Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sensitivity Analysis of Empirical Results on Civil War Onset

In the literature on civil war onset, several empirical results are not robust or replicable across studies. Studies use different definitions of civil war and analyze different time periods, so readers cannot easily determine if differences in empirical results are due to those factors or if most empirical results are just not robust. The authors apply a methodology for organized specification tests to check the robustness of empirical results. They isolate causes of variation in empirical results by using the same definition of civil war and analyzing the same time period while systematically exploring the sensitivity of eighty-eight variables used to explain civil war in the literature. Several relationships with the onset of civil wars prove robust: large population and low income levels, low rates of economic growth, recent political instability and inconsistent democratic institutions, small military establishments and rough terrain, and war-prone and undemocratic neighbors. Variables representing ethnic difference in the population are robust only in relation to lower level armed conflict.
Mitogenic response of rat schwann cells to fibroblast growth factors is potentiated by increased intracellular cyclic AMP levels

Rat sciatic nerve Schwann cells either do not proliferate, or proliferate very slowly, in medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). They were previously shown to respond only to a limited number of mitogens associated with cells of central and peripheral nervous systems, which appeared to be distinct from FGFs and PDGF, and to agents that raise intracellular cAMP levels. In a basal medium consisting of 75% DMEM, 25% Ham's F‐12, 5 nM sodium selenite, 50 μM 2‐amino ethanol, and 2 mM histidine, supplemented with 5% FBS, we showed that aFGF, bFGF, and PDGF were all capable of stimulating Schwann cell growth and the stimulation was greatly potentiated by forskolin and dibutyryl‐cAMP. In addition, pretreating culture surface with purified matrix proteins such as laminin, fibronectin, or type 1 collagen, was necessary for obtaining a better cellular response to the mitogenesis of these growth factors even in 10% FBS. Our results clearly indicated that providing a suitable medium and substratum, aFGF, bFGF and PDGF are mitogens for rat sciatic nerve Schwann cells in medium with and without forskolin or dibutyryl‐cAMP.
Determinants of airline choice-making: The Nigerian perspective

This study is on choice decision-making of the Nigerian domestic air transport industry. It is aimed at determining the factors that influences air travellers’ choice of airlines to fly within Nigeria. In doing this, data was collected from air travellers using questionnaires following Likert scale of ranking. This enabled us to obtain the socio-economic characteristics and the airline attributes that helped influenced the air travellers in making their choice of airlines at the selected airports. The data collected were analysed using correlation matrix to check for multi-collinearity problems among the socioeconomic characteristics of air travellers and airline attributes. It was discovered that there exist no multi-collinearity problem. Furthermore, a stepwise regression analysis was carried out to determine the factors/attributes that were significantly influencing air travellers in airline choice decision making. To further verify the result of the regression analysis, a discrete choice-modelling analysis was done using NLOGIT. The both results showed that sex, age, marital status, income, comfort, on-board services, frequency, crew behaviour, fare and power of monopoly were significant variables and therefore influence the choice of airline by air travellers. Recommendations amongst others include airlines should use target marketing to attract more patronage from the different age groups, improve comfort and on-board services, increase frequency on major routes, charge competitive fares and apply the power of monopoly by either serving undeveloped routes or make their products distinct from others in the market and airlines should avail their air travellers more opportunities of purchasing tickets before getting to the airport.
Diversity in Statistical Research Techniques: An Analysis of Refereed Research Articles in the Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing Between 1992 and 2010

ABSTRACT This article reports the findings of a study that analyzes the statistical methods used in articles published in the Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing (JTTM) in the period 1992–2010. A content analysis of 462 articles identified 68 different statistical methods, grouped into 17 categories. Factor analysis and ANOVA/MANOVA were the most commonly used methods, following descriptive statistics. There was a substantial increase in the use of structural equation modeling (SEM) in recently published papers. While a diverse range of statistical methods was used in the articles studied, their application was somewhat unbalanced. More use of multivariate statistical methods for further development of the travel and tourism marketing field is thus proposed. This article is of use to readers seeking to understand the development of statistical methods in travel and tourism marketing research, using JTTM as a case study.
The effects of sustainable development on firms' financial performance – an empirical approach†

This research studies firms' sustainable development in term of economic, environmental and social dimensions and their financial performance, which includes a broader coverage of stakeholder engagement of both sustainability and profitability in a structural equation model (SEM). The secondary data of 311 firms' sustainability scores are analyzed and our observations reveal that (1) the better sustainability performers may have a tendency of positive influence on firm profitability in the same and later periods, (2) a positive reciprocal causality may exist between sustainability and profitability among the better sustainability group, (3) profitability affects corporate sustainability positively in both higher and lower sustainability groups and (4) sustainability influences firm profitability negatively in the lower sustainability group. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
All Credit to Men? Entrepreneurship, Finance, and Gender

Availability of, and access to finance is a critical element to the start–up and consequent performance of any enterprise. Hence, any barriers or impediments to accessing appropriate levels or sources of funding will have an enduring and negative impact upon the performance of affected firms. Although findings have been somewhat inconsistent, there is support for the notion that women entrepreneurs entering self–employment are disadvantaged by their gender. This argument is evaluated through a theoretical analysis of gender using the example of accessing both formal and informal sources of business funding to illustrate how this concept impacts upon women in self–employment.
Axiomatic Characterization of the Quantum Relative Entropy and Free Energy

Building upon work by Matsumoto, we show that the quantum relative entropy with full-rank second argument is determined by four simple axioms: (i) Continuity in the first argument; (ii) the validity of the data-processing inequality; (iii) additivity under tensor products; and (iv) super-additivity. This observation has immediate implications for quantum thermodynamics, which we discuss. Specifically, we demonstrate that, under reasonable restrictions, the free energy is singled out as a measure of athermality. In particular, we consider an extended class of Gibbs-preserving maps as free operations in a resource-theoretic framework, in which a catalyst is allowed to build up correlations with the system at hand. The free energy is the only extensive and continuous function that is monotonic under such free operations.
Getting What You Pay For—Strategic Process Improvement Compensation and Profitability Impact

Profit‐maximizing firm owners who incentivize their managers with a bonus for process improvement create an intentional misalignment of their own objective and management attention. From the viewpoint of a single firm, such a local misalignment can never be profitable, but in this study we take a wider strategic perspective by investigating cost‐reducing process improvements of two firms competing in a Cournot market. We find that the use of a process improvement bonus (by firm A) can be profitable, by affecting the competitor's decision making. Informed about the reward structure at firm A, which provides an incentive for process improvement and thereby for increased production at that firm, the manager of the competing firm (B) is inclined to produce less if the owner of firm B only rewards profit. This leads to a higher profit for firm A. However, we also show that firm B's best strategy is to also offer a process improvement bonus, even if that firm is a cost laggard (with higher costs for process improvement), and that this leads to reduced profit for both firms in many situations unless one of them is sufficiently superior in its ability to improve processes. These results are robust for uncertain process improvement outcomes, multidimensional process improvement decisions, and information asymmetry in the owner–manager relationship.
DNA Content of a Chromosome of Trillium erectum: Effect of Cold Treatment

The DNA (Feulgen) contents of a specific cold-treated (3�C) chromosome and of a control (25�C) were measured by means of photographic-plate microdensitometry. Despite marked morphological alterations in the cold-treated B chromosome of Trillium erectum, its DNA content was unchanged from that of the control.
CAUSES OF ETHNIC CONFLICT: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The article proposes a multi-dimensional conceptual framework for understanding causes of ethnic conflict, specifically focusing on the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I argue that ethnic conflict occurs when a particular set of factors and conditions converge: a major structural crisis; presence of historical memories of inter-ethnic grievances; institutional factors that promote ethnic intolerance; manipulation of historical memories by political entrepreneurs to evoke emotions such as fear, resentment and hate toward the “other”; and an interethnic competition over resources and rights. The article explores a way in which major ethnic conflict theories: primordialist, institutional, political entrepreneurs and competition over resources, can be combined to explain how the interaction of these factors leads to conflict. The goal of the proposed framework is to depart from simplistic explanations of ethnic conflict and provide a basis for a more comprehensive approach to peacebuilding and post-conflict development strategies in ethnically divided societies.
Analysts’ Cash Flow Forecasts and the Decline of the Accruals Anomaly

The accruals anomaly, demonstrated by Sloan (1996), generated significant excess returns consistently for over four decades until 2002, but has apparently weakened in the subsequent period. In this paper, I argue that one factor responsible for this decline is the increasing incidence of analysts’ cash flow forecasts that provides markets with forecasts of future accruals. The negative relationship between accruals and future returns is significantly weaker in the presence of cash flow forecasts. This anomalous relationship becomes weaker with the initiation cash flow forecasts but continues after cash flow forecasts are terminated. Further, the mitigating effect of cash flow forecasts is greater for forecasts that are more accurate. The results are incremental to explanations based on the improved accrual quality, reduced manipulation of special items and restructuring charges and greater investment in accruals strategies by hedge funds and highlight the increasing importance of analysts’ cash flow forecasts in the appropriate valuation of stocks.
Disappointment and Dynamic Consistency in Choice under Uncertainty

The central proposition of disappointment theory is that an individual forms expectations about uncertain prospects, and that if the actual consequence turns out to be worse than (or better than) that expectation, the individual experiences a sensation of disappointment (or elation) generating a decrement (or increment) of utility which modifies the basic utility derived from the consequence. By incorporating a simple disappointment-elation function into a model of individual choice, many observed violations of conventional expected utility axioms—including violations of Savage's sure-thing principle and the "isolation effect"—can be predicted and defended as rational and dynamically consistent behaviour.
Correlation of Microsatellite Instability With Clinicopathologic Features and Survival

Objectives: To evaluate the association of microsatellite instability (MSI) with clinicopathologic features and oncologic outcomes in patients with poorly differentiated colorectal cancer (PD). Methods: Study patients were divided into well-differentiated colorectal cancer (WD) and PD, which were compared according to histologic differentiation and MSI status. Results: Among 1,941 patients, PD was more frequent among microsatellite-unstable tumors (23.6%) than among microsatellite-stable (MSS) tumors (4.2%, P < .001). Patients with PD had worse 4-year overall survival rates than patients with WD (78.6% vs 88.2%, P = 0.010). Compared with MSS-PD tumors, MSI-PD tumors were characterized by right-colon predilection, larger size, and infrequent lymph node metastasis (P < .001 to P = .007). Conclusions: The clinicopathologic characteristics of PD were closely associated with those of MSI. The outcomes of MSI-PD tumors were better than those of MSS-PD tumors, but this finding did not reach statistical significance. The phenomenon of microsatellite instability (MSI), observed in approximately 15% of sporadic colorectal cancers
Presidents and Personal Goals: The Speaker of the House as Nonmajoritarian Leader

Existing theories of congressional politics emphasize partisan incentives for the behavior of formal party leaders in Congress. However, these theories do not persuasively explain important cases in which Speakers of the House have sought to influence legislative outcomes contrary to the policy preferences of their party. I argue that the majority party in the House allows the Speaker to act on behalf of several expectations for leadership that are unrelated or even contrary to partisan goals, including ones related to the agenda of the institutional presidency and the Speaker's personal preferences. As evidence for this claim, I introduce a data set of significant acts of legislative leadership by the Speaker since the 1940s, analyzing several cases from the data set. The findings suggest that our understanding of leadership in Congress may be improved by identifying the formal and informal duties and responsibilities of individual leaders and the broader contextual environment in which such leaders operate.
Measuring the spillover effects: Some Chinese evidence

Abstract. Based on recently developed methods of exploratory spatial data analysis, this article seeks to prove the desired spread effects in the Chinese space economy from a core-periphery perspective. Recently developed methods of exploratory spatial data analysis provide new insights on the spatial pattern of the interaction of Chinese provincial output growth rates over the 1978–1994 period. Findings indicate that the economic spillover effects are most evident at the first order of province contiguity from Guangdong, where the two coastal provinces of Hainan and Guangxi are identified with a significant spread pattern, while non-coastal provinces Hunan and Jiangxi are observed with a strong polarization pattern. A further analysis indicates that the state preferential policies favoring the coastal region are the fundamental force in determining the direction of spread-polarization processes in the Chinese space economy. This finding confirms Friedmann's hypothesis on spatial interaction, namely, that the spread process is a successful diffusion of the core's existing institutions into the periphery.
Racial Redistricting for Minority Representation Without Partisan Bias: A Theoretical Approach

Scholars of American politics have expressed the concern that concentration of minority voters into limited districts in order to promote minority representation induces the partisan perverse effect- of reducing the number of seats won by Democrats. Our theory explains how the perverse effect can occur and demonstrates that racial redistricting generates a tradeoff between the number of minority legislators and the number of Democratic legislators. Our theory suggests that in light of this tradeoff, the diversification of districts as well as the concentration of minorities (second-order diversity-) may be essential for the proportional representation of minorities without partisan electoral bias.
Training Consistent Task Components: Application of Automatic and Controlled Processing Theory to Industrial Task Training

Two experiments were conducted to examine the generality of automatic/controlled processing training principles to rich, complex tasks. In both experiments, subjects' tasks were modeled after a job function performed in the telecommunications industry. These tasks required subjects to process conjunctions of information. Large quantitative and qualitative differences were found between the consistently and variably mapped training conditions. The need for determining trainable consistent components of complex tasks is discussed. The present experiments indicate that theories of automatic and controlled processing can be expanded to include many domains of rich, complex industrial tasks.
Rectal carcinoma: double-contrast MR imaging for preoperative staging.

PURPOSE To evaluate and compare the imaging findings and staging of rectal carcinoma by using conventional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, MR imaging with an enema of superparamagnetic ferristene-based contrast material, and MR imaging with an enema of ferristene solution plus intravenous injection of gadodiamide. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty-nine patients (17 women, 12 men; age range, 39-91 years) referred with a diagnosis of rectal carcinoma were examined. Analysis of the rectal wall and staging of the tumor were performed. In all patients, the MR imaging findings were correlated with the histopathologic findings. RESULTS The contrast material enema caused distention of the rectum and an intraluminal signal void, whereas the gadodiamide injection caused enhancement of the mucosa on T1-weighted images. This enhancement enabled evaluation of the normal rectal wall and differentiation of the mucosa, tunica muscularis, and perirectal space, which was not possible on the nonenhanced images. Double-contrast (ferristene solution plus gadodiamide) MR imaging was superior to imaging with only ferristene-based contrast material and had a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 70%, and accuracy of 90% in distinguishing tumor stages worse than Dukes A. CONCLUSION Double contrast material-enhanced MR imaging enables accurate rectal carcinoma staging, which is not possible at nonenhanced imaging.
A copper-methionine interaction controls the pH-dependent activation of peptidylglycine monooxygenase.

The pH dependence of native peptidylglycine monooxygenase (PHM) and its M314H variant has been studied in detail. For wild-type (WT) PHM, the intensity of the Cu-S interaction visible in the Cu(I) extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) data is inversely proportional to catalytic activity over the pH range of 3-8. A previous model based on more limited data was interpreted in terms of two protein conformations involving an inactive Met-on form and an active flexible Met-off form [Bauman, A. T. , et al. (2006) Biochemistry 45, 11140-11150] that derived its catalytic activity from the ability to couple into vibrational modes critical for proton tunneling. The new studies comparing the WT and M314H variant have led to the evolution of this model, in which the Met-on form has been found to be derived from coordination of an additional Met residue, rather than a more rigid conformer of M314 as previously proposed. The catalytic activity of the mutant decreased by 96% because of effects on both k(cat) and K(M), but it displayed the same activity-pH profile with a maximum around pH 6. At pH 8, the reduced Cu(I) form gave spectra that could be simulated by replacement of the Cu(M) Cu-S(Met) interaction with a Cu-N/O interaction, but the data did not unambiguously assign the ligand to the imidazole side chain of H314. At pH 3.5, the EXAFS still showed the presence of a strong Cu-S interaction, establishing that the Met-on form observed at low pH in WT cannot be due to a strengthening of the Cu(M)-methionine interaction but must arise from a different Cu-S interaction. Therefore, lowering the pH causes a conformational change at one of the Cu centers that brings a new S donor residue into a favorable orientation for coordination to copper and generates an inactive form. Cys coordination is unlikely because all Cys residues in PHM are engaged in disulfide cross-links. Sequence comparison with the PHM homologues tyramine β-monooxygenase and dopamine β-monooxygenase suggests that M109 (adjacent to H site ligands H107 and H108) is the most likely candidate. A model is presented in which H108 is protonated with a pK(a) of 4.6 to generate the inactive low-pH form with Cu(H) coordinated by M109, H107, and H172.
Multinational Production, Absorptive Capacity, and Endogenous R&D Spillovers

Do R&D spillovers have an impact on whether firms choose to go multinational or not? We present a three-stage Cournot duopoly model, which identifies under what conditions firms choose to service a foreign market through exports or localized production. The establishment of a foreign subsidiary improves the ability to learn from foreign R&D since spillovers are strongly moderated by geographical distance. We explicitly model the concept of absorptive capacity, where gains from spillovers are determined by own R&D investments. With exogenous R&D investments, the absorptive capacity effect contributes to increase the gains from going multinational when the firm is R&D-intensive. However, if R&D investments are endogenous, only medium-sized absorptive capacity effects will result in firms going multinational. Furthermore, higher spillover rates do not necessarily drive down R&D and profits for the multinational firm. This stands in contrast to models that ignore absorptive capacity effects.
Electrooptic probe based on an organic microcavity

We present the concept of an electrooptic (EO) probe based on a thin organic layer of DR1-PMMA embedded in a high finesse Fabry-Pe/spl acute/rot cavity with optimal orientation of the DR1 molecules, parallel to the faces of the microcavity. This optimal orientation is obtained through a lateral poling method and an r/sub 33/ value of 2.5 pm/V is reached for a 16-/spl mu/m-thick DR1-PMMA layer. This EO probe shows a high sensitivity of 2 V/spl middot/cm/sup -1//spl middot/Hz/sup -1/2/.