Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hidden political economy of globalization : the transformation of industrial relations in Germany and Brazil

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Empirical Evidence for the Use of Lithium and Anticonvulsants in Children with Psychiatric Disorders

Background: The use of psychotropic medications—in particular, mood stabilizers—in youths with psychiatric illness has grown. There are trends toward polypharmacy and the increased use of newer mood stabilizers in youths with psychiatric illness despite a paucity of studies examining the short‐ and long‐term efficacy and safety of these agents in the pediatric population. Method: PubMed was used to identify peer‐reviewed publications from the past 30 years (January 1975 to August 2005) studying lithium and anticonvulsants in youths with psychiatric illness. Results: Evidence supporting the use of lithium and valproate in the treatment of juvenile bipolar disorder and reactive aggression has grown. Evidence for the use of other anticonvulsants in youths with psychiatric illness is sparse. Side effects from lithium and anticonvulsants are typically mild to moderate. Data are accumulating in regard to the longer‐term safety of lithium and DVPX in the juvenile psychiatric population. Although data in regard to the newer anticonvulsants are limited, they may have more desirable side‐effect profiles. Conclusion: Double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trials of lithium and anticonvulsants are greatly needed as clinical use of these agents has risen without sufficient evidence supporting their efficacy in the pediatric population.
A near-infrared and optical photometric study of the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy: implications for the metallicity spread

The Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy has a giant branch with a significant spread in colour, symptomatic of an intrinsic age-metallicity spread. We present here a detailed study of the Sculptor giant branch and horizontal branch (HB) morphology, combining new near-infrared photometry from the Cambridge Infrared Survey Instrument (CIRSI), with optical data from the European Southern Observatory Wide Field Imager. For a Sculptor-like old and generally metal-poor system, the position of red giant branch (RGB) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars on the colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) is mainly metallicity dependent. The advantage of using optical-near-infrared colours is that the position of the RGB locus is much more sensitive to metallicity than with optical colours alone. In contrast the HB morphology is strongly dependent on both metallicity and age. Therefore a detailed study of both the RGB in optical-near-infrared colours and the HB can help break the age-metallicity degeneracy. Our measured photometric width of the Sculptor giant branch corresponds to a range in metallicity of 0.75 dex. We detect the RGB and AGB bumps in both the near-infrared and the optical luminosity functions, and derive from them a mean metallicity of [M/H] = -1.3 ± 0.1. From isochrone fitting we derive a mean metallicity of [Fe/H] = - 1.42 with a dispersion of 0.2 dex. These photometric estimators are for the first time consistent with individual metallicity measurements derived from spectroscopic observations. No spatial gradient is detected in the RGB morphology within a radius of 13 arcmin, twice the core radius. On the other hand, a significant gradient is observed in the HB morphology index, confirming the 'second parameter problem' present in this galaxy. These observations are consistent with an early extended period of star formation continuing in time for a few Gyr. © 2005 RAS.
Output Growth and Inflation across Space and Time

It is common for comparisons to be made of output growth and inflation across groups of countries, yet such comparisons can result in inconsistencies. We address two problems: (i) how to measure aggregate real output and inflation for groups of countries and (ii) how to construct measures of real GDP for a group of countries where the country measures of real GDP are consistent across time and space. A method is proposed for harmonizing conflicting estimates of OECD member-country real GDP, ensuring consistency over space and overall group consistency over time. A new measure of OECD inflation is also proposed.
Valuing a Beach Day with a Repeated Nested Logit Model of Participation, Site Choice, and Stochastic Time Value

Beach recreation values are often needed by policy-makers and resource managers to efficiently manage coastal resources, especially in popular coastal areas like Southern California. This article presents welfare values derived from random utility maximization-based recreation demand models that explain an individual's decisions about whether or not to visit a beach and which beach to visit. The models utilize labor market decisions to reveal each individual's opportunity cost of recreation time. The value of having access to the beach in San Diego County is estimated to be between $21 and $23 per day.
An analysis of the learning relationships amongst micro-firm owner/managers and stakeholders in a small-firm learning network in the Irish tourism sector

This thesis reports the findings from an action research project carried out over a two year period, exploring micro-firm owner/manager learning in a small-firm learning network in the Irish tourism sector. Learning networks are cited in contemporary literature as a key means for creating and sustaining competitive advantage in micro-firms. Specifically, national and international research studies acknowledge the importance of micro-firm network-centred learning in the tourism sector, where an integral part of this learning process is the network of relationships participants cultivate through involvement in formal learning programmes of this nature. Despite their importance in the context of small business development, networks have traditionally been relatively neglected as an area of academic study. This thesis commences with a comprehensive review of literature relating to micro-firm learning, outlining a range of unique features and influences on learning in this environment. The influence that participation in a learning network has on micro-firm owner/manager learning is then considered. The primary research focuses on the south and south east County Based Tourism Learning Network (CBTLN). This initiative is facilitated by Failte Ireland and Waterford Institute of Technology and is the learning catalyst in the context of this study. The adopted research methodology is preceded by a review of alternative research methods. The motivations and rationale for adopting an interpretive stance are discussed before the rationale for choosing an action research approach is outlined. The key contribution of this research is the development of a framework for micro-firm owner/manager learning in a learning network environment. Adopting an action research methodology, the author sought to establish, catalogue and analyse the learning relationships amongst micro-firm owner/managers and stakeholders within a small-firm learning network. The thesis concludes by providing an outline of the study‟s contribution to knowledge and its research limitations. Finally recommendations for future research are outlined.
Muscle metaboreflex-induced increases in stroke volume.

PURPOSE Accumulation of by-products of metabolism within skeletal muscle may stimulate sensory nerves, thus evoking a pressor response named muscle metaboreflex. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in central hemodynamics occurring during the metaboreflex activation. METHODS In seven healthy subjects, the metaboreflex was studied by postexercise regional circulatory occlusion at the start of the recovery from a mild rhythmic forearm exercise. Central hemodynamics was evaluated by means of impedance cardiography. RESULTS The main findings of this study were that, with respect to rest, the metaboreflex: 1) raised mean blood pressure (+13%; P < 0.01); 2) enhanced myocardial contractility (-12% in preejection period/left ventricular ejection time ratio; P < 0.01); 3) prolonged diastolic time (+11%; P < 0.01); 4) increased stroke volume (+ 10%; P < 0.05); and 5) increased cardiac output (+6%; P < 0.05). These responses were present neither during recovery without circulatory occlusion nor during circulatory occlusion without prior exercise. Moreover, the metaboreflex did not affect systemic vascular resistance and induced bradycardia with respect to recovery without circulatory occlusion. CONCLUSION These results suggest that the blood pressure response during metaboreflex activation after mild rhythmic exercise is strongly dependent on the capacity to increase cardiac output rather than due to increased vascular resistance.
Accounting for Differences in Economic Growth

This paper uses a combination of growth accounting and regression analysis to examine economic growth experiences of 88 developing and industrial economies over the period 1960-1992. The decomposition shows that increases in total factor productivity (TFP) have been surprisingly small in developing countries, and that accumulation of physical and human capital account for most of the growth per worker. This reinforces a finding of some previous authors, but for a much larger sample of countries. Further, the fact that countries with high rates of factor accumulation do not have unusually high rates of TFP growth provides little support for the new endogenous growth theories. Our analysis also uncovers significant difficulties with the use of investment rates and school enrollment rates as proxies for capital accumulation, highlighting a reason why some previous studies have understated the importance of accumulation. Our regression results strongly support the growing consensus that stable, orthodox macroeconomic policy, combined with outward oriented trade policies foster economic growth. We explore the channels through which determinants of growth operate. Among other findings, we show that larger budget deficits slow growth through reducing capital accumulation, while real exchange rate volatility operates mainly through slowing TFP growth. Outward orientation appears to work through both channels. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
Modifiable lifestyle factors are associated with lower pain levels in adults with knee osteoarthritis

Pain is the most important osteoarthritis (OA) symptom; however, it is poorly understood and markers of disease severity cannot explain pain variability. With no cure for OA, the authors recognized the need to identify modifiable factors to decrease pain and increase physical function. This study examined factors that characterize OA patients experiencing different levels of pain and investigated the relationships among these factors and OA pain.
Flexibility in Hospital Infrastructure Design

is an important value driver for hospital infrastructures in today's highly unpredictable health care environment. We illustrate this by way of a case study based on the development of a major UK teaching hospital over the past 80 years. We then lay out some principles for the articulation of the value of flexibility to enable the designer to make an economic case for a flexible infrastructure. Finally, we argue that hospital procurement under Public Private Partnership (PPP), in particular under the UK Private Finance Initiative (PFI), can be an inhibitor to the design and development of flexible infrastructure.
Cocoa Flavonoid-Enriched Diet Modulates Systemic and Intestinal Immunoglobulin Synthesis in Adult Lewis Rats

Previous studies have reported that a diet containing 10% cocoa, a rich source of flavonoids, has immunomodulatory effects on rats and, among others effects, is able to attenuate the immunoglobulin (Ig) synthesis in both systemic and intestinal compartments. The purpose of the present study was focused on investigating whether these effects were attributed exclusively to the flavonoid content or to other compounds present in cocoa. To this end, eight-week-old Lewis rats were fed, for two weeks, either a standard diet or three isoenergetic diets containing increasing proportions of cocoa flavonoids from different sources: one with 0.2% polyphenols from conventional defatted cocoa, and two others with 0.4% and 0.8% polyphenols, respectively, from non-fermented cocoa. Diet intake and body weight were monitored and fecal samples were obtained throughout the study to determine fecal pH, IgA, bacteria proportions, and IgA-coated bacteria. Moreover, IgG and IgM concentrations in serum samples collected during the study were quantified. At the end of the dietary intervention no clear changes of serum IgG or IgM concentrations were quantified, showing few effects of cocoa polyphenol diets at the systemic level. However, in the intestine, all cocoa polyphenol-enriched diets attenuated the age-related increase of both fecal IgA and IgA-coated bacteria, as well as the proportion of bacteria in feces. As these effects were not dependent on the dose of polyphenol present in the diets, other compounds and/or the precise polyphenol composition present in cocoa raw material used for the diets could be key factors in this effect.
A Phylogenetic Comparative Study of Bantu Kinship Terminology Finds Limited Support for Its Co-Evolution with Social Organisation

The classification of kin into structured groups is a diverse phenomenon which is ubiquitous in human culture. For populations which are organized into large agropastoral groupings of sedentary residence but not governed within the context of a centralised state, such as our study sample of 83 historical Bantu-speaking groups of sub-Saharan Africa, cultural kinship norms guide all aspects of everyday life and social organization. Such rules operate in part through the use of differing terminological referential systems of familial organization. Although the cross-cultural study of kinship terminology was foundational in Anthropology, few modern studies have made use of statistical advances to further our sparse understanding of the structuring and diversification of terminological systems of kinship over time. In this study we use Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods of phylogenetic comparison to investigate the evolution of Bantu kinship terminology and reconstruct the ancestral state and diversification of cousin terminology in this family of sub-Saharan ethnolinguistic groups. Using a phylogenetic tree of Bantu languages, we then test the prominent hypothesis that structured variation in systems of cousin terminology has co-evolved alongside adaptive change in patterns of descent organization, as well as rules of residence. We find limited support for this hypothesis, and argue that the shaping of systems of kinship terminology is a multifactorial process, concluding with possible avenues of future research.
A flexible mobility-aware transmission scheme utilizing smart antennas in a wireless cellular network

The properties of the radio transmission channel, and consequently the performance of a mobile radio network, are highly sensible to the movements of the users. The user behaviour influences the link quality, cell dwell times, handover rates, outage probability, etc. Existing networks as, e.g., the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) have a rather fixed structure. They can only adapt the modem to the permanently changing channel conditions, but are not able to reconfigure the network resources according to the mobility of the users. The Integrated Broadband Mobile System (IBMS) concept provides a trade-off between data rate and mobility by means of a set of transmission classes that use smart antennas in different configurations, including smart antennas at both the base and the mobile site. It is shown how capacity can be increased by switching between the classes according to the user mobility. If, however, a single transmission class is considered, smart antennas employed at the mobile terminal have a negative impact on the network capacity. It is demonstrated that this behaviour is inherent to the topology of a cellular network. But IBMS provides the potential to overcome this peculiarity due to its intrinsic structure.
In the shade of Locarno? Why European defence is failing

European defence is failing because of the profusion and confusion of strategic concepts in Europe today. This article draws parallels with the Europe of the interwar years when strategic concepts were similarly confused. At the time a complex interplay between the traditional balance of power approach to security and the collective security, disarmament and international arbitration enshrined in the Treaty of Versailles resulted in strategic paralysis. The nadir of this failed strategic concept was the Treaty of Locarno in 1925 that, by endeavouring to keep all states happy at all times, simply prevented the creation of an effective security and defence mechanism. The rest is history. While the strategic environment of the first decade of the twenty–first century is undoubtedly different to that of the second decade of the twentieth, the need to satisfy the domestic political needs of all European powers, great and small, activist and post–neutral is producing a similar effect. Europe today has a security system that seems to bear little or no relation to the threats that are emerging. It is time, therefore, that Europe’s Great Powers, Britain, France and Germany reasserted their political authority and bring an end to the political correctness that has so undermined European defence. Given the time that such endeavours normally take, and the nature and scope of emerging threats, the time for such action is now. Europe’s Great Powers cannot again afford to be late and unprepared for the conflicts that lie ahead.
PARAMETRIC ECG CODER BASED ON ADAPTIVE SIGNAL MODELS

A preliminary investigation of an atomic model-based algo-rithm for the compression of single lead ECG is presented. The paper presents a novel coding scheme for ECG signals based on time-frequency atomic signal representations. Signal-adaptive parametric models based on overcomplete dictionaries of time-frequency atoms are considered. Such overcomplete expansions are here derived using the matching pursuit algorithm. The compression algorithm has been evaluated with the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database. Our algorithm was compared with several well-known ECG compression algorithms and was found to be superior at all tested bit rates. An average compression rate of approximately 140 bps (compression ratio of about 28:1) has been achieved with a good reconstructed signal quality (PRD of about 7 % ).
N-Hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene: a metabolite of 2-acetylaminofluorene with increased carcinogenic activity in the rat.

Summary N-Hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene, a major metabolite of 2-acetylaminofluorene in the rat, was more active than the parent amide in producing tumors in the liver, mammary gland, small intestine, and the ear duct of the rat. In addition, the N-hydroxy metabolite induced many papillomas and squamous-cell carcinomas of the fore-stomach when given in the diet. When injected intraperitoneally it produced a variety of multiple sarcomas in the peritoneum. 2-Acetylaminofluorene was inactive at the latter two sites. Dietary 3-methylcholanthrene, which is a potent inhibitor of carcinogenesis by 2-acetylaminofluorene, dif not inhibit the carcinogenicity of N-hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene. These data provide strong evidence that N-hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene is one of the proximate agents in carcinogenesis by 2-acetylaminofluorene in the rat.
Diaspora and development? : Nigerian organisations in London and their transnational linkages with 'home'

This thesis responds to the rapidly proliferating academic, civil society and policy discourses that posit diasporas as powerful and positive actors in the development of their 'homelands'. These discourses highlight diaspora organisations as key institutions through which international migrants and their descendants contribute to the progress of 'home'. Consequently, these organisations are being lauded as new development actors that should be engaged and supported by governments and international agencies interested in pursuing more direct and participatory modes of development assistance. However, it has been argued that this celebration of diaspora organisations is based on limited knowledge. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted with London-based Nigerian organisations and their sites of intervention in Nigeria, this thesis makes a contribution to better understanding diaspora organisations and their progressive potential for 'home'. The thesis argues that London-based Nigerian diaspora organisations are not necessarily involved in the development of 'home' to the extent, or in the ways, imagined in celebratory discourses of diaspora and development. These organisations are entwined in the politics of socio-economic status, gender and belonging at 'home' in ways that are profoundly ambivalent in terms of the progressive role expected of them. Furthermore, their monetary, material, intellectual and political contributions to development at 'home' appear relatively limited and rather marginal, especially when compared to those made by local actors. This can be traced to a number of factors that are widely seen to severely constrain collective transnational mobilisation and intervention. Nonetheless, the thesis argues that diaspora organisations have much to contribute to the development of 'home'. However, if states and international agencies are to engage and support diaspora organisations in fulfilling this progressive potential, it will be necessary to engage these groups in more genuine and meaningful dialogue through which alternative, more cosmopolitan visions of belonging and development can be articulated and pursued.