Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
'A piecemeal way to save the world' : investigating social sustainability in the UK's conventional food supply

This thesis addresses a gap in knowledge of sustainability in relation to food – namely how the social ‘pillar’ is being interpreted and acted on, and by whom, in the UK’s conventional food supply. Sustainability is widely seen to have three pillars (environmental, economic and social), with the latter the least well understood. The thesis uses a governance perspective, where sustainability is viewed as a problem seen to be in need of intervention by public and other rule-making authorities. The research first reviewed UK-level state policy relating to social sustainability and food. It then explored organisational websites to find out what types of entity were active on social sustainability, and in what ways. The website research yielded data 135 separate entities, and was supplemented by 27 qualitative interviews. It was found that actors from a range of categories beyond companies producing food were involved in governing this area, such as financial actors, ‘infrastructure’ providers, consultants, advocacy groups and standards organisations. They used an array of governance techniques, including re-badging existing activities, outsourcing, advocacy, collaboration, and multiple forms of ‘audit’. The range of social concerns on which they acted was extensive, from nutrition and employment to education and animal welfare. They were both substantive (such as the nutritional content of food) and procedural (such as accountability). However, the activities were very inconsistently associated with sustainability, leading to the conclusion that social sustainability does not yet have a settled meaning in the context of the conventional food supply, and given the highly normative nature of its constituent concerns, its meaning may always be dynamic and contested. Overall, non-state governance was found to be ad hoc and opportunistic, but also resourceful and idealistic. In the absence of coherent state guidance, it served the actors’ diverse interests rather than any agreed public goal.
Sensitivity and specificity of ultrasonography and low-field magnetic resonance imaging for diagnosing arthritis.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the value of grey-scale ultrasonography (US) including power Doppler ultrasonography (PDUS) and low-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the diagnosis of arthritis in a diagnostic phase III study. METHODS Fifty consecutive patients with suspected arthritis were included in the study. Following a standardised protocol, US of the carpus and the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints of the dominant hand was performed. Subsequently, low-field MRI was done using standard sequences, with contrast agent (Gadolinium DTPA) administered to 29 patients. RESULTS In 32 out of 50 patients a clinical diagnosis of arthritis was established. In grey-scale ultrasonography including PDUS, sensitivity and specificity were determined as 0.94 and 0.5, respectively, for synovitis (effusion and hypertrophy), 0.72 and 0.94, respectively, for Doppler signals, and 0.38 and 1.0, respectively, for bone erosions. In low-field MRI, sensitivity and specificity values were 0.77 and 0.75, respectively, for synovitis (when using contrast agent), 0.48 and 0.78, respectively, for bone marrow oedema, and 0.58 and 0.83, respectively, for bone erosion. CONCLUSIONS Both grey-scale ultrasonography including PDUS and low-field MRI are suitable imaging methods for diagnosing arthritis at an early stage. However, PDUS displays a higher specificity and almost the same sensitivity as compared to contrast-enhanced MRI, while being a much simpler and less costly procedure.
The State of Measurement of Self-Esteem of African American Women

This article critically reviews the state of measurement of self-esteem in African American women. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory are three commonly used measures. However, their validity for African American women has not been adequately tested. Given the unique nature of the self-esteem of this group, related to experiences of racism and sexism, the accurate measurement of this construct is important. This review provided support for the internal consistency of each measure with alpha coefficients ranging from . 74 to . 87. However, the validity of the measures was not fully supported. Suggestions for further research specific to the unique needs of this population are discussed.
Anatomic Alignment of the Patellar Groove

The variability in alignment of the natural patellar groove was determined about various anatomic axes of the femur, using 3 plane radiographs and electronic digitization. After the patellar groove was identified and marked on 15 anatomic specimen femurs, radiographs were taken in the coronal, sagittal, and transverse planes so that principal anatomic axes could be outlined. Through electronic digitization, a 3-dimensional representation of the patellar groove was constructed about the distal anatomic axis, mechanical axis, transepicondylar axes, and transcondylar axes. Regarding these 4 principal anatomic axes, the variability in orientation of the patellar groove was profound in both coronal and transverse planes, typically involving a range of 11 ° to 16 ° about the mean. The average orientation most closely approximated the perpendicular to the transepicondylar axis in the coronal plane; however, the range varied extensively. None of the anatomic axes tested proved reliable as a reference axis for proper position of the patellar groove, and this study shows that the orientation of the natural patellar groove is more variable than previously suspected. The failure of femoral components to accomodate this variability may explain many complications associated with the patellar component in total knee arthroplasty.
Diagnosis of undifferentiated type early gastric cancers by magnification endoscopy with narrow‐band imaging

Background and Aims: The diagnostic use of magnification endoscopy with narrow‐band imaging (ME‐NBI) to assess histopathologically undifferentiated‐type early gastric cancers (UD‐type EGCs) is not well elucidated. The purpose of this study was to examine the comparative relationship between ME‐NBI images and histopathological findings in UD‐type EGCs.
A Flicker-Free Electrolytic Capacitor-Less AC–DC LED Driver

The electrolytic capacitor is the key component that limits the operating lifetime of LED drivers. If an ac-dc LED driver with power factor correction (PFC) control is allowed to output a pulsating current for driving the LEDs, the electrolytic capacitor will no longer be required. However, this pulsating current will introduce light flicker that varies at twice the power line frequency. In this paper, a configuration of flicker-free electrolytic capacitor-less single-phase ac-dc driver for LED lighting is proposed. The configuration comprises an electrolytic capacitor-less PFC converter and a bidirectional converter, which serves to absorb the ac component of the pulsating current of the PFC converter, leaving only a dc component to drive the LEDs. The output filter capacitor of the bidirectional converter is intentionally designed to have a large voltage ripple, thus its capacitance can be greatly reduced. Consequently, film capacitors can be used instead of electrolytic capacitors, leading to the realization of a flicker-free ac-dc LED driver that has a long lifetime. The proposed solution is generally applicable to all single-phase PFC converters. A prototype with 48-V, 0.7-A output is constructed and tested. Experimental results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the flick-free electrolytic capacitor-less ac-dc LED driver.
Implementation of Fault Ride-Through Techniques of Grid-Connected Inverter for Distributed Energy Resources With Adaptive Low-Pass Notch PLL

The amount of distributed energy resources (DERs) has constantly increased worldwide. As the power ratings of DERs have become considerably high, the grid code requirements are necessary to secure reliable power generation and transmission for the public electric network. In order to follow grid codes of the various countries and optimize the function of grid-connected inverters for DERs, a robust phase-locked loop (PLL) is essential for extracting the grid phase information accurately, when the grid voltage is polluted by harmonics and unbalanced. This paper proposes fault ride-through techniques based on a low-pass notch (LPN)-PLL. The LPN-PLL has not only fast and smooth transient responses to a sudden transition of the grid voltage but also has robustness to the distorted and unbalanced grid conditions. Therefore, the stable performance in the grid fault conditions is expected without the system trip. Furthermore, a universal voltage sag generator for the various grid codes with six parameters is proposed for the verification of low voltage ride-through (LVRT) performance. Experimental verifications are presented to show the LVRT performance based on the LPN-PLL with a three-phase grid-connected inverter (10 kV·A) and a prototype of the voltage sag generator (10 kV·A).
Phenotypic and Genotypic Approaches to Characterization of Isolates of Neisseria meningitidis from Patients and Their Close Family Contacts

ABSTRACT Characterization of isolates of Neisseria meningitidisobtained from patients with meningococcal disease or from pharyngeal swabs of asymptomatic carriers can be achieved by several approaches which provide different levels of discrimination. A total of 45 gram negative, oxidase-positive diplococcus strains isolated from 15 individuals with meningococcal disease and 30 of their family contacts were examined by three approaches: serological typing, multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE), and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). For 10 of the 15 patient and contact groups, all of the isolates were confirmed as meningococci, and the bacteria obtained from the patients and contacts, including their mother or principal caregiver in the case of children, were indistinguishable by all three methods. In the remaining five groups the isolates from the patients were distinct from those recovered from the contacts, and in three examples, in two separate groups, the contacts were shown by MLST to be carrying strains of Neisseria lactamica. The data obtained from the three techniques were consistent, although complete serological typing was possible for only a minority of isolates. Both MLEE and MLST established the genetic relationships of the isolates and identified members of known hypervirulent lineages, but MLST was faster than MLEE and had the additional advantages that it could be performed on noninfective material distributed by mail and that the results from different laboratories could be compared via the internet (http://mlst.zoo.ox.ac.uk ).
Increased shear stress-released NO and decreased endothelial calcium in rat isolated perfused juxtamedullary nephrons.

BACKGROUND Nitric oxide is an important vasodilator released from endothelial cells by the calcium-dependent endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS). We considered it important to investigate how shear stress/perfusion pressure influenced endothelial cell calcium concentration, nitric oxide release, and autoregulation of the afferent arteriole, since this arteriole controls glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and renin release. METHODS We used an isolated perfused juxtamedullary nephron preparation and measured calcium with Fura 2, nitric oxide with 4-amino-5 methylamino-2', 7'-difluorescein (DAF-FM) and diameter with an imaging system. A mathematical model was applied to calculate changes in nitric oxide concentration and shear stress/wall tension during perfusion with and without erythrocytes at perfusion pressures varying from 50 to 150 mm Hg. RESULT Cell-free perfusion increased nitric oxide concentration and abolished autoregulation; addition of erythrocytes or l-arginine analog N-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) decreased nitric oxide concentration and reinstated autoregulation. Elevated perfusion pressure/elevated shear stress increased nitric oxide release and surprisingly decreased the endothelial cell calcium concentration, with perfusion pressure increase from 50 to 150 mm Hg, using blood perfusion endothelial calcium concentration decreased from 186 +/- 39 to 76 +/- 25 nmol/L and with cell-free perfusion from 116 +/- 33 to 56 +/- 21 nmol/L. CONCLUSION Nitric oxide scavenging by erythrocytes has a high impact on arteriolar nitric oxide concentration and autoregulatory response. Nitric oxide measurements in endothelial cells of the afferent arteriole showed that increased perfusion pressure/shear stress increased nitric oxide release, while simultaneously endothelial cell calcium concentration decreased, possibly indicating a feedback control of this calcium by nitric oxide release.
Co-creating customization : Collaborating with customers to deliver individualized value

Purpose The article introduces practitioners to the concept and process of co-creating customization with buyers. Design/methodology/approach This article offers a process and a model that mass market companies can use to take a scalable approach to involving customers in offering development, delivery and use. Findings Companies that co-create customization in a truly collaborative process enjoy significantly more sustainable competitive advantages. Practical implications For the company, co-creating leads to better offerings – including new capabilities that can be used with different customers in differing combinations – and also a more complete and clear picture of what its customers want. Originality/value The article introduces the co-creation customization model and nine strategies practitioners can use to provide individualized customer value.
Determinants of Choice of Alternative Financing Modes for SME’s, a Review of Literature

The aim of this paper is to ascertain varying literature on determinants of choice of alternative financing modes for Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SME’s) with a view of enhancing the scope and access of alternative sources of finance for SME’s, owing to their unique financial needs. Increased momentum of economic growth strains formal finance, necessitating a search for alternative finance to sustain or accelerate the positive trends. Although there are quite a number of alternative sources of finance, information is lacking scanty on some alternatives while on others, it is lacking. Consequential therefrom, SME’s fail to pursue available modes of alternative sources of finance. This review therefore, uses available literature and solely focusses on the diverse determinants of choice of alternative financing modes and makes policy recommendations. This paper underscores the nexus between financial services and economic growth. That finance in SME’s determines SME’s mortality rate, recent rapid economic developments necessitate study of alternative finance. We establish scarce mention of determinants of choice of alternative financing modes. Emergent though that some determinant of choice of alternative sources of finance include formal finance constraints, SME characteristics and business environment.
Notice of RetractionPhysicochemical Characteristics of Scenedesmus obliquus with Different Treatments of Melamine

Melamine is an azocyclo-containing organic compound, is traditionally used in the chemical and sporadically mixed into animal feeds to boost protein content. Melamine is used as food additives which has a ranther poor biodegradability. The possibility of water resources and soils being contaminated by melamine discharge arouse more and more concern. This study was designed to test the melamine toxicity effects on aquatic ecosystem. Scenedesmus obliquus was exposed to series melamine concentrations (0, 50, 200, 750 mg/L). Five parameters were measured after 7days exposure, which are growth rate, superoxide dismutase (SOD), photosynthetic pigments, free malondialdehyde(MDA) and soluble sugar contents. Melamine concentration of 50, 200mg/L caused a significant increase in growth and photosynthetic pigments contents. SOD activities of S. obliquun were stimulated first and then inhibited with the increasing of melamine concentrations, and reached its peak in 200mg/L, however, in 750mg/L, it is reduced by 43.6%. The contents of MDA and soluble sugar were inhibited significantly under moderate and high concentrations (50, 200, 750 mg/L) of melamine.This study indicates that, SOD was sensitive to melamine exposure and could be used as a potential biomarker for risk assessment of aquatic ecosystem safety.
Programmable 2D Arrangements for Element Texture Design

This article introduces a programmable method for designing stationary 2D arrangements for element textures, namely textures made of small geometric elements. These textures are ubiquitous in numerous applications of computer-aided illustration. Previous methods, whether they be example-based or layout-based, lack control and can produce a limited range of possible arrangements. Our approach targets technical artists who will design an arrangement by writing a script. These scripts are using three types of operators: partitioning operators for defining the broad-scale organization of the arrangement, mapping operators for controlling the local organization of elements, and merging operators for mixing different arrangements. These operators are designed so as to guarantee a stationary result, meaning that the produced arrangements will always be repetitive. We show that this simple set of operators is sufficient to reach a much broader variety of arrangements than previous methods. Editing the script leads to predictable changes in the synthesized arrangement, which allows an easy iterative design of complex structures. Finally, our operator set is extensible and can be adapted to application-dependent needs.
Determinants of general health status and specific diseases of elderly women and men: A longitudinal analysis for Western and Eastern Germany

We used the panel data of the German Life Expectancy Survey (LES) for analysing the impact of specific life conditions on the gender-specific health outcome of respondents aged 60+ at follow-up over a period of 13 years (for western Germany) and 7 years (for eastern Germany) respectively. For western Germany we extended the analysis by additional information about life course experiences with unemployment, smoking behaviour, reproduction history and migration background. We analysed self-rated general health as well as the self-reported absence and prevalence of specific diseases which are directly related to the main causes of death and disabilities. Moreover, we analysed death and attrition as competing risks at follow-up in order to control for selection effects to the health outcome. The analysis was separated by sex to account for gender-specific life conditions. The results confirm existing knowledge regarding socioeconomic differences and offer insights into the influence of health lifestyles, in particular sports activity and smoking history. Further, associations were found between the earlier presence of diseases and the health condition at follow-up. Gender differences in health outcomes are partly explained by the higher mortality of males and the higher number of non-respondents among females. The study extends the knowledge about risk factors for health in Germany by a longitudinal approach and emphasises the importance of earlier life stage intervention to reduce disease-specific risk factors.
Detection of pulmonary amylase activity in exhaled breath condensate

Amylase activity in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) is usually interpreted as an indication of oropharyngeal contamination despite the fact that amylase can be found in pulmonary excretions. The aim of this study was to recruit and refine an amylase assay in order to detect amylase activity in any EBC sample and to develop a method to identify EBC samples containing amylase of pulmonary origin. EBC was collected from 40 volunteers with an EcoScreen condenser. Amylase assays and methods to discriminate between oropharyngeal and pulmonary proteins were tested and developed using matched EBC and saliva samples. Our refined 2-chloro-4-nitrophenyl-α-D-maltotriosid (CNP-G3) assay was 40-fold more sensitive than the most sensitive commercial assay and allowed detection of amylase activity in 30 µl of EBC. We developed a dot-blot assay which allowed detection of salivary protein in saliva diluted up to 150 000-fold. By plotting amylase activity against staining intensity we identified a few EBC samples with high amylase activity which were aligned with diluted saliva. We believe that EBC samples aligned with diluted saliva contain amylase activity introduced during EBC collection and that all other EBC samples contain amylase activity of pulmonary origin and are basically free of oropharyngeal protein contamination.
Internet gambling stock returns: empirical evidence from the UK

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to quantify beta for an online gambling portfolio in the UK and investigates whether it is time-varying. It also examines the dynamic correlations of the online gambling portfolio with both the market and socially responsible portfolios. In addition, this paper documents the effect of important UK gambling legislation on the betas and correlations of the online gambling portfolio. Design/methodology/approach This study uses static and time-varying models (e.g. rolling regressions, multivariate GARCH models) to estimate betas and correlations for a portfolio of UK online gambling stocks. Findings This study finds that beta for the online gambling portfolio is less than 1, indicative of defensiveness toward the market, a result that is consistent with prior literature for sin stocks. In addition, the conditional correlation between the market and online gambling portfolio is small when compared to the correlation of the market and socially responsible portfolios. Findings suggest that the adoption of the Gambling Act 2005 increases the conditional correlation between the market and online gambling portfolio and it also increases the conditional betas for the online gambling portfolio. Research limitations/implications This paper serves as a starting point for future research on online gambling stocks. Going forward, studies can focus on the financial performance or accounting performance of online gambling stocks. Originality/value This empirical investigation provides insight into the risk characteristics of publicly listed online gambling companies in the UK.
Electromyographic Comparison of Standard and Modified Closed‐Chain Isometric Knee Extension Exercises

The purpose of this study was to compare electromyographic (EMG) activity during open kinetic chain (OKC) and a modified closed kinetic chain (MCKC) knee extension exercises. Both OKC and closed kinetic chain (CKC) exercises provide benefits when devising conditioning programs; however, there are no exercises that combine the benefits of both exercises. Subjects performed maximum isometric knee extensions for both traditional OKC and MCKC knee extension exercises. Surface electrodes were placed on 8 lower-extremity muscles. One second of integrated EMG activity followed 95% maximal knee extension force. The following muscles demonstrated greater EMG activity during the MCKC vs. the OKC knee extension exercises: vastus medialis, medial hamstring, lateral hamstrings, and gluteus maximus. There was no difference between force output between the 2 conditions. This study demonstrates that modifications to traditional OKC exercises demonstrate some characteristics of CKC exercises, and therefore provide another avenue of rehabilitation or strengthening.