Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of reference prices on bidding behavior in interactive pricing mechanisms

We examine the effect of reference prices on consumer bidding behavior in interactive pricing mechanisms used in online retailing, e.g., auctions and name-your-own-price. We find significant influences of different reference price concepts on bid values. However, after controlling for internal and external reference prices, sellers only have a moderate ability to affect bid values via the provision of an advertised reference price. An exaggerated advertised reference price increases the bid value among consumers who consider it to be believable. However, its effect is reversed in the presence of an external reference price if consumers consider it unbelievable, decreasing bid values.
Growth and the Ageing Joneses

Abstract: We incorporate Keeping-up-with-the-Joneses (KUJ) preferences into the Blanchard-Yaari (BY) framework and develop, using an AK technology, a model of balanced growth. In this context we investigate status preference, demographic, and pension policy shocks. We find that a higher degree of KUJ lowers economic growth, while, in contrast, a decrease in the fertility and mortality rates increase it. In the second part of the paper we extend the model by incorporating a Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension system with a statutory retirement date. This introduces a life-cycle in human wealth earnings and implies that the growth rate is higher under PAYG. We also consider the implications of an increase in the retirement date under both defined benefit and defined contribution schemes. ;
Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profiles of Human Campylobacter jejuni Isolates and Association with Phylogenetic Lineages

Campylobacter jejuni is a zoonotic pathogen and the most common bacterial cause of human gastroenteritis worldwide. With the increase of antibiotic resistance to fluoroquinolones and macrolides, the drugs of choice for treatment, C. jejuni was recently classified as a serious antimicrobial resistant threat. Here, we characterized 94 C. jejuni isolates collected from patients at four Michigan hospitals in 2011 and 2012 to determine the frequency of resistance and association with phylogenetic lineages. The prevalence of resistance to fluoroquinolones (19.1%) and macrolides (2.1%) in this subset of C. jejuni isolates from Michigan was similar to national reports. High frequencies of fluoroquinolone-resistant C. jejuni isolates, however, were recovered from patients with a history of foreign travel. A high proportion of these resistant isolates were classified as multilocus sequence type (ST)-464, a fluoroquinolone-resistant lineage that recently emerged in Europe. A significantly higher prevalence of tetracycline-resistant C. jejuni was also found in Michigan and resistant isolates were more likely to represent ST-982, which has been previously recovered from ruminants and the environment in the U.S. Notably, patients with tetracycline-resistant C. jejuni infections were more likely to have contact with cattle. These outcomes prompt the need to monitor the dissemination and diversification of imported fluoroquinolone-resistant C. jejuni strains and to investigate the molecular epidemiology of C. jejuni recovered from cattle and farm environments to guide mitigation strategies.
The political economy of human happiness: how voters' choices determine the quality of life

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The New Careers: Individual Action and Economic Change

Careers, Employment and Economies in Transition Exploring New Patterns of Career Behaviour Enactment in Career Behaviour Fresh Energy Engaging with Unfamiliar Situations Informed Direction Pursuing Career Pathways Seasoned Engagement Rounding Out Career Experience Turning Career Competences into Career Capital Investing Career Capital in Social Institutions The Enactment of Careers From Present to Future
Ten Years of IFRS: Practitioners' Comments and Suggestions for Research

A growing body of research is evaluating the widespread adoption of IFRS. The aim of this paper is to link the findings of academic research with feedback from practitioners about whether the hoped-for benefits of adoption are being realised. In addition, we present comments from practitioners about IFRS research and we identify areas that may be usefully explored in future research. Our review complements the papers included in part one of this forum (Australian Accounting Review, September 2012), which describe events in the development of global standards over the last 10 years.
Financial accelerator mechanism in a small open economy

Using Bayesian estimation techniques, we estimate a small open economyDSGE model with credit-market imperfections for the Colombian economy. Us-ing the estimated model we investigate what are the sources of business cycle°uctuations. We show that balance-sheet e®ects play an important role in ex-plaining recent Colombian business cycles. We then perform a counterfactualexercise that shows that ¯xed exchange rate regime could have exacerbated the¯nancial distress in the economy between 1998-1999.
Performance Pay in China: Gender Aspects

We provide an in‐depth analysis of gender differences in performance pay in China based on a unique dataset — the Life Histories and Social Change in Contemporary China — that provides information on the different components of pay including performance pay and base pay as well as a wide array of pay determining characteristic. The share of performance pay is documented and its determinants, including gender, analysed. Particular attention is paid to gender differences in the different dimensions of performance pay: the probability of receiving it; the magnitude conditional upon receiving it; and their product being the overall unconditional magnitude. Gender differences in these dimensions are decomposed into components due to male–female differences in the endowments of characteristics that explain these dimensions of pay, and gender differences that arise even when men and women have the same endowments of such characteristics with the later component, often taken to reflect discrimination.
Safety and Efficacy of Stosstherapy in Nutritional Rickets

Objective: Stosstherapy has been used since early 19th century for treating nutritional rickets. However, there are no clear cut guidelines for the biochemical monitoring of this treatment. Repeated blood tests at short intervals increase the cost of therapy and noncompliance. Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 191 cases of nutritional rickets below 10 years of age to evaluate the effectivity of stosstherapy. All cases were treated with a single intramuscular injection of vitamin D (600.000 IU) along with oral calcium (50 mg/kg) and vitamin D (400 IU per day) until radiological resolution. Dietary modifications and adequate sunlight exposure were also recommended. Results: The mean age of presentation was 2 years 9 months. Mean sunlight exposure was 17 minutes/week with 90% having low sunlight exposure (<30 minutes/week). Prolonged breast feeding (>6 months) was found in 93.7% of the cases. With treatment, the clinical features started resolving by 1 month with complete resolution of most of the features over a period of 1 year. By 6 months, all the study subjects had complete radiological resolution. Serum levels of calcium and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were restored by 6 months in most cases while phosphate and vitamin D levels normalized by 6 weeks. Conclusion: Stosstherapy is a safe, cheap and effective method of treating nutritional rickets. Biochemical tests at initial presentation followed by vitamin D assay at 6 weeks and calcium, phosphate and ALP assays at 6 months is recommended in the monitoring of these patients. For regular monitoring, only ALP assay is recommended, provided one abstains from repeat injection of vitamin D based on high ALP levels.
Manipulation of the Dietary N-Fractions to Improve Ruminal Microbial Synthesis and Yield 1

Ruminants are efficient users of diets poor in amount and quality of crude protein (CP) because ruminal microbes synthesize a large proportion of the animal’s needs for metabolizable protein and essential amino acids (EAA). In addition, microbial utilization of ammonia allows the feeding of non-protein N (NPN) compounds, such as urea, and enables ruminants to utilize urea-N that is recycled to the rumen (Lapierre & Lobley, 2001). This latter mechanism might be employed to capture some urea N that would otherwise be excreted in the urine. High secretion rates for milk protein are why lactating dairy cows have the highest EAA requirements among domestic ruminants. Although dairy cattle can utilize diets with relatively poor quality CP, they typically excrete 2 to 3 times more N in manure than they secrete in milk. This N inefficiency necessitates feeding large amounts of supplemental protein, which increases production costs and contributes to environmental pollution. Because of stagnant milk prices, U.S. dairy farms are increasing in size to capture the economies of scale and these larger operations are importing more feed and increasing animal units per hectare Greater animal densities result in increased nutrient accumulation on the farmland and in greater environmental impact from dairying.
Economics of Sequestering Carbon in the U.S. Agricultural Sector

Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases can be reduced by withdrawing carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering it in soils and biomass. This report analyzes the performance of alternative incentive designs and payment levels if farmers were paid to adopt land uses and management practices that raise soil carbon levels. At payment levels below $10 per metric ton for permanently sequestered carbon, analysis suggests landowners would find it more cost effective to adopt changes in rotations and tillage practices. At higher payment levels, afforestation dominates sequestration activities, mostly through conversion of pastureland. Across payment levels, the economic potential to sequester carbon is much lower than the technical potential reported in soil science studies. The most cost-effective payment design adjusts payment levels to account both for the length of time farmers are willing to commit to sequestration activities and for net sequestration. A 50-percent cost-share for cropland conversion to forestry or grasslands would increase sequestration at low carbon payment levels but not at high payment levels.
Genetic Algorithms: A Tool for Optimization in Econometrics - Basic Concept and an Example for Empirical Applications

This paper discusses a tool for optimization of econometric models based on genetic algorithms. First, we briefly describe the concept of this optimization technique. Then, we explain the design of a specifically developed algorithm and apply it to a difficult econometric problem, the semiparametric estimation of a censored regression model. We carry out some Monte Carlo simulations and compare the genetic algorithm with another technique, the iterative linear programming algorithm, to run the censored least absolute deviation estimator. It turns out that both algorithms lead to similar results in this case, but that the proposed method is computationally more stable than its competitor.
An analysis of engraftment kinetics as a function of the CD34 content of peripheral blood progenitor cell collections in 692 patients after the administration of myeloablative chemotherapy.

The CD34 antigen is expressed by committed and uncommitted hematopoietic progenitor cells and is increasingly used to assess stem cell content of peripheral blood progenitor cell (PBPC) collections. Quantitative CD34 expression in PBPC collections has been suggested to correlate with engraftment kinetics of PBPCs infused after myeloablative therapy. We analyzed the engraftment kinetics as a function of CD34 content in 692 patients treated with high-dose chemotherapy (HDC). Patients had PBPCs collected after cyclophosphamide based mobilization chemotherapy with or without recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) until > or = 2.5 x 10(6) CD34+ cells/kg were harvested. Measurement of the CD34 content of PBPC collections was performed daily by a central reference laboratory using a single technique of CD34 analysis. Forty-five patients required a second mobilization procedure to achieve > or = 2.5 x 10(6) CD34+ cells/kg and 15 patients with less than 2.5 x 10(6) CD34+ cells/kg available for infusion received HDC. A median of 9.94 x 10(6) CD34+ cells/kg (range, 0.5 to 112.6 x 10(6) CD34+ cells/kg) contained in the PBPC collections was subsequently infused into patients after the administration of HDC. Engraftment was rapid with patients requiring a median of 9 days (range, 5 to 38 days) to achieve a neutrophil count of 0.5 x 10(9)/L and a median of 9 days (range, 4 to 53+ days) to achieve a platelet count of > or = 20 x 10(9)/L. A clear dose-response relationship was evident between the number of CD34+ cells per kilogram infused between the number of CD34+ cells per kilogram infused and neutrophil and platelet engraftment kinetics. Factors potentially influencing the engraftment kinetics of neutrophil and platelet recovery were examined using a Cox regression model. The single most powerful mediator of both platelet (P = .0001) and neutrophil (P = .0001) recovery was the CD34 content of the PBPC product. Administration of a post-PBPC infusion myeloid growth factor was also highly correlated with neutrophil recovery (P = .0001). Patients receiving high-dose cyclophosphamide, thiotepa, and carboplatin had more rapid platelet recovery than patients receiving other regimens (P = .006), and patients requiring 2 mobilization procedures versus 1 mobilization procedure to achieve > or = 2.5 x 10(6) CD34+ cells/kg experienced slower platelet recovery (P = .005). Although a minimal threshold CD34 dose could not be defined, > or = 5.0 x 10(6) CD34+ cells/kg appears to be optimal for ensuring rapid neutrophil and platelet recovery.
The survey of various techniques & algorithms for SMS security

Now days, Message authentication is an important security tool. But, without some security mechanism, it is difficult to send data in secure manner. Most popular shortest and cheapest textual form of communication is short message service (SMS). Cryptography is the one of the main categories of computer security that converts information from its normal form into an unreadable form by using Encryption and Decryption Techniques. To ensure the security of the texts which is sent, many encryption algorithm are available. This paper will focus on message security and to secure the text data while transmitting in the network. The data which is to be transmitted from sender to receiver in the network must be encrypted using the encrypted algorithm. ). Symmetric key algorithm reduces the problem of computational overhead and to the calculation of algorithm and improves the performance of encryption. The proposed paper is to provide more efficient authentication mechanisms for textual data. The proposed review paper presents a review of security techniques for SMS and a performance comparison between most common encryption algorithms like DES, 3DES, RC4, Blowfish and AES (Rijndael).
Agile software product line engineering

This paper looks into a rather new idea of combining practices for software product line engineering and agile methods for software development. Both have by now become established approaches with research showing promising results and industry paying great attention. Yet, these two have been considered to be conflicting approaches to develop high quality software in short time with low costs. This paper investigates this assumption and shows that there does not necessarily need to be a conflict, on the contrary they seem to match well. The paper also brings on a discussion on how they can be brought together so to make the one improve the weak parts of the other. This leads to a proposed framework that explains how strategic, tactical and operational work connected with the development of a product line can be done.
Pricing Options on the Dax - An Empirical Investigation

Using transaction data for call options on the DAX, this study examines the empirical performance of (i) the standard Black/Scholes model (1973), (ii) the jump-diffusion model by Merton (1976), (iii) Heston's stochastic volatility model (1993), and (iv) Bates' stochastic volatility jump-diffusion model (1996) across different maturity and moneyness categories.
Using grounded theory to examine people's attitudes toward how animals are used.

This study uses qualitative methodology to examine why people have different attitudes toward different types of nonhuman animal use. Seventeen participants took part in a semi-structured interview. The study used Grounded Theory to analyze the interviews and developed a model that consists of 4 major themes: (a) "attitudes toward animals," (b) "knowledge of animal use procedures," (c) "perceptions of choice," and (d) "cost-benefit analysis. " The findings illustrate that cognitive processing, characteristics of the species of animal being used, and the type of animal use can all influence attitudes toward animal use. Because previous research has focused on participant variables such as age and gender to explain variance in attitudes toward animal use (Furnham & Pinder, 1990; Kellert & Berry, 1981) and measured attitudes toward animal use in general (rather than distinguishing between different types of use) (Armstrong & Hutchins, 1996), these findings can add to knowledge of people's views on animal use. This paper discusses how such views may be justified and maintained.
Strong discontinuities and continuum plasticity models : the strong discontinuity approach

The paper presents the Strong Discontinuity Approach for the analysis and simulation of strong discontinuities in solids using continuum plasticity models. Kinematics of weak and strong discontinuities are discussed, and a regularized kinematic state of discontinuity is proposed as a mean to model the formation of a strong discontinuity as the collapsed state of a weak discontinuity (with a characteristic bandwidth) induced by a bifurcation of the stress± strain ®eld, which propagates in the solid domain. The analysis of the conditions to induce the bifurcation provides a critical value for the bandwidth at the onset of the weak discontinuity and the direction of propagation. Then a variable bandwidth model is proposed to characterize the transition between the weak and strong discontinuity regimes. Several aspects related to the continuum and, their associated, discrete constitutive equations, the expended power in the formation of the discontinuity and relevant computational details related to the ®nite element simulations are also discussed. Finally, some representative numerical simulations are shown to illustrate the proposed approach. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Effects of brain stem parabrachial activation on receptive field properties of cells in the cat's lateral geniculate nucleus.

1. The lateral geniculate nucleus is the primary thalamic relay for the transfer of retinal signals to the visual cortex. Geniculate cells are heavily innervated from nonretinal sources, and these modify retinogeniculate transmission. A major ascending projection to the lateral geniculate nucleus arises from cholinergic cells in the parabrachial region of the brain stem. This is an important pathway in the ascending control of arousal. In an in vivo preparation, we used extracellular recordings to study the effects of electrical activation of the parabrachial region on the spontaneous activity and visual responses of X and Y cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the cat. 2. We studied the effects of two patterns of parabrachial activation on the spontaneous activity of geniculate cells. Burst stimulation consisted of a short pulse at high frequency (16 ms at 250 Hz). Train stimulation was of longer duration at lower frequency (e.g., 1 s at 50 Hz). The firing rate of almost all geniculate cells was enhanced by either pattern of stimulation. However, the burst pattern of stimulation elicited a short, modulated response with excitatory and inhibitory epochs. We found that the different epochs could differentially modulate the visual responses to drifting gratings. Thus the temporal alignment of the brain stem and visual stimuli was critical with burst stimulation, and varied alignments could dramatically confound the results. In comparison, the train pattern of stimulation consistently produced a relatively flat plateau of increased firing, after a short initial period of more variable effects. We used the less confounding pattern of train stimuli to study the effects of parabrachial activation on visual responses. 3. Our main emphasis was to examine the parabrachial effects on the visual responses of geniculate cells. For most visual stimuli, we used drifting sine wave gratings that varied in spatial frequency; these evoked modulated responses from the geniculate cells. Parabrachial activation enhanced the visual responses of almost all geniculate cells, and this enhancement included both increased depth of modulation and greater response rates. 4. Our results were incorporated quantitatively into a difference-of-Gaussians model of visual receptive fields in order to study the parabrachial effects on the spatial structure of the receptive field. This model fit our data well and provided measures of the response amplitude and radius of the receptive field center (Kc and Rc, respectively) and the response amplitude and radius of the receptive field surround (Ks and Rs, respectively). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Differential Expression of ADAM23, CDKN2A (P16), MMP14 and VIM Associated with Giant Cell Tumor of Bone

Though benign, giant cell tumor of bone (GCTB) can become aggressive and can exhibit a high mitotic rate, necrosis and rarely vascular invasion and metastasis. GCTB has unique histologic characteristics, a high rate of multinucleated cells, a variable and unpredictable growth potential and uncertain biological behavior. In this study, we sought to identify genes differentially expressed in GCTB, thus building a molecular profile of this tumor. We performed quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), immunohistochemistry and analyses of methylation to identify genes that are putatively associated with GCTB. The expression of the ADAM23 and CDKN2A genes was decreased in GCTB samples compared to normal bone tissue, measured by qPCR. Additionally, a high hypermethylation frequency of the promoter regions of ADAM23 and CDKN2A in GCTB was observed. The expression of the MAP2K3, MMP14, TIMP2 and VIM genes was significantly higher in GCTB than in normal bone tissue, a fact that was confirmed by qPCR and immunohistochemistry. The set of genes identified here furthers our understanding of the molecular basis of GCTB.