Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimating the Effect of Training on Employment and Unemployment Durations: Evidence from Experimental Data

Using data from a social experiment, we estimate the impact of training on the duration of employment and unemployment spells for AFDC recipients. Although an experimental design eliminates the need to construct a comparison group for this analysis, simple comparisons between the average durations or the transition rates of treatments' and controls' employment and unemployment spells lead to biased estimates of the effects of training. We present and implement several econometric approaches that demonstrate the importance of and correct for these biases. For the training program studied in the paper, we find that it raised employment rates because employment durations increased. In contrast, training did not lead to shorter unemployment spells.
My approach to intraductal lesions of the prostate gland

The morphologically heterogeneous (intra)ductal lesions of the prostate frequently present a diagnostic challenge, particularly when found within prostate needle biopsies. By current convention, all high-grade intra-acinar and intraductal neoplastic lesions of prostatic origin fall under the diagnostic umbrella term: prostatic intraepithelial neoplasm (PIN). Although a long-standing contentious issue, some lesions currently adhering to the diagnostic criteria of PIN may actually represent the intraductal spread of (generally high grade) invasive cancer. Illustrating this fact, the well-described ductal subtype of prostatic adenocarcinoma is frequently associated with conventional-type acinar adenocarcinoma, and has a tendency to propagate within adjacent intact prostatic ducts. Clearly, the misdiagnosis of lesions representing invasive disease as preinvasive has the potential for unfavourable clinical sequelae. As yet, however, many of these lesions have escaped the establishment of reliable morphologic criteria or immunohistochemical differentiation for diagnosis. By defining stringent architectural and cytonuclear features specific for each of these lesions, it may be feasible to separate potentially sinister lesions from the subset of traditional (preinvasive) PIN lesions with limited clinical urgency. This review discusses the (intra)ductal lesions of the prostate, along with their differential diagnoses. Given the current state of knowledge, a pragmatic approach to their effective reporting is outlined, taking into consideration the clinical implications, as well as current guidelines for treatment and follow-up.
O impacto da violência no preço dos imóveis comerciais de Belo Horizonte: uma abordagem hedônica

Violence has become one of the most pressing concerns in Brazilian society, demanding answers from politicians and provoking academic debates. This work uses a hedonic price model to estimate the implicit cost of street violence - for example murder and assault - on a sample of Belo Horizonte's shops and commercial property. Four regressions were carried out, each separately testing the effects of each crime on each specific type of building. Evidence has been collected which suggests that buildings located in violent areas are subject to a depreciation in value.
Contrast Enhanced Ultrasonography and Carotid Plaque Imaging: from the Hemodynamic Evaluation to the Detection of Neoangiogenesis - The New Approach to the Identification of the Unstable Plaque: from Morphology to Patophysiology

Maria Fabrizia Giannoni1, Edoardo Vicenzini2, Claudia Monaco3 and Piergiorgio Cao4 1Vascular Ultrasound Investigation Unit, Vascular Surgery, Department “P. Stefanini”, Sapienza University of Rome, 2Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, 3Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Imperial College, London, 4Vascular Surgery, Department of Cardioscience, S. Camillo-Forlanini Hospital, Rome, 1,2,4Italy 3UK
Retaliation: Agency Theory and Gaps in the Law

This paper will explore the application of agency theory, the view that the principal is responsible for the actions of his agent, to the law of retaliation in sexual harassment cases. In the law the agency principle is sometimes known as the doctrine of respondeat superior. This doctrine has been used in sexual harassment cases, most frequently in hostile environment cases, but also in quid pro quo cases. The question addressed in this paper is, “Can the principle of respondeat superior be applied to issues of retaliation where the retaliation in question is not conducted by an employer, directly, but indirectly through the actions of a co-worker who had been accused of sexual harassment? ” Section 704 (a) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in part reads as follows: “It shall be an unlawful practice for an employer to discriminate against any of its employees or applicants for employment…because he has opposed any practice, made an unlawful employment practice by this title, or because he has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in any investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this title. ” The language seems clear enough, but what of a circumstance in which a harassing fellow employee uses tactics which are plainly retaliatory, except that they are conducted by the employee, not the employer, but the employer does nothing to curb the retaliatory behavior? Does this mean that an earlier victim of sexual harassment must now be the victim of retaliation? In the enforcement of Title VII, does the employer have a responsibility to bring the wayward harasser to tow? This paper will lay out the broad outlines of retaliation from a legal perspective, examine some applications of respondeat superior in sexual harassment law and finally suggest gaps in the law wherein this principle may be applied in cases of retaliation following sexual harassment claims. Our examination will also include retaliation against supporting fellow employees of a victim.
Glutathione is implied in the control of 7‐ketocholesterol‐induced apoptosis, which is associated with radical oxygen species production

In a number of experimental systems, inhibition of apoptosis by antioxidants has led to the production of radical oxygen species (ROS) in certain apoptotic forms of cell death. Since antioxidant therapies can reduce vascular dysfunctions in hypercholesterolemic patients who frequently have increased plasma levels of oxysterols constituting potent inducers of apoptosis, we speculate that oxysterol‐induced apoptosis could involve oxidative stress. Here, we tested the protective effects of the aminothiols glutathione (GSH) and N‐acetylcysteine (NAC), which are two potent antioxidants, on apoptosis induced by 7‐ketocholesterol in U937 cells, and we present evidence indicating that oxidative processes are involved in 7‐ketocholesterol‐induced cell death. Thus, GSH and NAC prevented phenomenona linked to apoptosis such as reduction of cell growth, increase cellular permeability to propidium iodide, and occurrence of nuclear condensation and/or fragmentation, and they delayed internucleosomal DNA fragmentation. In addition, cell treatment with GSH impaired cytochrome c release into the cytosol and degradation of caspase‐8 occurring during cell death. During 7‐ketocholesterol‐induced apoptosis, we also observed a rapid decrease in cellular GSH content, oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids, and a production of ROS by flow cytometry with the use of the dye 2′,7'‐dichlorofluorescin‐diacetate; both phenomena were inhibited by GSH. Prevention of cell death by GSH and NAC does not seem to be a general rule since these antioxidants impaired etoposide (but not cycloheximide) ‐induced apoptosis. Taken together, our data demonstrate that GSH is implied in the control of 7‐ketocholesterol‐induced apoptosis associated with the production of ROS. —Lizard, G. , Gueldry, S. , Sordet, O. , Monier, S. , Athias, A. , Miguet, C. , Bessede, G. , Lemaire, S. , Solary, E. , Gambert, P. Glutathione is implied in the control of 7‐ketocholesterol‐induced apoptosis, which is associated with radical oxygen species production. FASEB J. 12, 1651–1663 (1998)
Replication: Optimistic Approaches

optimistic, replication, survey Replication is a key enabling technology in distributed data sharing systems for improving both availability and performance. This paper surveys optimistic replication algorithms, which allow replica contents to diverge in the short term, in order to support concurrent work and to tolerate failures in low -quality communication links. The importance of such techniques is increasing as collaboration through wide-area and mobile networks is becoming more popular. Optimistic replication algorithms employ techniques vastly different from those for traditional pessimistic algorithms. Whereas a pessimistic algorithm relies on synchronous replica coordination, an optimistic algorithm propagates its updates in the background, discovers conflicts after they happen, and reaches an agreement on the final object contents incrementally. This paper identifies the key challenges that optimistic replication systems face achieving uniformity, guaranteeing quality of replica contents, and scaling - and presents a comprehensive survey of techniques developed for addressing these challenges.
Generalized Planning: Non-Deterministic Abstractions and Trajectory Constraints

We study the characterization and computation of general policies for families of problems that share a structure characterized by a common reduction into a single abstract problem. Policies mu that solve the abstract problem P have been shown to solve all problems Q that reduce to P provided that mu terminates in Q. In this work, we shed light on why this termination condition is needed and how it can be removed. The key observation is that the abstract problem P captures the common structure among the concrete problems Q that is local (Markovian) but misses common structure that is global. We show how such global structure can be captured by means of trajectory constraints that in many cases can be expressed as LTL formulas, thus reducing generalized planning to LTL synthesis. Moreover, for a broad class of problems that involve integer variables that can be increased or decreased, trajectory constraints can be compiled away, reducing generalized planning to fully observable non-deterministic planning.
ALBINISM AND PHENOTYPE OF BARN SWALLOWS (HIRUNDO RUSTICA) FROM CHERNOBYL

Abstract The effects of mutation on phenotypic expression are supposed to be mainly deleterious because mutations disrupt the expression of genes that function relatively well under current environmental conditions. Thus, mutations are assumed to give rise to deviant phenotypes that are generally selected against. Radioactive contamination in the Chernobyl region of Ukraine is associated with a significant increase by a factor two to 10 in mutation rate in microsatellite markers of the barn swallow, Hirundo rustica. Barn swallows from Chernobyl had a temporally constant, elevated frequency of partial albinism compared to the situation before radioactive contamination and compared to birds from a control area. Albinism disproportionately affected the carotenoid-based plumage of the head, suggesting that carotenoid metabolism is particularly susceptible to the effects of radiation. Individuals with partially albinistic plumage had, on average, lower mean phenotypic values than other birds, and this was particularly the case for males. Furthermore, differences in phenotypic variation, as determined using Levene's test, were significantly larger in partial albinos compared to nonalbinos in males, but not in females, even though the null expectation would be the opposite due to the lower mean phenotypic values of partial albinos. Although small phenotypes were commonly associated with germline mutations, there was no general decrease in overall body size during the period 1991–2000, implying that small individuals were selected against. Because partial albinism is disfavored by natural selection, the effects of mutations are deleterious, giving rise to a balance between mutation and selection. Corresponding Editor: S. Edwards
Isolation of photosystem I complexes from octyl glucoside/sodium dodecyl sulfate solubilized spinach thylakoids : characterization and reconstitution into liposomes.

We have used the nonionic detergent octyl-beta-d-glucopyranoside in combination with sodium dodecyl sulfate to isolate two novel Photosystem I (PSI) complexes from spinach (Spinacea oleracea L.) thylakoid membranes. These complexes have been characterized as to their spectral properties, content of PSI reaction center chlorophyll P(700), and protein composition. PSI-B, purified from solubilized membranes by sucrose density gradient centrifugation, is a putative native PSI complex. PSI-B contains four polypeptides between 21 and 25 kilodaltons in addition to the components of the PSI antenna complex (LHCI); three of these polypeptides have not previously been associated with PSI. A second complex, CPI(*), is purified from octyl glucoside/sodium dodecyl sulfate solubilized thylakoids by two cycles of preparative gel electrophoresis under mildly denaturing conditions. Electrophoresis under these conditions releases a discrete set of polypeptides from PSI producing a complex composed only of the PSI reaction center and the LHCI antenna.In addition, the PSI reaction center complex CPI isolated from preparative gels and PSI-B were reconstituted into lecithin liposomes for structural analysis using freeze-fracture electron microscopy. The results suggest that the native PSI complex produces 12- to 13-nanometer particles, while the PSI reaction center, depleted of LHCI and peripheral proteins, produces particles with an average diameter of 10 nanometers.
Isolation and characterization of D-serine deaminase constitutive mutants by utilization of D-serine as sole carbon or nitrogen source

Mutants constitutive for D-serine deaminase (Dsdase) synthesis were isolated by utilizing D-serine as sole nitrogen or carbon source in the chemostat. This method generated only regulatory constitutive (dsdC) mutants. The altered dsdC gene product in these strains is apparently able to bind D-serine more efficiently than the wild-type dsdC+ gene product--a selective advantage. Constitutive synthesis of Dsdase in all of these dsdC mutants is extremely sensitive to catabolite repression, and catabolite repression is reversed by the addition of D-serine. Of the 15 mutants generated by this method, none are suppressible by supD, supE, or supF. Mutations to a low level of constitutivity (maximal specific activity of 9) occur much more frequently than mutations to a high level (maximal specific activity of 79). High level constitutive synthesis of Dsdase results from the synthesis of an altered dsdC gene product--not from loss of ability to form the dsdC product. Dsdase synthesis is not regulated by the nitrogen supply in the medium, as nitrogen starvation does not result in the derepression of Dsdase synthesis.
Real Estate Risk and the Business Cycle: Evidence from Security Markets

This study reports on the ex-post performance of survivor REITs and RECs over a 14.5-year period covering several business cycles. The results show that the systematic risk and risk-adjusted returns of REITs and RECs are quite different, especially during periods of low growth in real GNP. Relative to the overall stock market, survivor REITs, in particular, equity REITs, exhibited less volatility and higher returns than previous studies revealed. This can be explained by the higher returns, lower volatility, and lower systematic risk of REITs in periods of high growth in real GNP which have dominated the 1980s. The results expand our understanding of the true volatility of real estate, highlighting, at the same time, the need for further research to better understand the relationship between the performance of equity REIT securities and the underlying real estate assets in their portfolios.
Keratinocyte growth factor and glucocorticoid induction of human peroxiredoxin 6 gene expression occur by independent mechanisms that are synergistic.

AIMS Peroxiredoxin 6 (Prdx6), a 1-cys Prdx has both peroxidase and phospholipase A2 activities, protecting against oxidative stress and regulating pulmonary surfactant phospholipid metabolism. This study determined the mechanism by which keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) and the glucocorticoid analogue, dexamethasone (Dex), induce increased Prdx6 expression. RESULTS Transcriptional activation by KGF in both A549 lung adenocarcinoma cells and rat lung alveolar epithelial type II (ATII) cells utilizes an antioxidant response element (ARE), located between 357 and 349 nucleotides before the PRDX6 translational start, that is also necessary for upregulation of the human PRDX6 promoter in response to oxidative stress. Activation is mediated by binding of the transcription factor, Nrf2, to the ARE as shown by experiments using siRNA against Nrf2 and by transfecting ATII cells isolated from lungs of Nrf2 null mice. KGF triggers the migration of Nrf2 from cytoplasm to nucleus where it binds to the PRDX6 promoter as shown by chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. Activation of transcription by Dex occurs through a glucocorticoid response element located about 750 nucleotides upstream of the PRDX6 translational start. INNOVATION This study demonstrates that KGF can activate an ARE in a promoter without reactive oxygen species involvement and that KGF and Dex can synergistically activate the PRDX6 promoter and protect cells from oxidative stress. CONCLUSION These two different activators work through different DNA elements. Their combined effect on transcription of the reporter gene is synergistic; however, at the protein level, the combined effect is additive and protects cells from oxidative damage.
Political Incorporation among Immigrants from Ten Areas of Origin: The Persistence of Source Country Effects

Using four years of data from the Current Population Survey, this study examines the effect of country of origin on two types of political incorporation among immigrants – citizenship and voting – in the contemporary United States. Results show that country of origin is a statistically significant predictor of citizenship acquisition for nine of ten immigrant groups and for voter turnout for five of ten groups, net of income, education, length of residence in the United States, and other demographic characteristics. The findings also suggest that country of origin matters as much for how it interacts with other key characteristics, such as education and income, as for the independent influence it exerts on these two political processes. For immigrants from most countries under examination, lower levels of education and income discourage citizenship acquisition. An exception is found among Britons, for whom lower levels of income encourages naturalizing. In the voting process, higher levels of education encourage voter turnout for most immigrant groups. Though country of origin has a greater effect on naturalizing than on voting, it significantly impacts both types of political incorporation. The differing effects of country of origin and other demographic factors on naturalizing and voting, respectively, suggest the two processes are distinct from one another.
Oil and water still: how No Child Left Behind limits and distorts environmental education in US schools

This article explores the problematic tensions between schooling and environmental education in the United States, with a special focus on the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Today in the United States, this powerful federal legislation dominates the discourse and practice of schooling, and works against the aims of environmental education in many ways. The article is divided into three parts. First, it reviews the recent discourse of achievement and accountability in general education, as exemplified by the No Child Left Behind Act. Second, it describes the impact of achievement and accountability discourse on environmental education by outlining two responses from environmental educators to the general climate of schooling: 1) accommodation or ‘playing the achievement game’; and 2) resistance or ‘changing the rules’. Third, it explores how related tensions between nationalistic federal education policies and the sweeping global challenges suggested by the United Nation’s Decade of Education for Sustainable Development present additional dilemmas for promoting and implementing environmental education. Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday, the third day of January, two thousand and one An Act To close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child is left behind. (NCLB, 2001, Sec. 1)
Critical factors for successful total quality management implementation in Turkey: Evidence from the banking sector

This paper provides evidence to suggest that western management practices such as total quality management (TQM) can be implemented successfully in developing countries despite high cultural and organizational barriers. Drawing on six case studies, the authors sought to examine the key factors that led to successful TQM implementation in the Turkish banking sector. The results showed that successful TQM implementation requires: management's unwavering commitment to TQM and enthusiasm; formal national bodies to introduce organizations to TQM and provide assistance during and after TQM implementation; and a highly educated and competent management team.
Adaptation: “A Critique of Some Current Evolutionary Thought”

In his classic Adaptation and Natural Selection: A Critique of Some Current Evolutionary Thought (1966), George Williams showed definitively that our understanding of adaptation, a central concept of evolutionary theory, must be gene‐centered. The purpose of adaptations is to further the replication of genes. Genes are machines for turning out more genes; and adaptations are the means by which genes pluck resources from the world to promote this self‐replication. Thus adaptations transform potential resources from part of the indifferent world‐at‐large into tailor‐made environments, environments brimming with resources for organisms’ distinctive adaptive needs. Systematically different adaptive problems therefore give rise to different environments; and so different species, for example, have different environments. Thus a gene‐centered analysis of adaptations implies a gene‐centered theory of environments. Without genes to specify what constitutes an environment, environments would not exist. Rather than being separate from biology, an autonomous, independent force, environments are themselves the products of biology. So a gene‐centered view, far from depreciating the environment, furnishes a rich and precise understanding of its importance.
Clinical Quantification of Myocardial Blood Flow Using PET: Joint Position Paper of the SNMMI Cardiovascular Council and the ASNC

Writing Group: Venkatesh L. Murthy (cochair)1, Timothy M. Bateman2, Rob S. Beanlands3, Daniel S. Berman4, Salvador Borges-Neto5, Panithaya Chareonthaitawee6, Manuel D. Cerqueira7, Robert A. deKemp3, E. Gordon DePuey8, Vasken Dilsizian9, Sharmila Dorbala10, Edward P. Ficaro11, Ernest V. Garcia12, Henry Gewirtz13, Gary V. Heller14, Howard C. Lewin15, Saurabh Malhotra16, April Mann17, Terrence D. Ruddy3, Thomas H. Schindler18, Ronald G. Schwartz19, Piotr J. Slomka4, Prem Soman20, and Marcelo F. Di Carli (cochair)10