Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Theorising visitor learning in ecotourism

Visitor learning is the central aim in almost all definitions of ecotourism. However, theorising and research on visitor learning has largely been confined to behaviourist traditions of learning and education in only one type of ecotourism; namely, wildlife ecotourism. This paper argues for an expansion in the theoretical scope of visitor learning to include other forms of ecotourism, and other models of learning. To this end, the paper hypothesises forms of visitor learning associated with wildlife, adventure and community-based ecotourism, respectively, and positions them within a typology of philosophical traditions in environmental education for adults. The educational aims, curriculum, role of guides, learning activities, and learning outcomes for the three types of ecotourism are elaborated, and relevant theories of learning discussed for each. This paper concludes with recommendations for research and educational practice in ecotourism.
FACTORS INFLUENCING MIDAZOLAM HYDROXYLATION ACTIVITY IN HUMAN LIVER MICROSOMES

The cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) subfamily (mainly CYP3A4 and CYP3A5) is responsible for metabolizing approximately half of currently marketed drugs, but with considerable interindividual variability in expression and function. To investigate factors contributing to this variability, rates of midazolam (MDZ) 1′-hydroxylation and CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 protein content were determined using a set of 54 human liver microsomes (HLMs). Genetic factors investigated included CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and haplotypes, CYP3A4 mRNA alternative splicing, and CYP3A4 transcriptional start and polyadenylation sites. Demographic and environmental factors investigated included age, gender, and histories of smoking and alcohol consumption. MDZ 1′-hydroxylation rates varied from 0.025 to 3.106 nmol/min/mg protein, with significant correlation to CYP3A4 protein content (rs = 0.92, P < 0.001) but less robust correlation to CYP3A5 protein content (rs = 0.60, P < 0.001). We identified eight CYP3A4 SNPs (five novel) and nine CYP3A5 SNPs (one novel), as well as seven CYP3A4 and two CYP3A5 haplotypes (all novel). No influence of genotype or haplotype on MDZ 1′-hydroxylation rate was observed, although CYP3A5*3A (g.6986a>g; g.31611c>t) carriers had lower CYP3A5 protein content compared with noncarriers (P = 0.004). No alternative splicing of CYP3A4 mRNA was found. Likewise, only a single transcriptional start site and polyadenylation site for CYP3A4 mRNA were identified. Subjects with a history of alcohol consumption had 2.2-fold higher median MDZ 1′-hydroxylation (P = 0.017), whereas no influence of age, gender, or smoking was evident. In conclusion, the investigated genetic factors did not contribute substantially to the large interindividual variability in midazolam hydroxylation, although alcohol consumption has a discernable but modest influence.
An Inquiry into Balanced Scorecards within Best Value Implementation in UK Local Government

The aim is of this paper is to conduct an exploratory study into the use of Balanced Scorecards as an approach to implementing Best Value in UK local government. Furthermore, a participant-observation method is used to study the development into a Balanced Scorecard within local government. There is a need to critically evaluate approaches to implementing Best Value so that local government can determine how to achieve the service performance levels laid down in the framework. There is a paucity of systematic studies exploring and critiquing the effectiveness of using the Balanced Scorecard in Best Value implementation. The paper describes an exploratory multiple case research study followed by longitudinal participant-observer research on Balanced Scorecard development in a Best Value context. The findings show that the Balanced Scorecard can play a key role in Best Value implementation. Moreover it is also useful in linking other improvement initiatives. However, the Balanced Scorecard process must be informed by organizational and environmental information that is both accurate and adequate. The audit functions of the Business Excellence Model go some way to providing this information.
About the application of evidence theory in multicriteria decision aid

Multicriteria decision aid (MCDA) is a discipline developed to help a decision maker in solving problems where several conflicting criteria should be considered. Within this field, authors generally distinguish three main problems: the choice, the ranking and the sorting. The objective of this chapter is to summarize the multicriteria methods proposed to deal with these problems and illustrate how evidence theory has been applied in the field of MCDA. Basically, imperfection in data within evidence theory is modeled using a function called the basic belief assignment (BBA). The first section introduces the basic notions of evidence theory. The second section talks about the two new concepts, the first belief dominance approach and the ranking BBAs based on belief distances (RBBD) concept. The third section reviews five multicriteria methods modeled by the evidence theory. The final section discusses the application of evidence theory in the field of MCDA. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
EFFECTS OF GROUPING INFORMATION ON DECISION MAKING UNDER RISK

The ability of decision makers to deal with information in terms of category labels rather than as precise data points is hypothesized as an explanation of how complex choices are made within the limits imposed by human information-processing capacity. Twenty-five decision makers placed bets under varying conditions of grouping of cues (probability of winning/losing, amount to be won, amount to be lost) as a test of this hypothesis. The results indicate that experimental pre-grouping of cues has: (1) a statistically significant but practically unimportant impact on amounts bet; (2) no statistically significant effect on number of different bets made; and (3) no statistically significant effect on the fit of the bets to those predicted by an expected value model, except when grouping categories are very wide. These results support the contention that decision making occurs through the manipulation of category labels rather than exact values. Study of processes by which numerous exact cues are reduced to a smaller number of category labels is suggested as a complement to the study of sequential processing of alternatives, satisficing, the use of heuristics, and other means by which human beings make complex choices with limited cognitive capacity.
A new multimodal behavioural biometrie authentication framework for system security

Unauthorized user access to a computer system is a major security breach to many personal and corporate system users. Due to this, data loss and data modification can occur which may cause serious problem in the real world. The user authentication mechanisms applied to the computer systems must be very secure. For achieving high level security, transparent authentication mechanisms must be implemented. The traditional password based authentication mechanism as well as biometric(physiological) authentication mechanism use one time authentication, that is at point of entry only. If an intruder have access in the system, then it may access the sensitive data and misuse it. Thus, a transparent authentication of a user is mandatory. Considering the challenges posed by behavioral biometrics like: low repeatability and high redundancy, we are proposing here a multimodal behavioural biometric based authentication technique using keystroke dynamics and mouse dynamics. We have shown a comparison of unibiometrics with multimodal biometric authentication and found, in average case single biometrics achieved 20–22% of equal error rate(EER) where as using multimodal biometric achieved 8% EER.
The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam: Constraining the Colossus

Public Opinion in American Foreign Policy examines the role that public attitudes have played over the last generation in the making of United States foreign policy. It focuses on four of the most prominent foreign interventions of the last generation: the Vietnam War, the Nicaraguan contra funding controversy, the Persian Gulf War, and the Bosnia crisis. Through its examination of these events, the book argues and demonstrates that public opinion constrained but did not set American foreign intervention policy during the second half of the twentieth century. The book is perfect for use in political science or history courses on US foreign policy, and should also be attractive to the general reader interested in some of the most important conflicts of our time.
Material Footprint Assessment in a Global Input‐Output Framework

Material flow‐based indicators play an important role in measuring green and resource‐efficient growth. This article examines the global flows of materials and the amounts of materials directly and indirectly necessary to satisfy domestic final demand in different countries world‐wide. We calculate the indicator Raw Material Consumption (RMC), also referred to as material footprint (MF), by applying a global, multiregional input‐output model based on the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) database and extended by material extraction data. We examine world‐wide patterns of material extraction and materials embodied in trade and consumption, investigating changes between 1997 and 2007. We find that flows of materials related to international trade have increased by almost 60% between 1997 and 2007. We show that the differences in MFs per capita are huge, ranging from up to 100 tonnes in the rich, oil‐exporting countries to values as low as 1.5 to 2.0 tonnes in some developing countries. We also quantify the differences between the indicators Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) and RMC, illustrating that net material exporters generally have a DMC larger than RMC, whereas the reverse is observed for net importers. Finally, we confirm the fact that most countries with stable or declining DMCs actually show increasing RMCs, indicating the occurrence of leakage effects, which are not fully captured by DMC. This challenges the world‐wide use of DMC as a headline indicator for national material consumption and calls for the consideration of upstream material requirements of international trade flows.
Immunology of Breast Milk

A most important adaptation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of the newborn to the extrauterine environment is the development of a mucosal barrier against the pénétration of bacteria, viruses, and other environmental antigens, i.e., food proteins. The mechanisms of host défense at mucosal sites, both immunologie and nonimmunologic, are underdeveloped during the neonatal period and more so in prématurés and small for date neonates (1). The intestinal epithelial cells lack a well-defined brush border and retain a primitive transport mechanism for endocytosis of large molécules (2). It has been proven that the neonatal intestine may absorb larger quantities of ingested antigenic proteins and proliferating microorganisms than the adult intestine (3). The number of the Peyer's patches is small in mammals during the neonatal period and although récent studies hâve described T-helper and T-suppressor lymphocytes, B-lymphocytes, and macrophages on their lymphoid follicles (4), the functional ability of the cells seems to be immature until about 1 month of âge (5). Furthermore, plasma cells, which are normally abundant in the mucosal lamina propria, are not detected in utero or during the immédiate neonatal period (6). Taking into considération ail of thèse immaturities and the absence of mucosal antigenic stimulation during intrauterine life, it is no wonder that human and other mammalian neonates exhibit characteristic absence of secretory IgA (slgA) during the early postnatal period. Shortly after birth, however, the ingestion of food antigens and the colonization of the gut with various microorganisms provide enough antigenic stimulation to evoke a secretory immune response. By 1 month of âge, approximately ail infants will hâve some détectable slgA (7). The availability of immunological factors in the sécrétions of the mammary gland may represent an evolutionary event to compensate through breast feeding for the transient deficiency of mucosal immunity in the neonate. Indeed human colostrum and milk bear many similarities to the external body fluids bathing the mucosal surfaces of the GI and respiratory tracts. Evidence so far also suggests that the immunoglobulin-producing cells observed in the mammary tissue during lactogenesis and in the colostrum and milk are of mucosal origin (8). Fresh human milk contains many components that provide spécifie as well as nonspecific défenses against infectious agents or other macromolecules (9-11).
Current versus future reproduction and longevity: a re-evaluation of predictions and mechanisms

ABSTRACT Oxidative damage is predicted to be a mediator of trade-offs between current reproduction and future reproduction or survival, but most studies fail to support such predictions. We suggest that two factors underlie the equivocal nature of these findings: (1) investigators typically assume a negative linear relationship between current reproduction and future reproduction or survival, even though this is not consistently shown by empirical studies; and (2) studies often fail to target mechanisms that could link interactions between sequential life-history events. Here, we review common patterns of reproduction, focusing on the relationships between reproductive performance, survival and parity in females. Observations in a range of species show that performance between sequential reproductive events can decline, remain consistent or increase. We describe likely bioenergetic consequences of reproduction that could underlie these changes in fitness, including mechanisms that could be responsible for negative effects being ephemeral, persistent or delayed. Finally, we make recommendations for designing future studies. We encourage investigators to carefully consider additional or alternative measures of bioenergetic function in studies of life-history trade-offs. Such measures include reactive oxygen species production, oxidative repair, mitochondrial biogenesis, cell proliferation, mitochondrial DNA mutation and replication error and, importantly, a measure of the respiratory function to determine whether measured differences in bioenergetic state are associated with a change in the energetic capacity of tissues that could feasibly affect future reproduction or lifespan. More careful consideration of the life-history context and bioenergetic variables will improve our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the life-history patterns of animals. Summary: This paper critically reviews the effects and physiological mechanisms that reproduction could have on bioenergetic capacity to better understand how a reproductive event could affect future reproduction and/or survival.
Does Maternity Leave Induce Births

Alleviating the tension between the conflicting responsibilities women may face as mothers and as workers is a topic of current policy interest. Expansion of guaranteed maternity leave to all employed women in the United States is suggested as one possible “family-friendly” solution. Controversy surrounding the issue of increased maternity leave centers around the potential cost to firms of widespread access to leave. One specific concern is that the availability of maternity leave will actually increase births among eligible working women. In this paper we use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine the impact of maternity leave on fertility. We explore two possible routes through which maternity leave may influence fertility. We first estimate the impact of desired fertility on the probability of being in a job offering maternity leave. We then estimate the impact of maternity leave and desired fertility on the probability of a birth. We find no evidence that women sort by fertility desires into firms on the basis of their maternity leave policy. We do find that the probability of a birth increases as a result of maternity leave, and that the fertility effect of maternity leave increases with birth parity.
House-buyers' expectations with relation to corporate social responsibility for Malaysian housing

Purpose – The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been widely acknowledged by contemporary businesses in the last 20 years. The purpose of this paper is to study how CSR is perceived by house‐buyers in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach, by way of house‐buyer focus group, was used to uncover house‐buyers' criteria for housing development, levels of satisfaction, expectations of developers' social responsibilities, and factors influencing their purchase decisions.Findings – Research findings showed that majority of house‐buyers in Johor Bahru expected a socially responsible developer to provide more CSR features such as more green spaces, recreational parks and facilities, security features, and good infrastructure. However, less wealthy buyers were more sensitive to house price and fulfilling their basic accommodation needs. Thus, developers need to be prudent in pricing products for different purchaser groups. Although all participants indicated th.
Polydnavirus‐mediated inhibition of lysozyme gene expression and the antibacterial response

Parasitism of lepidopteran host larvae by hymenopteran parasitoids impairs the cellular immune response via expression of polydnavirus genes. Encapsulation of parasitoid eggs is thereby prevented. Parasitized insects are susceptible to opportunistic infections, suggesting that additional components of the immune system are affected. Insects normally respond to infection by inducing the synthesis of an array of antibacterial factors, including cecropins and lysozyme via a NFkappaB/lkappaB-like signal transduction pathway. To characterize the effects of PDVs on the antibacterial immune response, plasma antibacterial activities were assayed in H. virescens larvae infected with the C. sonorensis PDV. Plasma lysozyme activity in Heliothis virescens was reduced in parasitized and PDV-infected larvae after immune challenge. To examine the regulation of lysozyme after CsPDV injection, the Heliothis virescens lysozyme cDNA was cloned. In contrast to plasma lysozyme activity, the 1.1 kb lysozyme mRNA was induced in fat body and haemocytes by known elicitors. The data suggest that CsPDV, like some other viruses, regulates host cell gene expression at the level of translation. We propose that the immunodeficiencies caused by CsPDV injection are caused, in part, by the targeted translational inhibition of specific humoral immune response transcripts.
Two Results on Default Logic

La logique par defaut, formalisme introduit par Reiter, sert a modeliser le raisonnement par defaut. Dans une premiere partie, un schema de translation de defauts non normaux en defauts normaux est propose. Dans la seconde partie, deux caracterisations semantiques pour des theories de defauts normaux specifiees
Long-term effect of high doses glucocorticosteroids on mRNA expression for IL-6 and IL-8 in relapsed multiple sclerosis patients

Glucocorticosteroids (GS) are standard treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) relapse, but no superiority of any commonly used doses is known. The aim of present study was to evaluate mRNA expression for two cytokines: IL-6 and IL-8. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid blood samples from 35 MS relapse patients were obtained before therapy, after 7, 14 days, and 3 months from treatment start (500 versus 1000 mg for 5 days). Significant neurological improvement measured with EDSS was independent to GS dose. Changes of mRNA cytokines expression were more evident in higher dose group but for IL-6 mainly in females.
The Australian ballot: Not the secret ballot

Australian historical and political science academic accounts of the ‘secret ballot’ often describe it as being designed in Australia and first applied in Victoria in 1856. Narratives often focus on Chartists and radicals finding fertile ground in the New World for ideas that had met insurmountable resistance in the Mother Country. But this concentration on the ‘British story’ has led to a misconception in this country: that the secret ballot was first tried in Australia. This comes from conflating the ‘Australian ballot’ with the ‘secret ballot’. Voting by ballot, in ‘secret’—that is, not by a show of hands, on the voices or signed voting paper—was in use in America and Europe well before being implemented in Australia. This was the secret ballot many demanded for Australia, but they got something else: the Australian ballot, wholly original, with identifying features—such as the government printed ballot paper—previously unimagined. The Australian ballot was not the world's first secret ballot; it was much more important than that.
The development of industrial accounting in Britain and France before 1880: a comparative study of accounting literature and practice1

This paper sets out to examine the development, in Britain and France prior to 1880, of industrial accounting, defined for the purposes of this paper as the practice of cost calculation within an accounting system based on double entry bookkeeping. Similarities and differences between the two countries in regard to the development of an appropriate accounting literature and accounting practice are identified, and various explanations for the findings are explored. A close link is found to exist between the timing of the process of industrialization and the development of industrial accounting in each country, but it is suggested that economic factors alone do not provide a full explanation for the similarities and differences observed.
Maladie chronique, adolescence et risque de non-adhésion : un enjeu pour l'éducation des patients ! Le cas des adolescents transplanté

La non-adhesion au traitement, appelee egalement non-compliance, voire mauvaise observance therapeutique 2, figure parmi les enjeux majeurs de sante publique. En effet, la non-adhesion aux prescriptions medicales a souvent des consequences importantes, en termes de morbidite, voire de mortalite, pour les personnes malades. Elle engendre par ailleurs des couts eleves, qui sont supportes par les systemes de sante. Qualifiee parfois « d’echec ou de demission therapeutique » par les soignants, la non-adhesion represente pour ces derniers une source de preoccupation importante. Si la non-adhesion concerne des patients de tous les âges, c’est a l’adolescence qu’elle semble la plus frequente et que les problemes, du fait de l’intrication des processus identitaires et d’autonomisation dans toutes les spheres de la vie de l’adolescent, sont les plus complexes. Alors que ces deux dernieres decennies sont marquees par des avancees technologiques sans precedent (transplantation d’organes, guerison de certains types de cancer, apparition de traitements efficaces et d’outils de surveillance dans le cadre de maladies metabolique, etc.), les espoirs et progres therapeutiques continuent de se heurter aux defis personnels et interpersonnels que pose la question de l’adhesion au traitement chez les adolescents vivant avec une maladie chronique. (Alvin et al., 2003). Le present dossier technique se propose d’identifier les differentes composantes qui entrent en jeu dans le processus d’adhesion ou de non-adhesion therapeutique chez les adolescents. Notre revue de litterature s’est interessee plus particulierement au cas des adolescents transplantes. Le dossier se termine par des recommandations pour la pratiques, visant a permettre aux soignants d’adapter leurs pratiques aux besoins que rencontrent les adolescents dans la periode de transition d’un service pediatrique vers un service de soins pour adultes.