Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Heterogeneity of the 'Private School Effect' in Italian Primary Education

In this study, we have carried out an empirical investigation on the potential differences in school performance between pupils attending public schools and those attending private schools in the most densely populated region of Italy (Lombardy), employing a new data set of about 77,000 students in the final or fifth year (grade 5) of around 1000 schools. This is the first study to be carried out on the effects of private schooling in primary education in Italy. Our analysis uses an Instrumental Variables methodology to test the effectiveness of the voucher plan implemented by the regional government—the Region. The results show that, on average, there is no statistically significant ‘private school effect’. However, when exploring the potential heterogeneity of such effect, we did find that attending a private school is associated with higher performance in standardized test scores for two categories of pupils: immigrants and those from a relatively disadvantaged socio-economic background. From a policy perspective, we believe that private schools at primary level can serve disadvantaged pupils better and so help to improve equal opportunities throughout the entire educational system. These results challenge previous evidence about the role of private schooling in the Italian educational system.
Home telemonitoring for patients with severe respiratory illness: the Italian experience

We investigated the feasibility of telemonitoring services for patients with severe respiratory illness. In the first phase of the study, patients were observed and treated using face-to-face medical visits for 12 months. In the second phase of the study, the patients were monitored at home for 12 months, during which time determinations of arterial oxygen saturation and heart rate were performed twice a week, and the data were automatically transmitted to the hospital's processing centre via a normal telephone line. Thirty patients on long-term oxygen therapy were enrolled in the study; 23 completed the 12 months of home telemonitoring. The numbers of hospital admissions and of acute home exacerbations during the telemonitoring phase of the study decreased by 50% and 55%, respectively, in comparison with the first phase. Estimates of hospitalization costs for the patients during the second phase were approximately 17% lower than those for the first phase. Patients were satisfied with the quality of the personal telemonitoring process in 96% of cases. We believe that telemedicine can enable the provision of high-quality home care for patients with severe respiratory illness.
Women’s Work: Using U.S. History to Explain Mexican Women’s Differential Work Strategies in Mexico and the United States

Mexican women, particularly married women, living in the United States appear to allocate far more of their time to waged work than do women in Mexico. The fierce debate among social scientists over the sources of American women’s steadily rising labor force participation rates during the twentieth century provides hypotheses that all plausibly explain a part of this phenomenon, including a misapprehension of the phenomenon due to the failure of official sources to recognize nonwaged work, the importance of higher wages for pulling women into employment, the growth of work perceived as “women’s work,” the desire of women to provide for their families new goods that they cannot produce at home, the increasing competition of commodity production with home production, and the impact of different social norms.
Major depression: prevalence, treatment utilization and age in Canada.

OBJECTIVE To determine the relationships between age, prevalence of major depression and antidepressant treatment in Canadian populations by using data from three health surveys. BACKGROUND Major depression is an important disorder, and there is a concern that treatment for it may be underutilized. Age may have an impact on treatment use. METHODS Two of the surveys incorporated into the present analysis were random digit dial telephone surveys, with sample sizes of 2542 subjects and 796 subjects, respectively. The third data source was the National Population Health Survey (n=73,402), which used some face to face and some telephone-based data collection methods. In each of these studies, major depression was evaluated using a short form version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview for Major Depression. Diagnostic status was evaluated in relation to current use of antidepressant medications, age and other relevant factors. All analyses accounted for unequal selection probabilities and clustering inherent in the sampling procedures. RESULTS The prevalence of major depression was consistently found to be highest in subjects under the age of 45 years. However, older subjects were more likely to report having depression diagnosed. Antidepressant treatment was found to be less frequent in young subjects, despite these subjects being in the group with the highest prevalence of depression. Younger respondents were less likely to see a physician about their depressive symptoms, and when they did they were less likely to be told that they had a depressive disorder. CONCLUSIONS The data presented indicate that antidepressant medications tend to be used less frequently in younger than older age groups in Canada. Additional studies are needed to confirm optimal use rates in relation to age.
“We Take Care of People; What Happens to Us Afterwards?”: Home Health Aides and Bereavement Care in Hospice

After a hospice patient dies, hospice providers can experience a variety of emotional responses. While work has been done on social workers’ and nurses’ reactions to patient death, home health aides (HHAs) have been overlooked. To address this gap, we conducted focus groups and individual qualitative interviews with 14 hospice HHAs. Questions covered HHAs’ grief responses and how they coped with grief. We found a high burden of grief reactions; many HHAs often developed very close patient relationships. HHAs also noted that they often started working with new patients almost immediately after a death, leaving little time to process the loss. However, HHAs found support from other HHAs, their supervisors, as well as family, friends, and spiritual practices to be helpful in coping with their grief. Future work should enhance support to HHAs around patient loss; for example, grief support may be embedded into hospice team activities.
A Political Economy Analysis of the Role of Social Welfare Policy in Nepal's Conflict and Peace-building Process

This paper explores the idea that social welfare policy can buy peace in conflict-affected societies. Challenging this popular view, the paper emphasizes the mixed blessings of the “politics of social welfare”. These have largely been neglected in previous research. To test the ideas, a quantitative-qualitative analysis of Nepal’s welfare programs during the “Peoples War” is undertaken. First, in a district-level regression-analysis the paper finds positive, but vague evidence of a welfare-peace relationship. The reasons behind the vagueness are then qualitatively explored and attributed to local power-dynamics that distort wellintentioned policies. Overall, the paper calls for broadening the research-agenda to include a political perspective.
Attrition in the trades

This report investigates attrition in the trades by comparing the rate at which tradespeople leave their occupation with that of professionals. It also determines whether attrition is influenced by economic conditions, and if a trade can provide a good start to a career in the professions. Skill shortages in the trades are of growing concern as Australian industry emerges from the Global Financial Crisis. Although such shortages are often attributed to the inability of the training system to supply enough skilled tradespersons, they are just as much affected by the rate at which individuals leave their occupations. In this paper, using professional occupations as comparators, we investigate attrition in the trades and the extent to which this is affected by good or bad economic times. We also ponder the question of whether a trade is a good start to a career by tracking the occupational destination of those who exit their trades. The report concludes that attrition in the trades is no higher than in the professions; the rate of leaving particular occupations may vary, but overall the results between the two are very similar. The economic climate also makes little difference to the attrition rate. Image: Report cover Attrition in the trades, ‘Consumed #4’ (detail) by Michelle Jones
Revision of a late Middle Cambrian trilobite faunule from Northwestern Queensland

Three species, each belonging to a different genus, are shown to be represented by previously figured types of Euagnostus opimus Whitehouse, 1936, which is the nominate species of the commonly cited Euagnostus opimus Zone in Australia. The holotype of E. opimus is here reassigned to Peronopsis Corda, 1847, and Euagnostus Whitehouse, 1936, is thereby suppressed as a subjective junior synonym of Peronopsis. This action necessitates a change in biostratigraphic terminology from Euagnostus opimus Zone to Peronopsis opimus Zone. Because of the taxonomic and biostratigraphic importance of these conclusions, all trilobites from the type collection of E. opimus are described or redescribed and evaluated. These include the miorneroids Baltagnostus australis n. sp. , Doryagnostus deltoïdes n. sp. , Hypagnostus? sp. , Opsidiscus micros pinus Jell, and Peronopsis opimus (Whitehouse) as well as the polymeroids Chondranomocare confertum (Whitehouse), Penarosa retif era Opik, Prodamesella biserrata n. sp. , and Sudanomocarina changi n. gen. and n. sp. Also, type specimens of Baltagnostus damesi (Resser & Endo) from Manchuria are redescribed and refigured for comparison with B. australis, and a lectotype for B. damesi is designated.
The Short‐Run Impact of the Healthy Incentives Pilot Program on Fruit and Vegetable Intake

In response to low consumption levels of fruits and vegetables by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service created the Healthy Incentives Pilot (HIP) to test the efficacy of providing a 30% incentive for purchases of targeted fruits and vegetables (TFVs). Four to six months after implementation, mean daily TFV intake for adult HIP participants was 0.22 cup-equivalents higher (24% higher) than for control-group SNAP participants. These impact estimates with a random-assignment research design generally agree with previously published nonexperimental elasticity estimates, which imply that a pure price reduction of 30% would increase fruit and vegetable consumption by about 20%.
Wage compensation for job risks : the case of Hong Kong

The paper provides an estimate of wage compensation for fatal job risk in Hong Kong. It uses the 1991 Population Census of Hong Kong merged with job fatality data collected by the Labour Department. The results show that there is a positive and significant compensating wage differential for job fatal risk for manual workers in Hong Kong. The estimated ‘statistical value of a life’ is approximately HK$10.8m in 1990 prices (about US$1.4m). While this figure is somewhat lower than many estimates for developed countries, it is much higher than workers' compensation.
International School Test Scores and Economic Growth

We expand Hanushek and Kimko’s (2000) analysis of the relationship between schooling quality, as measured by scores in international tests, and growth. We take account of another fifteen years of growth and approximately twice as many test score results. We treat the data first as a panel, relating growth only to test scores at earlier dates, and then as a cross-section. In both cases we find the effect of schooling quality on growth to be statistically significant but substantially smaller than that reported by Hanushek and Kimko (2000) and Hanushek and Woessmann (2007).
Arbitrator Decision-Making in the Transfer Market: An Empirical Analysis

This paper analyzes data generated by the annual round of arbitrated settlements of disputed transfer fees for end-of-contract players in the English Football League. The authors' analysis suggests that a large proportion of the variation in settlements can be accounted for by certain case facts rather than a mechanical compromise of finaloffers, with the latter receiving a relatively low weight. In general, their findings are consistent with the view that conventional arbitration systems generate little useful information in terms of finaloffers from the disputant parties. Copyright 1997 by Scottish Economic Society.
Synthesis and Application of Fluorescein‐ and Biotin‐Labeled Molecular Probes for the Chemokine Receptor CXCR4

The design, synthesis, and bioevaluation of fluorescence‐ and biotin‐labeled CXCR4 antagonists are described. The modification of D‐Lys8 at an ε‐amino group in the peptide antagonist Ac‐TZ14011 derived from polyphemusin II had no significant influence on the potent binding of the peptide to the CXCR4 receptor. The application of the labeled peptides in flow cytometry and confocal microscopy studies demonstrated the selectivity of their binding to the CXCR4 receptor, but not to CXCR7, which was recently reported to be another receptor for stromal cell‐derived factor 1 (SDF‐1)/CXCL12.
AGGLOMERATION AS LOCAL INSTABILITY OF SPATIALLY UNIFORM STEADY-STATES

Humans exhibit a fundamental propensity to interact for social, cultural, technological, and other reasons. In this paper we seek to determine when the propensity to interact, expressed in the form of a spatial externality, becomes strong enough to induce agglomeration. We design an abstract world where the only possible reason for agglomeration is the spatial externality. In this world the uniform population distribution is a steady-state. Then to ask under what circumstances does a spatial externality induce agglomeration is to ask under what circumstances does it induce an instability of the steady-state: anything other than a uniform steady-state implies some agglomeration.
Reflective Practice in Teacher Education in Ghana

This paper examined the import of adopting reflective practice in the preparation of teacher trainees in the colleges of education in Ghana. It looked at the various dimensions of the knowledge base of teacher education curriculum in Ghana and various policy documents, especially the Colleges of Education Act, Act 847, which elevated the status of training colleges to tertiary institutions. Data from varied documents were explored and analysed from a discourse analytic perspective to ascertain how reflective practice is integrated into the pedagogy of teacher education in Ghana. The paper identified the adoption of reflective practice, with emphasis on artistry, which is reflection-in-action, as a suitable pedagogical skill to complement what the colleges of education are currently doing to actualize their mission. Policy recommendations included the restructuring of the curriculum of the colleges of education to address the development of students’ tacit knowledge by interfacing theory and experience. Research recommendations included an action research on teacher effectiveness using reflective practice.
Continuous foaming for protein recovery: part I. Recovery of beta-casein.

Foam separation is known to have potential for separation of biological molecules with a range of surface activities. A statistical study (factorial design) was carried out to establish the optimum operating conditions for the continuous foam separation of beta-casein. Maximum values of enrichment of beta-casein into the foam phase were found for low levels of initial feed protein concentration, gas flow rate, feed-flow rate, and high foam heights. Maximum values of protein recovery, were generally found at high levels of initial feed protein concentration, gas-flow rate, feed-flow rate, and low foam heights. The highest values obtained for enrichment and separation ratio were 54.7 and 181.3, respectively, with a simultaneous protein recovery of 62%; thus, illustrating the potential effectiveness of this technique. The effect of foaming on protein conformation is also important, and in this study protein structure was analyzed before and after foam separation experiments. Techniques used were: native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), UV absorbance spectroscopy, circular dichroism, and fluorescence. Native PAGE showed no detectable changes in protein structure. However, absorbance scanning, fluorimetry, and circular dichroism revealed some conformational changes over a range of concentration effects.
Employability trajectories among new claimants of Incapacity Benefit

The Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), which replaced incapacity-related benefits in the UK in October 2008, is predicated on the assumption that it will be a temporary benefit for the majority of people who claim it. Following an initial medical assessment, new ESA claimants are allocated to one of two groups. Those judged to have less severe or temporary conditions are allocated to the Work-related Activity Group and are required to take active steps to prepare for a return to employment. Meanwhile, people considered to be severely disabled are allocated to the Support Group and are not expected to undertake work-related activities. This article examines the implications of this new distinction between those claimants who potentially could do paid work and those for whom that outcome is much less likely. Drawing on baseline and follow-up surveys, the article examines the employment status trajectories of a cohort of new Incapacity Benefit (IB) claimants in the year following their claim. It examines three questions. First, who returns to work and what factors are associated with that outcome? Second, how employable are the people who do not return to work and does their employability change during the first year of their claim? And third, among those who remained on IB after a year, what distinguishes people who classify themselves as permanently unable to work from those who do not? The article concludes with a discussion of the main findings and their implications for policy.
Proliferation and Survival of Activated B Cells Requires Sustained Antigen Receptor Engagement and Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase Activation1

In this study, we investigate the extracellular and intracellular signals that drive cell cycle progression of activated B cells in the absence of T cell help. We find that brief engagement of the B cell receptor is sufficient to induce a single cell division in a fraction of cells, but that survival during successive cell divisions requires sustained receptor stimulation. In contrast, T cells have been shown previously to commit to multiple cell divisions following brief TCR engagement. Both early and late B cell receptor signals are blocked by inhibitors of phosphoinositide 3-kinase and mammalian target of rapamycin and are associated with S6 kinase activation and increased cell size. The requirement for ongoing Ag receptor signaling can be overcome by engagement of CD40 but only partially by IL-4. Proliferation driven by LPS also requires sustained exposure to the stimulus. These findings reveal checkpoints that may limit T-independent B cell responses when Ag exposure is transient.
Income Convergence in the Asia-Pacific Region

This paper uses the concepts of σ-convergence and β-convergence to evaluate empirically the hypothesis of income convergence in the Asia-Pacific region, and its subsets of East Asia and ASEAN during the period 1960-1999. Because of the East Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, the analysis is carried out sequentially, first for the period 1960-1990 and then for the period 1960-1999. For the former period, we find evidence of conditional β-convergence in a group of 17 APEC countries and in 10 EASTASIA countries. No evidence of income convergence is found for the ASEAN group of countries. For the latter period, there is weak evidence of conditional β- convergence in a group of 16 APEC countries, and much weaker evidence of income convergence in EASTASIA. We attribute this finding to the damaging effects of the financial crisis in the second half of the 1990s. Also, the empirical evidence shows that openness to international trade is statistically the most important variable for sustaining economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region. Of the other variables macroeconomic stability has a positive impact on growth, while government spending and population growth have a negative effect in general.
A review of violent and traumatic deaths in Kathmandu, Nepal

The objective was to study the external causes of death reported in the autopsy centre in Kathmandu, Nepal. A retrospective review of case report documentation of all violent and traumatic death autopsies was conducted in Kathmandu from mid-July 2000 to mid-July 2004. A total of 4383 autopsies were conducted by the Department of Forensic Medicine in Kathmandu. There were 1072 (25%) cases of suicide, 380 (9%) homicide, 1399 (32%) accidental, 598 (14%) deaths as a result of natural diseases and 923 (21%) undetermined causes of death. The number of males was almost twice that of females (sex ratio 2.2:1). Persons aged 15 to 44 years comprised about two-thirds of the total reported fatalities (65.4%). Suicides were mostly reported due to hanging, homicides mostly due to firearms and explosives, accidents mostly due to road traffic injuries. More than 60% of road traffic injuries resulted among pedestrians. Suicides, homicides and accidental deaths remain a poorly identified public health issue in Nepal. Medico-legal autopsy reports can serve as an important tool in understanding fatalities from violence and injuries for countries similar to Nepal. Strengthening a regular mechanism for compilation and utilization of the information, however, remains a major challenge.
Using Industry-Adjusted Dupont Analysis to Predict Future Profitability

Industry peer groups serve as both a theoretical and an intuitive benchmark in financial statement analysis. However, the practice of industry-adjusting financial ratios is sparse in existing financial statement analysis research. Much of the academic research on the mean reversion of profitability assumes economy-wide reversion targets. Economic theory supports the use of this target and empirical evidence is consistent with these predictions. However, some components of profitability may not revert to economy-wide averages because of structural differences across industries. For these components, industry averages serve as better long-term targets. DuPont analysis decomposes return-on-net-operating assets (RNOA) into two multiplicative components: profit margin and asset turnover, both of which are largely driven by industry membership. This paper investigates whether using industry-adjusted DuPont analysis is a useful tool in predicting future changes in RNOA. In contrast to prior research that used economy-wide targets and finds that these components are not useful in forecasting, I find that these components are informative when industry-adjusted and that using them helps predict future changes in RNOA in both in-sample and out-of-sample forecasting tests.