workplace with data on lung function. These studies were independently abstracted and evaluated by two authors; any disagreement was resolved by a third reviewer. Of 55 publications accepted for meta-analysis, 27 investigated the effects of occupational exposure to biopersistent granular dust (bg-dust). Methods A random effects meta-analysis allowed us to provide an estimate of the average exposure effect on spirometric parameters presented in forest plots. Between-study heterogeneity was assessed by using I2 statistics, with I2>25% indicating significant heterogeneity. Publication bias was investigated by visual inspection of funnel plots. The influence of individual studies was assessed by dropping the respective study before pooling study-specific estimates. Results The mean FEV1 of workers exposed to bg-dust was 160 ml lower or 5.7% less than predicted compared to workers with no/low exposure. The risk of an obstructive airway disease—defined as FEV1/FVC < 70%—increased by 7% per 1 mg· m-3 respirable bg-dust. Conclusion Occupational inhalative exposure to bg-dust was associated with a statistically significant decreased FEV1 and FEV1/FVC revealing airway obstruction consistent with COPD.
State Health Insurance Mandates, Consumer Directed Health Plans and Health Savings Accounts: Are They a Panacea for Small Businesses?

Small firms in the United States that seek to offer health insurance to their employees have historically reported problems with the availability and affordability of their options. The cost of health insurance has been the primary concern of small business owners for several decades. This paper examines the effect to date of two types of policy initiatives that could have substantial benefits for small business: state health insurance mandates and key components of CDHPs-HSAs, HRAs and high deductible health plans. It summarizes the key policy issues, reviews existing research evidence on the effect of these initiatives on small business and offer some conclusions for policymakers.
NGOs and Corporations: Conflict and Collaboration

Acknowledgements List of tables List of figures Preface Part I. Understanding NGOs: 1. Classifying NGOs: definitions, typologies and networks 2. The emergence of NGOs in the context of business-government - societal relationships 3. The emergence of NGOs in the context of ethical and institutional complexity Case illustration: genetically modified organisms, social movements and NGOs Case illustration: protecting the people: environmental NGOs and TXU energy Part II. NGO Advocacy Campaigns: 4. NGO campaigns against corporations and (de-) legitimacy 5. How do they do it? Understanding the power and influence of radical advocacy NGOs 6. NGO campaign types and company responses Case illustration: PETA and KFC Case illustration: Coca-Cola in India Part III. NGO-Corporate Engagement: 7. Corporate-NGO engagements: from conflict to collaboration 8. Globalization, multinationals and NGOs: the next wave Case illustration: conflict diamonds Case illustration: Unilever in Indonesia Case illustration: microfinance and poverty reduction Part IV. The Future of Corporate-NGO Relations: 9. The future of corporate-NGO relations Index.
Education and Unemployment: State Dependence in Unemployment Among Young People in the 1990s

This study examines the labour market careers of young people who finished their studies or left compulsory schooling in 1988. The main issue of interest is the impact of past unemployment on current unemployment. The results strongly suggest a sizeable scarring effect of the incidence of unemployment on future labour market possibilities. The impact is estimated of being some 20 percentage points, on average, in terms of unemployment probability. When differentiated by the level of education, the results show that only university graduates were relatively immune to the damaging long-term effects of unemployment.
Is attributing smoking to genetic causes associated with a reduced probability of quit attempt success? A cohort study

Aims Pharmacogenetic smoking cessation interventions would involve smokers being given information about the influence of genes on their behaviour. However, attributing smoking to genetic causes may reduce perceived control over smoking, reducing quit attempt success. This study examines whether attributing smoking to genetic influences is associated with reduced quitting and whether this effect is mediated by perceived control over smoking. Design Cohort study. Participants A total of 792 smokers, participating in a trial of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT)-assisted smoking cessation. Participants were informed that the trial investigated relationships between genetic markers and smoking behaviour, but personalized genetic feedback was not provided. Setting Primary care in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, UK. Measurements Perceived control over smoking and perceived importance of genetic factors in causing smoking assessed pre-quit; abstinence 4, 12, 26 and 52 weeks after the start of treatment. Findings A total of 515 smokers (65.0%) viewed genetic factors as playing some role in causing their smoking. They had lower perceived control over smoking than smokers who viewed genetic factors as having no role in causing their smoking. Attributing smoking to genetic causes was not associated significantly with a lower probability of quit attempt success. Conclusions Attributing smoking to genetic factors was associated with lower levels of perceived control over smoking but not lower quit rates. This suggests that learning of one's genetic predisposition to smoking during a pharmacogenetically tailored smoking cessation intervention may not deter quitting. Further research should examine whether the lack of impact of genetic attributions on quit attempt success is also found in smokers provided with personalized genetic feedback.
A hybrid approach for cooperative output regulation with sampled compensator

This work investigates the cooperative output regulation problem of linear multi-agent systems with hybrid sampled data control. Due to the limited data sensing and communication, in many practical situations, only sampled data are available for the cooperation of multi-agent systems. To overcome this problem, a distributed hybrid controller is presented for the cooperative output regulation, and cooperative output regulation is achieved by well designed state feedback law. Then it proposed a method for the designing of sampled data controller to solve the cooperative output regulation problem with continuous linear systems and discrete-time communication data. Finally, numerical simulation example for cooperative tracking and a simulation example for optimal control of micro-grids are proposed to illustrate the result of the sampled data control law.
Early Myocardial Repolarization Heterogeneity Is Detected by Magnetocardiography in Diabetic Patients with Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Multi-channel magnetocardiography (MCG) is a sensitive technique to map spatial ventricular repolarization with high resolution and reproducibility. Spatial ventricular repolarization heterogeneity measured by MCG has been shown to accurately detect and localize myocardial ischemia. Here, we explored whether these measurements correlated with cardiovascular risk factors in patients with type 2 diabetes. Two hundreds and seventy-seven type 2 diabetic patients without known coronary artery disease (CAD) and arrhythmia were recruited consecutively from the outpatient clinic of National Taiwan University Hospital. The spatially distributed QTc contour maps were constructed with 64-channel MCG using the superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) system. Indices of myocardial repolarization heterogeneity including the smoothness index of QTc (SI-QTc) and QTc dispersion were derived and analyzed for association with conventional cardiovascular risk factors. SI-QTc correlated strongly with the QTc dispersion (r = 0.70, p <0.0001). SI-QTc was significantly higher in patients with presence of metabolic syndrome in comparison to those without metabolic syndrome (8.56 vs. 7.96 ms, p = 0.02). In univariate correlation analyses, QTc dispersion was associated with smoking status (average 79.90, 83.83, 86.51, and 86.00 ms for never smokers, ex-smokers, current smokers reporting less than 10 cigarettes daily, and current smoker reporting more than 10 cigarettes daily, respectively, p = 0.03), body weight (r = 0.15, p = 0.01), and hemoglobin A1c (r = 0.12, p = 0.04). In stepwise multivariate regression analyses, QTc dispersion was associated with smoking (p = 0.02), body weight (p = 0.04), total cholesterol levels (p = 0.05), and possibly estimated glomerular filtration rate (p = 0.07). In summary, spatial heterogeneity of myocardial repolarization measured by MCG is positively associated cardiovascular risk factors including adiposity, smoking, and total cholesterol levels.
Finite sample properties of estimators of spatial autoregressive models with autoregressive disturbances

Abstract. The article investigates the finite sample properties of estimators for spatial autoregressive models where the disturbance terms may follow a spatial autoregressive process. In particular we investigate the finite sample behavior of the feasible generalized spatial two-stage least squares (FGS2SLS) estimator introduced by Kelejian and Prucha (1998), the maximum likelihood (ML) estimator, as well as that of several other estimators. We find that the FGS2SLS estimator is virtually as efficient as the ML estimator. This is important because the ML estimator is computationally burdensome, and may even be forbidding in large samples, while the FGS2SLS estimator remains computationally feasible in large samples.
Test Inspected Unit or Inspect Unit Tested Code?

Code inspection and unit testing are two popular fault- detecting techniques at unit level. Organizations where inspections are done generally supplement it with unit testing, as both are complementary. A natural question is the order in which the two techniques should be exercised as this may impact the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the verification process. In this paper, we present a controlled experiment comparing the two execution-orders, namely, code inspection followed by unit testing (CI-UT) and unit testing followed by code inspection (UT-CI), performed by a group of fresh software engineers in a company. The subjects inspected program-units by traversing a set of usage scenarios and applied unit testing by writing JUnit tests for the same. Our results showed that unit testing can be more effective, as well as more efficient, if applied after code inspection whereas the later is unaffected of the execution- order. Overall results suggest that sequence CI-UT performs better than UT-CI in time-constrained situations.
A mathematical model of the urine concentrating mechanism in the rat renal medulla. II. Functional implications of three-dimensional architecture.

In a companion study [Layton AT. A mathematical model of the urine concentrating mechanism in the rat renal medulla. I. Formulation and base-case results. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. (First published November 10, 2010). 10.1152/ajprenal.00203. 2010] a region-based mathematical model was formulated for the urine concentrating mechanism in the renal medulla of the rat kidney. In the present study, we investigated model sensitivity to some of the fundamental structural assumptions. An unexpected finding is that the concentrating capability of this region-based model falls short of the capability of models that have radially homogeneous interstitial fluid at each level of only the inner medulla (IM) or of both the outer medulla and IM, but are otherwise analogous to the region-based model. Nonetheless, model results reveal the functional significance of several aspects of tubular segmentation and heterogeneity: 1) the exclusion of ascending thin limbs that reach into the deep IM from the collecting duct clusters in the upper IM promotes urea cycling within the IM; 2) the high urea permeability of the lower IM thin limb segments allows their tubular fluid urea content to equilibrate with the surrounding interstitium; 3) the aquaporin-1-null terminal descending limb segments prevent water entry and maintain the transepithelial NaCl concentration gradient; 4) a higher thick ascending limb Na(+) active transport rate in the inner stripe augments concentrating capability without a corresponding increase in energy expenditure for transport; 5) active Na(+) reabsorption from the collecting duct elevates its tubular fluid urea concentration. Model calculations predict that these aspects of tubular segmentation and heterogeneity promote effective urine concentrating functions.
Subsidized Contraception, Fertility, and Sexual Behavior

We examine the impact of recent state-level Medicaid policy changes that expanded eligibility for family planning services to higher-income women and to Medicaid clients whose benefits would expire otherwise. We show that the income-based policy change reduced overall births to non-teens by about 2 and to teens by over 4; estimates suggest a decline of 9 among newly eligible women. The reduction in fertility appears to have been accomplished via greater use of contraception. Our calculations indicate that allowing higher-income women to receive federally funded family planning cost on the order of 6,800 for each averted birth.
The stellar content of the ring in NGC 660

We present the results of stellar photometry of the polar-ring galaxy NGC 660 using the Hubble Space Telescope's archival data obtained with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. The final list of the resolved stars contains 550 objects, a considerable part of which are blue and red supergiants belonging to the polar ring. The analysis of the Colour-Magnitude Diagram for polar ring stars shows that it is best represented by the isochrones with metallicity Z = 0.008. The process of star formation in the polar ring was continuous and the age of the youngest detected stars is about 7 Myr.
Two Concepts of the Output Gap

Two alternative concepts of the output gap, Keynesian and monetarist, can be distinguished. When they use the phrase, economists should make clear which concept is under discussion. The first concept, developed by Okun in the early 1960s, defines the output gap relative to a full employment notion of output. It was a standard part of the Keynesian policy toolkit in the 1960s and 1970s, and was associated with the active use of fiscal policy to promote full employment. As stated by Okun, the gap takes only positive values and these values rise with unemployment. The second concept, which is derived from Friedmanâ€™s 1967 accelerationist hypothesis, defines the output gap relative to the natural-rate-of-unemployment level of output. It takes both positive and negative values, and, following the lead of the international research organizations (the OECD and the IMF), an above-trend level of output is said to define a â€˜positive output gapâ€™ and a beneath-trend level a â€˜negative output gapâ€™.
Multicommodity max-flow min-cut theorems and their use in designing approximation algorithms

In this paper, we establish max-flow min-cut theorems for several important classes of multicommodity flow problems. In particular, we show that for any n-node multicommodity flow problem with uniform demands, the max-flow for the problem is within an O(log n) factor of the upper bound implied by the min-cut. The result (which is existentially optimal) establishes an important analogue of the famous 1-commodity max-flow min-cut theorem for problems with multiple commodities. The result also has substantial applications to the field of approximation algorithms. For example, we use the flow result to design the first polynomial-time (polylog n-times-optimal) approximation algorithms for well-known NP-hard optimization problems such as graph partitioning, min-cut linear arrangement, crossing number, VLSI layout, and minimum feedback arc set. Applications of the flow results to path routing problems, network reconfiguration, communication in distributed networks, scientific computing and rapidly mixing Markov chains are also described in the paper. Categories and Subject Descriptors: F.2. 2 (Analysis of Algorithms and Problem Complexity):