Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Ethnic and Mainstream Cultures on African Americans’ Health Behaviors: A Qualitative Study

Background: Culture plays an important role in shaping individuals’ health behaviors. This qualitative research examines the relationship between African Americans’ ethnic and mainstream cultures and their health behaviors (i.e., food intake and physical activity). Methods: This study used in-depth semi-structured interview format with a group of 25 African Americans to examine the influence of ethnic and mainstream culture on African Americans’ food intake and physical activity. Thematic analysis was used to identify common themes and patterns related to African Americans’ health behaviors as well as to report these patterns within data. Results: The present study found that African Americans position both their ethnic and mainstream culture as important influences on their health behaviors pertaining to food intake and physical activity. Most participants reported taking advantage of “the best of both worlds” by engaging in picking and choosing healthy behaviors from both cultures to which they belong, and they perceived preparing healthy makeovers as a way to optimize their health. They also identified a range of practical considerations that can facilitate or hinder engagement in healthy eating and physical activity (e.g., affordability, social support). Participants discussed a number of other positive (e.g., resilience, spirituality) and negative (e.g., experience of discrimination) influences on health behaviors. Conclusions: African Americans consider both their ethnic and mainstream cultures important in shaping their health behaviors. These cultural influences need to be understood in the context of other psycho-socio-environmental factors that affect individuals’ health behaviors. The current study has practical implications for designing health promotion programs for African Americans.
Financial Strength and Product Market Competition: Evidence from Asbestos Litigation

Abstract We study the role of financial strength on product market competition by examining exogenous shocks to a firm’s liability structure arising from asbestos litigation. We find that exogenous increases (decreases) in asbestos liabilities are interpreted by the market as negative (positive) news for a firm’s close competitors. These reactions are magnified in events in which one asbestos-tainted firm goes bankrupt and other asbestos-tainted stocks fall on the news of the bankruptcy. For smaller competitors, market reactions are more pronounced in more concentrated industries. Our findings support the general hypothesis that increases in fixed liabilities lead to more aggressive product market interactions.
Technology push and need pull: A new perspective

Researchers into the stimuli of the innovation process have consistently found that the number of innovations stimulated by need pull substantially exceeds those stimulated by technology push. The research reported in this article indicates that when the innovations were divided into user and supplier active innovations, user active innovations were found to be predominantly stimulated by technology push. A possible explanation of this phenomenon is offered.
The Repository of Soft Information within Bank Organizations

We examine who is the repository of soft information within bank organizations. Inconsistent with the conventional view of loan officers as the sole repository, we find that branch managers have the most soft information. We also find the repository at a higher hierarchical level at smaller banks. Furthermore, our evidence suggests that branch managers themselves actively collect soft information, especially at smaller banks. These findings suggest the need for a more nuanced view beyond the conventional emphasis on loan officers, and call for studies on the equilibrium design of the collection, processing, and use of soft information within bank organizations.
Information Aggregation in Common Value Auctions

A key question in information economics and finance is whether prices aggregate information in a competitive environment. That is, when agents are endowed with private information, does competition lead in the limit to prices which would occur if all information were public? This paper examines the asymptotic properties of prices in common value auctions when the number of bidders becomes large. The main idea in this paper is to separate the issue of information aggregation from the issue of revenue efficiency. We also distinguish between the amount of information prices contain, and the degree to which prices approximate the asset’s value. Using this approach we get a simple characterization of the limiting distribution of prices. We are not only able to answer whether prices converge to the asset’s value, but also get an explicit form for the limiting distribution. Prices converge to the expected value of the asset conditional on the information possessed by what we call the “pivotal bidder. ” This provides insights on how the auction format and the information structure influence the limiting behavior of prices. It shows that the limiting distribution of prices can be derived from the statistical properties of certain order statistics. This lets us abstract from the specific equilibrium bidding strategies. For example, we show that while the first and second price auction have different equilibrium strategies they share a similar limiting distribution of prices. These auctions yield different limiting distributions from auctions such as the English auction or kn auction. Our
The role of basic sciences in a problem‐based learning clinical curriculum

Very little is known about the use of problem‐based learning (PBL) during the later years of the undergraduate medical course and how it influences further acquisition of basic science knowledge. Similarly to many other Faculties, the PBL approach is used at Manchester in years 1 and 2, but more unusually, the curriculum continues to be centred on PBL in the clinical modules.
Temporary agency work and HRM in Australia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the management of agency workers in Australia and, in particular, to identify the challenges presented to HRM by agency work.Design/methodology/approach – After briefly reviewing the data on the incidence and growth of agency work in Australia, this paper examines the role of agency work in Australia from the perspective of the industry. Then it reviews both the evidence concerning the reasons for client organisations using agency workers and the attitudes of agency workers to their work. The paper concludes by assessing the implications of these findings for both for HR managers and HRM in general.Findings – When the attitudes and preferences of agency workers are compared with those of direct employees it is found that agency workers are no more satisfied with their level of flexibility than direct workers and are in fact less satisfied with their job security, skill utilization and development, pay, autonomy and influence at work. Given these findings, .
Interleukin-1β level in peri-implant crevicular fluid and its correlation with the clinical and radiographic parameters

Background and Objectives: Assessing only the clinical and radiographic parameters for evaluation of dental implants may not be enough as they often reflect extensive inflammatory changes in the periodontal tissues. As peri-implant crevicular fluid (PICF) can give us a more prompt and objective measure of the disease activity, the purpose of this case series is to assess the peri-implant health status of single tooth dental implants not only clinically and radiographically but also biochemically. Materials and Methods: Thirteen patients were subjected to dental implants at single edentulous sites using a conventional surgical approach. At baseline, 6 months, and 12 months after implant placement, the clinical and radiographic parameters were recorded. Additionally, IL-1β in PICF was estimated using the ELISA kit at 6th and 12th month. Results: The clinical and radiographic parameters differed significantly around the implants at different time intervals with IL-1β levels showing highly significant differences between 6 months (31.79 ± 12.26 pg/μl) and 12 months (113.09 ± 51.11 pg/μl). However, Spearman's correlation coefficient showed no correlation with the clinical and radiographic parameters. Interpretation and Conclusion: Assessment of the various parameters confirmed that all the implants had a healthy peri-implant status. Although the levels of IL-1β in PICF were elevated at the 12th month, they were well within the healthy range as observed by previous studies. This indicates that IL-1β, a biochemical marker, can be used as an adjunct to clinical and radiographic parameters in the assessment of EARLY inflammatory changes around implants.
The role of the spindle in human information processing of high‐intensity stimuli during sleep

Sleep spindles are 12–14 Hz oscillations in EEG, which are thought to inhibit or ‘gate’ information processing. Event‐related potentials may be employed to probe the extent of information processing during sleep. Previous research indicates that event‐related potentials elicited by moderate intensity stimuli show increased positivity (or further removal of negativity) when stimuli are presented concurrent with spindles. However, the effectiveness of spindles to inhibit the processing of much louder stimuli remains unknown. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the extent of this gating, by using a range of stimuli including those that are loud and intrusive. Eight good sleepers were recorded during a single night. Auditory stimuli were delivered randomly at 0, 60, 80 or 100 dB SPL. Trials were sorted off‐line by sleep stage, stimulus intensity and spindle characteristic (i.e. spindle absent, spindle present). During the sleep‐onset period, the often‐reported changes in event‐related potentials were observed – N1 decreased and P2 increased in amplitude. In Stage 2 sleep, P2 was affected by the presence of spindles, particularly when stimulus intensity was loud. Its amplitude was greatest when spindles occurred following the onset of the stimulus. Scalp‐recorded spindles might, therefore, be a consequence of the prior thalamic inhibition of information processing, especially when confronted by loud, intrusive external stimuli.
ARMS RACE BETWEEN TURKEY AND GREECE: A THRESHOLD COINTEGRATION ANALYSIS

The ongoing Turkish–Greek antagonism has triggered the interest of defense economists to investigate the various aspects of the arms race between Turkey and Greece. However, empirical studies examining the long‐run relationship between the military expenditures of the two countries offer little evidence in favor of such an interaction. This paper attributes the poor results of the previous literature to the adherence to linear cointegration techniques and argues that if the adjustment towards long‐run equilibrium is asymmetric, nonlinear co‐integration models should be employed. Accordingly, this paper considers threshold autoregressive (TAR) and momentum threshold autoregressive (M‐TAR) models as alternative adjustment processes for the cointegration relationship, following Enders and Siklos (2001). The results indicate that the relationship between the variables can be characterized by a threshold cointegration specification following an M‐TAR type adjustment process.
A Distributed Intercortical Processing of Binocular Rivalry: Psychophysical Evidence

When dissimilar visual scenes are viewed dichoptically, the observer perceives several different representations of the scene over time. To reveal that a distributed intercortical network mediates this phenomenon of binocular rivalry, we used a Kanizsa square-like display consisting of four pairs of color-rivalry-inducing elements. We found that when all four dominant elements had the same color, regardless of whether they were from the same or different eyes, the visual system ably integrated them into a larger subjective surface. Once formed, the same-colored subjective surface enjoyed a relatively longer predominance than mixed-colored patterns. During rivalry alternation, this same-colored surface was more likely to be replaced by a complementary same-colored surface, rather than by mixed-colored patterns (cohesive effect). Further, surface integration, which is mainly an extrastriate cortical function, was stronger when the same eye viewed the same-colored rivalry stimuli. Since the eye-of-origin signature is explicitly represented in V1, these findings together suggest that rivalry is processed along a distributed network including V1 and the extrastriate cortices.
Identification and characterization of the vitellogenin receptor in Macrobrachium rosenbergii and its expression during vitellogenesis

In oviparous organisms, oocyte maturation depends on massive production of the egg yolk‐precursor protein, vitellogenin (Vg). Vg is taken up by the developing oocytes through receptor‐mediated endocytosis (RME), a process essential to successful reproduction. The aims of this study were to identify and characterize the yet‐unknown vitellogenin receptor (VgR) from the pleocyamate crustacean Macrobrachium rosenbergii, and to investigate its expression levels during vitellogenesis and its interaction with Vg. The VgR gene was cloned, and its translated protein was specifically located at the oocyte membrane. Moreover, for the first time, a VgR protein was identified and sequenced by mass spectrometry. The putative MrVgR displayed high sequence similarity to VgRs from crustaceans, insects, and vertebrates, and its structure includes typical elements, such as an extracellular, lipoprotein‐binding domain (LBD), EGF‐like, and O‐glycosylation domains, a transmembrane domain, and a short, C‐terminal, cytosolic tail. In this article, we identify the first crustacean VgR protein, and present data demonstrating its high affinity for a Vg column followed by elution with suramin and EDTA. Additionally we demonstrate that VgR expression in the oocyte is elevated during vitellogenesis. Our results contribute to the fundamental understanding of oocyte maturation in crustaceans, and particularly elucidate Vg uptake through RME via the VgR. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 79:478–487, 2012. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Impact of Economic Shocks on Global Undernourishment

This paper estimates the impact of the 2008 food price spike and the 2009 contraction in global growth on undernourishment rates. The analysis is based on a methodology that uses a calorie-income relationship and income distribution data. The authors find that the 2008 global food price spike may have increased global undernourishment by about 6.8 percent, or 63 million people. Moreover, they show that the sharp slowdown in global growth in 2009 could have contributed to 41 million more undernourished people compared with what would have happened if the economic crisis had not occurred.
Work–life balance: a longitudinal evaluation of a new measure across Australia and New Zealand workers

The work–life balance literature has recently identified the need for construct refinement. In response to these discussions, this research describes the development and validation of a concise measure of work–life balance, based on individuals' subjective perceptions of balance between their work and other aspects of their lives. The structure, reliability and validity of this unidimensional, four-item measure was confirmed in four independent heterogeneous samples of workers employed in Australia and New Zealand (N = 6983). Work–life balance was negatively associated with work demands, turnover intentions and psychological strain, and positively associated with both family and job satisfaction, confirming the research hypotheses. Evidence of these relationships over time was also demonstrated. This research confirms that this new measure of work–life balance demonstrates robust psychometric properties and predicts relevant criterion variables.
Seroprevalence of Antibodies against Noroviruses among Students in a Chinese Military Medical University

ABSTRACT Noroviruses (NVs) are important causes of nonbacterial gastroenteritis in humans, but the role of NVs as a cause of diseases in the Chinese people, particularly in Chinese military personnel, remains unclear. This study investigated antibody prevalence and factors that associate with the prevalence of antibody to NVs among students attending a military medical university. Serum specimens were tested by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for immunoglobulin G antibody to recombinant capsid antigens of three NVs (rNorwalk, rMxV, and rVA387). Of 588 serum samples tested, the antibody prevalence was 88.9, 54.1, or 90.0% for the three antigens, respectively. There were significant differences in the prevalence of antibody to rMxV between blood types (P < 0.05); the prevalence for type O was the highest (62.5%), and the prevalence for type B was the lowest (49.1%). The average optical density values for antibody to rNorwalk and rMxV were lowest among students with type B. The number of students who did not have antibody to any of the three antigens was the highest for blood type B (6.9%) compared to other blood types (0.8 to 3.4% [P < 0.006]). The antibody prevalence also varied with the hometown residencies of the students before joining the military, with the highest rates for students from rural areas, lower rates for students from small towns or villages, and the lowest rates for students from large cities. The numbers of students who did not have antibody to any of the three antigens were highest for students from the large cities, lower for students from small towns or villages, and lowest for students from rural areas. The distribution of ABO blood types did not differ among the three groups. These data suggest that NVs are prevalent in China and that both genetic and environmental factors play a role in NV infection.
Influence of flipped classroom on technical skills and non-technical competences of IT students

Flipped Classrooms is a teaching method that has become increasingly popular in recent years. In a didactic study, we taught a computer science class in parallel groups with Flipped Classroom and with classical teaching, and evaluated the teaching method's influence on student skills. The results show that at the end of the term, the two groups of students display similar technical skills, while non-technical competences were significantly more improved when using Flipped Classrooms.
Market-led ‘agrarian reform’ in Brazil

This article surveys the process of implementing the World Bank's market-led ‘agrarian reform’ model in Brazil and analyzes some of its consequences and effects. It places the model in a recent political context (the Cardoso administration, 1995–2002), explaining the opposition and criticism of land struggle movements and rural organizations. It questions the political and ideological arguments related to the model's persistence, particularly with regard to the decision to maintain the programme on the part of Luis Inácio Lula da Silva's administration after 2003.
Production Technology, Nondebt Tax Shields, and Financial Leverage

In the literature a negative relationship between debt and nondebt tax shields is predicted only for firms that have the same production technology (i.e., firms with perfectly correlated pretax output). In this paper the authors examine the relationship between production technology and differences in firms' financial leverage ratios, and find that firms in the same industry with highly (lowly) correlated output make similar (dissimilar) leverage decisions. Thus, the correlation of output across states of nature helps explain leverage differences that are not explained by industry differences. Contrary to previous predictions, however, leverage differences for firms with highly correlated pretax output suggest a positive relationship between debt and nondebt tax shields.
Institutional stickiness and coordination issues in an idiosyncratic environment: the grape and wine industry in Ontario, Canada

This article explores the foundations of an industry whose rate of growth is surprising to most observers. Starting from an historical institutional (HI) perspective, we demonstrate that moderately adaptive institutions have been instrumental to the success of the Ontario wine industry up to this point. An analysis of coordination using a Triple Helix framework reveals, however, that the particularities of the institutional design have more recently served to reinforce a suboptimal policy trajectory that has consequently frustrated attempts to forge a coherent industrial strategy. Exploration of the role played by institutional venues as fora that encourage cross-coalition learning provides for a deeper understanding of an idiosyncratic sector and raises important theoretical issues concerning path dependency and the role of the state that can be overlooked easily in superficial applications of Triple Helix theory. The findings of this study suggest important lessons for sub-national innovation systems and innovation networks in high value-added, small market and low export industries.
Human Cytomegalovirus US7 Is Regulated Synergistically by Two Virally Encoded MicroRNAs and by Two Distinct Mechanisms

ABSTRACT Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) encodes at least 14 microRNAs (miRNAs) that act posttranscriptionally to repress gene expression. Although several HCMV miRNA targets of both cellular and viral origin have been identified, our knowledge of their function remains limited. HCMV miRNA targets, as well as phenotypes associated with HCMV miRNA mutants, have been difficult to identify since the downregulation of targets by a single miRNA is often less than 2-fold. Several factors can contribute to the strength of repression, including the mechanism of translational inhibition, the degree of complementarity between the miRNA and target mRNA, the number of binding sites for one miRNA, and cooperativity or antagonism between miRNAs. To determine the effect of multiple miRNAs on one gene, we examined the repression of a viral gene, US7. Here we demonstrate that the HCMV-encoded miRNAs miR-US5-1 and miR-US5-2 function in a highly synergistic manner to regulate US7, even at very low miRNA concentrations. Regulation of US7 involves three functional miRNA binding sites: two that are completely complementary to the 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR) and one that is imperfectly matched. Surprisingly, we observed equal contributions to inhibition from both complete and partially complementary sites, and repression was not completely abrogated until all three sites were mutated simultaneously. We also observed that the miRNA binding sites did not follow the spacing constraints for corepressive miRNAs observed in earlier reports. These results underscore the importance of evaluating the contribution of multiple miRNAs on gene regulation and shed new insight into miRNA:mRNA interactions.
Trade and developing countries

1. Trade and Development 2. The Institutional Background 3. Commodity Trade and Economic Development 4. Competing Agricultural Goods: Food, Fodder and Farm Policies 5. Ldcs and the Export of Manufactured Goods 6. Direct Foreign Private Investment and Ldcs' Trade 7. Finance and International Trade 8. Economic Co-operation and Trade Among Developing Countries 9. A New International Economic Order and Ldcs' Trade