Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Global public policies and programs : implications for financing and evaluation : proceedings from a World Bank Workshop

This book is based on a global public policies and programs workshop held in July 2000. The papers examine conceptual issues along with the practical implementation problems of global public policies and programs. Some of the topics covered in this book are global financial instability, the implications of intellectual property rights protection for developing countries, and the promotion of international agricultural research.
TRMM‐TMI satellite observed soil moisture and vegetation density (1998–2005) show strong connection with El Niño in eastern Australia

Spatiotemporal patterns in soil moisture and vegetation water content across mainland Australia were investigated from 1998 through 2005, using TRMM/TMI passive microwave observations. The Empirical Orthogonal Function technique was used to extract dominant spatial and temporal patterns in retrieved estimates of moisture content for the top 1‐cm of soil (θ) and vegetation moisture content (via optical depth τ). The dominant temporal θ and τ patterns were strongly correlated to the El Niño Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) in spring (r2 = 0.90), and to a progressively lesser extent autumn, summer and winter. The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) index also explained part of the variation in spring θ and τ. Correlation analysis suggested that the regions most affected by El Niño are mainly located in eastern Australia. The results suggest that the drought conditions experienced in eastern Australia since 2000 and clearly expressed in these satellite observations have a strong connection with El Niño.
Phage therapy: past history and future prospects.

Bacterial viruses (bacteriophages, also called "phages") can be robust antibacterial agents in vitro. However, their use as therapeutic agents, during a number of trials from the 1920s to the 1950s, was greatly handicapped by a number of factors. In part, there were certain limitations inherent in phage physiology (e. g. narrow host range, and rapid clearance from the body); in part there were technological limitations in the era (e.g. lysogeny not yet discovered); but the greatest limitation was the highly inadequate scientific methodologies used by practitioners at the time (e.g., their failure to conduct placebo-controlled studies, to remove endotoxins from the preparations, and to re-confirm phage viability after adding sterilizing agents to the preparations). In recent years, well-controlled animal models have demonstrated that phages can rescue animals from a variety of fatal infections, while non-controlled clinical reports published in Eastern Europe have shown that phages can be effective in treating drug-resistant infections in humans. This encouraging data, combined with the fact that drug-resistant bacteria have become a global crisis, have created a window of opportunity for phage therapy to be tested anew, this time using modem technologies and placebo-controlled designs. If successful, it can be used as a stand-alone therapy when bacteria are fully resistant to antibiotics, and as a valuable adjunct to antibiotics when the bacteria are still susceptible.
Somatotopic Semantic Priming and Prediction in the Motor System

The recognition of action-related sounds and words activates motor regions, reflecting the semantic grounding of these symbols in action information; in addition, motor cortex exerts causal influences on sound perception and language comprehension. However, proponents of classic symbolic theories still dispute the role of modality-preferential systems such as the motor cortex in the semantic processing of meaningful stimuli. To clarify whether the motor system carries semantic processes, we investigated neurophysiological indexes of semantic relationships between action-related sounds and words. Event-related potentials revealed that action-related words produced significantly larger stimulus-evoked (Mismatch Negativity-like) and predictive brain responses (Readiness Potentials) when presented in body-part-incongruent sound contexts (e.g., “kiss” in footstep sound context; “kick” in whistle context) than in body-part-congruent contexts, a pattern reminiscent of neurophysiological correlates of semantic priming. Cortical generators of the semantic relatedness effect were localized in areas traditionally associated with semantic memory, including left inferior frontal cortex and temporal pole, and, crucially, in motor areas, where body-part congruency of action sound–word relationships was indexed by a somatotopic pattern of activation. As our results show neurophysiological manifestations of action-semantic priming in the motor cortex, they prove semantic processing in the motor system and thus in a modality-preferential system of the human brain.
Globalisation and News Media: The Impact of the Global News Media on Nigeria

The focus of this thesis is the impact of the global news media on Nigeria, and the extent to which it has affected Nigeria’s development and international relations. The unprecedented impact of the global news media in recent decades has been conceptualised as perpetuating underdevelopment and inequality in the developing countries. This study develops the idea that the kind of global news that flows into and out of Nigeria, coupled with the access Nigerians and the world have to the news, as well as the way it is packaged, shaped, represented and interpreted, have profound effects on Nigeria. The study integrates both quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches. It refers to and selects from various theories of International Relations (IR) and Mass Communication. It is apparent that there is a growing perception that the global news media have influenced Nigerian society. The study suggests that the effects of the global media on Nigeria are psychological, sociological, economic, cultural and political. The global news media are believed to be the best instruments for the purpose of stimulating global and transnational economic development and international relations. However, the benefits of media globalisation are unevenly shared and its costs are unevenly distributed, the main beneficiaries being the developed nations, while the developing nations (such as Nigeria) are disadvantaged. The study recommends the promotion and strengthening of the local media in Nigeria.
Intellectual capital in universities

Purpose – The growing interest regarding intangibles and intellectual capital (IC) has extended from firms to public institutions such as universities and research centres during the last decade. Since universities are considered critical institutional actors in national innovation systems, European higher education and research institutions are going through an important transformation process with the aim of making them more comparable, flexible, transparent and competitive. The objective of the paper is two‐fold. On the one hand, its aim is to address the importance of measuring and managing IC in universities to improve research management and contribute to comparative analysis in European universities, and on the other hand, to highlight some methodological and conceptual considerations in relation to the analytical framework developed within an ongoing experience – the Observatory of European Universities (OEU). Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyses a specific case within the OEU: the Auto.
Selective Coupling of T-Type Calcium Channels to SK Potassium Channels Prevents Intrinsic Bursting in Dopaminergic Midbrain Neurons

Dopaminergic midbrain (DA) neurons display two principal activity patterns in vivo, single-spike and burst firing, the latter coding for reward-related events. We have shown recently that the small-conductance calcium-activated potassium channel SK3 controls pacemaker frequency and precision in DA neurons of the substantia nigra (SN), and previous studies have implicated SK channels in the transition to burst firing. To identify the upstream calcium sources for SK channel activation in DA SN neurons, we studied the sensitivity of SK channel-mediated afterhyperpolarization (AHP) currents to inhibitors of different types of voltage-gated calcium channels in perforated patch-clamp recordings. Cobalt-sensitive AHP currents were not affected by L-type and P/Q-type calcium channel inhibitors and were reduced slightly (26%) by the N-type channel inhibitor ω-conotoxin-GVIA. In contrast, AHP currents were blocked substantially (85–94%) by micromolar concentrations of nickel (IC50, 33.75 μm) and mibefradil (IC50, 4.83 μm), indistinguishable from the nickel and mibefradil sensitivities of T-type calcium currents (IC50 values, 33.86 and 4.59 μm, respectively). These results indicate that SK channels are activated selectively via T-type calcium channels in DA SN neurons. Consequently, SK currents displayed use-dependent inactivation with similar time constants when compared with those of T-type calcium currents and generated a transient rebound inhibition. Both SK and T-type channels were essential for the stability of spontaneous pacemaker activity, and, in some DA SN neurons, T-type channel inhibition was sufficient to induce intrinsic burst firing. The functional coupling of SK to T-type channels has important implications for the temporal integration of synaptic input and might help to understand how DA neurons switch between pacemaker and burst-firing modes in vivo.
Effects of Intracoronary Administration of Autologous Adipose Tissue-Derived Stem Cells on Acute Myocardial Infarction in a Porcine Model

Purpose Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) are known to be potentially effective in regeneration of damaged tissue. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of intracoronary administration of ADSCs in reducing the infarction area and improving function after acute transmural myocardial infarction (MI) in a porcine model. Materials and Methods ADSCs were obtained from each pig's abdominal subcutaneous fat tissue by simple liposuction. After 3 passages of 14-days culture, 2 million ADSCs were injected into the coronary artery 30 min after acute transmural MI. At baseline and 4 weeks after the ADSC injection, 99mTc methoxyisobutylisonitrile-single photon emission computed tomography (MIBI-SPECT) was performed to evaluate the left ventricular volume, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF; %), and perfusion defects as well as the myocardial salvage (%) and salvage index. At 4 weeks, each pig was sacrificed, and the heart was extracted and dissected. Gross and microscopic analyses with specific immunohistochemistry staining were then performed. Results Analysis showed improvement in the perfusion defect, but not in the LVEF in the ADSC group (n=14), compared with the control group (n=14) (perfusion defect, -13.0±10.0 vs. -2.6±12.0, p=0.019; LVEF, -8.0±15.4 vs. -15.9±14.8, p=0.181). There was a tendency of reducing left ventricular volume in ADSC group. The ADSCs identified by stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) staining were well co-localized by von Willebrand factor and Troponin T staining. Conclusion Intracoronary injection of cultured ADSCs improved myocardial perfusion in this porcine acute transmural MI model.
What Does It Take for an Infant to Learn How to Use a Tool by Observation?

Observational learning is probably one of the most powerful factors determining progress during child development. When learning a new skill, infants rely on their own exploration; but they also frequently benefit from an adult’s verbal support or from demonstration by an adult modeling the action. At what age and under what conditions does adult demonstration really help the infant to learn a novel behavior? In this review, we summarize recently published work we have conducted on the acquisition of tool use during the second year of life. In particular, we consider under what conditions and to what extent seeing a demonstration from an adult advances an infant’s understanding of how to use a tool to obtain an out-of-reach object. Our results show that classic demonstration starts being helpful at 18 months of age. When adults explicitly show their intention prior to demonstration, even 16-month-old infants learn from the demonstration. On the other hand, providing an explicit demonstration (“look at how I do it”) is not very useful before infants are ready to succeed by themselves anyway. In contrast, repeated observations of the required action in a social context, without explicit reference to this action, considerably advances the age of success and the usefulness of providing a demonstration. We also show that the effect of demonstration can be enhanced if the demonstration makes the baby laugh. Taken together, the results from this series of studies on observational learning of tool use in infants suggest, first, that when observing a demonstration, infants do not know what to pay attention to: demonstration must be accompanied by rich social cues to be effective; second, infants’ attention is inhibited rather than enhanced by an explicit demand of “look at what I do”; and finally a humorous situation considerably helps infants understand the demonstration.
Some Things You Need to Know but may have been Afraid to Ask: A Researcher Speaks to Ombudsmen about Workplace Bullying

Workplace bullying is repeated and prolonged hostile mistreatment of one or more people at work. It has tremendous potential to escalate, drawing in others beyond the initial actor-target relationship. Its effects can be devastating and widespread individually, organizationally and beyond. It is fundamentally a systemic phenomenon grounded in the organization’s culture. In this article, I identify from my perspective as a researcher and professional in this area current thinking and research findings that may be useful for ombudsmen in their deliberations and investigations as well as in their intervention and management of these hostile behaviors and relationships.
Anti‐Dumping Duty and Firm Heterogeneity: Evidence from Korea

In general, AD policy is known to protect domestic producers from dumped products. In terms of “protection,” government implements AD policy by expecting domestic firms to gain competitiveness through increased productivity. Using Korean firm data, this paper analyzed the effects of AD protection on changed firm-level productivity before and after the imposition of AD duties.In contrast to results from recent AD research, we show a negative effect of AD protection on estimated productivity of protected firms during the AD protection period. Estimating the productivity of protected firms by comparison of various types of firms confirms the robustness of our results that AD protected firms experience productivity losses during the imposition of AD duties.Investigating the channels behind our results, we consider two factors; internal firm structure and external market conditions. We first examine the changes of company account variables that influence firm productivity during AD protection period. Using DID specifications, we find that AD protection do not have significant effects on average protected firms’ wages and investments in capital and R&D, implying that firms have no significant movements towards production shift during the protection period. On the other hand, examining the effects of domestic competition in protected industries on firm productivity, we find that firms have different productivity changes depending on the level of concentration intensity among import-competing industries. In particular, concentration reduces firm productivity in highly-concentrated industry clusters, while concentration has an ambiguous effect on firm productivity in moderately-concentrated industry clusters. These results provide evidence that the imposition of AD duties has heterogeneous effects on firm productivity depending on the market structures. All of our analysis implies that the effects of AD policy may lead to different consequences depending on the country characteristics. In particular, we show that if a country is not yet industrialized, such that its economy is affected by small number of large firms, AD policy will not likely be effective in gaining competitiveness among protected domestic firms.
Pathways to success for moderately defined careers: a study of relationships among prestige/autonomy, job satisfaction, career commitment, career path, training and learning, and performance as perceived by project managers

Pathways to Success for Moderately Defined Careers: A Study of Relationships among Prestige/Autonomy, Job Satisfaction, Career Commitment, Career Path, Training and Learning, and Performance as Perceived by Project Managers. (May 2007) Lila Lenoria Carden, B.B.A., Texas A&M University; M.B.A., University of Houston – Central Campus Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. Toby Marshall Egan Dr. Jamie Callahan New emerging career paths for professionals are often non-linear, dynamic, and boundary-less (Baruch, 2004) and have resulted in undefined professional advancement opportunities for managers and employees in a variety of contexts. Career paths help individuals make meaning in their job contexts and provide avenues to meet intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, including economic and social status (Adamson, 1997; Callanan, 2003). As a result, individual perceptions of career paths may impact job satisfaction, career commitment, and performance. The purpose of this study was to test a career development model examining the path of relationships amongst autonomy/prestige, career path, training and learning, job satisfaction, career commitment, and performance for moderately defined career professionals. Based on a systematic categorization of careers, from well defined to less well defined, project managers were determined to have moderately defined careers. The researcher employed a survey resulting in 644 project manager respondents. Path
Community organizing and community building for health

As public health problems such as HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, violence, and environmental toxins increase in the US, grassroots public health work has become all the more important. This updated and revised edition provides insights into the systems of inequality in the United States, such as race, class, and gender, that impact health.
Hybrid Modes of Organization. Alliances, Joint Ventures, Networks, and Other 'Strange' Animals

The central message conveyed in this chapter is that there is a whole class of economic organizations that contribute substantially to what Coase (1992) called "the institutional structure of production". These arrangements fall neither under pure market relationships nor within 'firm boundaries'. They have multiplied because they are viewed as efficient in dealing with knowledge-based activities, solving hold-up problems, and reducing contractual hazards. They have properties of their own that deserve theoretical attention and empirical investigation.
TAP-1 indirectly regulates CD4+ T cell priming in Toxoplasma gondii infection by controlling NK cell IFN-γ production

To investigate if transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP)–1 is required for CD8+ T cell–mediated control of Toxoplasma gondii in vivo, we compared the resistance of TAP-1−/−, CD8−/−, and wild-type (WT) mice to infection with the parasite. Unexpectedly, TAP-1−/− mice displayed greater susceptibility than CD8−/−, β2-microglobulin−/− (β2m−/−), or WT mice to infection with an avirulent parasite strain. The decreased resistance of the TAP-1−/− mice correlated with a reduction in the frequency of activated (CD62Llow CD44hi) and interferon (IFN)-γ–producing CD4+ T cells. Interestingly, infected TAP-1−/− mice also showed reduced numbers of IFN-γ–producing natural killer (NK) cells relative to WT, CD8−/−, or β2m−/− mice, and after NK cell depletion both CD8−/− and WT mice succumbed to infection with the same kinetics as TAP-1−/− animals and displayed impaired CD4+ T cell IFN-γ responses. Moreover, adoptive transfer of NK cells obtained from IFN-γ+/+, but not IFN-γ−/−, animals restored the CD4+ T cell response of infected TAP-1−/− mice to normal levels. These results reveal a role for TAP-1 in the induction of IFN-γ–producing NK cells and demonstrate that NK cell licensing can influence host resistance to infection through its effect on cytokine production in addition to its role in cytotoxicity.
Fair value accounting and financial stability: challenges and dynamics

Fair value accounting has played a specific role in the current crisis. Its application raises a number of different issues; while some are currently being addressed by the relevant standard setters, others have a more macroeconomic dimension. As regards the immediate drawbacks of the fair value approach, both standard setters and banking supervisors are working on guidance on how to value financial instruments in times of stress and the appropriate internal processes that should be in place in financial institutions to achieve this. However, the crisis has also highlighted some more macro-financial issues. In this respect, central banks, thanks to the overview they have of the fi nancial system and their central role in money markets, seem well-positioned to be the guardians of fi nancial stability. In order to play this role, cooperation must be enhanced between central banks, standard setters and supervisors.
Men's and Women's Attitudes toward Computer Technology: A Comparison

This study examined three research questions that compared the attitudes of men and women about (1) the value of technology in making users more productive, (2) the impact of computer technology on people and their work environments, and (3) the relative comfort of men and women when using computers. The study used an attitudes inventory constructed to identify attitudes associated with gender issues reflected in the literature. The inventory was administered to 62 subjects who were students in a university business communication course. Analyses of the findings indicate that, contrary to earlier studies on these issues, women reflected more positive attitudes than men on all three scales. Females held more positive attitudes than males regarding the value of computers to make users more productive. Although neither men nor women in this group reflected concern about the impact of technology on people and their work environments, women were more positive than men in this regard. Women also reflected greater comfort in using computers than men. The results carry implications for both education and business. Educators, trainers, and managers should reexamine their behaviors as they make decisions regarding career choices, on-the-job training opportunities, and job placement. Previous indicators that men are more receptive to technology in learning and training environments appear to have changed.