Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of SERVQUAL and DINESERV for Measuring Meal Experiences in Eating Establishments

Abstract During the last two decades, SERVQUAL and DINESERV have been widely used to measure service quality in the hospitality industry. At the same time, interest in and research of meal experiences have increased. This article develops a measurement tool for meal experiences by combining SERVQUAL, DINESERV, and meal experience models. By measuring the meal experience, eating establishment owners should be able to increase the number of customers returning to their restaurants. Three sets of statements based on SERVQUAL were discussed in terms of six meal experience aspects, resulting in 14 new statements covering different parts of the meal experience; 11 were included in the new set of statements. Both old statements and new statements were assembled into a list of 89 statements and then randomized; the entire list was presented to three professional experts in the hospitality industry who favored statements that would cover an entire meal experience. This resulted in 29 new and old statements that together cover six meal experience aspects: core product, restaurant interior, personal social meeting, company, restaurant atmosphere, and management control system. This article develops new statements that will be adjusted to meal experience and its complexity in eating establishments. This instrument needs testing in real settings, which will be reported on in future research.
Jackknifing Stock Return Predictions

We show that the general bias reducing technique of jackknifing can be successfully applied to stock return predictability regressions. Compared to standard OLS estimation, the jackknifing procedure delivers virtually unbiased estimates with mean squared errors that generally dominate those of the OLS estimates. The jackknifing method is very general, as well as simple to implement, and can be applied to models with multiple predictors and overlapping observations. Unlike most previous work on inference in predictive regressions, no specific assumptions regarding the data generating process for the predictors are required. A set of Monte Carlo experiments show that the method works well in finite samples and the empirical section finds that out-of-sample forecasts based on the jackknifed estimates tend to outperform those based on the plain OLS estimates. The improved forecast ability also translates into economically relevant welfare gains for an investor who uses the predictive regression, with jackknifed estimates, to time the market.
Experimental Chagas' disease in rhesus monkeys. I. Clinical, parasitological, hematological and anatomo-pathological studies in the acute and indeterminate phase of the disease.

Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were infected subcutaneously with 1.0 x 10(4) to 1.5 x 10(4) metacyclic trypomastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi (Colombian strain). Parasitological and immunological parameters were evaluated in these animals for periods of 1 month to over 3 years. A chagoma was observed between the 3rd and the 13th day after infection (a.i.) and patent parasitaemia between the 13th and 59th day a.i. Thereafter, parasites were demonstrated only by haemoculture and/or xenodiagnosis. Circulating specific IgM and IgG antibodies were observed as early as in the 2nd week a.i. IgG levels persisted until the end of the experiment, but IgM antibodies were detectable nine months a.i. Haematological alterations comprised leucocytosis and lymphocytosis. Electrocardiographic alterations were minor and transient, similar to those observed in non-lethal human acute Chagas' myocarditis. Myocarditis and myositis, characterized by multiple foci of lympho-histiocyte inflammatory infiltrate, were present in monkeys sacrificed on the 41st, 70th and 76th day but not in the animal sacrificed 3 years and 3 months a. i. The results suggest that Chagas' disease in rhesus monkeys reproduces the acute and indeterminate phases of human Chagas' disease.
Whole-body calorimetry studies in adult men

1. Studies have claimed that an enhancement of the thermic effect of a meal (TEM) is an important adaptive mechanism to account for energy wastage during over-feeding. 2. Eight healthy normal-weight young men were studied during 1 week on a weight-maintenance diet and again during 1 week when they were over-fed by 50% with fat. During each experimental week, the subject occupied a whole-body indirect calorimeter at 26° for two separate periods of 36 h. The periods differed in the amount of exercise they contained. The thermic responses to the identical meals were measured during rest on one occasion and during exercise on a bicycle ergometer on the other. 3. On the maintenance diet the absolute TEM (kJ/min) was 1.51 (SD 0.42) at rest and 1.31 (SD 0.75) during exercise (no significant difference). The equivalent values (kJ/min) on the over-feeding diet were 2.2 (SD 0.48) and 1.97 (SD 0.64) (no significant difference). 4. The absence of a significant interaction between TEM and exercise was also demonstrated by the fact that the effect of over-feeding on total 24 h energy expenditure was unaffected by the subject's level of physical activity while in the calorimeter. 5. In conclusion, the present study has provided no evidence to support the hypothesis that TEM is enhanced during exercise.
Economy, Type of Government, and Strategic Timing of Elections: Calling Opportunistic Early Elections in OECD Democracies

Although mainstream models of accountability assume that the election date is exogenously fixed, in almost any parliamentary democracy governments may choose it. This article proposes a theory of the strategic timing of elections that highlights the role of the economy and the type of government. First, incumbents will call early elections when the economy is growing and inflation rates are low. Nevertheless, coalition and majority governments will fall short of the ability and the incentives to do so, respectively. As a result, the effect of the state of the economy on the opportunistic dissolution of the parliament will be stronger when there is only one party in government, and it lacks a majority in the lower house. These patterns are examined by using data from 21 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development democracies between 1945 and 2010.
The interleukin-6 family cytokine interleukin-11 regulates homeostatic epithelial cell turnover and promotes gastric tumor development.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Gastric cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, mainly as a result of late-stage detection. Interleukin (IL)-11 is a multifunctional cytokine reported to be up-regulated in human gastric cancer. METHODS We investigated the importance of IL-11 in gastric cancer progression by examining its role in a variety of mouse gastric tumor models, as well as in nonneoplastic and tumor tissues taken from gastric cancer patients. We then determined the transcriptional and translational outcomes of IL-11 overexpression in normal gastric mucosa and identified a novel gene signature important early in the progression toward gastric tumorigenesis. RESULTS IL-11 was up-regulated significantly in 4 diverse mouse models of gastric pathology as well as in human biopsy specimens adjacent to and within gastric cancer. Removal of IL-11 co-receptor alpha significantly reduced HKbeta-/- mouse fundic hyperplasia and ablated gp130(757F/F) mouse tumorigenesis. Exogenous IL-11 but not IL-6 activated oncogenic signal transducer and activator of transcription-3, and altered expression of novel proliferative and cytoprotective genes RegIII-beta, RegIII-gamma, gremlin-1, clusterin, and growth arrest specific-1 in wild-type gastric mucosa, a gene signature common in gp130(757F/F) and HKbeta-/- tumors as well as nonneoplastic mucosa of gastric cancer patients. One week of chronic IL-11 administration in wild-type mice sustained the gene signature, causing pretumorigenic changes in both antrum and fundus. CONCLUSIONS Increased gastric IL-11 alters expression of proliferative and cytoprotective genes and promotes pretumorigenic cellular changes.
A Universal Integral as Common Frame for Choquet and Sugeno Integral

The Choquet and the Sugeno integral provide a useful tool in many problems in engineering and social choice where the aggregation of data is required. However, their applicability is restricted because of the special operations used in the construction of these integrals. Therefore, we provide a concept of integrals generalizing both the Choquet and the Sugeno case. For functions with values in the nonnegative real numbers, universal integrals are introduced and investigated, which can be defined on arbitrary measurable spaces and for arbitrary monotone measures. For a fixed pseudo-multiplication on the nonnegative real numbers, the smallest and the greatest universal integrals are given. Finally, another construction method for obtaining universal integrals is introduced, and the restriction to the unit interval, i.e., to fuzzy integrals, is considered.
Bankruptcy risk, productivity and firm strategy

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between productivity, firm strategy and bankruptcy risk. Design/methodology/approach - – This paper uses data envelopment analysis to compute productivity of firms and uses archival data to empirically examine the relationship between productivity, firm strategy and bankruptcy risk. Findings - – The results indicate that productivity has a positive effect on reducing bankruptcy risk, and the results also indicate that pursuing either of the generic strategies successfully has a positive effect on reducing bankruptcy risk. The study also brings to light the mediating effect of productivity in the relationship between strategy and bankruptcy risk. Research limitations/implications - – The effect of productivity and firm strategy on bankruptcy risk is of importance to external stakeholders such as lenders and investors to evaluate the bankruptcy risk of such a firm. Internal stakeholders (managers and management consultants) will find this study expedient by using productivity enhancements and effective strategy implementation to mitigate bankruptcy risk. Originality/value - – This is the first paper to highlight the link between productivity and bankruptcy risk, firm strategy and bankruptcy risk and the mediation effects of productivity on the link between a cost leadership strategy and bankruptcy risk.
Retrospective Case Series Analysis of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease on Azathioprine

Objectives: The aim of this study was to look at our practice of using azathioprine and to compare our results with those in published trials both from the point of view of response and also the side-effect profile. Design: A retrospective case series analysis was done on patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who were on azathioprine at Leicester General Hospital. Methods: 111 patients (47 males, 64 females, mean age 35.3 years) were included from gastroenterology outpatients records between November 1997 and August 1998. Clinical and demographic details were collected. Response in Crohn’s disease was determined using the Harvey-Bradshaw index. In case of ulcerative colitis the following parameters were used: stool frequency; rectal bleeding, weight gain, and general well-being. Logistic regression was performed to look at the influence of age, sex and diagnosis in relation to the response/relapse rate. Results: The average duration of treatment with azathioprine was 28.6 months. The starting dose of 1.53 mg/kg was similar to the maintenance dose (1.51 mg/kg). 58 patients had Crohn’s disease and 53 patients were diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. 85 patients were steroid-dependent, 9 steroid-resistant, and 17 patients were started on azathioprine on the basis of extensive disease either seen at the time of endoscopy or radiologically. Improvement in clinical features at 3, 6 and 12 months was 69.5, 77 and 84.1%, respectively. 74% patients showed an improvement in relapse rates during the first year on azathioprine compared to 1 year prior to treatment. 68% patients who had shown improvement at 1 year were no longer taking steroids (p = 0.002). Logistic regression did not show any statistically significant influence of age, sex or diagnosis on response. 4.5% patients had leukopenia requiring dose reductions. Severe leukopenia (leukocyte count <2.5 × 109/l) occurred in 3.6% patients. Conclusions: Response rates in our IBD patients on azathioprine are comparable with those of the published data despite using a relatively smaller dose.
The Stability of Islamic Banks During the Subprime Crisis

This empirical study examines the stability of Islamic banks during the subprime crisis. It covers a sample of fourteen Islamic banks and fourteen conventional banks. The conditional variance (volatility) of returns was used to measure stability. The E-GARCH and GJR-GARCH asymmetric models were used to estimate volatility due to their ability to take into account the leverage effect. The results of this study show that conventional bank returns were highly volatile during the crisis period, while Islamic banks saw their volatility - initially low - increase during the crisis, though to a much more moderate extent. These results corroborate both the hypothesis that Islamic banks were at least partially immune to the subprime crisis and the underlying hypothesis that Islamic banks are not subject to the same risks as conventional banks - although, due to their links with the real economy, they do eventually suffer the consequences of the subprime crisis.
Risk attitude in lotteries offering real products and monetary outcomes

Using two auction mechanisms, the second price auction and the Becker, DeGroot, and Marschak mechanism, we examined individuals’ buying and selling bidding patterns in three types of binary lotteries: a lottery offering only real products, a lottery offering only monetary outcomes and mixed lotteries offering both real products and monetary value outcomes. Participants’ willingness to pay and willingness to accept for the product lottery suggest risk neutrality. In contrast, participants’ bidding prices for the monetary and mixed lotteries suggest risk aversion. These findings suggest that an individual's risk attitude depends upon the type of lottery, perhaps indicating a “product illusion. ”
ON THE WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY FOR RECREATIONAL FISHING—ESCAPED FARMED VERSUS WILD ATLANTIC SALMON

This article explores to what extent escaped farmed salmon from fish farms affect the willingness-to-pay for recreational fishing of Atlantic salmon in Norwegian rivers. This is a first attempt to explore the economic consequences of escaped farmed species in terms of the anglers’ willingness-to-pay for fishing permits working through the relationship between the price of fishing permits and the share of escaped farmed salmon. The empirical analysis is based on the results from a contingent valuation survey conducted in Norway. It is found that the presence of escaped farmed salmon in Norwegian rivers may have severe economic consequences on the willingness-to-pay for recreational fishing with a reduction of up to 85% compared to a situation with a ‘pure’ wild salmon stock.
Altered Expression of, ‐Adrenergic Receptor Kinase and 1‐Adrenergic Receptors in the Failing Human Heart

BackgroundIn chronic heart failure, the positive inotropic effects of β-adrenergic receptor agonists are greatly reduced, in part as a result of two alterations of the cardiac β-adrenergic receptors: loss of their function (receptor uncoupling) and reduction of their number (downregulation). In vitro studies have shown that a major mechanism leading to βadrenergic receptor uncoupling involves phosphorylation of the receptors by the specific f8-adrenergic receptor kinase (.βARK). Methods and ResultsWe have therefore investigated expression of βARK and β-adrenergic receptors in samples from the left ventricles of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy or ischemic cardiomyopathy and from nonfailing control ventricles. Contractile responses to β-receptor stimulation were decreased in the failing hearts compared with control hearts, whereas those to forskolin and calcium remained unchanged. The messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of βARK, β2- and β2-receptors, and of glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase and P-actin as controls were measured by quantitative polymerase chain reactions. In addition, P3ARK enzyme activity assays were performed, and the levels of β1- and β2-receptors were determined by radioligand binding. βARK mRNA levels were increased almost threefold in both forms of heart failure, and βARK activity was enhanced. f3-Receptor mRNA levels and f3-receptor numbers were decreased by -50 % in both failing groups, whereas these levels were unaltered for β2-receptors. There were no differences between dilated and ischemic cardiomyopathy for any of these parameters. ConclusionIn addition to other alterations found in failing hearts, the diminished response to 1-receptor agonists appears to involve the combined effects of enhanced expression of βARK and reduced expression of β2-receptors.
Crystallographic trapping in the rebeccamycin biosynthetic enzyme RebC

The biosynthesis of rebeccamycin, an antitumor compound, involves the remarkable eight-electron oxidation of chlorinated chromopyrrolic acid. Although one rebeccamycin biosynthetic enzyme is capable of generating low levels of the eight-electron oxidation product on its own, a second protein, RebC, is required to accelerate product formation and eliminate side reactions. However, the mode of action of RebC was largely unknown. Using crystallography, we have determined a likely function for RebC as a flavin hydroxylase, captured two snapshots of its dynamic catalytic cycle, and trapped a reactive molecule, a putative substrate, in its binding pocket. These studies strongly suggest that the role of RebC is to sequester a reactive intermediate produced by its partner protein and to react with it enzymatically, preventing its conversion to a suite of degradation products that includes, at low levels, the desired product.
High‐level expression of periostin is significantly correlated with tumour angiogenesis and poor prognosis in osteosarcoma

Periostin (PN), originally named as osteoblast‐specific factor‐2 (OSF‐2), has been involved in regulating adhesion and differentiation of osteoblasts. Recently many studies have shown that high‐level expression of PN is correlated significantly with tumour angiogenesis and prognosis in many kinds of human cancer. However, whether and how periostin expression influences prognosis in osteosarcoma remains unknown. This study aimed to examine the expression of PN in patients with osteosarcoma and explore the relationship of PN expression with clinicopathologic factors, tumour angiogenesis and prognosis. Immunohistochemistry was performed to determine the expression of PN in osteosarcoma and osteochondroma respectively. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and CD34 were also examined in tissues from the osteosarcoma patients mentioned above. The results showed that PN expression was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in osteosarcoma (80.9%) than in osteochondroma (14.7%). Increased PN protein expression was associated with histological subtype (P = 0.000), Enneking stage (P = 0.027) and tumour size (P = 0.009). The result also showed that high expression of PN correlated with VEGF expression (r = 0.285; P = 0.019) and that tumours with PN‐positive expression significantly had higher microvessal density (44.6 ± 13.7 vs. 20.6 ± 6.5; P = 0.000) compared to those in normal bone tissues. Additionally, the expression of PN was found to be an independent prognostic factor in osteosarcoma patients. In conclusion, our findings suggest that PN may have an important role in tumour progression and may be used as a prognostic biomarker for patients with osteosarcoma.
Antithrombin conformational modulation by D-myo-inositol 3,4,5,6-tetrakisphosphate (TMI), a novel scaffold for the development of antithrombotic agents

Antithrombin (AT) is a serpin that inhibits mainly thrombin and fXa after being activated by binding to glycosaminoglycans as heparin and heparan sulfate. Upon binding, the native AT conformation, relatively inactive as a protease inhibitor, is converted to an activated form. Recently, a new compound, named TMI, was discovered in our group with nanomolar affinity to antithrombin, and shown to be able to induce a partial activation of antithrombin. As TMI represents an original scaffold for structural optimizations aiming the development of new antithrombotic drugs, the present work demonstrated, through a series of molecular dynamics simulations, that TMI is able to modulate AT reactive center loop flexibility similarly to what is observed to heparin, as well as exposing AT P1 residue, Arg393. These results represent the first atomic level indication of AT conformational activation by TMI, and may offer a predictive basis for future studies aiming TMI structural optimization.
The Central Role of Home Prices in the Current Financial Crisis: How Will the Market Clear?

This paper begins by describing some patterns in home price movements over recent decades. It then discusses some distinguishing characteristics of housing markets that will contribute to determining prices going forward: Housing is heterogeneous, making prices hard to measure. Home prices are subject to inertia and are sticky downward. Housing markets have traditionally been quantity clearing markets, with excess inventories absorbed only as new households are formed. And housing markets depend critically on credit market conditions and monetary policy. Two opposite scenarios for future home prices are both plausible: The first, noting among other things the many “underwater” mortgages and unsold inventories and the likelihood of a severe recession, foresees a slow recovery. The second observes that the market clearing process has been orderly so far and that deep regional housing busts in the past have sometimes been followed by quick recoveries, suggesting that a more rapid turnaround is possible.