cometadata/datacite-titles-descriptions-related-identifiers huggingface dataset:
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14264258
title: Political work in the stability and growth pact

description: While most scholars analyze European Union politicization as a <i>process</i> that shapes public opinion, little attention has been paid to political <i>strategies</i>. In this article, I focus on politicization as an outcome of political work, the practice of carving out a space for agency in an environment that is constrained by institutional rules and intergovernmental power structures. Through an ethnographic analysis of the Juncker Commission's implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact in Italy, Spain, and Portugal in 2015–2017, I make three arguments. First, the Commission succeeded in redefining the rules of the Pact, without however challenging them. Second, this political work was enabled by conservative and social-democrat actors who neutralized each other. Third, political work contributed to a politicization of the Pact. The ethnographic narrative reveals two practices of politicization at play: (1) the purposeful exercise of political discretion vis-à-vis institutional rules; (2) the embrace of ideological and partisan conflict.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14264258.v1
title: Political work in the stability and growth pact

description: While most scholars analyze European Union politicization as a <i>process</i> that shapes public opinion, little attention has been paid to political <i>strategies</i>. In this article, I focus on politicization as an outcome of political work, the practice of carving out a space for agency in an environment that is constrained by institutional rules and intergovernmental power structures. Through an ethnographic analysis of the Juncker Commission's implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact in Italy, Spain, and Portugal in 2015–2017, I make three arguments. First, the Commission succeeded in redefining the rules of the Pact, without however challenging them. Second, this political work was enabled by conservative and social-democrat actors who neutralized each other. Third, political work contributed to a politicization of the Pact. The ethnographic narrative reveals two practices of politicization at play: (1) the purposeful exercise of political discretion vis-à-vis institutional rules; (2) the embrace of ideological and partisan conflict.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14221704
title: Contested comitology? The overlooked importance of the EU Commission

description: Composed of member states representatives, the comitology committees are watchdogs that limit the Commission’s discretion in implementing EU law. Yet, these watchdogs appear very tame, eventually adopting all measures proposed by the Commission. This apparent consensus clashes with the institutional skirmishes that characterize the negotiations over the design of the comitology system and the delegation provisions in daily EU legislation. In this article, we offer a quantitive study of the interaction between the Commission and the comitology committees. Using latent class analysis, we identify two worlds of comitology. Dealing with technically complex, non-salient cases, the first world is characterized by high specialization and hardly any dissenting comitology votes. By contrast, the second world includes politically salient cases, mobilizing high levels of expertise in the Commission and about 35% dissenting comitology votes. In the second part, we zoom in on this second world, studying under which conditions dissenting votes appear.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920769
title: Anticoccidial and Biochemical Effects of Artemisia Brevifolia Extract in Broiler Chickens

description: ABSTRACT This study was conducted to evaluate the anticoccidial potential of Artemisia brevifolia extract (ABE) and its effect on biochemical parameters against experimental coccidiosis in broiler chickens. For this purpose, a total of 150 broiler chicks were procured and divided into 5 equal groups (30 birds per group). At one week of age, the first three groups (A, B and C) were orally fed with ABE at dose rates of 100, 200 and 300mg/kg respectively for seven consecutive days. Group D served as infected/medicated and was treated with Baycox® (1ml/L of water). Group E served as the infected/non-medicated control group. At two weeks of age, all groups were infected with 50,000 sporulated oocysts of Eimeria tenella. The anticoccidial potential was evaluated based on lesion score, oocyst score, fecal score, feed conversion ratio, and mortality (%). Furthermore, the effect of ABE on hematological parameters and serum chemistry was also evaluated by following standard procedures. The anticoccidial effects were compared with the standard drug Baycox® (p&gt;0.05). Results of the study showed the anticoccidial activity of ABE in terms of lesion diminishing, oocyst and fecal scores, better feed conversion ratios, and mortality reduction (%). The ABE also improved hematological parameters and stabilized the serum enzymes (ALT, LDH, Creatinine) of infected chicks (p&gt;0.05).
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920766
title: Method for evaluating plan recovery strategies in dynamic multi-agent environments

description: Plan execution in dynamic environments can be affected by unexpected events leading to failures. Research on multi-agent planning area presents recovery strategies with replanning and repairing with evaluation based simply on average values. Thus, in this work, we propose a statistical method to evaluate plan recovery strategies in dynamic environments using a domain-independent approach. To validate the proposed method, we conducted simulated experiments with varying the number of agents, goals, actions, failure probability, and agents’ coupling levels. The evaluation metrics include plan length and planning time. The results highlight with at least 94% certainty that repairing planning time is lower than replanning, and replanning builds plans with fewer actions than repairing. Considering plan recovery strategies in dynamic multi-agent environments, we demonstrate that repairing presents better results as it is faster, but replanning builds better plans as the final plan length is strongly correlated to failure occurrence.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920766.v1
title: Method for evaluating plan recovery strategies in dynamic multi-agent environments

description: Plan execution in dynamic environments can be affected by unexpected events leading to failures. Research on multi-agent planning area presents recovery strategies with replanning and repairing with evaluation based simply on average values. Thus, in this work, we propose a statistical method to evaluate plan recovery strategies in dynamic environments using a domain-independent approach. To validate the proposed method, we conducted simulated experiments with varying the number of agents, goals, actions, failure probability, and agents’ coupling levels. The evaluation metrics include plan length and planning time. The results highlight with at least 94% certainty that repairing planning time is lower than replanning, and replanning builds plans with fewer actions than repairing. Considering plan recovery strategies in dynamic multi-agent environments, we demonstrate that repairing presents better results as it is faster, but replanning builds better plans as the final plan length is strongly correlated to failure occurrence.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920769.v1
title: Anticoccidial and Biochemical Effects of Artemisia Brevifolia Extract in Broiler Chickens

description: ABSTRACT This study was conducted to evaluate the anticoccidial potential of Artemisia brevifolia extract (ABE) and its effect on biochemical parameters against experimental coccidiosis in broiler chickens. For this purpose, a total of 150 broiler chicks were procured and divided into 5 equal groups (30 birds per group). At one week of age, the first three groups (A, B and C) were orally fed with ABE at dose rates of 100, 200 and 300mg/kg respectively for seven consecutive days. Group D served as infected/medicated and was treated with Baycox® (1ml/L of water). Group E served as the infected/non-medicated control group. At two weeks of age, all groups were infected with 50,000 sporulated oocysts of Eimeria tenella. The anticoccidial potential was evaluated based on lesion score, oocyst score, fecal score, feed conversion ratio, and mortality (%). Furthermore, the effect of ABE on hematological parameters and serum chemistry was also evaluated by following standard procedures. The anticoccidial effects were compared with the standard drug Baycox® (p&gt;0.05). Results of the study showed the anticoccidial activity of ABE in terms of lesion diminishing, oocyst and fecal scores, better feed conversion ratios, and mortality reduction (%). The ABE also improved hematological parameters and stabilized the serum enzymes (ALT, LDH, Creatinine) of infected chicks (p&gt;0.05).
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920571
title: THE SHOEMAKING INDUSTRY CLUSTER IN FRANCA (SP): A STUDY ON LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY

description: ABSTRACT This paper is concerned with analysis of labour productivity - both individual and agregate - in companies that integrate the shoemaking industry cluster in Franca, State of São Paulo, Brazil. It was an exploratory research limited to a non-statistical sample composed of 16 companies, two of them were large companies, seven were medium sized companies, and seven were small companies. Descriptive statistics and statistical inference techniques were applied (bivariate correlation test). The results showed that there is no evidence of homogeneity in labour performance productivity among companies that integrate the cluster, once they are unequal, non simetrical, showing that the shoemaking industry in Franca is closer to an assembly of similar companies than a cluster. This shows that there is a need for investment in management training in order to allow for the development of a cluster, which would in turn result in colective and dynamic competitive advantages.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920571.v1
title: THE SHOEMAKING INDUSTRY CLUSTER IN FRANCA (SP): A STUDY ON LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY

description: ABSTRACT This paper is concerned with analysis of labour productivity - both individual and agregate - in companies that integrate the shoemaking industry cluster in Franca, State of São Paulo, Brazil. It was an exploratory research limited to a non-statistical sample composed of 16 companies, two of them were large companies, seven were medium sized companies, and seven were small companies. Descriptive statistics and statistical inference techniques were applied (bivariate correlation test). The results showed that there is no evidence of homogeneity in labour performance productivity among companies that integrate the cluster, once they are unequal, non simetrical, showing that the shoemaking industry in Franca is closer to an assembly of similar companies than a cluster. This shows that there is a need for investment in management training in order to allow for the development of a cluster, which would in turn result in colective and dynamic competitive advantages.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920772.v1
title: Determinants of self-efficacy in patients with Parkinson’s disease

description: ABSTRACT Background: Self-efficacy is the individual’s assessment of his or hers ability to complete a specific task successfully and has been closely related to self-management and quality of life in several diseases. Objective: To investigate self-efficacy in a population of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients in Mexico and study the factors that are associated with this measure. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional observational study involving patients with PD in an outpatient neurology clinic in Mexico, using the following instruments: Spanish version of the Chronic Disease Self-Efficacy Scale (CDSES), Quality of Life Questionnaire PDQ-8, Movement Disorders Society-Unified Parkinson's disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and Non-Motor Symptom Scale (NMSS). Clinical and demographic variables were also recorded. Results: We included 73 patients with a mean age of 65 years and most patients were male. Patients with lower CDSES scores (&lt;7.75) had worse scores in MDS-UPDRS, NMSS, and PDQ-8 scales. CDSES scores were significantly correlated with MDS-UPDRS Part I (r=-0.497, p=&lt;0.001), Part II (r= -0.271, p=0.020), Part III (r=-0.304, p=&lt;0.001), PDQ-8 (r=-0.472, p=&lt;0.001), and NMSS (r=-0.504, p=&lt;0.001). Furthermore, when assessing the simultaneous effect of covariates associated with CDSES score, only Mood/Apathy domain of NMSS was significant (beta= -0.446, t= -3.807, p= 0.012). Conclusions: PD patients with lower self-efficacy scores had worse motor and non-motor symptomatology and quality of life. Mood/Apathy disorders were negatively associated with self-efficacy and contributed significantly to this measure.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920772
title: Determinants of self-efficacy in patients with Parkinson’s disease

description: ABSTRACT Background: Self-efficacy is the individual’s assessment of his or hers ability to complete a specific task successfully and has been closely related to self-management and quality of life in several diseases. Objective: To investigate self-efficacy in a population of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients in Mexico and study the factors that are associated with this measure. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional observational study involving patients with PD in an outpatient neurology clinic in Mexico, using the following instruments: Spanish version of the Chronic Disease Self-Efficacy Scale (CDSES), Quality of Life Questionnaire PDQ-8, Movement Disorders Society-Unified Parkinson's disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and Non-Motor Symptom Scale (NMSS). Clinical and demographic variables were also recorded. Results: We included 73 patients with a mean age of 65 years and most patients were male. Patients with lower CDSES scores (&lt;7.75) had worse scores in MDS-UPDRS, NMSS, and PDQ-8 scales. CDSES scores were significantly correlated with MDS-UPDRS Part I (r=-0.497, p=&lt;0.001), Part II (r= -0.271, p=0.020), Part III (r=-0.304, p=&lt;0.001), PDQ-8 (r=-0.472, p=&lt;0.001), and NMSS (r=-0.504, p=&lt;0.001). Furthermore, when assessing the simultaneous effect of covariates associated with CDSES score, only Mood/Apathy domain of NMSS was significant (beta= -0.446, t= -3.807, p= 0.012). Conclusions: PD patients with lower self-efficacy scores had worse motor and non-motor symptomatology and quality of life. Mood/Apathy disorders were negatively associated with self-efficacy and contributed significantly to this measure.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920774
title: Bilateral frosted branch angiitis in an initial case of systemic lupus erythematosus

description: ABSTRACT Frosted branch angiitis is a rare and severe form of retinal vasculitis. It may be idiopathic or arise secondary to a systemic disease. We have reported here an unusually severe case of frosted branch angiitis in a previously healthy 13-year old girl who presented with significantly reduced vision in both eyes. In this case, frosted branch angiitis was one of the presentations of systemic lupus erythematosus. The characteristic patterns of frosted branch angiitis were observed on fundoscopy in both eyes. An extensive etiological study was conducted, whereby the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus was confirmed. Only a few such cases have been reported so far in the literature.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920774.v1
title: Bilateral frosted branch angiitis in an initial case of systemic lupus erythematosus

description: ABSTRACT Frosted branch angiitis is a rare and severe form of retinal vasculitis. It may be idiopathic or arise secondary to a systemic disease. We have reported here an unusually severe case of frosted branch angiitis in a previously healthy 13-year old girl who presented with significantly reduced vision in both eyes. In this case, frosted branch angiitis was one of the presentations of systemic lupus erythematosus. The characteristic patterns of frosted branch angiitis were observed on fundoscopy in both eyes. An extensive etiological study was conducted, whereby the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus was confirmed. Only a few such cases have been reported so far in the literature.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920777
title: Risk of Death in the Elderly with Excessive Daytime Sleepiness, Insomnia and Depression: Prospective Cohort Study in an Urban Population in Northeast Brazil

description: Abstract Background The close relationship between sleep regulation and cardiovascular events is one of the main focuses of research in contemporary medicine. Sleep habits and characteristics interfere with the cardiac rhythm and also with life expectancy, especially in the elderly. Objective To estimate the risk of death and cardiovascular events in community-dwelling elderly individuals complaining of insomnia and excessive daytime sleepiness over eight years of follow-up. Method A prospective cohort was designed with 160 elderly, with the first wave occurring in 2009 and the second in 2017. Follow-up groups were determined by exposure or not to complaints of primary insomnia and excessive daytime sleepiness with or without snoring. The covariates gender, marital status, depression, hypertension and diabetes were controlled. The primary outcome was death and the secondary outcome was cardio-cerebrovascular events (CCV). Outcome risks were estimated by relative risk (RR) through Poisson regression, adopting α≤0.05. Results There were 40 (25.97%: 19.04-32.89) deaths over the period and 48 (30.76%: 23.52-38.01) CCV. Men had a higher risk (RR = 1.88; 1.01-3.50) of death. Depression (RR = 2.04; 1.06-3.89), insomnia severity (RR = 2.39; 1.52-4.56) and sleep latency between 16-30 minutes (RR = 3, 54; 1.26-9.94) and 31-60 minutes (RR = 2.23; 1.12-4.47) increased the risk of death independently in community-dwelling elderly. CCV were predicted only in the hypertensive and / or diabetic elderly (RR = 8.30; 1.98-34.82). Conclusion Mortality in the elderly is influenced by the emotional state and difficulty in falling asleep, unlike CCVs, which are conditioned only by arterial and metabolic blood pressure conditions.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920777.v1
title: Risk of Death in the Elderly with Excessive Daytime Sleepiness, Insomnia and Depression: Prospective Cohort Study in an Urban Population in Northeast Brazil

description: Abstract Background The close relationship between sleep regulation and cardiovascular events is one of the main focuses of research in contemporary medicine. Sleep habits and characteristics interfere with the cardiac rhythm and also with life expectancy, especially in the elderly. Objective To estimate the risk of death and cardiovascular events in community-dwelling elderly individuals complaining of insomnia and excessive daytime sleepiness over eight years of follow-up. Method A prospective cohort was designed with 160 elderly, with the first wave occurring in 2009 and the second in 2017. Follow-up groups were determined by exposure or not to complaints of primary insomnia and excessive daytime sleepiness with or without snoring. The covariates gender, marital status, depression, hypertension and diabetes were controlled. The primary outcome was death and the secondary outcome was cardio-cerebrovascular events (CCV). Outcome risks were estimated by relative risk (RR) through Poisson regression, adopting α≤0.05. Results There were 40 (25.97%: 19.04-32.89) deaths over the period and 48 (30.76%: 23.52-38.01) CCV. Men had a higher risk (RR = 1.88; 1.01-3.50) of death. Depression (RR = 2.04; 1.06-3.89), insomnia severity (RR = 2.39; 1.52-4.56) and sleep latency between 16-30 minutes (RR = 3, 54; 1.26-9.94) and 31-60 minutes (RR = 2.23; 1.12-4.47) increased the risk of death independently in community-dwelling elderly. CCV were predicted only in the hypertensive and / or diabetic elderly (RR = 8.30; 1.98-34.82). Conclusion Mortality in the elderly is influenced by the emotional state and difficulty in falling asleep, unlike CCVs, which are conditioned only by arterial and metabolic blood pressure conditions.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920778
title: Solving Probabilistic Tasks in Geometrical Context by Primary School Students

description: Abstract: We present an exploratory study of solving probabilistic tasks proposed to a sample of 55 primary school 6th grade Costa Rican children on comparison of probabilities and the construction of the sample space, analysing their strategies and errors. Comparing the results with previous investigations, an improvement is observed in the item in which the comparison of favorable and possible cases can be applied, and where the comparison of areas is necessary; however, there were no differences in the item in which the order in which the favorable cases are located is introduced as a distractor. The sample space is generally correctly built in the cases of possible and equiprobable event, but not in those of impossible or certain events.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920778.v1
title: Solving Probabilistic Tasks in Geometrical Context by Primary School Students

description: Abstract: We present an exploratory study of solving probabilistic tasks proposed to a sample of 55 primary school 6th grade Costa Rican children on comparison of probabilities and the construction of the sample space, analysing their strategies and errors. Comparing the results with previous investigations, an improvement is observed in the item in which the comparison of favorable and possible cases can be applied, and where the comparison of areas is necessary; however, there were no differences in the item in which the order in which the favorable cases are located is introduced as a distractor. The sample space is generally correctly built in the cases of possible and equiprobable event, but not in those of impossible or certain events.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19920781.v1
title: Thermal Response of Three Strains of Hens Housed in a Cage-Free Aviary at the Amazon Rainforest

description: ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the thermal response of three strains of hens housed in a cage-free system at the Amazon rainforest in order to evaluate how feather coverage influences thermal exchange with the environment. The experimental method was completely randomized and treatments comprised three strains of hens (Rhode Island Red (red feathers with feathers on the neck), alternative strain FCI (red feathers without feathers on the neck), and alternative strain FCIII (white feathers without feathers on the neck)), with 20 hens (replicates) analyzed per strain. Thermal images of each bird were captured in order to record the birds’ surface temperatures on five points in five targets. All data collected in this study were subjected to ANOVA and subsequently to the Tukey test at p≤0.01 and p≤0.05. The aviary’s left wall presented a lower average temperature, indicating lower heat accumulation, while the floor presented higher heat accumulation. FCIII hens (white feathers) presented higher (p&lt;0.05) heat accumulation on the head and legs, and lower (p&lt;0.05) heat accumulation on the neck and back in relation to other analyzed hens, indicating increased heat exchange efficiency and high concentration of this process in specific body areas. FCI and FCIII hens (without feathers on the neck) presented lower (p&lt;0.05) heat accumulation on the neck and higher (p&lt;0.05) heat accumulation on the head and legs, indicating that the feather coverage directly influenced heat exchange mechanisms, and an increased area without feathers provided great heat exchange zones for birds in a tropical climate.