Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Environment and Natural Resources

What is the state of the Philippine environment, and what are the links between environment and development in the Philippine setting? In this chapter we first review the available data on environmental quality and natural resource degradation in the Philippines. We consider trends over time and compare the Philippine case with those of its Asian regional neighbors. Second, we present a brief review of theoretical links between environmental quality, resource depletion, and development strategies and outcomes, and consider the Philippine data in light of this theory. Third, we discuss recent economic trends and policy initiatives having a bearing on environment and development, and present some simulation results indicating likely trends in economic and environmental variables under alternative policy regimes. Finally, we ask what past experience and current trends might indicate for the future of the Philippine environment. The “environment” can only be discussed meaningfully in terms of its component parts. As identified in official Philippine documents, these include natural resource stocks such as forests, minerals, water, biodiversity, and soils, as well as air and water quality in specific locations and at specific times. Since these categories are sometimes difficult to identify separately, it is convenient to group them as a set of ecosystems—forest and uplands, lowland agriculture, urban-industrial, coastal/marine, freshwater—and a set of resources (that are of course components of ecosystems): forests, fisheries, soils, minerals, and biodiversity. We examine the data and some analytical evidence on each of these, but concentrate in the second half of the chapter on some case studies of specific ecosystem and natural resource issues.
Distribution of the anthelmintic drug albendazole and its major metabolites in ovine milk and milk products after a single oral dose

Summary The distribution of albendazole (ABZ) and its main metabolites albendazole sulphoxide (ABZSO), albendazole sulphone (ABZS02) and albendazole 2-aminosulphone (NH2ABZSO2) were investigated in bulk milk and milk products after administration of a single oral dose of the drug (12·5 mg/kg) to 80 Laticauda sheep. An analytical method was developed for this investigation from an existing procedure used for the determination of these compounds in plasma and digesta samples. No traces of the parent compound or NH2ABZSO2 were found in milk or milk products, with the exception of the milk collected 36 h after treatment in which 89 μg NH2ABZSO2/kg was detected. Results indicated that ABZ was rapidly oxidized to ABZSO and then to ABZSO2. These metabolites were found at high levels (1–4 mg/kg) in milk collected within 24 h after treatment. Products derived from such milk also contained high concentrations of the two oxidized metabolites, including up to 5 mg ABZSO/kg in Pecorino cheese. Only small quantities of these two metabolites were found in milk collected during the second day after treatment (range 50–500 μg/kg). They were no longer detectable in milk, collected during the third day after dosing, nor were they found in products made from such milk. These findings confirm that the two polar metabolites ABZSO and ABZSO2 were efficiently excreted from the body. Considering that the established maximum residue limit for ovine milk is 100 μg/kg for ABZ plus its metabolites, our results confirmed the appropriateness of the currently prescribed withdrawal time (3 d) after the use of ABZ in lactating sheep. However, considerable levels of ABZSO were detected in milk collected within 24 h after treatment as well as in products and by-products derived from such milk. Owing to the known toxicity of the ABZSO, we stress the need for careful control to ensure adherence to the prescribed withdrawal time.
Validating the American Customer Satisfaction Index Model in the Online Context: An Empirical Study of U.S. Consumer Electronics E-Tailers

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) model, developed in 1996, used a multiple indicator approach to measure overall customer satisfaction. The authors of the present non-experimental, exploratory study adopted the ACSI model to examine and explore the relationships among electronic service quality, customer expectations, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty for consumer electronics e-tailers. The study adopted quota and snowball sampling. A total of 276 valid responses were collected from an online survey, and the data was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Of the eight hypotheses in this study, six were supported and two were not. Findings indicated that perceived value and customer satisfaction were two significant variables that mediated the relationships between electronic service quality and customer loyalty. Moreover, this study found that electronic service quality had no direct effect on customer satisfaction, but had indirect positive effects on customer satisfaction for consumer electronics e-tailers. In terms of practical implications, managers of consumer electronics e-tailers could formulate a competitive strategy based on the modified ACSI model to retain current customers and to enhance customer relationship management (CRM). The study also includes a discussion of limitations and recommendations for future research.
THE MARKET STRUCTURE DYNAMICS CREATED BY DE-BUNDLING OF AIRLINE BAG FEES

Charging fees for checked bags is a recent phenomenon in the airline industry. Until late 2008, checking bags was a free service, the cost of which was bundled in base airfare. Our analysis of airline markets before and after the implementation of bag fees validates Chen’s (1997) model of mixed bundling strategies leading to market differentiation and weakening of Bertrand equilibrium.
Microvascular Decompression for Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia: Clinical Analyses of 30 Cases

Objective We present our experience of microvascular decompression (MVD) for glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GPN) and evaluate the postoperative outcomes in accordance with four different operative techniques during MVD. Methods In total, 30 patients with intractable primary typical GPN who underwent MVD without rhizotomy and were followed for more than 2 years were included in the analysis. Each MVD was performed using one of four different surgical techniques: interposition of Teflon pieces, transposition of offending vessels using Teflon pieces, transposition of offending vessels using a fibrin-glue-coated Teflon sling, and removal of offending veins. Results The posterior inferior cerebellar artery was responsible for neurovascular compression in 27 of 30 (90%) patients, either by itself or in combination with other vessels. The location of compression on the glossopharyngeal nerve varied; the root entry zone (REZ) only (63.3%) was most common, followed by both the REZ and distal portion (26.7%) and the distal portion alone (10.0%). In terms of detailed surgical techniques during MVD, the offending vessels were transposed in 24 (80%) patients, either using additional insulation, offered by Teflon pieces (15 patients), or using a fibrin glue-coated Teflon sling (9 patients). Simple insertion of Teflon pieces and removal of a small vein were also performed in five and one patient, respectively. During the 2 years following MVD, 29 of 30 (96.7%) patients were asymptomatic or experienced only occasional pain that did not require medication. Temporary hemodynamic instability occurred in two patients during MVD, and seven patients experienced transient postoperative complications. Neither persistent morbidity nor mortality was reported. Conclusion This study demonstrates that MVD without rhizotomy is a safe and effective treatment option for GPN.
Indications for Rotator Cuff Repair: A Systematic Review

Despite the popularity of surgical repair of rotator cuff tears, literature regarding the indications for and timing of surgery are sparse. We performed a systematic review of the literature to investigate factors influencing the decision to surgically repair symptomatic, full-thickness rotator cuff tears. Specifically, how do demographic variables, duration of symptoms, timing of surgery, physical examination findings, and size of tear affect treatment outcome and indications for surgery? We reviewed the best available evidence, which offers some guidelines for surgical decision making. Variables suggest earlier surgical intervention may be needed in the setting of weakness and substantial functional disability. With regard to demographic variables, the evidence is unclear regarding their association with treatment outcome. However, older chronological age does not seem to portend a worse outcome. Pending worker's compensation claims does seem to negatively affect treatment results. Further research is required to define the indications for surgery for full thickness rotator cuff tears. However, the design and conduct of an ethical study to obtain Level I evidence on this issue will be a major challenge.Level of Evidence: Level IV, systematic review. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Pengaruh Reputasi Manajemen Puncak Dan Dewan Komisaris Terhadap Penilaian Investor Pada Perusahaan Yang Melakukan Ipo

This research empirically examines the influence of reputation of top management and board ofcommissioner (BOC) on firm value. Top management has a primary role as a strategic decision maker in a firm. Its actions and characteristics specifically influence the organization ’s outcomes. The main duty of BOC is to ensure that managerial decisions are consistent with shareholders goals. One indicator of top management and BOC ’s competency and skill is reputation. The purpose of the study is to investigate the influence of reputation of top management and BOC on firm value at the Initial Public Offering (IPO). Its effect is through a largely symbolic role to enhance organizational legitimacy and it provides a signal to potential investors about the firm s prospect. The samples include 59 firms undertaking IPO in the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) during 1999-2006. This study employs three characteristics of reputation: education background, previous experiences and corporate board experiences. This study finds that education background has a positive association with investor valuation. Previous experiences and corporate board experiences do not have significant association with investor valuation.
Building materials costs increases and sustainability in real estate development in Nigeria

Sustaining real estate provision is vital in order to diminish the inaccessibility of housing to citizens, and is one of the best proactive and innovative measures to improve housing estates against the deficit challenge prevailing in Nigeria. This study examines the factors and effects of increasing costs of building materials in real estate development sustainability in Nigeria. The study found that eleven dynamics were significant to contributing to the widespread deficits, deplorable conditions and inaccessibility of housing units' to people. The study further indicates that these factors also underscore the ever increasing rent of residential properties in the area. The study reflection should greatly assist in depicting better ways of tackling these issues so that reductions in the impact of building materials cost increases on real estate provision as experienced in practice can be sustained within the system. A 'think tank' effort is recommended for relevant stakeholders.
Effects of Anti-IL-17 on Inflammation, Remodeling, and Oxidative Stress in an Experimental Model of Asthma Exacerbated by LPS

Inflammation plays a central role in the development of asthma, which is considered an allergic disease with a classic Th2 inflammatory profile. However, cytokine IL-17 has been examined to better understand the pathophysiology of this disease. Severe asthmatic patients experience frequent exacerbations, leading to infection, and subsequently show altered levels of inflammation that are unlikely to be due to the Th2 immune response alone. This study estimates the effects of anti-IL-17 therapy in the pulmonary parenchyma in a murine asthma model exacerbated by LPS. BALB/c mice were sensitized with intraperitoneal ovalbumin and repeatedly exposed to inhalation with ovalbumin, followed by treatment with or without anti-IL-17. Twenty-four hours prior to the end of the 29-day experimental protocol, the two groups received LPS (0.1 mg/ml intratracheal OVA-LPS and OVA-LPS IL-17). We subsequently evaluated bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, performed a lung tissue morphometric analysis, and measured IL-6 gene expression. OVA-LPS-treated animals treated with anti-IL-17 showed decreased pulmonary inflammation, edema, oxidative stress, and extracellular matrix remodeling compared to the non-treated OVA and OVA-LPS groups (p < 0.05). The anti-IL-17 treatment also decreased the numbers of dendritic cells, FOXP3, NF-κB, and Rho kinase 1- and 2-positive cells compared to the non-treated OVA and OVA-LPS groups (p < 0.05). In conclusion, these data suggest that inhibition of IL-17 is a promising therapeutic avenue, even in exacerbated asthmatic patients, and significantly contributes to the control of Th1/Th2/Th17 inflammation, chemokine expression, extracellular matrix remodeling, and oxidative stress in a murine experimental asthma model exacerbated by LPS.
Assessing the e-Service Quality of Sellers in an Industrial e-Marketplace

Existing studies of electronic service quality (e-SQ) mainly deal with online shopping mall operators in business-to-consumer (B2C) markets, whereas research into the e-SQ of sellers in industrial electronic marketplaces (e-marketplaces), characterized by multiple sellers and multiple customers, is lacking. Therefore, this study intends to determine if existing theories developed and tested in the B2C online shopping mall context are directly applicable to measure e-SQ of industrial e-marketplace sellers. By qualitatively analyzing customer feedback obtained in an e-marketplace, this study offers an in-depth exploration of e-SQ dimensions, discovers a tentative causal model of the e-SQ specific to industrial e-marketplace sellers, and compares the tentative model grounded in the qualitative data with existing research tested with quantitative data. This study shows that existing e-SQ scales may not apply, without revision, to measures of the e-SQ of industrial e-marketplace sellers.
Effect of brand familiarity, experience and information on online apparel purchase

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of brand familiarity, the number of pieces of product information presented on a web site, and previous online apparel shopping experience on perceived risk and purchase intention.Design/methodology/approach – The experiment was 2 (brand familiarity)×2 (information availability) factorial design and 166 students participated in this study.Findings – Multivariate and univariate analyses found a significant effect of brand familiarity and previous experience on perceived risk and purchase intention, and no effect of amount of information on perceived risk and purchase intention.Research limitations/implications – Participants may not have carefully considered the product information because the experiment was not an actual purchase situation, although a scenario was given. In future studies, creating an actual purchase situation may be necessary to investigate the effect of the amount of information available on the web sites on perceived risk and.
Capacity Scaling and Diversity Order for Secure Cooperative Relaying With Untrustworthy Relays

This paper presents an investigation of the secrecy performance of amplify-and-forward (AF) distributed beamforming (DBF) and opportunistic relaying (OR) through K untrustworthy relays. The capacity scaling and achievable diversity order of a secure communication are derived for K → ∞ and in high signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) regimes, respectively. The DBF is shown to convey confidential messages with a capacity scaling of 1/2 log K regardless of the trustworthiness of the relays, even without intended jamming (IJ), where 1/2 log K corresponds to the maximal capacity scaling of cooperative relaying in non-eavesdropping environments. However, using multiple untrustworthy relays worsens the secrecy performance of the OR, and as K increases, the secrecy capacity converges to zero. When secrecy outage performance with IJ is considered, the achievable diversity order for both the DBF and OR is limited to one. However, only the DBF exploits the benefits using multiple untrustworthy relays, and its secrecy outage probability decreases exponentially as K increases.
Glycemic index, glycemic load and risk of prostate cancer

Dietary carbohydrates have different glycemic and insulinemic potentials depending on type (glycemic index, GI) and amount (glycemic load, GL) of carbohydrate consumed or both. Insulin in turn has been implicated as a risk factor for several cancers, including that of the prostate. We assessed the relationship of GI and GL with prostate cancer risk in a multicenter case‐control study. Cases and controls were recruited between 1991 and 2002 in the network of major teaching and general hospitals in 4 Italian areas. Cases were 1,204 men (age range 46–74 years) admitted for incident, histologically confirmed prostate cancer. Controls were 1,352 men (age range 46–74 years) admitted for acute, nonmalignant conditions unrelated to long‐term modifications of diet. ORs of prostate cancer and the corresponding 95% CIs were derived using unconditional multiple logistic regression, including terms for age, study center, education, family history of prostate cancer, smoking, body mass index, physical activity, alcohol consumption, intake of energy, fiber and lycopenes. Compared to the lowest quintile of GI, the ORs were 1.23, 1.24, 1.47 and 1.57 for subsequent levels of GI. The corresponding values for GL were 0.91, 1.00, 1.20 and 1.41. No heterogeneity was found among strata of selected covariates. We found direct relations between dietary GI and GL and prostate cancer risk. Correcting for potential confounding factors did not substantially modify these associations. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Should We Be More on the Ball?

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a 9-day accommodation protocol on reducing perceived discomfort while sitting on a stability ball (SB); trunk muscle activity levels and lumbar spinal postures were also considered. Background: Previous studies have compared SB sitting with office chair sitting with few observed differences in muscle activity or posture; however, greater discomfort during SB sitting has been reported. These findings may indicate an accommodation period is necessary to acclimate to SB sitting. Method: For this study, 6 males and 6 females completed two separate, 2-hr sitting sessions on an SB. Half the participants completed a 9-day accommodation period between the visits, whereas the other half did not use an SB during the time. On both occasions, self-reported perceived discomfort ratings were collected along with erector spinae and abdominal muscle activity and lumbar spinal postures. Results: Discomfort ratings were reduced in female participants following the accommodation; no effects on muscle activation or lumbar spine postures were observed. Conclusion: Accommodation training may reduce perceived low-back discomfort in females. Trunk muscle activity and lumbar spine postures during seated office work on an SB did not differ between groups; however, greater sample power was required to conclusively address these variables. Application: Regarding whether to use an SB in place of a standard office chair, this study indicates that females electing to use an SB can decrease discomfort by following an accommodation protocol; no evidence was found to indicate that SB chair use will improve trunk strength or posture, even following an accommodation period.
Surgeons' Perceptions about Removal of Orthopaedic Implants in Nigeria.

The routine removal of orthopaedic fixation devices after fracture healing is a common practice among surgeons; however, its benefits Vis-a-vis risks remainan issue of debate. Thisstudy evaluated surgeons' perceptions about the indications, priority of implants removal, effectiveness, and risks of removal of orthopaedic implants in Nigeria. A 44-item questionnaire was distributed to 110 attendees of the Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Nigerian Orthopaedic Association, Lokoja- 2013. Data was analysed using SPSS version 21.The response rate was78/90 (86.7%), representing 70.9% ofattendees. Majority of surgeons did not agree that asymptomatic orthopaedic implants should be routinely removed for all patients (disagreement: 91.0%, agreement: 6.5%). The major indications for removals were breakage/mechanical failure, infected implants and allergic disposition with mean rating on a 5- point scale of 4.56±0.948, 4.37±0.937 and 4.15±1.139 respectively. Most surgeons accrued highest priority to removal of implants in children with a mean rating of 4.14±0.954, followed by forearm rush nails 3.82±1.079. Without a strict implant removal policy, a remarkable portion of the resources allocated for elective orthopaedic operations would be spent on routine hardware removal procedures. General recommendation for hardware removal is not justified; overall, implant removal should not be considered a routine procedure.
Feedback‐seeking behavior within multinational corporations

Notwithstanding their concern with intra-MNC control mechanisms, scholars have overlooked the complementary phenomenon of self-regulatory behavior by subsidiaries. In this paper, we take the first steps towards addressing this gap by advancing and testing hypotheses dealing with the determinants of a major element of self-regulatory behavior at the subsidiary level, i.e., the performance-oriented feedback-seeking behavior of subsidiary presidents. Utilizing data from 374 subsidiaries of 75 MNCs, we test hypotheses regarding the impact of subsidiary task and organizational context on the feedback-seeking behavior of subsidiary presidents. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: (i) subsidiary presidents do engage in proactive performance-oriented feedback-seeking behavior; (ii) they vary in the extent to which they engage in such behavior; and (iii) these variations in feedback-seeking behavior are at least partially systematic. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Do Female Executives Prioritize Corporate Social Responsibility?

ABSTRACT How do female executives view corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Previous studies have reported mixed findings on the relationship between female executives and CSR. We select a sample of Chinese listed firms and use propensity score matching to construct a new sample of firms and evaluate the gender transition (from male to female) of chief executive officers or board chairpersons (executives) who are randomly assigned to firms (i.e., the gender transition of executives is regarded as an exogenous event). Subsequently, we use a difference-in-differences approach to identify the pure effect of female executives on CSR. Our results indicate that female executives are more likely to encourage CSR reporting. Moreover, we suggest that the mechanism behind female executives prioritizing CSR is altruism preference rather than risk aversion preference.