Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Social Entrepreneurship for Rural Development

About 38% of the EU budget is spent on agriculture and rural areas. The funds are used in developing and implementing projects with economic, environmental and social goals targeted mainly at agricultural holdings and small and medium-size enterprises. For the conditions in Bulgaria, the investment in social entrepreneurship may become a key factor in providing employment and development of entrepreneurial initiatives leading to sustainable rural development. Social entrepreneurship is a paradigm that can be seen as one of the solutions to reduce poverty, migration, depopulation and retention of the working population in rural areas. The research aims to reveal the role and benefits of social entrepreneurship for sustainable rural development through analysis of the factors and barriers to its application. It is important in rural areas to create suitable conditions for building social enterprises with a large scope covering all vulnerable groups of the territory. In this context, the logical connection between the factors of social entrepreneurship is discussed which takes into account the peculiarities of rural areas in Bulgaria in connection with its application. Some of the most important factors, challenges, and constraints that have been analyzed are economic, social and institutional. The results show that sustainable rural development can be achieved in solving socially significant problems with the means and approaches of social entrepreneurship and its promotion in rural areas.
Magnetic resonance enterography for the evaluation of the deep small intestine in Crohn's disease

For the control of Crohn's disease (CD) a thorough assessment of the small intestine is essential; several modalities may be utilized, with cross-sectional imaging being important. Magnetic resonance (MR) enterography, i.e., MRE is recommended as a modality with the highest accuracy for CD lesions. MRE and MR enteroclysis are the two methods performed following distension of the small intestine. MRE has sensitivity and specificity comparable to computed tomography enterography (CTE); although images obtained using MRE are less clear compared with CTE, MRE does not expose the patient to radiation and is superior for soft-tissue contrast. Furthermore, it can assess not only static but also dynamic and functional imaging and reveals signs of CD, such as abscess, comb sign, fat edema, fistula, lymph node enhancement, less motility, mucosal lesions, stricture, and wall enhancement. Several indices of inflammatory changes and intestinal damage have been proposed for objective evaluation. Recently, diffusion-weighted imaging has been proposed, which does not need bowel preparation and contrast enhancement. Comprehension of the characteristics of MRE and other modalities is important for better management of CD.
The Effects of Age on the Median Effective Concentration of Ropivacaine for Motor Blockade After Epidural Anesthesia with Ropivacaine

Minimal local analgesic concentrations have been defined as the median effective concentration (EC50). In this study, we sought to examine the effect of age on motor blockade and determine the motor block EC50 of elderly patients after epidural administration of ropivacaine in patients undergoing urological or minor lower limb surgery. ASA physical status I–II patients were enrolled in 1 of 2 age groups (Group 1: ≥70 yr; Group 2: <70 yr). Each received a 15-mL bolus of epidural ropivacaine without epinephrine. The first patient in each group received 0.425%. Up-down sequential allocation was used to determine subsequent concentrations at a testing interval of 0.025%. Effective motor blockade was defined as a modified Bromage score >0 within 30 min. The motor blockade EC50 of ropivacaine was 0.383% (95% confidence interval, 0.358%–0. 409%) in group 1 and 0.536% (95% confidence interval, 0.512%–0.556%) in group 2 (P < 0.01). We conclude that age is a determinant of motor blockade EC50 of ropivacaine with epidural administration.
Rethinking the Relationship between High-Performance Work Systems and Firm Performance: A Meta-Analysis

In the highly competitive global marketplace, organisations are paying increasing attention to the formation and sustention of competitive advantages through the enhancement of human capital. High-performance work system (HPWS), a synergised system of human resource management (HRM) practices, has been commonly recognised as a useful tool to improve firm performance (FP) to support the competitiveness of businesses. This study examines the HPWS-FP relationship using the quantitative research technique of meta-analysis. The study analyses 192 primary studies, and contributes to the extant literature in four aspects. Firstly, it confirms a positive relationship between HPWS and FP. Secondly, in response to the recent call for investigating country-level factors that affect the HPWS-FP relationship, the study examines the role of country of origin in moderating the HPWS-FP relationship, and finds that the positive HPWS-FP relationship is stronger in developing countries than in developed countries. Thirdly, the study finds that the HPWS-FP relationship is stronger when operational measures are used as FP indicators than when financial measures are used as FP indicators. Lastly, the study looks into detailed individual components of HPWS, and finds that training and development practice is the most robust component which plays a vital role in influencing the HPWS-FP relationship. The study discusses implications of these V findings for firm managers, including 1) firms need to make great efforts to develop HPWS to stay competitive; 2) firms in developing countries have a latecomer advantage in leveraging HPWS to enhance performance; 3) firms need to focus on the long-term rather than short-term performance impact in developing HPWS; and 4) firms must place a great emphasis on employees training and development practices in developing HPWS, and make significant investments in this area. The study concludes by pointing to limitations of these findings, and highlighting some directions for future research.
Lower motor and primary sensory neuron diseases with peroneal muscular atrophy. I. Neurologic, genetic, and electrophysiologic findings in hereditary polyneuropathies.

THIS report gives the neurologic, genetic, and electrophysiologic findings of a prospective study of kinships with different hereditary neurologic disorders having symmetric neurogenic weakness and atrophy as an early- and often major manifestation. The study was undertaken to obtain more reliable information about the natural history of these disorders, to test the usefulness of electro physiologic studies in distinguishing affected from nonaffected persons, to compare the results of nerve biopsies from representative affected persons with these disorders, and to develop a more meaningful classification. In this, the first of two articles on the subject, the results of neurologic, genetic, and electrophysiologic studies of 67 persons with hypertrophic neuropathy of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth type, five persons with hypertrophic neuropathy of the Dejerine-Sottas type, and 150 unaffected relatives are given. We also wished to determine whether these syndromes were phenotypic variations of one or several diseases or were separate entities on the
Algebraic learning of statistical associations for language acquisition

Abstract Statistical association measures play an important role in many areas of natural language research. An impediment to reliable estimation of such associations is the problem of small-sample statistics, since in any natural corpus there will be many infrequently occurring words. This paper proposes an alternative method for estimating such associations, which circumvents the small-sample issues. The idea is to view sentence/meaning pairs as algebraic equations, rather than as observations of a pattern in some class. Associations are estimated via solving these equations rather than via relative frequency estimates of mutual information. We develop a theoretical foundation for the dual algebraic/statistical nature of associations, proving two uniqueness theorems. We then exploit this theory to provide an algorithmic solution to the estimation problem. This algorithm is experimentally evaluated on 1494 natural languages messages from a rudimentary Data Retrieval experiment. One striking result is that the algebraic algorithm can often provide reliable estimates even for words which occur only once in a corpus.
S-Adenosylmethionine Is Decreased in the Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

Background: Increased plasma homocysteine levels have been described as an independent risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but the underlying pathophysiology is unclear. Objective: This single-center, cross-sectional, correlational study analyzed homocysteine metabolism in 60 AD patients and 60 control subjects. Methods: Fasting plasma levels of vitamin B12, folate and homocysteine as well as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of folate derivates, S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) and homocysteine were measured. In addition, the apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype was determined. Results: As expected, the APOE4 allele was significantly overrepresented in AD patients compared with controls (p < 0.001). Homocysteine plasma levels in the highest quartile were more frequent in the AD patients than in the controls (p = 0.008). In addition, AD patients had significantly lower CSF levels of the methyl group donor SAM (193 ± 31 vs. 207 ± 37 nmol/l; p = 0.032). Accordingly, the SAM/SAH ratio, which represents the methylation capacity, was significantly lower in the CSF of the AD patients (7.6 ± 2.4 vs. 9.1 ± 2.8; p = 0.003). Further, explorative analysis of all subjects showed that CSF SAM levels were lower in carriers of the APOE4 allele compared with noncarriers (189 ± 30 vs. 207 ± 36 nmol/l; p = 0.010). Of the individuals with CSF SAM levels in the lowest quartile, 63% carried the APOE4 allele compared with 17% of the individuals with CSF SAM levels in the highest quartile (Pearson: χ2 = 9.9; p = 0.002; odds ratio 0.126, 95% confidence interval 0.32–0.49). Conclusion: These data suggest that AD is associated with lower CSF SAM levels and that this is at least partly due to an association of the APOE4 allele with reduced SAM levels in the CSF.
Electrophysiological Evidence for the Understanding of Maternal Speech by 9-Month-Old Infants

Early word learning in infants relies on statistical, prosodic, and social cues that support speech segmentation and the attachment of meaning to words. It is debated whether such early word knowledge represents mere associations between sound patterns and visual object features, or reflects referential understanding of words. By measuring an event-related brain potential component known as the N400, we demonstrated that 9-month-old infants can detect the mismatch between an object appearing from behind an occluder and a preceding label with which their mother introduces it. Differential N400 amplitudes have been shown to reflect semantic priming in adults, and its absence in infants has been interpreted as a sign of associative word learning. By setting up a live communicative situation for referring to objects, we demonstrated that a similar priming effect also occurs in young infants. This finding may indicate that word meaning is referential from the outset of word learning and that referential expectation drives, rather than results from, vocabulary acquisition in humans.
La transmisión de las competencias en la formación y perfeccionamiento profesionales de la RFA

El concepto de “competencia” aparece en la actualidad en los ambitos mas diversos, entre ellos en el de la formacion y perfeccionamiento profesionales. Sin embargo, no se utiliza de manera uniforme ni se aplica siempre con acierto. En aleman, el concepto de competencia (“Kompetenz”) procede del ambito de la organizacion y se refiere a la regulacion de las atribuciones de los organos de la administracion y de las empresas, asi como a la facultad de decision conferida a sus respectivos titulares. En este sentido, la facultad de decision conferida y la capacidad de decision personal no siempre coinciden. En la vida profesional, la situacion es diferente. El cliente recurre al profesional que considera competente, es decir, capacitado para resolver su problema. Por lo demas, no todas las personas dotadas de competencia formal en virtud del titulo profesional que les ha sido otorgado gozan de reputacion como especialistas competentes. Lo decisivo en este caso es la capacidad real para resolver determinados problemas. Por tanto, se ha de distinguir entre la competencia formal, como atribucion conferida, y la competencia real, como capacidad adquirida. En el debate sobre la pedagogia de la formacion profesional solo es importante la competencia real.
A preliminary study of subject factors associated with poor differentiation capacity of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue in human obesity

Background: Fat is stored in adipose tissue. In obesity, differentiation of preadipocytes to new adipocytes (fat cells) is required for energy storage. Otherwise fat accumulation in non-adipocytes contributes to fatty liver and diabetes. Our goal was to assess subject characteristics associated with poor in-vitro differentiation capacity of preadipocytes from omental (OM) and abdominal subcutaneous (SC) fat. Approach: A convenience sample of, 4 males and 20 females, age 39±2 (range 20–56) years, BMI 42 ± 2 (23–63) kg/m (i.e. from lean to obese), 7 Caucasian, 8 Hispanic, 1 other and 8 African Americans) undergoing elective surgery was studied. Fat samples collected during surgery were used for histology and preadipocyte isolation. Fat cell diameters and their distribution (normal or bimodal) were analyzed from histology. Preadipocyte differentiation capacity was measured in vitro. Results: In the OM depot, no effect of ethnicity, sex or HbA1c was found. Unexpectedly, subjects with preadipocytes with poor differentiation capacity tended to be younger (poor differentiation group 36 ± 2 years versus high 43 ± 3 years, p=0.09) and to have lower fasting glucose (poor 97 ± 3.65 mg/dl versus high 111 ± 7.08 mg/dl, p=0.06). In SC, no differences were noted. Fat cell size was not associated with differentiation capacity in either depot. Bimodal distribution, which may show formation of new
Third Italian national survey on knowledge, attitudes, and sexual behaviour in relation to HIV/AIDS risk and the role of health education campaigns.

AIM The survey, supported by the National Health Institute (ISS), investigates on sources of information for HIV/AIDS and sexual behaviour of the Italian general population. METHODS The survey was carried out in four different Italian provinces with different geographical, social, and epidemiological patterns of HIV/AIDS: Bari, Milan, Parma, and Perugia. A self-administered questionnaire was used to interview a sample of 2000 people, aged 18-49 years, chosen using a quota-sampling, considering age, sex, and level of education. RESULTS A total of 1985 persons filled in the questionnaire. Among them, 73.2% reported Ministry of Health as their main source of information and 76.7% TV/radio advertising as their main means of information. Sexually active subjects, experiencing occasional sexual intercourse, were 22.4%; of them 34.6% did not refer a systematic use of condom. Among sexually active people, half (45.7%) reported as irrelevant their risk of infection, 6.9% as high. Being male (OR = 6.175) and having the first sexual intercourse before 18 years (OR = 2.076) were significantly associated with sexual behaviour at risk (males having unsafe sexual intercourses with prostitutes or during partners' menstrual period; both sexes having unsafe occasional sexual intercourses or anal sex), while living in Northern Italy (OR = 0.672) was significantly protective. Subjects with sexual behaviour at risk were about 40%. CONCLUSIONS The need for further education campaigns, and their consequent evaluations, is relevant. Monitoring sexual behaviour of general population, focusing on risk behaviour rather than risk groups, is fundamental nowadays in preventing HIV.
Breast reduction alleviates depression and anxiety and restores self-esteem: A prospective randomised clinical trial

Of women who seek reduction mammaplasty, up to a third have pathological degrees of anxiety or depression, or both. The psychological aspect of reduction mammaplasty is therefore an important consideration. We did a prospective randomised clinical trial to see how reduction mammaplasty affected macromastia patients’ depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. Eighty-two patients were randomised, 40 to have the operation, and 42 patients to conservative treatment. Both groups were followed for six months. The patients completed the RBDI questionnaire (Raitasalo's modification of the short form of the Beck Depression Inventory). Twenty-nine patients in the operated group and 35 patients in the conservative group completed the study. At the second examination, the patients who had been operated on, had significantly less depression (p<0.01) and better self-esteem (p=0.03) than the conservative group. The proportions of depressed (p<0.01) and anxious (p=0.04) patients were also smaller in the group who were operated on. There is significantly less depression and anxiety after reduction mammaplasty, and patients’ self-esteem is restored.
Growth and pigmentation development efficiencies in fantail guppy, Poecilia reticulata fed with commercially available feeds.

The commercial value of ornamental fish is primarily dependent on their external body colouration. Fade coloured fish fails to attract the interest of the buyers. In the present study an experiment were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of four types of feed (Living tubifex, Dried tubifex, Dried Daphnia and Prepared granulated feed) in the rearing of fantail guppy. Carotenoid content of the feed used, caudal fin and muscle of the fish and specific growth rate (SGR) of the fish were also analyzed. Results showed that the fantail guppy utilized the live organisms more efficiently than the artificial diet. Results are also encouraging because the fantail guppy became more brightly colourful which fed the carotenoid rich feed in comparison to the types of feed. Living tubifex was proved to be the best feed for guppy for increasing the growth and colouration.
Clinical Trial of the Clarion® Cochlear Implant in Children

Preoperative and postoperative efficacy results are reported for the first 58 children with 18 months of implant experience in the United States. A within-subjects repeated-measures design was used to compare preoperative performance with hearing aids to postoperative performance with the CLARION® Multi-Strategy™ Cochlear Implant. The results revealed significant improvement over time on all speech perception measures. Higher scores and faster rates of progress were demonstrated by the children who used oral communication compared to children who used total communication, especially older children. The overall results suggest higher levels of performance and more rapid progress in the development of listening skills than has been reported in previous clinical trials with children. The latter finding appears to be due to advances in implant technology and changes in the demographic characteristics of the study groups.
Anthropic bound on the cosmological constant.

In recent cosmological models, there is an ''anthropic'' upper bound on the cosmological constant . lambda. It is argued here that in universes that do not recollapse, the only such bound on . lambda. is that it should not be so large as to prevent the formation of gravitationally bound states. It turns out that the bound is quite large. A cosmological constant that is within 1 or 2 orders of magnitude of its upper bound would help with the missing-mass and age problems, but may be ruled out by galaxy number counts. If so, we may conclude that anthropic considerations do not explain the smallness of the cosmological constant.
A qualitative study of mothers’ perceptions of weaning and the use of commercial infant food in the United Kingdom

Background: Commercially produced infant food has a different taste profile and nutritional content to homemade baby food and its consumption is now very widespread. This change in early food experience may lead to a reduced dietary variety and a decreased microbial load exposure. Objective: The purpose of this study was to gain insight into parental perceptions of complementary feeding, specifically opinions of commercially produced baby food, using qualitative research methods. Methods: Four focus group discussions took place (n = 24), with mothers of infants aged 4-7 months. Half of participants were first time mothers and a third had experience weaning infants with symptoms of cows' milk allergy. Participants were prompted with questions about complementary feeding and shown several different products to stimulate discussion. Results: Thematic analysis of focus groups indicated that three distinctive groups of mothers exist; "relaxed", "concerned" and "balanced", which may be influenced by parity, socioeconomic status and previous experience of weaning. The majority of mothers commenced the weaning process using homemade foods, but transitioned to include commercial baby foods after 3-6 weeks. Commercial baby food was perceived as more convenient to homemade baby food by the majority and as superior and "safer" by some mothers. Although there were concerns raised about the identity of ingredients, few concerns were expressed regarding nutritional quality or allergen content, even by mothers with experience of weaning an infant with food allergic symptoms. Conclusion: Overall complementary feeding was viewed as a natural process with the goal of enjoyment of food and development of a broad palate. Opinions on readymade baby food were influenced by parity, education level and previous experience of weaning
What drives experiential loyalty towards the banks? The case of Islamic banks in Indonesia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the structural relationship between experiential loyalty and its seven drivers – interaction quality, physical environment quality, outcome quality, affective quality, experiential quality, experiential trust and experiential satisfaction in the context of Islamic banks.Design/methodology/approachThe data used in this study were based on a convenience sample of 474 respondents from Jakarta, Bogor and Depok in Indonesia.FindingsInteraction quality, physical environment quality and outcome quality positively influence experiential quality, which in turn, leads to experiential trust. Also, experiential trust has a positive influence on experiential satisfaction. Both experiential trust and experiential satisfaction are determinants of experiential loyalty.Practical implicationsThe results will assist Islamic bank management in developing and implementing market-orientated service strategies to increase interaction quality, physical environment quality, outcome quality, affective quality experiential quality, experiential trust and experiential satisfaction in order to increase experiential loyalty.Originality/valueThis paper provides data that result in a better understanding of the relationships among interaction quality, physical environment quality, outcome quality, affective quality, experiential quality, experiential trust, experiential satisfaction and experiential loyalty in the context of Islamic banks.