Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corporate Cash Savings: Precaution Versus Liquidity

Cash holdings as a proportion of total assets of U.S. corporations have roughly doubled between 1971 and 2006. Prior research attributes the large cash increase to a rise in rms’ idiosyncratic risk. We investigate two mechanisms by which increased idiosyncratic risk can lead to higher cash holdings. The rst is linked to the precautionary motive inducing rms to be prudent about their future prospects. The second mechanism is linked to the liquidity motive requiring rms to meet their current liquidity needs. We nd that the mechanism embedded in the liquidity motive best explains how the increased idiosyncratic risk nearly doubled cash holdings. As for the precautionary motive, its importance has decreased over time to the point of generating very little precautionary savings.
When Repetition Isn’t the Best Practice Strategy: Effects of Blocked and Random Practice Schedules

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of blocked and random practice schedules on the performance accuracy, speed, temporal evenness, and attitude of beginning band students in a group instructional setting. The research assumptions were based on the contextual interference hypothesis, which predicts that a blocked practice order (low contextual interference) leads to superior performance immediately following practice but that a random practice order (high contextual interference) supports superior performance at delayed retention testing. Beginning clarinet students (N = 41) completed three practice sessions and one retention testing session, performing three seven-pitch exercises. At the end of practice, no significant differences were found between blocked and random practice groups for accuracy, speed, or temporal evenness. At retention, the random group performed significantly faster than the blocked group, F(1, 38) = 24.953, p < . 001, η2 = . 92, and the blocked group performed significantly slower than it did at the end of practice (p < .001). No significant differences were found between groups for transfer tasks or for attitude toward practice.
Level Crossing Rates and Average Fade Durations for Diversity-Combining of Non-identical Correlated Hoyt Signals

In this paper, exact expressions for the level crossing rate (LCR) and average fade duration (AFD) for two-branch selection, equal-gain and maximal-ratio combining systems in a Hoyt fading environment are presented. The expressions apply to unbalanced, non-identical, correlated diversity channels and have been validated by specializing the general results to some particular cases whose solutions are known. In passing, the joint bidimensional envelope-phase Hoyt distribution with arbitrary fading parameters is obtained
11 Social Differentiation and Inequality : Some Reflections on the State of the Field

We believe the various contributions to this volume do justice to their authors' mentor, John C. Pock Like him, these essays are provocative, innovative, ambitious, careful and sophisticated in their reasoning and inference, and focused on some of sociology's central issues. At the same time, this collection also highlights the obvious fact that our theories and research addressing status attainment provide a decidedly incomplete picture of the social forces involved. In particular, too little emphasis has been paid to both macro(demographic, structural, and institutional) and micro(individual and primary group) influences. We sketch the beginnings of a more comprehensive framework here, and we show how a number of the chapters in this volume address issues that fit comfortably within such an expanded view of how the process of status attainment works in modern industrial societies. We also discuss some implications of this broadened conception of the status attainment process for future research.
Bilingualism and Ethnic Identity in a Nupe-Yoruba Border Town in Nigeria.

Empirical studies of bilingualism in the advanced countries have been carried out to shed light on issues of both theoretical and pragmatic importance. Such issues include bilingualism and ethnic identity, educational and socio-psychological problems faced by linguistic minorities in linguistically heterogeneous countries, etc. In a multilingual country like Nigeria where there is a crosscurrent of contacts between different types of languages, giving rise to individual and community bilingualism, works of this nature are very crucial for language policies and implementation. In this paper, I deal with one of the many questions that scholars have attempted to answer, namely, does bilingualism in itself have an impact upon ethnic identity and ethnic attitudes? With data from the Saare/Tsaragi composite community, I try to show the sense in which bilingualism may not necessarily neutralise ethnic loyalty. One is led to conclude that it is the socio-cultural, economic, political and demographic context of a .
Aggressive behaviour in elderly psychiatric inpatients

We describe the types of aggressive behaviour and determine their prevalence in a sample of hospitalized elderly psychiatric patients. Data were obtained by nurse ratings of aggressive behaviour using the recently developed Rating Scale for Aggressive Behaviour in the Elderly; 90 patients were rated over a 3‐d period. Nearly half the sample were at least mildly aggressive; the frequencies of some specific types of aggressive behaviour were high. In contrast, the frequency of injuries and the use of restraints and medication for aggressive behaviour were low. Some correlates of the aggressive behaviour were also analysed.
Parenting Training for Intellectually Disabled Parents: A Cochrane Systematic Review

Objectives: This article presents a Cochrane/Campbell systematic review of the evidence on the effect of parent training to support the parenting of parents with intellectual disabilities. Method: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing parent training interventions for parents with intellectual disability with usual care or with a control group were included in the review. Outcomes: The attainment of parenting skills specific to the intervention, safe home practices, and the understanding of child health were the outcomes of interest. Results: Three trials met the inclusion criteria. All three indicated improved parenting skills following parenting training. Conclusions: The quality of the evidence is moderate to low, with limited information available to assess possible bias. The presented evidence seems promising; however, there is a need for larger RCTs of interventions before conclusions can be drawn about the effectiveness of parent training for this group of parents.
Piecewise polynomial nonlinear model reduction

We present a novel, general approach towards model-order reduction (MOR) on nonlinear systems that combines good global and local approximation properties. The nonlinear system is first approximated as piecewise polynomials over a number of regions, following which each region is reduced via polynomial model-reduction methods. Our approach, dubbed PWP, generalizes recent piecewise linear approaches and ties them with polynomial-based MOR, thereby combining their advantages. In particular, reduced models obtained by our approach reproduce small-signal distortion and intermodulation properties well, while at the same time retaining fidelity in large-swing and large-signal analyses, e.g., transient simulations. Thus our reduced models can be used as drop-in replacements for time-domain as well as frequency-domain simulations, with small or large excitations. By exploiting sparsity in system polynomial coefficients, we are able to make the polynomial reduction procedure linear in the size of the original system. We provide implementation details and illustrate PWP with an example.
Self-Stigma of Mental Illness in High School Youth

Despite the prevalence of mental health problems, society continues to stigmatize and discriminate against people with mental illness and in particular, schizophrenia. Among the negative consequences of stigma, is that some individuals with mental illness internalize negative stereotypes about themselves, referred to as self-stigma, which is associated with a reluctance to seek needed treatment. The challenge to overcome mental illness stigma has led to the development of global anti-stigma initiatives, which effectively engage young people in school-based programs. The present study examines the effectiveness of a single-session anti-stigma intervention with high school youth (n = 254). The findings replicate and extend previous work demonstrating that a brief anti-stigma initiative can produce significant improvements in knowledge, social distance, and self-stigma. Self-stigma was found to be associated with low self-esteem and factors affecting self-disclosure were identified. Implications for school curricula, mental health policy, and future research are discussed.
Emodin Alleviates Sodium Taurocholate-Induced Pancreatic Acinar Cell Injury via MicroRNA-30a-5p-Mediated Inhibition of High-Temperature Requirement A/Transforming Growth Factor Beta 1 Inflammatory Signaling

Pancreatitis is an inflammatory disease that is responsible for substantial morbidity and mortality, and it can induce pancreatic necrosis that starts within pancreatic acinar cells in severe cases. Emodin, a pleiotropic natural product isolated from the Chinese herb Rheum palmatum L. , has effective anti-inflammatory activities. In this paper, we investigated the protective effects and molecular mechanism of emodin against sodium taurocholate (STC)-induced pancreatic acinar cells injury in vitro and in vivo; and the results showed that emodin could significantly alleviate STC-induced pancreatic acinar cells injury through decreasing trypsin, amylase and the release of inflammatory factors (tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6). Also, we found that emodin could significantly downregulate the HTRA1, interleukin-33, myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88, TNF receptor-associated factor-6, and nuclear factor kappa-B protein levels, but upregulate the transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) protein level. These results indicated that emodin alleviated pancreatic acinar cells injury mainly through inhibiting HTRA1/TGF-β1 signaling pathway, and this finding was further proved by the HTRA1 overexpression experiments. In addition, the inflammatory regulator microRNA-30a-5p (miR-30a-5p) was confirmed to be a transcriptional brake that controls the HTRA1 gene through using a dual luciferase reporter assay, and it was upregulated by emodin in pancreatic acinar cells. Furthermore, the pancreatic protective effects and anti-inflammatory activities of emodin were all abrogated with both miR-30a-5p inhibitor in vitro and miR-30a-5p antagomir in vivo. Collectively, these results demonstrate that miR-30a-5p/HTRA1 are the target of emodin-mediated attenuation of pancreatic acinar cell injury in pancreatitis, thus providing the foundation for further development of this natural product for medical therapy.
Capsular Gene Typing of Streptococcus agalactiae Compared to Serotyping by Latex Agglutination

ABSTRACT We evaluated three different PCR-based capsular gene typing methods applied to 312 human and bovine Streptococcus agalactiae (group B Streptococcus [GBS]) isolates and compared the results to serotyping results obtained by latex agglutination. Among 281 human isolates 27% could not be typed by latex agglutination. All 312 isolates except 5 could be typed by the three PCR methods combined. Two of these methods were multiplex assays. Among the isolates that were typeable by both latex agglutination and capsular gene typing, 94% showed agreement between the two methods. However, each of the PCR methods showed limitations. One of the methods did not include all 10 recognized serotypes, one misidentified eight isolates of serotypes Ib and IV as serotype Ia, and one did not distinguish between serotypes VII and IX. For five isolates that showed aberrant patterns in the capsular gene typing, long-range PCR targeting the cps operon disclosed large insertions or deletions affecting the cps gene cluster. A sensitive flow cytometric assay based on serotype-specific antibodies applied to 76 selected isolates that were nontypeable by latex agglutination revealed that approximately one-half of these did express capsular polysaccharide. A procedure for convenient and reliable capsular gene typing to be included in epidemiological and surveillance studies of S. agalactiae is proposed.
Cultural differences in the perceptions of fear and efficacy in South Africa

Recent meta-analyses of HIV/AIDS health communication show that fear appeals have a negative effect on condom use. It has been argued that these negative effects may apply to certain behaviors (condom use) but not to others (e.g., sexual abstinence), and that these negative effects occur for Western cultures but not necessarily for African cultures. To assess whether the effects of fear appeals depend on the types of behavior recommended and on the cultural background of the target audience, information is needed on the existence of cultural differences with respect to the fear evoked by various consequences, as well as to the perceived effectiveness of various countermeasures. In this study, we present the results of a survey among 435 South African adolescents (age 12–19) who differ with respect to their cultural orientation, living circumstances, religion, etc. The results provide evidence for the presence of cultural differences with respect to evoked fear, response efficacy, and self-efficacy. Furthermore, the results provide a possible explanation why fear appeals often are ineffective within the context of communication about HIV/AIDS.
Human Neuroscience

Although the James–Lange theory and its temporal aspects are counterintuitive and hardly testable, the debate it has generated versus the Cannon–Bard theory has infl uenced research on emotion (Lang, 1994). Importantly, a recent study suggested that peripheral physiological responses can occur before the feeling of self-generated emotions, providing support to reconsider the James–Lange theory (Damasio et al., 2000). Damasio proposed a distinction between emotions and feelings whereby emotions are " collections of responses " corresponding to external and measurable reactions expressed via the musculoskeletal system as well as internal and measurable reactions of neurovegetative, neuro-hormonal, and neuroimmune systems controlled by the central nervous system (Damasio, 2000). Feelings, however, correspond to the subjective experience of these emotional responses (Damasio, 1999). Damasio's theory states that a subjective feeling emerges through the integration of these peripheral and central components of nervous activity. Emotional stimuli are processed by the anterior affective structures, including the amygdala, the temporal pole, the orbitofrontal cortex, and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (Rudrauf et al., 2009). In these cerebral areas, amygdala activation causes bodily reactions that are mediated by changes in autonomic nervous activity (see Davis and Whalen, 2001 for a review). These body signals (or somatic markers) in turn inform the brain about changes in the internal environment, by means
Stability analysis for grain yield and yield components in chick pea (Cicer arietinum L.).

Twenty one advanced breeding lines selected from All India Coordinated trials and one local popular variety “annegiri’ were studied over three years to identify high yielding stable genotypes. Genotype, environment and G x E interaction variance found to be significant. Genotypic variance over environments was significant for grain yield, pods/plant and 100 seed weight. Both linear and non linear components were found to be important for the traits studied. Significant non linear component for grain yield indicated the predictability of the trait. Of all the genotypes C-506 and C-527 were found to be stable.
Construct validation of two instruments designed to measure job involvement and work centrality.

The authors clarified the relationship between 2 concepts that have been confused, and often used interchangeably, in the literature. Job involvement was defined as the degree to which one is cognitively preoccupied with, engaged in, and concerned with one's present job. Work centrality was defined as the degree of importance that work, in general, plays in one's life. Questionnaire measures consistent with these definitions were constructed and tested. Data were collected from 313 human services employees. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that, consistent with the authors' hypothesis, job involvement and work centrality appear to be 2 distinct constructs. There was also evidence to confirm the hypothesis that there are 2 distinct components of job involvement: job involvement-role and job involvement-setting
Time to Work:

The article examines the preferences for working time among men and women in 22 countries. The main question was whether working hours reflect workers' preferences and tastes or whether they were a constraint imposed by the organization of the labor market and economic considerations. The study is based on the ISSP survey on Work Orientation conducted in 1997 and employs hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to determine individual- and country-level factors affecting the preferences for working time. The findings suggest that a significant number of workers are still constrained by structural factors in their time allocation. Preferences for work were affected by both individual-level and country-level characteristics.
Ethnic Polarization, Ethnic Salience, and Civil War

This article examines how the relationship between ethnic polarization and civil war could be moderated by different degrees of ethnic salience. Using an agent-based computational model, we analyze the polarization—conflict relationship when ethnic salience is ``fixed''—high for every member of two nominally rival ethnic groups— and ``variable''—permitted to vary across individuals as a function of relative income. We find that (1) when salience is fixed, conflict onset is twice as high at low levels of polarization compared to when salience is permitted to vary, with the difference decreasing at high levels of polarization; (2) the relationship between conflict onset and the range over which we calculate variable salience is positive and robust for low and moderate levels of polarization; (3) the relationship between polarization and conflict onset is robust even under minority domination, if one holds salience fixed; and (4) holding ethnic salience fixed effectively amplifies the negative effect of polarization on economic performance.
Enhanced targeting with heterobivalent ligands

A novel approach to specifically target tumor cells for detection and treatment is the proposed use of heteromultivalent ligands, which are designed to interact with, and noncovalently crosslink, multiple different cell surface receptors. Although enhanced binding has been shown for synthetic homomultivalent ligands, proof of cross-linking requires the use of ligands with two or more different binding moieties. As proof-of-concept, we have examined the binding of synthetic heterobivalent ligands to cell lines that were engineered to coexpress two different G-protein-coupled human receptors, i.e., the human melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) expressed in combination with either the human δ-opioid receptor (δOR) or the human cholecystokinin-2 receptor (CCK2R). Expression levels of these receptors were characterized by time-resolved fluorescence saturation binding assays using Europium-labeled ligands; Eu-DPLCE, Eu-NDP-α-MSH, and Eu-CCK8 for the δOR, MC4R, and CCK2R, respectively. Heterobivalent ligands were synthesized to contain a MC4R agonist connected via chemical linkers to either a δOR or a CCK2R agonist. In both cell systems, the heterobivalent constructs bound with much higher affinity to cells expressing both receptors, compared with cells with single receptors or to cells where one of the receptors was competitively blocked. These results indicate that synthetic heterobivalent ligands can noncovalently crosslink two unrelated cell surface receptors, making feasible the targeting of receptor combinations. The in vitro cell models described herein will lead to the development of multivalent ligands for target combinations identified in human cancers. [Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(8):2356–65]
Analysis and perception in post-tonal music: an example from Kurtág’s String Quartet Op. 1

In this study, two different types of analysis of a piece of post-tonal music (the fifth movement of the String Quartet Op.1 (1959) by G. Kurtág) are compared: an analysis performed by seven professional music analysts using the musical score, and a perceptual analysis carried out by two groups of subjects (18 musicians and 25 non-musicians) while listening in real time. Three possible macroforms proposed by the analysts were compared with those perceived by the listeners. The results show that the macroforms hypothesized by the analysts represented the basic framework for those perceived by the listeners; moreover, the musical competence possessed by the musicians who took part in the listening exercise does not, on the whole, appear to have affected the perception of the macroform of a post-tonal piece of music.
Implementations of Housing First in Europe: Successes and Challenges in Maintaining Model Fidelity

To describe and evaluate the fidelity of Housing First (HF) initiatives in six European countries to the Pathways HF (PHF) model and examine the larger social, historical, and political factors that may foster or impede model fidelity. Key stakeholders representing six European HF initiatives completed semi-structured phone interviews. Interviews were thematically analyzed according to five key fidelity domains and updated with interim results of a recent European research project (Housing First Europe). Dissatisfaction with the status quo was often cited as the catalyst driving searches for system change. PHF's evidence base, consumer-driven philosophy, recovery-oriented services, and view of housing as a basic right swayed local decisions to implement HF programs. Interviews yielded stronger evidence of fidelity on no housing readiness requirements, separation of housing and services, a harm reduction approach, consumer choice in services, and weaker evidence of fidelity on scatter-site housing, choice in housing, and breadth and intensity of services provided. Implementation challenges included resistance from existing programs, availability of affordable housing, and moral judgments of worthiness for housing. Both new and established programs evidenced high commitment to PHF principles and philosophy, but older programs demonstrated greater fidelity on a wider range of indicators. Early evidence indicates that HF can be successfully replicated within the European context, though local historical, social, and political factors may impact fidelity. Many programs committed to fidelity in principle faced external or financial barriers to implementation. Strategic planning and training to ensure that the programs unfold and mature in ways that realize HF principles in practice is recommended.