Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reported Progress Under the Student Right-to-Know Act: How Reliable is it?

The Student Right-to-Know Act requires colleges to provide institution-specific information on graduation rates for students initially enrolling full-time in the fall term. Not all students, however, initially enroll full-time or in the fall term. We use longitudinal data on academic, degree-seeking students from the 1996/2001 Beginning Post-Secondary Survey to identify those students for whom statistics are and are not reported under the Act and to track their relative progress at two- and four-year institutions. We also examine the intra-institution correlation between reported and unreported students’ progress to determine if the published statistics will at least allow relative comparisons. Our results indicate that the published progress rates are substantially higher than the progress rates for the unreported populations. Furthermore, while these rates are relatively comprehensive for and comparable across four-year institutions, they are neither for two-year institutions. Policy makers and prospective students will not make efficient decisions using such unreliable information.
Adaptive fuzzy backstepping control for MIMO uncertain discrete-time nonlinear systems using a set of noisy measurements

This paper presents an adaptive fuzzy backstepping control (AFBC) for multi-input and multi-output uncertain discrete-time nonlinear systems. It is assumed that the systems are described by a discrete-time state equation with nonlinear uncertainties to be viewed as the modelling errors and the unknown external disturbances, and the observation of the states is taken with independent measurement noises. The proposed AFBC is simplified in a structure by removing the explosion of complexity problem due to repeated time-differences of nonlinear functions. The modelling errors are approximated by using the fuzzy inference approach based on the extended single input rule modules, and the unknown external disturbances are denoted as unknown time-invariant parameters, and these estimates are derived by using the proposed simplified weighted least squares estimator. It is proved that the errors between the states and the virtual controls, and the estimation errors, are ultimately bounded. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is indicated through the simulation experiment of a simple numerical system.
NADPH-diaphorase Histochemical Labeling Patterns in the Hippocampal Neuropil and Visual Cortical Neurons in Weaned Rats Reared during Lactation on Different Litter Sizes

Abstract Tissue distribution of nitric oxide-synthases was investigated in the rat hippocampus and visual cortex under nutritional changes induced by modification of the litter size. Young (30-45-days-old) rats, suckled in litters formed by 3, 6 or 12 pups (called small, medium and large litters, respectively), were studied by using nicotine-adenine-dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase histochemistry (shortly, diaphorase), a simple and robust procedure to characterize tissue distribution of nitric oxide-synthases. We assessed morphometric features of the diaphorase-positive cells in visual cortex, and the neuropil histochemical activity in hippocampal CA1 and dentate gyrus using densitometry analysis. In the large-litter group, the labeled-cell density in white matter of area 17 was higher, as compared to the small-litter group. There was a clear trend, in the large-litter group, to lower values of soma area, dendritic field and branches per neuron, but the differences were not significant. Densitometry analysis of hippocampus revealed a significant increase in the relative neuropil histochemical activity of the dentate gyrus molecular layer in the larger litters, which may be associated to increased compensatory blood flow in the hippocampus. The pathophysiological mechanisms of the observed changes remain to be investigated.
Shiftwork and mortality from ischaemic heart disease.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relation between shift work and death from ischaemic heart disease (IHD). METHODS: A nested case-control approach was used. The cohort comprised male manual workers who joined an industrial company aged 50 years or under between 1 January 1950 and 31 December 1992 and worked there for at least one month. Cases were 467 cohort members who died during the same period aged 75 years or under, with ischaemic heart disease (IHD) (international classification of diseases (ICD) 410-414) coded from the death certificate. For each case a control worker was chosen, who joined the company at the same age and in the same period but who survived the case. Work status (shift work or day work) was assigned to cases for their entire employment and to controls for that part of their employment which preceded the matching case's death. The main source of information was historical personnel records containing pay codes which differed for day work and shift work. Information on weight, height, blood pressure, and smoking from a pre-employment medical was available. RESULTS: Two thirds of subjects had been employed for at least one month as shift workers and there was evidence that they had slightly better health at recruitment than day workers. The odds ratio for shift workers during the period starting 10 years after shift work began, and after adjustment for height, body mass index, blood pressure, smoking, duration of employment, and job status (skilled or unskilled) was 0.90 (90% confidence interval (90% CI): 0.68-1.21). There was no relation between risk of IHD death, and duration of shift work, but there was evidence of a reduced risk when actively employed as a shift worker, together with an increased risk in the first five years after leaving shift work to do day work. CONCLUSIONS: Shift work did not increase the risk of death from ischaemic heart disease in this study. Those workers with poorer cardiovascular health may be under represented in groups with longer shift work experience because of health related selection out of shift work.
Household Composition, Equivalence Scales and the Reliability of Income Distributions: Some Evidence for Indigenous and Other Australians

Indigenous families experience substantial and multiple forms of economic burden arising from the size and structure of their families and households. Indigenous households are more likely to have more than one family in residence than other Australian households and are more likely to be multigenerational with older Indigenous people living with younger people in extended family households. This paper seeks to characterise the economies of household size in Indigenous and other Australian households using equivalence scales that cover the range of feasible values and 1995 National Health Survey data.
Atmosphere: Conceptual Issues and Implications for Hospitality Management

The importance of atmosphere for accomplishing a high‐quality service delivery in the hospitality industry has for long been recognized both among practitioners and researchers. However, present insights are limited and scattered. This paper provides a systematic overview of atmosphere, including its antecedents and consequences, to guide hospitality managers in their efforts to improve the attractiveness of their firms. The paper offers managerial recommendations and discusses the need for enhanced knowledge among hospitality professionals in order to harness benefits and manage risks in relation to atmosphere investments. Recommendations for further research are highlighted.
Cyclophilin A and TRIM5α Independently Regulate Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infectivity in Human Cells

ABSTRACT Cyclophilin A (CypA), a cytoplasmic, human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) CA-binding protein, acts after virion membrane fusion with human cells to increase HIV-1 infectivity. HIV-1 CA is similarly greeted by CypA soon after entry into rhesus macaque or African green monkey cells, where, paradoxically, the interaction decreases HIV-1 infectivity by facilitating TRIM5α-mediated restriction. These observations conjure a model in which CA recognition by the human TRIM5α orthologue is precluded by CypA. Consistent with the model, selection of a human cell line for decreased restriction of the TRIM5α-sensitive, N-tropic murine leukemia virus (N-MLV) rendered HIV-1 transduction of these cells independent of CypA. Additionally, HIV-1 virus-like particles (VLPs) saturate N-MLV restriction activity, particularly when the CA-CypA interaction is disrupted. Here the effects of CypA and TRIM5α on HIV-1 restriction were examined directly. RNA interference was used to show that endogenous human TRIM5α does indeed restrict HIV-1, but the magnitude of this antiviral activity was not altered by disruption of the CA-CypA interaction or by elimination of CypA protein. Conversely, the stimulatory effect of CypA on HIV-1 infectivity was completely independent of human TRIM5α. Together with previous reports, these data suggest that CypA protects HIV-1 from an unknown antiviral activity in human cells. Additionally, target cell permissivity increased after loading with heterologous VLPs, consistent with a common saturable target that is epistatic to both TRIM5α and the putative CypA-regulated restriction factor.
Hepatorenal index as an accurate, simple, and effective tool in screening for steatosis.

OBJECTIVE The hepatorenal index has been reported to be a sensitive and noninvasive test to quantify steatosis, but it is cumbersome and time-consuming and requires specialized software. The aim of this study was to improve and simplify the hepatorenal index calculation and determine whether it is an effective tool for differentiating patients with steatosis from those without steatosis, thereby eliminating the need for biopsy in a large number of patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred one patients who had undergone ultrasound-guided percutaneous liver biopsy at our institution were selected from a patient database. Patients with renal disease, patients with liver masses, and patients whose liver and right kidney were not included on the same image were excluded. Images were acquired with high-resolution ultrasound, and the hepatorenal index was calculated using freeware based on comparison of hepatic and renal brightness. RESULTS Of the 101 patients, 63 had 5% or less steatosis and 38 had more than 5% steatosis. Using freeware available online from the National Institutes of Health, we calculated hepatorenal index values for all patients. Our data showed a strong correlation between the hepatorenal index and percentage of fat (r = 0.71, p < 0.0001). A hepatorenal index of 1.28 or greater had a 100% sensitivity for identifying more than 5% fat, 54% specificity, 0.57 positive predictive value, and 1.0 negative predictive value. If this method had been used prospectively to select patients for biopsy in our sample, 34% of biopsies could have been avoided. CONCLUSION The hepatorenal index is a simple, reliable, and cost-effective screening tool for identifying patients who should not undergo liver biopsy for evaluation of steatosis.
Identification of a novel bacteriocin regulatory system in Streptococcus mutans

Recently, we described the function of an uncharacterized two‐gene regulatory system consisting of a LytTR family transcription regulator and a putative membrane protein, which we referred to as the hdrRM operon. In this study, we determined that the HdrRM system controls the expression of an analogous uncharacterized regulatory system annotated as SMU.2080 and SMU.2081. Like hdrRM, the SMU.2080–2081 operon encodes a LytTR family transcription regulator and putative membrane protein, which we now refer to as BrsR and BrsM respectively. Examination of the regulatory mechanism of the BrsRM system suggests that BrsM serves to antagonize the function of the transcription regulator BrsR. Further analyses of the regulatory role of BrsR determined that it functions as a transcription activator for a variety of bacteriocins and bacteriocin‐related genes. In vitro electromobility shift assays confirmed that BrsR binds to the promoter regions of several bacteriocin genes and requires the presence of a LytTR family consensus direct repeat in order to stably bind DNA. In addition, we identified a novel regulatory scheme in which both the HdrRM and BrsRM systems coregulate each other and ultimately determine whether bacteriocin production will inhibit competitor organisms or result in lethality to the producer.
Personal Values Dimensions: A Study on Brazilian Executives

ABSTRACT Human values are desirable goals that vary in importance and serve to guide people's lives. This study addresses the following issue: what personal value dimensions emerge from a group of Brazilian executives and which one is the most important? This is a descriptive and quantitative study, employing an exploratory factor analysis of personal values. The most prominent personal values were identified in a group of Brazilian executives. In this study, the personal value dimensions found were Civility, Self-direction, and Conformity. The dimension that received the highest scores was Civility, whereas the least important values were those related to Conformity. RESUMEN. Los valores humanos son metas deseables con diferentes grados de importancia, útiles para orientar la vida de las personas. Este estudio trata sobre el siguiente tema: ¿Cuales son las dimensiones del valor personal que surge de un grupo de ejecutivos brasileños, y cual de ellos es el más importante? Este es un estudio descriptivo y cuantitativo que emplea un análisis exploratorio de factores inherentes a los valores personales, en el cual se identificaron los valores personales que más destaque obtuvieron en un grupo de ejecutivos brasileños. Los diversos valores personales encontrados en este estudio fueron Cortesía, Autodirección, y Conformidad. La dimensión que recibió el más alto puntaje fue Cortesía, mientras que los valores menos importantes se relacionaban a la Conformidad. RESUMO. Valores humanos são metas desejáveis que variam em importância e servem como guia na vida das pessoas. Este estudo aborda a seguinte questão: que dimensões de valores pessoais emergem em um grupo de executivos brasileiros, e qual delas é considerada como a mais importante? Esta é uma pesquisa quantitativa, que empregou análise fatorial exploratória nos valores pessoais. Os valores pessoais mais proeminentes foram identificados em um grupo de executivos brasileiros. Neste estudo, as dimensões de valores pessoais encontradas foram: Civilidade, Auto-direção, e Conformidade. A dimensão que recebeu as pontuações mais altas foi a Civilidade, enquanto que os valores menos importantes foram os relacionados à dimensão Conformidade.
Modelling issues in the relationship between audit and non-audit fees.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine modelling issues in the research of the relationship between audit and non‐audit fees by comparing the outcome of a single‐equation model of fees to the results of simultaneous equation model (SEM) of these interactions for a sample of UK listed companies and also by exploring the benefits of using a panel data approach.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is an empirical analysis of audit and non‐audit fees for a sample of 2,072 UK companies. Three types of models, single linear equation, SEM and panel data, are compared and the strengths and weaknesses of each discussed.Findings – The results indicate possible mis‐specification in the single linear equation model and the potential for simultaneous equation basis in the SEM. The panel data analysis confirms the findings of prior literature that there is a relationship between audit and non‐audit fees but statistically insignificant.Research limitations/implications – The implication of these findings i.
Market Valuation and Deregulation of Electric Utilities

This study examines the effect of ongoing deregulation in the electric utility industry on the relation between market value, book value, and earnings. We predict that deregulation decreases (increases) the relative importance of book value (earnings) in explaining price. We test this prediction by examining changes in the value-relevance of book value and earnings during the 1988-1996 time period for a sample of large, investor-owned electric utilities. We find that the regression coefficients and incremental explanatory power related to book value (earnings) have decreased (increased) over this time period. These results are generally robust in sensitivity analysis.
Impact of Regional Trade Agreements in East Asia on Members’ Trade Flows

Using an unbalanced panel dataset of bilateral trade flows, we study the determinants of two-way trade for Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Korea and the ten ASEAN countries from 1990 to 2009. We find that bilateral trade flow is positively related to the sum of the GDP of trading countries, and similarity in GDP size, but inversely related to relative factor endowment differences, transportation costs and import tariffs. Our empirical results suggest that formulating an East Asian Free Trade Area is important for promoting intraregional trade. Furthermore, there is a need to provide a range of instruments to assist least-developed ASEAN countries in designing and implementing appropriate trade integration policies through the provision of technical and financial assistance as well as analytical support.
Popular perceptions of welfare state consequences: A multilevel, cross-national analysis of 25 European countries

The societal effects of the welfare state are a perennial issue in the public debate. Critics accuse the welfare state of having unintended economic and moral consequences rather than producing its intended social goals. Popular perceptions of possible consequences of the welfare state are a crucial component of welfare state legitimacy, but have received hardly any scholarly attention. Using the 2008 wave of the European Social Survey, we analyse how European citizens perceive the consequences of the welfare state, whether perceived positive consequences outweigh the negative consequences, and to what extent consequence perceptions are determined by individual and country-level factors. The conclusion is that the European public has a clearer eye for the positive social than for negative economic and moral consequences. Moreover, at the individual level these perceptions are mainly influenced by ideational factors, while they are affected by welfare state generosity at the country level. Interestingly, in more developed welfare states the public perceives the negative, as well as the positive consequences more strongly.
Embedded in Practice? Swedish Social Work Managers on Sources of Managerial Knowledge

This study focuses on managers in the personal social services and aims to explore these managers’ qualifications and their views on what sources of knowledge have contributed most to their managerial competence. Findings indicate that most managers have undergone in-service managerial training and that a majority appear to rely on sources of knowledge that could be described as practice oriented for attaining managerial competences. This practice orientation is discussed in relation to the character of the in-service managerial training, the knowledge base of social work, and the lack of postgraduate managerial education offered by the Swedish schools of social work.
Precautionary Savings and the Permanent Income Hypothesis

This paper derives the explicit solution of a dynamic stochastic optimal consumption problem for infinitely-lived agents whose preferences exhibit, in the presence of non-diversifiable labour income uncertainty, a constant elasticity of intertemporal substitution and constant absolute risk aversion. The constancy of the elasticity of intertemporal substitution, which implies that marginal utility at zero consumption is infinite, guarantees that the non-negativity constraint on consumption is never binding along the optimal path. The assumption of constant absolute risk aversion allows an explicit computation of human wealth, and provides a simple representation of the precautionary savings motive.
Knowledge Spillovers, Absorptive Capacity, and Skill Intensity of Chilean Manufacturing Plants

Knowledge spillovers are an important source of economic growth. In this study, we identify a mechanism through which knowledge spillovers occur among plants in the Chilean manufacturing industry. A plant-level production function is estimated with the absorptive-capacity hypothesis, that is, employment of skilled workers is a key channel through which knowledge is transmitted across plants. Results show that a plant's productivity from spillovers increases with its skill intensity, which is measured by the share of skilled workers in total employment. We also find that plants in a region with a large knowledge stock increase their skill intensity to benefit more from spillovers. Our results suggest that an increase in regional knowledge stock is the most effective policy to improve a plant's productivity. However, policies that encourage a plant to employ high skill-intensive production also enhance its productivity.
Regime Switching and Oligopsony Power: The Case of U.S. Beef Processing

In this article, we estimate a Green and Porter (GP 1984) trigger pricing model to analyze weekly marketing margin data for the U.S. beef packing industry from 1992-2000. Oligopsonists are hypothesized to follow a discontinuous pricing strategy in equilibrium, and we focus on shocks in the normal throughput of supply as a potential catalyst for regime switching between cooperative and noncooperative phases. We use an algorithm developed by Bellone (2005) that relies on Hamilton's (1989) multivariate first-order Markov process to test for the cooperative/noncooperative switching behavior. We find strong evidence that links switching conduct by packers to disruptions in coordinating the derived demands for processed beef with the supply of live cattle. Once switched, cooperative regimes lasted an average of 21 weeks, while noncooperative regimes averaged 33 weeks. The average marketing margin for processed beef was 66% higher in the cooperative regimes compared to the noncooperative regimes. This implies an annual average increase in profits of 491 million dollars to the beef packing industry.
Minimizing resource availability costs in time-limited project networks

We consider the problem of minimizing renewable resource availability costs in an activity-on-the-node project network subject to a project due date. Project activities have fixed durations and may require the use of multiple renewable resources in constant amounts throughout their duration. Various assumptions may be made about the type of precedence relations, ready times, due dates, and task interruptability. Given a discrete, non-decreasing cost function of the constant resource availability for every resource type, the objective is to determine the resource availability levels in order to minimize the sum of the availability costs over all resource types. An effective optimal algorithm is described and extensive computational experience is reported.
Foreign Investment and Industrialization in Malaysia: Exports, Employment and Spillovers*

Over the past two decades, there has been a decisive shift in trade and industry policy in developing countries (DCs) away from import substitution and towards export-orientation. As part of this policy shift, an increasing number of DCs have become more receptive to foreign direct investment (FDI). Despite its policy relevance, the literature on the role of FDI in export expansion, employment generation and spillovers in DCs is sparse. This paper attempts to fill this gap through a case study of the role of export-oriented FDI in Malaysia's rapid industrialization. The overall conclusion of the paper is that export-oriented FDI has brought significant returns to Malaysia principally because the general economic climate has been favourable for the internationalization of production for a considerable period of time.