Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Novel psychoactive substances: the rising wave of 'legal highs'.

In a somewhat prophetic statement, Henderson wrote in 1988: ‘ It is likely that the future drugs of abuse will be synthetics rather than plant products. They will be synthesised from readily available chemicals, may be derivatives of pharmaceuticals, will be very potent, and often very selective in their action. In addition, they will be marketed very cleverly . ’1 Indeed, despite an overall decline in drug misuse in recent years, the use of so-called ‘legal highs’ or novel psychoactive substances (NPS) has seen exponential growth, with new brands, chemicals, and products proliferating rapidly in a new and evolving market. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recently reported more than twice the number of new substances now available as compared with 2 years ago.2 In addition, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction report that in Europe two new NPS are available on the market almost every week.3 In the face of such a rapidly growing market, it is difficult to keep pace with what these products contain, what psychoactive effects they have, and how best to manage patients who are taking them. Although we may feel fairly confident in managing a patient who has injected heroin, with Toxbase guidelines at the ready, managing a patient who has smoked ‘Blast Off’, snorted ‘Charly Sheen’, or injected ‘Magic Dragon’ may not be quite as straightforward. Toxbase guidelines for synthetic stimulants, hallucinogens, and empathogens are sparse, if present at all,4 and the fact that there is no way of knowing what chemicals these products contain compounds the issue because treating clinicians cannot know which chemicals to reference on Toxbase. Further, data show that products …
Avalanche multiplication process in InGaAsP/InP quantum well infrared photodetectors

High quality InGaAsP/InP quantum well infrared photodetectors grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy were investigated. The photocurrent spectra are asymmetrical under positive and negative bias; it is due to the asymmetrical quantum well structures. To explain the quantum efficiency larger than 100% when bias voltage is +2 V at 40 K, avalanche multiplication process due to impact ionization must be considered.
Certificación en calidad, resultados empresariales y estructura organizativa en el sector hotelero español

Purpose: Quality certification helps companies to improve efficiency and performance. The aim of this study is to analyze the differences between certified and non-certified hotels regarding the implementation of quality management practices, the performance and the competitive advantage, and the changes in organizational structure. Design/methodology/approach: The paper classifies the hotels in two groups: quality certified and non-certified hotels. It then examines the differences between both groups. Findings: The findings show that certified hotels develop quality management practices in a higher extent, achieve better performance levels and a differentiation competitive advantage, and have higher levels of formalization and interdepartmental coordination. Originality/value: The contribution of the paper is to analyze if quality certification adds value for the hotel industry.
The Quality of Discretionary Disclosure Under Litigation Risk

We present a model of managerial discretionary disclosure under litigation risk. In our model, the manager bears a personal cost of litigation in addition to the costs prescribed by the legal system. Investors share litigation damages with their attorneys and therefore are less than fully insured against market losses. We find that the interaction between the manager's level of aversion to litigation and investors' degree of insurance determines the quality of the manager's disclosure. This is a “cheap-talk” model similar to that of Crawford and Sobel [1982]. Like C&S, we find that, in general, the manager's and investors' preferences do not coincide and that there is a partition equilibrium that is consistent with managers providing a range forecast of earnings. In our setting, we are able to extend C&S and determine what condition is necessary for congruence of preferences resulting in full disclosure and informationally efficient security prices, consistent with managers providing point estimates of earnings. We also address a suggestion of C&S to test the robustness of the partition equilibrium by relaxing the assumption that investors have complete knowledge of the manager's preferences, and we find that, in general, the partition equilibrium is robust. We also show that under restrictive conditions, when the preferences of the manager are not known, a biasing equilibrium exists, consistent with managers providing biased forecasts of earnings.
Barriers to HIV Cure

Since the beginning of the epidemic, more than 70 million people have been infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and about 38 million have died from acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)‐related illnesses. While the discovery of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the mid 90's has saved millions of lives, a complete eradication of HIV is still not possible as HIV can persist for decades in a small reservoir of latently infected cells. Once reactivated, these latently infected cells can actively produce viral particles. Recent studies suggest that several sanctuaries exist within infected individuals where HIV can remain undetected by the immune system. These cellular, anatomical and microanatomical viral reservoirs represent a major obstacle for the eradication of HIV. Here we review recent findings on potential sanctuaries of HIV and address potential avenues to overcome these immunological barriers.
Counterfactual approach for assessing agri-environmental policy: The case of the Finnish water protection policy

This paper applies counterfactual approach to assess the impacts of agri-environmental programs. We focus on ex-post policy evaluation in a case where the control group is de facto non-existent and treatment group covers the whole population. We employ a theoretical framework based on profit maximization and the interlinkages between the behavior of agents and the response of environmental systems to the economic decisions. Optimization in the absence of policies produces the control case, while optimization under the policies fits to the treatment case. We apply our model to assess the performance of the Finnish Agri-Environmental Programme to reduce agricultural nutrient runoff to the Baltic Sea. We demonstrate that the Finnish Agri-Environmental Programme does not achieve its goals, because it fails to anticipate farmers’ responses to incentives created by the Common Agricultural Policy and the Agri-Environmental Programme itself. The social cost-benefit analysis of the Programme shows negative net benefits.
Fluency in reading—Thirty-five years later

Paul Nation’s talents and interests extend well beyond vocabulary to include research on speaking, writing, classroom learning and teaching, reading, and fluency. In keeping with Nation’s interests in fluency, extensive reading, and reading instruction, I outline current perspectives on reading fluency and its role as a key component of reading comprehension abilities. This discussion will include the rapidly increasing importance being given to reading fluency, extensive reading, and reading speed training in English as a first language (L1) contexts in the past decade. While this extraordinary growth in fluency research in English L1 contexts might not be well known to many second language (L2) practitioners, it offers many implications for L2 reading research and instruction (and Nation is one of very few L2 researchers to have been out ahead of this curve). The article will also address reasons why fluency research studies often do not demonstrate extraordinary gains in reading comprehension outcomes, pointing to the incremental nature of both fluency and reading comprehension development. Finally, the article will connect messages consistently advocated for by Nation over the past 35 years with current views on reading fluency.
Top Leadership and Performance of Quasi Government Organizations in Korea

This research explores the determinants of organizational performance of quasiautonomous non-governmental organizations, namely quangos, in Korea. Although we have observed the growth of the quangos in various policy fields, empirical studies examining the top leadership and performance of quangos remain largely underdeveloped. Using panel data of 13 quangos in Korea from 1999 to 2007, this research seeks to fill the gap by examining how several characteristics of top management of quangos, including politicization of the board, chief executive succession, and insider/outsider origin of chief executives, affect their performance measured by performance evaluation index (PEI) and consumer satisfaction index (CSI). Analysis results show that some leadership characteristics have a significant positive effect on the PEI; while the CSI was more influenced by contextual factors such as the presidential change and unemployment rate, while leadership characteristics were not statistically significant.
Do Strong Unions Shape District Policies?

A substantial amount of school district policy is set in the collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) negotiated between teachers’ unions and districts. Although previous studies have assumed that CBA provisions bargained by unions are a primary mechanism connecting union strength to outcomes for teachers and students, research has not yet addressed the basic question of whether stronger unions in fact bargain different CBAs. Combining data from a content analysis of agreements and a statewide survey of school board members in California, this study examines whether stronger, more politically organized unions are associated with CBAs that place greater constraints on district policy options. The results show that contracts in districts with stronger unions, measured by both board members’ evaluations of union power and union support of board members in recent elections, allow school district administrators less flexibility than do contracts in districts with weaker, less active unions.
Disclosure channel and cost of capital: evidence from open vs closed conference calls

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect on the cost of capital of increased disclosure that reduces information asymmetry among market participants. Design/methodology/approach - This study uses the decision to regularly hold open (closed) conference calls pre-Reg FD as a proxy for a commitment to the policy of public (selective) disclosure and a cross-sectional research design to examine the associations between open/closed conference calls and three proxies for firms' cost of capital (i.e. bid-ask spreads, share turnover, and implied costs of capital). Findings - The results show that firms that commit to open calls exhibit lower relative bid-ask spreads, lower implied costs of capital, and higher share turnover than firms that commit to closed calls. Practical implications - The findings suggest that increased disclosure that “levels the playing field” for small investors benefits investors as a whole by improving firms' market liquidity and reducing the cost of capital. Originality/value - This study contributes to existing literature on the association between corporate disclosure and firms' cost of capital.
Experiences in E-Government Best Practice and Solution Sharing

Abstract The growth of effective information technology (IT) solutions in government is often challenged due to the nature of e-government solutions, which-like all large-scale IT systems and solutions- are typically complex, have high implementation costs and involve inherent production risks. Furthermore, while many governments may be facing similar service requirements, the trend is to develop new systems and solutions from scratch (thereby ‘reinventing the wheel’). In considering these challenges, this paper presents a number of examples (featuring award-winning solutions and real-world case studies-mainly drawn from Europe) where e-government development is accelerated by the reuse of existing solutions, thereby reducing cost and risk. This paper also investigates more programmatic application sharing initiatives that provide a community/collaborative environment facilitating the sharing, rework and enhancement of government solutions.
The Slum Upgrading Myth

The World Bank's slum upgrading approach, used for the first generation of its urban development projects during the 1970s and 1980s, was considerably influenced by the writing of John F. C. Turner. Turner minimised the role of government, limiting it to providing essential environmental improvements and public services, thereby allowing squatters and/or slum-dwellers to improve gradually their living conditions. While early evaluations of slum upgrading projects in Calcutta, Jakarta and Manila indicated the success of this approach, later evaluations raise doubts about it. The 'minimal state' advocated by Turner is clearly unable to deal with the problems typically emerging from slum upgrading efforts. For these efforts to be sustainable and replicable, more attention must be paid to providing land tenure, requiring a combination of authoritarian and humanistic administration.
Emergence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains Producing High Levels of Persister Cells in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis

ABSTRACT The majority of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients succumb to a chronic infection of the airway with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Paradoxically, pathogenic strains are often susceptible to antibiotics, but the infection cannot be eradicated with antimicrobial therapy. We find that in a majority of patients with airway infections, late isolates of P. aeruginosa produce increased levels of drug-tolerant persister cells. The genomes of a clonal pair of early/late isolates from a single patient have been previously sequenced, and the late isolate (obtained at age 96 months) showed a 100-fold increase in persister levels. The 96-month isolate carries a large number of mutations, including a mutation in mutS that confers a hypermutator phenotype. There is also a mutation in the mexZ repressor controlling the expression of the MexXY-OprM multidrug pump, which results in a moderate increase in the ofloxacin, carbenicillin, and tobramycin MICs. Knocking out the mexXY locus restored the resistance to that of the parent strain but did not affect the high levels of persisters formed by the 96-month isolate. This suggests that the late isolate is a high-persister (hip) mutant. Increased persister formation was observed in exponential phase, stationary phase, and biofilm populations of the 96-month isolate. Analysis of late isolates from 14 additional patients indicated that 10 of them are hip mutants. Most of these hip mutants did not have higher drug resistance. Increased persister formation appears to be their sole mechanism for surviving chemotherapy. Taken together, these findings suggest a link between persisters and recalcitrance of CF infection and identify an overlooked culprit—high-persister mutants producing elevated levels of drug-tolerant cells. Persisters may play a similarly critical role in the recalcitrance of other chronic infections.
An informative intragenic microsatellite marker suggests the IL-1 receptor as a genetic modifier in cystic fibrosis

Recent studies in mice with cystic fibrosis (CF)-like lung disease identified interleukin (IL)-1 receptor (IL-1R) signalling as an important pathway triggering neutrophilic airway inflammation that constitutes a key risk factor in the onset and progression of lung disease in patients with CF [1–4]. These studies demonstrated that CF-like airway mucus obstruction causes epithelial hypoxia and necrosis, which in turn leads to the release of IL-1α from dying cells and activation of IL-1R signalling triggering neutrophilic inflammation and structural lung damage in vivo [1, 5]. Further, necrotic epithelial cells were detected in mucus-obstructed airways in lung sections from patients with CF [1]. Hypoxic cell death is a well-established trigger of sterile neutrophilic inflammation in many other organs and previous studies have identified IL-1R signalling as a key pathway required for triggering this inflammatory response to dying cells [6]. In addition, the gene encoding the IL-1R ligand IL-1β that is induced by bacterial infection has been identified as a genetic modifier of CF by independent North American and European CF modifier studies [7, 8]. Collectively, these studies suggest that IL-1R signalling may play an important role in the pathogenesis of neutrophilic inflammation that is invariably detected in the airways of patients with CF, in the absence and presence of bacterial infection [2, 3]. However, the role of IL-1R and its association with disease severity in patients with CF remains unknown. IL1R modifies disease severity in CF patients, emphasizing the significance of IL-1 signalling for CF pathogenesis http://ow.ly/pIN730gL10G
Clinical evidence for anti-inflammatory effects of antiplatelet therapy in patients with atherothrombotic disease

Recent advances in our understanding of cardiovascular disease have revealed that atherothrombotic events, such as myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke, are the end result of a complex inflammatory response to multifaceted vascular pathology. As well as initiating thrombus formation at the site of a ruptured atherosclerotic plaque, platelets play a key role in vascular inflammation, through release of their own pro-inflammatory mediators and interactions with other relevant cell types (endothelial cells, leukocytes, and smooth muscle cells). An increasing body of literature shows that inflammatory biomarkers can be used to predict atherothrombotic risk and that antiplatelet therapy may reduce the levels of these markers. Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) has been attributed with reducing levels of the transcription factor nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), C-reactive protein, and soluble CD40 ligand, although the evidence relating to the latter two markers is conflicting. There is also substantial evidence that therapy with clopidogrel, a specific antagonist of the platelet P2Y12 ADP-receptor, also leads to reductions in serum levels of CD40 ligand, C-reactive protein, P-selectin, and platelet—leukocyte aggregate formation. Beneficial effects of clopidogrel on inflammatory markers have been demonstrated across the spectrum of atherothrombotic disease (acute coronary syndrome patients, patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), acute ischemic stroke patients, and those with peripheral arterial disease). Oral glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptor antagonists, at doses that achieve moderate levels of receptor blockade, may paradoxically be associated with platelet-mediated pro-inflammatory effects. A similar phenomenon has been observed with intravenous GP IIb/IIIa antagonists in vitro, but most often at low doses, and data from clinical studies suggest that these agents may actually attenuate release of inflammatory mediators when administered at doses producing more complete receptor blockade.
THE PRICE OF GOLD AND INTERNATIONAL LIQUIDITY

THE MONETARY status of gold, especially its status as an international means of settlement, has been the subject of lively and sometimes bitter debate in the past few years. The debate has centered principally on the issue of whether or not the price of gold should be raised as a means of increasing international liquidity. ' The question of the proper price for gold is by no means a new problem in international finance. It was widely discussed, for example, after World War I; in 1933-34, the period of revaluation in the United States; and between 1937 and 1940 when there were persistent rumors of, and considerable professional support for, a reduction in the official United States price of gold.2 Since 1949, however, there
FALANDO DE TRANSIÇÕES: ENTRE A EDUCAÇÃO DE INFÂNCIA E A ESCOLA

This article intends to reflect about the process of transition between pre-school and school education, analyzing some issues and theoretical principles that we must consider when we study this topic. Starting with the definition of the concept of transition, in the first part is done the presentation of some researches developed in recent years. In the second part is done the presentation of some data from surveys conducted in Portugal in order to hear the point of view of preschool teachers, teachers and children’s. The need to develop research’s about the transition between preschool and school is essential for a better understanding of the implications of these transition process in the lives of the children’s, and to better understand the factors that influence positively or negatively these process. This analysis has important implications in the training practices, in the work held with the families and in the educational practices developed in pre-school education and in the elementary school. http://dx.doi. org/10.14572/nuances.v25i2. 2772
Evaluating Consumers' Satisfaction with Housing: An Application of a Systems Approach

Abstract This study develops a research method of assessing people's satisfaction with housing. Instead of the old approaches which consider in fragmented ways the characteristics of the dwelling, or the neighborhood, or the social environment, the author proposes a systems approach in which various interdependent factors are studied in relation to one another. Using the techniques developed, the relative satisfaction of tenants in public housing projects in certain areas of Canada is identified, analyzed, and discussed.
Residential choice from a lifestyle perspective

Studies of residential choice have traditionally focused on the influence of demographic and socio‐economic factors and on barriers for moving between the sectors of the housing market. These studies are crucial for determining when individuals tend to move and what they prefer and choose under different conditions and circumstances. However, studies do not address questions regarding individual relationships to dwellings or reasons and ways in which individuals choose to live. In this paper it is suggested that the use of a lifestyle approach helps to explain these issues. The lifestyle approach serves as an additional tool to traditional socio‐demographic differentiation by including aspects such as subjective patterns of orientation, preferences and cultural affiliation. Lifestyle is a frequently used term in the literature on housing. The meaning of the term is rather ambiguous, with a range of definitions. The aim of this paper is to present a theory of residential choice based on lifestyle indicator.
Interplay of tRNA-like structures from plant viral RNAs with partners of the translation and replication machineries.

The surprise was great in the early 1970s when it was shown that valine could be covalently attached to the 3' terminus of the genomic RNA from turnip yellow mosaic virus (TYMV) by valyl-tRNA synthetase (1) and, soon after, that tyrosyl- and histidyl-tRNA synthetases can aminoacylate the RNAs from brome mosaic virus (BMV) and tobacco mosaic virus 3). The was greater when it was that the sequences and secondary foldings of the anticipated domains deviated tRNA mimicry was mandatory presence of pseudoknots, type of RNA in the tRNA-like domain TYMV in tRNA-like in icant and elongation factors (in magenta) in interaction with the RNAs illustrates the functional role these macromolecules have in protein synthesis or could have in replication of viral genomes. The coloring of elongation factor in a, slightly different from that in b and c, accounts for its likely alternate functional roles, well-defined in translation and more hypothetical in replication. domains.