Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stakeholders, the natural environment and the future of Caribbean cruise tourism.

Given the sheer complexity of effectively managing the web of potential stakeholders in any tourism development it is argued that for the future of Caribbean cruise tourism, the task is compounded by several key issues that warrant discussion. These include the economic dependency of the Caribbean region on tourism, the inequity of power relations between the various stakeholder groups and the lack of proven collaboration within this fragmented region of culturally diverse islands. This paper addresses these issues, discussing the importance of collaboration and planning for development, highlighting the disparate needs of the different stakeholders involved and drawing attention to the continuing paradox between maximising the opportunities presented by Caribbean cruise tourism whilst effectively managing its sustained development. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd.
Feeder Cattle Price Determinants: An Hedonic System of Equations Approach

Price is expected to vary among lots of cattle depending on the levels and types of characteristics associated with a particular lot of cattle. Commonly-used factors to formulate characteristics demand models for cattle have included frame size, flesh condition, weight, and outside market factors (e.g., price expectations and transaction and production costs) occurring simultaneously during the cattle transaction (Bailey, Brorsen, and Fawson; Faminow and Gum; Lambert et al.; Buccola; Schroeder et al.). Moreover, price may vary among lots of cattle because of varying demand schedules for different types of cattle and varying contractual conditions of cattle transactions. Thus, the characteristics supplied by a lot of cattle, along with outside market factors and various contractual conditions, contribute to the overall price paid for a particular lot of cattle. Previous characteristics demand models or hedonic price analyses have not considered possible interdependencies among various input/ product characteristics (Bailey, Brorsen, and Fawson; Bailey, Brorsen, and Thomsen; Faminow and Gum; Lambert et al.; Ladd and Suvannunt; Arguea and Hsiao; Schroeder et al.). However, using cattle as an example, possible interdependencies between genetic and physical characteristics may arise, e.g., breed is a determinant of the observed levels of other physical characteristics. Therefore, breed may not only influence price directly, but may also impact price indirectly through its direct influences on physical characteristics such as weight, flesh condition, and frame size (McWhir and Wilton; Taylor; Jenkins et al.; Amer, Kemp, and Smith;
Purchasing Power Parity, Productivity Differentials and Non-Linearity

The purpose of this paper is to apply a symmetric band threshold autoregressive model to investigate the non-linear adjustment of the real pound-dollar rate over a period from 1885 to 2003. After controlling for the Harrod-Balassa-Samuelson effects, we find evidence to support a non-linear mean reversion of the real pound-dollar rate. Moreover, the estimated half-life is about two years with large shocks. We therefore provide a solution to the purchasing power parity puzzle. Copyright © 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and The University of Manchester.
Post‐Industrial Widgets: Capital Flows and the Production of the Urban

For decades community activists fought to increase access to capital for disinvested communities. Now community activists question whether communities have access to capital or capital has access to them. Their concerns are related to the expansion of subprime and predatory lending. The subprime crisis has often been conceptualized as the action of a minor group of predatory lenders, a problem that is individualized, segmented and inherently local. I suggest instead that mortgage capital is the post-industrial widget, the emblematic product of the post-industrial economy. Capital accumulated by owners is extracted from urban communities and flows through brokers and lenders to investors and the subprime lending industry, linking global (and local) capital to place. Place is the node that facilitates capital accumulation, completing the flow from the ethereal world of securities and investment in the secondary circuit of capital to the real-world place of extraction in urban communities. Subprime lending in this context can be seen as a critical component of the financialization of the economy. National housing, macroeconomic and tax policies have expanded the importance of banking and finance within the global and national economy by increasing demand for, and the supply of, mortgage capital. I illustrate the impacts of national financial policy on urban places by examining mortgage foreclosures in Essex County, New Jersey and by talking with residents of one urban community in Newark, New Jersey. Copyright (c) 2009 The Author. Journal Compilation (c) 2009 Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
The Impact of Western Diet and Nutrients on the Microbiota and Immune Response at Mucosal Interfaces

Recent findings point toward diet having a major impact on human health. Diets can either affect the gut microbiota resulting in alterations in the host’s physiological responses or by directly targeting the host response. The microbial community in the mammalian gut is a complex and dynamic system crucial for the development and maturation of both systemic and mucosal immune responses. Therefore, the complex interaction between available nutrients, the microbiota, and the immune system are central regulators in maintaining homeostasis and fighting against invading pathogens at mucosal sites. Westernized diet, defined as high dietary intake of saturated fats and sucrose and low intake of fiber, represent a growing health risk contributing to the increased occurrence of metabolic diseases, e.g., diabetes and obesity in countries adapting a westernized lifestyle. Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and asthma are chronic mucosal inflammatory conditions of unknown etiology with increasing prevalence worldwide. These conditions have a multifactorial etiology including genetic factors, environmental factors, and dysregulated immune responses. Their increased prevalence cannot solely be attributed to genetic considerations implying that other factors such as diet can be a major contributor. Recent reports indicate that the gut microbiota and modifications thereof, due to a consumption of a diet high in saturated fats and low in fibers, can trigger factors regulating the development and/or progression of both conditions. While asthma is a disease of the airways, increasing evidence indicates a link between the gut and airways in disease development. Herein, we provide a comprehensive review on the impact of westernized diet and associated nutrients on immune cell responses and the microbiota and how these can influence the pathology of IBD and asthma.
Inside Out: the External Face of EU Internal Security Policy

Abstract The field of Justice, Liberty and Security has evolved into an important and dynamic policy domain since the early 1990s. An external policy dimension has developed in relation to internal security as the EU has wrestled with a range of transnational threats. This article analyses this external policy dimension and argues that the Union’s response has two facets. First, the EU has sought to impose its model of internal security upon its neighbours. Secondly, it has attempted to foster norms within the international community that will help to address transnational security challenges.
Otitis Media, the Caregiving Environment, and Language and Cognitive Outcomes at 2 Years

Objective. To examine the relationship between otitis media with effusion (OME) and associated hearing loss between 6 and 24 months of age and children's language and cognitive development at 2 years of age. Study Design. A prospective cohort design in which 86 African-American infants who attended group child-care centers were recruited between 6 and 12 months of age. Between 6 and 24 months, assessments included serial ear examinations using otoscopy and tympanometry, serial hearing tests, two ratings of the childrearing environment at home and in child care, and language and cognitive outcomes at 2 years. Results. Children experienced either unilateral or bilateral OME an average of 63% and reduced hearing sensitivity an average of 44% of the time between 6 and 24 months of age. Although proportion of time with OME or with hearing loss was modestly correlated with measures of language and cognitive skills, these relationships were no longer significant when the ratings of the home and child-care environments were also considered. Children with more OME or hearing loss tended to live in less responsive caregiving environments, and these environments were linked to lower performance in expressive language and vocabulary acquisition at 2 years. Conclusions. Both OME and hearing loss were more strongly related to the quality of home and child-care environments than to children's language and cognitive development. Study results might be explained either by suggesting that children in less responsive caregiving environments experience conditions that make them more likely to experience OME and/or by suggesting that it may be more difficult for caregivers to be responsive and stimulating with children with more OME.
Quality practices in travel agencies: A mediating factor in non-financial indicators of advanced information systems

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the motivations for the adoption of quality management practices (QMPs) and the effects exerted by the advanced management information systems (AMIS) as mediating factors in a sector consisting of highly competitive companies with a high mortality rate in recent years: travel agencies. Design/methodology/approach – The results were based on a survey completed by 185 travel agencies with less than 50 employees, covering over 5 per cent of the SME travel agencies in Spain. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the links between the studied dimensions. Findings – The findings indicate that QMPs have a positive, direct influence on the adoption of AMIS and that the adoption of AMIS has a positive, direct impact on financial performance. The results suggest that quality policies facilitate greater use of financial indicators but not in the use of non-financial indicators, where the key to better business performance lies. Originality/value – Therefo.
International Comparisons of Public Sector Performance: How to Move Ahead?

Measuring and comparing the overall performance of countries' public sectors requires agreement on definitions and objectives of government. I argue that such an agreement is about finding a consensus rather than about finding better definitions. Measuring government requires a number of leaps of faith , where certain definitions, assumptions and statistics are accepted as good enough for measurement and comparison. The political science and economic research community have a different tradition of dealing with such agreements and leaps of faith, and this is reflected in their approaches to measuring and comparing the performance of public sectors. The implications of these traditions are particularly visible in the usefulness of measurement and indicators for policy makers.
Automatic systems diagnosis without behavioral models

Recent feedback obtained while applying Model-based diagnosis (MBD) in industry suggests that the costs involved in behavioral modeling (both expertise and labor) can outweigh the benefits of MBD as a high-performance diagnosis approach. In this paper, we propose an automatic approach, called ANTARES, that completely avoids behavioral modeling. Decreasing modeling sacrifices diagnostic accuracy, as the size of the ambiguity group (i.e., components which cannot be discriminated because of the lack of information) increases, which in turn increases misdiagnosis penalty. ANTARES further breaks the ambiguity group size by considering the component's false negative rate (FNR), which is estimated using an analytical expression. Furthermore, we study the performance of ANTARES for a number of logic circuits taken from the 74XXX/ISCAS benchmark suite. Our results clearly indicate that sacrificing modeling information degrades the diagnosis quality. However, considering FNR information improves the quality, attaining the diagnostic performance of an MBD approach.
The WTO – a driving force for the liberalisation of public services in the EU?

Liberalisation of public services can be implemented not only through autonomous legislative action by individual countries, but also as a consequence of obligations arising from membership of supranational or international organisations. This article analyses how the process of the commodification of services at the level of the WTO, i.e. via the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), interacts with the politics of trade and services liberalisation in the European Union. Thus, we highlight the specific role of services negotiations in the WTO for the political dynamics of liberalising public services in the EU. Our conclusions highlight three specific functions of the GATS agreement: first, it serves as an institutional mechanism to ‘lock-in’ liberalisations achieved at a national or European level, secondly, it exercises a disciplinary effect on national regulation, and, thirdly, it provides an additional platform for the application of forum-shifting in the politics of international trade.
Plasticity of retrovirus-labelled myotubes in the newt limb regeneration blastema.

Two important indices of myogenic differentiation are the formation of syncytial myotubes and the postmitotic arrest from the cell cycle, both of which occur after fusion of mononucleate cells. We show here that these indices are reversed in the environment of the urodele limb regeneration blastema. In order to introduce an integrated (genetic) marker into newt myotubes, we infected mononucleate cells in culture with a pseudotyped retrovirus expressing human placental alkaline phosphatase (AP). After fusion the myotubes expressed AP and could be purified by sieving and micromanipulation so as to remove all mononucleate cells. When such purified retrovirus-labelled myotubes were implanted into a limb blastema they gave rise to mononucleate progeny with high efficiency. Purified myotubes labelled with fluorescent lipophilic cell tracker dye also gave rise to mononucleate cells; myotubes which were double labelled with the tracker dye and a nuclear stain gave rise to double-labelled mononucleate progeny. Nuclei within retrovirus-labelled myotubes entered S phase as evidenced by widespread labelling after injection of implanted newts with BrdU. The relation between the two aspects of plasticity is a critical further question.
Should Developing Countries Strengthen their Intellectual Property Rights?

Abstract This paper evaluates the welfare consequences of implementing intellectual property rights in developing countries. The protection of intellectual property in poor countries promises to increase world innovation, but this would not come without costs. Higher prices for consumers in that part of the world are the negative side of this policy.We present a general equilibrium model with two regions (the North and the South) to compare these two effects. Our main contribution is to show that the results will depend on the difference in economic development (represented by labor productivity) between the two regions. The South might suffer a net welfare loss if its productivity level is very low with respect to the North.
A lealdade ao canal de comercialização e ao fornecedor nas compras em ambientes físico e online

O avanco do comercio eletronico no Brasil aponta para uma tendencia irreversivel de desenvolvimento deste canal para a realizacao de compras. Em razao das suas peculiaridades, as estrategias de aumento da lealdade adotadas pelas empresas em ambiente fisico podem requerer adaptacoes e ate mesmo reconsideracoes. Em razao disso, este estudo teve por objetivo identificar os aspectos mais valorizados para a lealdade ao fornecedor do ponto de vista dos leais e nao leais aos canais (lojas fisicas e virtuais) e aos fornecedores nos ambientes online e offline, e as variaveis que potencialmente mais influenciariam os comportamentos de adocao ou de continuidade de uso da Internet como canal de compras. Alem da revisao do referencial teorico pertinente, foi realizada uma pesquisa de campo de natureza descritiva com tratamento quantitativo dos dados com compradores de livros, CDs e DVDs. Na etapa de analise dos dados foram usadas as seguintes tecnicas: estatisticas descritivas, teste Qui-Quadrado e analise fatorial confirmatoria. Dentre outros resultados, a pesquisa aponta que, independentemente do canal de compra, a maioria dos clientes nao e leal ao fornecedor, mas que no canal fisico predomina a lealdade a este ambiente, diferentemente do que ocorre no comercio eletronico. Aponta, ainda, que enquanto os nao leais ao canal fisico valorizam a localizacao e a acessibilidade, os nao leais ao canal online consideram a confianca na loja e sua reputacao como fator preponderante para o desenvolvimento de lealdade. Os aspectos subjacentes a lealdade ao canal e ao fornecedor nas compras online e offline revelados neste estudo contribuem para a definicao de estrategias para as empresas interessadas em estreitar o relacionamento com seus publicos-alvo e reforcar a sua retencao.
Subcorticospinal projections in the Rhesus monkey

In the Rhesus monkey corticospinal fibers distribute to the nucleus proprius of the dorsal horn, the zona intermedia and the ventral horn. In the ventral horn such fibers distribute to the mediodorsal parts as well as some of the motoneuronal cell groups (Hoff and Hoff, '34; Chambers and Liu, '58; Kuypers, '58d, '59, '60). In the cat a similar distribution had been found (Szentagothai-Schimert, '41, Lloyd, '41b; Chambers and Liu, '57), but fibers to the ventral horn could not be demonstrated. In both animals cortical fibers also distribute to the nuclei cuneatus and gracilis (Walberg, '57; Chambers and Liu, '57, '58; Kuypers, '56, '58a, '58c, 59, '60). These anatomical findings seem to corroborate physiological data, ( a ) demonstrating both direct and indirect corticomotoneuronal connections (cf., Bernhard and Bohm, '54; Preston and Whitlock, '60, '61) and (b) demonstrating a cortical influence conducted through the pyramidal tract and affecting neurons in the nuclei cuneatus and gracilis (Magni, et al., '59; Carreras et al., '60; Levitt et al., '60; Jabbur and Towe, '60) and the nucleus proprius of the spinal dorsal horn (Hagbarth and Kerr, '54, Lindblom and Ottoson, '57; Hagbarth and Fex, '59). Several physiological studies have also demonstrated the existence of subcortical influences affecting these motor (e.g., Lloyd, '41a; cf., Magoun, '50) and sensory cell groups (e.g., Hagbarth and Kerr, '54; HernAndez P6on et al., '56). Such studies, however, appear to lack detailed anatomical counterparts. Therefore, a study of the noncortical descending fiber systems in the brain stem was initiated. The Rhesus monkey was chosen as an experimental animal, for in this animal corticobulbar and corticospinal projections had been studied previously (Kuypers, '58c, '60). The terminal distribution of descending fibers represent their most important anatomical characteristic in respect to their function, for the functional capacities of descending pathways are directly related to those of the cells on which they terminate. Therefore, the study of the descending pathways in the brain stem was initiated by ascertaining the terminal distribution of the subcorticospinal fibers. This distribution was determined by charting the fiber degeneration, resulting from the interruption of these descending fiber bundles at low medullary levels.
Estrogenic activity of commercial milk as revealed in immature hamster uterotrophic assay – pilot study

Background The risk for public health posed by endocrine disruptors present in food is relatively new issue. Our current understanding of human exposure is mainly based on the residue analysis of selected compounds. With such approach potential, effects of mixtures, including so-far unidentified compounds are not taken into consideration. Therefore, the knowledge of overall hormonal activity in food samples is of big importance. Objective Milk and dairy products are a rich source of estrogens but very rarely undergo testing for estrogenic activity. For this reason the rodent uterotrophic bioassay is one of the most useful tool. This preliminary study was conducted in immature hamsters to assess commercially available milk. The endpoint measured was uterine weight increase. Material and methods Fifteen-day old females received ad libitum throughout 7 days commercially available milk i.e. raw goat’s, raw cow’s, processed 3.2% UHT, and for comparison soy milk. The animals of negative control group received water but positive control group got 17β - estradiol (E2) at the concentration of 100 ng/ml. Results All samples of milk showed estrogenic activity as follow: goat’s >cow’s >soy >processed milk. Significant increase of uteri weights were recorded in goat’s (p<0.001) and cow’s milk (p<0.01). However, the activity was approximately 5-fold lower than induced by 17β-estradiol. The ratio uterine weight/body weight (%) in negative control was 0.096%, in milk experimental groups ranged from 0.112% to 0.153% and in positive control this value was 0.493%. Conclusion The results suggest that commercially available milk has a weak uterotrophic activity. Further in vivo and in vitro studies are warranted to gain more insight into the estrogenic risk from milk and other dairy products.
The impacts of dimensions and return current path geometry on coupling in single ended Through Silicon Vias

Through Silicon Vias (TSVs) are expected to play an increasingly important role in next-generation microelectronics packaging. Even when the challenge of attenuation is overcome, crosstalk remains a major concern in TSV design. In this paper, it is shown that, at frequencies above 20 GHz, near-end crosstalk can easily exceed −20 dB. Traditional analytical models for crosstalk are compared to full-wave simulations to determine their limitations and a lumped element equivalent circuit model is presented. An examination of the impact of TSV dimensions is presented. Then, three TSV structures are compared and the impact of their dimensions on crosstalk is investigated.
ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) ACCESSIBILITY AND UTILIZATION IN TEACHING OF BUSINESS STUDIES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANDONI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA,RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

The study investigated information and communication technology (ICT) accessibility and utilization of teaching of business studies in secondary schools in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State. A 20 item instruments of (ICTFAQ) and (ICTFUQ) were used for this study. The study sampled 66 business studies teachers in selected secondary schools in Anolga, Rivers State. The collected data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics, while t-test was used to test the two generated hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that ICT facilities were not available, and accessed by teachers in secondary schools in Anolga. It was also revealed that business studies teachers in these schools, do not also have the skills of utilizing ICT for teaching of the subjects. Finally, recommendations on ways of solving the above menace were implemented for further consideration and implementation by both state and local government authorities.