Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparing Job Satisfaction among Public- and Private-Sector Employees

Over the past several decades a number of empirical studies have demonstrated that job-satisfaction levels vary widely in the American labor force. The effect of age, tenure, salary, job type, job level, and work environment on an employee's job satisfaction has been extensively discussed. Studies have underscored the importance of identifying the determinants of employee job satisfaction by linking it to higher production and performance levels and to retention rates. Renewed interest in increasing performance levels in government should interest public administrators in identifying factors that foster worker satisfaction. However little empirical attention has been given to evaluating job-satisfaction levels among public-sector employees. And given that the reward system in the public sector systematically differs from that of the private sector (in terms of pay, benefits, and psychic value), it seems likely that studies of satisfaction levels among private-sector employees may not be applicable to public-sector employees. This paper utilizes analyses of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth (NLSY) to compare job-satisfaction levels among public-and private-sector employees. The NLSY is a representative sample of 12,686 men and women. Using this survey allows us to examine the actual work experiences, personal characteristics, and job-satisfaction levels of a selected set of public and private workers. If the factors that contribute to job satisfaction differ for public-and private-sector employees, as our results suggest they do, then such an analysis is long overdue.
Sleep-Related Abdominal Muscle Behavior during Partial or Complete Obstructed Breathing in Prepubertal Children1

ABSTRACT: We have evaluated the influence of nonrapid eye movement (NREM), REM sleep, and arousal on abdominal muscle contractions during snoring and/or obstructive apnea in 10 prepubertal children. All children were known habitual snorers and eight had a sleep apnea index above 10. During stage 3-4 non-REM sleep, nonapneic breathing with snoring was always associated with the presence of expiratory abdominal muscle electromyogram (EMG) discharges. During non-REM sleep apneas, abdominal muscle EMG discharges increased from the beginning to the end of each apnea. Termination of non- REM sleep apnea was marked by an “EEG arousal” in 12% of the apneic events and by a “movement arousal” in the other 88%. The highest abdominal muscle EMG discharge was always observed during the arousal response. During “phasic” REM sleep, abdominal muscle EMG discharges were absent during both nonapneic breathing (with or without snoring) and obstructive apneas. All REM sleep apneas ended with a “movement arousal,” during which abdominal muscle EMG discharges were observed. Thus, abdominal muscle EMG discharges associated with “arousal” were seen independent of the immediately preceding sleep state.
A 25-Year Single Institution Analysis of Health, Practice, and Fate of General Surgeons

Objective:The objective of this study was to analyze nearly 3 decades of surgical residents from an established training program to carefully define individual outcomes on personal and professional health and practice satisfaction. Summary Background Data:A paucity of data exists regarding the health and related practice issues of surgeons postresidency training. Despite several studies examining surgeon burnout and alcohol dependency problems, there have been no detailed reports defining health problems in practicing surgeons or preventive health patterns in this physician population. Important practice factors, including family and practice stress, that may impact on surgical career longevity and satisfaction have similarly received minimal focused examination. Methods:All former surgery residents at the University of Wisconsin from 1978 to 2002 were contacted. Detailed direct interview or phone contact was made to ensure confidentiality and to obtain reliable data. Interviews concentrated on serious health and practice issues since residency completion. Results:One hundred ten of 114 (97%) former residents were contacted. There were 100 males and 14 females with 2 deaths (accident, suicide). Including deaths and those lost to follow up, 15 (13.2%) were nonpracticing; 5 voluntarily (3 planned, 1 accident, 1 arthritis) and 4 involuntarily (alcohol/substance dependency). Eighty-nine percent were married or remarried with a 21.4% divorce rate postresidency. Major health issues occurred in 32% of all surveyed and in 50% of those ages ≥50. Only 10% reported complete lack of weekly exercise activity with 62% exercising at least 3 times per week. Body mass index increased from 23.9 ± 1.5 kg/m2 (age <40) to 26.6 ± 3.0 kg/m2 (P = 0.009) by age ≥50. Alcohol dependency was confirmed in 7.3%. Overall, 75% of surgeons surveyed were satisfied with their practice/career. Conclusion:Despite a high job satisfaction rate, surgeon health may be compromised in up to 50% by age ≥50, with a 20% voluntary or involuntary retirement rate. Alcohol dependency occurred in up to 7.3% of surgeons, which contributed to the practice attrition rate. The success and length of a career in surgery is defined by postresidency factors rarely examined during training and include major and minor health issues, preventive health patterns/exercise, alcohol use or dependency, family life, and practice satisfaction. Surgeons mentoring during the course of surgical training should be improved to inform of important health and practice issues and consequences.
Electricity Price Volatility and the Marginal Cost of Congestion: An Empirical Study of Peak Hours on the NYISO Market, 2001-2004

We examine the volatility characteristics of the NYISO Day Ahead and Real Time electricity markets for peak hours from January 2001 to June 2004. GARCH models are used to study the differences in volatility across zones. We find that price volatility is higher but less persistent in the Real Time market than in the Day Ahead market. Furthermore, we document the importance of transmission congestion and empirically estimate its impact on volatility in electricity prices. We also examine the Day Ahead premium and show how it is related to volatility in Real Time prices. The implications for participants in these markets are discussed.
Stock Splits, Tick Size, and Sponsorship

A traditional explanation for stock splits is that they increase the number of small shareholders who own the stock. A possible reason for the increase is that the minimum bid-ask spread is wider after a split and brokers have more incentive to promote a stock. I document a large number of small buy orders following Nasdaq and NYSE/AMEX splits during 1993 to 1994. I also find strong evidence that trading costs increase, and weak evidence that costs of market making decline following splits. This is consistent with splits acting as an incentive to brokers to promote stocks. Copyright The American Finance Association 2000.
Reward for Luck in a Dynamic Agency Model

This article studies a continuous time principal-agent problem of a firm whose cash flows are determined by the manager's unobserved effort. The firm's cash flows are further subject to persistent and publicly observable shocks that are beyond the manager's control. While standard contracting models predict that compensation should optimally filter out these shocks, empirical evidence suggests otherwise. In line with this evidence, our model predicts that the manager is "rewarded for luck. " The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org. , Oxford University Press.
Financialisation Issues in a Post-Keynesian Stock-flow Consistent Model

This paper presents a stock-flow consistent growth model which is set in the Post-Keynesian tradition. A key feature of the model, however, is that real government expenditures grow at a rate which is compatible over the long period with a constant rate of unemployment (at the "natural rate of growth"). The model incorporates a detailed description of the household, production, banking and government sectors. This paper focuses on changes in parameters that are tied with financialization. The effects on the following changes are examined: the target proportion of retained earnings to investment, the proportion of profits distributed as dividends, the propensity of households to hold equities, and the propensity of households to take new loans as a proportion of their personal income. There is also a short analysis of the impact of a change in the loan repayment ratio and in the loan default ratio.
An empirical investigation of repeat buying behavior of customers of two brands in India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to attempt to test whether price and quality have any influence on customer repeat purchase probability. Managers should know the strategic determinants of repeat purchase probability to retain customers. Design/methodology/approach – Primary data were gathered on repeat purchase, price and quality via a survey of 400 customers of two brands in the Business-to-customer (B2C) sector. Then 380 × 4 data points to a logit model were fitted to estimate the effects of price and quality on customer repeat purchase probability. Findings – It was found that price, quality and price × quality influence customer repeat purchase probability substantially. Furthermore, the elasticities of repeat purchase probability to price and quality are quite high in both cases. Practical implications – Managers should use elasticities to determine how to allocate funds between price and quality to maximize repeat purchase probability. Originality/value – In view of the complexity of customer.
Note---Competitive Price and Positioning Strategies

Brand positioning and brand pricing are important strategic decisions for marketing managers. Such decisions are interrelated and depend upon competitive brand positions and prices. However, any unilateral decisions may encourage repositioning and price adjustment by competitors thus leading to either new market equilibria or a price/positioning “war. ” This paper examines such price and positioning decisions in a competitive environment by extending the 'Defender' consumer model to more complex equilibria. We assume that the brands are already in the market and that positions are “sticky” in the sense that brands cannot leapfrog one another. Among the insights for such incumbent brands are: • if prices are symmetric and held constant, firms seek to reposition toward the center of the market, • but price advantages by central firms can mediate that central tendency such that an equilibrium exists with positive profits; • if brand positions are held constant, the Nash equilibria for prices exist and are unique, and • category profits, the sum of brand profits, are maximized for maximum brand differentiation; • for two and three brand markets the subgame perfect Nash equilibrium, where positioning decisions are made with foresight on the price equilibria, causes firms to unilaterally seek maximum brand differentiation; but • for four or more brands greater foresight and/or cooperation appears necessary to reach the point of maximum brand differentiation. These results apply where the Defender consumer model is an exact description of consumer response and where the competitive reaction assumptions hold. In any empirical situation such forces might be softened resulting in differentiated, but not maximally differentiated, brands.
Rural livelihood diversification in Sub-Saharan Africa: A literature review

This article provides a comprehensive review of the literature on the nature and evolution of rural livelihood diversification in sub-Saharan Africa, and the situation regarding smallholders. It reveals mixed findings about the causes and consequences of livelihood diversification on rural smallholders adopting this strategy. A lot of evidence from the literature suggests that it is relatively better-off smallholders with sufficient assets who achieve successful livelihood diversification, mainly by exploiting opportunities and synergies between farm and nonfarm activities. Because of asset constraints, increase in incomes and wealth based on livelihood diversification has not yet benefitted the large majority of smallholders.
Over-the-horizon broadband maritime communications utilizing novel lightweight antennas

The demand for implementing new radio communication services at sea is steadily increasing. Unfortunately, these needs are still far from being adequately fulfilled by currently available technologies. This paper presents some results of our studies aiming at developing broadband radio links operating in UHF/microwave bands at sea. The general principle of the concept that we are implementing is establishment of a robust backbone network based on vessel-to-vessel mesh communications, making use of radio links that are expected to be capable of beyond the horizon operation. Novel lightweight antennas have been carefully designed to minimize user investment and maintenance costs for this technology implementation, thus avoiding use of expensive and complicating beam forming techniques.
Competition in Multi-sided Markets: Divide and Conquer

This paper studies Stackelberg price competition in a multi-sided market. The second-mover can engage in divide-and-conquer strategies, which involve cross-subsidies between sides. The paper recovers bounds on profits, and refines the results with a selection criteria whereby consumers resolve coordination failure in favor of a focal platform. It then analyzes perfect price discrimination with network effects, and two-sided market, shedding light on inefficiencies and strategic choices by platforms. A leading platform may refrain from selling to some side in order to soften competition, it tends to favor excessively balanced market shares and may prefer compatibility to reduce price competition. (JEL D43, D85)
China‐related POM research: a literature review and suggestions for future research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the stream of China‐related POM research over 25 years (1980‐2005) to determine trends in quantity, topical coverage, research contribution, and data sources.Design/methodology/approach – From 31 POM‐relevant journals, 144 articles were identified and classified across the four parameters. The data was also segregated into three time periods to facilitate comparison and analysis. Descriptive statistics were then generated to identify trends.Findings – China‐related POM research has grown rapidly in the past 25 years. The topical coverage has expanded from an initial focus on strategy and policy issues to include quality, technology, and logistics management topics. The focus of articles has matured from a base of descriptive articles to include a growing emphasis on novel applications of POM techniques and new frameworks. Finally, the data sources tapped for the growing body of China‐related POM research has trended toward case studies and survey data.Orig.
A Systems Approach To Campaign Finance in U.S. House Elections

Previous research on campaign financing has been hampered by the persistence of the simultaneity problem. In this article the authors attempt to overcome this problem by specifying a comprehensive simultaneous model of congressional elections. Specifically, equations determining challenger political quality, candidate expenditures, and electoral outcomes are theoretically derived and then estimated as a single equation system. Overall, this comprehensive simultaneous model fits the data relatively well. More importantly, the authors find that incumbent expenditures exert a significant impact on electoral outcomes. The marginal impact of incumbent spending is not, however, the same for all incumbents. Specifically, first-term incumbents receive a much larger marginal return on their expenditures than do multiterm incumbents. In fact, the marginal return on spending by first-term incumbents rivals the marginal return on spending by challengers.
Silver nanoparticles induced accumulation of reactive oxygen species and alteration of antioxidant systems in the aquatic plant Spirodela polyrhiza

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are widely used commercially because of their antibacterial properties. Oxidative stress is known to be involved in the toxicity of AgNPs to bacteria, animals, and algae. The authors used Spirodela polyrhiza to investigate whether AgNPs can induce oxidative stress in higher plants. Results showed that there was a dose‐dependent increase in levels of reactive oxygen species, superoxide dismutase and peroxidase activity, and the antioxidant glutathione content in 6‐nm AgNP treatments. Catalase activity and malondialdehyde content in 6‐nm AgNP treatments was significantly higher than the control at silver concentrations of 5 mg L−1. Superoxide dismutase and catalase activity and antioxidant glutathione and malondialdehyde content were not significantly different at 10 mg L−1 of AgNPs (6 nm and 20 nm). Treatment with 20 µg L−1 Ag+ (the amount almost equal to 10 mg L−1 AgNPs released) did not change the reactive oxygen species level or antioxidant enzymes activity. Micron‐sized Ag particles had no effect on S. polyrhiza. Transmission electron microscopy showed that, compared with the control, chloroplasts in S. polyrhiza treated with 6‐nm and 20‐nm AgNPs accumulated starch grains and had reduced intergranal thylakoids. These results clearly indicate that AgNPs are able to cause oxidative stress and affect the chloroplast structure and function of S. polyrhiza, and this effect was not caused by Ag+ released from particles. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;33:1398–1405. © 2014 SETAC
Employment relationships as drivers of firm flexibility and learning

Purpose – This paper seeks to analyse whether the firm model of employment relationships is associated with functional flexibility and organisational learning (exploratory versus exploitative). It also aims to assess the mediating effect of functional flexibility in the relationship between a specific employment mode (mutual investment) and organisational learning.Design/methodology/approach – This research was conducted using a sample of Spanish companies in the food industry, from which data from HR managers and production managers in each firm were collected. Cluster analyses, MANOVA and regression analyses were applied to test the hypotheses.Findings – The results suggest that those firms developing a mutual investment employment relationship outperform other firms in terms of functional flexibility and organisational learning (both exploitative and exploratory learning). The paper also finds a mediating effect of one dimension of functional flexibility (range‐number of activities) between mutual inve.
Translation initiation factor IF3: two domains, five functions, one mechanism?

Initiation factor IF3 contains two domains separated by a flexible linker. While the isolated N‐domain displayed neither affinity for ribosomes nor a detectable function, the isolated C‐domain, added in amounts compensating for its reduced affinity for 30S subunits, performed all activities of intact IF3, namely: (i) dissociation of 70S ribosomes; (ii) shift of 30S‐bound mRNA from ‘stand‐by’ to ‘P‐decoding’ site; (iii) dissociation of 30S–poly(U)–NacPhe‐tRNA pseudo‐ initiation complexes; (iv) dissociation of fMet‐tRNA from initiation complexes containing mRNA with the non‐canonical initiation triplet AUU (AUUmRNA); (v) stimulation of mRNA translation regardless of its start codon and inhibition of AUUmRNA translation at high IF3C/ribosome ratios. These results indicate that while IF3 performs all its functions through a C‐domain–30S interaction, the N‐domain function is to provide additional binding energy so that its fluctuating interaction with the 30S subunit can modulate the thermodynamic stability of the 30S–IF3 complex and IF3 recycling. The localization of IF3C far away from the decoding site and anticodon stem–loop of P‐site‐bound tRNA indicates that the IF3 fidelity function does not entail its direct contact with these structures.
Family ownership, altruism and agency costs in Australian small- and medium-sized enterprises

Given the continuing uncertainty about whether family firms enjoy lower agency costs, this article hypothesizes that a combination of the effects of family ownership, altruism and self-control is instead at play. To begin with, family ownership can indeed reduce agency costs through better aligning the interests of owners and managers. This is a ‘determining’ effect in that it independently mitigates one source of agency problems. However, altruism combined with self-control problems arising from the highly concentrated ownership often found in family firms can also increase agency costs. This is an ‘embedding’ effect as it is rooted in the personal relationships within the family firm. Using the Business Longitudinal Database compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we find that for larger SMEs (those with 20–200 employees), the gains in lower agency costs arising from family ownership are almost completely offset by the losses from altruism and the lack of self-control.
The Role of Global Risk Aversion in Explaining Latin American Sovereign Spreads

This paper assesses empirically whether global risk aversion (GRA) and some if its determinants (US economic growth and the US long term interest rates) explain developments in Latin American sovereign spreads. We find that GRA is significant and positively related to Latin American sovereign spreads and that its impact varies across countries and over time. Chile, with a lower sovereign risk, is relatively more affected. The opposite is true for Argentina, Ecuador and Venezuela. In addition, the influence of GRA on spreads has risen since the Enron scandal. Finally, both an increase in US economic growth and US long term interest rates are found to reduce spreads while the opposite is true for US short term interest rates.
Assessment of therapeutic efficacy and fate of engineered human mesenchymal stem cells for cancer therapy

The poor prognosis of patients with aggressive and invasive cancers combined with toxic effects and short half-life of currently available treatments necessitate development of more effective tumor selective therapies. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are emerging as novel cell-based delivery agents; however, a thorough investigation addressing their therapeutic potential and fate in different cancer models is lacking. In this study, we explored the engineering potential, fate, and therapeutic efficacy of human MSCs in a highly malignant and invasive model of glioblastoma. We show that engineered MSC retain their “stem-like” properties, survive longer in mice with gliomas than in the normal brain, and migrate extensively toward gliomas. We also show that MSCs are resistant to the cytokine tumor necrosis factor apoptosis ligand (TRAIL) and, when engineered to express secreted recombinant TRAIL, induce caspase-mediated apoptosis in established glioma cell lines as well as CD133-positive primary glioma cells in vitro. Using highly malignant and invasive human glioma models and employing real-time imaging with correlative neuropathology, we demonstrate that MSC-delivered recombinant TRAIL has profound anti-tumor effects in vivo. This study demonstrates the efficacy of diagnostic and therapeutic MSC in preclinical glioma models and forms the basis for developing stem cell-based therapies for different cancers.