Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The influence of face and group orientation on the perception of luxury goods: a four market study of East Asian consumers

Purpose: The paper aims to further extend our understanding by assessing the extent to which two prominent cultural values in East Asia i.e. face saving and group orientation drive consumers' perceptions of luxury goods across four East Asian markets. Design/methodology/approach: A multi-methods research approach was adopted consisting of: an expert panel of close to 70 participants, group discussions with five extended East Asian families, personal interviews with eight East Asian scholars, a pilot test with over 50 East Asian graduate students and a multi-market survey of 443 consumer respondents in Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore and Hanoi. Findings: The authors extend previous conceptual studies by empirically investigating the impact of these two cultural values on the perception of luxury among East Asian societies. Specifically the study reveals that across all four markets face saving has the strongest influence on the conspicuous and hedonistic dimensions of luxury, group orientation meanwhile is the strongest predictor of the quality, extended self and exclusivity dimensions of luxury. Collectively these two cultural values significantly influence East Asian perceptions of luxury. Overall, the findings reiterate the importance of understanding different cultural values and their influence across different East Asian societies. Practical implications: The findings have important implications for managers of western luxury branded goods that are seeking to penetrate East Asian markets or seek to serve East Asian consumers. Specifically, to assist with developing suitable brand positioning, products, services, communications and pricing strategies. Originality/value: This study contributes to our understanding of the subject by exploring the impact of face saving and group orientation on the perception of luxury goods across four East Asian countries. Several directions for future research are suggested.
The ongoing variability in blood transfusion practices in cardiac surgery

BACKGROUND: Although blood utilization has been under considerable scrutiny for the past two decades, particularly for surgery, studies comparing perioperative blood transfusion practices between countries are rare, and the evolution of international standards remains unknown. Therefore, the objective of this evaluation was to compare the perioperative transfusion of blood components in cardiac surgery in multiple centers in different countries.
Prospective study of sedentary behavior, risk of depression, and cognitive impairment.

INTRODUCTION Modern-day lifestyles are characterized by large amounts of prolonged sedentary activities, which may pose a risk to health in its own right, although little is known about their effects on mental health. We examined the association between several types of common sedentary behaviors (TV viewing, Internet use, reading) and different aspects of mental health. METHODS We conducted a 2-yr follow-up of 6359 (age 64.9 ± 9.1 yr) men and women from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, a cohort of community-dwelling older adults. Self-reported TV viewing time, reading, and use of the Internet was assessed at baseline. Mental health was assessed using the eight-item Centre of Epidemiological Studies Depression scale to measure depressive symptoms and neuropsychological tests of memory and verbal fluency to assess cognitive function. RESULTS At baseline, TV viewing time (≥ 6 vs. <2 h · d(-1)) was associated with higher depressive symptoms (coefficient = 0.49, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.63 to 0.35) and poorer global cognitive function (coefficient = -1.16, 95% CI = -1.00 to -1.31). Conversely, participants using the Internet reported lower depressive symptoms (coefficient = -0.58, 95% CI = -0.50 to -0.66) and higher global cognitive function (coefficient = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.37 to 1.18). There was no association between any sedentary behaviors at baseline and change in mental health measures over follow-up, suggesting that the difference in scores persisted but did not increase over time. CONCLUSIONS Some, but not all sedentary behaviors, are linked to adverse mental health. It is likely that these associations are being driven by the contrasting environmental and social contexts in which they occur.
The determinants of the going public decision: evidence from

Several theoretical papers have addressed the question of why firms raise public equity. However, direct empirical evidence on the characteristics of firms going public is scarce and limited to non-Anglo-Saxon contexts. Our research combines the analysis of ex ante and ex post characteristics of Initial Public Offering (IPO) companies to cast more light on the determinants of the going public decision in the UK. Some of our findings are consistent with prior empirical studies in other contexts: IPO probability depends positively on firm size and stock price levels. Results also suggest that a firm? s need to finance investments is not the main motive to go public, although this reason underlies the going public decision in a number of UK firms. Besides, contrary to the evidence shown by Pagano et al. (1998) for Italian IPOs, we find that UK firms do not go public to reduce debt since leverage is negatively related to the probability of going public. Finally, the relationship between profitability and the likelihood of an IPO for our whole IPO sample is negative and significant. Whether firms that go public have higher investment rates than other firms, as is the case of our survivor IPOs, the negative effect of profitability on the probability of going public may reflect the fact that these firms cannot yield sufficient internal funds to finance large investments. In fact, the relationship between profitability and the likelihood of an IPO becomes significantly positive for our acquired IPO group, where investment opportunities variables have no significant effect on the going public decision. This result is consistent with the portfolio rebalancing motive to go public.
The Future of the Academic Journal

Find the secret to improve the quality of life by reading this the future of the academic journal. This is a kind of book that you need now. Besides, it can be your favorite book to read after having this book. Do you ask why? Well, this is a book that has different characteristic with others. You may not need to know who the author is, how well-known the work is. As wise word, never judge the words from who speaks, but make the words as your good value to your life.
cDNA Cloning of a Novel Androgen Receptor Subtype*

There has been general acceptance that only one type of androgen receptor (AR) exists in an individual. This contrasts with other members of the nuclear receptor superfamily where multiple forms have been reported (e.g. estrogen receptor α/β, thyroid hormone receptor α/β, etc.). We have previously identified 11-ketotestosterone (a potent androgen in teleosts) as the spermatogenesis-inducing hormone of the Japanese eel and have cloned its receptor (eAR1) cDNA from eel testis. Here we report on the cloning of a cDNA encoding a second type of AR (eAR2) from the eel testis and the functional characterization of the encoded protein. This cDNA contains a complete open reading frame encoding 797 amino acid residues. The amino acid sequence of eAR2 shows high homology with other ARs, including eAR1, in the DNA-binding (98–88%) and ligand-binding (59–85%) domains, whereas the other domains show low homology (<35%). In transient transfection assays of mammalian cells, the eAR2 protein displayed androgen-dependent activation of transcription from the androgen-responsive murine mammary tumor virus promoter. Tissue distribution of its mRNA was different from that of eAR1. We conclude that eAR2 is a novel AR in the eel, which we suggest should be named eel ARβ to distinguish it from eAR1 (eARα).
Information Needs for Anime Recommendation: Analyzing Anime Users' Online Forum Queries

Despite the increasing consumption and popularity of audio-visual materials and non-textual information, recommendation-based information retrieval research regarding these materials remains limited. To provide robust recommendation services to users, it is critical to understand how users describe their needs when they seek audio- visual materials. We conducted a content analysis of 396 recommendation threads from Anime News Network online forums to identify 19 common information features used in these requests. Work, Theme, and Genre were the most frequently mentioned features when users described anime they were seeking. Findings also show Audience as an important anime information need. Together, these form a distinct set of interests, vital to understanding the information needs of anime users.
Effects of Auditor Type and Evidence Domain Type on the Influence of Irrelevant Internal Control Evidence and the Potential for Audit Failure

The Graduate School has verified and approved the above named committee members. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS All praises are due to God for the countless blessings that enabled me to keep the faith required to continue on this journey. Maroney for their help with my research and for always being there for me. Their mentoring has provided me with memories that will stay with me for the duration of my life. Special thanks to Paul Bowen for his insightful comments and contribution to my research. I thank the faculty and staff in our College of Business for their encouragement: former for their helpful comments during the early stages of my dissertation. I am grateful to the many audit professionals at KPMG; Ernst & Young; Deloitte; PricewaterhouseCoopers; Protiviti; Williams, and Adley & Company for their participation in my research. I thank the faculty at Florida A&M University and the amazing students that I have encountered at Florida State University and Florida A&M University. They have taught me so much. I thank Ernest Ellis, Robert Woolfolk, Melvin T. Stith (again), and the rest of my fraternal brothers for constantly reminding me of why I embarked on this journey: honorable achievement in every field of human endeavor. I thank my family, Mom (Mary), Pop (Bobby), brother (Herb), my deceased grandmother (Mary Francis Crandall), and all of my relatives for providing me with the most important necessity in life: love. I thank my immediate family, or should I say, The Selby Team, for assisting me in every way possible. My wife, Tangela, completes me and makes me whole. She has given me three beautiful children and has carried the ball many times during my graduate studies. Without her, Nyla, Tiye, and Adam, my life would not be as rewarding and purposeful.
BRAIN DAMAGE FOLLOWING THERAPEUTIC ABORTION BY AMNIOTIC FLUID REPLACEMENT: AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

THREE deaths following the induction of therapeutic abortion using the technique of replacing amniotic fluid by strongly hypertonic saline were reported in 1966 (Cameron and Dayan, 1966; Dayan, Cameron and Phillipp, 1967). The patients were all previously healthy young women who were advised on psychiatric grounds to have therapeutic abortions in the seventeenth to twentieth weeks of their first pregnancies. In each case after inserting a needle through the anterior abdominal wall a volume of amniotic fluid was removed and replaced by hypertonic saline. Volumes of between 150 and 400 ml. were used, containing from 45 to 80 g. of sodium chloride. All three patients developed generalized convulsions within a few hours of the operation and died within 22 to 54 hours. The postmortem findings in each case were similar: symmetrical haemorrhagic infarction of the brain, involving particularly the region of the amygdaloid nuclei and a Y-shaped area in the pons. This was thought to be related to the effect on the brain of severe hypernatraemia. The autopsy findings were consistent with the injected solution having seeped out of the uterine cavity through multiple puncture sites into the peritoneal cavity, or perhaps having been, at least in part, injected directly into either the placental bed or peritoneal cavity. The present experiments attempt to recreate, by the use of intraperitoneal saline, similar conditions in animals. The animal in which the cerebral effects of hypernatraemia have been most widely investigated is the pig. Animals fed on meal with a high salt content and deprived at the same time of free access to water develop a syndrome known as “salt poisoning”. This is characterized by the animals becoming depressed, ataxic, behaving strangely, developing convulsions, and finally dying in coma. It has been established that this syndrome is related to the high osmotic content of the diet (Smith, 1955), and that although this is usually due to the high sodium chloride content a similar picture can also be produced by other osmotically active substances (Done, Harding and Lloyd, 1959). The brain lesions are characteristic, presenting a picture known as “meningo-encephalitis eosinophilica”. We have seen no reports of the administration of hypertonic saline to pigs other than by the oral or intravenous routes and it seemed likely that this animal might prove suitable for investigation of the syndrome following amniocentesis.
Inhibition of monocyte‐derived dendritic cell differentiation and interleukin‐12 production by complement iC3b via a mitogen‐activated protein kinase signalling pathway

Abstract: We have previously demonstrated that iC3b is deposited at the dermal – epidermal junction of the skin following ultraviolet (UV) exposure and that it plays a role in UV‐induced immunosuppression and antigenic tolerance. In vitro, iC3b differentially regulates monocyte production of interleukin‐10 (IL‐10) and IL‐12. Additionally, iC3b arrests monocytic cell differentiation into CD1c‐expressing dendritic cell (DC) precursors. The present study addresses mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling following the cross‐linking of CR3 by its ligand iC3b with regard to monocyte differentiation and cytokine regulation. Sheep erythrocytes were coated with IgM alone (EA) or iC3b (EAiC3b) to allow for CR3 cross‐linking onto monocytes. EAiC3b increased the phosphorylation (p) of extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK) MAPK in fresh human monocyte, particularly in monocyte‐derived DC (MDDC) that were differentiated by means of GM‐CSF (1000 U/ml) and IL‐4 (200 U/ml) for 2 days before iC3b exposure for an additional 24 h (P = 0.034, n = 3). CD1a expression, induced by GM‐CSF and IL‐4, was inhibited by iC3b (EAiC3b vs. EA, P = 0.012, n = 4). Conversely, the inhibition of ERK by the specific inhibitor (PD98059), but not the p‐38 inhibitor SB203580, restored CD1a expression (P = 0.011, n = 4) in iC3b‐stimulated MDDC. Concordantly, the inhibition of ERK during iC3b exposure fully reversed the inhibition of IL‐12p70 induction in MDDC by 95% (P < 0.01, n = 4) and decreased IL‐10 production. Taken together, our data demonstrate that iC3b interferes with MDDC differentiation and IL‐12 and IL‐10 production is mediated via an ERK MAPK‐dependent mechanism. Thus, ERK MAPK inhibition may represent a therapeutic strategy for preventing monocytic precursor diversion away from DC differentiation when monocytes enter injured tissues in which iC3b is generated, such as UV‐exposed skin.
The effects of aerobic exercise for persons with migraine and co-existing tension-type headache and neck pain. A randomized, controlled, clinical trial

Aim To evaluate aerobic exercise in migraine and co-existing tension-type headache and neck pain. Methods Consecutively recruited persons with migraine and co-existing tension-type headache and neck pain were randomized into an exercise group or control group. Aerobic exercise consisted of bike/cross-trainer/brisk walking for 45 minutes, three times/week. Controls continued usual daily activities. Pain frequency, intensity, and duration; physical fitness, level of physical activity, well-being and ability to engage in daily activities were assessed at baseline, after treatment and at follow-up. Results Fifty-two persons completed the study. Significant between-group improvements for the exercise group were found for physical fitness, level of physical activity, migraine burden and the ability to engage in physical activity because of reduced impact of tension-type headache and neck pain. Within the exercise group, significant reduction was found for migraine frequency, pain intensity and duration, neck pain intensity, and burden of migraine; an increase in physical fitness and well-being. Conclusions Exercise significantly reduced the burden of migraine and the ability to engage in physical activity because of reduced impact of tension-type headache and neck pain. Exercise also reduced migraine frequency, pain intensity and duration, although this was not significant compared to controls. These results emphasize the importance of regular aerobic exercise for reduction of migraine burden.
Are US consumers ready to adopt mobile technology for fashion goods

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of ease of use, usefulness, and enjoyment, and subjective norm regarding the use of mobile phones on US consumers' attitudes toward mobile communication and mobile commerce, and mobile technology use intention for shopping.Design/methodology/approach – This work integrates the technology acceptance model of Davis and Fishbein and Ajzen's theory of reasoned action for its theoretical framework. In total, 341 college students in two large US universities provided usable responses. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model and research hypotheses.Findings – The results showed that the perceived ease of use, usefulness, and enjoyment, and subjective norm were the significant predictors of attitudes toward mobile communication and mobile commerce as well as mobile technology use intention for shopping. The findings also suggested that attitude toward mobile communication positively influenced attitude toward mobile com.
Elevations of cardiac troponin I associated with myocarditis. Experimental and clinical correlates.

BACKGROUND Endomyocardial biopsy is currently the standard method used to diagnose myocarditis. However, it is invasive and has a low diagnostic yield. Because the histological diagnosis of myocarditis requires the presence of myocyte injury, we sought to determine whether measurement of cardiac troponin I (cTnI), which is a serum marker with high sensitivity and specificity for cardiac myocyte injury, could aid in the diagnosis of myocarditis. METHODS AND RESULTS To validate this approach, cTnI values were first measured in mice with autoimmune myocarditis. cTnI values were elevated in 24 of 26 mice with myocarditis but were not elevated in any of the control animals (P < .001). Next, cTnI values were measured in the sera from 88 patients referred to the Myocarditis Treatment Trial and were compared with creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) values measured in the same patients. cTnI values were elevated in 18 (34%) of 53 patients with myocarditis and in only 4 (11%) of 35 patients without myocarditis (P = .01). In contrast, CK-MB values were elevated in only 3 (5.7%) of 53 patients with myocarditis and 0 of 35 patients without myocarditis (P = .27). Thus, elevations of cTnI occurred more frequently than did elevations of CK-MB in patients with biopsy-proven myocarditis (P = .001). Importantly, elevations of cTnI in patients with myocarditis were significantly correlated with < or = 1 month duration of heart failure symptoms (P = .02), suggesting that the majority of myocyte necrosis occurs early, and thus the window for diagnosis and treatment may be relatively brief. CONCLUSIONS cTnI was superior to CK-MB for detection of myocyte injury in myocarditis, and cTnI elevations were substantially more common in the first month after the onset of heart failure symptoms.
Retinal vessel diameters and the role of inflammation in cerebrovascular disease

Retinal vessels may provide a way to study the cerebral microcirculation. In particular, larger retinal venular diameters have been associated with cerebrovascular disease. An inflammatory response may underlie this association. In a population‐based cohort study among 5,279 participants aged 55 years or older with graded retinal vessel diameters, we observed that greater serum levels of C‐reactive protein and fibrinogen and greater lipoprotein‐associated phospholipase A2 activity were strongly associated with larger venular diameters. Weaker associations were found with arteriolar diameters. Our findings support the hypothesis that larger retinal venular diameters reflect systemic inflammation and suggest that inflammation is involved in cerebrovascular disease. Ann Neurol 2007
Structural Nested Cumulative Failure Time Models to Estimate the Effects of Interventions

In the presence of time-varying confounders affected by prior treatment, standard statistical methods for failure time analysis may be biased. Methods that correctly adjust for this type of covariate include the parametric g-formula, inverse probability weighted estimation of marginal structural Cox proportional hazards models, and g-estimation of structural nested accelerated failure time models. In this article, we propose a novel method to estimate the causal effect of a time-dependent treatment on failure in the presence of informative right-censoring and time-dependent confounders that may be affected by past treatment: g-estimation of structural nested cumulative failure time models (SNCFTMs). An SNCFTM considers the conditional effect of a final treatment at time m on the outcome at each later time k by modeling the ratio of two counterfactual cumulative risks at time k under treatment regimes that differ only at time m. Inverse probability weights are used to adjust for informative censoring. We also present a procedure that, under certain “no-interaction” conditions, uses the g-estimates of the model parameters to calculate unconditional cumulative risks under nondynamic (static) treatment regimes. The procedure is illustrated with an example using data from a longitudinal cohort study, in which the “treatments” are healthy behaviors and the outcome is coronary heart disease.