Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Population Policy Implementation in Nigeria, 1988-2003

The first Nigerian Population Policy was written in 1988 to reduce population growth as a collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Health and the World Bank. Whether this policy was successful is in contention. Some schools of thought argue that it was unsuccessful due to cultural, religious and financial factors in play. However, a positive demographic change was noticed statistically after the policy was implemented. Achievement of policy goals was limited due to flaws in the implementation strategy adopted for the National Population Program as well as due to a cultural aversion to family planning in Northern Nigeria, among other factors. The success of the policy was greatest in Southern Nigeria where social advancement also played an integral role. This paper shows that the attitudes towards population growth differ between these two very important regions of one country. This paper also addresses, in great detail, the obstacles to the implementation of the 1988 policy, and analyzes why the policy was successful in a part of the country, but not in another. With a new Population Policy having been implemented in 2006, identifying the problems of the 1988 program implementation has limited value unless the learned lessons result in a greater determination by the upper echelons of government, the bureaucracy and the political class in the nation to reprogram efforts for the future. While the Federal Government has recently instituted reform agenda that cover economic, social and administrative reforms, the population sector, together with the political governance that will address the role of population size in allocation of resources and power, needs to be included in the reform agenda.
Colour vision in coral reef fish

SUMMARY Over many millions of years, sea creatures have developed a range of light reflectance properties. One example is the large variation in the patterns and colours of fish inhabiting the world's coral reefs. Attempts to understand the significance of the colouration have been made, but all too often from the perspective of a human observer. A more ecological approach requires us to consider the visual system of those for whom the colours were intended, namely other sea life. A first step is to understand the sensitivity of reef fish themselves to colour. Physiological data has revealed wavelength-tuned photoreceptors in reef fish, and this study provides behavioural evidence for their application in colour discrimination. Using classical conditioning, freshly caught damselfish were trained to discriminate coloured patterns for a food reward. Within 3–4 days of capture the fish selected a target colour on over 75% of trials. Brightness of the distracter and target were systematically varied to confirm that the fish could discriminate stimuli on the basis of chromaticity alone. The study demonstrates that reef fish can learn to perform two-alternative discrimination tasks, and provides the first behavioural evidence that reef fish have colour vision.
A critical investigation of the notion of active citizenship within the workers' educational association South Wales

This thesis examines the ways in which active citizenship is conceptualised by a variety of actors within the Workers’ Educational Association South Wales and is the work of an ‘insider’ with experience of the organisation as both employee and Trustee. The Association is a democratically structured, voluntary organisation with a history of providing adult education in communities throughout south Wales for more than a hundred years. Its reliance on funding from the Welsh Government for the majority of its income is a significant aspect of the background to this study, particularly as one of the Association’s aims is the provision of courses that ‘will assist in the promotion of active citizenship’. The research is set within the contexts of changes in adult education policy during the Association’s lifetime and a contemporary emphasis on the economic purpose of education, the contested nature of the concepts of citizenship and active citizenship and the organisation’s historic role in relation to the Labour movement and past tensions in respect of the receipt of state funding. The study explores through semi-structured interviews with those responsible for the Association’s strategic direction, both senior staff and Trustees, as well those whose role is to implement policy as Development Workers and Part-time Tutors, how active citizenship is understood and whether or not there is a shared understanding within the Association. A picture emerges in which there appears to be uncertainty among a significant proportion of participants about the Association’s purpose as well as a lack of a shared understanding of what active citizenship means and of the kinds of active citizenship the Association could promote. The study also reveals shortcomings in organisational capacity to achieve the aim of promoting active citizenship. The thesis concludes with a series of policy recommendations for the Association to consider.
Once daily triamcinolone acetonide nasal spray is effective for the treatment of perennial allergic rhinitis.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group study was conducted in 11 centers to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a once-a-day regimen of 110 micrograms, 220 micrograms; and 440 micrograms of triamcinolone acetonide intranasal aerosol versus placebo in relieving the symptoms of rhinitis in 305 adult and older pediatric patients with perennial allergic rhinitis. Nasal stuffiness, nasal discharge, sneezing, nasal itching and the nasal index (the sum of the mean scores of the first three symptoms) averaged over the first 6 weeks and second 6 weeks of the study were significantly reduced in patients who received the 220 micrograms/day and the 440 micrograms/day dosages. The 110 micrograms/day group had a reduction in these nasal symptoms, but only the sneezing and nasal index were significantly (P less than .05) better than placebo. During the last 6 weeks of the study, patients were allowed to take oral back-up medication for their nasal symptoms; all three groups receiving triamcinolone nasal aerosol took less back-up medication than did the placebo group. There were no significant adverse effects or laboratory abnormalities noted during this study. Intranasal triamcinolone acetonide 220 micrograms and 440 micrograms, used once-a-day for 12 weeks is clinically and statistically superior to placebo for the treatment of perennial allergic rhinitis.
Intermediaries in Trust: Indirect Reciprocity, Incentives, and Norms

Any trust situation involves a certain amount of risk for trustors that trustees could abuse. In some cases, intermediaries exist who play a crucial role in the exchange by providing reputational information. To examine under what conditions intermediary opinion could have a positive impact on cooperation, we designed two experiments based on a modified version of the investment game where intermediaries rated the behaviour of trustees under various incentive schemes and different role structures. We found that intermediaries can increase trust if there is room for indirect reciprocity between the involved parties. We also found that the effect of monetary incentives and social norms cannot be clearly separable in these situations. If properly designed, monetary incentives for intermediaries can have a positive effect. On the one hand, when intermediary rewards are aligned with the trustor’s interest, investments and returns tend to increase. On the other hand, fixed monetary incentives perform less than any other incentive schemes and endogenous social norms in ensuring trust and fairness. These findings should make us reconsider the mantra of incentivization of social and public conventional policy.
Executive and management attitudes towards corporate social responsibility in Malaysia

Examines the attitudes of Malaysian managers and executives towards social responsibility and also the extent of socially responsible activities involved, corporate disclosure, and the factors determining the attitudes towards social responsibility. A structured questionnaire was developed based on studies by Ford and McLaughin, Teoh and Gregory Thong, Gill and Leinbach and Jones. A total of 198 responses were used for analysis in this study. The results showed that only five statements (of the 14 statements) have scores of more than 50 per cent agreement or endorsement of socially responsible activities. About 69 per cent of the respondents believed that involvement by a business in improving its community’s quality of life will also improve long run profitability. Nearly 65 per cent agreed that socially responsible activities provide a favourable public image. The analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences in the attitudes of managers working in banking, telecommunication, manufacturing and construction towards social responsibility. Nearly all of the respondents agreed that their companies were involved in socially responsible activities, that they were responsive to consumers’ complaints (83 per cent), and that they were maintaining product/service quality (77 per cent). Of the respondents nearly 54 per cent mentioned that their companies informed the general public of their socially responsible activities. The results also showed that the most influential factor determining the attitude towards social responsibility was family upbringing. The other important factors were traditional beliefs and customs, and common practices in the industry. Discusses the implications of the findings.
A social constructivist perspective on achieving successful career change at thirty-something

This thesis addresses the contemporary phenomenon of career change at thirtysomething. Research across three empirical studies aims to extend an understanding of personal perceptions of career change and contribute to extant career theory. The ambiguity arising from career change is interpreted through the lens of a sensemaking framework and an epistemological position of social constructivism is adopted. This theoretical stance provides a dynamic and holistic perspective on the experiences and evaluative processes occurring during career transition. Qualitative methodologies are employed. This research provides the first published application of interpretative phenomenological analysis in vocational psychology. Additionally, it offers a novel use of cause maps outside of an organisational context, representing cycles of development arising from the career transition experience in boundaryless careers. Partial support for traditional age-defined development theories is offered by the findings. Evidence for development asks associated with the thirties such as selfactualisation and achieving consolidation is found, however, evidence for stabilisation is not found. Other characteristics, including levels of identity development, high perceived control and perceived time pressure, also appear to be linked to age. The presence of these characteristics suggests a disposition favourable to effective coping with the contemporary demands for self-reliant career management. Extant research proposing the significance of subjective values on boundaryless careers is supported. The finding that these appeared to shape the careers of men as well as women provides to a contemporary understanding of men's adjustment to boundaryless careers. In relation to transition theory, this research contributes by identifying a contemplation stage early in career change, and the benefits of completing certain tasks at this time in order to achieve a subjectively meaningful career. The findings also contribute to career success theory by identifying processes of evaluation and offering further clarification of career competency concepts, such as career maturity and career resilience, including their affective component. An integrated theoretical framework for the study of career is proposed comprising of three key elements, the first is process-orientated, the second is action-theoretical and the third is emotion.
Feeling unreal: a depersonalization disorder update of 117 cases.

BACKGROUND Despite a surge of interest and literature on depersonalization disorder in recent years, a large series of individuals with the disorder has not been described to date. In this report, we systematically elucidate the phenomenology, precipitants, antecedents, comorbidity, and treatment history in such a series. METHOD 117 adult subjects with depersonalization disorder (DSM-III-R/DSM-IV criteria) consecutively recruited to a number of depersonalization disorder research studies were administered structured and semistructured diagnostic interviews and the Dissociative Experiences Scale. Data were gathered from 1994 to 2000. RESULTS The illness had an approximately 1:1 gender ratio with onset around 16 years of age. The course was typically chronic and often continuous. Illness characteristics such as onset, duration, and course were not associated with symptom severity. Mood, anxiety, and personality disorders were frequently comorbid, but none predicted depersonalization severity. The most common immediate precipitants of the disorder were severe stress, depression, panic, marijuana ingestion, and hallucinogen ingestion, and none of these predicted symptom severity. Negative affects, stress, perceived threatening social interaction, and unfamiliar environments were some of the more common factors leading to symptom exacerbation. Conversely, comforting interpersonal interactions, intense emotional or physical stimulation, and relaxation tended to diminish symptom intensity. There were no significant gender differences in the clinical features of the disorder. In this sample, depersonalization tended to be refractory to various medication and psychotherapy treatments. CONCLUSION The characteristics of depersonalization disorder found in this sample, the largest described to date, are in good accord with previous literature. The study highlights the need for novel therapeutic approaches to treat depersonalization disorder. Novel medication classes, as well as novel psychotherapeutic techniques that build on the reported symptom fluctuation factors, may prove helpful in the future.
An Examination of Audit Delay: Further Evidence from New Zealand

Abstract An important qualitative attribute of financial statements is timeliness. The recognition that the length of the audit may be the single most important determinant affecting the timing of earnings' announcements has motivated recent research on audit delay. The present study extends prior research by examining the multivariate relationship between a set of explanatory variables and audit delay for a large sample of New Zealand public companies. Further, the study includes two explanatory variables, company control (i.e. owner control versus manager control) and debt proportion, which have not previously been considered. The results indicate that both company size and sign of income significantly affect audit delay across the two years examined. Five other explanatory variables significantly affected audit delay for one of the two years examined. The adjusted R2s of the regression models, however, were relatively low. Additional analysis was also performed on each company control subsample. These .
Effect of Magnesium Incorporation on Solution-Processed Kesterite Solar Cells

The introduction of the alkaline-earth element Magnesium (Mg) into Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CTZSSe) is explored in view of potential photovoltaic applications. Cu2Zn1−xMgxSn(S,Se)4 absorber layers with variable Mg content x = 0…1 are deposited using the solution approach with dimethyl sulfoxide solvent followed by annealing in selenium atmosphere. For heavy Mg alloying with x = 0.55…1 the phase separation into Cu2SnSe3, MgSe2, MgSe and SnSe2 occurs in agreement with literature predictions. A lower Mg content of x = 0.04 results in the kesterite phase as confirmed by XRD and Raman spectroscopy. A photoluminescence maximum is red-shifted by 0.02 eV as compared to the band-gap and a carrier concentration NCV of 1 × 1016 cm−3 is measured for a Mg-containing kesterite solar cell device. Raman spectroscopy indicates that structural defects can be reduced in Mg-containing absorbers as compared to the Mg-free reference samples, however the best device efficiency of 7.2% for a Mg-containing cell measured in this study is lower than those frequently reported for the conventional Na doping.
Assimilation, Changes in Cohort Quality, and the Earnings of Immigrants

This paper reexamines the empirical basis for two "facts" that seem to be found in most cross-section studies of immigrant earnings: (1) the earnings of immigrants grow rapidly as they assimilate into the United States; and (2) this rapid growth leads to many immigrants' overtaking the earnings of the natives within 10-15 years after immigration. Using the 1970 and 1980 U.S. censuses, this paper studies the earnings growth experienced by specific immigrant cohorts during the period 1970-80. It is found that within-cohort growth is significantly smaller than the growth predicted by cross-section regressions for most immigrant groups. This differential is consistent with the hypothesis that there has been a secular decline in the "quality" of immigrants admitted to the United States.
Tracking Topic Evolution in News Environments

For companies acting on a global scale, the necessity to monitor and analyze news channels and consumer-generated media on the Web, such as weblogs and n news-groups, is steadily increasing. In particular the identification of novel trends and upcoming issues, as well as their dynamic evolution over time, is of utter importance to corporate communications and market analysts. Automated machine learning systems using clustering techniques have only partially succeeded in addressing these newly arising requirements, failing in their endeavor to properly assign short-term hype topics to long-term trends. We propose an approach which allows to monitor news wire on different levels of temporal granularity, extracting key-phrases that reflect short-term topics as well as longer-term trends by means of statistical language modelling. Moreover, our approach allows for assigning those windows of smaller scope to those of longer intervals.
Short sea shipping: lessons for or from Australia

This paper builds on two separate but linked streams of research. It reviews the short sea research conducted in North America, where large-scale studies have been undertaken in both Canada and the USA over the past five years. These are compared and contrasted with studies from Australia, where coastal shipping has also received considerable attention, including a government investigation into the industry. This paper examines the lessons from these studies by answering four research questions, drawing conclusions about the role of the regulatory environment in promoting or deterring the development of land transport-competitive short sea services. It also identifies research agenda gaps remaining. The paper focuses on what governments need to consider if they seek to induce switching from land modes, like truck or rail, to coastal shipping in order to revitalise the domestic industry or improve GHG-efficiency in the transport sector or both.
Effects of Rhinovirus Infection on Nasopharyngeal Bacterial Colonization in Infants With Wild or Variant Types of Mannose-Binding Lectin and Toll-Like Receptors 3 and 4.

BACKGROUND Development of respiratory tract infections is determined by interactions between viruses, bacteria, and the host innate immune response. We investigated the impact of natural rhinovirus infection on nasopharyngeal bacterial colonization in infants with or without gene polymorphisms of mannose-binding lectin (MBL) and Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 3 and 4. METHODS Rhinoviruses were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and bacteria by culture of nasopharyngeal specimens from 2- to 3-month-old infants. Gene polymorphisms in MBL at codons 52, 54, and 57, TLR3 Leu412Phe, and TLR4 Asp299Gly were detected by pyrosequencing. RESULTS Of 337 infants, 61 were positive for rhinovirus and 187 were colonized by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Haemophilus influenzae, or Staphylococcus aureus. Gene polymorphisms of MBL were detected in 32%, TLR3 in 51%, and TLR4 in 18% of subjects. Presence of rhinovirus was associated with increased colonization by S pneumoniae in children with MBL polymorphisms (8 of 20 [40%] with rhinovirus, vs 9 of 87 [10%] without rhinovirus; P = .003), but not in those with wild-type MBL. In logistic regression analyses, S pneumoniae colonization associated with MBL variant (P = .035) and with the interaction between rhinovirus and MBL variant (P = .004), and M catarrhalis colonization associated with the detection of rhinovirus (P = .033). CONCLUSIONS The association between rhinovirus infection and nasopharyngeal pneumococcal colonization in early infancy is linked to genetic variations of MBL.
Structure of Ukrainian Agriculture: Comparative Efficiency and Implications for Policy Reform, The

Production data on more than 11,000 state and collective farms in Ukraine were obtained through the VASKhNIL Research Agreement between the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University and the Ukrainian Institute of Agrarian Economics. Of particular interest to this study are data on input use, resource endowments, cost of production, output, prices, and labor. The major objectives of the study were to (1) organize, develop, and provide a descriptive analysis of data from state and collective farms in Ukraine; (2) summarize and analyze major trends and economic indicators for Ukrainian agriculture; (3) analyze the technical efficiency of Ukraine's agricultural sector using frontier production function estimation; and (4) provide policy assessments and disseminate research results.
Minimal Deviation Carcinoma (Adenoma Malignum) of the Cervix

Summary:Minimal deviation carcinoma of the cervix is very rare, representing about 1% of adenocarcinomas of the cervix and less than one-sixth of well-differentiated cervical carcinomas. Composed of distorted glands having an irregular outline and deeply positioned in the cervix, minimal deviation carcinoma often requires hysterectomy to produce a sufficiently deep margin to permit identification of invasion. The gross appearance of the cervix may be normal in early lesions. Minimal deviation carcinoma often grows slowly. The two patients who died of cervical adenocarcinoma did so 6 and 14 years after initial diagnosis and treatment. The 13 cases in this report differ from those previously reported in that the cell types were more varied (most cases in the literature are of a mucinous cell type), the carcinomas were identified at early stages, and the survival of patients was much better than in earlier reports. An association with independent ovarian neoplasms was found.