Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of location and other attributes on the price of products which are place-sensitive in demand

There is a particular class of products where people must visit the point of production in order to be consumers, and these products are normally lifestyle, tourism or leisure services. Examples include environmentally-based leisure facilities, housing, and tourist accommodation. Frequently the assertion is made that location makes one product 'superior' to another, in terms of both its production and consumption. This study enquires into the asserted significance of location in product differentiation, with special reference to hospitality and tourism products. The study is particularly concerned with commercially tradeable products offered to a consumer market by a number of competitive firms, rather than being concerned with one-off markets for assets for exclusive use, such as houses. By the use of characteristics theory, this study shows that the role of geographic location within a product such as hotel accommodation is that of a product-differentiating characteristic, or set of characteristics. However, the location of such a product is an example of a fixed, or unalterable, characteristic, once a supplier has entered a market. With most product-differentiating characteristics, a supplier can attain an optimal business position by enhancing the differentiation for as long as customers' willingness to pay 'the extra' (marginal revenue) exceeds or equals the cost (marginal cost) of product enhancement. However, a supplier cannot easily do this for a fixed characteristic. So what is the value of a particular location to a supplier of this type of product? This study develops a model to identify the specific elements of a location that are important to consumers, and then to estimate their values. It is argued that the values of each specific element (locational characteristics) should contribute in a predictable way to the overall price of each product in the market place. It is also shown in this study that individual suppliers who cannot identify, or who incorrectly set, prices based on locational characteristics face a measurable variation in demand from the mean in the market place. The model and methodology are tested empirically in the market for international-standard hotel accommodation on the Gold Coast, Queensland. It is shown that this constitutes a single, coherent market as a tourist destination, where a limited number of producers compete with differentiated products. Those product characteristics that are important to the market are identified, and it is shown that elements of location and other characteristics can be valued accurately across the market. The relationship between suppliers' 'overpricing' or 'underpricing' of their product characteristics and variations in demand from the market average is explored. This study therefore has implications for pricing strategy, as well as for land valuation and planning. The study can be seen as contributing primarily to the economics literature, in the area of industrial economics, but also to the marketing, and hospitality and tourism literature.
Prospective, randomized comparison of high‐frequency oscillatory ventilation and conventional mechanical ventilation in pediatric respiratory failure

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of high‐frequency oscillatory ventilation with conventional mechanical ventilation in pediatric patients with respiratory failure. Setting: Five tertiary care pediatric intensive care units. Design: A prospective, randomized, clinical study with crossover. Patients: Seventy patients with either diffuse alveolar disease and/or airleak syndrome were randomized to receive high‐frequency oscillatory ventilation or conventional mechanical ventilation. Interventions: Patients randomized to receive high‐frequency oscillatory ventilation were managed, using a strategy that consisted of aggressive increases in mean airway pressure to attain the “ideal” lung volume and to achieve an arterial oxygen saturation of ≥90%, with an Fio2 of ≤0.6. Patients who were randomized to receive conventional mechanical ventilation were treated with a strategy that utilized increases in end‐expiratory pressure and inspiratory time to increase mean airway pressure and to limit increases in peak inspiratory pressure. Target blood gas values were the same for both groups. Crossover to the alternate ventilator was required if the patient met defined criteria for treatment failure. Measurements and Main Results: Physiologic data and ventilatory parameters were collected prospectively at predetermined intervals after randomization. Airleak Scores were derived daily, based on the chest radiograph and the patient's clinical condition. In the high‐frequency oscillatory ventilation group, the Pao2/Pao2 ratio increased significantly and the oxygenation index (mean airway pressure × Fio2 × 100/Pao2) decreased significantly over time. There were no differences between the groups in duration of mechanical ventilation, frequency of airleak, Airleak Scores, or 30‐day survival rates. Significantly fewer patients treated with high‐frequency oscillatory ventilation required supplemental oxygenation at 30 days compared with patients managed with conventional ventilation. When ventilatory subgroups were compared, the patients managed with high‐frequency oscillation only had significantly better ranked outcomes than patients managed with conventional ventilation only. Conclusions: Our results indicate that high‐frequency oscillatory ventilation, utilizing an aggressive volume recruitment strategy, results in significant improvement in oxygenation compared with a conventional ventilatory strategy designed to limit increases in peak airway pressures. Furthermore, despite the use of higher mean airway pressures, the optimal lung volume strategy used in this study was associated with a lower frequency of barotrauma, as indicated by requirement for supplemental oxygen at 30 days, and improved outcome compared with conventional mechanical ventilation. (Crit Care Med 1994; 22:1530–1539)
Corticosteroids delay remyelination of experimental demyelination in the rodent central nervous system

High dose corticosteroid (CS) administration is a common mode of therapy in treatment of acute relapses in multiple sclerosis (MS) but the effects of CS on remyelination and the cellular mechanisms mediating this repair process are controversial. We have examined CS effects on repair of toxin‐induced demyelinating lesions in the adult rat spinal cord. Corticosteroids reduced the extent of oligodendrocyte remyelination at 1 month post lesion (whereas Schwann‐cell mediated repair was unaffected). However, CS did not cause permanent impairment of remyelination as lesions were fully remyelinated at 2 months after cessation of treatment. The delay in oligodendrocyte mediated repair could be attributed to inhibition of differentiation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) into oligodendrocytes, with no effect of CS treatment observed on OPC colonisation of the lesions. No differences were observed in animals treated with methylprednisolone succinate alone or with a subsequent prednisone taper indicating that CS effects occur at an early stage of repair. The potential consequences of delayed remyelination in inflammatory lesions are discussed. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Application of the Linear ordering Methods in the Voivodships Research in the Field of Social Media Usage in Enterprises in the Period 2014-2017

Aim/purpose – The aim of this paper is to analyze and compare the development of voivodships in terms of social media usage in enterprises in the period from 2014 to 2017. The aim has been formulated because of the increasingly greater significance of social media in post-industrial enterprises. Design/methodology/approach – The two types of linear ordering methods were applied, i.e., the method based on the pattern of development (Hellwig’s method) and the methods that were non-based on the pattern of development were used. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient ρ and Kendall’s rank correlation coefficient τ were used to verify correlations between various rankings. Analysis of the dynamics, spatial visualizations, box plots and polar plots were used in relation to the aggregated measures. In conducted analyses, data from the period 2014-2017 (provided by the Central Statistical Office of Poland) was used. The each year for the period from 2014 to 2017 was analyzed. Findings – In all rankings (with the use of all types of applied measures and also in all analyzed years) the 1st place was taken by Masovian Voivodship. The distance between Masovian Voivodship and other voivodships was still significant during the analyzed period. The created rankings were similar in terms of statistical significance of computed correlation coefficients in all analyses. The research study results do not indicate a clear dispersion of the level of the analyzed phenomenon between eastern and western voivodships. It was also found that the higher is ICT usage by enterprises in a voivodship, the more common is social media usage by them. There is a clear overall tendency of increase in the phenomenon during the period from 2014 to 2017. Paweł Kaczmarczyk 40 Research implications/limitations – The main implications is that the identified differences between areas can be a basis to assess the social media usage as a specific factor of business development. The research results indicate voivodships that should employ social media more and the highest placed voivodships as well. The results can be regard as support for the policy of digitization and building a knowledge-based economy. Originality/value/contribution – The originality of this paper is based on: the created rankings of voivodships in terms of social media usage in enterprises in the period 20142017, the comparison and assessment of voivodships in this context, and the identification of change of the social media usage in individual voivodships and in Poland as a whole.
The Silver Lining of COVID‐19: Estimation of Short‐Term Health Impacts Due to Lockdown in the Yangtze River Delta Region, China

The outbreak of COVID‐19 in China has led to massive lockdowns in order to reduce the spread of the epidemic and control human‐to‐human transmission. Subsequent reductions in various anthropogenic activities have led to improved air quality during the lockdown. In this study, we apply a widely used exposure‐response function to estimate the short‐term health impacts associated with PM2.5 changes over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region due to COVID‐19 lockdown. Concentrations of PM2.5 during lockdown period reduced by 22.9% to 54.0% compared to pre‐lockdown level. Estimated PM2.5‐related daily premature mortality during lockdown period is 895 (95% confidential interval: 637–1,081), which is 43.3% lower than pre‐lockdown period and 46.5% lower compared with averages of 2017–2019. According to our calculation, total number of avoided premature death aassociated with PM2.5 reduction during the lockdown is estimated to be 42.4 thousand over the YRD region, with Shanghai, Wenzhou, Suzhou (Jiangsu province), Nanjing, and Nantong being the top five cities with largest health benefits. Avoided premature mortality is mostly contributed by reduced death associated with stroke (16.9 thousand, accounting for 40.0%), ischemic heart disease (14.0 thousand, 33.2%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (7.6 thousand, 18.0%). Our calculations do not support or advocate any idea that pandemics produce a positive note to community health. We simply present health benefits from air pollution improvement due to large emission reductions from lowered human and industrial activities. Our results show that continuous efforts to improve air quality are essential to protect public health, especially over city‐clusters with dense population.
A biomechanical study of human lateral ankle ligaments and autogenous reconstructive grafts

The purpose of this study was to investigate the bio mechanical behavior of human anterior talofibular and calcaneofibular ligaments, as well as peroneus brevis, split peroneus brevis, and toe extensor tendon grafts. This article represents the first published data compar ing the most frequently injured ankle ligaments to the most commonly used autogenous reconstructive grafts. Twenty fresh human ankles provided the bone-liga ment-bone and tendon graft specimens for biomechan ical testing on a Minneapolis Testing System. Protocol consisted of cyclic loading at physiologic deflections, followed by several load-deflection tests at varying velocities, followed by a final extremely rapid load to failure test. The load-deflection data for all ligaments and tendons demonstrated nonlinearity and strain rate dependence. The maximum load to failure for the anterior talofibular ligament was the lowest of all specimens tested, while its strain to failure was the highest. The loads to failure of the peroneus brevis and split peroneus tendons were signficantly greater than the anterior talofibular ligament and approximately equal to the calcaneofibular liga ment. Strains to failure for all tendons were significantly less than ligament strains. The high strain to failure of the anterior talofibular ligament demonstrates its physiologic function of allow ing increased ankle plantar flexion-internal rotation, while its low load to failure shows its propensity for injury. The greater strength of the tendon grafts ex plains the success of most reconstructive procedures in reestablishing stability in chronic ankle sprains; at the same time, the data presented suggest that those surgical procedures sacrificing the entire peroneus brevis tendon are unnecessary. Finally, the greater stiffness of the tendon grafts may cause postoperative decreases in ankle and subtalar motion.
Occupational Accident Patterns and Prevention Measures in Construction Sites in Nairobi County Kenya

Construction accidents don’t just happen, they are initiated by unsafe acts, unsafe conditions or both. The construction industry in Kenya plays a vital role in achieving social and economic development goals, providing shelter, infrastructure, and employment. A study was carried out to identify the common accidents in construction sites and to examine the characteristics of the injured and deceased workers and evaluate factors that cause these accidents in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study cross examined data from Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) from Nairobi County ranging from 2010-2014. The study also utilized on-site questionnaires that were administered to 60 contractors in 9 administrative regions in Nairobi County. They constituted all class NCA2 contractors in the county as well as a few NCA3 and NCA4 contractors. Some 41 questionnaires were returned. Accidents were classified by the age of workers, time and month of the accident, location of an accident, causes of accident and management factors affecting the accident. The study established that 65% of all reported accidents occurred to workers below 37 years old. The accidents peaked between tea break (10am), lunch break (1pm) and after lunch (3pm) and during the months of June and July. The study determined that most construction site injuries were as a result of workers falling from heights (37%), being hit by falling objects (28%) and accidents occurring as a result of workers operating equipment (20%). Relative Importance (R. I) index of construction hazards were calculated for 24 factors contributing to construction site accidents. The top five hazards identified were: (1) reluctance to provide resources for safety (0.820); (2) lack of staff training (0.814); (3) lack of a safety policy and enforcement of safety regulations (0.795); (4) poor safety consciousness among workers (0.766); and (5) lack of strict operational procedures (0.756) in construction sites. The study concluded that in order to improve safety in the construction industry, each company should have a health and safety policy which is to be implemented in each contract. Furthermore, construction companies need to provide workers with the necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), such as safety belts, retaining belts, safety ropes, and safety harness, and catch nets to prevent workers from being hit by falling materials and to secure them against falling from heights.
Study On The Use Of Parking Spaces And Satisfaction Of Thai People Using Don Mueang Airport In Bangkok Metropolis, Thailand

This research aimed to study (1) the use of parking spaces in a 7-story car park at Don Mueang International Airport (DMK) and (2) passengers’ satisfaction levels with parking spaces and shops in the passenger terminal. Questionnaires were used to interview the passengers, while check sheets were used for physical counting of the number of cars. Research hypotheses on the passengers’ satisfaction included (1) passengers with different monthly incomes have different satisfaction levels and (2) passengers in different age groups have different satisfaction levels. ANOVA was used for hypothesis testing. The research results showed that (1) the average number of parked cars was 1,490.17 cars per day, while (2) the average parking time per car was 7.27 hours. (3) Turnover rate was 0.15 cars per parking lot per hour. (4) The average overall satisfaction level of DMK passengers with parking spaces and shops was at 3.64/5.00. Hypothesis testing revealed that there were differences in satisfaction with overall parking spaces and shops when considering income group and age group.
Diabetic Retinopathy in Blacks

Diabetic eye disease, particularly diabetic retinopathy, is the leading cause of new cases of legal blindness in people 20–74 yr of age in the United States. The prevalence and rate of diabetes in this age-group are higher in Blacks than in Whites. The rate of blindness from diabetic eye disease is also higher in Blacks than in Whites. Severe macular edema, the most frequent cause of decreased vision in diabetic retinopathy, appears to be more common in Blacks. Risk factors for developing macular edema include poorly controlled hypertension, hyperglycemia, and duration of disease. The higher prevalence of hypertension in Blacks may contribute to the increased severity of diabetic retinopathy. Further evaluation is necessary to determine the influence of race on the severity of diabetic retinopathy.
Attributions of service quality: immigrant customers’ perspective

Purpose This study aims to investigate whether and how strongly cultural (mis)matches influence immigrant customers’ satisfaction, as well as if this relationship is mediated by cultural or service employee performance attributions. In addition, the authors test whether attributions differ depending on the service delivery outcome (success vs failure). Design/methodology/approach The 2 (origin of service employee: Austria or Turkey) × 2 (service delivery outcome: success or failure) scenario-based experiment includes 120 Turkish immigrant customers in Austria. Findings Contrary to previous research, the results indicate that in an immigrant customer context, cultural (mis)match does not influence customer satisfaction. The service delivery outcome is a boundary condition. With a positive service delivery outcome, immigrant customers attribute the results to the cultural background of the employee if it is the same as their own, but they attribute success to employees’ performance if they belong to the immigration destination culture. For negative service delivery outcomes, neither cultural nor performance attributions arise. Originality/value This study is the first to focus specifically on immigrant customer behavior in a high-involvement service context. The results challenge the predictions of social identity theory and the similarity-attraction paradigm and highlight that the immigrant context is unique. In this context, attributions play a key role in determining customer satisfaction.
Mutations replacing the leucine codons or altering the length of the amino acid-coding portion of the ilvGMEDA leader region of Escherichia coli

The specificity of regulation by attenuation of the ilvGMEDA operon of Escherichia coli was examined by making alterations in the peptide-coding portion of the leader region. The effects of the alterations on attenuation control were monitored by operon fusions with the lacZ or cat gene. Substitution of the tandem leucine codons with arginine codons did not result in arginine control of attenuation even though the altered leader transcripts contained three consecutive arginine codons. Substitution of the single leucine codon with a proline codon at position 10 of the putative peptide, which had been shown to be important in the regulation of the Serratia marcescens ilv operon, did not result in control of attenuation by proline. Since the formation of neither proline nor arginine biosynthetic enzymes is regulated by attenuation control, the effect of tandem phenylalanine codons in place of the tandem leucine codons was examined and found not to result in control by phenylalanine supply. The latter failure may have been due to a configuration in the secondary structure of the protector stem of the leader transcript different from that of the wild-type transcript. The results of the study favored the idea that the lead ribosome does not initiate translation of the leader transcript until after the RNA polymerase has reached the pause site (117 bases into the leader region).
Formation de la trajectoire pour des tâches supra-posturales : modélisation et expérimentation

Le premier objectif de ce travail etait de developper un modele de formation de la trajectoire capable d'une part de decrire le mode de fonctionnement du systeme (definition d'une fonction objective) et d'autre part de determiner la variable, qui lui etait associee, garante du controle de l'equilibre. La theorie de l'optimisation dynamique a donc ete utilisee dans le but de favoriser la comprehension des principes d'organisation et de production de comportements moteurs diriges vers un but. Le second objectif a ete de tester les capacites de prediction de ce modele pour d'eventuels changements de strategie posturale en fonction des contraintes de la tâche a realiser. La validation de ce modele de formation de la trajectoire s'est concretisee par son application a l'analyse de la coordination pluri-articulaire pour un mouvement d'elevation des bras en station bipedique et pour une tâche de poursuite visuelle avec la tete. Le mode de fonctionnement du systeme serait alors relatif a la dynamique du systeme musculo-squelettique et le maintien de l'equilibre serait controler par una variable d'ordre dynamique. D'autre part, l'analyse des facteurs dynamiques d'une tâche de poursuite visuelle rend compte des causes sous-jacentes aux changements de strategies posturales.
Etanercept induced multiple sclerosis and transverse myelitis.

A) deficiency, which results in the multisystemic deposition of globotriaosylceramide within susceptible cells, tissues, and organs, leading to early death 2 . In classic disease the metabolic abnormality manifests usually by 10 years of age and is charac- terized by severe acroparesthesias, angiokeratomas, corneal opacities, and hypohidrosis. Abdominal pain is common and occurs after meals. Significant airflow obstruction and fever is also frequent in these patients 2 .