Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Compliance, tone and sensitivity of the rectum in different subtypes of irritable bowel syndrome

Abstract Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) consists of various subtypes. It is not known whether these subtypes share a common pathophysiology. Evaluation of motor and sensory function of the rectum using a barostat may help to explore a common pathophysiological background or differences in pathophysiology in subtypes of IBS. We have evaluated compliance, tone and sensitivity of the rectum, in both fasting state and postprandially, using a computerized barostat in 15 patients with diarrhoea‐predominant IBS (IBS‐D), 14 patients with constipation‐predominant IBS (IBS‐C) and compared the results with those obtained in 12 healthy controls. Rectal compliance as calculated over the steep part of the pressure–volume curve (17–23 mmHg) was decreased in both IBS groups (IBS‐D 8.0 ± 1.4 mL mmHg−1; IBS‐C 5.6 ± 1.1 mL mmHg−1) compared with controls (24.7 ± 3.5 mL mmHg−1). The perception of urge was increased only in IBS‐D patients, whereas pain perception was significantly increased in both IBS groups. Spontaneous adaptive relaxation was decreased in IBS‐D patients. Postprandially, rectal volume decreased significantly in the controls and in IBS‐D patients, but not in IBS‐C patients. In conclusion, both rectal motor and sensory characteristics are different between IBS‐D and IBS‐C patients. Therefore, testing of rectal visceroperception, adaptive relaxation and the rectal response to a meal may help distinguish groups of patients with different subtypes of irritable bowel syndrome.
Liquidity Patterns in the U.S. Corporate Bond Market

Liquidity level and liquidity risk are priced in the cross-section of corporate bond yields and returns. In the first case the focus is on the individual liquidity level while in the second case it is on the exposure to a common liquidity factor. In this paper we focus on the impact of the liquidity level on yield spreads by acknowledging that liquidity is a latent variable with an important fraction of commonality. We first document the extent of this commonality in the US corporate bond market. Second we assess whether the relation to yield spreads is driven by this commonality or by the remaining idiosyncratic part. We find that a large fraction of the liquidity effect in fact stems from liquidity commonality. The impact of the bond-specific idiosyncratic liquidity level is minor overall, but increases in the post-crisis period and for some bond categories.
The Role of CEO, Board Composition and Firm Performance: An Empirical Study of Listed Companies in Bangladesh

This study investigates the role of CEO, board independent director as well as separate elements of corporate governance on firm performance for the listed non-financial companies in Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) 2008.Specific objective of this research is to examine the relationship between separation of CEO and the proportion of independent directors on firm performance as measured by return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). This paper is based on a sample of 93 listed companies and Used OLS as a method of estimation. The results suggest a positive association between ROA and separation of chief executive officer and between board independent director and ROA. The results further reveal a positive association between ROE and chief executive officer as well as board independent director. However, ownership structure is negative association with the firm performance measures (ROA and ROE) but not significant.
Knowledge Gaps: The Case of Knowledge about Foreign Entry

The study explores what factors influence the reduction of managers’ perceived knowledge gaps in the context of the environments of foreign markets. Potential determinants are derived from traditional internationalization theory as well as organizational learning theory, including the concept of absorptive capacity. Building on these literature streams a conceptual model is developed and tested on a set of primary data of Danish firms and their foreign market operations. The empirical study suggests that the factors that pertain to the absorptive capacity concept – capabilities of recognizing, assimilating, and utilizing knowledge are crucial determinants of knowledge gap elimination. In contrast, the two factors deemed essential in traditional internationalization process theory – elapsed time of operations and experiential learning – are found to have no or limited effect.
A Mixed-Methods and Multi-Level Investigation of the Effects of a Crew Chief Intervention on Job Attitudes, Occupational Stress, and Organizational Commitment

An abstract o f the dissertation o f Michael Charles Leo for the Doctor o f Philosophy in Systems Science: Psychology presented June 16, 2006. Title: A Mixed-Methods and Multi-Level Investigation of the Effects o f a Crew Chief Intervention on Job Attitudes, Occupational Stress, and Organizational Commitment High-profile instances of workplace violence and increased pressure from competitors have threatened the viability of one of the nation’s largest employers, the United States Postal Service (USPS). As a result, the USPS began a massive change effort in the early 1990’s. One of the initiatives implemented to improve labormanagement relations was a derivative of the self-managed work team known as the crew chief program. This study provides a mixed-methods and multi-level approach to understand the impact this unique program had on organizational attitudes. The first aim o f this study was to investigate whether the crew chief program reduced employees’ stress and strain and improved job and supervisory satisfaction and company and union commitment, while controlling for the nesting of employees within sites and employee demographic characteristics. The second aim was to replicate and extend the stressor-strain-outcome (SSO) model o f stress and to determine whether employee perceptions of crew chief support moderated the relationships between stressors, strain, and outcomes.
Private Information in Life Insurance, Annuity, and Health Insurance Markets

Economic theory predicts that private information on risks in insurance markets leads to adverse selection. To counterbalance private information insurers collect and use information on applicants to assess their risk and calculate premiums in an underwriting process. Using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) this paper documents that di erences in the information used in underwriting across life insurance, annuity and health insurance markets attenuate private information to di erent extents. The results are in line with - and might help to reconcile - the mixed empirical evidence on adverse selection across these markets.
Drivers to relational strategies in retailing

Retailing, at first sight, appears to be an industry suitable for the exploitation of relational strategies. Despite this authors disagree about whether Relationship Marketing strategies are appropriate across the wide spectrum of retailing activities or whether the benefits are limited to certain retail types. This paper seeks to clarify whether a claim for universality can be made or, if not, clarify those “conditions” which most strongly support, or otherwise, the introduction of relational strategies.
Does SOA Create or Require IT/Business Collaboration? Investigating SOA's Potential to Reduce the Gap Between IT and Business

By extending the research on identifying the possible benefits of Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA), we investigate how SOA delivers its value in an organization. One perspective in the existing literature suggests that service orientation works through creating better IT/Business collaboration as the “services” concept is a shared mental model that reduces the mental gap between IT and business units. Another perspective proposes that SOA benefits require IT/Business collaboration in the first place as IT and business must closely collaborate in order to leverage SOA’s potential. We develop a theoretical model to understand how service orientation and close collaboration between IT and business departments are related. An analysis using data from 122 organizations reveals that SOA does not advance - but rather requires - close collaboration between the IT and business departments (i.e., collaboration is a moderator, not mediator, between SOA and its impacts). Therefore, close IT/business collaboration is an important success factor for realizing SOA’s value potential and must be established using other means.
Subjective Well-Being and Religiosity in Egyptian College Students

A sample of 224 Egyptian college students (101 men, 123 women) was recruited. Their ages ranged from 17 to 29 years (M = 18.9, SD = 1.5). They responded to the Arabic versions of the Oxford Happiness Inventory, the Love of Life Scale, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale, as well as five separate single-item self-rating scales assessing physical health, mental health, happiness, satisfaction, and religiosity. All correlations between the measures and rating scales of subjective well-being and religiosity were statistically significant and positive, the largest between satisfaction and religiosity. Only one factor was retained in principal components factor analysis of the correlation matrix and labeled “Well-being and religiosity. ” It was concluded that religious persons in the present sample reported higher subjective well-being.
Corporate Governance and Investors' Perceptions of Foreign IPO Value: An Institutional Perspective

We build on sociology-grounded research on financial market behavior and suggest a “nested” legitimacy framework to explore U.S. investor perceptions of foreign IPO value. We draw on a fuzzy-set theoretic approach to demonstrate how different combinations of monitoring and incentive-based corporate governance mechanisms lead to the same level of investor valuations of firms. We also argue that institutional factors related to the minority shareholder protection strength in the foreign IPO’s home country represent a boundary condition that affects the number of governance mechanisms required to achieve U.S. investors’ high value perceptions. Our findings, drawn from a unique, hand-collected dataset of foreign IPOs in the U.S, contribute to the sociological perspective on comparative corporate governance and the inter-dependencies between organizations and institutions.
Diffusion tensor imaging in multiple sclerosis: a tool for monitoring changes in normal-appearing white matter

Our objectives were to determine the reproducibility of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in volunteers and to evaluate the ability of the method to monitor longitudinal changes occurring in the normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). DTI was performed three-mo nthly for one year in seven MS patients: three relapsing-remitting (RRMS), three secondary progressive (SPMS) and one relapsing SP. They were selected with a limited cerebral lesion load. Seven age- and sex-matched controls also underwent monthly examinations for three months. Diffusivity and anisotropy were quantified over the segmented whole supratentorial white matter, with the indices of trace (Tr) and fractional anisotropy (FA). Results obtained in volunteers show the reproducibility of the method. Patients had higher trace and lower anisotropy than matched controls (P B-0.0001). O ver the follow-up, both Tr and FA indicated a recovery after the acute phase in RRMS and a progressive shift towards abnormal values in SPMS. A lthough this result is not statistically significant, it suggests that DTI is sensitive to microscopic changes occurring in tissue of normal appearance in conventional images and could be useful for monitoring the course of the disease, even though it was unable to clearly distinguish between the various physiopathological processes involved.
Capital inflows, trade openness and financial development in Developing Countries

We employ cross-country and dynamic panel data techniques on a rich data set containing six financial development indicators, a number of alternative proxies for financial and trade openness and institutional quality indicators for 43 developing during 1980 - 2000. Our findings provide support to the Rajan and Zingales (2003) hypothesis which suggests that financial development is facilitated when a country's borders are opened to both capital flows and trade. We also find that institutional quality is a robust and statistically significant independent determinant of financial development, providing support to the case made by Arestis and Demetriades (1997, 1999). Our findings relate to all the indicators of financial development employed (both banking and capital market) and are robust to alternative measures of financial and trade openness, as well as estimation method and sample period.
Privacy Concerns in Quick Response Code Mobile Promotion: The Role of Social Anxiety and Situational Involvement

Drawing upon utility maximization theory, this study examines the consequences of quick response (QR) code mobile promotion in terms of information privacy concerns, defensive responses (intention to protect, fabricate, or withhold), and loyalty. Two contextual variables, social anxiety and situational involvement, are hypothesized as moderators. The main survey employs the scenario method with 667 general consumers in Japan. The results indicate that most of the main effects are supported for both moderators. There are strong interaction effects of social anxiety and situational involvement in intention to protect and intention to fabricate personal information. Our study suggests that QR code promotion is a practical and useful tool for loyalty, and its use may significantly depend on its context, whether physical or psychological.
Conservation Implications of Drastic Reductions in the Smallest and Most Isolated Populations of Giant Pandas

Abstract: In conservation biology, understanding the causes of endangerment is a key step to devising effective conservation strategies. We used molecular evidence (coalescent simulations of population changes from microsatellite data) and historical information (habitat and human population changes) to investigate how the most‐isolated populations of giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) in the Xiaoxiangling Mountains became highly endangered. These populations experienced a strong, recent demographic reduction (60‐fold), starting approximately 250 years BP. Explosion of the human population and use of non‐native crop species at the peak of the Qing Empire resulted in land‐use changes, deforestation, and habitat fragmentation, which are likely to have led to the drastic reduction of the most‐isolated populations of giant pandas. We predict that demographic, genetic, and environmental factors will lead to extinction of giant pandas in the Xiaoxiangling Mountains in the future if the population remains isolated. Therefore, a targeted conservation action—translocation—has been proposed and is being implemented by the Chinese goverment.
The median preoptic nucleus exhibits circadian regulation and is involved in food anticipatory activity in rabbit pups

Rabbit pups are a natural model to study food anticipatory activity (FAA). Recently, we reported that three areas in the forebrain – the organum vasculosum of lamina terminalis, median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) and medial preoptic area – exhibit activation during FAA. Here, we examined the PER1 protein profile of these three forebrain regions in both nursed and fasted subjects. We found robust PER1 oscillations in the MnPO in nursed subjects, with high PER1 levels during FAA that persisted in fasted subjects. In conclusion, our data indicate that periodic nursing is a strong signal for PER1 oscillations in MnPO and future experiments are warranted to explore the specific role of this area in FAA.
Short-term forecasting for wind speed based on wavelet decomposition and LMBP neural network

In this paper, a wind speed forecasting method based on wavelet decomposition and BP neural network with Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm (LMBP) is proposed. Firstly, original wind speed seires is decomposed into one low-frequency component and several high-frequency components by wavelet decomposition method. Then different LMBP neural networks are built for the forecasting of every component respectively. Finally the predictions of components are reconstructed to obtain the prediction of original wind speed. As for the problem that the convergence rate is limited by the inversion calculation of large-scale matrix in the training process of LMBP network, super-memory gradient algorithm solving large linear equations is introduced to adjust weights and thresholds of the network. Meanwhile the structure of hidden layer neurons is optimized by least squares network pruning method. At the end of the paper, actual wind speed data from certain wind farm is used to verify the forecasting model and the results indicate that the model develops the precision of wind speed forecasting effectively.
Structural Pattern of Relationship between Brand Awareness, Brand Attachment, Brand Experience, Brand Loyalty, Brand Equity, Brand Preference and Intention to Purchase

Current work aims at investigating relationship between brand awareness, brand attachment, brand experience, brand loyalty, brand equity, brand preference and intention to purchase using path analysis. To this end, 324 citizens of Ardabil City who has experience of using insurance companies‟ services took part in the study. They answered to the questions on brand awareness, brand attachment, brand experience, brand loyalty, brand equity, brand preference and intention to purchase of relational capital, value, brand, brand loyalty and purchase intention. Direct effect of brand preference, brand equity and brand experience on intention to purchase is positive and significant. Direct effect of brand equity on brand preference is positive and significant. Direct effect of brand loyalty, brand attachment, and brand experience is positive and significant on brand equity. Direct effect of brand attachment and brand experience on brand loyalty is positive and significant. Indirect effect of brand equity, brand loyalty, brand attachment, brand experience and brand awareness on intention to purchase is positive and significant. Overall, the findings stress role of brand awareness, brand attachment, brand experience, brand loyalty, brand equity, and brand preference in intention to purchase.
Cardiac Adrenergic Nervous System and Left Ventricular Remodeling

Abstract:Heightened cardiac adrenergic nervous system (ANS) activity and progression of left ventricular (LV) remodeling are temporally related in patients with systolic heart failure. Whether cardiac ANS activation directly contributes to or merely accompanies LV remodeling remains an unresolved issue. Human and experimental data that directly link cardiac ANS activation to LV remodeling and worsening heart failure are first reviewed, including cardiac norepinephrine spillover. Alterations of beta adrenergic receptor signaling pathways are then addressed with emphasis on the mechanisms that may mediate the beneficial effect of beta adrenergic receptor blockade on LV remodeling. Lastly, alternative approaches to beta adrenergic receptor blockade for lessening cardiac ANS activation and reversing cardiac ANS-induced LV remodeling are discussed. A large body of work now links LV remodeling to cardiac ANS activation. However, the precise mechanisms that link cardiac ANS activation to LV remodeling are still to be fully understood. Fully understanding of these mechanisms may uncover new therapeutic approaches.
Predominance and Circulation of Enteric Viruses in the Region of Greater Cairo, Egypt

ABSTRACT The circulation of enteric viruses among the population of Cairo, Egypt, between March 2006 and February 2007 was studied. At least one virus was detected in 50% of fecal samples, 57.4% of which were positive for rotavirus, 26% for norovirus, 10.4% for adenovirus, and 1.7% for astrovirus. Over 10% of infections were mixed infections. Rotavirus typing showed that G1P[8] and G2P[4] were predominant but that the unusual G12P[4] and G12P[6] reassortants were also present. Among the noroviruses, half belonged to the predominant GGII.4 cluster. The phylogenetic analysis of the capsid gene suggested that GGII.4 strains from Cairo were similar to those circulating elsewhere. It also showed the emergence of new GGII.4 variants that were not associated with any previously known GGII.4 isolate. Further studies are required to assess the disease burden of enteric viruses in Egypt and the impact of atypical strains.
Immunohistochemical study of correlation between histologic subtype and expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related proteins in synovial sarcomas.

CONTEXT Synovial sarcomas are mesenchymal tumors with epithelial nature and comprise biphasic and monophasic fibrous subtypes. However, factors determining epithelial or spindle cell differentiation are still unexplored. Aberrant epithelial-mesenchymal transition has been implicated in the pathogenesis of diverse human malignancies. OBJECTIVE To analyze the correlation between cellular phenotype and expression of proteins associated with different epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related pathways. DESIGN Immunohistochemical analysis of E-cadherin, Snail, Slug, and dysadherin, components of the Wnt/wingless and PI3K/Akt pathways, was performed on 14 biphasic and 27 monophasic fibrous tumors. RESULTS In monophasic fibrous tumors, increased expression of Snail (17 of 27; 63%), Slug (18 of 27; 67%), and dysadherin (14 of 27; 52%) and activation of Wnt (nucleocytoplasmic β-catenin accumulation in 63%; n = 27; and positive expression of GSK3 and pGSK3 in 24 of 27 [89%] and 21 of 27 [78%], respectively) and PI3K/Akt (Akt: 22 of 27 [81%]; pAkt: 25 of 27 [93%]; and PI3K: 20 of 27 [74%]) signaling correlated significantly with inactivated E-cadherin expression (1 of 27; 4%) (all P < .05). In contrast, preserved E-cadherin expression (12 of 14; 86%) in the glandular component of the biphasic subtype was associated with significantly decreased Snail (3 of 14; 21%) (P = .02) and dysadherin (2 of 14; 14%) expression (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS Overexpression of Snail, Slug, and dysadherin and activation of Wnt and PI3K/Akt signaling was associated with inactivated E-cadherin in the spindle cells of monophasic fibrous synovial sarcomas, further supporting the hypothesis that this subtype may have developed through neoplastic epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
Contrarian Effect of REITs and the Sources of their Profitability

The current literature documents that the contrarian effect in the REIT markets can be attributed to investor overreaction. The objective of this article is to explore whether factors other than investor overreaction may also cause the REIT's contrarian effect. We find that, first, the contrarian portfolios in the REIT markets are still profitable even after we control for the risk of these portfolios. Second, by decomposing the contrarian returns of REITs, we show that three factors account for this contrarian phenomenon: investor overreaction, the cross-autocorrelation effect, and the crosssectional return-variation effect. Our analysis suggests that the observed REITs' contrarian returns would have been even larger if the cross-autocorrelation effect were absent. The cross-sectional return-variation effect significantly decreases the contrarian profitability of REITs. Overall, our research indicates that investor overreaction is not the only factor explaining the REITs' contrarian effect. Both the cross-autocorrelation effect and the cross-sectional variation effect contribute to the contrarian profitability of REITs.