Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Embryonic osmoregulation: consequences of high and low water loss during incubation of the chicken egg.

The rates of water loss of domestic chicken eggs were varied during incubation to measure the osmoregulatory ability of the avian embryo. Egg water loss was increased by drilling holes in the eggshell over the airspace on day 13 (I = 21 days) and then placing these eggs in a low relative humidity (r.h.: 0-10%) incubator until hatch. Egg water loss was decreased by placing other eggs in a high-r.h. (85-90%) incubator on day 0. Eggs with low water loss (approximately 6% of initial fresh mass [IFM]) produced embryos and yolks that were not different in wet or dry mass when compared to control eggs that lost approximately 12% of IFM. However, 1-4 gm of excess albumen were left in low-water-loss eggs on day 21. Hatching success was 71% and 89% for low and control eggs, respectively. Low egg water loss did not appear to disturb embryonic growth. The allantoic fluid volume and millimolar allantoic Na+ and Cl- ions declined faster with high and slower with low rates of water loss. Thus, excess water was lost as a result of increased movement of water out of allantoic fluid, which was due to increased active transport of Na+ ions by the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). Eggs with high water loss had elevated Cl- levels after day 17 in plasma and amniotic fluid, which indicated a period of osmotic stress after depletion of allantoic fluid between day 18 and hatch. The decrease in wet embryo mass measured in embryos from high-water-loss eggs was due principally to dehydration of skin. Embryonic skin may serve as an emergency water reservoir during osmotic stress. Dehydrated chicks produced from high-water-loss eggs were 6 gm less in wet mass at hatch compared to controls. However, these chicks regained the water deficit 7 days after hatch and grew at a rate not different from control chicks through 6 weeks of age. Total egg water loss of 12% of IFM results in highest hatching success. However, water losses between 6% and 20% of IFM do not appear to affect adversely the growth or water content of the chick. Water losses above 20% of IFM cause early depletion of allantoic fluid, prolong the period of osmotic stress, and result in subsequent dehydration of blood, amniotic fluid, and embryonic skin. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
LEARNING UNPLUGGED: The Internet Divide in American Schools

A number of technical, social, and cultural factors influence young Americans' use of computers and the Internet, yet schools remain an essential access point for a significant population of our youth. Few schools provide students with open access to the Internet. Schools must account for inequities in access to 21st-century technologies or risk propagating existing divides into a new generation.
Get Out the Vote-by-Mail? A Randomized Field Experiment Testing the Effect of Mobilization in Traditional and Vote-by-Mail Precincts

This study extends previous field experimental research on turnout by considering how institutional context moderates the effect of mobilization. Taking advantage of a setting in which some registrants are assigned to vote by mail, the authors find that a door-to-door mobilization campaign has a larger effect on the participation of those who vote at polling places than on registrants assigned to cast mail ballots, but only among individuals whose voting behavior is most likely to be shaped by extrinsic social rewards. The authors conclude that there may be payoff for election reform strategies that tap into voting’s social rewards.
The Role of Private and Public Debt in Corporate Capital Structures

This paper examines the extent of reliance on private debt from 1980 through 1988 for a set of firms selected from Fortune 500 firms in 1980. The average firm in this set obtained more than half of its debt from private sources throughout the period, with a slight decline in the mid-1980's. Cross-sectional analysis reveals that a firm's reliance on private markets for debt financing is negatively related to the amount of outstanding long-term debt. Use of private debt is not linked to standard proxies for the potential for leverage-related costs for this group of firms.
Business challenges and strategies for development of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia

Despite their significant role in both the developed and the developing economies, Small-and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are faced with the greater risk of business failure with past statistics indicating that over half of all new ventures will not enjoy long-term success. They face various types of difficulties and business challenges. This paper attempts to examine the issues, and explain how the business owners of SMEs in Malaysia strategise their operation to overcome the failure. The study highlighted several challenges faced by the firms, and to overcome these issues, SMEs have followed numerous strategies. The study revealed that business success is a result of implementing a mix of business, operation and management strategies. The paper concludes with the possible remedies, recommendations and future enhancements.
Gender Differences in Parental Psychological Distress Following Perinatal Death or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Background Stress responses of bereaved parents (mothers 194, fathers 143) who experienced infant loss were compared with parents (mothers 203, fathers 157) with a live born child. Method Psychological distress using scales of anxiety, depression and alcohol use was compared at 2, 8, 15 and 30 months post-loss. Results Bereaved mothers showed significantly more anxiety/depression than controls at all four interviews. For bereaved fathers, anxiety/depression differed significantly from controls only at two months. Heavy alcohol use was significantly more prevalent at 2 and 30 months. Relative risks showed significant gender differences between bereaved parents at all four interviews for anxiety/depression. When this outcome was extended to include heavy drinking in addition to anxiety/depression, these differences diminished and were significant only at 2 and 8 months. Conclusion Female responses are longer lasting and reflected by elevated levels of anxiety/depression. Male responses equally involve anxiety, depression and heavy alcohol consumption.
The perceived impact of interprofessional information sharing on young people about their sexual healthcare

ABSTRACT This article presents the results from an analysis of data from service providers and young adults who were formerly in state care about how information about the sexual health of young people in state care is managed. In particular, the analysis focuses on the perceived impact of information sharing between professionals on young people. Twenty-two service providers from a range of professions including social work, nursing and psychology, and 19 young people aged 18–22 years who were formerly in state care participated in the study. A qualitative approach was employed in which participants were interviewed in depth and data were analysed using modified analytical induction (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007). Findings suggest that within the care system in which service provider participants worked it was standard practice that sensitive information about a young person’s sexual health would be shared across team members, even where there appeared to be no child protection issues. However, the accounts of the young people indicated that they experienced the sharing of information in this way as an invasion of their privacy. An unintended outcome of a high level of information sharing within teams is that the privacy of the young person in care is compromised in a way that is not likely to arise in the case of young people who are not in care. This may deter young people from availing themselves of the sexual health services.
The Impact of Spatial Mismatch on Female Labor Force Participation

John Kain hypothesized that housing discrimination, coupled with the suburbanization of low-skill jobs, has contributed to the poor economic status of minority central-city residents by creating a spatial mismatch between where poor central-city residents reside and the location of low-skill jobs. Four recent reviews of the spatial mismatch literature indicate that there is support for the hypothesis. Although a large amount of research on the spatial mismatch hypothesis has been conducted, the impact of spatial mismatch on women has been largely ignored. This study explores the impact of spatial mismatch on the labor force participation of White, Black, and Hispanic women using the 1990 Public Use Microdata Sample. The results suggest that spatial mismatch has an impact on laborforce participation of women regardless of race and that racial disparities in labor force participation rates are partially explained by a higher degree of mismatch faced by minority women.
Resource-Based Theory and Corporate Diversification

Corporate diversification, a major strategic management research topic, has been influenced significantly by resource-based theory. In this review, the authors make two main contributions to this literature. First, they discuss the historical development of corporate diversification research employing the resource-based theory perspective and related concepts, highlighting important insights to date. They then review this literature and discuss its main contributions. Second, the authors identify open issues and suggest opportunities for future contributions and describe ways that research on corporate diversification using the resource-based theory perspective could be further enriched by integration with theoretical insights culled from the organizational economics, new institutional economics, and industrial organization economics literatures.
Definition of regions in human c-myc that are involved in transformation and nuclear localization

To study the relationship between the primary structure of the c-myc protein and some of its functional properties, we made in-frame insertion and deletion mutants of the normal human c-myc coding domain that was expressed from a retroviral promoter-enhancer. We assessed the effects of these mutations on the ability of c-myc protein to cotransform normal rat embryo cells with a mutant ras gene, induce foci in a Rat-1-derived cell line (Rat-1a), and localize in nuclei. Using the cotransformation assay, we found two regions of the protein (amino acids 105 to 143 and 321 to 439) where integrity was critical: one region (amino acids 1 to 104) that tolerated insertion and small deletion mutations, but not large deletions, and another region (amino acids 144) to 320) that was largely dispensable. Comparison with regions that were important for transformation of Rat-1a cells revealed that some are essential for both activities, but others are important for only one or the other, suggesting that the two assays require different properties of the c-myc protein. Deletion of each of three regions of the c-myc protein (amino acids 106 to 143, 320 to 368, and 370 to 412) resulted in partial cytoplasmic localization, as determined by immunofluorescence or immunoprecipitation following subcellular fractionation. Some abnormally located proteins retained transforming activity; most proteins lacking transforming activity appeared to be normally located.
Land rental values and the agrarian economy: England and Wales, 1500 1914

I use the rents and prices of land held by charities in England to estimate statistically nominal and real farmland rental values, including payments for tithe and taxes, from 1500 to 1912. The series measures rental values when land was rented in a competitive market, not the average rents paid by land occupiers which would often be lower because of customary leases. An advantage of the methods used here over older ones is that the sampling error in the series can be calculated. The series show rapid shifts of income toward landowners and away from wages around 1600 and 1800, but back toward wages after 1870. Land rental values are much higher before 1820 than in the recent series of Michael Turner, John Beckett and Bethany Afton. This implies that agricultural productivity was high before 1800: higher than could be consistent with an agricultural revolution either alongside or before the Industrial Revolution.
Corporate Governance, Cash Holdings, and Firm Value: Evidence from Japan

This paper presents evidence on cash holdings for Japanese firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, focusing on the impact of corporate governance factors in cash holdings and the implication of cash holdings to firm value. We find that insider ownership and bank relations of firms play a significant role in determining cash holdings. Our results indicate that foreign stockholders select profitable firms to invest, and these firms have higher levels of cash. We document evidence that cash holdings lead to agency problems and impact firm value negatively, and governance characteristics affect the negative relation between cash holdings and firm value.
Refractive Index and Temperature Sensing Based on Surface Plasmon Resonance and Directional Resonance Coupling in a PCF

We propose a refractive index (RI) and temperature sensor design based on hybrid mechanisms in a D-shaped all-solid photonic crystal fiber. The D-shaped flat surface is coated with a silver film to construct surface plasmon resonance for the RI sensing, while a single hole in the all-solid structure is filled with benzene to form a directional resonance coupling for the temperature sensing. With a strong coupling between the core mode and the resonance modes, the maximum sensitivities of the RI and the temperature are as high as 12900 nm/RIU and 23.85 nm/°C. Since two resonance designs are used, this sensor can avoid the need for metal coating in the fiber holes and use a high RI sensing medium for temperature sensing.
Senior manager overconfidence, managerial discretion and dividend policy: A study of Chinese listed companies

The research attempts to link managerial overconfidence with dividend policy in an emerging market in China. In addition, it proposes and tests if managerial discretion factors such as duality, cash flow and market growth, moderate that relationship by using 745 companies as our sample. The results show that, like in Western countries, senior manager over confidence and dividend policy are negatively related and that relationship is strengthened by duality and cash flow. However, the proposed market growth variable does not show significance in strengthening the relationship between over confidence and dividend distribution. The current study attributes that to the uniqueness of an emerging market. It also tests and finds that other unique factors, such as state ownership and political connection in China, weaken the overconfidence and dividend relationship. Scholars should carefully examine if models and concepts applicable in Western countries can also be used in emerging markets. Key words: Overconfidence, dividend policy, managerial discretion, moderating effect.
Experiments on human facial expressions for improvement of simplified robot face

A new health care system using a simplified robot face has been developed. Patient's health care data can be stored in a personal computer and a robotic system can take many actions depending on the stored data. It can tell a patient what time to take his/her medication and warn them if they fail to take their medication at the appropriate time. The robotic system can communicate with a patient using facial expressions, a voice communication system and a personal computer monitor. The robot face was designed using simple mechanisms in order to achieve a low cost system. Only seven DOF are used to give facial expressions. The facial impressions of the simplified robot have been categorized with a questionnaire by over 500 people. In this paper, the experiments on human facial expressions are conducted in order to improve our simplified robot face used for a health care system.
A Comparison of Japanese and U.S. Attitudes toward Foreign Products

How are U.S. products perceived by foreign consumers? How do these product images affect international marketing strategies? What are the relationships between the “country product” image and international marketing strategies? These questions are of concern to all engaged in international business. This study measures the cross-cultural image of “made in …” products as perceived by both Japanese and U.S. businessmen.
The attraction force of out‐of‐town shopping malls: a case study on run‐fun shopping in the Netherlands

Recent years have witnessed a shift from central urban locations of shopping facilities to extra‐urban locations. This trend, which has become a prominent one in North America, is also increasingly observed in several European countries (e.g. France and Germany). The Netherlands has always had a discouraging policy for out‐of‐town shopping malls. Recently, however, a new experiment has been implemented, namely in the Greater Rotterdam area. This paper deals with the potential competition of such an out‐of‐town shopping mall in the retail sector with respect to the inner‐city of Rotterdam. Based on a survey questionnaire, this paper aims to identify the motives of visitors and buyers for such large‐scale shopping facilities. Analytical research into the nature (with a main distinction according to run and fun shopping) and the spatial market area of a particular shopping centre located in Greater Rotterdam (Alexandrium) shows that the anticipated policy goals are met, in the sense that the shopping mall concerned turns into a regional market for run shopping purposes rather than into a competing fun shopping centre.
Legal Development, Financial Repression, and Entrepreneurship in a Marketizing Economy

The nature of entrepreneurship in a marketizing economy will be affected not only by personal and socioeconomic characteristics, but also by the extent of legal development and financial repression. Many developing countries have underdeveloped legal and credit systems that can impede self-employment. Since China is an economy characterized by legal and institutional imperfections as well as underdeveloped financial markets, its growing and important nonstate sector poses a puzzle. This article tests whether such institutional constraints have affected the development of entrepreneurship in China, with implications for other countries in the process of liberalization. After examining the impact of legal and financial development, improvements in the legal system are found to lead to greater entrepreneurship, while financial repression is not a significant factor. Legal protection increases protection of property rights that can promote self-employment, while start-up money is often obtained from informal avenues such that financial repression is not a deterrent for starting a business, though it may be more important in the later stages of business expansion.
Antimicrobial Resistance in Salmonella enterica Serovar Heidelberg Isolates from Retail Meats, Including Poultry, from 2002 to 2006

ABSTRACT Salmonella enterica serovar Heidelberg frequently causes food-borne illness in humans. There are few data on the prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibility, and genetic diversity of Salmonella serovar Heidelberg isolates in retail meats. We compared the prevalences of Salmonella serovar Heidelberg in a sampling of 20,295 meats, including chicken breast (n = 5,075), ground turkey (n = 5,044), ground beef (n = 5,100), and pork chops (n = 5,076), collected during 2002 to 2006. Isolates were analyzed for antimicrobial susceptibility and compared genetically using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and PCR for the blaCMY gene. A total of 298 Salmonella serovar Heidelberg isolates were recovered, representing 21.6% of all Salmonella serovars from retail meats. One hundred seventy-eight (59.7%) were from ground turkey, 110 (36.9%) were from chicken breast, and 10 (3.4%) were from pork chops; none was found in ground beef. One hundred ninety-eight isolates (66.4%) were resistant to at least one compound, and 49 (16.4%) were resistant to at least five compounds. Six isolates (2.0%), all from ground turkey, were resistant to at least nine antimicrobials. The highest resistance in poultry isolates was to tetracycline (39.9%), followed by streptomycin (37.8%), sulfamethoxazole (27.7%), gentamicin (25.7%), kanamycin (21.5%), ampicillin (19.8%), amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (10.4%), and ceftiofur (9.0%). All isolates were susceptible to ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin. All ceftiofur-resistant strains carried blaCMY. PFGE using XbaI and BlnI showed that certain clones were widely dispersed in different types of meats and meat brands from different store chains in all five sampling years. These data indicate that Salmonella serovar Heidelberg is a common serovar in retail poultry meats and includes widespread clones of multidrug-resistant strains.
Semantic Security with Practical Transmission Schemes over Fading Wiretap Channels

We propose and assess an on–off protocol for communication over wireless wiretap channels with security at the physical layer. By taking advantage of suitable cryptographic primitives, the protocol we propose allows two legitimate parties to exchange confidential messages with some chosen level of semantic security against passive eavesdroppers, and without needing either pre-shared secret keys or public keys. The proposed method leverages the noisy and fading nature of the channel and exploits coding and all-or-nothing transforms to achieve the desired level of semantic security. We show that the use of fake packets in place of skipped transmissions during low channel quality periods yields significant advantages in terms of time needed to complete transmission of a secret message. Numerical examples are provided considering coding and modulation schemes included in the WiMax standard, thus showing that the proposed approach is feasible even with existing practical devices.
A Comparative Analysis of U.S. Property and Casualty Reinsurers and Insurers

In empirical research related to the property‐casualty insurance industry, studies commonly focus on either insurers or reinsurers. However, in many cases, the definition used to make the distinction between the two groups is often not clearly defined and/or the definition varies across studies. This variation could result in a substantially different group of firms being included or excluded from the study, thereby affecting the empirical results obtained. This study builds upon Chen and Hamwi, who compare the performance of U.S. insurers and reinsurers. The objective of the study is fourfold: (1) to compare the definitions of insurer and reinsurer commonly used in prior research to identify differences, (2) to expand upon the traditional methods of classifying insurers and reinsurers, (3) to compare the individual firm‐level characteristics of insurers and reinsurers to detect potential variation across categories and across definitions, and (4) to analyze the impact of different definitions on the results of multivariate analyses exploring common research questions. The univariate results indicate that there are some variations in the characteristics of the firms based on the categorization of insurers and reinsurers arising from different definitions. In addition, we find that there are significant differences in the regression results when comparing models based on various definitions of reinsurers utilized in prior research and when professional reinsurers and incidental reinsurers are grouped together. As such, it is possible that the definition used to include or exclude reinsurers from the sample can impact the results.