Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Entrepreneurship from Scratch

This paper exploits the rapid rise in self-employment rates in post-communist Eastern Europe as a valuable "quasi-experiment" for understanding the sources of entrepreneurship. A relative demand-supply model and an individual sectoral choice model are used to analyze a 1993 survey of 27,000 adults in six transition economies. Estimated self-employment earnings premia are positive, and the data implies positive selection into both employee and self-employment status. Structural probit estimates show the probability of self-employment entry is unassociated with former Communist Party affiliation but positively related to schooling, pre-transition family income, receipt of property in restitution, pre-communist family business-holding, and predicted earnings differential. Cross-country variation in predicted self-employment entry rates and relative earnings provide evidence on the demand and supply factors affecting the decision to become an entrepreneur.
Justice or differential treatment? : Adult offenders with an intellectual disability in the criminal justice system

The purpose of the study was to present a thorough examination of the extent of participation of adult offenders with an intellectual disability within all levels of the criminal justice system in Western Australia, that is, from arrest to charge, to court appearance and finally to conviction. Western Australia provides a unique opportunity to examine the operations of the criminal justice system, because it possesses comprehensive computerised data sources on offenders, and by utilising the State central register on people with disabilities, it was possible to include in the study a significant proportion of those people with an intellectual disability in Western Australia. The study was a longitudinal study over a ten-year period where it was possible to examine all levels of the criminal justice system, that is, from arrest to court appearance and finally to conviction and possible detention. In examining the different outcomes, it was also possible to control for the number and types of offences committed by first time offenders. In addition, the available data provided the opportunity to study the rate of recidivism of people with an intellectual disability compared with other offenders. Eight hundred and forty three individuals with an intellectual disability were tracked through the justice system and their experiences were compared with two thousand four hundred and forty two other offenders. At the first stage of the justice process, namely arrest, the study found that people with an intellectual disability were no more likely to be arrested and charged with a criminal offence than others within the general population. However, once they entered the system, they were subsequently rearrested at nearly double the rate compared
Voter Registration and Jail-Incarcerated Women: Are Justice-Involved Women Civically Engaged?

Civic engagement, like the broader phenomenon of social engagement, seems out of keeping with the alienating ethos of incarceration. We sought to learn which demographic and contextual factors predicted one form of civic engagement, voter registration, in a jail-incarcerated female population. A 158-item survey was administered to 261 adult women incarcerated in three Midwestern jails, September 2014 to March 2016, as part of a parent intervention study for cervical cancer prevention. Chi-square comparisons between a voter registered and a non-registered group yielded significant differences in five demographic and social context indicators, and a model for voter registration was estimated using multiple logistic regression. Total time incarcerated, having personal health insurance, being stably housed, and identifying as a Black woman contributed significantly to voter registration. We suggest that in a justice-involved group the community’s facilitation of access to basic resources may trigger a reciprocal engagement in civic life, and we speculate that Black women may find belonging and motivation for engagement in resilient, long-standing sources outside official institutions. Our findings support the notion that meeting the basic needs of individuals post-incarceration can create healthier, more engaged communities.
Assessment of left atrial appendage function with transthoracic tissue Doppler echocardiography.

AIMS A transthoracic echocardiographic (TTE) parameter that would stratify atrial fibrillation (AF) risk would be useful. Tissue Doppler imaging can quantify left atrial appendage contraction velocity (LAA A(M)). METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 141 patients referred for transoesophageal echocardiogram (TEE); 48 were in AF. We obtained TEE and TTE LAA A(M) velocities from the LAA apex on the parasternal short-axis and apical two-chamber views. Adequate traces were obtained in 118 patients (84%). In these patients, we measured 5382 LAA A(M) velocity tracings. There was a strong correlation between LAA A(M) on TEE and TTE parasternal short-axis (r = 0.741; P < 0.0001) and apical two-chamber views (r = 0.729; P < 0.0001). Patients in AF had lower LAA A(M) than those with sinus rhythm on parasternal short-axis (12 +/- 5 vs. 23 +/- 7 cm/s, P < 0.0001) and apical two-chamber (14 +/- 5 vs. 23 +/- 8 cm/s, P < 0.0001) views. On parasternal short axis, LAA A(M) velocities were lower in patients with spontaneous echo contrast, 11 +/- 4 vs. 22 +/- 8 cm/s (P < 0.0001), and in those with thrombus, 8 +/- 2 cm/s (P < 0.0001). On apical two-chamber, LAA A(M) velocities were also lower with spontaneous echo contrast, 12 +/- 4 vs. 22 +/- 7 cm/s (P < 0.0001), and with thrombus, 10 +/- 4 cm/s (P < 0.0001). In patients with AF and TTE LAA A(M) < or =11 cm/s, we found that nearly one-third had LAA thrombus. In patients with AF and a history of stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA), LAA A(M) velocities were lower compared with those without history of stroke or TIA in the parasternal short-axis (9 +/- 3 vs. 13 +/- 5 cm/s, P = 0.02) and apical two-chamber views (11 +/- 3 vs. 15 +/- 6 cm/s, P = 0.008). CONCLUSION Acquiring and quantifying LAA A(M) contraction velocity is feasible on TTE in a high percentage of patients and correlates with TEE. LAA A(M) was lower in AF compared with sinus rhythm, with spontaneous echo contrast compared to without spontaneous echo contrast, and in AF patients with a history of stroke or TIA. Those with LAA thrombus had the lowest LAA A(M) velocities. LAA A(M) is a novel functional parameter that may prove useful for risk stratification of AF.
ISO/IEC 27001 I NFORMATION S YSTEMS S ECURITY M ANAGEMENT S TANDARD : E XPLORING THE R EASONS FOR L OW A DOPTION

In this paper we attempt to find the reasons for low adoption of the international standard ISO/IEC 2700 on information security management. We benchmark ISO/IEC 27001 against the two other widely applied management system standards – ISO 9001 for quality management and ISO 14001 for environmental management We show that besides low adoption rates, ISO/IEC 27001 standard has received significantly less interest from academia, as measured by the number of scholarly publications on the topic. We compare the reasons for the ISO/IEC 27001 standard’s application with those for ISO 9001 and conclude with listing possible drivers and barriers for the standards diffusion and suggesting a roadmap for future research on the topic.
United States Gulf of Mexico Coastal Marsh Vegetation Responses and Sensitivities to Oil Spill: A Review

The present review summarizes the literature on the effects of oil spill on the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coastal vegetation including freshwater-, brackish-, and salt-marshes. When in contact with plant tissues, oil may have adverse impacts via physical and chemical effects. Oil may also become detrimental to plants by covering soil surfaces, leading to root oxygen stress and/or penetrate into the soil where it becomes in contact with the roots. The affected vegetation may survive the impact by producing new leaves, however, an episode of oil spill may impose severe stress. Oil spills may lead to partial or complete plant death but in many situations plants recover by regenerating new shoots. Plant sensitivity to oil varies among species; plants from salt marshes appear to be more sensitive than freshwater species. In addition, sensitivity appears to be dependent on the oil characteristics and the quantity of oil being spilled, repeated oiling events, season of spill, greenhouse vs. field conditions, and plant age are among the many factors that interact simultaneously. Many aspects of coastal plant responses to oiling remain in need of additional research, including the possibility that differences in oil sensitivity may interact with changes in the environment, and contribution to additional wetland losses through coastal erosion. Environmental stressors such as drought and salinity may also interact with oil, leading to the observed changes in plant species community composition following an oil spill.
A new service model for the treatment of severe anorexia nervosa in the community: the Anorexia Nervosa Intensive Treatment Team

Aims and method A community intensive treatment service for severe anorexia nervosa is described. The service is multidisciplinary but driven by a focus on psychological formulation. Psychological and dietetic interventions are grounded in a process of active risk management. Evaluations of safety, cost and acceptability of the service are described. Results Patients are highly satisfied with their care. A relatively low mortality rate for such a high-risk population was observed. In-patient bed use and costs were substantially reduced. Clinical implications There is a case for greater use of intensive community care for patients with severe anorexia nervosa, as it can be acceptable to patients, relatively safe and cost less than admission.
Virological breakthrough and resistance in patients with chronic hepatitis B receiving nucleos(t)ide analogues in clinical practice

Virological breakthrough (VBT) is the first manifestation of antiviral drug resistance during nucleos(t)ide analogue (NUC) treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB), but not all VBTs are due to drug resistance. This study sought to determine the incidence of VBT and genotypic resistance (GR) in patients with CHB who were receiving NUCs in clinical practice. Records of patients with CHB who were receiving NUCs were reviewed. All patients with VBT were tested for drug resistance mutations. Of 148 patients included, 73% were men and mean age was 44.9 years. During a mean follow‐up of 37.5 ± 20.1 months, 39 (26%) patients had at least 1 VBT. Of these 39 patients, 15 (38%) were not confirmed to have VBT on retesting, and 10 of these 15 had no evidence of GR. The cumulative probability of VBT, confirmed VBT, and GR at 5 years was 46.1%, 29.7%, and 33.9%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, failure to achieve undetectable hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA was the only factor significantly associated with VBT. Among the 10 patients who had VBT but no confirmed VBT or GR and who were maintained on the same medications, serum HBV DNA decreased in all 10, and nine had undetectable HBV DNA at a mean of 6.8 months after the VBT. Four patients had persistently undetectable HBV DNA, six had transient increase in HBV DNA during follow‐up, and none had GR. Conclusion: VBT was common in patients with CHB receiving NUCs in clinical practice, but nearly 40% of the VBTs were not related to antiviral drug resistance. Counseling of patients with CHB on medication adherence and confirmation of VBT and/or GR can avoid unnecessary changes in antiviral medications. (HEPATOLOGY 2011;)
Probabilistic Approach to Predicting Substrate Specificity of Methyltransferases

We present a general probabilistic framework for predicting the substrate specificity of enzymes. We designed this approach to be easily applicable to different organisms and enzymes. Therefore, our predictive models do not rely on species-specific properties and use mostly sequence-derived data. Maximum Likelihood optimization is used to fine-tune model parameters and the Akaike Information Criterion is employed to overcome the issue of correlated variables. As a proof-of-principle, we apply our approach to predicting general substrate specificity of yeast methyltransferases (MTases). As input, we use several physico-chemical and biological properties of MTases: structural fold, isoelectric point, expression pattern and cellular localization. Our method accurately predicts whether a yeast MTase methylates a protein, RNA or another molecule. Among our experimentally tested predictions, 89% were confirmed, including the surprising prediction that YOR021C is the first known MTase with a SPOUT fold that methylates a substrate other than RNA (protein). Our approach not only allows for highly accurate prediction of functional specificity of MTases, but also provides insight into general rules governing MTase substrate specificity.
Teacher Discrimination in occupational expectations and grading

This paper studies the extent of teacher’s discrimination in occupational expectations and analyses whether discrimination in occupational expectations would further perpetuate discrimination in grading on the basis of student’s caste and socio-economic status. The paper adopts an experimental approach and draws on data generated from 122 teachers from 19 schools in Delhi, India. Student’s caste and socio-economic status were randomly assigned to a set of essays written by students such that the assigned characteristics were not related to essay quality. The results show that teachers’ expect students belonging to low caste and low socio-economic status will be less likely to realize their occupational ambitions relative to students belonging to high caste and high socio-economic status. Consistent with this bias in expectations there is also a bias in grading which shows that low expectations of a teacher perpetuates discrimination in grades awarded. Essays assigned low caste and low socio-economic status characteristics are graded 3.64 points lower relative to essays assigned to high caste and high socio-economic status. Given the ultra-competitive nature of schooling in India and the importance of grades in determining access to higher education in India, a 3.64 point disadvantage is substantial. The estimates also show that there is a trade-off between caste and socio-economic status. Belonging to a high socio-economic status lowers the extent of discrimination faced by low caste students.
Lessons from Eastern Europe Political Transitions for Reunification of the Korean Peninsula

The political circumstances of Korean reunification will significantly determine the political environment for future public administration. This paper argues this context will create parameters for governments to implement the exercise of sovereignty over the united Korean peninsula. Pan-Korean nationalism will be exploited as a political mobilization resource for creating the foundations for reintegrating a pan- Korean state and society. A reunited national community will be upon shared historical commonalities. They will serve to mobilize political cooperation after nearly 70 years of separate development under radically opposed political and economic regimes. The Northâ€™s vestiges will likely remain in the form of organized crime networks in a post-reunification state. Peace strategists should prepare to respond to the political tendency to manipulate and exploit anti-Japanese symbolic appeals by Korean political entrepreneurs. The latter will do so to mobilize prospective supporters both in North and South Korea. Some relevant comparisons with East European cases of transition from Communism provide insights into what to expect.
Decreased Intercellular Coupling after Prolonged Rapid Stimulation in Rabbit Atrial Muscle

Driving rabbit atrial trabeculae at a rapid rate for 15 minutes resulted in a decrease in the space constant for electrotonic decay from an average of 670 to 400 im. Input resistance, Ru, as measured by use of a double-barrelled microelectrode, increased from a mean value of 380 kOhms to one of 600 kOhms. The time to return to control values after the end of rapid driving was 20–60 minutes. Similar effects of rapid driving were observed in the presence of atropine, propranolol, and atropine plus propranolol and phentolamine. According to the theory of current spread in a three-dimensional syncytium, a rise of input resistance should be interpreted mainly as an increase of cell-to-cell resistance. We advance the hypothesis that, when driven at their maximal possible rate (or when fibrillating), cardiac cells gain Na+ and Ca1+, and that this results in partial but reversible uncoupling.
Intensification of Mediterranean Goat Production Systems: A Case Study in Northern Morocco

Goats are important contributors to both food and financial security of the resource poor, particularly in marginal environments such as those in the Mediterranean region. To fully understand the feasibility and potential consequences of any intensification or husbandry changes that could contribute to higher outputs, it is important to have a thorough prior understanding of the functional dynamics of these systems. Here the current performance of ten goat holdings in the northern region of Morocco, classified as either commercial milk producers, commercial cheese producers or non-commercial dairy producers, was recorded, based on the Food and Agricultural Organisation and International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (FAO-CIHEAM) technical and economic indicators, to assess whether intensification of dairy production was financially viable. Fecundity and prolificacy rates were comparatively lower than those achieved by many European Mediterranean herds. Both kid and doe mortality were higher on commercial dairy holdings, where dairy sales provided an additional, rather than alternative, source of income to goat sales. Despite this, due to significantly higher expenditure on supplementary feed, gross margin per doe did not differ significantly between holding types. With the exception of indigenous Greek herds, all European Mediterranean herds outperform those of northern Morocco. The study suggests that a low level of supplementary feeding is constraining goat dairy production in northern Morocco, and that the current high cost and limited availability of additional supplementary feed restricts the financial viability of intensification. Alternative feeding strategies within a participatory approach that might ameliorate these problems, and value chain constraints, are discussed.
A METHOD TO CONSTRAIN THE SIZE OF THE PROTOSOLAR NEBULA

Observations indicate that the gaseous circumstellar disks around young stars vary significantly in size, ranging from tens to thousands of AU. Models of planet formation depend critically upon the properties of these primordial disks, yet in general it is impossible to connect an existing planetary system with an observed disk. We present a method by which we can constrain the size of our own protosolar nebula using the properties of the small body reservoirs in the solar system. In standard planet formation theory, after Jupiter and Saturn formed they scattered a significant number of remnant planetesimals into highly eccentric orbits. In this paper, we show that if there had been a massive, extended protoplanetary disk at that time, then the disk would have excited Kozai oscillations in some of the scattered objects, driving them into high-inclination (i ≳ 50°), low-eccentricity orbits (q ≳ 30 AU). The dissipation of the gaseous disk would strand a subset of objects in these high-inclination orbits; orbits that are stable on Gyr timescales. To date, surveys have not detected any Kuiper-belt objects with orbits consistent with this dynamical mechanism. Using these non-detections by the Deep Ecliptic Survey and the Palomar Distant Solar System Survey we are able to rule out an extended gaseous protoplanetary disk (RD ≳ 80 AU) in our solar system at the time of Jupiter's formation. Future deep all sky surveys such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will allow us to further constrain the size of the protoplanetary disk.
Fast Polygonal Approximation of Terrains and Height Fields

Several algorithms for approximating terrains and other height fields using polygonal meshes are described, compared, and optimized. These algorithms take a height field as input, typically a rectangular grid of elevation data H(x, y), and approximate it with a mesh of triangles, also known as a triangulated irregular network, or TIN. The algorithms attempt to minimize both the error and the number of triangles in the approximation. Applications include fast rendering of terrain data for flight simulation and fitting of surfaces to range data in computer vision. The methods can also be used to simplify multi-channel height fields such as textured terrains or planar color images. The most successful method we examine is the greedy insertion algorithm. It begins with a simple triangulation of the domain and, on each pass, finds the input point with highest error in the current approximation and inserts it as a vertex in the triangulation. The mesh is updated either with Delaunay triangulation or with data-dependent triangulation. Most previously published variants of this algorithm had expected time cost of O(mn) or O(n logm+m), where n is the number of points in the input height field and m is the number of vertices in the triangulation. Our optimized algorithm is faster, with an expected cost of O((m+n) logm). On current workstations, this allows one million point terrains to be simplified quite accurately in less than a minute. We are releasing a C++ implementation of our algorithm.
Human germinal center B cells express the apoptosis-inducing genes Fas, c-myc, P53, and Bax but not the survival gene bcl-2

During T cell-dependent antibody responses, B cells within germinal centers (GC) alter the affinity of their antigen receptor by introducing somatic mutations into variable region of immunoglobulin (IgV) genes. During this process, GC B cells are destined to die unless positively selected by antigens and CD40-ligand. To understand survival/death control of germinal center B cell, the expression of four apoptosis-inducing genes, Fas, c-myc, Bax, and P53, together with the survival gene bcl-2, has been analyzed herein among purified tonsillar naive, GC, and memory B cells. IgD+CD38- naive B cells were separated into CD23- (mature B cell [Bm]1) subset and CD23+ (Bm2), IgD- CD38+ GC B cells were separated into subsets of CD77+ centroblasts (Bm3) and CD77- centrocytes (Bm4), whereas IgD-CD38- cells represented the Bm5 memory B cell subset. Sequence analysis of IgV region genes indicated that somatic hypermutation was triggered in the Bm3 centroblast subset. Here we show that bcl-2 is only detectable with naive (Bm1 and 2) and memory B cell (Bm5) subsets, whereas all four apoptosis-inducing genes were most significantly expressed within GC B cells. Fas was equally expressed in Bm3 centroblasts and Bm4 centrocytes, whereas Bax was most significantly expressed in Bm4 centrocytes. c-myc, a positive regulator of cell cycle, was most significantly expressed in proliferating Bm3 centroblasts, whereas P53, a negative regulator of cell cycle, was most signficantly expressed in nonproliferating Bm4 centrocytes. The present results indicate that the survival/death of GC B cells are regulated by the up- and downregulation of multiple genes, among which the expression of c-myc and P53 in the absence of bcl-2 may prime the proliferating Bm3 centroblasts and nonproliferating Bm4 centrocytes to apoptosis.