Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
International volunteering and development: global citizenship and neoliberal professionalisation today

International volunteering occupies a popular place in contemporary UK public imaginations. It is supported by a range of stakeholders, including the state, the corporate sector and non-government organisations (NGOs), which increasingly share a narrative emphasising international volunteering’s capacity to develop volunteers whose impacts on global equity or their professional identities emerge on their return as much as during their stay overseas. This paper explores discourses and practices of citizenship, professionalisation and partnership as they produce and are produced through contemporary international volunteering. We do this through interrogating the overlapping genealogies of international volunteering and development. Our analysis explores the ways in which international volunteering seems to both exemplify neoliberal ideas of individual autonomy, improvement and responsibility and at the same time allies itself to notions of collective global citizenship, solidarity, development and activism. To illustrate our argument we examine two sets of volunteering partnerships, those that support the Department for International Development’s £10 million, 3-year programme focused on sending young, British disadvantaged people as international volunteers, and the corporate citizenship volunteer programmes supported by VSO and the international consulting firm, Accenture. Interrogating contemporary state, corporate and civil society promotion of international volunteering allows us to examine how notions of professionalisation and global and neoliberal citizenship are produced through development imaginaries, and are negotiated and constructed among and by new volunteering populations and sectors at a moment when, particularly due to the credit crunch, economic and career futures are fragile and uncertain.
Release of endothelium-derived relaxing factor is modulated both by frequency and amplitude of pulsatile flow.

We have dissociated the effects of frequency and amplitude of pulsatile flow on flow-induced release of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) using cascade bioassay. Rat aortic segments were buffer perfused with a peristaltic pump at a constant mean flow rate of 9 ml/min. EDRF activity in effluent was measured by relaxation of endothelium-denuded rabbit aortic rings preconstricted by phenylephrine. Pulse frequency was varied over the range 0.1-12 Hz at a constant amplitude of 2 mmHg; pulse amplitude was varied over the range 2-16 mmHg at a constant frequency of 0.1 Hz. Relaxation of the detector vessel depended on frequency of flow through the donor; peak response occurred between 4.2 and 6 Hz and was approximately three times greater than that induced at lower or higher frequencies. In contrast, increases in pulse pressure amplitude (maximum 16 mmHg) monotonically augmented constriction of partially preconstricted detector tissue by up to 10%. Incubation of the donor vessel with NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthesis, or removal of its endothelium by rubbing, abolished both the frequency- and the amplitude-dependent effects observed in the detector tissue, indicating that these were mediated by changes in EDRF release. Increasing the amplitude of the pressure pulse also reduced mean perfusion pressure (by up to 50%), implying distension of donor vessel since mean flow rate was constant. This fall in pressure was not affected by incubation with L-NAME or removal of endothelium, indicating that it was not dependent on EDRF activity. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Dynamic Forces in Educational Development: A long-run comparative view of France and Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries

Since World War II, much of the economic growth literature has focused on the contribution of human capital to national development. Two assumptions have remained largely unexamined: (i) economic stability results from economic growth, and (ii) investments in human capital result in economic growth ( ceteris paribus ). This paper questions this education-stability link by examining longitudinal data from France and Germany across 170 years. Results indicate that human capital investment prior to 1945 was a response to economic growth. It is only since 1945 that human capital investments appear to drive economic growth. A shift since 1973 leads to doubts as to whether the post-war human capital-driven growth is being sustained. The results raise the question of whether human capital investment might not be as much a consequence as it is a cause of economic stability in the course of time.
Does it matter what a hospital is “high volume” for? Specificity of hospital volume-outcome associations for surgical procedures: analysis of administrative data

Abstract Objective To determine whether the improved outcome of a surgical procedure in high volume hospitals is specific to the volume of the same procedure. Design and setting Analysis of secondary data in Ontario, Canada. Participants Patients having an oesophagectomy, colorectal resection for cancer, pancreaticoduodenectomy, major lung resection for cancer, or repair of an unruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm between 1994 and 1999. Main outcome measures Odds ratio for death within 30 days of surgery in relation to the hospital volume of the same surgical procedure and the hospital volume of the other four procedures. Estimates were adjusted for age, sex, and comorbidity and accounted for hospital level clustering. Results With the exception of colorectal resection, 30 day mortality seemed to be inversely related not only to the hospital volume of the same procedure but also to the hospital volume of most of the other procedures. In some cases the effect of the volume of a different procedure was stronger than the effect of the volume of the same procedure. For example, the association of mortality from pancreaticoduodenectomy with hospital volume of lung resection (odds ratio for death in hospitals with a high volume of lung resection compared with low volume 0.36, 95% confidence interval 0.23 to 0.57) was much stronger than the association of mortality from pancreaticoduodenectomy with hospital volume of pancreaticoduodenectomy (0.76, 0.44 to 1.32). Conclusion The inverse association between high volume of procedure and risk of operative death is not specific to the volume of the procedure being studied.
Modified cascade-correlation learning for classification

The main advantages of cascade-correlation learning are the abilities to learn quickly and to determine the network size. However, recent studies have shown that in many problems the generalization performance of a cascade-correlation trained network may not be quite optimal. Moreover, to reach a certain performance level, a larger network may be required than with other training methods. Recent advances in statistical learning theory emphasize the importance of a learning method to be able to learn optimal hyperplanes. This has led to advanced learning methods, which have demonstrated substantial performance improvements. Based on these recent advances in statistical learning theory, we introduce modifications to the standard cascade-correlation learning that take into account the optimal hyperplane constraints. Experimental results demonstrate that with modified cascade correlation, considerable performance gains are obtained compared to the standard cascade-correlation learning. This includes better generalization, smaller network size, and faster learning.
Mapping migrants' inclusion: an analytical framework for examining policy output

Comparative studies on the extension of rights, including naturalization rights, to migrants have grown exponentially. We propose a theoretically informed analytical framework to examine state policies relating to the extension of rights to aliens and citizenship acquisition. It consists of three frames: the rights frame, the citizenship eligibility frame and the earned citizenship frame. The framework enables the examination and mapping of policy developments in this broad field, while also elucidating how the notions of membership, status and identity – key constructs associated with the nation state – are articulated in states’ policy attempts to ‘integrate’ migrants, and, importantly, how they are reformulated over time. In the process, the framework nuances ideas about the coherence and stability of national citizenship regimes, brings greater conceptual clarity to the field, and delimits and delineates the citizenship construct. It also provides scope for additional and new comparative insights within and across states.
ADHS-Screening für Erwachsene (ADHS-E)

Das ADHS-E dient der diagnostischen Erfassung von Symptomen einer ADHS im Erwachsenenalter. Es handelt es sich um ein dimensionales Diagnostikum, mit welchem entsprechende Symptome differenziert uber verschiedene Problemskalen hinsichtlich ihres Schweregrades beurteilt werden konnen. Die Skalen basieren auf kategorial-diagnostischen Kriterien, wie sie in den diagnostischen Leitlinien der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Psychiatrie, Psychotherapie und Nervenheilkunde (DGPPN) angefuhrt sind (vgl. Ebert, Krause & Roth-Sackenheim, 2003; Schmidt, Brucher & Petermann, 2006). Sie erfassen somit nicht nur die Kriterien, wie sie die Diagnosemanuale ICD-10-GM und DSM-IV-TR vorschlagen (Unaufmerksamkeit, Hyperaktivitat und Impulsivitat), sondern daruber hinaus auch die Problembereiche, die in den US-amerikanischen Diagnoseleitlinien nach Paul Wender (Utah-Kriterien, vgl. Wender, 2000) aufgefuhrt werden. Diese enthalten zusatzlich die Bereiche Desorganisation, Affektlabilitat, Affektkontrolle, Stressintoleranz und uberschiesendes Temperament («Hot Temper»). Die erfassten Dimensionen der beiden Fragebogen ADHS-E und ADHS-LE mit dazugehorigen Beispielitems lassen sich Tabelle 1 entnehmen. Die Fragebogen ADHS-E und ADHS-LE unterscheiden sich hinsichtlich ihres Umfangs und der zugrunde liegenden Stichprobe zur Standardisierung der Verfahren:
Obtaining Hydrophobic Aerogels of Unbleached Cellulose Nanofibers of the Species Eucalyptus sp. and Pinus elliottii

The use of natural fibers from renewable and biodegradable sources in oleophilic sorbents, such as cellulose, has become an interesting alternative due to their excellent properties and sustainability. In addition to that, the low density of the aerogels obtained from cellulose is favorable for their use as sorbents. In this context, the objective of this study is to develop hydrophobic aerogels of unbleached cellulose nanofibers of the Eucalyptus sp. and Pinus elliottii. Cellulose samples were submitted to mechanical fibrillation to obtain cellulose nanofiber suspensions, followed by a chemical treatment with methyltrimethoxysilane and dried by freeze-drying to prepare the aerogels. The aerogels presented hydrophobic and oleophilic characteristics, including a water contact angle of 134°, sorption capacities in a heterogeneous medium of above 21.0 g·g−1, and oil removal efficiency greater than 88.5%. The Pinus elliottii nanofiber aerogels showed higher compressive strength when compared to the nanofiber aerogels of Eucalyptus sp.
Recent advances in avalanche photodiodes

The development of high-performance optical receivers has been a primary driving force for research on III-V compound avalanche photodiodes (APDs). The evolution of fiber optic systems toward higher bit rates has pushed APD performance toward higher bandwidths, lower noise, and higher gain-bandwidth products. Utilizing thin multiplication regions has reduced the excess noise. Further noise reduction has been demonstrated by incorporating new materials and impact ionization engineering with beneficially designed heterostructures. High gain-bandwidth products have been achieved waveguide structures. Recently, imaging and sensing applications have spurred interest in low noise APDs in the infrared and the UV as well as large area APDs and arrays. This paper reviews some of the recent progress in APD technology.
The acquisition of connectors in French L2 narrative discourse

Abstract The article examines the use of connectors in oral narratives of 27 adult American learners of French, who are classified in four groups according to length of instruction and type of learning environment, i.e. classroom or immersion or mixed. The patterns of acquisition are found to be in general quite similar to those of child LI French learners, including a routinised use of one or more markers which serve as pause fillers. Surprisingly, even very proficient learners show overgeneralisation of some connectors, in particular of transitional connectors (alors, donc) and discourse-structuring particles (eh bien, bon), whose functions are relatively opaque.
Pathways to Diabetic Limb Amputation: Basis for Prevention

We defined the causal pathways responsible for 80 consecutive initial lower-extremity amputations to an extremity in diabetic patients at the Seattle Veterans Affairs Medical Center over a 30-mo interval from 1984 to 1987. Causal pathways, either unitary or composed of various combinations of seven potential causes (i.e., ischemia, infection, neuropathy, faulty wound healing, minor trauma, cutaneous ulceration, gangrene), were determined empirically after a synthesis by the investigators of various objective and subjective data. Estimates of the proportion of amputations that could be ascribed to each component cause were calculated. Twenty-three unique causal pathways to diabetic limb amputation were identified. Eight frequent constellations of component causes resulted in 73% of the amputations. Most pathways were composed of multiple causes, with only critical ischemia from acute arterial occlusions responsible for amputations as a singular cause. The causal sequence of minor trauma, cutaneous ulceration, and wound-healing failure applied to 72% of the amputations, often with the additional association of infection and gangrene. We specified precise criteria in the definition of causal pathway to permit estimation of the cumulative proportion of amputations due to various causes. Forty-six percent of the amputations were attributed to ischemia, 59% to infection, 61% to neuropathy, 81% to faulty wound healing, 84% to ulceration, 55% to gangrene, and 81% to initial minor trauma. An identifiable and potentially preventable pivotal event, in most cases an episode involving minor trauma that caused cutaneous injury, preceded 69 of 80 amputations. Defining causal pathways that predispose to diabetic limb amputation suggests practical interventions that may be effective in preventing diabetic limb loss.
Influences of Marriage, Motherhood, and Other Life Events on Australian Women’s Employment Aspirations

The study contributes to the understandings of how women negotiate work and family over the life course by investigating what factors impact young women’s aspirations for full time, part-time, and other forms of work. Using data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) with its nationally representative sample of Australian women, the authors examine how women moving from their 20s to early 30s change their aspirations for employment (at the age of 35) after significant life events and changes, including the birth of a child. Multinomial logistic regression analyses across two transition periods (N = 7,505 and N = 7,584) showed that changes in employment aspirations co-occurred with movement into marriage or stable relationships and with changes in aspirations for family size. As young women become mothers, or move into situations in which motherhood is likely, many adjusted their employment aspirations away from full-time employment and toward part-time work. The findings suggest a growing awareness of the practical difficulties of balancing paid work and family roles within the current context of work and family policy and practice in Australia. Women’s choices are not free of constraints; rather, younger generations of women negotiate work and family life by adjusting and changing their own aspirations within the context and circumstances of their lives.
Micronutrient deficiency disorders amongst pregnant women in three urban slum communities of Delhi.

OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence of three micronutrient deficiency disorders (MDDs), i.e., iron deficiency, iodine deficiency and vitamin-A deficiency individually and in combination amongst pregnant women. METHODS A hospital based study was conducted amongst 829 pregnant women of II and III trimester attending antenatal clinic, Rural Health Training Center (RHTC), Najafgarh, New Delhi. Anemia was assessed by the presence of clinical signs and by hemoglobin levels. Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) were assessed by clinical examination of thyroid gland and by urinary iodine excretion levels. Iodine content of the salt consumed by the pregnant women was also assessed by iodometric titration method. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) was assessed by the presence of clinical symptoms of nightblindness. Current dietary intake, morbidity conditions on the day of survey and anthropometric measurements of pregnant women were also documented. RESULTS Prevalence of anemia, IDD and VAD amongst pregnant women was 78.8%, 22.9% and 4.8%, respectively. One per cent of the pregnant women had concomitant presence of all the three MDDs. Pregnant women having combined prevalence of IDD and anemia, IDD and VAD, and VAD and anemia was 15.1%, 0.18% and 2.69%, respecively. Eighty nine per cent of the pregnant women were consuming salt with iodine content of more than 15 ppm which was recommended at household level. Results on dietary intake showed that 18%, 34%, 85% and 57% of the pregnant women were consuming less than 50% of calories, proteins, iron and b-carotene, respectively as compared to their RDA. Forty per cent of the pregnant women were suffering from various morbidity conditions on the day of survey. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies amongst pregnant women of urban slum communities is high.
An upper bound for the epidemic threshold in exact Markovian SIR and SIS epidemics on networks

Exploiting the power of the expectation operator and indicator (or Bernoulli) random variables, we present the exact governing equations for both the SIR and SIS epidemic models on networks. Although SIR and SIS are basic epidemic models, deductions from their exact stochastic equations without making approximations (such as the common mean-field approximation) are scarce. An exact analytic solution of the governing equations is highly unlikely to be found (for any network) due to the appearing pair (and higher order) correlations. Nevertheless, the maximum average fraction yI of infected nodes in both SIS and SIR can be written as a quadratic form of the graph's Laplacian. Only for regular graphs, the expression for the maximum of yI can be simplified to exhibit the explicit dependence on the spectral radius. From our new Laplacian expression, we deduce a general upper bound for the epidemic SIS threshold in any graph.
MET Gain in Diffuse Astrocytomas is Associated with Poorer Outcome

Glioblastoma may develop rapidly without evidence for precursor lesions (primary glioblastomas), or progress from diffuse or anaplastic astrocytomas (secondary glioblastomas). Despite having distinct genetic profiles, these glioblastoma subtypes have similar histological features. We hypothesized that the highly malignant phenotype of glioblastoma may be attributable to genetic alterations that are common to both glioblastoma subtypes. In the present study, we first searched for commonly (>35%) amplified genes in glioblastomas with IDH1 mutation (a hallmark of secondary glioblastoma) and those without IDH1 mutation (typical for primary glioblastoma) in data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). A total of 25 genes were identified, of which 21 were located at 7q31‐34. We then screened 264 gliomas (70 glioblastomas, 112 diffuse astrocytomas, 82 oligodendrogliomas) for gain of the MET at 7q31.2 with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). MET gain was detected in primary glioblastomas (47%) and secondary glioblastomas (44%), suggesting that this genetic alteration plays a role in the pathogenesis of both glioblastoma subtypes. MET gain was also common in diffuse astrocytomas (38%), but less frequent in oligodendrogliomas (16%). MET gain in diffuse astrocytomas was associated with shorter survival (median, 43.0 vs. 70.7 months; P = 0.004), suggesting that MET gain is a useful prognostic marker for diffuse astrocytomas.
Finding the Irish Language in Canada

In Canada today, Irish language learners may avail of a variety of formal and informal contexts. A number of higher-level institutions offer instruction in the language. The development of a multiculturalism policy after the 1960s sought a place for Canada’s “heritage languages” and led to the establishment of the so-called “ethnic” chairs for the study of Canada’s heritage groups other than the British or French and their languages. Subsequently, a chair of Celtic Studies was founded at the University of Ottawa, a chair of Gaelic Studies at St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, and a chair of Irish Studies at St. Mary’s University, Halifax. Elsewhere, the Celtic Studies program at the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto was born out of a strong research interest in Anglo-Irish literature. It has run for some thirty years. And the School of Canadian Irish Studies/Ecole des Etudes Canado-Irlandaises at Concordia University in Montreal focuses on both the history and culture of Ireland and “the contribution of Irish immigrants in all regions of Canada to the social, cultural, economic, religions [sic], educational and political life of the country. ” Thanks to such initiatives as the Ireland Canada University Foundation Irish Language Programme (established in 2009), Irish can continue to be taught, and increasingly offered at Canadian universities. As well as the offer of instruction though university programs, the Irish experience in Canada is also very much lived and remembered through informal Irish-language learning. As such, the Irish language resonates among those contemporary Canadians who have actual or cultural memories of migration from Ireland. In a recent memoir, John Donahue recalled that he had
Understanding Single Older Women’s Invisibility in Housing Issues in Australia

Abstract This paper examines the available literature on single older non-home owning women in Australia and their housing issues. Preliminary information suggests that this subset of the population is increasingly at risk of becoming homeless or inadequately housed in later life. In fact, there is a historical dearth of research on women’s housing in general. This invisibility and vulnerability is interrogated within this paper through a feminist standpoint lens. We argue that in order to better understand the situation for single older women who do not own their own homes, it is necessary to revisit the social landscape inhabited by these women in their early years. Firstly, however, the current landscape is explored. It appears that ageing and single status are compounding factors which place non-home owning women at higher risk of homelessness or inappropriate housing. The paper then attempts to assess how the social and economic conditions that were extant in the mid-twentieth century led to the present situation. Our analysis leads us to suggest that women’s traditional roles in society are largely responsible for housing insecurity in their later years.