Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Romanian Suburban Housing: Home Improvement through Owner-building

The new suburban housing developments in post-socialist cities have been ubiquitous icons of socioeconomic and physical change. This paper examines suburban owner-built housing as a long-term strategy of home improvement in Romania. It analyses residents’ motivations and financial strategies to move up the housing ladder through owner-building and their responses to key neighbourhood problems, in particular poor public infrastructure and non-existent public facilities. It is argued that owner-builders generally benefitted from the economic informality, the relaxed legal culture and the unregulated housing context of the Romanian post-socialist transition; but the absence of public actors has weakened their achievements, which is most apparent at neighbourhood level. The paper draws attention to a context of politico-economic reforms and a set of socio-cultural values of housing privatism in which resident responses may frequently generate consequential (collective) problems localised at the level of streets, neighbourhoods or even the whole society.
Quantum chemical 13Cα chemical shift calculations for protein NMR structure determination, refinement, and validation

A recently determined set of 20 NMR-derived conformations of a 48-residue all-α-helical protein, (PDB ID code 2JVD), is validated here by comparing the observed 13Cα chemical shifts with those computed at the density functional level of theory. In addition, a recently introduced physics-based method, aimed at determining protein structures by using NOE-derived distance constraints together with observed and computed 13Cα chemical shifts, was applied to determine a new set of 10 conformations, (Set-bt), as a blind test for the same protein. A cross-validation of these two sets of conformations in terms of the agreement between computed and observed 13Cα chemical shifts, several stereochemical quality factors, and some NMR quality assessment scores reveals the good quality of both sets of structures. We also carried out an analysis of the agreement between the observed and computed 13Cα chemical shifts for a slightly longer construct of the protein solved by x-ray crystallography at 2.0-Å resolution (PDB ID code 3BHP) with an identical amino acid residue sequence to the 2JVD structure for the first 46 residues. Our results reveal that both of the NMR-derived sets, namely 2JVD and Set-bt, are somewhat better representations of the observed 13Cα chemical shifts in solution than the 3BHP crystal structure. In addition, the 13Cα-based validation analysis appears to be more sensitive to subtle structural differences across the three sets of structures than any other NMR quality-assessment scores used here, and, although it is computationally intensive, this analysis has potential value as a standard procedure to determine, refine, and validate protein structures.
Dynamic Properties of Income Support Receipt in Australia

Using administrative records on Australian income support (welfare) recipients over the period July 1995 to June 2002, we examine dynamic properties of income support receipt and the personal characteristics associated with alternative patterns of receipt. We draw on three concepts: churning – the process of ending a spell on income support and subsequently commencing a new spell; transferring – moving from one payment-type to another within a spell on income support; and Total proportion of Time On income support (TTO) – the proportion of time on income support in a given period. We find that churning and transferring are significant features of income support receipt in Australia. For example, over half of recipients churn within five years of commencing an income support spell, and onefifth make a payment transfer within the same time frame. Examination of the characteristics associated with each of five distinct patterns of receipt reveals substantial differences in patterns by age, family composition, unemployment status, health status, and recent history of income support receipt.
Surgical management of ruptured and unruptured symptomatic posterior inferior cerebellar artery aneurysms

This retrospective study analyses the outcome of posterior inferior cerebellar artery aneurysms treated surgically. Thirteen consecutive ruptured and unruptured PICA aneurysm patients from January 1998 to January 2004 were reviewed retrospectively. The mean age was 49.1 ± 7.4 years. Three were unruptured aneurysms and ten presented with acute subarachnoid haemorrahge. Surgery was performed immediately after completed 4 vessel angiograms using the far lateral approach. Eight were fusiform while five were saccular aneurysms. The saccular aneurysms were clipped. Treatment of the fusiform aneurysms included 3 trappings and three proximal clippings. One patient refused surgery and had endovascular occlusion of a giant PICA aneurysm. Eight out of ten (80%) operated patients needed CSF shunting for hydrocephalus. All check angiograms during follow up demonstrated adequate exclusion of the aneurysms from the circulation. None developed the PICA syndrome clinically or showed infarction on brain scans. All good grade patients recovered without neurological deficits. Our experience showed that early surgery for ruptured PICA aneurysm carries a good prognosis with low morbidity. In aneurysms that cannot be clipped, sacrifice of the PICA without revascularisation procedures in proximally located PICA aneurysms may still be feasible if the occlusion is done distal to the perforators.
Time-varying risk in the German stock market

This paper compares two specifications of the Capital Asset Pricing Model for a sample of German stocks. The specifications generate time-varying first and second moments by conditioning on past information. This explicit modelling of the time series behaviour of risk allows us to characterize the driving factors of variances and covariances of returns. In addition to a variety of diagnostic tests we evaluate the validity of the one-factor restriction in the CAPM. The main findings are that risk is time dependent and very variable and also that more than one factor is needed to fit the data set.
Myopia and Inconsistency in Dynamic Utility Maximization

This paper presents a problem which I believe has not heretofore been analysed2 and provides a theory to explain, under different circumstances, three related phenomena: (1) spendthriftiness; (2) the deliberate regimenting of one’s future economic behaviour— even at a cost; and (3) thrift. The senses in which we deal with these topics can probably not be very well understood, however, until after the paper has been read; but a few sentences at this point may shed some light on what we are up to.
Measures ensuring the food quality on retail markets: experimental perspective

Due to the ongoing problems with the quality of foods in European markets, the public authorities try to take some measures, which would reduce the amount of substandard food products off ered to consumers in retailing. Th ree such measures - the higher frequency of quality checks conducted by public authorities, the imposition of some import ba- rriers on the foodstuff s from countries known for their frequent breaches of quality standards in the food industry and the establishment of an information platform serving for the public pillorying of poor quality food - are studied in this paper. Th e experimental policy analysis was used as the research method. Th e results obtained show that only the higher frequen- cy of quality checks can improve the situation of consumers. Th is measure is also eff ective in punishing the dishonest retai- lers, while not harming the honest ones.
Corporate social responsibility - sustainability and profitability

In present, the image of a company, its corporative identity became of a fundamental importance. An organization has to show transparency and correctness, in our time is not enough to perform only a high quality product, moreover, organization must prove it is also a good corporative “citizen”. There is no doubt that many of the actions of some major corporations have shown the worst side of commercial operation, whether this has been in the form of social or environmental operation or through manipulation conducting to major financial catastrophes that have harmed a lot at all levels of society. For this reason, there has been a growth in support for NGOs that have set their sights on raising awareness and stopping exploitation of any natural resources, using any and all means to further their special cause irrespective of the impacts on others in society, even the business community.
Nonuse Values and the Environment: Economic and Ethical Motivations

Nonuse values are a potentially very important, but controversial, aspect of the economic valuation of the environment. Since no use is envisaged by the individual, a degree of altruism appears to be the driving force behind nonuse values. Whilst much of the controversy has focused upon measurement issues associated with the contingent valuation method, this paper concentrates on the underlying motivations, whether ethical or economic, that form the basis for such values. Some fundamental aspects of defining and quantifying economic nonuse values are considered, and possible motives for attributing value to the environment are analysed, making a clear distinction between ‘selfish’ altruism and ‘selfless’ altruism. The difference has crucial implications for economic valuation and for assessing individuals’ willingness to pay for environmental quality. The concept of Safe Minimum Standards is introduced as a means of supplementing purely economic methodology to incorporate ethical concerns into decision making.
The Effect of Postischemic Hypothermia on Apoptotic Cell Death in the Neonatal Rat Brain

Background and Objective: Hypothermia is the most effective neuroprotective therapy against ischemic injury in the developing brain. However, the mechanism of hypothermic neuroprotection is not well understood. We sought to investigate whether hypothermia mediates neuroprotection by modulating ischemia-induced apoptosis. Methods: Seven-day-old rat pups were randomly assigned to either control or hypoxia-ischemia (HI) groups. In the HI group, the internal carotid artery was ligated and cut. This was followed by transient hypoxia at 8% oxygen for 90 min. In the control rats, the internal carotid was isolated but not ligated. Immediately after the hypoxic episode, pups in the HI group were either placed in water baths maintained at 28°C for 24 h (core temperatures at 31°C) or they remained in a normothermic environment. Animals were sacrificed at 24, 48 and 72 h and 1 week after the HI insult. Brain sections were processed for immunohistochemistry and Western blots. Results: Caspase 3 expression was significantly higher in the core compared with the peri-infarct area at all time points in normothermic rats. Hypothermia reduced caspase 3 expression in the core but had little effect in the peri-infarct area. Hypothermia reduced apoptosis-inducing factor translocation to the nucleus in the core and peri-infarct area. Concurrently, X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) expression was significantly potentiated in the hypothermic-ischemic core but not in the peri-infarct area. Conclusion: Hypothermic modulation of caspase-dependent apoptosis may be mediated by upregulating XIAP. However, the effect of hypothermia on caspase-independent apoptosis may be mediated by XIAP-independent mechanisms. Importantly, these effects are mediated in both the core and the penumbral regions of ischemic lesion.
In Pursuit of Global Regulation: Changing Governance and Accountability Structures at the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC)

Purpose – IFAC, a Swiss-registered non-governmental organization, is emerging as an important international (auditing) standard setter amongst a powerful group of regulators, including the World Bank, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the European Commission (EC). The purpose of this paper is to focus on the changing governance and accountability structures within IFAC, the way such changes are shaping, or re-shaping, its “public interest” commitments and the resulting strategic implications for processes of auditor regulation and public oversight in the global financial arena. Design/methodology/approach – The material and analysis presented in the paper derives from an extensive review of official reports, consultation documents and related responses, a range of other information available on IFAC's web site (www.ifac.org) or those of other key regulatory players in the global financial arena. Findings – The paper analyzes how IFAC is succeeding as an international standard setter with an established place in the global financial infrastructure. From analysis of the recent establishment of a Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB) and the changing nature of representation on IFAC's Public Interest Activity Committees (PIACs), the paper reveals a growing reliance on governance by experts together with a growth in influence of the large, multinational accounting firms. Governance of auditors has become a matter of global importance and governance structures are being reconfigured. Practical implications – By highlighting the changes that have taken place within IFAC's governance system, the paper establishes the importance for public policy of further study and debate concerning the nature and practical operation of such a system, particularly given IFAC's position within a complex but developing global governance arena. Originality/value – IFAC is becoming an integral player in global financial governance processes and yet has not been subject to any substantial academic accounting research. This paper seeks to rectify this by focusing on the structures and processes underpinning both the development of IFAC's International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) and its own global strategy for advancement.
Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Haemophilus influenzae in the Respiratory Tracts of Patients with Cystic Fibrosis

ABSTRACT We analyzed the antimicrobial susceptibilities of Haemophilus influenzae isolates from 157 sputum specimens prospectively collected from 39 cystic fibrosis (CF) patients during a 2-year study. These isolates were characterized by random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis and major outer membrane protein (MOMP) analysis to identify H. influenzae strains and MOMP variants and to assess their persistence in the respiratory tract. Among the 247H. influenzae isolates, 16 (6.5%) produced β-lactamase. The 231 β-lactamase-negative isolates represented 85H. influenzae strains, 61 MOMP variants derived from 27 of these strains, and 85 persistent isolates identical to strains or MOMP variants. All β-lactamase-negative isolates were tested for susceptibility to ampicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, cefuroxime, cefotaxime, cefaclor, imipenem, tetracycline, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole by disk diffusion testing. Eleven (13%)H. influenzae strains, 18 (30%) MOMP variants, and 30 (35%) persistent isolates were resistant to one or more of the antibiotics tested. Antimicrobial susceptibility was decreased among MOMP variants and persistent isolates compared to nonpersistentH. influenzae strains, and changes in susceptibility occurred irrespective of MOMP variation. We conclude that the decreased antimicrobial susceptibility of H. influenzae during persistence contributes to the poor eradication of H. influenzae from the respiratory tracts of CF patients.
Variation in physicians' recommendations about revisit interval for three common conditions.

BACKGROUND The appropriate revisit interval for most conditions is uncertain. This survey was done to gather information about physicians' recommendations on revisit intervals for three common conditions. METHODS Data were gathered in a mailed survey of 116 primary care physicians in the University of California at San Francisco Collaborative Research Network. Physicians were given descriptions of three hypothetical patients, one with diabetes mellitus, one with angina, and one with hypertension, and were asked when they would recommend a follow-up visit for the condition. RESULTS There were great variations in physicians' recommendations about revisit intervals for each hypothetical patient. Internists were significantly more likely than family physicians to recommend a longer revisit interval for the hypothetical patient with diabetes mellitus; a similar revisit pattern was found for the patient with hypertension. There were no significant associations with recommended revisit interval and many other physician characteristics. CONCLUSIONS As interest in containing the cost and improving the efficiency of medical care increases, knowing how often patients ought to be seen will be a topic of increasing importance. A rational, information-based approach to the choice of revisit interval for common conditions could yield substantial savings in medical care costs. The existence of great variation in recommended revisit interval suggests that physicians are uncertain about what interval is best.
Adherence and Persistence with Drug Therapy among Fibromyalgia Patients: Data from a Large Health Maintenance Organization

Ben-Ami Shor D, Weitzman D, Dahan S, Gendelman O, Bar-On Y, Amital D, Shalev V, Chodick G, Amital H. Adherence and persistence with drug therapy among fibromyalgia patients: data from a large health maintenance organization. J Rheumatol 2017; doi:10.3899/jrheum.170098. In the print version of the article, under Results, in the next-to-last paragraph, first sentence, the mathematical symbol is incorrect. The sentence should read, “Patients with higher SES, immigrants, and those diagnosed with anxiety, depression, or migraines were more likely to adhere (PDC ≥ 20%; Table 2). ”
Social enterprise and effectiveness: a process typology

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the lack of conceptualisation within the emerging field of social enterprise, the aim is to contribute to a better understanding of process effectiveness and potential.Design/methodology/approach – The literature is drawn upon in providing a rationale for focusing on process, for selecting an appropriate organising framework, and for developing the typology and its key dimensions.Findings – In proposing two polar opposite “ideal types” – one based on traditional concepts of non‐profit organisations and one that employs entrepreneurship as a strategy for achieving social aims (such as poverty and marginalisation) – the process components (activities, people and organising) and their interrelationship are explained. The dimensions of each component that facilitate or constrain entrepreneurship are conceptualised along a continuum, whereby a predisposition toward either end of the continuum forms the basis of classification. Upon assessing each process compon.
Alterations of T cell receptor Vbeta repertoire of CD8 T lymphocytes in immune tolerance induction in two hemophilia A patients with inhibitors.

BACKGROUND/AIM Hemophilia A patients with inhibitors are treated effectively with immune tolerance induction (ITI) therapy. Although anti-idiotypic antibodies may play a certain role in the underlying mechanism, the detailed mechanism by which ITI produces a curative effect remains unknown. The aim of this study was to clarify the immunological aspect of ITI. METHODS Longitudinal T-cell receptor (TCR) analysis was performed during ITI. TCR variable region alpha-chain and beta-chain repertoires were serially analyzed for peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), CD4 T cells, and CD8 T cells from 2 hemophilia inhibitor patients treated with ITI (Patients 1 and 2). Furthermore, to see whether skewing observed in TCR analysis resulted from clonality alterations, T cell clonality was investigated using complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) size spectratyping. RESULTS In the patient 1, inhibitor titer remained to be 19.6 BU/mL for 596 days after ITT commencement, and ITI was unsuccessful. In the patient 2, inhibitor titer disappeared 434 days after ITI commencement, and ITI was successful. In both cases, skewing of TCR variable region alpha/beta-chain repertoires was observed in CD8 T cell subset, whereas not in CD4 T cell subset. CONCLUSION Alteration of TCR repertoires, especially TCR variable region beta-chain repertoire of CD8 T cells, was distinct between successful and unsuccessful cases, suggesting that immunological response in the early phase affected the ITI outcomes.
Assessing the Contributions of Collaborators in Public–Private Partnerships

Partnerships that bring together public, private, and nonprofit organizations have become widely used by local governments. But we lack knowledge about the distinct contributions of collaborators to the partnership. This study uses tax increment financing (TIF) in Dallas, Texas, to assess the distinctive roles of public and private partners in achieving mutually beneficial policy outcomes. We find that, while public investment is essential to the partnership’s success, private investment directly increases property values. The city’s greatest contribution is to leverage private investment to create added taxable value in the TIF district. The increased property value provides revenue that is used for public purposes benefiting TIF district occupants. As with other quasi-private institutions that have gained popularity in the new order of governance, the appeal of TIF is its capacity to create public goods with bounded benefits. In addition, both institutional and operational knowledge contribute to the partnership’s success. The city’s experience at establishing new TIF districts and administering existing ones increases taxable value.
The Role of Halal Awareness, Halal Certification, and Marketing Components in Determining Halal Purchase Intention Among Non-Muslims in Malaysia: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Although the important role of halal awareness, halal certification, and marketing-related components in determining purchase intention has been recognized in the marketing literature, empirical examination of this issue is limited. In order to fill this knowledge gap, this study aimed to determine the relationships between halal awareness, halal certification, food quality, marketing promotion, and brand with the intention to purchase halal product among the non-Muslim community in Malaysia. The data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire survey consisting of 226 non-Muslim consumers. Structural equation analyses indicated that the halal awareness, halal certification, marketing promotion, and brand were positively related to purchase intention, whereas food quality was negatively associated with it. Theoretically, this study is one of the first attempts to develop and to empirically test a conceptual model on halal purchase intention by integrating halal components with marketing-related components.
European Political Economy: Labour Out, State Back In, Firm to the Fore

Much has changed in European political economy over the past 30 years, both in terms of the political economic realities and the scholarly explanations of those realities. National economic policies and policymaking have undergone major transformations, largely in response to the pressures of globalisation and Europeanisation. Such transformations have entailed significant alterations in the role of the state, the importance of business, and the power of labour. In light of these changes in the political economic realities, political economists have shifted their focus over time, first taking labour out of the equation, then bringing the state back in only to devalue it in light of globalisation and Europeanisation before putting the firm front and centre. Only recently has the state been brought back in yet again while labour has made a comeback.