Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-regular employment : issues and challenges common to the major developed countries : 2011 JILPT Seminar on Non-regular Employment

There has been a great deal of academic and policy interest in non-regular employment in the UK since the early 1980s. Generated by structural employment changes in response to the 1980s recession, subsequent economic downturns both boosted the numbers of nonregular workers and interest in the characteristics of non-regular work and its outcomes. In the UK these changes have occurred within a lightly regulated labour market, although this has not led to a high use of non-regular employment. It is argued that there is often little to gain by employers since regular employment faces relatively low costs compared to most other industrialised economies. The paper begins by examining this regulatory context, the implications for the protection of non-regular workers and the gaps in current employment legislation. It then explores patterns of non-regular work. Temporary, part-time and selfemployed arrangements are the focus but these are highly variegated employment forms, as the analysis demonstrates. Next transitions between non-regular and permanent work are considered: do these jobs lead to more stable work? Do non-regular workers want more permanent jobs? The final section examines the question of equal treatment of non-regular workers. Non-regular jobs are very often bad jobs in the UK (as are many permanent, regular jobs) and there has been some attempt to address this through regulation by the European Union. Overall, the paper finds no strong trend towards more non-regular work in the UK. Part-time working has been slowly rising for three decades, temporary employment is highly cyclical and self-employment relatively stable. The paper concludes that there is, however, a need to address equality issues.
Dental Caries Prevalence in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infected Patients Receiving Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy in Kermanshah, Iran

Objective Introduction of new approaches for the treatment of human immunodefi- ciency virus (HIV) infection such as anti-retroviral medicines has resulted in an in- crease in the life expectancy of HIV patient. Evaluating the dental health status as a part of their general health care is needed in order to improve the quality of life in these patients. The aim of this study was to compare the root and crown caries rate in HIV patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) with that rate in HIV patients without treatment option. Materials and Methods This cross sectional study consisting of 100 individuals of both genders with human immunodeficiency virus were divided into two groups: i. group 1 (treat- ment group) including 50 patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) receiving HAART and ii. group 2 (control group) including 50 HIV infected patients not receiving HAART. Dental examinations were done by a dentist under suitable light using periodontal probe. For each participant, numbers of decay (D), missed (M), filled (F), Decayed missed and filled teeth (DMFT), decay surface (Ds), missed surface (Ms), filled surface (Fs), Decayed missed and filled surfaces (DMFS), and tooth and root caries were recorded. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test and independent t test using SPSS 13.0, while p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant in all analysis. Results The mean and standard deviation (SD) of decayed, missed and filled teeth of those who were on highly active antiretroviral therapy was 6.86 ± 3.57, 6.39 ± 6.06 and 1.89 ± 1.93, respectively. There was no significant difference between these values regarding to the treat- ment of patients. The mean and standard deviation of DMFT, DMFS and the number of de- cayed root surfaces were 15.14 ± 6.09, 56.79 ± 28.56, and 4.96 ± 2.89 in patients treated by anti-retroviral medicine which were not significantly different compared to those without this treatment. Conclusion According to the results of the present study, highly active antiretroviral ther- apy could not be considered as a single factor for dental caries prevalence in HIV-infected patients. However, more research is recommended to evaluate the cariogenic potential of these medicines.
Study of Concrete Involving Use of Waste Glass as Partial Replacement of Fine Aggregates

Concrete industry is one of the largest consumers of natural resources due to which sustainability of concrete industry is under threat. The environmental and economic concern is the biggest challenge concrete industry is facing. In this paper, the issues of environmental and economic concern are addressed by the use of waste glass as partial replacement of fine aggregates in concrete. Fine aggregates were replaced by waste glass powder as 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% by weight for M-25 mix. The concrete specimens were tested for compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, durability (water absorption) and density at 28 days of age and the results obtained were compared with those of normal concrete. The results concluded the permissibility of using waste glass powder as partial replacement of fine aggregates up to 30% by weight for particle size of range 0-1.18mm.
Being Young in Old Town: Youth Subjectivities and Associational Life in Bamenda

This study explores the ways in which young people in the neighbourhood of Old Town in Bamenda negotiate the predicament of blocked opportunities and ‘arrested adulthood’ occasioned by the decline in the nation-building project and prolonged socio-economic and moral crisis in Cameroon. I investigate how urban youth in Old Town construct their moral and socio-cultural worlds through involvement in associations. The main finding suggests that faced with growing uncertainty, young people in Bamenda are positioning themselves as important social actors by drawing on local cultural resources such as associations to construct their social worlds that aim to circumvent their exclusion and marginality. In this light, I analyse youth associations as central although not exclusive to negotiating young people’s predicament by focusing on a range of practices through which they seek respectability and claim social adult status. Drawing on the concepts of transition, subjectivities and personhood, I show that young people straddle the worlds of ‘youth’ and social adulthood, statuses that are not only cultural constructions but also the products of differential power relations and social positioning. I contend that the processes of positioning and the production of personhood are largely experienced through involvement in associational life. The study focuses on three associations, ii namely the Chosen Sisters, the United Sisters and the Ntambag Brothers Association (NBA). Organised on the basis of seniority and gender, I argue that these associations, while negotiating claims to adult status for their members, tend to challenge state-centric notions of citizenship as they simultaneously position themselves as moral actors upon whom society can count on for regeneration. Through a range of social projects, pursued on behalf of and sanctioned by the community, young people in Old Town reaffirm the centrality of interdependence and the situated understanding of social adulthood predicated on the redistribution of one’s success or achievement. This study points to the re-emergent role of associations in negotiating everyday life in the face of crisis. It is a significant contribution towards understanding voluntary and communal associations in general and young people’s modes of transitions into social adulthood.
How much impact can be made in a week?: Designing Effective International Service Learning Projects for Computing

Service learning has been gaining attention in recent years. It has been established as an effective method to teach students a variety of concepts that are not easily taught in the classroom, and much effort has gone into making service learning accessible and relevant to computer science students. This paper investigates a popular mode of computing-related service learning -- offshore projects that seek to introduce information and computing technologies (ICTs) into a beneficiary population. Based on multiple years of experience working with ICTs in service learning, the authors examine the impact on students and beneficiaries through several critical questions, and draw conclusions and recommendations on good practices for designing offshore service learning projects for computing students.
Radiographic structural abnormalities associated with premature, natural hip-joint failure.

BACKGROUND Significant controversy exists regarding the causes of premature, natural hip-joint failure. Identification of these causes may guide future investigations targeting prevention of this disorder. The aims of this study were to: (1) determine and characterize structural abnormalities associated with premature, natural hip-joint failure, and (2) analyze disease progression in the contralateral hips of patients with femoroacetabular impingement deformities. METHODS We analyzed 604 patients (710 hips) from three different medical centers who underwent primary total hip arthroplasty at or before fifty years of age (average age, forty years). Three hundred fourteen patients (52%) were male, and 290 patients (48%) were female. RESULTS The diagnoses associated with premature hip failure varied, but osteoarthritis and osteonecrosis were most common. Radiographic abnormalities associated with developmental hip dysplasia and femoroacetabular impingement were associated with the majority of osteoarthritic hips. Hips with femoroacetabular impingement deformities demonstrated distinct structural anatomy relative to asymptomatic hips, with a high prevalence of bilateral deformities. In a subgroup of seventy patients with femoroacetabular impingement deformities, contralateral radiographic disease progression or the need for total hip arthroplasty was observed in 73% of hips. CONCLUSIONS Osteoarthritis and osteonecrosis are the major causes of premature hip-joint failure in young patients. Femoroacetabular impingement abnormalities are usually bilateral and are commonly associated with progression of the disease to the contralateral hip.
Keeping the actors in the organic system learning: the role of organic farmers' experiments.

The creative process that leads to farmers’ innovations is rarely studied or described precisely in agricultural sciences. For academic scientists, obvious limitations of farmers’ experiments are e.g. precision, reliability, robustness, accuracy, validity or the correct analysis of cause and effect. Nevertheless, we propose that ‘farmers’ experiments’ underpin innovations that keep organic farming locally tuned for sustainability and adaptable to changing economic, social and ecological conditions. We first researched the structure and role of farmers’ experiments by conducting semi-structured interviews of 47 organic farmers in Austria and 72 organic/agroecology farmers in Cuba in 2007 and 2008. Seventysix more structured interviews explored the topics and methods used by Austrian farmers that were ‘trying something’. Farmers engaged in activities that can be labelled as farmers experiments because these activities include considerable planning, manipulating variables, monitoring effects and communicating results. In Austria and Cuba 487 and 370 individual topics, respectively, were mentioned for experimenting by the respondents. These included topics like the introduction of new species or varieties, testing various ways of commercialization or the testing of alternative remedies. Two thirds (Austria) and one third (Cuba) of the farmers who experimented had an explicit mental or written plan before starting. In both countries, the majority of the farmers stated that they set up their experiments first on a small scale and expanded them if the outcome of the experiments was satisfactory. Repetitions were done by running experiments in subsequent years and the majority of the farmers monitored the experiments regularly. In both countries, many experiments were not discrete actions but nested in time and space. For further research on learning and innovation in organic farming we propose an explicit appreciation of farmers’ experiments, encouraging further in-depth research on the details of the farmers’ experimental process and encouraging the inclusion of farmers’ experiments in strategies for innovation in organic and non organic farming. Strategic research and innovation agendas for organic farming would benefit from including organic farmers as co-researchers in all steps of the research process in order to encourage co-learning between academic scientists and organic farmers.
The Full-Range Leadership : Enacted by Swedish audit team managers

Title: The Full-Range Leadership enacted by Swedish Audit team managersBackground: The background of this study mainly relies on Leadership theories, more precisely theories about the Full-Range leadership model (FRL) and its features. However, key facts about the audit are also displayed in this part of the report to present it to readers.Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to add to existing theory on the universalistic feature of the Full-Range Leadership model through the case of Swedish audit team managers. Such purpose entails the definition and the explanation on how the model of Full-Range Leadership is enacted by Swedish audit team managers in their day-to-day practice of leadership.Originality/Value: This research paper is one of the few researches at puzzling out existing researches to contribute clearly to the Full-Range Leadership model -as developed by Bass and Avolio- in the audit context. Furthermore, this is the first study aiming at defining and explaining Swedish audit team managers’ leadership practice and emphasizing the non-managing audit staff for so.Practical implication: After the destruction of a great amount of money resulting from corporate financial scandals and the discovery of high level of dysfunctional behaviors occurring in the audit/accounting profession worldwide, growing number of studies investigated further financial systems and particularly audit professionals since they are supposed to be the ‘public watchdog’/‘public guardian of trust’ of worldwide markets and Economies and so, display strong values and rigor. In parallel, considerable number of studies demonstrated that leadership was the key to those issues. This study while putting the light on leadership practice in Swedish audit firms, wide opens the door for further reflections and improvement of the existing systems.Method: The featured piece of research is based on a field survey of the non-managing audit staff working in Swedish audit firms, which were asked to assess their managers through the use of the Multi-factor questionnaire X5 (short version). Findings: The study unveiled that even if the transformational leadership was the most enacted leadership by Swedish audit team managers and that so before transactional and passive/avoidant leadership, a great misalignment existed between the found-out empirical FRL model and the FRL model as defined theoretically. Accordingly, this study unveiled that the FRL model was not as universal as claimed when investigated in the Swedish audit firm context.
Biomass partitioning in a miniature-scale loblolly pine spacing trial.

Stand conditions influence the partitioning of biomass to stem, needle, branch, and root components. Using data from 4- to 6-year-old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) trees grown in a miniature-scale spacing trial, this study determined the effect of initial spacing on the biomass partitioning of loblolly pine. Multivariate analysis of variance procedures concluded that row and column spacing did not have a significant effect on the relative amount of biomass among tree components. Root/shoot and height/diameter ratios, however, differed across densities, indicating that allometric-based partitioning tradeoffs occurred. Results from the miniature-scale trees showed trends similar to those observed with mature-sized trees at operational spatial scales. Stem and woody roots were 70% and 14% of total mass, respectively. Since these trees were physiologically young at the time of harvest, the allocation of mass to needle continued to be a priority, accounting for 10% of the total mass. Initial planting spacing .
Incremental multidimensional scaling method for database visualization

A collection of entity descriptions may be conveniently represented by a set of tuples or a set of objects with appropriate attributes. The utility of relational and object databases is based on this premise. Methods of multivariate analysis can naturally be applied to such a representation. Multidimensional Scaling deserves particular attention because of its suitability for visualization. The advantage of using Multidimensional Scaling is its generality. Provided that one can judge or calculate the dissimilarity between any pair of data objects, this method can be applied. This makes it invariant to the number and types of object attributes. To take advantage of this method for visualizing large collections of data, however, its inherent computational complexity needs to be alleviated. This is particularly the case for least squares scaling, which involves numerical minimization of a loss function; on the other hand the technique gives better configurations than analytical classical scaling. Numerical optimization requires selection of a convergence criterion, i.e. deciding when to stop. A common solution is to stop after a predetermined number of iterations has been performed. Such an approach, while guaranteed to terminate, may prematurely abort the optimization. The incremental Multidimensional Scaling method presented here solves these problems. It uses cluster analysis techniques to assess the structural significance of groups of data objects. This creates an opportunity to ignore dissimilarities between closely associated objects, thus greatly reducing input size. To detect convergence it maintains a compact representation of all intermediate optimization results. This method has been applied to the analysis of database tables.
6-Shogaol Protects against Oxidized LDL-Induced Endothelial Injruries by Inhibiting Oxidized LDL-Evoked LOX-1 Signaling

Endothelial dysfunction and oxLDL are believed to be early and critical events in atherogenesis. 6-Shogaol is the major bioactive compound present in Zingiber officinale and possesses the anti-atherosclerotic effect. However, the mechanisms remain poorly understood. The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of 6-shogaol on oxLDL-induced Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) injuries and its possible molecular mechanisms. Hence, we studied the effects of 6-shogaol on cell apoptosis, cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), NF-κB activation, Bcl-2 expression, and caspase -3, -8, -9 activities. In addition, E-selectin, MCP-1, and ICAM-1 were determined by ELISA. Our study show that oxLDL increased LOX-1 expression, ROS levels, NF-κB, caspases-9 and -3 activation and decreased Bcl-2 expression in HUVECs. These alterations were attenuated by 6-shogaol. Cotreatment with 6-shogaol and siRNA of LOX-1 synergistically reduced oxLDL-induced caspases -9, -3 activities and cell apoptosis. Overexpression of LOX-1 attenuated the protection by 6-shogaol and suppressed the effects of 6-shogaol on oxLDL-induced oxidative stress. In addition, oxLDL enhanced the activation of NF-κB and expression of adhesion molecules. Pretreatment with 6-shogaol, however, exerted significant cytoprotective effects in all events. Our data indicate that 6-shogaol might be a potential natural antiapoptotic agent for the treatment of atherosclerosis.
POTENTIAL CLAMP AND MEFLOQUINE SENSITIVITY OF RECOMBINANT ' IKS ' CHANNELS INCORPORATING THE V 307 L KCNQ 1 MUTATION

A number of different potassium channels contribute to repolarisation of cardiac ventricular action potentials (1). The rapid and slow delayed rectifier K+ currents (denoted 'IKr' and 'IKs' respectively) play important roles in determining repolarisation over the ventricular action potential (AP) plateau phase and, thereby, in determining the QT interval of the electrocardiogram (ECG) (1, 2); subsequent terminal AP repolarisation is mediated predominantly by the inwardly rectifying K+ current, IK1 (1). IKs plays an important role in autonomic regulation of ventricular repolarisation (3, 4); it also provides a ventricular 'repolarisation reserve' that restricts excessive action potential prolongation under conditions of reduced IKr (5, 6). Functional IKs channels are comprised of an α subunit encoded by KCNQ1 and a β subunit encoded by KCNE1 (7, 8) with the gene products also respectively denoted KCNQ1 and KCNE1). Mutations in either gene can lead to clinically significant cardiac repolarisation disorders (1, 2, 9, 10). The short QT syndrome (SQTS) is a cardiac repolarisation disorder in which patients exhibit shortened QT intervals on the electrocardiogram and an increased incidence of cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death in the absence of structural heart disease (10, 11). Gain-of-function mutations to three K+ channel genes (KCNH2, KCNQ1 and KCNJ2) have been identified in SQTS patients, giving rise to the SQT1, SQT2 and SQT3 variants of the syndrome respectively (12-16). The adult SQT2 variant was identified in a 70 year old male who was resuscitated from an episode of ventricular fibrillation (15). No physical abnormalities were present and in sinus rhythm normal conduction intervals were observed (15). However, marked abbreviation of ventricular repolarisation was observed both on initial presentation (with a rate corrected QT (QTC) interval of 302 ms) and over a three year follow-up period (15). Genetic testing identified a GgC substitution at nucleotide 919 of the KCNQ1 gene, giving rise to a single amino-acid substitution (valinegleucine) at position 307 (V307L) of the KCNQ1 protein (15). Residue V307 of KCNQ1 is located in the channel's pore helix and the V307L mutation was reported to alter activation time-course and voltage-dependence, giving rise to increased current through co-expressed V307L-KCNQ1+KCNE1 channels in conventional voltage-clamp experiments (15). Although computer simulations have predicted accelerated ventricular repolarisation and shortened refractory periods at cell and tissue JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY AND PHARMACOLOGY 2010, 61, 2, 123-131 www.jpp. krakow.pl
Sexual Abuse Decline in the 1990 s : Evidence for Possible Causes

Sexual abuse cases substantiated by child protective service (CPS) agencies dropped a remarkable 39% between 1992 and 1999 from an estimated 150,000 cases to 92,000 cases, but professional opinion is divided about why (Jones & Finkelhor, 2001; Jones, Finkelhor, & Kopiec, 2001). An optimistic possibility is that there has been a real decline in the incidence of sexual abuse, the result of two decades of prevention, treatment, and more aggressive criminal justice activity. It is also possible that there has been no real decline, and that the decline is explained by a drop in the number of cases being identified and reported or by changes in practices of child protection agencies themselves. Identifying the source or sources of the decline is important. The possibility that a real decline may have occurred is heartening and could point the way to more effective strategies for preventing all kinds of child maltreatment. On the other hand, if the decline is due solely to decreased reporting or changes in CPS procedures, it could mean more children failing to get help and services. This bulletin evaluates the evidence for six commonly voiced explanations for the decline. It explores the strengths and weaknesses of these six explanations with data from a number of different sources (see Box A): aggregate data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS); more detailed child protective service data from four states,