Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Championing Women’s Empowerment as a Catalyst for Purchase Intentions: Testing the Mediating Roles of OPRs and Brand Loyalty in the Context of Femvertising

ABSTRACT Corporate social responsibility (CSR) research indicates that consumers are skeptical of a company’s support of social causes unless they can determine that the efforts are legitimate and authentic. One way companies can demonstrate legitimacy in their CSR efforts is by supporting causes that are perceived to “fit. ” The goal of this study is to explore the effects of company–cause fit within the context of the CSR strategy of femvertising. Femvertising is defined as “advertising that employs pro-female talent, messages, and imagery to empower women and girls. ” A survey of U.S. adults (n = 419) was employed to investigate consumer attitude toward femvertising as well as four specific femvertising messages as they related to respondents’ perceptions of company–cause fit, CSR associations, and purchase intentions. This study also examined the mediating roles of two related mechanisms – perceived organization-public relationship quality and company loyalty – in connecting CSR associations and purchase intention. The findings suggest that within a femvertising context, purchase intention is impacted by CSR associations and company–cause fit both directly and through loyalty. The findings clarify how company support of women-empowering causes can be an effective CSR strategy and how it fits with the current strategic communication literature.
A lifelong exposure to a Western-style diet, but not aging, alters global DNA methylation in mouse colon

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Previous studies have indicated that when compared to young mice, old mice have lower global DNA methylation and higher p16 promoter methylation in colonic mucosa, which is a common finding in colon cancer. It is also known that a Western-style diet (WSD) high in fat and calories, and low in calcium, vitamin D, fiber, methionine and choline (based on the AIN 76A diet) is tumorigenic in colons of mice. Because DNA methylation is modifiable by diet, we investigate whether a WSD disrupts DNA methylation patterns, creating a tumorigenic environment. SUBJECTVIES/METHODS We investigated the effects of a WSD and aging on global and p16 promoter DNA methylation in the colon. Two month old male C57BL/6 mice were fed either a WSD or a control diet (AIN76A) for 6, 12 or 17 months. Global DNA methylation, p16 promoter methylation and p16 expression were determined by LC/MS, methyl-specific PCR and real time RT-PCR, respectively. RESULTS The WSD group demonstrated significantly decreased global DNA methylation compared with the control at 17 months (4.05 vs 4.31%, P = 0.019). While both diets did not change global DNA methylation over time, mice fed the WSD had lower global methylation relative to controls when comparing all animals (4.13 vs 4.30%, P = 0.0005). There was an increase in p16 promoter methylation from 6 to 17 months in both diet groups (P < 0.05) but no differences were observed between diet groups. Expression of p16 increased with age in both control and WSD groups. CONCLUSIONS In this model a WSD reduces global DNA methylation, whereas aging itself has no affect. Although the epigenetic effect of aging was not strong enough to alter global DNA methylation, changes in promoter-specific methylation and gene expression occurred with aging regardless of diet, demonstrating the complexity of epigenetic patterns.
Discrete-Time Estimation of Second-Order Statistics of Generalized Almost-Cyclostationary Processes

In this paper, the problem of estimating second-order statistics of continuous-time generalized almost-cyclostationary (GACS) processes is addressed. GACS processes in the wide sense have autocorrelation function almost-periodic in time whose generalized Fourier series expansion has both frequencies and coefficients that depend on the lag shifts. Almost-cyclostationary (ACS) processes are obtained as a special case when the frequencies do not depend on the lag shifts. ACS processes filtered by Doppler channels and communications signals with time-varying parameters are further examples. It is shown that continuous-time GACS processes do not have a discrete-time counterpart. The discrete-time cyclic cross-correlogram of the discrete-time ACS processes obtained by uniformly sampling GACS processes is considered as estimator of samples of the continuous-time cyclic cross-correlation function. The asymptotic performance analysis is carried out by resorting to the hybrid cyclic cross-correlogram which is partially continuous-time and partially discrete-time. Its mean-square consistency and asymptotic complex Normality as the number of data-samples approaches infinity and the sampling period approaches zero are proved under mild conditions on the regularity of the Fourier series coefficients and the finite or practically finite memory of the processes expressed in terms of summability of cumulants. It is shown that the asymptotic properties of the hybrid cyclic cross-correlogram are coincident with those of the continuous-time cyclic cross-correlogram. Hence, discrete-time estimation does not give rise to any loss in asymptotic performance with respect to continuous-time estimation.
International Spillovers and Absorptive Capacity: A Cross-Country, Cross-Sector Analysis Based on European Patents and Citations.

This paper provides an empirical assessment of the effect of national and international knowledge spillovers on innovation at a finely defined sectoral level for six major industrialised countries over the period 1981-1995. International spillovers are always found to be effective in increasing innovative productivity. The paper then uses self-citations to investigate the role of prior R&D experience in enhancing a country? s ability to understand and improve upon external knowledge (absorptive capacity). The empirical results show that absorptive capacity increases the elasticity of a country? s innovation to both national and international spillovers. The larger the gap of a country with the technological leaders, the weaker is this effect, but the larger is the country? s potential to increase it.
Giant Ectopic Ureter Mimicking Pelvic Organ Prolapse: A Case Report

Ectopic ureter is one of the most common urinary tract anomalies. We, herein, present a case of a giant ureter with ectopic orifice, mimicking pelvic organ prolapse, which is the first in the literature. A 59-year-old female patient presenting with frequently recurrent urinary tract infection had grade 3 pelvic organ prolapse. On examination, the organ producing the appearance of prolapse was found to be a right ureter of giant size and was obstructed by a large stone at the distal segment. The proximal end of the ureter ended blindly. After exploration, the stone was removed, the ureter was detached from the urethra, and the lumen was tied off and cut 5 cm proximally. At 6 months postoperatively, the patient is being followed up without any clinical problems. In such cases with nonfunctioning renal segment draining proximally, the chance of cure can be obtained without a need for a comprehensive intervention such as total abdominal ureterectomy.
Prevalence of malnutrition and its correlates in older adults living in long stay institutions situated in Beirut, Lebanon.

BACKGROUND Malnutrition represents an important issue in older adults; unfortunately, there is lack of data concerning this topic in Lebanon. This paper aims to provide a description of nutritional status and its correlates in older adults living in long stay institutions situated in Beirut. METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted in three long stay institutions in Beirut in 2012. The study population was composed of people aged 65 years and above, having a score of Folstein Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) greater than 14 and without renal failure requiring dialysis. Subjects meeting inclusion criteria filled out a questionnaire consisting of nutritional status scale (Mini Nutritional Assessment: MNA) and several other parts (demographic, self-assessment of the state health, smoking and alcohol, physical dependence, quality of life, frailty, depression, social isolation and loneliness). Data were entered and analyzed using the statistical software SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), version 17.0 (Chicago, IL, USA). RESULTS Among 111 older adults (55 men and 56 women), 14 (12.6%) were malnourished, 54 (48.7%) were at risk of malnutrition and 43 (38.7%) had an adequate nutritional status. Multivariate analysis showed that physical exercise, depression, frailty and cognitive function were independent correlates of nutritional status of older adults. This model explained 42.2% (adjusted R2 = 0.422) of the older adults nutritional status variability. CONCLUSIONS We found a moderate percentage of malnutrition in older adults living in long stay institutions situated in Beirut, and the correlates of malnutrition in older adults were low physical exercise, depression, frailty and low cognitive function.
Bradykinin Contributes to the Vasodilator Effects of Chronic Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibition in Patients With Heart Failure

Background—Bradykinin, an endogenous vasodilator peptide, is metabolized by ACE. The aims of the present study were to determine the doses of B9340, a bradykinin receptor antagonist, that inhibit vasodilatation to exogenous bradykinin and to assess the contribution of bradykinin to the maintenance of basal vascular tone in patients with heart failure receiving chronic ACE inhibitor therapy. Methods and Results—Forearm blood flow was measured using bilateral venous occlusion plethysmography. On three occasions in a double-blind randomized manner, 8 healthy volunteers received intrabrachial infusions of placebo or B9340 (at 4.5 and 13.5 nmol/min). On each occasion, placebo or B9340 was coinfused with bradykinin (30 to 3000 pmol/min) and substance P (4 to 16 pmol/min). B9340 caused no change in basal FBF but produced dose-dependent inhibition of the vasodilatation to bradykinin (P <0.001) but not substance P. The effects of bradykinin antagonism were studied in 17 patients with NYHA grade II through IV heart failure maintained on chronic ACE inhibitor therapy. Incremental doses of B9340, but not HOE-140, produced a dose-dependent vasoconstriction (P =0.01). After withdrawal of ACE inhibitor therapy, B9340 produced no significant change in forearm blood flow. After reinstitution of therapy, B9340 again resulted in vasoconstriction (P <0.03). Conclusions—B9340 is a potent and selective inhibitor of bradykinin-induced vasodilatation. Bradykinin does not contribute to the maintenance of basal peripheral arteriolar tone in healthy humans or patients with heart failure but contributes to the vasodilatation associated with chronic ACE inhibitor therapy in patients with heart failure via the B1 receptor.
Learning, Confidence, and Option Prices

The option-market evidence suggests that investors are concerned with large downward moves in equity prices, which occur once every one to two years in the data. This evidence is puzzling because there are no concurrent jumps in macroeconomic fundamentals. I estimate a confidence-risk model where agents use a constant gain specification to learn about the unobserved expected growth from the cross-section of signals. While consumption shocks are Gaussian, investors’ uncertainty (confidence measure) is subject to jumps, which endogenously trigger jump risks in equity and option markets. The model provides a good fit to macroeconomic, equity, option, and forecast data.
Hydrodynamical Accretion onto Sagittarius A* from Distributed Point Sources

Spectral and kinematic studies suggest that the nonthermal radio source Sgr A*, located at the center of the Milky Way, is a supermassive compact object with a mass ~(2-3) × 106 M☉. Winds from nearby stars, located ≈ 0.06 pc to the east of Sgr A*, should, in the absence of any outflow from the putative black hole itself, be accreting onto this object. We report the results of the first three-dimensional Bondi-Hoyle hydrodynamical numerical simulations of this process under the assumption that the Galactic center wind is generated by several different point sources (here assumed to be 10 pseudorandomly placed stars). Our results show that the accretion rate onto the central object can be higher than in the case of a uniform flow since wind-wind shocks dissipate some of the bulk kinetic energy and lead to a higher capture rate for the gas. However, even for this highly nonuniform medium, most of the accreting gas carries with it a relatively low level of specific angular momentum, although large transient fluctuations can occur. Additionally, the post-bow shock focusing of the gas can be substantially different than that for a uniform flow, but it depends strongly on the stellar spatial distribution. We discuss how this affects the morphology of the gas in the inner 0.15 pc of the Galaxy and the consequences for accretion disk models of Sgr A*.
Characteristics and Treatment Outcomes of “Transfer-Out” Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients in Gondar, Ethiopia

Background. During tuberculosis treatment, patients may transfer to continue treatment at another health facility. To ensure adherence until treatment completion, keeping track of patients is paramount. This study aimed to investigate treatment outcomes of patients who transferred out from the University of Gondar Hospital. Methods. This was a retrospective cohort evaluation of patients registered from 2009 to 2013. Treatment outcomes were collected from the TB registers of receiving units using a standardized data capture format. Results. During the study period 3,707 patients initiated treatment and 47.5% (1,760) transferred out. The study evaluated the outcome of 26% (457/1,760) patients, of whom 403 (88%) arrived in the receiving units. Overall, 79% were successfully treated and 13.8% transferred out for a second time. For all transferred-out cases, treatment outcomes were not reported to the referring unit. Conclusion and Recommendation. About half of the patients were transferred out to complete treatment elsewhere. Although successful treatment outcome was obtained in 79% of patients, these results were not fed back to the referring unit. Implementing a clear mechanism to communicate the arrival of and treatment outcome for transfer-out patients and appropriate patient education on treatment unit selection before treatment and during transfer-out are recommended.
A socioecological perspective to understanding mental and physical health: The mediating role of relationship mindsets and goals

People’s mindsets and goals regarding social relationships affect their relationship quality and psychological well-being. We employed multiple group path modeling to examine how perceived relational mobility affects mental and physical health through relationship mindsets (destiny and growth mindsets) and relationship goals (approach and avoidance goals) across countries, surveying community adults in the U.S. (n = 206; Mage = 39.14; 48% female) and South Korea (n = 236; Mage = 38.89; 51% female) through online questionnaires. Results showed that stronger growth mindsets and approach goals predicted better mental and physical health, whereas stronger destiny mindsets and avoidance goals predicted poorer mental and physical health in both countries. Moreover, higher levels of relational mobility were linked to higher levels of subjective well-being and fewer depressive symptoms via growth mindsets and approach goals. The results provide evidence for the importance of socioecological factors such as relational mobility in influencing relationship mindsets and goals with eventual consequences for health outcomes.
The Terascale Challenge

Although vast amounts of textual data are freely available, many NLP algorithms exploit only a minute percentage. In this paper, we study the challenges of working at the terascale and survey reasons why researchers are not fully utilizing available resources. As a case study, we present a terascale algorithm for mining is-a relations that achieves better performance as compared to a state-of-the-art linguistically-rich method.
Functions of the CckA histidine kinase in Caulobacter cell cycle control

The CtrA master transcriptional regulator is a central control element in Caulobacter cell cycle progression and polar morphogenesis. Because of its critical role, CtrA activity is temporally regulated by multiple mechanisms including phosphorylation and ClpXP‐dependent degradation of CtrA. The CckA histidine kinase is known to contribute to CtrA phosphorylation. We show here that genes differentially expressed in a ctrA temperature‐sensitive (ts) mutant are similarly affected in a cckA ts mutant, that the phosphorylation of CckA coincides temporally with CtrA phosphorylation during the cell cycle, and that CckA is essential for viability because it is required for CtrA phosphorylation. Thus, it is the signal transduction pathway mediated by CckA that culminates in CtrA activation, which is temporally regulated and essential for cell cycle progression. CckA also positively regulates CtrA activity by a mechanism that is independent of CtrA phosphorylation. CtrA is more stable in the presence of CckA than it is absence, suggesting that CckA may also be involved, directly or indirectly, in the regulation of CtrA proteolysis.
Small Business Mortality in Germany: A Comparison Between Regions and Sectors

Does geographic region or industry differences matter more in determining the likelihood of survival ? To answer this question, we compare the exit rates of new business firms for two German cities across a broad range of manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors. Based on all business firms registrations and deregisterations for Berlin and Munich between 1981 until 1988, the variation in exit rates is hypothesized to be the result of differences in size, legal form and industry type (i.e., manufacturing or non-manufacturing). We find that geographic region and industry differences both play a significant role in influencing the death probability. Furthermore, the results show that size and legal form influence the exit rate in a similar manner, but industry effects are substantial across regions and within sectors. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG - (Sterberisiko von Kleingewerbeunternehmen in Deutschland: Ein Vergleich zwischen Regionen und Branchen) Uben regionale Faktoren oder Industriecharakteristika einen starkeren Einflus auf die Uberlebenswarscheinlichkeit von Unternehmen aus? Um diese Frage zu beantworten, vergleichen wir Austrittsraten von neugegrundeten Unternehmen des verarbeitenden und nichtverarbeitenden Gewerbes in zwei deutschen Stadten. Die Untersuchung basiert auf den Firmenanmelde- und abmeldedaten fur Berlin und Munchen zwischen 1981 und 1988. Die Forschungshypothese lautet: Die Sterberaten werden durch die Unternehmensgrose, die Rechtsform und durch den Industrietyp (verarbeitendes bzw. nichtverarbeitendes Gewerbe) beeinflust. Wir fanden heraus, das die regionalen Faktoren und die Industriemerkmale einen signifikanten Einflus auf die Sterbewahrscheinlichkeit haben. Auserdem zeigen die Ergebnisse, das die Unternehmensgrose und die Rechtsform einen Einflus auf die Austrittsraten haben, aber die Industrieeffekte sich erheblich nach den Regionen und den Wirtschaftssektoren unterscheiden.
Anticancer and Cancer Preventive Properties of Marine Polysaccharides: Some Results and Prospects

Many marine-derived polysaccharides and their analogues have been reported as showing anticancer and cancer preventive properties. These compounds demonstrate interesting activities and special modes of action, differing from each other in both structure and toxicity profile. Herein, literature data concerning anticancer and cancer preventive marine polysaccharides are reviewed. The structural diversity, the biological activities, and the molecular mechanisms of their action are discussed.
A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis of Adaptation to Climate Change in Ethiopia

This study links a multi-sectoral regionalized dynamic computable general equilibrium model of Ethiopia with a system of country-specific hydrology, crop, road and hydropower engineering models to simulate the economic impacts of climate change towards 2050. In the absence of externally funded policy-driven adaptation investments Ethiopiaâ. s GDP in the 2040s will be up to 10 percent below the counterfactual no-climate change baseline. Suitably scaled adaptation measures could restore aggregate welfare to baseline levels at a cost that is substantially lower than the welfare losses due to climate change.
Levels of Social Support and Coping Strategies in Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

The study examined the effects of levels of social support and types of coping strategies on the psychological adjustment of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Five hundred students from two universities in the Limpopo Province of South Africa participated in this study (males =115, females = 383). Mixed methods were used for the collection and data analysis. Higher the level of social support received correlated with superior psychological adjustment. The specific types of coping styles adopted did not affect psychological adjustment in the survivors.
The politics of evidence-based policy in Europe’s ‘migration crisis’

ABSTRACT Increased migration across the Mediterranean to Europe during 2015 was associated with growing interest in generating new research evidence to assist policymakers in understanding the complexities of migration and improve policy responses. In the UK, this was reflected in funding by the Economic and Social Research Council for a Mediterranean Migration Research Programme. Drawing on evidence from the programme, this volume explores the nature of Europe’s ‘migration crisis’ and the extent to which the development of new migration management policies was grounded in evidence about the causes, drivers and consequences of migration to Europe. The authors conclude that there is a substantial ‘gap’ between the now significant body of evidence examining migration processes and European Union policy responses. This gap is attributed to three main factors: the long-standing ‘paradigm war’ in social research between positivist, interpretivist and critical approaches which means that what counts as ‘evidence’ is contested; competing knowledge claims associated with research and other forms of evidence used to construct and/or support policy narratives; and, perhaps most importantly, the politics of policymaking, which has resulted in policies based on underlying assumptions and vested interests rather than research evidence, even where this evidence is funded directly by European governments.
The nature of damped Lyman a and sub-damped Lyman a absorbers

We present arguments based on the measured abundances in individual damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) and sub-damped Lyman alpha systems (sub-DLAs), and also the average abundances inferred in large samples of QSO absorption line systems, to suggest that the amount of dust in intervening QSO absorbers is small and is not responsible for missing many QSOs in magnitude limited QSO surveys. While we can not totally rule out a bimodal dust distribution with a population of very dusty, metal rich, absorbers which push the background QSOs below the observational threshold of current optical spectroscopic studies, based upon the current samples it appears that the metallicity in QSO absorbers decreases with increase in H I column densities beyond 10^{19} cm^{-2}. Thus the sub-DLA population is more metal rich than the DLAs, a trend which may possibly extend to the non-damped Lyman limit systems (NDLLS). Based on the recently discovered mass-metallicity relation for galaxies, we suggest that most sub-DLAs and possibly NDLLS, are associated with massive spiral/elliptical galaxies while most DLAs are associated with low mass galaxies. The sub-DLA galaxies will then contribute a larger fraction of total mass (stellar and ISM) and therefore metals, to the cosmic budget, specially at low redshifts, as compared to the DLAs.