Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Externalities of Public Firm Presence: Evidence from Private Firms’ Investment Decisions

Public firms provide a large amount of information through their disclosures. In addition, information intermediaries publicly analyze, discuss and disseminate these disclosures. Thus, greater public firm presence in an industry should reduce uncertainty in that industry. Following the theoretical prediction of investment under uncertainty, we hypothesize and find that private firms are more responsive to their investment opportunities when they operate in industries with greater public firm presence. Further, we find that the effect of public firm presence is greater in industries with better information quality and in industries characterized by a greater degree of investment irreversibility. Our results suggest that public firms generate positive externalities by reducing industry uncertainty and facilitating more efficient private firm investment.
Complaints as starting point for vicious cycles in customer–employee-interactions

A ring-model of vicious cycles in customer–employee-interaction is proposed: service employees perceive complaints as a threat to their self-esteem resulting in defense responses such as an increased need for cognitive closure, a devaluation of the customer and their information and degrading service behavior. Confronted with such degrading service behavior, customers react defensively as well, by devaluing the employee for example with regard to his/her competence and by reducing repurchase and positive word-of-mouth (WOM). Three studies investigated each link in this ring-model. In study 1, participants were confronted with an aggressive or neutral customer complaint. Results show that motivated closed-mindedness (one aspect of the need for cognitive closure) increases after an aggressive complaint leading to a devaluation of the customer and their information, and in turn to a degrading service reaction. In study 2, participants were confronted with a degrading or favorable service reaction. Results show that they devaluate the employees’ competence after receiving a degrading service reaction and thus reduce their intention to repurchase. In study 3, we finally examined our predictions investigating real customer–employee-interactions: we analyzed data from an evaluation study in which mystery callers tested the service hotline of an airline. Results show that the employees’ competence is devaluated after degrading behavior and thus reduces positive WOM.
Patterns of Caffeinated Energy Drinks Consumption among Adolescents and Adults in Hail, Saudi Arabia

Caffeinated energy drinks have become more popular in the last decades, especially amongst adolescents and young adults in different parts of the globe. The study aims to investigate the frequency of energy-drink consumption and associated factors in an arbitrary group of adults and adolescents living in Hail/Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted and included which randomly selected 1062 participants (867 males and 195 females) from universities, colleges, middle-to-higher schools and social settings. Data collection was conducted using a self-administered standard tested questionnaire. The current study revealed about 46% had drunk energy drinks, while about 54% did not ever drink energy drinks. Out of the energy drinks consumers, 37% started drinking during the primary school, 64% consumed energy drinks on a daily basis, and 44% consumed two or more cans per day. Reasons behind not taking energy drinks were the belief that they are unhealthy drinks (about two-thirds of non-drinkers), and lack of curiosity for energy drinks (18%). Other reasons such as unaccepted taste, thought to be obesogenic, and the possibility of getting addicted were also reported. From all participants, only 23% and 4% knew about the presence of caffeine and taurine, respectively, in energy drinks. Unreliable resources were the major sources of knowledge about energy drinks and their health effects. Awareness of community about the ingredients and potential hazards of energy drinks should be raised and encouraged by designing and implementing educational programs.
Fear of Reinjury, Negative Affect, and Catastrophizing Predicting Return to Sport in Recreational Athletes With Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries at 1 Year Postsurgery

Objective: To examine fear of reinjury, negative affect, and pain catastrophizing as determinants of athletes’ confidence in their ability to take part in sport activity and their reported return to sport 1 year after undergoing anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Participants: 49 recreational-level athletes (27 men and 22 women; Mage 29.15 years, SD 11.57). Results: Negative affect was inversely associated with sport confidence, and fear of reinjury was inversely associated with reported return to sport. Regression models showed that negative affect was the lone significant predictor ( .32, p .05) of lower sport confidence after activity and education were controlled. Greater fear of reinjury was the lone significant predictor ( .40, p .05) of lower levels of return to sporting activity. Conclusions: Findings indicate that athletes’ confidence in returning to their sport was reduced in those with greater negative mood and that greater fear of reinjury was related to a lower return to sporting activity. Outcomes are discussed in relation to research and implications.
Examination of Known-Groups Validity for the Empathy Assessment Index (EAI): Differences in EAI Scores Between Social Service Providers and Service Recipients

This article reports the findings of a known-groups validity study of the Empathy Assessment Index (EAI), which is a 20-item self-report instrument based on an emerging social cognitive neuroscience definition of empathy. A convenience sample formed 2 groups of study participants: social service providers (n = 197), and a group (n =453) of offender service recipients from community treatment agencies, receiving services for (a) sexual offenses (n = 251), (b) anger management or misdemeanor domestic violence (n = 155), and (c), domestic violence (n = 47). The literature suggests providers and offenders should have significantly different levels of empathy. To test this hypothesis, we compare the group scores on the overall EAI and 4 component scores (affective response, perspective taking, self–other awareness, emotion regulation). Differential item functioning analysis is used to determine whether the EAI items measure the same construct within each group, and highlights 5 items. Results include findings from a multilevel regression analysis, using the 20- and 15-item versions of the EAI. For both versions, controlling for gender, age, education, income, class, and race variables, we find treatment groups have lower average empathy scores than service providers; this difference is statistically significant for 2 of the 3 treatment groups. The emotion regulation and self–other awareness EAI components demonstrate known-groups validity in 1 of the 3 treatment groups. Researchers can likely increase both known-groups and content validity of the EAI by using perception-action items of greater specificity in the affective response component and by adding an affective mentalizing component.
Paracrine interactions of mammalian adipose tissue.

Adipose tissue develops in and/or around most lymphoid tissues in mammals and birds. Early reports of this widespread association and hypotheses for its functional basis were long ignored in the planning of in vitro studies and the interpretation of in vivo results. Biochemical studies on rodent tissues reveal many site-specific properties of adipocytes anatomically associated with lymph nodes and omental milky spots that equip them to interact locally with lymphoid cells. The paracrine interactions are strongest for the most readily activated lymph nodes and are modulated by dietary lipids. Perinodal adipocytes contribute less than those in the large nodeless depots to whole-body lipid supplies during fasting. Observations on wild animals show that perinodal adipose tissue is selectively conserved even in starvation but does not enlarge greatly in natural obesity. Such paracrine provisioning of peripheral immune responses improves their efficiency and emancipates activated lymphocytes from competition with other tissues for blood-borne nutrients. The relationship is found in extant protherians and metatherians, so it almost certainly arose early in the evolution of mammals, possibly as part of the metabolic reorganisation associated with homeothermy, viviparity, and lactation. Prolonged disruption to paracrine interactions between lymphoid and adipose tissue may contribute to the HIV-associated adipose redistribution syndrome, causing selective hypertrophy of the mesentery, omentum, and other adipose depots that contain much activated lymphoid tissue. Skeletal and cardiac muscle may also have paracrine relationships with anatomically associated adipose tissue, but interactions between contiguous tissues have not been demonstrated directly.
ANALISIS NIAT BELI ASURANSI JIWA PADA MAHASISWA: APLIKASI THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR

The decision making to buy the life insurance product can be determined by supported attitude for the intention. The purpose of this research was to analyze life insurance purchase intention of college students using the application of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). This research used cross sectional design and involved 250 college students who attended Personal Financial Management Course. Characteristics of college students were measured among three dimensions that were social demography characteristics, value, and financial knowledge. The results indicated that the most of students had high self-respect value score but low security value score. The level of financial knowledge, both subjective and objective measurement of knowledge, attitude toward life insurance product, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control were considered to be at good level. Further analysis indicates that life insurance purchase intention was significantly correlated with attitudes toward life insurance product (r=0,634; p<0,01), subjective norm (r=0,470; p<0,01), and perceived behavioral control (r=0,508; p<0,01). Life insurance purchase intention is influenced by the value of security and self-respect, subjective financial knowledge, and attitude toward life insurance product.
Theory in evaluation: Reducing confusion and encouraging debate

One of the goals of the journal Evaluation was to advance theoretical and methodological understandings of evaluation. Twenty years later theory as understood in the field of evaluation is fragmented, a problem widely recognized in the evaluation community. The goal of this article is to make a modest contribution to clarifying this situation. We first present two typologies of evaluation theory and invite readers to join us in a discussion of the pros and cons of these typologies. We then present an impressionistic picture, mainly qualitative, of how ‘theory’ has featured in past issues of this journal. Many articles with a theoretical orientation have been published in Evaluation providing a rich though somewhat diffuse picture in which many of the types identified in our typologies are represented. Finally several suggestions are put forward to further strengthen the development of theoretical work in the evaluation profession. These are ‘theory knitting’, ‘theory layering’ and ‘theory-driven evaluation science’.
A New Impact-Ionization Current Model Applicable to Both Bulk and SOI MOSFETs by Considering Self-Lattice-Heating

In existing impact-ionization current (Jsub) models for short-channel MOSFETs, various models for the characteristic ionization length (I) or the velocity-saturation region length (lsat) have been developed by using the polynomial-fitting method in order to model the bias dependence of the maximum electric field (Em) in the channel. This paper proposes a bias-voltage- and gate-length-dependent effective maximum electric field (Em,eff) based on energy-balance equation, aimed at obtaining an accurate expression of Em to increase the accuracy of the Isub model for deep submicrometer devices. This new method overcomes the complicated modeling of I, avoids the extraction of different fitting constants for different devices, and enables unique extraction of the impact-ionization coefficients (A and B) for different devices. This improved model demonstrates excellent agreements with the numerical data of nMOSFETs from a 90-nm-technology wafer file. Only one unique set of parameters is needed to fit the data from devices with different biases and lengths for the same technology node. Moreover, since the lattice temperature (Tl) is built in the formulation of Em,eff, a compact Isub model with self-lattice-heating is developed, which also accounts for the excess substrate current observed in the SOI devices due to carrier heating in the channel.
“A la carte” treatment of portal hypertension: Adapting medical therapy to hemodynamic response for the prevention of bleeding

We report the results of adapting medical therapy to the monitoring of hemodynamic response in the prevention of a first variceal bleeding or rebleeding in patients with cirrhosis. Hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) was measured before and after propranolol was initiated. The patients were considered responders if HVPG decreased below 12 mm Hg or at least 20% as compared with baseline value. If patients were not responders, isosorbide‐5 mononitrate (I‐5MN) was added, and a third hemodynamic study was performed. Thereafter, the patients were followed for a mean of 28 months. Thirty‐four consecutive patients were treated to prevent a first bleeding episode in 20 patients and a rebleeding in 14 patients. HVPG value was initially 19.8 ± 4.6 mm Hg and decreased to 17.6 ± 5.7 mm Hg (P < (.05) after propranolol alone. Thirteen patients (38%) were responders to propranolol. I‐5MN improved hemodynamic response in 7 cases. Among these 20 (59%) hemodynamic responders, only 2 (10%) experienced variceal bleeding, as compared with 9 of 14 (64%) nonresponders (P < 0.05). Using multivariate analysis, only hemodynamic response was found to have an independent predictive value for the risk of variceal bleeding. In conclusion, hemodynamic response to drug therapy identifies patients who are efficiently protected from variceal bleeding as well as nonresponders in whom an alternative treatment should be considered. (HEPATOLOGY2002;36:1361‐1366).
Saccharides enhance iron bioavailability to Southern Ocean phytoplankton

Iron limits primary productivity in vast regions of the ocean. Given that marine phytoplankton contribute up to 40% of global biological carbon fixation, it is important to understand what parameters control the availability of iron (iron bioavailability) to these organisms. Most studies on iron bioavailability have focused on the role of siderophores; however, eukaryotic phytoplankton do not produce or release siderophores. Here, we report on the pivotal role of saccharides—which may act like an organic ligand—in enhancing iron bioavailability to a Southern Ocean cultured diatom, a prymnesiophyte, as well as to natural populations of eukaryotic phytoplankton. Addition of a monosaccharide (>2 nM of glucuronic acid, GLU) to natural planktonic assemblages from both the polar front and subantarctic zones resulted in an increase in iron bioavailability for eukaryotic phytoplankton, relative to bacterioplankton. The enhanced iron bioavailability observed for several groups of eukaryotic phytoplankton (i.e., cultured and natural populations) using three saccharides, suggests it is a common phenomenon. Increased iron bioavailability resulted from the combination of saccharides forming highly bioavailable organic associations with iron and increasing iron solubility, mainly as colloidal iron. As saccharides are ubiquitous, present at nanomolar to micromolar concentrations, and produced by biota in surface waters, they also satisfy the prerequisites to be important constituents of the poorly defined “ligand soup,” known to weakly bind iron. Our findings point to an additional type of organic ligand, controlling iron bioavailability to eukaryotic phytoplankton—a key unknown in iron biogeochemistry.
The Impact of Short-Term, Intensive Antifolate Treatment (with Pyrimethamine and Sulfadoxine) and Antibiotics Followed by Long-Term, Secondary Antifolate Prophylaxis on the Rate of Toxoplasmic Retinochoroiditis Recurrence

Purpose To assess the impact of intensive antifolate treatment, followed by secondary antifolate prophylaxis (A-SP) on the recurrence rate of toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis (TRC). To investigate whether there are any other factors potentially predisposing for recurrence. Material and Methods A total of 637 medical records of TRC patients, who had been treated in the years 1994–2013 were reviewed. All patients were treated with pyrimethamine /sulfadoxine one 25mg/500mg tablet daily (P/S 25/500mg) for 21 days with a double loading dose for the first two days. From Day 2 the patients also received prednisone at a starting dose of 40mg and spiramycine 3 million IU three times daily, given for 10 days followed by azithromycin 500mg once daily for another 6 days. The analysis of the recurrence rate involved 352 patients who had completed 6-month secondary prophylaxis (P/S one 25 mg/500mg tablet twice a week). Results When secondary antifolate prophylaxis (A-SP) was instituted immediately after the treatment for TRC, the probability of 3-year recurrence–free survival after the first course of A-SP was 90.9%. A recurrence was most likely approximately 3.5 years after the first treatment. A univariate Cox regression model demonstrated that a risk for recurrence was 2.82 times higher (p = 0.02) in patients with retinal scars. In the multivariate analysis, the risk for recurrence was 2.41 higher (p = 0.06). In patients with haemorrhagic lesions the risk for recurrence was lower, aRR = 0.17 (approaching borderline statistical significance p = 0.08). Conclusions With the institution of A-SP of immediately after the intensive treatment for TRC, i.e. when a reactivation was most likely, there was no recurrence during A-SP. Following A-SP the recurrence rates were low and recurrence-free periods tended to be longer. The treatment regimen employed had a beneficial effect on the recurrence interval as it reduced and delayed the highest probability of recurrence.
What is the impact of excessive body mass on the biomechanical walking characteristics in 7 to 11 year old children

Childhood obesity is associated with multiple health co-morbidities and various musculoskeletal disorders, affecting the lower limb and feet. Limited research has been undertaken which quantifies the impact of obesity on the function of the paediatric foot and lower limb. Furthermore, it is yet undetermined whether overweight children display similar functional changes as their obese counterparts. The primary aim of this research was to advance understanding on foot function and lower limb biomechanical movement characteristics in children; analysing differences between obese, overweight and normal weight children. Having determined the reliability of the measurement protocols, 100 children were recruited for assessment of body mass status and plantar foot loading. Following this, a sub-group of 45 children were recruited and three-dimensional gait analysis was undertaken. Plantar foot loading and lower limb temporal-spatial, kinematic and kinetic gait characteristics were analysed during barefoot level walking. Multiple regression was undertaken to determine relationships between body mass status, foot loading and lower limb gait biomechanics. Findings demonstrated that overweight and obese children displayed marked differences in foot loading and lower limb gait biomechanics when compared to normal weight children. The research identified that increased loading at the midfoot and 2nd- 5th metatarsals significantly predicted change in the kinematic and kinetic walking parameters at the hip and ankle in overweight and obese children. These findings provide evidence of an atypical biomechanical function of the foot and lower limb. This work advances understanding on the implications of excessive body mass on the functional characteristics of the paediatric foot and lower limb. This research identifies for the first time, differences in foot loading and lower limb gait biomechanics in overweight and obese children relative to those of normal weight. This work also provides important information as to the use of plantar pressure assessment in predicting change to the lower limb biomechanical movement characteristics of these children. This work underpins the need for further longitudinal work that further enhances our understanding on the consequences of excessive body mass on the foot and lower limb musculoskeletal and locomotor systems in children.
Gender and job-related non-formal training: A comparison of 20 countries

This article analyses gender differences in the participation in various types of job-related non-formal training in 20 societies and examines the relationship of these gender differences with country-specific institutional settings such as employment protection, family policies and the gender culture. Using data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and applying two-step multilevel regression analyses, two main findings are obtained: First, gendered participation clearly differs among training types, with women being less likely to participate in employer-financed training but more likely to participate in non-employer-sponsored training. These gender differences in training participation are crucial because they are likely to shape men’s and women’s career development in different ways, that is, by providing better future career prospects with the current employer for men and with a new employer for women. Second, country-specific settings can reduce gender differences in training participation: in countries with family policies supporting females’ employment (e.g. good coverage of formal childcare and short parental leave), we found a lower training disadvantage of women in employer-financed training. In turn, gender differences in non-employer-sponsored training seem to be lower in countries with less rigid employment protection.
Predicting factors of present hepatitis C virus infection among patients positive for the hepatitis C virus antibody

Background/Aims To identify the predicting factors of present hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among patients with positivity for antibodies to HCV (anti-HCV). Methods We analyzed patients who showed positive enzyme immunoassay (EIA) results and performed an HCV RNA test as a confirmatory test at Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong from June 2006 to July 2012. The features distinguishing the groups with positive and negative HCV RNA results were reviewed. Results In total, 490 patients were included. The results of the HCV RNA test were positive and negative in 228 and 262 patients, respectively. The index value of anti-HCV, mean age, platelet counts, total bilirubin, prothrombin time international normalized ratio, albumin and alanine transaminase (ALT) levels differed significantly between the two groups. On multivariable analysis, an index value of anti-HCV >10 [odds ratio (OR)=397.27, P<0.001), ALT >40 IU/L (OR=3.64, P=0.001), and albumin <3.8 g/dL (OR=2.66, P=0.014) were related to present HCV infection. Conclusions Although EIA is not a quantitative test, considering the anti-HCV titer with ALT and albumin levels may be helpful in predicting present of HCV infection.