Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human papillomavirus positivity predicts favourable outcome for squamous carcinoma of the tonsil

Mutations in the p53 and retinoblastoma (pRb) pathways associated with the use of tobacco and alcohol are common in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck. Cell cycle proteins are also affected by human papillomavirus (HPV), which may also have an aetiological role in cancers at particular sites, most notably the tonsil. Attempts to identify prognostic molecular markers in head and neck cancers have met with conflicting results, but few studies have been undertaken with tumours of known HPV status at a single anatomic site. In our study 86 tonsil cancers were analysed for HPV status by sequence analysis of polymerase chain reaction products and for the expression of cell cycle proteins (p53, p21CIP1/WAF1, pRb, p16INK4A, cyclin D1 and p27KIP1) by immunohistochemistry. The HPV status could be established in 67 of the tumours. Thirty‐one (46%) of these were HPV‐positive, predominantly (28/31) for HPV16. Findings were related to tumour recurrence and patient survival. None of the cell cycle proteins independently predicted recurrence or survival. Patients with HPV‐positive tumours, however, were significantly less likely (p < 0.05) to have recurrence or to die of disease than those with HPV‐negative tumours, after adjusting for the effects of the cell cycle proteins, clinical stage, pathological node status, tumour grade, age, gender and treatment. These findings support the concept that HPV‐positive tonsil cancers may be a distinct biological group with less aggressive characteristics. Screening of tonsil cancers for HPV DNA may help optimise treatment and provide more accurate prognostic information. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Utility Function-based Pricing Strategies in Maximizing the Information Service Provider’s Revenue with Marginal and Monitoring Costs

Previous research only focus on maximizing revenue for pricing strategies for information good with regardless the marginal and monitoring costs. This paper aims to focus on the addition of marginal and monitoring costs into the pricing strategies to maintain the maximal revenue while introduce the costs incurred in adopting the strategies. The well-known utility functions applied to also consider the consumer’s satisfaction towards the service offered. The results show that the addition costs incurred for setting up the strategies can also increase the profit for the providers rather than neglecting the costs. It is also showed that the Cobb-Douglas utility functions used can enhance the notion of provider to optimize the revenue compared to quasi linear and perfect substitutes.
E-service Quality Management of a Hotel Website: A Scale and Implications for Management

ABSTRACT This study conceptualizes e-service quality with respect to a hotel website and develops a corresponding measurement scale. Using a mixed methodology research design, 29 semi-structured interviews first defined customers’ perceptions of hotel websites and identified the important areas for investigation. A subsequent online survey of people who had recently visited a hotel website resulted in 843 usable responses, from which the e-service quality measurement scale was developed. The measurement scale for hotel websites comprised 24 items across six factors: functionality, atmospheric quality, reliable information, locality information, customer reviews, and emotional engagement. The investigation found two higher order factors (environment and process quality) to measure e-service quality for hotel websites. The newly developed scale gives a better understanding of e-service quality in the hotel context and enables hotel practitioners to improve hotel website quality.
Genes Essential to Sodium-dependent Bicarbonate Transport in Cyanobacteria

The cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 possesses two CO2 uptake systems and two HCO 3 − transporters. We transformed a mutant impaired in CO2 uptake and in cmpA–D encoding a HCO 3 − transporter with a transposon inactivation library, and we recovered mutants unable to take up HCO 3 − and grow in low CO2 at pH 9.0. They are all tagged within slr1512 (designatedsbtA). We show that SbtA-mediated transport is induced by low CO2, requires Na+, and plays the major role in HCO 3 − uptake in Synechocystis. Inactivation of slr1509 (homologous to ntpJencoding a Na+/K+-translocating protein) abolished the ability of cells to grow at [Na+] higher than 100 mm and severely depressed the activity of the SbtA-mediated HCO 3 − transport. We propose that the SbtA-mediated HCO 3 − transport is driven by ΔμNa+ across the plasma membrane, which is disrupted by inactivating ntpJ. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that two types of sbtA exist in various cyanobacterial strains, all of which possess ntpJ. The sbtA gene is the first one identified as essential to Na+-dependent HCO 3 − transport in photosynthetic organisms and may play a crucial role in carbon acquisition when CO2 supply is limited, or inProchlorococcus strains that do not possess CO2uptake systems or Cmp-dependent HCO 3 − transport.
Global Measurement of DNS Manipulation

Despite the pervasive nature of Internet censorship and the continuous evolution of how and where censorship is applied, measurements of censorship remain comparatively sparse. Understanding the scope, scale, and evolution of Internet censorship requires global measurements, performed at regular intervals. Unfortunately, the state of the art relies on techniques that, by and large, require users to directly participate in gathering these measurements, drastically limiting their coverage and inhibiting regular data collection. To facilitate large-scale measurements that can fill this gap in understanding, we develop Iris, a scalable, accurate, and ethical method to measure global manipulation of DNS resolutions. Iris reveals widespread DNS manipulation of many domain names; our findings both confirm anecdotal or limited results from previous work and reveal new patterns in DNS manipulation.
Adolescent childbearing: consequences and interventions

Purpose of review Adolescent childbearing in the United States continues to occur at high rates compared with other industrialized nations, despite a recent decline. Adolescent mothers and their offspring are at risk for negative outcomes. Recent literature exploring the consequences of teenage childbearing and interventions to ameliorate these consequences are presented. Recent findings Negative consequences of adolescent childbearing can impact mothers and their offspring throughout the lifespan. These consequences are likely attributable to social and environmental factors rather than solely to maternal age. Increasing educational attainment, preventing repeat pregnancy and improving mother–child interactions can improve outcomes for mothers and their children. Home, community, school and clinic-based programs are all viable models of service delivery to this population. Summary Connecting teen mothers with comprehensive services to meet their social, economic, health and educational needs can potentially improve long-term outcomes for both mothers and their offspring. Programs that deliver care to this population in culturally sensitive, developmentally appropriate ways have demonstrated success. Future investigation of parenting interventions with larger sample sizes and that assess multiple outcomes will allow comparison among programs. Explorations of the role of the father and coparenting are also directions for future research.
Do Bilateral Investment Treaties Attract Foreign Direct Investment to Developing Countries? A Review of the Empirical Literature

Bilateral investment treaties (BITs) stipulate the terms and conditions by which investors from one state must be treated in another. To date, over 3,000 of these treaties have been signed. Most treaties are between one developed state and one developing state. Developed states sign BITs to protect the foreign investments of their multinational corporations (MNCs) (Guzman, 1998). Developing states sign BITs to attract multinationals to their countries (Guzman, 1998). The multinationals from developed states have benefited from the legal protections provided by BITs (Salacuse & Sullivan 2005). However, the benefits received by developing states are still unclear. Developing states are merely granting foreign multinationals extra legal protections and receiving nothing in return if signing a BIT does not spur additional foreign direct investment (FDI) into the developing country—an inequitable outcome. This raises an important question: Do BITs increase FDI to less developed countries (LDCs)? A slew of empirical studies address this question. These studies vary methodologically and present conflicting results, with some studies finding a positive relationship between BITs and FDI flows to the developing world, some finding no relationship between the two, and others finding a relationship between BITs and FDI, but only in limited model configurations. This paper reviews the empirical literature on BITs and FDI. It distinguishes between studies using monadic data structures (those studies looking at the total number of BITs signed by the LDC and the total FDI received by the LDC) and dyadic data structures (those studies looking at the presence of a BIT between a pair
Will the Consistent Organic Food Consumer Step Forward? An Empirical Analysis

The organic food market has reached a significant value in developed countries, but market shares vary substantively between product categories. This article investigates general patterns in the sequence of adoption of organic products based on a major Danish retailer’s panel scanner data. All registered transactions over 20 months from 8,704 randomly selected customers with a loyalty card are analyzed using a hidden Markov model, capturing the dynamics in consumers’ purchases. The model identifies latent states representing identifiable, accessible, and actionable dynamic customer segments, and captures the movements between states or segments. A pattern emerges that is consistent with the theory of behavioral spillover and inconsistent with the theory of moral licensing, including a tendency to buy organic products in an increasing number of product categories over time. The order in which organic products are adopted is inversely related to the behavioral costs of adopting them. The employed approach provides a firm basis for personalized communication aiming to increase cross-selling of organic products, increase the sale of less popular organic products, and accelerate movements from segments buying few organic products to segments buying organic more consistently.
Human Capital and Reemployment Success: The Role of Cognitive Abilities and Personality

Involuntary periods of unemployment represent major negative experiences for many individuals. Therefore, it is important to identify factors determining the speed job seekers are able to find new employment. The present study focused on cognitive and non-cognitive abilities of job seekers that determine their reemployment success. A sample of German adults (N = 1366) reported on their employment histories over the course of six years and provided measures on their fluid and crystallized intelligence, mathematical and reading competence, and the Big Five of personality. Proportional hazard regression analyses modeled the conditional probability of finding a new job at a given time dependent on the cognitive and personality scores. The results showed that fluid and crystallized intelligence as well as reading competence increased the probability of reemployment. Moreover, emotionally stable job seekers had higher odds of finding new employment. Other personality traits of the Big Five were less relevant for reemployment success. Finally, crystallized intelligence and emotional stability exhibited unique predictive power after controlling for the other traits and showed incremental effects with regard to age, education, and job type. These findings highlight that stable individual differences have a systematic, albeit rather small, effect on unemployment durations.
University of Southern Denmark Relative performance evaluation and earnings management

Conventional agency theory suggests that firms should benchmark CEO compensation to absorb systemic risk and to more efficiently incentivize executives to work hard. Yet, empirical research has found only a modest use of benchmarking in CEO compensation contracts. In this paper, I highlight one weakness of relative performance evaluation (RPE). When earnings management is possible, benchmarking creates stronger incentives for misreporting performance measures compared to benchmark-independent pay. The optimal contract will depend less on a correlated benchmark (e.g. a stock market index) if it is easier for the manager to misreport performance. Thus, the model predicts that firms with weak internal controls and bad auditors are less likely to use RPE, offering a theoretical explanation for the empirically observed lack of RPE use.
Resveratrol Triggers Protective Autophagy Through the Ceramide/Akt/mTOR Pathway in Melanoma B16 Cells

Resveratrol (3,5,4′-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene, RSV), a natural polyphenolic compound, is known as a promising anti-cancer agent. In this study, we showed that RSV could inhibit the growth of B16 cells via induction of apoptosis. Moreover, our results showed for the first time that RSV induced autophagy in B16 cells, which might occur through ceramide accumulation and Akt/mTOR pathway inhibition. Inhibition of autophagy by an autophagic inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) or si-Beclin 1 enhanced RSV-induced cytotoxicity and apoptosis. Thus, autophagy inhibition represents a promising approach to improve the efficacy of RSV in the treatment of patients with melanoma.
THE INFLUENCE OF INTRACARDIAC BARORECEPTORS ON VENOUS RETURN, SYSTEMIC VASCULAR VOLUME AND PERIPHERAL RESISTANCE.

The presence of baroreceptors in the walls of the cardiac chambers and the pulmonary vascular bed is now well established, and their function in the reflex control of the circulation has been the subject of a number of investigations (1-11). Action potentials have been recorded from afferent fibers originating in the heart and lungs (1, 2), and elevation of pressures within the ventricular chambers (3-9) and pulmonary vascular bed (4, 10, 11) has resulted in bradycardia (3-10), a decline in systemic arterial pressure (4-9, 11), and either apnea (5, 10) or hyperpnea (4, 11). In a previous report from this laboratory, evidence was presented that the carotid baroreceptors reflexly influence total venous return and systemic vascular volume (12). The present investigations were undertaken to determine whether or not these hemodynamic parameters are also modified by activation of intracardiac baroreceptors. Studies to localize these receptors within the heart were also carried out.
PENGARUH INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL TERHADAP NILAI PERUSAHAAN PERBANKAN DI BEI PERIODE 2013-2015

Intellectual capital is the result of three main elements of an organization (human capital, structural capital, and customer capital) as science and technology manifestation which can provide more positive value for companies in the form of competitive advantages of the organization. The objective of this study was empirically to demonstrate the effect of the intellectual capital on the b anking v alue. Independent variables in this study were the intellectual capital and a dependent variable was the b anking v alue which provided by Tobin's Q, PBV and PER. Population of this study was the 43 banks banking companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2013 to 2015. Sample collecting method used in this study was a purposive sampling method. Data analysis technique used in this study was PLS (Partial Least Square). The result of this study showed that the intellectual capital had no significant effect on banking v alue. Keywords: Intellectual Capital, Banking Value, and PLS.
Determinants of Employee Engagement in Indian IT Sector

Employee engagement is a relatively new concept. The term employee engagement has attracted immense research interest over the past two decades. Consequently, extensive work has been made with respect to defining the term ‘employee engagement’ and differentiating it from pertinent constructs. Employee engagement does not mean employee happiness. Employee engagement shares a significant relationship with the employee productivity (Maitland, 2005). The current empirical study has been undertaken with an intention to understand the employee engagement practices in IT sector in Bangalore city. In order to realise the stated objectives, the researchers have identified seven important factors such as supervision, quality of working environment, the reliability of information, communication & quality of information, pay and benefits, appraisal process & level of satisfaction and organizational commitment. Towards this, a five point Likert’s scale has been constructed and administered as research instrument. The research instrument was pre tested before administering on the 250 respondents. The validity of the questionnaire was adjudged, using reliability statistics. Later a robust multiple regression has been run to identify the major drivers of employee engagement in IT sector. Regression results have revealed that Supervision (F1), Quality of Work Environment (F2), Reliability of information (F3), Appraisal Process and Level of Satisfaction (F6) and Organizational commitment (F7) are the major determinants of employee engagement. Based on the analysis of the study a brief summary of findings has been made and a meaningful conclusion has been drawn. Finally the results have been compared with the possible evidence.
Blending In While Standing Out: Selective Conformity and New Product Introduction in Family Firms

Research on the conformity-distinctiveness trade-off in family firms is divided. Examining the product innovations of Spanish manufacturing firms between 1998 and 2012, we hypothesize that family and nonfamily firms conform selectively and are driven by different motivations. Family firms align with their closest peers to avoid social losses while nonfamily firms conform to firms with different attributes to pursue social gains. Moreover, propensity to conform leads to more substantive organizational responses in family firms. We contribute to understanding how family firms navigate the conformity-distinctiveness trade-off, unveil the cognitive dimension of conformity, and address the puzzling evidence on family firm innovation.
Gender difference in HIV status disclosure among HIV positive service users.

OBJECTIVES There exists a strong relationship between gender and HIV/AIDS, with gender inequalities contributing to HIV, and HIV/AIDS in turn worsening gender inequality. In Sub-Saharan Africa only few studies have examined gender differences in HIV status disclosure. Therefore this study explores gender differences in HIV-positive status disclosure. METHODS A facility based cross-sectional study using qualitative and quantitative data collection methods was conducted among 70 randomly selected HIV positive service users in South West Ethiopia. Data were collected using a pre-tested interviewer-administered structured questionnaire. Gender specific factors associated with disclosure to a main partner were analyzed using logistic regression. RESULTS Among 705 participants, an equal number of men and women (94.6% men vs. 94.3%, women, p = 0.876) indicated that the have disclosed their result to at least one individual and the majority (90.9% men vs. 90.7% women, p = 0.906) disclosed their result to their current main partner. It is customary to tell my partner everything was the frequently cited motivator for disclosing (36.3% men vs. 44.6% women, p = 0.147). Reasons for non-disclosure varied by gender: men are more tender-hearted about their partners while women are more pragmatic. The individual contextual meaning of fear of partner reaction entirely differs between men and women. Men were concerned about their partner's worry and exposure of their own unfaithfulness. Women feared physical violence and social and economic pressure in raising their children. For men, disclosure of HIV results to a sexual partner was positively associated with knowing the partner's HIV status and discussion about HIV testing prior to seeking services, while for women it was associate with knowing the partner's HIV status, advanced disease stage,attending no more than primary education, being married, and perceiving the current relation as long-lasting. CONCLUSION In this study there was no significant difference in the proportion of HIV status disclosure among men and women However, the contextual barriers and motivators of disclosure varied by gender. Therefore future interventions should consider the importance of socially constructed gender roles in the efforts to increase HIV status disclosure.
Nitrogen fluxes, denitrification and the role of microphytobenthos in microtidal shallow-water sediments : an annual study

The annual cycle of oxygen and nitrogen flux, denitrification and microphytobenthic variables (primary production, biomass, composition and calculated N demand) were studied for 2 shallow-water microtidal sediment sites in NE Kattegat, 1 sandy and 1 silty, by incubating undisturbed sediment in the laboratory in light and darkness. Both sites (2 stations within each) were characterised by low concentrations of inorganic nitrogen (IN) in the overlying water during summer (NO 3 generally < 1 μM), with winter concentrations of 5 and 30 pM for the sandy and silty site, respectively. Through the activity of microphytobenthos, the sediment systems appeared to be net autotrophic during most of the year. Net oxygen production varied between -400 and 6600 pmol m -2 h -1 , being highest during the warmest season. Although the composition of the microphytobenthos depended on the sediment type, it did not have a crucial effect on the magnitude of the microphytobenthic biomass or function. The temporal pattern of the function of the microalgal community, on the other hand, was significantly influenced by the sediment type; sandy sediment exhibited a smooth seasonality, controlled mainly by temperature and light, while the silty microtidal sediment was also controlled by stochastic events, such as sediment resuspension. Microphytobenthos had a significant effect on the IN flux, the clearest effect being found for NH 4 . Total denitrification (isotope-pairing technique) generally varied between <1 and 40 μmol m -2 h -1 , being dominated by nitrification-coupled denitrification (D n ), and being 1 order of magnitude higher at the silty site. Microphytobenthic activity generally inhibited denitrification in the low-N areas in this study. The results suggest that the microphytobenthos functions as a major control throughout the annual cycle, by forming communities that are net photoautotrophic throughout the year, and by significantly influencing both the IN flux and denitrification rates. Sandy sediment appeared to function as an IN sink during winter and early spring, while no clear seasonal pattern was found for silty sediment. Calculated N demand of the microphytobenthos far exceeded the measured sediment net uptake of N, supporting the idea that sandy systems in low-nitrogen areas can be highly productive through a closed recycling of N. The ratio between calculated microphytobenthic N demand and measured denitrification rates suggests that denitrification has a minor role as a N sink, particularly in sandy, cold-climate microtidal sediments.