Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aid to Jobless Workers in Florida in the Face of the Great Recession: The Interaction of Unemployment Insurance and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program

Although many programs redistribute resources in the U.S., two program were central in providing a safety net for those facing hardship during the Great Recession: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which grew to 47.7 million people in January 2013 – or 15.1 percent of all Americans – and the Unemployment Insurance Program (UI), which more than doubled with the onset of the recession, reaching a seasonally adjusted maximum of 6.5 million recipients in June 2009. We examine state administrative data from Florida for SNAP and UI from late 2005 through early 2010. We focus on two research questions: 1. In the face of caseload growth and compositional change in both programs, how has joint participation in UI among SNAP recipients changed? How much of the increase in joint participation is driven by changes in the characteristics of individuals participating in SNAP? How much is driven by the changing economic and policy conditions? 2. How has the role of UI changed for SNAP participants, and in particular how have patterns of combined usage evolved during this period? We find that the number of families relying on both SNAP and UI together ballooned with the Great Recession, and that the patterns changed as expected, with UI growing dramatically in relative importance. At the same time, only a minority of those swelling the ranks of SNAP obtained benefits from the UI program, suggesting that the current safety net has important limitations in times of serious economic distress.
Descriptive profile of tuberculin skin testing programs and laboratory-acquired tuberculosis infections in public health laboratories

The increase in numbers of cases of tuberculosis in the United States has placed greater demands on mycobacteriology laboratory workers to produce rapid and accurate results. The greater number of specimens generated by the increased emphasis on detecting the disease has placed these workers at greater risk of laboratory-acquired infection. We surveyed 56 state and territorial public health laboratories to determine the status of existing tuberculin skin testing (TST) programs and to evaluate the frequency of probable laboratory-acquired tuberculosis for each responding mycobacteriology laboratory. Probable laboratory-acquired infections were determined by each laboratory's evaluation of occupational positions, duties, and employee histories and review of medical records. Two-step TST for new employees was routinely practiced in only 33% of responding laboratories, and mycobacteriology laboratorians were found to be most frequently screened when they were compared to employees of other departments. Of 49 (88%) responding laboratories, 13 reported that 21 employees were TST converters from 1990 to 1994. Seven of these 21 employees were documented to have laboratory-acquired infections based on evaluations by their respective laboratories. Based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, converters are categorized on the basis of both a change in the size of the zone of induration and the age of the person being tested. By the definitions in the guidelines, 14 mycobacteriologists were identified as recent converters, 7 of whom were > or = 35 years of age and 4 of whom were exposed in the laboratory within a 2-year period. Inadequate isolation procedures, the high volume of specimen handling, and faulty ventilation accounted for these laboratory-associated infections. These results suggest that more frequent periodic evaluations based on documented TST conversions for workers in mycobacterial laboratories should be performed, since this population is at increased risk of becoming infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although general assessments are necessary to accurately and effectively evaluate the risk of tuberculosis transmission, they are especially important for those working in high-risk areas within a public health laboratory.
Prognostic Factors Following Curative Resection for Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: A Population-Based, Linked Database Analysis of 396 Patients

ObjectiveTo analyze prognostic factors influencing pancreatic cancer survival following curative resection, using prospectively collected, population-based data. Summary Background DataSeveral studies have analyzed the determinants of long-term survival in postresection pancreatic cancer patients, but the majority of these have been single-institutional chart reviews yielding inconsistent results. MethodsThis retrospective cohort study examined 396 Medicare-eligible patients over age 65 who were diagnosed with nonmetastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma and who underwent surgical resection with curative intent while residing in one of the 11 Survival, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registries between January 1991 and December 1996. Linked Medicare data provided information on treatment and comorbidity, while linked census tract data supplied sociodemographic characteristics. ResultsMedian survival for the overall study population was 17.6 months, with 1- and 3-year survival rates of 60.1% and 34.3%, respectively. Survival appears to be gradually improving over time, concomitant with a rise in the proportion of patients undergoing surgery in teaching centers. Prognostic variables significantly diminishing survival on univariate analysis included African American race, treatment not in a teaching hospital, lack of adjuvant chemoradiation therapy, as well as histopathologic factors that included tumor size larger than 2 cm in diameter, moderate to poor histologic grade, and positive lymph node metastases. Higher socioeconomic status was associated both with an increased likelihood of receiving adjuvant therapy and improved overall survival. Multivariate analyses indicated the strongest predictors of survival were adjuvant combined chemoradiotherapy, small tumors (<2 cm in diameter), negative lymph nodes, well-differentiated histology, undergoing surgery in a teaching hospital, and high socioeconomic status. ConclusionsAlthough biologic characteristics remain important predictors of survival for patients with resected pancreatic cancer, the most powerful determinant is postoperative adjuvant chemoradiation therapy. An interesting finding that warrants further investigation is the effect of socioeconomic status on both the likelihood of receiving adjuvant treatment and subsequent survival, indicating a possible relationship between the quality of care delivered and outcomes.
The Dutch Experience with Weighted Student Funding: Some Lessons for the U.S. Working Papers Series. SAN09-03.

Policy makers and educators in the U.S. have recently shown considerable interest in the concept of weighted student funding (WSF) as a means of financing primary and secondary schools. WSF appeals both to conservatives, who see it as a way to promote parental choice and school autonomy, and to progressives, who are attracted by the call for extra funds for challenging-to-educate students. This paper draws lessons for the U.S. from the Netherlands, which has long experience with WSF. We find that, while WSF has succeeded in directing significant amounts of additional funds to primary schools serving educationally disadvantaged pupils, this policy has been shaped by contextual factors that differ in important respects from those in the U.S. These include a deeply embedded right to parental choice, a centralized funding system, a political system that fosters policy stability, and a national value system that accepts pluralism and encourages tolerance and fairness.
Student Governance in Africa: Thematic Summary of Key Literature

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of certain themes and perspectives identified in literature on student governance in Africa. The paper addresses itself primarily to reflective student leaders and scholars interested in the subject. In accordance with the literature, the paper highlights the importance of the macro-political and macro-economic context in understanding the dominant forms student governance has taken. The paper briefly clarifies the notion of ‘student governance’ in relation to other key concepts found in scholarly literature on student politics. Then the actual content of scholarly literature on student governance is reviewed thematically in relation to (1) forms of and responses to student protests; (2) student government; (3) student representation in university governance; and (4) student participation in system-level governance. Lastly, the paper outlines a proposal for a high-level debate on student governance in Africa. In sum, the paper finds that there is a wide range of forms of student political involvement in higher education governance. From the governance perspective, these can be analysed first in relation to their formalisation and, secondly, with reference to relevant levels of regime governance. Informally, students participate in higher education governance by employing a range of protest forms which extends from co-operative-informative forms to highly confrontational and militant ones. Student protests have attracted more scholarly interest than any other aspect of student politics.
The Impact of Financial Sector Foreign Direct Investment on Poverty Alleviation

II DECLARATION III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV CHAPTER 1: THE RESEARCH PROBLEM 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE 4 1.2 RESEARCH STRUCTURE 5 2. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6 2.0 INTRODUCTION 6 2.1 FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT 6 2.1.0 Forms of FDI 8 2.1.1 Determinates of FDI 9 2.1.2 Costs and Benefits of FDI on Poverty Reduction 12 2.2 FINANCIAL SECTOR AND ECONOMIC THEORY 13 2.3 FINANCIAL SECTOR FDI IN DEVELOPING NATIONS 14 2.3.0 Financial Sector Development through FDI 14 2.4 POVERTY ALLEVIATION 16 2.5 POVERTY ALLEVIATION CHANNELS 17 2.5. 0 Good Governance 17 2.5. 1 Economic Growth 17 2.5. 2 Education and Skills Development 18 2.5. 3 Financial Development and Access 19 2.5. 4 Job Creation 20 2.6 FINANCIAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION . 20 2.7 CONCLUSION 22 3. CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS 23 3.0 INTRODUCTION 23 3.1 HYPOTHESIS 1 23 3.2 HYPOTHESIS 2 24 3.3 HYPOTHESIS 3 24 4. CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 25 4.1 RESEARCH DESIGN 25
International Business Cycles and the ERM: Is there a European Business Cycle?

Successful fixed exchange rate regimes impose policy disciplines that are likely to lead to conformity in the business cycles of the participating countries. This conjecture is borne out in the present paper by the evidence that the business cycle affiliation of ERM member countries has shifted from the United States to Germany since the formation of the ERM. This effect is bolstered by growing links in trade and finance between the European countries. The United Kingdom is conspicuous among these in that its business cycle affiliation did not change in the period of study. Copyright @ 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Clinical gene therapy for the treatment of RPE65-associated Leber congenital amaurosis

Introduction: The positive results of pioneering clinical trials using gene therapy as treatment for patients with Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) have ushered in a new era of molecular retinal therapeutics for LCA, other blinding retinal disorders and gene therapy applications. Areas covered: This review describes the role of retinal pigment epithelium-specific 65 kDa protein (RPE65) in the visual cycle and how RPE65 deficiency results in LCA; the extensive preclinical studies with recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV)-RPE65 gene vectors; and the human rAAV-RPE65 and related gene therapy clinical trials and studies. The literature search included a review of primary sources (e.g., journal articles) that reported study data results and key secondary sources such as meta-reviews available through PubMed, as well as reviews of clinical trial descriptions and results as reported in clinicaltrials.gov, conference publications and news releases. Expert opinion: LCA-RPE65 gene therapy is an example of successful, innovative, translational research. Further research is needed regarding how retinal gene therapy can be improved.
Early results on wrist based heart rate monitoring using mechanical transducers

Heart rate monitoring has been a significant topic of interest in the areas of healthcare, sports and gaming. Compared to locations such as the neck, ear, or chest, the wrist is a convenient measurement point, as the measurement technology can be integrated into a wristwatch. However, key technical challenges exist, namely a small physiological SNR and large disturbances due to motion artifact. This paper reports early results on a packaging concept to monitor the heartrate during rest and motion using off-the-shelf piezoelectric PVDF film sensors. Evaluation has shown good results at rest and unsatisfactory results during motion. Results from this investigation will nonetheless be used as input for the development of a wrist-based heartrate monitor which could function during activities such as running, walking or typing on a keyboard.
Similarities and differences between the effects of EPA and DHA on markers of atherosclerosis in human subjects*

We have reviewed effects of long chain (LC) n-3 PUFA on markers of atherosclerosis in human subjects with a focus on individual effects of EPA and DHA. Initial results from epidemiological studies suggested that LC n-3 PUFA from fish oils (FO) reduced incidence of CVD; those results have been confirmed in interventional studies. Dietary intervention with n-3 PUFA decreased fasting and postprandial TAG, number of remnant-like chylomicron particles, large VLDL, and total and small dense LDL particles. It increased mean size of LDL particles by increasing number of large and decreasing those of small dense particles. With some exceptions, n-3 PUFA decreased blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR), flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and plasma concentrations of inflammatory markers. n-3 PUFA also decreased circulating adhesion molecules and intima-media thickness (IMT) in some but not other studies. For IMT, results varied with the sex and artery being examined. EPA effects on FMD are endothelial cell dependent, while those of DHA seem to be endothelial cell independent. Individually, both EPA and DHA decreased TAG and inflammatory markers, but only DHA decreased HR, BP and number of small dense LDL particles. Results varied because of dose and duration of n-3 PUFA, EPA:DHA, health status of subjects and other reasons. Future studies are needed to determine optimal doses of EPA and DHA individually, their synergistic, additive or antagonistic effects, and to understand underlying mechanisms. In conclusion, n-3 PUFA decreased several risk factors for atherosclerosis without any serious adverse effects.
A 25Gb/s serial-link repeater with receiver equalization and transmitter de-emphasis in 0.13μm SiGe BiCMOS

A serial-link repeater chip with a single stage continuous-time linear equalizer (CTLE) and a 3-tap feedforward equalizer (FFE) is realized in a 0. 13μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The CTLE with the negative capacitance circuits is implemented to achieve a larger high-frequency boosting at the receiver side. By utilizing the LC-based delay elements, the FFE accomplishes the transmitter de-emphasis without retiming clocks. The measurement results show that the repeater can at least compensate for a Nyquist channel loss of 23.5dB (14.4dB by the receiver equalization and 9.1dB by the transmitter de-emphasis) when operating at the data rate of 25Gb/s. The total power consumption is 230mW from a 3.3V power supply.
Retractable and Extendible Bonds: The Canadian Experience

SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF the seminal papers by Black and Scholes [3] and Merton [16] on the pricing of options and corporate liabilities, their basic framework has been extended and applied to a variety of problems in finance. ' More recently, the same framework has been used for the valuation of interest dependent claims, and in particular for the pricing of default free bonds.2 These securities (generally government bonds of various types) are valued by treating them as "contingent" upon the course of one or more interest rates, along with suitable assumptions about the term structure of interest rates. Brennan and Schwartz [4] assume that the value of a default free bond is a function solely of the instantaneous interest rate and time to maturity, and show that various types of bonds-savings bonds, retractable and extendible bonds, and callable bonds-all follow the same partial differential equation as discount bonds, the distinguishing feature being the associated boundary conditions. Taking into account the considerable theoretical work that has been done, there is relatively little published empirical research testing these models. Most of the empirical work in the area of contingent claims analysis has been on the stock options market,3 with the exception of Ingersoll [12] on the pricing of dual fund shares and Brennan and Schwartz [6] on the valuation of Canadian Federal Govemment coupon bonds. In this paper contingent claims analysis is applied to the valuation of retractable and extendible bonds and the resultant model is then applied to price Govermment of Canada bonds. An extendible bond is a medium term debt obligation that gives the holder the option of extending the term of the instrument, on or before a fixed date at a predetermined coupon rate. For example, the 51/2 percent Government of Canada extendible bond was issued on October 1, 1959. It was exchangeable on or before June 1, 1962 into 51/2 percent bonds maturing October 1, 1975. Thus the three-
Co-creation of value in higher education: using social network marketing in the recruitment of students

A social network recruitment campaign was prepared where applicants for information technology bachelor studies at a Norwegian university college were invited to join a Facebook group related to the subject of interest. Each Facebook group was assigned a contact person who received training to facilitate activities and in answering questions from the applicants. Analysis of the dialogues on the Facebook groups indicates value creation between the applicant and the university college, and between applicants. Furthermore, results from the campaign showed that the conversion rate for applicants who apply for a Facebook group was 88.8 per cent, which is significant higher than for those who did not apply for a Facebook group (43.3 per cent). We will argue that social network marketing in higher education gives a great opportunity to replace the passive view of customers with an active view in which applicants are invited to use their own initiatives rather than simply react to predetermined marketing activities.
RDP8906 A Random Walk Around the $A: Expectations, Risk, Interest Rates and Consequences for External Imbalance

Given essentially perfect capital mobility, Australian interest rates and the expected exchange rate change should satisify international arbitrage conditions. We examine an arbitrage condition for a US investor, with a view to explaining the large short-term real interest differential between Australia and the US since late 1984. We have some evidence for a risk premium until late 1985. Since then, we explain the differential as a result of foreign exchange market inefficiency or as a consequence of the market having continually and rationally expected significant real devaluation of the $A. We provide evidence for both these explanations and draw implications for the current debate on Australia’s external imbalance.
Regulation of a phenylalanine ammonia lyase (BbPAL) by calmodulin in response to environmental changes in the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana.

Phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL, E.C. 4.3.1.5) catalyses the deamination of L -phenylalanine to trans-cinnamic acid and ammonia, facilitating a critical step in the phenylpropanoid pathway that produces a variety of secondary metabolites. In this study, we isolated BbPAL gene in the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana. According to multiple sequence alignment, homology modelling and in vitro PAL activity, we demonstrated that BbPAL acts as a typical PAL enzyme in B. bassiana. BbPAL interacted with calmodulin (CaM) in vitro and in vivo, indicating that BbPAL is a novel CaM-binding protein. The functional role of CaM in BbPAL action was to negatively regulate the BbPAL activity in B. bassiana. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed that L -phenylalanine was reduced and trans-cinnamic acid was increased in response to the CaM inhibitor W-7. Dark conditions suppressed BbPAL activity in B. bassiana, compared with light. In addition, heat and cold stresses inhibited BbPAL activity in B. bassiana. Interestingly, these negative effects of BbPAL activity by dark, heat and cold conditions were recovered by W-7 treatment, suggesting that the inhibitory mechanism is mediated through stimulation of CaM activity. Therefore, this work suggests that BbPAL plays a role in the phenylpropanoid pathway mediated by environmental stimuli via the CaM signalling pathway.
The logic of congressional action

Congress regularly enacts laws that benefit particular groups or localities while imposing costs on everyone else. Sometimes, however, Congress breaks free of such parochial concerns and enacts bills that serve the general public, not just special interest groups. In this book, the author offers a theory that explains not only why special interest frequently triumph but also why the general public sometimes wins. By showing how legislative leaders build coalitions for both types of programs, he illuminates recent legislative decisions in such areas as economic, tax, and energy policy. The author's theory of policy making rests on a reinterpretation of the relationship between legislators' actions and their constituents' policy preferences. Most scholars explore the impact that citizens' existing policy preferences have on legislators' decisions. They ignore citizens who have no opinions because they assume that uninformed citizens cannot possibly affect legislators' choices. Arnold examines the influence of citizens' potential preferences, however, and argues that legislators also respond to these preferences in order to avoid future electoral problems. He shows how legislators estimate the political consequences of their voting decisions, taking into account both the existing preferences of attentive citizens and the potential preferences of inattentive citizens. He then analyzes how coalition leaders manipulate the legislative situation in order to make it attractive for legislators to support a general interest bill
Analysing the Rate of Technical Change in the Portuguese Hotel Industry

This paper analyses the rate of technical progress in the Portuguese hotel industry between 1998 and 2002, using a stochastic cost frontier method. A translog frontier model is used and the maximum likelihood estimation technique is employed to estimate the empirical model. We estimate the efficiency scores and disentangle the rate of technical progress into three components: pure technical progress, non-neutral technical progress and scale-augmenting technical progress. The results show relatively low efficiency scores, denoting a high degree of waste in the use of resources, despite the fact that technical change contributes to a reduction of costs.