Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nelson Mandela Bay residents" perceptions of the socio- economic legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup: pre- and post-event comparisons

Understanding resident perceptions is one way of evaluating the effects of continuously hosting large scale events in a destination. Given the fact that Africa has only hosted a mega-event once (the 2010 FIFA World Cup), empirical analysis of the impacts of such event within the African context is scant. This article departs from the premise that, most studies on the 2010 FIFA World Cup focused on the pre-event expectations with only few on the post-event legacy impacts.This study analysed residents‟ perceptions of Africa‟s first mega-event in host city Port Elizabeth. The aim was to compare pre- and post-event perceptions of the event legacy impacts. The study adopted a mixed method research design. Seven hundred and ninety six questionnaire surveys were equally split (398 each) and administered face-to-to face with the respondents who resided within a 2km radius of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, prior to and post the 2010 FIFA World Cup.The results showed significant statistical differences and similarities between the pre- and post-event responses in relation to key socio-economic variable questions. Shift in perceptions were noted in terms of comparing both event phases. Overall, residents displayed a slightly higher perception post-event. The study recommends the need to develop legacy indicators to track, monitor and evaluate the long-term effects of the mega-event. In addition the necessity for a longitudinal study that measures changes in perceptions over time is essential.
Long term experience with a novel interventional cardiology network model: Learned lessons

Objective: Many studies have assessed ischemic heart disease due to its high prevalence, secondary morbidities, high death rate, economic and social impact. We propose a novel model of intervention, the central objective of which is to guarantee the equal opportunity, avoiding patient transport and improving the use of resources assigned to cardiac care, ensuring patient safety and efficiency. Methods: We projected a model in which interventional cardiologists based at a high-volume center (Madrid, Hospital Clinico San Carlos [HCSC]) established an alliance with two other hospitals (Leganes, Hospital Severo Ochoa [HSO] and Alcala, Hospital Principe de Asturias [Hospital Principe de Asturias ]), creating the opportunity to install a catheterization laboratory at each hospital (satellite units). We reviewed the clinical and economic long-term results, together with local hospital satisfaction levels. Results: Between 2000 and 2014, 63,817 cardiac procedures: 54,516 at HCSC, 7,618 at HSO (since 2003) and 1,683 at HUPA (since 2012) were performed. Using a random sample obtained between 2011-2012 assessing 737 percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) classified according to the patient’s residence. No significant differences in bleedings during the first year (3.2% vs. 1.2%; p = .29), readmissions for a new myocardial infarction (5.7% vs. 3.5%; p = .41) or any-cause mortality (0.7% vs. 0%, p = .418)were observed. Subsequent scoring by professionals revealed both a high degree of satisfaction with the model and significant cost-savings implementing this network. Conclusions: A network on interventional cardiology is a sustainable experience in our environment, offering a high standard of patient-centered care quality, as required by health authorities and national and international scientific-societies. It reduced costs, and was perceived with an excellent degree of satisfaction by professionals and managers of the peripheral centers.
Adult GH deficiency - the value of IGF-I estimation

In patients with growth hormone (GH) deficiency (GHD) the diagnostic value of IGF-I levels has been recently revisited. A normal IGF-I value does not exclude GHD, because its secretion is complex and depends by several factors other than GH, such as age, nutritional status, obesity, as well as catabolic illness. Due to the complexity and costs of GH stimulation tests, several authors have analyzed the predictive and diagnostic value of the concentration of plasma IGF-I in patients suspected for GHD. The evaluation of IGF-I is also determinant to individualized dose-titration strategies, able to avoid the common adult side effects of substitutive therapy with recombinant GH. Current recommendations in clinical practice for GH replacement therapy, in GHD adults, agree on GH dosing regimens to be individualized independently of body weight using IGF-I levels as a biomarker of the treatment. For these reasons, in a clinical setting, appropriate normative values in different age groups in a large healthy population must be established in single laboratories, while, considering the relatively small sex difference, a different reference range for sex seems not necessary. This review discusses the more recent debated issues in the literature on the role of IGF-I, as well as other IGF system components, in the management of adult patients with GHD.
Preparation and Functional Characterization of Whey Protein-Maltodextrin Conjugates

Whey protein (WP) was glycated with maltodextrin (MD) by a Maillard type reaction by dry heat treatment of lyophilized mixture of whey protein concentrate 70 and maltodextrin at 90°C for 2 hours at 80% relative humidity. Glycation was confirmed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and degree of glycation using 2,4,6-Trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid method. The structural changes of WP-MD were assessed using Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The isoelectric point of WP was shifted towards lower pH side after glycated with MD. The conjugates had improved emulsifying properties compared to WPC and WPC-MD mixes. When assessed in the pH range 3.0-7.0, conjugates had improved solubility compared to WPC, particularly around isoelectric point of the protein. The results indicate that the WP-MD conjugates have better functional properties and can be further used as food grade wall materials in the preparation of micro/nano-emulsions in food systems.
Incidence of Vision, Hearing and Low Intellectual Abilities among Academically Poor Rural School Children

Abstract The present study was undertaken to assess the incidence of vision, hearing problems and low intellectual abilities among academically poor rural school children in Ludhiana district. The study was based upon the sample of 100 children. The subjects for the sample were drawn randomly from four rural government schools located on Block I of Ludhiana district. Data were collected through interview schedule. Results indicate that 41 percent of the academically poor children were having weak vision. The number of children with poor or weak vision were found significantly (p≤0.05) higher than the number of children with normal vision. 80 per cent of the academically poor students were having normal hearing abilities. The number of children with normal hearing was significantly (p≤0.05) higher than the number of children with mild or moderate hearing problems. Majority of the academically poor children were found to have below average intellectual abilities. Significant (p≤0.05) difference was found between number of children with average and below average intellectual abilities indicating majority as intellectually below average.
Integrated management of the cultural tourism products based on the value chain.

The dynamic growth of cultural tourism around the world in recent years has generated unmet market needs to create the proper management of products based on the cultural heritage of past and present generations. The first part of the article presents the essence of cultural tourism products with special emphasis on quality and the brand of these products. The second part of this article describes the integrated system of cultural tourism products management related to the value chain, which is based on unique author’s contribution. The introduced model of creation and management of cultural tourism products is focused on the pro-quality approach. This approach, enhanced with supportive promotion, will lead to the creation of the brand and should help to gain competitive market advantage.
Multilingualism in Canadian schools: Myths, realities and possibilities

Bilingualism and multiculturalism have for four decades been official ideologies and policies in Canada but, as is often the case, the implementation and outcomes of such government policies nationally are less impressive than the rhetoric would suggest. This article reviews the political, theoretical and demographic contexts justifying support for the learning and use of additional languages in contemporary Canadian society and schools, and summarizes research demonstrating that bilingualism and multilingualism are indeed cognitively, socially, and linguistically advantageous for children (and adults), as well as for society. The five studies in this special issue are then previewed with respect to the following themes that run across them: (1) the potential for bilingual synergies and transformations in language awareness activities and crosslinguistic knowledge construction; (2) the role of multiliteracies and multimodality in mediated learning; and (3) the interplay of positioning, identity, and agency in language learning by immigrant youth. The article concludes that more Canadian schools and educators must, like the researchers in this volume, find ways to embrace and build upon students’ prior knowledge, their creativity, their collaborative problem-solving skills, their potential for mastering and manipulating multiple, multilingual semiotic tools, and their desire for inclusion and integration in productive, engaging learning communities.
The influence of riparian vegetation and season on stream metabolism of Valley Creek, Minnesota

Climate change will undoubtedly influence stream ecosystems by affecting water temperature, discharge, and riparian vegetation phenology. It has been suggested that increasing the extent of riparian buffers may help to mitigate these impacts and contribute to ecosystem resilience. Measures of stream metabolism are one way to examine the changes in ecosystem function as they respond to climate change and management strategies used to respond to these impacts. In this study we examine the influence of riparian vegetation (open vs. forest) and season on ecosystem metabolism in a small stream in MN, USA. The stream was heterotrophic regardless of the type of riparian vegetation but the presence of a forested buffer depressed gross primary production (GPP) and also resulted in lower (less negative) ecosystem respiration (ER) and net ecosystem production (NEP). We also found significant daily and seasonal variation in GPP, ER, and NEP. Stream metabolism was more variable in the fall than in the summer. The study design was complicated by the fact that there were differences in groundwater dynamics between the two locations; the forested location was a losing stream while the open location was a gaining stream. Despite the fact that groundwater input likely influenced the oxygen dynamics of the open location, the impact of the forest buffer outweighed the impact of groundwater. The presence of a forested riparian corridor resulted in decreased GPP likely through the attenuation of light. The low O2 groundwater input at the open location likely biased measures of ER and NEP. Modifying stream corridors with increased forest vegetation to offset the impacts of climate change will likely result in less in-stream primary production and a shift to a more heterotrophic system. This shift will undoubtedly influence many ecosystem functions in-stream systems.
Does Oil Price Uncertainty Transmit to Stock Markets

The paper presents an empirical study of volatility spillover from oil prices to stock markets within an asymmetric BEKK model. Using weekly data on the aggregate stock markets of Japan, Norway, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S., strong evidence of volatility spillover is found for all stock markets but the Swedish one, where only weak evidence is found. News impact surfaces show that, although statistically significant, the volatility spillovers are quantitatively small. The stock market’s own shocks, which are related to other factors of uncertainty than the oil price, are more prominent than oil shocks.
Impact of Governance on Profitability, Liquidity and Gearing of Companies

This study investigates the relationship between two governance issues, i.e., ownership and board structure of Malaysian listed firms (between 2010 and 2012) and their performance in terms of profitability, liquidity and gearing. Structural Equation Modeling is applied and the data analysis tool used is Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE). The dependent variables used as proxies for financial performance are; profitability, liquidity and gearing, whilst the independent variables are; ownership retention (OR), board size (BS), percentage of executive directors (ED), percentage of independent directors (ID) and percentage of non-independent non-executive directors (NINED). It is conjectured that there is consistency across all components of ownership and board structure in terms of its relationship with the gearing of companies. With the exception of non-independent non-executive directors, all other components of board structure in this study seem to have an impact on the gearing of companies. In that respect, it can be concluded that a company’s ownership structure and board of directors who represent the shareholders have major concerns on the gearing of companies compared to other financial indicators, as the level of gearing of a company has important and long-lasting effects on the profitability and liquidity of companies. This study leads the path for further research on all aspects of a company’s gearing.
Real-Coded Quantum-Inspired Genetic Algorithm-Based BP Neural Network Algorithm

The method that the real-coded quantum-inspired genetic algorithm (RQGA) used to optimize the weights and threshold of BP neural network is proposed to overcome the defect that the gradient descent method makes the algorithm easily fall into local optimal value in the learning process. Quantum genetic algorithm (QGA) is with good directional global optimization ability, but the conventional QGA is based on binary coding; the speed of calculation is reduced by the coding and decoding processes. So, RQGA is introduced to explore the search space, and the improved varied learning rate is adopted to train the BP neural network. Simulation test shows that the proposed algorithm is effective to rapidly converge to the solution conformed to constraint conditions.
Research Status and Prospects of Tax Preference and Enterprise Innovation

Innovation is the new engine driving China’s economic development. Tax preferences are an important means for the government to stimulate enterprises to innovate. In order to fully understand the research status of tax incentives and enterprise innovation at home and abroad, this paper firstly conducted a visualized analysis of the research status based on CiteSpace software, and then combed the main conclusions of existing research from two aspects: tax preferences and innovation input, tax preferences and innovation output. This paper found that there are still some limitations in tax incentives and enterprise innovation. The relationship between tax incentives and innovation quality is expected to become a hot research topic in the future.
Streptococcus pyogenes secreted enzymes interacting with the human host

Streptococcus pyogenes is one of the most common bacteria infecting humans. One of the factors contributing to the disease-causing properties is the secreted streptococcal cysteine proteinase, SpeB, which degrades several host proteins in connective tissue and circulation. SpeB activity depends on the transformation from an inactive precursor, zymogen, into a mature proteinase. We show that the important cell wall-anchored M protein is involved in the unfolding and maturation of SpeB. An engineered strain lacking M protein secreted the SpeB zymogen in a conformational state that did not allow the maturation to proceed normally. Furthermore, we identified genes that were regulated by environmental changes using RNA fingerprinting. One of the identified glucose-induced genes encodes a phosphotransferase system that could be involved in the signaling leading to down-regulation of virulence genes in response to the nutritional status. Moreover, a novel secreted endoglycosidase, EndoS, has been identified. Purified EndoS removes the glycan from native human immunoglobulin G (IgG). This glycan is known to be important for IgG effector functions such as complement activation and binding to Fc receptors on phagocytic cells. Furthermore, it was discovered that SpeB cleaves the heavy chain of IgG resulting in distinct fragments separating the antigen-binding Fab portions from the effector-triggering Fc portion. SpeB also degrades the heavy chains of IgA, IgM, IgD and IgE. Finally, it was shown that both these enzymatic activities on human IgG have functional consequences with significantly impaired antibody-mediated killing of S. pyogenes in an ex vivo model. (Less)
Influential Factors on Pro-Environmental Behaviors—A Case Study in Tokyo and Seoul

To develop the low-carbon society, in addition to the efforts by industrial and commercial sectors, promotion of people’s pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) has become one of the key issues. Some PEBs have been investigated in previous studies, however, the targets were limited to particular behaviors (i.e., recycling, water saving, electricity saving). The holistic view of understanding the characteristics of PEBs has remained insufficient. In this study, we selected 58 daily PEBs from various fields and investigated people’s practice rates and attitudes in Seoul and Tokyo. The questionnaire surveys were conducted and 2393 (Seoul) and 2220 (Tokyo) valid responses were analyzed. Most PEBs had significantly different practice rates between Seoul and Tokyo. It can be concluded that the surrounding conditions, such as policy and infrastructure, have some influences on these differences. The positions of the reasons to practice or not to practice PEBs were visualized using multiple correspondence analyses. The results indicated that the monetary reason was the common factor for many PEBs, while some PEBs showed different reasons. The socio-demographic effects were not significantly different between the two regions. Commonly, women and older people showed more activities on PEBs.
Efficacy Level of Therapeutic Counselling in Dealing with Depression among Adult Refugees: A Case of Dadaab Refugee Camp, Garissa County, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to investigate efficacy level of therapeutic counselling in dealing with depression among adult refugees at Dadaab refugee camp. Ex Post Facto research design was adopted for the study. A sample of 382 adult refugees and 16 section leaders were randomly selected to participate in the study while 5 counsellors were purposively selected. Data was collected using questionnaires, Focus Group Discussions and Interview guides. The reliability of the instrument was estimated using Cronbach Alpha Coefficient. The instrument yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.811. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. The study established that therapeutic counselling had positive satisfaction among adult refugees and hence efficacious in dealing with depression. The study recommended that there is need to allocate more funds towards mental and psychological health care at Dadaab refugee camp. This would enable counselling agencies to improve the counselling services. Keywords: Efficacy levels, therapeutic counseling, depression, adult refugees.
CRACK SELF-HEALING EFFECT ON PERFORMANCE OF REINFORCED CONCRETE MEMBERS SUBJECTED TO WATER SUPPLY AND CYCLIC LOADING

Self-healing concrete (SHC) can heal itself from cracks and other minor imperfections and thus prolong the life of the material itself and structure. In plain and reinforced concrete structures, fatigue is one of the major causes of both material and structural failures. Under the moving load due to traffic, it is not only the relatively simple opening and closing action in the transverse direction to the crack plane but also the severe reversed shear displacement along the crack plane. This accelerates the deterioration on the shear transfer mechanism at the crack surface. Although the shear transfer between two cracks accelarates the rupture of crack surface, a lot of crushed powders and fragments are produced in the crack. Even in this severe situation it is expected for self-healing concrete that crushed powders and fragments would bring the healing effect to cracks and then water leakage through cracks would reduce. When cracks form, the release of effective components from the SHA (Selfhealing additives) would be promoted. Under cyclic loading, not only opening-closing action,but also reversed shear transfer are repeated and then the release of effective components from SHA would be accelerated. To verify this interesting scenario several SHA were applied to specimens of structural reinforced members subjected to cyclic loading in a series of tests. In this study, flexural fatigue tests were conducted for three different types of Self-healing concrete (SHC) and the effect of self-healing at fracture process zone (FPZ) and cracks area on structural performance is examined. The experimental results indicate that one of SHC shows remarkable effect not only on water sealing in water pass tests but also prolongation of fatigue life in flexural tests.
A literature review of idea management

The objective of the paper is primarily to conduct a state-of-the-art literature review of Idea Management and secondary to point out unanswered questions which are left behind in the reviewed literature. Scientific knowledge is primarily represented in innovation management literature but also considerably in literature on software and IT. On the background of the literature review, there are some weaknesses in the literature to be considered. These weaknesses concern the understanding of how people interact with idea management in their daily work practices and how different types of ideas are included or excluded in the idea management processes.
Characterization of Radium Sulphate

This paper examines the crystal structure of radium sulphate and compares its structure to barium sulphate, strontium sulphate, and lead sulphate. The radium sulphate powder was measured by both powder X-ray diffraction and EXAFS. The unit cell was determined to be orthorhombic, belonging to the Pnma (no. 62) space group with the cell parameters A, A, A, and A3. These data support the fact that radium sulphate is isostructural with barium, strontium, and lead sulphate. The bond distances were determined using EXAFS. The mean Ra–O and S–O bond distances were found to be 2.96(2) A and 1.485(8) A, respectively, and the Ra–O–S bond angle was . Findings of EXAFS data are quite consistent and support the XRD data. These findings show that it is possible for radium to coprecipitate with barium, strontium, and lead in sulphate media to form a substitutional solid solution.