Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do universities that are more market orientated perform better

Amid rapid changes in the tertiary education sector witnessed in recent years, issues such as performance and accountability are becoming increasingly important. Among other things, market orientation has often been linked to performance. Investigates the degree of market orientation and its effect on performance at Australian and New Zealand universities. Results confirm a positive relationship between market orientation and overall performance: providing support for the relevance of market orientation to universities. Confirms the importance of the responsiveness dimension. Another interesting finding is that there is no significant difference in the level of market orientation between business and non‐business schools or departments in universities in Australia and New Zealand. Implications, limitations and directions for further research are also discussed.
Brain stimulation for treatment of refractory epilepsy

Objective We review the targets of the deep brain and the responsive neurostimulation system (RNS) to identify the best optimal stimulation parameters and the best mode of stimulation, whether cyclical, continuous, or smarter. Data sources This review is based on data obtained from published articles from 1950 to 2013. To perform the PubMed literature search, the following keywords were input: deep brain stimulation (DBS), RNS, and refractory epilepsy. Study selection Articles containing information related to brain stimulation or RNS for the treatment of refractory epilepsy were selected. Results The currently available treatment options for those patients who resist multiple antiepileptic medications and surgical procedures include electric stimulation, both direct and indirect, of brain nuclei thought to be involved in epileptogenesis. The number of potential targets has increased over the years to include the anterior nucleus of the thalamus, the centromedian nucleus of the thalamus, the hippocampus, the subthalamic nucleus, the caudate nucleus, and the cerebellum, among others. The results of a randomized controlled trial and the RNS trial were published to reveal the effectiveness. Conclusions Although statistically significant reductions in seizures have been observed using several different stimulation techniques, including vagus nerve stimulation, DBS, and RNS, these effects are currently only palliative and do not approach the efficacy comparable with that seen in resection in appropriately selected patients. More research is needed to determine optimal stimulation targets and techniques as well as to determine which epilepsy patients will benefit most from this technology.
Faecal haemoglobin concentration is related to severity of colorectal neoplasia

Aims Guaiac faecal occult blood tests are being replaced by faecal immunochemical tests (FIT). We investigated whether faecal haemoglobin concentration (f-Hb) was related to stage in progression of colorectal neoplasia, studying cancer and adenoma characteristics in an evaluation of quantitative FIT as a first-line screening test. Methods We invited 66 225 individuals aged 50–74 years to provide one sample of faeces. f-Hb was measured on samples from 38 720 responders. Colonoscopy findings and pathology data were collected on the 943 with f-Hb≥400 ng Hb/ml (80 µg Hb/g faeces). Results Of the 814 participants with outcome data (median age: 63 years, range 50–75, 56.4% male), 39 had cancer, 190 high-risk adenoma (HRA, defined as ≥3 or any ≥10 mm) and 119 low-risk adenoma (LRA). 74.4% of those with cancer had f-Hb>1000 ng Hb/ml compared with 58.4% with HRA, and 44.1% with no pathology. Median f-Hb concentration was higher in those with cancer than those with no (p<0.002) or non-neoplastic (p<0.002) pathology, and those with LRA (p=0.0001). Polyp cancers had lower concentrations than more advanced stage cancers (p<0.04). Higher f-Hb was also found in those with HRA than with LRA (p<0.006), large (>10 mm) compared with small adenoma (p<0.0001), and also an adenoma displaying high-grade dysplasia compared with low-grade dysplasia (p<0.009). Conclusions f-Hb is related to severity of colorectal neoplastic disease. This has ramifications for the selection of the appropriate cut-off concentration adopted for bowel screening programmes.
Capturing Long-range Contextual Dependencies with Memory-enhanced Conditional Random Fields

Despite successful applications across a broad range of NLP tasks, conditional random fields (“CRFs”), in particular the linear-chain variant, are only able to model local features. While this has important benefits in terms of inference tractability, it limits the ability of the model to capture long-range dependencies between items. Attempts to extend CRFs to capture long-range dependencies have largely come at the cost of computational complexity and approximate inference. In this work, we propose an extension to CRFs by integrating external memory, taking inspiration from memory networks, thereby allowing CRFs to incorporate information far beyond neighbouring steps. Experiments across two tasks show substantial improvements over strong CRF and LSTM baselines.
Environmental Tactics Used by Hotel Companies in Mexico

Summary The impact which environmental law and management has had in the hospitality industry is substantial. Hotels have begun conservation and recycling programs as a means of reducing energy cost and solid waste. A significant number of environmentally related regulatory and consumer pressures are being imposed upon the hospitality industry. The purpose of this study is to begin to explore the environmental programs that hotel corporations in Mexico are adopting. Eight managers at eight hotel corporations in Mexico were included in the study. The corporation hotels located in Mexico started to implement environmental strategies in 1995, and the most common reason was because of the legal pressures they faced. Efficient use of lighting and eliminating use of diesel in the boiler were the most frequently sited strategies. Seven hotel managers benefitted from the application of these strategies, while one indicated he did not benefit. The hotel managers feel social, legal, and political pressure in Mexico to implement environmental strategies but consider consumer pressure unimportant. They believe these strategies are not very important when facing competitors, and only one manager mentioned that in the future the competitive threat will be important in developing environmental consciousness.
Ethanol: No Free Lunch

The sharp rise in energy prices in the 1980s triggered a strong interest in the production of ethanol as an additional energy component. Economists are divided as to the payoffs from ethanol derived corn in part because of the complex interrelationship between energy produced from ethanol and energy from fossil fuels. Using a welfare economic framework, we calculate that there can be treasury savings from ethanol using tax credits as these subsidies can be smaller than direct payments to corn farmers which are essentially eliminated from the expansion of ethanol. Also, to the extent that ethanol dampens fuel prices there can be a net welfare gain from ethanol production in the presence of ethanol subsidies.
VanA-Type Enterococci from Humans, Animals, and Food: Species Distribution, Population Structure, Tn1546 Typing and Location, and Virulence Determinants

ABSTRACT VanA-type human (n = 69), animal (n = 49), and food (n = 36) glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (GRE) from different geographic areas were investigated to study their possible reservoirs and transmission routes. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) revealed two small genetically related clusters, M39 (n = 4) and M49 (n = 13), representing Enterococcus faecium isolates from animal and human feces and from clinical and fecal human samples. Multilocus sequence typing showed that both belonged to the epidemic lineage of CC17. purK allele analysis of 28 selected isolates revealed that type 1 was prevalent in human strains (8/11) and types 6 and 3 (14/15) were prevalent in poultry (animals and meat). One hundred and five of the 154 VanA GRE isolates, encompassing different species, origins, and PFGE types, were examined for Tn1546 type and location (plasmid or chromosome) and the incidence of virulence determinants. Hybridization of S1- and I-CeuI-digested total DNA revealed a plasmid location in 98% of the isolates. Human intestinal and animal E. faecium isolates bore large (>150 kb) vanA plasmids. Results of PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequencing showed the presence of prototype Tn1546 in 80% of strains and the G-to-T mutation at position 8234 in three human intestinal and two pork E. faecium isolates. There were no significant associations (P > 0.5) between Tn1546 type and GRE source or enterococcal species. Virulence determinants were detected in all reservoirs but were significantly more frequent (P < 0.02) among clinical strains. Multiple determinants were found in clinical and meat Enterococcus faecalis isolates. The presence of indistinguishable vanA elements (mostly plasmid borne) and virulence determinants in different species and PFGE-diverse populations in the presence of host-specific purK housekeeping genes suggested that all GRE might be potential reservoirs of resistance determinants and virulence traits transferable to human-adapted clusters.
From the Manpower Revolution to the Activation Paradigm: Explaining Institutional Continuity and Change in an Integrating Europe

In dit boek onderzoekt J. Timo Weishaupt de oorsprong en evolutie van de arbeidsmarkt en arbeidswetgeving in West-Europa. Extra aandacht gaat daarbij uit naar de oeCD en de Europese Unie als voortrekkers van nieuwe ideeen op dit gebied. Timo Weishaupt deed onderzoek in Oostenrijk, Denemarken, Duitsland, Ierland, Zweden en het Verenigd Koninkrijk. Hij komt tot de conclusie dat de evolutie van arbeidswetgeving niet alleen wordt bepaald door historische ontwikkelingen, maar ook door de veranderende overtuigingen van beleidsmakers.
An Alternative Performance Measure

In this paper, we present a new alternative performance measure (APM) which evaluates not only for the marginal distribution of a given fund but also its’ dependence (correlation) with a reference portfolio. This performance measure is of particular value in assessing hedge fund return as the latter are selected not only for yield enhancement but also for their diversification benefits. The methodology is adapted from American option theory and based on earlier work of Dybvig (1988), Kat and Palaro (2005) and Papageorgiou et al. (2008). It offers a unique metric for hedge fund performance evaluation.
Cell‐specific and inducible Nramp1 gene expression in mouse macrophages in vitro and in vivo

Mutations in the Nrampl gene abolish natural resistance to infections with many unrelated intracellular parasites in vivo. Global cDNA amplification was used to analyze Nrampl mRNA expression in bone marrow‐derived cell colonies corresponding to either undifferentiated progenitors or to mature lymphoid, erythroid, and myeloid lineages. Nramp1 mRNA was detected in mature myeloid colonies expressing molecular markers for either the monocyte/macrophage or granulocytic lineages. Having established constitutive expression of Nramp1 in phagocytic cells, the parameters of inducible Nramp1 expression by cytokines and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were studied in the mouse macrophage cell line RAW 264.7. LPS caused upregulation of Nramp1 expression in a time‐ and dose‐dependent fashion. This induction required de novo protein synthesis and was abrogated by treatment with cycloheximide. Treatment with interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) also caused a modest but reproducible twofold induction of Nramp1 mRNA expression. In addition, maximum Nramp1 mRNA induction in RAW 264.7 cells was observed after pretreatment with IFN‐γ followed by LPS exposure. In vivo, Nramp1 mRNA expression could be upregulated in macrophage populations by intraperitoneal injection of either LPS or thioglycollate. Together these results indicate that Nramp1 is expressed in professional phagocytes of the myeloid lineage and can be further upregulated during macrophage activation in response to infectious, inflammatory, or cytokine stimuli. Finally, the patterns of constitutive and inducible expression of Nramp1 have been compared to those of the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene in the same cells. J. Leukoc. Biol. 62: 277–286; 1997.
[Pharmacological studies on small peptide fraction derived from soybean. The effects of small peptide fraction derived from soybean on fatigue, obesity and glycemia in mice].

The present research was an attempt to determine the pharmacological actions as for anti-fatigue, anti-obesity and hypoglycemia of small peptide isolated from soybean in mice. Small peptide administration prevented the decrease in sporting movement induced by concussion stress for 3 h in mice. In addition, it should be noted that the recovery rate of fatigue in 60 min after small peptide administration was over one hundred percentage in comparison with that after pretreatment, while the equivalent dose administration of amino acid mixture with the same small peptide amino acid composition did not prevent the decrease in sporting movement. In gold-thioglucose (500 mg/kg (i.p.))-induced obese mouse body weight gain, liver weight and body lipid level around uterine were significantly reduced by the chronic oral administration of small peptide (200, 1000 mg/kg). Administration in 1000 mg per kg of small peptide significantly lowered hyperglycemia in 30 and 120 min after glucose (3 g/kg (p.o.)) administration, whereas the equivalent amino acid mixture showed no effect. In conclusion, it suggested that small peptide isolated from soybean might have some pharmacological effects of anti-fatigue, anti-obesity, and hypoglycemia.
Network Functions of Travel Marts in China: Amendments to the Rosson and Seringhaus Network Model

The two-dimensional network model proposed by Rosson and Seringhaus in 1995 was a key achievement in the study of trade fair functions. The model incorporates both exhibitor–visitor interactions and the multi-level functions of trade fairs and has attracted considerable scholarly attention. It is based on the case of Western market-oriented trade fairs in which material objects are displayed. However, the model is unable to explain certain aspects of China's travel marts, which are strongly controlled by the government and where the only exhibits are intangible services. Another of the model's shortcomings is that it is limited to two-dimensional exhibitor–visitor interactions. This study tests, complements and amends the Rosson Seringhaus network model for the special case of China. The authors investigate the differences between travel marts and traditional trade fairs, and amend several parts of the model, taking the China International Travel Mart (CITM) and China National Travel Mart (CNTM) as case studies. In light of their analysis, they propose an important amendment to the Rosson Seringhaus model, revising the relationship network, the network boundaries and the multiple participant identities. In addition, they find that the relationship network in a travel mart is much wider and more complex than that in a traditional trade fair, leading to greater complexity and diversification in the functions of a travel mart. Finally, they find that, in a three-dimensional exhibitor–visitor–organizer network, the overlap between identities and network expansion results in a highly complex interaction among stakeholders. Consequently, it is difficult for organizers and exhibitors to handle a travel mart successfully and improve the effectiveness of their trade fair participation.
TNF-α modulates expression of the circadian clock gene Per2 in rheumatoid synovial cells

Objectives: To study the effect of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, responsible for the inflammation and circadian rhythm of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), on the expression of circadian clock genes in primary cultured human rheumatoid synovial cells. Method: The expression of circadian clock genes, including circadian locomotor output cycles kaput (Clock), brain and muscle Arnt-like protein-1 (Bmal1), period (Per)1/2, and cryptochrome (Cry)1/2, and the proline and acidic amino acid-rich basic leucine zipper (PAR bZip) genes, a transcriptional activator of Per2, including D site of albumin promoter binding protein (Dbp), hepatic leukaemia factor (Hlf), and thyrotroph embryonic factor (Tef), and a transcriptional repressor of Per2, E4-binding protein 4 (E4bp4), in TNF-α-stimulated synovial cells was determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The D-box motifs in the Per2 promoter were mutated by site-directed mutagenesis, and the promoter activity of the Per2 gene was examined using the luciferase assay. Results: TNF-α enhanced the mRNA expression of Bmal1 and Cry1 but did not affect that of Clock, Per1, or Cry2. However, TNF-α inhibited the mRNA expression of the Per2 gene, as well as Dbp, Hlf, and Tef, but enhanced the mRNA expression of E4bp4. Furthermore, TNF-α inhibited the transcriptional activity of the wild-type Per2 gene in a manner dependent on the D-box 1 and D-box 2 motifs in the Per2 promoter. Conclusions: TNF-α modulates the expression of the Per2 gene through the D-box binding proteins DBP, HLF, TEF, and E4BP4, in rheumatoid synovial cells, and thereby may contribute to the pathogenesis of RA.
Market efficiency and the long-memory of supply and demand: is price impact variable and permanent or fixed and temporary?

In this comment we discuss the problem of reconciling the linear efficiency of price returns with the long-memory of supply and demand. We present new evidence that shows that efficiency is maintained by a liquidity imbalance that co-moves with the imbalance of buyer vs. seller initiated transactions. For example, during a period where there is an excess of buyer initiated transactions, there is also more liquidity for buy orders than sell orders, so that buy orders generate smaller and less frequent price responses than sell orders. At the moment a buy order is placed the transaction sign imbalance tends to dominate, generating a price impact. However, the liquidity imbalance rapidly increases with time, so that after a small number of time steps it cancels all the inefficiency caused by the transaction sign imbalance, bounding the price impact. While the view presented by Bouchaud et al. of a fixed and temporary bare price impact is self-consistent and formally correct, we argue that viewing this in terms of a variable but permanent price impact provides a simpler and more natural view. This is in the spirit of the original conjecture of Lillo and Farmer, but generalized to allow for finite time lags in the build up of the liquidity imbalance after a transaction. We discuss the possible strategic motivations that give rise to the liquidity imbalance and offer an alternative hypothesis. We also present some results that call into question the statistical significance of large swings in expected price impact at long times.
Do Seasonal Anomalies Still Work?

Dzhabarov and Ziemba investigate whether traditional seasonal anomalies, such as the January effect,monthly effect, January barometer, sell-in-May-and-go-away phenomenon, holiday effect, and turn-of-the-month effect, still exist in the turbulent markets of the early part of the 21st century.The evidence indicates that there is still value in these anomalies. In their study, the authors use futures data from 1993 to 2009 and from 2004 to 2009 for small-cap stocks measured by the Russell 2000 Index and for large-cap stocks measured by the S&P 500 Index.As was true in the 1990s, the effects tend to be stronger in small-cap stocks.The results are useful for investors who wish to tilt portfolios and for speculators who wish to trade the effects.
The Effects of Board Composition and Direct Incentives on Firm Performance

This paper examines the relationship between top management compensation and corporate performance in public utilities. Previous researchers have argued that incentives for profitability are not needed in public utilities, since regulation provides assured profits. Earlier empirical work supports this claim. We reexamine this issue and provide several methodological improvements over prior studies. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that compensation packages for senior managers in public utilities are constructed to provide them with incentives to maximize stockholders' wealth.
Effectiveness of performance management systems: an empirical study in Indian companies

The present empirical study is based on the effectiveness of the performance management systems in selected Indian companies. The study focuses on the factors responsible for effectiveness of the performance management systems and its alignment with organization goals. As part of the study, antecedents and consequences of effective implementers of performance management systems in the Indian context were also examined. It was found that managers having good academic backgrounds with high profiles are effective implementers of the system. Further, it was found that personality characteristics/consequences such as system discipline, exposure to the system, effective interpersonal relations and team working are essentially required for the effective implementation of the system.
A New Measure of Disclosure Quality: The Level of Disaggregation of Accounting Data in Annual Reports

type="main"> We construct a new, parsimonious, measure of disclosure quality—disaggregation quality (DQ)—and offer validation tests. DQ captures the level of disaggregation of accounting data through a count of nonmissing Compustat line items, and reflects the extent of details in firms’ annual reports. Conceptually, DQ differs from existing disclosure measures in that it captures the “fineness” of data and is based on a comprehensive set of accounting line items in annual reports. Unlike existing measures, which are usually applicable for a subset of firms or are based on a subset of information items, DQ can be generated for the universe of Compustat industrial firms. We conduct three sets of validation tests by examining DQ's association with variables predicted by prior literature to be associated with information quality. DQ is negatively (positively) associated with analyst forecast dispersion (accuracy) and negatively associated with bid-ask spreads and cost of equity. These associations continue to hold after we control for firm fundamentals. Taken together, results from this battery of validation tests are consistent with our measure capturing disclosure quality.
Identifying Bull and Bear Markets in Stock Returns

This article uses a Markov-switching model that incorporates duration dependence to capture nonlinear structure in both the conditional mean and the conditional variance of stock returns. The model sorts returns into a high-return stable state and a low-return volatile state. We label these as bull and bear markets, respectively. The filter identifies all major stock-market downturns in over 160 years of monthly data. Bull markets have a declining hazard functions although the best market gains come at the start of a bull market. Volatility increases with duration in bear markets. Allowing volatility to vary with duration captures volatility clustering.