Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular diversity and distribution of marine fungi across 130 European environmental samples

Environmental DNA and culture-based analyses have suggested that fungi are present in low diversity and in low abundance in many marine environments, especially in the upper water column. Here, we use a dual approach involving high-throughput diversity tag sequencing from both DNA and RNA templates and fluorescent cell counts to evaluate the diversity and relative abundance of fungi across marine samples taken from six European near-shore sites. We removed very rare fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) selecting only OTUs recovered from multiple samples for a detailed analysis. This approach identified a set of 71 fungal ‘OTU clusters' that account for 66% of all the sequences assigned to the Fungi. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that this diversity includes a significant number of chytrid-like lineages that had not been previously described, indicating that the marine environment encompasses a number of zoosporic fungi that are new to taxonomic inventories. Using the sequence datasets, we identified cases where fungal OTUs were sampled across multiple geographical sites and between different sampling depths. This was especially clear in one relatively abundant and diverse phylogroup tentatively named Novel Chytrid-Like-Clade 1 (NCLC1). For comparison, a subset of the water column samples was also investigated using fluorescent microscopy to examine the abundance of eukaryotes with chitin cell walls. Comparisons of relative abundance of RNA-derived fungal tag sequences and chitin cell-wall counts demonstrate that fungi constitute a low fraction of the eukaryotic community in these water column samples. Taken together, these results demonstrate the phylogenetic position and environmental distribution of 71 lineages, improving our understanding of the diversity and abundance of fungi in marine environments.
How Citizens Think about National Issues: A Matter of Responsibility

A domain-specific model of public opinion is proposed in which attribution of issue responsibility is a significant determinant of individuals' issue opinions and attitudes. Two dimensions of issue responsibility are assessed: causal responsibility focuses on the origins of the issue, while treatment responsibility focuses on alleviation of the issue. The model is tested with a sample of four issues: poverty, racial inequality, crime, and terrorism. The results indicate that for all four issues attributions of responsibility significantly affect issue opinions independently of partisanship, liberalconservative orientation, information, and socioeconomic status. In general, agents of causal responsibility are viewed negatively while agents of treatment responsibility are viewed positively. In conclusion, the importance of domain-specificity for public opinion research is considered.
Women on Board and Firm Performance

This study addresses the research question of whether companies with female directors on the board have a higher average performance than companies with no female directors. The debate about the low representation of women in the top management of companies involves both moral arguments (equality between men and women) and economic arguments (companies with more women perform better). This study investigates the financial performance of 99 Dutch listed companies with and without women on the board. The analysis extends earlier used methods of Catalyst and McKinsey, two studies that are often cited in the literature (although both have a number of methodological shortcomings). This article adds to the international debate and applies useful methods to 99 listed companies in the Dutch Female Board Index. The results contribute to this often normative debate. They show that firms with women perform better than those without women. The differences are statistically significant for return on equity. Regression analyses confirm these findings.Open access available at: DOI:10.1007/2Fs10997-011-9186-1
Some Further Evidence on the Law of One Price: The Law of One Price Still Holds

International trade models often postulate the existence of a representative price, i.e., the price which prevails at all markets. This is known as the "Law of One Price. " In this paper, the law of one price is tested for seven commodities among four countries by explicitly considering transaction costs. The empirical evidence suggests that, in most cases, the law of one price cannot be rejected asa maintained hypothesis. Furthermore, for the remaining cases transaction costs seem to cause the failure.
Customer Orientation of Service Employees and Rapport: Influences On Service-Outcome Variables in Full-Service Restaurants

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of the construct of “customer orientation in service employees” (COSE) on service-outcome variables. In particular, the study assesses (a) the direct influence of COSE on two service-outcome variables (“customer satisfaction” and “affective commitment”); (b) the indirect influence of COSE on these two variables via the mediating construct of “rapport”; and (c) ultimately, the effect of COSE on “repurchase intention” via the other variables. The article develops a conceptual model of the constructs involved (COSE, “rapport,” “customer satisfaction,” “affective commitment,” and “repurchase intention”) and proposes hypotheses regarding the relationships within the model. The conceptual model and hypotheses are then tested in a sample of customers of full-service restaurants. The study finds that COSE enhances customer satisfaction and affective commitment, and that rapport mediates the effects of COSE on these variables. The study also finds that COSE ultimately enhances repurchase intention via these variables. The study thus confirms the importance of COSE and rapport in enhancing customer satisfaction and retention in the food-service industry.
Effect of diffusive and convective substrate transport on biofilm structure formation: a two-dimensional modeling study.

A two-dimensional model for quantitative evaluation of the effect of convective and diffusive substrate transport on biofilm heterogeneity was developed. The model includes flow computation around the irregular biofilm surface, substrate mass transfer by convection and diffusion, biomass growth, and biomass spreading. It was found that in the absence of detachment, biofilm heterogeneity is mainly determined by internal mass transfer rate of substrates and by the initial percentage of carrier-surface colonization. Model predictions show that biofilm structures with highly irregular surface develop in the mass transfer-limited regime. As the nutrient availability increases, there is a gradual shift toward compact and smooth biofilms. A smaller fraction of colonized carrier surface leads to a patchy biofilm. Biofilm surface irregularity and deep vertical channels are, in this case, caused by the inability of the colonies to spread over the whole substratum surface. The maximum substrate flux to the biofilm was greatly influenced by both internal and external mass transfer rates, but not affected by the inoculation density. In general, results of the present model were similar to those obtained by a simple diffusion-reaction-growth model.
Multifactor Productivity and Idea Transmission Channels in the Malaysian Economy

This paper examines the contribution of multifactor productivity (MFP) growth to output per worker growth in Malaysia from 1961-2000. MFP growth is found to contribute about 74 percent to output per worker growth from 1987-2000, but has only minimal or negative contribution to growth in the earlier years. This paper then attempts to explain why MFP growth has such a large contribution to output per worker growth in the period 1987-2000 by looking at international trade as channel of technology or idea transfer from the G5 countries into Malaysia. MFP grows because ideas from these advanced nations are transferred into the economy through this channel. Regressions using OLS are carried out on the log-linearized idea production function. The time frame for the regressions is from 1980 to 2000. The empirical results suggest that trade is an important channel through which technology or ideas are transferred into Malaysia, even when other possible channels foreign direct investment and tertiary education of workers are controlled for.
The prognosis in unpsychoanalysed recovery from neurosis.

A survey of follow-up studies comprising 249 patients whose neurotic symptoms have either ceased or improved markedly after psychotherapy of various kinds other than psychoanalysis shows only 4 relapses (1.6%). This evidence contradicts the psychoanalytic expectation of inferior durability of recoveries obtained without psychoanalysis and does away with the chief reason for regarding analysis as the treatment of choice for neurotic suffering. The facts presented have gravely damaging implications for the whole psychoanalytic theory of neurosis, but accord with a theory based on principles of learning.
National Governance and European Integration: Intergovernmental Relations in Germany

The impact of European integration on the governance of EU Member States bas received growing attention in recent years. In analysing the Europeanization of national political systems, intergovernmental relations are of special significance, particularly in strongly decentralized or federalized polities. Focusing on Germany, it can be shown that European integration has had a major impact on Federd-Lander and inter-Lander relations. However, rather than challenge established features of the intergovernmental system, European integration has tended to affirm, if not reinforce, key structural principles of German federalism. Europeanization is not, therefore, necessarily equivalent to the transformation of national systems of governance. Copyright 1995 BPL.
Policy Forum: Competition Issues in the Australian Grocery Industry Supermarkets and Shopper Dockets: The Australian Experience

,restricts certain practices such as tying, bun-dling and exclusive dealing, particularly wherethese practices have the purpose or effect ofsubstantially lessening competition.1 Recently, Australia has witnessed the rapidgrowth in bundling of petrol and groceries.This bundling usually involves supermarketcustomers receiving a fixed ‘per litre’ discounton their petrol purchases if they spend morethan a certain amount on groceries. There arespecific linkages between particular supermar-ket outlets and particular petrol retailers. Colessupermarkets offer discount vouchers for Shellpetrol while Woolworths and Safeway super-markets offer discount vouchers for Caltexpetrol.Australia is not the first country to have seenthese types of schemes. For example, groceriesand petrol have often been bundled together inthe United Kingdom. Similarly the bundling ofpetrol and groceries has recently been intro-duced into New Zealand (see Chapple 2003). The Australian experience, however, differsfrom that of many overseas countries in thesense that it involves established supermarketsjoining with established petrol companieswhere each participant continues to maintaintheir existing outlets. For example, in theUnited Kingdom, Asda, Safeway, Sainbury’sand Tesco have long offered discount petrolschemes. However, these chain stores usuallyalso sell petrol in their supermarket forecourts.In other words, the bundling scheme involves aso-called hypermarket, which sells both gro-ceries and petrol at a single location. Pak’NPay has adopted a similar approach in NewZealand.In contrast, the bundling of groceries andpetrol in Australia generally involves estab-lished supermarkets and petrol chains beinglinked by discounts even though there is nonecessary geographic link between outlets. If acustomer buys more than $30 worth of grocer-ies at a Coles supermarket, then that customerreceives a (currently) 4 cents per litre discounton petrol purchased at a Shell petrol station.The voucher or docket received by the cus-tomer can be used at hundreds of Shell outletsand there is no reason to expect that a Shellpetrol station will be located in the immediateproximity of the supermarket. Indeed, otherpetrol outlets may be conveniently located nearthe Coles supermarket, but the discountvoucher will not be redeemable at these outlets.The same holds for the arrangement betweenWoolworths and Caltex.The bundling of essentially unrelated prod-ucts in oligopolistic markets creates cause forconcern. Supermarkets in Australia are domi-nated by Coles and Woolworths with somesmaller chains such as Foodland and IGA hav-ing a fringe presence. Petrol wholesaling and
Entrepreneurial Team Formation: An Exploration of New Member Addition

We explored in this article the process of entrepreneurial team formation. As theory specific to this topic is scant, we drew first on disparate views of team formation and its correlates; we then called upon in–depth interviews to provide deeper, nuanced insights into this dynamic process of creation. Our focus is team member addition. We identified resource–seeking and interpersonal attraction as primary alternative motivators for new teammate addition; however, we also illustrated how these motivations may be complementary in practice. Finally, we considered in some depth how new member identification and selection processes may unfold as new ventures are formed.
Incorporating Forgetting into Learning Curves

Organisational learning curve analysis and its inverse, organisational forgetting are discussed. The issues involved and a framework for analysing and incorporating forgetting and learning in organisational environments are presented. A conceptual model is developed identifying and analysing such factors as turnover, communication and documentation, which have a significant impact on the intesity of forgetting. Mathematical models are developed and applied to production environments. A major finding which results form the models' analysis is related to the asymptotic value of the cycle time as a function of the nature of the item produced and the length of interruption.
Mayors and Urban Governance: Developing a Facilitative Leadership Style

Modern urban governance, because of its demanding and complex environment, requires a facilitative style of local political leadership that is visible, outward looking, open, and less partisan than more established forms. This article examines the impact of new constitutional expressions of local political leadership in England since the introduction of executive forms of governance for larger municipalities in 2002. The mayoral form, though established in only a handful of municipalities, is showing signs of supporting a more facilitative leadership style compared to the more widespread council leader model. This finding may be explained by the decision-making resources of mayors and their relationship to followers, which are, in turn, created by the institutional framing of their role by new constitutional arrangements. Political leadership is not simply a product of personality, capabilities, or contingency—although all of these factors play a part. Crucially, from the perspective of reformers, institutional design does make a difference and can encourage leadership practices of a particular style and form.
Knowledge management and communities of practice in the private sector: lessons for modernizing the National Health Service in England and Wales

The National Health Service (NHS) in England and Wales has embarked upon a radical and farreaching programme of change and reform. However, to date the results of organizational quality and service improvement initiatives in the public sector have been mixed, if not to say disappointing, with anticipated gains often failing to materialize or to be sustained in the longer term. This paper draws on the authors' recent extensive research into one of the principal methodologies for bringing about the sought after step change in the quality of health care in England and Wales. It explores how private sector knowledge management (KM) concepts and practices might contribute to the further development of public sector quality improvement initiatives in general and to the reform of the NHS in particular. Our analysis suggests there have been a number of problems and challenges in practice, not least a considerable naivety around the issue of knowledge transfer and 'knowledge into practice' within health care organizations. We suggest four broad areas for possible development which also have important implications for other public sector organizations.
Diabetes Mellitus Is Associated with Hepatic Encephalopathy in Patients with HCV Cirrhosis

OBJECTIVES:An increased ammonia level of gut bacterial origin is an important mediator in the pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy (HE), and constipation is a frequent precipitant of hepatic coma. Because diabetes mellitus (DM) may be associated with delayed gastrointestinal transit, we speculated that its presence in patients with HCV-related cirrhosis would predispose to and exacerbate HE.METHODS:Sixty-five patients (50 men, 15 women) with HCV-related cirrhosis attending a liver transplantation clinic were assessed for severity of liver disease and presence of DM in a cross-sectional study. A modified Child-Pugh score that excluded HE was calculated. Frequency and severity of HE (absent, mild, and severe) in diabetic and nondiabetic patients were assessed. Clinical severity of cirrhosis and results of neuropsychometric testing in diabetic and nondiabetic patients with mild and severe HE were compared.RESULTS:Fifty-four patients (83%) had HE (33 mild, 21 severe). Twenty patients (31%) had DM. HE was present in 19 (95%) patients with diabetes and 35 (78%) patients without diabetes (p = 0.087). Severity of HE was greater in diabetic (35% mild, 60% severe) than in nondiabetic patients (58% mild, 20% severe) (p = 0.007). In both the mild and severe HE categories, severity of liver disease in diabetic patients was otherwise milder than in the nondiabetic patients.CONCLUSIONS:Diabetic patients with HCV cirrhosis have more severe HE. Diabetic patients have severe HE at earlier stages of biochemical decompensation and portal hypertension compared with nondiabetic patients.
Stress and the undergraduates.

OBJECTIVES To assess the psychological health of undergraduates during their initial entry to the University, and to identify common sources of stress in their lives. METHOD All first year law and medical undergraduates were administered a series of questionnaires. RESULTS Of the 135 medical and 128 law first year undergraduates surveyed using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) to measure psycho-emotional distress, 77 medical students (57%) and 69 law students (47.3%) scored above the traditional cut-off of 4/5 points. Law students had significantly lower (p < 0.05) Life-Events Scores (mean 40.62, SD 29.30) than medical students (mean 55.62, SD 31.70). There was no statistical significant difference between medical (mean 89.32, SD 18.36) and law (mean 93.39, SD +/- 19.76) students (p = 0.88) in Type A Behavioural Pattern (TAPB). Hostelites (n = 67) reported significantly higher (p < 0.05) LES (mean 56.22, SD +/- 28.17) than non-hostelites (n = 196, mean 45.40, SD +/- 32.04). The commonest life events experienced in the past twelve months by the students were: (1) Difficulty keeping up with reading (84.4%), (2) Increased amount of academic work (82.5%), (3) Difficulty in tutorials (66.5%), (4) Little time for personal activities (61.6%) and (5) Difficulties in lectures as well as (6) peer competition (each 46.8%). Law students cited more relationship problems, while medical students were more troubled by academic work. When faced with a problem, more than seven out of ten students would turn to friends and classmates for help. The other common avenues of support were the family, and religion. A substantial proportion of law (37.5%) and medical (31.1%) students preferred to keep their problems to themselves; significantly (p < 0.00001) more of them (72.2%) were high GHQ scorers than other students (high GHQ scorers 47.4%). Interestingly 27.8% of these students turn to religion for emotional support. CONCLUSION Health education programmes, mentorship and a reduction in information overload in the curriculum can be important strategies to enable undergraduates cope better with the demands of tertiary education.
Evaluation of the anticomplement immunofluorescence test for detection of antibody to varicella-zoster virus

The anticomplement immunofluorescence (ACIF) test was compared with complement fixation and fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen procedures for the detection of antibody to varicella-zoster virus. All of 50 sera from pregnant women contained antibody measured by ACIF (titer, greater than or equal to 1:10); only 27 (54%) were positive by complement fixation (P less than 0.01). For 16 paired sera obtained before and after varicella-zoster virus infection and tested by ACIF and fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen, the result agreed in 27 determinations (sensitivity, 94%; specificity, 81%). Of 99 sera submitted for routine determinations of immune status to the virus, 89 showed comparable results for both tests (sensitivity, 92.5%; specificity, 88%). The ACIF test offers a specific and sensitive alternative to the fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen procedure for the detection of antibody to varicella-zoster virus. In addition, the ACIF test is rapid, easy to perform, and uses commercially available reagents.
Outcome of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in a population-based study.

BACKGROUND The importance of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is increasingly recognized. We conducted a study to evaluate the epidemiologic features and outcomes of patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and to compare the findings with those from patients who had heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. METHODS From April 1, 1999, through March 31, 2001, we studied 2802 patients admitted to 103 hospitals in the province of Ontario, Canada, with a discharge diagnosis of heart failure whose ejection fraction had also been assessed. The patients were categorized in three groups: those with an ejection fraction of less than 40 percent (heart failure with reduced ejection fraction), those with an ejection fraction of 40 to 50 percent (heart failure with borderline ejection fraction), and those with an ejection fraction of more than 50 percent (heart failure with preserved ejection fraction). Two groups were studied in detail: those with an ejection fraction of less than 40 percent and those with an ejection fraction of more than 50 percent. The main outcome measures were death within one year and readmission to the hospital for heart failure. RESULTS Thirty-one percent of the patients had an ejection fraction of more than 50 percent. Patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction were more likely to be older and female and to have a history of hypertension and atrial fibrillation. The presenting history and clinical examination findings were similar for the two groups. The unadjusted mortality rates for patients with an ejection fraction of more than 50 percent were not significantly different from those for patients with an ejection fraction of less than 40 percent at 30 days (5 percent vs. 7 percent, P=0.08) and at 1 year (22 percent vs. 26 percent, P=0.07); the adjusted one-year mortality rates were also not significantly different in the two groups (hazard ratio, 1.13; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.94 to 1.36; P=0.18). The rates of readmission for heart failure and of in-hospital complications did not differ between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS Among patients presenting with new-onset heart failure, a substantial proportion had an ejection fraction of more than 50 percent. The survival of patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction was similar to that of patients with reduced ejection fraction.