Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How Do Governments Support the Development of Public Private Partnerships? Measuring and Comparing PPP Governmental Support in 20 European Countries

Abstract Taking an institutional perspective, in this article we develop an index of the governmental support for public private partnership (PPP) — a ‘PPP Governmental Support Index’ (GSI) — which aims to measure the extent to which national governments provide an institutional framework that is either conducive or preventive for the introduction and diffusion of PPPs within transport infrastructure and other sectors. First, based on a substantive review of the literature, we define the elements of the PPP GSI, including the policy and political commitment regarding PPPs, the legal and regulatory framework, and the presence/absence of dedicated PPP-supporting arrangements. Second, we calculate the PPP GSI for 20 European countries, cluster them and compare similarities and differences in national governmental support of infrastructure PPPs. Third, we explore the potential link between national institutional index scores and infrastructure PPP activity in the 20 countries. Lastly, we discuss the potential and usefulness of the presented PPP GSI, as well as methodological limitations, and elaborate on how this index might be utilised to strengthen future comparative research on PPP in transport and other sectors.
Optimization of Methacrylic Acid Ester Copolymers Blends as Controlled Release Coatings Using Response Surface Methodology

The aim of this study was to statistically optimize the use of blends of methacrylic acid ester copolymers with different permeability properties as controlled-release coating systems for tablets to produce predictable predesigned release profiles. A full factorial design was used to study and optimize the use of methacrylic acid ester copolymers Eudragit® RS 30D and Eudragit® RL 30D as coating materials for controlled release. Directly compressed theophylline tablets were coated with aqueous dispersions containing different proportions of the two copolymers using a side-vented coating pan (Accela Cota®). The effect of polymer loading level at 5, 7.5, and 10% weight gain and curing time at 50°C for 12 and 24 hours were also evaluated. Coated tablets were tested for their drug release in water using a United States Pharmacopeia (USP) dissolution apparatus #2. The results showed that increasing the content of the lower permeability copolymer Eudragit® RS 30D, increasing the polymer load, and increasing curing time at 50°C resulted in slower drug release. A statistical model that describes and predicts the drug release properties of the coated tablets as a function of the copolymers ratio in the coating dispersion, polymer load, and curing time at 50°C was developed. The most significant factor affecting drug release was found to be the ratio of the two copolymers in the coating dispersion followed by the curing time at 50°C and the polymer loading level. Good correlations were observed between the model fitted values and the experimental values. An optimized formula prepared by superimposing two-dimensional contour plots was prepared; its release profile was found to be in agreement with the prediction obtained from the model.
The EU as a frontrunner on greenhouse gas emissions trading: how did it happen and will the EU succeed?

Abstract The objective of this paper is first to provide empirical evidence of what can be seen as a rather remarkable change in EU's position on the use of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading (ET) in climate policy, from the role of a sceptic in the run-up to Kyoto towards more of a frontrunner. The paper argues that there is a synergistic and multilevel mix of explanatory factors for this “U-turn”, including developments at the international, EU, Member State, sub-national, and even down to the personal level. Second, the paper explores and discusses the philosophy behind the Commission's proposal for a directive on GHG ET. Third, the paper examines the prospects for ‘success’ of a scheme for EU-wide ET using a multifaceted set of metrics. In brief, we argue that output success—the chances for having a directive adopted—hinges on the resolution of two key issues. First, whether the preliminary phase is to be mandatory or voluntary, and second, incompatibilities with domestic ET schemes. Outcome success—steering and cost-effectiveness—will in turn depend on factors like the coverage of the scheme and inclusion of project-based credits, while more long-term political implications hinges on the successful adoption and operation of the scheme. “The Proposal on emissions trading represents a major innovation for environmental policy in Europe. We are de facto creating a big new market, and we are determined to use market forces to achieve our climate objectives in the most cost-conscious way […]. The emissions trading system will be an important cornerstone in our strategy to reduce emissions in the most cost-effective way”. Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström.
What can unions do? Addressing multinational relocation in North West Tasmania

Trade unions often face complex and uncertain relations with multinational employers, particularly in old industrial regions. Such corporations have long histories in such regions, often attracted by a range of incentives such as financial support, cheap energy and a skilled workforce. However, the plants themselves often experience changes in ownership and face economic uncertainty. This constitutes the terrain within which recognised unions seek to organise, exercise their capacities and realise their purposes. Workers and their unions organise and operate in these plants, usually developing established routines and practices in relation to the terms and conditions of employment and advocacy of worker concerns. However, they also face difficult choices in relation to corporate decisions to restructure and/or close regional plants. In order for unions to respond to the shifting terrain of the employment landscape they must be able to mobilise around political and economic factors that impact on employment. These themes are addressed with specific reference to union struggles in North West Tasmania, a region that is undergoing a process of de-industrialisation.
Video Games in the Middle School Classroom

During the fall 2005 semester, an eighth grade teacher in a Laramie, Wyoming, middle school made an urgent plea for more progressive tools for a beginning computers course. Janet Johnson, a veteran teacher returning to the classroom after a hiatus of 10 years, was frustrated with the apparent lack of motivation and engagement by the students. She knew the existing curricular materials were outdated and "mind numbing" and was seeking methods more relevant to this generation.
Employer Wage Differentials in Germany: A Comparative Note

The paper contributes to the growing empirical literature on employer wage differentials, presenting first estimates for West Germany and comparing them with recent findings from other studies for the USA, France and Denmark. The empirical results show that the variation of global employer wage differentials is comparatively low in West Germany and has remained stable during the first half of the 1990s. This low dispersion results from wage setting for blue-collar workers, while cross-country differences are negligible for white-collar workers. Employer wage differentials have, however, become more important for the remuneration of West German blue-collar workers during the period investigated.
Determinants of Organisational Structure of Small Business Enterprises: Evidence in a Rapidly Developing Country

HYONG YI is a doctoral candidate in management science at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Seoul, Korea, and Linsu Kim is Professor of Management, College of Business Administration, Korea University, Seoul. This paper examines both contextual and managers' personal variables in identifying the determinants of structure in small business organisations in a rapidly developing country - Korea. The results support hypotheses derived deductively from literature in advanced countries that a manager's personal variables are stronger predictors of centralisation and formalisation than contextual variables and that contextual variables are stronger predictors of specialisation that a manager's personal variables. The paper discusses the implications of the findings and concludes that the determinants of structure appear to be significantly different between small and large organisations and that hypotheses deductively derived from literature in advanced countries are supported in a rapidly developing country.
Gas exchange during storage and incubation of Avian eggs: effects on embryogenesis, hatchability, chick quality and post-hatch growth

Embryonic development is a dynamic process that requires a fine balance between several factors in order to achieve an optimum hatchability and chick quality. These factors include the background of the embryo, such as genetic line of the breeders, the age of the breeder, egg weight, and factors related to the environment in which the egg is stored and incubated, such as temperature, humidity, gas levels and altitude. Gas exchanges are of fundamental importance for embryonic development during incubation and may affect the livability of the embryo. This paper reviews the roles of the gaseous environment (i.e. O2 and CO2) around hatching eggs during storage and during incubation and the effect it might have on the survival of the developing embryos and the chicks that hatch. The state of the art on the different attempts to establish the optimum requirements of different gases that promote the optimal developmental trajectories at different periods during incubation is presented. The roles and consequences of different levels of O2 and CO2 during storage and incubation on hatchability, incubation duration, hatching process, embryo growth, embryo mortality, organ development and morphology, metabolism, blood acid-base balance, chick quality and chick post-hatch growth are reviewed.
THE EFFECT OF NaCl ON THE PHAGE-BACTERIUM REACTION

1. The presence of 0.25 M NaCl during the reaction between a staphylococcus phage and susceptible organisms results in a five to tenfold increase in the amount of phage produced. 2. Analysis of the reaction indicates that normal kinetic relationships exist until just before lysis occurs. At this time the organisms enter the stationary phase, lysis is delayed approximately 0.7 hour as compared with control mixtures and phage continues to be produced at the usual rapid rate. 3. Apparently there are conditions under which phage can be produced in the absence of bacterial growth although previous work has uniformly emphasized growth of the bacterial substrate as the prime conditioning factor for formation of phage.
Strategic collaboration management between Indian oil marketing and auto-service companies: An empirical study

Purpose – The downstream oil marketing companies (OMCs) have an opportunity to compensate their huge under-recovery by increasing non-fuel revenues through strategic planning for collaboration with organized companies (OCs) of auto-servicing sector, who are experiencing a surge in the demand for auto-servicing. The purpose of this paper is to explore the business need for strategic collaboration and empirically validate the building mechanism for collaborative capacities between the two sectors (OMCs and OCs). Design/methodology/approach – The paper is designed to explore the implementation of collaboration using needs analysis, exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling process for building collaborative capacities between the two sectors. Findings – Although alignment is a necessary condition before allowing for a valid collaboration between the two sectors, the external alignment process is highly significant for implementing collaboration unlike the internal alignment process. Research limitations/implications – Methodological limitations include the use of convenience sampling and anonymous survey-based research. Practical implications – Selecting the “right” identified factors for collaboration is unquestionably one of the most important topics in the collaboration literature, which holds vast practical implications. Originality/value – This study provides practical and theoretical insights for implementing collaboration based on empirical results.
Rapid Evolution of Genomic Imprinting in Two Species of the Brassicaceae

Genomic imprinting is a rapidly evolving phenomenon in plants; however, for those genes where imprinting conveys an advantage, imprinted expression is maintained over long evolutionary timescales. Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic phenomenon occurring in mammals and flowering plants that causes genes to adopt a parent-of-origin-specific mode of expression. While the imprinting status of genes is well conserved in mammals, clear estimates for the degree of conservation were lacking in plants. We therefore analyzed the genome-wide imprinting status of Capsella rubella, which shared a common recent ancestor with Arabidopsis thaliana ∼10 to 14 million years ago. However, only ∼14% of maternally expressed genes (MEGs) and ∼29% of paternally expressed genes (PEGs) in C. rubella were commonly imprinted in both species, revealing that genomic imprinting is a rapidly evolving phenomenon in plants. Nevertheless, conserved PEGs exhibited signs of selection, suggesting that a subset of imprinted genes play an important functional role and are therefore maintained in plants. Like in Arabidopsis, PEGs in C. rubella are frequently associated with the presence of transposable elements that preferentially belong to helitron and MuDR families. Our data further reveal that MEGs and PEGs differ in their targeting by 24-nucleotide small RNAs and asymmetric DNA methylation, suggesting different mechanisms establishing DNA methylation at MEGs and PEGs.
Domain Adaptation with Soft-margin multiple feature-kernel learning beats Deep Learning for surveillance face recognition

Face recognition (FR) is the most preferred mode for biometric-based surveillance, due to its passive nature of detecting subjects, amongst all different types of biometric traits. FR under surveillance scenario does not give satisfactory performance due to low contrast, noise and poor illumination conditions on probes, as compared to the training samples. A state-of-the-art technology, Deep Learning, even fails to perform well in these scenarios. We propose a novel soft-margin based learning method for multiple feature-kernel combinations, followed by feature transformed using Domain Adaptation, which outperforms many recent state-of-the-art techniques, when tested using three real-world surveillance face datasets.
ICE-LAP3, a Novel Mammalian Homologue of the Caenorhabditis elegans Cell Death Protein Ced-3 Is Activated during Fas- and Tumor Necrosis Factor-induced Apoptosis (*)

Members of the ICE/ced-3 gene family have been implicated as components of the cell death pathway. Based on similarities with the structural prototype interleukin-1β-converting enzyme (ICE), family members are synthesized as proenzymes that are proteolytically processed to form active heterodimeric enzymes. In this report, we describe a novel member of this growing gene family, ICE-LAP3, which is closely related to the death effector Yama/CPP32/Apopain. Pro-ICE-LAP3 is a 35-kDa protein localized to the cytoplasm and expressed in a variety of tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of a truncated version of ICE-LAP3 (missing the pro-domain) induces apoptosis in MCF7 breast carcinoma cells. Importantly, upon receipt of a death stimulus, endogenous ICE-LAP3 is processed to its subunit forms, suggesting a physiological role in cell death. This is the first report to demonstrate processing of a native ICE/ced-3 family member during execution of the death program and the first description of the subcellular localization of an ICE/ced-3 family member.
The relative contribution of body fat and fat pattern to blood pressure level.

Although the association between body weight and blood pressure is irrefutable, body fat mass and blood pressure level may not necessarily be directly related. To clarify the relative contribution of fat mass to blood pressure level, we analyzed data on 399 adults consecutively entering a weight control program. Although most subjects were notably overweight (mean ideal body weight 177%), the population represented a wide spectrum of body weights and blood pressure levels. Study parameters included body fat mass (by total body water, 40K, and Steinkamp formula), lean body mass, body build (chest to height ratio), fat cell number and size from bilateral buttock biopsy specimens, upper fat pattern by arm to thigh circumference ratio, and central fat pattern by subscapular to triceps skinfold ratio. Our results concurred with previously noted correlations between obesity and blood pressure (as mean arterial pressure): weight (r = 0.44), percentage of body fat (r = 0.19), and absolute fat mass (r = 0.38; all p less than 0.01); however, lean body mass, age, and body build correlated highly with both fat mass and mean arterial pressure, thereby confounding this relationship. Multivariate analysis was performed to evaluate the relative contribution of fat mass to mean arterial pressure in the presence of these and other potentially confounding variables. Lean body mass, age, body build, and an upper body fat pattern were found to contribute significantly to the variation in mean arterial pressure (p less than 0.01). In their presence, percentage of body fat, absolute fat mass, central fat pattern, fat cell characteristics, and age of onset of obesity did not significantly improve the predictability of mean arterial pressure. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Dependents and the Demand for Life Insurance

A breadwinner's demand for life insurance depends on the demographic structure of his or her household. The author captures the relationship by extending Menahem E. Yaari's life insurance framework to include the preferences of all household members explicitly. In many households, the insured is the husband and the beneficiaries are his wife and offspring. Their demand for insurance of the husband's life is derived from a life cycle model in which income is uncertain. The results are intuitively appealing in that they describe the explicit calculation made by purchasers of life insurance. Empirical estimates based on observed life insurance ownership also are encouraging. Copyright 1989 by American Economic Association.
Planning and Affordable Housing in Australia and the UK: A Comparative Perspective

Land use planning systems in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) share a common history. In both nations, one objective of town planning has been to improve housing conditions for the urban poor and facilitate sufficient housing supply for growing post-war populations, with UK legislation serving as a model for Australia, at least until the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. Since this time however, approaches have diverged. In the UK, housing assistance and the land use planning system have co-evolved, with planning an important tool for securing affordable housing, particularly in England. In contrast, a deep cleavage between urban planning and housing policy persists in Australia. Drawing on a series of studies undertaken separately by the authors over the past decade which concentrate on Australia and England, the paper compares urban and housing policy in both nations, and examines planning system performance in securing new affordable homes.
Short separation regression improves statistical significance and better localizes the hemodynamic response obtained by near-infrared spectroscopy for tasks with differing autonomic responses

Abstract. Autonomic nervous system response is known to be highly task-dependent. The sensitivity of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) measurements to superficial layers, particularly to the scalp, makes it highly susceptible to systemic physiological changes. Thus, one critical step in NIRS data processing is to remove the contribution of superficial layers to the NIRS signal and to obtain the actual brain response. This can be achieved using short separation channels that are sensitive only to the hemodynamics in the scalp. We investigated the contribution of hemodynamic fluctuations due to autonomous nervous system activation during various tasks. Our results provide clear demonstrations of the critical role of using short separation channels in NIRS measurements to disentangle differing autonomic responses from the brain activation signal of interest.
Clinical Utility of Diagnostic Tests for Constipation in Adults: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND AND AIMS:Because symptoms alone do not identify pathophysiology or differentiate subgroups of constipation, diagnostic tests are generally recommended. However, their utility is not known. We performed a systematic review of diagnostic tests commonly used in constipation.METHODS:We searched the English literature using MEDLINE and PUBMED databases from 1966 to 2004 for studies in adults published as full manuscripts whose methodological quality was above a minimum score.RESULTS:No studies assessed the routine use of blood tests or abdominal x-ray. One retrospective endoscopic study showed that cancer and polyp detection rate was comparable to historical controls. Two studies of barium enema were unhelpful in diagnosis of constipation. Physiological studies showed differences in study population, methodology, and interpretation, and there was no gold standard. Ten colonic transit studies showed prevalence of 38–80% in support of slow transit constipation. Nine anorectal manometry studies showed prevalence of 20–75% for detecting dyssynergia. Nine studies of balloon expulsion showed impaired expulsion of 23–67%. Among 10 defecography studies, abnormalities were reported in 25–90% and dyssynergia in 13–37%. CONCLUSIONS:Evidence to support the use of blood tests, radiography, or endoscopy in the routine work up of patients with constipation without alarm features is lacking. Colonic transit, anorectal manometry, and balloon expulsion tests reveal physiologic abnormalities in many selected patients with constipation, but no single test adequately defines pathophysiology. Large, well-designed, prospective studies are required to examine the utility of these tests.