Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human C-reactive protein and the metabolic syndrome

Purpose of review Low-grade inflammation is characteristic of the metabolic syndrome (MetS). C-reactive protein (CRP), the best characterized biomarker of inflammation, is also an independent predictor of future cardiovascular events. The purpose of this review is to outline the role of inflammation and high sensitivity CRP in the MetS. Recent findings Emerging laboratory and epidemiological data now link inflammation and high sensitivity CRP to insulin resistance and adiposity and other features of MetS. Furthermore, in large prospective studies, increased high sensitivity CRP levels in MetS confer greater cardiovascular risk. CRP has been shown to impair insulin signaling and contributes to atherothrombosis. Summary Thus, although a high CRP level predisposes to increased cardiovascular risk in MetS, future investigation is warranted on the in-vivo role of CRP in mediating vascular effects and resulting in increased cardiovascular events in MetS patients.
The effect of power on susceptibility to emotional contagion

Abstract This study explored two questions: Do people tend to display and experience other people's emotions? If so, what impact does power have on people's susceptibility to emotional contagion? We speculated that the powerless should pay more attention to their superiors (than their superiors pay to them) and should thus be especially likely to “catch” their superion' emotions as well. College students, given the role of “teacher” (powerful person) or “learner” (powerless person), observed videotapes of another (fictitious) subject relating an emotional experience. They were asked what emotions they felt as they watched their partner describe the happiest and saddest event in his life. In addition, they were videotaped as they watched the tape. As predicted, clear evidence of emotional contagion was obtained in this controlled laboratory setting. However, a direct (rather than inverse) relation between power and emotional contagion was found. Powerful subjects were more likely to display their subordina.
A priori power measures and the institutions of the European Union

The a priori voting powers of member countries in the council of ministers of the European Union have been discussed in the literature mainly from the view-point of Banzhaf and Shapley-Shubik indices. This paper discusses – in the light of these and other more recent (Colomer's, Holler's as well as Deegan and Packel's) power indices – the interaction of the council ministers and the European Parliament (EP) under the assumption that the consent of both bodies is needed to carry a motion or piece of union-wide legislation. Moreover, the double-majority principle is discussed from the view-point of voting power distribution. Finally we consider the voting power distribution in a three-chamber system consisting of Commission, Council and EP.
Canadian Health and Food: The Links between Policy, Consumers, and Industry

"The concerns around the social costs associated with poor, inadequate diets and unhealthy food choices have received much attention in both the popular and academic literature recently. In response, governments are starting to direct their attention toward the interplay between public health and the food economy. We begin by reviewing some of the known links between food and health, the recommendations coming from international and domestic bodies, and the perspective of industry. We then discuss the potential role of, and justifications for, policy interventions, and note that a failure to incorporate consumer response into the policymaking process has led to suboptimal outcomes in the past. We present a qualitative overview of the possible effects of Canadian agricultural policies, as well as examples from the limited literature in this area. In much the same way that the policymaking process is subject to environmental impact assessments, agricultural and food policies need to be formulated with a health filter in place order to avoid perverse dietary outcomes. " Copyright 2006 Canadian Agricultural Economics Society.
A cloud-based virtual computing laboratory for teaching computer networks

This paper presents a novel `Cloud-based' solution for teaching computer networks in an educational context. One key advantage of the system is its ability to commission and decommission virtual infrastructures comprised of routers, switches and virtual machines on demand. It makes use of hardware located in different physical locations, VMWare software to manage the virtual resources and NetLab+ to manage the configuration of multiple different virtual scenarios. The key features of the cloud infrastructure are described and evaluated.
The cost of multiple drug resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The spread of bacterial antibiotic resistance mutations is thought to be constrained by their pleiotropic fitness costs. Here we investigate the fitness costs of resistance in the context of the evolution of multiple drug resistance (MDR), by measuring the cost of acquiring streptomycin resistance mutations (StrepR) in independent strains of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa carrying different rifampicin resistance (RifR) mutations. In the absence of antibiotics, StrepR mutations are associated with similar fitness costs in different RifR genetic backgrounds. The cost of StrepR mutations is greater in a rifampicin‐sensitive (RifS) background, directly demonstrating antagonistic epistasis between resistance mutations. In the presence of rifampicin, StrepR mutations have contrasting effects in different RifR backgrounds: StrepR mutations have no detectable costs in some RifR backgrounds and massive fitness costs in others. Our results clearly demonstrate the importance of epistasis and genotype‐by‐environment interactions for the evolution of MDR.
What Explains Corporate Social Responsibility Engagement in Chinese Firms?

Abstract This study examines factors that explain corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement in Chinese firms. Contrary to the developed markets, the Chinese government plays a determinant role in CSR engagement of Chinese firms. For the state-owned firms, several results are noted. First, a firm’s CSR engagement appears to serve the government interest rather than the various stakeholders. Second, managers will overinvest in CSR for political reasons or private reputation building. The behavior supports the overinvestment hypothesis. Third, a state-owned enterprises firm with more earnings management will likely reduce CSR engagement. SOEs that have CSR engagements tend to have higher research and technical development expenditures and lower financial performance. For non-state-owned firms, the CSR engagements appear to mitigate conflicts among stakeholders and associate with higher firms’ value, supporting the conflict-resolution hypothesis. Our results find that firms of a larger size are more likely to participate in more CSR engagement for both SOEs and non-SOEs.
The Role of Firm-Specific Incentives and Country Factors in Explaining Voluntary IAS Adoptions: Evidence from Private Firms

Abstract This paper investigates voluntary adoptions of International Accounting Standards (IAS) by private enterprises, and builds on prior research which posits that higher quality financial reports through IAS adoption can reduce information asymmetry and facilitate contracting with external parties. Specifically, we pursue the following questions. First, do firm-specific incentives matter in the IAS adoption decision after controlling for country-level institutional factors? Second, does the relative importance of firm vs. country factors vary across institutional settings? Using a sample of 3,722 small and medium-sized private enterprises from 56 countries, we report two primary findings. First, both firm and country factors matter in the voluntary IAS adoption decision. Second, when we focus on sub-samples of countries partitioned by the level of economic development, we find that firm factors dominate country factors in more developed countries, while in less developed countries, country factors dominate firm factors in explaining IAS adoptions. This result is consistent with the argument in Doidge et al. (Journal of Financial Economics, 86(1), pp. 1–39, 2007) that firm incentives are more important in explaining governance choices (including accounting) in more developed countries where the benefits from better governance are more likely to exceed the attendant costs. Collectively, our results suggest that less developed countries can enhance the benefits from IAS adoptions by developing institutions which facilitate private contracting.
Do Wage Subsidies Increase Employment in Subsidized Firms?

This paper examines whether subsidized jobs have contributed to employment in subsidized firms or have merely substituted for non-subsidized ones. The data-set is an unbalanced panel of some 31,000 firms that are followed annually between 1995 and 2002. The analysis is based on difference-in-differences, which is adjusted by regression and matching methods. The results indicate that wage subsidies stimulate employment, and that the magnitude of the effect is as aimed. I also found that subsidies have no sizeable effects on non-subsidized firms of the industry or the geographical area in question.
Does Access to Credit Improve Productivity? Evidence from Bulgaria

Although it is widely accepted that financial development is associated with higher growth, the evidence on the channels through which credit affects growth on the micro-level is scant. Using data from a cross section of Bulgarian firms, the authors estimate the impact of access to credit (as proxied by indicators of whether firms have access to a credit or overdraft facility) on productivity. To overcome potential omitted variable bias of OLS estimates, they use information on firms' past growth to instrument for access to credit. The authors find credit to be positively and strongly associated with total factor productivity. These results are robust to a wide range of robustness checks.
Neighbors Yet Strangers: Local People's Awareness of Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Southern Illinois, USA

Knowledge and perception of federal land-use decisions and policies among residents of poor rural areas in the United States have received little attention in the literature. The purpose of this study was to examine awareness of Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge and its programs as reported by the surrounding public in rural southern Illinois. A snowball or referral chain sampling technique was used to gain access to minority and low-income segments of a diverse rural population. Study findings reveal that race and distance of residence from the refuge mattered in southern Illinois residents' awareness of the refuge. Lack of broad-based awareness and program attendance were assessed in terms of distributive and procedural equity. Comprehensive and sustained efforts at more effective communication with all local residents, particularly minority residents, will be necessary to achieve the goal of environmental justice in planning and delivery of future refuge programs and services.
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES SOCIAL INSURANCE AND TRANSITION

We study the general equilibrium effects of social insurance on the transition in a model in which the process of moving workers from matches in the state sector to new matches in the private sector takes time and involves uncertainty. We fmd that adding social insurance may slow transition. When there are incentive problems in this rematching process, the optimal social insurance scheme may involve forced layoffs and involuntary unemployment. Andrew Atkeson University of Chicago 1126 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 and NBER Patrick J. Kehoe Department of Economics University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104 and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Experiences from implementing ISO 9000 in small enterprises – a study of Swedish organisations

Describes a project focusing on the experiences of implementing a third‐party certified quality system in small (maximum 50 employees) Swedish organisation. The project consisted of a questionnaire to CEOs, and then a more comprehensive case study of selected organisations. Results show that the more the CEO and employees have been involved in the implementation process, the more the system is used, that the CEO is more satisfied with the results; and quality improvements have continued after certification. Furthermore, the higher the level of education within the company, the less help has been required from external consultants. Indicates that important factors for a successful implementation are the attitude of the organisation when the implementation starts, that fairly detailed plans for the implementation are performed and that the documentation is adapted to the business and not necessarily to the ISO standard.
Protease inhibitors restore radiation‐induced apoptosis to Bcl‐2‐expressing lymphoma cells

The proteasome pathway is important for the turnover of many regulatory proteins. This pathway has recently become a target for antitumor agents and several research groups have demonstrated that inhibitors with specificities for the proteasome are potent apoptosis‐inducing agents. Many mechanisms by which proteasome inhibitors exert their effects have been suggested, including inhibition of NF‐κB activity and stabilization of the p53 tumor suppressor protein. We investigated the ability of inhibitors with specificities for the proteasome and for another protein degradation enzyme, calpain, to sensitize a murine B‐cell lymphoma with constitutive NF‐κB1 homodimer activity and high expression of Bcl‐2 protein to radiation‐induced apoptosis. Protease inhibitors tested were calpain inhibitor I, calpain inhibitor II, calpeptin, MG132, and Lactacystin. All five inhibitors induced apoptosis and sensitized cells to radiation despite the maintenance of Bcl‐2 protein levels throughout the course of treatment. An electrophoretic migration shift assay for NF‐κB1 activity provided evidence that reversal of NF‐κB activity was not required for induction of cell death; however, p53 levels were elevated for all inhibitors tested. HL‐60 cells, devoid of p53, could not be sensitized to radiation by MG132 treatment, suggesting that p53 was important for cell death induced by combined treatment with protease inhibitors and radiation. We concluded that protease inhibitors are capable of overcoming the protective effects of Bcl‐2 to induce apoptosis and suggest that protease inhibitor treatment, when combined with ionizing radiation, leads to p53‐mediated apoptosis. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effects of microRNA-21 and microRNA-24 inhibitors on neuronal apoptosis in ischemic stroke.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of our study was aimed to investigate the effects of microRNA-21 (miR-21) and microRNA-24 (miR-24) inhibitors on ischemic stroke. METHODS MiR-21 inhibitor or miR-24 inhibitor was delivered to Sprague Dawley (SD) rats by continuous intracerebroventricular infusion. Two days later, middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was performed to induce ischemic stroke. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to confirm transfection efficiency. The number of apoptotic neurons was detected using TUNEL method. Besides, primary hippocampal or cortical neuronal cultures were prepared from embryonic day 16-18 C57BL/6 mice. These cells were transfected with miR-21 inhibitor, miR-24 inhibitor, or negative scramble RNA. Then the cell viability was detected after transfection, as well as the protein levels of Caspase-3, B-cell lymphoma (Bcl)-xL, and heat shock protein (HSP) 70. RESULTS Both the levels of miR-21 and miR-24 were significantly reduced by transfection with inhibitors compared to control group or scramble RNA group (both P < 0.05). The apoptosis was significantly reduced in both hippocampal neuron and cortical neuron by miR-24 inhibitor rather than miR-21 inhibitor (P < 0.05), while the cell viability was significantly increased compared to the control group or the scramble group (P < 0.05). In addition, the levels of Bcl-xL and HSP70 were significantly increased, and the levels of Caspase-3 were statistically decreased by transfection with miR-24 inhibitor. CONCLUSION MiRNA-24 but not miR-21 inhibitor prevents apoptosis in ischemic stroke by regulation of Bcl-xL, Caspase-3 and HSP70.
Quality of Work Life and Human Resource Outcomes

This study develops and tests hypotheses regarding the influence of Quality of Work Life (QWL) initiatives on absenteeism, accidents, grievances, and quits, using monthly longitudinal human resource archival data collected at a unionized Midwestern heavy manufacturing firm for the period from 1976 to 1986. The sample size is 129 months (48 months of pre-QWL measures and 81 months of post-QWL measures). Autoregression procedures are utilized to examine the direct impact of QWL on human resource outcomes. QWL is found to significantly reduce absenteeism, minor accidents, grievances, and quits.
Keeping it Professional: The Influence of Political Consultants on Candidate Attitudes toward Negative Campaigning

Conventional wisdom suggests that political consultants encourage candidates to “go negative” and to accept the ethos of winning election at any cost. However, recent studies indicate that some campaign professionals draw ethical distinctions between different forms of negative campaigning. While there is a growing literature on campaign consultants, less is known about their influence on those running for political office. Using a nationwide survey of candidates, we find that those who wage professional campaigns are more likely than those who wage amateur campaigns to consider it acceptable to use negative campaign tactics and to find it appropriate to raise issues against an opponent concerning legal infractions. However, contrary to conventional wisdom, we find that candidates' acceptance of personalized attacks, which critics judge to be most harmful to democracy, are not attributable to consultants, but rather to other factors and incentives inherent in the U.S. electoral system.
Intercity rail services: A nested logit stated choice analysis of pricing options

There is a renewed interest in intercity and long-distance rail services in many countries, with both new high-speed rail services and improvements to conventional rail under review. The current study reports on an investigation using a stated choice experiment, of the demand for sleeper services between Sydney, Northern New South Wales (NSW) and Brisbane in Australia, a 12 to 14 hour trip, just after a decision by the NSW government to temporarily suspend sleeper services and introduce seating service only, pending an inquiry into the demand for such loss-making services under alternative price and service levels. A matrix of direct fare elasticities within the rail mode and between rail and competing modes are obtained for concession and non-concession travellers from a nested logit model. The empirical evidence extends our knowledge of the sensitivity of the long distance passenger market to a range of rails fares, distinguishing between classes of fares and levels of service.
The use of multiple intelligences to enhance team productivity

Purpose – To provide practitioners and researchers with a framework for using individuals' multiple intelligences (MI) to enhance team productivity.Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a general review paper that examines how the theory of MI as espoused by Gardner may be used to enhance the productivity of teams. Based on its use in organizational training, it is suggested that MI theory can and should be applied in the context of organizational teams. This descriptive paper is divided into the following sections: literature reviews of team development, team building, MI, and the use of MI in organizational training; and the development of a framework for using MI to enhance team productivity.Findings – Provides information about how individual team members' varying degrees of the eight MI espoused by Gardner may be used to enhance their contributions to the team. Suggests that the enhanced contributions from team members will lead to enhanced team productivity, and ultimately, enhanced organizati.
Understanding the Structure of Audit Workpaper Error Knowledge and its Relationship with Workpaper Review Performance

This study examines the veracity of two important, yet untested, premises underlying the interpretation of hierarchical variation in workpaper review performance. Prior research has argued that auditors at different hierarchical levels structure their knowledge of workpaper errors differently, and that these differences in knowledge structure give rise to hierarchical variation in the ability of auditors to identify mechanical and conceptual workpaper errors. This study directly examines the way in which audit firm managers, seniors and staff auditors structure their knowledge of audit workpaper errors and finds variation across hierarchical levels. These differences in knowledge structure were found to be associated with variation in workpaper review performance as they related to the identification of conceptual errors, but not, as proposed in prior research, mechanical workpaper errors. These results guide future research efforts aimed at improving workpaper review performance.
The effect of smoking on postoperative nausea and vomiting

In an attempt to quantify the postoperative effects of smoking, 327 consecutive patients undergoing arthroscopic day case knee surgery were given a standard anaesthetic consisting of an intravenous induction with propofol and fentanyl followed by inhalational maintenance using isoflurane in an oxygen and nitrous oxide mixture. Pre‐operatively, patients were asked inter alia to give details of social smoking habits. Postoperatively, patients were given standard analgesic and anti‐emetic drugs. Prior to discharge patients were asked to give details of postoperative nausea and vomiting together with details of the severity of postoperative pain. There were 85 smokers and 242 nonsmokers. Of the 327 patients, a total of 42 (13%) complained of postoperative nausea and vomiting. Of the smokers, only 6% complained of postoperative nausea and vomiting in contrast to 15% of the nonsmokers (p < 0.05). It is postulated that enzyme induction is the most likely reason for this anti‐emetic effect. Possible ways in which this clinically beneficial mechanism can be utilised to improve outcome after anaesthesia are discussed.
Capital Flows and Their Macroeconomic Effects in India

This paper documents trends in movement and composition of capital flows into India in a comparative perspective, examines the impact of these flows upon key macroeconomic variables in the economy, and dwells on implications for economic policy. We find that an inflow of foreign capital results in a real appreciation and has a significant impact on domestic money supply. During a capital surge, these effects have been countered through intervention and sterilization. The paper concludes with a discussion on the costs of these policies in the event of a heavy inflow of foreign capital into India.
The Auditor's Reporting Model: A Literature Overview and Research Synthesis

This article examines academic research to contribute to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's (PCAOB) project on the auditor's reporting model. We develop a framework to organize our discussion of the literature in light of key questions raised at two Standing Advisory Group (SAG) meetings. We trace the historical development of the auditor's report and then delve into relevant research that focuses on the auditor's reporting decision and the content of the auditor's report. Throughout the article, we offer recommendations for future study. Last, we provide a brief recap and summarize the key findings.