Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fault lines in education: dualization and diversification of pathways over 40 years of debate on education policy in Portugal

The creation of Vocational Education Courses in 2012 rekindled recurring debates that shaped the process of institutionalization of basic education in Portugal and brought to light tensions between the need to diversify education pathways and to ensure equity. A diachronic analysis of educational policies was conducted based on legislation, parliamentary speeches and newspaper articles. The analysis traced the process of dualization of education in Portugal and identified six different periods that help to better understand the reasons for the recent change. It also revealed a story where actors, narratives and solutions reappear, even in face of new realities, raising theoretical questions about what drives change in policy.
Tunable SnO2 Nanoribbon by Electric Fields and Hydrogen Passivation

Under external transverse electronic fields and hydrogen passivation, the electronic structure and band gap of tin dioxide nanoribbons (SnO2NRs) with both zigzag and armchair shaped edges are studied by using the first-principles projector augmented wave (PAW) potential with the density function theory (DFT) framework. The results showed that the electronic structures of zigzag and armchair edge SnO2NRs exhibit an indirect semiconducting nature and the band gaps demonstrate a remarkable reduction with the increase of external transverse electronic field intensity, which demonstrate a giant Stark effect. The value of the critical electric field for bare Z-SnO2NRs is smaller than A-SnO2NRs. In addition, the different hydrogen passivation nanoribbons (Z-SnO2NRs-2H and A-SnO2NRs-OH) show different band gaps and a slightly weaker Stark effect. The band gap of A-SnO2NRs-OH obviously is enhanced while the Z-SnO2NRs-2H reduce. Interestingly, the Z-SnO2NRs-OH presented the convert of metal-semiconductor-metal under external transverse electronic fields. In the end, the electronic transport properties of the different edges SnO2NRs are studied. These findings provide useful ways in nanomaterial design and band engineering for spintronics.
Wood modification technologies - a review

Abstract: The market for new durable products of modified wood has increased substantially during the last few years, especially in Europe. This increased interest depends partly on the restricted use of toxic preservatives due to increased environmental concern, as well as the need for reduced maintenance for wood products that are mainly for exterior use. Furthermore, as sustainability becomes a greater concern, the environmental impact of construction and interior materials should be included in planning by considering the entire life cycle and embodied energy of the materials used. As a result, wood modification has been implemented to improve the intrinsic properties of wood, widen the range of sawn timber applications, and acquire the form and functionality desired by engineers, without bringing environmental friendliness into question. The different wood modification processes are at various stages of development, and the challenges that must be overcome to expand to industrial applications differ amongst them. In this paper, three groups of wood modification processes are discussed and exemplified with modified wood products that have been newly introduced to the market: (i) chemical processing (acetylation, furfurylation, resin impregnation etc.); (ii) thermo-hydro processing (thermal treatment); and (iii) thermo-hydro-mechanical processing (surface densification). Building on these examples, the paper will discuss the environmental impact assessment of modification processes and further development needs.
Research Trend of Public-Private Partnership in Construction Journals

An impressive series of content analyses of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) publications between 1998 and 2003 from four internationally renowned construction journals (including the International Journal of Project Management, the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, the Construction Management and Economics, and the Engineering Construction and Architectural Management) was reported. Their work inspired the writers of this paper to continue from where they left it. Based on a two-stage literature review, PPP articles from 1998 to 2008 were analyzed in terms of the annual number of PPP articles published, the writers’ contribution, and the research focus in their studies. From the analysis it was found that the number of PPP publications in these journals has been increasing. This finding might imply that PPPs are becoming more important to the construction industry at large. In addition, this study also found that the U.K. researchers have published the largest number of PPP articles, fo.
BROILER PRODUCERS' WILLINGNESS TO PAY TO MANAGE NUTRIENT POLLUTION

Economic incentives or disincentives play a major role on encouraging producers to implement environmentally benign production practices. We evaluated producers’ willingness to pay (WTP) value to represent the level of disincentives that motivate farmers to mitigate nutrient pollution. The result obtained by using ordered response model showed that farm size, farm income, and land available to spread litter are major variables that determine the producers’ WTP.
Retirement Behaviour in Austria: Incentive Effects on Old-Age Labor Supply

This research analyses retirement behaviour in Austria based on a combined administrative dataset. Data from the Austrian social security database is merged with a dataset that contains very detailed information on all pension-relevant information on the individual level, e.g. insurance records as well as complete earnings histories. Based on this data a comprehensive microsimulation model of the Austrian pension system is developed and applied to calculate retirement benefit entitlements for each and every individual, double-checking the calculation rules with the actual, administratively calculated pension entitlements. A range of (forward-looking) incentive measures that describe the individual decision problem is constructed. Specifically, social security wealth, accrual rate, peak and option values are computed for more than 300,000 individuals within each year of the observational period (2002-2009). Based on this characterisation of the incentive structure an econometric model is developed, thus providing robust evidence for the effects of the incentive measures on old age labor supply. Simulation of several reform scenarios shows that a stronger emphasis on financial incentives in the pension system (the introduction of additional bonusses and deductions) reduces the outof-labor-force ratio of individuals aged 56-65 by 16.3% for females and 13.4% for males.
Elsevier Editorial System(tm) for Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Manuscript Draft Manuscript Number: Title: Sleep deprivation in Octodon Degus: Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in spatial learning

Sleep is indispensable for maintaining regular daily life activities and a fundamental physiological purpose in cognitive performance. Sleep deprivation (SD) may affect subsequent learning capacity and ability to constitute new memories, particularly in the situation of hippocampusdependent tasks. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive procedure of electromagnetic induction that generates electric currents activating nearby nerve cells in the stimulated cortical area. Several studies have begun to therapeutically use TMS. The present study was designed to evaluate how TMS could improve learning and memory functions after SD in O. degus. Thirty juvenile (aged eighteen months old) females were divided in three groups (control, acute and chronic TMS treatment -with and without SD). To immobilize TMS-treated groups, they were disposed in plastic cylindrical while the O. degus were receiving head magnetic stimulation. SD was achieved by gently handling the animals to keep them awake during the night. Behavioral tests include Radial Arm Maze (RAM), Barnes Maze (BM) and Novel Object Recognition (NOR). When TMS treatment was applied during several days, there was significant improvement of cognitive performance after SD. Noteworthy, only one session of TMS is able to improve some parameters related with spatial memory. No side effects were observed. After SD, chronic TMS treatment provokes significant amelioration in learning and in both spatial and working memory. Nonetheless, an acute treatment of TMS is already sufficient to improve spatial memory. Suggested Reviewers: Oscar Arias Carrión arias@ifc.unam. mx David Bartres Faz dbartres@ub.edu Alvaro Pascual-Leone apleone@bidmc.harvard. edu David Blum david.blum@inserm.fr
From a single network to a network of networks

Network science has attracted much attention in recent years due to its interdisciplinary applications. We witnessed the revolution of network science in 1998 and 1999 started with small-world and scale-free networks having now thousands of high-profile publications, and it seems that since 2010 studies of ‘network of networks’ (NON), sometimes called multilayer networks or multiplex, have attracted more and more attention. The analytic framework for NON yields a novel percolation law for n interdependent networks that shows that percolation theory of single networks studied extensively in physics and mathematics in the last 50 years is a specific limit of the rich and very different general case of n coupled networks. Since then, properties and dynamics of interdependent and interconnected networks have been studied extensively, and scientists are finding many interesting results and discovering many surprising phenomena. Because most natural and engineered systems are composed of multiple subsystems and layers of connectivity, it is important to consider these features in order to improve our understanding of such complex systems. Now the study of NON has become one of the important directions in network science. In this paper, we review recent studies on the new emerging area—NON. Due to the fast growth of this field, there are many definitions of different types of NON, such as interdependent networks, interconnected networks, multilayered networks, multiplex networks and many others. There exist many datasets that can be represented as NON, such as network of different transportation networks including flight networks, railway networks and road networks, network of ecological networks including species interacting networks and food webs, network of biological networks including gene regulation network, metabolic network and protein–protein interacting network, network of social networks and so on. Among them, many interdependent networks including critical infrastructures are embedded in space, introducing spatial constraints. Thus, we also review the progress on study of spatially embedded networks. As a result of spatial constraints, such interdependent networks exhibit extreme vulnerabilities compared with their non-embedded counterparts. Such studies help us to understand, realize and hopefully mitigate the increasing risk in NON.
SCREENING OF HEPATOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF STEM BARK OF BAUHINIA VARIEGATA IN RATS

Objective: To study the hepatoprotective activity of ethanolic extract of stem bark of Bauhinia variegata. Material and methods: Albino wistar rats of either sex weighing 150-200g were divided into seven groups (n=6). Liver injury was produced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) 1 ml/kg/d dissolved in olive oil (1:1) orally. Silymarin (100mg/kg) orally was used as standard drug. Test groups received Ethanolic extract of stem bark of Bauhinia variegata (BVEE) in the doses of 100, 200,400 and 600mg/kg/day orally along with CCl4. Treatment was given to all the groups daily for 7 days. The hepatoprotective effect of BVEE was evaluated by assessment of biochemical parameters [Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bilirubin] and the antioxidant activity in the liver tissue was estimated by determining the activities of antioxidant enzymes: reduced glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT) as well as the level of lipid peroxidation by Malondialdehyde (MDA). Histopathological examination of the liver was also done. Results: BVEE (400mg/kg and 600mg/kg) exhibited highly significant reduction (p<0.001) in AST, ALT, ALP and total bilirubin. BVEE (200mg/kg and 100mg/kg) exhibited highly significant reduction (p<0.001) in AST, ALT and ALP, just significant reduction (p<0.05) in total bilirubin. (BVEE) in doses of 200,400 and 600mg/kg/d showed highly significant reduction (p<0.001) in MDA and rise in (p<0.001) in CAT and GSH. BVEE in dose of 100 mg/kg/d showed highly significant reduction (p<0.001) in MDA and rise in (p<0.001) in CAT but only significant rise (p<0.01) in GSH. Histopathological examination of the liver suggested hepatoprotective effect of the extract by decreasing the extent of centrilobular necrosis, fatty changes and congestion of sinusoids when compared to carbon tetrachloride group. Conclusion: BVEE showed significant dose dependent protection against carbon tetrachloride induced liver injury in rats.
The Implications of Cultural Background on Labour Market Choices: The Case of Religion and Entrepreneurship

We suggest a methodology for identifying the implications of alternative cultural and social norms embodied by religious denomination on labour market outcomes, by estimating the differential impact of Protestantism versus Catholicism on the propensity to be an entrepreneur, on the basis of the diverse minority status of both confessions across European regions. Our quasi-experimental research design exploits the stronger degree of attachment to religious ethic of religious minorities and the exogenous historical determination of the geographical distribution of religious minorities in Europe. Our analysis of European Social Survey data collected in four waves between 2002 and 2008 in 22 European countries, indicates that cultural background has a significant effect on the individual propensity to become an entrepreneur, with Protestantism increasing the chances to be an entrepreneur by around 3% with respect to Catholicism. Our findings, stable across a number of robustness checks, provide further evidence on the need to take cultural elements into consideration when analysing economic behaviour.
To feed or not to feed? Clinical aspects of withholding and withdrawing food and fluids at the end of life

The issue of withholding and withdrawing clinically assisted nutrition and hydration (CANH) for imminently dying patients is very contentious. There is no agreement between medical professionals and problem of forgoing CANH is subject of a fierce and sometimes emotional debate. This paper makes an attempt to examine briefly current clinical evidence on withdrawing and withholding CANH at the end of life. It tries to assess whether it is always beneficial for a patient to provide CANH or whether providing CANH may sometimes cause more harm than good. It also addresses a question whether forgoing CANH for some imminently dying patients is consistent with fundamentals of palliative care. For this reason withholding or withdrawing CANH will be analysed in a context of basic assumptions of palliative care which are presented in the World Health Organisation’s definition of this distinctive branch of medicine. Adv. Pall. Med. 2011; 10, 1: 3–10
Ecology, biogeography and evolutionary history of the alpine long-eared bat Plecotus macrobullaris

This article is a comprehensive summary of the PhD presented by Antton Alberdi at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), on december 5th, 2014, under the supervision of Dr. Inazio Garin and Dr. Joxerra Aihartza. The thesis was awarded by the Spanish Society of Mammalogist (SECEM) in 2015, as the best thesis about Iberian mammals. DOI: 10.7325/Galemys.2016. A1
The Effect of Liquidity and Credit Risk on the Relationship be-tween Business Activities and Fluctuations in the Price of all Com-panies Listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange

In this study business operations and liquidity and credit risk on price fluctuations on the stock exchange since 2010 to 2013 has been Tehran distance. The sample consisted of 76 company The systematic elimination method is selected. The company had a total of 304 years, in this study, the hypothesis of linear regression and correlation to analyse the data and test hypotheses Eviews software is used. The results show a direct linear relationship between the number of business deal with price volatility as a factor in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange respectively. In addition, liquidity and credit risks and price fluctuations affect the relationship between business activities
Green Infrstructure: concepts and planning

Green infrastructure planning has grown in prominence since it was first discussed in the late 1990’s. Since the President’s Council on Sustainable Development discussed the concept researchers and academics from across the globe, though predominantly the UK, Western Europe and North America, have championed the process. Acknowledging its ability to deliver a number of diverse benefits in different urban and urban-fringe landscapes, green infrastructure has been discussed as enabling planners to develop multi-functional, innovative and sustainable places. The aim of this paper is to examine a number of diverse research areas that have attributed value to the ideas underpinning green infrastructure planning. Using the subjects of urban regeneration and health, and climate change green infrastructure will be discussed as a multi-faceted planning approach for constantly changing landscapes. A review will also be made assessing the antecedents of the concept and how historical exemplar projects are still prominent to the green infrastructure concept. Finally, this paper will conclude by suggesting that with further funding and development green infrastructure planning can develop a more mainstream profile. Through this, an evidence base and a set of criteria can be developed to provide planning solutions for health, climate change, regeneration or environmental sustainability.
Nano-Technology Patenting in the USA

In January 2002, the Australian Research Council categorised research related to nano-materials and bio-materials as one of its four priority funding areas. Such projects are considered to be of paramount importance because of the recognised potential of these technologies to improve product efficiency, conserve natural resources and help alleviate environmental problems. This paper uses a Technological Strengths (TS) model based on patent statistics to: (1) analyse trends in the patenting of nano-technologies in the USA, using data from 1975 to 2000 for patents lodged at the US Patent and Trademark Office; and (2) examine Australia’s contribution to the development of these technologies. The four elements of the TS model are: national priorities (captured by the technological specialisation index, which is 1.38 for Australia), international presence (as represented by the patents share, which is 0.73% for Australia), contribution of patents to further knowledge development (as measured by the citations index, which is 2.73 for Australia), and potential commercial benefits (approximated by the rate of assigned patents, which is 0.75 for Australia). The TS model applied to Australia demonstrates some potential in the field of nanotechnology, but more concentrated efforts are needed to ensure that Australia makes a stronger impact in the global arena. International rankings of technological strengths in nano-technology are also compiled.
The Mod 2 Homology of Infinite Loop Spaces

We study the spectral sequence that one obtains by applying mod 2 homology to the Goodwillie tower which sends a spectrum X to the suspension spectrum of its 0th space X_0. This converges strongly to H_*(X_0) when X is 0-connected. The E^1 term is the homology of the extended powers of X, and thus is a well known functor of H_*(X), including structure as a bigraded Hopf algebra, a right module over the mod 2 Steenrod algebra A, and a left module over the Dyer-Lashof operations. Hopf algebra considerations show that all pages of the spectral sequence are primitively generated, with primitives equal to a subquotient of the primitives in E^1. We use an operad structure on the tower and the Z/2 Tate construction to show how Dyer-Lashof operations and differentials interact. These then determine differentials that hold for any spectrum X. These universal differentials then lead us to construct, for every A-module M, an algebraic spectral sequence depending functorially on M. The algebraic spectral sequence for H_*(X) agrees with the topological spectral sequence for X for many spectra, including suspension spectra and almost all generalized Eilenberg-MacLane spectra, and appears to give an upper bound in general. The E^infty term of the algebraic spectral sequence has form and structure similar to E^1, but now the right A-module structure is unstable. Our explicit formula involves the derived functors of destabilization as studied in the 1980's by W. Singer, J. Lannes and S. Zarati, and P. Goerss.
Prevalence of congenital hypothyroidism in makkah region of kingdom of saudi arabia

Background: Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) at birth is most commonly caused by disorder in thyroid gland development (dysgenesis) or thyroid hormone bi (dyshormonogenesis). Its early diagnosis and adequate treatment can prevent developmental retardation and other adverse consequences in infants. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of CH in Makkah province of Kingdom of S
Impact of Leather and Cosmetic Industries on Quality of Groundwater, in Nagalkeni, Kanchipuram District, Tamilnadu, India

The area for the present study comprises, Pallavaram, Chromepet, and Nagalkeni, of the Chennai Metropolitan City. Thirty six groundwater samples were collected from open and bore wells during Pre-monsoon (July 2007) and Post-monsoon (January 2008). The parameters like EC, TDS, pH, Ca, Mg, K, Na, SO 4 , Cl, and HCO 3 were determined by using standard methods of analysis. The trace elements like, Cu, Cr, Ni, and Pb were determined by using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. Most of the standard parameters determined in the study area were above the permissible limit. Parameters like sodium, chlorine are found far above the permissible limit, especially in areas near the industrial sites. The type of water that predominates in the study area is (91.7%) Strong acids (Cl) exceed weak acids (HCO 3 and SO 4 ) during pre-monsoon and (100%) Strong acids (Cl) exceed weak acids (HCO 3 and SO 4 ) during post-monsoon based on the hydro-chemical facies. The chromium content was far higher than the permissible limit. Leather and cosmetic industries in the study area has deteriorated the quality of groundwater considerably. Thus, this study indicates the impact of effluents from tanneries. The groundwater quality of this region can also be improved by adopting rainwater harvesting thereby increasing groundwater recharge.