Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Performance of Corporate Bond Mutual Funds: Evidence Based on Security-Level Holdings

Abstract This is the first study of corporate bond mutual fund performance that examines detailed security-level holdings and returns. The new database allows us to decompose the costs and benefits of active management. In contrast to prior research on equity funds that shows evidence of stock-selection ability, we do not find evidence consistent with bond fund managers, on average, being able to select corporate bonds that outperform other bonds with similar characteristics. We find neutral to weakly positive evidence of ability to time corporate bond characteristics. Overall results show that the costs of active management on average appear larger than the benefits.
DESIGNING AND EVALUATING SOCIAL SAFETY NETS: THEORY, EVIDENCE AND POLICY CONCLUSIONS

This paper reviews the literature on the performance of commonly found social safety net programs in developing countries. The evidence suggests that universal food subsidies have very limited potential for redistributing income. While targeted food subsidies have greater potential, this can only be realized when adequate attention is given to the design and implementation, as well as to the social and political factors influencing the adoption, of these programs. Although well-designed public works programs have impressive targeting performance, they have large non-wage costs; thus, to be cost-effective, they need to produce outputs that are especially beneficial to poor households. Social funds, which emphasize both community involvement and asset creation, have been cost-effective, but they are difficult to target to extremely poor households. Traditional public works programs are particularly attractive for addressing vulnerability, but they require flexibility regarding choice of output. Targeted human capital subsidies appear to have great potential for addressing extreme poverty; but again, their design needs to reflect the human capital profile of countries and the administrative capability of the government.
Changes in Economic Development Theory and Practice

The theory and practice of local economic development has undergone a transformation in the United States over the past ten years. Instead of an emphasis on attracting outside investment in manufacturing, the new theory concentrates on enhancing a local community's ability to create and retain employment from within. Whether the new theory has indeed replaced the old, and whether it is effective in practice are questions that still remain.
Inter-Industry Wage Differentials: What Do We Know?

Substantial wage differentials are observed in all countries between workers employed in different sectors. How can we explain these wage differentials? Do they entirely derive from the sectoral diversity in personal productive characteristics and task descriptions or do employer features also play a role? Are inter-industry wage differentials smaller in countries with centralised and coordinated collective bargaining? Are they shaped by international trade and product market regulations? What is their impact on gender and other types of inequality? Do they affect economic performance? These are the main questions that we address in this review of the literature.
Sweet preferences and analgesia during childhood: effects of family history of alcoholism and depression.

AIM To determine whether depression and family history of alcoholism are associated with heightened sweet preferences in children, before they have experienced alcohol or tobacco and at a time during the life-span when sweets are particularly salient. Design Between- and within-subject experimental study. PARTICIPANTS Children, 5-12 years old (n = 300), formed four groups based on family history of alcohol dependence up to second-degree relatives [positive (FHP) versus negative (FHN)] and depressive symptoms as determined by the Pictorial Depression Scale [depressed (PDEP) versus non-depressed (NDEP)]. MEASUREMENTS Children were tested individually to measure sucrose preferences, sweet food liking and, for a subset of the children, the analgesic properties of sucrose versus water during the cold pressor test. FINDINGS The co-occurrence of having a family history of alcoholism and self-reports of depressive symptomatology was associated significantly with a preference for a more concentrated sucrose solution, while depressive symptomatology alone was associated with greater liking for sweet-tasting foods and candies and increased pain sensitivity. Depression antagonized the analgesic properties of sucrose. CONCLUSIONS While children as a group innately like sweets and feel better after eating them, the present study reveals significant contributions of family history of alcoholism and depression to this effect. Whether the heightened sweet preference and the use of sweets to alleviate depression are markers for developing alcohol-related problems or responses that are protective are important areas for future research.
Remote Control: How the Media Sustain Authoritarian Rule in China

This study examines the role of the media in sustaining regime stability in an authoritarian context. The article engages the recent work on authoritarian resilience in comparative politics but goes beyond the standard focus on elections to other important institutions, such as the media and courts, that are used by authoritarian leaders to bolster legitimacy. The authors find that the Chinese media contribute to regime legitimacy and effective rule by propagandizing citizens’ experiences in the legal system. However, unlike the “mouthpieces” of earlier communist regimes, the marketized Chinese media provide more convincing and sophisticated messages that continue to accord with state censorship demands while satisfying readers’ interest in real-life stories and problems. The “positive propaganda” and the relative uniformity of information sources because of state censorship lead aggrieved citizens to the law as a realm for dispute resolution and rights protection. Statistical analysis of a randomly sampled survey conducted in four Chinese cities in 2005 demonstrates that exposure to media reporting about labor-law-related issues successfully promotes the image of a proworker bias in the law among citizens, thus encouraging them to participate in the legal system. The state is able to achieve its political goal because of the lack of conflicting sources of information and the lack of previous experience with the reformed legal system among citizens.
Overweight, air and noise pollution: Universal risk factors for pediatric pre-hypertension

Pediatric pre-hypertension (pre-HTN) has a complex multifactorial etiology. Although most cases are secondary to other disorders, a substantial number of children and adolescents have primary or essential HTN and pre-HTN. The gene-gene and gene-environment interactions should be considered in this context. The strong relationship of pre-HTN with environmental factors such as air pollution, noise pollution and passive smoking and obesity suggest that its prevalence will be escalating. Exposure to ambient particulate matters may increase blood pressure (BP) within hours to days. The underlying biologic pathways include autonomic nervous system imbalance and arterial vascular dysfunction or vasoconstriction because of systemic oxidative stress and inflammation. Likewise, tobacco smoke exposure of pregnant mothers increases systolic BP of their offspring in early infancy. Parental smoking also independently affects systolic BP among healthy preschool children. Noise exposure, notably in night, is associated with catecholamine secretion, increased BP and a pre-HTN state even in pre-school age children. Excess weight is associated with dysfunction of the adipose tissue, consisting of enlarged hypertrophied adipocytes, increased infiltration by macrophages and variations in secretion of adipokines and free fatty acids. These changes would result in chronic vascular inflammation, oxidative stress, activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and sympathetic response, and ultimately to pre-HTN from childhood. Prevention and control of the modifiable risk factors of pre-HTN from prenatal period can have long-term health impact on primordial and primary prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases. This review presents a general view on the diagnosis, prevalence and etiology of pre-HTN along with practical measures for its prevention and control.
An exploratory study of retaining and maintaining knowledge in university technology transfer processes

Purpose – This paper focuses on the university science park incubator element of the technology transfer process where knowledge in a variety of forms needs to be retained and maintained. The aim is to investigate the networking competencies of stakeholders involved in the university technology transfer process using absorptive capacity theory to explore how knowledge is externally retained and maintained through these network relations.Design/methodology/approach – This paper undertakes an inductive theory building approach using in‐depth multiple stakeholder interviews (n=30). The transcripts and results were analysed using open coding and NVivo. Six technology transfer meetings were also observed.Findings – The findings show that developing and maintaining network relationships can significantly aid the development and retention of knowledge within the university technology transfer process. It was found that conscious effort is made to retain relationships with network stakeholders. Prior knowledge, p.
Minimal disease detection in patients with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma using a reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction method

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays that detect fusion genes resulting from consistent chromosomal translocations have been used to detect minimal residual disease, primarily in hematologic malignancies. Molecular assays have been developed recently that detect the PAX3‐FKHR or PAX7‐FKHR fusion transcript resulting from the t(2;13) or t(1;13) translocation consistently observed in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. Because of the tumor's propensity to disseminate widely, our aim was to determine whether or not reverse transcriptase‐PCR assays could detect submicroscopic disease in bone marrow or peripheral blood specimens.
A study of the impacts of website quality on customer relationship performance

One of the characteristics of online consumer behaviour is the low cost of searching for alternatives. Therefore, customer loyalty is harder to achieve in the online context than in the offline one. If a website has high information, system and service quality, customers may have greater willingness to maintain, deepen and broaden their relationship with a particular online service provider. This study develops and empirically tests a model examining the relations between website quality, customer satisfaction, customer trust and customer relationship length, depth and breadth with the online financial services. Using survey data from 656 online customers of a Taiwanese securities corporation, results indicate that website quality influences customer satisfaction and trust, except for the link between information quality and customer trust, and customer trust has a stronger impact on relationship depth and breadth than customer satisfaction. Integrating the results, this study concludes that website information quality is the most important factor in enhancing relationship length, while website system quality and service quality contribute a lot to relationship depth and breadth.
Three-Dimensional Photographic Analysis of Outcome After Helmet Treatment of a Nonsynostotic Cranial Deformity

Cranial asymmetries due to nonsynostotic deformation of the skull have been reported with increasing frequency during the last decade. Conservative approaches using helmets and physiotherapy have been shown to be effective in their treatment. Traditionally, documentation has been carried out using anthropometric caliper measurements. The present study evaluates the use of a new three-dimensional photographic system in the improved validation of changes in head deformities. This prospective analysis introduces a new technique for digital anthropometric measurement. The study series comprised 181 children with nonsynostotic head deformities. Three-dimensional photographs were obtained before and after treatment with an orthotic helmet device. The oblique head diagonals and head width and length were measured from three-dimensional photographs using 3dMD customer software. The cranial vault asymmetry index, cranial vault asymmetry, and cranial index were compared before and after treatment. The measurements obtained on three-dimensional images were able to demonstrate significant improvement in early infant cranial deformity after treatment with an orthotic helmet. The cranial vault asymmetry index in plagiocephaly was reduced by 7.16%, and cranial vault asymmetry was reduced by 0.86 cm. The cranial index in brachycephaly decreased by 7.32%. In children with combined plagiocephaly and brachycephaly, the cranial vault asymmetry index improved by 5.77%, cranial vault asymmetry improved by 0.71 cm, whereas the cranial index changed by 5.48%. Three-dimensional photogrammetry can support treatment control in patients with deformational plagiocephaly. This new technology offers several advantages such as easy acquisition of images, detection of landmarks without patient movement, repeatable measurements without patient discomfort, and the opportunity for unbiased evaluation. Abbreviations: CVAI, cranial vault asymmetry index; CVA, cranial vault asymmetry; CI, cranial index
The cascading affective consequences of exercise among hotel workers.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to develop and test a model in which exercise, mediated by emotional intelligence and trust, can result in increased job satisfaction and organizational commitment of frontline hotel workers.Design/methodology/approach – Data for this study were collected from a judgment sample of frontline workers at nine full‐service hotels in South Korea. A total of 210 questionnaires were retrieved.Findings – This study finds that: frequent exercise among hotel workers leads to higher levels of emotional intelligence among them; this emotional intelligence then spawns increased cognition‐based trust in their managers, affect‐based trust in their managers, and overall job satisfaction; the heightened level of cognition‐based trust also has a direct path to overall job satisfaction; and overall job satisfaction results in bolstered organizational commitment.Research limitations/implications – It could prove informative for future research to investigate the relationships between th.
Social functionality of human emotion.

Answers to the question "What are human emotions for? " have stimulated highly productive programs of research on emotional phenomena in psychology and neuroscience in the past decade. Although a variety of functions have been proposed and examined at different levels of abstraction, what is undeniable is that when emotional processing is compromised, most things social go awry. In this review we survey the research findings documenting the functions of emotion and link these to new discoveries about how emotion is accurately processed and transmitted. We focus specifically on emotion processing in dyads and groups, which reflects the current scientific trend. Within dyads, emotional expressions and learning and understanding through vicarious emotion are the phenomena of interest. Behavioral and brain mechanisms supporting their successful occurrence are evaluated. At the group level, group emotions and group-based emotions, two very different phenomena, are discussed, and mechanistic accounts are reviewed.
Incidence of venous thromboembolism and its effect on survival among patients with common cancers.

BACKGROUND The incidence of venous thromboembolism after diagnosis of specific cancers and the effect of thromboembolism on survival are not well defined. METHODS The California Cancer Registry was linked to the California Patient Discharge Data Set to determine the incidence of venous thromboembolism among cancer cases diagnosed between 1993 and 1995. The incidence and timing of thromboembolism within 1 and 2 years of cancer diagnosis and the risk factors associated with thromboembolism and death were determined. RESULTS Among 235 149 cancer cases, 3775 (1.6%) were diagnosed with venous thromboembolism within 2 years, 463 (12%) at the time cancer was diagnosed and 3312 (88%) subsequently. In risk-adjusted models, metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis was the strongest predictor of thromboembolism. Expressed as events per 100 patient-years, the highest incidence of thromboembolism occurred during the first year of follow-up among cases with metastatic-stage pancreatic (20.0), stomach (10.7), bladder (7.9), uterine (6.4), renal (6.0), and lung (5.0) cancer. Adjusting for age, race, and stage, diagnosis of thromboembolism was a significant predictor of decreased survival during the first year for all cancer types (hazard ratios, 1.6-4.2; P<.01). CONCLUSIONS The incidence of venous thromboembolism varied with cancer type and was highest among patients initially diagnosed with metastatic-stage disease. The incidence rate of thromboembolism decreased over time. Diagnosis of thromboembolism during the first year of follow-up was a significant predictor of death for most cancer types and stages analyzed. For some types of cancer, the incidence of thromboembolism was sufficiently high to warrant prospective clinical trials of primary thromboprophylaxis.
The Saskatchewan Health and Back Pain Survey: The Prevalence of Neck Pain and Related Disability in Saskatchewan Adults

Study Design. Population‐based, cross‐sectional mailed survey. Objective. To determine the lifetime, period, and point prevalence of neck pain and its related disability among Saskatchewan adults and investigate the presence and strength of nonresponse bias. Summary of Background Data. In Europe, the life‐time and point prevalence of neck pain is almost as high as the prevalence of low back pain. Similarly, chronic neck pain is highly prevalent and a common source of disability in the working‐age population. However, no studies specifically have documented the prevalence of neck pain and its related disability in North America. Methods. The Saskatchewan Health and Back Pain Survey was mailed to 2184 randomly selected Saskatchewan adults aged 20‐69 years. Fifty‐five percent of the study population participated. The presence of nonresponse bias was investigated through logistic regression and wave analysis. The Chronic Pain Questionnaire was used to classify the severity of chronic neck pain. Results. The age‐standardized lifetime prevalence of neck pain is 66.7% (95% confidence interval, 63.8‐69.5), and the point prevalence is 22.2% (95% confidence interval, 19.7‐24.7). The age‐standardized 6‐month prevalence of low‐intensity and low‐disability neck pain is 39.7% (95% confidence interval, 36.7‐42.7), whereas it is 10.1% (95% confidence interval, 8.2‐11.9) for high‐intensity and low‐disability neck pain and 4.6% (95% confidence interval, 3.3‐5.8) for significantly disabling neck pain. The prevalence of low‐intensity and low‐disability neck pain decreases with age. More women experience high‐disability neck pain than men. Wave analysis suggests that the point prevalence and 6‐month prevalence of high‐intensity and low‐disability neck pain are overestimated in this survey. Conclusion. This cross‐sectional study shows that neck pain is highly prevalent in Saskatchewan and that it significantly disables 4.6% (95% confidence interval, 3.3‐5.8) of the adult population.
The short-term impact of 9/11 on European airlines demand

This paper assesses the short-term impact of the US September 11 terrorist attacks and its after-effects on European Airline Demand. Using monthly data for ten time series from the Association of European Airlines (AEA), different univariate methods are estimated in order to evaluate the airlines traffic in terms of revenue passenger kilometres by comparing the fitted values resulting from the univariate methods employed for one year against the actuals. The results suggest that th September 11 impacted all of the European airline routes under study to a varying degree. The effects of the terrorism attack did not fully dissipate in most of the time series understudy by the end of October 2002.
The bitter recent history of employee involvement at Royal Mail: An aggressive management agenda versus resilient workplace unionism

Focused on a large, diverse branch of the British postal workers’ trade union, workplace union responses to Royal Mail’s employee involvement initiatives are examined through a two-stage longitudinal case study. Royal Mail – the letters section of the British postal service – has carried out a series of managerialist experiments with employee involvement and participation in the last few decades, providing the basis for an important research literature on union and worker responses to new management initiatives, participation and HRM. Findings suggest that these management initiatives and union responses have mutated over time, with an ever-growing gap between management rhetoric associated with employee involvement and increasingly punitive management practice; and with changing but relatively resilient, oppositional workplace union responses. These developments are closely related to the entrenched, confrontational nature of Royal Mail industrial relations that has persisted since the mid-1980s.
Bacterial Vaginosis Among African American Women Who Have Sex With Women

Background Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a frequent cause of vaginal discharge that may be more common among women reporting sex with women (WSW). The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of BV and predictors of infection among a sample of African American WSW. Methods African American WSW aged 18 years or older presenting to the Mississippi State Department of Health STD Clinic between 2009 and 2010 and reporting a history of sexual activity with a female partner during the preceding year were invited to participate. A survey on sexual history and sexual behavior characteristics was completed. Bacterial vaginosis was defined by Amsel criteria. Associations with participant characteristics were determined using logistic regression analysis. Results Bacterial vaginosis was diagnosed in 93 (47.4%) of 196 women. Bisexual identity (odds ratio [OR], 1.94; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03–3.66; P = 0.04), douching within the past 30 days (OR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.09–3.43; P = 0.02), age 18 years or less at first sexual encounter with a female partner (OR, 3.18; 95% CI, 1.16–8.71; P = 0.02), and report of more than 1 lifetime male sexual partners (OR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.01–3.74; P = 0.04) were significant predictors of BV in bivariate analysis. Bacterial vaginosis was less common among women who reported more than 1 lifetime female sexual partner (OR, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.09–0.76; P = 0.01). In multivariable analysis, age 18 years or less at first sex with a female partner approached significance, while report of 1 lifetime female sexual partner remained strongly associated with BV. Conclusions Bacterial vaginosis was common in this sample of African American WSW and significantly associated with report of 1 lifetime female sexual partner.