Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Space, sanctity and service: the English Cathedral as heterotopia

The 43 Anglican Diocesan cathedrals in England attract in excess of 30 million tourist visitors per year, but also function as museums, centres for pilgrimage and foci for the performing arts. This paper examines the complex nature of the experience offered by cathedrals to their visitors, which often generates difficulties associated with sites that may be viewed as interfaces between the sacred and the profane. It also identifies the problems presented by the requirement to earn revenue from visitors (especially by charging admission) when still offering facilities for worship, prayer or meditation. The model adopted is Foucault's concept of sacred space as heterotopia (a ritual space that exists out of time). It is argued that difficulties over admissions charges are not simply straightforward reluctance to pay up, but intrinsically related to the nature of the spiritual experience expected and received by visitors to cathedrals, whether consciously or not. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A problematic transition to a strategic role: human resource management in industrial enterprises in China

The Chinese government has launched extensive reforms to encourage integration with the global economy. Our research investigates the implications for human resource management practices of the changing business environment in China, ownership of organizations, organizational strategies and strategic integration of the HR function. We conducted two surveys in major Chinese cities in 1994/5 and 2001/2, with managers of state-owned, privately owned, collectively owned and foreign-invested enterprises. Regression analyses showed that organizational strategy and organizational ownership, in contrast with earlier research, were not found to be strong predictors of HRM practices. The changing business environment in China and participation by the HR function in strategic decision-making were the strongest predictors of HRM practices. Overall, a strategic role for the HR function and implementation of ‘Western’ HRM practices are becoming more prevalent in China, although the legacy of traditional practices endures and new challenges are emerging.
Buying support and regime change: the evolution of Polish attitudes towards the EU and voting between accession and 2008

Positive assessments of what entry to the European Union (EU) meant for Poland and for Poles increased after the 2003 vote to join and dramatically so after accession. Analysis of panel data from 2003 and 2008 shows the increase in positive assessments is related to the size of EU transfers and to increases in personal income, particularly for assessments of personal benefits. The attitude changes are also related to variables associated with individuals mostly likely to benefit from greater access to the larger Europe. The positive EU attitudes on both dimensions are related to votes for the pro-EU party that came into office in the 2007 election. In this way, the benefits from entry ‘bought’ more favorable attitudes and a more favorable government for the EU.
Aloe arborescens Extract Protects IMR-32 Cells against Alzheimer Amyloid Beta Peptide via Inhibition of Radical Peroxide Production

Aloe arborescens is commonly used as a pharmaceutical ingredient for its effect in burn treatment and ability to increase skin wound healing properties. Besides, it is well known to have beneficial phytotherapeutic, anticancer, and radio-protective properties. In this study, we first provided evidence that A. arborescens extract protects IMR32, a neuroblastoma human cellular line, from toxicity induced by beta amyloid, the peptide responsible for Alzheimer's disease. In particular, pretreatment with A. arborescens maintains an elevated cell viability and exerts a protective effect on mitochondrial functionality, as evidenced by oxygen consumption experiments. The protective mechanism exerted by A. arborescens seems be related to lowering of oxidative potential of the cells, as demonstrated by the ROS measurement compared with the results obtained in the presence of amyloid beta (1–42) peptide alone. Based on these preliminary observations we suggest that use of A. arborescens extract could be developed as agents for the management of AD.
The Effects Of Exchange Rate Liberalization In Kenya On French Beans Exports

The adoption of a floating exchange rate system in Kenya was an effort to make it more aligned to the market determined equilibrium rate. However, there is limited empirical evidence that success has since been achieved in realizing the objective for which the foreign exchange market was liberalized. The exports of French beans are one of the leading contributors to foreign exchange earnings in Kenya. Nevertheless, the economic impacts of exchange rate liberalization on French beans exports in Kenya are unclear. This paper evaluates the magnitude and direction of the effects of exchange rate liberalization on French beans exports from Kenya to its major trading partners in the European Union. Monthly data for a fixed exchange regime represented by the period from 1990-1993 and a flexible regime represented by the period from 1994-2011 was used in the estimation of an export demand model. The empirical results show that the liberalization of the exchange rate led to an increase in the French beans export volumes from Kenya to the European Union. The paper recommends that, even if the Kenyan exchange rate system is flexible, exchange rate stability is necessary to avoid adverse effects of exchange rate volatility on French beans exports. Therefore, stability of the exchange rate is needed, not at a fixed level but by controlling exchange rate volatility using the exchange rate target band.
The Impact of Vote Differentiation on Investment Performance in Listed Family Firms

This article investigates the effects of separation of ownership and control because of vote differentiation on listed family firms’ investment performance. The authors study the question of whether family-controlled firms have better investment performance than nonfamily firms and whether this investment performance is negatively affected by a separation of ownership and control because of vote differentiation. Marginal q is used as a performance measure. The empirical analysis shows that family control has a positive impact on investment performance when ownership and control are aligned, whereas separation of ownership and control in terms of vote-differentiated shares reduce investment performance.
Stationary Ramsey Equilibria under Uncertainty

Abstract Deterministic dynamic equilibrium models with borrowing constraints and heterogeneous agents exhibit stationary solutions where the most patient household owns the economy's capital stock. An example shows that this result does not carry over to stationary stochastic environments. We prove, under some conditions, the existence of a stationary rational expectations equilibrium in two related setups. The first is the existence of a stationary Nash equilibrium where each agent's payoff depends on his capital process and the capital processes of the remaining agents. The second existence theorem applies to a stationary competitive equilibrium model.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Numbers: E13, E21, D80.
Economies of scale in the Swiss hydropower sector

The study considers the estimation of a translog cost function employing panel data for a sample of 43 Swiss hydropower companies, over the period of 1995 to 2002. The results of this analysis indicate the existence of economies of scale and density for most output levels. The basic novelty in this study is the estimation of a cost function for a sample of hydropower companies. In the economic literature, no study on the cost structure of the hydropower plants using an econometric approach has been published so far.
Land concentration and accumulation after redistributive reform in post-settler Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe's recent fast-track land reform was redistributive, but it retained significant enclaves of large-scale agro-industrial estates owned by transnational, domestic and state capital, despite unfulfilled popular and domestic elite demands for land. Such estates were encouraged by the state to produce agro-fuel (ethanol from sugar), sugar, tea, coffee, timber and citrus, with wildlife ranching for domestic and export markets, alongside expanded small food producers. This outcome reflects the unresolved contradictions of seeking autonomous development in the context of sanctions, domestic political polarisation and declining agricultural production, while promoting reintegration into broader world markets. Neoliberal policies replaced dirigisme by 2008 to promote stabilisation and agricultural recovery but with limited impact. Foreign agricultural investment in Zimbabwe is nonetheless atypical of the current neoliberal land grabbing in Africa, since Zimbabwe reversed past inequalities and retains some state autonomy, and residual land concentration remains contested.
The ExPortal: an organelle dedicated to the biogenesis of secreted proteins in Streptococcus pyogenes

The Gram‐positive pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes secretes proteins through the ExPortal, a unique single microdomain of the cellular membrane specialized to contain the Sec translocons. It has been proposed that the ExPortal functions as an organelle to promote the biogenesis of secreted proteins by coordinating interactions between nascent unfolded secretory proteins and membrane‐associated chaperones. In this study we provide evidence to support this model. It was found that HtrA (DegP), a surface anchored accessory factor required for maturation of the secreted SpeB cysteine protease, was localized exclusively to the ExPortal. Furthermore, the ATP synthase β subunit was not localized to the ExPortal, suggesting that retention is likely restricted to a specific subset of exported proteins. Mutations that disrupted the anchoring, but not the protease activity, of HtrA, also altered the maturation kinetics of SpeB demonstrating that localization to the ExPortal was important for HtrA function. These data indicate that the ExPortal provides a mechanism by which Gram‐positive bacteria can coordinate protein secretion and subsequent biogenesis in the absence of a specialized protein‐folding compartment.
Assessment of calcium intake by adolescents

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the daily calcium intake of adolescents in schools from Chapecó, Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil, to check if calcium intake is in accordance with the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI), and to investigate variables associated with daily calcium intake. METHODS: Cross-sectional study approved by the Institutional Review Board and developed in 2010. Students of the 8th grade completed questionnaires with personal data and questions about the calcium-rich foods intake frequency. In order to compare students with adequate (1300mg) or inadequate intake of calcium/day (<1300mg), parametric and nonparametric tests were used. RESULTS: A total of 214 students with a mean age of 14.3±1.0 years were enrolled. The median daily calcium intake was 540mg (interquartile range - IQ: 312-829mg) and only 25 students (11.7%) had calcium intake within the recommendations of the DRI for age. Soft drink consumption ≥3 times/week was associated with a lower intake of calcium. CONCLUSIONS: Few students ingested adequate levels of calcium for the age group. It is necessary to develop a program to encourage a greater intake of calcium-rich foods in adolescence.
Alignment of State Assessments and Higher Education Expectations: Definition and Utilization of an Alignment Index

This study developed a quantitative methodology of alignment between standards and assessments. Such methodology adopted three dimensions to define the criteria of alignment: range, depth, and balance of content match. These three criteria, which involve a revised and expanded version of the main categories and criteria currently used in salient alignment methodologies, are the minimum and sufficient concepts necessary to characterize the process of alignment between standards and assessments in the content focus category. This methodology also includes the construction of an index of alignment as a mathematical function that is a linear combination of the three alignment criteria adopted. A software program was developed to prototype possible indices (formulas) of alignment. Additionally, small computational programs were developed to manipulate the different alignment criteria and the index itself. Several graphical representations were created to show results in a visual manner. As a result, an index was adopted that complied with required internal mathematical structure, the logical inferences about its function, and its performance using actual data. This alignment index was utilized to measure the alignment between a set of higher education expectations (standards suggested by a consortium of higher education institutions in the US) and selected state assessments across the country. Twenty-seven state tests were selected and analyzed to determine their alignment with higher education expectations. The alignment was carried out in mathematics and English language subject matters for each state test. In general terms, the raters (from 4 to 6) found that the university expectations in English language are more cognitively demanding than the state tests. The raters also found that the state tests in mathematics are almost equally cognitively demanding than the higher education expectations in this subject matter. Results showed, on the one hand, that there were substantial differences in the index of alignment between all state tests and university expectations in English language. On the other hand, there were small differences in the index of alignment for mathematics tests. However, in both subject matters, most state tests obtained total indices of alignment slightly below 0.50, which is considered moderate to low. The levels of the total index of alignment correlated with NAEP scores of the states studied. These results provided validity evidence for the methodology.
Client Risk Factors and Audit Resource Allocation Decisions

While contemporary auditing standards such as ISA 315 provide broad categories of client risks, prior research regarding audit resource allocation decisions has been based on individual client risks. This study contributes to the literature by using factor analysis to examine how individual client risks are categorized into broad risk factors and by examining the extent to which such broad risk factors are associated with audit engagement planning decisions. These issues are important because auditing standards direct auditors to consider risk patterns and interrelationships in addition to individual risks. Finally, we consider additional individual client risks that reflect those relevant to contemporaneous audit approaches and have not been examined in prior studies. Based on archival data extracted from the working papers of 228 clients of a Japanese audit firm, we find that individual client risks empirically group together in a way that is similar to categories discussed in recent auditing standards. We also find significant relationships between audit resource allocation decisions and broad risk factors that have not been found in prior studies which use individual risk assessments in their models. Finally, we find that client risks that are emphasized in holistic audit approaches such as aggressiveness of forecasts and industry decline also have a significant impact on audit resource allocations.
Tradeoffs in Staying Close: Corporate Decision-Making and Geographic Dispersion

We investigate whether the geographic dispersion of a firm affects corporate decision making. Our findings suggest that social factors work alongside informational considerations to make geography important to corporate decisions. We show that (i) geographically dispersed firms are less employee friendly; (ii) dismissals of divisional employees are less common in divisions located closer to corporate headquarters; and (iii) firms appear to adopt a “pecking order” and divest out-of-state entities before those in-state. To explain these findings, we consider both information and social factors. We find that firms are more likely to protect proximate employees in soft information industries (i.e., when information is difficult to transfer over long distances). However, employee protection holds only when the headquarters is located in a less populated county, suggesting a role for social factors. Additionally, stock markets respond favorably to divestitures of in-state divisions.
Proline Betaine Uptake in Sinorhizobium meliloti: Characterization of Prb, an Opp-Like ABC Transporter Regulated by both Proline Betaine and Salinity Stress

ABSTRACT Sinorhizobium meliloti uses proline betaine (PB) as an osmoprotectant when osmotically stressed and as an energy source in low-osmolarity environments. To fulfill this dual function, two separate PB transporters, BetS and Hut, that contribute to PB uptake at high and low osmolarity, respectively, have been previously identified. Here, we characterized a novel transport system that mediates the uptake of PB at both high and low osmolarities. Sequence analysis of Tn5-luxAB chromosomal insertions from several PB-inducible mutants has revealed the presence of a four-gene locus encoding the components of an ABC transporter, Prb, which belongs to the oligopeptide permease (Opp) family. Surprisingly, prb mutants were impaired in their ability to transport PB, and oligopeptides were not shown to be competitors for PB uptake. Further analysis of Prb specificity has shown its ability to take up other quaternary ammonium compounds such as choline and, to a lesser extent, glycine betaine. Interestingly, salt stress and PB were found to control prb expression in a positive and synergistic way and to increase Prb transport activity. At low osmolarity, Prb is largely implicated in PB uptake by stationary-phase cells, likely to provide PB as a source of carbon and nitrogen. Furthermore, at high osmolarity, the analysis of prb and betS single and double mutants demonstrated that Prb, together with BetS, is a key system for protection by PB.
Trends in Serious Infections in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective. To examine trends in the rates of serious infections among patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 1995–2007 compared to rates previously reported from the same geographical area diagnosed 1955–1994. Methods. A population-based inception cohort of patients with RA in 1995–2007 was assembled and followed through their complete medical records until death, migration, or December 31, 2008. All serious infections (requiring hospitalization or intravenous antibiotics) were recorded. Person-year (py) methods were used to compare rates of infection. Results. Among 464 patients with incident RA in 1995–2007, 54 had ≥ 1 serious infection (178 total). These were compared to 609 patients with incident RA in 1955–1994 (290 experienced ≥ 1 serious infection; 740 total). The rate of serious infections declined from 9.6 per 100 py in the 1955–1994 cohort to 6.6 per 100 py in the 1995–2007 cohort. Serious gastrointestinal (GI) infection rates increased from 0.5 per 100 py in the 1955–1994 cohort to 1.25 per 100 py in the 1995–2007 cohort. Among patients with a history of serious infection, the rate of subsequent infection increased from 16.5 per 100 py in 1955–1994 to 37.4 per 100 py in 1995–2007. There was an increase in the rate of serious infections in patients who received biologic agents, but this did not reach significance. Conclusion. Aside from GI infections, the rate of serious infections in patients with RA has declined in recent years. However, the rate of subsequent infections was higher in recent years than previously reported.
Margin Trading, Overpricing, and Synchronization Risk

We provide experimental evidence that relaxing margin restrictions to allow more short selling can exacerbate overpricing, even though it reduces equilibrium price levels. This is because smart-money traders initially profit more by front-running optimistic investor sentiment than by disciplining prices. When short selling is not possible, competitive pressures among arbitrageurs rapidly drive prices to the equilibrium. However, the risk of margin calls slows the convergence process, because arbitrageurs who sell short too early face substantial losses if they are unable to synchronize their trades with other arbitrageurs (as in Abreu and Brunnermeier. 2002. Journal of Financial Economics 66(2--3):341--60; 2003. Econometrica 71(1):173--204). The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org. , Oxford University Press.
Are there asymmetries in UK Consumption? A time series analysis

In this paper we use time series techniques in order to test for asymmetric dynamics in UK consumption. The notion that fluctuation over the business cycle are asymmetric has been put forward at various times in the last century. Nevertheless, the most common representations of aggregate time series in macroeconomies are usually smooth and sluggish. The use of time series methods should be considered as only the first stage of an empirical investigation of asymmetries. It is also essential to develop economic models of asymmetric behaviour and to employ tests of asymmetric adjustment at the level structural realtionship.
How Government Structure Encourages Criminal Violence: The causes of Mexico's Drug War

This work advances a theory about corruption, criminal organizations, and violence to show how political institutions set incentives and constraints that lead criminal organizations behave, organize, compromise or fight one another. It is my argument that the propensity of criminal groups to deploy violence increases when formal or informal political institutions are decentralized because violent criminal organizations are less likely to be punished. Under decentralized institutional environments, understood here as those in which different levels of government fail to act cohesively as a single decision-making body, corruption agreements with one government inhibit law enforcement operations conducted by another. As a result, belligerent criminal organizations that would otherwise be punished remain untouched. My argument sheds light on why many criminal organizations are able to operate profitably without major episodes of violence, and illuminates the causes of Mexico’s large increases in drug–related violence. A formal model (Chapter 2), an analytical narrative (Chapter 3), and an empirical test (Chapter 4 and 5) show that Mexican drug trafficking organizations increased their propensity to engage in injurious behavior only recently, responding to incentives set by political decentralization that inhibited Mexico’s federal government from controlling the actions of its local governments, and thus from limiting trafficker’s propensity to battle for turf.
Inflation in Mozambique: empirical facts based on persistence, seasonality and breaks

This article investigates inflation in Mozambique using long-range dependence (LRD) techniques in monthly data from December 1995 to October 2012. Two important features of the data are analysed: persistence and seasonality, looking at aggregated and disaggregated data. The stability of the parameters across the sample is also investigated. The results indicate a high degree of persistence in the data along with a strong seasonal pattern. Policy implications are discussed.