Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Climate Change Trends and Its Impact on Tourism Resources in Mu Ko Surin Marine National Park, Thailand

The objective of this paper is to investigate the current and potential future impacts of climate change on tourism resources and tourism activities in Mu Ko Surin National Park. The research method for this paper involved the collection of information from interviews with key informants, non-participant observation, and secondary data. The results found that the park has experienced changes in climate, including increasing temperatures, changes in precipitation, rising sea surface temperature, and sea-level rise. The impact of increasing temperature can lead to mass coral bleaching. The beach was shown to have eroded at a rate of about 0.38 m per year. However, water resources are still sufficient for tourism activities. The impacts of climate change have led to coral reefs and fish being less attractive and reduced in quantity, some snorkeling and diving sites being closed. Therefore, for sustainable tourism management, adaptation action should take place in this area.
Taxation and the portfolio structure of Spanish households

Using a sample of 5962 Spanish households from the Survey of Household Finances (EFF) undertaken by the Bank of Spain, this article describes the structure of their portfolio, and estimates both a Probit model and a Tobit model to test how taxation affects, respectively, the decision to invest in each asset and the relative importance of each asset within the household portfolio. The influence of taxation is measured using the average marginal personal income tax rate of the household. The estimations performed show that the marginal tax rate is significant and displays the sign expected to explain both the holding of tax favourable assets and their weight in the household portfolio.
From Monolithic to Microservices: An Experience Report from the Banking Domain

Microservices have seen their popularity blossoming with an explosion of concrete applications in real-life software. Several companies are currently involved in a major refactoring of their back-end systems in order to improve scalability. This article presents an experience report of a real-world case study, from the banking domain, in order to demonstrate how scalability is positively affected by reimplementing a monolithic architecture into microservices. The case study is based on the FX Core system for converting from one currency to another. FX Core is a mission-critical system of Danske Bank, the largest bank in Denmark and one of the leading financial institutions in Northern Europe.
The best of times, the worst of times: Community-sector advocacy in the age of ‘compacts’

The recent introduction of written ‘compacts’ between government and community services organisations (CSOs) in Australia offers the promise of meaningful co-production of policy. However, recent research has highlighted that many in the community sector continue to perceive that there are significant constraints on their capacity to engage in advocacy. This paper examines the impact of the current governance regimes on the Australian community sector and explores the dimensions of these perceived constraints. The paper argues that both government and community sectors must make concessions and adjustments. Governments must accept that the use of contracting monopolies to stifle advocacy has weakened their capacity to deliver responsive services, while community organisations must accept that new governance regimes require new modes of participation in the policy process. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the ‘Beyond Fragmented Government: Governance in the Public Sector’ conference, Victoria University, Melbourne, August 2005, and the annual Australian Political Studies Association Conference, University of Adelaide, September 2004.
A note on equivalence relations ℓp(ℓq)

We consider the equivalence relations on Rω×ω induced by the Banach subspaces ℓp(ℓq) . We show that if r>p≥q≥1 , then there is no Borel reduction from the equivalence relation Xω/ℓr(X) , where X is a Banach space, to Rω×ω/ℓp(ℓq) .
Union Membership and the Erosion of the Ghent System: Lessons from Finland

Union density declined in Finland by more than 10 percentage points in less than ten years. This paper analyses the reasons behind the decline, using micro data from the 1990s. According to our results, the changes in the composition of the labour force and the changes in the labour market explain about a quarter of this decline. The main reason for the decline appears to be the erosion of the Ghent system, due to the emergence of an independent UI fund that provides unemployment insurance without requiring union membership. Interestingly, we find evidence that the decline in the union density can be attributed to declining inclination of the cohorts born after the early 1960s to become union members.
An Exploration of Jamaican Mothers’ Perceptions of Closeness and Intimacy in the Mother–Child Relationship during Middle Childhood

Research on Jamaican mother–child relationships has had a limited focus on authoritarian parenting styles and selected discipline practices such as corporal punishment. This study examined Jamaican mothers’ experiences of closeness and connectedness with their children to provide a holistic perspective on Jamaican-parent–child relationships. Thirty mothers (17 middle class and 13 lower class) living in Kingston and St. Andrew, Jamaica, participated in a 1-h to 1.5-h semi-structured, open-ended interview regarding their 8- to 12-year-old children. Thematic analyses indicated that mothers experienced closeness through intimate interactions (e.g., shared projects, shared physical affection, mutuality, and child self-disclosure) and parent–child nurturance. Both mothers and children were active in creating contexts for closeness. Mothers also reported experiences that temporarily damaged their connection with their children. The findings suggest that the construct of parent–child intimacy may be useful in teasing out the psychological meanings and interpersonal processes of parent–child relatedness in cultural research.
Studying Consumption with the Panel Study of Income Dynamics: Comparisons with the Consumer Expenditure Survey and an Application to the Intergenerational Transmission of Well-Being

Beginning in 1999, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) added new questions about several categories of consumption expenditure. The PSID now covers items that constitute more than seventy percent of total expenditure measured in the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE). We show that expenditure for each of the broad categories in the PSID aligns closely with corresponding measures from the CE. Using the new PSID data, we impute total expenditure in the PSID and show that this is also very close to total measured CE expenditure. For several distinct categories and for total consumption, we show that cross-sectional life cycle estimates of household expenditure activity are very similar across the two surveys. Finally, we illustrate the unique research value of the PSID for studying consumption by exploiting the survey's longitudinal design and genealogical structure to estimate the intergenerational elasticity of consumption expenditure, which is found to be in the range of 0.32-0.34.
Co-Teaching in a Teacher Education Classroom: Collaboration, Compromise, and Creativity.

This article discusses the collaborative planning and co-teaching experiences of two college faculty who co-taught a second language acquisition course in an undergraduate teacher education program at an urban college. Three questions frame the activities and reflections of the authors’ experiences and provide insights into characteristics, planning, and strategies of co-teaching in teacher education. The course was structured using thematic units and weekly lesson plans. The authors agree the benefits of co-teaching outweigh the challenges.
Expanding Accountability through Participatory Institutions: Mayors, Citizens, and Budgeting in Three Brazilian Municipalities

Abstract As new political institutions provide Brazilians with unprecedented access to policymaking and decisionmaking venues, politicians and activists have undertaken reform efforts to promote institutional arrangements partly designed to expand accountability. The expansion of participatory decisionmaking venues may grant citizens greater authority, but these institutions could also undermine municipal councils’ ability to curb the prerogatives of mayors. This article analyzes participatory budgeting in São Paulo, Recife, and Porto Alegre to illustrate that mayors have differing capacities to implement their policy preferences, and this greatly affects how accountability may be extended.
Antithrombotic medications and the etiology of intracerebral hemorrhage

Objective: To test the hypothesis that the effect of antithrombotic medications on the risk of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) varies according to the location of the hematoma. Methods: Consecutive patients with ICH were enrolled as part of the Multicenter Study on Cerebral Hemorrhage in Italy (MUCH-Italy). Multivariable logistic regression models served to examine whether risk factors for ICH and location of the hematoma (deep vs lobar) predict treatment-specific ICH subgroups (antiplatelets-related ICH and oral anticoagulants [OACs]–related ICH). Results: A total of 870 (313 lobar ICH, 557 deep ICH) subjects were included. Of these, 223 (25.6%) were taking antiplatelets and 77 (8.8%) OACs at the time of stroke. The odds of antiplatelet-related ICH increased with aging (odds ratio [OR] 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03–1.07) and hypertension (OR 1.86; 95% CI 1.22–2.85) but had no relation with the anatomical location of ICH. Conversely, lobar location of the hematoma was associated with the subgroup of OAC-related ICH (OR 1.70; 95% CI 1.03–2.81) when compared to the subgroup of patients taking no antithrombotic medications. Within the subgroup of patients taking OACs, international normalized ratio (INR) values were higher in those with lobar ICH as compared to those with deep ICH (2.8 ± 1.1 vs 2.2 ± 0.8; p = 0.011). The proportion of patients with lobar hematoma increased with increasing intensity of anticoagulation, with a ∼2-fold increased odds of lobar compared to deep ICH (odds 2.17; p = 0.03) in those exposed to overanticoagulation (INR values >3.0). Conclusions: OACs, as opposed to antiplatelets, predispose to lobar location of brain hematomas according to a dose-response relationship.
Corporate Governance and Investor Protection: Earnings Management in the U.K. and U.S.

This study extends the work of Leuz et al. (2003) by examining the incidence of earnings management in countries where the level of investor protection provided by the legal environment is high. We question whether Leuz et al.'s (2003) country clusters are overly broad in seeking to effectively explain the relation between countries' legal environments and earnings management. Hofstede (2001) notes that, while the U.K. and U.S. are similar in numerous respects, various cultural and organizational differences exist. Accounting research identifies a number of differences in corporate governance between the two countries that could influence earnings management. We examine samples of U.K. and U.S. firms that were taken private in a management buyout (MBO) so as to focus on situations epitomizing the conflict between corporate insiders and outside shareholders. Overall, our results indicate that managers in both the U.K. and U.S. manage earnings downward prior to an MBO, with U.S. managers being significantly.
Institutional Investors and Stock Liquidity: Evidence from Indian Stock Market

The main aim of this article is to examine the relation between institutional ownership and stock liquidity. Using a large sample of Indian firm data for the period 2001–2012, we estimate two liquidity measures, Amihud illiquidity and HL-spread. We find that institutional ownership is negatively related to the stock liquidity. We also find that the negative institutional ownership–stock liquidity relation is mostly driven by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and Bank ownership. Conversely, retail ownership is positively related to the stock liquidity. Importantly, we find that institutional investors are more likely to hold liquid stocks. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the level of institutional ownership proxies for informed investors, while they trade liquid stock to reduce price impact cost.
Does size matter? A genetic programming approach to technical trading

24 studies obtained negative results. Ten studies indicated mixed results . ’’ They continue to state ‘‘ (d)espite the positive evidence on the profitability of technical trading strategies, it appears that most empirical studies are subject to various problems in their testing procedures, e.g., data snooping, ex post selection of trading rules or search technologies, and difficulties in estimation of risk and transactions costs . ’’
Gender differences of dyslipidemia in type 2 diabetics.

BACKGROUND Type II diabetic patients are at an increased risk of coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular disease because of deranged lipid metabolism. Female diabetic patients are predominantly at risk. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine effects of gender on dyslipidemia of type II diabetic patients. METHODS This study was carried out at Out-Patients Department, Medical A Unit, Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad from 27th May to 27th November 2009. All type II diabetic patients who were above 40 and gave consent were included in the study. Data was collected through a structured proforma. Pattern of dyslipidemia in type II diabetic patients were estimated by computing all the four types of dyslipidemia like hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL, increased serum total cholesterol and increased serum LDL. RESULTS There were 150 patients with mean age 65.67 +/- 11.29 years. There were 80 (53.33%) male and 70 (46.7%) female patients. Mean BMI was 28.45 +/- 3.30 Kg/m2. Mean serum cholesterol level was 3.9 +/- 1.31 mmol/L, triglyceride level was 2.98 +/- 1.14 mmol/L, LDL level was 3.28 +/- 0.85 mmol/L and HDL was 0.95 +/- 0.02 mmol/L. Women were more frequent to have low level HDL as compare to men (p < 0.05), while no significant difference was found regarding serum cholesterol, serum triglyceride and serum LDL (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION Female diabetic patients have increased frequency of low level of serum HDL as compared to males.
Bidder Incentives for Informed Trading before Hostile Tender Offer Announcements

Legal constraints that require disclosure of a bid before a controlling interest is purchased give bidders an incentive to tip arbitrageurs before announcement. Because arbitrageurs are likely to have lower private tendering costs than other shareholders, tipping decreases the minimum successful bid price, which increases profits to the bidder. The incentive to leak information is negatively related to the amount of dilution the bidder anticipates, the degree to which the back-end price embeds any pre-announcement price increase arising from additional trading by arbitrageurs, and the size of the bidder's toehold. It is positively related to the private tendering costs of the pivotal share.
Paramilitary power and "parapolitics" : subnational patterns of criminalization of politicians and politicization of criminals in Colombia

The phenomenon of corruption in the context of civil wars is of increasing interest in scholarly literature. Colombia exhibits a particular case in which right-wing paramilitaries from the United Self-Defence of Colombia, strongly supported in drug tra*cking activities, colluded with local politicians and captured the subnational state in many a region, under a phenomenon known as “parapolitics” or the politics of paramilitaries. Unlike the latest generation of armed conﬂicts in which warlords have sought to deconstruct the state, Colombian paramilitaries levered their strategic interests within the existing institutional framework, backed by local political elites and authorities, and pivoted on patron-client ties. In the context of these alliances, paramilitaries provided politicians with a violent muscle meant to protect electoral processes and maximize votes. In return, politicians protected paramilitary activities and represented the Self- Defence warlords in Congress in order to feed their political, judicial and economic domains. By elucidating the nature of "parapolitics" and by addressing the question of why (conditions), how (mechanisms) and to what purpose (ultimate goal) did the phenomenon emerge in Colombia, I examine in subnational comparative perspective the cases of Sucre and Norte de Santander departments. By building causal paths in historical perspective I substantiate parapolitics in the selected cases as well as variations in the processes and outcomes thereof. Although the cases do not represent the whole universe of "parapolitics", causal paths help building explanatory frameworks that may be generalizable to a larger universe of similar cases.
Integrated water management of the Brahmaputra basin: Perspectives and hope for regional development

This paper analyses the current status of Brahmaputra water resources and identifies the perspectives of riparian countries regarding the development of the Brahmaputra basin. Water is strongly linked with the overall development framework of the Brahmaputra basin. However, the absence of integrated management of Brahmaputra water resources and lack of coordination among the riparian states constitutes an ongoing threat to future development plans within the basin. Brahmaputra’s abundant hydropower potential can help give riparian countries a safer energy future that is the key driving force behind the prospect of potential cooperation. This paper identifies the opportunities for cooperation and regional development through integrated water development and management of the Brahmaputra basin. It is essential to develop an integrated water resources management approach involving all riparians intended to foster regional development and overcome the prospect of sever water conflict along the Brahmaputra basin.
Exploring Approaches Towards a Sustainable Transport System

ABSTRACT This article undertakes a ‘backcasting’ analysis exploring strategic approaches for overall systems sustainability in personal transport. Starting from a robust definition of sustainability for the personal transport sector, the research examines the impact of combinations of transport technologies and changes in travel behaviour in reducing CO2 emissions towards a sustainable level. In doing this a simple equation model is used. This is purposely simple to provide a tool developing understanding by anyone exploring transport's sustainability challenges. It is concluded that technical measures in isolation are likely to be ineffective and politically problematic. Equally, even substantial modal shift to public transport cannot of itself attain the sustainability target. Trip length in particular needs to be a focus for demand management measures. A combined strategy of both technical improvements and demand management addressing trip length, trip generation and modal share can deliver the necessary improvement, although the implementation of such a package remains politically challenging.
A Water Demand Prediction Model for Central Indiana

Due to the limited natural water resources and the increase in population, managing water consumption is becoming an increasingly important subject worldwide. In this paper, we present and compare different machine learning models that are able to predict water demand for Central Indiana. The models are developed for two different time scales: daily and monthly. The input features for the proposed model include weather conditions (temperature, rainfall, snow), social features (holiday, median income), date (day of the year, month), and operational features (number of customers, previous water demand levels). The importance of these input features as accurate predictors is investigated. The results show that daily and monthly models based on recurrent neural networks produced the best results with an average error in prediction of 1.69% and 2.29%, respectively for 2016. These models achieve a high accuracy with a limited set of input features.
INCREASED NEWS ACCESS FOR INTERNATIONAL NGOs?

The combined interplay of commercialisation, digitalisation and globalisation offers opportunities for international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to gain more news access. We set up a quantitative content analysis to study how and to what extent press releases from the international NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) were adopted in foreign coverage by four Flemish newspapers (1995–2010). First, the analysis shows that fewer articles were based on MSF press releases in 2010 than in 1995. Furthermore, we found that Flemish journalists generally supplemented the MSF press releases with additional information. The decreased agenda-building capacity of MSF can be explained by the nature of events (violent conflicts in 1995 versus natural disasters in 2010) and by the increased competition between NGOs in 2010. The fact that MSF press releases and articles increasingly discuss global issues nonetheless indicates that globalisation offers opportunities for international NGOs to enhance their agenda-building capacities. Second, our research found less evidence to support often heard complaints about “churnalism” in newsrooms and showed that public relations can also be a positive factor in the news production process; specifically, we found that MSF press releases are often used to counterbalance the “official” message coming from political representatives or contending parties.
Impact of gavage dosing procedure and gastric content on adverse respiratory effects and mortality in rat toxicity studies

Unscheduled mortality preceded by adverse respiratory clinical signs in rats dosed by oral gavage may not only be caused by technical gavage error or systemic toxicity but may also be caused by gastro‐esophageal reflux and subsequent aspiration of high concentrations of drug formulation. In a 3 week oral gavage rat toxicity study for an early drug development compound, preterminal deaths (approximately 20% of animals) at high doses (≥1000 mg kg−1) and concentrations (≥60 mg ml−1) were preceded by recurrent dyspnea, rales or excessive salivation, without evidence of accidental intrapulmonary gavage error. Histological evaluation revealed extensive necrosis and inflammatory changes in the upper respiratory tract, especially in the nasal turbinates and/or nasopharynx. The presence of food particles in inflammatory exudates suggested a retrograde aspiration of stomach content with test formulation via the nasopharyngeal duct into the posterior region of the nose. In contrast, no mortality or adverse respiratory effects were observed in rats following 2 week intravenous administration at comparable exposures or oral gavage administration at lower concentrations (≤20 mg ml−1). In a pharmacology study, the compound caused a dose‐dependent increase in gastric content (partly due to inhibition of gastric emptying), providing a pharmacological basis for the suspected gavage‐mediated gastroesophageal reflux. Reducing the dose volume and dosing fasted animals substantially reduced or eliminated the respiratory effects and mortality at the high test article concentrations, demonstrating that the adverse effects are related to the gavage method. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.