Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Partners and the Governance of Public Employment Services: Trends and Experiences from Western Europe

Public Employment Services (PESs) are important actors in the fight against unemployment and social exclusion. They differ, however, greatly in their governance forms, also and especially when it comes to the involvement of the social partners, i.e. representatives from employers’ associations and labour unions. This paper offers in-depth insights to the ways in which PESs are governed in four European countries: Austria, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. Special attention is placed on recent changes in governance, the role of the social partners, and the response to the crisis of 2008. The paper shows that Austria has retained a modus operandi of strong social partnership and mutual trust, while the German and especially Danish systems have seen a gradual decline of social partners’ influence on PES governance, partially as governments’ of the political right and left increasingly seek to advance their direct steering capacity. The British case remains driven by a market-oriented, public-private partnership model, without any institutionalised role for the social partners.
Effect of altered dietary n-3 fatty acid intake upon plasma lipid fatty acid composition, conversion of [13C]α-linolenic acid to longer-chain fatty acids and partitioning towards β-oxidation in older men

The effect of increased dietary intakes of α-linolenic acid (ALNA) or eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) for 2 months upon plasma lipid composition and capacity for conversion of ALNA to longer-chain metabolites was investigated in healthy men (52 (SD 12) years). After a 4-week baseline period when the subjects substituted a control spread, a test meal containing [U-13C]ALNA (700 mg) was consumed to measure conversion to EPA, docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) and DHA over 48 h. Subjects were then randomised to one of three groups for 8 weeks before repeating the tracer study: (1) continued on same intake (control, n 5); (2) increased ALNA intake (10 g/d, n 4); (3) increased EPA+DHA intake (1·5 g/d, n 5). At baseline, apparent fractional conversion of labelled ALNA was: EPA 2·80, DPA 1·20 and DHA 0·04 %. After 8 weeks on the control diet, plasma lipid composition and [13C]ALNA conversion remained unchanged compared with baseline. The high-ALNA diet resulted in raised plasma triacylglycerol-EPA and -DPA concentrations and phosphatidylcholine-EPA concentration, whilst [13C]ALNA conversion was similar to baseline. The high-(EPA+DHA) diet raised plasma phosphatidylcholine-EPA and -DHA concentrations, decreased [13C]ALNA conversion to EPA (2-fold) and DPA (4-fold), whilst [13C]ALNA conversion to DHA was unchanged. The dietary interventions did not alter partitioning of ALNA towards β-oxidation. The present results indicate ALNA conversion was down-regulated by increased product (EPA+DHA) availability, but was not up-regulated by increased substrate (ALNA) consumption. This suggests regulation of ALNA conversion may limit the influence of variations in dietary n-3 fatty acid intake on plasma lipid compositions.
Determinants of deforestation in Peninsular Malaysia: an ARDL approach.

Department of Hospitality and Recreation, Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia Corresponding author: abrahimabsamad@gmail.com Abstract: The forested land in Malaysia is slowly giving way to agriculture especially oil palm and other forms of land use, creating a conflict between agriculture production and forest management. Land use for agriculture has changed over the years. While the land use for oil palm has been increasing steadily since the late 1980s, the relatively more drastic increment has been observed in the late 1990s. On the other hand, land use for other crops such as rubber and cocoa has been declining. This paper highlights the empirical evidence on tropical deforestation in Peninsular Malaysia. The economic factors and short-run and long-run effects of its determinants were examined in an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ADRL) approach. The results suggest that in the long run, there are no determinants that have significant impact on deforestation. Instead, the price of oil palm is significant at 10 percent level and has positive impact on forest area. In the short run, the results show that the weighted price of logs and the price of oil palm are negative and statistically significant at 10 and 1 percent level respectively. These results indicate that the determinants of deforestation in the short run do exist. They lead to the decline of forest area which increases the rate of deforestation in the Peninsular Malaysia. Key words: Deforestation, short-run, long-run, autoregressive distributed lag
Is Needle Aspiration for Peritonsillar Abscess Still as Good as We Think? A Long-term Follow-up

Objective: The aim was to study the therapeutic management, recurrence, and need for tonsillectomy in patients who underwent needle aspiration for peritonsillar abscess (PTA). Methods: A prospective observational design study was performed. Patients hospitalized in Shaare Zedek Medical Center between the years 2004 and 2007 with a diagnosis of PTA who underwent needle aspiration obtaining pus were included. A minimum 5-year follow-up was required for all patients. Recurrences, complications, the need for a repeated surgical procedure, length of hospital admission, and tonsillectomy were the primary end points. Results: The study included 117 patients. One hundred four patients (88.9%) improved after 1 needle aspiration without any other intervention, whereas 13 patients (11.1%) required an additional procedure. Broad spectrum antibiotics showed a statistical advantage over penicillin only, regarding need for recurrent procedure (14.7% vs 4.7%, P = .02). No short- or long-term complications were documented. Seventeen patients (14.5%) had any recurrence. Primary recurrent tonsillitis, female sex, and younger age were predictive risk factors for recurrent events of PTA (32% vs 10%, P < .01). A total of 18 patients (15.4%) eventually underwent tonsillectomy. Conclusion: Needle aspiration is an effective first line procedure for patients with PTA. Tonsillectomy is not necessary in most cases. In our study, young age, female sex, and recurrent tonsillitis are negative prognostic factors for recurrence. These patients should be managed accordingly. Broad spectrum antibiotics may offer additional advantages when compared to penicillin only.
Predicting the toxicity of chromium in sediments

Chromium exists in sediments in two oxidation states: Cr(III), which is relatively insoluble and nontoxic, and Cr(VI), which is much more soluble and toxic. Chromium(VI) is thermodynamically unstable in anoxic sediments, and acid‐volatile sulfide (AVS) is formed only in anoxic sediments; therefore sediments with measurable AVS concentrations should not contain toxic Cr(VI). If this hypothesis holds true, measuring AVS could form the basis for a theoretically based guideline for Cr in sediments. Ten‐day water‐only and spiked sediment toxicity tests with the amphipod Ampelisca abdita were performed with Cr(VI) and Cr(III), along with sediments collected from a site contaminated with high concentrations of Cr. In sediments where AVS exceeded analytical detection limits, Cr concentrations in interstitial water were very low (<100 μg/L) and no significant toxicity to A. abdita was observed. In sediments in which AVS was not significantly greater than zero, Cr concentrations in interstitial waters increased significantly, with greater than 90% of the Cr present as Cr(VI), and mortality of A. abdita was elevated. These results demonstrate that measurements of AVS and interstitial water chromium can be useful in predicting the absence of acute effects from Cr contamination in sediments.
Differential Expression of NLRP3 among Hematopoietic Cells

Although the importance of the NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in health and disease is well appreciated, a precise characterization of NLRP3 expression is yet undetermined. To this purpose, we generated a knock-in mouse in which the Nlrp3 coding sequence was substituted for the GFP (enhanced GFP [egfp]) gene. In this way, the expression of eGFP is driven by the endogenous regulatory elements of the Nlrp3 gene. In this study, we show that eGFP expression indeed mirrors that of NLRP3. Interestingly, splenic neutrophils, macrophages, and, in particular, monocytes and conventional dendritic cells showed robust eGFP fluorescence, whereas lymphoid subsets, eosinophils, and plasmacytoid dendritic cells showed negligible eGFP levels. NLRP3 expression was highly inducible in macrophages, both by MyD88- and Trif-dependent pathways. In vivo, when mice were challenged with diverse inflammatory stimuli, differences in both the number of eGFP-expressing cells and fluorescence intensity were observed in the draining lymph node. Thus, NLRP3 levels at the site of adaptive response initiation are controlled by recruitment of NLRP3-expressing cells and by NLRP3 induction.
Siblings, public facilities and education returns in China

This paper investigates the intrahousehold resource allocation on children’s education and its earnings consequence in Chinese labour market. In order to overcome the endogeneity problem of schooling, we consider the siblings structure and the available public facilities as instrumental variables. Females’ education is negatively affected by siblings (brothers or sisters) number, while males’ education is also negatively affected by their brothers but much less by their sisters. For the youngest cohort born after 1980, the education of a girl would be heavily impeded by her sisters, reflecting strong distortion of “One-Child Policy” on intrahousehold resource allocation. Comparing the OLS and GIV estimations for returns to schooling, we find that there are downwards biases of OLS estimations for males in all cohorts and in all years. However, for females, downwards biases of OLS estimation are only for data before 2004, as females in the old cohorts actually have upwards biases after 2004. Education returns of the youngest cohort are much higher than old cohorts supporting the argument of heterogeneous human capital accumulation during transition.
Using Federated Catalogs to Improve Semantic Integration among Spatial Data Infrastructures

Nowadays, Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) play an important role in government agencies, at different levels: global, national, and local. They aim to improve the management and sharing of geospatial data. Nonetheless, these SDIs have been developed as information islands, in which a user's query is compared to metadata described only in their own catalog services. The lack of interaction among SDIs limits the potential of these infrastructures in providing geospatial data to a larger audience. This article presents a distributed architecture, based on a federation of SDIs which interact among themselves, using query propagation. This propagation facilitates data discovery and sharing. We also describe a distributed query processing service used to enable the resource discovery in distributed infrastructures.
Precautionary practices for administering anesthetic gases: A survey of physician anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists and anesthesiologist assistants

ABSTRACT Scavenging systems and administrative and work practice controls for minimizing occupational exposure to waste anesthetic gases have been recommended for many years. Anesthetic gases and vapors that are released or leak out during medical procedures are considered waste anesthetic gases. To better understand the extent recommended practices are used, the NIOSH Health and Safety Practices Survey of Healthcare Workers was conducted in 2011 among members of professional practice organizations representing anesthesia care providers including physician anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, and anesthesiologist assistants. This national survey is the first to examine self-reported use of controls to minimize exposure to waste anesthetic gases among anesthesia care providers. The survey was completed by 1,783 nurse anesthetists, 1,104 physician anesthesiologists, and 100 anesthesiologist assistants who administered inhaled anesthetics in the seven days prior to the survey. Working in hospitals and outpatient surgical centers, respondents most often administered sevoflurane and, to a lesser extent desflurane and isoflurane, in combination with nitrous oxide. Use of scavenging systems was nearly universal, reported by 97% of respondents. However, adherence to other recommended practices was lacking to varying degrees and differed among those administering anesthetics to pediatric (P) or adult (A) patients. Examples of practices which increase exposure risk, expressed as percent of respondents, included: using high (fresh gas) flow anesthesia only (17% P, 6% A), starting anesthetic gas flow before delivery mask or airway mask was applied to patient (35% P; 14% A); not routinely checking anesthesia equipment for leaks (4% P, 5% A), and using a funnel-fill system to fill vaporizers (16%). Respondents also reported that facilities lacked safe handling procedures (19%) and hazard awareness training (18%). Adherence to precautionary work practices was generally highest among nurse anesthetists compared to the other anesthesia care providers. Successful management of waste anesthetic gases should include scavenging systems, hazard awareness training, availability of standard procedures to minimize exposure, regular inspection of anesthesia delivery equipment for leaks, prompt attention to spills and leaks, and medical surveillance.
Pneumonia after kidney transplant: incidence, risk factors, and mortality.

OBJECTIVES Pneumonia is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in recipients of solid-organ transplant. We aimed to determine risk factors for development of pneumonia and associated deaths in kidney transplant recipients. MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective review of medical records was performed for all kidney transplant recipients from December 1988, to April 2011. The diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia was made from symptoms, clinical findings, and chest radiography. The diagnosis of nosocomial pneumonia was made according to published criteria. Laboratory and serologic tests, radiographic findings, cultures of respiratory specimens, and tissue biopsies were reviewed. RESULTS In 406 kidney transplant recipients, there were 82 patients (20%) who had 111 episodes of pneumonia, including 49 nosocomial episodes of pneumonia (44%). Bacterial infections were the most common cause (34 episodes [31%]). In multivariate analysis, significant risk factors associated with pneumonia episodes were older age, hypertension, cardiac disease, history of acute graft rejection, and not using everolimus/mycophenolate mofetil/prednisolone protocol. There were 28 episodes that resulted in death (25%), including 20 nosocomial episodes (71%). In multivariate analysis, significant risk factors associated with death from pneumonia episodes were antibiotic use in the previous 3 months, high C-reactive protein, and low albumin. Cutoff values for increased risk of death from pneumonia included C-reactive protein > 10 mg/dL and procalcitonin > 8.8 ng/mL. CONCLUSIONS Recipients of kidney transplant may be at risk for pneumonia and associated death. Nosocomial pulmonary infections may be associated with marked morbidity and mortality in kidney transplant recipients.
An Overview of Challenging Issues in Image Super Resolution Construction

There are many different techniques that are proposed since the Image Super Resolution concept is introduced. Almost approaches that are existing are found to be working well on the toy data or the sample data but faces issues in the real world data. For the development of a practical Image Super Resolution there are many challenging issues ahead that may prevent the proposed techniques and approaches from the desired application. In the following, There are several such challenging issues that we think are important and to be focused on for the further development and wide applications of Image Super Resolution Techniques.
In Vitro Evolution of an Archetypal Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Strain

ABSTRACT Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) is a leading cause of infantile diarrhea in developing countries. EPEC strain E2348/69 is used worldwide as a prototype to study EPEC genetics and disease. However, isolates of E2348/69 differ phenotypically, reflecting a history of in vitro selection. To identify the genomic and phenotypic changes in the prototype strain, we sequenced the genome of the nalidixic acid-resistant (Nalr) E2348/69 clone. We also sequenced a recent nleF mutant derived by one-step PCR mutagenesis from the Nalr strain. The sequencing results revealed no unintended changes between the mutant and the parent strain. However, loss of the pE2348-2 plasmid and 3 nonsynonymous mutations were found in comparison to the published streptomycin-resistant (Strr) E2348/69 reference genome. One mutation is a conservative amino acid substitution in ftsK. Another, in gyrA, is a mutation known to result in resistance to nalidixic acid. The third mutation converts a stop codon to a tryptophan, predicted to result in the fusion of hflD, the lysogenization regulator, to purB. The purB gene encodes an adenylosuccinate lyase involved in purine biosynthesis. The Nalr clone has a lower growth rate than the Strr isolate when cultured in minimal media, a difference which is corrected upon addition of adenine or by genetic complementation with purB. Addition of adenine or genetic complementation also restored the invasion efficiency of the Nalr clone. This report reconciles longstanding inconsistencies in phenotypic properties of an archetypal strain and provides both reassurance and cautions regarding intentional and unintentional evolution in vitro.
Income Redistribution and Risky Occupational Choices

Abstract I analyze the effect of linear taxation on discrete choices between risky occupations. In the basic model, two occupations differ in the magnitude of income risks, and citizens differ in their expected productivity in one of the occupations. I derive sufficient conditions under which income redistribution encourages a greater part of the population to choose the riskier occupation associated with higher expected income. The results are then generalized to an arbitrary number of groups of citizens facing an arbitrary number of discrete occupational choices belonging to the same linear distribution class.
NATO and EU in conflict regulation: interlocking institutions and division of labour

The article examines the development of the relationship and cooperation of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in conflict regulation. It states that over three phases these two institutions deepened their relationship in the aspect of an intensification of their cooperation, an adoption of specific functions and a de facto clearer division of labour in conflict regulation. It will analyse whether and to what degree this cooperation and a functional division of labour is based on the functional ascription by member states or more on the activities of the institutions themselves. This comparative study will thereby contribute to a necessary theory-based analysis of the relationship of these two major international security institutions and to a deeper analysis of the inter-institutional cooperation of EU and NATO. Furthermore, it will show the importance of a combined principal- (states) and agent- (institutions) centred approach towards the shaping and explaining of inter–institutional relationships as well as going beyond the simple principal–agent relationship and advancing to the principal–agent–agent relationship.
In vivo visualization of abdominal malignancies with acoustic radiation force elastography

The utility of acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging for real-time visualization of abdominal malignancies was investigated. Nine patients presenting with suspicious masses in the liver (n = 7) or kidney (n = 2) underwent combined sonography/ARFI imaging. Images were acquired of a total of 12 tumors in the nine patients. In all cases, boundary definition in ARFI images was improved or equivalent to boundary definition in B-mode images. Displacement contrast in ARFI images was superior to echo contrast in B-mode images for each tumor. The mean contrast for suspected hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) in B-mode images was 2.9 dB (range: 1.5–4.2) versus 7.5 dB (range: 3.1–11.9) in ARFI images, with all HCCs appearing more compliant than regional cirrhotic liver parenchyma. The mean contrast for metastases in B-mode images was 3.1 dB (range: 1.2–5.2) versus 9.3 dB (range: 5.7–13.9) in ARFI images, with all masses appearing less compliant than regional non-cirrhotic liver parenchyma. ARFI image contrast (10.4 dB) was superior to B-mode contrast (0.9 dB) for a renal mass. To our knowledge, we present the first in vivo images of abdominal malignancies in humans acquired with the ARFI method or any other technique of imaging tissue elasticity.
Trustable virtual machine scheduling in a cloud

In an Infrastructure As A Service (IaaS) cloud, the scheduler deploys VMs to servers according to service level objectives (SLOs). Clients and service providers must both trust the infrastructure. In particular they must be sure that the VM scheduler takes decisions that are consistent with its advertised behaviour. The difficulties to master every theoretical and practical aspects of a VM scheduler implementation leads however to faulty behaviours that break SLOs and reduce the provider revenues. We present SafePlace, a specification and testing framework that exhibits inconsistencies in VM schedulers. SafePlace mixes a DSL to formalise scheduling decisions with fuzz testing to generate a large spectrum of test cases and automatically report implementation faults. We evaluate SafePlace on the VM scheduler BtrPlace. Without any code modification, SafePlace allows to write test campaigns that are 3.83 times smaller than BtrPlace unit tests. SafePlace performs 200 tests per second, exhibited new non-trivial bugs, and outperforms the BtrPlace runtime assertion system.
The Fed Controls Only One of the Two Interest Rates in the U.S. Economy

Detailed analyses of a wide variety of monthly U.S. interest rates series for 1985-1995 are summarized. Short tenn rates (of term two years or less) are seen to operate in bivariate CI(1,1) cointegration relationships with the Fed' s Federal Funds Rate Target (Ro), though rates of longer term than two years do noto The latler operate in trivariate CI(1,1) cointegration relationships with Ro and a single longer term rate. Thus there are two and only two nonstationruy common factors in the set of interest, one identified with both short term rates and monetary policy, the other not. (JEL C22, C32. E43. E52).
Explaining the distribution of firm growth rates

Empirical analyses on aggregated datasets have revealed a common exponential behavior in the shape of the probability density of the corporate growth rates. We present clearcut evidence on this topic using disaggregated data. We explain the observed regularities proposing a model in which the firms’ ability of taking up new business opportunities increases with the number of opportunities already exploited. A theoretical result is presented for the limiting case in which the number of firms and opportunities go to infinity. Moreover, using simulations, we show that even in a small industry the agreement with asymptotic results is almost complete. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)