Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Environmental Implications of International Trade and Uneven Development: Toward a Critique of Environmental Economics

The main premises and the environmental implications of neoclassical trade theory and environmental economics are put under Marxist scrutiny. An attempt is then made to develop an alternative Marxist approach in investigating the specific significance of the capitalist mode of production and, more specifically, the environmental implications of international trade and uneven development. As argued, environmental degradation is largely the result of capitalist development and not of "underdevelopment" or poverty in Southern countries. It is further argued that international trade is ruled by absolute and not comparative advantage. This has important environmental implications insofar as the non-optimal effects of specialization, in terms of resource use, and the imbalancing effects of free trade tend to exacerbate the environmental problem.
Public administration reform in Vietnam: problems and prospects

Public Administration Reform (PAR) in Vietnam is an ambitious programme that seeks to implement ‘rule by law’ within a centralized, state management framework. It is a political strategy by the key party and state officials with the aim of institutionalizing and legitimizing the transition to the ‘socialist market economy’ through creating a dependable system of rule-bound public administration. This programme has received extensive donor support. In the content and trajectory of PAR, external models and technical assistance are influential but the political struggle over control of state resources shapes the process. This is seen in the attempts to constitutionalize the powers of state organs and to distinguish them from the party; to separate owner and manager roles and to replace political with economic criteria in the operation of state owned enterprises; to combat corruption in ‘street level’ decision making; to rationalize the machinery of government; to create a centrally managed, professional civil service; and to reform the system of public finances. In each of these areas, there is resistance to reform proposals and evidence of implementation gaps. In these circumstances, concentration of donor support on the centrally managed PAR programme is a high risk strategy. Continued support for local, ‘bottom-up’ reform initiatives could help sustain the demand for reform. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Health impacts of epidemiological environment change: measurement issues

Epidemiological environment (EE) could be denned as a set of conditions and processes, both physical and social, that influence the interaction between human beings and disease agents. The human epidemiological environment is shaped by various aspects of development and global change, viz. the influences of human population size, mobility, geographic distribution, urbanization, and nutrition status; modernization (macro-and microeconomic enterprise); loss of indigenous medicinal knowledge; microbial evolution of antibiotic resistance; land conversion and biodiversity loss; agricultural intensification; stratospheric ozone depletion; and climatic change (Daily and Ehrlich, 1995). Health status is affected greatly not only by economic development (e.g. by policies influencing per capita income and its distribution), but also through changes in EE.
Current Management of Focal Atrial Tachycardia in Children: A Multicenter Experience

Background—Focal atrial tachycardia (FAT) is an uncommon cause of supraventricular tachycardia in children. Incessant FAT can lead to tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy. There is limited information regarding the clinical course and management of FAT. This study characterizes current management strategies for FAT in children including the prevalence of spontaneous resolution and the role of catheter ablation. Methods and Results—This is a retrospective chart review of pediatric patients with FAT managed between January 2000 and November 2010 at 10 pediatric centers. There were 249 patients with a median age at diagnosis of 7.2 (95% confidence interval, 5.8–10.4) years. Cardiomyopathy was observed in 28%. Resolution of FAT occurred in 89%, including spontaneous resolution without catheter ablation in 34%. Antiarrhythmic medications were used for initial therapy in 154 patients with control of FAT in 72%. Among first-line medications, &bgr;-blockers were the most common (53%) and effective (42%). Catheter ablation was successful in 80% of patients. FAT recurrence was less common with electroanatomic mapping compared with conventional mapping techniques (16% versus 35%; P=0.02). Patients were followed for a median of 2.1 (95% confidence interval, 1.8–2.6) years. Conclusions—FAT is managed successfully in most children. Current approaches are variable. Many patients have control of FAT with medications; however, catheter ablation is used for most patients. Spontaneous resolution is common for young children, emphasizing the role for delayed ablation in this group. Ablation is successful for all ages. Lower recurrence occurs when electroanatomic mapping techniques are used.
Oxytocin Selectively Gates Fear Responses Through Distinct Outputs from the Central Amygdala

Specific neuronal populations in the amygdala control different behavioral and physiological components of the fear response. Central amygdala (CeA) projections to hypothalamic and brain stem nuclei regulate the behavioral and physiological expression of fear, but it is unknown whether these different aspects of the fear response can be separately regulated by the CeA. We combined fluorescent retrograde tracing of CeA projections to nuclei that modulate fear-related freezing or cardiovascular responses with in vitro electrophysiological recordings and with in vivo monitoring of related behavioral and physiological parameters. CeA projections emerged from separate neuronal populations with different electrophysiological characteristics and different response properties to oxytocin. In vivo, oxytocin decreased freezing responses in fear-conditioned rats without affecting the cardiovascular response. Thus, neuropeptidergic signaling can modulate the CeA outputs through separate neuronal circuits and thereby individually steer the various aspects of the fear response.
Collaborative System Integration Services

Information technology (IT) service is collaborative work among vendors and users. The user's satisfaction level depends not only on the skill or capability of the system integrator (SIer) but also on the user's own IT management. The results of two surveys will be presented to illustrate the relationship between users' satisfaction level and the internal IT management of SIers as well as users. Furthermore, collaboration is an important source of innovation in IT services and a crucial source of productivity gains in the economy as a whole.
Introducing Collaborative Advantage: Achieving Inter‐organizational Effectiveness through Meta‐strategy

In today′s organizational environment, the ability to manage positive relationships between organizations, as well as those within organizations, is becoming increasingly important. Based on work being carried out in Glasgow, explores some of the issues involved in achieving collaborative advantage. Focuses, in particular, on the issues which arise when collaboration is over strategy, rather than simply over particular projects. Argues that there is a fine balance to be struck between gaining the benefits of collaborating and making the situation worse. Identifies many factors important to this balance. Concludes by arguing that the notion of collaborative advantage has an important role to play in raising awareness about the nature and desirability of collaborative activity.
Multinational Enterprises from Small Economies: The Internationalization Patterns of Large Companies from Denmark, Finland and Norway

Analyzing the internationalization of large companies from small countries requires understanding the process of internationalization by examining push-pull forces associated with the interface between micro and macro level factors. We examine the growth and international expansion of the ten largest companies in Denmark, Finland, and Norway over the period 1990 to 1999. Most companies in the sample became more international during the last decade across basically all the investigated dimensions of internationalization. This was particularly accentuated in the case of Norwegian firms, possibly due to their lower degree of internationalization at the beginning of the period. The study also shows that companies increasingly internationalized even such strategic activities as research and development activities, and headquarters functions.
After the Credits Roll

Television has replaced the newspaper as the major source of news for most people, and thus has the potential to inform the public and influence attitudes. A growing literature has demonstrated the immediate effects of television viewing, but the ability of a particular program to have lasting effects is less clear. In this article, we report on two field experiments that provide a test of the durability of media effects by examining whether two television broadcasts had a lasting influence on viewers' knowledge and attitudes. Both television programs were designed to raise awareness about particular policy issues and to persuade. We find that one of the television programs affected viewer attitudes, even weeks after it aired, while the second television program did not. We consider why particular types of television programs and particular formats are better able to have a lasting impact on the public. Our findings suggest that message repetition is a crucial mechanism for influencing attitudes over the long-term.
Exchange-Rate Effects on China's Trade

Though China's share of world trade exceeds that of Japan, little is known about the response of China's trade to changes in exchange rates. The few estimates available have two limitations. First, the data for trade prices are based on proxies for prices from other countries. Secondly, the estimation sample includes the period of China's transformation from a centrally-planned economy to a more market-oriented one. We address these limitations with an empirical model explaining the shares of China's exports and imports in world trade in terms of the real effective value of the renminbi. The specifications control for foreign direct investment and for the role of imports of parts to assemble exports. Parameter estimation uses disaggregated monthly trade data and excludes China's decentralization period. We find that a 10 percent real appreciation of the renminbi lowers the share of aggregate Chinese exports by nearly one percentage point. However, the estimated response of imports is negligible and lacks precision.
Regional blood flow during periodic acceleration

ObjectiveTo determine whether a motion platform that imparts noninvasive periodic acceleration (pGz) forces to the body causes systemic vasodilation and changes local organ blood flow. DesignProspective paired blocked design. SettingMedical center research laboratory. SubjectsJuvenile Yorkshire pigs. InterventionsJuvenile pigs (12 kg) were anesthetized, paralyzed, and placed on a motion platform that oscillated at a frequency of 4 Hz and a force of ∼0.4 G. Measurements and Main Results Regional blood flows, as assessed by colored microspheres, increased during pGz relative to values obtained before pGz. Blood flow (mL·min−1·100 g−1) significantly increased to the epicardium (71%), endocardium (93%), cerebrum (183%), brain stem (177%), renal cortex (53%), ileal mucosa (69%), gastric antral mucosa (72%), and liver (86%). Spleen and skeletal muscle blood flow increased without statistical significance, 38% and 158% with pGz, relative to paired control values. Regional blood flows returned to baseline 10 mins after discontinuation of pGz, except in the myocardial layers, where blood flow remained significantly elevated. There was no difference compared with baseline in heart rate, arterial blood gases, and blood pressure, but serum nitrite concentration was significantly higher (58%) during pGz. In another series of animals, pGz increased pulmonary artery blood flow directly proportional to the magnitude of the applied acceleration force with frequency held constant. ConclusionsPeriodic sinusoidal inertial forces in the spinal axis increase blood flow to tissues. The increased blood flow is reversible and may be caused by vasodilation secondary to local mediator release. These effects may be desirable in clinical conditions of low tissue oxygen delivery and perfusion.
γ-Secretase is a membrane protein complex comprised of presenilin, nicastrin, aph-1, and pen-2

γ-Secretase catalyzes the intramembrane proteolysis of Notch, β-amyloid precursor protein, and other substrates as part of a new signaling paradigm and as a key step in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. This unusual protease has eluded identification, though evidence suggests that the presenilin heterodimer comprises the catalytic site and that a highly glycosylated form of nicastrin associates with it. The formation of presenilin heterodimers from the holoprotein is tightly gated by unknown limiting cellular factors. Here we show that Aph-1 and Pen-2, two recently identified membrane proteins genetically linked to γ-secretase, associate directly with presenilin and nicastrin in the active protease complex. Coexpression of all four proteins leads to marked increases in presenilin heterodimers, full glycosylation of nicastrin, and enhanced γ-secretase activity. These findings suggest that the four membrane proteins comprise the limiting components of γ-secretase and coassemble to form the active enzyme in mammalian cells.
Regional fairs, institutional innovation, and economic growth in late medieval Europe

In an essay on medieval market structures published some 30 years ago, Verlinden drew attention for the first time to the proliferation of fairs in late medieval Europe. He also noted, with some surprise, that the majority of these new events drew on local and regional, rather than international flows of trade. Since then the number of monographs on late medieval fairs has risen exponentially, but there have been no attempts to provide a general explanation of this major innovation in European market structures, and in the institutional preconditions for long-term economic growth.3 There appear to be two main reasons for this neglect. On the one hand, the view that the later middle ages experienced severe commercial contraction and generalized economic stagnation or depression is still very influential. The development of new fairs is therefore interpreted as an attempt by local grantees to defend a dwindling share of aggregate trade, rather than a response to growing commercial flows. On the other hand, it is often assumed that the main source of medieval development lay in long-distance trade in high-value commodities; hence changes in more localized market structures both before and after the Black Death are judged irrelevant or ignored. Pirenne, for example, argued that the sheer number of new, impermanent markets and fairs that appeared in ninth-century Europe was evidence enough of their lack of significance.4 By defining the medieval fair as an event frequented only by foreign merchants trading in high-value goods, Gilissen excluded at the stroke of a pen territorially more restricted events. ' Verlinden himself and Coornaert assumed that lesser fairs (I will call them regional fairs for short),6 were pale imitations or degenerations of international ones.7 Luzzatto suggested that central and northern Italy had
How IMS can achieve ISO 9001:2000 certification

A significant milestone of the quality journey of the MTR Corporation (MTR) was the establishment of the ISO 9000‐based quality management system (QMS) in its core departments. Adopting the ISO 9000 standards, the QMS provided a framework for the Corporation’s quality, safety and environmental management systems, linking and standardizing all work processes from the top management down to the shopfloor. Various initiatives of the MTR’s integrated management system (IMS) such as core business process maps are developed with a view to link all constituent activities of the railway into its core business processes. The Corporation’s quality endeavours were publicly recognized by the ISO 9000 certification in 1992 and by the new version in 2000. This paper shares the MTR’s experience on how its IMS can achieve ISO 9001:2000 certification.
Discurso versus Ação no Comportamento Ambientalmente Responsável

The need of rethinking the consumption culture in contemporary society brings up the interest in researching how consumption habits are related to environmental preservation. Even though sustainable practices are valuable, the comparison amid how people act as consumers and their assumed ethical stance raises questions. Consumers advocate a concern for environmental issues but research shows that their consumption habits are still old fashioned. This study target the convergence and divergence between environmentally responsible speech and consumption behavior under the perspective of theories of action (Argyris, Putnam & Smith, 1985). Research utilized in-depth interviews and self-reports, using a logbook, to collect information about environmentally responsible discourse and consumption behavior of 11 participants. Data collection and analysis explore dimensions of environmentally responsible behavior (Stern, 1999, 2000): personal domain; behavioral domain; contextual domain; personal capabilities; and habits & routines. Results suggest that environmentally responsible behavior is not always consistent with the discourse due to influence of motivational issues (impotence, lack of interest, sacrifice, and convenience) and contextual issues (financial situation, lack of public policies, time constraints, and culture).
Poster: Greedy data dissemination algorithm for infrastructure-to-vehicle services

This paper considers a data dissemination problem for vehicular cloud systems, in which delivery services from a data center provide data to vehicles through roadside wireless access points having local data storages. We propose a greedy data prefetching algorithm; by exploiting the completely predictable route information and the stochastic characteristics of the communication with APs, the algorithm predetermines how to distribute a set of data from a data center to local data storages, and minimizes the amount of data dissemination. The results from extensive simulations show that the proposed scheme can achieve efficient data dissemination in a variety of vehicular scenarios while minimizing the data transfer.
Hybrid electro-optical stimulation of the rat sciatic nerve induces force generation in the plantarflexor muscles

Objective. Optical methods of neural activation are becoming important tools for the study and treatment of neurological disorders. Infrared nerve stimulation (INS) is an optical technique exhibiting spatially precise activation in the native neural system. While this technique shows great promise, the risk of thermal damage may limit some applications. Combining INS with traditional electrical stimulation, a method known as hybrid electro-optical stimulation, reduces the laser power requirements and mitigates the risk of thermal damage while maintaining spatial selectivity. Here we investigate the capability of inducing force generation in the rat hind limb through hybrid stimulation of the sciatic nerve. Approach. Hybrid stimulation was achieved by combining an optically transparent nerve cuff for electrical stimulation and a diode laser coupled to an optical fiber for infrared stimulation. Force generation in the rat plantarflexor muscles was measured in response to hybrid stimulation with 1 s bursts of pulses at 15 and 20 Hz and with a burst frequency of 0.5 Hz. Main results. Forces were found to increase with successive stimulus trains, ultimately reaching a plateau by the 20th train. Hybrid evoked forces decayed at a rate similar to the rate of thermal diffusion in tissue. Preconditioning the nerve with an optical stimulus resulted in an increase in the force response to both electrical and hybrid stimulation. Histological evaluation showed no signs of thermally induced morphological changes following hybrid stimulation. Our results indicate that an increase in baseline temperature is a likely contributor to hybrid force generation. Significance. Extraneural INS of peripheral nerves at physiologically relevant repetition rates is possible using hybrid electro-optical stimulation.
Exploring work‐family backlash in a public organisation

Purpose – This study aims to test the belief that work‐family practices could have a negative influence in the workplace for non‐users of these practices.Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative approach was undertaken, where users and non‐users of work‐family practices reported on a number of job‐related attitudes. Organisational justice theories suggest that employees will report lower attitudes if they feel that they are missing out on some benefit or practice. T‐tests were used to compare differences in these attitudes between users and non‐users.Findings – There were no significant differences in any of the examined attitudes between users and non‐users of the organisations' work‐family practices.Research limitations/implications – Implications are that firms should not necessarily decline the adoption of work‐family practices if they fear a “backlash” from their employees who would not use work‐family practices. The authors suggest that the social good these practices may provide might remove an.
Markket Integration and Energy Trade Efficiency: An Application of Malmqvist Index to Analyse Multi-Product Trade

As This paper uses the data envelope analysis method to investigate the Malmquist index-based gravity relationship between bilateral energy trade flows and their determinants throughout the world. Using a balance panel data of 40 countries between 1995 and 2008, this paper shows that market integration will increase energy trade by improving trade efficiency between trade partners, though allowing for a flexible substitution between different energy products tends to weaken these effects. This result highlights cross-product substitution and its implications for the aggregate energy trade pattern, providing insights on the importance of prioritising product-specific trade facilitating policies.
Practitioner talk: the changing textscape of HRM and emergence of HR business partnership

It has been evident for some time in mainstream HRM writing, that HR work is largely framed as a business issue, accelerated by new developments in technology and increasing pressures being placed on the function to enhance its contribution to the organisation, and at the same time be more cost effective. Our paper examines the implications of this, and contributes to current debate about what the redesign of HR work means for HR professional expertise, the definition of legitimate HR work activities, and changing relationships with employees and line managers. By foregrounding the language of HR practitioners as a force for change in how HR work is shaped, we deploy an approach rooted in critical discourse analysis to analyze practitioner up-take of concepts like HR business partnership at the level of speech, and how it interacts with broader social and material practices. We examine three main discursive themes from our analysis, to argue that critical engagement with the concept of HR business partnership is warranted as the business facing facets of HRM discursively swamp other concerns, notably about employee well-being and HR's role in and responsibility for securing it.