Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The environmental impact of the Spanish national hydrological plan on the lower Ebro river and delta

The main goal of the Spanish National Hydrological Plan is the implementation of an inter-basin water transfer of a maximum of 1050 hm 3 /year from the lower Ebro River to the north and south Mediterranean coast. The plan also includes an additional list of public works of about 100 new dams and the infrastructure for new irrigation areas, as well as water treatment plants and river canalizations, etc. Taking into accout that the planned Ebro transfer would take 50 m 3 /s during 8 months, and that river flow is mostly in the interval of 150-250 m 3 /s during this period, the abstraction would repesent between one-third and one-fifth of the Ebro flow. This plan, if implemented, would have a strong negative environmental impact on the fluvial ecosystem, as well as on the estuarine and marine ecosystems, but these impacts have not been properly considered in the environmental assessment. This paper principally deals with the environmental effects of the water transfer on the area that supplies the water, downstream from the diversion point. The impact of an inter-basin water transfer on the mouth area is based on three aspects: (1) there is an increase in salinity in the delta and estuary; (2) there is a decrease in the biological productivity, mostly due to the decrease of nutrient inputs, and there are also changes in the species distribution; and (3) the river carries less sediment, which affects the geomorphology of the system. The possible effects of lower water quality and changes in the fluvial system have also to be considered. The sustainability of deltas can only be guaranteed with the allocation of an appropriate flow regime, which must include not only a liquid flow, but also a solid flow (sediment), given that deltas and coastal systems need sediment inputs (and nutrients) from the river to maintain their structure and dynamics. The classical methods of determining environmental flows in rivers are neither designed nor adequate for the objective of maintaining the deltas and estuaries in a good ecological state. The determination and implementation of an environmental flow regime not only for the river but also for the coastal and marine systems represent a new challenge for scientists and managers.
Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding antiretroviral management, reproductive health, sexually transmitted infections, and sexual risk behavior among perinatally HIV-infected youth in Thailand

More than 30% of perinatally HIV-infected children in Thailand are 12 years and older. As these youth become sexually active, there is a risk that they will transmit HIV to their partners. Data on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of HIV-infected youth in Thailand are limited. Therefore, we assessed the KAP of perinatally HIV-infected youth and youth reporting sexual risk behaviors receiving care at two tertiary care hospitals in Bangkok, Thailand and living in an orphanage in Lopburi, Thailand. From October 2010 to July 2011, 197 HIV-infected youth completed an audio computer-assisted self-interview to assess their KAP regarding antiretroviral (ARV) management, reproductive health, sexual risk behaviors, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). A majority of youth in this study correctly answered questions about HIV transmission and prevention and the importance of taking ARVs regularly. More than half of the youth in this study demonstrated a lack of family planning, reproductive health, and STI knowledge. Girls had more appropriate attitudes toward safe sex and risk behaviors than boys. Although only 5% of the youth reported that they had engaged in sexual intercourse, about a third reported sexual risk behaviors (e.g., having or kissing boy/girlfriend or consuming an alcoholic beverage). We found low condom use and other family planning practices, increasing the risk of HIV and/or STI transmission to sexual partners. Additional resources are needed to improve reproductive health knowledge and reduce risk behavior among HIV-infected youth in Thailand.
In Search of the Subject: Researching Employee Reactions to Human Resource Management

Far too little is known about how employees, as the subject of Human Resource Management (HRM), react to its practice. Both the performance-focused and critical streams of writing on HRM perceive the employee in instrumental terms, while neither stream provides a satisfactory means of accommodating competing conceptions of HRM itself. An emerging stream of employee-focused literature makes a credible attempt to assess employee reactions but it too is affected by conceptual and methodological limitations. With a view to addressing these shortcomings, this article employs a discursive framework of analysis which distinguishes between concepts (HRM ideas), objects (idealised human resources) and subjects (thinking and acting employees on whom HRM is practised). It argues that a meaningful evaluation of the discursive concept of HRM only becomes possible by analysing the primary discursive object of HRM (the employee) as a discursive subject. Drawing on the most promising insights offered in the employee-focused literature, including the notions of the psychological contract and organisational justice, the article proposes a series of research questions designed to assist researchers to be more methodical and reflexive in their efforts to recentre the employee as the primary subject of HRM.
Profile and predictors of normal ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer thickness measured with frequency-domain optical coherence tomography.

PURPOSE To describe the profile and identify the predictors of the ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thickness measured with frequency-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) in normal eyes. METHODS Two hundred eighty-two normal subjects underwent macular and optic disc scanning in both eyes with Cirrus high-definition (HD)-OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA). Linear regression analyses were performed to determine the association between GCIPL thickness and age, sex, ethnicity (Europeans, Africans, Hispanics, Asians, and Indians), eye laterality, refraction, intraocular pressure, axial length, central corneal thickness, mean retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, disc and rim areas, cup-to-disc area, vertical and horizontal cup-to-disc diameter ratios, vertical rim thickness, and OCT signal strength. RESULTS The mean (±SD) age was 46.2 ± 16.9 years (range, 18-84 years). The mean and minimum GCIPL thicknesses (±SD) were 82.1 ± 6.2 and 80.4 ± 6.4 μm, respectively. There were significant differences in GCIPL thickness between macular sectors (P < 0.05), except between the superotemporal and inferonasal sectors (P = 0.63). The superonasal sector had the thickest and the inferior had the thinnest GCIPL. The GCIPL of the superior hemisphere was thicker than that of the inferior, and the nasal sector GCIPL was significantly thicker than the temporal one (P < 0.001). The average GCIPL did not differ between male and female subjects (P = 0.16) after adjustment for axial length and between ethnic groups (P = 0.41) after adjustment for age, axial length, and RNFL thickness. Significant predictors of mean GCIPL thickness were average RNFL thickness (β = 0.37, P < 0.001), age (β = -0.083, P < 0.001), axial length (β = -0.87, P = 0.001), and male sex (β = -1.62, P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS The independent factors associated with thinner GCIPL include thinner RNFL, older age, longer ocular axial length, and being male. Although the magnitude of the effect of age, axial length, and sex are small, these factors should be taken into account when interpreting Cirrus HD-OCT-based GCIPL thickness measurements.
Social deprivation and educational underachievement: lessons from London

A study by the OECD in 2001 indicated that the UK had one of the strongest links between social deprivation and educational underachievement. This article uses original analysis to report a close correlation over the period 1997‐2001 between educational achievement in the London boroughs and various indicators of the extent of social deprivation in those boroughs. When the data are further disaggregated in terms of “inner” and “outer” London locations of those boroughs the so‐called “cycle of deprivation” hypothesis is supported still more strongly. The article goes on to discuss the implications of these results for broader policy issues such as central government use of the “standards fund” to target finance to the more deprived schools and the recently announced government decision to appoint a commissioner to improve standards in London schools.
Are HIV-1-Specific Antibody Levels Potentially Useful Laboratory Markers to Estimate HIV Reservoir Size? A Review

Despite the benefits achieved by the widespread availability of modern antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV RNA integration into the host cell genome is responsible for the creation of latent HIV reservoirs, and represents a significant impediment to completely eliminating HIV infection in a patient via modern ART alone. Several methods to measure HIV reservoir size exist; however, simpler, cheaper, and faster tools are required in the quest for total HIV cure. Over the past few years, measurement of HIV-specific antibodies has evolved into a promising option for measuring HIV reservoir size, as they can be measured via simple, well-known techniques such as the western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In this article, we re-visit the dynamic evolution of HIV-1-specific antibodies and the factors that may influence their levels in the circulation of HIV-positive individuals. Then, we describe the currently-known relationship between HIV-1-specific antibodies and HIV reservoir size based on study of data from contemporary literature published during the past 5 years. We conclude by highlighting current trends, and discussing the individual HIV-specific antibody that is likely to be the most reliable antibody for potential future utilization for quantification of HIV reservoir size.
Outsourcing, Importing and Innovation: Evidence from Firm‐Level Data for Emerging Economies

This paper investigates two sourcing strategies of firms, outsourcing and importing, and links these to innovation activities. The authors examine this empirically using firm-level data for 28 emerging market economies and find robust evidence that outsourcing increases the likelihood to spend on R&D and via this channel raises innovation output, whereas importing increases innovation output, but not R&D. The results hold when implementing an instrumental variables approach. It is found that results crucially depend on the institutional environment in the economy, e.g. property rights and intellectual property rights protection. The results suggest that better institutions magnify the gains from importing, but not from outsourcing. EU countries also reap additional positive innovation effects from importing compared with non-EU countries.
Measuring the antecedents of e-loyalty and the effect of switching costs on website

This paper deals with the process by which electronic customer loyalty (e-loyalty) is formed. The twofold aim is to analyse e-loyalty, describing its development in terms of how it is influenced by several determinants and to study potential barriers to switching which significantly affect the repeat purchase decision. In particular, an integrating theoretical framework is proposed to determine the e-loyalty dependency of electronic service quality and perceived value, and how this last relationship can be moderated by switching costs. Results offer evidence for the important role of customer's perceptions of e-service quality and value in e-loyalty. Proposals are made of how companies that are online can use this knowledge to build marketing strategies.
Predicting Interwar Business Cycles with the Interest Rate Yield Spread

Recent studies have demonstrated the ability of the interest rate yield spread to predict post-war business cycles. This same methodology is applied to the prediction of interwar business cycles in the United States and the United Kingdom. The spread predicts the early interwar cycles, although the lag in the United States is variable. The spread fails to provide a prediction of the 1937-1938 recession and the length of the depression in either country. Neither spread improves the recession forecast for the other country.
Does Public Service Motivation Really Make a Difference on the Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions of Public Employees?

Many in public administration hypothesize that public service motivation (PSM) has a direct positive impact on the attitudes and behaviors of public employees. However, there are inconsistencies in the PSM literature that challenge this hypothesis. This study sought to find out whether person-organization (P-O) fit can provide a reason for these inconsistencies. Specifically, this study explored whether the relationships among PSM, job satisfaction, and the turnover intentions of public employees were mediated by P-O fit. Using a sample of 205 employees drawn from three public organizations in the states of Oregon, Indiana, and Kentucky, this study found that PSM had no significant relationship to the job satisfaction and turnover intentions of public employees when P-O fit was considered. The implications of this study and areas of future research are discussed.
Itraconazole therapy for acute invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in heart transplantation.

TREATM ENT O F acute invasive pulmonary aspergillo­ sis (AIPA) in immunocompromised hosts remains dif­ ficult and has a high mortality rate.1 In patients treated with cyclosporin A (CyA) the additional side effects of the common antifungal agents may have important sequelae on renal and hepatic function, therefore limiting their use.1"4 We report the results obtained using Itraconazole, a new, orally active, antifungal agent, in the treatment of AIPA after heart transplantation (HTx), occurring in two out of 64 patients (3%) who were discharged after HTx at our depart­ ment from November 1985 to July 1988.
On the effectiveness of private and public capital

This study assesses the effectiveness of private and public capital investments in the performance of manufactures within the framework of the duality theory. The response of costs of production and input utilization to changes in the stocks of private and public capital is measured by the appropriate elasticities obtained from a cost function. Instead of considering private capital either as a variable or fixed input on a priori grounds, its nature is checked, that is, the study discriminates between a long- and a short-run situation. The empirical exercise is made for the manufacturing industries in the Spanish regions.
Context focused older adult mobility and gait assessment

This paper presents an initial overview of insights gained into how older adults mobilize in the home and community, based on data from inertial sensors which were worn by study participants over a 7-day period. The addition of a wearable camera provided additional contextual information which can be used to assess mobility and understand the factors that influence it in the free living environment. Seven days of data collected from a group of older adults who had experienced one or more falls in the previous six months was compared to that of a control group with no history of falling. Results showed that both groups spent relatively little time walking in challenging environmental conditions, and that the fallers spent significantly less time walking under regular conditions (no effect on gait) and outdoors. Analysis of gait metrics showed that the fallers were slightly slower in general, and more noticeable differences were observed when the participants were regrouped according to mobility levels determined from baseline assessments using traditional methods.
Designing for Interpersonal Trust – The Power of Trust Tokens

Computer mediated communication systems (CMCSs) are increasingly being used to support activities of virtual teams, improving information exchange and capacity of these teams. However, the technology that enables these teams to benefit from effective and timely information exchange suffers from constraints of media richness, limiting the amount of social information that can be transmitted. This missing information can affect the formation of trust between members of these teams. In this paper, we conducted an ethnographic study to identify behaviors that facilitate the development of trust within face-to-face teams as an opportunity to design interface design objects with similar effects. A key observation was trust tokening, where trust is conveyed through social referents. Trust tokening has the potential to be adapted for use in computer support systems where establishing interpersonal trust is just as important as face-to-face collaborations.
Education-led Economic Growth in Malaysia

This paper aims to examine the relationship between education levels and economic growth in Malaysia by using data from 1982 to 2011. Johansen co-integration is employed to analyze the data. Findings show that all education levels are related to economic growth. The Granger causality model is used to measure the causal effect of educational levels and economic growth. The results indicate that primary and tertiary does not Granger cause economic growth and vice versa. Causality runs from no formal and secondary education to economic growth. Therefore, the government should increase investment on education to increase the economic growth.
Early detection of cognitive impairment in the elderly based on Bayesian mining using speech prosody and cerebral blood flow activation

With the aim of providing computer aided diagnosis of dementia, we have developed a non-invasive screening system of the elderly with cognitive impairment. In our previous research, we have studied two data-mining approaches by focusing on speech-prosody and cerebral blood flow (CBF) activation during cognitive tests. On the power of these research results, this paper presents a prosody-CBF hybrid screening system of the elderly with cognitive impairment based on a Bayesian approach. The system is constructed by SPCIR (Speech Prosody-Based Cognitive Impairment Rating) based cutoff as the 1st screening, and, as the 2nd screening, two-phase Bayesian classifier for discriminating among elderly individuals with three clinical groups: elderly individuals with normal cognitive abilities (NC), patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease (AD). This paper also reports the screening examination and discusses the cost-effectiveness and the discrimination performance of the proposed system for early detection of cognitive impairment in elderly subjects.
Effect of bisphosphonate use on risk of postmenopausal breast cancer: results from the randomized clinical trials of alendronate and zoledronic acid.

IMPORTANCE Studies have shown that bisphosphonates may have antitumor and antimetastatic properties. Recently, observational studies have suggested a possible protective effect of bisphosphonates on breast cancer, but the effect of bisphosphonate use on risk of breast cancer has not been tested in randomized trials. OBJECTIVE To assess the relationship of postmenopausal breast cancer incidence and bisphosphonate use using data from 2 randomized (1:1), double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The Fracture Intervention Trial (FIT) randomly assigned 6459 women aged 55 to 81 years to alendronate or placebo for a mean follow-up of 3.8 years. The Health Outcomes and Reduced Incidence With Zoledronic Acid Once Yearly-Pivotal Fracture Trial (HORIZON-PFT) randomly assigned 7765 women aged 65 to 89 years to annual intravenous zoledronic acid or placebo for a mean follow-up of 2.8 years. Data were collected at clinical centers in the United States (FIT and HORIZON-PFT) and in Asia and the Pacific, Europe, North America, and South America (HORIZON-PFT). Women, in either study, with recurrent breast cancer or who reported a history of breast cancer were excluded from analyses. In each trial, a blinded review was conducted of each cancer adverse event report to verify incident invasive breast cancer cases. The primary analysis compared events in the active vs placebo group using a log-rank test. INTERVENTION Alendronate vs placebo (FIT) or zoledronic acid vs placebo (HORIZON-PFT). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Hazard ratio for incident breast cancer in the bisphosphonate treatment group compared to the placebo group. RESULTS There was no significant difference in the rate of breast cancer in FIT: 1.5% (n = 46) in the placebo group and 1.8% (n = 57) in the alendronate group (hazard ratio [HR], 1.24 [95% CI, 0.84-1.83]). In HORIZON-PFT, there was also no significant difference: 0.8% (n = 29) in the placebo group and 0.9% (n = 33) in the zoledronic acid group (HR, 1.15 [95% CI, 0.70-1.89]). There was also no significant difference when the data from FIT and HORIZON-PFT were pooled (HR, 1.20 [95% CI, 0.89-1.63]). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE These 2 randomized clinical trials do not support the findings from observational research. Contrary to the results from observational studies, we found that 3 to 4 years of bisphosphonate treatment did not decrease the risk of invasive postmenopausal breast cancer. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00049829 (HORIZON-PFT).
Are technical trading strategies still profitable? Evidence from the Taiwan Stock Index Futures Market

This study is the first to use stochastic dominance theory to compare the performance of passive and active trading strategies for the Taiwan Stock Index Futures. In total, we test nine common trading strategies, including buy-and-hold (passive) and eight technical trading strategies (active). The results show that the Relative Strength Index (RSI) oscillator and parabolic strategies outperform the other technical trading strategies, and all of the eight technical trading strategies beat the buy-and-hold strategy both before and after transaction costs. In addition, investing a portion of investors’ money in risky assets and a portion in risk-free assets can help distinguish performance among the trading strategies. This implies that the stochastic dominance theory can help investors determine an optimal asset allocation.