Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MHC diversity and the association to nematode parasitism in the yellow‐necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis)

In vertebrates, the genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are among the most debated candidates accounting for co‐evolutionary processes of host–parasite interaction at the molecular level. The exceptionally high allelic polymorphism found in MHC loci is believed to be maintained by pathogen‐driven selection, mediated either through heterozygous advantage or rare allele advantage (= frequency dependent selection). While investigations under natural conditions are still very rare, studies on humans or mice under laboratory conditions revealed support for both hypotheses. We investigated nematode burden and allelic diversity of a functional important MHC class II gene (DRB exon2) in free‐ranging yellow‐necked mice (Apodemus flavicollis). Twenty‐seven distinct Apfl‐DRB alleles were detected in 146 individuals with high levels of amino acid sequence divergence, especially at the antigen binding sites (ABS), indicating selection processes acting on this locus. Heterozygosity had no influence on the infection status (being infected or not), the number of different nematode infections (NNI) or the intensity of infection, measured as the individual faecal egg count (FEC). However, significant associations of specific Apfl‐DRB alleles to both nematode susceptibility and resistance were found, for all nematodes as well as in separate analyses of the two most common nematodes. Apodemus flavicollis individuals carrying the alleles Apfl‐DRB*5 or Apfl‐DRB*15 revealed significantly higher FEC than individuals with other alleles. In contrast, the allele Apfl‐DRB*23 showed a significant association to low FEC of the most common nematode. Thus, our results provide evidence for pathogen‐driven selection acting through rare allele advantage under natural conditions.
AN EXAMINATION OF THE ADOPTION OF THE INTERNET IN AGRICULTURE MAGAZINES

of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science AN EXAMINATION OF THE ADOPTION OF THE INTERNET IN AGRICULTURE MAGAZINES By Emily B. Rhoades May, 2004 Chair: Tracy Irani Major Department: Agricultural Education and Communication The Internet has become a major factor in most media newsrooms over the last decade. A large portion of print and broadcast operations have moved onto the Internet to reach their audiences in new ways. Research has shown that rural and agricultural audiences, however, prefer receiving their agricultural information in print form. In an attempt to access how agricultural trade publications, whose readership is comprised mostly of rural audiences, are utilizing the Web as a news collection and dissemination tool, a census study of agricultural trade publication editors who are members of the Livestock Publications Council (N=117) was conducted via a bimodal online and print survey. Of the 117 members of the population, 44 responded electronically and 19 responded by print survey, for an overall response of 53.8%. Of respondents, 35.7% reported their Website design skill level was poor, indicating that they have not been trained in these skills and that they are typically not the ones handling the publications’ Websites.
Developmental Biology of Wood Formation – Finding Regulatory Factors Through Functional Genomics

Schrader, J. 2003. Developmental Biology of Wood Formation Finding Regulatory Factors Through Functional Genomics. Doctor’s dissertation. ISSN 1401-6230, ISBN 91-576-6526-5 The wood-forming vascular cambium is responsible for the production of a large part of the biomass on this planet. Yet, there is only limited knowledge on how cell proliferation and differentiation in the cambial meristem are regulated. In this thesis the wood-forming tissues of aspen were used as a model system to identify and characterize molecular factors related to cambial meristem activity. An important regulator of cambial meristem activity is the plant hormone auxin. As polar transport is crucial for the delivery of auxin to the cambial zone, we identified homologues of known regulators of polar auxin transport and described their regulation by environmental and developmental factors. Translating changes in auxin concentration into changes in gene expression involves members of the Aux/IAA gene family. Aspen homologues of Aux/IAA genes were cloned and found to be expressed in a highly tissue-specific fashion, which is further influenced by developmental events and changes in the environment. A major response of trees to environmental changes is the suspension of meristematic growth during winter dormancy. A comparison of gene expression in active and dormant cambia revealed dramatic changes in the transcriptome including the expression of many cold and stress related genes during winter. During the process of wood formation, cells originating in the vascular cambium go through an elaborate process of cell division, cell expansion, secondary wall formation and programmed cell death. Large-scale analysis of gene expression was used to create transcriptional maps of the differentiation process. This extensive dataset allowed us to confirm the proposed functions of various genes involved in wood formation, assign other known genes to specific stages along the developmental gradient and identify a large number of novel potential regulators of wood formation. The data further suggest that the cambial meristem shares regulatory mechanisms with other meristems in addition to its own, specific factors.
AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE PRIVACY CONCERNS OF SOCIAL NETWORK SITE USERS IN TAIWAN

The study has two purposes: (1) to investigate the impact of awareness and control on Social Network Sites (SNSs) users’ information privacy concerns, and (2) to understand how information privacy concerns and the notion of trust shape users’ risk perceptions. The study collects data using survey methodology. A total of 356 SNS users are analyzed via partial least squares. Users regard awareness of and direct control over personal information disclosed on SNSs to be relative to their information privacy concerns in a positive and a negative direction, respectively. Furthermore, information privacy concerns and trust may collectively influence their perceived risk towards SNS. It is therefore advisable for SNS service providers to pay more attention to their own understanding of how awareness and control principles influence users’ information privacy concerns. Further, SNS providers should also propose more effective means necessary to reduce users’ information privacy concerns overall.
Merger Motives and Merger Prescriptions

The article surveys theories of merger motives and relates them to prescriptions for merger strategies. The theories of merger motives can be classified into seven groups. Those theories arguing with private information, managerial empire‐building or process influences are better supported by evidence than those tracing mergers back to efficiency gains or monopoly power. The explanations of mergers in terms of raider activity or macroeconomic disturbances carry the least plausibility. Strategy authors have discussed mergers with respect to the choice of acquisition mode, entry mode, and integration mode. The prescriptions on all three topics are dominated by the efficiency theory of mergers. For this reason they are dangerous guides for participants in merger processes. On the other hand they provide an efficient language for communicating one's position. The research in merger motives should be redirected from the efficiency theory to explanations that build on decision processes, conflicting goals, and ambiguous private information.
Responsiveness of fast-food chain managers along Far Eastern University (FEU-Manila) towards the implementation of green practices in restaurants

Author Email: jhilario@feu.edu. ph Tel. : +9323582019 Environmentally conscious polices are further penetrating the hospitality management industry with every passing year. Hotels and restaurants, even resorts and bars are working to implement green practices. This study empirically examined the different factors that may contribute to the responsiveness of fastfood chain restaurant managers towards implementation of green practices. Adopting the checklist of the Green Restaurant Association and National Restaurant Association through a faceto-face interview with fast-food chain restaurant managers along Far Eastern University-Manila, some meaningful insights were obtained. All of them were concerned about the protection of the environment, but are not fully aware and educated about the current condition in use of green practices in their respective establishments. Aside from inadequate knowledge in applying green practices, another important factor to consider were the demand and purchase of green products. Most of them projected it as an additional cost and same time customers would not demand or pressure them to be an environmentally-friendly company. Now is the time to further explore what we can be done as members of the hospitality management community to follow and implement existing practices and take initiative to develop and sustain green practices.
A Location Independent and Coverage Efficient Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

In wireless sensor networks (WSN), sensor nodes are powered by batteries. To make efficient use of battery energy is critical to sensor network lifetime. When targets are redundantly covered by multiple sensors, especially in randomly deployed sensor networks, it is possible to save battery energy by organizing sensors into mutually exclusive subsets and alternatively activating only one subset at a time. To solve this problem, the relationship between the desired QoS requirement and the minimum number of active nodes is analyzed in the randomly deployed sensor networks. We propose a location independent and coverage efficient (LICE) protocol for WSN based on our analytical results. The protocol selects the minimum number of active nodes based on their energy and previous working status without using any location information. Simulation and analysis demonstrate that our LICE protocol not only reduces the energy consumption of sensor nodes and increases the network lifetime, but also balances the energy dissipation among nodes.
More powerful tests for homogeneity of multivariate normal mean vectors under an order restriction

Consider the problem of testing the homogeneity of several p-variate normal mean vectors under an order restriction. This is a multivariate extension of Bartholomew’s (Biometrika, 1959) problem. When the covariance matrices are known, this problem has been studied to some extent, for example, by Sasabuchi, Inutsuka and Kulatunga (Biometrika, 1983), Sasabuchi, Miura and Oda (JSCS, 2003) and some others. We are interested in the case when the covariance matrices are common but unknown. In this case, Sasabuchi, Tanaka and Tsukamoto (Ann. Statist., 2003) proposed a test statistic and studied its upper tail probability under the null hypothesis. In the present paper, we provide some tests, which are more powerful than the above test. We derive some theorems about their null distributions and powers. AMS (2000) subject classiflcation. Primary 62F30; secondary 62F03, 62H15.
Effects of New Financial Reporting Standards on Value Relevance-A Study about Turkish Stock Markets

Financial statement information that make the users to evaluate their decisions is value relevant. This paper aims to determine the value relevance of financial statement information in Turkish stock markets during the period of 1997-2011 by Ohlson Model (1995) and separate regressions. Starting from 2003, new regulations about financial reporting standards became effective. Consolidation and inflation accounting were put into action in 2003 annual financial statements. Afterwards in 2005, the revised translation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) was applied. And finally in 2008, one by one translation of IFRS named as Turkish Financial Reporting Standards (TFRS) became effective. So, we also aim to test whether the acceptance of new financial reporting standards made improvements on value relevance of accounting information or not in Turkish stock markets. Our results reveal that earnings and book values both together and separately are significantly value relevant. The explanatory power of book values are higher than the explanatory power of earnings. After new reporting standards, there is an increase in the value relevance of earnings and book values together and this increase is mainly due to the increase in the value relevance of book values.
Computers and coordination in manufacturing

This article examines the role of advanced information technologies, particularly computer‐integrated manufacturing (CIM), in coordinating manufacturing activities. Our focus is on understanding the nature of changes in organizational structure and processes that are a result of, or are associated with, the introduction of CIM systems. The analysis is premised on the observation that coordination tasks are largely related to the acquisition and processing of information and are, therefore, sensitive to the application of information technology. Economic theories of organization facilitate the development of the relationships between information costs and the attributes of organizations. We use a model of a manufacturing firm, which incorporates elements of these theories, to study the organizational implications of CIM systems.
Consumer evaluations of sponsorship programmes

Presents the results of a study of consumer reactions to various sponsorship programmes. The programmes differed in terms of four factors: the nature of the sponsorship (philanthropic versus commercial), its origin (pre‐existing versus event created by the sponsor), its frequency (continuous versus one‐shot) and the strength of the link between the entity (or the event) and the sponsor (weak versus strong). The results show that philanthropic sponsorship has a more positive impact on corporate image than commercial sponsorship. Also, the link between the sponsor and the event has a non‐linear effect on corporate image. Consumer interest in the sponsored event has a positive impact on perceptions of the sponsor′s image. In addition, it was found that the factors have interactive effects on consumer evaluations. Strategic implications for sponsorship management are derived from these results.
Job Changes at Older Ages: Effects on Wages, Benefits, and Other Job Attributes

One potential way to manage the rapidly growing costs of supporting older Americans is to increase labor supply at older ages. However, questions persist about the quality of available jobs. This study examines older Americans’ employment opportunities by studying job changes at older ages. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, it compares wages, benefits, and other job attributes on new and former jobs for adults ages 45 to 75 who changed employers between 1986 and 2004. Because older people who choose to work after retiring voluntarily from long-term jobs may face different employment prospects than displaced older workers, the analysis considers how employment changes vary by the reasons workers give for job separations. Most people who switched employers at older ages moved to jobs that differed substantially from their previous jobs. The vast majority of older job changers moved into different occupations and industries. They were more likely to be self-employed, work part-time, and keep flexible hours at their new jobs than their old jobs. The new jobs generally involved less stress, less physical effort, and fewer managerial responsibilities. More older job changers enjoyed their new jobs than their old jobs. However, most older workers experienced sharp hourly wage reductions when they switched employers. They were also less likely to receive pension coverage or health benefits after they moved to new jobs. Although the findings do not raise concerns about the quality of post-retirement jobs, they suggest that older displaced workers face special challenges in the labor market.
Management Accounting Systems Change And Sub-Unit Performance: The Moderating Effects Of Perceived Environmental Uncertainty

This study reports the findings of an empirical study that investigated changes in five major management accounting system components (MASCs) and their linkages to the external environment and managerial performance. Responses from 116 Singaporean CFOs located in small- to medium-sized manufacturing and industrial firms were used to test the primary hypothesis that perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU) moderates the MASCs change–performance relationship. Positive evidence permitted subsequent analysis showing that different configurations of MASCs change enhanced CFO performance under both low and high levels of PEU. Further statistical evidence demonstrated that it is changes in specific components, matched with specific levels of PEU, which is responsible for improved performance. When PEU is low, a ‘defensive’ pattern of MASCs change emerged, dominated by more importance placed on emphasizing planning systems changes and de-emphasizing costing systems changes. Under conditions of high PEU, an ‘aggressive’ pattern of change was revealed, characterized by more primacy given to emphasizing novel changes to decision making systems while de-emphasizing changes to reward and bonus systems.
Applicability of Functional Groups Concept in Analysis of Spatiotemporal Vegetation Changes on Manmade Habitats

The immense variety in plant diversity at the species level might explain why it is so difficult to establish strict generalizations in vegetation dynamics. In the last two decades many published research reports have shown that the introduction of the concept of plant functional groups (PEG) into the analysis of vegetation dynamics might be more informative in explaining spatiotemporal changes of vegetation than analysis based only on species composition. The spontaneous vegetation development observed on post-industrial manmade habitats (coal-mine heaps in the Silesian Upland, southern Poland), which are different in age provide an excellent opportunity to study the changes of participation of species representing the analyzed PFG. In this study a vast range of life history features were taken into account in order to find which of them are the most explicable (not redundant) in terms of changes in species composition in time during vegetation development. The study showed that during vegetation development in manmade habitats some features undergo variation over time and their importance depends on the developmental phase of succession/colonization processes. The results revealed that the most explanatory PFG’s are plant height, leaf shape and area, root system, seed weight, and photosynthetic pathway. It is impossible to recommend one closed set of species feature categories to provide the best explanation of spatiotemporal changes of vegetation on manmade habitats during all developmental stages, because the significance of a different plant’s features varies in the following phases of vegetation development.
Prediction of Lyme Meningitis in Children From a Lyme Disease–Endemic Region: A Logistic-Regression Model Using History, Physical, and Laboratory Findings

BACKGROUND. Differentiating Lyme meningitis (LM) from other forms of aseptic meningitis (AM) in children is a common diagnostic dilemma in Lyme disease–endemic regions. Prior studies have compared clinical characteristics of patients with LM versus patients with documented enteroviral infections. No large studies have compared patients with LM to all patients presenting with AM and attempted to define a clinical prediction model. OBJECTIVE. To create a statistical model to predict LM versus AM in children based on history, physical, and laboratory findings during the initial presentation of meningitis. METHODS. Children older than 2 years presenting to the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children between October 1999 and September 2004 were identified if both Lyme serology and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were collected during the same hospital encounter. Patients were considered to have Lyme disease only if they met Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria (documented erythema migrans and/or positive Lyme serology). Patients were eligible for study inclusion if they had documented meningitis (CSF white blood cell count: >8 per mm3). Retrospective chart review abstracted duration of headache and cranial neuritis (papilledema or cranial nerve palsy) on physical examination and percent CSF mononuclear cells. Using logistic-regression analysis, the type of meningitis (LM versus AM) was simultaneously regressed on these 3 variables. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test was performed and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was calculated. RESULTS. A total of 175 children with meningitis were included in the final statistical model. Logistic-regression analysis included 27 patients with LM and 148 patients classified as having AM. Duration of headache, cranial neuritis, and percent CSF mononuclear cells independently predicted LM. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test revealed a good fit for the model, and the Nagelkerke R2 effect size demonstrated good predictive efficacy. Odds ratios based on the logistic-regression results were calculated for these variables. The final model was transformed into a clinical prediction model that allows practitioners to calculate the probability of a child having LM. CONCLUSIONS. Longer duration of headache, presence of cranial neuritis, and predominance of CSF mononuclear cells are predictive of LM in children presenting with meningitis in a Lyme disease–endemic region. The clinical prediction model can help guide the clinician about the need for parenteral antibiotics while awaiting serology results.
Embodiment of Wearable Augmented Reality Technology in Tourism Experiences

The increasing use of wearable devices for tourism purposes sets the stage for a critical discussion on technological mediation in tourism experiences. This article provides a theoretical reflection on the phenomenon of embodiment relation in technological mediation and then assesses the embodiment of wearable augmented reality technology in a tourism attraction. The findings suggest that technology embodiment is a multidimensional construct consisting of ownership, location, and agency. These support the concept of technology withdrawal, where technology disappears as it becomes part of human actions, and contest the interplay of subjectivity and intentionality between humans and technology in situated experiences such as tourism. It was also found that technology embodiment affects enjoyment and enhances experience with tourism attractions.