Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transnational Mobility and Conflict

In this paper, I discuss transnational mobility using a perspective that emphasises conflicts at macro, mezzo and micro levels while seeking ways in which such a conflict model of migration can be developed. I outline areas involving different degrees of conflict which are better seen on a continuous scale ranging from potential and latent tensions to violent conflicts and wars. Conflict aspects contribute to the dynamic nature of transnational human movements and, at the same time, appear to be antithetical to globalisation. The tensions/conflicts at individual, household, community, and state levels are not isolated from each other but inter-connect different levels. Within this conflict conceptualisation, transnational mobility appears as a move from human insecurity to human security.
Assessing environmental justice of community-based watershed management: a tool to build adaptive capacity in Latin America?

Community-based watershed management (CBWM) is today a major policy directive on water resources for most countries. In Latin America, since the 1970s, international aid development agencies have been encouraging decentralisation in water governance through watershed management interventions centred on social participation. This paper discusses whether CBWM projects financed by Canada in some Latin American communities contribute to achieve environmental justice (EJ) in order to shape adaptive capacity to global climate change. It reports the results of a comparative case study between Brazil, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Honduras in terms of justice and equity. The central finding is that EJ framework can serve as a methodological tool to better inform on watershed governance and management towards adaptive capacity to climate change.
Quality control of synovial fluid crystal identification

OBJECTIVE To establish a quality assessment programme for the diagnosis of crystal arthropathies by synovial fluid (SF) microscopy. METHODS Three or four cytocentrifuge slides prepared from suitable patient SF specimens were distributed to 25–47 predominantly Finnish clinical laboratories once a year. Sodium urate crystals were included in every survey. RESULTS Returns for the years 1989–1996 were reviewed. Laboratories that participated in > four surveys made on an average one error a year (range 0.25–2). The error rate for specimens containing abundant crystals was acceptable but it increased considerably for specimens showing few crystals per microscope field. No laboratory characteristic predictive of successful performance was found. CONCLUSION Errors in quality assessment results for crystal identification were much more frequent than in the fields of, for example, clinical chemistry or microbiology. Despite efforts to provide educational feedback, no improvement was seen during the study period. Because of the dearth of data from other parts of the world it is not known for certain whether this study has merely pinpointed a local problem or if the same trend applies elsewhere.
DATASW, a tool for HPLC-SAXS data analysis.

Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) in solution is a common low-resolution method which can efficiently complement the high-resolution information obtained by crystallography or NMR. Sample monodispersity is key to reliable SAXS data interpretation and model building. Beamline setups with inline high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are particularly useful for accurate profiling of heterogeneous samples. The program DATASW performs averaging of individual data frames from HPLC-SAXS experiments using a sliding window of a user-specified size, calculates overall parameters [I(0), Rg, Dmax and molecular weight] and predicts the folding state (folded/unfolded) of the sample. Applications of DATASW are illustrated for several proteins with various oligomerization behaviours recorded on different beamlines. DATASW binaries for major operating systems can be downloaded from http://datasw.sourceforge. net/.
Review of literature on agricultural productivity, social capital and food security in Nigeria

Despite the rapid pace of urbanization taking place in Nigeria, half of Nigerians (approximately 70 million individuals) still live in rural areas; most of them engaged in smallholder semi-subsistence agriculture. Agriculture remains a crucial sector in the Nigerian economy, being a major source of raw materials, food and foreign exchange; employing over 70 percent of the Nigerian labor force, and serving as a potential vehicle for diversifying the Nigerian economy. However, there are no rigorous studies that explain productivity in this sector vis-A -vis the relationship of the sector to food security and social capital. This review assesses the nature and scope of agricultural productivity, food security, and social capital in Nigeria, while also laying the groundwork for investigating the interrelationships among them. The literature reveals the pervasive inefficiency of Nigerian farmers as most smallholder farmers produce significantly below their production frontiers. As a result, they produce less than optimal levels of output as revealed by studies of productivity (mostly land productivity). Also, while many farming enterprises are profitable, profit margins are generally low. The vast majority of Nigerians are reported to be food insecure as revealed by studies on availability, utilization, and access to food. In terms of social capital, most studies are focused on membership in formal or informal organizations or associations, or by the access of individuals or associations to formal and informal sources of credit. Evidence shows that both measures of social capital improve several aspects of social welfare, particularly poverty reduction, in addition to influencing technology adoption. This review also identifies the potential pathways through which all three concepts are linked.
Reduced choice-related activity and correlated noise accompany perceptual deficits following unilateral vestibular lesion

Significance Correlations between single-neuron activity and perceptual decisions are used to probe functional links between sensory neurons and perception, but the roles of correlated noise and decoding strategy in shaping these correlations remain unclear. The peripheral vestibular system provides an ideal model system to explore these questions, due to interactions between afferent signals from the two sides of the brain. We made a unilateral lesion to the vestibular labyrinth and recorded from neurons in the contralateral vestibular and cerebellar nuclei. The lesion led to reduced neural sensitivity, reduced correlations with perceptual decisions, and less correlated noise among neurons. Simulations show that these changes could account for the effects of the lesion on behavior. Signals from the bilateral vestibular labyrinths work in tandem to generate robust estimates of our motion and orientation in the world. The relative contributions of each labyrinth to behavior, as well as how the brain recovers after unilateral peripheral damage, have been characterized for motor reflexes, but never for perceptual functions. Here we measure perceptual deficits in a heading discrimination task following surgical ablation of the neurosensory epithelium in one labyrinth. We found large increases in heading discrimination thresholds and large perceptual biases at 1 wk postlesion. Repeated testing thereafter improved heading perception, but vestibular discrimination thresholds remained elevated 3 mo postlesion. Electrophysiological recordings from the contralateral vestibular and cerebellar nuclei revealed elevated neuronal discrimination thresholds, elevated neurometric-to-psychometric threshold ratios, and reduced trial-by-trial correlations with perceptual decisions [“choice probabilities” (CPs)]. The relationship between CP and neuronal threshold was shallower, but not significantly altered, suggesting that smaller CPs in lesioned animals could be largely attributable to greater neuronal thresholds. Simultaneous recordings from pairs of neurons revealed that correlated noise among neurons was also reduced following the lesion. Simulations of a simple pooling model, which takes into account the observed changes in tuning slope and correlated noise, qualitatively accounts for the elevated psychophysical thresholds and neurometric-to-psychometric ratios, as well as the decreased CPs. Thus, cross-labyrinthine interactions appear to play important roles in enhancing neuronal and perceptual sensitivity, strengthening interneuronal correlations, and facilitating correlations between neural activity and perceptual decisions.
Preterm Birth Prevention: A Mandate for Psychosocial Assessment

Reviews panels on the prevention of preterm birth (PTB) conducted by the Office of the Surgeon General and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development made numerous novel recommendations for research on the assessment of risk factors for PTB and the development of personalized, specific interventions for the prevention of PTB. This paper discusses the particularly significant roles for nurses in assessment and intervention based on their education in pregnancy and in multiple health-related disciplines. General differences and specific anxiety assessment are presented based on the goals of research. An emphasis is placed on assessment of pregnancy-specific anxiety, and assessment and intervention methods that include the father/partner and couple using family system methodologies. The risks occurring with differences in partner intentions for pregnancy are discussed, and especially the benefits of male partner involvement and support. It is noted that interventions may need to be varied based on differences in gender, ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic status. Differences in individual or group intervention psychotherapy approaches are considered. The special risks and needs of pregnant military couples, especially those with deployed partners are presented. Variations in anxiety are discussed in terms of implications for maternal/paternal fetal and child attachment from birth to adulthood. Discussion includes the considerable and varied parenting and financial strains that continue long after birth, with significant impact for parent-child mental and physical health, and the need for development of long-term interventions that include parental coping strategies and parental empowerment.
Whither the Progressive Tax?

The progressive wage tax is the instrument commonly used by democracies to fund public expenditures. Yet it still divides opinions about its impact on skill formation. We develop a general equilibrium model to analyze this impact, in the context of uncertain return on higher education. We show that the quantitative impact on skill formation of switching from the flat to the progressive tax varies with the level of efficiency with which higher education imparts graduates with suitable skills. This impact is negative when the level of efficiency of higher education is low and positive when it is high.
Executive Insights: Growing Consumer Power in China: Some Lessons for Managers

The economic reform in China has led to the emergence of a consumer society. Concomitant with the development of the consumer society comes a growing power of the consumers in the marketplace. This is occurring in the form of consumers’ rising awareness of their rights and increasing readiness to take the companies to court to protect their rights. The author describes seven litigation cases pertaining to consumer issues that involve multinational corporations operating in China. The author identifies some general characteristics that cut across the cases, along with suggestions and managerial implications.
Incidence and outcomes of acute kidney injury in intensive care units: A Veterans Administration study*

Objectives:To examine the effect of severity of acute kidney injury or renal recovery on risk-adjusted mortality across different intensive care unit settings. Acute kidney injury in intensive care unit patients is associated with significant mortality. Design:Retrospective observational study. Setting:There were 325,395 of 617,927 consecutive admissions to all 191 Veterans Affairs ICUs across the country. Patients:Large national cohort of patients admitted to Veterans Affairs ICUs and who developed acute kidney injury during their intensive care unit stay. Measurements and Main Results:Outcome measures were hospital mortality, and length of stay. Acute kidney injury was defined as a 0.3-mg/dL increase in creatinine relative to intensive care unit admission and categorized into Stage I (0.3 mg/dL to <2 times increase), Stage II (≥2 and <3 times increase), and Stage III (≥3 times increase or dialysis requirement). Association of mortality and length of stay with acute kidney injury stages and renal recovery was examined. Overall, 22% (n = 71,486) of patients developed acute kidney injury (Stage I: 17.5%; Stage II: 2.4%; Stage III: 2%); 16.3% patients met acute kidney injury criteria within 48 hrs, with an additional 5.7% after 48 hrs of intensive care unit admission. Acute kidney injury frequency varied between 9% and 30% across intensive care unit admission diagnoses. After adjusting for severity of illness in a model that included urea and creatinine on admission, odds of death increased with increasing severity of acute kidney injury. Stage I odds ratio = 2.2 (95% confidence interval, 2.17–2.30); Stage II odds ratio = 6.1 (95% confidence interval, 5.74, 6.44); and Stage III odds ratio = 8.6 (95% confidence interval, 8.07–9.15). Acute kidney injury patients with sustained elevation of creatinine experienced higher mortality risk than those who recovered. Interventions:None. Conclusions:Admission diagnosis and severity of illness influence frequency and severity of acute kidney injury. Small elevations in creatinine in the intensive care unit are associated with increased risk-adjusted mortality across all intensive care unit settings, whereas renal recovery was associated with a protective effect. Strategies to prevent even mild acute kidney injury or promote renal recovery may improve survival.
Cross-Border Migration of Hong Kong Residents Under the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Policy

Hong Kong is known as a migrant city because its population was sourced from mainland China, and because there has always been outflows of people to overseas countries, especially from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. Emigration to mainland China has become a significant recent trend. This article discusses this phenomenon in the theoretical contexts of migration and trans-border residential development. It contends that the trend will intensify more quickly than other cross-border movements because the two systems are separated by a political border within one country, and because there are common cultural ties and rapid economic integration.
A model of adhesive interaction of elastic bodies

A mathematical model of continuous elastic medium is proposed. It allows to model the contact interaction of solids involving the adhesion phenomenon. The work is based on the currently used Maugis-Dugdale potential, which is characterized by the surface distribution of adhesion forces. The numeric calculations demonstrating applicability of the newly developed methodology in practice are adduced.
Different Strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Cause Various Spectrums of Disease in the Rabbit Model of Tuberculosis

ABSTRACT The rabbit model of tuberculosis has been used historically to differentiate between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis based on their relative virulence in this animal host. M. tuberculosis infection in market rabbits is cleared over time, whereas infection with M. bovis results in chronic, progressive, cavitary disease leading to death. Because of the innate resistance of commercial rabbits to M. tuberculosis, 320 to 1,890 log-phase, actively growing inhaled bacilli were required to form one grossly visible pulmonary tubercle at 5 weeks. The range of inhaled doses required to make one tubercle allows us to determine the relative pathogenicities of different strains. Fewer inhaled organisms of the M. tuberculosis Erdman strain were required than of M. tuberculosis H37Rv to produce a visible lesion at 5 weeks. Furthermore, with the Erdman strain, only 7 of 15 rabbits had healed lesions at 16 to 18 weeks; among the other animals, two had chronic, progressive cavitary disease, a phenotype usually seen only with M. bovis infection. Genotypic investigation of the Erdman strain with an H37Rv-based microarray identified gene differences in the RD6 region. Southern blot and PCR structural genetic analysis showed significant differences between M. tuberculosis strains in this region. Correlation of the relative pathogenicity, including disease severity, in the rabbit model with the strain genotype may help identify stage-specific M. tuberculosis genes important in human disease.
Political Efficacy and Political Trust Among Black Schoolchildren: Two Explanations

*Numerous scholars made helpful suggestions on an earlier version of this article. M. Kent Jennings, Harrell R. Rodgers, Jr., and Pauline Vaillancourt provided additional information about their published research, and Wilbur B. Brookover and Paul M. Sniderman allowed me to report on research in progress. Richard G. Niemi ran a series of tables providing additional information about the University of Michigan Survey Research Center's survey of high school seniors. Jerald G. Bachman ran several tables which I requested so that I might report data from all four waves of his panel survey of tenthgrade boys. Financial support for writing this article was provided by the United States Office of Education, OEG-0-7-2028('725).
Steam as a General Purpose Technology: A Growth Accounting Perspective

The contribution of steam to British economic growth in the nineteenth century is estimated using growth accounting methods similar to those recently employed to examine the role of ICT. The results indicate that steam contributed little to growth before 1830 and had its peak impact about a hundred years after Watt's famous invention. Only with the advent of high-pressure steam after 1850 did the technology realise its potential. Compared with ICT, steam's impact on the annual rate of growth was modest. It is unlikely that these conclusions are vulnerable to quantification of hitherto unmeasured TFP spillovers.
Ubiquitinated Sperm Mitochondria, Selective Proteolysis, and the Regulation of Mitochondrial Inheritance in Mammalian Embryos1

Abstract The strictly maternal inheritance of mitochondria and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in mammals is a developmental paradox promoted by an unknown mechanism responsible for the destruction of the sperm mitochondria shortly after fertilization. We have recently reported that the sperm mitochondria are ubiquitinated inside the oocyte cytoplasm and later subjected to proteolysis during preimplantation development (P. Sutovsky et al., Nature 1999; 402:371–372). Here, we provide further evidence for this process by showing that the proteolytic destruction of bull sperm mitochondria inside cow egg cytoplasm depends upon the activity of the universal proteolytic marker, ubiquitin, and the lysosomal apparatus of the egg. Binding of ubiquitin to sperm mitochondria was visualized by monospecific antibodies throughout pronuclear development and during the first embryonic divisions. The recognition and disposal of the ubiquitinated sperm mitochondria was prevented by the microinjection of anti-ubiquitin antibodies and by the treatment of the fertilized zygotes with lysosomotropic agent ammonium chloride. The postfecundal ubiquitination of sperm mitochondria and their destruction was not seen in the hybrid embryos created using cow eggs and sperm of wild cattle, gaur, thus supporting the hypothesis that sperm mitochondrion destruction is species specific. The initial ligation of ubiquitin molecules to sperm mitochondrial membrane proteins, one of which could be prohibitin, occurs during spermatogenesis. Even though the ubiquitin cross-reactivity was transiently lost from the sperm mitochondria during epididymal passage, likely as a result of disulfide bond cross-linking, it was restored and amplified after fertilization. Ubiquitination therefore may represent a mechanism for the elimination of paternal mitochondria during fertilization. Our data have important implications for anthropology, treatment of mitochondrial disorders, and for the new methods of assisted procreation, such as cloning, oocyte cytoplasm donation, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
Talent management in the new business world

Purpose – This paper aims to advance the view that having a rigorous, cyclical, ongoing process around talent management may be the most important differentiator between organizational success and failure.Design/methodology/approach – The paper argues that the most effective talent‐management programs are built on four key components: differentiation; assessment and ranking; performance management; and transparency. It considers each in turn.Findings – The paper contends that the vital role that talent management plays in organizations is one that can create the winning conditions every other aspect of the business can use to move forward.Practical implications – The paper explains that leaders must ensure that, at any moment, they have the best employees working in their organization, and that every effort is being made to develop them for future challenges.Social implications – The paper describes a root‐and‐branch approach to talent management that will benefit individuals as well as the organizations .
Human Capital Accumulation and the Optimal Level of Unemployment Insurance Provision

Previous studies of optimal unemployment insurance (UI) design ignore the impact of UI on human capital investment decisions. We show that fully experience-rated UI increases investment in human capital when future employment opportunities are not known with certainty. In the presence of wage taxation, the optimal level of UI trades off full insurance and the impact, through human capital, of UI on the wage tax base. This trade-off, in turn, depends on the extent to which human capital accumulation reallocates labor between market and untaxed nonmarket activities. Taxation of UI benefits increases the optimal level of UI provision.
Consumer Dining Value: Does It Vary Across Different Restaurant Segments?

This study examined consumer value in three different restaurant segments: fast food, casual dining, and fine dining restaurants. Specifically, the study identified perceived importance and performance regarding consumer values using importance-performance analysis. In addition, the effects of the restaurant segments' performance of each consumer value on customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions were examined. This study adds to the present restaurant marketing literature by identifying customer's end goals for visiting each restaurant segment. The findings of the study present the current situation for each restaurant segment in terms of consumer value and offers effective marketing strategies to satisfy customers' desired values.