Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using research to support management decision making within the field of education

Purpose – There has been much interest in evidence‐informed decision making in education – identifying effective ways of increasing the use of research evidence to provide a basis for management decision making, in both the private and public sectors. However, in education, although there has been much speculation and discussion, there has been a paucity of recent empirical research evidence that provides insights into the characteristics, practice and mechanisms of successful research utilisation strategies. This study aimed to explore how research evidence was successfully disseminated and how the barriers to research use by head teachers (principals) were successfully addressed. The study was qualitative and exploratory in nature and aimed to identify examples of projects led by, and supported by, local education authorities (LEAs), that aimed to help education practitioners to access, engage with, and use the findings from published research and research carried out by themselves, and shared with othe.
A view of their economic future: an exploratory study among recent business school graduates

Examines recent business school graduate’s views on their career and economic futures. Two hundred and seventeen graduates completed anonymous questionnaires. Individual demographics, work situation characteristics, work stressors and work outcomes and measures of psychological well‐being were also included. Respondents saw Canada facing economic difficulties but their own career prospects as reasonably bright. Individuals reporting more optimistic career and economic prospects also reported more positive work outcomes, fewer stressors at work and greater psychological well‐being. Broader implications of these findings as well as future research directions are discussed.
Bacterial isolates from California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), and northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) admitted to a rehabilitation center along the central California coast, 1994-1995.

In 2 yr of bacteriologic culturing of 297 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), 154 harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), and 89 northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) stranded alive along the California coast, the most frequent isolates from inflammatory lesions in live animals were Escherichia coli, Streptococcus viridans, Listeria ivanovii, beta-hemolytic Streptococcus spp. , and Enterococcus spp. This is the first report of L. ivanovii isolation from a marine mammal. The common isolates from lung and liver in animals dying during rehabilitation were E. coli, Salmonella spp. , Klebsiella spp. , Pseudomonas spp. , Aeromonas spp. , Proteus spp. , and Staphylococcus aureus. The most common isolates from brain were Enterococcus spp. , E. coli, Klebsiella spp. , and Pseudomonas spp. Ocular lesions were seen most often in harbor seals and elephant seals, from which the isolates cultured included Pseudomonas spp. , Enterococcus spp. , Streptococcus viridans, E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus spp. , Morganella morganii, Moraxella spp. , beta-hemolytic Streptococcus spp. , and L. ivanovii. Nine different Salmonella serotypes were isolated from 49 animals; S. newport was the most common. These results should enable those working clinically with these species to make logical decisions in choosing initial antimicrobial therapy.
Mathematical Modeling of Fetal Organ Growth Using the Rossavik Growth Model: IV. Lung

Growth of the fetal lung has been monitored by left lung area (LLA), right lung area (RLA), and total lung area (TLA) from 14 to 41 weeks menstrual age in 116 normal Japanese fetuses. Growth of the fetal heart and chest has also been monitored by heart area (HA) and chest area (CA), respectively. Growth curves for these parameters have been determined by using a Rossavik growth model [p = c(t)k+s(t)]. R2 values of 95.3%, 90.3%, 89.0%, 88.7%, and 92.1% were obtained for CA, HA, LLA, RLA, and TLA, respectively. Variability analysis indicated a progressive increase in variability with fetal age for these five parameters. Variability data were used with the growth curve models to determine standard curves for these parameters. These standard curves provide a superior means for evaluating the normal fetal lung growth in the fetus and for identifying pulmonary hypoplasia in utero.
Re-framing the “Bad Teachers” in the United States and Beyond

Abstract This article analyzes current debates on education reform, paying particular attention to the ways that scapegoating public school teachers, teacher unions and teacher education masks more fundamental, systemic problems. It further demonstrates how reducing the problems in education to the level of individual (“bad”) teachers coincides with the sorting of both teachers and students. The article concludes with a call to engage in movement building as we reclaim public education and advance equitable education for all children.
Income, Inequality, and Poverty During the Transition from Planned to Market Economy

This book is about income, inequality, and poverty during the remarkable period of collapse of Communism and the construction of capitalism in the 18 formerly socialist countries. It covers a period of almost ten years, from the time of the early Gorbachevian reforms of 1987-88 to approximately 1996. The goal of this book is to describe what happened during the transition in the 18 countries. Specifically the book examines what happened to the real incomes of the population, to the inequality with which incomes and expenditures are distributed, and to poverty. It also attempts to find out why these changes occurred. In looking ahead, the book concludes that if growth is to make a substantial dent in poverty relatively quickly, it will be necessary to stabilize income inequality at current levels. Assuming that inequality remains at current levels, and using the average growth rate of 5 percent per capita per year, poverty appears to be staying in these transition economies until well into the twenty-first century. The surveys are of uneven quality. Issues related to limitations of the data are presented at length in Appendix 1.
The information and decision support needs of older women (>75 yrs) facing treatment choices for breast cancer: a qualitative study

Primary Endocrine Therapy (PET) is a good alternative to surgery for breast cancer in older frailer women. Overall survival rates are equivalent although rates of local control are inferior. There is little research regarding the decision support needs of older patients faced with this choice. This qualitative study aimed to explore these among older breast cancer patients offered a choice of treatment, as the basis to develop an appropriate decision support tool.
Estimated Depth Map Helps Image Classification

We consider image classification with estimated depth. This problem falls into the domain of transfer learning, since we are using a model trained on a set of depth images to generate depth maps (additional features) for use in another classification problem using another disjoint set of images. It's challenging as no direct depth information is provided. Though depth estimation has been well studied, none have attempted to aid image classification with estimated depth. Therefore, we present a way of transferring domain knowledge on depth estimation to a separate image classification task over a disjoint set of train, and test data. We build a RGBD dataset based on RGB dataset and do image classification on it. Then evaluation the performance of neural networks on the RGBD dataset compared to the RGB dataset. From our experiments, the benefit is significant with shallow and deep networks. It improves ResNet-20 by 0.55% and ResNet-56 by 0.53%. Our code and dataset are available publicly.
Measuring Innovation - Applying the Literature-Based Innovation Output Indicator to Public Services

Governments have been encouraging public service organizations to innovate. However, little is known about the extent of innovation in public service organizations. A private sector approach to the measurement of innovation - the literature-based innovation output indicator (LBIOI) - is applied to public service organizations to address this significant information gap. The method is described and then explored in one public service sector, English housing associations. A sample of 257 innovations is constructed and then subject to analysis. This initial testing of the LBIOI indicates that the approach can be applied across public services to create longitudinal data sets, which will enhance the communication of good practice and the use of evidence in public policy, management and research. This methodology is demonstrated to offer initial insights to public service innovation and would allow relationships to be explored notably innovation and performance, a relationship central to government's promotion of innovation.
Dual Trading in Futures Markets

With dual trading, brokers trade both for their customers and for their own account. The authors study dual trading and find that customers who are less likely to be informed have higher expected profits with dual trading while customers who are more likely to be informed have higher expected profits without dual trading. They also examine the effects of frontrunning. The authors test the major empirical implications of their model. Consistent with the model, dual traders earn higher profits than nondual traders, and customers of dual-trading brokers do better than customers of nondual-trading brokers. Copyright 1992 by American Finance Association.
Location-Coding Account Versus Affordance-Activation Account in Handle-to-Hand Correspondence Effects: Evidence of Simon-Like Effects Based on the Coding of Action Direction

An increasing number of studies have shown a close link between perception and action, which is supposed to be responsible for the automatic activation of actions compatible with objects’ properties, such as the orientation of their graspable parts. It has been observed that left and right hand responses to objects (e.g., cups) are faster and more accurate if the handle orientation corresponds to the response location than when it does not. Two alternative explanations have been proposed for this handle-to-hand correspondence effect: location coding and affordance activation. The aim of the present study was to provide disambiguating evidence on the origin of this effect by employing object sets for which the visually salient portion was separated from, and opposite to the graspable 1, and vice versa. Seven experiments were conducted employing both single objects and object pairs as visual stimuli to enhance the contextual information about objects’ graspability and usability. Notwithstanding these manipulations intended to favor affordance activation, results fully supported the location-coding account displaying significant Simon-like effects that involved the orientation of the visually salient portion of the object stimulus and the location of the response. Crucially, we provided evidence of Simon-like effects based on higher-level cognitive, iconic representations of action directions rather than based on lower-level spatial coding of the pure position of protruding portions of the visual stimuli.
Simultaneous onset and similar course of type 1 diabetes mellitus in monozygotic twins (a 4-year follow-up)

Abstract We report a rare case of monozygotic (MZ) twins who developed simultaneous onset of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Laboratory finding showed similar values of blood sugar, pH, glycosylated hemoglobin, and C-peptide. Urinary sugar and ketones were detected in both. Endocrine and immunological assessment showed similar results. No evidence (clinical or serological) of recent viral or bacterial infection was found. In the 4 years of follow-up, the twins also showed a similar course of disease. Concordance rates for T1DM are high in MZ twins; nevertheless, a simultaneous onset and a similar course of disease are unusual, as well as the HLA allelic variants of our patients. This extraordinary concordance in a pair of MZ twins could be the consequence of a greater environmental similarity or the role of genetic factors other than HLA genes in our twins.
Doing Research with Children

PART ONE: THE SPECIAL NATURE OF CHILDREN IN RESEARCH - THEORIES AND APPROACHES Introduction to Research and Children A Special Relationship Theory for Research and Practice with Children Theoretical Frameworks PART TWO: DOING RESEARCH WITH CHILDREN - REVIEWING, DESIGNING AND CONDUCTING RESEARCH WITH CHILDREN Evaluating Research with Children The Importance of Questions Designing and Doing Quantitative Research with Children Designing and Doing Qualitative Research with Children PART THREE: SPECIAL ISSUES Consultation and Participation with Children in Research Ethics for Doing Research with Children Themes and Perspectives
Assessment by Meta-Analysis of PCR for Diagnosis of Smear-Negative Pulmonary Tuberculosis

ABSTRACT We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the performance of PCR for the diagnosis of smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (SPT) and to identify factors that account for differences in the diagnostic accuracy of different studies. Studies published before February 2002 were included if sensitivity and specificity of PCR in smear-negative respiratory or gastric-aspirate specimens could be calculated. Analysis was conducted by using summary receiver operating characteristics models. Sensitivity and specificity ranged from 9 to 100% and from 25 to 100%, respectively. Fewer than 40% of the 50 studies reported results by number of patients, reported clinical characteristics of patients, or used as a reference standard combined culture and clinical criteria. Studies that included bronchial specimens showed higher accuracy than studies that evaluated only sputum specimens or included gastric aspirates. Studies that did not report that tests were applied blindly showed higher accuracy than those reporting blind testing. Increased sensitivity due to the use of DNA purification methods was associated with decreased specificity. Studies published after 1995, using Amplicor or dUTP-UNG, were associated with an increase in specificity at the expense of lower sensitivity. We concluded that PCR is not consistently accurate enough to be routinely recommended for the diagnosis of SPT. However, PCR of bronchial specimens could be useful in highly suspicious SPT cases. Studies not reporting blind testing are likely to overestimate accuracy of PCR. Future evaluation of PCR accuracy should be conducted by patient and type of respiratory specimen, blindly, by using a reference standard that combines culture and clinical criteria and addresses the issue of how patient characteristics affect PCR accuracy.
Equity Accounting Adoption in Regulated and Unregulated Settings: An Empirical Study

This article examines equity accounting adoption by Australian companies before and after standard AAS 14 (1984), the first standard on equity accounting in Australia. To bypass a legal constraint, AAS 14 and its successor ASRB 1016 (1989) required that equity accounting of associates appear in supplementary disclosures (third-column or footnote) and not in consolidated accounts. Before AAS 14, extensive voluntary adoption of equity accounting occurred in consolidated accounts. Equity accounting adopters from 1971 to 1989 were matched in their adoption years with companies that could have used equity accounting but did not. Throughout, equity accounting adopters' EPS tended to be declining and equity accounting adoption tended to increase reported earnings. After AAS 14, adopters showed equity accounting via a third column if it increased reported earnings but in footnote disclosures if it reduced reported earnings. Leverage is associated with adoption before but not after AAS 14, perhaps because the standards required equity accounting in supplementary disclosures which had no impact on borrowing constraints, while no such restriction on equity accounting existed before regulation. Pre-AAS14 adopters tended not to be audited by large audit firms. Adopters after AAS 14 had higher ratios of investments in associates to total tangible assets; before AAS 14 they did not. The results are consistent with equity accounting being adopted opportunistically; there is limited evidence to support contractual efficiency motives.
Efficacy Outcomes of Endovascular Versus Surgical Revascularization in Critical Limb Ischemia: Results From a Prospective Cohort Study

Data on efficacy outcomes of endovascular versus surgical revascularization in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI) in contemporary practice are limited. In this prospective cohort study, 353 consecutive patients with CLI were enrolled and allocated to endovascular (PTA [percutaneous transluminal angioplasty]), surgical (SURG), or no revascularization (No REVASC) after interdisciplinary consensus. Outcome measures were sustained primary clinical success (sPCS; survival without major amputation, repeated target extremity revascularization, and freedom from CLI), limb salvage, and amputation-free survival. Propensity-matched Kaplan-Meier analyses and stratified log-rank tests were performed. The PTA, SURG, and No REVASC groups consisted of 264, 62, and 27 patients, respectively. Compared to SURG patients, PTA patients were significantly older, had more risk factors, and more often had ischemic lesions. Propensity score-adjusted analyses showed no significant differences: sPCS was 51.3%/52.2%, limb salvage rate 91.5%/93.7%, and major amputation-free survival 90.5%/87.2% at 12 months for PTA and SURG, respectively. Amputation-free survival for the No REVASC group was 69% at 12 months. In conclusion, endovascular and surgical revascularization in CLI has comparable efficacy outcomes after 12 months. Contemporary overall outcome of patients with CLI is considerably better compared to earlier studies.
Putting Up With Fellow Russians: An Analysis of Political Tolerance in the Fledgling Russian Democracy

Research from the early days of Russian democratization has suggested that political tolerance among the mass public was in terribly short sup ply Several questions remain, however. Has intolerance persisted since the late 1980s and early 1990s? Further, how intolerant are the Russians when compared with the mass publics of other Central and Eastern Eu ropean democratizing countries; how intolerant are the Russians when compared with Western Europeans and Americans? Most importantly, is Russian intolerance likely to become pernicious? That is, does it have the attributes that make it likely to result in political repression? I answer these questions by theoretically specifying and investigating empirically four attributes of Russian public opinion that presage whether political consequences are likely to flow from political intolerance. My overriding conclusion is that Russian intolerance has several traits that may indeed make it pernicious, especially for unpopular political minorities.
Inequality and the Crisis: The Distributional Impact of Tax Increases and Welfare and Public Sector Pay Cuts

The economic crisis impacts directly on the distribution of income via unemployment and private sector wages, but the way policy responds in seeking to control soaring fiscal deficits is also central to its distributional consequences. Having sketched out the background in terms of inequality trends during Ireland’s boom and the channels through which the recession affects different parts of the income distribution, this paper investigates the distributional impact of the government’s policy response with respect to direct tax, social welfare and public sector pay using the SWITCH tax-benefit model. This provides empirical evidence relevant to future policy choices as efforts to reduce the fiscal deficit continue.
Do Important Drugs Reach the Market Sooner

Since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Amendments of 1962, the average time from a drug's first worldwide patent application to its approval by the FDA has risen from 3.5 to 13.5 years. FDA policies and manufacturers' incentives suggest that more important drugs may have reached the market sooner. To test this, we develop measures of "time to approval" and "importance," and determine how the latter affects the former. Our results indicate that more important drugs are developed and approved more rapidly than less important drugs. These results imply that the costs of approval lags have probably been overstated and challenge estimates of the returns to research and development in the pharmaceutical industry.
Effect of Alteration in Sodium Chloride Intake on Blood Pressure of Normotensive Subjects

Sodium intake was altered for 2-week periods in 201 volunteers with no history of hypertension. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure was higher with a high sodium intake (200 mmol) compared with the values for a reduced intake (70 mmol). The rise in supine systolic and diastolic blood pressure in subjects over 50 years was 15/8 mm Hg, which was larger than the increase of 2.5/2.3 mm Hg measured in younger people. In the younger age group blood pressure changed with diet in approximately 15%. Individuals with a family history of hypertension were more likely to have a rise in blood pressure when sodium intake was increased. Patients were subdivided into responders and nonresponders according to the change in blood pressure with a different sodium intake. Creatinine clearance with a reduced sodium intake was lower in the responders compared with the values for the nonresponders. In the responders creatinine clearance increased as sodium intake increased and with the high sodium intake was not different in the two groups. In subjects who had a rise in blood pressure with increasing sodium load, plasma volume fell, while it rose in the nonresponders. These studies demonstrate that increased sodium intake causes blood pressure to rise in normotensive individuals. Renal function is less in those who have a rise in blood pressure when extra sodium is consumed. Changes in plasma volume indicate that the link between sodium intake and hypertension does not involve plasma volume.
Asia-Pacific Stock Return Predictability and Market Information Flows

Abstract In this study, I investigate lead-lag relationships among Asia-Pacific country stock returns. Taking the GARCH effects into account, I estimate a prediction model, and find that lagged Singapore returns exhibit the strongest predictive ability for the returns of Asia-Pacific countries. Estimating this model, I find that lagged Singapore returns exhibit the strongest predictive ability for the returns of Asia-Pacific countries. The Asia-Pacific stock markets react with a delay of information contained in lagged Singapore returns about their fundamentals, and that information diffuses gradually across Asia-Pacific stock markets. Finally, using the MSPE-adjusted statistic, I provide out-of-sample evidence to examine the consistency of the predictive power of lagged Singapore returns.
Liability-driven investment: multiple liabilities and the question of the number of moments

The selection of investments held in dedicated pension or insurance asset portfolios should be liability-driven. Techniques have been developed to hedge or immunize single liabilities from the effects of a variety of yield curve changes. In this paper, we extend these results to a more relevant practical problem, to immunize multiple liabilities occurring at different times in the future. This immunization approach can accommodate a variety of non-parallel yield curve behaviours. In a practical application, we demonstrate that our approach is effective in selecting index tracking portfolios in the UK Gilt (government bond) market.