Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simulation of one‐dimensional blood flow in networks of human vessels using a novel TVD scheme

An extension of a total variation diminishing (TVD) scheme to solve one‐dimensional (1D) blood flow for human circulation is proposed. This method is simple as it involves only a few modifications to existing shock‐capturing TVD schemes. We have applied the method to a wide range of test cases including a complete simulation of the human vascular network. Excellent solutions have been demonstrated for problems involving varying and discontinuous mechanical properties of blood vessels. For 1D network simulations, the method has been shown to agree well with the reported computational results. Finally, the method has been demonstrated to compare favorably with in vivo experiments set up to study the impact of circle of Willis anomalies on flow patterns in the cerebral arterial system. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Consumer response to gift promotions

Purpose: The objective of this paper is to better understand the factors that influence consumers' responses toward gift promotions. Specifically, the aim is to analyse four variables: the nature of the promoted product, the fit between the product and the gift, the type of brand used in the promotion and the deal-proneness. Design/methodology/approach: In an experimental context, 247 subjects were randomly assigned to a 2 (product type: utilitarian vs hedonic)×2 (gift type: utilitarian vs hedonic)×2 (brand type: high equity vs medium equity) between-subjects factorial design. Findings: Results indicate that the nature of the promoted product does not influence consumer response. Overall evaluation of gift promotions is more favourable when simultaneously the brand promoted has high equity and the fit between the promoted product and the gift is high. Offering a gift that fits with the product and using high equity brands is a wise strategy to positively influence purchase intentions. Findings also show that deal proneness has a positive impact on purchase intentions. Research limitations/implications: A limited set of product categories, gifts and brands were used. Future research should also examine other variables and use a representative sample. Practical implications: Findings provide useful guidelines for the design of gift promotions. Originality/value: Most previous research has focused on monetary promotions with little about non-monetary promotions. This paper addresses this gap by analysing consumers' responses to gift promotions incorporating key determinants in the analysis.
Posterior interatrial muscular connection between the coronary sinus and left atrium: anatomic and functional study of the coronary sinus with multidetector CT.

PURPOSE To demonstrate coronary sinus-left atrium connections and evaluate coronary sinus function and anatomy in detail by using multidetector computed tomography (CT). MATERIALS AND METHODS In this institutional review board-approved retrospective study, the authors evaluated coronary CT angiograms obtained in 65 patients with normal sinus rhythm (normal group) and seven with atrial fibrillation at CT (atrial fibrillation group). Coronary sinus-right atrium muscle continuity was indirectly evaluated by measuring the length of the coronary sinus contraction during atrial systole. The length, number, and extent of coronary sinus-left atrium connections were recorded. The accuracy of CT was validated by comparing microscopic images of autopsied hearts with corresponding CT images. Comparisons were performed by using Student t tests for continuous variables. P ≤ . 05 was considered indicative of a statistically significant difference. RESULTS In the normal group, coronary sinus contraction was seen in 60 of the 65 patients (92%, mean length ± standard deviation, 25.7 mm ± 8.0). The coronary sinus narrowed 26% from middiastole to atrial systole (P < .0001). Coronary sinus-left atrium muscle connections were seen in 58 of the 65 patients (89%). A single connection was seen in 43 of the 65 patients (66%), with a mean length of 21.0 mm ± 14.0 within 12.0 mm ± 11.0 of the coronary sinus ostium. In 10 of the 43 patients (26%) with single connections, the connection extended to the coronary sinus ostium. In 10 of the 65 patients (15%), the entire coronary sinus was attached to the left atrial wall. Fifteen patients (23%) had two connections; distal connections measured 9 mm ± 2.4 in length within 2.2 mm ± 3.8 of the coronary sinus ostium, and proximal connections measured 15.4 mm ± 10.0 in length within 24.0 mm ± 8.0 of the coronary sinus ostium. In seven patients (11%), no coronary sinus-left atrium connection was seen; however, all showed a coronary sinus constriction during atrial systole, indicating that coronary sinus-right atrium muscle continuity is likely the primary cause for coronary sinus contractions. In the atrial fibrillation group, no coronary sinus contraction was seen. All images in the atrial fibrillation group showed a coronary sinus-left atrium connection, which was single in five patients and double in two. The area of the coronary sinus during diastole was larger in the atrial fibrillation group than in the normal group (114 mm(2) ± 37 vs 77 mm(2) ± 40, respectively; P = . 02). CONCLUSION CT can provide excellent information about coronary sinus function and coronary sinus-left atrium muscle connections.
Cardiac Remote Ischemic Preconditioning Prior to Elective Major Vascular Surgery (CRIPES): Study Design and Rationale

Background: Vascular surgery is considered a high-risk operation with an anticipated perioperative risk of serious cardiac ischemic complications in excess of 10%. One potential strategy for reduction of myocardial ischemia during the perioperative period is Remote Ischemic Preconditioning (RIPC). Design: The Cardiac Remote Ischemic Preconditioning Prior to Elective Vascular Surgery (CRIPES, NCT: 01558596) is a prospective, randomized, sham-controlled phase 2 trial using RIPC prior to elective vascular surgery. CRIPES plans to enroll and treat 180 patients over 4 years and gather safety and efficacy data for one-month after surgery. Preliminary estimates for two potential measures of efficacy will be examined: 1) a two-part test of postsurgical increases in cardiac troponin I as a measure of myonecrosis and 2) the proportion of patients in each treatment arm meeting the universal definition of myocardial infarction. Discussion: Knowledge gained from the CRIPES study will help inform further testing of RIPC prior to non-cardiac surgery.
The comparative analysis of TQM practices and quality performance between manufacturing and service firms

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine the difference between manufacturing and service firms with respect to the implementation of total quality management (TQM) practices, and the relationship of these practices to quality performance.Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data were collected from 194 managers of Australian firms with an approximately equal proportion of manufacturing and service firms.Findings – The finding indicates no significant difference in the level of most of TQM practices and quality performance between the two sectors. This supports the positive argument concerning the applicability of TQM practices in the service firms despite several differences in the nature of their operations compared to their manufacturing counterparts. Furthermore, using structural equation modelling (SEM) technique, this study has shown that TQM construct based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) criteria is valid across both industry sectors, and its relationship with quality pe.
Ambiguity in Corporate Finance: Real Investment Dynamics

We examine ambiguity in a model of corporate investment with follow up expansion and contraction options. We compare two specific multi-prior representations of ambiguity: Gilboa and Schmeidler’s (1989) Minimum Expected Utility (MEU) that relies on complete preferences and Bewley’s (1986) Expected Utility (BEU) that relies on incomplete preferences. We show that these two approaches deliver significantly different predictions for real investment decisions. MEU predicts reluctance to expand and eagerness to abandon. BEU predicts reluctance to both expand and abandon projects, consistent with “escalating commitment. ” Moreover, anticipation of future reluctance to abandon may induce BEU entrepreneurs to forego initial investment altogether. We show that financial contracts, such as convertible bonds, can offset the reluctance to abandon and thereby enable the initial investment. Importantly, because BEU captures group decisions making under unanimity, the framework is well suited to guide empirical and theoretical studies of team decisions at the corporate level. More broadly, we argue that ambiguity matters for corporate finance because it emerges from the natural incompleteness of preferences of a heterogeneous corporate board.
The Effects of the Information Disclosure and Transparency Rankings System on Earnings Management

Abstract In an attempt to achieve greater transparency and disclosure, the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation (TSEC) and the GreTai Securities Market (GTSM) implemented an information disclosure and transparency rankings system (IDTRS) for all listed companies in Taiwan. This study examines whether the implementation of IDTRS reduces earnings manipulation by firms and whether the manipulation practice changes after the ranking scheme was revised in 2005. Furthermore, we analyze the impact of information disclosure rankings on earnings manipulation in different ranking schemes and investigate the relationship between changes in disclosure rankings and changes in earnings management. The empirical results indicate that accruals-based earnings management and real activities manipulation can be effectively reduced by the ranking system and that the level of information disclosure in different ranking schemes is negatively related to earnings management. Comparing firms with a transparency ranking downgrade, we show that firms with a ranking upgrade tend to exhibit a significant decrease in their earnings management activities.
Financial Valuation and Risk Management Working Paper No . 159 Market and Currency Risk Premia during Financial and Political Crises : An Asset Pricing Perspective

This empirical study analyzes market and currency risk premia during financial and political crises within the theoretical framework of the international asset pricing model of Adler and Dumas (1983). The econometric specification extends the multivariate GARCH approach of De Santis and Gerard (1998) including asymmetric shocks and off-diagonal elements in the GARCH specification. The framework is applied to weekly equity data for Switzerland, the Undited Kingdom, Japan, the United States and Germany. Market risk is measured against the world market and currency risk against the deposits in Swiss franc, British pound, Japanese yen and the US dollar from the perspective of a German investor. Asset pricing tests confirm the previous evidence of significant time-varying market and currency risk premia. The market prices of risk and risk premia are both statistically and economically significant and can be explained relative to the historical background of the last two decades. We formally analyze the impact of financial and political crises on market prices of risk and risk premia. This leads us to examine whether some of the currencies can be characterized as a safe haven, i.e. expected risk premia fall during market turmoil, since investors are willing to forgo some return for this insurance. This conjecture is confirmed for the Swiss franc by the empirical results. JEL classification: C32; F30; G12; G15
Gender, Jobs and Working Conditions in the European Union.

OFFICE FOR OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES L-2985 Luxembourg G eder, Jbs nd W oking C onitions in he Eupean U nion The growing proportion of women in employment in recent decades has been one of the major changes affecting the European labour market. However, despite the increasing presence of women in the labour force, gender segregation remains a persistent feature. There is still a ‘glass ceiling’ reinforced by workplace cultures and informal procedures that makes it difficult for women to break through into the higher levels of management. The unequal division of unpaid household work also persists, as women continue to bear the main responsibility for running the home and looking after children, even when employed full-time.
Development and Technologies for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Infoexclusion ( DSAI 2015 ) WebHelpDyslexia : A Browser Extension to Adapt Web Content for People With Dyslexia

The Web is an essential resource widely used by many organizations, affecting the lives of countless people. Thus, it is essential to ensure that Websites are accessible in order for people with disabilities to enjoy all its benefits. Many studies have been dedicated to investigate Web accessibility issues for users with visual or motor disabilities. However, comparatively fewer studies have addressed accessibility for users with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia. Furthermore, few tools provide support for dyslexic users during reading and browsing in Web content. The present study involved the design and implementation of a prototype extension for a Web browser that offers customization features of Web pages, based on requirements from problems encountered by users with dyslexia in related studies in the literature. The research involved the design, implementation and a preliminary user evaluation involving users with dyslexia in two iterative cycles. The implemented prototype included features to adjust layout characteristics of text and other features identified by means of feedback from users to aid concentration and dealing with difficult words, such as a “reading ruler”. The results obtained from this study highlighted the importance of providing further support in user agents to help dyslexic users and provide tools to help with linguistic issues. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of the 6th International Conference on Software Development and Technologies for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion (DSAI 2015).
Relationalism in marketing channels and marketing strategy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between marketing strategy types – aggressive marketing, price leadership and product specialization strategies – and the extent of relationalism in marketing channels.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected using a self‐administered survey from managers responsible for marketing and channels management in US pharmaceutical firms. The responses to the questions capturing focal constructs were measured using a five‐point Likert type scale. Data were analyzed using Principal Component Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling procedures.Findings – Aggressive marketing strategy and price leadership strategy are positively associated with the level of relationalism in marketing channels. In contrast, product specialization (focus) strategy is negatively associated with the level of relationalism in marketing channels.Originality/value – The relationship between marketing strategy and the emergent relationalism among marketing channel.
Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis, South Korea, 2013

We report a patient with human granulocytic anaplasmosis in South Korea. The patient had fever and thrombocytopenia. Human granulocytic anaplasmosis was confirmed by seroconversion, PCR, and sequence analysis for Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Morulae were observed in the cultured HL-60 cells inoculated with blood from the patient.
Customer satisfaction and retention: the experiences of individual employees

The purpose of this study was to explore how the employees of a company experience the concepts of customer satisfaction and retention. A phenomenological method was used, allowing the informants’ own interpretations to be discovered. Satisfaction was discussed from three perspectives: definition of the concept, how to recognise when a customer is satisfied, and how to enhance satisfaction. The informants’ experience pertaining to these three categories varied, and a total of seven ways to define, recognise or enhance satisfaction were discovered. These were: service, feeling, chemistry, relationship and confidence, dialogue, complaints and retention. All except the first two of these categories of experience were found to enhance retention, implying that the informants have found that strategies for enhancing both satisfaction and retention are similar. The strongest connection between retention and satisfaction strategies turned out to be in terms of relationship and confidence.
Actin and fimbrin are required for the internalization step of endocytosis in yeast.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, alpha‐factor is internalized by receptor‐mediated endocytosis and transported via vesicular intermediates to the vacuole where the pheromone is degraded. Using beta‐tubulin and actin mutant strains, we showed that actin plays a direct role in receptor‐mediated internalization of alpha‐factor, but is not necessary for transport from the endocytic intermediates to the vacuole. beta‐tubulin mutant strains showed no defect in these processes. In addition, cells lacking the actin‐binding protein, Sac6p, which is the yeast fimbrin homologue, are defective for internalization of alpha‐factor suggesting that actin filament bundling might be required for this step. The actin dependence of endocytosis shows some interesting similarities to endocytosis from the apical membrane in polarized mammalian cells.
A Meta-Analysis of Genetically Modified Food Valuation Studies

A plethora of research in recent years has been devoted to estimating consumer demand for genetically modified food, an important piece of information needed to create appropriate public policy. To examine this body of work, a meta-analysis was conducted of 25 studies that, in aggregate, report 57 valuations for GM food. Findings indicate as much as 89% of the variation in existing value estimates for genetically modified food can be explained by an econometric model that controls for (a) the characteristics of the sample of consumers studied, (b) the method for eliciting consumers' valuation, and (c) characteristics of the food being valued. Each of these factors has a statistically significant effect on estimated premiums for non-GM food. Results of this study effectively summarize the extant literature on consumer demand for genetically modified food and permit the creation of some stylized facts that are not conditional on the results of one particular study. This paper also illustrates the effect of methodological choices on valuation estimates and reports a model which allows researchers and policy makers to quickly generate valuation measures for use in marketing or cost benefit analysis.
Securitisation Bubbles: Structured Finance with Disagreement About Default Correlations

The early 2000s have seen an enormous boom and bust in structured financial products, such as residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBSs) or collateralised debt obligations (CDOs). The standard 'Gaussian Copula' model used to quantify their credit risk was highly dependent on the choice of a single default correlation parameter that often required subjective judgement, as underlying assets were not standardised or only had a short history. This paper shows how moderate disagreement about default correlation increases the market value of the structured collateral considerably above that of its total cash-flow, as investors self-select into buying tranches they value more highly than others. The implied 'return to tranching' is sizeable for a typical RMBS, and an order of magnitude larger for CDOs backed by RMBS-tranches, whose cash-flow distribution is not bounded by a minimum recovery value and thus more sensitive to heterogeneous default correlations. In contrast, disagreement about average default probabilities, or recovery values, does not imply a large return to tranching.
HR and the Bottom-Line: The Impact of High Performance Work Systems

In recent times, several researchers have concerned themselves with the impact of human resource activities on an organization's bottom-line. In this connection, it has been argued that implementing high performance work systems (HPWSs) in the organization would help organizations achieve significantly improved levels of operational and financial performance through optimal utilization of human resources. This empirical study tests these assertions, and results confirm that, indeed, HR practices can have a significant impact on the bottom-line.
The clarity of fullness : an exploration of the disclosure of uncertainty in financial statements

This thesis examines the reporting of uncertainty in financial statements. This is an increasingly important issue for accounting policy-makers as they seek to create financial statements that reflect the substance and economic reality of events in an uncertain world. Several currently proposed disclosures of uncertainty are examined. They comprise the disclosure of the uncertain nature of financial statements and the disclosure of the uncertainty surrounding estimates of assets and liabilities. Drawing on theories of decision-making under uncertainty, the thesis adopts an experimental approach to the exploration of the effect of these disclosures on the perceptions confidence of users of financial statements. As a result of its origins in the current context of the reporting of uncertainty, the research findings are pertinent to the development of disclosures of uncertainty. The research finds that the disclosure of uncertainty matters. Moreover, the framing of such disclosure has an effect on perception and confidence. The characteristics of the reporting entity and perceptions of the reliability of financial statement items are also important influences on the impact of such disclosures. The thesis concludes by suggesting that the clear disclosure of uncertainty leads to a fuller view of the reporting entity
Perceiving Aggression from Facial Structure: Further Evidence for A Positive Association with Facial Width–To–Height Ratio and Masculinity, but Not for Moderation by Self–Reported Dominance

Recent work has indicated that individual differences in facial structure are linked to perceptions of aggressiveness. In particular, the relative width of a face [facial width–to–height ratio (fWHR)] has been suggested to be a reliable cue to aggressive behaviour, at least in men. Additionally, facial masculinity has been associated with perceptions of dominance, a close proxy of aggressiveness. In two studies, we assessed the robustness of this link using faces transformed along these vectors in men (Studies 1 and 2) and women (Study 2). Additionally, we examined whether individual differences in self–reported dominance of perceivers moderated this association in order to extend previous work indicating that own dominance affects perception of such behaviour in others. Results indicated that both male and female faces with increased fWHR and increased facial masculinity were perceived as more aggressive. However, we found no systematic evidence for moderating effects of self–reported dominance on the perception of aggression in others. Taken together, these results further support the robustness of fWHR and facial masculinity as cues to aggressiveness but question whether observers’ own dominance moderates their perception of these cues in others. Copyright © 2013 European Association of Personality Psychology