Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Input Demand Under Yield and Revenue Insurance

Previous studies disagree on the effects of insurance on fertilizer application rates. The effect of increased fertilizer on the probability of low yields primarily determines whether fertilizer and insurance are substitutes or complements. The authors estimate conditional distributions of corn yields to determine if the technical relationship between yields and fertilizer supports the hypothesis that insurance increases optimal application rates. Their results indicate no support for this hypothesis. At all nitrogen fertilizer rates and reasonable levels of risk aversion, nitrogen fertilizer and insurance are substitutes, suggesting that those who purchase insurance are likely to decrease nitrogen fertilizer applications.
Influence of curriculum type on student performance in the United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 and Step 2 exams: problem‐based learning vs. lecture‐based curriculum

The results of the United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 and 2 examinations are reported for students enrolled in a problem‐based and traditional lecture‐based curricula over a seven‐year period at a single institution. There were no statistically significant differences in mean scores on either examination over the seven year period as a whole. There were statistically significant main effects noted by cohort year and curricular track for both the Step 1 and 2 examinations. These results support the general, long‐term effectiveness of problem‐based learning with respect to basic and clinical science knowledge acquisition.
Central and peripheral self-conceptions are differentially influenced by mood: tests of the differential sensitivity hypothesis.

This article proposes a differential sensitivity hypothesis, according to which central (i.e., relatively high in personal descriptiveness and importance) and peripheral (i.e., relatively low in personal descriptiveness and importance) self-conceptions are differentially influenced by mood: Peripheral self-conceptions are subject to a mood-congruency bias, whereas central self-conceptions are unaffected by mood. In 4 experiments, participants were first placed into a sad, neutral, or happy mood state through a guided imagery task and later completed behavior self-descriptiveness ratings, trait self-descriptiveness ratings, and trait self-descriptiveness judgmental latencies. Strong support for the differential sensitivity hypothesis was obtained. Peripheral self-conceptions were influenced by mood because they were less elaborated and consolidated and were held with lower certainty, thus increasing the likelihood for the occurrence of constructive, affect-infusing processes (J.P. Forgas, 1995a).
Are Sensation Seeking and Emotion Processing Related to or Distinct from Cognitive Control in Children with ADHD?

This study evaluated the relationship of (a) reactive inhibition and right-lateralized emotion processing to each other and (b) to executive control of response suppression, and (c) with regard to ADHD in 134 children ages 7–12 years. Reactive inhibition was indexed by child ratings of sensation seeking on the Sensation Seeking Scales, executive control by the Stop Signal Task, emotion processing by performance on the Chimeric Faces Test, and ADHD by parent- and teacher-reported symptoms. The results were consistent with a two-process model in which executive control, conceived as a right-hemisphere lateralized function, was distinct from sensation seeking and lateralized emotion processing. Supporting this distinction, ADHD was associated with executive control, but not with sensation seeking/reactive inhibition or lateralized emotion processing. The findings suggest that ADHD cannot be understood as a global right-lateralized neuropsychological weakness, but rather that it involves only particular functions that may be right lateralized. Findings further suggest that risk for comorbid disorders in ADHD (e.g., conduct disorder or mood disorders) may increase as a function of independent factors such as temperament. Mechanisms underlying executive inhibition and emotional processing could be functionally independent yet interact to multiply psychopathological risk in some children (leading, for example, to comorbid disorders).
Pre-operative serum albumin and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio are associated with prolonged hospital stay following colorectal cancer surgery.

AIMS Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in European populations. It has been shown previously that neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), pre-operative albumin, and haemoglobin are useful prognostic indicators. The aim of this study was to assess how these factors influence the length of postoperative stay (LOS) following colorectal cancer surgery. METHODOLOGY All patients undergoing elective colorectal resections for malignancy between 2010 and 2011 in Pilgrim Hospital, Boston, U.K. were considered for the study. Hospital archive systems were used to ascertain pre-operative NLR, albumin and haemoglobin levels. LOS was calculated from electronic discharge documents with day 1 being the day after surgery. Unifactorial and multifactorial analyses were performed to identify independent predictors of prolonged stay. RESULTS 196 patients were included in the study. Pre-operative haemoglobin was not associated with prolonged hospital stay. On univariate analysis, pre-operative serum albumin and pre-operative NLR were associated with prolonged hospital stay. On multivariate analysis, pre-operative serum albumin >34.5 g/dl (odds ratio, 0.47; 95% confidence interval, 0.24 - 0.92; p = 0.027) retained independent association for prolonged hospital stay . However, pre-operative NLR failed to reach statistical significance on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS Patients with low albumin and elevated NLR are more likely to have an increased hospital stay following colorectal cancer surgery. This may be useful for surgeons in terms of identifying the 'high-risk' patient post-operatively and allow for early intervention.
Do psychological capital and work engagement foster frontline employees’ satisfaction?: A study in the hotel industry

Purpose – This paper aims to develop and test a conceptual model that investigates the effect of psychological capital on job, career and life satisfaction, mediated by work engagement, drawing from the conservation of resources theory and the motivational process of the job demands-resources model. Design/methodology/approach – Based on data gathered from frontline employees in the international five- and four-star chain hotels with a time lag of two weeks in three waves in Romania, the relationships in the conceptual model were gauged through structural equation modeling. Self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience were treated as the indicators of psychological capital. Findings – The results suggest that optimism appears to be the best indicator of psychological capital, followed by resilience, self-efficacy and hope. Employees with high psychological capital are engaged in their work at elevated levels. Employees high in psychological capital are more satisfied with their job, career and life. The r.
Battling HIV on many fronts.

After years of bad news, there is optimism in the battle against AIDS. In the United States, the number of deaths declined 19 percent in the first nine months of 1996 as compared with the same period in 1995 — from 37,900 to 30,700.1 Among the many reasons are better medical care and better treatments for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and opportunistic infections. Two reports in this issue of the Journal provide compelling data on the benefits of a three-drug regimen consisting of a protease inhibitor and two nucleoside analogues. Hammer et al. studied 1156 patients with HIV infection, .
Phylogenetic relationships in the Drosophila fasciola species subgroup (Diptera, Drosophilidae) inferred from partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene

The repleta group is one of the largest and most complex species groups in the genus Drosophila, representing an important biological model for the elaboration of evolutionary and biogeographical hypotheses on the American Continent. It is divided into six subgroups, of which the fasciola subgroup is the only one with most of its species found in the humid forests of Central and South America. With the aim of understanding the origin and evolution of the fasciola subgroup, and consequently adding information about the repleta group, we analyzed partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of nine Drosophila species (D. carolinae, D. coroica, D. ellisoni, D. fascioloides, D. ivai, D. moju, D. onca, D. rosinae and D. senei). The phylogenetic hypotheses obtained neither defined the relationships between the subgroups of the repleta group nor defined all the interspecific relationships in the fasciola subgroup. We found that the species D. carolinae, D. coroica, D. onca, D. rosinae and D. senei comprised a clade in which D. carolinae, D. onca and D. senei appeared together at a polytomy while D. fascioloides and D. ellisoni comprised another clade with a high bootstrap value.
Mass production, fermentation, formulation of Pseudomonas putida for controlling of die back and phomopsis diseases on grapevine

The export oriented agricultural and horticultural crops depends on the export of residue free produce and has created a great potential and demand for the incorporation of biopesticides in crop protection. PGPR with wide scope for commercialization includes Pseudomonas putida. Pseudomonas putida was effective in reducing die back caused by a fungus Botryodiplodia theobromae and phomopsis or arm death, caused by a fungus, Phomopsis viticola of grapevine in vitro and in vivo. Pseudomonas putida showed optimum Siderophore pseudobactin production at 72 h, and growth peak at 120 h. glycerol as a source of carbon and yeast as a source of nitrogen Pseudomonas putida was formulated using polysaccharide dextran starch, which led to the elongation of conservation and the effectiveness of the biofungicide. Pseudomonas putida was very effective as biocontrol agents to reduce the die back and phomopsis diseases on grapevine. The obtained results showed that both bacterial treatments significantly increased the growth parameters as well as fruits dry weights and yield of grapevine.
Safety, pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD), and clinical activity of the oral AKT inhibitor GSK2141795 (GSK795) in a phase I first-in-human study.

3003 Background: GSK795 is a potent pan-isoform inhibitor of AKT. The objectives were to define the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), and to evaluate the PK, PD and clinical activity of GSK795 in patients (pts) with advanced solid tumors. METHODS GSK795 was given orally, once daily (QD) in this two-part study of dose-escalation (Part 1) with expansion (Part 2) at the MTD in selected tumor types to evaluate the clinical activity. Alternative dosing schedules were also investigated. RESULTS Preliminary data are available for 66 pts that received ≥ 1 dose of GSK795, including pts with endometrial (12) and prostate cancer (9) as well as other tumor types selected for either PTEN loss or PIK3CA mutation (7). Doses explored were 10, 20, 40, 75, 100 and 150mg QD. The MTD was 75 mg QD. Dose-limiting toxicities were G3 hyperglycemia (n=2), G4 hypoglycemia (n=1), G3 hypoglycemia (n=1), and G2 stomatitis (n=1); all were reversible. The most common (>10%) drug-related adverse events were diarrhea (47%; G3/4 0%), nausea (33%; G3/4 0%), fatigue (26%; G3/4 0%), vomiting (18%; G3/4 0%), decreased appetite (15%; G3/4 0%), dyspepsia (15%; G3/4 0%), hyperglycemia (15%; G3/4 11%), and rash (15%; G3/4 3%). AUC (0-24) and Cmax generally increased in a dose-proportional manner. Median Tmax was 2 to 3 hr and the effective t½ ranged from 2.0 to 5.5 days. 6/7 pts dosed at ≥75mg QD given a carbohydrate challenge at baseline and steady state exhibited either increased post-prandial glucose values, or a delay in the return to baseline of post-prandial values, suggesting a PD effect of GSK795 on glucose. One pt with anal cancer (PIK3CA and PTEN status unknown) had a partial response. 5/ 12 evaluable endometrial pts are still on trial; 2 of these pts with PIK3CA mutation and/or PTEN loss have had stable disease (↓25% and 0%) for ≥ 6 months. 6/ 9 evaluable prostate pts are still on trial; 2 of these pts with partial or complete PTEN loss have had SD (bone only disease) ≥ 6 months. CONCLUSIONS The AKT inhibitor GSK795 has been well tolerated with reversible, predictable toxicities and PD evidence of target inhibition. Tumor decreases and SD ≥ 6 months has been observed in pts with an activated PI3K/AKT pathway.
Application scoring: logit model approach and the divergence method compared

This study presents the example of application scoring. Two methods are considered: logit model approach and the divergence method. The practical example uses contemporary data on loan applications from the Polish bank. The constructed scoring models are validated on the hold-out sample. Both types of models seem to be acceptable and have high discriminatory power. The prediction accuracy measures indicate that the scoring based on divergence method is better than the one founded on logit model approach.
What's your preference?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of human interaction versus interactions with technology in overall customer satisfaction with banking services, specifically, tellers versus Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) vs online transactions. All types of interactions are important in services, yet their level of importance is changing as the environment change.Design/methodology/approach – Two studies were conducted through surveys with students who had a bank checking account; six item measures were used to examine human interaction, interaction with an ATM, interaction with an online banking service and overall satisfaction with the specific bank. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the effects of the interactions on overall satisfaction.Findings – The findings from the two studies show that while the human encounter was more important before online banking became so prevalent, the convenience of online banking has displaced the importance of human interaction. Ho.
Time-varying group formation control for general linear multi-agent systems with directed topologies

Time-varying group formation control problems for general linear multi-agent systems with directed topologies are studied, where the agents in the multi-agent system are classified into subgroups and each subgroup is required to form a specified time-varying sub-formation. Different from the traditional complete formation, where only one formation is realized by the multi-agent system, in the group formation, there could be multiple sub-formations. Firstly, a time-varying group formation protocol is constructed by local relative information of each agent and its neighbors. Then nonsingular transformations are applied to the closed-loop multi-agent systems. Sufficient conditions for the multi-agent systems to achieve time-varying group formation are further presented together with the time-varying group formation feasibility constraints. Explicit expressions of the subgroup formation reference functions are derived to describe the macroscopic movement of the time-varying subgroup formations. It is shown that the subgroup formation reference functions are jointly determined by the dynamics, the initial states and formation information of each agent in the same subgroup, and also by the interaction topologies among agents from the same or different subgroups. Moreover, an approach to design the time-varying group formation protocol is proposed by solving an algebraic Riccati equation. Finally, a numerical example with three subgroups is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the obtained theoretical results.
Sustainable tourism: the role of the small firm

Reports the preliminary findings of a study examining the relationship between issues of sustainable development and the operations of small tourism businesses. Indicates that detailed questionnaires were administered to owner managers of small tourism firms in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. States that the survey sought to establish information levels, attitudes towards sustainability, and action taken to protect the environment. Reveals that the research then sought to establish what characteristics of the firms and their owner managers might lie behind these. Suggests that although there is a lot of sympathy with the general principles of sustainability, there is general confusion around the term “sustainability” and even “environmental concern”. Reports a range of actions, but a lack of appreciation of how these might relate to a coherent business strategy, aggravated by a surprising lack of information, which is clearly something that needs to be addressed by the various public agencies in the field. Suggests that it may be possible to identify the characteristics of those business owners who are most likely to be receptive to the principles of sustainable tourism.
‘Propositions put forward by quite honest men’: Company prospectuses and their contents, 1856 to 1940

This paper explores the history of the new issue prospectus on the London Stock Exchange from the advent of limited liability to World War II. The varying types of securities being offered to an increasingly large public influenced the nature of the information provided, and the increasing maturity of the new issue market allowed comparisons to be made with other companies and valuation ‘norms’ to be established. The paper concludes that the signalling role of the new issue prospectus was key in the lightly regulated markets of the time and that information disclosure improved well in advance of regulatory requirements.
Differences in oxidative metabolism modulation induced by ischemia/reperfusion between trained and untrained individuals assessed by NIRS

Endurance training is associated with skeletal muscle adaptations that regulate the oxidative metabolism during ischemia/reperfusion. The aim of this study was to noninvasively assess in vivo differences in the oxidative metabolism activity during ischemia/reperfusion between trained and untrained individuals, using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) combined with a vascular occlusion test (VOT) technique (NIRS‐VOT). Sixteen untrained (26.3 ± 5.1 year) and seventeen trained (29.4 ± 4.9 year) healthy young adult men were submitted to a VOT (2 min baseline, 5 min occlusion, and 8 min reperfusion). Oxygen utilization was estimated from the area under the curve of the NIRS‐derived deoxyhemoglobin [HHb] signal during occlusion (AUCocc). Muscle reperfusion was derived from the area above the curve (AACrep) of the [HHb] signal after cuff release. The AUCocc of the untrained participants (21010 ± 9553 % · s) was significantly larger than the AUCocc of their trained counterparts (12320 ± 3283 % · s); P = 0.001). The AACrep of the untrained participants (5928 ± 3769 % · s) was significantly larger than the AACrep of the trained participants (3745 ± 1900 % · s; P = 0.042). There was a significant correlation between AUCocc and AACrep (r = 0.840; P = 0.001). NIRS assessment of oxidative metabolism showed that trained individuals are more efficient in shifting between oxidative and anaerobic metabolism in response to ischemia and reperfusion.
Developing global leaders through international assignments

Purpose – International assignments, which are used as an integral part of global management development, are challenging in terms of one's managerial competencies and self‐concept. However, not much is known about how managers develop during international assignments, or about the process of their identity construction. The purpose of this paper is to show the need for studying international assignments from an identity construction perspective and to build up an interdisciplinary framework for this kind of study.Design/methodology/approach – The paper offers a new and an eclectic approach on expatriation by reviewing and combining current literature on expatriation, identity and career.Findings – As a result of the theoretical discussion the paper notes that more empirical research is needed about the consequences of foreign assignments on individual managers’ identity and subjective career and suggests narratives as a promising strategy to capture the fluid process of identity construction during expat.
International Review of Leave Policies and Related Research 2009

Sixteen of the 30 countries covered by this review reported policy changes or proposals since January 2010 (the Russian Federation country note could not be updated, so there is no information on recent developments in that country). In eight countries, policy changes intended to improve leave policy were reported; in 4 cases, these involved changes aimed at increased take-up by fathers with Finland and Norway increasing incentives to fathers to use Parental leave, Poland introducing Paternity leave, and the UK enabling the transfer of unused Maternity leave to fathers. Australia introduced its first universal paid leave and is committed to introduce paid Paternity leave in 2013.
A millisecond pulsar in an extremely wide binary system

We report on 22 yrs of radio timing observations of the millisecond pulsar J1024−0719 by the telescopes participating in the European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA). These observations reveal a significant second derivative of the pulsar spin frequency and confirm the discrepancy between the parallax and Shklovskii distances that has been reported earlier. We also present optical astrometry, photometry and spectroscopy of 2MASS J10243869−0719190. We find that it is a low-metallicity main-sequence star (K7V spectral type, [M/H] = −1.0, T eff = 4050 ± 50 K) and that its position, proper motion and distance are consistent with those of PSR J1024−0719. We conclude that PSR J1024−0719 and 2MASS J10243869−0719190 form a common proper motion pair and are gravitationally bound. The gravitational interaction between the main-sequence star and the pulsar accounts for the spin frequency derivatives , which in turn resolves the distance discrepancy. Our observations suggest that the pulsar and main-sequence star are in an extremely wide (P b > 200 yr) orbit. Combining the radial velocity of the companion and proper motion of the pulsar, we find that the binary system has a high spatial velocity of 384 ± 45 km s −1 with respect to the local standard of rest and has a Galactic orbit consistent with halo objects. Since the observed main-sequence companion star cannot have recycled the pulsar to millisecond spin periods, an exotic formation scenario is required. We demonstrate that this extremely wide-orbit binary could have evolved from a triple system that underwent an asymmetric supernova explosion, though find that significant fine-tuning during the explosion is required. Finally, we discuss the implications of the long period orbit on the timing stability of PSR J1024−0719 in light of its inclusion in pulsar timing arrays.