Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increased copulation duration before ejaculate transfer is associated with larger spermatophores, and male genital titillators, across bushcricket taxa

Copulation duration varies considerably across species, but few comparative studies have examined factors that might underlie such variation. We examined the relationship between copulation duration (prior to spermatophore transfer), the complexity of titillators (sclerotized male genital contact structures), spermatophore mass and male body mass across 54 species of bushcricket. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses, we found that copulation duration was much longer in species with titillators than those without, but it was not longer in species with complex compared with simple titillators. A positive relationship was found between spermatophore size and copulation duration prior to ejaculate transfer, which supports the hypothesis that this represents a period of mate assessment. The slope of this relationship was steeper in species with simple rather than complex titillators. Although the data suggest that the presence of titillators is necessary to maintain long copulation prior to ejaculate transfer, mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear.
Regulation and the Valuation Relevance of Book Value and Earnings: Evidence from the United States*

Electric utilities in the United States are subject to a cost-plus normal profits pricing that is designed to align the market value of equity with the balance sheet book value. Perfect alignment implies the equality of the market and book values. Extant empirical evidence suggests that, for these utilities, actual cost/profit recovery does not follow a pure cost-plus pricing, raising the prospect that income statement items contribute to the determination of market value. What is not obvious is the extent to which the noted departure from pure cost-plus pricing results in misalignment of the market and book values, or the relative contribution of income statement items to the valuation of electric utility shares. This study pursues this questions, using benchmark results for a sample of manufacturing firms to highlight the degree of market-to-book alignment for regulated and competitive firms. The results show a considerable alignment of the market and book values for utilities. In examining the relevance of book value and income statement items in the determination of market value, it is found that the contribution of earnings level to explaining market value diminishes markedly in the presence of book value for electric utilities, and the contribution of earnings change to explaining returns diminishes markedly in the presence of earnings levels. Earnings level complements book value in explaining market value for manufacturing firms, while earnings change complements earnings level in explaining returns. The results further show that the market and accounting value exhibit pronounced misalignments in returns-earnings models, especially for utilities.
Changes in the Public Sector: A Review of Recent“Alternative” Accounting Research

Reviews some recent contributions to “alternative” accounting research in relation to the changes which have taken place in the public sector, and which have altered the structure of the sector. An important task for the authors therefore has been to define what they view as comprising the public sector. Concludes that there is still a paucity of research in this domain. There are huge opportunities, and great need, for evaluative work and international comparisons. There is also a need to focus on different phases in the institutional financial cycle. Raises series of questions about the emergence of the “new” accounting and the ways in which it is institutionalized and maintained.
Spatial analysis of within-population microsatellite variability reveals restricted gene flow in the Pacific golden chanterelle (Cantharellus formosus)

We examined the within-population genetic structure of the Pacific golden chanterelle (Cantharellus formosus) in a 50 y old forest stand dominated by Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) with spatial autocorrelation analysis. We tested the null hypothesis that multilocus genotypes possessed by chanterelle genets were randomly distributed within the study area. Fruit bodies from 203 C. formosus genets were collected from a 50 ha study plot. One hundred six unique multilocus genotypes were identified after scoring these collections at five microsatellite loci. Statistically significant positive spatial autocorrelation was detected indicating the presence of fine-scale genetic structure within the area. Repeated autocorrelation analyses with varied minimum distance classes (50–500 m) detected positive spatial genetic structure up to 400 m. Therefore nonrandom evolutionary processes (e.g., isolation by distance) can cause fine-scale genetic structure in C. formosus. The implications of this research for future broad-scale population studies of this species are that population samples should be separated by at least 400 m to be considered statistically independent. Sampling designs that account for fine-scale genetic structure will better characterize heterogeneity distributed across the landscape by avoiding the effects of pseudo replication.
Integration in project business: mechanisms for knowledge integration

This article presents results from a four-year study of various integration mechanisms in industrial project business. The projects analysed are complex solutions, which include demanding efforts in both engineering and organisation. Mechanisms for combining products and the processes needed to deliver projects are described and categorised according to the impact that they have on the management of knowledge and information. The design, commissioning and operations phases have been studied in particular and the entire project life cycles have been addressed to obtain an understanding that is as comprehensive as possible of the integration needs in different project phases. The results are summarised in a framework describing two dimensions of integration that are fundamental for knowledge integration when the logic is determined by how the project is delivered and what is the final outcome. The results provide support for project companies delivering solutions to their customers: to develop technical and social capabilities for integration of knowledge and information and to ensure their competitiveness.
Watchdogs or attack dogs? The role of the Russian courts and the central election commission in the resolution of electoral disputes

Abstract Do Russian courts constrain the state? Or do they facilitate arbitrary state action by favouring state agents over other litigants where such bias is not built into the written laws? Are Russian elections fair? The answers to these questions would help us assess Russia's progress towards establishing the rule of law and a democratic regime. The evidence presented in this article suggests that in electoral registration cases where incumbent politicians have a stake, the Russian courts and the Central Election Commission (CEC) are responsive to pressure from them. More specifically, the systematic analysis of all denials of registration by a District Election Commission (DEC) associated with the 1999 parliamentary election suggests that the Russian judiciary was subject to pressure from the regional authorities. Regional oppositionists tended to seek redress at the CEC, rather than at the local courts. Protégés of the regional administration, on the other hand, preferred to take their appeal to the local courts. A further indicator of the weakness of rule of law in Russia is that previous experience with the legal system made a candidate less rather than more likely to pursue an appeal. At the same time, however, scathing journalistic accounts of judicial corruption, inefficiency, and total subservience to politicians seem to be exaggerated. In 1999, both the courts and the CEC were acceptable appeal venues, since opposition candidates used them to defend their electoral rights more often than all other groups of candidates.
Utilizing Local Context for Effective Information Retrieval

Our research focuses on the use of local context through relation matching to improve retrieval effectiveness. An information retrieval (IR) model that integrates relation and keyword matching has been used in this work. The model takes advantage of any existing relational similarity between documents and query to improve retrieval effectiveness. It gives high rank to a document in which the query concepts are involved in similar relationships as in the query, as compared to those in which they are related differently. A conceptual graph (CG) representation has been used to capture relationship between concepts. A simplified form of graph matching has been used to keep our model computationally tractable. Structural variations have been captured during matching through simple heuristics. Four different CG similarity measures have been proposed and used to evaluate performance of our model. We observed a maximum improvement of 7.37% in precision with the second CG similarity measure. The document collection used in this study is CACM-3204. CG similarity measure proposed by us is simple, flexible and scalable and can find application in many IR related tasks like information filtering, information extraction, question answering, document summarization, etc.
Comparative analysis of the expression of the epstein‐barr virus (EBV) anti‐apoptotic gene BHRF1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and EBV‐related lymphoid diseases

Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) has been identified in a wide range of neoplastic and non‐neoplastic disorders. The EBV open reading frame BHRF1 encodes a protein with partial sequence and functional homology to the anti‐apoptotic onco‐protein Bcl‐2 and may therefore have a role in the proliferation of EBV positive cells. We have developed a rat monoclonal antibody against pBHRF1, which can detect BHRF1 in paraffin sections. While a number of mutant versions of BHRF1 were recognised, the monoclonal did not detect the BHRF1 homologue encoded by Herpesvirus papio or two mutants with deletions in the BH2 region. This novel rat monoclonal antibody (6A9) was used to examine tissue sections from 39 cases of non‐keratinising undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), 6 cases of metastatic NPC, 7 cases of EBV‐positive NPC with squamous differentiation from Chinese patients, 15 cases of EBV‐positive post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD), 6 EBV‐containing lymphoblastoid cell lines, and 2 cases of oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL). In 11 cases of undifferentiated NPC, RT‐PCR data were available for comparison with the immunohistochemistry. Both cases of OHL and two cases of LCL were positive for BHRF1 but none of the PTLD showed positive staining. All cases of undifferentiated NPC were positive for Bcl‐2 but only one BHRF1 positive cell was identified in 1 of 39 cases of primary undifferentiated NPC. The 6A9 antibody produced less background staining and no nuclear positivity compared with the commercially available mouse monoclonal 5B11. It is concluded that BHRF1 can not be detected by immunohistochemistry in NPC and therefore it appears not to play a significant anti‐apoptotic role in the progression of this EBV‐associated tumour. The 6A9 monoclonal appears to be superior to 5B11 for the detection of pBHRF1 in tissue sections. J. Med. Virol. 65:105–113, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Delay in feed access and spread of hatch: importance of early nutrition

In a commercial hatchery, chicks (or poults) hatch over a 24–48 hour period. All chicks remain in the incubator until the majority of the chicks have emerged from the shell. Once removed from the incubator, the newly hatched chick has to undergo several hatchery treatments and is then transported before being placed on the broiler farm. This means that, under practical conditions, chicks are deprived of feed and water for up to 72 hours. In addition, the time of hatch within the hatching window and the spread of hatch cause variability in the amount of time that chicks are feed deprived. Literature on feed deprivation after hatch clearly demonstrates the detrimental effects of any delay in feed access on performance of the chicks with respect to growth, immune system activation, digestive enzyme stimulation and organ development. Improved management strategies, such as shortening the hatching window or the time to first feeding by specific management measures, provide an alternative in dealing with the negative effects caused by a delay in feed access. The development of pre-starter diets that better meet the needs of the newly hatched chicks or in ovo feeding to bridge the gap between hatch and first feeding provide other alternatives in overcoming these problems. However, speculation remains regarding the importance of in ovo or early feeding, or whether the in ovo or early feeding itself is responsible for the beneficial effects reported. The aim of the following review is to discuss the current status of research into early feeding and to stimulate future and further research regarding these topics.
A Framework for Assessing the Impact of Education Reforms on School Capacity: Insights from Studies of High-Stakes Accountability Initiatives

This article offers a framework for assessing how education policy initiatives may affect a school’s capacity to improve its performance. Drawing on the theoretical literature regarding school capacity and case studies of high-stakes accountability policies, the authors develop and illustrate a framework that includes both a resource dimension and a productivity dimension. They argue that this dual dimensional construction of school capacity encourages a more complete exploration of the manner in which education reform policies might alter school capacity.
A Meta‐analysis of Body Mass Index and Risk of Premenopausal Breast Cancer

Increased body mass index (BMI) has been found to be associated with elevated risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. Whether BMI is related to premenopausal breast cancer has not yet been established. We performed a meta-analyses of data from 23 studies that provided information on BMI and incidence of premenopausal breast cancer. Overall, the data support a modest inverse association. For a BMI difference of 8 kg per m2, that is, the difference between a thin person and someone who is morbidly obese, the random effects estimate of the rate ratio from the four cohort studies was 0.70 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.54–0.91], and the random effects estimate of the odds ratio from the 19 case-control studies was 0.88 (95% CI = 0.76–1.02). Because of substantial heterogeneity among the study-specific estimates, however, we also examined the influence of certain aspects of study design. Case-control studies with community controls had a more inverse association, whereas case-control studies that interviewed cases shortly after diagnosis applied the same exclusion criteria to cases and controls, or with confounder adjustment beyond age had a more positive association between BMI and breast cancer. Possible reasons for the discrepancies among the case-control studies are discussed.
BsmI vitamin D receptor polymorphism and pathogenesis of parathyroid adenoma.

INTRODUCTION The role of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphism in the pathogenesis of hyperparathyrodism is not clear yet. The aim of this study was to examine the role of BsmI VDR gene polymorphism in patients with primary hyperparathyrodism (PHP) secondary to adenomas. MATERIAL AND METHODS Fifty-two postmenopausal women with PHP, mean age 64.5 years, were compared with a normal age-matched female population (n = 81). RESULTS Distribution of BsmI polymorphism in PHP group was: Bb 54% (28/52); BB 21% (11/52); bb 25% (13/52). In the control group, the distribution in PHP group as follows: Bb 49% (40/81); BB 16% (13/81); bb 35% (28/81). No statistical differences were found between the two groups. In the PHP group, no statistical associations were found between different allelic distribution and age, creatinine, hematocrit, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total calcium, serum parathyroid hormone (PTH), or gland weight. This data suggest that at least in this group, BsmI VDR gene polymorphism appears to be without relevance in clinical presentation and possibly tumorigenesis in PHP secondary to adenomas.
Implementation a training module for teaching of microcontroller AVR

In this work, a training module for AVR microcontrollers was developed; the system consists of blocks of input, output, display, communication and programming. Typical practices of modern control are presented, which was made by students of this area. To evaluate system usability, surveys were applied that indicate this module is an integral solution in the teaching - learning process of AVR microcontrollers.
Rescaling the Chinese state and regionalization in the Great Mekong Subregion

ABSTRACT In the past five years, the Chinese state has made great effort to implement its ‘going-out’ strategy, i.e., the geographical expansion of Chinese capital and labor overseas. This paper explores how the Chinese state rescales to implement this going-out strategy and produce new spaces of development. Particularly, this paper examines how the Chinese state reconfigures its institutional ensemble to integrate landlocked Yunnan Province into the transnational economy embodied in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). The paper finds that the Chinese state deploys two spatial strategies – upward coordination with international organizations and GMS national governments, and downward implementation throughout Yunnan Province – to establish an interscalar regulatory regime. Through this regime the Chinese state aims to assemble capital, labor, and political clout to expand Chinese capital and labor in the GMS, and to develop Yunnan's economy to ease uneven domestic geographical development. This paper contributes to the booming literature on the political–economic restructuring of national states and to the limited scholarship on the institutional arrangement for cross-border regions in a non-Western context. It also sheds light on how the rescaling of the Chinese state potentially shapes the international political economy.
Complexity of accounting change during corporatisation: insights from two case studies

This paper analyses the differences and/or similarities of the process of accounting change and its consequences in two corporatised public utility organisations which are expected by the government to transform themselves into self-financing, efficient and profitable organisations. The explanatory case study method, using mainly semi-structured interviews and document reviews, was adopted. Accounting change was initiated through the mechanisms of institutional isomorphism and was enacted due to intertwined legitimacy and efficiency reasons. In spite of the efficiency reason, both cases demonstrated unsuccessful transformation due to incompatible ways of thinking, internal and external constraints and the mobilisation of power and the risks in actors' relations. Both case studies similarly capture the complexity and stability of the ongoing process of accounting change during which the ingrained public service values and practices remained stable in spite of corporatisation. However, during the later stage, the leadership factor successfully promoted the use of accounting as the new organisational knowledge within one of the case organisations. Insights from these case studies show that the enactment of the so-called 'efficient' accounting system is neither deterministic nor simple, but evolves from a combination of issues.
Multiobjective portfolio optimization with non-convex policy constraints: Evidence from the Eurostoxx 50

Our purpose in this paper is to depart from the intrinsic pathology of the typical mean–variance formalism, due to both the restriction of its assumptions and difficulty of implementation. We manage to co-assess a set of sophisticated real-world non-convex investment policy limitations, such as cardinality constraints, buy-in thresholds, transaction costs, particular normative rules, etc., within the frame of complex scenarios, which demand for simultaneous optimization of multiple investment objectives. In such a case, the portfolio selection process reflects a mixed-integer multiobjective portfolio optimization problem. On this basis, we meticulously develop all the corresponding modeling procedures and then solve the underlying problem by use of a new, fast and very effective algorithm. The value of the suggested framework is integrated with the introduction of two novel concepts in the field of multiobjective portfolio optimization, i.e. the security impact plane and the barycentric portfolio. The first represents a measure of each security's impact in the efficient surface of Pareto optimal portfolios. The second serves as the vehicle for implementing a balanced strategy of iterative portfolio tuning. Moreover, a couple of some very informative graphs provide thorough visualization of all empirical testing results. The validity of the attempt is verified through an illustrative application on the Eurostoxx 50. The results obtained are characterized as very encouraging, since a sufficient number of efficient or Pareto optimal portfolios produced by the model, appear to possess superior out-of-sample returns with respect to the underlying benchmark.
The International Mobility of Highly Skilled Workers in Transnational Corporations: The Macro and Micro Factors of the Organizational Migration of Cadres 1

The worldwide movement of highly skilled workers (cadres) in transnational corporations has long been known to literature in the field, yet has not been thoroughly researched. The mechanisms governing their international circulation are, in themselves, somewhat specific. The fact that they use an organizational “channel” for migration means that the constraints differ from those that act on “independent” economic migrants with either low or high levels of skill (the so-called brain drain). This article focuses on some of the manifestations of this mobility. Its dependence on a set of variables can be considerable: the firm's development phase, investment target choice, leading activity (manufacturing or services), form of technology, type of firm (using greenfield or brownfield investment), whether a firm acquired is healthy or undergoing an economic crisis, and nationality or corporate culture. The occupational insertion of cadres leads to further constraints: while the strictly “technical” assignments generally stem from skill shortages, the general “management” appointments mainly result from questions arising from control and trust. As a whole, the flows of highly skilled workers seem to be related to multiple variables – either social, organizational or individual – which make it difficult to predict future trends.
‘I suppose’ as a resource for the construction of turns at talk in agrammatic aphasia

This paper uses the methodology and analytical findings of conversation analysis to investigate the use of a particular subject‐verb construction within the context of turns at talk in conversation. An investigation of the conversation of an English speaking man with agrammatism reveals recurrent use of ‘I suppose’ to provide structure within turns at talk. The speaker's ability to produce subject‐verb constructions is known to be generally poor. Thus, it is suggested that the use of a particular construction that can be produced with relative ease may be interactionally motivated by the need to take a reasonably unproblematic turn at talk despite the constraints of an agrammatic aphasia. Preliminary thoughts on the implications of this finding for the assessment of aphasia are presented.