Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PRIVATE-SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN THE WATER AND SANITATION SECTOR

▪ Abstract This review examines experience with private-sector participation (PSP) in the water supply and sanitation (W&S) sector. Common ideological, theoretical, and practical justifications for and objections to PSP in water and sanitation are presented. Review of empirical evidence suggests that where gains in efficiency, investment, and environmental stewardship have been realized through privatization, they have often been achieved through unpopular yet predictable strategies such as retrenchment and tariff increases. Challenges persist regarding ensuring access to and affordability of services for low-income households during privatization, and evidence suggests that PSP will not benefit the majority of the 1.2 billion people who lack access to improved water supply and live in the world's poorest countries. The challenging features of W&S economics, along with mounting public opposition to privatization and globalization in the sector, will likely reduce PSP in the sector over the short term, par.
Developmental Expression of Vasoactive and Growth Factors in Human Lung. Role in Pulmonary Vascular Resistance Adaptation at Birth

The factors that mediate the postnatal fall in pulmonary vascular resistance, which is crucial for normal gas exchange, are not fully understood. The endothelium has been implicated in this phenomenon, through the release of vasorelaxant factors such as nitric oxide (NO). Human pulmonary expression of endothelial NO synthase increases up to 31 wk of gestation, together with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and both factors potently mediate pulmonary angiogenesis and vasorelaxation. During the perinatal period, when pulmonary vasodilatation is maximal, endothelial NO synthase and VEGF are weakly expressed. This raises the involvement of vasorelaxant factors other than NO at birth. One candidate is endothelial-derived hyperpolarizing factor, which induces smooth muscle cell hyperpolarization by activating KATP channels. The marked vasorelaxation induced by activation of these channels in newborn animals, and their strong perinatal expression in the human lung, suggest their involvement during this phase. Another candidate is endothelin (ET)-1, together with its receptors ET-A and ET-B. ET-A receptors are located exclusively on smooth muscle cells and mediate vasoconstriction, whereas ET-B receptors mediate vasoconstriction when located on smooth muscle cells and vasodilatation when located on endothelial cells. ET-B receptors, which are strongly expressed in the human fetal lung both at the end of gestation and after birth, may be involved in perinatal pulmonary vasodilatation. Thus, in human fetal lung, KATP channels and ET-B receptors could be important in mediating the perinatal pulmonary vasodilatation crucial for adapting the pulmonary circulation to extrauterine life.
Electromyography in Disorders of Muscle Tone

ABSTRACT: No single clinical electrophysiological test can evaluate disorders of muscle tone. These disorders, symptomatic of a variety of diseases have a multifactorial physiological basis. The several tests used are complimentary each aiming to study different aspects of spinal and supraspinal reflexes which become deranged. The H reflex and F wave (H max/M max and F max/M max ratios) measure motoneuron pool excitability in general. The tendon reflex includes spindle mechanisms bypassed by the H reflex and, with limitations, comparison of H max/M max and T max/M max yields information about the -y system. Tonic vibration of a tendon inhibits the H reflex from the same muscle. The TVR measures autogenous presynaptic inhibition exerted by the la afferents of the muscle. Recurrent inhibition via Renshaw cells is evaluated by studying the effect of collision on the H reflex. Reciprocal inhibition of the la afferents can be assessed by measuring H reflex change induced by stimulating la afferents from antagonists. Changes in the H reflex recovery cycle measure polysynaptic influences on spinal motoneuron excitability. Cutaneomuscular (flexor) reflexes measure poly- and oligosynaptic excitatory drive to spinal motoneurons and the blink reflex evaluates the excitatory drive to brainstem motoneurons. Long loop (segmental) responses can be evaluated by limb pertubation using a torque motor or electrical stimulation applied during voluntary muscle contraction. Finally needle electromyography is a more relevant test in several disorders of muscle tone such as the stiff-man syndrome and Isaacs' syndrome.
Incidence and Virulence Determinants of Verocytotoxin-Producing Escherichia coli Infections in the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium, in 2008–2010

ABSTRACT The incidence of verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) was investigated by PCR in all human stools from Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (UZB) and in selected stools from six other hospital laboratories in the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium, collected between April 2008 and October 2010. The stools selected to be included in this study were those from patients with hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), patients with a history of bloody diarrhea, patients linked to clusters of diarrhea, children up to the age of 6 years, and stools containing macroscopic blood. Verocytotoxin genes (vtx) were detected significantly more frequently in stools from patients with the selected conditions (2.04%) than in unselected stools from UZB (1.20%) (P = 0.001). VTEC was detected most frequently in patients with HUS (35.3%), a history of bloody diarrhea (5.15%), or stools containing macroscopic blood (1.85%). Stools from patients up to the age of 17 years were significantly more frequently vtx positive than those from adult patients between the ages of 18 and 65 years (P = 0.022). Although stools from patients older than 65 years were also more frequently positive for vtx than those from patients between 18 and 65 years, this trend was not significant. VTEC was isolated from 140 (67.9%) vtx-positive stools. One sample yielded two different serotypes; thus, 141 isolates could be characterized. Sixty different O:H serotypes harboring 85 different virulence profiles were identified. Serotypes O157:H7/H− (n = 34), O26:H11/H− (n = 21), O63:H6 (n = 8), O111:H8/H− (n = 7), and O146:H21/H− (n = 6) accounted for 53.9% of isolates. All O157 isolates carried vtx2, eae, and a complete O island 122 (COI-122); 15 also carried vtx1. Non-O157 isolates (n = 107), however, accounted for the bulk (75.9%) of isolates. Fifty-nine (55.1%) isolates were positive for vtx1, 36 (33.6%) were positive for vtx2, and 12 (11.2%) carried both vtx1 and vtx2. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis revealed wide genetic diversity; however, small clusters of O157, O26, and O63:H6 VTEC that could have been part of unidentified outbreaks were identified. Antimicrobial resistance was observed in 63 (44.7%) isolates, and 34 (24.1%) showed multidrug resistance. Our data show that VTEC infections were not limited to patients with HUS or bloody diarrhea. Clinical laboratories should, therefore, screen all stools for O157 and non-O157 VTEC using selective media and a method for detecting verocytotoxins or vtx genes.
Inferring problem solving strategies using eye-tracking: system description and evaluation

Continuous awareness of learners' progress is one of the central tasks of any educational technology system. On the level of second-to-second behavior, eye-tracking has frequently been used as a technique to understand the interplay between higher level cognition and interaction issues and low-level visual attention. We propose employing eye-tracking as a real-time educational technology tool to infer users' problem-solving strategies. We describe a design and components of such system, the internal machinery, features, and interfaces. We suggest employing a support-vector machine (SVM) to learn the patterns of eye movement data that are related to users' cognitive states, and to infer the cognitive states when new eye movement data are presented. We then report on an evaluation of the system in the domain of computer-based problem solving. Results show that accuracy of such system is far above chance levels. This confirms our hypothesis that eye-tracking can be used to predict learners' cognitive activities during problem-solving. We discuss the implications of this study to the future educational technology development.
Cointegration and Cagan's Model of Hyperinflation under Rational Expectations

When money and prices are integrated of order two, Philip Cagan's (1956) model of hyperinflation will give rise to two different levels of cointegration. In most of the literature on the German hyperinflation, one of these cointegrating relationships has been ruled out a priori by assuming that velocity shocks follow a random walk. Using data from the German hyperinflation, the author finds this assumption to be unjustified. Based on a straightforward extension of the cointegrated VAR-approach suggested by John Y. Campbell and Robert J. Shiller (1987), a method to evaluate the Cagan model under rational expectations and no bubbles is proposed and implemented to the German data. Copyright 1993 by Ohio State University Press.
Comparing Public and Private Organizations

Over the past several years, a growing body of research has compared public and private organizations, using a variety of approaches to examine which organizational attributes are shared across sectors and which are primarily sector specific. Although the evidence has yet to resolve the debate over differences between public and private organizations, three underlying conceptual frame works have emerged: the generic approach, the core approach, and more recently, the dimensional approach. This study compares the relative utility of each framework, using a national sample of public, private, and hybrid research and development laboratories. The findings provide support primarily for the core and dimensional framework, with personnel functions and external outputs better explained by the core approach, and internal resource acquisition functions better explained by the dimensional approach. This article discusses these findings and their implications for future comparative research.
Pension Reform and Individual Accounts

This paper employs a life-cycle model with exogenous stochastic labor income to analyze how different types of individual accounts affect households’ savings and portfolio allocation as well as welfare. We consider voluntary accounts as opposed to mandatory accounts that require a minimum contribution rate. Moreover, we contrast add-on accounts with carve-out accounts that replace part of the public social security system. Quantitative results suggest that public retirement systems with mandatory add-on accounts have adverse welfare effects while carve-out accounts may be welfare-enhancing. In normal times, default portfolio rules have limited welfare consequences. In a world with rare economic disasters, however, individual accounts with default investment rules crowd out direct stock holding and generate substantial welfare losses.
The TUC’s Organising Academy: an assessment

In 1998 the British Trades Union Congress established an Organising Academy to train a new generation of paid union organisers. This article reviews the first two years of the Academy and offers an initial evaluation. It seeks to gauge whether the initiative has prompted innovation in organision policy in unions and led to successful organising outcomes.
Estimating the real exchange rate misalignment : case of Gabon

In cfa franc zone, the exchange rate was devalued, in 1994, in order to deal with the major macroeconomic imbalances that have affected the members during the 1980 decade. Thus, the aim of this paper is to know if this devaluation was relevant for Gabon an member state of the cfa franc zone, and, in the sense that the devaluation is relevant only if the real exchange rate is overvalued, we will assess the degree of the real exchange rate misalignment in Gabon.
CHANGES IN NUTRIENT CONTENT OF PALMARIA PALMATA IN RESPONSE TO VARIABLE LIGHT AND UPWELLING IN NORTHERN SPAIN 1

Light has been identified as one of the main factors affecting seaweed ecophysiology. We investigated the dependence of nutrient metabolism on sun and shade light conditions and whether episodes of upwelling of nutrient‐rich subsuperficial water could reduce the summer nutrient limitation driving physiological changes in Palmaria palmata (L.) Kuntze. We measured the major nutrient pools, photosynthetic pigments, and light curves, under sun and shade conditions during a summer period when one upwelling was recorded. The redundancy analysis (RDA) produced two clear groups: sun‐ and shade‐acclimated algae. Light was the major predictive factor. Sun‐acclimated algae exhibited higher carbon (C) and lower nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) content in association with the storage of floridoside (main C reserve) to benefit from higher irradiance (under nutrient limitation). Among N pools, N reserves (phycoerythrin, nitrate) were a lower proportion of the total N in sun‐acclimated algae, suggesting their degradation to fulfill the N demands of the cell. The orthophosphate content was also lower in sun‐acclimated algae, indicating its utilization as a nutrient reserve. In contrast, N within cell walls and membranes and chl a contributed to a similar proportion of the total N in sun‐ and shade‐acclimated algae, suggesting a response to sustain cell integrity. Transient high nutrient concentration due to the upwelling was unrelated to the nutrient content of the thallus. The storage of C as floridoside from high light exposure was shown to be the driving force for the metabolic adjustment of P. palmata at the end of summer before the onset of dormancy.
Predicting the Performance of Motion Pictures

I examined the performance of motion pictures released in the United States and Canada between October 1987 and October 1989. Performance was measured by two dependent variables: domestic rentals (RENTs) and the length of run (LOR) of each film. In addition, a new independent variable designed to measure the impact of competition on motion picture performance was hypothesized. LOR was found to be a reliable proxy for RENTs in predicting performance and will allow researchers to expand the base of films that can be included in future studies. Further, the independent variable for competition was found to have a significant negative relation with RENTs as a predictor of performance. That is, as the concentration ratio for a specific film increases, the competition that film faces increases; as a result, the RENTs for that specific film decrease.
The Greenbury Report on directors’ remuneration

Discusses the recommendations of the Greenbury Committee on the remuneration of directors in public companies. Specifically comments on the following issues: the establishment, membership and status of remuneration committees in public companies; the determination of remuneration policy for executive directors; the disclosure and approval of the details of remuneration policy; the length of service contracts and the determination of compensation when these are terminated. Suggests that progress in implementing them should be monitored, given the importance of the Greenbury proposals.
Corporate Political Strategy Formulation: A Model of Approach, Participation, and Strategy Decisions

In this article we examine two general approaches to political action (transactional and relational), two levels of participation (individual and collective), and three types of generic political strategies (information, financial incentive, and constituency building), thus presenting a comprehensive taxonomy of political strategies. In addition, we identify firm and institutional variables that affect the likelihood of making specific decisions within the formulation model. The result is a decision-tree model of political strategy formulation that integrates and extends prior diffused work.
Sleep-wake patterns and sleep disturbance among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To determine sleep-wake patterns and evaluate sleep disturbance in Hong Kong adolescents; to identify factors that are associated with sleep disturbance; and to examine the relationship of sleep-wake variables and academic performance. DESIGN AND SETTING A school-based cross-sectional survey. PARTICIPANTS Sample included 1629 adolescents aged 12 to 19 years. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Self-report questionnaires, including sleep-wake habit questionnaire, Sleep Quality Index, Morningness/ Eveningness scale, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, academic performance, and personal data were administered. The average school-night bedtime was 23:24, and total sleep time was 7.3 hr. During weekends, the average bedtime and rise time was delayed by 64 min and 195 min, respectively. The prevalence of sleep disturbances occurring > or = 3 days per week in the preceding 3 months were: difficulty falling asleep (5.6%), waking up during the night (7.2%), and waking up too early in the morning (10.4%). The prevalence of > or = 1 of these three symptoms was 19.1%. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that circadian phase preference was the most significant predictor for school night bedtime, weekend oversleep, and daytime sleepiness. Perceived stress was the most significant risk factor for sleep disturbance. Students with marginal academic performance reported later bedtimes and shorter sleep during school nights, greater weekend delays in bedtime, and more daytime sleepiness than those with better grades. CONCLUSION The prevalence of sleep deprivation and sleep disturbance among Hong Kong adolescents is comparable to those found in other countries. An intervention program for sleep problems in adolescents should be considered.
The Tourist in the Experience Economy

In this conceptual article, the tourist experience is proposed as the moment when tourism consumption and tourism production meet. It is also the moment when value is created and resources are consumed and thus the decisive moment for the economics of tourism experiences. Value created by consuming tourism experiences depends not only upon the objective experience but also upon the tourist and the tourist's state of mind at that particular moment. This argument rests on the concept “arousal level” that gives a dynamic description of varying needs of a tourist. Needs are discussed in relation to a three dimensional categorization based on basic, social and intellectual needs. Resources consumed for the production of tourism experiences are analysed as consumption sets that include four generic resources: time, skills, goods and services. The tourist is assumed to play an important role in the final link of the production chain, i.e. that of realizing a consumption project by putting together resources in a consumption set that is needed to produce a tourism experience. In the final section of this paper, various hypothetical implications that this model may have for tourism and tourism research are discussed based on the composition of resources in the consumption set. The balance between working time and leisure time as well as the level of “tourism skills” are proposed as variables that may determine tourists' choices of tourism experiences.
Regeneration process in natural uneven-aged Caspian beech forests of Iran (reviewed paper)

Regeneration process was studied within twentytwo gaps produced from natural falling of trees in a semivirgin mixed forest of oriental beech in Iran. The area of the openings varied between 163 m2 and 1683 m2, caused by falling of 1 to 6 trees. Natural regeneration depended on the gap size, and was established within the openings with different compositions.
INFERENCE FROM NON-STATIONARY GRAPH SIGNALS

We address the problem of inferring a graph from nodal observations, which are modeled as non-stationary graph signals generated by local diffusion dynamics that depend on the structure of the sought network. Using the so-called graph-shift operator (GSO) as a matrix representation of the graph, we first identify the eigenvectors of the shift matrix from realizations of the diffused signals, and then we rely on these spectral templates to estimate the eigenvalues by imposing desirable properties on the graph to be recovered. Different from the stationary setting where the GSO and the covariance matrix of the observed signals are simultaneously diagonalizable, here they are not. Hence, estimating the eigenvectors requires first estimating the unknown diffusion (graph) filter – a polynomial in the GSO which does preserve the sought eigenbasis. To carry out this initial system identification step, we leverage different sources of information on the input signal driving the diffusion process on the graph. Numerical tests showcase the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms in recovering social and structural brain graphs.
Emission taxes when pollution depends on location

Abstract It is well known that an efficient pollution taxation scheme should charge each source according to its specific marginal contribution to social damages. Despite significant advances in environmental assessment, geographic information systems and data analysis, this requirement would impose technical, informational and administrative expenses that most regulators – notably in developing countries – seem unable to afford. This paper shows that it can actually be less demanding than it seems. If polluters are price-takers, for instance, in a context where the affected population concentrates at a given location, then the optimal emission tax will disregard a source's location. Otherwise, the adjustment of the optimal tax to location will depend on the extent of a polluter's market power.
MK‐801 (Dizocilpine): Synergist and conditioned stimulus in bromocriptine‐induced psychomotor sensitization

Intraperitoneal injections of the D2/D3 dopamine agonist bromocriptine (5.0 mg/kg, IP) induced locomotion that became progressively stronger on successive days of testing. The sensitized response developed twice as rapidly when the non‐competitive NMDA antagonist MK‐801 (0.25 mg/kg, IP) was given 30 min after bromocriptine (so that the peak effects of the two drugs overlapped). In a second group of animals, MK‐801 was given 30 min prior to bromocriptine (the pretreatment regimen typical of studies where MK‐801 is reported to block cocaine, amphetamine or morphine sensitization) and locomotion was monitored during the pretreatment period; in this case sensitization to the locomotor‐stimulating effects of MK‐801 alone (in the pretreatment period) as well as sensitization to the locomotor‐stimulating effects of the drug combination (following the second injection) were observed. No sensitization to the effects of MK‐801 alone (pretreatment) were seen in animals that received saline rather than bromocriptine as their second injection in this experiment. Thus MK‐801 does not block but rather enhances bromocriptine sensitization; it appears to do so by a synergism with the locomotor effects of bromocriptine and by becoming a conditioned stimulus for the sensitized response. These findings confirm the earlier report that NMDA receptor activation is not critical to bromocriptine‐induced sensitization, and they illustrate the importance of controls for conditioning and state‐dependency phenomena in studies of drug interactions in psychomotor sensitization. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.