Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Persistent Political Divides, Electoral Volatility and Citizen Involvement: The Freezing Hypothesis in the 2004 European Election

This paper identifies possible micro-mechanisms for the operation of Lipset and Rokkan's freezing hypothesis and suggests that their effects do not disappear altogether with the decline of cleavage politics but are sustained by any persistent social or attitudinal divide between the electorates of different parties. A multi-level analysis of survey data from the 2004 European Election Study supports the expectation that political involvement should be consistently higher and volatility lower than otherwise expected among citizens who are predisposed to support particular parties because of their enduring attitudinal and social characteristics. This paper argues that this fact powerfully biases the choices of established parties towards appealing to those citizens who vote in a way that maintains existing political divides among groups in the electorate. This provides a new explanation of why the mobilisation of enduring social and attitudinal divides in the electorate makes party systems reflect past divides even when the conflicts that gave rise to them have lost some or all political relevance, for instance, because of a shift from the national to the European electoral arena. The analysis also provides additional insights into why European elections fail to produce a European party system and why sources of political participation and interest vary across countries.
An Evaluation of California's Mandated Commodity Promotion Programs

This article provides an overview of mandated commodity programs in California, and summarizes and interprets existing evidence on their economic impacts. The analysis draws upon the recent book edited by the authors: The Economics of Commodity Promotion Programs: Lessons from California. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, April 2005. The book documents the institutional arrangements, summarizes the history of recent litigation, and presents the results of a number of benefit-cost studies of mandated commodity programs in California. The overwhelming conclusion from the studies reported in the article is that the programs have been very profitable for California's agricultural producers. Copyright 2007, Oxford University Press.
An Empirical Investigation of Earnings Restatements by Australian Firms

From 1970 to 2003, we document earnings restatements for the top 500 Australian firms, examine the characteristics of restating firms, and test whether restatements are value relevant. Of the 195 earnings restatements, 49 per cent decrease prior-period earnings (negative restatements). Negative restatements are relatively larger than positive restatements. We identify three reasons for earnings restatements; namely, accounting policy changes, revision of estimates, and errors and unknown, and they comprise 49, 40 and 11 per cent of the sample, respectively. Restatement firms have higher growth opportunities and are smaller than non-restating firms from the same industry. Restatements are generally negatively associated with market and non-market value.
Patient size and radiation exposure in thoracic, pelvic, and abdominal CT examinations performed with automatic exposure control.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of patient size on the amount of radiation used to perform CT examinations of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis with automatic exposure control and on the corresponding patient doses. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ninety-one patients underwent CT of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis with a 64-MDCT scanner with automatic exposure control in the x, y, and z planes (noise index, 11.5; tube rotation speed, 1 second; maximal x-ray tube capacity, 800 mA; slice thickness, 5 mm; slice interval, 5 mm; table speed, 40 mm/rotation; pitch, 1; tube voltage, 120 kVp). Volume CT dose index was obtained from the scanner console at the completion of each examination. The volume CT dose index and a dosimetry calculator were used to determine the organ dose in a 70-kg patient. Patient organ doses were obtained by correction of the calculator organ doses by factors that accounted for size variations in the lung and abdomen among patients and the corresponding regions in the phantom. RESULTS The average volume CT dose index for a 60-kg patient was approximately 11 mGy, which increased to approximately 22 mGy for an 80-kg patient and to approximately 33 mGy for a 100-kg patient. The corresponding average liver doses for 60-kg patients was approximately 16 mGy, which increased to approximately 25 mGy for 80-kg patients and to approximately 34 mGy for 100-kg patients. For this patient cohort, the median doses to the colon, stomach, and liver were approximately 25 mGy; to the bladder, 31 mGy; and to the red bone marrow, 16 mGy. The 90th percentile organ doses were generally three to four times that of the corresponding 10th percentile organ doses. CONCLUSION For body CT examinations performed with automatic exposure control, the radiation used to perform examinations of 100-kg patients is approximately three times that for a 60-kg patient and results in organ doses that are generally twice as high as those in a 60-kg patient.
Defecting from R&D Cooperation

This paper introduces defection into the strategic RD and RJV cartelisation, where firms coordinate RD whereas under RJV cartelisation, defection always entails a decrease in RD they also increase with the size of the market, but decline with production costs and R&D costs. Moreover, the incentives for defection are higher under RJV cartelisation. With low spillovers under RJV cartelisation, a firm prefers to be subject to defection by the other firm, to not cooperating at all. Punishment for defection is considered, under the form of abstaining from information sharing.
Voters in Context

Recent analysis of presidential politics has suggested that the attention to the rise of the suburban voter during the elections of the 1990s may have been misplaced. Researchers have argued that discussion of “soccer moms” misses the degree to which women differ in ways that have little to do with place, and that attention paid to suburbanites by Democrats misses the electoral importance of White, non-university-educated voters. This article argues that although these characteristics of voters are important for understanding their support for particular presidential candidates, so is their location. Holding individual characteristics constant, voters living in cities are more likely to support Democrats than their suburban counterparts. In addition, the relationship between policy preferences, party identification, and vote choice varies across cities and suburbs. City and suburban residents have different views on some issues and weight these views differently when deciding how to vote and which party to support.
Serum copper, zinc and selenium levels in Tunisian patients with Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. The etiology of this disease is still not fully clear, but free radicals have been proposed to cause neuronal injury. Metals play a key role in the intracellular oxidative balance. However their implication in the degeneration process remains unknown. AIM To assess Cu, Zn and Se concentrations in serum of a group of PD patients in order to determinate, in comparison with age-matched controls, whether alteration in their levels could be involved in PD. METHODS A serum level of 3 trace elements (Cu, Zn and Se) was investigated in 48 patients with PD and 36 matched controls using plasma atomic absorption spectrometry. We compared these parameters in PD patients with controls, and we also compared the variations within the PD group according to age, illness duration, stage of the disease and levodopa intake. RESULTS Patients with PD had significantly lower Cu levels compared to controls. The mean Zn and Se levels in PD patients did not differ significantly from those of controls. Levodopa therapy, age, stage, and illness duration did not significantly influence the measured parameters. CONCLUSION These results suggest that a disturbance of the plasmatic rate of Cu could be a marker of PD or at least, a risk factor for the development of this disease. Although zinc participates to the reduction of oxidative stress and the antioxidant role of the selenium, their implication in the onset of PD is not clearly established. Perspectives for the future could include antioxidant therapy. For this reason, other prospective studies should be conducted on this subject to elucidate the implication of trace elements in PD.
Development of the mental, emotional, and bodily toughness inventory in collegiate athletes and nonathletes.

CONTEXT The assessment of an individual's mental toughness would assist clinicians in enhancing an individual's performance, improving compliance with the rehabilitation program, and improving the individual treatment program. However, no sound measure of mental toughness exists. OBJECTIVE To develop a new measure of mental toughness, the Mental, Emotional, and Bodily Toughness Inventory (MeBTough). DESIGN Participants were invited to complete a 45-item questionnaire. SETTING University research laboratory. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS A total of 261 undergraduate students were recruited to complete the questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) The Rasch-calibrated item difficulties, fit statistics, and persons' mental toughness ability estimates were examined for model-data fit of the MeBTough. RESULTS Forty-three of the 45 items had good model-data fit with acceptable fit statistics. Results indicated that the distribution of items was fittingly targeted to the people and the collapsed rating scale functioned well. The item separation index (6.31) and separation reliability statistic (.98) provided evidence that the items had good variability with a high degree of confidence in replicating placement of the items from another sample. CONCLUSIONS Results provided support for using the new measure of mental, emotional, and bodily toughness.
The FA's role in developing five-a-side football: Strategic alliances with stakeholders

Five-a-side football has become the most popular form of football in England and the sport's national governing body, the Football Association (FA), has recognized that it must develop its role in this market. As part of its Football Development Strategy (2001), the FA has stated that it needs to develop partnerships with relevant public and private sector organizations. Against this background this paper has two aims. Firstly, the authors explore with selected stakeholders their views regarding the FA's role in developing five-a-side football through strategic alliances. Secondly, by drawing on the literature and their fieldwork, the authors present a framework for examining strategic alliance options that can be applied by national governing bodies of other sports. The results of the research study suggest that the FA should play a key role in developing the five-a-side football market and, through its network of County FAs, seek strategic alliances with stakeholders from the private, public and voluntary sectors. The framework presented by the authors assists the FA and other national governing bodies in the planning of strategic alliances.
Productivity, innovation strategies and industrial relations in SMEs. Empirical evidence for a local production system in northern Italy

The paper aims to provide an original contribution to evaluating several kinds of relations between four areas of innovation activities – training, technology, organization, ICT (information and communication technologies) – and industrial relations and firm’s economic performance. Quantitative evidence for a SME‐based local production system is provided by exploiting two datasets: the first is derived from a direct survey carried out in 2005 collecting data on innovations, labour flexibility and industrial relations; the second is represented by a panel of official balance sheets data for the period 1998–2004. The analysis is divided in two consequential parts. We first examine the drivers of different innovation strategies and subsequently we exploit innovation indicators as potential drivers of firm’s productivity. The results show that training activities and organizational changes have strong links with many industrial relations indicators, thus emerging as industrial relations driven innovations. On the contrary, ICT and technological innovation seem to be more influenced by firms’ past performances than by industrial relations. The analysis on labour productivity drivers shows that training activities are the most relevant factors; then, ranked consequently, technological innovation, organisational innovations and, finally, ICT also appear to impact on productivity levels. It is worth noting that the role of ICT emerges more robustly when endogeneity is specifically addressed. Finally, the role of firm size seems here to be overshadowed by other drivers.
The Liquidity Effect in the Federal Funds Market: Evidence at the Monthly Frequency

In this paper, we argue that much of the research into the link between money and interest rates suffers from misspecification. The measure of money and the measure of interest rates are not always well matched. In examining the transmission of monetary policy, we show that using an appropriate measure of money, Federal Reserve balances, and the appropriate interest rate, the federal funds rate, a clear liquidity effect exists. Furthermore, we explain how a lack of a clear institutional understanding may have contributed to the finding of a "liquidity puzzle" in the past. Copyright 2008 The Ohio State University.
Global Biogeochemical Cycling of Mercury: A Review

Mercury pollution poses global human health and environmental risks. Although mercury is naturally present in the environment, human activities, such as coal burning, have increased the amount of mercury cycling among the land, atmosphere, and ocean by a factor of three to five. Emitted to the atmosphere in its elemental form, mercury travels worldwide before oxidizing to a form that deposits to ecosystems. In aquatic systems, mercury can convert into methylmercury, a potent neurotoxin. People and wildlife are exposed to methylmercury as it bioaccumulates up the food chain. Mercury continues to circulate in the atmosphere, oceans, and terrestrial system for centuries to millennia before it returns to deep-ocean sediments. Areas of uncertainty in the global biogeochemical cycle of mercury include oxidation processes in the atmosphere, land-atmosphere and ocean-atmosphere cycling, and methylation processes in the ocean. National and international policies have addressed direct mercury emissions, but further.
Auditors' Use and Perception of Analytical Procedures: Evidence from Singapore

This study examines auditors' use and perception of analytical procedures in Singapore. A total of 100 auditors attached to Big? Six and non? Big Six firms participated in this questionnaire survey. Three? way ANOVA with interactions is performed on the data. The results of the study indicate that analytical procedures (APs) are more prevalently used during the final review stage as opposed to the detailed testing phase of an audit. Further, auditors with high experience and auditors from Big? Six firms tend to use APs to a greater extent than those with low experience and from non? Big Six firms respectively. Simple procedures are more frequently used than sophisticated procedures by all auditors although between the procedures, non? Big Six auditors use the former more frequently than Big? Six auditors while the reverse is true for the latter. Finally, APs were found to be least helpful in detecting fraud or error and most helpful in identifying areas of potential risk.
Programmed Cell Death Protein 5 Interacts with the Cytosolic Chaperonin Containing Tailless Complex Polypeptide 1 (CCT) to Regulate β-Tubulin Folding* ♦

Background: Programmed cell death protein 5 (PDCD5) has been proposed to act as a pro-apoptotic factor with tumor suppressor capabilities. Results: PDCD5 forms a complex with the cytosolic chaperonin CCT and inhibits β-tubulin folding. Conclusion: PDCD5 functions as a modulator of CCT to regulate β-tubulin folding. Significance: PDCD5 may exert its pro-apoptotic function by blocking β-tubulin folding. Programmed cell death protein 5 (PDCD5) has been proposed to act as a pro-apoptotic factor and tumor suppressor. However, the mechanisms underlying its apoptotic function are largely unknown. A proteomics search for binding partners of phosducin-like protein, a co-chaperone for the cytosolic chaperonin containing tailless complex polypeptide 1 (CCT), revealed a robust interaction between PDCD5 and CCT. PDCD5 formed a complex with CCT and β-tubulin, a key CCT-folding substrate, and specifically inhibited β-tubulin folding. Cryo-electron microscopy studies of the PDCD5·CCT complex suggested a possible mechanism of inhibition of β-tubulin folding. PDCD5 bound the apical domain of the CCTβ subunit, projecting above the folding cavity without entering it. Like PDCD5, β-tubulin also interacts with the CCTβ apical domain, but a second site is found at the sensor loop deep within the folding cavity. These orientations of PDCD5 and β-tubulin suggest that PDCD5 sterically interferes with β-tubulin binding to the CCTβ apical domain and inhibits β-tubulin folding. Given the importance of tubulins in cell division and proliferation, PDCD5 might exert its apoptotic function at least in part through inhibition of β-tubulin folding.
Reproducibility of the circadian systolic blood pressure variation in the elderly

Objectives: To establish the reproducibility of the nocturnal systolic blood pressure (SBP) change in elderly subjects and to examine the use of cumulative sums (cusums) analysis in the assessment of circadian SBP variation. Subjects: Forty-two untreated elderly subjects (35 hypertensive, 7 normotensive) of mean age 75.5 years from the hypertension clinic at a large teaching hospital participated in a reproducibility study. Methods: Twenty-four-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was performed and repeated at a median interval of 2 months (range 2 weeks to 9 months). Outcome measures: Reproducibility of circadian SBP variation from fixed time analysis of day-night SBP difference and from cusums-based parameters. Results: Twenty-four-hour SBP values were highly reproducible with a coefficient of variation of 5.8%. However, the day-night SBP difference for fixed time periods was poorly reproducible, with a coefficient of variation >130%. A substantial proportion of subjects (36-43%) altered their 'dipping status' between visits. The use of cusums analysis improved the reproducibility of measures of circadian SBP change (cusums plot height and maximum circadian variation) with coefficients of variation falling to 40 and 38%, respectively. Conclusions: The use of fixed time definitions results in poor reproducibility of the circadian SBP change in the elderly, which will lead to regression dilution bias when studying the relationship of circadian SBP variation to outcome measures in hypertension. The notion of dipping and non-dipping circadian blood pressure patterns should be abandoned in favour of more reproducible cusums-based measures of circadian blood pressure variation.
Interpreting Facial Expressions in Patients in the Terminal Stage of the Alzheimer Disease

Videotaped interactions between each of two experienced caregivers and each of four patients in the terminal stage of the Alzheimer disease were interpreted. A hermeneutic approach was used to analyze the videotapes. It was possible to see the patients as capable of having experiences and of communicating them to their caregivers. The analysis made it possible to put together the observed communicative cues into a narrative for each patient. The study may contribute to the improvement of the care of severely demented patients by affecting caregivers' preunderstanding of these patients' experiences and communicative abilities.
Gendered Inequality Regimes and Female Labour Market Disadvantage within the New Zealand Film Industry

article uses Joan Acker's concept of gendered inequality regimes to analyse women's labour market dis- advantage within the Wellington film industry. Interviews with thirteen female, and eleven male, freelance film production workers suggest that structural conditions, industry norms and collective practices within the industry mean that workers need to show total flexibility and commitment. This makes it difficult for workers to success- fully combine work with family responsibilities. This issue affects women disproportionately as cultural norms emphasise women's domestic and nurturing responsibilities. In consequence, women, though not men, with young children are perceived as riskier and less desirable employees. Industry prejudices against women with children adversely affect the employment prospects and work/life balance of all women. Childfree women need to prove their reliability and loyalty by dedicating themselves to the industry to a greater degree than their male col- leagues. Consequently, women's ability to combine a successful film career with other social roles is more limited than men's and the schism between women with children and childfree women is perpetuated.
Toward a One-Party South?

Most observers now consider the American South a two-party region, with Democrats and Republicans competing vigorously for political office. In this article, we raise the possibility that the South has begun a transformation into a one-party region dominated by the GOP. Three factors tip the scales in the party's favor: the ideological congruence between the Republican Party and the region's electorate, the Republican trend among the region's younger voters, and the incumbency advantage accrued by current Republican officeholders. Using a vast array of longitudinal data from the South, we provide evidence that speaks to the daunting challenges facing the Democratic Party in the South. We also address the results in the South's 2006 midterm elections. The findings suggest that as the United States' most reliably Republican region continues to change, Democrats may have an exceedingly difficult time winning statewide races.
Learning emotion rules in service organizations

This article discusses the way in which emotion rules are learned by service workers through an ethnographic study of employees in a chain of public houses. It reviews the findings of recent research based on studies of large firms in the service sector in order to discuss similarities and differences in the ways in which emotion rules are learned, internalized, controlled, and monitored in large firms and small units. It concludes that in contrast to large firms, small units are characterized by little formal training and few explicit rules for emotion management and display. Implicit rules for performing emotional labour are learned through informal socialization with colleagues, managers, and customers. The importance of competing informal social control mechanisms is highlighted, showing how service workers are expected to be skilled emotion managers negotiating the expectations of different stakeholders.