Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Adoption of Public E-Payment Services

Abstract Electronic government initiatives in the majority of cases pass a number of different stages, starting with a static Web site and ending with fully interactive sites that are capable of handling a multitude of transactions. The possibility of transferring money online plays an important role for those e-government initiatives that include financial transactions, such as paying taxes, fees, or fines. This paper combines the issues of e-payment and e-government, and proposes a model that depicts important factors influencing users' online payment behavior. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach has been used to assess the strength of the relationships among different constructs, including users' previous experience, their trust in e-payment security, and the perceived convenience of the payment process. Our results indicate that trust (both in a frictionless use of the system and in e-payment security) can be seen as an important antecedent for the adoption of online payments on the part of the users. From the government's point of view, the potentials of exerting influence seem to be somewhat limited: while national institutions in developed countries are usually perceived as trustworthy, users' attitudes toward the Internet may be more skeptical, depending on their previous experiences.
Survival and functional outcome in pediatric traumatic brain injury: A retrospective review and analysis of predictive factors

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship of patient care variables to survival and functional outcome in the pediatric population with traumatic brain injury. Design Retrospective chart review. Setting A 16-bed pediatric critical care unit in an academic community children’s hospital. Patients A total of 320 consecutive pediatric patients with traumatic brain injuries admitted to our pediatric critical care unit between 1992 and 1996. Interventions Patients were managed using our standard traumatic brain injury protocol. Measurements and Main Results A total of 230 patient variables encompassing demographic data, prehospital, emergency department, and pediatric critical care unit care were recorded. A total of 79 patients were severely injured, with admitting Glasgow Coma Scale scores of ≤10. There were 18 deaths. Only two patients survived without cognition. Ninety-five of 302 survivors required inpatient rehabilitation. Of these, 73 were old enough to be compared using FIMTM scores. At the time of discharge from rehabilitation, 52 patients (71%) were functioning independently, 20 (27%) were moderately dependent, and one patient was completely dependent. Analysis of variables with respect to survival revealed that an inability to maintain a cerebral perfusion pressure of ≥50 mm Hg on the first pediatric critical care unit day (p = .0002) and the presence of bradycardia in the emergency department (p = .0139) were the strongest factors associated with mortality. By using the regression equation generated from this model, we could correctly identify survivors and nonsurvivors with a predictive value of 94%. Conclusions The ability to maintain a cerebral perfusion pressure of ≥50 mm Hg was the single most important predictor of traumatic brain injury survival in this study. This suggests that monitoring and optimizing cerebral perfusion pressure is critical to the management of these patients. The relationship between cognitive outcome and therapeutic interventions used to optimize cerebral perfusion pressure is unclear and requires further evaluation in a large prospective study.
Norden’s Eclipse

The United Nations has long been a common priority in the foreign policies of the Nordic countries and a forum in which Nordic collaboration has been extensive. This article demonstrates how expanded Nordic-European Union membership and the evolution of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) have eclipsed the unique Nordic role in the world body. This change is documented through an examination of Nordic voting cohesion and joint initiatives from UN documents as well as qualitative data obtained through interviews with Nordic delegates at the UN. The significance of this change is analysed by applying the concept of global presence or ‘actorness’ as it relates to both European and Nordic goup efforts at the UN. The concept of international goup actor includes: (1) external recognition, (2) (legal) authority, (3) autonomy, and (4) cohesion among collaborating states. In this article I argue that the Nordics were traditionally quite strong on the elements of recognition, autonomy and cohesion, while EU cooperation has greater strengths in legal authority and procedural cohesion. The main impact of expanded Nordic-EU membership has been to erode the factors of authority, autonomy and external recognition for the Nordic bloc. While less visible, the Nordics may in fact be more influential, as the values that they have traditionally promoted — international peace and security, effective international development assistance and humanitarian relief, respect for human rights and the rule of law, environmental protection and sustainable development — find resonance in EU common policies at the UN.
Estimating Seniority Effects in Faculty Salary Studies: Measurement and Model Specification

The literature on the effects of seniority on faculty salaries is inconclusive. Moreover, studies using the same linear regression method come to strikingly different conclusions. Some find that the impact of seniority on faculty salaries is positive, while others report a negative effect. This research demonstrates that seniority effects are sensitive to measurement and regression model specification. Particularly, highly correlated independent variables in faculty salary regression models can lead to counterintuitive and incorrect findings about seniority effects. Seniority is best measured as time in rank rather than as years of service.
Economic Restructuring into Tourism in the Swedish Mountain Range

The labour force in the Swedish mountain range has been influenced by globalisation and restructuring of the economy. The problem for the region is twofold: (1) an ageing and smaller population; and (2) changes in the structure of employment. Due to decreasing employment in forestry and manufacturing, as well as downsizing of the public sector, the economy is going through rapid change. The increase of the importance of the tourism sector has been prominent in some parts of the mountainous area. This study focuses mainly on the character of the tourism labour market in the region and the implications of the development in the tourism sector. The data used are drawn from a database containing the total population in the area 1985–1999. Data are analysed using GIS. The main conclusions are that there has been a shift in employment from the primary sector and the public sector in the region. The tourism sector has been seen as an important receiver of work force but this development is found to be uneven and uncertain in some parts of the region. Although the permanent population is decreasing, increasing seasonal labour migration due to tourism businesses has been observed.
Neural substrates of anorexia nervosa: a behavioral challenge study with positron emission tomography.

OBJECTIVE To delineate functional brain abnormalities associated with anorexia nervosa (AN). STUDY DESIGN Positron emission tomographic measurements of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were performed on 8 female patients with AN and 8 healthy female control subjects during exposure to 3 types of stimuli: high-calorie foods, low-calorie foods, and non-food items. Heart rate and internal state analog scale scores were also obtained. Stereotactic transformation and statistical parametric mapping techniques were used to analyze imaging data. RESULTS During the high-calorie condition, control subjects reported a significant desire to eat, whereas subjects with AN reported elevated anxiety and exhibited increases in heart rate. Patients with AN had elevated bilateral medial temporal lobe rCBF compared with control subjects. Planned comparisons for group-by-condition interactions demonstrated greater activation within left occipital cortex and right temporo-occipital cortex for the high-calorie versus low-calorie contrast in patients with AN compared with control subjects. CONCLUSIONS Our finding of elevated rCBF within bilateral medial temporal lobes is similar to published results in patients with psychotic disorders and may be related to the body image distortion common to AN. The high-calorie food phobia exhibited by patients with AN appears to be associated with exaggerated responses in visual association cortex, as has been previously observed in studies of specific phobias.
Income, Race, and the Ideology of Political Efficacy

'This statement was originally part of the political efficacy scale developed by Campbell, Gurin, and Miller. The authors said that " . to feel that most major policy decisions are the work of 'wire-pullers' and pressure groups and the product of 'backroom deals' . indicates a high degree of political futility. " The item was dropped because it was thought to be somewhat ambiguous with a relatively large percent error. See Angus Campbell, Gerald Gurin, and Warren E. Miller, The Voter Decides (Evanston, Illinois: Row, Peterson and Co., 1954), 187-189. The question was later used, however, in a study of the civic culture. See Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, The Civic Culture (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), 534.
Monetary Policy and Market Interest Rates

We investigate, theoretically and empirically, the relationship between monetary policy and the term structure of interest rates. In particular, we show in a dynamic macroeconomic model that if monetary policy reveals information about economic developments, interest rates of all maturities move in the same direction in response to a policy innovation. If, on the other hand, monetary policy reveals information about the central bank's policy preferences, short and long interest rates move in opposite directions. In the empirical section, we provide direct measures of endogenous and exogenous monetary policy innovations in the U.S. by analyzing the reaction of financial market participants to Federal Reserve policy moves. The empirical findings support the theoretical predictions.
Epidemiology of Cervical Cancer

Abstract In 1985, 7.6 million cases of cancer were diagnosed in 24 different regions all over the world (1). Globally, cervical cancer is the fifth most frequent malignancy and second among women, with an annual estimate of 471,000 new cases and 213,000 deaths. The age-adjusted incidence rates for developed countries are 7.6 to 11.8 per 105 and for developing countries, 17.6 to 46.8 per 105 (1,2). This variation in the incidence of cervical cancer is also present within countries, where rural and poor areas have the highest rates.
Does Economics Provide a Reliable Guide to Regulating Commodity Bundling by Firms? A Survey of the Economic Literature

This article surveys the voluminous economic literature on commodity bundling. While bundling has been widely studied, the vast majority of the papers are theoretical models of bundling. These models generally contain restrictive assumptions regarding the existence of monopoly in some markets, and the nature of rivalry in others. The models also generally ignore obvious and ubiquitous reasons firms may use bundled discounts. Moreover, these models have not been subject to robustness checks, nor have their assumptions been tested empirically. As a result, while the literature has demonstrated that use of bundling can generate anticompetitive harm, it does not provide a reliable way to gauge whether the potential for harm would outweigh any demonstrable benefits from the practice. Thus, this review of the economic literature generally confirms the SG's position in 3M v. LePage's regarding the underdeveloped state of the economics literature and the wisdom of delaying the promulgation of antitrust standards for bundling. In the future, economists should seek to expand their understanding of both the anticompetitive and procompetitive reasons firms engage in bundling. This will entail studying the reasons bundling is adopted by firms without market power, relaxing the assumption of monopoly in theoretical models, and generating testable hypothesis and the data to test them. NOTE: Previously titled "Not Ready for Prime Time? A Survey of the Economic Literature on Bundling"
Prognostic implications of admission inflammatory profile in acute ischemic neurological events

Anuk T, Assayag EB, Rotstein R, Fusman R, Zeltser D, Berliner S, Avitzour D, Shapira I, Arber N, Bornstein NM. Prognostic implications of admission inflammatory profile in acute ischemic neurological events. Acta Neurol Scand 2002: 106: 196–199. © Blackwell Munksgaard 2002.
Validation study of a quality of life (QOL) questionnaire for use in Iran.

INTRODUCTION Recently, it has been recognized that a more comprehensive assessment of the cancer patient is necessary and that the evaluation of outcomes must move beyond traditional biomedical endpoints to include assessments of the impact of disease and its treatment on patients' quality of life. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer has developed a 30-item quality of life questionnaire to obtain information about the impact of disease and treatment on the daily living of cancer patients. This questionnaire has been translated into many languages and used in various countries. However, version 3.0 has not yet been validated for use with Iranian patients. The aims of the present study were therefore to evaluate the reliability and validity of the new QLQ-C30 questionnaire. METHOD We conducted a cross-sectional study on 132 random samples of breast cancer patients. Reliability was evaluated through the internal consistency of multi-item subscales. Pearson's correlations of an item with its own scale (corrected for overlap) and other scales were calculated to evaluated convergent and discriminant validity. Clinical validity was evaluated by known-group comparisons. All calculations were performed using SPSS.V. 13 software. RESULTS In the reliability analysis, most scales fitted the criteria except the fatigue (Alpha 0.65), pain (Alpha 0.69) and nausea and vomiting scales (Alpha 0.66). Convergent validity was evidenced by item own subscale correlation above 0.40 for all multi-item subscales. Item discriminant validity was successful in all analyses except for item 4 of the physical functioning scale. Results of the group based analysis show significant differences in QLQ-C30 functioning and symptom scores, where patients with higher grade have the worst outcome(P<0.05). CONCLUSION The Iranian version of EORTC QLQC30 is a reliable and valid QOL measure for cancer patients which indicates that it can be used in clinical and epidemiological cancer research.
How Common Are Intentional GAAP Violations? Estimates from a Dynamic Model

This paper uses data on detected misstatements—earnings restatements—and a dynamic model to estimate the extent of undetected misstatements that violate GAAP. The model features a CEO who can manipulate his firm's stock price by misstating earnings. I find the CEO's expected cost of misleading investors is low. The probability of detection over a five‐year horizon is 13.91%, and the average misstatement, if detected, results in an 8.53% loss in the CEO's retirement wealth. The low expected cost implies a high fraction of CEOs who misstate earnings at least once at 60%, with 2%–22% of CEOs starting to misstate earnings in each year 2003–2010, inflation in stock prices across CEOs who misstate earnings at 2.02%, and inflation in stock prices across all CEOs at 0.77%. Wealthier CEOs manipulate less, and the average misstatement is larger in smaller firms.
Rural transformation and vulnerability to hardship. Production, prices and mortality in Sweden, 1750–1860

Demographic responses to economic hardship are important indicators of the robustness of a society, and the efficiency of its institutions. Considerable attention has been devoted to the impact of grain price fluctuations on mortality in preindustrial society. Often, prices are assumed to be a proxy for harvest outcome, and even though this might be a reasonable assumption at very high levels of aggregation it is clearly not as reasonable when looking at local communities. In this paper we study the mortality response to short-term fluctuations in local grain output, and focus special attention on how this changed during the course of the agrarian transformation and how harvest failures affected different farming region. Using panel data for 274 localities in southern Sweden between 1750 and 1860, the outcomes are measured by the age-specific mortality rates, and local grain production is assessed using data from a recently assembled production database covering more than 2,000 farms (about 80,000 observations). The findings show a clear mortality response to harvest fluctuations in general, and to harvest failures in particular. The response differed greatly between different farming areas, being strongest in the areas most dependent on grain production. The response also diminished during the agricultural transformation, showing the increasing efficiency of the local economy. At the same time vulnerability to fluctuations in market prices remained high and was also quite similar across different farming regions. This shows that prices and output serve as independent indicators of the economic conditions that faced people in preindustrial society. Paper for the World Economic History Conference, Stellenbosch July 9–13, 2012. Financial support from the Linnaeus Centre for Economic Demography and the research project ‘Work, production and agrarian transformation 1700–1860’, both funded by the Swedish Research Council, is gratefully acknowledged.
Power Structure and Profitability in Assembly Supply Chains

This paper studies the impact of supply chain power structure on firms' profitability in an assembly system with one assembler and two suppliers. Two power regimes are investigated—in a Single Power Regime, a more powerful firm acts as the Stackelberg leader to decide the wholesale price but not the quantity whereas in a Dual Power Regime, both the price and quantity decisions are granted to the more powerful firm. Tallying the power positions of the three firms, for each power regime we study three power structures and investigate the system's as well as the firms' preference of power. We find that when the assembler is the most powerful firm among the three, the system‐wide profit is the highest and so is the assembler's profit. The more interesting finding is that, if the assembler is not the most powerful player in the system, more power does not necessarily guarantee her a higher profit. Similarly, a supplier's profit can also decrease with the power he has. These results contrast with the conclusion for serial systems, where a firm always prefers more power. We also find that when both suppliers are more (less) powerful than the assembler, it can be beneficial (indifferent) for everyone if the two suppliers merge into a mega supplier to make decisions jointly. When the assembler is more powerful than one supplier and less so than the other, it is always better for the system to have the two suppliers merge, and for each individual firm, merging is preferred if the firm becomes the more powerful party after merging.
Why we should routinely screen Asian American adults for hepatitis B: A cross‐sectional study of Asians in California

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a serious liver disease that, if left undiagnosed or without appropriate medical management, is associated with a 25% chance of death from cirrhosis or liver cancer. To study the demographics and prevalence of chronic HBV infection and HBV vaccination in the Asian American population, we provided free HBV serological screening and administered a survey to 3163 Asian American adult volunteers in the San Francisco Bay Area between 2001 and 2006. Of those screened, 8.9% were chronically infected with HBV. Notably, one‐half to two‐thirds (65.4%) of the chronically infected adults were unaware that they were infected. Of those who were not chronically infected, 44.8% lacked protective antibodies against HBV and were likely susceptible to future infection. Men were twice as likely as women to be chronically infected (12.1% versus 6.4%). Asian Americans born in East Asia, Southeast Asia, or the Pacific Islands were 19.4 times more likely to be chronically infected than those born in the United States. Self‐reporting of prior vaccination was unreliable to assess protection against HBV. Among the 12% who reported having been vaccinated, 5.2% were chronically infected, and 20.3% lacked protective antibodies. Conclusion: Given the high prevalence of unrecognized chronic HBV infection in the Asian American population, we call for healthcare providers to routinely screen Asian adults for HBV, regardless of their vaccination status. Those who test positive should be provided with culturally appropriate information to prevent disease transmission and proper medical management to reduce their risk of liver disease. (HEPATOLOGY 2007.)
Safety and efficacy of an inactivated Carbopol-adjuvanted goose haemorrhagic polyomavirus vaccine for domestic geese

Haemorrhagic nephritis enteritis of the goose (HNEG) is an epizootic viral disease in domestic geese. The causal agent is a polyomavirus, namely goose haemorrhagic polyomavirus. To help control the disease, an inactivated vaccine was developed, based on viral particles produced in goose kidney cells. Viral material was quantified using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, inactivated with β-propiolactone and adjuvanted with Carbopol, an acrylic acid polymer. Carbopol proved to be more immunogenic than aluminium hydroxide and was totally safe when administered to young goslings and breeders alike. Carbopol-adjuvanted vaccine induced a high serological response. Moreover, goslings hatched from vaccinated breeders were protected against viral challenge, indicating that maternally-derived neutralizing antibodies (MDA) were efficiently transferred. MDA were still detectable 15 days post-hatch. Clinical trials will be necessary to accurately evaluate a vaccine-based HNEG control strategy under field conditions.
PATERNALISTIC LEADERSHIP: A REVIEW AND AGENDA FOR FUTURE RESEARCH.

The article looks at different perspectives on paternalistic leadership and assesses the current state of research and literature on the subject. Paternalistic leadership is typically defined as a leadership style that is based on fatherly benevolence combined with strong discipline and authority. It has been described as benevolent dictatorship and negatively received by much of the Western management literature available. Views on paternalistic leadership imply that managers take interest in the personal lives of workers and look out for their personal well-being. Cross-cultural studies have shown that employees in Mexico report higher paternalistic values than employees in the U.S. due to Mexican cultural values that promote strong familial relationships and respect for hierarchy.