Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Critical Incidents of Partnership: Five Years' Experience at Natbank

Despite a rich partnership literature in the UK, relatively little is known about the processes of decision making under partnership regimes. This study examines the first five years of a high-profile agreement in a British retail bank. Inspired by critical incident technique, this article explores the way key issues such as globalisation, offshoring, and work organisation were handled and decisions were made. It is argued that one cannot fully understand the outcomes without exploring both the context and process in detail. Benefits for management, unions and employees are also explored, and some of the main challenges to partnership are considered. The article suggests that partnership requires a clear understanding of the purpose and the rules of engagement, and highlights a possible gulf between academic and actor expectations. It also highlights the importance of exploring the partnership processes and reveals evidence of the dialogue exerting a moderating effect over decision making, with management, union, and employee actors all in favour of the collaborative partnership approach.
Religious Denomination and Party Choice in Western Europe: A Comparative Longitudinal Study from Eight Countries, 1970–97

In this article, the impact of religious denomination on party choice is studied in eight western European countries from the early 1970s to the late 1990s. The research problems are (1) to examine the strength of the correlation between party choice and religious denomination over time, and (2) to analyze which political parties those who are affiliated and those who are unaffiliated to a religious community vote for, and how this has changed over time. The denominational cleavage varies considerably in strength in the eight countries. It is strongest in the Catholic and religiously mixed countries of Continental Europe. There is stability in the correlation between party choice and religious denomination in most countries. The main polarization involves, to a large degree, voters for parties on the left versus voters for parties on the right. It varies considerably, however, as to which parties on the left and the right have voters who contribute comparatively to polarization. Green parties are making inroads among the unaffiliated sections of the population. This changes the polarization caused by religious denomination in the sense that denominational differences become smaller for some other parties, first and foremost, the socialist and the communist parties.
DNA ligase I mediates essential functions in mammalian cells

DNA replication, repair, and recombination are essential processes in mammalian cells. Hence, the application of gene targeting to the study of these DNA metabolic pathways requires the creation of nonnull mutations. We have developed a method for introducing partially defective mutants in murine embryonic stem cells that circumvents the problem of cellular lethality of targeted mutations at essential loci. Using this approach, we have determined that mammalian DNA ligase I is essential for cell viability. Thus, DNA ligases II and III are not redundant with DNA ligase I for the function(s) associated with cell proliferation. Partial complementation of the lethal DNA ligase I null mutation allowed the creation of deficient embryonic stem cell lines. We found that a wild-type DNA ligase I cDNA, as well as a variant DNA ligase I cDNA, was able to rescue the lethality of the homozygous null mutation, whereas an N-terminal deletion mutant consisting of the minimal DNA ligase I catalytic domain was not. This observation demonstrates that sequences outside the DNA ligase I catalytic domain are essential for DNA ligase I function in vivo.
Lessons fro the Evaluation of Labour Market Policies

In this paper, I discuss results from the evaluation of labour market programmes in Sweden and Colombia. The former is used as an illustration of a comprehensive approach to providing services for the unemployed including job search assistance, training and subsidized job placement that has inspired the use of such interventions worldwide. Training seems to have no positive effect on employment or wages and job placement has only modest positive effects over and above the simple job search assistance. However, the Colombian programmes seem to hold some promise that well targeted training programmes combined with job placement can improve outcomes for a population that is considered trainable in the context of a middle income country with a large skill deficit. This leaves the question open of what can be done for those too unskilled even to be trained effectively as adults. We have no direct answer to this. However, we show that workfare holds some promise both in terms of being able to target the poorest and in terms of improving their standard of living with effects that are possibly sustainable beyond the participation in the programme.
Clearing Barter Exchange Markets: Kidney Exchange and Beyond

markdownabstract__Abstract__ Advanced computer assisted markets, otherwise known as smart markets, are becoming an important part of our modern society. This dissertation considers smart barter exchange markets, which enable people to trade a wide range of goods: from shifts, to houses, to kidneys. Centralized and computerized clearing is what makes these markets ‘smart’. The market clearing problem is to match demand and supply so as to maximize the gains of trade. Trades, in this regard, need not be limited to pairwise swaps but may consist of trading cycles and chains involving multiple agents. This dissertation presents several sophisticated market clearing algorithms that enable optimal clearing in large real-life barter exchange markets. With a particular focus on kidney exchanges, it shows how these algorithms can enable a significant alleviation of the present shortage of kidney donors and an improvement in health outcomes for kidney patients. State-of-the-art techniques are developed to allow the algorithms to be scalable, even when there are bounds on the number of simultaneous transactions, multiple objective criteria, and side constraints. Furthermore, innovative models and solution approaches are presented to allow market uncertainty, such as transaction failure, to be taken into account. The research presented in this dissertation contributes to the advancement of scientific knowledge in combinatorial optimization and market design, particularly in the domains of mathematical programming and market clearing, and aids the establishment and operation of smart barter exchange markets in the field of kidney exchange and beyond.
Port choice in a competitive environment: from the shipping lines' perspective

The present era of globalization and regional competition has witnessed the increasing influence of the global operations of the shipping lines on port development and the declining monopoly of ports. This warrants the need for an identification of the port selection criteria from the perspective of the shipping lines. Hence, an attempt is made to determine the port choice from the perspective of the shipping lines. Moreover, most port operators have designed their strategies based on the ‘stated preference’ of the shipping lines. However, the stated preference approach can have several shortcomings such as the shipping lines would tend to overstate their demands for services at the port. This directs for an examination of the port choice of the shipping lines based on a revealed preference approach. The ‘revealed preference’ approach aims at judging the port choice of shipping lines purely from their ‘actions’ rather than what they actually ‘state’. The empirical study in this article is based on a survey conducted among major shipping lines operating in Singapore and Malaysia. The findings have shown port charges and wide range of port services to be the only significant factors in their port choice. Moreover, the results show no consistency between the stated and revealed preferences of shipping lines.
Riboactivators: Transcription activation by noncoding RNA

The paradigm of gene regulation was forever changed by the discovery that short RNA duplexes could directly regulate gene expression. Most regulatory roles attributed to noncoding RNA were often repressive. Recent observations are beginning to reveal that duplex RNA molecules can stimulate gene transcription. These RNA activators employ a wide array of mechanisms to up-regulate transcription of target genes, including functioning as DNA-tethered activation domains, as coactivators and modulators of general transcriptional machinery, and as regulators of other noncoding transcripts. The discoveries over the past few years defy “Moore’s law” in the breath-taking rapidity with which new roles for noncoding RNA in gene expression are being revealed. As gene regulatory networks are reconstructed to accommodate the influence of noncoding RNAs, their importance in maintenance of cellular health will become increasingly apparent. In fact, a new generation of therapeutic agents will focus on modulating the function of noncoding RNA.
Regional accessibility and economic potential in the European community

Keeble D. , Owens P. L. and Thompson C. (1982) Regional accessibility and economic potential in the European community, Reg. Studies 16, 419–432. This paper investigates changes in regional accessibility to economic activity within the European Community between 1965 and 1977 as measured by the ‘economic potential’ index. Potential measures proximity by road to regional economic activity as that is geographically distributed throughout the Community, allowing for tariff barriers and sea-ferry crossings, as well as successive enlargements to Nine in 1973 and, prospectively, to Twelve. While 1973 enlargement benefited accessibility levels in the ‘new’ periphery quite considerably, already severe centre-periphery disparities in regional accessibility in general widened still further during the period, largely because of continuing concentration of economic activity in core EC regions.
Human Capital and Earnings Inequality in Brazil, 1988-98: Quantile Regression Evidence

The authors undertake an empirical examination of rates of return to human capital for men in Brazil, through the period of macroeconomic stabilization and trade liberalization, using data from the 1988, 1992, and 1998 Brazilian household surveys (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domic�os, PNAD). The authors estimate simultaneous quantile equations to gain an insight on the impact of human capital on wages across the hourly earnings distribution. They conclude that there is evidence of growing inequality in rates of return to education in Brazil. But the authors find evidence that education is no longer used as a screening device in the labor market, but rather rewarded for its innate association with higher productivity. Although increases in rates of return to education have been more pronounced at the top of the earnings distribution, this has not led to increased inequality. This is because the levels of education and other labor market-rewarded endowments have increased and offset the rate of return effect.
Local and global dimensional CFD simulations and analyses to optimize server-fin design for improved energy efficiency in data centers

This paper presents numerical simulations based on the concept of local and global dimensional analysis to reproduce the thermodynamics and aerodynamics of server-fins, i.e., detachable flat/curved fins on the inlet/outlet of a server, for enhancing energy efficiency in data centers. Server-fin designs, combinations of shapes and opening angles, are evaluated by transient analysis, vorticity analysis, temperature change rate analysis, and a modified Return Heat Index. Various numerical simulations from local to global dimensions confirm the effectiveness of the server-fins proposed herein in enhancing energy efficiency in data centers compared to their omission.
Poker surface: combining a multi-touch table and mobile phones in interactive card games

In this paper, we introduce the design and implementation of a digital card game that combines mobile phone gestures and multi-touch tabletop interactions. Conceptually based on interactions in traditional card games, our Poker game application explores different natural ways of interaction, including touching the table as well as tilting, throwing, and shaking a mobile phone. By exemplarily translating traditional gestures into the digital domain, we provide a use case to discuss useful gestures combing mobile phones with tabletop surfaces, as well as to explore a private-public display setting for digital card games at interactive tables. Additionally, the mobile phone provides a tangible feeling similar to physical cards. The preliminary user study showed that users preferred using mobile phones for interaction compared to direct interaction on the multi-touch table.
Expectations of the Farmers from ICT in Agriculture

Amongst the various means of information communication, satellite based internet communication are very efficient, accurate, quick and cheaper in the field of disseminating the information from research system to farmers. Internet communication has touched almost all the districts in our country and is mainly down up to the village levels. Internet offers a means for bridging the gap between developmental professional, rural people and agricultural producers through the initiation of interaction and dialogue. Keeping all the views in mind ,it was decided to study the expectations and opinion of the farmers regarding internet facility with the following specific objectives 1) to study the expectations and opinion of the farmers towards internet facility and 2) to ascertain the relationship between personal profile and opinion of the farmers towards internet facility. Farmers were expecting six sets of computer with agriculture graduate having computer knowledge as operator at CIC. It was also expected that Government should bear expenses to run CIC. The information on farmers’ related sites was expected by most of the farmers in Gujarati language that too in the audio-visual form. The major purpose to have CIC explained by the respondents were to collect information on agriculture , government’s programmes, and market prices. Majority of the respondents expressed their desire to use Internet daily or twice in a week by their own . All of them expressed positive response to have proper training about the use of Internet facility through government agency, at CIC. The results showed that majority of the farmers understood that internet is a rich source to collect world wide information on agriculture and it is the fastest way to exchange information in shortest time’. Majority farmers completely or to a certain degree felt that though internet is costly affair for the farmers but it is the best mean to collect information on market prices of agricultural products. 82.00 percent of the farmers were wishing their children to make positive use of internet at the same time 81.00 per cent of them had opinion that farmers should make use of internet. It can be concluded from the results that out of the 10 independent variables, five variables like Education, Land holding, Contact with NRI’s, Experience of internet use and Mass media exposure are significantly and positively correlated with the opinion of the farmers about the use of Internet for farming community. More than 70 per cent of the farmers opined that internet is the rich source and fastest way of exchanging information in short time. It must be use by the farming community for their betterment.
THEMEQUAL—Adapting the SERVQUAL Scale to Theme Park Services: A Case of Hong Kong Disneyland

ABSTRACT Faced with keen competition in the theme park operating environment, operators have realized the necessity of maintaining a high standard of service quality in order to survive. Because of the scarcity of literature on theme park service quality, the present study adapts the SERVQUAL model and modifies it as the THEMEQUAL model to measure the gap between perceived service quality and expected service quality from visitors under the theme park setting. The Hong Kong Disneyland is selected due to its importance to the Hong Kong tourism industry. The impact of the dimensions of the model on visitor satisfaction is also examined. Results expressed visitor satisfaction in terms of physical environment, but signified dissatisfaction on employee performance. Among the six dimensions of the model, “responsiveness and access,” “assurance,” and “empathy” are the critical predictors of visitor satisfaction. Discussions on the findings are presented and managerial implications are explained in detail.
Architecture of a Decision Support System to Improve Clinicians' Interpretation of Abnormal Liver Function Tests

The objective of this work was to create a self-working computerized clinical decision support system (CDSS) able to analyze liver function tests (LFTs) in order to provide diagnostic suggestions and helpful care support to clinicians. We developed an expert system that processes exclusively para-clinical information to provide diagnostic propositions. Drugs are a major issue in dealing with abnormal LFTs, therefore we created a drug-disease causality assessment tool to include drugs in the differential diagnosis. Along with the results, the CDSS will guide clinicians in the care process offering them case-specific support in the form of guidelines, order sets and references to recent articles. The CDSS will be implemented in Geneva University Hospitals clinical information system (CIS) during year 2011. For the time being, preliminary tests have been conducted on case reports chosen randomly on Pubmed. Considered as medical challenges, case reports were nevertheless processed correctly by the program to the extent that 18 cases out of 20 were diagnosed accurately.
Managing the life cycle of virtual teams

Executive Overview In the fast-paced, technology-driven 21st century, virtual project teams represent a growing response to the need for high-quality, low-cost, rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Virtual project teams enable organizations to pool the talents and expertise of employees (and non-employees) by eliminating time and space barriers. Yet, there is growing evidence that virtual teams fail more often than they succeed. To understand the factors that contribute to virtual team effectiveness, we tracked six virtual project teams from a large food distribution company from inception to project delivery. We identified factors at each stage of the virtual-team life cycle that affected team performance. These results provide specific examples of what managers can do, at various points in time, to increase a virtual team's chances to fully develop and contribute to firm performance.
D1 dopamine receptor stimulation enables the postsynaptic, but not autoreceptor, effects of D2 dopamine agonists in nigrostriatal and mesoaccumbens dopamine systems

Possible functional interactions between D1 and D2 dopamine (DA) receptors were examined using extracellular single‐cell recording with microiontophoretic application of selective D1 and D2 receptor agonists both postsynaptically, in the rat nucleus accumbens (NAc) and caudate‐putamen (CPu), and presynaptically, at impulse‐regulating somatodendritic DA autoreceptors in the ventral tegmental area (A10) and substantia nigra pars compacta (A9) In addition, synthesis‐modulating nerve terminal DA autoreceptors were studied in both the CPu and NAc using the gammabutyrolactone (GBL) neurochemical model of isolated nerve terminal autoreceptor function in vivo.
Socially Responsible Investing in the Global Market: The Performance of US and European Funds

This paper investigates the style and performance of US and European global socially responsible funds. Several specifications of the return generating process are applied as well as their corresponding conditional versions. Most European global socially responsible funds do not show significant performance differences in relation to both conventional benchmarks and socially responsible benchmarks. US funds and Austrian funds show evidence of underperformance. By applying conditional models, we find evidence of time-varying betas, but not of time-varying alphas. With respect to investment style, we have found evidence that socially responsible funds are strongly exposed to small cap and growth stocks. While these results are consistent with previous studies, they uncover some misclassification issues in these funds. Finally, we have also documented a significant home bias for global socially responsible funds.
Building Dynamic Capabilities for Innovation: An Exploratory Study of Key Management Practices

While both the innovation literature and the dynamic capabilities perspective identify loose processes as most appropriate for high uncertainty domains, this produces little reassurance to organizations seeking to improve their ability to commercialize innovations. This paper takes the position that practices for managing innovation project leaders are a key component of an organization's dynamic capabilities for innovation. Our comparative case analysis of divisions of two established Korean organizations suggests that managerial practices include the deployment of entrepreneurial resources having particular skills, characteristics, and motivation. In addition, we identify the relational and decision support roles of managers.
An Improved Search Method for Accumulator-Based Test Set Embedding

In this paper we present a new search method for test set embedding using an accumulator driven with an additive constant C. We formulate the problem of finding the location of a test pattern in the generated sequence in terms of a linear Diophantine equation with two variables, which is known to be solved quickly in linear time. We show that only one Diophantine equation needs to be solved per test set irrespective of its size. Next we show how to find the starting state, for a given constant C and test set T, such that the generated sequence can reproduce T with minimum length. Finally, we show that the best constant Copt (in terms of shortest test length) for the embedding of T using an accumulator of size n can be found in O(2ldrn+Fldr|T|) steps, instead of O(nldr2nldr|T|) steps of a previous approach, where F depends on the particular test set and can be significantly smaller than its worst case value of 2n-2. The value of F can also be further reduced while providing a guaranteed approximation bound of the shortest test length. Experimental results show the computational improvements.
Ecological Footprint Policy? Land Use as an Environmental Indicator

This article argues that policies aimed at sustainability need to address the spatial dimensions of environmental problems and their solutions. In particular, spatial configurations of economic activities deserve attention, which means addressing land use, infrastructure, trade, and transport. Unfortunately, good theory and indicators to support the analysis and design of spatial‐environmental policies are not fully developed. One approach that has become very popular in the last decade is the ecological footprint (EF). It is both an environmental accounting tool and aggregate indicator, which is used by scientists, environmental organizations, and popular media. Despite criticisms of the EF method in the past, its popularity has only increased. In fact, an increasing number of publications with an application of the EF appear in scientific journals. We review the EF approach from indicator‐methodology and welfare angles and assess its policy relevance. Our conclusion is that it does not offer any meaningful information for public policy.