Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predicting quality of work life on nurses' intention to leave.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between quality of work life (QWL) and nurses' intention to leave their organization (ITLorg). DESIGN A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was conducted using purposive sampling of 1,283 nurses at seven hospitals in Taiwan. Data were collected from March to June 2012. METHODS Three questionnaires, including the Chinese version of the Quality of Nursing Work Life scale (C-QNWL), a questionnaire of intention to leave the organization, and a demographic questionnaire, with two informed consent forms were delivered to the nurses at their workplaces. Descriptive data, Pearson's correlations, and the ordinal regression model were analyzed. FINDINGS Over half (52.5%) of nurses had ITLorg. Seven QWL dimensions were significantly negatively correlated with ITLorg (r = -0.17 to -0.37, p < .01). Significant predictors (p < .05) of ITLorg (the pseudo R(2) = 0.282) were being single, having a diploma or lower educational level, working in a nonteaching hospital. Four of the QWL dimensions--supportive milieu with job security and professional recognition, work arrangement and workload, work or home life balance, and nursing staffing and patient care--were also predictors of ITLorg. Three QWL dimensions were not predictors of ITLorg. CONCLUSIONS This study showed that individual-related variables (being single, having a diploma or lower educational level), a work-related variable (working at a nonteaching hospital), and the four QWL dimensions play a significant role in nurses' ITLorg. After the QWL dimensions were added to the regression, the variance explained by the model more than doubled. CLINICAL RELEVANCE To reduce nurses' ITLorg, nursing administrators may offer more focused interventions to improve the supportive milieu with job security and professional recognition, work arrangement and workload, work or home life balance, and nursing staffing and patient care.
Hydrogen Sulfide Mediating both Excitatory and Inhibitory Effects in a Rat Model of Meningeal Nociception and Headache Generation

Background/purpose Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a neuromodulator acting through nitroxyl (HNO) when it reacts with nitric oxide (NO). HNO activates transient receptor potential channels of the ankyrin type 1 (TRPA1) causing release of calcitonin gene-related peptide from primary afferents. Activation of meningeal nociceptors projecting to the human spinal trigeminal nucleus (STN) may lead to headaches. In a rat model of meningeal nociception, the activity of spinal trigeminal neurons was used as read-out for the interaction between H2S and NO. Methods In anesthetized rats extracellular recordings from single neurons in the STN were made. Sodium sulfide (Na2S) producing H2S in the tissue and the NO donor diethylamine-NONOate (DEA-NONOate) were infused intravenously. H2S was also locally applied onto the exposed cranial dura mater or the medulla. Endogenous production of H2S was inhibited by oxamic acid, and NO production was inhibited by nitro-l-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (l-NAME) to manipulate endogenous HNO formation. Key results Systemic administration of Na2S was followed either by increased ongoing activity (in 73%) or decreased activity (in 27% of units). Topical application of Na2S onto the cranial dura mater caused a short-lasting activation followed by a long-lasting decrease in activity in the majority of units (70%). Systemic administration of DEA-NONOate increased neuronal activity, subsequent infusion of Na2S added to this effect, whereas DEA-NONOate did not augment the activity after Na2S. The stimulating effect of DEA-NONOate was inhibited by oxamic acid in 75% of units, and l-NAME following Na2S administration returned the activity to baseline. Conclusion Individual spinal trigeminal neurons may be activated or (less frequently) inhibited by the TRPA1 agonist HNO, presumably formed by H2S and NO in the STN, whereby endogenous H2S production seems to be rate-limiting. Activation of meningeal afferents by HNO may induce decreased spinal trigeminal activity, consistent with the elevation of the electrical threshold caused by TRPA1 activation in afferent fibers. Thus, the effects of H2S–NO–TRPA1 signaling depend on the site of action and the type of central neurons. The role of H2S–NO–TRPA1 in headache generation seems to be ambiguous.
Are Family and Nonfamily Tourism Businesses Different? An Examination of the Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy–Entrepreneurial Performance Relationship

Drawing on literature on tourism, entrepreneurship, and family businesses, this research uses a structural model to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and enterprise performance. Based on samples of family-owned (N = 158) and nonfamily-owned (N = 143) small- and medium-sized tourism enterprise owners in regional South Australia, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and multigroup invariance tests were used to validate the proposed structural model where ESE is the exogenous variable and performance is the endogenous variable. The study also examined if the causal model was invariant (equivalent) between family and nonfamily entrepreneurs to identify key differences between these two groups. Results support the validity of the models, with tourism business owners’ ESE having a significant positive effect on enterprise performance. The results of the multigroup invariance tests also indicated that the measurement models, structural model, and residual structure were equal across family and nonfamily business owners. Although previous studies have suggested differences between family- and nonfamily-owned businesses with regard to pattern of ownership, governance, management and succession, business structure, goals, and strategies, this study found that the “entrepreneurial self-efficacy” of business owners (regardless of whether or not the business is family owned) is an important predictor of business performance. The findings suggest that destination managers and policy makers need to support the ESE of local tourism business owners if they wish to enhance performance within the industry and the destination.
Surfing for Knowledge in the Information Society

This essay explores the use of a network sampling method to locate and map authoritative sites on the World Wide Web that are involved in the debates concerning Genetically Modified (GM) foods. The prospect of finding and navigating hot routes (and storylines) through the ‘issue networks’ is discussed. The essay concludes with implications for participating, both online and off-line, in the distinctive ‘information societies’ implied in the composition of issue networks.
Tourism, development and corporate social responsibility in Livingstone, Zambia

The city of Livingstone has experienced rapid tourism growth over the past 20 years, as Zambia has attempted to diversify its economy that has been traditionally driven by copper and natural resource extraction. As tourism has grown in Livingstone, the importance of the industry in providing more than just economic progress and growth has been debated, in line with changing global priorities for tourism development. Tourism, as a means for community growth and upliftment is now commonplace within tourism discourse, an issue which is reflected in discussions about poverty reduction and developing sustainable tourism in Livingstone. The potential of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an agent for positive tourism development, however, remains largely unexplored. This paper examines different levels of CSR commitment within Livingstone, demonstrating that significant positive impacts among local communities have resulted from some CSR initiatives. Consideration is also given to possible future measures that might ensure that CSR becomes more commonplace in Livingstone and elsewhere, as an essential part of community empowerment and development associated with a growing tourism industry.
Parallels Between Treated Uncontrolled Diabetes and the Refeeding Syndrome With Emphasis on Fluid and Electrolyte Abnormalities

While many of the problems that occur when catabolic (malnourished) patients are abruptly returned to an anabolic (fed) state are familiar, the full picture, termed the "refeeding syndrome," (1,2) is not well known. The importance of this syndrome is evident when compared with the treatment of uncontrolled diabetes. This overview suggests that these nosological formulations are not only similar but that treated, uncontrolled diabetes, particularly when prolonged and severe, as seen in the hyperosmolar nonacidotic syndrome, is a special case of the refeeding syndrome. The term "refeeding syndrome" describes metabolic perturbations, primarily hypophosphatemia, but includes hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, vitamin deficiencies, and fluid and sodium retention that develop in malnourished patients after total parenteral nutrition (TPN). Restricting the definition to the syndrome following TPN is unwarranted because most components also occur after refeeding in chronically starved (catabolic) states. The consequences of these deficiencies were described before the advent of TPN in prisoners of war, survivors of starvation after sieges, and healthy individuals who were deliberately starved (3,4).
Direction-of-Change Forecasts Based on Conditional Variance, Skewness and Kurtosis Dynamics: International Evidence

Recent theoretical work has revealed a direct connection between asset return volatility forecastability and asset return sign forecastability. This suggests that the pervasive volatility forecastability in equity returns could, via induced sign forecastability, be used to produce direction-of-change forecasts useful for market timing. We attempt to do so in an international sample of developed equity markets, with some success, as assessed by formal probability forecast scoring rules such as the Brier score. An important ingredient is our conditioning not only on conditional mean and variance information, but also conditional skewness and kurtosis information, when forming direction-of-change forecasts.
Strategic Alliances and Models of Collaboration

The purpose of this paper is to engage in a comprehensive review of the research on strategic alliances in the last decade. After presenting a typology of diverse alliance governance forms, we review recent analyses of alliance formation, implementation management, and performance outcomes of collaborative activities. Our findings reveal that strategic alliances developed and propagated as formalized interorganizational relationships. These cooperative arrangements represent new organizational formation that seeks to achieve organizational objectives better through collaboration than through competition. The paper provides future research directions on partner selection, networks patterns and processes, understanding the integration in alliances through fusion, fission, and how to manage developmental dynamics. We conclude with some future directions for theory construction and empirical research.
High‐frequency S‐layer protein variation in Campylobacter fetus revealed by sapA mutagenesis

Campylobacter fetus utilizes paracrystalline surface (S‐) layer proteins that confer complement resistance and that undergo antigenic variation to facilitate persistent mucosal colonization in ungulates. C. fetus possesses multiple homologues of sapA, each of which encode full‐length S‐layer proteins. Disruption of sapA by a gene targeting method (insertion of kanamycin (km) resistance) caused the loss of C. fetus cells bearing full‐length S‐layer proteins and their replacement by cells bearing a 50 kDa truncated protein that was not exported to the cell surface. After incubation of the mutants with serum, the survival rate was approximately 2 × 10‐2. Immunoblots of survivors showed that phenotypic reversion involving high‐level production of full‐length (98, 127 or 149 kDa) S‐layer proteins had occurred. Revertants were serum resistant but caused approximately 10‐fold less bacteraemia in orally challenged mice than did the wild‐type strain. Southern hybridizations of the revertants showed rearrangement of sapA homologues and retention of the km marker. These results indicate that there exists high‐frequency generation of C. fetus sapA antigenic variants, and that intracellular mechanisms acting at the level of DNA reciprocal recombination play key roles in this phenomenon.
Factors Affecting Internal Auditors' Consideration of Fraudulent Financial Reporting during Analytical Procedures

This study investigates internal auditors' consideration of fraudulent financial reporting as an explanation for an unexpected difference in operating income. We examine whether such consideration is affected by the direction of the difference, the use of earnings‐based bonus plans, and the restrictiveness of debt covenants. We conduct an experiment in which 127 internal auditors list potential explanations for the unexpected difference. We find that these factors affect internal auditors' consideration of fraudulent financial reporting. Internal auditors list a larger proportion of explanations involving fraud (1) when income is greater than expected, and (2) when debt covenants are restrictive, conditioned on income being greater than expected. We also find that internal auditors assign a higher likelihood of fraud when (1) income is greater than expected, and (2) when an earnings‐based bonus plan is used and debt covenants are restrictive. The practical implication is that specific factors can affect i.
The Belgian Federation at a Crossroad

In the introduction, the editors present the special issue and, in particular, the issue at stake: the future of Belgian federalism. Despite the agreement on the sixth state reform, four key issues remain for Belgium's future: decision making, distribution of powers, intergovernmental relations and the role of the parties. Drawing on past and present investigations of this topic, they present the state of the federation and, in so doing, they set the stage for the remaining papers.
LOW-INTENSITY DEMOCRACY REVISITED: The Effects of Economic Liberalization on Political Activity in Latin America

Existing literature emphasizes the disorganizing or weakening effects of economic liberalization on civil society, whereby free-market policies are said to demobilize and depoliticize collective actors. the article evaluates the effects of economic liberalization on large-scale societal mobilizations across seventeen latin american countries for the period 1970–2000. the article further tests the effects of economic liberalization on individual political participation across sixteen latin american countries for the period 1980–2000. in contrast to the atomization literature, this article provides strong evidence that economic liberalization leads to greater levels of societal mobilization in the context of free-market democratization. the article also demonstrates that economic liberalization does not induce a decline in political participation. collectively, these results cast doubt on the theoretical underpinnings and empirical findings presented in Kurtz (2004).
A Family of Zero-Voltage-Switching Magnetic Coupling Nonisolated Bidirectional DC–DC Converters

This paper proposes a family of magnetic coupling nonisolated bidirectional dc–dc converters, which can achieve soft-switching operation in both power flow directions with a simple auxiliary circuit. Compared with conventional zero-voltage-transition converters, the additional resonant inductor is eliminated and magnetic core number is reduced. Therefore, both high efficiency and low cost are achieved. First, a general zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) magnetic coupling structure is proposed for a bidirectional buck/boost converter, based on which 13 different ZVS topologies with different connections of auxiliary circuit are derived. It is very beneficial in practical industrial applications because engineers can choose an optimal one according to converter performance characteristics, and the topology derivation methodology can be easily extended to other bidirectional dc–dc converters. Second, based on the general structure, operation principle and performance characteristics of all proposed topologies are simultaneously obtained, which can facilitate topology comparison and selection processes. Finally, in order to verify the effectiveness of theoretical analysis, design considerations and experiment results of a 500-W prototype circuit are demonstrated.
Classification of asthma severity in children: the contribution of pulmonary function testing.

BACKGROUND Despite increasing awareness of the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program guidelines, the relative contribution of symptom frequency or pulmonary function to the recommended asthma severity levels remains poorly understood. OBJECTIVE To determine whether adding lung function measurements to clinical history substantially changes the asthma severity classification, thereby influencing treatment decisions. DESIGN Baseline data were studied from children enrolled in 2 multicenter studies: phase 1 of the National Cooperative Inner-City Asthma Study (1992-1994) (cohort 1) and the Inner-City Asthma Study (1998-2001) (cohort 2). SETTING Fifteen (8 for cohort 1 and 7 for cohort 2) major metropolitan inner-city areas in the United States. PARTICIPANTS Inner-city children aged 8 through 11 years with asthma. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Proportion of children reclassified from less severe asthma categories based on symptom frequency into more severe categories because of lung function. RESULTS Of children with symptoms of mild intermittent asthma, 22.8% in cohort 1 and 27.7% in cohort 2 would be reclassified as having either moderate or severe persistent asthma. Of children with symptoms of mild persistent asthma, 31.2% in cohort 1 and 33.3% in cohort 2 would be similarly reclassified. CONCLUSIONS In 2 different studies of inner-city children with asthma, approximately one third of the participants were reclassified into higher National Asthma Education and Prevention Program asthma severity categories when pulmonary function was considered in addition to symptom frequency. This may have direct implications for the undertreatment of asthma.
Long-Term Contracts, Short-Term Investment and Monitoring

The paper presents a dynamic contracting model of myopic firm behaviour caused by the fear of early project termination by outside investors. Although the parties can conclude longterm contracts, asymmetric information between investors and firms can make it impossible to implement profitable long-term projects. The paper characterizes the structure of optimal, renegotiation-proof contracts for unmonitored and monitored finance. Monitoring by investors, although itself subject to distorting incentive constraints, is shown to be able to overcome the short-term bias of investment and thus to lengthen the firms' planning horizon.
Brain tumor Classification based on Clustered discrete cosine transform in Compressed Domain

This study presents a novel method to classify the brain tumors by means of efficient and integrated methods so as to increase the classification accuracy. In conventional systems, the problem being the same to extract the feature sets from the database and classify tumors based on the features sets. The main idea in plethora of earlier researches related to any classification method is to increase the classification accuracy.The actual need is to achieve a better accuracy in classification, by extracting more relevant feature sets after dimensionality reduction. There exists a trade-off between accuracy and the number of feature sets. Hence the focus in this study is to implement Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) on the brain tumor images for various classes. Using DCT, by itself, it offers a fair dimension reduction in feature sets.Later on, sequentially K-means algorithm is applied on DCT coefficients to cluster the feature sets. These cluster information are considered as refined feature sets and classified using Support Vector Machine (SVM) is proposed in this study. This method of using DCT helps to adjust and vary the performance of classification based on the count of the DCT coefficients taken into account. There exists a good demand for an automatic classification of brain tumors which grealtly helps in the process of diagnosis. In this novel work, an average of 97% and a maximum of 100% classification accuracy has been achieved. This research is basically aiming and opening a new way of classification under compressed domain. Hence this study may be highly suitable for diagnosing under mobile computing and internet based medical diagnosis.
Determinants of Technical Efficiency of Maize/Cowpea Intercropping Among Women Farmers in Gombe State, Nigeria

The study was conducted to examine the determinants of technical efficiency of maize/cowpea intercropping among women farmers in Gombe State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was adopted in selecting 104 respondents. Data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire supplemented with focus group discussion over a period of four months. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and stochastic frontier production function model. Results from socio-economic variables revealed that majority (61%) of the respondents were between 40-59 years with an average farm size of 1.88 hectares. The result of stochastic frontier production function analysis showed that all the estimated coefficients (farm size, fertilizer, family labour, quantity of agrochemicals, hired labour and quantity of seed used) of the independent variables in the model were positive and significant at either 1% or 5% level with the exception of quantity of agrochemicals used. The results further revealed that household size, educational level, farming experience, access to extensions services and off farm income generation were the major determinants of technical efficiency in the study area. Findings from this research work also revealed that the mean technical efficiency of the farmers was 0.84 indicating that the women farmers are relatively efficient in maize/cowpea intercropping. The study therefore suggests intensive efforts at expanding the present scope of maize/cowpea intercropping, given the estimated technical efficiency for the production system.
Expression and Immunological Analysis of the Plasmid-Borne mlp Genes of Borrelia burgdorferiStrain B31

ABSTRACT A lipoprotein gene family first identified in Borrelia burgdorferi strain 297, designated 2.9 LP and recently renamed mlp, was found on circular and linear plasmids in the genome sequence of B. burgdorferistrain B31-M1. Sequence analyses of the B31 mlp genes and physically linked variant gene families indicated that mlpgene heterogeneity is unique and unrelated to location or linkage to divergent sequences. Evidence of recombination between B31mlp alleles was also detected. Northern blot analysis of cultured strain B31 indicated that the mlp genes were not expressed at a temperature (23°C) characteristic of that of ticks in the environment. In striking contrast, expression of manymlp genes increased substantially when strain B31 was shifted to 35°C, a temperature change mimicking that occurring in the natural transmission cycle of the spirochete from tick to mammal. Primer extension analysis of the mlp mRNA transcripts suggested that sigma 70-like promoters are involved inmlp expression during temperature shift conditions. Antibodies were made against strain B31 Mlp proteins within the first 4 weeks after experimental mouse infection. Importantly, Lyme disease patients also had serum antibodies reactive with purified recombinant Mlp proteins from strain B31, a result indicating that humans are exposed to Mlp proteins during infection. Taken together, the data indicate that strain B31 mlp genes encode a diverse array of lipoproteins which may participate in early infection processes in the mammalian host.