Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Collective Impacts of a Bundle of Travel Determinants on Repeat Visitation

This study aims to assess collective impacts of a bundle of travel determinants, which include destination image, travel satisfaction, travel motivation, and travel inhibitors, on repeat visitation to a travel destination such as a country, a city, and/or a tourist attraction. The target population of the study was the international tourists who were in departure at the Bangkok International Airport to 13 inbound markets. The result indicated that the bundle of travel determinants on repeat visitation was composed of social and environmental problems; good value food and accommodation; novelty seeking; good value of food, shopping, and a variety of things to do; and travel barrier. The finding shows that travel satisfaction dimensions do not have any impact on the likelihood of revisiting when being considered simultaneously with other travel determinants. The notion that satisfaction affects customers' future buying behaviors is not empirically confirmed in this study.
The Transmission of International Shocks: A Factor‐Augmented VAR Approach

The empirical literature on the transmission of international shocks is based on "small"-scale VARs. In this paper, we use a "large" panel of data for 17 industrialized countries to investigate the international transmission mechanism, and revisit the anomalies that arise in the empirical literature. We propose a factor augmented VAR (FAVAR) that extends the model in Bernanke, Boivin, and Eliasz (2005) to the open economy. The main results can be summarized as follows. First, the dynamic effects on the UK economy of an unanticipated fall of short-term interest rates in the rest of the world are: real house price inflation, investment, GDP and consumption growth peak after 1 year, wages peak after 2 years, and CPI and GDP deflator inflation peak during the third year. Second, a positive international supply shock makes the distribution of the components of the UK consumption deflator negatively skewed. Third, in response to a domestic monetary shock, we find little evidence of the exchange rate and liquidity puzzles and little evidence of the forward discount and price anomalies. Copyright (c) 2009 Crown Copyright.
Revisiting the pricing of commodity futures and forwards

This article presents a collection of results and formulae for pricing commodity futures, futures options and forward contracts. These results extend previous work by Schwartz (1997). Unlike in Hilliard and Reis (1998), the model in this article predicts that jumps in the spot price affect futures and forward prices. Regime changes in the mean reversion level and in the volatility of spot prices also affect futures and forward prices. The discrete time setting, as the continuous time one, provides tractable pricing formulae, but it seems preferable to the continuous time setting for econometric estimation. In discrete time the market price of risk that affects futures and forwards can be more freely specified.
Mitochondrial-Targeted Curcuminoids: A Strategy to Enhance Bioavailability and Anticancer Efficacy of Curcumin

Although the anti-cancer effects of curcumin has been shown in various cancer cell types, in vitro, pre-clinical and clinical studies showed only a limited efficacy, even at high doses. This is presumably due to low bioavailability in both plasma and tissues, particularly due to poor intracellular accumulation. A variety of methods have been developed to achieve the selective targeting of drugs to cells and mitochondrion. We used a novel approach by conjugation of curcumin to lipophilic triphenylphosphonium (TPP) cation to facilitate delivery of curcumin to mitochondria. TPP is selectively taken up by mitochondria driven by the membrane potential by several hundred folds. In this study, three mitocurcuminoids (mitocurcuminoids-1, 2, and 3) were successfully synthesized by tagging TPP to curcumin at different positions. ESI-MS analysis showed significantly higher uptake of the mitocurcuminoids in mitochondria as compared to curcumin in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. All three mitocurcuminoids exhibited significant cytotoxicity to MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, SKNSH, DU-145, and HeLa cancer cells with minimal effect on normal mammary epithelial cells (MCF-10A). The IC50 was much lower for mitocurcuminoids when compared to curcumin. The mitocurcuminoids induced significant ROS generation, a drop in ΔØm, cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. They inhibited Akt and STAT3 phosphorylation and increased ERK phosphorylation. Mitocurcuminoids also showed upregulation of pro-apoptotic BNIP3 expression. In conclusion, the results of this study indicated that mitocurcuminoids show substantial promise for further development as a potential agent for the treatment of various cancers.
Generalized born model with a simple smoothing function

Based on recent developments in generalized Born (GB) theory that employ rapid volume integration schemes (M. S. Lee, F. R. Salabury, Jr., and C. L. Brooks III, J Chem Phys 2002, 116, 10606) we have recast the calculation of the self‐electrostatic solvation energy to utilize a simple smoothing function at the dielectric boundary. The present GB model is formulated in this manner to provide consistency with the Poisson–Boltzmann (PB) theory previously developed to yield numerically stable electrostatic solvation forces based on finite‐difference methods (W. Im, D. Beglov, and B. Roux, Comp Phys Commun 1998, 111, 59). Our comparisons show that the present GB model is indeed an efficient and accurate approach to reproduce corresponding PB solvation energies and forces. With only two adjustable parameters—a0 to modulate the Coulomb field term, and a1 to include a correction term beyond Coulomb field—the PB solvation energies are reproduced within 1% error on average for a variety of proteins. Detailed analysis shows that the PB energy can be reproduced within 2% absolute error with a confidence of about 95%. In addition, the solvent‐exposed surface area of a biomolecule, as commonly used in calculations of the nonpolar solvation energy, can be calculated accurately and efficiently using the simple smoothing function and the volume integration method. Our implicit solvent GB calculations are about 4.5 times slower than the corresponding vacuum calculations. Using the simple smoothing function makes the present GB model roughly three times faster than GB models, which attempt to mimic the Lee–Richards molecular volume. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 24: 1691–1702, 2003
No Significant Effect of An “Atraumatic” Needle on Incidence of Post-Lumbar Puncture Headache or Traumatic Tap

We compared the incidence of post-lumbar puncture headache and of red blood cells in the first CSF sample (traumatic tap) in 35 inpatients punctured with a standard 20 G Yale needle and in 26 patients punctured with Sprotte's “atraumatic” needle. No significant difference was found between the two groups in incidence of headache or in frequency of traumatic taps.
Interdisciplinary Heterogeneity as a Catalyst for Product Innovativeness of Entrepreneurial Teams

Although more and more ventures are successfully founded by entrepreneurial teams, the specific benefits of the team-based founding approach have received little attention in extant empirical studies. This study explores the relationship between the level of interdisciplinary heterogeneity in entrepreneurial teams and the level of product innovativeness in high-tech ventures. It is proposed that an interdisciplinary new venture team composition impacts the quality of the strategic planning process (scanning activities, planning openness) and thereby indirectly shapes product innovativeness. The hypotheses are investigated using data from a sample of Canadian high-tech ventures. The findings provide support for the proposed relationship between team heterogeneity, strategic planning and product innovativeness. Venture capitalists, university faculty and incubator institutions are therefore well advised to direct their attention towards fostering a heterogeneous composition of founding teams.
A Plaque Reduction Neutralization Test for Human Cytomegalovirus.∗

Summary A plaque technique for human cytomegaloviruses has been developed employing human embryonic lung fibroblast cultures and an overlay containing 2% methyl cellulose. Neutralization tests employing the 80% plaque reduction endpoint were found to give reproducible results. Human adult sera exhibited titers of 1:8 to 1:64. Typing antisera were successfully prepared in monkeys, yielding titers of 1:32 to 1:256. The technical assistance of Mrs. Catherine Green is gratefully acknowledged.
International best practice, quality management anf high performance: inferences from the Australian automotive sector

The adoption of international ‘best practice’ (IBP) has been presented widely as a strategy for organizations to improve productivity and competitiveness. The most prominent best practices include total quality management, continuous improvement programmes and just-in-time (JIT) production. Two key measures of competitiveness are quality and efficiency, and we examine those IBPs that lead to high levels of quality and efficiency in the Australian automotive industry. Our findings are based on a survey of the Australian automotive industry, and they suggest that the successful implementation of JIT and continuous improvement programmes can influence efficiency; this corresponds with recent discussions of IBP. However, our analyses also indicate that certain areas of human resource management, such as performance appraisals, performance-related pay, welfare schemes and testing during selection, can have an important influence on efficiency and quality and should also be considered as important forms of best.
Corporate social disclosure in Libya

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine corporate social disclosure in Libya so as to determine if it follows the western capitalist model or whether it has developed its own distinct characteristics resulting from influences of the Islamic and socialist environment in which it operates. Design/methodology/approach - The paper arrives at a definition of western CSR, discovers the reasons that firms make disclosures, and then considers the key influences on Libyan society. It finally studies disclosure in 56 of its companies. Findings - The results suggest that the emphasis on CSR disclosure in Libya is different from that to be found in the west. Research limitations/implications - Before final conclusions can be drawn, more companies would need to be studied, from a wider variety of industries. Originality/value - Despite the limitations, the paper offers an insight into a socialist and Islamic approach to corporate social disclosures.
‘She possessed her own fortune’: Women investors from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century

There is a growing literature on the history of investment in Britain. However, the role played by women as investors has been almost wholly ignored. This paper argues that women were an important class of stock market investors and produces empirical evidence, most notably share registers, to show that women engaged in a number of different types of investment, and were important in both public and private companies as long-term holders of securities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The article concludes by suggesting the impact of these findings on our understanding of women's financial position and of their role in corporate governance.
From Local Promotion Towards Regional Tourism Policies: Knowledge Processes and Actor Networks in North Jutland, Denmark

Public policies promoting the development of tourist destinations, not least in North-western Europe, have traditionally focused on attracting more tourists through local promotional activities, but in many localities these have now been supplemented by strategies that attempt to change the tourist product on offer, often operating at the regional level, and thus, tourism policies have changed with regard to scale, aims and instruments. Research on the tourism policy has mainly centred on the difficulties inherent in destination development with regard to orchestrating changes in the wide raft of services, typically provided by small local firms, that make up the tourist experience, while less attention has been given to an important prerequisite for these new, product-development strategies, namely the process of policy change from local promotion towards regional tourism policies, despite the potential difficulties involved in shifting geographical scales of governance and adopting a more risky focus on new types of visitors. The aim of this article is to investigate the factors that drive or hamper the tourism policy change from localized marketing towards regional innovation strategies, focusing especially on the role of stakeholder networks and knowledge processes in overcoming spatial fragmentation and product conservatism. Adopting an institutionalist perspective, an in-depth case study of a destination management organization, “Top of Denmark”, situated at the tip of one of northern Europe's prime locations for seaside tourism, is undertaken in order to identify factors that drive or hamper the policy change from localized marketing towards regional, product-development initiatives. This article concludes that the issue of localism has been effectively addressed by establishing and operating as a network-based body where individual stakeholders are mutually dependant on the specific capacities of their partners, a consensual style of decision-making is prevailing, and a division of labour has been established that engages local actors in destination-wide tasks while at the same time enabling them to maintain close links with small tourism businesses in their area. Both in the emergence and in the redevelopment of the organization, the internal wish for change has clearly been stimulated by extra-destinational incentives, but the perceived success of the early, joint-marketing activities has clearly made the current focus on product-development activities easier.
School Accountability Ratings and Housing Values

During the past decade, states have constructed elaborate systems for rating the performance of individual schools based on student test scores and then have released this information in the form of school “report cards. ” The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 will accelerate that movement by requiring states to test all students in grades three through eight, publicly report each school’s student test performance, and sanction schools when they fail to achieve specific standards. Earlier research has documented the cross-sectional relationship between housing values and student test scores at neighborhood schools. 1 Given the magnitude of the relationship between test scores and housing prices in the cross section, one might expect the release of school report cards to have important effects on housing values and, indirectly, to provide incentives for schools to improve performance. However, there are also reasons to believe that the housing market would downplay the information in school report cards. In particular, school test scores are noisy measures of school performance and may provide homeowners with little new information about which schools are the best ones. 2
Smart work and hard work: explicating a learning orientation in strategic management accounting

This paper examines the skills and aptitudes necessary to undertake a strategic management accounting project. It argues that individuals involved in such projects are required to work both smart and hard. This argument is developed theoretically by reference to the work of educational psychologists who have identified two different types of goal orientation which people pursue in achievement situations: the learning orientation and the performance orientation. Evidence that strategic management accounting requires a learning orientation is provided by means of a case study which describes its use in a competitive tendering situation. This is followed by a discussion of the potentially symbiotic relationship of strategic management accounting and organisational learning. The discussion leads to the specification of a research agenda that may have significant implications for the practice and learning of management accounting.
Retaining professional workers: what makes them stay?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate why professional workers actually remain in their organisations. Design/methodology/approach – The design of the study was cross-sectional. A number of factors important for the retention of professional workers were identified from the literature. A 19 item “retention scale” was developed based on the identified retention factors and their characteristics. It was proposed that the retention factors could be divided into two levels: organisational and job. The retention scale was completed by 138 workers form the UK site of a multinational Marketing company. The reliability of the scale was assessed using Cronbach’s α and was found to be 0.80. Findings – Factor analysis supported the division of the retention factors into organisational and job levels with a two factor structure in which organisational levels loaded strongly on component 1 and job level items loaded strongly on component 2. Scores on these two subscales predicted individual workers’ in.
Exercise and risk of major cardiovascular events in adult survivors of childhood hodgkin lymphoma: a report from the childhood cancer survivor study.

PURPOSE Survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are at increased risk of treatment-related cardiovascular (CV) events; whether exercise modifies this risk is unknown. METHODS Survivors of HL (n = 1,187; median age, 31.2 years) completed a questionnaire evaluating vigorous-intensity exercise behavior. CV events were collected in follow-up questionnaires and graded according to Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 4.03). The primary end point was incidence of any major (grade 3 to 5) CV event. Poisson regression analyses were used to estimate the association between exercise exposure (metabolic equivalent [MET] hours/week(-1)) and risk of major CV events after adjustment for clinical covariates and cancer treatment. RESULTS Median follow-up was 11.9 years (range, 1.7 to 14.3 years). Cumulative incidence of any CV event was 12.2% at 10 years for survivors reporting 0 MET hours/week(-1) compared with 5.2% for those reporting ≥ 9 MET hours/week(-1). In multivariable analyses, the incidence of any CV event decreased across increasing MET categories (Ptrend = .002). Compared with survivors reporting 0 MET hours/week(-1), the adjusted rate ratio for any CV event was 0.87 (95% CI, 0.56 to 1.34) for 3 to 6 MET hours/week(-1), 0.45 (95% CI, 0.26 to 0.80) for 9 to 12 MET hours/week(-1), and 0.47 (95% CI, 0.23 to 0.95) for 15 to 21 MET hours/week(-1). Adherence to national vigorous intensity exercise guidelines (ie, ≥ 9 MET hours/week(-1)) was associated with a 51% reduction in the risk of any CV event in comparison with not meeting the guidelines (P = .002). CONCLUSION Vigorous exercise was associated with a lower risk of CV events in a dose-dependent manner independent of CV risk profile and treatment in survivors of HL.
Idiosyncratic Risk and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns: Merton (1987) Meets Miller (1977)

Merton [1987. A simple model of capital market equilibrium with incomplete information. Journal of Finance 42, 483-510] predicts that idiosyncratic risk should be priced when investors hold sub-optimally diversified portfolios, and cross-sectional stock returns should be positively related to their idiosyncratic risk. However, the literature generally finds a negative relationship between returns and idiosyncratic risk, which is more consistent with Miller's [1977. Risk, uncertainty, and divergence of opinion. Journal of Finance 32, 1151-1168] analysis of asset pricing under short-sale constraints. We examine the cross-sectional effects of idiosyncratic risk while explicitly recognizing the confounding effects that dispersion of beliefs and short-sale constraints produce in the Merton framework. We find strong support for Merton's [1987. A simple model of capital market equilibrium with incomplete information. Journal of Finance 42, 483-510] model among stocks that have low levels of investor recognition and for which short selling is limited. For these stocks, the relation between idiosyncratic risk and expected returns is positive, as predicted by Merton [1987. A simple model of capital market equilibrium with incomplete information. Journal of Finance 42, 483-510].
Inhibition of Pancreatic Cancer Cell Growth by Cucurbitacin B Through Modulation of Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 Signaling

Objectives: Pancreatic cancer is a serious disease worldwide for its high mortality. Gemcitabine has become the frontline option for the treatment of this disease since its approval. However, resistance to the drug has been on the rise in recent years. Searching for other chemotherapeutic agents therefore has attracted much attention. Cucurbitacin B (CuB) is a member of the triterpenoid family and has shown inhibitory effect on various cancer cells. In this study, we have assessed the effect of CuB on pancreatic cancer cells. Methods: The growth of human pancreatic cancer cells (PANC-1) was monitored using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay. Cell cycle distribution and apoptosis were evaluated with fluorescence-activated cell sorter and fluorescent microscopy. Western blot was used to determine the expression of relevant genes including phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (pSTAT3), STAT3, p53, p21, Bcl-2, survivin, and caspase 3. Results: Our results showed that CuB can inhibit the growth of PANC-1 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner, resulting in accumulation of G2/M phase cells and apoptosis. Furthermore, CuB treatment inhibited STAT3 phosphorylation, activated caspase 3, up-regulated the expression of p53 and p21, and down-regulated the expression of Bcl-2 and survivin. Conclusions: Our results suggested that CuB may provide an effective regimen for the treatment of pancreatic cancers.
Uncovering the Root Causes of Soil Erosion in the Philippines

Soil erosion is a serious threat to the sustainability of agricultural systems in the Philippines, as in many intensively cultivated regions of the developing world, yet the ultimate causes of erosion are complex and poorly understood. If erosion is to be addressed adequately by farmers and policymakers, the root causes must be dealt with. Most approaches to erosion in the literature and in practice hypothesize that erosion may be adequately controlled at the farm level through the use of appropriate technologies. In this study, farmers and key stakeholders with knowledge of the upland agricultural system in the Philippines pointed to a more systemic understanding of the root causes of erosion, which implicated poverty and landlessness as primary drivers. The technical knowledge of erosion researchers must be brought together with the systemic understanding of agricultural workers “on the ground” if a sustainable soil management strategy is to be created.