Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Are students with asthma at increased risk for being a victim of bullying in school or cyberspace? Findings from the 2011 Florida youth risk behavior survey.

BACKGROUND Adolescents with asthma are at risk for psychological and behavioral problems. The aim of this study was to determine whether high school students with asthma are at increased risk for bullying in school and cyberspace, and to explore the role of depressive symptoms in moderating this association. METHODS A secondary data analysis was completed with the 2011 Florida Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Participant included a random sample of adolescents in grades 9 through 12 who attended public high schools in Florida. Descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted using SPSS software. RESULTS We examined data from 6212 high school adolescents and found a significant relationship between current asthma and cyberbullying in adolescents. Of the sample diagnosed with asthma, 15.6% reported bullying and 17% cyberbullying (versus 10.2% and 11% of nonasthmatics). We further examined data using depressive symptoms as a mediating and moderating variable and found significance on all accounts. CONCLUSIONS Adolescents with asthma are at increased risk for being victims of bullying in school and cyberspace. Our findings suggest that adolescents with asthma who also report depressive symptoms are particularly at high risk for bullying than adolescents with asthma who did not report depressive symptoms. Efforts to increase education and decrease all types of bullying at the high school level for both students with and without asthma are warranted.
Switching Time in Relaxation Oscillations of Emitter-Coupled Multivibrators

This paper gives an estimation of the switching time between on and off transistor states for the emitter-coupled multivibrator. The calculation uses the root locus of the characteristic equation for the oscillator small-signal equivalent circuit, while changing the device current as a parameter. The switching time is found using a fitting location of the root in the right half of the s-plane. The oscillation frequency is also obtained. The approach provides a further insight into switching behavior of relaxation oscillators, gives an accurate estimation of the oscillation frequency, and allows one to establish a useful connection between sinusoidal and relaxation oscillators. The theoretical results are confirmed by simulations.
Risk management in rural development : a review

This study assesses the relevance of risk-analysis findings to rural development in impoverished countries around the world. The scope of the present review was limited to discuss risks in rural areas of direct potential relevance to rural development policy. A first conclusion is that a review of risk management instruments should identify what features of risk in rural areas are different from those of urban areas, and how adequate and effective are the instruments available in the space. The discussion has been focused mainly on how risk in rural areas is handled by the various agents with which the Bank deals, such as farmers and governments, and thus how this aspect of management in rural areas might be recognized and handled in Bank operations.
Review of Equity-Credit Dependence Studies: Towards Building a Practical Equity-Credit Model for Counterparty Risk

This paper reviews the findings from academia and financial industry from a practical angle, attempting to outline the ‘messages’ which could inform and help the risk community to build practical equity-credit models for counterparty risk. This review covers published material and, where available, information from industry conference presentations and commercial (vendor) offers. We discuss the results taking account of practical implementation constraints. To support the discussion, which for some findings rely strongly on jump detection and simulation, this paper also offers a brief discussion of jump detection methods for counterparty risk modelling.
Comparison of three active therapies for chronic low back pain: results of a randomized clinical trial with one-year follow-up.

OBJECTIVES To examine the relative efficacy of three active therapies for patients with chronic low back pain. METHODS One hundred and forty-eight subjects with chronic low back pain were randomized to receive, twice weekly for 3 months, (i) active physiotherapy, (ii) muscle reconditioning on training devices, or (ii) low-impact aerobics. Questionnaires were administered to assess pain intensity, pain frequency and disability before and after therapy and at 6 and 12 months of follow-up. RESULTS One hundred and thirty-two of the 148 patients (89%) completed the therapy programmes and 127 of the 148 (86%) returned a questionnaire at all four time-points. The three treatments were equally efficacious in significantly reducing pain intensity and frequency for up to 1 yr after therapy. However, the groups differed with respect to the temporal changes in self-rated disability over the study period (P=0.03): all groups showed a similar reduction after therapy, but for the physiotherapy group disability increased again during the first 6 months of follow-up whilst the other two groups showed a further decline. In all groups the values then remained stable up to the 12-month follow-up. The larger group size and minimal infrastructure required for low-impact aerobics rendered it considerably less expensive to administer than the other two programmes. CONCLUSIONS The introduction of low-impact aerobic exercise programmes for patients with chronic low back pain may reduce the enormous costs associated with its treatment.
FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE SUCCESS OF LOCAL SMEs AN INSIGHT FROM SINGAPORE

ABSTRACT Local enterprises constituted 90 per cent of the total number of establishments, provided 44 per cent of employment and contributed 24 per cent of value-added in the economy of Singapore. Enhancing their success is critical to the future economic development of Singapore. This research aims to identify the factors that contribute to the success of local enterprises in Singapore. The methodological approach comprised the following: (a) a review of literature; (b) developing a questionnaire; and (c) sending the questionnaire to about 300 members of business associations. The survey results revealed the following findings: 1. Chinese dominate the businesses (72 per cent), male entrepreneurs dominate the scene (83 per cent), most of them are married (85 per cent), a majority of them are in the 30 to 49 age groups, 74 per cent had post-secondary education, 89 per cent are actual owners, 76 per cent started their businesses, 85 per cent stated it was their first business attempt, 81 per cent held a job.
Environmental Uncertainty and Strategic Supply Management: A Resource Dependence Perspective and Performance Implications

SUMMARY Environmental uncertainty plays a crucial role in the implementation of strategic supply management initiatives. The current study adopts the resource dependence theory to explain the direct effect of supply chain uncertainties on strategic supply management, operationalized as a second-order construct comprising strategic purchasing, long-term relationship orientation, interfirm communication, cross-organizational teams and supplier integration. Using structural equation modeling, the 200-firm sample provided evidence that strategic supply management is driven by supply and technology uncertainty. Demand uncertainty, on the other hand, was not found to have a significant impact on strategic supply management. Findings further support the link between strategic supply management and the performance of both buying and supplying firms.
Sendai virus wild-type and mutant C proteins show a direct correlation between L polymerase binding and inhibition of viral RNA synthesis.

The Sendai virus C proteins, C', C, Y1, and Y2, are a nested set of four independently initiated carboxy-coterminal proteins encoded on the P mRNA from an alternate reading frame. Together the C proteins have been shown to inhibit viral transcription and replication in vivo and in vitro and C' binds the Sendai virus L protein, the presumed catalytic subunit of the viral RNA polymerase. To identify amino acids within the C' protein that are important for binding L, site-directed mutagenesis of the gstC' gene was used to change conserved charged amino acids to alanine, generating nine mutants. Additionally, a tenth natural mutant, gstF170S, was also constructed. Six of the gstC' mutants, primarily in the C-terminal half of C', exhibited a defect in the ability to bind L protein. The mutants were assayed for their effect on in vitro transcription and replication from the antigenomic promoter, and the data suggest in all but one case a direct correlation between the ability of C to bind L and to inhibit these steps in RNA synthesis. Further studies with two nonfusion C mutants showed that this correlation was specifically due to the C' portion, and not the gst portion, of the fusion proteins. To study their individual functions, each of the four C proteins was fused downstream of glutathione S-transferase. The gstC', gstC, gstY1, and gstY1 fusion proteins were all able to bind L protein and to inhibit viral mRNA and (+)-leader RNA synthesis, and antigenome replication in vitro. In addition, the nonfusion C, Y1, and Y2 proteins all inhibited transcription. The inhibition of (+)-leader RNA and mRNA synthesis by wt C proteins (nonfusion) showed nearly identical dose-response curves, suggesting that inhibition occurs early in RNA synthesis.
Co‐Movements and Correlations Across Asian Securitized Real Estate and Stock Markets

This research examines time-varying real estate-stock conditional correlation dynamics at the local, regional, and global levels as well as the general co-movements among the three types of correlations and their relative (real estate/stock) volatilities for a sample of eight Asian and two non-Asian securitized real estate markets during 1995-2008. We find real estate-stock correlations at the three levels do not display significant upward trending behavior. There is evidence of the existence and significance of some common factors influencing the real estate-stock correlation structures along the three integration paths. Our analysis is also extended to the current global financial crisis to assess the relative contribution of the correlation and volatility factors in influencing the respective covariance structures. The dynamic analyses of real estate-stock conditional correlations are crucial in identifying the optimal real estate-stock portfolio of investors across different economies with non-uniform degrees of real estate-stock integration at the local, regional and global levels.
Fair Sharing of Costs and Revenue through Transfer Pricing in Supply Chains with Stochastic Demand

Supply chain coordination has attracted much attention lately. On the one hand, it helps create more streamlined business processes and enables cost reduction. On the other hand, supply chain members may become more concerned about their own individual profits than the overall supply chain profits. However, the question of how to divide total profits fairly among supply chain members still exists, especially in a stochastic demand market. Therefore, drawing from the accounting concept of transfer prices, this research will complement the research stream of fair division of supply chain profits among supply chain members and should help coordinate supply chains. I first investigate fairness in supply chain profit division. Common principles of justice are used to show what conditions should be satisfied for a profit division to be fair. Thereafter, a value-sharing method based on the Shapley value from cooperative game theory (Shapley, 1953) is proposed to determine the transfer prices among supply chain members. The Shapley value solution is an appealing allocation rule since it takes into account the potential payoff from alternative options. Once reached, such an agreement could simplify the process of bargaining on transfer prices which embody fairness. To illustrate the Shapley value solution and procedures, a two-echelon supply chain consisting of one supplier and two heterogeneous retailers is examined. Each company is an autonomous profit-generating entity. Each retailer faces a stochastic demand, and thus the combined demand of the supplier from the two retailers is also random. In addition to Dissertation by Lihua Chen 2 their independent operations, each company has the option to conduct transactions for the same product from external markets. My goal is to figure out ideal transfer prices for products delivered among supply chain members. These transfer prices will achieve the suggested profit allocations among the three companies. This research will contribute to the literature in several aspects: transfer pricing with stochastically varying demand; solution procedures and results for supply chain profit fair division; and supply chain coordination. My research suggests a procedure for setting fair transfer prices among supply chain members, which helps promote supply chain coordination. Dissertation by Lihua Chen 3 Chapter
Schedule-dependent synergy of histone deacetylase inhibitors with DNA damaging agents in small cell lung cancer

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive lung cancer subtype in need of better therapies. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDIs) promote increased lysine acetylation in nucleosomal histones and are thought to relax chromatin, thereby allowing increased access of transcription factors and DNA damaging agents alike to DNA. We studied whether two HDIs, belinostat and romidepsin, could be effectively combined with cisplatin or etoposide (VP-16) for SCLC cells. Analysis of cell survival and synergy was performed using CalcuSyn mathematical modeling to calculate a combination index. Immunostaining of γH2AX was performed to evaluate persistence of DNA damage following simultaneous or sequential exposure. Based on CalcuSyn modeling, HDIs synergized with DNA damaging agents only when added simultaneously. An additive-to-antagonistic effect was seen with HDI pretreatment for 24 h or with addition after cisplatin or etoposide. Furthermore, pretreatment with HDIs resulted in normalization of cell cycle and reduced PARP degradation as compared with simultaneous treatment. The increase in γH2AX phosphorylation confirmed that simultaneous but not sequential treatment enhanced double-stranded DNA breaks. These results suggest that DNA relaxation is not required for synergy of HDIs with DNA damaging agents, and that scheduling of drug administration will be critical for rational development of clinical protocols.
Motivating Managers’ Goal Commitment: Participation, Feedback, and Trust

La litterature suggere que pour etre efficaces, les systemes de controle par les resultats doivent favoriser l’implication des managers a atteindre leurs objectifs. A partir d’une enquete aupres de 320 managers, notre etude montre que la participation des managers a la fixation de leurs objectifs ainsi que le feedback qu’ils recoivent sur leur performance sont positivement associes a l’implication de ces managers a atteindre leurs objectifs. Nos resultats verifient egalement que la confiance du manager envers son superieur joue un role mediateur dans la relation entre ces deux determinants du systeme de controle et l’implication. De facon generale, ces resultats donnent des pistes sur la maniere de concevoir les systemes de controle pour developper la confiance et, par voie indirecte, accroitre l’implication des managers.
External Shocks and the Adequacy of Foreign Reserves: The Case of Mexico

Recent research highlights rapidly rising international reserves relative to GDP in many emerging market economies since the 1990s. According to many observers, these countries opted for new policy in the aftermath of crises consisting at accumulating international re-serves to insure themselves against future balance of payments crises (BOP). This paper (i) develops a decomposition method for the reserves accumulation process to investigate how much of the increase in reserves accumulated re°ects a deliberate adjustment of the reserves policy, as opposed to favorable but temporary external shocks. (ii) generates an empirical method aimed at assessing the adequacy of reserve holdings based on a new concept of BOP sustainability, and (iii) predicts, under current reserves policy, BOP crises forced by external shocks. Using the case of Mexico, our results suggest that more than two thirds of the variation in international reserves accumulation can be replicated by a linear combination of the external shocks, without an abrupt regime shift after the Tequila crisis. Moreover, according to our approach of BOP sustainability, Mexico has historically adopted an adequate reserves policy, with 1994 being an exception. However, under the current reserves policy, the probability of BOP crisis in the near future is quite high.
CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY: IMPACT UPON FIRM VALUE

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corporate environmental strategy and firm value. The major finding of this study is that corporate performance with regard to environmental responsibility is related to overall firm value. Adopting an environmental ly responsible strategy appears to significantly enhance corporate financial performance for all firms except those serving industrial customers. Firms supplying industrial customers seem to benefit financially from a strategy of environmental indifference or irresponsibility.
A mutation in the COX5 gene of the yeast Scheffersomyces stipitis alters utilization of amino acids as carbon source, ethanol formation and activity of cyanide insensitive respiration

Scheffersomyces stipitis PJH was mutagenized by random integrative mutagenesis and the integrants were screened for lacking the ability to grow with glutamate as sole carbon source. One of the two isolated mutants was damaged in the COX5 gene, which encodes a subunit of the cytochrome c oxidase. BLAST searches in the genome of Sc. stipitis revealed that only one singular COX5 gene exists in Sc. stipitis, in contrast to Saccharomyces cerevisiae, where two homologous genes are present. Mutant cells had lost the ability to grow with the amino acids glutamate, proline or aspartate and other non‐fermentable carbon sources, such as acetic acid and ethanol, as sole carbon sources. Biomass formation of the mutant cells in medium containing glucose or xylose as carbon source was lower compared with the wild‐type cells. However, yields and specific ethanol formation of the mutant were much higher, especially under conditions of higher aeration. The mutant cells lacked both cytochrome c oxidase activity and cyanide‐sensitive respiration, whereas ADH and PDC activities were distinctly enhanced. SHAM‐sensitive respiration was obviously essential for the fermentative metabolism, because SHAM completely abolished growth of the mutant cells with both glucose or xylose as carbon source. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Trends in Immune Cell Function Assay and Donor‐Specific HLA Antibodies in Kidney Transplantation: A 3‐Year Prospective Study

The immune cell function assay (ICFA) and de novo anti‐donor‐specific HLA antibodies (DSA) have been proposed as assays for immune monitoring in renal transplantation, but longitudinal studies examining the modification of both parameters over time and their relation with clinical events are lacking. We prospectively measured longitudinal changes in ICFA and DSA levels in 55 kidney transplant recipients over 3‐year follow‐up (534 visits) and analyzed their relation with the risk of developing acute rejections or infections. Seven patients (12.7%) developed biopsy‐proven acute rejection, and 20 (36.4%) developed viral infections. At 3 years posttransplant, 28% of the patients had developed de novo DSA. ICFA levels peaked at 1–2 months posttransplant (p = 0.005) and leveled off thereafter. They were not associated with the risk of acute rejections, viral infections or development of de novo DSA. Instead, the incidence of de novo DSA was higher in patients who previously had viral infections (adjusted‐odds ratio of de novo DSA associated with prior infections: 6.03 [95% CI, 1.64–22.06; p = 0.007]). Our prospective, longitudinal study does not support using ICFA to quantify the immune risk in kidney transplantation. Further studies are needed to confirm the relationship between viral infections and the subsequent development of de novo DSA.
The Dynamic Radioulnar Convergence of the Darrach Procedure and the Ulnar Head Hemiresection Interposition Arthroplasty: A Biomechanical Study

Resection of the entire ulnar head (Darrach operation) and the hemiresection interposition arthroplasty are common methods of treating the arthritic distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ). Biomechnical investigation about both of these procedures is lacking. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the dynamic effects of both the hemiresection interposition arthroplasty and the Darrach procedure on radioulnar convergence and dorsal–palmar displacement and to compare their biomechanical behaviours. With a dynamic computer-controlled testing device, cadaveric forearm rotation was performed with simultaneous loading of relevant muscles. Torque along the forearm axis was generated by simulated muscle action through pneumoactuators attached to relevant tendons while the wrist was constrained to prescribed ranges of motion. The instability of the radius relative to the ulna was evaluated using displacement data of digitized landmarks in an ulnar coordinate system. Seven fresh-frozen cadaver upper extremities were used. The Darrach resection created an extreme instability of the forearm with movement of the radius ulnarly. Anteroposterior translations in each loading condition could also be detected, but the magnitude of displacement was small and less predictable. The results of the hemiresection interposition arthroplasty demonstrated significantly less instability compared with the Darrach results.
Employer-paid Maternity Leave in Australia - A comparison of Uptake and Duration in 2005 and 2010

While the implementation of Australia’s Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme in January 2011 is expected to extend access to paid parental leave significantly, the program commenced in the context of regularly reported increases in the prevalence of employer-paid parental leave. The aims of this paper are to identify and explain changes in mothers’ use of employer-paid maternity leave over the five years prior to PPL. Our data come from broadly similar surveys conducted in 2005 and 2010. They show increasing uptake and duration of employer-paid maternity leave over this period, but marked and persistent inequalities in patterns of usage. We argue that inequalities are unsurprising in association with employer-provided entitlements, and that they will not necessarily be ameliorated with ongoing expansion of employer-paid provisions. Given its importance in the Australian context, employer-paid parental leave will need to be taken into account in assessing the impact of any government-initiated paid parental leave scheme.