Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevention of HIV Among Older Adults

Objective: This study reviews the existing literature on the prevention of HIV among older adults, including universal and indicated prevention programs and prevention strategies. Method: A literature search was conducted between September and October of 2011 to identify studies for this review. Several different electronic databases and a combination of keywords were used to conduct the search. In addition, the reference section of each article was reviewed for additional articles. Results: A total of 18 articles were identified and reviewed. Three of the articles examined universal prevention, five of the articles examined indicated prevention, and the remainder of the articles provided strategies and recommendations for the prevention of HIV among older adults. Discussion: The existing studies document evidence for preventing future cases of HIV/AIDS among older adults. Additional studies and universal and selected interventions are needed in an effort to reduce the number of older adults being diagnosed with HIV.
Gentrifying the Rural? Planning and Market Processes in Rural Ireland

Rural gentrification represents an emerging research agenda in the context of social transformation of rural localities. Having as a case study the Republic of Ireland, which provides a case of a laissez-faire planning system, this paper first addresses supply-side factors that have provided key preconditions for gentrification to take place. Then, using survey data in case study localities, we examine the extent that gentrification is a factor in rural residential mobility. We argue that the changing rural condition of Ireland provides essential preconditions for gentrification to take place. However, the gentrification literature provides only a partial angle of rural residential mobility, given the nature of rural in-migration observed in our case studies (that is blue-collar and return rural in-migration) during a period of substantial rural housing growth.
Planning culture and time in a mega-event: Thessaloniki as the European city of culture in 1997

Abstract This paper addresses the growing importance of mega-events in urban cultural development, focusing on the atypical example of the European Cities of Culture, in particular Thessaloniki in 1997. The launch of the event demonstrates the significance of the international role of cultural activities in urban and economic regeneration. Comparison of the evaluation of Thessaloniki before and after the event demonstrates a lack of strategic planning, particularly cultural and time planning, resulting in a variety of interconnected problems such as the construction of flagship projects, the lack of a city marketing perspective and the need for a tourism policy.
"Buyer Power" and Economic Policy

The rise to prominence of Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers has given new life to the debate about whether "buyer power" at intermediate links in a vertically related chain of industries is good or bad for consumers and hence whether it requires the attention of competition authorities. The term is rarely precisely defined, but as used by most commentators "buyer power" refers to the circumstance in which the demand side of a market is sufficiently concentrated that buyers can exercise market power over sellers. A buyer has market power if the buyer can force sellers to reduce price below the level that would emerge in a competitive market. Thus, buyer power arises from monopsony (one buyer) or oligopsony (a few buyers) , and is the mirror image of monopoly or oligopoly. Like monopoly, the motivation behind monopsony behavior is to transfer wealth in the form of economic rents from one side of the market to the other.
Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy for Melanoma: Experience with 234 Consecutive Procedures

Sentinel lymph node biopsy is increasingly used to identify occult metastases in regional lymph nodes of patients with melanoma. Selection of patients for sentinel lymph node biopsy and subsequent lymphadenectomy is an area of debate. The purpose of this study was to describe a large clinical series of these biopsies for cutaneous melanoma and to identify patients most likely to gain useful clinical information from sentinel lymph node biopsy. The Indiana University Melanoma Program computerized database was queried to identify all patients who underwent this procedure for clinically localized cutaneous melanoma. It was performed using preoperative technetium Tc 99m lymphoscintigraphy and isosulfan blue dye. Pertinent demographic, surgical, and histopathologic data were recorded. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression and classification table analyses were performed to identify clinical variables associated with sentinel node and nonsentinel node positivity. In total, 234 biopsy procedures were performed to stage 291 nonpalpable regional lymph node basins. Mean Breslow’s thickness was 2.30 mm (2.08 mm for negative sentinel lymph node biopsy, 3.18 mm for positive). The mean number of sentinel nodes removed was 2.17 nodes per basin (range, 1 to 8). Forty-seven of 234 melanomas (20.1 percent) and 50 of 291 basins (17.2 percent) had a positive biopsy. Positivity correlated with AJCC tumor stage: T1, 3.6 percent; T2, 8.1 percent; T3, 27.4 percent; T4, 44 percent. By univariate logistic regression, Breslow’s thickness (p = 0.003, continuous variable), ulceration (p = 0.003), mitotic index ≥ 6 mitoses per high power field (p = 0.008), and Clark’s level (p = 0.04) were significantly associated with sentinel lymph node biopsy result. By multivariate analysis, only Breslow’s thickness (p = 0.02), tumor ulceration (p = 0.02), and mitotic index (p = 0.02) were significant predictors of biopsy positivity. Classification table analysis showed the Breslow cutpoint of 1.2 mm to be the most efficient cutpoint for sentinel lymph node biopsy result (p = 0.0004). Completion lymphadenectomy was performed in 46 sentinel node-positive patients; 12 (26.1 percent) had at least one additional positive nonsentinel node. Nonsentinel node positivity was marginally associated with the presence of multiple positive sentinel nodes (p = 0.07). At mean follow-up of 13.8 months, four of 241 sentinel node-negative basins demonstrated same-basin recurrence (1.7 percent). Sentinel lymph node biopsy is highly reliable in experienced hands but is a low-yield procedure in most thin melanomas. Patients with melanomas thicker than 1.2 mm or with ulcerated or high mitotic index lesions are most likely to have occult lymph node metastases by sentinel lymph node biopsy. Completion therapeutic lymphadenectomy is recommended after positive biopsy because it is difficult to predict the presence of positive nonsentinel nodes.
Social capital and entrepreneurship: An exploratory analysis

This study explores the relation between social capital and entrepreneurship. We construct a measure of social capital which incorporates indicators of; trust (generalized and institutional); associational activities (passive and active membership); and civic norms. Self-employment is used as a proxy for entrepreneurship. Before empirically testing the relation between social capital and entrepreneurship, this study reviews the literature concerning the definition and measurements of social capital, the relationship between entrepreneurship and social capital, and explanations on how the different dimensions of social capital affect entrepreneurship. Results from an empirical model which simultaneously controls for factors which are theorized to affect entrepreneurship at both individual- and country-levels indicate that a positive relationship exists between social capital and entrepreneurship. Key words: Social capital, entrepreneurship, self-employment, binomial logistic model.
Species richness in a riparian plant community along the banks of the Xiangxi River, the Three Gorges region

The distribution of vascular plant species richness along an altitudinal gradient and their relationships with environmental variables, including slope, aspect, bank (flooding) height, and river width of the Xiangxi River, Hubei Province, were examined. Total vascular plant species richness changed with elevation: it increased at lower elevations, reached a maximum in the midreaches and decreased thereafter. In particular, tree and herbaceous species richness were related to altitude. Correlation analysis (Kendall's τ) between species richness and environmental variables indicated that the change in species richness in the riparian zone was determined by riparian environmental factors and characteristics of regional vegetation distribution along the altitudinal gradient. The low species richness at lower elevations resulted from seasonal flooding and human activities – agriculture and fuel collection – and the higher species richness in the midreaches reflected transitional zones in natural vegetation types that had had little disturbance. These results on species distribution in the riparian community could be utilized as a reference for restoration efforts to improve water quality of the emerging reservoir resulting from the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Dam project.
Creating Value in the Face of Declining Performance: Firm Strategies and Organizational Recovery

Firms that have failed to meet the performance expectations of investors must seek new ways of creating value or face the loss of financial support. Using resource-based arguments, we find that valuable and difficult-to-imitate strategies that recombine the firm's existing stock of resources to create new products, processes, or technologies have a positive effect on organizational recovery as measured by investors' expectations. Similarly, acquiring new resources through mergers or acquisitions also has positive effects on investors' expectations. In contrast, valuable and difficult-to-imitate strategies that provide the firm with access to new resources through alliances or joint ventures, do not affect investors' expectations of performance. We also find that taking actions that are not valuable and difficult-to-imitate either have no effect on performance or may lead to further performance declines. Lastly, our results show that valuable and difficult-to-imitate strategic actions that use existing resources in new ways contribute the most to organizational recovery.
Private Regulation of Food Safety by Supermarkets

Food safety is a highly debated issue. Food industry organizations, retailers and national and transnational governments have been trying to find new ways to regulate food safety. Can private regulation of food safety meet the high expectations? A review of existing literature shows some conditions to be important for effectively protecting public interests by private regulation. In particular, retailers worldwide are actively engaged in setting food safety standards for their suppliers. A case study of food safety regulation by Dutch retailers shows that they can force food industry organizations and producers to accept food safety standards because of their economic (market) power.
Effect of Motivation on Employee Performance In Public Middle Level Technical Training Institutions In Kenya

Purpose: The study sought to establish the effect of motivation on employee performance in the Public Middle Level Technical Training Institutions in Kenya. Methodology: The study adopted a descriptive research design. Sample size was 315 targeting administrators, heads of department, teaching staff and non teaching staff. A structured questionnaire with likert scale questions was used to collect data from the respondents. An interview was also conducted with the administrators and heads of department. The study used two content theories that explain the specific factors that motivate people and two process theories which are concerned about the psychological and behavioral processes that motivate an individual. Findings: Most employees in Public Middle Level Technical Training Institutions in Kenya nowadays hold diplomas and degrees in various disciplines of studies. The study found that employees are not satisfied with their pay and work environment. Limitations: the study was conducted in one county and therefore cannot be generalized in other public and private institutions. Practical implications: The practitioners and policy makers of technical institutions should use this study in developing policies and strategies to manage their human resources. Originality: this is the first study of this nature conducted in Kenya focusing on effect of motivation on employee performance in public middle level technical training institutions. Keywords: Employee performance, Kenya, Motivation, Technical training institutions.
What Speeds up the Internal Clock? Effects of Clicks and Flicker on Duration Judgements and Reaction Time

Four experiments investigated the effect of pre-stimulus events on judgements of the subjective duration of tones that they preceded. Experiments 1 to 4 used click trains, flickering squares, expanding circles, and white noise as pre-stimulus events and showed that (a) periodic clicks appeared to “speed up” the pacemaker of an internal clock but that the effect wore off over a click-free delay, (b) aperiodic click trains, and visual stimuli in the form of flickering squares and expanding circles, also produced similar increases in estimated tone duration, as did white noise, although its effect was weaker. A fifth experiment examined the effects of periodic flicker on reaction time and showed that, as with periodic clicks in a previous experiment, reaction times were shorter when preceded by flicker than without.
Analysis of Series Resistance Losses in a-Si:H/c-Si Heterojunction Solar Cells

We present an experimental method to quantify the series resistance R<sub>a-Si/ITO</sub> through the a-Si:H layers and the a-Si:H/ITO interface on test structures. In order to optimize R<sub>a-Si/ITO</sub>, we apply different a-Si:H and ITO deposition parameters. We find the best value for R<sub>(p)-a-Si/ITO</sub> of 0.42 Ω·cm<sup>2</sup> for an ITO double layer with a 10-nm-thin starting layer that provides good contact resistance and an additional 90-nm top layer that provides good conductivity. For R<sub>(n)-a-Si/ITO</sub>, we reach values below 0.1 Ω·cm<sup>2</sup>. We present an analysis of the series resistance and shading losses of our 100-cm<sup>2</sup> bifacial screen-printed a-Si:H/cSi heterojunction solar cells, which show an open-circuit voltage of V<sub>oc</sub> = 733 mV, demonstrating the excellent level of interface passivation. The efficiency of 20.2% is limited by a low short-circuit current density of 37.1 mA/cm<sup>2</sup> and fill factor of 76%.
Modelling of the oxygen enhancement ratio for ion beam radiation therapy

The poor treatment prognosis for tumours with oxygen-deficient areas is usually attributed to the increased radioresistance of hypoxic cells. It can be expressed by the oxygen enhancement ratio (OER), which decreases with increasing linear energy transfer (LET) suggesting a potential clinical advantage of high-LET radiotherapy with heavy ion beams compared to low-LET photon or proton irradiation. The aim of this work is to review the experimental cell survival data from the literature and, based on them, to develop a simple OER model to estimate the clinical impact of OER variations. For this purpose, the standard linear-quadratic model and the Alper–Howard-Flanders model are used. According to our calculations for a carbon ion spread-out Bragg peak at clinically relevant intermediate oxygen levels (0.5–20 mmHg), the advantage of carbon ions might be relatively moderate, with OER values about 1%–15% smaller than for protons. Furthermore, the variations of OER with LET are much smaller in vivo than in vitro due to different oxygen partial pressures used in cell experiments or measured inside tumours. The proposed OER model is a simple tool to quantify the oxygen effect in a practical way and provides the possibility to do hypoxia-based biological optimization in treatment planning.
Exploring an Inverted U–Shape Relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Performance in Chinese Ventures

The critical role of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in firm performance has been widely studied in the U.S. context. However, the examination of this key construct in emerging regions such as China has been very limited. In this article, we hypothesize that the relationship between EO and firm performance is best represented as curvilinear, as opposed to linear, in China. We use a two–study approach to test the link between EO and performance, as expressed in both perceptual and objective performance. Findings of both studies demonstrate an inverted U–shape relationship. Implications for future research on EO are discussed.
Smokeless tobacco, smoking cessation and harm reduction: an economic analysis

Good estimates place ‘hard core’ smoking rates in the United States at approximately 25%, with little change over the decade of the 1990s. This paper examines the possibilities of ‘harm reduction’ with the use of smokeless tobacco. Specifically, using an econometric model we seek to determine whether an increase in the use of smokeless tobacco would lead to reduced smoking rates in the United States. Applying our model to the NHANES III (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) we find that the use of smokeless tobacco by an average U.S. male smoker would increase the average probability of smoke cessation by over 10%. Approximately 3 million additional ‘quits’ would result for 26 million smokers. Our study permits an examination of cessation by age groups and we find that males who use smokeless tobacco between 16 and 65 have a 10–14% probability of quitting but that the probability falls beyond age 66. Important implications for life extension and health costs would attend these results with, under conservative assumptions, life years saved approximating 2.16 million and health care cost-savings of about $3 billion per year.
Fungal Symbiosis in Rice Requires an Ortholog of a Legume Common Symbiosis Gene Encoding a Ca2+/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase1[OA]

In natural ecosystems, many plants are able to establish mutually beneficial symbioses with microorganisms. Of critical importance to sustainable agriculture are the symbioses formed between more than 80% of terrestrial plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and between legumes and nitrogen-fixing rhizobial bacteria. Interestingly, the two symbioses share overlapping signaling pathways in legumes, suggesting that the evolutionarily recent root nodule symbiosis may have acquired functions from the ancient AM symbiosis. The Medicago truncatula DMI3 (DOESN'T MAKE INFECTIONS3) gene (MtDMI3) and its orthologs in legumes are required for both bacterial and fungal symbioses. MtDMI3 encodes a Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CCaMK) essential for the transduction of the Ca2+ signal induced by the perception of Nod factors. Putative orthologs of MtDMI3 are also present in non-legumes, but their function in AM symbiosis has not been demonstrated in any non-legume species. Here, we combine reverse genetic approaches and a cross-species complementation test to characterize the function of the rice (Oryza sativa) ortholog of MtDMI3, namely, OsDMI3, in AM symbiosis. We demonstrate that OsDMI3 is not only required for AM symbiosis in rice but also is able to complement a M. truncatula dmi3 mutant, indicating an equivalent role of MtDMI3 orthologs in non-legumes.
On controllability and observability of an n-link planar robot with a single actuator and a single encoder having different configurations

This paper concerns an n-link revolute planar robot with all the links moving in the same vertical plane and having a single actuator. An encoder attached to the actuator measures the joint angle where it is located. The linear controllability and observability of the robot around the upright equilibrium point (UEP), where all the links are in the upright position, are investigated. First, we present a simple test of the linear controllability and observability. Second, along with new properties of the mechanical parameters in the motion equation of the robot, we prove that the robot is linearly controllable and observable at the UEP, when the first or last joint is active (actuated) and the corresponding joint angle is measured, whatever the values of its mechanical parameters. The assumption of each link consisting of a massless rod with a point mass at its end in the previous studies is not needed in this paper. Moreover, the relationship between the controllability and strong structural controllability at the UEP of the robot with the last active joint is clarified.
Asset Write-Offs in the Absence of Agency Problems

Using a large sample of small private companies, we show incremental influence of economic incentives over prescriptions from accounting standards by financial statement preparers in a code-law setting with high alignment between financial and tax reporting and no agency problems. Contrary to predictions from standards, more profitable companies are more likely to write-off and the write-off magnitude is greater, reflecting tax minimisation. Larger companies are more likely to write-off, but the magnitude decreases with size, reflecting increasing political costs due to greater visibility to tax authorities. Previous write-off patterns and magnitudes are persistent, reflecting institutional learning linked to regulatory changes. Copyright (c) 2008 The Authors Journal compilation (c) 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Mind-Sets of Boundaryless Careers in the Public Sector

Public management reforms have promoted a new type of public career: boundaryless employees following lateral career trajectories in different organizations. The literature opposes boundaryless careers to the traditional career for life, based on vertical trajectories of promotion and tenure. The implicit image of the boundaryless careerist is one of fast-moving, intrinsically motivated professionals who self-direct their career across “old” organizational barriers. In this article, we study whether boundaryless career mind-sets are the vanguard of a more flexible and mobile workforce. We describe how many public employees experience boundaryless career mind-sets, and we analyze what drives them. Our research shows that boundaryless mind-sets are still rather exceptional. The traditional career mind-set within the organization prevails and many employees are very satisfied with it. Only public employees who are highly educated, invest in their own career and networks, and were successful in previous mobility experiences report a boundaryless career mind-set. Nevertheless, our research also points to a higher potential for boundaryless career mind-sets.
The predictability of excess returns in the emerging bond markets

This study examines the relationships that exist between excess bond returns and global and country-specific factors, focusing on a sample of 12 developing countries. Our results show a significantly negative autocorrelation with regard to the excess returns of bonds in the emerging markets; with growth in the size of the local bond market, there is a corresponding increase in the excess bond returns. For most of the developing economies, with an increase in emerging market bond returns, there are discernible reductions in the level of domestic interest rate and increases in the volatility of bond returns. A higher sovereign bond spread predicts higher excess returns for emerging market bonds. Overall, we find that world factors have relatively less predictive power in the emerging market bonds.