Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interpretation of Difficulty's Impact on Shifting and Inhibition Ability

Past research on identity-based motivation theory (Oyserman, 2007; 2009) has shown that people given an interpretation of difficulty as importance outperform those given an interpretation of difficulty as impossibility or those given no interpretation on school tasks (Smith, Novin, Elmore, & Oyserman, under review). Paul, Smith, and Oyserman (2013) suggested that working memory may be a mechanism underlying these effects. The current research aims to explore whether other components of executive functioning, namely shifting and inhibition, act as additional contributors to interpretation of difficulty effects. College students were randomized to one of three conditions (interpretation of difficulty as importance, interpretation of difficulty as impossibility, or no interpretation control) and worked on a measure of shifting (Study 1) and a measure of inhibition (Study 2). Across studies, we found no significant differences on our measures. Implications are discussed. Words: 137
Optimal Number of Stock Holdings in Mutual Fund Portfolios Based on Market Performance

Among the decisions that most mutual fund portfolio managers make is the number of stocks to hold. We posit that there is an optimal number of stocks for each mutual fund, reflecting the trade-off between diversification benefits versus transactions and monitoring costs. We find a significant quadratic relation between number of stock holdings and risk-adjusted returns for U.S. equity mutual fund portfolios during 1992-2000. Moreover, we find that changes in the number of stocks held over time are more highly correlated with mutual fund flows than with funds' investment returns. Copyright 2005 by the Eastern Finance Association.
Social Service Agencies and Program Change

Although the implementation of social welfare policies in the United States is predicated on the ability of nonprofit managers to innovate, adapt, and respond to changing government and community service priorities, there is little empirical information on the number and types of social service providers that actually alter their programming over time. This exploratory paper begins to fill that information gap by using data from the National Center for Charitable Statistics and descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze the proportion, types, and conditions under which nonprofits changed their programming between 1999 and 2001. The results show that programmatic shifts among social service agencies are uncommon, although they are more likely for family service providers and nonprofits with greater financial capacity.
Influence of conjugated linoleic acids on functional properties of vascular cells

Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) are biologically highly active lipid compounds that inhibit the development of atherosclerotic plaques in experimental animals. The underlying mechanisms of action, however, are only poorly understood. Since cell-culture experiments are appropriate to provide a detailed view into the mechanisms of action of a compound, the present review summarises results from in vitro studies dealing with the effects of CLA isomers and CLA mixtures on functional properties of cells of the vascular wall, such as endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and monocyte-derived macrophages, which are amongst the major cells contributing to atherosclerotic lesion development. Based on these studies, it can be concluded that CLA exert several beneficial actions in cells of the vascular wall through the activation of nuclear PPAR. These actions of CLA, which may, at least partially, explain the inhibition of atherogenesis by dietary CLA, include modulation of vasoactive mediator release from endothelial cells, inhibition of inflammatory and fibrotic processes in activated smooth muscle cells, abrogation of inflammatory responses in activated macrophages, and reduction of cholesterol accumulation in macrophage-derived foam cells.
The myth of the 'international manager'

This article argues that the idea of the 'international manager' is largely a myth. A literature spanning twenty years has been built on the assumption that growing numbers of home country nationals (HCNs) were embracing international assignments. It was also suggested that they and their families would become globe-trotting nomads, moving from region to region and back and forth to their countries of origin, becoming in the process a new type of global or international manager. However, for most UK companies, an 'international manager' is little more than a loose description of someone who is potentially or currently abroad on a one-off international assignment, regardless of the nature or duration of this. Their operations may be becoming more international but their staff are not. Similarly, for most employees and their dependants the concept of an 'international manager' is equally meaningless within the context of their own career and life goals. The article goes on to contend that it is in fact psychologically impossible for most people to cope with the dislocation and upheaval that regular international relocations would cause. It demonstrates that long-term international assignments can also have a damaging effect on employee career prospects after they return to their country of origin. It concludes by suggesting how managers can gain international experience without the need for long-term international assignments.
An empirical assessment of U.S. consumer expenditures for recreation‐related goods and services: 1946–1988

Abstract A theoretical framework was developed in which the demand for recreation‐related goods and services (RGS) was specified as a function of prices, income, and leisure time budgets. Aggregate annual U. S. price and expenditure data were collected and reported for the post‐World War II era (1946–1988), along with labor participation rates and length of work week. The results indicate that RGS demand is highly elastic with respect to income and leisure time, but relatively price‐inelastic. Leisure time was found to be a substitute for RGS.
In situ adaptation against sea level rise (SLR) in Bangladesh: does awareness matter?

Purpose – The paper aims to identify and assess quantitatively the influences of a few dimensions of climate awareness on people's preference for adaptation against sea level rise (SLR). Design/methodology/approach – From the literature survey “familiarity with”, “perception about” and “intuitive knowledge about” climate change‐sea level rise (CC‐SLR) have been identified as dimensions of “climate awareness”. Empirical research was done through administering questionnaires among 285 respondents selected randomly from three coastal villages in Bangladesh. After principal component analysis, data sufficiency and colinearity test, a total of 18 variables were entered into a multinomial logistic regression model. The reference category “evacuation” was compared with other two choices, i.e. in situ adaptation with “same occupation” and “changed occupation”. Findings – For the SLR scenario of 2050‐2075 occupational engagement, use of radio for climate information, exposure to rainfall, salinity and perception abo.
Relationship Between Anxiety, Depression, and Quality of Life in Adult Patients With Cystic Fibrosis

BACKGROUND: The impact of anxiety and depression on quality of life (QOL) in adult patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) is fully unknown. We investigated the prevalence and factors associated with anxiety and depression, including QOL, in adult CF patients. METHODS: One hundred twenty-one adult CF subjects, age ≥ 18 years were recruited from our out-patient clinic. Participants self-completed the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale and the Cystic Fibrosis Quality of Life Questionnaire (CF-QOL). Socio-demographic data and values for lung function were extracted from the medical notes. RESULTS: Mean ± SD age was 30 ± 8.8 years, and age ranged 18–70 years. Forty (33%) were identified with anxiety symptoms, 20 (17%) with depressive symptoms. Factors related with depression were impaired QOL and low lung function. Anxiety was associated with difficulty in interpersonal relationships and severity of chest symptoms. The CF-QOL sub-domains (physical functioning, social functioning, treatment issues, chest symptoms, emotional functioning, concerns for the future, interpersonal relationships, body image, future/career concerns, and total CF-QOL) were all significantly correlated with anxiety (P < .001) and with depression (P < .001), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Anxiety and depressive symptoms are common in adult CF patients. They are associated with poorer QOL, low lung function, reduced physical functioning, and severity of chest symptoms. Therefore, routine screening for symptoms of anxiety and depression is a worthy endeavor, and those identified with elevated clinical symptoms should be referred to receive appropriate treatment.
Do expected shifts in inflation affect estimates of the long-run Fisher relation?

Recent empirical studies suggest that nominal interest rates and expected inflation do not move together one-for-one in the long run, a finding at odds with many theoretical models. This article shows that these results can be deceptive when the process followed by inflation shifts infrequently. We characterize the shifts in inflation by a Markov switching model. Based upon this model's forecasts, we reexamine the long-run relationship between nominal interest rates and inflation. Interestingly, we are unable to reject the hypothesis that in the long run nominal interest rates reflect expected inflation one-for-one.
STAYING SINGLE IN A MARRIED WORLD

As in many countries in Asia, families in Indonesia are experiencing substantial change as new patterns of marriage emerge. Currently, a significant number of adults are ignoring the traditional standards for men's and women's appropriate marriage ages. Utilizing Indonesian censuses data for various years and in-depth interviews with 35 never-married women, this study describes the trends and patterns of singlehood among adults in Yogyakarta and Medan. It also explores the lifestyles of single women, including the process of remaining single, views toward marriage and how they cope with the social stigma of being single. The data show that the proportion single among women aged 30–49 increased sharply over three decades. As a consequence, the median age at marriage for females rose between 1970 and 2000 from 24.4 to 27.4 in Yogyakarta and from 23.2 to 26.1 in Medan. Most women agreed that marriage remains an ideal norm, but it does not mean that being single can not result in a satisfied and happy life.
Skill and Performance

It is popular to assume that there is a link between skill and performance, yet the evidence is tenuous. Both terms defy simple definition and much current work aggregates findings, conflating firms that compete on the basis of skill with those that do not. This article provides a detailed review of the difficulties involved. Skill may indeed contribute to performance on the shop floor but the performance of the organization as a whole is not the same as that of the shop‐floor writ large, while soft skills are difficult to assess and judgments may be contaminated by prejudice. It concludes with suggestions for better research designs that could capture this relationship.
An Introduction to Copulas

Chapter 7 covers, in depth, density estimators, thresholding, the use of nonlinear density estimators, multivariate wavelets estimators, and multiscale estimators. Chapter 8 provides an overview of Bayesian inference, which makes use of the data and prior information to select a less ad hoc shrinkage procedure for density estimation. Chapter 9 attempts to give an overview of the use of wavelet transform and its properties as applied to stochastic time series. In fact most of the chapter deals with the use of wavelets in estimating spectral densities, and then it briefly mentions the properties of the wavelets spectrum. Of pititular interest are the whitening properties of wavelet transform because they are approximate eigenfunctions to stationary stochastic time series. This is an important property for applied practitioners. I wish the author had expanded on this section and showed the similarity of wavelet transform to principal components analysis. Examples illustrating the use of this property for online modeling and monitoring are also lacking. Chapters 10-l 1 describe the use of wavelets to generate random densities and have references to miscellaneous other statistical applications of wavelets such as turbulence. This is not a book for casual readers of Technometrics as an introductory textbook on wavelets. As the author points out, “This book is aimed at graduate students in statistics or mathematics, and practicing statisticians” and “requires proficiency in advanced calculus. ” For readers meeting these requirements, or those just familiar with wavelet theory, mathematically inclined, and wanting to learn more, the book will be enjoyable and interesting. It is well written and organized with compact derivations and extensive references and can serve as a very good reference on the exciting topic of wavelets.
International genetic evaluation for female fertility traits

Implementation of the method known as Multiple Trait Multiple Across Country Evaluation (MTMACE) encountered an unexpected hurdle in the form of low genetic correlations in the bended correlation matrix of the 28x28 submitted traits. Consequently, it is recommended that ST-MACE to be used in the meantime so that the international genetic evaluation for female fertility traits can be started.
Organizational culture and leadership: Preconditions for the development of a sustainable corporation

The relationship between corporate sustainability and organizational culture seems to be underestimated within the discussion of sustainable development. The research presented in this paper is based on a case study conducted in the mining industry. The hypothesis is that ambitious corporate sustainability activities and strategies have to be embedded in the organizational culture in order to be successful. If aspects of sustainable development are not part of the mindset of leaders and members of the organization, corporate sustainability activities will not affect the core business efficiently and are more likely to fail. The model of Schein for organizational culture is used to characterize corporate sustainability strategies: introverted, extroverted, conservative and visionary strategies are distinguished. Each strategy is assessed regarding the relation and the integration in the levels of organizational culture according to the model of Schein. The model consists of three levels, i.e. artifacts, values and basic assumptions. This framework is used for a case-study to identify the organizational culture of a global leading mining company. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Term Structure Movements and Pricing Interest Rate Contingent Claims

This paper derives an arbitrage-free interest rate movements model (AR model). This model takes the complete term structure as given and derives the subsequent stochastic movement of the term structure such that the movement is arbitrage free. We then show that the AR model can be used to price interest rate contingent claims relative to the observed complete term structure of interest rates. This paper also studies the behavior and the economics of the model. Our approach can be used to price a broad range of interest rate contingent claims, including bond options and callable bonds.
Role of Corporate-Wide Offshoring Strategy on Offshoring Drivers, Risks and Performance

In this study we investigate the role of corporate offshoring strategy on offshoring decisions and performance. Based on 876 offshoring projects from 226 companies obtained by means of surveys conducted in the USA and Europe, we examine the effect of offshoring strategy on factors influencing firms' views of offshoring, and the effect of offshoring strategy on offshoring performance. Separate analyses were conducted for US and European companies in order to explore any regional heterogeneity in offshoring. A comparative analysis between companies with and without an offshoring strategy reveals that when making offshoring decisions, the former consider a broader range of factors (drivers, risks and locations) as important compared to companies without an offshoring strategy, suggesting association between offshoring strategy and managerial attention. The results also indicate that the adoption of a corporate offshoring strategy has a significant positive effect on cost savings achieved from offshore implementations, and that innovation activities have a significant negative impact on cost savings, but only for European companies.
Gene expression in obstetric antiphospholipid syndrome: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a multisystem disease that may present as venous or arterial thrombosis and/or pregnancy complications with the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies. Until today, heterogeneity of pathogenic mechanism fits well with various clinical manifestations. Moreover, previous studies have indicated that genes are differentially expressed between normal and in the disease state. Hence, this study systematically searched the literature on human gene expression that was differentially expressed in Obstetric APS. METHODOLOGY Electronic search was performed until 31st March 2015 through PubMed and Embase databases; where the following Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms were used and they had been specified as the primary focus of the articles; gene, antiphospholipid, obstetric, and pregnancy in the title or abstract. From 502 studies retrieved from the search, only original publications that had performed gene expression analyses of human placental tissue that reported on differentially expressed gene in pregnancies with Obstetric APS were included. Two reviewers independently scrutinized the titles and the abstracts before examining the eligibility of studies that met the inclusion criteria. For each study; diagnostic criteria for APS, method for analysis, and the gene signature were extracted independently by two reviewers. The genes listed were further analysed with the DAVID and the KEGG pathways. RESULTS Three eligible gene expression studies involving obstetric APS, comprising the datasets on gene expression, were identified. All three studies showed a reduction in transcript expression on PRL, STAT5, TF, DAF, ABCA1, and HBEGF in Obstetric APS. The high enrichment score for functionality in DAVID had been positive regulation of cell proliferation. Meanwhile, pertaining to the KEGG pathway, two pathways were associated with some of the listed genes, which were ErBb signalling pathway and JAK-STAT signalling pathway. CONCLUSION Ultimately, studies on a genetic level have the potential to provide new insights into the regulation and to widen the basis for identification of changes in the mechanism of Obstetric APS.
Inequalities for the p-Angular Distance in Normed Linear Spaces

New upper and lower bounds for the p-angular distance in normed linear spaces are given. Some of the obtained upper bounds are better than the corresponding results due to L. Maligranda recently established in the paper [Simple norm inequalities, Amer. Math. Monthly, 113(2006), 256-260].
Hepatosplenic and Hepatocytotropic T-Cell Lymphoma

The clinical, clinicopathologic, and pathological findings of 9 dogs with T-cell lymphoma that involved the liver in the absence of peripheral lymphadenopathy were assessed. Seven dogs had hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma (HS-TCL). Dogs with HS-TCL presented with hepato- and/or splenomegaly, regenerative anemia, thrombocytopenia, and hypoproteinemia. The clinical course was rapidly progressive with all dogs but 1 dead within 24 days of initial presentation. Neoplastic lymphocytes were centered on hepatic and splenic sinusoids and had a CD3+ (5/7), TCRαβ– (5/5), TCRγδ+ (3/5), CD11d+ (6/7), granzyme B+ (5/7) immunophenotype. Bone marrow and lungs were consistently but variably involved. These findings closely resemble the human disease and support the classification of HS-TCL as a distinct World Health Organization entity in dogs. The remaining 2 dogs markedly differed in the pattern of hepatic involvement by neoplastic lymphocytes, which were not confined to hepatic sinusoids but invaded hepatic cords. In addition, neoplastic cells had a CD11d– immunophenotype, and clinicopathologic data indicated marked cholestasis and mild to absent anemia. Based on the distinct tropism of neoplastic lymphocytes for hepatocytes, the name hepatocytotropic T-cell lymphoma (HC-TCL) is proposed. Given the histomorphologic, clinicopathologic, and immunophenotypic differences, HC-TCL likely represents a separate biological entity rather than a histomorphologic variant of HS-TCL.
Detection, Identification, and Estimation of Loss Aversion: Evidence from an Auction Experiment

We provide a novel experimental auction design, in which (i) an exogenous decrease in the probability of winning, conditional on the bid, reduces the optimal bid of a loss averse agent whose reference point is expectations based; (ii) observed bid distributions uniquely identify the participants' latent value distribution and loss-aversion parameter. Experimental evidence affirms the presence of such reference points. We show that at the estimated magnitudes of loss aversion, (a) conventional Becker, DeGroot, and Marschak (1964) experiments may lead to large biases in estimated willingness to pay (which our design can correct for); and (b) first-price auctions may fetch moderately higher revenue, compared with second-price auctions.
Jobs or privileges : unleashing the employment potential of the Middle East and North Africa

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries face a critical choice as they strive to generate greater private sector growth and more jobs: promote competition, provide equal opportunities for all entrepreneurs, and dismantle the current system of privileges for connected firms or risk perpetuating the current equilibrium of low job creation. This report shows that policies that stifle competition and create an uneven playing field abound in MENA and are a major constraint on private sector growth and job creation. These policies take different forms across countries and sectors but share several common features: they limit free entry in the domestic market, exclude certain firms from government programs, increase the regulatory burden and uncertainty for firms without connections, insulate certain firms and sectors from foreign competition, and create incentives that discourage domestic firms from competing in international markets. The report shows that such policies are often captured by a few privileged firms with deep political connections and that these policies persist despite their apparent cost to society. The millions of workers and consumers and the majority of entrepreneurs who bear the brunt of that cost are often unaware of the adverse impact of these policies on the jobs and economic opportunities to which they aspire. This limits the scope for critical internal debate on the economic future of MENA countries and curtails the policy dialogue necessary for reform.