Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reservoirs of Listeria Species in Three Environmental Ecosystems

ABSTRACT Soil and water are suggested to represent pivotal niches for the transmission of Listeria monocytogenes to plant material, animals, and the food chain. In the present study, 467 soil and 68 water samples were collected in 12 distinct geological and ecological sites in Austria from 2007 to 2009. Listeria was present in 30% and 26% of the investigated soil and water samples, respectively. Generally, the most dominant species in soil and water samples were Listeria seeligeri, L. innocua, and L. ivanovii. The human- and animal-pathogenic L. monocytogenes was isolated exclusively from 6% soil samples in regions A (mountainous region) and B (meadow). Distinct ecological preferences were observed for L. seeligeri and L. ivanovii, which were more often isolated from wildlife reserve region C (Lake Neusiedl) and from sites in proximity to wild and domestic ruminants (region A). The higher L. monocytogenes detection and antibiotic resistance rates in regions A and B could be explained by the proximity to agricultural land and urban environment. L. monocytogenes multilocus sequence typing corroborated this evidence since sequence type 37 (ST37), ST91, ST101, and ST517 were repeatedly isolated from regions A and B over several months. A higher L. monocytogenes detection and strain variability was observed during flooding of the river Schwarza (region A) and Danube (region B) in September 2007, indicating dispersion via watercourses.
The Impact of Internet Banking on the Performance of the Korean Banking Industry: An Empirical Analysis

CHAPTER 6-3 The Impact of Internet Banking on the Performance of the Korean Banking Industry: An Empirical Analysis Abstract I. Introduction II. Internet Banking in Korea and Related Literature III. Empirical Analysis on the Impact of Internet Banking IV. Conclusion Reference Appendix. Summary Statistics for the Variables in the Analysis Comments on “Impact of Internet Banking on the Performance of the Korean Banking Industry”
Explorer A nucleosome turnover map reveals that the stability of histone H 4 Lys 20 methylation depends on histone recycling in transcribed chromatin

Publisher Rights Statement: © 2015 Svensson et al. This article is distributed exclusively by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the first six months after the full-issue publication date (see http://genome.cshlp.org/site/misc/terms.xhtml). After six months, it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/ 4.0/.
Fixation Prediction in Videos Using Unsupervised Hierarchical Features

This paper presents a framework for saliency estimation and fixation prediction in videos. The proposed framework is based on a hierarchical feature representation obtained by stacking convolutional layers of independent subspace analysis (ISA) filters. The feature learning is thus unsupervised and independent of the task. To compute the saliency, we then employ a multiresolution saliency architecture that exploits both local and global saliency. That is, for a given image, an image pyramid is initially built. After that, for each resolution, both local and global saliency measures are computed to obtain a saliency map. The integration of saliency maps over the image pyramid provides the final video saliency. We first show that combining local and global saliency improves the results. We then compare the proposed model with several video saliency models and demonstrate that the proposed framework is capable of predicting video saliency effectively, outperforming all the other models.
Essays on Credit Markets and Business Cycles

This thesis examines the role of corporate debt financing for the real economy. First, I study the conditional dynamics of the external finance premium using US data and find that the premium is countercyclical following supply and monetary policy shocks. Second, I analyze to which extent bank and bond financing affect the transmission of economic shocks in the context of a DSGE model. To the extent that large firms predominantly use capital market finance, whereas small firms rely on bank loans, the model predicts that the composition of corporate debt is relevant for the propagation of shocks. Contractionary monetary policy and financial shocks impair the ability of leveraged banks to provide loans, which adversely affects small firms. Bond financing dependent firms can nevertheless issue bonds in times of rising bond finance premia. These firms do not reduce their investments as strongly as bank financing dependent firms. As a consequence, the economy that relies only on bank credit is affected more by shocks than the economy with bank and bond finance. Finally, the model is used to evaluate the optimal mix of conventional, unconventional and macroprudential policies for segmented credit markets. I find that the optimal policy mix attains the highest welfare gains following financial shocks.
Keep Them In: How to Drive Dental Consumers’ Loyalty in the Modern Era?

In recent years, consumers’ loyalty has become an important issue in health-case in general and in dentistry in particular. Following the increasing activity in dental services, consumer loyalty. This study investigates the factors that influence consumers’ loyalty to their dentist. Data was collected through a self-administered survey to consumers; 489 responses were received and 108 surveys were completed and analyzed. The proposed relationships were tested by using regression analysis in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Results indicate that consumers’ trust toward their dentist has an effect on consumer loyalty. Further, consumers’ perceived value tends to influence consumer loyalty. However, e-WOM and service’s price do not have an impact on consumer loyalty. These findings have important implications for a manager in dentistry. Managers should increase consumers’ trust and perceived value to keep the consumers coming back to the dental office.
Differences in brain gray matter volume in patients with Crohn’s disease with and without abdominal pain

Increasing evidence indicates that abnormal pain processing is present in the central nervous system of patients with Crohn’s disease (CD). The purposes of this study were to assess changes in gray matter (GM) volumes in CD patients in remission and to correlate structural changes in the brain with abdominal pain. We used a 3.0 T magnetic resonance scanner to examine the GM structures in 21 CD patients with abdominal pain, 26 CD patients without abdominal pain, and 30 healthy control subjects (HCs). Voxel-based morphometric analyses were used to assess the brain GM volumes. Patients with abdominal pain exhibited higher CD activity index and lower inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire scores than those of the patients without abdominal pain. Compare to HCs and to patients without abdominal pain, patients with abdominal pain exhibited lower GM volumes in the insula and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC); whereas compare to HCs and to patients with abdominal pain, the patients without abdominal pain exhibited higher GM volumes in the hippocampal and parahippocampal cortex. The GM volumes in the insula and ACC were significantly negatively correlated with daily pain scores. These results suggest that differences exist in the brain GM volume between CD patients in remission with and without abdominal pain. The negative correlation between the GM volumes in the insula and ACC and the presence and severity of abdominal pain in CD suggests these structures are closely related to visceral pain processing.
Brand equity, risk and return in Latin America

Purpose This study aims to compare the performance of stocks of companies with high brand equity with the stocks of other companies listed on the stock market of emerging countries of Latin America: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Design/methodology/approach The valuable brands (brands with high brand equity) considered were the most valuable Latin America brands according to the Millward Brown reports. Carhart four-factor model was used to analyze performance and the total sample included 732 stocks in the Latin American market collected at Economatica, monthly, for a period of 10 years. Findings The Valuable Brands Portfolio presents the lowest investment risk, suggesting that stocks of companies with valuable brands ensure lower risk investment to shareholders in these emerging markets. Originality/value This study is the first to associate brand equity with the creation of shareholder value in the context of emerging Latin American countries. In addition, the proposed method has also not been used previously to study emerging countries. The association found between a marketing asset (brand equity) and stock market performance contributes to improve the relationship between marketing and finance areas. The results of this study in emerging markets corroborate previous studies in developed markets, strongly suggesting the confirmation of the effect of brand equity on the reduction of risk stock.
Predictors of investment intention in Indian stock markets

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand investment intention of prospective individual investors in a developing country (i.e. India) by using the “Theory of Planned Behaviour” (TPB) (where perceived behavioural control has been replaced with financial self-efficacy, FSE) and two additional constructs, i.e. financial knowledge and personality traits (i.e. risk-taking propensity and preference for innovation) have been introduced.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses quantitative and cross-sectional approach wherein questionnaire based survey was done to collect responses from prospective individual investors (920 usable responses). AMOS and SPSS have been used to establish the hypothesised relationship between the constructs.FindingsThe results of the study suggested that attitude was responsible for partial mediation between the relationship of financial knowledge and investment intention, whereas financial self-efficacy was exerting a dual role on the relationship between personality traits and investment intention. Subjective norms, on the other hand, exerted a weak positive effect on investment intention.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited to measure the investment intention in financial markets in case of prospective individual investors; it does not incorporate the actual investment behaviour, the study also fails to include demographic factors which play a vital role in investment decision making. Furthermore, the study has only considered objective dimension of financial knowledge.Practical implicationsThe findings will be useful for financial service providers who need to enhance the FSE and financial knowledge and design a “behavioural portfolio” according the personality traits of their clients.Social implicationsThe up-liftment of financial confidence among individuals in order to motivate them to participate in financial markets and enjoy “short-cuts” towards financial success.Originality/valueThis study is one of the initial attempts in the context of the Indian Stock Market to introduce FSE as a dual (both mediating and moderating) construct between personality traits and investment intention using TPB, moreover, this study also provides the necessary impetus to analyse the relationship between financial knowledge and investment intention with attitude as the mediating variable.
Why Do We Not Learn from Defects? - Towards Defect-Driven Software Process Improvement

In this paper, we put forth the thesis that state-of-the-art defect classification schemes – such as ODC and IEEE Std. 1044 – have failed to meet their target; limited industrial adoption is taken as part of the evidence combined with published studies on model driven software development. Notwithstanding, a number of publications show that defect reports can provide valuable information about common, important, or dangerous problems with software products. In this paper, we present the synthesis of two industrial case studies that illustrate that even expert judgement can be deceptive; demonstrating the need for more objective evidence to allow project stakeholder to make informed decisions, and that defect classification is one effective means to that end. Finally, we propose a roadmap that will contribute to improving the defect classification approach, which in consequence will lead to a wider industrial adoption.
Psychological and Behavioural Disturbance in West Indians, Indians and Pakistanis in Britain: A Comparison of Rates Among Children and Adults

Summary Data are presented from four studies which compare rates of psychological disturbance for three groups of immigrants to Britain and natives respectively. Children of West Indian and Asian parents are compared to native British children on the Rutter Teachers' Questionnaire and on rates of admission to psychiatric hospitals. Asian children have lower rates of behavioural deviance and mental hospital admissions than do British children. Children of West Indian immigrants show no more behavioural deviance in schools than do British children, but have considerably higher rates of admission to mental hospitals. The pattern for adults is remarkably similar to that shown by children, even though different definitions of psychological disturbance are used. The findings are discussed in the context of previous studies of immigrants to Britain and contemporary theories of immigrant adjustment.
Legal Origins and the Financial Conservatism of Private Firms

Following the literature of corporate law and finance, our study emphasizes on differences of legal origins and their laws influencing the capital structures of the private firms following suboptimal conservative policies. The countries considered in each legal origin represents common law countries (UK, Australia, India, Pakistan and Thailand) and Roman backed civil law countries (Japan, South Korea, Germany) respectively. The time series considered for the study is 2000-2017. The findings provide that the conservative private firms are smaller in size with less investments but are positively related with profitability in both legal origins. However, the dividend payouts and non-debt tax shields have significant positive relation with conservative policies in civil law countries. It shows that the presence of minority shareholders’ protection law in civil law countries directs the firms to pay more dividends which may also help them in reducing agency costs. We further exhibit that, before financial crises of 2008, the conservative firms in both legal origins are less directed towards dividends, especially in common law countries. Nevertheless, private conservative firms of civil law countries are more inclined towards dividend payouts after financial crises. The study implicates that the difference of laws in legal origins affect the capital structures of the conservative private firms. It further provides that because of the less effective credit markets, private firms may also be forced to adopt conservative policies in civil law countries but may also have less agency problems due to high probability of having dividend payouts.
Impact of Mobile Phone Usage in Papua New Guinea

Until the second half of 2007, information and communication technology (ICT) services in Papua New Guinea (PNG) were limited to urban centres under the monopoly operator, Telikom PNG (Mitchel 2008). Thereafter, Digicel entered the mobile market and expanded mobile signal coverage across the country enabling connectivity to many people — the mobile phone penetration rate now stands at approximately 41 per cent (ITU 2014), marking a substantial change in the communications landscape. This In Brief provides an overview of a survey of mobile phone users in PNG. The survey was administered to 727 respondents across seven provinces and focused on three main themes. It sought to investigate aspects of mobile phone use in healthcare and school systems and income-earning activities in PNG.
Vacation satisfaction and vacationists’ quality of life

Purpose. The aim of the present study is to investigate how satisfaction with different aspects of tourism destination contributes to the wellbeing of vacationist. We study the effect of self, functional, hedonic, economic, health and safety, moral and leisure congruities on the enhancement of quality of life reported by vacationists to Thailand. Methodology. The study is based on a theoretical model developed in Tokarchuk, Maurer and Bosnjak (2015) according to which satisfaction with different aspects of vacation contributes to vacationists’ quality of life enhancement due to vacation. We extend the model by suggesting that improvements in quality of life influence revisiting intentions and word of mouth intentions. The model is empirically tested on data collected among 976 vacationists to Thailand on their departure. Empirical investigation of the model is performed with the use of structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings. We find that all considered congruities positively and significantly contribute to vacationists’ quality of life enhancement. Their contribution can be seen as equally important. We find that quality of life enhancement has positive contribution to post-visit loyalty measured by visiting intentions and word of mouth intentions. Practical implications. The model developed and tested in the present study helps practitioners to understand the most important aspects of destination image perceived by vacationists. The results of the model have wide range of application from developing of marketing campaigns to destination improvement and further development. Originality/value. The present study provides additional insight into how satisfaction with various aspects of destination perceived by vacationists influences their wellbeing enhancement due to vacation taken in the destination.
Replicative ageing and senescence in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the impact on brewing fermentations.

Ageing is the predetermined progressive transition of an individual cell from youth to old age that finally culminates in death. Yeast replicative ageing is a function of the number of divisions undertaken by an individual cell, and may be measured by enumerating the number of bud scars on the cell surface. An aged yeast cell exhibits a distinct morphology and physiology from that of younger cells : the impact of such modifications in cellular function on fermentation performance is examined here. Although the precise mechanism of ageing has not been fully elucidated, the current theories are reviewed and discussed.
SSCM Performance Improvement Strategy of Container Shipping Industry in Indonesia

The objectives of this study are to measure and analyze the factors that significantly impact the performance of Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) container shipping industry in Indonesia. This research will then formulate recommendations on SSCM performance improvement strategy using SEM-PLS method. The results show that currently the business actor and service user perceive the SSCM performance of container shipping industry in Indonesia as low. Furthermore, four latent variables give significant and positive impact to SSCM performance. The latent variables include Technology, Integrated Logistic System, Sustainable Market Orientation and Fair-Trade System. The Technology and Integrated Logistic System as the priority should be give more attention. The conclusion of the research result shows that strategy to improve the SSCM performance of container shipping industry in Indonesia must be carried out through a holistic approach and seen as a system. The managerial implication of this study is that the four latent variables of the model sorted, according to their priorities from the total effect coefficients, can be applied as a strategy to improve SSCM performance. Keywords: sustainable supply chain, container shipping, SEM, SSCM
Cystic Fibrosis Sputum DNA Has NETosis Characteristics and Neutrophil Extracellular Trap Release Is Regulated by Macrophage Migration-Inhibitory Factor

Neutrophils are the main proinflammatory cell type in chronically infected lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients; however, they fail to effectively clear the colonizing pathogens. Here, we investigated the molecular composition of non-mucoid and mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in vitro and compared them to the DNA-protein complexes present in the CF sputum. The protein composition of P. aeruginosa-induced NET fragments revealed that irrespective of the inducing stimuli, NET fragments were decorated with a conserved set of proteins. The DNA-protein complexes derived from CF sputum were consistent with NETosis and shared a similar protein signature, suggesting that the majority of the extracellular DNA was NET derived. The ability of polymorphonuclear leukocytes to produce NETs in response to P. aeruginosa was driven by macrophage migration-inhibitory factor (MIF) by promoting mitogen-activated protein kinase. Analysis of 132 CF patient samples revealed that elevated MIF protein levels correlated with poorer lung function. We suggest that targeting MIF by small molecular inhibitors might reduce the presence of extracellular DNA and serve as an adjunct to the use of antimicrobial drugs that could ultimately reduce bacterial fitness in the lungs during the later stages of CF disease.
Progression of Glenoid Morphology in Glenohumeral Osteoarthritis

Background: Walch defined the pathologic characteristics of glenohumeral osteoarthritis on the basis of patterns of glenoid morphology and humeral head subluxation. However, it is unclear how pathologic changes evolve over time. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are common patterns of pathologic progression based on the Walch classification in primary glenohumeral osteoarthritis and if glenoid bone-loss patterns correlate with rotator cuff fatty infiltration. Methods: A retrospective chart review identified 65 shoulders with glenohumeral osteoarthritis for which at least 2 computed tomography (CT) scans had been performed at least 24 months apart. The CT scans were classified using a modification of the Walch classification. The amount and location of glenoid bone loss were measured using a vault model, and rotator cuff fatty infiltration was calculated as a percentage of cross-sectional muscle area. Results: The initial CT scans showed 42 A-type glenoids and 23 B-type glenoids. CT scans made at an average (and standard deviation) of 74 ± 32 months after the initial scans showed that only 8 of the 42 A1 glenoids had evidence of pathologic progression (5 to A2 type and 3 to B type) whereas 17 of 19 B1 glenoids had progressed (15 to B2 and 2 to B3); this difference was significant on univariate and multivariate analysis (p < 0.001). The odds of joint line medialization occurring were 8.1 times higher (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.1 to 31.4) for B-type glenoids than for A-type glenoids. Among the glenoids that underwent medialization, those classified as B-type showed more medialization over time (estimated change, 0.70 mm/year; p = 0.036), whereas no significant relationship between medialization and time was observed for A-type glenoids (estimated change, 0.013 mm/year; p = 0.95). The median percent fatty infiltration in the infraspinatus muscle was higher in association with B-type glenoids than in association with A-type glenoids on both the initial (14% versus 7%; p < 0.001) and the final follow-up (16% versus 10%; p = 0.003) CT scans. Conclusions: Asymmetric bone loss rarely develops in A1 glenoids, whereas initial posterior translation of the humeral head (B1 glenoids) may be associated with subsequent development and progression of posterior glenoid bone loss over time. Differences in fatty infiltration of the posterior aspect of the rotator cuff were seen between A-type and B-type glenoids, but the clinical relevance of this finding is currently unknown. Level of Evidence: Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.