Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The forkhead box M1 transcription factor as a candidate of target for anti‐cancer immunotherapy

The present study attempted to identify a target antigen for immunotherapy for cholangiocarcinoma. Forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) was selected as a candidate antigen based on the data of previous cDNA microarray analysis of clinical samples of cholangiocarcinoma. The level of FOXM1 mRNA was more than 4 times higher in cancer cells in comparison to adjacent normal epithelial cells, in all of 24 samples of cholangiocarcinoma tissues. An immunohistochemical analysis also detected FOXM1 protein in the cancer cells but not in the normal cells. Twenty‐three human FOXM1‐derived peptides predicted to bind to HLA‐A2 were analyzed to determine their ability to induce HLA‐A2‐restricted T cells in HLA‐A2 transgenic mice. FOXM1362‐370 (YLVPIQFPV), FOXM1373‐382 (SLVLQPSVKV), and FOXM1640‐649 (GLMDLSTTPL) peptides primed HLA‐A2‐restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in the HLA‐A2 transgenic mice. Human CTL lines reactive to these 3 peptides could also be established from HLA‐A2‐positive healthy donors and cancer patients. Natural processing of the 3 epitopes from FOXM1 protein was confirmed by specific killing of HLA‐A2‐positive FOXM1‐transfectants by peptide‐induced CTLs. FOXM1 is expressed in various types of cancers and it is also functionally involved in oncogenic transformation and the survival of cancer cells. Therefore, FOXM1 may be a suitable target for immunotherapy against various cancers including cholangiocarcinoma.
Change-Point Analysis for Dependence Structures in Finance and Insurance

Over the recent years, both in finance and insurance, the modelling of dependence beyond linear correlation has become a key area of research. The notion of copula has been used with success in order to model these more general dependence concepts. We will discuss changes in dependence structures by using change-point techniques for specific parametric copula families. Besides some basic theory, some applied examples will be presented.
The Determinants of Honeymoon Destination Choice—The Case of Taiwan

ABSTRACT The purposes of this study were to identify the attributes that determine the attractiveness of a honeymoon destination and to determine the influential variables that affect the destination choice of honeymooners. The results indicated that “safety,” “excellent quality of accommodation,” and “reasonable travel cost” were the three most important attributes determining the attractiveness of a honeymoon destination. Significant differences in perceptions of destination attributes exist across groups of different sociodemographic and traveling characteristics of potential honeymooners. Two sociodemographic variables (i.e., age, monthly income), two traveling characteristics (i.e., length of trip, travel budget), and three destination attributes (i.e., “excellent quality of accommodation,” “nightlife entertainment,” “good place for shopping”) are the significant determinants for classifying Taiwanese potential honeymooners by their destination choices. The findings of this study provide useful information for destination marketers in their efforts to segment the target market precisely and develop promotion campaigns effectively.
Amygdala gray matter concentration is associated with extraversion and neuroticism

Using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry in 41 healthy individuals, this study evaluated the association between the personality traits of extraversion and neuroticism, on the one hand, and individual differences in localized brain volume and gray matter concentration, on the other, with a special focus on the amygdala. Extraversion was positively correlated with gray matter concentration in the left amygdala, whereas neuroticism was negatively correlated with gray matter concentration in the right amygdala. Given that neuroticism is a risk factor for depression, our finding offers one explanation as to why prior structural imaging studies of depressed patients (which did not control for personality) produced conflicting findings. Furthermore, our data are consistent with the view that amygdala reduction seen in depressed patients precedes the onset of the disease, rather than being a consequence of the illness.
STRATEGY UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND IT IN FINANCIAL SERVICES*

This article subjects the organizational theory literature on corporate strategy to critical scrutiny, arguing that both the ‘rational’and ‘processual’approaches to strategy generate analyses that are ahistorical and theoretically undeveloped. In their place, but focusing specifically on the financial services, we offer an alternative genealogically informed analysis. This indicates how the historical development of strategy discourses and practices are discontinuous and uneven across countries, sectors, companies and specialist spheres. In addition it suggests that corporate strategy has considerable impact on inter-organizational relations and both ‘internal’(i.e. management and employees) and ‘external’(i.e. consumers) members of the organization. the article seeks to illustrate its arguments both at the sectoral level by examining the development of strategic discourse in banks and insurance companies and at the organizational level by providing some case study material on IT strategy in a life insurance company.
In vitro pH effects on in vivo recovery and survival of platelets: an analysis by the BEST Collaborative

BACKGROUND: The pH environment of stored platelet (PLT) products is recognized as an important factor and is generally used as a key surrogate measure of PLT viability. It is the only in vitro measurement that has been translated into industry standards and regulatory rules or specifications for storage of PLT products. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of in vitro pH on the in vivo recovery and survival of autologous PLT products.
Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Prehypertension

Objective Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an increasingly popular practice demonstrated to alleviate stress and treat certain health conditions. MBSR may reduce elevated blood pressure (BP). Treatment guidelines recommend life-style modifications for BP in the prehypertensive range (systolic BP [SBP] 120–139 mm Hg or diastolic BP [DBP] 80–89 mm Hg), followed by antihypertensives if BP reaches hypertensive levels. MBSR has not been thoroughly evaluated as a treatment of prehypertension. A randomized clinical trial of MBSR for high BP was conducted to determine whether BP reductions associated with MBSR exceed those observed for an active control condition consisting of progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) training. Methods Fifty-six men (43%) and women (57%) averaging (standard deviation) 50.3 (6.5) years of age (91% white) with unmedicated BP in the prehypertensive range were randomized to 8 weeks of MBSR or PMR delivered in a group format. Treatment sessions were administered by one treatment provider and lasted approximately 2.5 hours each week. Clinic BP was the primary outcome measure. Ambulatory BP was a secondary outcome measure. Results Analyses were based on intent to treat. Patients randomized to MBSR exhibited a 4.8-mm Hg reduction in clinic SBP, which was larger than the 0.7-mm Hg reduction observed for PMR (p = .016). Those randomized to MBSR exhibited a 1.9-mm Hg reduction in DBP compared with a 1.2-mm Hg increase for PMR (p = .008). MBSR did not result in larger decreases in ambulatory BP than in PMR. Conclusions MBSR resulted in a reduction in clinic SBP and DBP compared with PMR. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00440596.
A SURVEY FOR VERY SHORT-PERIOD PLANETS IN THE KEPLER DATA

We conducted a search for very short-period transiting objects in the publicly available Kepler data set. Our preliminary survey has revealed four planetary candidates, all with orbital periods less than 12 hr. We have analyzed the data for these candidates using photometric models that include transit light curves, ellipsoidal variations, and secondary eclipses to constrain the candidates' radii, masses, and effective temperatures. Even with masses of only a few Earth masses, the candidates' short periods mean that they may induce stellar radial velocity signals (a few m s−1) detectable by currently operating facilities. The origins of such short-period planets are unclear, but we discuss the possibility that they may be the remnants of disrupted hot Jupiters. Whatever their origins, if confirmed as planets, these candidates would be among the shortest-period planets ever discovered. Such planets would be particularly amenable to discovery by the planned TESS mission.
Investor reactions to corporate environmental saints and sinners: an experimental analysis

Abstract Following Dierkes and Antal's (1985) model, this study examines the decision usefulness of narrative disclosures on firms' environmental performance by focusing on how investors allocate their investment funds. Using an experimental design, the study examines investors' reactions to two states of corporate environmental performance: one in which the company discloses it is performing badly with respect to the environment, and another in which the company discloses it is a leader in environmental management. The results indicate that investors, as expected, react strongly and negatively to the poor environmental performer, while somewhat less expected, there is no significant reaction to the better environmental performer. Sub-analyses, however, reveal ‘environmental clientele’ effects. For the poor environmental performer, investors who specifically mention environmental performance react even more strongly and negatively than those who make no mention of environmental performance. In the case of.
Human Resource Management Practices in a Transitional Economy: A Comparative Study of Enterprise Ownership Forms in Vietnam

This exploratory study compared human resource management (HRM) practices in four types of companies in Vietnam. It found, from a sample of 169 companies, that the adoption of HRM practices reflects the company's ownership traits. Overall, foreign-invested companies (FICs) are somewhat more developed in HRM practices than state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Conversely, local private companies, albeit more entrepreneurial, are often less receptive to adopting HRM practices than SOEs. It also revealed that transforming SOEs into equitized companies has brought about no significant changes in this regard. Together with an examination of the impact of management's perceived value of human resources (HR), union status, and company size, the study provides more insight into the variations in HRM practices and suggests some implications for initiating change in this area.
Factors determining learners’ acceptance of Facebook in a higher education classroom

Online social networks have become popular tools for facilitating social connections and communication in the world society. The literature demonstrates clear benefits of social networks in encouraging informal learning, linking learners, and enhancing classroom experiences. The main goal of this paper is to find antecedents and consequences of the adoption of Facebook in the classroom of a university in Thailand. The findings revealed that students’ perceived usefulness and ease of use and instructor characteristics significantly drive students’ intention to adopt Facebook. https://doi.org/10.34105/j.kmel. 2014.06. 021
The Electoral Impact of Economic Conditions: Who is Held Responsible?

A variety of recent research has dealt with the impact of economic conditions on congressional elections. The underlying assumption of this research has been that the effects of economic fluctuations are distributed evenly across members of the president's party. By focusing on subgroups of congressional candidates, we demonstrate that the importance of economic conditions varies widely. Specifically, we show that the aggregate electoral margins of incumbents are far more responsive to economic conditions than are those for nonincumbents, and that among in-party incumbents, the relationship is stronger among those with higher levels of tenure. Further, we demonstrate that the previous lack of individual-level confirmation of the aggregate relationship has been due to a failure to control for the contextual effects implied by our conditional aggregate analysis. With controls for district incumbency, we find a relationship between retrospective personal financial condition and vote choice that mirrors the aggregate relationship between retrospective performance of the national economy and congressional vote totals.
Utility Functions Whose Parameters Depend on Initial Wealth

Conventional one-period utility functions in Economics assume that initial wealth only enters preferences through the definition of final wealth. Consequently, those utility functions most utilized (i.e., exponential and quadratic) have implausible risk characteristics. The authors characterize a new class of utility function whose risk parameters depend upon initial wealth and obtain several desirable results. In particular, investors with quadratic and exponential utility functions can have decreasing risk aversion, and risky assets in a quadratic utility multi-asset environment do not have to be inferior as implied by the traditional framework.
Bundles of HRM practices and performance: empirical evidence from a Latin American context

This article examines the extent to which the configuration of HRM practices in bundles and the interactions among them have a significant impact on manufacturing outcomes. Using a unique data set from a survey of a representative sample of the whole Uruguayan manufacturing industry, several hypotheses related to interactions between ability–motivation–opportunity bundles of HRM practices are tested. Analysis of 150 manufacturing plants partially highlights the existence of hierarchy between bundles, being the bundle of motivation-enhancing HRM practices the most important to explain the enhanced manufacturing outcomes. Based on this bundle of practices, synergistic interactions with both ability and opportunity bundles of HRM practices were observed to explain different performance measures.
Transcription factor induction of human oligodendrocyte progenitor fate and differentiation

Significance Transplantation of human myelinogenic cells represents a realizable strategy for treatment of congenital and acquired demyelinating diseases. Although generation of undifferentiated neural stem and progenitors is feasible, the induction of myelinogenic cell fate remains a significant challenge. In this paper, we describe, to our knowledge, the first comprehensive study of transcription factor expression and function by purified neural and oligodendrocyte progenitors obtained directly from human brain tissue. We have identified those transcription factors capable of regulating oligodendrocyte progenitor fate and establish that among these, only SOX10 was capable of comprehensively inducing oligodendrocyte fate both in vitro and following transplantation into a model of human leukodystrophy. Thus, viral and pharmacologic approaches to increasing SOX10 expression likely will improve the outcome of human transplant therapy. Human oligodendrocyte progenitor cell (OPC) specification and differentiation occurs slowly and limits the potential for cell-based treatment of demyelinating disease. In this study, using FACS-based isolation and microarray analysis, we identified a set of transcription factors expressed by human primary CD140a+O4+ OPCs relative to CD133+CD140a− neural stem/progenitor cells (NPCs). Among these, lentiviral overexpression of transcription factors ASCL1, SOX10, and NKX2.2 in NPCs was sufficient to induce Sox10 enhancer activity, OPC mRNA, and protein expression consistent with OPC fate; however, unlike ASCL1 and NKX2.2, only the transcriptome of SOX10-infected NPCs was induced to a human OPC gene expression signature. Furthermore, only SOX10 promoted oligodendrocyte commitment, and did so at quantitatively equivalent levels to native OPCs. In xenografts of shiverer/rag2 animals, SOX10 increased the rate of mature oligodendrocyte differentiation and axon ensheathment. Thus, SOX10 appears to be the principle and rate-limiting regulator of myelinogenic fate from human NPCs.
Network Dynamics and the Internationalisation Process of Small Advertising Agencies

Process-based international strategy studies are few in the service sector, and even fewer in the case of professional services. This paper presents a qualitative study which examines international network dynamics, practices and processes of small advertising agencies (SMAs). Using case studies of four SMAs, a conceptual framework pertaining to their international evolution is examined, exploring how they moved from their initial triggers to internationalise, their early internationalisation phase and further internationalisation. In the main, the paper contributes towards unravelling how SMAs exploit their network relationships for international advantage. The findings show that while network structure and ties represent a valuable intangible resource for SMAs, they are also unique for each firm and change continuously with their evolving strategic priorities. In so doing, such ties have varying influence on the pace, pattern and direction of internationalisation. Relevant literatures on the manufacturing and service experiences of small firm internationalisation are drawn from and extended where appropriate.
Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets: A Survey

This paper reviews recent research on corporate governance, with a special focus on emerging markets. It finds that better corporate governance benefit firms through greater access to financing, lower cost of capital, better performance, and more favorable treatment of all stakeholders. Numerous studies show these channels to operate at the level of firms, sectors and countries—with causality increasingly often clearly identified. Evidence also shows that voluntary and market corporate governance mechanisms have less effect when a country's governance system is weak. Importantly, how corporate governance regimes change over time and how this impacts firms are receiving more attention recently. Less evidence is available on the direct links between corporate governance and social and environmental performance. The paper concludes by identifying issues requiring further study, including the special corporate governance issues of banks, and family-owned and state-owned firms, and the nature and determinants of public and private enforcement.
S&T policies and technical progress in China's industry

This paper explores some aspects of China's strive for accelerating the rate of technical progress taking place in its economy. The first part analyses the evolution of the Chinese R&D system. On one hand there is a drive towards the commercialization and decentralization, and on the other hand increased emphasis is being put on a new generation of national research programmes. The efficiency of China's R&D had increased, but a major reorientation of resources towards research activities has yet to materialize. The second part focuses on the reform of public industrial enterprises. As a result of the boom of collective-owned enterprises and of the partial improvements in the state-owned sub-sector, in which property relations are undergoing major changes, the innovative capacity and the technological level of Chinese public industry have advanced markedly. The growth in total factor productivity and the evolution in the export structure suggest that substantial technical progress has been taking place. The paper concludes that China's experience so far shows that a radical improvement in a socialist economy's ability to achieve technical progress is not inconsistent with the reaffirmation, in a new and diversified form, of a fundamentally public framework of property relations.
Socio-economic inequalities in malnutrition among children and adolescents in Colombia: the role of individual-, household- and community-level characteristics

Abstract Objective To examine socio-economic inequalities in malnutrition among Colombian children and adolescents, and to assess the contribution of individual-, household- and community-level factors to those inequalities. Design Cross-sectional data were used from two sources: 2005 Colombian Demographic and Health Survey and 2005 Colombian census. Malnutrition outcomes included stunting and overweight. Multilevel Poisson models were used to estimate the association between individual, household and contextual characteristics and malnutrition. Changes in prevalence ratios of the poorest quintile (v. richest) were compared to assess the contribution of different characteristics to inequalities in malnutrition. Setting Population-based, representative of Colombia. Subjects Children and adolescents <18 years of age (n 30 779) from the Colombian Demographic and Health Survey. Results Children and adolescents living in the poorest households were close to five times more likely to be stunted, while those from the richest households were 1·3–2·8 times more likely than their poorest counterparts to be overweight. Care practices and household characteristics, particularly mother's education, explained over one-third of socio-economic inequalities in stunting. The proportion explained by access to services was not negligible (between 6 % and 14 %). Access to sanitation was significantly associated with a lower prevalence of stunting for all age groups. Between 14 % and 32 % of socio-economic disparities in overweight were explained by maternal and household characteristics. Mother's overweight was positively associated with overweight of the child. Conclusion Socio-economic inequalities in stunting and overweight coexist among children and adolescents in Colombia. Malnutrition inequalities are largely explained by household characteristics, suggesting the need for targeted interventions.
An empirical taxonomy of purchasing functions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the different patterns of purchasing function configuration, and the relationship between such patterns and organisational performance.Design/methodology/approach – Despite considerable attention, there is little evidence showing the current situation toward the development of purchasing functions within organisations. Through quantitative data collected from 151 UK purchasing executives, cluster analysis is used to uncover and characterize four purchasing function configurations.Findings – Four configurations, termed strategic, capable, celebrity, and undeveloped, were identified according to the characteristics they possess. Significant differences in supplier‐ and organisational‐related performance outcomes were found across these four purchasing function configurations. Purchasing skills were also shown to be a precondition for purchasing to exert influence within the organisation.Research limitations/implications – A cross‐sectional survey provide.
Cutback Budgeting: The Long-Term Consequences

This study asks whether short-term cutbacks made during a fiscal crisis become permanent once fiscal conditions improve. Hypotheses are developed to establish a framework for analyzing a time-series data set. These hypotheses address trade-offs between less essential versus more essential services, salaries versus positions, and capital versus operating expenditures. Then long-term consequences are assessed with a longitudinal, comparative case study of the effects of New York City's mid-1970s fiscal crisis on education services in the city. Education services were cut dramatically in 1976 and 1977. The trends in those services, defined in various ways, are compared over time and in relationship to the rest of New York State. We find that less essential services, teacher positions, and capital and maintenance expenditures suffered, relative to more essential services, operating expenditures, and teacher salaries.