Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Public Service Motivation, User Orientation, and Job Satisfaction: A Question of Employment Sector?

ABSTRACT Public service motivation (PSM) has been shown to be positively related to job satisfaction in the public sector, but there are two gaps in the literature. First, not only PSM but also pro-social motivation directed towards helping specific others (called user orientation) may affect job satisfaction. Second, the relationship between job satisfaction and these two types of pro-social motivation, PSM and user orientation, may also be found in the private sector. This study tests whether job satisfaction is associated with PSM and user orientation, and whether these associations differ between public and private employees. Using data from a survey of Danish employees (n = 2,811), we generally find positive relationships between the two types of pro-social motivation and job satisfaction, but the strength of the associations vary between occupations. The PSM–job satisfaction association does not differ significantly between the private and public sector, while the user orientation–job satisfaction association is strongest for private employees. This suggests that to understand the relationships between pro-social motivation, employment sector, and job satisfaction, future studies could fruitfully consider incorporating other types of pro-social motivation such as user orientation.
Successful Surgical Management of Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis

♦ Background Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS) is a serious complication of long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD). The mortality rate for EPS has been high, primarily because of complications related to bowel obstruction. Also, therapeutic guidelines for EPS have not yet been established. In our hospital, favorable postoperative results were obtained in 50 patients whose EPS was treated surgically. ♦ Patients All patients had chronic glomerulonephritis as the underlying kidney disease. All had undergone PD for between 29 months and 220 months (average: 113.9 months). During the course of PD, 3 patients developed EPS and were subsequently transferred to hemodialysis (HD). The other 47 patients (94.0%) developed EPS after discontinuation of PD. The reasons for transfer to HD were inadequate ultrafiltration (26 patients), bacterial peritonitis (16 patients), hypoalbuminemia (2 patients), renal transplantation (3 patients), and occurrence of EPS (3 patients). ♦ Intervention At laparotomy, a definitive diagnosis of EPS was established in all patients by the presence of clumped intestine cocooned with a dense sclerotic membrane. In all cases, the small intestine was completely released by ablation of the capsules, resulting in resolution of the bowel obstruction symptoms. In 5 patients, the large intestine was ablated solely at the region of the sigmoid colon. The operating time varied from 3 hours to 18 hours (average: 6.9 hours). Oral food intake was initiated 5 – 60 days (average: 10.2 days) after surgery. ♦ Results Perforation of the small intestine was detected postoperatively in 2 patients, who died 26 days and 37 days after surgery. The remaining 48 patients were followed for between 9 months and 107 months (average: 34.6 months). During follow-up, 6 – 12 months after the initial surgery, 4 patients experienced a recurrence of bowel obstruction symptoms that required a second laparotomy with enterolysis. Excluding the 2 patients with fatal outcomes, 46 patients (96%) experienced complete relief from bowel obstruction symptoms. The remaining 2 patients continued to experience mild, sub-acute bowel obstruction symptoms that could be successfully controlled solely by diet. ♦ Conclusions Surgical treatment of 50 patients with EPS produced successful outcomes in all but 2 patients (96% success). Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis should be actively treated by surgeons who genuinely understand this pathologic condition.
LONG‐TERM INCREASES IN RENAL SYMPATHETIC NERVE ACTIVITY AND HYPERTENSION

1. Essential hypertensive patients have been characterized by increased sympathetic nerve activity, increased peripheral vascular tone, decreased plasma volume and normal cardiac output when compared with normotensive subjects. Bilateral renal denervation reduces the magnitude or delays the onset of the blood pressure response in numerous models of experimental hypertension regardless of the aetiology of the elevation in arterial pressure.
Order Arrival, Quote Behavior, and the Return-Generating Process

This paper establishes three empirical results. The authors find positive autocorrelation in actual intraday stock returns, in intraday returns computed from quot e-midpoints, and in the arrival of buy and sell orders. They present a model of return generation which incorporates these features via la gged adjustment of the limit-order price and positive dependence in b id and ask transactions. The return model is observationally equivale nt to an ARMA process which is consistent with the observed return be havior. Copyright 1987 by American Finance Association.
Cellular Localization of Neprilysin in Mouse Bone Tissue and Putative Role in Hydrolysis of Osteogenic Peptides

The regulation of osteoblast and osteoclast metabolism is mediated by both hormones and local bone peptide factors. Peptides and hormones are under control of membrane peptidases such as Neprilysin (NEP). NEP is a widely distributed cell‐surface zinc‐metallopeptidase that is involved in the regulation of several important physiological processes by controlling the half‐life of bioactive peptides. Although NEP is known to be present in skeletal tissues, neither its cellular localization nor its function have been established. To address this question, we examined NEP distribution in bones of postnatal mouse. In situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry showed that NEP messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein are associated with bone‐forming cells including presumptive osteoblast precursors, preosteoblasts, osteoblasts, and osteocytes. NEP levels in newborn and adult mice bones also were compared by immunoblotting. Higher amounts of NEP immunoreactivity were observed in newborn as compared with adult bones, suggesting a relationship between NEP expression and bone growth. To further explore this hypothesis, we monitored in vitro NEP proteolytic activity using a series of synthetic osteogenic peptides such as parathyroid hormone‐related peptide 1–43 (PTHrP1–34), osteostatin (PTHrP107–139), osteogenic growth peptide (OGP), calcitonin, α‐calcitonin gene‐related peptide (α‐CGRP), and PTH1–34. Except for PTH1–34, all peptides were found to be NEP substrates.
Oil Prices and Economic Activity in Pakistan

Oil price shocks have raised serious concerns among the policy makers around the world because of its adverse impacts for the net oil-importing economies. This article, based on the data from 1979–80 Q1 to 2007–08 Q2, analyzes the impact of rising oil prices along with the changing macro conditions on output. Oil prices and output are found to be strongly related, and to a great extent this relationship is non-linear. In addition, lower debt-GDP ratio, lower deficit spending, lower real effective exchange rate, and the existence of foreign exchange reserves and capital investment would cause output to rise. In Pakistan, besides making adjustments at the macro level, what is required is to make rational choices about the development of energy mix for the future to reduce the risk of oil price fluctuations in the global energy market.
The Effectiveness of Catholic Primary Schooling

Although extensive research has compared Catholic and public high schools, little is known about Catholic primary schools. Using unique data for two cohorts of primary school students, I find that Catholic schooling does not have a significant effect on mathematics and reading test scores. These findings do not change when school level test scores from the first-grade cohort are used to account for selection bias in the fourth-grade cohort. In fourth grade, Catholic schooling is associated with marginally fewer student absences than is public schooling.
Modeling PM2.5 Urban Pollution Using Machine Learning and Selected Meteorological Parameters

Outdoor air pollution costs millions of premature deaths annually, mostly due to anthropogenic fine particulate matter (or PM2.5). Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, is no exception in exceeding the healthy levels of pollution. In addition to the impact of urbanization, motorization, and rapid population growth, particulate pollution is modulated by meteorological factors and geophysical characteristics, which complicate the implementation of the most advanced models of weather forecast. Thus, this paper proposes a machine learning approach based on six years of meteorological and pollution data analyses to predict the concentrations of PM2.5 from wind (speed and direction) and precipitation levels. The results of the classification model show a high reliability in the classification of low ( 25 µg/m3) and low (<10 µg/m3) versus moderate (10–25 µg/m3) concentrations of PM2.5. A regression analysis suggests a better prediction of PM2.5 when the climatic conditions are getting more extreme (strong winds or high levels of precipitation). The high correlation between estimated and real data for a time series analysis during the wet season confirms this finding. The study demonstrates that the use of statistical models based on machine learning is relevant to predict PM2.5 concentrations from meteorological data.
The Relation among Disclosure, Returns, and Trading Volume Information

This paper introduces a model in which the firm's returns depend on trading volume when the firm defers disclosure, because market makers use volume to draw inferences about better‐informed investors' private information on firm value. In addition, we show that a firm's commitment to a policy of timely disclosure of a broader range of outcomes dampens the slope coefficient on volume in a Taylor expansion of the log of the absolute value of returns on volume. The reason for this is that when a firm commits to a policy of timely disclosure of a broader range of outcomes, the deferral of a report indicates that the outcome is extreme. This heightens adverse selection. In turn, this makes informed trade more costly and hence less likely, thereby rendering returns less dependent on trading volume as a source of information about firm value. This result predicts that firms committing to more disclosure should experience a smaller slope coefficient on trading volume. Thus, the slope coefficient offers a potentia.
The Effects of Forward Vertical Integration on Service Performance of a Distributive Industry

THE distribution of services in the United States has undergone substantial changes in the post-war period. Of particular interest to industrial economists is the trend towards vertical integration which has disrupted traditional channels of distribution and eliminated intermediary markets whereby firms operating in different stages of production and marketing have been integrated into large comprehensive units [I2]. In some cases, vertical integration has been complete and resulted in the emergence of corporate entities which managed simultaneously the various stages. In other cases, vertical integration has been only partial, whereby through contractual arrangements, manufacturers or resellers have secured controls over firms operating at other stages of production or marketing [2]. An example of such arrangements is the franchising system through which more than one-third of products and services is currently distributed in the United States [i8]. Students of market structures are obviously concerned with the possible impact of such changes upon the performance of the distributive firms. This paper studies the effects of forward vertical integration by suppliers into distribution upon the level of services provided by the distributors.
Emerging stock markets return seasonalities: the January effect and the tax-loss selling hypothesis

Seasonal effects are tested for in stock returns, the January effect anomaly and the tax-loss selling hypothesis using monthly stock returns in eighteen emerging stock markets for the period 1987–1995. Even though considerable evidence for seasonal effects applies in several countries, very little evidence is found in favour of the January effect and the tax-loss selling hypothesis. These results provide some support to the informational efficiency aspect of the market efficiency hypothesis.
On the Optimization Approach towards Test Suite Minimization

Regression testing is a critical activity which occurs during the maintenance stage of the software lifecycle. However, it requires large amounts of test cases to assure the attainment of a certain degree of quality. As a result, test suite sizes may grow significantly. To address this issue, Test Suite Reduction techniques have been proposed. However, suite size reduction may lead to significant loss of fault detection efficacy. To deal with this problem, a greedy algorithm is presented in this paper. This algorithm attempts to select a test case which satisfies the maximum number of testing requirements while having minimum overlap in requirements coverage with other test cases. In order to evaluate the proposed algorithm, experiments have been conducted on the Siemens suite and the Space program. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm by retaining the fault detection capability of the suites while achieving significant suite size reduction.
Trade Reform and Poverty: The Case of Mexico

We use a two-step computationally simple procedure to analyse the effects of Mexico's's potential unilateral tariff liberalisation on real incomes. First, we use the CGE model provided by the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) as the new price generator. Second, we apply the price changes to Mexican household data in order to assess the effects of the policy simulation on poverty and income distribution. Although Mexico widely liberalised most of its imports by the mid 90s, one salient feature is its membership in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and United States. By choosing GTAP as the price generator, we are able to model the differential tariff structure. Even starting with a low level of tariff protection, simulation results show that the impact of tariff reform on welfare will be positive in general for all expenditure deciles. We find that, when we assume non-homothetic individual preferences, trade liberalisation benefits people in the poorer deciles more than those in the richer ones. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2002.
Two Sides of a One-Sided Phenomenon: Conceptualizing the Family Business and Business Family as a Möbius Strip

This article compares the family business, and its reciprocal institution, the business family, to a one-sided band known as the “Möbius strip. ” After explaining the rationale for this comparison, the conceptualization is enriched and then enlarged to accommodate the diverse range of firms identifying themselves as family businesses. Next, a process model is presented to explain the emergence, existence, and decline of the familybusiness interface. The article concludes with a discussion of several research-related implications arising from this comparison.
Pricing of Domestic versus Multinational Companies

World financial markets are becoming integrated. Hence, global factors rather than domestic factors should dominate the pricing of stocks. All the empirical studies published until the mid-1990s, however, reported that stock prices respond primarily to domestic factors. In other words, the pricing of a company's stock is driven predominantly by the primary location of its stock listing rather than by the nature and geographical breakdown of its activities. We challenge this vision of international market pricing. We have found that stock pricing, at least for non-U.S. companies, is strongly influenced by the extent of the company's nondomestic activities. This finding has implications for the organization of global equity research departments and for the structure of the investment process.
A multivariate finite mixture latent trajectory model with application to dementia studies

ABSTRACT Dementia patients exhibit considerable heterogeneity in individual trajectories of cognitive decline, with some patients showing rapid decline following diagnoses while others exhibiting slower decline or remaining stable for several years. Dementia studies often collect longitudinal measures of multiple neuropsychological tests aimed to measure patients’ decline across a number of cognitive domains. We propose a multivariate finite mixture latent trajectory model to identify distinct longitudinal patterns of cognitive decline simultaneously in multiple cognitive domains, each of which is measured by multiple neuropsychological tests. EM algorithm is used for parameter estimation and posterior probabilities are used to predict latent class membership. We present results of a simulation study demonstrating adequate performance of our proposed approach and apply our model to the Uniform Data Set from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center to identify cognitive decline patterns among dementia patients.
Unemployment benefits and parental resources: what helps the young unemployed with labour market integration?

This article deals with the question of how different resources affect the labour market integration of the young unemployed. Previous research has often focused on the effects of unemployment compensation benefits on labour market outcomes. However, for young unemployed people additional parental resources may be even more important. The article examines the effects both of unemployment benefits and family-related resources. The main hypothesis it advances is that individuals who have access to different resources will enter more stable jobs after unemployment than those lacking such different kinds of support. Using data from a longitudinal study on youth unemployment in Germany, I find that subsequent job duration increases with the receipt of unemployment benefits but decreases with parental support. Accordingly, benefits actually improve post-unemployment job tenure, whereas parental support functions rather as a ‘safety net’ enabling young people to quit a job.
Expression and immunolocalisation of antimicrobial peptides within human palatine tonsils

Background: Recurrent acute tonsillitis is one of the most frequent ENT referrals, yet its pathogenesis remains poorly understood, and tonsillectomy still costs the National Health Service more than £60 000 000 annually. Antimicrobial cationic peptides are components of the innate immune system. They are generally small, highly positively charged peptides with broad spectrum antimicrobial activity which function as the body's ‘natural antibiotics'. The role of antimicrobial cationic peptides in the susceptibility of patients to recurrent acute tonsillitis is unknown. Aims: To characterise and compare antimicrobial cationic peptide expression and localisation in human palatine tonsils from control subjects and recurrent acute tonsillitis patients, and to assess the potential role of these peptides in the pathogenesis of tonsillitis. Methods: Palatine tonsils were harvested with informed consent from 19 recurrent acute tonsillitis patients and from five control subjects undergoing tonsillectomy for sleep disorders. Total ribonucleic acid was isolated and antimicrobial cationic peptide expression was characterised using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Fluorescent immunohistochemical techniques were used to localise antimicrobial cationic peptides within fresh frozen tonsil sections. Results: Using molecular analyses, the palatine tonsils from control and recurrent acute tonsillitis subjects were confirmed as a site of expression of the antimicrobial cationic peptides human β-defensin 1–3, LL-37 (cathelicidin) and Liver expressed antimicrobial peptide-1 (LEAP-1). We also demonstrated for the first time the expression of Liver expressed antimicrobial peptide-2 (LEAP-2). Our analyses indicated that all six antimicrobial cationic peptides were expressed in all 26 tonsil samples. Immunohistochemical staining indicated that the antimicrobial cationic peptides were localised to the tonsil surface and crypt epithelium. However, the surface epithelium of tonsils from recurrent acute tonsillitis patients showed reduced amounts of antimicrobial peptides human β-defensins 1 and 3, and LL-37, compared with healthy controls. Conclusion: The tonsil epithelium synthesises an array of antimicrobial cationic peptides which function as host defence. Preliminary immunohistochemical data suggest that the surface epithelium of tonsils from recurrent acute tonsillitis patients contains reduced amounts of such peptides, which may increase these patients' susceptibility to infection.
The Political Economy of the IRS

This paper tests a multiple principal-agent model of the Internal Revenue Service. Using data for 33 IRS districts over six tax years, 1992-1997, we report evidence that the fraction of individual income tax returns audited is significantly lower in districts that are important to the president electorally and that have representation on key congressional committees. These findings suggest that the IRS is not a rogue government agency, but rather is an effective bureaucratic agent of its political sponsors. "Reforming" the IRS by subjecting it to an independent oversight board appointed by the president would therefore seem to be redundant. Copyright 2001 Royal Statistical Society.
How do housing wealth effects vary with age?

This article investigates whether the housing wealth effect is constant across age. The data are drawn from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) for the waves of 2001, 2003 and 2005. Using threshold estimation to endogenously split the sample by age group, we find three threshold age groups of 49, 55 and 65. Housing wealth has a significant and positive effect on the consumption for individuals aged 49 and 55 years, but a negative effect for individuals aged 65 years and older. If age is below 49 or between 55 and 65 years, the housing wealth effect is insignificant.
The Governance of Exclusive Territories When Dealers can Bootleg

A transaction cost approach is used to investigate a manufacturer's policy towards exclusive territory dealers who bootleg (sell across their assigned territories). We show that optimal enforcement policies will generally tolerate some level of bootlegging. This tolerance is a natural consequence of the transaction cost principle that institutional arrangements are not fully enforceable, and that self-enforcing implicit agreements will require some degree of tolerance. The actual degree of tolerance is determined by (a) the importance of reseller services, (b) the reduction in margin realized from surreptitious sales, and (c) the resellers' beliefs about the manufacturer's long-run commitment to the channel. We also show that deploying exclusive territories is beneficial to the manufacturer because it safeguards reseller services and permits resellers to capitalize on their superior local information. However, the latter effect is contingent on being able to convince resellers of the manufacturer's long run commitment to the channel.