Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antecedents of Perceived Fairness in Pay for Microtask Crowdwork

Crowdwork has become a powerful tool for businesses and researchers to get work done in a fast, convenient, and cheap way. On one hand, literature suggests that high data quality can even be achieved with poor payment which has become common practice in crowdwork. On the other hand, recent research and ethical considerations suggest that poor payments and especially a low perceived fairness in pay may come at a price. Crowdworkers may put less effort in a task, stop working for a business/researcher, or even leave the crowdsourcing platform entirely. Therefore, we develop a model in this paper to understand how perceived fairness in pay is formed before task execution. If it is only measured after task execution, we miss the “voice” of those who did not even attempt to take on a task. Therefore, we test the effect of perceived fairness in pay on actual task execution and whether it changes after task execution.
Rapamycin, proliferation and geroconversion to senescence

ABSTRACT Rapamycin inhibits cell proliferation, yet preserves (re)-proliferative potential (RPP). RPP is a potential of quiescent cells that is lost in senescent cells. mTOR drives conversion from quiescence to senescence (geroconversion). By suppressing geroconversion, rapamycin preserves RPP. Geroconversion is characterized by proliferation-like levels of phospho-S6K/S6/4E-BP1 in nonproliferating cells arrested by p16 and/or p21. mTOR-driven geroconversion is associated with cellular hyperfunction, which in turn leads to organismal aging manifested by age-related diseases.
Behavioral and Emotional Problems Among Jamaican and African American Children, Ages 6 to 11: Teacher Reports Versus Direct Observations

Several studies have demonstrated the importance of comparing different informants' (i.e., teachers, parents, observers) reports of children's behavior. A study comparing Jamaican and U.S. teacher reports on children ages 6 to II revealed that Jamaican teachers reported higher problem scores in their pupils than U.S. teachers. Do Jamaican children really have more problems than U.S. children, or do teachers in these two countries have different tolerance levels for certain problems? This study addressed this question by comparing observers' and teachers' reports on Jamaican and African American children. We obtained teachers' reports and conducted structured direct observations on the same group of children. Considerable disparity emerged between observers' and teachers' ratings of Jamaican versus African American pupils.The findings suggest that ethnic similarities between Jamaican pupils and their teachers and the lack of similarities between African American pupils and their teachers may affect the teachers' threshold for perceiving the problems that their pupils present.
Age and time course of long-term motor and nonmotor complications in Parkinson disease

Objective To determine the time course of hazard for motor and nonmotor milestones of Parkinson disease (PD) in the long term and to investigate whether risk scales nonlinearly with time is instrumental in identifying changes in pathological processes and evaluating disease-modifying therapies in PD. Methods Outpatients with PD at the Lyon University Movement Disorders Center were evaluated for 7 clinical milestones in this retrospective cohort study, encompassing 4 domains of PD progression: (1) motor (motor fluctuations, dyskinesias); (2) axial (postural instability and falls, freezing of gait); (3) neuropsychiatric (impulse control disorders, hallucinations); and (4) cognitive (dementia) complications. For each complication, we estimated the outcome-specific hazard using parsimonious smooth parametric Poisson regression models allowing for nonlinear scaling over disease duration, age at diagnosis, current age, and their interaction. Results A total of 1,232 patients with PD experienced 1,527 disease-related complications in up to 12 years of follow-up. Specific to each complication, hazard rates increased dramatically starting from diagnosis and were highest for motor fluctuations and lowest for dementia up to 6 years after diagnosis in patients aged 65 years at diagnosis. Nonlinear patterns indicated dramatic changes in the course of PD after 5 years and predicted more severe axial prognosis after 70 years and for motor fluctuations, dyskinesias, and impulse control disorders before 60 years at diagnosis. Conclusion Time course of motor and nonmotor milestones in PD is determined by disease duration and age at diagnosis in nonlinear patterns and their interaction. This indicates disease- and age-specific thresholds across the multiple neurodegenerative processes accumulating in PD at different paces.
Bank interest rates pass-through: New evidence from French panel data

This paper investigates the pass-through mechanism from market interest rates to bank interest rates using a panel of French banks based on new interest rates statistics. The data are extracted from new individual contracts, on a monthly basis for the three main sectors of the credit market (consumers loans, mortgage loans and loans to enterprises) from January 2003 to July 2007. The pass-through is estimated using recent econometric methods on non-stationary panel data. In contrast to previous studies, cross-sectional dependence among banks is allowed. Our results confirm that bank rates for loans to enterprises and mortgage loans do not adjust completely to changes in market rates, even in the long run. The model also captures the narrowing of the intermediation margin during the period considered.
GDP Data Revisions in Macedonia – Is There Any Systematic Pattern?

This paper investigates the existence of any systematic relationship between preliminary estimates and subsequent revisions of GDP growth rates in Macedonia. Accordingly, we use various statistical tools for testing the 'news' and 'noise' hypotheses and empirically assess if GDP data revisions are unbiased and efficient and vice versa. The results based on different empirical approaches in general provide mixed results about the predictability of GDP revisions, although the empirical evidence tends to incline that the long-term and final GDP revisions are efficient and contain new information that is in line with the 'news' hypothesis. We conclude that each subsequent revision is unpredictable.
Starting Points for Big Data Adoption

As part of an advancing digitization, many enterprises feel the need to explore the possibilities big data may provide for their business. However, only a few companies use big data applications productively, despite its high expected potential. How companies examine the possibilities of big data, is therefore a highly interesting and relevant question. Based on a multiple case study we identify three different approaches and factors that influence the choice of approach: Companies either initially focus entirely on business aspects, or on a systematic build-up of a big data technology and data platform. Innovation adoption research is used as a theoretical basis.
Association of vitamin D receptor ApaI gene polymorphism with osteoporosis susceptibility in postmenopausal Han Chinese women in Xinjiang

Osteoporosis is a polygenic disorder and has been demonstrated to be associated with ~30 candidate genes, the majority of which have also been implicated in the regulation of bone mineral density (BMD). Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is the candidate gene that has been most extensively studied. Certain studies have reported that the VDR single nucleotide polymorphism ApaI is associated with the risk of osteoporosis in Caucasian and African women. However, this association has not yet been studied in postmenopausal Han Chinese women in the Xinjiang area. In the present study, ApaI polymorphisms of VDR were defined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism, in order to analyze the distribution of ApaI polymorphisms in postmenopausal Han Chinese women from Xinjiang. BMD was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry at the lumbar spine (L2-4), Ward's triangle, great trochanter and femoral shaft. A total of 336 women were included in this study. The genotype distribution of ApaI was consistent with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (all P>0.05). There were no significant differences in ApaI genotype frequencies between the 90 cases in the osteoporosis group and 246 cases in the non-osteoporosis group (P=0.946). Meanwhile, it was identified that BMD values of the tested locations were negatively correlated with age (P<0.05) and positively correlated with body mass index (BMI; P<0.05). On further attribution risk analysis, BMD was identified as a risk factor [odds ratio (OR): 0.464, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.372–0.580, P=0.001] and BMI a protective factor (OR: 1.502, 95% CI: 1.008–2.240, P=0.032) in osteoporosis. When BMD was adjusted for confounding factors including age and BMI, it was observed that the ApaI polymorphism was not associated with BMD at the sites tested (P>0.05). In conclusion, the present study identified no significant association of the common VDR polymorphism ApaI with BMD at several skeletal sites in postmenopausal Han Chinese women in the Xinjiang area. Age was negatively correlated with BMD at different sites and identified as a risk factor; while BMI was positively correlated with BMD and identified as a protective factor.
Early succession on plots with the upper soil horizon removed

Succession was studied on plots with the upper soil horizon removed in an area affected by acidic air pollu- tion in the Krusne Hory Mts. , Czech Republic. 10 permanent 1-m 2 plots were marked and vegetation recorded annually using a grid of 100 subplots from 1989 to 1995. Constrained ordination analyses showed that soil texture is the most important environmental factor influencing the course of suc- cession. Its effect on species composition increases with succes- sional age of the plant community. On fine-grained soils species- poor communities dominated by grasses (Calamagrostis villosa, Deschampsia flexuosa) and on coarse-grained soils species-rich communities dominated by heather (Calluna vulgaris) devel- oped. Succession proceeded from communities where species composition was determined by diaspore availability towards communities where species composition depended on environ- mental conditions. Successional communities after 10 yr are more dependent on soil characteristics and consequently envi- ronmental determination increases over the course of succes- sion and causes the communities to diverge.
Quantifying transport into the lowermost stratosphere using simultaneous in-situ measurements of SF 6 and CO 2

The seasonality of transport and mixing of air into the lowermost stratosphere (LMS) is studied using distribu- tions of mean age of air and a mass balance approach, based on in-situ observations of SF6 and CO2 during the SPURT (Spurenstofftransport in der Tropopausenregion, trace gas transport in the tropopause region) aircraft campaigns. Com- bining the information of the mean age of air and the water vapour distributions we demonstrate that the tropospheric air transported into the LMS above the extratropical tropopause layer (ExTL) originates predominantly from the tropical tropopause layer (TTL). The concept of our mass balance is based on simultaneous measurements of the two passive tracers and the assumption that transport into the LMS can be described by age spectra which are superposition of two different modes. Based on this concept we conclude that the stratospheric influence on LMS composition is strongest in April with extreme values of the tropospheric fractions ( 1) below 20% and that the strongest tropospheric signatures are found in October with 1 greater than 80%. Beyond the frac- tions, our mass balance concept allows us to calculate the associated transit times for transport of tropospheric air from the tropics into the LMS. The shortest transit times (<0.3 years) are derived for the summer, continuously increasing up to 0.8 years by the end of spring. These findings suggest that strong quasi-horizontal mixing across the weak subtrop- ical jet from summer to mid of autumn and the considerably shorter residual transport time-scales within the lower branch of the Brewer-Dobson circulation in summer than in winter dominates the tropospheric influence in the LMS until the beginning of next year's summer.
Genetic diversity of 21 experimental chicken lines with diverse origins and genetic backgrounds

The genetic characteristics and diversity of 21 experimental chicken lines registered with the National BioResource Project of Japan were examined using mitochondrial D-loop sequences and 54 microsatellite DNA markers. A total of 12 haplotypes were detected in the 500-bp mitochondrial DNA sequences of the hypervariable segment I for 349 individuals of 21 lines. The 12 haplotypes belonged to three (A, D, and E) haplogroups, out of the eight (A‒H) common haplogroups in domestic chickens and red junglefowls. The haplogroups A and D were widely represented in indigenous chickens in the Asian and Pacific regions, and the haplogroup E was the most prevalent in domestic chickens. Genetic clustering by discriminant analysis of principal components with microsatellite markers divided 681 individuals of 21 lines into three groups that consisted of Fayoumi-, European-, and Asian- derived lines. In each of the cladograms constructed with Nei’s genetic distances based on allele frequencies and the membership coefficients provided by STRUCTURE and with the genetic distance based on the proportion of shared alleles, the genetic relationships coincided well with the breeding histories of the lines. Microsatellite markers showed remarkably lower genetic heterozygosities (less than 0.1 observed heterozygosity) for eight lines (GSP, GSN/1, YL, PNP, BM-C, WL-G, BL-E, and #413), which have been maintained as closed colonies for more than 40 years (except for #413), indicating their usefulness as experimental chicken lines in laboratory animal science research.
Are we Providing Service Quality with is? Empirical Evidence from the Justice System of two Developing Countries

Little is known about Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) impacts in Latin America justice system and few theoretical advances were done on this topic. This paper aims to propose a model grounded in Task-Technology Fit theory and explore its rationality in the justice system of two developing countries: Brazil and Argentina. Interviews with public managers and employees were conducted, and content analysis was applied to examine ICT4D impact on individual performance and public service quality. Our research makes several contributions by proposing a model on how ICT4D intervention can be assessed in an application area like the justice system. We examine the effectiveness of two national ICT4D endeavours, represented by the electronic lawsuit, thus showing how government can lead successful ICT4D implementations in developing countries. The practical value of this research rests on clarifying how ICT4D impacts public employees’ performance and public service quality. The results should help managers reduce gaps between policy and design of electronic lawsuits, thus guiding ICT4D endeavours by practitioners in other developing countries.
Age threshold for recommending higher protein intake to prevent age-related muscle weakness: A cross-sectional study in Japan

Although insufficient dietary protein intake is a known risk factor for age-related muscle weakness, the optimal age at which higher protein intake is required to prevent muscle weakness is yet to be determined. Using a population-based panel survey of community-dwelling people aged 50–75 years, this cross-sectional study aimed to find the age threshold at which a higher protein intake is associated with higher muscle strength. We utilized a dataset from the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement conducted between 2007 and 2011. Dietary protein intake was estimated using a validated dietary questionnaire and energy-adjusted via density method. Grip strength was measured using a Smedley-type handheld dynamometer. We calculated the marginal effect (and 95% confidence intervals) of protein intake on grip strength with stratification by age using multiple linear regression analyses with robust variance adjusting for potential confounders. There were 9,485 observations from 5,790 participants in the final analysis. Marginal effects of protein intake on grip strength increased with age, and it reached significance and had a positive impact only among men aged ≥75 years and women aged ≥65 years. With an additional 1% energy of protein intake, grip strength was increased by 0.10 kg and 0.19 kg for men and women aged ≥75 years, respectively. Our result indicated the possibility that women needed a high protein intake from a younger age compared with men. Further studies are needed to clarify from when a higher protein intake is recommended to prevent muscle weakness.
A Survey on the Status Quo of Social Collaboration Analytics in Practice

This paper aims to identify and document the status quo and the perceived barriers of Social Collaboration Analytics in practice. The study is part of a publicly funded longitudinal research project on Enterprise Collaboration Systems (ECS) involving 29 early-adopter user companies. Our paper draws on and extends findings from previous research. The key themes identified from a structured literature review and the documented findings from previous workshops with practitioners were used to develop an online questionnaire. Longitudinal case studies on the same companies helped to inform and interpret the findings. The survey shows that most of the participants have implemented some form of Collaboration Analytics, however, the outputs are mostly on a high abstraction level and the methods quite simplistic. Complex analyses that could help in assessing the degree of cooperation, structures or dynamics in the use of ECS are not (yet) applied. We identified three important reasons for this situation: (1) The analytics tools provided by standard collaboration software do not provide sufficient functionality, (2) there is a lack of awareness and knowledge about more complex forms of analyses and (3) some concepts from the academic literature are not perceived as relevant by practitioners. The survey also confirmed that there are financial, regulatory, data and HR barriers for Social Collaboration Analytics.
PR ] 8 F eb 2 01 8 Large deviations of reaction fluxes

We study a system of interacting particles that randomly react to form new particles. The reaction flux is the rescaled number of reactions that take place in a time interval. We prove a dynamic large-deviation principle for the reaction fluxes under general assumptions that include mass-action kinetics. This result immediately implies the dynamic large deviations for the empirical concentration.
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM CATTLE/BEEF DISPUTES?

The organizers of this workshop undertook to have reviewed five trade disputes among the NAFTA partners. Individual commodities were selected because of characteristics unique to that dispute, their overall significance in trade, or the nature of the resolution, with the goal of improving our understanding of trade relations among the three countries. The cattle/beef sector was selected because of its economic importance in all three countries, the example it provides of interest group participation, and because it involves a recent major formal dispute process affecting each country.
Development of a Measurement Scale for Business Process Standardization

Process-oriented companies face the dichotomy of process standardization versus process diversity. On the one hand, multinational companies try to realize returns of scale by standardization. On the other hand, markets require businesses to adapt to local needs and government regulations. As of today, there is no framework available to measure the degree of process standardization. This is both a problem for companies that want to assess their degree of standardization as well as for research that aims to investigate standardization and its connection with other concepts. In this paper, we address this research gap from the perspective of scale development. We utilize a well-acknowledged method for devising a measurement instrument to specifically and directly measure the degree of standardization in business processes. Various application scenarios and future research areas are pointed out.
Title : Response of Annual Growth Ring Components to Soil Moisture Deficit in Young

approved: W. Thomas Adams The goal of this study was to determine whether annual growth ring variables of young coastal Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii [Mirb.] Franco.) growing in progeny tests are sensitive to availability of soil moisture during the growing season. If ring variables are found to respond to soil moisture deficit (SMD) in consistent and predictable ways, they might prove useful for screening genotypes for drought hardiness in breeding programs. Increment cores were collected from 16(1819 year-old) trees on each of eight progeny test sites in coastal British Columbia. X-ray densitometry was used to measure eight variables (earlywood and latewood width and density, latewood proportion, maximum density, latewood mass, and total ring mass) on eleven annual growth rings (years 1985-95) of each core. Regression analyses revealed that all ring variables are strongly influenced by ring distance from the pith (age trends). In addition, after accounting for age-trends, all ring variables were significantly associated with SMD, although the associations were often complex (i.e., involving second and third order polynomials of SMD) and differed significantly across sites. Linear trends in four ring variables (latewood density, proportion, and width; and total ring mass), with increasing SMD, were as expected and were consistent across sites; and thus, show promise in screening for drought hardiness. The remaining ring variables showed inconsistent associations with SMD across sites. A small companion study on cell morphology suggested that latewood cells increase in density with increasing SMD due to decreased cell lumen diameter, and not because of increased cell