Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recent insights into the epidemiology and genetics of Ascaris in China using molecular tools

Ascaris is a large parasitic roundworm (nematode) of the small intestine of humans and pigs, which causes the socio-economically important disease, ascariasis. To better understand the relationship of Ascaris between the 2 host species, recent studies in China have focused on investigating the genetics and epidemiology of Ascaris from humans and pigs using a mutation scanning-based approach. Findings provided support for a low level of gene flow between the human and porcine Ascaris populations. Extending the studies of genotypic variability within Ascaris from humans and pigs, experimental infections of mice and pigs with selected genotypes of Ascaris were carried out. Initial results indicate that there is a significant difference in the ability of Ascaris eggs of genotype G1 (derived from human) and G3 (derived from pig) to infect and establish as adults in pigs, supporting the difference in the frequencies of these genotypes in natural Ascaris populations between pigs and humans in China. Taken together, current information supports that there is limited cross-infection of Ascaris between humans and pigs in endemic regions and that pigs are not a significant reservoir of human infection with the adult nematode in such areas.
Pricing, Competition and Policy in Australasian Air Travel Markets

This article analyzes the effect of the entry of a low-cost carrier and a Fifth Freedom carrier on two established legacy carriers on the New Zealand and Tasman routes. The author analyzed price and other data for more than 1,000 flights on 19 routes flown in 2004 and 2005, in order to observe the effect on market share created by newcomers, Emirates and Pacific Blue, both of which offered lower fares. Data analysis was based on airline pricing and competition across two of the three main Australasian aviation markets, which are uniquely open to competition. The author describes econometric and economic issues, including the impact of merger or cartel on pricing, and the impact of low-cost carriers. He concludes that airfares tended to be lower on routes where both Qantas and Air New Zealand competed, than fares on routes served solely by Air New Zealand. On trans-Tasman routes, where Air New Zealand and Qantas face competition from the LCC Pacific Blue the Fifth Freedom airline Emirates, the newcomers have not achieved more than single-digit market share overall.
Workplace responses to vacancies and skill shortages in Canada

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze employer responses to vacancies and skill shortages by adopting certain workplace practices.Design/methodology/approach – Making use of the longitudinal nature of the Workplace and Employee Survey, a nationally representative sample of Canadian organizations, the paper applies both linear and probit models to examine incidence of positive vacancies and vacancy rates and subsequent adoptions of various workplace practices in response to such vacancies and skill shortages.Findings – Employers respond to labour and skill shortages in a number of ways, focusing more on short‐term and less costly solutions, such as adoption of flexible working hours and increases in overtime hours, greater reliance on flexible job design and part‐time workers, and implementation of self‐directed work groups and problem‐solving teams. There is no evidence that workplaces would raise employee wages or fringe benefits to alleviate shortages.Practical implications – In the absence .
ONLINE COMMUNITIES IN MATURE MARKETS: WHY JOIN, WHY INNOVATE, WHY SHARE?

Online communities (OCs), especially those related to particular products or brands, have become a potent means of identifying user needs and solution ideas, thereby supporting companies to innovate. Despite their growing relevance, user innovation activities within consumer OCs still are underexplored. Members' motivations to innovate and contribute to OCs, in particular, belong to a young line of research requiring further investigation. This study contributes to this line of research by providing an in-depth netnographic analysis of innovative, privately operated OCs dedicated to tangible consumer products. Most fundamentally, we differentiate: (1) motives to join OCs, (2) motives to innovate, and (3) motives to publish innovations in OCs. It is the first study that categorizes the motives of innovative OC members depending on membership lifecycle and situational factors. Our results support companies in understanding members' motives in privately operated OCs relating to the company's brand or product.
HIV and syphilis epidemic among MSM and non-MSM aged 50 and above in Shanghai, China: A yearly cross-sectional study, 2008–2014

ABSTRACT The magnitude of the HIV and syphilis epidemic among Chinese men ages 50 and older is unclear. In this study, we aimed to characterise and compare the prevalence of HIV and syphilis infections; linkage to care among those infected with HIV; and the geographic distribution of the two epidemics among elderly men who have sex with men (MSM) and non-MSM in Shanghai, China. This cross-sectional study involved 12,910 men ages 50 and above who participated in the HIV voluntary and counselling testing programme each year from 2008 to 2014. HIV prevalence among MSM in our sample ranged between 4.9% and 15.4%, while syphilis frequency among non-MSM decreased from 26.0% to 18.7%. Further, in 2014, MSM participants had a higher HIV prevalence than non-MSM (4.9% vs 1.8%), whereas syphilis was higher in older non-MSM compared to MSM (18.7% vs 12.4%). Among those infected with HIV, 121/211 (53.75%) of participants were linked to HIV treatment, where the linkage rate was comparable to that in Kunming [Zhao, S. , Zhao, G. , Zhang, W. , liao, B. , Chu C. , Wang J., & Li, L. (2015). Compare the difference of efficiency between voluntary counseling testing and provider-initiated testing counseling for identifying HIV/AIDS in Kunming. Chinese Journal of AIDS & STD, 21(7), 623-625]. The high burden of HIV and syphilis among men ages 50 and older in Shanghai, China highlights the need to target older Chinese men, both MSM and non-MSM, with prevention efforts.
The Role of Audit Firm Size, Non-Audit Services, and Knowledge Spillovers in Mitigating Earnings Management during Large Equity Issues

We investigate how audit firm size and large auditor-provided non-audit services (NAS) affect accruals quality around large equity issues and acquisitions for Norwegian public companies from 1999-2013. We find poorer accruals quality around large equity increases. Big 4 audit firms mitigate adverse accruals quality but only if the provision of NAS is moderate or low. In contrast, non-Big 4 audit firms are associated with lower accruals quality around large equity increases, but this effect is moderated if the provision of NAS is high. The findings are consistent with joint provision of audit and NAS as an effective learning mechanism to mitigate earnings management for smaller audit firms and a lesser willingness of larger audit firms to protect earnings when the provision of NAS is high. The evidence contrasts with the notion of large audit firms as universally superior audit quality suppliers and establishes new evidence on how knowledge spillovers from NAS may improve audit quality.
Correlating the Characteristics of the CN Tower Lightning Return-Stroke Current with Those of Its Generated Electromagnetic Pulse

Simultaneous measurements of the lightning return-stroke current derivative at the Canadian National (CN) Tower and the corresponding lightning electromagnetic pulse (LEMP) 2 km north of the tower have been performed since 1991 using broadband, high-resolution measurement systems. The recent installation of global positioning systems for time synchronization of CN Tower lightning measurement stations has enabled the correlation of the wavefront characteristics (peak, maximum derivative, and 10-90% rise time) of the return-stroke current with those of its LEMP. The characteristics of the tower's lightning electric and magnetic fields have also been correlated with each other. The current and field correlation analysis is based on August 19, 2005, CN Tower lightning return-stroke data. In addition to the strong linear correlations of the wavefront characteristics of the electric and magnetic field waveforms, an excellent linear correlation has been established between the magnetic field and current wavefront peaks. Also, a good linear correlation has been found between the magnetic field wavefront maximum derivative and that of the current. These findings are of interest in lightning detection methodology. For example, the current wavefront maximum derivative can be estimated from the detected magnetic field after taking into consideration the propagation effect on its derivative. Although weakly correlated, a general trend of increase in the magnetic field peak and maximum rate of rise has been observed as the current maximum rate of rise and peak increase, respectively. It is hoped that the field-current relationships developed in this paper, using the recent CN Tower lightning return-stroke data, will contribute to solving the inverse-source problem, one of the challenging problems in lightning research, where lightning current characteristics are estimated based on the characteristics of the measured LEMP.
A Tri-Country Marketing Project – Preparing Students for the Realities of a Global Marketplace

With rapidly increasing globalization, business students are required to understand complex global markets and adapt to the rapid changes in the global landscape. This paper discusses a project where students from International Marketing courses in Pakistan, the United States, and France used an interactive platform as a base to jointly explore the marketing of brand-name products across the three countries to better understand the realities of global marketing strategies. The results are discussed as are the difficulties and the recommendations for future projects.
Teachers valuation and implementation of formative assessment strategies in elementary science classrooms.

TEACHER IMPLEMENTATION AND VALUATION OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES IN ELEMENTARY SCIENCE CLASSROOMS Pamela M. Jett May 9, 2009 Formative assessment is frequently used by educators, but when asked to define, responses tend to vary widely. In essence, formative assessment is when teachers and students engage in instructional conversations discussing content information and gathering data about present levels of understanding. This feedback exchanged between teachers and students about knowledge gained is a critical element that provides structure and support to move student learning forward. For teachers who effectively use formative assessment strategies, it is the responsive element of adjusting lesson plans, instruction and assessments to give students multiple avenues to develop deeper understanding and to address student learning needs. For students it is the clarification provided by the teacher to link what was known, to what is known to achieve desired learning. In this study elementary teachers in one school district were surveyed by means of a questionnaire to ascertain their perspectives on value and implementation of formative assessment. Four teachers were selected for intensive observations of science lessons utilizing what each perceived to be formative assessment strategies. This study used a mixed methods approach to analyze data from three sources: a questionnaire,
The gender composition of boards after an IPO

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyse the change in the gender composition of the boards of large Australian companies, after listing.Design/methodology/approach – This study investigates the gender composition of the boards of large Australian companies at the time of the initial public offering (IPO) and subsequently as these companies mature into established public companies. It also investigates industry influences and organizational size influences on the board composition at the time of the IPO and subsequently.Findings – No significant change is found in the proportion of male and female directors holding directorships at the time of the IPO and some five to eight years later when the company is recorded as a top 500 company (by market capitalization) on the Australian lists. This implies that the capital market is generally satisfied by the gender composition of boards from the time of the IPO.Originality/value – This paper follows extends on previous work which provides ev.
Culture, Institutions, and Economic Growth: Theory, Recent Evidence, and the Role of Communitarian Polities

Theory: Recent work suggests achievement motivation and values embodied in civic culture promote economic growth while postmaterialist values inhibit growth. I provisionally propose that a distinct cluster of values and attitudes, particularly those that emphasize collective organization and societal consensus and concertation, combines with the institutions and practices of communitarian polities to foster economic growth. Hypotheses: After considering the theoretical and methodological sources of diverse findings on culture presented by Granato, Inglehart, and Leblang (GIL), and Jackman and Miller (JM), I hypothesize that communitarian polities, both confucian statist and social corporatist, should have higher economic growth rates than noncommunitarian polities. Method: To reflect on the often divergent conclusions on the growth effects of culture presented by GIL and JM, I consider the different theoretical and empirical models utilized by these authors and related methodological disparities. I then utilize Ordinary Least Squares and robust regression techniques to offer a preliminary analysis of the growth effects of communitarian polities in the context of the basic endogenous growth model. Results: Diverse and divergent findings offered by GIL and JM stem from different theoretical emphases, distinct empirical modeling strategies, and different sample composition and time frames. Statistical analyses suggest that a parsimonious model highlighting the significance of convergence in growth rates, human capital investment, and communitarian polities is empirically more powerful than alternatives. It explains a full 84% of the cross-national variation in 1960-89 growth rates in 25 countries.
Periodic hamiltonians, periodic Riccati equation and forced nonlinear oscillations

The paper aims to apply linear quadratic theory of periodic sytems (due to Yakubovich) to the case of existence. uniqueness and stability of forced nonlinear oscillations bringing together periodic Hamiltonians and periodic Riccati equations with nonlinear systems with periodic coefficients having a periodic or almost periodic forcing term. This allows obtaining sufficient conditions for the existence of forced nonlinear periodic or almost periodic oscillations expressed in terms of an associated periodic linear Hamiltonian. These conditions might be checked numerically via the established methods for periodic systems.
Drivers of LBO operating performance: an empirical investigation in Latin America

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extend the research on private equity by studying the drivers of leveraged buyout (LBO) operating performance in Latin America. The authors consider a large set of candidate drivers (financial, governance, macroeconomic and industry variables) and study their effects on performance over short- and long-terms. Design/methodology/approach – To conduct this study, the authors used Capital IQ as a database as well as a hand-collected data set covering LBO in Latin America from 2000 to 2008. Findings – The empirical results show that macroeconomic variables have an important impact on LBO value creation. Governance variables show also that LBO transactions reduce information asymmetries between existing and new management teams. Consequently, a concentrated shareholder structure has a better impact on performance than diluted stockholders. Financial variables present significant effects after the delisting. Research limitations/implications – The characteristics of the.
On the Asymmetric User Perception of Transit Service Quality

ABSTRACT In this article, heterogeneity of transit users in perceiving service quality is investigated. Users' perceptions of transit services are heterogeneous for many reasons: the qualitative nature of some service aspects, the different users' socioeconomic characteristics, the diversity in tastes and attitudes towards transit. In this research, heterogeneity is treated through a mixed logit model with a non-parametric distribution of the coefficients, allowing the asymmetry in user perception heterogeneity to be considered. Although the results presented apply to the specific population in the sample, represented by university students, the proposed methodology is general and transferable to other case studies.
Examining the Marginal Access Value of Private Health Insurance

According to a new theory advanced by Nyman (1999, 2003), an important access motivation underlies the demand for health insurance. However, little empirical research has attempted to quantify and explain changes in the access value of health insurance. By assuming the demand for health insurance is derived from the demand for good health, this article shows mathematically that the marginal access value of private health insurance can be reasonably indexed by dividing the price of health insurance by a composite measure of medical prices. For the period from 1960 through 2002, national data for the United States suggests that the marginal access value of private health insurance has tended to increase over time. Based upon multiple regression analysis, marginal access value is shown to have increased over time in response to rising income, more generous benefit coverage, new medical technologies, and, in recent years, the backlash against health maintenance organizations (HMOs). In addition, expansions in the Medicaid program are shown to have slowed the growth of the marginal access value of private health insurance.
Hindsight bias and investment decisions making empirical evidence form an emerging financial market

We studied the hindsight bias and investor decision making by employing the novel approach asset selection effect and sign of return effect. The study investigated the hindsight bias and investor decision making through questionnaires. The respondents are divided into three groups namely bank financial managers, stock market investors and students. The statistical significance of the asset selection effect and sign of return effect is tested by proportional z-test. Furthermore, the correlation of the memory error and recall error is also determined. The overall perceived error (hindsight bias) relationship is checked with the confidence in recall and confidence in estimate. We found strong evidence of hindsight bias in all respondents groups and its worst consequence on investment decision making. The bank financial managers were found less exposed to hindsight bias in comparison to stock market investors in asset selection effect. However, in sign of return effect the financial managers were more hindsight biased than the stock market investors. The relationship of hindsight bias and confidence in recall and confidence in estimate also confirms that all the respondents were hindsight biased and more confident in their estimate and less confident in their recall. All the respondents claim that they knew the phenomenon all along are wrong in their estimate. The respondents were unable to learn from previous errors and unable to detect their errors in estimate and recall. This error in prediction leads the investor to bear the risk above their accepted level which is harmful to their wealth.
Economic Instability in Agriculture: The Contributions of Prices, Government Programs and Exports

In the first edition of Foundations of Farm Policy (1970, p. 343), I stated that "the major long-term problem of commercial farms is not labor mobility, low resource returns or low income but rather is instability. " Sources of instability have been traced to domestic macroeconomic policies by Schultz, to exchange rates by Schuh, and to each of those and farm output by Firsh. Serious gaps remain in our knowledge of sources of instability, however. The purpose of this paper is to estimate sources of instability in U.S. farm income over time with special attention to the role of prices, exports, and government payments and commodity programs. Variation in production and utilization provide estimates of statistically appropriate stocks in aggregate and for feed grains, soybeans and wheat.
Long Run Inflation Indicators - Why the ECB got it Right

This paper studies the issue of whether money contains useful information about future inflation in a panel of nine developed countries. A low frequency estimate of excess money growth is compared to an estimate of the inflation trend following the discussion in Woodford (2007). The empirical analysis shows that money contains more information about future CPI-inflation than an estimate of the inflation trend, and that the output gap has some influence over the medium run movements of inflation, but the effect varies over time. The result is the same for small countries as it is for large countries. Money thus contains information about future headline inflation that the inflation trend does not.
Towards terahertz near-field microscopy

We have detected sub–wavelength spot sizes in the near–field of a metal tip, which is illuminated with terahertz (THz) pulses. The THz near–field is detected by using electro–optic detection in a (100) oriented GaP crystal. Contrary to conventional electro–optic detection, which uses (110) oriented detection crystals, (100) crystals only allow the detection of THz light, polarized perpendicular to our crystal surface. This component is strongly localized near the apex of the tip, which has sub–wavelength dimensions. The detection process is blind to the incident THz radiation, which is polarized parallel to the crystal surface. As a result, a sub–wavelength THz spot size with an intensity full–width half maximum (FWHM) diameter of λ/200 is observed.
How inflationary are oil price hikes? A disaggregated look at Thailand using symmetric and asymmetric cointegration models

The present paper analyzes the inflationary effects of oil prices at the aggregate and disaggregated levels for Thailand using symmetric and asymmetric cointegration and error-correction modeling approaches. The cointegration test results suggest the presence of long-run relations between oil prices and the following price indices: aggregate consumer price index, non-food and beverage price index, housing and furnishing price index, energy price index, non-raw food and energy price index and transportation and communication price index. Meanwhile, food and beverage price index and raw food price index are not cointegrated with the oil prices. From the dynamic analyses, we uncover evidence for asymmetric adjustments of the aggregate consumer prices, the non-food and beverage prices and the housing and furnishing prices towards their long-run values. Further, the effects of oil prices on inflation are observed to be significant in all goods sectors in the short run. The largest impacts of oil price changes are on the energy price inflation followed by the transportation and communication price inflation and the non-raw food and energy price inflation.