Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reflexive Governance and European Company Law

The use of reflexive forms of regulation is growing within the EU, in particular as the open method of coordination ('OMC') is applied to a growing number of contexts including employment policy, social inclusion, enterprise promotion, environmental protection, energy policy, and fundamental human rights. Company law, however, seems to be an exception to this: recent activity has taken the form of 'hard law' harmonization through directives, coupled with the stimulation of regulatory competition through judgments of the European Court of Justice in relation to freedom of movement, stemming from the Centros case. There is a very limited 'company law OMC' in the form of the deliberations of the European Corporate Governance Forum, but there is little evidence here of what proponents of the OMC call 'learning from diversity'; instead, the Forum appears to envisage the elimination of country-specific practices which it refers to as 'distortions of competition'. This paper argues that the lack of a meaningful company law OMC is likely to prove a more serious long-term obstacle to capital market integration than the persistence of inter-country variations in corporate governance practices. The example of labour law shows how functional convergence and a coordinated raising of standards can be achieved by the dovetailing of the OMC with social policy directives. By contrast, the recent failure of the Takeover Directive to impose a uniform model of takeover regulation indicates the limits of top-down modes of harmonization. At the same time, the case of labour law highlights the importance of placing the OMC within a wider framework of legal support for fundamental rights, of the kind which is capable of providing a countervailing force against court-led deregulation.
The European Bond Markets Under Emu

In this paper, we document how in the wake of monetary unification the markets for Euro-area sovereign and private-sector bonds have become increasingly integrated. Issuers and investors alike have come to regard the Euro-area bond market as a single one. Primary and secondary bond markets have become increasingly integrated on a pan-European scale. Issuance of corporate bonds has taken off on an unprecedented scale in continental Europe. In the process, both investors and issuers have reaped the considerable benefits afforded by greater competition in the underwriting of private bonds and auctioning of public ones, and by the greater liquidity of secondary markets. Bond yields have converged dramatically in the transition to EMU. The persistence of small and variable yield differentials for sovereign debt under EMU indicates that Euro-area bonds are still not perfect substitutes. However, to a large extent this does not reflect persistent market segmentation but rather small differentials in fundamental risk. Liquidity differences play at most a minor role, and this role appears to arise partly from their interaction with fundamental risk. The challenges still lying ahead are numerous. They include the unbalance between the German-dominated futures and the underlying cash market; the vulnerability of the cash markets' prices to free-riding and manipulation by large financial institutions; the possibility of joint bond issuance by Euro-area countries; the integration of clearing and settlement systems in the Euro-area bond market, and the participation of new accession countries' issuers to this market.
Randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of an intervention to implement evidence-based patient decision support in a nursing call centre

We evaluated the effect of an intervention on call centre nurses' knowledge of decision support and skills in coaching callers facing value-sensitive health decisions. Forty-one registered nurses at a health call centre were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. The intervention was a coaching protocol, online tutorial, skills building workshop and performance feedback. The main outcome measures were: knowledge test; blinded quality assessment of coaching skills during simulated calls and call duration. Compared with controls, nurses in the intervention group had better knowledge (74 versus 60%, P = 0.007) and decision coaching skills (81 versus 44%, P < 0.001), particularly in assessing decisional needs (information, values clarity, support, stage and timing of decision) and addressing support issues. Call duration did not differ (18.5 versus 16.7 min, P = 0.73). The coaching protocol was rated as compatible with nurses' views on decision-making and more advantageous compared with their usual practices. The intervention improved the quality of nurses' decision coaching without affecting call duration.
Update on ropivacaine

Long-acting local anaesthetics are primarily used in the practice of anaesthesia, particularly in regional anaesthesia and analgesia. Ropivacaine is a new longacting local anaesthetic that has been the focus of interest because of its increased cardiovascular safety compared with bupivacaine. Other advantages of ropivacaine over bupivacaine include a greater sensorimotor differential block and shorter elimination half-life (t1/2), with a lower potential for accumulation. The most important attribute of ropivacaine, however, is its increased margin of safety compared with bupivacaine when given in equal doses. Many post-marketing studies have focused on the comparisons of efficacy in blocks and toxicity profiles of bupivacaine versus ropivacaine. Recent animal toxicity studies confirm the results of original studies showing that ropivacaine has less cardiovascular toxicity than bupivacaine with respect to direct myocardial depression, success of resuscitation and arrhythmogenic potential when given in equal doses. Reduced cardiotoxicity may be a distinct characteristic of ropivacaine. A review of current literature suggests that, at clinically relevant doses, ropivacaine provides the lowest potential risk of cardiotoxicity for inadvertent intravascular injection. Studies are currently under way comparing ropivacaine with levobupivacaine, the latest addition to the group of long-acting local anaesthetics.
Neurotransmitters in cerebrospinal fluid reflect pathological activity

The excitatory transmitters glutamate and aspartate become toxic whenever their extracellular levels are increased because of neuronal, glial and endothelial impairment. Taurine, a volume‐regulating amino acid, is released upon excitotoxin‐induced cell swelling. Our aim was to investigate if glutamate and aspartate in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) reveal neuropathology in neurological patients, and if taurine unmasks glutamate‐mediated toxicity. Glutamate and aspartate are doubled in viral meningitis, acute multiple sclerosis (MS) and myelopathy compared with control subjects and patients with peripheral facial nerve palsy. These levels do not coincide with a disturbed blood–brain barrier, as estimated by the albumin ratio, are independent of their precursors (glutamine, asparagine) and are not associated with cell lysis. Taurine is significantly increased in meninigitis, acute MS, and myelopathy, suggesting glutamate‐mediated toxicity. Analysis of transmitters in lumbar CSF can be used to identify patients with cerebral and spinal pathology who might benefit from specific receptor‐modulating agents.
Time trends in symptoms of mental illness in children and adolescents in Canada

Background: Existing research and media reports convey conflicting impressions of trends in the prevalence of mental illness. We sought to investigate trends in the prevalence of symptoms of mental illness in a large population-based cohort of Canadian children and adolescents. Methods: We obtained population-based data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. Every 2 years, participants completed self-reported measures of mental illness indicators, including conduct disorder, hyperactivity, indirect aggression, suicidal behaviour, and depression and anxiety. We analyzed trends in mean scores over time using linear regression. Results: We evaluated 11 725 participants aged 10–11 years from cycles 1 (1994/95) through 6 (2004/05), 10 574 aged 12–13 years from cycles 2 (1996/97) through 7 (2006/07), and 9835 aged 14–15 years from cycles 3 (1998/99) through 8 (2008/09). The distribution of scores on depression and anxiety, conduct and indirect aggression scales remained stable or showed small decreases over time for participants of all ages. The mean hyperactivity score increased over time in participants aged 10–11 years (change per 2-year cycle: 0.16, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.12) and those aged 12–13 years (0.13, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.18). Over time, fewer participants aged 12–13 years (0.40% per cycle, 95% CI −0.78 to −0.07) and aged 14–15 years (0.56% per cycle, 95% CI −0.91 to −0.23) reported attempting suicide in the previous 12 months. Interpretation: With the exception of hyperactivity, the prevalence of symptoms of mental illness in Canadian children and adolescents has remained relatively stable from 1994/95 to 2008/09. Conflicting reports of escalating rates of mental illness in Canada may be explained by differing methodologies between studies, an increase in treatment-seeking behaviour, or changes in diagnostic criteria or practices.
Selected pesticides adsorption and desorption in substrates from artificial wetland and forest buffer

Buffer zones such as artificial wetlands and forest buffers may help decrease non–point‐source pesticide pollution from agricultural catchments. The present study focuses on understanding the role of the substrates mainly found in such buffer zones for pesticide adsorption and desorption. Radiolabeled [14C]isoproturon, [14C]metazachlor, and [14C]epoxiconazole were used to measure adsorption and desorption isotherms on wetland sediments and plants and forest soil and litter from two sites in France. Wetland sediments and forest soil exhibited the most important potential for pesticide adsorption. Wetland plants and forest litter also showed high adsorption coefficients and were associated with highly hysteretic desorption, particularly for the moderately mobile isoproturon and metazachlor. Adsorption of the highly hydrophobic epoxiconazole was strong and associated with weak desorption from all substrates. Calculated sorption coefficients were larger than those classically measured on soils. Isoproturon, metazachlor, and epoxiconazole KOC sorption coefficients ranged from 84 to 372, 131 to 255, and 1,356 to 3,939 L/kg, respectively. Therefore, specifically collecting buffer zone substrate sorption data is needed for modeling purposes. Results showed that forests and wetlands present potential for pesticide retention. This may be enhanced by planting vegetation and leaving dead vegetal material in buffer zone design. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2011; 30:1669–1676. © 2011 SETAC
Semantic Relations in Compound Nouns: Perspectives from Inter-Annotator Agreement

Semantic relations have been studied for decades without yet reaching consensus on the set of these relations. However, biomedical language processing and ontologies rely on these relations, so it is important to be able to evaluate their suitability. In this paper we examine the role of inter-annotator agreement in choosing between competing proposals regarding the set of such relations. The experiments consisted of labeling the semantic relations between two elements of noun-noun compounds (e.g. cell migration). Two judges annotated a dataset of terms from the biomedical domain using two competing sets of relations and analyzed the inter-annotator agreement. With no training and little documentation, agreement on this task was fairly high and disagreements were consistent. The results support the utility of the relation-based approach to semantic representation.
Obesity following kidney transplantation and steroid avoidance immunosuppression

Abstract: Obesity is an important co‐morbidity within end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) and renal transplant populations. Previous studies have suggested that chronic corticosteroids result in increased body weight post‐transplant. With the recent adoption of steroid‐sparing immunosuppressive strategies, we evaluated the effect of these strategies on body mass index (BMI) after renal transplantation. We examined 95 renal transplant recipients enrolled in National Institutes of Health clinical transplant trials over the past three yr who received either lymphocyte depletion‐based steroid sparing or traditional immunosuppressive therapy that included steroids for maintenance immunosuppression. Recipients were overweight prior to transplant and no significant differences existed in pre‐transplant BMI among treatment groups. Regardless of therapy, BMI increased post‐transplant in all recipients. The BMI increase consisted of an average weight gain of 5.01 ± 7.12 kg (mean, SD) post‐transplant. Additionally, in a number of recipients placed on maintenance steroids, subsequent withdrawal at a mean of 100 d post‐transplant had no impact on weight gain. Thus, body weight and BMI increase following kidney transplantation, even in the absence of steroids. Thus, patients gain weight after renal transplantation regardless of the treatment strategy. Steroid avoidance alone does not reduce risk factors associated with obesity in our patient population.
The Role of Geometry Parameters and Fin Aspect Ratio of Sub-20nm SOI-FinFET: An Analysis Towards Analog and RF Circuit Design

Nowadays FinFETs integrated into complex circuit applications can fulfill the demand of smartphones and tablets for better performance and make chips that can compute faster. This paper studies the impact of H<sub>Fin</sub> and W<sub>Fin</sub> variations on various performance matrices including static as well as dynamic figures of merit (FOMs). With the help of aspect ratio (W<sub>Fin</sub>/H<sub>Fin</sub>), the device is branched into three parts, i.e., FinFET, Trigate, and Planar MOSFET. This unique report is a presentation of a detailed analysis about the impact of fin height (H<sub>Fin</sub>) and width (W<sub>Fin</sub>) on various performances including the dc as well as ac FOMs. The static or low-frequency performances like threshold voltage (V<sub>th</sub>), on current (I<sub>on</sub>), off current (I<sub>off</sub> ), power dissipation, transconductance (g<sub>m</sub>), output conductance (g<sub>d</sub>), transconductance generation factor (TGF = g<sub>m</sub> /I<sub>D</sub>), early voltage (V<sub>EA</sub>), gain (A<sub>V</sub>), and dynamic or high-frequency performances as gate capacitance (C<sub>gg</sub>), cutoff frequency (f<sub>T</sub>), output resistance (R<sub>0</sub>), intrinsic delay are systematically presented with the variation of device geometry parameters. The results presented in this paper can be of great help to device engineers in designing 3-D devices as per their requirement.
Effect of early feed restriction in broilers. II. Lipid metabolism.

Three experiments were conducted with broiler chicks to evaluate the effect of dietary energy restrictions on in vitro lipid metabolism. In Experiment 1, chicks were restricted from either 6 to 12 or 6 to 18 days of age and then fed ad libitum until day 27. In Experiment 2, both male and female chicks were restricted from 5 to 11 days of age and then were refed until 27 or 54 days of age. Glutamic:oxaloacetic aminotransferase (GOT), isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICD), malic enzyme (ME) and the fatty acid synthetase complex (FAS) were assayed at 27 days (Experiment 1) and at 27 and 54 days (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, male chicks were restricted from days 6 to 12 and then were refed until day 27. In vitro lipogenesis and enzyme activities were determined during the 12 to 18-day period as the chicks were refed following the restriction. Both restriction regimes decreased (P less than .05) ME and FAS at the conclusion of the respective restriction intervals (Experiments 1 & 2). The 6 to 12-day restriction decreased (P less than .05) in vitro lipogenesis in the 12 day old chick when compared to controls. When restricted chicks were refed, in vitro lipogenesis exceeded that of the controls at both 14 and 16 days, but was less than that of the controls at 27 days.
Combination therapy with irinotecan and protein kinase C inhibitors in malignant glioma

The topoisomerase‐I inhibitor irinotecan (CPT‐11) is currently used in Phase I/II trials for the treatment of patients with recurrent malignant gliomas. Protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors such as high‐dose tamoxifen and hypericin also have been used in the treatment of malignant gliomas. The current study examined the role of PKC inhibitors as chemosensitizers for CPT‐11 and their proposed mechanism of action. Two glioma cell lines (A‐172 and U‐87) and one primary glioma cell culture (LA‐567) were used. Proliferation (3H‐thymidine) and cytotoxicity (methylthiotetrazole) studies were performed using CPT‐11 (0–100 μM) alone, 7‐ethyl‐10‐hydroxy camptothecin (SN‐38) (0–1000 nM) alone or in the presence of a PKC inhibitor, tamoxifen (10 μM), hypericin (10 μM), calphositin C (400 nM), or staurosporine (10 nM). The terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated dUTP nick‐end labeling(TUNEL) assay was used to determine apoptosis as the mechanism of cytotoxicity; alterations in bcl‐2 and bax expression were determined using Western blot analysis. Conversion of CPT‐11 to SN‐38 by glioma cells was determined using high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. Increasing CPT‐11 and SN‐38 concentrations induced cytotoxic morphologic changes, decreased proliferation, and increased cytotoxicity on all glioma cell lines tested. These changes were increased in the presence of a PKC inhibitor. The mechanism of the cytotoxicity was determined to be apoptosis by the TUNEL assay. The combination of a PKC inhibitor with CPT‐11 or SN‐38 led to decreased expression of the antiapoptotic protein bcl‐2, and increased expression of the proapoptotic protein bax. HPLC analysis demonstrated conversion of CPT‐11 to SN‐38 by glioma cells. A combination of CPT‐11 or SN‐38 with a PKC inhibitor was found to lead to a decrease in proliferation and an increase in apoptosis in malignant glioma cells. The induction of apoptosis was secondary to a decrease in bcl‐2 and an increase in bax expression. Glioma cells are capable of converting CPT‐11 to SN‐38 by intrinsic tumor carboxylesterases. Cancer 2003;97(9 Suppl):2363–73. © 2003 American Cancer Society.
Change in perceived psychosocial status following a 12-week Tai Chi exercise programme.

AIM This paper reports a study to examine change in psychosocial status following a 12-week Tai Chi exercise intervention among ethnic Chinese people with cardiovascular disease risk factors living in the United States of America. BACKGROUND Regular participation in physical activity is associated with protection against cardioavascular disease, and improvements in physical and psychological health. Increasing amounts of scientific evidence suggests that mind-body exercise, such as Tai Chi, are related to improvements in mental health, emotional well-being, and stress reduction. No prior study has examined the effect of a Tai Chi exercise intervention on psychosocial status among people with cardiovascular disease risk factors. METHODS This was a quasi-experimental study. Participants attended a 60-minute Tai Chi exercise class three times per week for 12 weeks. Data were collected at baseline, 6 and 12 weeks following the intervention. Psychosocial status was assessed using Chinese versions of Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale, Profile of Mood States, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and Tai Chi exercise self-efficacy. RESULTS A total of 39 participants, on average 66-year-old (+/-8.3), married (85%), Cantonese-speaking (97%), immigrants participated. The majority were women (69%), with < or =12 years education (87%). Statistically significant improvements in all measures of psychosocial status were found (P < or = 0.05) following the intervention. Improvement in mood state (eta2 = 0.12), and reduction in perceived stress (eta2 = 0.13) were found. In addition, Tai Chi exercise statistically significantly increased self-efficacy to overcome barriers to Tai Chi (eta2 = 0.19), confidence to perform Tai Chi (eta2 = 0.27), and perceived social support (eta2 = 0.12). CONCLUSIONS Tai Chi was a culturally appropriate mind-body exercise for these older adults, with statistically significant psychosocial benefits observed over 12-weeks. Further research examining Tai Chi exercise using a randomized clinical trial design with an attention-control group may reduce potential confounding effects, while exploring potential mechanisms underlying the relaxation response associated with mind-body exercise. In addition, future studies with people with other chronic illnesses in all ethnic groups are recommended to determine if similar benefits can be achieved.
Bad And Good News About The Sealed-Bid Mechanism: Some Experimental Results

This paper surveys a set of experiments conducted by Roy Radner and myself (1989) and Peter Linhart, Radner, and myself (1989a; b), all of which were conducted to investigate the properties of the sealed-bid mechanism, a mechanism used to structure bargaining under situations of incomplete information. What we find is both bad news and good news for the mechanism. The bad news is that the behavior of subjects seems quite sensitive to the parameters of the prior distribution of types used and the number of rounds over which the experiment is run. As such prior distributions become more skewed (in a sense to be defined below), and the number of rounds in the experiment are increased to 75, bidder behavior becomes less linear. Such movements have a regular pattern, however, and this phenomenon is remarkably consistent. The good news is that such behavioral shifts do not seem to interfere with the efficiency of the mechanism. This is of course important for the acceptance of the mechanism in the real world, since if efficiency were to change dramatically as we change the parameters of the environment, adoption would have to proceed on a case-by-case basis. The fact that our results imply robustness of efficiencies indicates that, at least on a practical level, the sealed-bid mechanism may be a viable way to structure bargaining in many large-scale economic organizations. I. The Sealed-Bid Mechanism
Human tumor‐lymphocyte interaction in vitro. III. T lymphocytes in autologous tumor stimulation (ATS)

The T‐cell nature of the responding cells in autologous tumor stimulation (ATS) was proven by (1) E‐rosette formation of lymphocytes attached to tumor cells during the early period of co‐cultivation; (2) blast‐transformed E‐rosetting cells detectable at the end of the test period (day 6) and (3) the reactivity of T‐enriched lymphocyte subset and unresponsiveness of T‐depleted fractions. Preparation of tumor suspensions devoid of lymphocytes made it possible to carry out cross‐tests between patients. Blastogenesis with allogeneic tumors was rare. The restricted autologous nature of the reaction is a strong indication for genuine tumor‐relatedness.
Monetary Policy and Leading Indicators of Inflation in Sweden

This paper derives a set of leading indicators of inflation for Sweden. It also discusses methodological and policy issues pertaining to the estimation of these indicators. The main findings are: (1) narrow money is the most powerful leading inflation indicator; (2) broad money and inflation expectations have significant predictive information on inflation; (3) the output gap, interest rates, and the credit aggregate have some predictive information on inflation, and this information is confined to a shorter time horizon than either the monetary aggregates or inflation expectations; and (4) implied forward rates have only weak predictive information on inflation.