Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Renewable Energy Projects on Contaminated Property: Managing the Risks

Managing brownfields risks requires complex technical and legal analysis. Analyzing risks in renewable energy projects is equally complex. Both projects involve several contracts that must be integrated and made consistent with each other. Combining these types of projects creates a unique combination of risks, including, for sites where institutional/engineering controls are part of the remedy, risks that will not diminish over time. The best risk management tool is an insurance program that can integrate property and commercial general liability (CGL) coverage for renewable energy risks with manuscripted coverage under a site pollution liability (SPL) policy for brownfield risks.
Wiring prior to firing: the evolutionary rise of electrical and chemical modes of synaptic transmission

Abstract Paracrine signaling and coupling via intercellular conduits are widely utilized for cell-cell interactions from primitive eukaryotes to advanced metazoa. Here, we review the functional and molecular data suggestive of a phylogenic continuum between these primeval forms of communication with the chemical and electrical synaptic transmission of neurons. We discuss selective evidence for the essential role played by the shift of function in early cellular morphologies and protosynaptic scaffolds, with their co-optation for new functionality, which ultimately lead to the rise of the chemical synapse. It is proposed that, rather than representing a transitional element, mixed electrochemical synapses exemplify an exaptive effect. The nonadaptive model of the synaptic origin described herein supports the pluralistic hypothesis of evolutionary change.
Environmental factors on the SARS epidemic: air temperature, passage of time and multiplicative effect of hospital infection

The study sought to identify factors involved in the emergence, prevention and elimination of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong during 11 March to 22 May 2003. A structured multiphase regression analysis was used to estimate the potential effects of weather, time and interaction effect of hospital infection. In days with a lower air temperature during the epidemic, the risk of increased daily incidence of SARS was 18·18-fold (95% confidence interval 5·6–58·8) higher than in days with a higher temperature. The total daily new cases might naturally decrease by an average of 2·8 patients for every 10 days during the epidemic. The multiplicative effect of infected hospital staff with patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) and the proportion of SARS patients in ICUs might respectively increase the risk of a larger SARS epidemic in the community. The provision of protective gear in hospitals was also a very important factor for the prevention of SARS infection. SARS transmission appeared to be dependent on seasonal temperature changes and the multiplicative effect of hospital infection. SARS also appeared to retreat naturally over time.
A novel compact Ultra-Wideband bandpass filter

This paper presents a novel approach which can be used to design compact Ultra-Wideband (UWB) filters with high selectivity and excellent stopband performance. The design is based on a new 4-pole wideband filter circuit that provides transmission zeros to enhance the selectivity. In addition, the proposed design can be easily implemented on multilayer substrates with simple and low-cost manufacturing process. To demonstrate this, the filter has been fabricated on multilayer LCP substrates and has a compact size of 5.6mm × 5.6mm × 0.4mm (0.2 λg × 0.2 λg × 0.014 λg), where λg is the guided wavelength at 6.85GHz. This size is quite small as compared to other designs in open literature with similar performance. The measured frequency responses of all fabricated samples of this design are in very good agreement with simulation. This indicates that the design is a good candidate for practical UWB applications and very suitable for mass production with high yield.
Switching Intentions: A Case of Saudi Arabian Hypermarkets

Switching intention (SI) of consumer is sought as main issue of retailing due to its negative effects on market share and profitability of retail outlet. Now firms need to know the factors, which contribute to choose another outlet, and customer changes its patronage elsewhere. For this reason, it is very important for firm to understand the reasons of consumer switching to maintain their long lasting relationship with customers. This study is about the impact of retail service quality on customer satisfaction (CS) by using retail service quality model and moderating role of ethnic store (ES) in SI of satisfied customers. The purpose of the paper is to looks into the determinants of SI and attempts to answer why satisfied customer switch and do not maintain the relationship with current store. Statistical population is the customers of hypermarket in Saudi Arabia. The research method is based on descriptive – survey and data analysis method is by structural equation modeling by using Amos software. Significant positive effect of dimensions of retail service quality model on CS is found. Moreover, the moderating role of store ethnicity is also proved for CS-SI links, which exhibits that store ethnicity affects the behavior of satisfied customers and they intend to switch to their ES.
Rapid diagnosis of Brucella melitensis in blood: some operational characteristics of the BACT/ALERT

A clinical isolate of Brucella melitensis was detected in a blood culture with the BACT/ALERT after an incubation period of 2.8 days. Dilution studies revealed an inverse linear relationship between the log of the initial concentration of the organism and the time to detection of a positive result. Reproducibility studies demonstrated a mean detection time of 48 +/- 1 h in 8 of 10 replicates seeded with a stock containing 10(2) CFU/ml.
The Selective Value of Bacterial Shape

SUMMARY Why do bacteria have shape? Is morphology valuable or just a trivial secondary characteristic? Why should bacteria have one shape instead of another? Three broad considerations suggest that bacterial shapes are not accidental but are biologically important: cells adopt uniform morphologies from among a wide variety of possibilities, some cells modify their shape as conditions demand, and morphology can be tracked through evolutionary lineages. All of these imply that shape is a selectable feature that aids survival. The aim of this review is to spell out the physical, environmental, and biological forces that favor different bacterial morphologies and which, therefore, contribute to natural selection. Specifically, cell shape is driven by eight general considerations: nutrient access, cell division and segregation, attachment to surfaces, passive dispersal, active motility, polar differentiation, the need to escape predators, and the advantages of cellular differentiation. Bacteria respond to these forces by performing a type of calculus, integrating over a number of environmental and behavioral factors to produce a size and shape that are optimal for the circumstances in which they live. Just as we are beginning to answer how bacteria create their shapes, it seems reasonable and essential that we expand our efforts to understand why they do so.
EVALUATION OF CROP INSURANCE PREMIUM RATES FOR GEORGIA AND SOUTH CAROLINA PEACHES

We estimate actuarially fair premium rates for yield insurance for Georgia and South Carolina peaches for comparison to the premium rates established by the Risk Management Agency (RMA) for the 1999 crop. The RMA premium rates varied from county to county, but were identical for all growers in a given county. The estimated premium rates decrease with the grower's expected yield. The RMA rate structure encouraged adverse selection, as premium rates were too low for growers with low expected yields (especially at low coverage levels) and were too high for growers with high expected yields (especially at high coverage levels).
The Behavior of Stock Prices Around Institutional Trades

All trades executed by thirty-seven large investment management firms from July 1986 to December 1988 are used to study the price impact and execution cost of the entire sequence('package') of trades that the authors interpret as an order. The authors find that market impact and trading cost are related to firm capitalization, relative package size, and, most importantly, to the identity of the management firm behind the trade. Money managers with high demands for immediacy tend to be associated with larger market impact. Copyright 1995 by American Finance Association.
Description of a Gram-negative bacterium, Sphingomonas guangdongensis sp. nov.

A Gram-stain-negative bacterial strain, designated 9NM-8T, was isolated from an abandoned lead-zinc ore in Mei county, Meizhou, Guangdong province, PR China. The isolate was orange-pigmented, aerobic, oxidase- and catalase-positive, motile with lophotrichous flagella and rod-shaped. Strain 9NM-8T grew optimally at pH 7.0 and 30 °C and in the absence of NaCl on R2A agar. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain 9NM-8T belongs to the genus Sphingomonas, with highest sequence similarities to Sphingomonas azotifigens KACC 14484T (96.1%), Sphingomonas trueperi DSM 7225T (96.0%) and Sphingomonas pituitosa DSM 13101T (95.6 %). Strain 9NM-8T contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone. The major fatty acids included C18:1ω7c, C16:0, C16:1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c (summed feature 3) and 11-methyl C18:1ω7c. The DNA G+C content was 69.6±1.3 mol%. The major component in the polyamine pattern was sym-homospermidine and the polar lipid profile contained sphingoglycolipid, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified glycolipid and two unidentified phospholipids. Based on comparative analysis of physiological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic characteristics, strain 9NM-8T should be considered to represent a novel species of the genus Sphingomonas, for which the name Sphingomonas guangdongensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 9NM-8T (=GIMCC 1.653T=CGMCC 1.12672T=DSM 27570T).
New Possibilities for Socio-Economic Research through Longitudinal Data from the Research Data Centre of the German Federal Pension Insurance (FDZ-RV)

This section offers descriptions as well as discussions of data sources that are of interest to social scientists engaged in empirical research or teaching courses that include empirical investigations performed by students. The purpose is to describe the information in the data source, to give examples of questions tackled with the data and to tell how to access the data for research and teaching. We focus on data from German speaking countries that allow international comparative research. While most of the data are at the micro level (individuals, households, or firms), more aggregate data and meta data (for regions, industries, or nations) are included as well. Suggestions for data sources to be described in future columns (or comments on past columns) should be send to: Joachim Wagner, Leuphana University of Lueneburg, Institute of Economics, Campus 4.210, 21332 Lueneburg, Germany, or e-mailed to wagner@leuphana.de . Past “European Data Watch” articles can be downloaded free of charge from the homepage of the German Council for Social and Economic Data (RatSWD) at: http: // www. ratswd.de.
Determinants of acquisition integration level: A decision-making perspective.

Executives of 56 acquiring organizations participated in policy-capturing research that examined how the task, cultural, and political characteristics of acquisitions influence decisions about levels of integration. Although task-related characteristics entered most heavily into managers' decision models, cultural and political factors were also important. These results suggest that an understanding of acquisition integration is best achieved by viewing integration design decisions through multiple theoretical lenses. Furthermore, although industry and acquisition experience explained some variation in integration decision policies, results suggest that other individual or organization-level factors are also at work.
Evidence for Transient Linking of Atrial Excitation During Atrial Fibrillation in Humans

BackgroundAtrial fibrillation is usually thought of as a “random” pattern of circulating wavelets. However, local atrial activation should be influenced by the constant anatomy and receding tail of refractoriness from the previous activation. The general tendency for wave fronts to follow paths of previous excitation has been termed “linking. ” We examined intra-atrial electrograms recorded during atrial fibrillation for evidence of linking. Methods and ResultsTwo minutes of atrial fibrillation were recorded in 15 patients with an orthogonal catheter. We have previously demonstrated that this catheter can be used to detect changes in the direction of local atrial activation. A mean vector was calculated for each electrogram. The similarity of the direction of the vectors from two consecutive electrograms can be quantified on a scale of 1 to −1 by calculating the cosine (cos) of the smallest angle (&thetas;) between them. Two vectors pointing in the same or opposite directions then have cos(&thetas;) = 1 or −1, respectively. For the entire group of patients, mean cos(&thetas;) was significantly greater than 0 (mean, 0.36; p < 0.001). In nine of 15 patients, there were groups of six or more consecutive beats (total, 44 groups; range, six to 14 beats per group) in which the direction of activation of each beat was within 30° of the previous beat. The likelihood of one group of six or 14 consecutive similar beats occurring by chance in any one patient in 1 minute is < 0.05 and < 0.0000001, respectively. There was a significant correlation (r = 0.90) between the amount of linking during the first and second minutes of atrial fibrillation in each patient. ConclusionsTransient similarities in the direction of wavelet propagation in the majority of patients with atrial fibrillation is consistent with the presence of transient linking. To our knowledge, this is the first direct evidence that atrial activation during atrial fibrillation in humans is not entirely random.
A systematic literature review on the use of vacuum assisted closure for enterocutaneous fistula

Enterocutaneous fistula (ECF) is considered to be one of the most challenging complications a general surgeon can encounter. The current mainstay of treatment is surgical closure, associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Vacuum assisted closure (VAC) has been successfully used for closure of persistent abdominal wounds for a number of years. This study aims to investigate whether current literature supports the use of VAC for ECF.
The rise of entrepreneurial activity at universities: organizational and societal implications

Universities are increasingly emphasizing the creation of new companies as a mechanism for commercialization of intellectual property. This special issue provides a timely opportunity to assess the rise of entrepreneurial activity at universities and its organizational and societal implications. In this introductory article, we summarize the papers from the special issue and frame them in the context of the literature. In the concluding section, we discuss some organizational and societal issues that arise from these papers.
Angiotensin II type 1 receptor gene polymorphism predicts response to losartan and angiotensin II.

UNLABELLED Angiotensin II type 1 receptor gene polymorphism predicts response to losartan and angiotensin II. BACKGROUND Most of the known actions of angiotensin II (Ang II) are mediated by the Ang II type 1 receptor (AGT1R). A noncoding polymorphism of the AGT1R gene has been described in which there is either an adenine (A) or cytosine (C) base at position 1166. The functional significance of this polymorphism is unknown, prompting us to examine the relationship between this polymorphism and the systemic and renal responses to AGT1R blockade and subpressor Ang II infusion. METHODS Sixty-six healthy Caucasian men and women, genotyped for the AGT1R polymorphism by polymerase chain reaction, were chosen to form two homogeneous groups: AA and AC/CC. Renal hemodynamic function was assessed with inulin and para-aminohippurate clearance before and after AGT1R receptor blockade with losartan and Ang II infusion. RESULTS The mean values at baseline for glomerular filtration rate (GFR), renal plasma flow (ERPF), and renal blood flow (RBF) were significantly lower in the AC/CC group compared with the AA group. Losartan increased the GFR and decreased the mean arterial pressure (MAP) in the AC/CC group, but did not influence these parameters in the AA group. The aldosterone responses to losartan were blunted in the AA subgroup. During Ang II infusion, AC/CC subjects maintained GFR despite equivalent declines in RBF, suggesting an enhanced efferent arteriolar constrictive response. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, these results suggest that there is a relationship between the AGT1R A1166-->C polymorphism and the humoral and renal hemodynamic responses to AGT1R blockade and to Ang II infusion in the sodium-replete state, and that the C allele is associated with enhanced intrarenal and peripheral Ang II activity. Further studies are required to determine the genetic locus for this effect.
Conceptualizing credibility, relevance and legitimacy for evaluating the effectiveness of science–policy interfaces: Challenges and opportunities

Credibility, relevance and legitimacy are often cited as determinants of the effectiveness of interfaces between science and environmental policy and serve as criteria for their evaluation. However, these concepts are hazy and have a variety of meanings. In practice, the systematic evaluation of science–policy interfaces according to credibility, relevance and legitimacy is subject to a number of difficulties and is rarely done. In this paper we offer some clarification of these concepts and show how they influence the perception and evaluation of science–policy interfaces. Our findings reveal that, while the attributes of credibility, relevance and legitimacy are helpful when reflecting on the effectiveness of science–policy interfaces, they are difficult to apply as criteria when evaluating these interfaces. To apply these concepts in a meaningful way to the task of evaluation they need to be defined specifically for the particular context of the science–policy interface concerned.
Population Variability of Essential Oils of Pinus heldreichii from the Scardo‐Pindic Mountains Ošljak and Galičica

The needle‐terpene profiles of two natural Pinus heldreichii populations from Mts. Ošljak and Galičica (Scardo‐Pindic mountain system) were analyzed. Among the 68 detected compounds, 66 were identified. The dominant constituents were germacrene D (28.7%), limonene (27.1%), and α‐pinene (16.2%). β‐Caryophyllene (6.9%), β‐pinene (5.2%), β‐myrcene (2.3%), pimaric acid (2.0%), α‐humulene (1.2%), and seven additional components were found to be present in medium‐to‐high amounts (0.5–10%). Although the general needle‐terpene profile of the population from Galičica was similar to those of the populations from Lovćen, Zeletin, Bjelasica, and Zlatibor‐Pešter (belonging to the Dinaric Alps), the principle‐component analysis (PCA) of seven terpenes (β‐myrcene, limonene, β‐elemene, β‐caryophyllene, α‐humulene, δ‐cadinene, and germacrene D‐4‐ol) in 121 tree samples suggested a partial divergence in the needle‐terpene profiles between the populations from the Scardo‐Pindic mountain system and the Dinaric Alps. According to previously reported data, the P. heldreichii samples from the Balkan‐Rhodope mountains lack β‐caryophyllene and germacrene D, but contain γ‐muurolene in their terpene profile. Differences in the terpene composition between populations growing in the three above‐mentioned mountain systems were compared and discussed.
Rural–urban interactions, agriculture and wealth: a southeast Asian perspective

The forces of economic and social change are reworking rural areas of the developing world, sometimes fundamentally so. Agriculture is being squeezed by nonagricultural pursuits, aspirations are increasingly informed by a wish to avoid farming and the ‘household’ is being restructured as the genders and generations contest and renegotiate their respective roles. The diversification of the household economy and the interpenetration of rural and urban have created multiple hybridities where individuals and households shift between agricultural and industrial pursuits and cross between rural and urban areas. Farm is in thrall to nonfarm, and industry is often dependent on ‘rural’ labour. Drawing largely on work from southeast Asia, the article reviews these changes to rural life and livelihood, discusses their impacts on agriculture and reflects on their implications for rural development.
Neutrophilic infiltration in lungs of mice with peritonitis in acid or basic medium.

BACKGROUND Bacterial peritonitis is associated with systemic complications such as pneumonia. OBJECTIVE To determine in an experimental model of peritonitis whether the pH of peritoneal fluid infection influences the influx of neutrophils into the lung, and whether treatment outcome would be similar in peritonitis with liquid at any pH. MATERIALS AND METHODS We studied 48 mice with peritonitis induced by cecal ligation and puncture. The animals were distributed randomly into three groups: the first one had an injection into the peritoneal cavity with saline, pH 7.0; the second group was injected with saline, pH 8.0; and the third group with saline, pH 3.0. After 2 hours, half the animals in each group was treated by washing the abdominal cavity with warm saline solution and administration of ceftriaxone every 12 hours, and half of each group was killed by anesthetic overdose, and lung biopsy was done. The animals kept in treatment were killed 24 hours after treatment, and lung biopsy was also performed. The samples were stained with H&E and the number of neutrophils in 20 areas was checked. The mean number of cells in each group was compared between groups and with an untreated one. RESULTS The group with peritonitis associated with alkaline solution showed a higher population of neutrophils during untreated peritonitis (P = 0.04). The response to treatment by lavage of the peritoneal cavity and antibiotics was more effective in reducing the population of neutrophils in the group with peritonitis at pH 8.0, unlike that observed in animals with peritonitis at pH 3.0 (P = 0.03). CONCLUSION Peritonitis associated with lower pH solution, despite the lower influx of leukocytes in the first two hours after installation of peritonitis, was not able to reduce the population of these cells in mice's lung in response to standard therapy.
Antecedents of front‐line managers' perceptions of HR role stressors

Purpose – Based on role theory, this paper seeks to investigate the impact of HR devolution characteristics (number of devolved HR tasks), characteristics of the HR devolution context (level of support from the HR department, and presence of institutionalised incentives to perform the allotted HR tasks well), and personal characteristics of the front‐line managers (HR competency) on front‐line managers' perceptions of two HR role stressors, i.e. HR role ambiguity and HR role overload.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a sample of 169 front‐line managers from 47 organisations. The results are based on two moderation regression analyses, taking into account the nested nature of the observations.Findings – The results suggest that the execution of a high number of HR tasks does not lead to the occurrence of HR role stressors among front‐line managers. However, for the HR department it is important to create an appropriate environment in terms of giving HR support and advice to line managers, and tr.