Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cadmium Toxicity Induced Alterations in the Root Proteome of Green Gram in Contrasting Response towards Iron Supplement

Cadmium signifies a severe threat to crop productivity and green gram is a notably iron sensitive plant which shows considerable variation towards cadmium stress. A gel-based proteomics analysis was performed with the roots of green gram exposed to iron and cadmium combined treatments. The resulting data show that twenty three proteins were down-regulated in iron-deprived roots either in the absence (−Fe/−Cd) or presence (−Fe/+Cd) of cadmium. These down-regulated proteins were however well expressed in roots under iron sufficient conditions, even in the presence of cadmium (+Fe/+Cd). The functional classification of these proteins determined that 21% of the proteins are associated with nutrient metabolism. The other proteins in higher quantities are involved in either transcription or translation regulation, and the rest are involved in biosynthesis metabolism, antioxidant pathways, molecular chaperones and stress response. On the other hand, several protein spots were also absent in roots in response to iron deprivation either in absence (−Fe/−Cd) or presence (−Fe/+Cd) of cadmium but were well expressed in the presence of iron (+Fe/+Cd). Results suggest that green gram plants exposed to cadmium stress are able to change the nutrient metabolic balance in roots, but in the mean time regulate cadmium toxicity through iron supplements.
Statistical analysis on the intellectual capital statement

Purpose – The intellectual capital (IC) can be divided into three categories, i.e. human, structural, and relationship capitals. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the correlation among those capitals to their indicators, particularly for intellectual capital statement made in Germany and intellectual capital statement made in Europe models.Design/methodology/approach – In these two models, each capital has four, six, and five indicators, respectively. So totally, there are 15 indicators. Structural equation modeling and its sensitivity analysis are utilized for measuring the correlation among those capitals to their indicators.Findings – Among those 15 indicators, 14 indicators have strong correlation with their respective capitals. Moreover, there exist strong correlation in a similar weight among those capitals, i.e. the correlations between human (HC) and structural capital (SC) is 0.88, SC and relationship capital (RC) is 0.87 and HC to RC is 0.81. Originality/value – So far, the data collect.
Economic Impact of Restricting Feed Additives in Livestock and Poultry Production

Effects of feed additive restrictions on meat production have been measured in previous studies. An econometric simulation model is used in this study to evaluate the impact of policy alternatives on costs, prices, and net profits in beef, pork, broiler, and turkey production over a ten-year period. Under the model, all the restrictive policy alternatives produced wholesale price increases. Simulation estimates of price and production cost increases, however, were lower than previous findings. Health risk reductions may be obtainable at a smaller loss in economic efficiency than previously suggested.
Changes over time: the motivations of independent-sector care-home managers and owners in England between 1994 and 2003

ABSTRACT This paper examines the provider side of the care-home sector and focuses on managers' and owners' motivations for providing care-home services for older people, and whether those motivations changed between 1994 and 2003. There were a number of significant policy changes over that time, including an increased ‘marketisation’ of the sector, coupled with an increase in regulation. Critics of these changes argued that they could adversely affect the motivational structure of the principal provider agents. Previously altruistic or public-service motivations might turn into more self-interested concerns: ‘knights’ might become ‘knaves’. To test this proposition, data were collected across eight English local authorities using face-to-face interviews and postal questionnaires. The results indicate that, although local care-home markets underwent some major changes, individuals' motivational profiles remained relatively stable. Further analysis of the relationship between motivations and the social-care market environment suggests that, while voluntary-sector providers are primarily driven by caring motivations and less concerned with income maximising and professional development, private-sector home manager and owners seemed to be more focused on the financial aspects of providing care services, professional motivations, and on their independence in running a care home. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.
Recent Evidence on the Distribution Patterns in Chapter 11 Reorganizations

TOSHIHIDE SUDO is with Nippon Credit Bank Ltd. firm filing a bankruptcy petition generally will either be liquidated under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code or be reorganized under A Chapter 11. (Occasionally, a debtor will liquidate under Chapter 11.) The purpose of the Bankruptcy Code is to give the debtor: 1) time to decide whether to reorganize or liquidate; and 2) time to formulate a plan of action. ’ Once a company files for protection under the Bankruptcy Code, the company generally becomes a “debtor-in-possession,” continuing to operate its business under the supervision of the court. When a firm is liquidated, creditors receive distributions based on the “absolute priority rule,” to the extent that assets are available. The absolute priority rule is the principle that senior creditors are paid in full before junior creditors are paid anything. For secured creditors, the absolute priority rule guarantees their seniority to unsecured creditors and equityholders. For unsecured creditors, the absolute priority rule guarantees their seniority to equityholders. In liquidations, the absolute priority rule generally holds, although there is a good body of literature (Meckling [1977], Miller [1977], Warner [1977], and Jackson [1986]) that argues that strict absolute priority has not been upheld by the courts or the SEC. Franks and Torous [1989] and Weiss [1990] have found that the violation of absolute priority is common. Failure of the courts to follow strict absolute priority has implications for the capital structure of a firm. The view by Black and Scholes [1973] that the firm is effectively owned by creditors who have sold the shareholders a call option on the firm’s assets is not sustainable if the stockholders are not viewed as residual claimants. In derivation of the pricing of risky debt,
Education, Work, and Crime: A Human Capital Approach

This article develops a model of crime in which human capital increases the opportunity cost of crime from foregone work and expected costs associated with incarceration. Older, more intelligent, and more educated adults should commit fewer street (unskilled) crimes. White collar crimes decline less (or increase) with age and education. Predictions for age-crime and education-crime relationships receive broad empirical support in self-report data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and arrest data from the Uniform Crime Reports. The effects of education, training, and wage subsidies, as well as enforcement policies on criminal behavior are discussed.
Investigating the Valuation Effects of Announcements of Voluntary Corporate Selloffs

While there has been an abundance of empirical research on the subject of mergers and acquisitions, little research exists on a closely related topic—voluntary corporate selloffs. This study examines the effect on shareholder wealth of the announcement by management of an investment decision to voluntarily sell part of its operations to another firm. Positive abnormal returns are found to occur on the announcement date. However, it is found that such selloffs generally occur after a period of abnormally negative returns, suggesting the announcement is preceded by the release of negative information about the firm.
HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS' CONCEPTIONS OF ENGINEERS AND ENGINEERING

This paper describes a workshop activity the author has carried out with 80 high school science teachers to enable them to overcome their stereotypical perceptions of engineers and engineering. The activity introduced them to the biographies of prominent women in engineering,� and� raised� their� awareness� of� these� female� engineers’� contributions� to� engineering and society. The results showed that the activity was effective in dispelling the participants’� perceptions� of� engineers� as� men. � For� example,� the� percentage� of� participants� who depicted engineers as men decreased from 96.3% before the intervention to 48.8% after the intervention (p < 0.01). The results also showed that the activity was effective in countering� the� participants’� perceptions� of� the� nature� of� engineering� jobs. � For� example,� the� percentage of participants who portrayed engineers engaged in building or repairing decreased from 70.0% before the intervention to 3.8% after the intervention (p < 0.01). The female engineers featured in this activity cited the role of their parents or teachers in encouraging their pursuit of an engineering career. They held senior positions in academia, government or industry. They acknowledged that they had encouraged difficulties at their workplaces but they also mentioned progress made towards acceptance and equality.
Self-ligating brackets in orthodontics. A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical differences in relation to the use of self-ligating brackets in orthodontics. MATERIALS AND METHODS Electronic databases were searched; no restrictions relating to publication status or language of publication were applied. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and controlled clinical trials (CCTs) investigating the influence of bracket type on alignment efficiency, subjective pain experience, bond failure rate, arch dimensional changes, rate of orthodontic space closure, periodontal outcomes, and root resorption were selected. Both authors were involved in study selection, validity assessment, and data extraction. Disagreements were resolved by discussion. RESULTS Six RCTs and 11 CCTs were identified. Meta-analysis of the influence of bracket type on subjective pain experience failed to demonstrate a significant advantage for either type of appliance. Statistical analysis of other outcomes was unfeasible because of inadequate methodological design and heterogenous designs. CONCLUSIONS At this stage there is insufficient high-quality evidence to support the use of self-ligating fixed orthodontic appliances over conventional appliance systems or vice versa.
Increasing returns to information and survival of Istanbul public theatre plays

In this article, we analyse the size and rank relationship for two administratively different public theatres, city and state, in Istanbul along with survival probabilities. We find returns to information for Istanbul public theatre plays. We present a comparison of our findings with related literature on Turkish state plays and Broadway shows. We find that the number of performances exhibits a lot less variation in centralized systems. Duration analysis reveals that run length of state theatres is larger than city theatres. This is an indication of greater accountability of city theatres as compared to state theatres.
Valuing the social benefits of avoiding landscape degradation from overhead power transmission lines: Do underground cables pass the benefit–cost test?

Abstract Overhead power transmission lines cause external costs including aesthetic impacts on the landscape. We use the contingent valuation method to estimate the external costs from these aesthetic impacts, and find that the social benefits of avoiding these negative impacts on the landscape exceed the costs of burying the lines as underground cables. Our best-estimate of the aesthetic benefits from burying the power lines was three times as large as the cost. These conclusions were based only on an assessment of the aesthetic impacts. Impacts of overhead power lines on wildlife and human health would likely make burial of power lines even more attractive. These results were obtained in an urban setting. Additional studies are needed to assess the costs associated with aesthetic impacts in rural and pristine natural areas, where power line construction is increasing.
Understanding the Interaction Between International and Euro Area Output Volatility

This paper addresses two main questions. First, it seeks to establish whether the stylized facts of the ‘great moderation’ that have been documented for the UK and US economies can be found for the Euro area. Second, it explores possible explanations for any changes that have occurred in the volatility of Euro area output fluctuations. In examining why business cycles have moderated, much of the existing literature has tended to concentrate on a few key factors. These include shifts in the structure of the economy, improved monetary policy and a ‘good luck’ factor. This paper, however, follows a relatively new branch of the great moderation literature by focusing on whether international business cycle linkages have changed in a way that may have perpetuated the dampening in Euro area output fluctuations. The results show Euro area output fluctuations to have significantly reduced in variability over the last quarter of a century. The results go on to highlight that, although Euro area cycles differ little from rest of the world cycles, the moderation in Euro area output fluctuations is only marginally due to changes in international business cycle linkages and smaller international and domestic shock variances.
Tour Guides as Storytellers – From Selling to Sharing

Due to changing tourist desires, the rise of the experience economy and technological innovations, the demand for stories has dramatically increased over the last few years. Consequently, an impressive demand for stories has generally emerged in tourism, and particularly in tour guiding. Based on a qualitative exploratory study, this paper identifies four major types of storytelling as an important feature, of which two types can be derived from and subdivided into three subgroups of organizations: official guides, alternative guides, entrepreneurial guides (commercial, event and coach tours), and relational guides (private, independent and residential guides). All types have different target groups, are organized differently and bring different kinds of stories, each using different experiential techniques. There is a clear development towards more topical and less historical stories, the use of experiential techniques, and a focus on niche tourists. However, young tour-guide organizations struggle to get on the radar of the established tourism industry because of their own anti-authoritarian position and the distrust of official guides.
Social Networks, Social Interactions, and Activity-Travel Behavior: A Framework for Microsimulation

We argue that the social networks and activity-travel patterns of people interact and coevolve over time. Through social interaction, people exchange information about activity-travel choice alternatives and adapt their latent and overt preferences for alternatives to each other. At the same time, social networks are not static: new social links emerge and existing social links may dissolve in time, depending on activity-travel schedules and the attributes of persons. In this paper we propose a theoretical framework to incorporate these dynamics in microsimulations of activity-travel patterns. A core assumption of the proposed theory is that the utility that a person derives from social interaction is a function of dynamic social and information needs, on the one hand, and of similarity between the relevant characteristics of the persons involved, on the other. Furthermore, persons tend to adapt their preferences so as to increase the utility they derive from their social networks. We derive the theory and models from basic principles and discuss results of a first round of simulations conducted to examine the behavior of the model. We argue that the model is consistent with existing theories and findings in social network analysis.
Rational Panics and Stock Market Crashes

This paper offers an explanation for crashes in the stock market which focuses on the role of rational but uninformed traders. We show that uninformed traders can precipitate a price crash because as prices decline, they reasonably surmise that better informed traders could have received negative information, which leads them to reduce their own demand for assets driving the price of stocks even lower. We also show the model yields several implications, such as the fact that crashes can occur even when the fundamental values of assets are strong, and that the magnitude of the crash depends on the fraction of uninformed investors and the amount of unsophisticated passive investing present in the market. Given increasing participation among uninformed traders and the growing popularity of aggressive trading in recent years, we conclude markets today might remain vulnerable to crashes that may be as severe as those which occurred in the past, in contrast with some of the conventional wisdom that argues such severe crashes have become less likely.
Case-Control Study of Diabetes Mellitus in HIV-Infected Patients

Background:Diabetes mellitus (DM) is more prevalent among patients with HIV infection. Besides protease inhibitors (PIs), other factors may contribute to the development of DM. Objective:To assess characteristics associated with the development of DM in HIV-infected persons. Methods:We conducted a case-control study in an urban HIV clinic among patients with incident DM (49 cases) matched to 2 controls (n = 98) on age ±5 years, race, sex, and length of clinic follow-up. There was a second set of unmatched controls (n = 196). Results:Compared with matched controls, case patients had higher mean body mass index (BMI; 30.0 vs. 25.3 kg/m2, matched odds ratio [OR] = 1.20; P < 0.001), higher alanine aminotransferase (ALT; 66 vs. 44 U/L, OR = 1.12 per 10 U/L; P = 0.013), and stronger family history of DM (50% vs. 29%, OR = 3.30; P = 0.009). Hepatitic C virus coinfection and PI use were not significant factors. In unmatched controls, there was no significant difference in age, sex, or ethnicity. In multivariate analyses, BMI (OR = 1.13 per kg/m2; P = 0.012), family history (OR = 5.55; P = 0.014), and ALT (OR = 1.16; P = 0.012) were associated with DM. Conclusion:These findings suggest a complex interaction among genetic factors, body composition, and liver injury in the pathogenesis of DM in HIV-infected patients.
A Discussion of 'Do Managers Use Earnings Guidance to Influence Street Earnings Exclusions?'

It is well known that both managers and analysts frequently define earnings by excluding various amounts from GAAP earnings. Christensen et al. (Rev Account Stud, 2011) make a prediction of causality whereby managers actively influence how analysts define earnings. They argue that the mechanism through which managers accomplish this is guidance of analysts’ earnings forecasts within a fiscal period. Using a large sample of firms actively followed by analysts, the authors examine whether the existence of earnings guidance is associated with higher levels of total exclusions in analysts’ definition of earnings. The study provides suggestive evidence that managers actively influence analysts’ definition of earnings that they forecast. However, the indirect nature of the research design calls for additional work to specifically link directed guidance of GAAP earnings exclusions to amounts actually excluded by analysts.
Industry and Firm Effects of Privatization in Malawian Oligopolistic Manufacturing

This study evaluates the impact of privatization on technical efficiency using panel data from privatized enterprises, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises competing in oligopolistic Malawian manufacturing industries in which privatization took place. The results of the technical efficiency model, based on the period 1970-1997, provide evidence that privatization increases the technical efficiency of all firms (industry effects). Further incentives for improvements in technical efficiency are due to more domestic competition, multinationality and structural adjustment. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2004.
WARP Does Not Imply SARP for More Than Two Commodities

Abstract The only examples available in the literature to show that the Weak Axiom of Revealed Preference does not imply the Strong Axiom of Revealed Preference, the examples of Gale and Shafer, apply only to the case of three commodities. This paper constructs examples for four or more commodities. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D11, C60.
Changes in smile parameters as perceived by orthodontists, dentists, artists, and laypeople.

AIM To evaluate attractiveness of a smile subjected to computerized variations as perceived by orthodontic residents, operative dentistry residents, art students, and laypeople. METHODS Frontal facial photographs of 1 male and 1 female subject were altered using Adobe Photoshop 8.0. The judges who evaluated these 46 images (23 of each subject) comprised 4 groups: orthodontic residents, operative dentistry residents, art students, and laypeople. This cross-sectional study took place between December 2005 and February 2006 at the orthodontic clinic of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Fatima Jinnah Dental College, Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine, Karachi Medical & Dental College, Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture, and the waiting area of the AKUH dental clinic. A 5-point visual analog grading scale on the data-collection form was used to rate images. Descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to analyze data. RESULTS A medium-broad to broad smile, full incisor display with 2 mm of gingival exposure, and a consonant smile arc were preferred in the female subject, while a broad smile, full incisor display, and a flat smile arc were preferred in the male subject. Variation in incisor angulation was better received than midline deviation. CONCLUSION Although smile therapy is still in its infancy, society has already placed a great demand on dentists to evaluate and treat smiles. Our responsibility as orthodontists is to face this new challenge and acquire the skills to identify various smile patterns so as to better rehabilitate our patients' smiles.
The forward pricing function of the shipping freight futures market

This article investigates the unbiasedness hypothesis of futures prices in the freight futures market. Being the only market whose underlying asset is a service, it sets it apart from other markets investigated so far in the literature. Cointegration techniques, employed to examine this hypothesis, indicate that futures prices one and two months before maturity are unbiased forecasts of the realized spot prices, whereas a bias exists in the three‐months futures prices. This mixed evidence is in agreement with studies in other markets and suggests that the acceptance or rejection of unbiasedness depends on the idiosyncrasies of the market under investigation and on the time to maturity of the contract. Despite the existence of a bias in the three‐months prices, futures prices for all maturities are found to provide forecasts of the realized spot prices that are superior to forecasts generated from error correction, ARIMA, exponential smoothing, and random walk models. Hence it appears that users of the BIFFEX market receive accurate signals from the futures prices (regarding the future course of cash prices) and can use the information generated by these prices to guide their physical market decisions. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 19: 353–376, 1999