Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
European Governance in Adult Education: On the comparative advantage of joining working groups and networks

This article examines the working of complex intergovernmental policies that have brought about new opportunities and structures in European adult education since the 2008 global financial crisis. Drawing on political sociology, it restricts attention on the Renewed European Agenda for Adult Learning (2011), to examine its historical development, and how it bundles together various governance mechanisms, policy instruments, and social actors to govern the adult education policy domain through policy coordination. This points at regulatory politics as a distinctive quality of European governance in adult education. Then, through Social Network Analysis, it explores in depth one of its policy instrument (i.e., coordinated working groups/networks) and the form of network governance it creates. This analysis pinpoints at the comparative advantage of some organizations (i.e., the ministries of Latvia, Finland and Belgium), which partake in this form of network governance. This produces unpredictable contingency in EU policy coordination.
Assessment of the environmental sustainability of restaurants in the U.S.: The effects of restaurant characteristics on environmental sustainability performance

ABSTRACT This paper investigated the current levels of environmental sustainability in restaurants across the U.S. to determine whether a restaurant’s proclivity for environmental sustainability depended on its characteristics such as chain affiliation or restaurant type. A web-based survey was administered to 2,500 top-level restaurant managers, from which a total of 218 responses were judged as usable. The data were analyzed using independent sample t-tests and ANOVA. This study presents an in-depth account of the environmental sustainability in restaurants across the U.S. based on an evaluation of top-level managers. This study also highlights the differences in restaurant environmental sustainability across different restaurant segments.
The Lion-Dragon Dance in the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative

Purpose Since China’s “opening-up” in the late 1970s, Singapore has played a major role in enhancing China’s engagement with the world, especially in economic terms. This traditional relationship is well manifested in the third government-to-government (G–G) project under the BRI, which is known as the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative (CCI). The purpose of this paper is to address the following question: despite Singapore’s initial reluctance to agree on a third G–G project with China, why did Singapore eventually decide to join the CCI? Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on archives of over 700 Chinese language media reports and over 400 English language media reports, as well as private interactions with scholars interested in Sino-Singapore relations and with both sides’ officials in charge of the CCI project. Findings The paper finds that it is the goal of connecting the region, along with the need to maintain Singapore’s relevance to China and the regional economy that led to Singapore’s participation in the third G–G project. This paper also uses this case to analyse the changes that are taking place in the bilateral economic relations. Originality/value Despite wide media coverage, op-ed commentaries and respective government statements, there are a limited number of academic studies on the rationale of the third G–G project and contemporary Sino-Singapore relations in the literature. The scholarship has not addressed the rationale for Singapore’s changing attitude towards CCI and the manner in which the CCI has improved cooperation (or upgraded cooperation to a broader and regional level).
Changes in Hospital Nurse Staffing after Implementing Differentiated Inpatient Nursing Fees by Staffing Grades

Purpose: To examine the changes in nurse staffing in hospitals after implementing the policy of differentiating inpatient nursing fees by staffing grades. Method: The study sample included 43 tertiary hospitals, 185 general hospitals, and 282 non-general hospitals that were operating in both 1999 and 2008. Nurse staffing grade was categorized from Grade 1 (highest) to 6 (lowest) in 1999 or Grade 7 in 2008, based on the nurse-to-bed ratio. Results: Tertiary hospitals at Grade 3 and Grade 4 accounted for 49% and 35%, respectively, in 2008, whereas 63% were Grade 6 in 1999. General hospitals at Grade 6 decreased from 87% to 48%. In non-general hospitals, little change was found in the staffing distribution, in that 92% still remained in Grade 6 or 7 in 2008. Forty tertiary hospitals (93%) and 45% of general hospitals improved their staffing grades, while only 7% of non-general hospitals did. Greater likelihood of improvement in staffing grades was found in general hospitals located in metropolitan areas or having 250 or more beds. Conclusion: Elaboration of the financial incentive system is needed to increase the policy impact on staffing improvement.
The Impact of Political, Legal and Economic Institutions on Family Takaful/ Life Insurance Consumption in OIC Countries

This study aims at testing the impact of political, legal and economic institutions on life insurance/ family takaful consumption in OIC countries. Using a panel data covering 33 OIC countries for the years from 1990 till 2016, fixed effects and random effects models have been utilised. The empirical results suggest that for political institutions, more government effectiveness promotes consumption of life insurance in OIC countries. Additionally, the more unstable the country is, the more life insurance/family takaful is purchased perhaps as an attempt of individuals to mitigate the increased level of risks. Similarly, economic institutions, measured by both investment freedom and financial freedom, have a positive impact on life insurance consumption in OIC countries. However, results show that trade freedom index has a negative impact. Further, legal institutions do not seem to have any significant impact on life insurance consumption in OIC countries.
Thermal Performances of Three Old Houses: A Comparative Study of Heterogeneous Vernacular Traditions in Taiwan

The paper presents a comparative study of the climate responsive design strategies and indoor thermal performance of three vernacular houses in Guanshan Township of eastern Taiwan by building survey and instrument measurements. These houses are all about 80 years old. They are of Chinese style, Japanese style, and a mixture of both styles. All three houses are popular building types in the region. Key findings include: (1) Space buffer, thermal insulation, ground exposure, and natural ventilation are the key elements of climate responsive design strategies. (2) The climate responsive design strategies of the three buildings, while using similar building material, are not the same. They are strongly associated with the buildings’ cultural roots as well as the buildings’ use patterns. (3) The Chinese-style house is a heat rejecter. It is comfortable in spring and summer. The mixed-style house is a heat keeper. It is comfortable in winter and spring. The Japanese-style house is well-ventilated and has equal thermal comfort level at around 50% in all seasons. It is uncommon that vernacular buildings from different cultural traditions coexist in the same region. This study provides detail appraisals of their respective sustainable design strategies in hot and humid climate.
On the evaluation, monitoring and management of law enforcement patrols in protected areas

Ranger-led law enforcement patrols are the primary response to illegal use of natural resources in protected areas globally. To date, however, the effectiveness of patrolling as a means to reduce illegal activity has been neglected as a subject of study. Relatedly, there has been no rigorous evaluation of tools which aim to increase patrol effectiveness through patrol monitoring and management. In this thesis, I explore the use of patrols for reducing illegal activity, and evaluate a popular tool for increasing patrol effectiveness: SMART. SMART involves ranger-based monitoring – collection of data by rangers on patrol – of both natural resource use and patrol activity. I exploit data collected via SMART to investigate the extent of patrolling conducted in terrestrial protected areas globally. I show that patrol presence within and across sites is typically very low, is constrained by limited budgets, and frequently falls short of industry targets. I also use SMART data to explore whether and in what contexts deterrence – the primary mechanism through which patrols are assumed to reduce illegal activity – operates in practice. I focus on four protected areas with relatively high patrol presence and find that patrols may have deterred illegal activity in three sites, but the effect was weak and inconsistent. I draw on these results and guidance from other policy arenas to evaluate SMART. I illustrate the causal pathways through which SMART aims to reduce illegal activity, using a theory of change approach. I develop evidence to verify SMART’s theory of change, including whether the intervention was implemented as intended, and whether the chain of expected results occurred. I also develop a novel framework for describing heterogeneity among implemented interventions. I find that patrol presence is improving in SMART sites. Yet inconsistent implementation of management activities, and mixed evidence for deterrence, precluded a causal claim for SMART at this time. My findings suggest that patrol activity globally is insufficient to either reduce or monitor illegal activity in protected areas. SMART may improve patrol presence, and might improve it further through more faithful implementation of management. However, inconsistent evidence of deterrence, even in sites with high patrol presence, highlights the need for fundamental research into whether and how well-managed and socially just patrolling can be effective. My findings also demonstrate that robust monitoring of threats in protected areas, independent of patrolling, is essential.
Coagulation and Fibrinolysis in Chronic Subdural

The pathogenesis of chronic subdural hematoma is not fully understood. It is thought that fibrinolytic hyperactivity within the hematoma capsule plays an important role. However, since this hyperactivity has not been found in the systemic blood, accelerated fibrinolysis is thought to occur only locally. To evaluate coagulant and fibrinolytic activities in the peripheral blood, the authors measured fibrinopeptide A (FPA) and fibrinopeptide Bβ15-42 (FPBβ), which are relatively sensitive hematologic factors, in 14 patients with chronic subdural hematoma. Peripheral venous blood was collected within 24 hours before surgery and FPA and FPBβ levels were determined. In the eight cases followed for more than 1 month after surgery, pre and postoperative FPA and FPBβ values were compared. The possible relationship between preoperative FPBO and hematoma density as well as elevated intracranial pressure (judged by preoperative computed tomography) was also examined. The following results were obtained: 1) Preoperative FPA and FPBβ values were both statistically significantly elevated suggesting systemic acceleration of coagulant and fibrinolytic activities. FPBf levels exceeded those of FPA in almost all cases, indicating that fibrinolysis was more dramatically enhanced. 2) Many patients with high FPBβ values had high-density areas on computed tomography scans. 3) Patients with choked disc had high FPBP values, suggesting a correlation between chronic intracranial hypertension and FPBβ. 4) Postoperatively, there was a marked decrease in FPA values, whereas FPBβ values remained above normal, which may reflect persistence of ccelerated systemic fibrinolytic activity in patients with chronic subdural hematoma.
Is Islam with or against Tourism? Halal Tourism Perception; Definition and Requirements

Although, Halal tourism is generally linked in research with travel conducted by Muslims, this is the first research to verify the religious judgment of tourism in Islam as per Quran and Sunnah, being the main resources for Islamic shariah (law). Travel and hospitality projects are facing a problem which is the lack of standardization in the Halal tourism industry. The term Halal tourism carries a lot of interpretations and confusion in research. After the remarkable increase in the number of Muslim travellers, there is an urgent need for a global agreement on what constitutes Halal tourism. This paper helps to define clearly what is considered Halal and to set some rules and regulations for reference. This paper is of a conceptual base with a goal of building a clearer theory of Halal Tourism and its requirements. The study depends on secondary information . And ends up with some recommendations of practical use for tourism suppliers.
What determines the holding of association meetings in a global context?

ABSTRACT This article aims to understand the determinants influencing the number of association meetings held in countries worldwide and which may be controlled by their economic agents and policymakers. For this purpose, we use a dynamic panel model with data provided by the Data World Bank, the World Travel & Tourism Council, and the International Congress and Convention Association, in a time series of 8 years. The results reveal the importance of the experiences obtained by the tourists in previous meetings, as well as the countries’ need to implement measures to stimulate the dynamism of economic activity and political stability.
A conceptual comparison of well-being measures used in the UK

There is significantpolitical interest in the UK in measuring subjective well- being (SWB) and the possibility of incorporating such measures into policy, including health policy. A number of different, yet related, measures of well-being and health are used across government departments. This includes four summary subjective (personal) well -being questions which ask about life satisfaction, happiness yesterday, anxiety yesterday and worthwhileness adopted by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) under its Measuring National Well-being Programme(referred to here as the ONS-4). They have also adopted the use of the short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (S- WEMWBS) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) which is a mental health screening measure that has been used in well-being measurement. In addition to the measures used within the ONS framework, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) currently rely upon the EQ-5D, a measure of health- related quality of life (HRQoL), in the assessment of medical technologies and public health interventions while social care guidance includes measures of capability and need, ICECAP-A and Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit
Update on Extracranial Carotid Stenosis

Carotid stenosis is a risk factor of ischaemic stroke and has an increasing prevalence with age. Stroke risk under optimised medical therapy, as well as recommendations of carotid artery endarterectomy/stenting, as therapy in high risk carotid stenosis, are discussed in consideration of recent research results.
Targeted Issue Messages and Voting Behavior

In today’s data-driven campaigns, presidential targeting strategies rely on detailed perceptions about the political leanings and policy positions of Americans to decide which registered voters to contact and which messages to emphasize in their outreach. However, identifying supporters and opponents of a candidate’s policy positions is far from foolproof. This reality results in some citizens encountering political message(s) on congruent issues, where their issue stance aligns with the messaging candidate, and others encountering incongruent issue message(s), where the candidate and message recipient do not share the same position. Examining official contact records from the 2012 presidential campaign of Republican Mitt Romney, I find evidence that Romney’s campaign had some success when targeting Democrats with congruent issues. Messaging Democrats with an issue where they and Romney share common ground is associated with decreased support for Obama, increased abstention, and increased support for Romney. Contacting Democrats with an incongruent message and contacting Republicans with either an incongruent or congruent issue message had minimal effects on the voting behavior of the recipient.
Análise de Vazamentos Temporais Side-Channel no Contexto da Internet das Coisas

The Internet of Things (IoT) emerged because of the technologicalevolution of wireless sensor networks, which enabled these sensors to integrate with common objects. These objects are equipped with sensors and actuatorscollect data from users and the environment, process them, and transform theminto useful information. By allowing the transmission of restricted / personaldata, communication traffic between devices becomes an interesting target forattackers who either access or manipulate them. However, even with cryptographic data, side-channel attacks exploit the characteristics of devices forthe purpose of acquiring information that may compromise the security of thenetwork structure. This work presents a way of characterizing the identical IoT dispositives by only exploring the time information. It carried the activitiesout such as structuring an experimental scenario, collecting traffic, extractingstatistical characteristics and finally identifying the dispositives. The results show we can identify even identical devices with up to 100% of accuracy.
Investigating Environmental Transgressions at Corbett Tiger Reserve, India

Through a qualitative lens involving both in-depth interviews and focus groups, this research attempts to probe the issues of environmental transgressions caused by tourists and tourism providers in one of the oldest and largest national parks in India, the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR), Uttrakhand. It reveals that even though tourism stakeholders are conscious of environmental transgressions, concrete efforts towards environmentally sustainable practices in CTR do not seem to be a priority. Nevertheless, this research suggests that visitor’s noncompliant behavior may be altered by enhancing place attachment through repeat visitations, improving visitor experiences, and effective information dissemination. Also, future tourism operations may require a reduction in environmental transgressions through the creation of an agency that can assist community-based tourism operations.
Investment and asset securitization with an option‐for‐guarantee swap

This paper addresses the investment and financing decisions of an entrepreneur entering into an option-for-guarantee swap. We discover that the swap greatly increases the value of the option to invest. The entrepreneur first accelerates and then postpones investment as the funding gap rises. Guarantee costs increase with project risk when funding gaps are small or large enough and otherwise the opposite holds true. Surprisingly, the higher the project risk, the more the entrepreneur borrows. Thanks to the swap, the entrepreneur raises much more funds than required to invest and the optimal leverage is much higher than predicted by previous models.
Un nouveau paradigme de la dynamique des rendements immobiliers parisiens

Cet article fait suite au travail de Baroni, Barthelemy et Mokrane [2008], dans lequel les auteurs developpent un modele factoriel permettant d’expliquer la dynamique des prix des biens immobiliers residentiels a Paris et sa proche banlieue par un ensemble de variables economiques et financieres predefinies. Le present article s’attache a mettre en exergue les changements recents du poids de ces facteurs explicatifs. Les principaux resultats de l’article sont d’une part que le modele developpe par Baroni, Barthelemy et Mokrane garde sa capacite explicative, et d’autre part, que le poids des facteurs a nettement evolue ces dernieres annees et, par suite, que le marche immobilier residentiel parisien est entre dans un nouveau paradigme. L’article montre notamment que l’impact des loyers sur le rendement en capital immobilier s’est recemment renforce au detriment des taux d’interet.
Gespräch zwischen vielen oder Monologe von einzelnen? Das Konzept ,,Interaktivität" und seine Eignung für die inhaltsanalytische Erfassung der Komplexität von Online-Kommentaren

Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Hoppe, I. , Lörcher, I. , Neverla, I. , & Kießling, B. (2018). Gespräch zwischen vielen oder Monologe von einzelnen? Das Konzept 'Interaktivität' und seine Eignung für die inhaltsanalytische Erfassung der Komplexität von OnlineKommentaren. In C. Katzenbach, C. Pentzold, S. Kannengießer, M. Adolf, & M. Taddicken (Hrsg.), Neue Komplexitäten für Kommunikationsforschung und Medienanalyse: Analytische Zugänge und empirische Studien (S. 207-233). Berlin https://doi.org/10.17174/dcr.v4. 9
STEM Library Activities in Croatian Primary School Curriculums

The goal of this paper is to give an overall picture of STEM activities in school curriculums supported by school librarians. Research methodology used to examine described problem is primary qualitative content analysis of Croatian primary schools curriculums, as a main document for planning of all school activities. The research included school curriculums of 854 Croatian primary schools that were available on their official web pages among overall 904, according to the official list provided by Ministry of Science and Education in Croatia (Ministarstvo znanosti i obrazovanja Republike Hrvatske, 2019). Considering the duration, research is transferable since it relies only on school year 2018. /2019. and gives a general picture of the STEM activities in school curriculum associated to librarians. Findings are divided in several detected categories: science, green libraries, technology, engineering, math and extracurricular activities.
Do Board Gender Quotas Affect Firm Value? Evidence from California Senate Bill No. 826

Abstract We examine stock market reactions, direct costs of compliance, and board adjustments to California Senate Bill No. 826 (SB 826), the first mandated board gender diversity quota in the United States. Announcement returns average −1.2% and are robust to the use of multiple methodologies. Returns are more negative when the gap between the mandated number and the pre-SB 826 number of female directors is larger. These negative effects are less severe for firms with a greater supply of female candidates, and for those that can more easily replace male directors or attract female directors. For small firms, the annual direct cost of compliance through board expansion is non-trivial, representing 0.76% of market value. Following SB 826, firms significantly increase female board representation, and the increase is greater for firms in California than control firms in other states.
O estadiamento ganglionar na actualidade Node staging today

The need to perform an Axillary Dissection when the Sentinel Node is metastasized, in Breast Cancer patients, is being questioned. Most part of the patients do not have any additional metastasis in the Non Sentinel Nodes and, in many cases, the decision to perform adjuvant treatments is not dependent on the axillary nodes analysis. The recent publication of the randomized trial ACOSOG Z0011 launched the discussion on the need and usefulness of the axillary lymph node dissection.