Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association Between Dietary Patterns and Serum Leptin-to-Adiponectin Ratio in Apparently Healthy Adults

Objective: Dietary patterns reflect diet and nutritional habits of individuals in a society. Various dietary patterns could influence leptin and adiponectin secretion from adipose tissue. These hormones are associated with metabolic diseases. It is suggested that the leptin-to-adiponectin (L/A) ratio might be a more useful diagnostic marker in predicting chronic diseases than leptin and adiponectin separately. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between various dietary patterns and L/A ratio in Iranian adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 150 apparently healthy subjects aged 25–50 years in Tabriz, Iran. Dietary patterns were determined using 132-item semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire on a 5-point scale. Weight, height, waist circumference (WC), as well as fasting serum leptin and adiponectin levels were measured to assess the association between dietary patterns and L/A ratio. Results: Four major dietary patterns were identified using a factor analysis approach: Western, healthy, mixed, and traditional dietary patterns. Linear regression analysis showed that a Western dietary pattern was negatively associated with serum adiponectin concentration, even after adjusting for the confounders (r = −0.19, p = 0.02). No statistically significant associations were found between any dietary pattern and leptin (r = −0.14, p = 0.06) or L/A ratio (r = −0.10, p = 0.09). Conclusion: Our findings indicate an inverse association between a Western dietary pattern and serum adiponectin levels but not for serum leptin or L/A ratio.
Influence of Facebook in Pakistani Pedagogy

This study grounds itself in the communication, information sharing, discussion and cocreation potential of ICTs with reference to social media-Facebook. Taking a qualitative approach, it explores the above as building blocks of new educational paradigms of learner autonomy; learner-centered education and co-creation of knowledge through discussion and collaboration, by exploring the various ways and reasons teachers use Facebook as part of pedagogy in Pakistan. It suggests that, in order to understand fully the potential of Facebook as a pedagogical tool, being egalitarian, autonomous and emancipatory, there is a need to review the ways in which learning is viewed and evaluated.
Influence of Family Involvement in Management and Ownership on Firm Performance: Evidence From Poland

This article investigates the influence of family involvement on firm performance in an emerging market economy. Using a panel of 217 Polish companies from 1997 to 2005, the authors find an inverted U-shaped relationship between the share of family ownership and firm performance. The data also reveal that firms with family CEOs are likely to outperform their counterparts that have nonfamily CEOs. The results take into account the endogeneity of family ownership and are robust to a number of specification checks.
Efficacy and toxicity of gemtuzumab ozogamicin in patients with acute myeloid leukemia

Abstract: Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) is a recently developed antibody‐targeted chemotherapeutic agent and has been expected to be less toxic than conventional chemotherapy. We retrospectively evaluated the use of GO in 38 patients. Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at diagnosis and relapsed AML were treated with 6 and 9 mg/m2 GO. Efficacy and toxicity of GO were analyzed, as well as several prognostic factors. A complete response (CR) was observed in 12 of 38 patients, including five patients with CR plus incomplete regeneration of platelets. In one patient a partial remission was observed. Twenty‐five patients showed no change or progressive disease. The overall response (OR) in patients with AML at diagnosis was 47%, with the best response in patients with primary AML (OR 60%, compared with 21% OR in non‐primary AML, P = 0.045). The OR in patients with relapsed AML was 22%. Median white blood cell (WBC) before treatment, CD33 expression on leukemic blasts, and kinetics of response were analyzed as prognostic factors. Median WBC was significantly lower in patients who responded to GO, compared with non‐responders (2.1 × 109/L vs. 6.8 × 109/L, P = 0.036). CD33 expression and kinetics of response was not correlated to clinical outcome. Median days to reach 500 × 106/L neutrophils and 100 × 109/L platelets were 36 and 39 d, respectively. Infections and bleedings occurred in 45% and 12%, respectively. This report shows that GO has potent clinical activity and that the OR rate was by far the best in untreated primary AML patients.
Financial engineering, consumer credit, and the stability of effective demand

This paper examines the macroeconomic implications of recent developments in financial engineering, with particular emphasis on the post-1987 growth of markets for securities backed by credit card, installment, student loan, and home equity receivables. Three linkages of financial engineering to effective demand are identified: (1) funding effects, (2) liquidity preference or speculative effects, and (3) balance sheet or Minsky effects. Data from the Survey of Consumer Finances are used to investigate the importance of asset-backed security-related funding and balance sheet (Minsky) effects in the United States. Evidence is shown that financial engineering has boosted borrowing power at all income levels. The liberal use of expanded borrowing opportunities has fueled the growth of consumption---especially since 1995. However, a secularly rising share of U.S. households have entered the categories of "speculative" or "Ponzi" finance units---a factor that raises doubts about the sustainability of the current spending boom.
Equity value implications of the SEC Exchange Act Rule 13a-14: a litigation cost perspective

The purpose of our study is to assess the role of litigation risk in the stock price setting process in relation to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Exchange Act Rule 13a-14. We employ 12 June, the proposal of Rule 13a-14, and 27 June, the ruling of certification requirement, as event dates, and investigate litigation cost implications of the SEC proposal and ruling. We focus on firms in industries that are highly exposed to class action lawsuits and find negative abnormal returns surrounding 12 June, and positive abnormal returns surrounding 27 June, for firms relieved from compliance requirements. The results are more profound for firms in high-litigation-risk industries.
Comparing total quality management success factors in UK manufacturing and service industries: some key findings from a survey

Total Quality Management is an integrative managemetn philosophy aimed at continuously improving the performance of products, processes and services to achieve and surpass customer expectations. Very little has been published on the fundamental difference between manufacturing and service industries with regard to TQM implementation. The purpose of this study is to understand the concept of TQM in both industry sectors and to identify the significant differences (if any) in TQM practices in UK service and manufacturing organizations. The research is based on a pilot survey conducted in both industrial sectors. It was found that five out the eleven management factors are significantly different between manufacturing and service industries. They are top management commitment and recognition, supplier partnership or supplier management, quality systems and policies, communication in company and cultural change. It was also found that “customer focus’ is the most important factor and “supplier partnership/supplier management” is the least important factor for TQM practice in both manufacturing and service industries in the UK.
Devaluation and the trade balance in India: stationarity and cointegration

A study of devaluation and the trade balance in India corrects the data for nonstationarity. Previous empirical tests have used non-stationary data. The trade balance in India is not cointegrated with a number of variables, including the exchange rate. Absorption, elasticity, and monetary models are compared, and the monetary model performs better. There has been no J-curve in India, and devaluations have had no significant long-run effect on the trade balance.
The Revised Screening Scale for Pedophilic Interests: Predictive and Concurrent Validity

This study examined the predictive and concurrent validity of the Screening Scale for Pedophilic Interests (SSPI) and its recent revision (SSPI-2), using a large sample of 2,416 sex offenders deemed not to be in need of civil management in New York State. Both SSPI and SSPI-2 scores were significantly and positively related to sexual rearrest, but the SSPI-2 provided greater discrimination in rearrest within 5 years across possible scores. Neither measure significantly added to the prediction of sexual rearrest provided by the Static-99R. We also found evidence of concurrent validity, as both measures were positively and significantly correlated with clinician ratings of sexual preoccupation, emotional identification with children, and sexual offense–related cognitions (convergent validity), but were not significantly related to clinician ratings of self-regulation problems, noncompliance with supervision, or antisocial personality (divergent validity). Overall, the results suggest that the SSPI-2 is a specific and useful screening measure of pedophilic sexual interests among sex offenders with child victims.
Photoluminescence of cerium fluoride and cerium-doped lanthanum fluoride nanoparticles and investigation of energy transfer to photosensitizer molecules.

CexLa1-xF3 nanoparticles have been proposed for use in nanoscintillator-photosensitizer systems, where excitation of nanoparticles by ionizing radiation would result in energy transfer to photosensitizer molecules, effectively combining the effects of radiotherapy and photodynamic therapy. Thus far, there have been few experimental investigations of such systems. This study reports novel synthesis methods for water-dispersible Ce0.1La0. 9F3/LaF3 and CeF3/LaF3 core/shell nanoparticles and an investigation of energy transfer to photosensitizers. Unbound deuteroporphyrin IX 2,4-disulfonic acid was found to substantially quench the luminescence of large (>10 nm diameter) aminocaproic acid-stabilized nanoparticles at reasonable concentrations and loading amounts: up to 80% quenching at 6% w/w photosensitizer loading. Energy transfer was found to occur primarily through a cascade, with excitation of "regular" site Ce(3+) at 252 nm relayed to photosensitizer molecules at the nanoparticle surface through intermediate "perturbed" Ce(3+) sites. Smaller (<5 nm) citrate-stabilized nanoparticles were coated with the bisphosphonate alendronate, allowing covalent conjugation to chlorin e6 and resulting in static quenching of the nanoparticle luminescence: ∼50% at ∼0.44% w/w. These results provide insight into energy transfer mechanisms that may prove valuable for optimizing similar systems.
Strategic Alignment and Its Antecedents: A Critical Analysis of Constructs and Relations in the International and Brazilian Literature

Abstract In this study, we conduct a review of the international and the Brazilian literature on business-IT strategic alignment and present a critical analysis of fundamental problems observed in the field. We argue that conceptual shortcomings, such as the lack of clarity in constitutive definitions of the alignment construct and the plethora of often overlapping antecedents discussed in the literature, restrain systematic knowledge development in the field. We propose a conceptual definition of business-IT strategic alignment, striving for clarity and parsimony, and highlight its distinction from the definition of operational alignment. The antecedents in the literature are further analyzed so as to formulate a synthetic conceptual model for the nomological network that links these constructs. We conclude the article stressing that additional theoretical and empirical endeavors regarding business-IT alignment are needed, emphasizing that such efforts should be conducted with greater attention to the issues discussed in this review.
Exploring the concepts of knowledge adoption and conceptual impact: implications for educational research submissions to the Research Excellence Framework (2014)

This article examines how research(ers) can impact upon policy, a pertinent issue in light of England’s 2014 Research Excellence Framework. It presents the findings of a literature review and interviews with educational researchers and policymakers in England and Wales. The projects’ aims were (i) to understand the actions researchers should undertake in order to successfully influence policy and (ii) to augment existing work by developing a suite of empirically inspired knowledge adoption strategies specifically for researchers. This article concludes by presenting four strategy types that will aid researchers to influence policy debates: (i) research outputs which meet policymakers’ specific requirements from research (‘policy-ready’ strategies); (ii) the effective communication of research (‘promotional’ strategies); (iii) ‘traditional’ aca- demic behaviour (‘traditional’ strategies); (iv) academics shifting their relative position with regard to how ‘privileged’ they are by policymakers or how policymakers perceive the policy context to which their research pertains (‘contextual’ strategies).
Interaction of soluble fibronectin with group B streptococci

Fibronectin binds to a variety of bacterial species, and we hypothesized that differential fibronectin binding might influence the invasive potential of group B streptococci (GBS). Human plasma fibronectin purified by a standard two-step chromatographic procedure was radiolabeled with 3H. Fifty GBS strains (invasive, colonizing, or bovine) representing serotypes Ia (10 strains), Ib (6 strains), Ia/c (6 strains), II (10 strains), III (11 strains), IV (1 strain), and nontypable (6 strains) were tested. No source or serotype variability was detected among GBS strains, and binding was uniformly less than 1.5% of available fibronectin. Lack of detectable binding occurred at both the log and stationary growth phases and persisted despite treatment with trypsin or neuraminidase or opsonization with immunoglobulin G containing high levels (greater than 40 micrograms/ml) of antibody specific for the Ia, II, or III GBS capsular polysaccharides. Incubation with GBS did not inhibit fibronectin binding to the Cowan 1 strain of Staphylococcus aureus. Strain COH 31-15, an isogenic, type III, capsule-deficient mutant of COH 31r/s, also failed to bind fibronectin. In contrast to other streptococci, GBS do not have readily detectable receptors for soluble fibronectin as part of their surface structures. If present, binding sites for soluble fibronectin are deep to surface structures, obscured from host defense systems, or require the presence of other factors to facilitate their recognition of fibronectin. The uniform ability of GBS to resist binding to soluble fibronectin could be a significant virulence factor in the pathogenesis of invasive infections of infants.
The Relationship Between the Internal Audit Function and Corporate Governance in the EU – a Survey

Based on a survey carried out at the behest of the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditors (ECIIA), this article rather ambitiously attempts to sketch out the relationship between the Internal Audit Function (IAF) and Corporate Governance (CG) issues among the top listed companies in the European Union (EU). ‘Attempts’ is used advisedly, because the authors are far from convinced that the results they obtained – in terms of numbers and percentages of responses – have provided them with a solid basis for the textured and nuanced overview they were aiming at. Having said that, it is, nevertheless, clear that there are surprising, and even startling, differences in the way Internal Auditors operate in the EU, even in the largest companies, and their awareness of, and opinions about, their role in CG concerns. Put succinctly, there is plenty of room for evolution in both mind set and daily practice.
Estimated Dopamine D2 Receptor Occupancy and Remission in Schizophrenia: Analysis of the CATIE Data

Abstract In treating schizophrenia, 65% to 80% occupancy of dopamine D2 receptors optimizes therapeutic efficacy while minimizing risks of extrapyramidal symptoms and cognitive impairments. However, it is unclear as to whether it is necessary to keep D2 receptor occupancy within this therapeutic window to maintain clinical response. The data set from phase 1 of the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials in Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) trial was reappraised. Thirty patients receiving risperidone (12 patients), olanzapine (12 patients), or ziprasidone (6 patients) fulfilled the following definition of remission and were included: a score of 3 or less on the 8 specific items in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (ie, P1, P2, P3, N1, N4, N6, G5, and G9; adopted from Andreasen et al, 2005) at the initial assessment and months 1, 2, and 6. Peak and trough D2 receptor occupancy levels at month 6 were estimated from plasma antipsychotic concentrations using population pharmacokinetic analysis and our D2 prediction model. Estimated mean ± SD peak and trough D2 receptor occupancy levels at month 6 were 70.3% ± 9.8% and 60.5% ± 20.2%, respectively; among these individuals, 46.7% (14 patients) did not achieve continuous blockade of 65% or greater (ie, trough D2 occupancy of <65%). In conclusion, approximately half of patients with remission did not achieve continuous blockade of estimated D2 receptor occupancy 5% or greater. These results extend our previous findings and suggest that sustained D2 receptor occupancy greater than 65% may not always be necessary for the maintenance treatment of schizophrenia.
Credit Conditions and Stock Return Predictability

We analyze U.S. stock return predictability using a measure of credit standards (Standards) derived from the Federal Reserve Board's Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices. Standards is a strong predictor of stock returns at a business cycle frequency, especially in the post-1990 data period. Empirically, a tightening of Standards predicts lower future stock returns. Standards performs well both in-sample and out-of-sample and is robust to a host of consistency checks. Standards captures stock return predictability at a business cycle frequency and is driven primarily by the ability of Standards to predict cash flow news.
Living in a Global World: Influence of Consumer Global Orientation on Attitudes toward Global Brands from Developed versus Emerging Countries

Despite increasing attention to consumers in developing markets, few studies explicitly explore the psychological mechanisms underlying their attitudes toward global brands from developed versus developing countries. The author proposes that global orientation, including global consumption orientation and global identity, are key factors accounting for the attitude variance. The results of Studies 1 and 2 in China show that consumers’ global orientation positively influences their attitudes toward global brands of developed-country origin. In addition, ethnocentrism negatively influences their attitudes toward these brands, but this effect diminishes for consumers with high global identity. Study 3 strengthens these findings by ruling out the alternative explanation that imports, not global brands, drive such results. Finally, Study 4 indicates that Indian consumers yield a similar pattern to Chinese consumers with regard to the global orientation effect, but the study reveals a relatively weak influence of ethnocentrism.
Identifying Ideas of Attractive Quality in the Innovation Process

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate whether and how new ideas generated by customers can be used in a process of attractive quality creation. In addition, it aims to discover whether ideas identified as attractive early in the innovation process have certain characteristics that separate them from other ideas.Design/methodology/approach – The study involved 30 customers of a company that designs and produces microwave ovens. In a number of experiments, these customers generated over 100 new ideas on functions, attributes and services related to microwave ovens. Company specialists identified the 21 best ideas and these ideas were then evaluated by a large customer group using the theory of attractive quality.Findings – The study shows how the theory of attractive quality can be used in the development of innovative products. It also provides empirical evidence that ideas identified as attractive are more original and of higher customer value than other ideas.Practical implications – The study shows the extent to which and the circumstances in which the theory of attractive quality can be used to evaluate ideas in the early phases of product and service development.Originality/value – Empirical research on attractive quality creation is sparse, and this study represents a rare example of a comprehensive study of attractive quality creation.
Distributed Modal Identification and Vibration Control of Continua: Theory and Applications

Conventional transducers and actuators are "discrete" in nature, i.e., they usually measure and control spatially discrete locations. These discrete devices become useless when they are placed at modal nodes or lines. In this paper, a generic "distributed" modal identification and vibration control theory for sensing and control of continua, e.g., shells, plates, cylinders, beams, etc., is proposed. The generic theory is derived for a thin shell coupled with two electroded piezoelectric layers. One piezoelectric layer serves as a distributed sensor and the other a distributed actuator. The sensor output, or a reference signal, is processed, amplified, and fed back into the distributed actuator. Due to the converse effect, the injected high voltage induces in-plane strains which result in counteracting moments used to suppress the shell oscillation. System dynamic equations and state equations are also derived. The theory shows that the distributed sensor can identify all vibration modes and the distributed actuators also control all modes. Simplification of the generic theory to other geometries is also demonstrated.
The Return on Post-Compulsory School Mathematics Study

What are the essential skills learned at school that are required for the labour market? The issue is particularly policy relevant in the UK, where the 16-19 secondary school curriculum (A levels) is undergoing major reform. This paper uses data from the UK to investigate the impact of different academic subjects in secondary school on pupils' subsequent earning, particularly the impact of studying advanced mathematical curricula. We find that individuals with an advanced (A-level) mathematics qualification earn 7%-10% more than similarly educated workers without this qualification, even after controlling for the initial ability of these individuals.