Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the density distribution across space: a probabilistic approach

This paper aims at providing a Bayesian parametric framework to tackle the accessibility problem across space in urban theory. Adopting continuous variables in a probabilistic setting we are able to associate with the distribution density to the Kendall's tau index and replicate the general issues related to the role of proximity in a more general context. In addition, by referring to the Beta and Gamma distribution, we are able to introduce a differentiation feature in each spatial unit without incurring in any a-priori definition of territorial units. We are also providing an empirical application of our theoretical setting to study the density distribution of the population across Massachusetts.
Financial performance of New England dairy farms

This article uses a procedure developed by Melichar to classify 124 New England dairy farms according to their financial performance. Logit regression is then used to estimate a model that seeks to explain the variation in observed financial performance. It was found that 80% of the farms in the sample were in good financial position in 1984. The results of the logit regression suggest that production per cow, farm operating expense per cow, milk price, non-milk sources of farm income, farm size, farm location, and land purchases in the last five-year period are statistically significant determinants of financial performance. Surprisingly, operator education is not statistically significant.
Modified Least-to-Most Greedy Algorithm to Search a Minimum Sentence Set

Searching minimum sentence sets is one of the key issues in building continuous speech corpora for speech study. The minimum sentence set should contain smallest number of phonemes but cover all desired phonetic units. This paper introduces two modification procedures to improve performance of least-to-most (LTM) greedy algorithm in searching a minimum sentence set. The first procedure groups sentences containing the to-be-covered units having the same frequencies into a subset, and then selects a best sentence from that subset. The second procedure optimizes the resulting set by removing redundant sentences. Testing to an Indonesian mother sentence set showed that modified LTM greedy algorithm produced slightly smaller sentence set than that generated by LTM greedy
Combining advanced constellations and SSD techniques for optimal BICM capacity

Uniform quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) has been widely used in terrestrial broadcasting systems because it provides a high data rate although it is less resilient to noise and interference. However, the uniform pattern of the constellation points doesn't provide the highest BICM capacity so a degree of non uniformity is needed so as to improve the BICM capacity of the system. On the other hand, due to the difficulty of some propagation scenarios in broadcasting applications signal space diversity (SSD) techniques could increase the robustness of the system. The goal of this paper is to present the performance of advanced constellation schemes and signal space diversity techniques.
Tobacco Use Among Racial and Ethnic Population Subgroups of Adolescents in the United States

Introduction Limited data on cigarette smoking among population subgroups hinder the development and implementation of intervention strategies for those subgroups. Because of small sample sizes or inadequate study formats, cigarette smoking among youths has been studied mostly among broad racial or ethnic categories (e.g., Asian, Hispanic) instead of subgroups (e.g., Vietnamese, Cuban). The objective of this study was to evaluate cigarette smoking among U.S. youths by racial and ethnic subgroups. Methods The study used a nationally representative sample of youths aged 12 to 17 years who participated in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 1999, 2000, or 2001. Outcomes measured include prevalence of cigarette smoking, mean age of smoking initiation, and susceptibility to start smoking. Results The prevalence of smoking among youths aged 12 to 17 years varied among racial and ethnic subgroups, ranging from 27.9% for American Indians and Alaska Natives to 5.2% for Japanese. Among youths aged 12 to 17 years, the age of smoking initiation ranged from 11.5 years (American Indians and Alaska Natives) to 13.2 years (Japanese); the overall mean age of initiation was 12.3 years. White and African American youths were the only groups that showed a significant sex difference in age of initiation among all 14 subgroups; white and African American boys initiated smoking a few months earlier than white and African American girls. One of every four never-smokers aged 12 to 17 years was classified as susceptible to becoming a smoker. Conclusion The prevalence of cigarette smoking among youths varies widely by racial and ethnic subgroup. There is a need for sustained, culturally appropriate interventions to prevent and control cigarette smoking among youths, particularly within racial and ethnic subgroups with a high prevalence of cigarette smoking.
Coffee: Is it Still a Viable Cash Crop for Smallholders in Africa?

Smallholder coffee production in Africa has declined over the last 10 years due to a combination of unfavourable producer prices, inefficient marketing and the high cost of inputs resulting from economic structural adjustment policies and lack of credit facilities. Although there is currently a surplus of coffee on the world market and prices may remain low for some time as a result, the ‘fair trade’ sector is expanding, offering a marketing opportunity for smallholders. This article examines some of the problems currently facing the smallholder sector in Africa and suggests that adapting the principles of integrated crop management (ICM) to the needs of coffee smallholders can contribute to the profitability and sustainability of the sector.
An Antitrust Analysis of College Early Admission Programs

College admissions at the level of elite colleges and universities would seem, to the uninitiated, to offer a model of the competitive market that antitrust law endeavors to promote and maintain. Notwithstanding the significant branding power of a handful of truly elite colleges, the college market exhibits many of the paradigmatic competitive market’s hallmark features, including substantial numbers of both producers and consumers of the educational product, and seemingly unhindered information on the parts of both parties. Indeed, there can be little doubt that the system promotes sometimes-fierce competition: not only among applicants for elite colleges, but also among colleges for elite applicants. Such competition drives colleges to make themselves more attractive in two ways: by reducing prices through scholarships, grants, research stipends, and the like, and by improving their product through inducements like honors designations and programs. In either form, this competition redounds to the economic benefit of admitted students.
Longitudinal Analysis of Tick Densities and Borrelia, Anaplasma, and Ehrlichia Infections of Ixodes ricinus Ticks in Different Habitat Areas in The Netherlands

ABSTRACT From 2000 to 2004, ticks were collected by dragging a blanket in four habitat areas in The Netherlands: dunes, heather, forest, and a city park. Tick densities were calculated, and infection with Borrelia burgdorferi and Anaplasma and Ehrlichia species was investigated by reverse line blot analysis. The lowest tick density was observed in the heather area (1 to 8/100 m2). In the oak forest and city park, the tick densities ranged from 26 to 45/100 m2. The highest tick density was found in the dune area (139 to 551/100 m2). The infection rates varied significantly for the four study areas and years, ranging from 0.8 to 11. 5% for Borrelia spp. and 1 to 16% for Ehrlichia or Anaplasma (Ehrlichia/Anaplasma) spp. Borrelia infection rates were highest in the dunes, followed by the forest, the city park, and heather area. In contrast, Ehrlichia/Anaplasma was found most often in the forest and less often in the city park. The following Borrelia species were found: Borrelia sensu lato strains not identified to the species level (2.5%), B. afzelii (2.5%), B. valaisiana (0.9%), B. burgdorferi sensu stricto (0.13%), and B. garinii (0.13%). For Ehrlichia/Anaplasma species, Ehrlichia and Anaplasma spp. not identified to the species level (2.5%), Anaplasma schotti variant (3.5%), Anaplasma phagocytophilum variant (0.3%), and Ehrlichia canis (0.19%) were found. E. canis is reported for the first time in ticks in The Netherlands in this study. Borrelia lusitaniae, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, and the human granylocytic anaplasmosis agent were not detected. About 1.6% of the ticks were infected with both Borrelia and Ehrlichia/Anaplasma, which was higher than the frequency predicted from the individual infection rates, suggesting hosts with multiple infections or a possible selective advantage of coinfection.
Resolving the impasse on hospital scale economics: A new approach

The existence of scale economies in hospitals in important for both public and managerial policy, yet production and cost function studies have found conflicting evidence. More recently, more sophisticated studies have typically found scale diseconomies, which is inconsistent with the views of industry participants and observers. In the early 1980s. California deregulated both private and public health insurance (Medical), which provides a natural laboratory for examining hospital efficiency. Using Stigler's original and multivariate survivor analysis, we resolve the conflict in favour of scale economies, and reconcile the controversy. The survivorship methodology in simple to apply, and a useful tool in conjunction with statistical cost and production studies.
Endogenous Determinants for Renegotiating Concessions: Evidence from Local Infrastructure

The engagement of local government in public–private partnerships (PPPs) for the provision of infrastructure and public services is a global trend. Light rail services, water systems, waste management systems, schools, sport centres and social housing are simply a few examples of sectors in which the private sector is becoming more actively involved with local authorities. Most of these engagements are conducted through the use of mixed companies and contractual concessions. However, both of these uses suffer from a major shortcoming – renegotiations. Contracts are often renegotiated within a few years of being signed, and some evidence reveals that the results might not protect the public interest. This article aims to understand how and why renegotiations of local concessions occur by examining the specific characteristics of contracts (endogenous determinants). To illustrate the discussion, a case study of a light rail system is analysed, exemplifying the effect of a contractual renegotiation. The authors argue that contractual renegotiation can be useful in decreasing contract incompleteness, but a poorly designed contractual clause can allow for opportunistic concessionaire behaviour.
Raft-mediated Src Homology 2 Domain-containing Proteintyrosine Phosphatase 2 (SHP-2) Regulation in Microglia*

Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK-STAT) signals play important roles in cell proliferation, apoptosis, and inflammation, and they recently have been considered as therapeutic targets for suppressing oncogenesis and inflammatory process. Phosphatases including Src homology 2 domain-containing protein-tyrosine phosphatases (SHPs), are well known as negative regulators of the JAK-STAT pathway, but their precise mechanisms are largely unknown. Based on our previous finding that in cultured rat brain microglia, gangliosides induce rapid and transient activation of the JAK-STAT pathway, we hypothesized that raft-mediated SHP-2 activation is involved in transient activation of JAK-STAT signaling by gangliosides. We first used Western blot analysis to confirm that gangliosides rapidly induce the phosphorylation of SHP-2. This was inhibited by pretreatment with the lipid raft disrupter filipin and was restored following filipin removal. Immunostaining using antibodies directed against p-SHP-2 and flotillin-1 revealed ganglioside-induced clustering and polarization of p-SHP-2 in membrane rafts. Raft-associated regulation of SHP-2 was further demonstrated in fractionation experiments using detergent and detergent-free sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation. Rapid SHP-2 recruitment to detergent-insoluble raft fractions by gangliosides was inhibited by filipin, further indicating the involvement of rafts. We also confirmed by immunoprecipitation that SHP-2 rapidly binds in a raft-dependent manner to JAK2 in response to gangliosides. Our study therefore showed that transient activation of the JAK-STAT pathway by gangliosides is accomplished by SHP-2 in a raft-dependent manner in brain microglia.
Testing the Pareto Efficiency of Household Resource Allocations

In a careful and thorough empirical study, Christopher Udry (1996) shows convincingly that, in a large sample of West African households, household resource allocations were not Pareto efficient. This paper argues that observation of the Pareto inefficiency of a household resource allocation does not however refute the hypothesis that it chooses this resource allocation as if it maximises some form of household welfare function possessing the Pareto property. To refute that hypothesis it is necessary to show that the observed allocation does not represent a second best optimum. For this it will be necessary to show that the estimated parameters of the model lie in a region of the parameter space for which the second best optimality of the allocation does not hold.
Decision-theoretic utility analysis applied to employee separations and acquisitions.

A decision-theor etic utility model that describes the consequences of employee movements out of and into the organization (separations and acquisitions) is presented. The model is developed for three types of employee movement: (a) repeated acquisitions without separations, (b) repeated unreplaced separations over time, and (c) repeated separations over time that are replaced with new employees. The latter model is the most general case, and provides an explicit link between separation utility and existing selection utility models. In addition to a conceptual and algebraic model development, a computer algorithm is developed and used to provide a numerical simulation. The results strongly suggest that decisions about employee separations can substantially affect the utility of human resources. Literature-based implications for future selection and turnover research are presented.
Risk Items Associated With Patient Falls in Oncology and Medical Settings

The aim of this study was to determine whether items on a falls risk–assessment tool, made up of brief cognitive and physical measures that nurses use in practice, differentiated fallers and nonfallers in oncology and medical settings. A measure of leg muscle strength clearly distinguished between fallers and nonfallers, with the latter having stronger leg muscles. For nursing practice, the assessment of patients' muscle strength seems to be the most useful scale for identifying potential fallers.
Czech Mate: Expropriation and Investor Protection in a Converging World

This paper examines the expropriation of a foreign investor by a local partner and the subsequent resolution of the case through international arbitration in favor of the investor. Despite the investor's 99% interest in the joint venture, the local partner managed to divert the entire value of the underlying entity for his personal benefit. This clinical examination of an expropriation and its aftermath illustrates the interaction of property and contract rights in a global setting, how corporate control is shaped by geography, and how multinational firms may be advantaged by availing themselves of stronger investor protections than local firms. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.
CYTOPEMPSIS OF HORSERADISH PEROXIDASE IN THE HEPATOCYTE

An excretory role of pericanalicular vesicles was studied by following the uptake and transport of horseradish peroxidase in rabbit hepatocytes. The observations are interpreted to indicate uptake of horseradish peroxidase by pinocytotic vesicles which then move toward the biliary pole, thus becoming pericanalicular vesicles which discharge their contents directly into the bile canaliculi. With small loads, lysosomes other than multivesicular bodies are not involved in this route of transport. Although multivesicular bodies have also been shown to be active in the uptake of horseradish peroxidase from the sinusoidal surface, their subsequent fate is not known.
High performance work practices and competitive advantage in the Irish hospitality sector

Purpose – Failte Ireland argues that high performance work practices will provide the Irish tourist industry with the necessary competitive edge. The main focus of this study is to explore the extent of these practices in the Irish hospitality industry with particular emphasis on the practices of staff empowerment and participation.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was chosen as the most appropriate means of obtaining information from managers because respondents could be targeted in a cost effective method. A total of 71 questionnaires were mailed to managers in all three, four and five‐star hotels in the Dublin and greater Dublin area.Findings – The data show that Dublin‐based hotels display some of the human resource practices associated with high performing work practices. There are, however, very low levels of employee participation, which many authors argue are the cornerstone of high performance practices.Practical implications – The Irish hotel industry is undergoing fundamental change.
Games Real Actors Could Play

There is more coordination in the modern world than is plausibly explained by the classical mechanisms of community, market, hierarchy and their commonly discussed variants. This paper explores modalities of non-market coordination whose application is not constrained by the narrow motivational and cognitive limitations of pure forms of hierarchical and negotiated coordination. The focus is on two varieties of negotiated self-coordination under conditions where actual negotiations are embedded in a pre-existing structural context - either within hierarchical organizations or within self-organizing networks of cooperative relationships. Extrapolating from empirical findings in a variety of settings, it is argued that embeddedness will, at the same time, increase the scope of welfare maximizing `positive coordination' and create conditions under which externalities are inhibited through `negative coordination'. In combination, these mechanisms are able to explain much of the de facto coordination that seems to exist beyond the confines of efficient markets and hierarchies.
Influence of Psychological needs on participation of children aged 4-6 years with physical disabilities in early childhood education classes in starehe division, Nairobi County

Psychological needs, emphasizes self determination, relatedness and autonomy as vital components of survival among children with disability. Inappropriate fulfillment of needs de-motivate children lowering participation during classes creating symptoms of ill being such as withdrawal, deprivation and optimism. To address this imbalance, early childhood education (ECE) classes require structuring to enhance participation of children with physical disability (CWPD). The study assessed influence of psychological needs on participation of CWPD in ECE classes in Starehe division. The study adopted descriptive research design and targeted 5 head teachers, 35 teachers, 20 parents and children with physical disabilities aged 4 – 6 and in preschool. Purposive sampling and simple random sampling was used to select respondents for the study. Questionnaires, observation guide and structured interview were used to solicit data. Findings revealed that teachers were not conversant with types of psychological needs promoting participation of CWPD in ECE classes. Teachers who supported needs of CWPD tended to yield better results and created inclusive learning environment. Non satisfaction of psychological needs yielded lower learner participation, lowered self esteem and promoted negative attitude towards teaching learning process in ECE classes. The study recommends policy for early identification, assessment and intervention on the needs of effective participation of CWPD in ECE classes.
Sensory, clinical and physiological factors in sensitive skin: a review

Certain individuals experience more intense and frequent adverse sensory effects than the normal population after topical use of personal care products, a phenomenon known in popular usage as sensitive skin. Consumer reports of sensitive skin are self‐diagnosed and often not verifiable by objective signs of physical irritation. Companies who manufacture cosmetic and personal care products are challenged to provide safe products to an audience with tremendous differences in skin type, culture and habits. This review examines the still incomplete understanding of this phenomenon with respect to aetiology, diagnosis, appropriate testing methods, possible contributing host factors such as, sex, ethnicity, age, anatomical site, cultural and environmental factors, and the future directions needed for research.
Efficacy and Safety of Sublingual Immunotherapy in Children Aged 3–13 Years with Allergic Rhinitis

Background Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is recommended for allergic diseases. However, clinical studies containing evidence-based data of this treatment in young children, which is rarely reported in the literature, are needed. This study was designed to assess the efficacy and safety of SLIT in children, including very young children. Methods Two hundred sixty-four children aged 3–13 years old (133 children, 3–5 years old) with Dermatophagoides farinae–induced allergic rhinitis with or without asthma treated by standard pharmacotherapy had randomly received either SLIT (SLIT group) or no SLIT (control group) for 12 months. Symptoms, medications, visual analog scale (VAS) and presence of adverse events (AEs) were assessed at monthly visits. Skin-prick test and Dermatophagoides farinae–specific IgE and IgG4 were measured before and after treatment. Results Both treatments were effective in the global clinical scores during the first seven visits when compared with baseline (all, p < 0.01), and SLIT showed lower symptoms scores and VAS scores throughout this period (all, p < 0.01). These improvements continued until the later visits only in the SLIT group. Also, the asthma medication consumption was decreased by SLIT treatment only at the end of study (p < 0.01). The specific IgG4 was significantly increased after SLIT treatment when compared with the control group, but no significant change of specific IgE was observed in either groups. In the SLIT group, there was no significant difference between children less than or more than 5 year old in terms clinical efficacy, onset of action, immunologic parameters, and safety. No severe systemic AEs were reported. Conclusion SLIT is effective and well-tolerated in children with allergic rhinitis 3–13 years old.