Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Further Tests of the Women and Peace Hypothesis: Evidence from Cross-National Survey Research in the Middle East

This research report replicates, extends, and adds a longitudinal dimension to a recently published analysis focusing on the relationship between sex and attitudes toward international conflict, and specifically on the hypothesis that women are more peace-oriented than men. The study being replicated utilized public opinion data from Israel, Egypt, Palestine, and Kuwait. The present report extends the analysis, employing one additional data set from Israel, two additional data sets from Palestine, and new data sets from Jordan and Lebanon. In contrast to findings from studies conducted in the United States and Europe, none of the nine Middle Eastern data sets yields a statistically significant relationship between sex and attitudes toward international conflict. The article considers possible reasons for the difference between findings from the Middle East and those based on research in the West. Emphasizing the notion of salience, it hypothesizes that characteristics of the conflict about which attitudes are held may be more important than country or regional attributes in determining the applicability of the women and peace hypothesis.
The Novel Triterpenoid 2-Cyano-3,12-dioxooleana-1,9-dien-28-oic acid (CDDO) Potently Enhances Apoptosis Induced by Tumor Necrosis Factor in Human Leukemia Cells*

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is a potent activator of the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway that leads to up-regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins. Hence, TNF induces apoptosis in the presence of inhibitors of protein or RNA synthesis. We report that a novel triterpenoid, 2-cyano-3,12-dioxooleana-1,9,-dien-28-oic acid (CDDO) inhibits NF-κB-mediated gene expression at a step after translocation of activated NF-κB to the nucleus. This effect appears specific for the NF-κB pathway as CDDO does not inhibit gene expression induced by the phorbol ester 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). CDDO in combination with TNF caused a dramatic increase in apoptosis in ML-1 leukemia cells that was associated with activation of caspase-8, cleavage of Bid, translocation of Bax, cytochrome crelease, and caspase-3 activation. Experiments with caspase inhibitors demonstrated that caspase-8 was an initiator of this pathway. TNF also induced a transient activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), which upon addition of CDDO was converted to a sustained activation. The activation of JNK was also dependent on caspase-8. Sustained activation of JNK is frequently pro-apoptotic, yet inhibition of JNK did not prevent Bax translocation or cytochromec release, demonstrating its lack of involvement in CDDO/TNF-induced apoptosis. Apoptosis was acutely induced by CDDO/TNF in every leukemia cell line tested including those that overexpress Bcl-xL, suggesting that the mitochondrial pathway is not required for apoptosis by this combination. These results suggest that the apoptotic potency of the CDDO/TNF combination occurs through selective inhibition of NF-κB-dependent anti-apoptotic proteins, bypassing potential mitochondrial resistance mechanisms, and thus may provide a basis for the development of novel approaches to the treatment of leukemia.
Patient preparation before surgery for cholangiocarcinoma.

AIM Multiorgan dysfunction is often encountered in jaundiced patients and may compromise the postoperative outcome after liver resection for cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). The aim of the present study was to elucidate evidence-based medicine regarding the benefit of the available preoperative treatments currently used for the preparation of patients before surgery for hilar CCA. MATERIAL AND METHODS An electronic search using the Medline database was performed to identify relevant articles relating to renal dysfunction, bacterial translocation, hemostasis impairment, malnutrition, liver failure, and postoperative outcome in jaundiced patients undergoing liver resection for CCA. RESULTS There is grade B evidence to expand the extracellular water volume and to administer oral synbiotic supplements. Intravenous vitamin K administration is an effective treatment. Perioperative nutritional support should be administered preferably by the enteral route in severely malnourished patients with compromised liver function undergoing extended liver resection (grade A evidence). There is only grade C evidence to recommend a portal vein embolization in patients with CCA when the future remnant liver volume is <40%. CONCLUSIONS A simplified scheme that might be useful in the management of patients presenting with obstructive jaundice was presented. Despite surgical technique improvements, preparation of patients for surgery will continue to be one of the major determinants for the postoperative prognosis of jaundiced patients.
'Why not now?' Triggers and barriers of new venture creation: a meta-analysis and multinational comparison of entrepreneurs' perspectives

Previous research focused on the determinants of entrepreneurial intent, whereas little is known about the influence of triggers and barriers on the transformation of entrepreneurial intent into behaviour. Using a mixed-method approach, we explore the factors that hinder or foster the translation of intent into action. The results of our meta-analysis show that prior research focused on the direct influence of triggers and barriers on intent. The content analysis of semi-structured interviews of 215 entrepreneurs in Germany, Russia, and the USA shows that founders included both triggers and barriers in their entrepreneurial act of starting a new business.
Curriculum Choice at A-Level: Why is Business Studies More Popular than Economics?

This paper uses ALIS data to model the factors that influence the choice between Economics and Business Studies A-level. These subjects are often perceived as close curriculum options and possible substitutes in the UK. Subject choice is modelled using an underlying latent variable approach, which employs both a binary and an ordered probit. On the basis of a series of counterfactual exercises an overall average grade differential, a measure of their comparative difficulty in terms of students expected examination performance, is estimated to be 0.7 of an (old) UCAS point. The estimating equation suggests that a unit increase in the grade differential increases the probability of selecting Business Studies over Economics by approximately 16 percentage points. There is evidence that females are less likely to choose Economics over Business Studies, and the more able students, in terms of their average GCSE score and mathematical ability, are more likely to select Economics. There is little evidence of parental background characteristics exerting significant effects on the choice between these two subjects, but there is evidence of ethnic characteristics being significant.
Interpersonal Callousness from Childhood to Adolescence: Developmental Trajectories and Early Risk Factors

Youth with a callous interpersonal style, consistent with features of adult psychopathy (e.g., lack of guilt, deceitful), are at risk for exhibiting severe and protracted antisocial behaviors. However, no studies have examined changes that occur in interpersonal callousness (IC) from childhood to adolescence, and little is known about the influence of early child, social, and contextual factors on trajectories of IC. The current study examined distinct patterns of IC across childhood and adolescence and associations with early risk factors. Participants were an at-risk sample of 503 boys (56% African American) assessed annually from around ages 7–15. Analyses examined child (anger dysregulation, fearfulness), social (peer, family, maltreatment), and contextual (psychosocial adversity) factors associated with teacher-reported IC trajectories across childhood and adolescence. Using latent class growth analysis, five trajectories of IC were identified (early-onset chronic, childhood-limited, adolescent-onset, moderate, low). Approximately 10% of boys followed an early-onset chronic trajectory, and a roughly equal percent of youth followed childhood-limited trajectory (10%) or an adolescent-onset trajectory (12%) of IC across development. Specifically, half of the boys with high IC in childhood did not continue to exhibit significant levels of these features into adolescence, whereas an equal proportion of youth with low IC in childhood demonstrated increasing levels during the transition to adolescence. Boys in the early-onset chronic group were characterized by the most risk factors and were differentiated from those with childhood-limited and adolescent-onset IC only by higher conduct problems, fearlessness, and emotional abuse/neglect. Findings are discussed in terms of developmental models of IC and several avenues for early targeted interventions.
Do unilateral trade preferences help export diversification? An investigation of the impact of European unilateral trade preferences on the extensive and intensive margin of trade

We analyze the impact of the EU unilateral trade preferences on both the intensive and the extensive margin of trade. Using a tobit and probit estimation we find that the impact of unilateral trade preferences on both margins is strictly linked to the sector under analysis and to the type of preferences a country benefits from. In particular, we find an anti-diversification effect along with a concentration of exports in agricultural products in the case of more stable preferential schemes, as represented by the African Caribbean and Pacific trade preferences. We also confirm that the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for least developing countries did not change the beneficiaries' export pattern, while the traditional GSP and the regime to combat drug production tend to promote diversification of exports.
Diversity of VacA Intermediate Region among Helicobacter pylori Strains from Several Regions of the World

ABSTRACT Helicobacter pylori is known to be a major cause of gastric carcinoma and peptic ulceration. cagA positivity and vacA's signal regions and mid-regions are well-characterized markers of H. pylori's virulence. Recently, an intermediate region has been identified as another strong marker of H. pylori-associated disease, and its i1 allele has been linked with severe diseases in colonized hosts. The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of the intermediate alleles in H. pylori isolates from China, Turkey, and Uruguay and from U.S. Africans and to compare their distribution with other well-characterized virulence factors. Originally, 123 H. pylori strains were studied, but 3 were excluded due to the failure to amplify the intermediate region in these samples. Therefore, a total of 120 strains were analyzed: 30 Chinese isolates, 35 Turkish isolates, 30 Uruguayan isolates, and 25 U.S. African isolates. The s type and the m type were determined by PCR amplification. The i type was identified by PCR amplification and DNA sequencing. CagA status was determined by PCR methodology. There was a strong correlation among CagA positivity, s1, and i1 in Chinese, U.S. African, and Uruguayan isolates, but less correlation among these markers in Turkish isolates. A new intermediate variant (i3) was identified in 25.7% of Turkish strains and 3.3% of the Chinese strains. In summary, the distribution of CagA positivity and s1 correlated with the i1 in the three populations, except in the Turkish population, which showed a disproportionate representation of the i3 allele. Phylogenetic mapping confirmed the i-typing method previously defined and adopted for this study. The phylogenetic tree showed country-specific correlation with the intermediate region. Our results showed that the i1 allele is strongly associated with CagA positivity and the vacA s1 allele, suggesting its role as a virulence marker and potential predictor for clinical outcome.
Trade Union Membership and Influence 1999-2009

This paper analyses the continued decline of trade unions in Britain and examines the possible implications for workers, employers, and unions themselves. Membership of trade unions declined precipitously in the 1980s and 1990s. The rate of decline has slowed in the most recent decade, but we find that unions remain vulnerable to further erosion of their membership and influence.
Toward an Understanding of the Sophistication of Product Costing Systems

ABSTRACT: Prior research into the sophistication of product costing systems has defined sophistication in terms of the methods used to include indirect overhead costs in product costs. Based on data collected from a questionnaire and field study interviews with British management accountants, 16 different definitions of sophistication were discovered, and the three main definitions were: (1) the assignment of indirect overhead costs to product costs, (2) the inclusion of all costs in product costs, and (3) the understandability of product costs by nonaccountants. When these three types of sophistication were measured by the number of cost pools and the number of cost drivers, all of the product costing systems were simple. Both of these measures of sophistication were unrelated to the management accountants' satisfaction with the accuracy of product costs. The implication of these findings is that the term sophistication is too broad to have any meaning in relation to product costing systems. Given that s.
Analyzing the usability of travel web sites in Hainan, China: The perspectives of e‐buyers and e‐lookers

Purpose – This study sets out to investigate the perceptions of e‐buyers and e‐lookers in Hainan, China on usability performance of China‐based travel web sites, an emerging sector of the tourism industry in China.Design/methodology/approach – Data collection was conducted in Hainan, a province in Southern China, in December 2007. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the views of users on different usability dimensions and attributes on China‐based travel web sites.Findings – Empirical findings indicated that respondents who only viewed China‐based travel web sites had an average usability performance. More importantly, there was no significant difference between e‐buyers and e‐lookers.Research limitations/implications – The major limitations of the study are the non‐random selection of respondents and that the respondents were from one province in China.Originality/value – With the views of 489 respondents, research findings should provide an overview for tourism practitioners to allocate their.
The Social Meaning of Money

A distinguished social scientist shows what money really does for us--and to us. The book describes how people have invented their own forms of currency, earmarking money in ways that baffle market theorists, incorporating funds into webs of friendship and family relations, and otherwise differentiating the process by which spending and saving takes place.
M&A Decisions and U.S. Firms’ Voluntary Adoption of Clawback Provisions in Executive Compensation Contracts

We examine whether US firms’ MA (2) firms that acquire targets with relatively poor accounting quality are more likely to adopt clawbacks; (3) clawbacks improve investor perception of MA and (4) executives are more responsive to the market when completing M&A deals if their compensation contracts include clawbacks. These results suggest that boards take a pro-active approach and consider factors that may lead to restatements when adopting clawbacks. Our results have implications for US policymakers, as the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 requires mandatory adoption of clawbacks. Our results also suggest that non-US firms can reduce managerial incentives to manipulate post-takeover earnings by using clawbacks.
Rhetorical patterns of argumentation in EFL journals of Persian and English

Argumentation is a core of article writing. Despite its importance, no English as a foreign language (EFL) research has examined how Iranian researchers set their argumentations based upon a well-established theoretical model of argumentation. This qualitative study intends to bridge this gap by building upon Toulmin’s (2003) model of argumentation to analyze the use of argumentation in EFL articles rhetorically. To this end, 90 articles from the reliable EFL journals in English and Persian were randomly selected with the purpose of discovering underlying conventions which lay behind their argumentations in discussion section of each. Articles in Persian corpus were written by native Persian writers, articles in English corpus were written by native English writers and English articles in inter-language corpus were written by native Persian speakers. This study pointed the differences among the three groups of articles. It was thus indicated that Iranians transfer their first language argumentation rhetorical patterns to their writing in a foreign language, i.e. English. This illustrates that culture may count for the argumentation elements presented in Iranian EFL articles. Other influential factors were also discussed. Finally, pedagogical implications were suggested in the context of second language learning.
Emerging intravesical drugs for the treatment of non muscle-invasive bladder cancer

ABSTRACT Introduction: Bladder cancer (BC) is a severe health burden: and has high recurrence and progression rates. Standard treatment starts with TURB followed by intravesical chemotherapy with Mitomycin C or immunotherapy with BCG. However, successful management still remains a challenge, because approximately 30% of patients have recurrence or progression within 5 years, and treatment has considerable side effects. Anticipating on the upcoming BCG shortage emphasizes, moreover, the necessity to develop and study novel treatments. This review explores emerging and novel salvage treatments as well as approaches of current treatments with decrease side-effects for non muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Areas covered: In this review, the authors provide an overview of the novel and emerging therapies for NMIBC. They also provide the currently available data and ongoing trials. Expert opinion: Key findings in the field of research on emerging intravesical drugs for the treatment of NMIBC are the promising results for device assisted treatments, treatment with intravesical immunotherapy, and treatments to expedite the immunotherapy checkpoint inhibitors. Other novel therapies are still in an experimental stage and have to make the transition towards the clinical setting to determine the benefit in terms of reduced side-effects, recurrence and progression rates.
Japanese has syllables: a reply to Labrune*

Labrune (2012b) proposes a syllable-less theory of Japanese, suggesting that Japanese has no syllables, with only moras below the foot. She argues that there is no phonetic or psycholinguistic evidence for the existence of syllables in Japanese. This reply summarises and re-examines previous experimental findings that demonstrate that Japanese does show evidence for syllables both phonetically and psycholinguistically. After an extensive review of previous studies, this reply also takes up a number of phonological and theoretical issues that require an explicit response from the perspective of a syllable proponent. On the basis of these considerations, this paper concludes that Japanese does have syllables.
Public relations, news production and changing patterns of source access in the British national media

This article aims to draw attention to the rising influence of professional public relations on the process of national news production in Britain and to discuss how this influence is affecting existing media-source relations. It notes that a wide range of organizations have begun adopting public relations as a means of achieving particular goals through media coverage. At the same time media institutions, operating under tighter editorial budgets, have become more dependent on information supplied by external sources. The two trends have resulted in the sudden growth of the professional public relations sector and changes to existing patterns of source access. How such trends are affecting various sources in their attempts to gain and manage media access is the debate that therefore takes up most of this piece. Is public relations simply another means by which institutional and corporate organizations are managing to secure access advantages, or is it providing new means whereby non-official sources can gain media access which was hitherto denied them?
The effects of financial crises on international stock market volatility transmission

With the integration of national economies through international trade and finance, the exploration of financial market interdependency has become profoundly important among market participants and scholars. Focusing on the Asian and global financial crises of 1997-98 and 2008-09 for Australia, Singapore, the UK, and the US, this paper examines the nature of such an interaction between stock market returns and their volatility. We use a multivariate generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (MGARCH) model and weekly data ( January 1992-June 2009). Based on the results obtained from the mean return equations, we could not find any significant impact on returns arising from the Asian crisis and more recent global financial crisis across these four markets. However, both crises significantly increased the stock return volatilities across all of the four markets. Not surprisingly, it is also found that the US stock market is the most crucial market impacting on the volatilities of smaller economies such as Australia. Our results provide evidence of own and cross ARCH and GARCH effects among all four markets, suggesting the existence of significant volatility and cross volatility spillovers across all four markets. A high degree of time-varying co-volatility among these markets indicates that investors will be highly unlikely to benefit from diversifying their financial portfolio by acquiring stocks within these four countries only.
REDUCED NOCTURNAL MELATONIN SECRETION IN CHRONIC SCHIZOPHRENIA: RELATIONSHIP TO BODY WEIGHT

Melatonin was estimated by RIA in samples taken at 24.00 h and 08.00 h from twenty‐one male chronic schizophrenics and twelve age‐sex matched controls and subsequently in more frequent nocturnal samples from nine of the chronic schizophrenics. The 24.00 h melatonin level and the 24.00/08.00 h melatonin ratio were significantly reduced in the chronic schizophrenic patients. Similar results, with no evidence of subsidiary peaks of melatonin secretion, were obtained in those patients who were retested. No relationships between melatonin secretion and age or anterior pituitary hormone secretion were demonstrated, but an effect of body weight was noted which accounted, in part, for the difference between schizophrenics and controls. These results suggest that the low levels of melatonin noted in studies on depressed patients may not be specific and that body weight must be controlled in subsequent studies of melatonin secretion in patients with psychiatric disease.
Technological Change and the Tragedy of the Commons: The Lofoten Fishery over 130 Years

We analyze the effect of technological change on labor and total factor productivity in the Lofoten fishery, using detailed data for 130 years. Our findings support the important role of natural resources in productivity and improvements in welfare in natural resource–based industries. The total factor productivity has risen faster than labor productivity in the fishery, indicating that the considerable technological progress in this industry has to some extent been neutralized by the decline in the fish stock. Open access to the fish resource most probably led to this situation. (JEL Q22)