Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immigration Crackdown in the American Workplace

Immigration remains a powerful and recurrent feature of American politics. Of the issues related to immigration, controversy over government policy for controlling illegal immigration occupies a central position in the debate. One increasingly important and prevalent type of control policy that has received little scholarly attention is worksite employment eligibility enforcement, otherwise known as E-Verify Laws. In the present article, we analyze variation in E-Verify policy adoption across the U.S. states, approaching the topic from multiple theoretical perspectives and testing several hypotheses pertaining to policy enactment. Our analysis points to the critical role of proportionate change in a state’s immigrant population, as well as the political activity of immigrant-employing industries, in leading to policy adoption. Despite the use of multiple objective indicators, we fail to find strong evidence supporting the hypothesis that economic distress within a state increases its likelihood of enacting E-Verify legislation. Overall, our analysis contributes to an underdeveloped area of immigration policy research and sheds light on an important contemporary immigration issue, while drawing broader conclusions concerning the factors influencing the emergence of anti-immigration policies more generally.
From 'gentle invaders' to 'breadwinners': Australian women's increasing employment and earnings shares

The norms of men as breadwinners and women as carers face a different reality, with large and ongoing consequences for employment arrangements, family formation and the raising of children. Abstract Traditional gender roles are being disturbed by the increasing earnings of women relative to men. We document the rise in female breadwinning over the last three decades in Australia, a country which has had strong male-breadwinner norms. Australian women have increased their education, employment, hours worked and earnings both absolutely and relative to men. They have moved in large numbers from the low to high education groups, and into higher-status occupations. While starting from a much lower base, female real annual earnings per capita rose by 82 per cent, compared to a 16 per cent increase for men. Australian women now contribute to 36 per cent of employee earnings, and they are the breadwinners for a quarter of employed couples with children. The norms of men as breadwinners and women as carers face a different reality, with large and ongoing consequences for employment arrangements, family formation and the raising of children.
Major locus analysis for quantitative traits.

A quantitative trait is one that is measured on a continuous scale, as opposed to a trait in which there are just two, or a few, clearly distinguishable phenotypes. Furthermore, if an appreciable amount of the variability of that trait is due to segregation at a single locus in a particular set of data that is analyzed, we speak of a major locus for that trait. Over the past few years, papers have been published suggesting that there are major loci for several quantitative traits [1-5]. In one case, that of familial hypercholesterolemia, there is now overwhelming evidence that this is so, though it was argued as late as 1972 that the evidence favored polygenic inheritance [6]; in fact, the locus involved is linked to the C3 polymorphism [7, 8]. But how certain are we in other cases? In this overview, I shall discuss the methods available to us, short of identifying a specific protein or other qualitative trait that distinguishes unambiguously among genotypes, for detecting single locus segregation and estimating its effect on the quantitative phenotype being studied. This topic has been considered in recent reviews [911] and conferences [12, 13], but sometimes in a manner to generate more heat than light. If the trait in question is bimodally distributed in the population, an underlying dichotomy is suggested. But bimodality is neither necessary nor sufficient for there to be an underlying dichotomy, such as might be caused by a major gene [14], for a mnonotonic transformation can always be found that converts data from being unimodally to bimodally distributed or vice versa. On the other hand, a bimodal distribution gives a very different impression from a skewed distribution, and it is useful to have a general method of distinguishing the two situations in a sample of data. Power transformations have the property that they can approximately normalize a wide variety of unimodal distributions, though they rarely change the number of modes
Assessing economic convergence in the EU: is there a perspective for the ‘cohesion countries’?

This article analyses the stochastic income convergence within the EU-15. The empirical analysis uses per capita GDP, in PPP and in constant prices of 2005 for the period 1950 to 2010. Apart from the traditional DF type tests we also account for possible structural changes. In this direction, we employ the Zivot-Andrews (1992) and the Lee-Strazicich (1999, 2003) testing procedures, for one and two breaks, endogenously determined. Furthermore, we apply the Carlino and Mills (1993) methodology proposed for the detection of β-convergence. The overall evidence supports the existence of two discrete clubs, the first by the ‘cohesion countries’ (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) and the second by the remaining members. In particular, there is a clear evidence of convergence within each club, whereas between clubs there is a luck of catching-up effects. Furthermore, investigation of correlation between relative per capita GDP of each country and several factors that are often identified as growth stimulants, namely Total Factor Productivity, FDI, investment and openness confirm, with the exception of Greece, a strong association between these factors and the convergence process. However, progress in the convergence has not been uniform across countries and over time, reflecting the specific interactions between domestic and international factors and their impact on the convergence process of individual countries.
Student Loyalty Assessment with Online Master's Programs

Relationship marketing is attracting, maintaining, and, in multi-service organizations, enhancing customer relationships. Educational programs and services, like those of businesses, depend highly on the repeated purchases of their loyal customers. The purpose of this descriptive research is to investigate the relationships between factors that may lead to student loyalty in online graduate educational programs. Specifically, the study seeks to examine the relationships between service quality, technology, trust, commitment and satisfaction, reputation and ultimately loyalty. A new model is presented, which includes the results of testing these variables. The results of this study concluded that satisfaction with the program has the highest degree of association with student loyalty. Although service quality was found to be one of the key correlates to student loyalty to the program in face-to-face educational settings, it was found to bean insignificant element in assessing student loyalty to the program in online courses. Surprisingly, the construct of technology was found to be an important factor, especially, the role of using synchronous online tools. The findings also support relationship marketing theory (Morgan & Hunt, 1994) and the roles of commitment and trust. However, this research found the role of commitment more important than that of trust. This study recognized reputation of the university as a vital mediator for building a mutually beneficial relationship between students and universities. The research includes implications to help service providers (educational institutions) improve their marketing strategies to ensure that online students (customers) remain with their desired online programs.
Agricultural Communications Students' Awareness and Perceptions of Biotechnology Issues.

The purpose of this study was to determine college students’ awareness of and perceptions toward biotechnology issues reported in the mass media. Agricultural communications students (N = 330) responded from 11 land-grant universities in 10 states; respondents were mostly seniors (46%), female (55%), and considered themselves “B” average students (60%). Respondents were most aware of biotechnology practices affecting their food, but only somewhat aware of their effects on health or the environment. They were somewhat accepting of biotechnology practices for genetically modified organisms involving plant life, but viewed these same practices as somewhat unacceptable for using on humans. Respondents ranked knowledge from science classes, experience in science labs, and university professors’ biotechnology beliefs as the top three sources used most often to form their perceptions about biotechnology. Agricultural communications educators are encouraged to seek opportunities that engage students in the learning processes of biotechnology, especially for students who lack an agricultural background. Such opportunities may include establishing student internships; site visits to biotechnology firms, regulatory and communication agencies; and professional interactions with biotechnology scientists.
A River is a River-Cross-Border Networking Between Baden and Alsace

Using the concepts of national and regional innovation systems as an analytical framework for analysing the cross-border networking activities between Baden and Alsace, the empirical analysis presented in this paper reveals that despite the political promotion of cross-border relations the reality in innovation networking looks different. In the industry sample used for empirical analysis, no firm in Baden had research contacts with an Alsatian research institute, while at least 7% of the Alsatian firms cooperated with research and transfer institutes in Baden. Although spatial distance does not matter, cultural and institutional distance does. The neighbouring region is not looked at as a significant knowledge source for firms in both regions. Despite technological and economic internationalization, for many firms innovation-relevant learning still takes place mainly within their own national and regional system of innovation. For the two regions under review, the Rhine is still a cultural and institutional barrier which needs more networking bridges to be crossed.
Macrophages and angiogenesis

Macrophages are supposed to play a key role in inflammatory and tumor angiogenesis. Their importance derives from (1) their ubiquitous presence in normal and especially inflamed tissues, (2) their potential to become activated in response to appropriate stimuli, and (3) their repertoire of secretory products. By release of proteases, growth factors (bFGF, GM‐CSF, TGF‐α, IGF‐I, PDGF, VEGF/VPF, TGF‐β), and other monokines (IL‐1, IL‐6, IL‐8, TNF‐α, substance P, prostaglandins, interferons, thrombospondin 1), activated macrophages have the capability to influence each phase of the angiogenic process, such as alterations of the local extracellular matrix, induction of endothelial cells to migrate or proliferate, and inhibition of vascular growth with formation of differentiated capillaries. This review describes macrophage physiology and the influence of macrophage secretory products on the different phases of angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. J. Lcukoc. Biol. 55: 410–422; 1994.
Vocabulary Learning Strategies: A Short Way to Long Term Retention

According to Oxford (1990), strategies are steps taken by students to enhance their own learning. This research attempted to investigate the impact of teaching vocabulary learning strategies on short-term and long-term retention of vocabulary items. The sample participants included 303 females randomly selected from one all-female governmental Pre-university school (PUC) in Iran. They were then divided into control and experimental groups and different proficiency levels. Researchers have generally equated the effect of instruction with its duration rather than its quality or intensity. The results obtained, through repeated measure ANOVA, revealed that strategy training could enhance long-term retention of vocabulary items significantly - the experimental group students outperformed the control group within the same period of instruction. Comparing different experimental proficiency groups, high proficiency level participants excelled their low and intermediate counterparts. Finally, from among different strategies "grouping" was proved to be an effective strategy for all proficiency level participants.
Interstate Banking Deregulation and the Changing Nature of Bank Mergers

We examine a sample of 443 bank mergers between publicly traded banks announced during the 1990s to investigate empirically the role of full interstate banking deregulation. The pre-deregulation 1990s are characterized by value creation, with mergers involving a high degree of branch overlap experiencing significant announcement gains. Bank mergers in the post-deregulation 1990s, however, fail to create value, and mergers with a high degree of branch overlap actually experience significant losses. Consistent with prior research, these valuation consequences are magnified for large bank mergers in the 1990s. Overall, our results are consistent with the broader literature on corporate control, suggesting that an economic shock can materially alter industry structure and the economic rationale for the efficient reallocation of assets through merger activity. 2005 The Southern Finance Association and the Southwestern Finance Association.
Colorectal emergencies and related complications: a comprehensive imaging review--noninfectious and noninflammatory emergencies of colon.

OBJECTIVE In this article, we illustrate imaging findings of colorectal emergencies encountered in the acute setting that are primarily noninfectious and noninflammatory in origin. Our review should enable the reader to identify and understand common colorectal emergencies and related complications in clinical practice. CONCLUSION The diagnosis of colorectal emergencies is mostly straightforward, but it can be challenging because of the overlap of presenting symptoms and imaging findings. Therefore, it is essential to clarify the cause, narrow the differential diagnosis, and identify associated complications.
Does European Identification Increase Support for Further Economic Integration?

Abstract Explanations of support for European Union policies are often conceived in terms of utilitarian cost-benefits analysis, yet recent scholarship has demonstrated that ‘soft’ variables, such as identity, are sometimes more useful for explaining preferences about European integration. This article tests a hypothesised link between European identity and support for integrative economic policies to respond to economic crisis in the Eurozone. Data to test the hypothesis are from a novel survey of European university students (n = 1872) conducted in autumn 2012 in four Eurozone countries (France, Germany, Italy and Spain). Given the economic nature of the policies in question, this is a case where utilitarian calculations might be expected to drive preferences. Yet in each of the four countries, European identity is found to have a significant positive relationship with support for further economic integration, even when controlling for material considerations that might otherwise have been thought to explain these preferences.
International Effects of China's Rise and Transition: Neoclassical and Keynesian Perspectives

Opinion over the global implications of China‘s rise is divided between critics, who see it as having developed at the expense of both investment and employment in the US, Europe and Japan and proponents who emphasise improvements in the terms of trade and reductions to the cost of financing that stem from China‘s supply of light manufactures, its demand for Western capital and luxury goods and its high saving. The criticism implies Keynesian assumptions while proponents take a neoclassical perspective. In this paper, both are embodied in a global macro model that emphasises bilateral linkages via both trade and investment, with monetary spill-overs represented by globally integrated bond markets. Net gains are suggested for the US and Europe from China‘s successful export-oriented growth, though there are partially offsetting Keynesian effects. China‘s recent slower, more consumption focussed, growth appears also to be beneficial in those regions and in Japan notwithstanding terms of trade losses.
Educational Attainment

In today’s globalized economy, universities serve as economic growth hubs and as facilitators of higher education. However, the perils of the most recent economic crisis have caused these institutions and their surrounding regional communities to experience an array of challenges. An abundance of the economic development literature consistently illustrates the vital role that human capital can have on a region’s economic prosperity. Thus, this research explores the role that human capital theoretical perspectives have in the production of the long-term stability of a region’s economic growth and development efforts. This research seeks to determine if the level of educational attainment affects the economic growth and development efforts of nonmetropolitan areas with or without a research university. The results of this research provide marginal empirical support for the human capital and institutional intellectual capital theoretical perspectives as promoting economic growth and development.
E‐trade Facilitation in Ghana: A Capability Approach Perspective

A growing number of countries are adopting e‐government to deliver greater operational efficiency, cost savings and transparency. The current wave of globalization and the integration of the world economy have intensified international trade volumes. Thus, the prospect of development through trade has driven some countries sub‐Saharan Africa to adopt information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly electronic data interchange (EDI) to facilitate international trade. This paper applies Amartya Sen's Capability Approach (CA) as a framework to examine the effect of an e‐government initiative intended to modernise customs operational procedures and facilitate trade. E‐trade facilitation has given individuals and businesses the opportunity to lodge import and exports declarations electronically with a single document, resulting in time and cost savings as declarations can be made electronically from any location and at any time. The paper makes a contribution by offering a useful example of the affordances of the CA for examining e‐government initiatives particularly in developing countries focusing on what people can actually do with the opportunities provided by e‐government, rather than using income‐based measures.
The Politics of Peace: The Challenge of Civil-Military Cooperation in Somalia

Despite considerable recent experience and attention, effective civilmilitary cooperation in peace operations remains elusive. This paper explores the US Armed Forces’ approach to relationships with civilian relief organizations including UN agencies, US government agencies, and NGOs. It derives several hypotheses from organizational theory and tests them in a case study of the planning and execution of peace operations in Somalia from August 1992-May 1993. In this case, the military’s organizational interest in reducing uncertainty best explains the generally uncooperative way in which civil-military relationships developed in Somalia. This conclusion implies that policy makers in current and future peace operations may need to press the military to be more proactive and persistent in cooperating with civilian relief organizations.
Electoral Incentives and Policy Preferences: Mixed Motives Behind Party Defections in Japan

Examining the 1993 split of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan offers an opportunity to gain greater insight into the impact of the various incentives that influence the behaviour of politicians. Surprisingly, previous analyses of the LDP split have been able to demonstrate only weak evidence of any electoral connection driving politicians' decisions. However, by also examining the role of policy preferences (support for reform) and utilizing interaction terms, our analysis takes into account the fact that politicians at different stages in their careers and facing different sorts of electorates respond to electoral factors in very different ways. Our findings thus confirm the importance of the electoral connection. We are also able to add that a variety of other incentives also shape political behaviour and that politicians do not necessarily all respond to similar stimuli in the same way.
‘Nothing is Straight in Zimbabwe’: The Rise of the Kukiya-kiya Economy 2000–2008

This article examines the development of what I term the ‘kukiya-kiya’ economy, a new logic of economic action in post-2000 Zimbabwe. In local parlance ‘kukiya-kiya’ refers to multiple forms of ‘making do’. I argue that it has spread from its former position on the urban margins and in so doing has effected a sweeping spatio-temporal shift in the country's economic life. ‘Straight’ transactions carried out in accordance with enduring, jointly-held rules and morals have given way to ‘zigzag’ ‘deals’ seen to be limited to a particular time and place and directed at individual ‘survival’. This reorientation to the short term, where ‘proper’ solutions of all sorts are suspended, is mirrored by a widely-held perception that the country's development has also been suspended. When put together, the two forms of suspension create a seemingly inescapable dialectic, where the dictates of ‘survival’ and temporary ‘necessity’ can be used to justify nearly any economic act. Indeed, I argue, the new economy is driven as much by a discourse of necessity – that is, by a particular form of historical consciousness – as by material ‘needs’ and the economic practices intended to meet them.
Cerebrospinal Fluid Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Intrathecal Neostigmine Methylsulfate in Humans

Background This study defines the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pharmacokinetics of neostigmine after intrathecal injection in humans and its effect on CSF acetylcholine, and it correlates physiologic effects with neostigmine dose and CSF acetylcholine concentrations. Methods The CSF was sampled via an indwelling spinal catheter in 12 volunteers receiving intrathecal neostigmine (50‐750 [micro sign]g) and analyzed for neostigmine and acetylcholine. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analyses were performed with NONMEM. Effect‐site models linked the time course of the neostigmine concentration with the time course of analgesia. Results Acetylcholine concentrations increased from < 20 pmol/ml at baseline to > 100 pmol/ml within 15 min of neostigmine injection. The pharmacokinetics of intrathecal neostigmine were best described by a triexponential function with an absorption phase. Individual predicted concentrations varied 100‐fold. Post hoc Bayesian estimates described the observed neostigmine concentrations with a median error of 22% and did not show systemic model misspecification. Individual estimates of effect site concentration producing a 50% maximal effect for foot visual analog scale analgesia correlated with the magnitude of individual CSF neostigmine concentrations. Conclusions Intrathecal neostigmine concentrations can be well described by a triexponential disposition function, but the intersubject variability is large. The correlation between intersubject variability in concentration and intersubject variability in 50% maximal effect for foot analgesia suggests that both are offset by a common scalar, possibly the distance from the site of injection to the sampling and effect sites. These data provide the basis for the hypothesis of “observation at a distance” to describe the pharmacodynamics of intrathecally administered drugs.