Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Challenges to implementing motorways of the sea concept—lessons from the past

Establishing a European wide high-quality shipping links and integrating them with the trans-European Transport networks has been the vision of the European Commission (EC) to reduce land transport congestion under the Motorways of the Sea (MoS) concept. However, in spite of strong political backing and favourable policy initiatives, MoS projects have met with limited success. Establishing MoS is complex because of its international scope and involvement of a number of public and private stakeholders with conflicting objectives and goals. The paper attempts to identify critical factors for establishing viable MoS projects. The paper reviews the development of the MoS concept to understand the expectations of the EC and the concerns of the important stakeholders. The present status of these policy actions is reviewed and their possible effect on the performance of MoS projects is estimated. Case studies of short sea shipping initiatives in different parts of Europe and the world are reviewed to learn from their successes and failures. This knowledge is applied to find critical factors for the success of MoS projects in the European context.
Chinese foreign workers in Singapore's construction industry

Purpose – There is little understanding of the pressure, loneliness and homesickness, the workers from Mainland China faced when working overseas in a foreign land like Singapore. The families which the workers left behind in Mainland China when they work in Singapore were also neglected. The purpose of this paper is to examine the wider social aspects relating to Chinese foreign workers in the Singapore construction industry.Design/methodology/approach – The research process was based on a questionnaire survey of Chinese construction workers in Singapore. A questionnaire with 45 questions was designed in which the information solicited included the socio‐demographic characteristics of the respondents, the reasons behind their trans‐national migration behaviour, the impact of this migratory behaviour on the workers and their families in Mainland China, and the workers' perceptions of and feelings towards working overseas. In total, 65 fully completed questionnaires were analyzed and reported in the study.
A developmental and component analysis of active sleep.

A wide variety of hypotheses have been put forth that address the functional significance of active sleep. Despite the well-accepted fact that active sleep expresses itself predominantly in the perinatal period, the vast majority of these functional hypotheses are applicable largely, if not exclusively, to the adult. We build on the developmental approaches of previous researchers and propose that the individual components of active sleep (e.g., myoclonic twitches, rapid eye movements) exhibit unique developmental and phylogenetic histories and may serve independent functions in the developing organism. This dynamic perspective leads to specific experimental approaches aimed at the developmental roles of these components in the neonate, their maintenance roles in the adult, and the means by which these various components coalesce temporally in what is commonly referred to as a behavioral state.
Day of the Week Effect and Market Efficiency - Evidence from Indian Equity Market Using High Frequency Data of National Stock Exchange

The present study examines empirically the day of the week effect anomaly in the Indian equity market for the period from 1999 to 2003 using both high frequency and end of day data for the benchmark Indian equity market index S&P CNX NIFTY. Using robust regression with biweights and dummy variables, the study finds that before introduction of rolling settlement in January 2002, Monday and Friday were significant days. However after the introduction of the rolling settlement, Friday has become significant. This also indicates that Fridays, being the last days of the weeks have become significant after rolling settlement. Mondays were found to have higher standard deviations followed by Fridays. The existence of market inefficiency is clear. The market inefficiency still exists and market is yet to price the risk appropriately.
Synergy, Agency, and the Determinants of Premia Paid in Mergers

Hypotheses about the creation of value by mergers are tested on premia paid in a sample of one hundred recent acquisitions. The premia increase with financial, although not with real, synergies and with the scope for "managerial" behavior in the target firms. The acquirers' willingness to pay also increases with their scope for managerial behavior. The presence of either actual and potential rival bidders has a powerful effect, and the authors ascertain that market gains (losses) to acquirers' shareholders do not distort the associations between acquisition premia and sources of value. Copyright 1991 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Classifier-assisted metric for chromosome pairing

Cytogenetics plays a central role in the detection of chromosomal abnormalities and in the diagnosis of genetic diseases. A karyogram is an image representation of human chromosomes arranged in order of decreasing size and paired in 23 classes. In this paper we propose an approach to automatically pair the chromosomes into a karyogram, using the information obtained in a rough SVM-based classification step, to help the pairing process mainly based on similarity metrics between the chromosomes. Using a set of geometric and band pattern features extracted from the chromosome images, the algorithm is formulated on a Bayesian framework, combining the similarity metric with the results from the classifier. The solution is obtained solving a mixed integer program. Two datasets with contrasting quality levels and 836 chromosomes each were used to test and validate the algorithm. Relevant improvements with respect to the algorithm described by the authors in [1] were obtained with average paring rates above 92%, close to the rates obtained by human operators.
Identifying Access Management Factors Associated With Safety of Urban Arterials Mid-Blocks: A Panel Data Simultaneous Equation Models Approach

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety impact of selected access management techniques in urban areas because access management techniques play an important role in urban roadway safety on the roadway network. Methods: In order to correct the interdependency between safety and mobility for heterogeneous mid-block segments, simultaneous equation models were adopted. The panel data structure of the model was used to address the heterogeneity issue for mid-block segments along a corridor. The integrated random coefficient simultaneous equation models were proposed to interpret both issues. Results: The models developed were used to identify influential factors. The length of mid-block segments, driveway density, and median opening density were among the significant factors found to be associated with crash rate on mid-block segments. Conclusions: From the results it can be concluded that the access management techniques, mid-block segment length, driveway density, and median opening density are significant factors that influence safety on mid-block segments. The longer the distance between signals, driveways, and median openings, the fewer the potential crashes are. In addition to these access management techniques, land use, especially the commercial land type, influences the safety on mid-block segments.
Understanding the Manifestation of Entrepreneurial Orientation in the Nonprofit Context

The nonprofit sector serves an increasingly important entrepreneurial role in the economy. Scholars have taken an interest in entrepreneurship in nonprofits and have drawn upon entrepreneurial orientation (EO) as a methodological tool to advance knowledge in this domain. However, the nonprofit context differs from the for–profit context for which the EO scale was developed, particularly with regard to motivations, processes, and outcomes. We propose a new approach for capturing the manifestation of EO in the nonprofit context. A typology is presented to highlight the multiple facets of EO in the nonprofit context. We conclude with implications for scholars and practitioners.
Internet banking and customer satisfaction in Pakistan

Purpose - – This study aims to determine the effects of service quality dimensions on customer satisfaction in Pakistan by using the SERVQUAL model. Design/methodology/approach - – A survey research questionnaire of 30 items has been adopted, and the data of 400 respondents were collected from the users of Internet banking of different banks located in Karachi city of Pakistan. Findings - – The reliability analysis shows that all dimensions are reliable. Results of the factor analysis confirm the grouping of adopted questioner. At last, the regression analysis indicates a significant positive relationship between assurance, tangibility, reliability and responsiveness with customer satisfaction. Conversely, empathy shows a positive but insignificant effect on the customer satisfaction. Practical implications - – It is recommended that the management of online banks has to focus on making the design and content of the Web sites more visually appealing to grab the attention of existing customers, as well as to attract new customers. The management has to take effective measures to further enhance the security and safety of online bank accounts, so that customers can maintain long-term relationships with the usage of online banking. Online banks have to provide more reliable services to the customers at heart to make the customers more comfortable and confident. The management should develop more effective systems to quickly solve the issues of customers. Originality/value - – This paper makes a unique contribution to the literature with reference to Pakistan, being a pioneering attempt to investigate the customer satisfaction in the banking industry of Pakistan by using a large sample and advance statistical techniques.
The Class A Scavenger Receptor, Macrophage Receptor with Collagenous Structure, Is the Major Phagocytic Receptor for Clostridium sordellii Expressed by Human Decidual Macrophages

Clostridium sordellii is an emerging pathogen associated with highly lethal female reproductive tract infections following childbirth, abortion, or cervical instrumentation. Gaps in our understanding of the pathogenesis of C. sordellii infections present major challenges to the development of better preventive and therapeutic strategies against this problem. We sought to determine the mechanisms whereby uterine decidual macrophages phagocytose this bacterium and tested the hypothesis that human decidual macrophages use class A scavenger receptors to internalize unopsonized C. sordellii. In vitro phagocytosis assays with human decidual macrophages incubated with pharmacological inhibitors of class A scavenger receptors (fucoidan, polyinosinic acid, and dextran sulfate) revealed a role for these receptors in C. sordellii phagocytosis. Soluble macrophage receptor with collagenous structure (MARCO) receptor prevented C. sordellii internalization, suggesting that MARCO is an important class A scavenger receptor in decidual macrophage phagocytosis of this microbe. Peritoneal macrophages from MARCO-deficient mice, but not wild-type or scavenger receptor AI/II–deficient mice, showed impaired C. sordellii phagocytosis. MARCO-null mice were more susceptible to death from C. sordellii uterine infection than wild-type mice and exhibited impaired clearance of this bacterium from the infected uterus. Thus, MARCO is an important phagocytic receptor used by human and mouse macrophages to clear C. sordellii from the infected uterus.
Electric dichroism and bending amplitudes of DNA fragments according to a simple orientation function for weakly bent rods

The linear dichroism is calculated for DNA fragments in their thermal bending equilibrium. These calculations are given for relatively short fragments, where bent molecules can be described by an arc model. Using the measured value of 350 Å for the persistence length, the limit dichroism (corresponding to complete alignment) decreases due to thermal bending, e.g., for a fragment with 100 base pairs to 80% of the value expected for straight molecules. Thermal bending should lead to a strong continuous decrease of the dichroism with increasing chain length, which is not observed, however, in electric dichroism experiments due to electric stretching. The influence of the electric field on the bending equilibrium is described by a contribution to the bending energy, which is calculated from the movement of charge equivalents against the potential gradient upon bending. The charge equivalents, which are assigned to the helix ends, are derived from the dipole moments causing the stationary degree of orientation. By this procedure the energy term inducing DNA stretching is given for induced, permanent, and saturating induced dipole models without introduction of any additional parameter. The stationary dichroism at a given electric field strength is then calculated according to an arc model by integration over all angles of orientation of helix axes or chords with respect to the field vector, and at each of these angles the contribution to the dichroism is calculated by integration over all helices with different degrees of bending. Orientation functions obtained by this procedure are fitted to dichroism data measured for various restriction fragments. Optimal fits are found for an induced dipole model with saturation of the polarizability. The difference between orientation functions with and without electric stretching is used to evaluate dichroism bending amplitudes. Both chain length and field strength dependence of bending amplitudes are consistent with experimental amplitudes derived from the dichroism decay in low salt buffers containing multivalent ions like Mg2+, spermine, or [(CoNH3)6]3+. Bending amplitudes can be used to evaluate the persistence length from electrooptical data obtained for a single DNA restriction fragment. Bending and stretching effects are considerable already at relatively low chain length, and thus should not be neglected in any quantitative evaluation of experimental data.
Who Standardizes Advertising more Frequently, and Why Do They Do So? A Comparison of U.S. and Japanese Subsidiaries’ Advertising Practices in the European Union

This study reports the results of a survey of executives of subsidiaries of Japanese and U.S. firms operating in the European Union (EU). The fundamental issues addressed are the degree to which firms perceive EU national markets as similar, the degree to which firms use standardized advertising across the EU, and firms’ reasons for standardizing advertising. Global marketing strategy theory contends that firms are more likely to follow a strategy if the environment is conducive to that strategy, suggesting that greater convergence of EU markets would lead to greater standardization of advertising. The findings of this study indicate that both Japanese and U.S. managers still note obstacles to the standardization of advertising in the EU. Consistent with global marketing strategy theory, overall levels of standardization of advertising are somewhat moderate. Firms in the United States are slightly more likely than Japanese firms to use a standardized advertising strategy in the EU. In addition, U.S. firms tend to put greater emphasis on the creation of a uniform brand image, whereas managers from both countries value cost savings. Japanese firms value the higher level of central control that can emanate from standardization.
Effects of mutations in an HIV‐1 gag gene containing a 107‐codon tandem repeat in the matrix region on assembly and processing of the protein product

It has been demonstrated previously that a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 Gag mutant (MA2) with a tandem repeat of 107‐matrix codons in the matrix domain could direct virus particle assembly and budding [Wang et al. (2000c): J Med Virol 61:423–432]. Since the regions involved functionally in HIV Gag assembly and transport have been mapped to the matrix domain, it was interesting to test the effects of the duplicated matrix‐coding sequence on Gag assembly, transport, and virus processing of some assembly‐defective HIV matrix mutants. In this study, a number of HIV matrix mutations were introduced into either the proximal or distal copy of the duplicated matrix‐coding sequence. Assembly, release, processing, and subcellular localization of the Gag mutants were analyzed by transient expression in 293T cells. The result indicates that the budding defect of HIV matrix mutants could be moderately or significantly reversed when the additional 107‐matrix codons were present; however, these matrix double mutations affected significantly the virus particle processing. Mislocalized matrix mutants could also be redistributed to a certain degree in the presence of the duplicated matrix copy. Although the subcellular distribution patterns of the matrix mutants did not correlate completely with the budding efficiency, the data suggest that the budding defect caused by the matrix mutations could be masked to some extent by the duplicated matrix coding sequence. J. Med. Virol. 74:528–535, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Interest Rate Spreads as Predictors of German Inflation and Business Cycles

We have studied the comparative performance of a number of interest rate spreads as predictors of the German inflation and business cycle in the post Bretton Woods era. The two-regime Markov switch model that we used as a nonlinear filter allows the dynamic behavior of the economy to vary between expansions and recessions in terms of duration and volatility. We found that the bank term structure, the public term structure, and the spread based on the call rate predicted all recessions with a comfortable lead, although they lagged some of the recoveries by a few months. The bank-public spread generates a series of false signals, and missed completely the upturn in the mid-seventies, but detected the last two recoveries with an average lead of nearly 12 months. The spread series based on the Lombard rate performed notably worse than the three market-based series, suggesting that the source of predictive power of interest rate spreads lies in the information they contain about an assortment of macroeconomic shocks independent of monetary policy. The filter probabilities from three of the interest rate differentials also foreshadowed the long swings in the German inflation rate remarkably well with a lead time of 2-4 years without any false signals.
Properties of Kaurene Synthetase from Marah macrocarpus.

The kaurene synthetase from immature seeds of Marah macrocarpus (Greene) Greene was partially purified from cell-free homogenates of endosperm by a combination of QAE-Sephadex A-25 chromatography and hydroxyapatite chromatography and freed of contaminating phosphatase activity. The two catalytic activities associated with kaurene synthetase, the cyclization of geranylgeranyl-pyrophosphate to copalyl-pyrophosphate (activity A) and the cyclization of copalyl-pyrophosphate to ent-kaurene (activity B), were not even partially resolved from one another during these procedures. Both activities had identical elution profiles from a calibrated Sepharose 4B column corresponding to a molecular weight less than that of ovalbumin (45,000). The A and B activities had pH optima of 7.3 and 6.9, respectively. Both activities required millimolar concentrations of the following divalent cations in the order: Mg(2+) > Mn(2+) > Co(2+). Activities A and B were both sensitive to inhibition by Hg(2+), Cu(2+), p-hydroxymercuribenzoate, and N-ethylmaleimide, but activity B was much more sensitive than activity A. The average value of Km' (apparent Km in the absence of substrate inhibition) for geranylgeranyl-pyrophosphate was 1.6 mum. Values of 0.5 and 0.6 mum were obtained for Km' and Km, respectively, for copalyl-pyrophosphate. The Vm' values for the two activities were similar: 12 and 9 pmol/minute.mug protein for activities A and B, respectively.N,N-Dimethylaminoethyl-2,2-diphenylpentanoate (SKF-525A) and N,N-dimethylaminoethyl-2,2-diphenylphentyl ether (SKF-3301A), tributyl-2,4-dichlorobenzylphosphonium chloride (Phosfon D), tributyl-2,4-dichlorobenzylammonium chloride (Phosfon S), 2'-isopropyl-4'-(trimethylammonium chloride)-5'-methylphenyl piperidine-1-carboxylate (Amo-1618), 2-(N,N-dimethyl-N-heptylammonium bromide)-p-methan-1-ol (Q-58), and 2-(N,N-dimethyl-N-octylammonium bromide)-p-methan-1-ol (Q-64), at concentrations from 1 to 5 mum, were effective inhibitors of kaurene synthetase activity A. Acetylcholine chloride and 2-chloroethyl-trimethylammonium chloride were effective inhibitors of activity A only at concentrations of 5 mm or greater. Abscisic acid, indole-3-acetate, gibberellin A(1), gibberellin A(3), a mixture of gibberellins A(4) and A(7), gibberellin A(13), and N,N-dimethylaminosuccinamic acid (B995) were not inhibitory at any of the levels tested. None of these compounds was an effective inhibitor of activity B at concentrations less than 0.5 mm.
Drug-resistant tuberculosis in the Dominican Republic: results of a nationwide survey.

SETTING The Dominican Republic. OBJECTIVE To assess the extent of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) following the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO)/International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD) new global surveillance project on drug resistance in TB. METHODS Using a multi-step proportional weighted approach, a sample of 688 sequential cases of smear positive pulmonary TB diagnosed between April 1994 and April 1995 was studied in six of the country's eight health regions. Pre-treatment sputum samples were cultured on Loewenstein-Jensen medium and drug susceptibility tests were performed using the economic variant of the proportion method. RESULTS Of 420 cases with drug susceptibility results, resistance to one or more drugs was observed in 43.8%; resistance was found in 52.1% of 117 TB cases with a history of previous antituberculosis treatment and in 40.6% of 303 new TB cases. In five of the six health regions surveyed, > or = 41% of strains were resistant to one or more drugs. Multidrug resistance (MDR) to isoniazid and rifampicin with or without resistance to other drugs was found in 43 (10.2%) of 420 cases, including 6.6% of new TB cases. In five of the six health regions > or = 8% of strains were classified as MDR. Independent predictors of MDR-TB included being in the age group 25 to 44 years (odds ratio [OR] = 4.2, 95% confidence interval [Cl] 1.5, 11.6; P = 0.005), being aged 45 years and over (OR = 4.5, 95% CI 1.4, 14.4; P = 0.009), and having a prior history of TB (OR = 3.7, 95% CI 1.9, 7.4; P = 0.0001). CONCLUSION The proportion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains resistant to one or more anti-TB drugs in the Dominican Republic is among the highest observed world-wide. The severity of the problem urgently requires the full implementation of TB control strategies endorsed by the WHO and the IUATID, which include political commitment to a National TB Program, case detection utilizing sputum-smear microscopy, directly observed treatment, regular drug supply, and standardised recording and reporting systems. Also, the sale of TB drugs in the private market should be controlled.