Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Systematic review of health behavioral risks and cognitive health in older adults

ABSTRACT Background: An increasing body of evidence suggests that health behaviors may protect against cognitive impairment and dementia. The purpose of this study was to summarize the current evidence on health behavioral factors predicting cognitive health through a systematic review of the published literature. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO databases were searched for studies on community representative samples aged 65 and older, with prospective cohort design and multivariate analysis. The outcome – cognitive health – was defined as a continuum of cognitive function ranging from cognitive decline to impairment and dementia, and health behaviors included physical activity, smoking, alcohol drinking, body mass index, and diet and nutrition. Results: Of 12,105 abstracts identified, 690 relevant full-texts were reviewed. The final yield amounted to 115 articles of which 37 studies were chosen that met the highest standards of quality. Leisure time physical activity, even of moderate level, showed protective effects against dementia, whereas smoking elevated the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Moderate alcohol consumption tended to be protective against cognitive decline and dementia, but nondrinkers and frequent drinkers exhibited a higher risk for dementia and cognitive impairment. Midlife obesity had an adverse effect on cognitive function in later life. Analysis showed vegetable and fish consumption to be of benefit, whereas, persons consuming a diet high in saturated fat had an increased dementia risk. Conclusion: The review demonstrates accumulating evidence supporting health behavioral effects in reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Results indicate potential benefits of healthy lifestyles in protecting cognitive health in later life.
Threshold voltage of nanoscale si gate-all-around MOSFET: Short-channel, quantum, and Volume Effects

The threshold voltage (VT) control of gate-all-around (GAA) MOSFETs as an extreme case of multi-gate MOSFETs is studied. After breaking down the components constituting VT into several terms, their relative sizes are compared using TCAD technique and analytical calculation of quantum mechanical problem. As a result, the channel diameter is found to be an important knob to control VT of a GAA MOSFET, which influences on short-channel effect, quantum confinement effect and other effects.
Towards excellence in e‐governance

Purpose – E‐governance initiatives are common in most countries as they promise a more citizen‐centric government and reduce operational cost. Unfortunately most of these initiatives have not been able to achieve the benefits claimed. Often the reason for this failure is a techno‐centric focus rather than a governance‐centric focus. The aim of this paper is to explore the necessary attributes of a governance‐centric initiative under the banner “excellent e‐governance” (e2‐governance), and describe a methodology for ensuring such excellence in e‐governance implementations.Design/methodology/approach – The paper follows a case study approach for developing the concept of excellent e‐governance. It first conceptually differentiates between e‐government and e‐governance and describes the status of e‐governance in developing countries. It then differentiates between the two approaches to e‐governance: techno‐centric and governance‐centric. Next, the attributes of excellent e‐governance are explored in detail, .
Public Education Spending, Sectoral Taxation and Growth

This paper examines the interplay between public education expenditure and economic growth in a two-sector model with manufactured goods and services. When public education is financed by sectoral taxes, the education policy maximizing the growth rate differs from that obtained by the standard unisectoral tax. The reasons for this are twofold. First, because agents’ preferences for services, human capital and savings become a major determinant of the relationship between growth and public education expenditure. Second, because education spending is a service and hence sectoral taxation creates a distortion by affecting its relative price. Finally, we reveal that a sectoral tax may perform better than a standard aggregate production tax in terms of long-term growth.
High-Current Submicrometer Tri-Gate GaN High-Electron Mobility Transistors With Binary and Quaternary Barriers

Through implementation of the 3-D tri-gate topology, GaN-based high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) have been fabricated and high-frequency performances as well as the short-channel effects are investigated. The designed tri-gate transistors are highly-scaled having 100 nm of gate length, which introduces the condition of a short channel. It is demonstrated that higher sub-threshold slopes, reduced drain-induced barrier lowering and better overall off-state performances have been achieved by the nano-channel tri-gate HEMTs with an AlGaN barrier. A lattice-matched InAlGaN barrier with the help of the fin-shaped nano-channels provide improved gate control, increasing current densities, and transconductance gm. In a direct comparison, very high drain current densities (~3.8 A/mm) and gm (~550 mS/mm) have further been obtained by employing a pure AlN barrier.
Towards Europeanization of Wage Policy

Conventional wisdom regards wage regulation as uncoordinated across Europe. In relation to advanced economic integration, this implies a `suboptimal' wage area, which led to many conjectures about its consequences, ranging from disorganization of collective bargaining to adverse macro-economic effects. This article tests the wage linkages between Germany and the Nordic countries on time series data for the metal industry. The findings show that organized, transnationally coordinated wage policies characterize these countries: Convergence in pay rates results from both economic developments and coordination of transnational bargaining through the pattern-setting role of the German bargainers. These transnational wage policies require the consequences of European integration to be reconsidered for wage regulation and its economic effects.
Who bears the burden of flexibility? Working conditions and labour markets in the European retail trade

The retail trade is currently undergoing fundamental changes in terms of employment, working time, and working conditions, all of which deserve detailed analysis. The present study is focussed on the interaction between efforts of large retail firms at ‘flexibilising’ their workforces on the one hand, and on the existing structures of labour supply on the other. The main result of the study is a sceptical assessment of the current development: work in the retail trade is becoming more stressful and less attractive, and the share of those to whom it serves as the basis for an independent livelihood is decreasing. The labour market in this industry is undergoing major changes in Europe. This state of affairs presents trade unions with extremely intricate challenges, the form of which varies considerably from one country to another. Le commerce de détail subit actuellement une transformation considérable, qui concerne non seulement les formes d'emploi et le temps de travail, mais aussi les conditions de travail. Dans cette perspective, la présente analyse est centrée sur l'étude de l'interaction entre, d'un côté, les efforts des grands établissements de commerce de détail pour flexibiliser leur main-d'æuvre, et de l'autre, les structures d'offre d'emploi existantes. La conclusion principale de cette analyse porte sur un jugement sceptique du développement actuel: le travail dans le commerce de détail devient plus exigeant et moins attrayant, et le nombre d'employés auxquels il sert de base pour une existence autonome est en voie de diminution. Le marché du travail dans cette branche est en mutation en Europe. Cette situation confronte les syndicats à des défis extrěmement complexes et compliqués, dont l'empreinte diffère considérablement d'un pays à l'autre. Die vorliegende Analyse der Veränderungen, die sich in den Beschäftigungs- und Arbeitszeitformen sowie den Arbeitsbedingungen im Einzelhandel gegenwärtig vollziehen, beleuchtet in erster Linie die Wechselwirkung zwischen den Bemühungen großer Einzelhandelsunternehmen in Richtung einer Flexibilisierung ihrer Arbeitskräfte einerseits und den Strukturen des vorhandenen Arbeitsangebotes andererseits. Hauptergebnis der Studie ist eine skeptische Einschätzung der gegenwärtigen Entwicklung: Die Arbeit im Einzelhandel wird belastender und unattraktiver, und der Anteil der Beschäftigten, denen sie als Basis einer eigenständigen Existenzsicherung dient, nimmt ab. Der Arbeitsmarkt in dieser Branche verändert sich erheblich überall in Europa. Diese Situation konfrontiert die Gewerkschaften mit äußerst komplizierten Herausforderungen, deren Erscheinungsformen sich allerdings je nach Land beträchtlich voneinander unterscheiden.
Macroeconomic Policy in New Zealand: From the Great Inflation to the Global Financial Crisis

This paper surveys the evolution of macroeconomic policy, in the New Zealand context, from the beginning of the end of the Great Inflation of the 1970s/1980s, through to the current recovery from the Great Recession brought on by the Global Financial Crisis. The 30 or so years since the late 1970s is divided into four periods: the run-up to the mid-1984 currency crisis; the period of reform from that point until the early 1990s; the subsequent extended period of non-inflationary growth in the 1990s and into the 2000s (punctuated by the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997/98); and the GFC and the years since. The paper reviews macroeconomic policy and developments across each of these periods in relation to fiscal policy, monetary policy, exchange rate policy and prudential supervision, all of which at various times have been used with macroeconomic objectives in mind. The paper concludes with some observations on where macro policy appears to be headed, suggesting that is towards achieving some re-integration of its individual components.
SCALE ECONOMIES IN SMALL ENTREPRENEURIAL FIRMS

For a sample of small, entrepreneurial firms, subjective cost curve estimates are obtained by field work methods using an administered questionnaire and "show cards. " They indicate the prevalence of static, short-run increasing returns up to maximal output for a wide range of products in manufactures, services, construction, and transport. The dynamic scale effect, measured over a three-year period, is less clear and suggests a slight average tendency to dynamic increasing returns. Finally, cross-section econometric estimates of production functions, with no restriction imposed on the degree of homogeneity, suggest a long-run tendency to decreasing returns. Copyright 1992 by Scottish Economic Society.
Ecophysiological Interaction between Nitrifying Bacteria and Heterotrophic Bacteria in Autotrophic Nitrifying Biofilms as Determined by Microautoradiography-Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization

ABSTRACT Ecophysiological interactions between the community members (i.e., nitrifiers and heterotrophic bacteria) in a carbon-limited autotrophic nitrifying biofilm fed only NH4+ as an energy source were investigated by using a full-cycle 16S rRNA approach followed by microautoradiography (MAR)-fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Phylogenetic differentiation (identification) of heterotrophic bacteria was performed by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, and FISH probes were designed to determine the community structure and the spatial organization (i.e., niche differentiation) in the biofilm. FISH analysis showed that this autotrophic nitrifying biofilm was composed of 50% nitrifying bacteria (ammonia-oxidizing bacteria [AOB] and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria [NOB]) and 50% heterotrophic bacteria, and the distribution was as follows: members of the alpha subclass of the class Proteobacteria (α-Proteobacteria), 23%; γ-Proteobacteria, 13%; green nonsulfur bacteria (GNSB), 9%; Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides (CFB) division, 2%; and unidentified (organisms that could not be hybridized with any probe except EUB338), 3%. These results indicated that a pair of nitrifiers (AOB and NOB) supported a heterotrophic bacterium via production of soluble microbial products (SMP). MAR-FISH revealed that the heterotrophic bacterial community was composed of bacteria that were phylogenetically and metabolically diverse and to some extent metabolically redundant, which ensured the stability of the ecosystem as a biofilm. α- and γ-Proteobacteria dominated the utilization of [14C]acetic acid and 14C-amino acids in this biofilm. Despite their low abundance (ca. 2%) in the biofilm community, members of the CFB cluster accounted for the largest fraction (ca. 64%) of the bacterial community consuming N-acetyl-d-[1-14C]glucosamine (NAG). The GNSB accounted for 9% of the 14C-amino acid-consuming bacteria and 27% of the [14C]NAG-consuming bacteria but did not utilize [14C]acetic acid. Bacteria classified in the unidentified group accounted for 6% of the total heterotrophic bacteria and could utilize all organic substrates, including NAG. This showed that there was an efficient food web (carbon metabolism) in the autotrophic nitrifying biofilm community, which ensured maximum utilization of SMP produced by nitrifiers and prevented buildup of metabolites or waste materials of nitrifiers to significant levels.
Sequence analysis and polymerase chain reaction amplification of small subunit ribosomal DNA from Sarcocystis neurona.

OBJECTIVES To identify Sarcocystis neurona-specific DNA sequences in the nuclear small subunit ribosomal RNA (nss-rRNA) gene that could be used to distinguish S neurona from other closely related protozoal parasites, and to evaluate a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, using broad based primers and a unique species-specific probe on CSF for detection of S neurona in equids. PROCEDURES Sequencing of the nuclear small subunit ribosomal RNA gene from a new S neurona isolate (UCD 1) was performed. The sequence was compared with that of other closely related Sarcocystidae parasites. From this sequence, conserved DNA sequence primers were selected and an oligonucleotide probe was designed to hybridize with a unique region of the S neurona gene. For clinical evaluation, horses were considered test positive for S neurona infection on the basis of immunohistochemical detection of the parasites in the CNS. RESULTS Sensitivity of this PCR and probe-based detection system was approximately 1 to 5 merozoites. Cerebrospinal fluid from 2 of 5 horses with histologic lesions consistent with equine protozoal myeloencephalitis were PCR- and probe-positive in a blind test of this procedure, and all uninfected horses were test negative. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE This PCR-based system is a useful method of confirming S neurona in CSF and has the advantage of facilitating detection of other apicomplexan protozoans that may be infective for horses. The usefulness of this test is limited by the presence of parasites free in the CSF of clinically affected horses.
The Industry-Wide Implications of Dividend Omission and Initiation Announcements and the Determinants of Information Transfer

In examining the industry-wide implications of dividend omission and initiation announcements, this study finds distinct industry responses for these two events. Specifically, dividend omission announcements have a significantly negative impact on the valuations of industry-related firms. Factors influencing this industry reaction include the Herfindahl index of the announcing firm's industry, the two-day abnormal return of the announcing firm, and its trading status (NASDAQ or NYSE/AMEX). Unlike dividend omissions, dividend initiations evoke a competitive (or negative) response from industry-related firms. The degree of homogeneity in the announcing firm's industry, the announcing firm's abnormal return and its size affect this industry response. Copyright 1999 by MIT Press.
Job Satisfaction of the Highly Educated: The Role of Gender, Academic Tenure, and Earnings

The determinants of job satisfaction are estimated for PhD-level scientists in the United States across academic and nonacademic sectors. In initial estimates, female scientists report lower job satisfaction than males in academia but higher job satisfaction than males in the nonacademic sector. While academic scientists with tenure have substantially greater job satisfaction than nonacademic scientists, we show that the magnitude of this influence varies by gender. After correcting for the lower evaluation placed by females both on earnings and on tenure, female academic scientists actually match nonacademic scientists in reporting greater job satisfaction than men.
Formulation and Evaluation of Bi-layer Tablet of Metoclopramide Hydrochloride and Ibuprofen

The aim of this study was to prepare bi-layer tablet of Metoclopramide Hydrochloride (MTH) and Ibuprofen (IB) for the effective treatment of migraine. MTH and IB were formulated as immediate and sustained release layer respectively. MTH was formulated as immediate release layer by using various disintegrants like Ac-Di-Sol, Polyplasdone XL, Explotab, Agar and Gellan Gum. Treated form of gellan gum and agar was prepared and compared for their disintegrant efficiency with other disintegrants. IB was formulated as sustained release layer using hydrophilic matrix (hydroxypropylmethylcellulose [HPMC K4M]). The effect of concentration of hydrophilic matrix (HPMC K4M), binder (polyvinylpyrollidone [PVP K30]) and buffer (sodium bicarbonate) on IB release was studied. The dissolution study of sustained release layer showed that an increasing amount of HPMC or PVP K30 results in reduced IB release. The inclusion of buffer (sodium bicarbonate) enhanced the release of IB from sustained release layer. The rational for formulation of bi-layer tablet of these two drugs in combination was (1) MTH increases the absorption of acidic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) by increasing gastric motility. So sequential release of MTH (as immediate release) and IB (as sustained release) was suitable for treatment of migraine. (2) MTH was degraded when prolonged contact with acidic NSAID. Bi-layer tablet was suitable for preventing direct contact of these two drugs and thus to maximize the efficacy of combination of two drugs for migraine.
Exchange Rate Fluctuations and Labour Market Adjustments in Canadian Manufacturing Industries

We estimate the impact of exchange rate fluctuations and other external factors on hours worked and employment in Canada's manufacturing industries. The analysis is based on a dynamic model of labour demand and the econometric strategy employs a dynamic OLS approach for cointegrating regressions. Our data is drawn from a panel of 20 manufacturing industries, from Statistics Canada's KLEMS database, and covers a long sample that includes two full cycles of appreciation and depreciation in the value of the Canadian dollar. We find that exchange rate fluctuations have economically and statistically significant effects on the labour choices of Canada's manufacturing employers, and that these effects are stronger for industries more exposed to trade. In addition, we find that the enactment of NAFTA in 1994 has had a negative impact on labour in manufacturing industries. Finally, we report that employment reacts faster than total hours worked, suggesting that hours worked per employee react in a countercyclical fashion to exchange rate fluctuations.
Influence of pulse sequence, polarity and amplitude on magnetic stimulation of human and porcine peripheral nerve

1 Mammalian phrenic nerve, in a trough filled with saline, was excited by magnetic coil (MC)‐induced stimuli at defined stimulation sites, including the negative‐going first spatial derivative of the induced electric field along a straight nerve, at a bend in the nerve, and at a cut nerve ending. At all such sites, the largest amplitude response for a given stimulator output setting was elicited by an induced damped polyphasic pulse consisting of an initial quarter‐cycle hyperpolarization followed by a half‐cycle depolarization compared with a predominantly ‘monophasic’ quarter‐cycle depolarization. 2 Simulation studies demonstrated that the increased efficacy of the induced quarter‐cycle hyperpolarizing‐half‐cycle depolarizing polyphasic pulse was mainly attributed to the greater duration of the outward membrane current phase, resulting in a greater outward charge transfer afforded by the half‐cycle (i.e. quarter‐cycles 2 and 3). The advantage of a fast rising initial quarter‐cycle depolarization was more than offset by the slower rising, but longer duration depolarizing half‐cycle. 3 Simulation further revealed that the quarter‐cycle hyperpolarization‐half‐cycle depolarization showed only a 2.6 % lowering of peak outward current and a 3.5 % lowering of outward charge transfer at threshold, compared with a half‐cycle depolarization alone. Presumably, this slight increase in efficacy reflects modest reversal of Na+ inactivation by the very brief initial hyperpolarization. 4 In vitro, at low bath temperature, the nerve response to an initial quarter‐cycle depolarization declined in amplitude as the second hyperpolarizing phase progressively increased in amplitude and duration. This ‘pull‐down’ phenomenon nearly disappeared as the bath temperature approached 37 °C. Possibly, at the reduced temperature, delay in generation of the action potential permitted the hyperpolarization phase to reduce excitation. 5 Pull‐down was not observed in the thenar muscle responses to median nerve stimulation in a normal human at normal temperature. However, pull‐down emerged when the median nerve was cooled by placing ice over the forearm. 6 In a nerve at subnormal temperature straddled with non‐conducting inhomogeneities, polyphasic pulses of either polarity elicited the largest responses. This was also seen when stimulating distal median nerve at normal temperature. These results imply excitation by hyperpolarizing‐depolarizing pulse sequences at two separate sites. Similarly, polyphasic pulses elicited the largest responses from nerve roots and motor cortex. 7 The pull‐down phenomenon has a possible clinical application in detecting pathologically slowed activation of Na+ channels. The current direction of the polyphasic waveform may become a significant factor with the increasing use of repetitive magnetic stimulators which, for technical reasons, induce a cosine‐shaped half‐cycle, preceded and followed by quarter‐cycles of opposite polarity.
Incentives and Accountability: Instruments of Change in Higher Education

Thank you for inviting me to make some concluding remarks at this important conference. My brief is to reflect on the themes of the conference and to bring forth insights of how these ideas play out in different settings. In his instructions to me Richard Yelland, Head of Programme, added that after two days of concentrated discussions on the challenges facing the managers and leaders of higher education institutions, participants would be looking forward to a provocative address on incentives and accountability in higher education.