Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epigenetic down regulation of nerve growth factor during alcohol withdrawal

We investigated the Cytosin‐phosphatidyl‐Guanin (CpG) island promoter methylation (mean and methylation of individual CpG‐sites) of the nerve growth factor (NGF) gene in the blood of alcohol‐dependent patients (57 male patients) during withdrawal (days 1, 7 and 14). Methylation and NGF serum levels did not change significantly from days 1–7. From days 7–14, mean methylation increased (F = 30.55, P < 0.001), whereas the NGF serum levels decreased significantly (days 7–14: F = 17.95, P < 0.001). The NGF serum levels were significantly associated with the mean methylation of the investigated CpG‐sites (F = 1.55, P < 0.001). These results imply an epigenetic regulation of the NGF gene during alcohol withdrawal.
Bank concentration and financial constraints on firm investment in UK

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of bank concentration on firm financial constraints to perform investment across two types of financial constraints firms. Design/methodology/approach - The authors analyse this relationship by estimating the investment-cash flow sensitivity across groups of firms classified according to debt maturity structure model. The firms were classified as short-term and long-term debt dependent firms. Empirically the authors analyze a sample that consists of the most recent dataset (over 2001-2009) of UK firms that engage in foreign direct investment by using fixed-effects and GMM-IV estimation techniques. Findings - Bank concentration was found to relax financial constraints on firm level investment. Results indicate that higher level financial constraints are associated with short-term debt dependent firms that exhibit high level of investment-cash flow sensitivity. Further, it was found that bank concentration is associated with reduction in financial constraints on firm investment and this effect is stronger for short-term debt dependent firms. Originality/value - Unlike previous studies, the paper investigates the bank concentration effects on UK foreign direct investing firms that are uniquely classified; based on distinctive dimension of financial frictions in capital market. Estimated results ascertain that information-based hypothesis is pertinent to the UK capital market.
An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of and Preference for Differential Reinforcement and Response Cost within Token Economies

Several researchers have directly compared differential reinforcement and response cost within the context of token economies, and the results have varied. That is, some studies have shown equal effectiveness across procedures, whereas other studies have shown one procedure to be more effective than the other (e. 2012). Therefore, it is possible that certain variables (e.g., experimental design, backup reinforcers, or opportunities for net tokens) may influence the efficacy of the two procedures. In addition, only two studies have empirically evaluated preference for differential reinforcement and response cost within the context of token economies (e.g., Donaldson et al., 2014; Iwata & Bailey, 1974), and the authors found that preference varied among individuals. The purposes of the current study were to (a) replicate research comparing differential reinforcement and response cost within token economies, (b) evaluate preference for these procedures, and (c) evaluate whether varying the opportunity for net tokens influences the effectiveness of or preference for these procedures. Results showed that when the opportunity for net tokens was equal in Study 1 and 2, DRA and RC were similarly effective for increasing responding for the majority of participants. However, preference for these procedures was idiosyncratic. Results from Study 2 showed that when the opportunity for net tokens was unequal across DRA and RC, all participants engaged in similar increases in the level of responding. However, when DRA resulted in more opportunity for net tokens, all participants preferred DRA; whereas, when RC resulted in the opportunity for net tokens, preferences were idiosyncratic. Results are discussed with respect to implications and areas for future research. iv Acknowledgements
Determinants of disclosures of A‐, B‐ and H‐share companies

Purpose - This study attempts to examine the issues relating to corporate financial reporting of Chinese listed companies under specified institutional settings as companies with different share-categories are required to prepare annual reports under various General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Design/methodology/approach - This study selects Chinese companies that issue negotiable shares to examine whether corporate disclosure patterns are different under various institutional settings. Negotiable shares can be traded on stock exchanges and are divided into A-, B- and H-shares. The extent of corporate disclosure is obtained from the content analysis of annual reports for 191 sampled Chinese listed companies with various share categories. The association are hypothesized and tested between the level of corporate disclosure and the following corporate determinants: company size, profitability, auditor, leverage, industry and ownership structure. Findings - The extensive regulations and different standards influence on disclosures of companies with foreign investment participation and overseas listing status. By reconciliation of their annual reports according to the IFRSs or the GAAP of the listing country, these companies increased information disclosure voluntarily in order to enhance their reputation and credibility. Some corporate factors, such as company size, profitability and the size of auditor, have influenced the level of corporate disclosure in annual reports of domestic and foreign share-based companies. Ownership structure has positive impact on the level of disclosure for companies with domestic investors. Originality/value - This study advances knowledge of the influence that legislative circumstances and ownership structures can have on disclosure decisions made by management in their annual reports. This information is of high interest to domestic and foreign investors and regulators in understanding of financial reporting in Chinese listed companies.
Limit Qualities and Entry Deterrence

In this article, we investigate how the interplay of competition among incumbents and the magnitude of a potential entrant's setup cost determines the configuration of the array of products to be offered in a perfect Nash equilibrium. We show that incumbents can use limit qualities to deter entry. We also demonstrate that rivalry among incumbents may lead to excessive entry deterrence. Our analysis generates predictions about the correlation between the degree of product differentiation and the size of the entrant's setup costs.
An Updated Model of Travel and Tourism Purchase-Consumption Systems

Abstract A purchase consumption system (PCS) is the sequence of mental and observable steps a consumer undertakes to buy and use several products for which some of the products purchased leads to a purchase sequence involving other products. The central PCS proposition (P1) is that several decisions within a customer's PCS are dependent on prior purchases of products that trigger these later purchases. While many additional propositions follow from this central proposition, only three are examined empirically in this report. P2: some of the important product purchases made subsequent to the destination choice are not pre-planned before the start of the trip; these purchases often include destination-area restaurant decisions, gift purchases, and activity purchases. P3: two categories of choice decisions occur for many travelers within a leisure-travel PCS: (1) the generic product decision (e.g., should I plan a trip? ); and (2) the brand choice decision (e.g., which destination alternative should I select? ). P4: destination visitors who are high information users participate in more activities, spend more money per day in the destination area, are more satisfied with their destination experiences, and have higher intentions to return compared to low information users. In the article additional propositions are proposed for examination in future research. To examine the propositions and the usefulness of the PCS framework for tourism research, qualitative, long interviews of visitors to an island tourism destination (the Big Island of Hawaii) were conducted. The results include strong empirical support for the four propositions. Several suggestions for future research are offered.
Dynamic Non-Detection Zones of Positive Feedback Anti-Islanding Methods for Inverter-Based Distributed Generators

Positive feedback anti-islanding methods have been widely applied to inverter-based distributed generators recently due to their high cost-performance ratio. The effectiveness of these anti-islanding methods is usually demonstrated by means of steady-state non-detection zones (NDZs) represented in a load parameter space (LPS). However, these NDZs cannot accurately describe the impact of the inverter interface controls on the anti-islanding methods' detection performance, especially in multi-inverter systems. In addition, the intrinsic destabilization characteristic of the positive feedback anti-islanding scheme cannot be exhibited by these NDZs. This paper proposes an improved dynamic NDZ in the LPS to evaluate the islanding detection effectiveness of the positive feedback anti-islanding methods. The modal analysis approach is employed to determine the critical RLC load quality factor which is defined as the small-signal stability limit index of the islanded distributed generation (DG) systems for the dynamic NDZs. The sensitivity analysis of the dynamic NDZs for different DG system parameters is conducted in this paper. The applications of the proposed dynamic NDZs in multi-DG systems are also presented.
Human Capital Externalities in Cities

What is the effect of an increase in the overall level of human capital on the economy of a city? Although much is known about the private return to education, much less is known about the more important question of what happens to productivity, wages and land prices when the aggregate stock of human capital in a city increases. Increases in the aggregate stock of human capital can benefit society in ways that are not fully reflected in the private return of education. Human capital spillovers can in theory increase aggregate productivity over and above the direct effect of human capital on individual productivity. Furthermore, increases in education can reduce criminal participation and improve voters' political behavior. In this paper, I review what we know about social returns to education, with a particular emphasis on those externalities that accrue to local geographic areas. The focus of the paper is on the empirical issues that arise in identifying these externalities and on the existing empirical evidence on their magnitude. This paper was prepared as a chapter for the forthcoming Handbook of Urban and Regional Economics.
A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Travel Push and Pull Factors

Abstract Tourism marketers are confronted with the dilemma of whether standardization or the tailoring of services, products and marketing programs for specific markets is more effective and efficient. It remains to be addressed in tourism research whether travelers from varying cultural backgrounds seek different travel benefits and have different preferences for travel products and services, and to what extent they are similar in their travel behaviors. This research study used national household travel surveys conducted by the Canadian Tourism Commission and U.S. Tourism Industries for a cross-cultural comparison of two different countries, the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Japan. Results showed that travelers from these two countries had different travel motives and benefit-seeking patterns. From a marketing perspective, the branding and positioning of a destination for U.K. and Japanese long-haul travel markets will be more effective if the destination marketing organization (DMO) projects different images within its advertising campaigns. These images should reflect the different travel motivations and benefits desired by the two groups of travelers.
Technical Efficiency of the Ghanaian Banking Industry and the Effects of the Entry of Foreign Banks

The effects of the entry of foreign banks and changes in bank concentration on the technical efficiency of domestic banks in Ghana over the period 2000–2008 is analyzed. Technical efficiency scores were obtained by the Data Envelopment Analysis. Then, the Tobit regression was used to analyze the impact of hypothesized explanatory variables on bank efficiency. Foreign bank share of total industry assets was used to proxy the impact of foreign banks. The findings suggest that efficiency of domestic banks has been positively affected by the entry of foreign banks and reduction in concentration. Thus, the central bank's policy of liberalizing the banking sector appears to be well placed.
Interaction of polycationic antibiotics with Pseudomonas aeruginosa lipopolysaccharide and lipid A studied by using dansyl-polymyxin

A fluorescent derivative of polymyxin B (dansyl-polymyxin) was used to study the interaction of polycations with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and lipid A from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Dansyl-polymyxin became bound to LPS and lipid A sites, including Mg2+-binding sites, resulting in a 20-fold enhancement of fluorescence. A Hill plot of the binding data showed that the binding of dansyl-polymyxin to LPS was cooperative (n = 1.98) and of high affinity (S0.5 = 0.38 microM). The maximal binding capacity of LPS was approximately four molecules of dansyl-polymyxin per mol of LPS. The dansyl-polymyxin interaction with lipid A displayed similar kinetics (n = 2.26; S0.5 = 0.38 microM), and the maximal binding capacity was approximately 2 mol of dansyl-polymyxin per mol of lipid A. A variety of polycationic compounds, including gentamicin, streptomycin, and polymyxin B, as well as Mg2+, were able to displace dansyl-polymyxin bound to LPS or to lipid A. Marked differences both in terms of the degree of displacement and in terms of the amount of competing polycation required to displace a given amount of dansyl-polymyxin were observed. Addition of excess polymyxin B resulted in displacement of all of the dansyl-polymyxin, demonstrating that only polymyxin-binding sites were being probed. Our data demonstrate that polymyxin B binds to multiple sites on LPS, including sites which bind aminoglycoside antibiotics and other polycationic compounds.
A full ka-band microstrip-to-waveguide transition using tapered CPS probe and V-antenna

A novel Ka-band microstrip-to-waveguide transition is presented in this paper. This transition is composed of a tapered coplanar strip (CPS) and a V-antenna which are inserted from E-plane center of a rectangular waveguide end. The mode transformation between waveguide and microstrip is achieved by electric field structural conversion in these two components. The impedance matching was also considered in the CPS design. The transition has characteristics of in-line structure, integration feasibility and compatibility in monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology. The Ka-band back-to-back transition fabricated on RT-duriod 5880 substrate demonstrates more than 85% bandwidth with overall measured insertion loss less than 1.5dB and return loss better than 15dB.
Cartoon planet: worlds of production and global production networks in the animation industry

As more animated films are produced, new "worlds of production" have emerged. The animation production system is distinct from film production, relying on different technologies and labor skills. Its globalization, therefore, has taken place differently, although both are structured by the global production networks of the media conglomerates. We present a framework for understanding the animation industry, its international division of labor, and its diverse markets, enabled by pools of artistic labor, growing demand, and the diffusion of production skills. Copyright 2010 The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved. , Oxford University Press.
State-ownership and financial constraints on investment of Chinese-listed firms: new evidence

We examine how state-ownership affects financial constraints on investment of Chinese-listed firms during 1999–2008. We find that although an average sample firm experiences some degree of financial constraints, state-ownership does not necessarily help in reducing the firm's financial constraints on investment. Further evidence shows that state-ownership does not lead to more borrowing from the Chinese banking sector, implying that state-ownership does not necessarily reduce the firm's financial constraints via the state-controlled banking sector. We consider not only the standard factors in the investment equation, but also the firm's equity financing behaviour explicitly. The result is robust to both the conventional proxy for financial constraints, i.e. the investment–cash-flow sensitivity, and a recently developed proxy for financial constraints, i.e. the KZ index. Our results suggest that China's corporatisation movement is effective in that soft budget constraints once enjoyed by former state-owned enterprises have been removed along with the progress of corporatisation. These firms, although still state-involved, can be seen as modern corporations operating in a market environment.
Impairments of response conflict monitoring and resolution in schizophrenia

Background. It has been argued recently that the attentional dysfunction in schizophrenia occurs as a result of an inability to inhibit automatic attentional shifts to compelling external stimuli. However, this hypothesis is based on performance on paradigms that require overt or covert shifts of spatial attention. Method. We investigated responses to foveally presented stimuli in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls as they performed unidimensional and bidimensional versions of the flanker task. In both tasks, centrally presented target stimuli were flanked by peripheral stimuli that were either congruent or incongruent with the behavioural goal of the subject. In the bidimensional task, the flanking stimuli could be congruent and incongruent on multiple stimulus characteristics. Results. On the unidimensional flanker task, the behavioural goal modulated the responses of the schizophrenia group such that response times (RTs) to target stimuli that were flanked by congruent stimuli were faster than RTs to target stimuli flanked by incongruent stimuli. However, on the bidimensional flanker task, the responses of schizophrenia patients were no longer constrained by the behavioural goal and RTs to both congruent and incongruent stimuli were equivalent. Conclusions. It appears that the attentional dysfunction in schizophrenia may reflect difficulty in resolving multiple and simultaneous response conflicts. These findings suggest a possible role for the anterior cingulate cortex in the attentional impairments associated with schizophrenia.
Employment Experience and Organisational Commitment: An East-West European Comparison

This paper compares the level of organisational commitment in three former state socialist societies (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) with that in a market-based society (Britain). Among the former state socialist societies, Bulgaria represents the country that had remained closest to the patterns of work organisation that prevailed before 1989, whereas the Czech Republic and Slovakia had moved further towards marketisation. The analysis draws on data from nationally representative surveys of the workforce in the four countries. The results show that organisational commitment was lower in all of the former state socialist societies than in Britain, but that it was lowest of all in the societies that were more fully engaged in the transition to a market economy. There is evidence that the patterns of work organisation typical of state socialism did have the effect of lowering commitment, most importantly because of the way they restricted initiative and self-determination in work. However, it seems likely that this was exacerbated in the case of the transitional societies by sharper aspirations for work enrichment and by the greater unpredictability of organisational developments in a rapidly changing environment.
Usage of whey protein may cause liver damage via inflammatory and apoptotic responses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the long- and short-term inflammatory and apoptotic effects of whey protein on the livers of non-exercising rats. Thirty rats were divided into three groups namely (1) control group, (2) short-term whey (WS) protein diet (252 g/kg for 5 days), and (3) long-term whey (WL) protein diet (252 g/kg for 4 weeks). Interleukin 1β (IL-1β), IL-6, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), and cytokeratin 18 (CK-18-M30) were assessed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunohistochemical methods. Apoptosis was evaluated using the terminal transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling (TUNEL) method. Hepatotoxicity was evaluated by quanitation of serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Based on the biochemical levels and immunohistochemical results, the highest level of IL-1β was identified in the WL group (p < 0.01). The IL-6 and TNF-α results were slightly lower in the WS group than in the control group and were highest in the WL group (p < 0.01). The CK-18-M30 and TUNEL results were highest in the WS group and exhibited medium intensity in the WL group (p < 0.01). AST results were statistically significant for all groups, while our ALT groups were particularly significant between the WL and control groups (p < 0.01). The results showed that when whey protein is used in an uninformed manner and without exercising, adverse effects on the liver may occur by increasing the apoptotic signal in the short term and increasing inflammatory markers and hepatotoxicity in the long term.
Case report: inspiratory muscle training in chronic critically ill patients--a report of two cases.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Inspiratory muscle weakness and fatigue has been documented following prolonged mechanical ventilation despite successful weaning from mechanical ventilation. This report describes the application of inspiratory muscle training in two patients following successful discharge from an intensive care unit (ICU) after prolonged mechanical ventilation. METHODS Both patients undertook inspiratory muscle training in conjunction with standard physiotherapy rehabilitation. RESULTS Improvements in inspiratory muscle strength and endurance, exercise tolerance and functional performance following twice-daily inspiratory muscle training were recorded. In both cases, an improvement in maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) and maximal tolerated inspiratory load (MIP(load)) was found following training. CONCLUSION These positive results indicate further research is needed to investigate the effect of inspiratory muscle training on respiratory function, exercise tolerance and functional performance, for the possible inclusion of inspiratory muscle training into the physiotherapy management of patients following prolonged mechanical ventilation.