Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inside Organizations and Out. Methodological Tenets for Empirical Research Inspired by Systems Theory

Este trabajo se centra en como la investigacion organizacional inspirada en la teoria de sistemas de Niklas LUHMANN puede enmarcarse epistemologicamente y disenarse metodologicamente. Se discuten los principales pilares metodologicos, tales como: los analisis estructurales y semanticos, la observacion de las contingencias, la explicacion de trivialidades, el analisis funcional y el estudio de los mecanismos de acoplamiento. A partir de varios estudios empiricos, demostramos que la teoria de sistemas es un marco muy eficaz para el estudio de las organizaciones modernas, ya que permite una perspectiva de observacion poco comun que es capaz de cuestionar lo que se suele dar por sentado. Por ultimo, destacamos como la gestion puede obtener beneficios de la investigacion teorica de sistemas en las organizaciones. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1003165
Credit, Misallocation and TFP: The case of Mexico (2003-2010)

We study the relation between misallocation of resources, TFP and credit conditions using sectoral data from Mexican manufacturing industries between 2003 and 2010. We use a theory-based framework to account for TFP changes in the Mexican manufacturing sector due to changes in distortions in the use of capital, labor and intermediates arising from financial frictions. We show that these distortions account for a large fraction of aggregate TFP changes in the period. We also find empirically that changes in distortions in the data are driven by changes in the availability and the cost of credit.
Metabolic Syndrome and Coronary Artery Disease in Indians Younger Than 40 Years

Background: Indians have highest risk rates of coronary artery disease (CAD) amongst all ethnic groups. The impact of metabolic syndrome (MS) has not been studied, especially in the young. This study analyzes the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its various components in young Indians with CAD. Methods : The study was conducted at a tertiary teaching hospital in New Delhi. A retrospective case record analysis of 403 patients presenting acutely with young (age less than or equal to 40 year) CAD during the period Jan 2005 - Dec 2009 was done. The criterion advocated by International Diabetes Federation (IDF) consensus 2005 was used for diagnosing patients with MS. The data was then used to find the prevalence of derangement of various metabolic parameters in all patients and in those with MS. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS v.17. Results: Patients (246) were selected for study. Metabolic syndrome was present in 66 patients (26.8%). In patients with young CAD low HDL was found in 171 (69.5%), raised triglycerides 103 patients (41.9%), hypertension in 55 patients (22.4%) and impaired fasting glucose / diabetes mellitus in 54 patients (21.9%); 187 (75.6 %) patients had history of smoking; 64 patients (26.0%) had a family history of young cardiovascular disorders; 13 females out of 28 (46.4%) and 53 males out of 218 (24.3%) met criteria for diagnosis of MS. Prevalence of MS in females was significantly more than males (P less than 0.02). Among 66 patients diagnosed with MS, low HDL was seen in 52 patients (78.8%), raised triglycerides in 49 patients (74.2%), hypertension in 36 patients (54.5%) and dysglycemia in 35 patients (53.0%); 47 patients (71.2%) had history of smoking. A positive family history of premature cardiovascular disorders was present in 26 patients (39.4%). Among patients with young CAD, prevalence of smoking was more in males compared to female patients (P less than 0.005) whereas hypertension and obesity in were noted more often in female patients (P less than 0.005). Conclusions: This study confirms a high prevalence of MS in patients with young CAD. This study also underlies the importance of smoking and dyslipidemia as primary targets for effective prevention of CAD and MS in young Indians. doi:10.4021/jem81e
The internal structure of the Sun inferred from g modes and low-frequency p modes

The Phoebus group is an international collaboration of helioseismologists, its aim being to detect low-frequency solar g modes. Here, we report on recent work, including the development and application of new techniques based on the detection of coincidences in contemporaneous datasets and the asymptotic properties of the g-mode frequencies. The length of the time series available to the community is now more than ten years, and this has reduced significantly the upper detection limits on the gmode amplitudes. Furthermore, low-degree p modes can now be detected clearly at frequencies below 1000 μHz.
Exploring the Effect of Consumers’ Food-Related Decision Making Styles on National Brand vs. Store Brand Choice

It is important for marketers to understand individualsi¯ buying decisions in a competitive environment. The concept of decision making style is one of the key determinants of consumersi¯ behavioral patterns. This study aims to explore the effects of consumersi¯ decision making styles on buying national and store brand food products. To examine consumer decision making styles, Sproles & Kendalli¯s (1986) The Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) is adopted for the study. The framework of the study is based on eight consumer decision making styles, expected to shape consumersi¯ national and store brand choices on food products. The empirical analysis is based on data obtained from consumers living in K? r? ehir, a city in Turkey. Questionnaires are handed over to customers of retail stores both selling national and their own brands. The sample consists of 400 customers. The data is gathered by using convenience sampling and face-to-face survey methods. Multiple regression analysis is used to test some hypotheses of the research and to compare consumersi¯ national and store brand choices in the context of their decision-making styles. Besides, independent samples t-test and one way ANOVA are also used to see whether national and store brand choices significantly differs in demographic characteristics. The results of the study reveal that lower price seeking, habituation/brand loyalty, recreation consciousness and impulsiveness/carelessness have significant effects on the choice of store brand food product, whereas novelty/fashion consciousness, confused by over choice and value seeking have statistically significant effects on consumersi¯ choices of national brand food products. Lower price seeking is found to have the strongest effect on consumersi¯ store brand choices, whereas novelty fashion consciousness has the strongest effect on national brand food product choice. Besides, both store and national brand food product choices differ according to gender and income level.
SELF MEDICATION PATTERN AMONG DENTISTS WITH ANTIBIOTICS

AIM: Self medication with antibiotics has become a common practice among people, and more so among those with medical background. Dentists are one group who have knowledge and accessibility to antibiotics. Hence this study was aimed at knowing the prevalence of self medication with antibiotics among dentists reasons for not visiting the physician. RESULT: Prevalence rate of self medication among dentist was 78.18%. Most common cause for self medication were common cold, tooth ache and sore throat. Most common antibiotic used was azithromycin next to ampicillin. Most common reason for not visiting doctor was that participants were themselves a doctor. CONCLUSION: Though dentists have knowledge about antibiotics, knowledge on appropriate usage of antibiotics is poor. This may have a bad impact on practice. Hence they have to overcome the ego and take proper advice from physician which may help the community in curbing antibiotic resistance The only limitation of the study was small sample size as dentists from only two colleges were considered. There is a need for study in large number of
STUDY OF SHEAR BEHAVIOUR OF HIGH PERFORMANCE CONCRETE USING PUSHOFF TESTS

ARTICLE INFO A B S T R A C T Article history : Accepted: May 2011 Available online: July 2011 High Performance Concrete has great potential according to recent studies conducted around the world. The paper presents push#off tests conducted to determine the influence of transversal reinforcement on the shear behaviour of High Performance Concrete with a compressive strength of 100MPa. Three elements were tested, two of them had shear reinforcement in the form of closed stirrups made of S500 steel, with a characteristic yield strength, fyk = 500MPa, spaced 100mm apart. The third element had no shear reinforcement.
Giardia intestinalis infection associated with malnutrition in children living in northeastern Brazil.

INTRODUCTION The present study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with Giardia intestinalis infection, verifying its impact on the nutritional status of children in northeastern Brazil. METHODOLOGY A cross-sectional study was conducted to obtain parasitological, sociodemographic, and anthropometric data in two municipalities in the states of Piauí and Ceará, northeastern Brazil. RESULTS Prevalence of giardiasis was 55/511 (10.8%). G. intestinalis was more frequent in people living in poverty (30/209 [14.4%], p = 0.041), performing open evacuation (26/173 [15%], p = 0.034), and drinking rainwater stored in cisterns (9/56 [16.1%], p = 0.005). The proportion of stunting and being underweight in children infected with G. intestinalis was significantly higher than that in uninfected children (5/23 [21.7%] vs. 10/179 [5.6%], p = 0.017, OR = 4.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.44-15.25 and 5/23 [21.7%] vs. 13/179 [7.3%], p = 0.038, OR = 3.54, 95% CI = 1.13-11.09, respectively). Infection with G. intestinalis remained significantly associated with stunting and being underweight after adjustment for poverty, municipality, sex, and age in a logistic regression multivariate model. CONCLUSIONS In rural areas in northeastern Brazil, giardiasis has acquired great public health importance in the soil-transmitted helminths control era, impacting the nutritional status of children and requiring new approaches to diagnosis and treatment and translational research that could generate applicable solutions at the community level.
The Equity Premium and the One Percent

We show that in a general equilibrium model with heterogeneity in risk aversion or belief, shifting wealth from an agent who holds comparatively fewer stocks to one who holds more reduces the equity premium. From an empirical view, the rich hold more stocks, so inequality should predict excess stock market returns. Consistent with our theory, we find that when the U.S. top ($\textrm{e.g.}$, 1%) income share rises, subsequent 1-year excess market returns significantly decline. This negative relation is robust to controlling for classic return predictors, predicting out-of-sample, and instrumenting inequality with estate tax rate changes. It also holds in international markets.Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.
Tianeptine: An Atypical Antidepressant with Multimodal Pharmacology

Background: Tianeptine is an atypical antidepressant marketed as Stablon since the late 1980’s. While chemically very similar to tricyclic antidepressants, tianeptine was thought to have the apparently paradoxical mechanism of action of enhancing serotonin reuptake. However, recent data highlight a multimodal pharmacology for tianeptine including actions at glutamatergic synapses (inhibiting NMDA receptors and an indirect effect on AM-PA receptors) coupled with agonist effects at mu opioid receptors (-receptors). Objective: We have reviewed clinical and preclinical data for tianeptine to provide a compre-hensive study of its pharmacology. Results: Clinical trials show that tianeptine is at least as efficacious as first-line antidepres-sant treatments, with improved tolerability as it is significantly less prone to disrupting the patient's normal functionality. Tianeptine appears more efficacious in males than females, although these gender-specific differences may be accounted for by pharmacokinetics. Pre-clinical data suggest that the ability to stabilise glutamatergic neurotransmission may underlie tianeptine’s ability to improve cognitive function and anxiety-related symptoms. Alternative-ly, μ-receptor activation of the mTOR signalling pathway could lead tianeptine to be a fast-acting antidepressant. Agonist actions at μ-receptors could also explain the potential abuse li-ability and dependence issues seen with high dose tianeptine. Conclusion: Tianeptine itself is off patent, but it still holds much promise as an experimental tool yielding valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying depression.
Impact of procurement systems on transaction costs: a structural equation modelling methodology

Within construction procurement, Transaction cost economics (TCE) offers a mechanism to understand ‘unseen’ costs associated with the pre and post-contract work. Pre-contract, these include costs related to information gathering and procurement. Post-contract they include activities of contract administration and enforcement. This paper aims to estimate transaction costs (TCs) for different delivery systems used in construction projects in New Zealand, specifically the Traditional and Design-Build. This study develops a conceptual model for the relationship between project delivery systems and TCs. The model was operationalized and developed into a questionnaire. A crosssectional sample approach was deployed, involving pilot and survey questionnaires. Data was sought from construction professionals in management, design and operations. TCs were measured using professionals’ time-spent in procurement as a surrogate for cost. Using using a Likert-Scale 1-5 in evaluation, comparing the Traditional and Design-Build systems. Data was triangulated with ‘real world’ cases to test and explain the developed model. The test included Validity and Reliability, Path Analysis, Regression Analysis, Factor Analysis, and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The primary analytical technique used was SEM to yield information on Goodness-of-Fit, model development and comparison, and confirmatory strategies. SPSS Amos 21 was used for data analysis and model development. The results suggest that project delivery systems have indirect effect on TCs. This effect is fully mediated by the costs of information, procurement, administration, and enforcement. Applying the developed models to ‘real world’ cases, it was found that TCs in the Traditional systems amounts to 18.5% of the annual salary cost of a project manager, while in the NEW ZEALAND BUILT ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM Shaping future directions for collaborative built environment research and practice in New Zealand Rajeh, M. (2014). Impact of procurement systems on transaction costs: A structural equation modelling methodology. Proceedings of the 4th New Zealand Built Environment Research Symposium (NZBERS). Auckland, New Zealand. 14 November. ISSN 2324-1829 (Online). 2 Design-Build systems, it amounts to 14.5% of the annual salary cost of a project manager. The findings have practical implications on construction business practice due to their robust empirical nature and theoretical framework, which might enhance the performance of the construction industry.
Toluidine blue staining as a rapid measure for initiation of oocyte growth and fertility in Varroa jacobsoni Oud.

A whole mount method was used to determine the moment of activation of oocyte growth in Varroa jacobsonifemales. Ovaries of the mites were dissected and stained with toluidine blue. The coloration of the terminal oocyte indicates the uptake of euplasmatic and/or yolk material and, there- fore, the initiation of the reproductive phase. In phoretic mites from adult bees, no staining of the ovary could be detected. V. jacobsoni females artificially introduced into freshly capped brood cells and removed for dissection 6 h later already showed clear blue staining of the terminal oocyte. The ovaries of V. jacobsoni females introduced 14 h after capping of the brood cell, however, remained uncolored after incubation in toluidine blue. We conclude that, in phoretic mites, oogenesis is arrested at a previtellogenic phase. Immediately after invasion of the brood cell, reproduction is activated by an as yet unknown host factor. This factor is present in freshly capped brood cells but not in brood cells 14 h after capping. Our new method offers new possibilities for the exact determination of oocyte growth and, therefore, for the study of V. jacobsoni fertility in different host and parasite populations. Varroa jacobsoni / host-parasite relationship / vitellogenesis / oogenesis / fertility / reproduction
Large-Scale Dynamic Predictive Regressions

We develop a novel "decouple-recouple" dynamic predictive strategy and contribute to the literature on forecasting and economic decision making in a data-rich environment. Under this framework, clusters of predictors generate different latent states in the form of predictive densities that are later synthesized within an implied time-varying latent factor model. As a result, the latent inter-dependencies across predictive densities and biases are sequentially learned and corrected. Unlike sparse modeling and variable selection procedures, we do not assume a priori that there is a given subset of active predictors, which characterize the predictive density of a quantity of interest. We test our procedure by investigating the predictive content of a large set of financial ratios and macroeconomic variables on both the equity premium across different industries and the inflation rate in the U.S., two contexts of topical interest in finance and macroeconomics. We find that our predictive synthesis framework generates both statistically and economically significant out-of-sample benefits while maintaining interpretability of the forecasting variables. In addition, the main empirical results highlight that our proposed framework outperforms both LASSO-type shrinkage regressions, factor based dimension reduction, sequential variable selection, and equal-weighted linear pooling methodologies.
Corruption in the European Union and the Responsibility of European Institutions

Corruption is one of the most concerningproblems of the contemporary societies. It isespecially a serious issue for countries in transitionto democracy. Romania is one of the caseswhere corruption seems to be a problem that hasno solutions. Much emphasis was placed on theimprovement of the functioning of justice, andsome positive signs seemed to appear in the lastfew years. But justice is like a surgeon who iscutting but is hardly putting something instead.Therefore, I am advocating that an emphasisshould be placed on the development of a soundcivil service that will ensure an improved ethicalconduct in the public service.
Oxygen and indicators of stress for marine life in multi-model global warming projections

Decadal-to-century scale trends for a range of marine environmental variables in the upper mesopelagic layer (UML, 100–600 m) are investigated using results from seven Earth System Models forced by a high greenhouse gas emission scenario. The models as a class represent the observation-based distribution of oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2), albeit major mismatches between observation-based and simulated values remain for individual models. By year 2100 all models project an increase in SST between 2 °C and 3 °C, and a decrease in the pH and in the saturation state of water with respect to calcium carbonate minerals in the UML. A decrease in the total ocean inventory of dissolved oxygen by 2% to 4% is projected by the range of models. Projected O2 changes in the UML show a complex pattern with both increasing and decreasing trends reflecting the subtle balance of different competing factors such as circulation, production, remineralization, and temperature changes. Projected changes in the total volume of hypoxic and suboxic waters remain relatively small in all models. A widespread increase of CO2 in the UML is projected. The median of the CO2 distribution between 100 and 600m shifts from 0.1–0.2 mol m−3 in year 1990 to 0.2–0.4 mol m−3 in year 2100, primarily as a result of the invasion of anthropogenic carbon from the atmosphere. The co-occurrence of changes in a range of environmental variables indicates the need to further investigate their synergistic impacts on marine ecosystems and Earth System feedbacks.
Exploring the Potential of Wrist-Worn Gesture Sensing

This thesis aims to explore the potential of wrist-worn gesture sensing. There has been a large amount of work on gesture recognition in the past utilizing different kinds of sensors. However, gesture sets tested across different work were all different, making it hard to compare them. Also, there has not been enough work on understanding what types of gestures are suitable for wrist-worn devices. Our work addresses these two problems and makes two main contributions compared to previous work: the specification of larger gesture sets, which were verified through an elicitation study generated by combining previous work; and an evaluation of the potential of gesture sensing with wrist-worn sensors. We developed a gesture recognition system, WristRec, which is a low-cost wrist-worn device utilizing bend sensors for gesture recognition. The design of WristRec aims to measure the tendon movement at the wrist while people perform gestures. We conducted a four-part study to verify the validity of the approach and the extent of gestures which can be detected using a wrist-worn system. During the initial stage, we verified the feasibility of WristRec using the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm to perform gesture classification on a group of 5 gestures, the gesture set of the MYO armband. Next, we conducted an elicitation study to understand the trade-offs between hand, wrist, and arm gestures. The study helped us understand the type of gestures which wrist-worn system should be able to recognize. It also served as the base of our gesture set and our evaluation on the gesture sets used in the previous research. To evaluate the overall potential of wrist-worn recognition, we explored the design of hardware to recognize gestures by contrasting an Inertial measurement unit (IMU) only recognizer (the Serendipity system of Wen et al.) with our system. We assessed accuracies on a consensus gesture set and on a 27-gesture referent set, both extracted from the result of our elicitation study. Finally, we discuss the implications of our work both to the comparative evaluation of systems and to the design of enhanced hardware sensing.