Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Translocation Causes Extinction of a Local Population of the Freshwater Shrimp Paratya australiensis

Abstract: In 1993, as part of another study, we translocated freshwater shrimp ( Paratya australiensis ) between pools from two different subcatchments within the same drainage system in southeast Queensland, Australia. Subsequent analysis of the mitochondrial COI locus revealed that populations in the two subcatchments represented monophyletic lineages that were 6% divergent. Thus, we decided to determine the effects of the translocation on resident populations. After only 7 years, representing seven generations, the resident genotype was extinct at one of the sites. Evidence from analysis of nuclear genes ( allozymes ) and mitochondrial genes ( COI ) suggests that this extreme result may be explained by a mating preference of all females ( resident and translocated ) for translocated males and a low viability of crosses between resident females and translocated males. There is no obvious morphological or behavioral reason for a mating preference. The results of our study provide evidence that deliberate translocations and interbasin water transfers should be treated with caution.
Examining the relationship of payment system characteristics and behavioural intention in e-payment adoption: a case of Indonesia

This study is conducted to analyse factors that influence the behavioural intention to use e-payment system on e-commerce in Indonesia. The proposed model in this research combines behavioural theory of technology acceptance in terms of behavioural beliefs, social influences, and personal innovativeness with the characteristics of an ideal payment system. The model was tested by the structural equation modelling SEM using LISREL 8.8 software. The analysis result of 203 respondents showed that Indonesian customers tend to only consider the advantages they gain when adopting e-payment and ignore the risks associated with the technology. Concerning e-payment system characteristics, it was also proven that ease of use, privacy, trust, security, and convertibility influence directly and indirectly the intention to adopt e-payment.
Customer loyalty and the effect of switching costs as a moderator variable A case in the Turkish mobile phone market

Purpose – In the GSM mobile telephony sector, the main condition for protecting the subscriber base is to win customer loyalty, a key necessity for the maintenance of a brand’s life in the long term. To achieve this aim, customer satisfaction and trust must be measured and “switching costs” identified. The latter render subscribers’ preference for rival operators more expensive. In this connection, this paper’s aim is to measure the effects of customer satisfaction and trust on customer loyalty, and the direct and indirect effect of “switching cost” on customer loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – The data set covered 1,662 mobile phone users in Turkey. The data were analyzed by moderated regression analysis to test the hypotheses. Findings – The findings of this study show that the switching cost factor directly affects loyalty, and has a moderator effect on both customer satisfaction and trust. Therefore, it plays a crucial role in winning customer loyalty. In short, it is a quasi moderator. However, switching costs was measured as a unidimensional factor, but switching costs in fact contains psychological, financial and procedural sub-dimensions. Therefore, future research might measure the sub-dimensions of switching costs and examine their moderating effects. Originality/value – With respect to the findings, trust has more importance than customer satisfaction in engendering loyalty, since trust contains belief in the brand, which provides positive outcomes not only in the present but also in the future. But customer satisfaction does not contain this dimension. So, the effect of trust on loyalty becomes greater than the effect of customer satisfaction. Therefore, any GSM operator who wishes to preserve its existing subscriber base should concentrate on winning its subscribers’ trust.
Characterization of a Baculovirus Lacking the Alkaline Nuclease Gene

ABSTRACT The Autographa californica multiple nucleocapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) alkaline nuclease (AN) associates with the baculovirus single-stranded DNA binding protein LEF-3 and possesses both a 5′→3′ exonuclease and an endonuclease activity. These activities are thought to be involved in DNA recombination and replication. To investigate the role of AN in AcMNPV replication, the λ Red system was used to replace the an open reading frame with a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene (cat) and a bacmid containing the AcMNPV genome in Escherichia coli. The AcMNPV an knockout bacmid (vAcAN-KO/GUS) was unable to propagate in Sf9 cells, although an an-rescued bacmid (vAcAN-KO/GUS-Res) propagated normally. In addition, the mutant did not appear to produce budded virions. These data indicated that an is an essential baculovirus gene. Slot blot and DpnI assays of DNA replication in Sf9 cells transfected with vAcAN-KO/GUS, vAcAN-KO/GUS-Res, and a wild-type bacmid showed that the vAcAN-KO/GUS bacmid was able to replicate to levels similar to those seen with the vAcAN-KO/GUS-Res and wild-type bacmids at early stages posttransfection. However, at later time points DNA did not accumulate to the levels seen with the repaired or wild-type bacmids. Northern analysis of Sf9 cells transfected with bacmid vAcAN-KO/GUS showed that transcription of late and very late genes was lower at later times posttransfection relative to the results seen with wild-type and vAcAN-KO/GUS-Res bacmids. These data suggest that the an gene might be involved in the maturation of viral DNA or packaging of the DNA into virions.
Private finance rates of return: evidence from the UK's PFI roads sector

This study presents the results from an ex-post accounting analysis of the rates of return enjoyed by the providers of equity and debt for UK private finance initiative (PFI) roads. The analysis examined 94 individual sets of publicly-available financial statements from Companies House (from 10PFI road operating companies over a 9- to 10-year period) to assess outturn returns and compare them with ex-ante expectations. The study is a departure from previously published research which has largely been restrictedto ex-ante financial analysis. Only now that PFI roads have matured, and are some way into the steady-state operating phase of their respective concessions, are there sufficient data for a 'first-cut' ex-post financial analysis to be conducted and for the findings to be reported. For benchmarking purposes, the UK PFI road rates of return are compared with international experience from privately-financed roads, with the return hurdle-rates used by private financiers, and with the returns realised by finance providers in other UK PFI sectors. Rates of return are an important consideration for planners and policy-makers as they effectively represent the cost, to the public sector, of using private finance. Comparison of the outturn benefits of using private finance with the outturn costs enables an assessment to be made of the actual value-for-money being achieved by using PFI-type procurement approaches. Given that the UK's PFI road sector is now over ten years old, it is perhaps timely to review experiences from the pastthat may serve as lessons for the future use of private finance in the context of infrastructure investment. For the covering abstract see ITRD E145999
Ownership structure and economic performance of European corporations

Firms in the European countries today have the possibility of choosing from a range of control enhancing mechanisms giving the controlling owners an amount of influence which is disproportional to their share of cash flow. The list of control enhancing mechanisms includes dual class shares, pyramidal ownership structures and several others. The justification for these control enhancing mechanisms is currently the subject of much debate within the European Union. The opposing positions in the debate can be stated briefly as i) the control enhancing mechanisms are an impediment to takeovers and should therefore be removed to improve the market for corporate control. ii) Removing the control enhancing mechanisms reduces the contractual freedom to decide desirable ownership structures. This report investigates whether ownership structures affect firm performance. To do so this study provides a description of the current ownership structures in European countries and the economic outcomes for firms using different ownership structures. The results are presented in the tables below.
Genetic Variation in AhR Gene Related to Dioxin Sensitivity in the Japanese Field Mouse, Apodemus speciosus

Human beings have developed many tools, technologies, and chemicals for their convenience and comfort. For example, herbicides and/or insecticides that are sprayed on crop lands prevent damage from pests and have resulted in remarkable increases in crop yield. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which have insulating properties and are incombustible, were widely used in the past in electronic instruments and by the electric industry. However, some of these chemicals have harmful effects on organisms. In Seveso, Italy, a large amount of dioxins was emitted by explosion of an agrochemical factory. This accidental release of dioxins killed a lot of farm animals and many people living near the factory developed skin inflammation due to exposure to the high concentrations of dioxins. As seen above, many similar chemical spill disasters have occurred and new chemicals are still being produced. Dioxins are one of the most toxic groups of manmade chemicals known. Dioxins are not only highly toxic, but they also insidiously disrupt reproductive function by mimicking the actions of hormones in the body. Their effects on reproduction, such as reducing the number of sperm and affecting the sex ratio in offspring, may impair the fitness of individuals. Decreased reproductive success of individuals in a population may result in the extinction of local populations and eventually species extinction. In this chapter, we describe the effects of the most toxic chemical pollutant, dioxins, on the Japanese field mouse, Apodemus speciosus. We also discuss the diversity of dioxin sensitivity and attempted to identify dioxin sensitivity in mice using a molecular indicator. Our findings suggest that it is important to take into consideration the differences in dioxin response in each mouse for an accurate estimation of the impact of the pollution.
Major depression and conduct disorder in youth: associations with parental psychopathology and parent-child conflict.

BACKGROUND This study examined conduct disorder (CD) and major depression (MDD) in adolescents in relationship to parent-child conflict and psychopathology in their parents. METHOD Participants were drawn from a population-based sample of twins and their families. Affected participants had lifetime diagnoses of CD and/or MDD; controls had no history of either disorder. RESULTS The presence of CD or MDD in an adolescent was related to increased rates of maternal MDD and paternal antisocial behavior. Both CD and MDD in adolescents were directly associated with high parent-child conflict. This association appeared unrelated to whether the father had a history of antisocial behavior; however, the association between mother-child conflict and psychopathology in the child was related to the mother having a history of MDD as well. CONCLUSION The implications of these findings for the complex relationship between parental diagnoses, child diagnoses, and parent-child conflict are discussed.
TDP-43 Binds Heterogeneous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein A/B through Its C-terminal Tail

TDP-43 is a highly conserved nuclear factor of yet unknown function that binds to ug-repeated sequences and is responsible for cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator exon 9 splicing inhibition. We have analyzed TDP-43 interactions with other splicing factors and identified the critical regions for the protein/protein recognition events that determine this biological function. We show here that the C-terminal region of TDP-43 is capable of binding directly to several proteins of the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) family with well known splicing inhibitory activity, in particular, hnRNP A2/B1 and hnRNP A1. Mutational analysis showed that TDP-43 proteins lacking the C-terminal region could not inhibit splicing probably because they were unable to form the hnRNP-rich complex involved in splicing inhibition. Finally, through splicing complex analysis, we show that splicing inhibition mediated by TDP-43 occurs at the earliest stages of spliceosomal assembly.
Outward FDI from Russia and its Policy Context, Update 2011

Russian outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) increased rapidly in the 2000s. The global economic crisis caused some structural shifts in Russian companies’ expansion abroad: for example, several Russian multinational enterprises (MNEs) lost a major part of their foreign assets. However, Russia remained among the top 15 countries ranked by OFDI stock. Leading Russian MNEs, especially LUKOIL and Gazprom, continued their extensive OFDI activities in 2008–2010. The main features of Russian OFDI have not changed. Roundtripping investments and OFDI in real estate are still extremely high as a proportion of the total. Large private MNEs with low transparency combine classic OFDI motives with the Russian oligarchs’ desire for “capital flight” and the creation of “safety nests” abroad. Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are more popular than greenfield OFDI among Russian MNEs, although they rarely strengthen Russian firms’ competitiveness. State-controlled MNEs are assumed to have ties to Russian foreign policy. At the same time, Russian state support is weak for small and medium-sized investors who need information services and insurance schemes.
Evidence of a central antinociceptive effect of paracetamol involving spinal 5HT3 receptors

THIS study was carried out to determine both the effect of systemic paracetamol on the C-fibre evoked reflex activity, a test sensitive to centrally acting analgesic drugs, and the influence of an intrathecally administered 5HT3 receptor antagonist, tropisetron. Paracetamol (200, 300, 400mgkg-1, i.v.) dose-dependently decreased (maximal effects −60±8%) the C-evoked responses for a duration of 90 min (for the lowest dose). This effect was totally suppressed by tropisetron (1μg, i.t.). These data confirm previous studies suggesting a central effect of this drug and demonstrate the involvement of a spinal 5HT3 mediated serotonergic mechanism.
Microsomal epoxide hydrolase polymorphisms, cigarette smoking, and risk of colorectal cancer: The Fukuoka Colorectal Cancer Study

Microsomal epoxide hydrolase (EPHX1) plays an important role in the activation and detoxification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carcinogens found in cigarette smoke. Polymorphisms in exon 3 (Y113H) and exon 4 (H139R) of the EPHX1 have been associated with enzyme activity. We investigated the risk of colorectal cancer in relation to the EPHX1 Y113H and H139R polymorphisms and assessed effect modifications of cigarette smoking and the other covariates. The interaction between the EPHX1 polymorphisms and selected genetic polymorphisms was also examined. We used data from Fukuoka Colorectal Cancer Study, a community‐based case–control study, including 685 cases and 778 controls. In‐person interviews were conducted to assess lifestyle factors. The EPHX1 Y113H and H139R polymorphisms were determined by the TaqMan assay and the polymerase chain reaction‐restriction fragment length polymorphism, respectively. Neither of the two polymorphisms nor the imputed EPHX1 phenotype was associated with colorectal cancer risk. Cigarette smoking and alcohol intake showed no effect modification on the association with the EPHX1 polymorphisms or the imputed EPHX1 phenotype. Increased risks of colorectal cancer associated with the 113Y allele and imputed EPHX1 phenotype were observed among individuals with high body mass index (BMI; ≥25.0 kg/m2), but not among those with low BMI (<25.0 kg/m2). The risk decreased with an increasing number of the 139R allele in the null genotypes of GSTM1/GSTT1. It is unlikely that the EPHX1 polymorphisms play an important role in colorectal carcinogenesis. The observed interactions of the EPHX1 polymorphisms with BMI and the GSTM1/GSTT1 genotypes warrant further investigation. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Decomposing the Effect of Consumer Sentiment News - Evidence from US Stock and Stock Index Futures Markets

We examine the announcement effects of consumer sentiment on US stock and stock futures markets. First, we find that the consumer sentiment announcement has valuable information content. Second, an asymmetric response is observed for “good” versus “bad” sentiment news. Specifically, when a lower (higher) than previous month consumer sentiment index is announced, equity and futures markets experience a significant negative announcement day (no) effect. This supports the “negativity effect” (identified from the psychology literature). Third, the effect of negative consumer sentiment announcements is evident in salient stocks rather than in sentiment prone stocks. This supports the availability heuristic.
Increased Synchrony and Bursting of Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus Fusiform Cells Correlate with Tinnitus

Tinnitus, the perception of phantom sounds, is thought to arise from increased neural synchrony, which facilitates perceptual binding and creates salient sensory features in the absence of physical stimuli. In the auditory cortex, increased spontaneous cross-unit synchrony and single-unit bursting are de facto physiological correlates of tinnitus. However, it is unknown whether neurons in the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN), the putative tinnitus-induction site, exhibit increased synchrony. Using a temporary-threshold shift model and gap-prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle to assess tinnitus, we recorded spontaneous activity from fusiform cells, the principle neurons of the DCN, in normal hearing, tinnitus, and non-tinnitus guinea pigs. Synchrony and bursting, as well as spontaneous firing rate (SFR), correlated with behavioral evidence of tinnitus, and increased synchrony and bursting were associated with SFR elevation. The presence of increased synchrony and bursting in DCN fusiform cells suggests that a neural code for phantom sounds emerges in this brainstem location and likely contributes to the formation of the tinnitus percept. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Tinnitus, a phantom auditory percept, is encoded by pathological changes in the neural synchrony code of perceptual processing. Increased cross-unit synchrony and bursting have been linked to tinnitus in several higher auditory stations but not in fusiform cells of the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN), key brainstem neurons in tinnitus generation. Here, we demonstrate increased synchrony and bursting of fusiform cell spontaneous firing, which correlate with frequency-specific behavioral measures of tinnitus. Thus, the neural representation of tinnitus emerges early in auditory processing and likely drives its pathophysiology in higher structures.
Stakeholder Relations and Stock Returns: On Errors in Expectations and Learning

A significant number of institutional investors publicly state the belief that corporate stakeholder relations are associated with firm value in a manner that the financial market fails to understand. We investigate whether stakeholder information predicted risk-adjusted returns due to errors in investors’ expectations and ultimately ceased to do so as attention for such information increased. We build a stakeholder-relations index (SI) for a wide range of U.S. firms over the period 1992-2009 and provide evidence that the SI explained errors in investors’ expectations about firms’ future earnings. The SI was positively associated with long-term risk-adjusted returns, earnings announcement returns, and errors in analysts’ earnings forecasts over the period 1992-2004. However, as attention for stakeholder issues became more widespread, subsequently, these relationships diminished considerably. The results are consistent with the idea that increased investor attention for stakeholder issues eventually eliminates mispricing.
From subsistence to commercial fishing in Northern Canada

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that, until the 1960s, subsistence hunting, fishing, and gathering were the mainstay of the economy for Inuit in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. This economy was sustained by the moral imperative that food should be shared with others whenever possible. The article explores the experience of one man in Nunavik (Northern Quebec) who has started a business selling food.Design/methodology/approach – The paper shows that regulatory challenges facing the industry are considered in relation to the moral dilemmas that need to be confronted in moving from an economy based on sharing food to an economy predicated on market exchange.Practical implications – The paper concludes with a discussion about how this businessman has come to terms with his breaking of social norms about the sharing of food and his understanding of how, in doing so, he is representative of a new economic order amongst Inuit in Nunavik.Originality/value – The paper shows that this is an original and.
Exploring Antecedents and Consequences of Customer Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (COCBs) through Customer Co-Creation Valuation

Service-dominant logic views a customer as a proactive entity who co-creates value through collaboration with other entities in a value creation network. Working from that perspective, the current study investigated antecedents and consequences of customer organizational citizenship behaviors (COCBs), which refers to voluntary and discretionary behaviors that help marketers such as service organizations. Employing social exchange theory and personality concepts, this study set out to explain factors that lead customers to perform COCBs for their service organizations. In addition, this study conceptualized COCB motivation as an antecedent of COCB. Simultaneously, customer co-creation value, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions were proposed as consequences of COCBs in the theoretical model. With an effort to fill the research gap pertaining to lack of scale items that measure COCBs, COCB motivation, and customer co-creation value, the present study employed a mixed methods approach based on both qualitative and quantitative research design. For the COCB and customer co-creation value construct, this study not only confirmed the measurability of the existing scale items but also found additional items, especially focusing on the offline service context. Additionally, scale items that measure COCB motivation, a construct that is newly proposed here, were developed and were categorized into four dimensions that represent COCB motivation—Self-enhancement, Personal principles, Desire to support the service organization, and Perceptions of the service organization’s past performance. Data for hypotheses testing were collected via a web-based self-administered survey. Three versions of a questionnaire, based on three types of service organization,