Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Competition Compliance: Limits to Competition Policy Harmonisation in EU Enlargement

The paper analyses the extent of and the reasons behind limits to competition policy harmonisation in EU enlargement. Our focus is on vertical restraints. First, we compare the relevant legal regimes towards vertical agreements in the EU and in Eastern Europe. We then describe competition policy practice in all ten EU candidate countries and point out differences both between East and West and among the candidates. Finally, we examine a large database of inter-firm agreements in Eastern Europe's car industry and use insights from case studies of subcontracting to highlight instances of non-conformity between (1) East European competition law and practice and (2) EU rules and East European competition law enforcement. The conclusion recommends how to improve competition policy practice, and thus compliance, post-enlargement.
Perceived Competence of Nigerian Secondary Schools Teachers in the Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

One of the numerous goals of Nigeria as a nation is to aggressively promote ICT as an instrument of mass education, growth and development (NEEDS, 2004). There is no doubt that teachers are indispensable for successful teaching and learning with ICT and their competence in the use of ICT is crucial to successful implementation of contemporary school curriculum. This study therefore examined teachers’ perceived competence in the use of ICTs with respect to computer basics, use of the internet, and their ability to use simple softwares. A research question and three hypotheses were raised for the descriptive survey study. The instrument used for the study was the ICT Competence Questionnaire (ICTCQ). Simple random sampling technique was used to select 300 public secondary school teachers in the four geo-political zones in Ogun State. Frequency count and percentages were used for the research question while chi square was used in analyzing the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. Findings indicated that; Most teachers in Ogun State secondary schools do not have the required competence in ICT. Those teachers in the humanities have more competence in ICT than teachers in the sciences. Academic qualification of a teacher does not have any effect on teacher’s competence in ICT. Teachers’ competence in the use of ICT is not influenced by their teaching experience. It is then evident that the present crop of teachers needs to be retrained to improve their competence in ICT usage. Consequently training of teachers in ICT through seminars and workshops organized by state government should be regulated to termly schedule as against occasional exercise that is prevalent presently. The government should increase the supply of computer system to schools and also make provisions for their maintenance. Internet facilities should also be put in place for schools by the government and credit facilities can also be provided for teachers by the government to encourage individual teacher to have personal computer. KEYWORDS: ICT Competence, Subject Specialization, Educational Qualification, Teaching Experience.
A study of the determinants influencing customer satisfaction in medical tourism industry in Singapore

3 LIST OF TABLES . 9 LIST OF FIGURES . 11 ACRONYMS . 12 DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY . 13 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . 14 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION . 15 1.1 INTRODUCTION . 16 1.2 RESEARCH BACKGROUND . 18 1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES . 21 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK . 22 1.4. 1 Research questions . 22 1.4. 2 The conceptual framework . 22 1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES . 23 1.6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY . 25 1.6. 1 Sampling and collecting data . 25 1.6. 2 Data analysis . 26 1.6. 3 Ethical considerations . 26 1.7 CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE RESEARCH . 26 1.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH . 27 1.9 DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS . 28 1.9. 1 Medical tourism . 28 1.9. 2 Customer satisfaction . 28 1.9. 3 Customer expectation . 28 1.9. 4 Customer-perceived service quality . 28 1.9. 5 Service quality . 28 1.10 OUTLINE OF THE THESIS . 28 1.11 CONCLUSION . 30 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW . 31 2.1 INTRODUCTION . 32 2.2 MEDICAL TOURISM . 34 SCU-DBA Pham Thi Huyen, Anna 6 2.3 BACKGROUND OF SINGAPORE’S MEDICAL TOURISM INDUSTRY . 37 2.3.1 Singapore’s medical specialists . 39 2.3.2 Singapore’s medical services . 40 2.3.3 Singapore’s medical facilities . 42 2.3.4 Comparative cost analysis . 44 2.4 LITERATURE CONCEPT MAP . 45 2.5 PARENT DISCIPLINE . 47 2.5. 1 Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT) . 47 2.5. 2 The Kano model . 49 2.6 IMMEDIATE DISCIPLINE . 51 2.6. 1 Customer satisfaction . 51 2.6. 2 Traditional models for measuring customer satisfaction . 53 2.6. 3 Proposed model for measuring customer satisfaction . 53 2.7 THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS . 55 2.7. 1 The research objectives . 55 2.7. 2 Development of research questions . 57 2.8 KEY FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK . 58 2.8. 1 Independent variable . 58 2.8. 2 Moderating factors – Environment . 66 2.8. 3 Dependent Variable – Customer Satisfaction . 68 2.8. 4 Conceptual framework . 69 2.9 THE HYPOTHESES . 71 2.10 SUMMARY OF THE VARIABLES UNDER STUDY . 74 2.11 CONCLUSION . 76 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY . 78 3.1 INTRODUCTION . 79 3.2 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE RESEARCH PARADIGMS . 81 3.2.1 Justifications for the mixed method research . 81 3.2.2 Measuring customer satisfaction . 82 3.2.3 Research process . 83 3.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS . 84 3.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES . 85 3.4. 1 Research model . 85 3.4. 2 Hypotheses . 86 3.5 RESEARCH DESIGN . 87 3.5. 1 Exploratory research . 88 3.5. 2 Experimental research . 88 3.5. 3 Descriptive research . 89 3.6 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN . 89 3.6. 1 Measurement instruments using the Likert scale . 90 3.6. 2 Survey questionnaire . 90 SCU-DBA Pham Thi Huyen, Anna 7 3.6. 3 Ranking questionnaires . 94 3.6. 4 Open-ended questions . 95 3.6. 5 Secondary data .
Assessment of Urban versus Rural in Situ surface temperatures in the contiguous United States: No di

Abstract All analyses of the impact of urban heat islands (UHIs) on in situ temperature observations suffer from inhomogeneities or biases in the data. These inhomogeneities make urban heat island analyses difficult and can lead to erroneous conclusions. To remove the biases caused by differences in elevation, latitude, time of observation, instrumentation, and nonstandard siting, a variety of adjustments were applied to the data. The resultant data were the most thoroughly homogenized and the homogeneity adjustments were the most rigorously evaluated and thoroughly documented of any large-scale UHI analysis to date. Using satellite night-lights–derived urban/rural metadata, urban and rural temperatures from 289 stations in 40 clusters were compared using data from 1989 to 1991. Contrary to generally accepted wisdom, no statistically significant impact of urbanization could be found in annual temperatures. It is postulated that this is due to micro- and local-scale impacts dominating over the mesoscale ur.
The Impact of Terrorism Across Industries: An Empirical Study

This paper uses scoring matching techniques and event study analysis to elucidate the impact of terrorism across different economic sectors. Using the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a case study, we differentiate between Israeli companies that belong to the defence, security or anti-terrorism related industries and other companies. The findings show that whereas terrorism has a significant negative impact on non defence-related companies, the overall effect of terrorism on defence and security-related companies is significantly positive. Similarly, using panel data on countries' defence expenditures and imports from Israel, we find that terror fatalities in Israel have a positive effect on Israeli exports of defence products. These results suggest that the expectation of future high levels of terrorism has important implications for resource allocation across industries.
Pedestrian Movement Direction Recognition Using Convolutional Neural Networks

Pedestrian movement direction recognition is an important factor in autonomous driver assistance and security surveillance systems. Pedestrians are the most crucial and fragile moving objects in streets, roads, and events, where thousands of people may gather on a regular basis. People flow analysis on zebra crossings and in shopping centers or events such as demonstrations are a key element to improve safety and to enable autonomous cars to drive in real life environments. This paper focuses on deep learning techniques such as convolutional neural networks (CNN) to achieve a reliable detection of pedestrians moving in a particular direction. We propose a CNN-based technique that leverages current pedestrian detection techniques (histograms of oriented gradients-linSVM) to generate a sum of subtracted frames (flow estimation around the detected pedestrian), which are used as an input for the proposed modified versions of various state-of-the-art CNN networks, such as AlexNet, GoogleNet, and ResNet. Moreover, we have also created a new data set for this purpose, and analyzed the importance of training in a known data set for the neural networks to achieve reliable results.
Design of 50-nm vertical MOSFET incorporating a dielectric pocket

A new architecture for a vertical MOS transistor is proposed that incorporates a so-called dielectric pocket (DP) for suppression of short-channel effects and bulk punch-through. We outline the advantages that the DP brings and propose a basic fabrication process to realize the device. The design issues of a 50-nm channel device are addressed by numerical simulation. The gate delay of an associated CMOS inverter is assessed in the context of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors and the vertical transistor is seen to offer considerable advantages down to the 100-nm node and beyond due to the dual channels and the ability to produce a 50-nm channel length with more relaxed lithography.
Why Talk with Children Matters: Clinical Implications of Infant- and Child-Directed Speech Research

Abstract This article reviews basic features of infant- or child-directed speech, with particular attention to those aspects of the register that have been shown to impact profiles of child language development. It then discusses concerns that arise when describing adult input to children with language delay or disorder, or children at risk for depressed language skills. The article concludes with some recommendations for parent counseling in such cases, as well as methods that speech-language pathologists can use to improve the quality and quantity of language input to language-learning children.
Lack of correlation between serum soluble Fas/APO-1 levels and autoimmune disease.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether elevated soluble Fas/APO-1 (sFas/APO-1) levels are associated with either autoimmune disease or evidence of flares in autoimmune disease. METHODS Thirty-seven serum samples were retrospectively obtained from normal controls and patients with laboratory evidence of autoimmune disease activity. These samples were assayed for sFas/APO-1 levels by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and hospital medical records were retrospectively reviewed for clinical and laboratory characteristics of the patients. RESULTS Soluble Fas/APO-1 levels did not correlate with clinical diagnoses or laboratory abnormalities. The mean and range of sFas/APO-1 levels were similar in systemic lupus erythematosus patients (including those with active disease), patients with other autoimmune diseases, and normal controls. CONCLUSION These data strongly suggest that measurement of sFas/APO-1 levels is unlikely to hold clinical value or play a role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease.
Breast Cancer Risk Associated with Estrogen Exposure and Truncating Mutation Location in BRCA 1 / 2 Carriers

Background:Mutations in BRCA1/2 confer a high risk of breast cancer, but literature values of this risk vary. A genotype–phenotype correlation has been found in both genes, and the effect of reproductive factors differs according tomutation location. Therefore, we hypothesize that such a variation may exist for other factors related to estrogen exposure. Methods: We used a weighted Cox regression model to assess variation in breast cancer risk with these factors using location of mutation in homogeneous breast cancer risk region of BRCA1/2 in the GENEPSO study. Results: We found that late age at menarche reduced breast cancer riskby31%and that amongBRCA1 carriers, a longor a short menstrual cycle increased risk (by 65% and 73%, respectively). Among premenopausal women, overweight was associated with a 45% decrease in risk whereas underweight was associated with an increased risk (HR, 2.40). A natural menopause, mainly after age 50, was associated with a high breast cancer risk (HR, 2.46), and a significant interaction betweenmenopause status and the location of mutations was found leading up to 10% variation in absolute risk according to the age at menopause. Conclusions: As observed in the general population, a late menarche, a long or a short menstrual cycle, overor underweight, and being postmenopausal were associated with breast cancer risk in BRCA1/2 carriers. The association with the menopause was observed only when the mutation was located in the "high-risk" zones. Impact: Taking into account modifier factors, location of mutation might be important for the clinical management of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 24(4);
National cholesterol education program keeps a priority on lifestyle modification to decrease cardiovascular disease risk

&NA; The National Cholesterol Education Program's updated third Adult Treatment Panel report on clinical guidelines for cholesterol testing and management adds to the base of knowledge provided by two previous Adult Treatment Panel reports. Similar to the other reports, it has distinctive features and goals that are in accord with the most currently available clinical trial evidence. The major new feature of the third report is a focus on primary prevention of coronary heart disease in persons with multiple coronary heart disease risk factors. The guidelines provide the rationale for intensive cholesterol‐lowering therapy in clinical management, and they provide detailed information to help inform clinical judgment for implementation of both medical nutrition management (therapeutic lifestyle changes) and drug therapy for treatment of high blood cholesterol.
Concurrent error detection of polynomial basis multiplication over extension fields using a multiple-bit parity scheme

Cryptographic systems implemented using VLSI technologies require a large number of circuits and are prone to faults. Attacks on cryptosystems that exploit erroneous results due to faults in hardware have recently been reported in the literature. As a result, the detection and correction of errors in cryptographic operations have become an important issue. This paper discusses the detection of multiple-bit faults in bit-serial and bit-parallel polynomial basis multipliers over binary extension fields. Our approach is based on multiple-bit parity. Results show that due to an increase in the number of parity bits, area overhead increases linearly, but the probability of error detection approaches unity sharply so that it reaches 0.95 for 6 parity bits.
A study on the predictors of Korean male students' intention to receive human papillomavirus vaccination.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The objective was to survey the current state of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and the predictors of vaccination intention among Korean male students of high school (ages 15-19) and university (ages 17-27). BACKGROUND Human papillomavirus is a sexually transmitted infectious agent causing uterine cervical, anal, and/or penile cancer and genital warts in males and females. Infection rate of human papillomavirus increases from the age when sexual intercourse first occurs. Therefore, motivation to receive human papillomavirus vaccination is needed to protect infection. DESIGN Cross-sectional descriptive survey was performed only in male students. They are less aware of human papillomavirus than females, because human papillomavirus vaccination has been targeted on females for preventing cervical cancer in Korea. METHODS Data were collected using a self-reporting questionnaire for male high school and university students sampled from a city in Korea. Human papillomavirus vaccine-related knowledge, health beliefs, demographic, and sexual history information variables relating to intentions to vaccinate were assessed. RESULTS The human papillomavirus vaccination rate was very low and the levels of knowledge and health beliefs were low. The significant predictors that raised the intention of human papillomavirus vaccination were a university student, experience of sexual intercourse and perceiving the benefits of human papillomavirus vaccination. CONCLUSIONS To promote human papillomavirus vaccination, educational programming targeting males should include health beliefs and knowledge, emphasising that vaccination is important to prevent uterine cervical cancer and to role as a preventative measure against common male diseases. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Male high school students should be included as a major target population for school human papillomavirus education programmes, as they are at the age of commencing sexual intercourse. In addition, public health policies including human papillomavirus vaccination in the national immunisation programme are warranted.
Feasibility of laparoscopic management of presumed stage I endometrial carcinoma and assessment of accuracy of myoinvasion estimates by frozen section: a gynecologic oncology group study

Introduction To assess laparoscopic management of presumed stage I endometrial cancer, and to compare gross, frozen, and paraffin section methods measuring myoinvasion. Patients and methods Eligible patients underwent laparoscopic exploration. Patients with preoperative grade 1 histology underwent laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (LAVHBSO). Pelvic and periaortic lymph node sampling (PPANS) was performed for deep (≥50%) myoinvasion confirmed by frozen section. Patients with preoperative grade 2 or 3 histology without evidence of extrauterine metastasis underwent PPANS + LAVHBSO. Results Of 50 eligible patients selected, LAVHBSO was successfully completed in all but five. There was one trocar bowel perforation. Myoinvasion depth was correlated between paraffin section and gross estimate, and between paraffin and frozen section estimate, in 89 and 90% of cases, respectively. Myoinvasion was underestimated by gross versus paraffin in three of five discrepancies, and by frozen versus paraffin section in one of three discrepancies. Conclusions Laparoscopic surgical staging for early stage endometrial cancer is feasible. Gross/frozen section methods correlate with paraffin section to measure myoinvasion. Tumor grading and gross/frozen section myoinvasion estimates can guide operative management.
Public Plans and Short-Term Employees

Public sector defined benefit pension plans are based on final earnings. As such, these plans are back-loaded; those with long careers receive substantial benefits and those who leave early receive little. The analysis consists of three parts. The first section discusses the design of state and local defined benefit plans, documents the extent to which traditional public sector final earnings plans are back-loaded, and explores the extent to which the incentives may reflect the preferences of employers. The second section shows how participation in final earnings plans affects the lifetime resources of state and local workers of various tenures compared to private sector workers. The third section presents plan-level data on the flows of participants out of the plan by age and tenure and explores the extent to which plan design - specifically, vesting periods, mandatory participation in a defined contribution plan, and Social Security coverage - affects the probability of vesting and the probability of remaining to the earliest full retirement age once vested. The findings suggest that complete reliance on delayed vesting and final earnings plans results in minimal benefits for most short-service public employees. Hence, the recent trend towards hybrid arrangements is a positive development not only for risk sharing between taxpayers and participants but also for a more equitable distribution of benefits between short-term and career employees.
Inferring the demographic history of Drosophila subobscura from nucleotide variation at regions not affected by chromosomal inversions

Drosophila subobscura presents a rich and complex chromosomal inversion polymorphism. It can thus be considered a model system (i) to study the mechanisms originating inversions and how inversions affect the levels and patterns of variation in the inverted regions and (ii) to study adaptation at both the single‐gene and chromosomal inversion levels. It is therefore important to infer its demographic history as previous information indicated that its nucleotide variation is not at mutation–drift equilibrium. For that purpose, we sequenced 16 noncoding regions distributed across those parts of the J chromosome not affected by inversions in the studied population and possibly either by other selective events. The pattern of variation detected in these 16 regions is similar to that previously reported within different chromosomal arrangements, suggesting that the latter results would, thus, mainly reflect recent demographic events rather than the partial selective sweep imposed by the origin and frequency increase of inversions. Among the simple demographic models considered in our Approximate Bayesian Computation analysis of variation at the 16 regions, the model best supported by the data implies a population size expansion soon after the penultimate glacial period. This model constitutes a better null model, and it is therefore an important resource for subsequent studies aiming among others to uncover selective events across the species genome. Our results also highlight the importance of introducing the possibility of multiple hits in the coalescent simulations with an outgroup.
[The importance of the presence of antisperm antibodies in serum and ejaculate of men with infertility].

UNLABELLED There are multiple insults to the male genital tract that have been associated with an increased risk of antisperm antibodies (ASA) formation. The presence of ASA has been regarded as typical and specific for the immunological infertility. It has been suggested that the presence of agglutinated spermatozoa is suggestive of the existence of an immunological cause of infertility such as the existence of ASA. AIM The objective of this study was to determine the clinical significance of serum and seminal plasma ASA as well as whether varying degrees of sperm agglutination can be a predictive indicator of positive serum and/or seminal plasma ASA. PATIENTS AND METHODS 100 infertile and 30 fertile men were tested for ASA in seminal plasma and serum. The evaluation of patients included complete history, physical examination, scrotal ultrasound and semen analysis. ASA in serum and seminal plasma were tested by ELISA (Biosource, Belgium) and results were compared with the data of the semen analysis. RESULTS 44 (44%) of the patients tested positive for ASA in seminal plasma, 9 of them had positive serum ASA. In the control group, seminal plasma ASA were not detected and two men (6.7%) tested positive for serum ASA. Correlation was established between seminal plasma ASA and two of the semen analysis markers: agglutination and increased viscosity. CONCLUSION ASA in seminal plasma are much more predictive than ASA in serum and have major role in the pathogenesis and diagnostics of male infertility.