Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Formulating a principal performance management system for primary and junior high schools in Taiwan.

In globally competitive circumstances promotion of education quality has become regarded as a crucial national activity with New Public Management ideas gaining prominence in school management policies. Head teachers or principals are now seen as critical leaders in schools and increasing their capabilities for professional leadership and management and performance through principal performance management (PPM) has received increasing attention. In Taiwan, following recent, massive political and social change, educational reforms have reshaped a new context in which principals have encountered a great deal of challenge and role change. Issues of PPM have rarely been explored in Taiwan. The purpose of the study is, hopefully, to formulate a PPM system from literature review and empirical research to provide reference points for its policy makers. The former was mainly focused on conceptual analysis of PPM, including the possible bearing of philosophical paradigms and psychological and administrative theories and the experience of PPM conducted in Britain and New Zealand, as well as its precursor in principal appraisal in Taiwan. From these a possible PPM model and its elements have been delineated. The latter was conducted by methodological triangulation which combined questionnaire survey of 392 educational administrators and principals of primary and junior high schools in 23 counties/cities in Taiwan, followed by in-depth interviews with 24 stakeholders chosen purposively from three counties/cities. It is suggested that Taiwanese administrators and principals would generally welcome a well planned, cyclical PPM system designed to help principals promote their professional capabilities and performance whose rationale was improvement-orientated accountability emphasising consensual objectives, cooperative partnership, shared commitment and sustainable development toward integrating individual and school objectives and the professional development and performance of principals. Suggestions are put forth to policy makers for setting up a practicable PPM policy aimed at integrating the HRM of principals and promotion of educational quality.
Sovereign Debt, Default Risk and Fiscal Consolidation in the EZ Periphery

Non zero sovereign and private sector default probabilities are introduced in a monetary open economy model considering a monopolistically competitive financial sector. This modification allows to empirically evaluate whether the emergence of a financial wedge in the form of a sovereign risk channel can reduce the size or even reverse the sign of the Keynesian fiscal multiplier, conditional to alternative fiscal consolidation measures. The model is estimated using data of EZ peripheral countries (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain). From posterior simulations we show that i) the unconditional relation between sovereign risk and macroeconomic fundamentals is weak; ii) fiscal contractions are self-defeating, such that the sovereign risk channel amplifies the Keynesian effects of the fiscal contraction; iii) the consideration of a liquidity trap environment does not reverse these results.
Trade, Technology and the Demand for Skills in Tunisia, 1998–2002

Abstract Although many developing countries have experienced an increase in the relative demand for skilled workers leading to a rise in wage inequality, the role played by trade in this trend remains a matter of debate. Using a firm-level database covering manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors in Tunisia over the period 1998–2002, this paper investigates whether trade-induced technological change could explain the increase in the relative demand for skilled workers. The empirical analysis is based on the estimation of an employment-share equation. Controlling for potential endogeneity issues, the results confirm that trade-induced technology adoption was a channel through which openness to trade raised the relative demand for skilled workers in Tunisia. Unlike trade, however, foreign investment in Tunisia did not appear to increase the demand for skills.
Flow and consumers in e-based self-services: New provider–consumer relations

This paper examines how consumers' attention can be captured and maintained in an e-based self-service relationship. We investigate how a consumption environment can be constructed that uses ‘flow’ to capture the attention of the consumer. By means of two case studies, the article explores how knowledge services can be appropriated along these lines given that the service is delivered in the form of a self-service. We argue that the service must remain in ‘flow’ at various points of consumption, which are critical; this is in order to produce the positive reactions of ‘improvement’ and ‘voice’. Whether this happens depends on the ‘flow competencies’ of the consumer.
Family Ties in Entrepreneurs’ Social Networks and New Venture Growth

Family ties are an important conduit of resources for entrepreneurs, but both positive and negative outcomes can arise. Building upon a family embeddedness perspective, we develop hypotheses about curvilinear relationships between the proportion of family ties in entrepreneurs’ networks and venture growth. We test them on entrepreneurs from China, France, Russia, and the United States. These effects appear to be related to the type of entrepreneurs’ social network (business advice, emotional support, and business resources). Our results confirm effects specific to each network: an inverted U–shape for advice and emotional support networks but a U–shape for the business resource network, measuring what proportion of kin in each entrepreneurial network type is valuable to or, conversely, undermines new venture growth.
Adoptive Immunotherapy of Feline Immunodeficiency Virus with Autologous Ex Vivo-Stimulated Lymphoid Cells Modulates Virus and T-Cell Subsets in Blood

ABSTRACT The potential of immunotherapy with autologous virus-specific T cells to affect the course of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection was explored in a group of specific-pathogen-free cats infected with FIV a minimum of 10 months earlier. Popliteal lymph node cells were stimulated by cocultivation with UV-inactivated autologous fibroblasts infected with recombinant vaccinia viruses expressing either FIV gag or env gene products, followed by expansion in interleukin-2. One or two infusions of both Gag- and Env-stimulated cells resulted in a slow increase in FIV-specific gamma interferon-secreting T cells in the circulation of cats. In the same animals, viral set points fluctuated widely during the first 2 to 3 weeks after adoptive transfer and then returned to pretreatment levels. The preexisting viral quasispecies was also found to be modulated, whereas no novel viral variants were detected. Circulating CD4+ counts underwent a dramatic decline early after treatment. CD4/CD8 ratios remained instead essentially unchanged and eventually improved in some animals. In contrast, a single infusion of Gag-stimulated cells alone produced no apparent modulations of infection.
HLA, GM, KM, and Diego blood group typing of Chippewa Indians

This is the first report characterizing HLA antigen distribution in North American Indians of the Chippewa tribe. One hundred seventy‐four Chippewa from Minnesota underwent HLA‐A,B,C,DR, and DQ typing in a search for a single unrelated bone marrow donor. The high matching rate of this successful search is attributed to homozygosity and the extreme frequency of certain antigens in this small ethnic community. It is emphasized that smaller donor pools are required in searches within a minority population. GM and KM allotype typing as well as blood group Diego typing show patterns similar to those reported in other North American Indian groups.
House price differentials and dynamics: evidence from the Los Angeles and San Francisco metropolitan areas

This paper applies insights from economic theory to explain recent housing price patterns in California's two largest metropolitan areas. We pay particular attention to the role of migration between metropolitan areas in explaining overall housing price dynamics for a given metropolitan area, and we show how household mobility within a metropolitan area tends to attenuate price pressures in the most supply-constrained places. In reviewing various models' ability to explain California's house price patterns, we also provide some historical perspective on California's urban structure, population growth, and housing price trends.
New-onset Diabetes After Distal Pancreatectomy A Systematic Review

Objective: The true rate of new-onset diabetes (NODM) after distal pancreatectomy (DP) is not known. This systematic review was carried out to obtain exact percentages regarding the incidence of NODM after DP for different indications. Background: Distal pancreatectomy is the standard procedure for removal of benign or (potentially) malignant lesions from the pancreatic body or tail and increasingly used for removal of often benign lesions. It is associated with low mortality rates, though postoperative diabetes remains a serious problem. Methods: Embase, PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar were searched for articles reporting incidence of NODM after DP. Methodological quality of the included studies was assessed by means of the Newcastle-Ottawa scale for cohort studies and the Moga scale for case series. Mean weighted overall percentages of NODM after DP for different indications were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and corresponding P values. Results: Twenty-six studies were included, comprising 1.731 patients undergoing DP. The average cumulative incidence of NODM after DP performed for chronic pancreatitis was 39% and for benign or (potentially) malignant lesions it was 14%. Comparing the proportions of these 2 groups showed a significant difference (95% CI: 0.351–0.434 and 0.110–0.172, respectively, P < 0.000). The average percentage of insulin-dependent diabetes among patients with NODM after DP was 77%. Conclusions: This review is the largest of its kind to assess the cumulative incidence of NODM after DP and shows that NODM is a frequently occurring complication, with incidence depending on the preexisting disease and followup time. Because NODM can affect quality of life, patients undergoing DP should be preoperatively provided with this information as specific as possible.
Comparative protective effect of AET against fast neutron and x-ray irradiation on mortality, intestinal disorders and hematopoietic injuries in mice.

The protective effects of AET against acute death, intestinal disorders and hematopoietic injuries in mice irradiated with 14 Mev neutrons were compared with those against X-ray damages. AET was effective for acute death and hematopoietic injuries in mice exposed to fast neutrons. The protective activity for fast neutrons was, however, significantly less than that obtained with X-rays. For intestinal injuries caused by fast neutrons, MEG had no protective activity, whereas it was significantly protective against X-rays.
Influenza hemagglutinin stem-fragment immunogen elicits broadly neutralizing antibodies and confers heterologous protection

Significance Hemagglutinin (HA), the major influenza virus envelope glycoprotein, is the principal target of neutralizing antibodies. Wide diversity and variation of HA entails annual vaccination, as current vaccines typically fail to elicit/boost cross-reactive, broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs). Although several bnAbs bind at the conserved stem of HA making it an attractive universal vaccine candidate, the metastable conformation of this domain imposes challenges in designing a stable, independently folding HA stem immunogen. We rationally designed a stem-fragment immunogen, mimicking the native HA stem that binds conformation-specific bnAbs with high affinity. The immunogen elicited bnAbs and conferred robust protection against lethal, heterologous virus challenge in vivo. Additionally, soluble bacterial expression of such a thermotolerant, disulfide-free immunogen allows for rapid scale-up during pandemic outbreak. Influenza hemagglutinin (HA) is the primary target of the humoral response during infection/vaccination. Current influenza vaccines typically fail to elicit/boost broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), thereby limiting their efficacy. Although several bnAbs bind to the conserved stem domain of HA, focusing the immune response to this conserved stem in the presence of the immunodominant, variable head domain of HA is challenging. We report the design of a thermotolerant, disulfide-free, and trimeric HA stem-fragment immunogen which mimics the native, prefusion conformation of HA and binds conformation specific bnAbs with high affinity. The immunogen elicited bnAbs that neutralized highly divergent group 1 (H1 and H5 subtypes) and 2 (H3 subtype) influenza virus strains in vitro. Stem immunogens designed from unmatched, highly drifted influenza strains conferred robust protection against a lethal heterologous A/Puerto Rico/8/34 virus challenge in vivo. Soluble, bacterial expression of such designed immunogens allows for rapid scale-up during pandemic outbreaks.
Bequest motives and barriers to giving: The case of direct mail donors

Charitable bequests currently account for 9 percent of overall giving in the United States. In this study we examine the motives for this form of support and the potential barriers to giving perceived by members of bequest societies or legacy clubs solicited through direct mail. Through a series of eight focus groups we delineate the individual motives for offering a bequest, the organizational factors that drive gifts of this type, and the potential barriers that could prevent such a gift from being made. The implications for professional fundraising practice are explored.
Local Laplacian filters

The Laplacian pyramid is ubiquitous for decomposing images into multiple scales and is widely used for image analysis. However, because it is constructed with spatially invariant Gaussian kernels, the Laplacian pyramid is widely believed to be ill-suited for representing edges, as well as for edge-aware operations such as edge-preserving smoothing and tone mapping. To tackle these tasks, a wealth of alternative techniques and representations have been proposed, for example, anisotropic diffusion, neighborhood filtering, and specialized wavelet bases. While these methods have demonstrated successful results, they come at the price of additional complexity, often accompanied by higher computational cost or the need to postprocess the generated results. In this paper, we show state-of-the-art edge-aware processing using standard Laplacian pyramids. We characterize edges with a simple threshold on pixel values that allow us to differentiate large-scale edges from small-scale details. Building upon this result, we propose a set of image filters to achieve edge-preserving smoothing, detail enhancement, tone mapping, and inverse tone mapping. The advantage of our approach is its simplicity and flexibility, relying only on simple point-wise nonlinearities and small Gaussian convolutions; no optimization or postprocessing is required. As we demonstrate, our method produces consistently high-quality results, without degrading edges or introducing halos.
Some Controversial Aspects of the Demand for Money: A Note

One of the most important issues in the demand for money function was recently posed by Milton Friedman: "Are transactions variables or asset variables most important in determining the demand for money? [2, p. 234]. The conventional procedure has been to assume on an ad hoc basis that the demand for money is either domininated by the asset motive or by the transactions motive, and then to use permanent income or current income, respectively, to represent these motives. l How-
‘Ma and Pa’ Landlords and the ‘Risky’ Tenant: Discourses in the New Zealand Private Rental Sector

Social constructions of what it means to let and rent housing are revealed in language and are intimately tied to housing outcomes for both landlords and tenants. This paper is concerned with the socially constructed identities of landlords and tenants in the private rental sector and how these are revealed in language. Fairclough's methods of discourse analysis coupled with Habermas' ideal speech situation and theory of communicative action are used to form an analytical framework for examining public debate and discourse on the private rental sector in New Zealand. It is argued that current discourses about tenants and landlords are the result of public debate and stereotypes that have failed to incorporate the experiences of tenants, and further that these stereotypes conceal the multiplicity of identities and motivations for behaviour of both landlords and tenants.
Comparison of histological compositions and apoptosis in canine spontaneous benign prostatic hyperplasia treated with androgen suppressive agents chlormadinone acetate and finasteride.

PURPOSE Chlormadinone acetate and finasteride are androgen suppressive agents clinically used for benign prostatic hyperplasia but their mechanism for inducing prostatic atrophy differs. We investigated the effect of these androgen suppressive agents on prostatic histology and apoptosis using the spontaneous canine benign prostatic hyperplasia model. MATERIALS AND METHODS Animals were treated with oral chlormadinone acetate or finasteride for 25 weeks. The prostatic volumes were analyzed every 5 weeks. Prostatic androgen and estrogen concentrations, histological composition and apoptosis were determined at the end of treatment. Apoptosis was measured by in situ labeling of 3' hydroxy ends of the DNA breaks using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end-labeling method. RESULTS There was a similar volume reduction effect with 0.3 mg. /kg. chlormadinone acetate daily and 1 mg. /kg. finasteride daily. Chlormadinone acetate decreased testosterone and dihydrotestosterone but finasteride decreased only dihydrotestosterone in the prostate gland. The concentration ratio of estradiol-to-total androgen in the prostate was significantly increased in finasteride treated canines. Chlormadinone acetate and finasteride decreased the epithelial and stromal components. The extent of apoptosis observed in the prostate was significantly higher in the chlormadinone acetate group compared to that of the control and finasteride groups. CONCLUSIONS Although a similar effect of chlormadinone acetate and finasteride was observed in the induction of prostatic regression and composition of the histological components, the sustained increase in apoptosis was observed only in chlormadinone acetate treated canines. We suggest that different intraprostatic endocrine environments created by chlormadinone acetate or finasteride, which have different intraprostatic testosterone levels and estradiol-to-androgen ratios, may be responsible for the different outcomes in the extent of apoptosis.
Housing for the nation, the city and the household: competing rationalities as a constraint to reform?

The South African housing programme is acclaimed internationally and has achieved important successes since its inception in 1994. However, there are also concerns about its negative impacts. The ambiguity of this achievement is underlined when the programme is viewed from different perspectives. To consider the complex picture of positive and negative outcomes, this paper takes the viewpoints of the nation, the city and the household and reveals a range of problems that suggest the need to reform the housing programme. It then uses these three viewpoints to reveal the constraints that hold back reform. The paper argues that it is necessary to understand the ‘competing rationalities’ reflected in the three viewpoints. Although this is not the only factor holding back fundamental transformation, recognising it does help to explain the persistence of significant problems in the housing programme.
Uterine-artery embolization versus surgery for symptomatic uterine fibroids.

BACKGROUND The efficacy and safety of uterine-artery embolization, as compared with standard surgical methods, for the treatment of symptomatic uterine fibroids remain uncertain. METHODS We conducted a randomized trial comparing uterine-artery embolization and surgery in women with symptomatic uterine fibroids. The primary outcome was quality of life at 1 year of follow-up, as measured by the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form General Health Survey (SF-36). RESULTS Patients were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to undergo either uterine-artery embolization or surgery, with 106 patients undergoing embolization and 51 undergoing surgery (43 hysterectomies and 8 myomectomies). There were no significant differences between groups in any of the eight components of the SF-36 scores at 1 year. The embolization group had a shorter median duration of hospitalization than the surgical group (1 day vs. 5 days, P<0.001) and a shorter time before returning to work (P<0.001). At 1 year, symptom scores were better in the surgical group (P=0.03). During the first year of follow-up, there were 13 major adverse events in the embolization group (12%) and 10 in the surgical group (20%) (P=0.22), mostly related to the intervention. Ten patients in the embolization group (9%) required repeated embolization or hysterectomy for inadequate symptom control. After the first year of follow-up, 14 women in the embolization group (13%) required hospitalization, 3 of them for major adverse events and 11 for reintervention for treatment failure. CONCLUSIONS In women with symptomatic fibroids, the faster recovery after embolization must be weighed against the need for further treatment in a minority of patients. (ISRCTN.org number, ISRCTN23023665 [controlled-trials.com].)
Business incubation in China

Purpose – Business incubation is an important strategy to foster entrepreneurship and innovation; it has gained enormous popularity in China since the mid‐1990s. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the perceived value of business incubators from the perspective of start‐up ventures and draw implications for future incubation programmes in China.Design/methodology/approach – The research was based on a sample of 61 incubator tenants from well‐established business incubators in Shanghai. A questionnaire including Likert‐type scales was developed to collect feedback/comments on incubator services as well as the perceived benefits of the incubation programme.Findings – True to their names, business incubators in China have added practical value to start‐up ventures by providing wide‐ranging services and tangible/intangible benefits via the incubation programme. However, compared to their counterparts in North America and Europe, the Chinese incubators are still deficient in some important as.
Predicting Union Certification Elections in the Hospitality Industry

A study of the variables that are associated with the success of union organizing efforts for hotel workers found that certain factors are associated with greater union success. The study examined 190 certification elections between January 1999 and December 2001, nearly half of which involved either Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees or the Teamsters. The average bargaining-unit size was fifty-six. Unions won just over half of the elections, and nearly half of those were decided by fewer than ten votes. Only two of six factors under consideration significantly affected election outcomes. Those were the size of the bargaining unit (a large unit diminishes the likelihood of union success) and the presence of more than one union on the ballot (on the theory that the intensity of employees’ involvement increases in such elections). Oddly, although few elections were held in right-to-work states, that factor did not significantly affect outcomes.