Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Associations of Patella Lead With Polymorphisms in the Vitamin D Receptor, δ-Aminolevulinic Acid Dehydratase and Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Genes

Learning ObjectivesSummarize the demographic factors that influenced the patella lead concentration in this study of lead-exposed workers.Examine the association between genotypes for three genes and patella lead concentration after adjusting for potential confounding factors, as well as the relationship between patella and blood lead levels.Explain how genotype and age interact in determining patella lead concentration Abstract A cross-sectional analysis was performed to evaluate associations of polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor (VDR), δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD), and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) genes with patella lead concentrations in 652 lead workers in the Republic of Korea. There was a wide range of patella lead (from below detection limit to 946 μg Pb/g bone mineral), with a mean (standard deviation) of 75.2 (101.0). There were no associations of ALAD or eNOS genotypes with patella lead, but workers with the VDR B allele had significantly (P value < 0.05) higher patella lead (on average, 25% or approximately 6.6 μg Pb/g bone mineral) than lead workers with the VDR bb genotype. There was evidence that the relation between age and patella lead was modified by both the VDR and eNOS genotypes.
O Desempenho de Longo Prazo dos IPOs: Evidências de Empresas Investidas por Fundos de Private Equity e Venture Capital

Este trabalho investigou o impacto da presenca dos fundos de Private Equity e Venture Capital (PE/VC) sobre o desempenho de longo prazo das empresas estreantes na BM&FBovespa (IPOs). Aplicou-se um estudo de evento visando constatar a existencia de retornos anormais acumulados ( proxy para desempenho dos IPOs) em carteiras de investimentos compostas por acoes provenientes dos IPOs realizados na BM&FBovespa, de janeiro de 2004 a dezembro de 2007. As carteiras de investimentos foram segmentadas entre empresas que receberam investimentos de fundos de PE/VC (Com PE/VC) em periodos anteriores ao IPO, e empresas que nao receberam aportes de fundos de PE/VC (sem_pe/vc). Constatou-se que IPOs de empresas que receberam investimentos dos fundos de PE/VC, em momentos anteriores ao IPO, apresentaram retornos anormais acumulados de longo prazo (5 anos), estatisticamente superiores aos retornos dos IPOs que nao receberam tais investimentos. Os resultados sugerem que quanto maior a participacao do fundo de PE/VC na empresa investida, em momentos anteriores ao IPO, maior o retorno anormal acumulado. Em sintese, as evidencias encontradas neste trabalho mostram que a presenca de fundos de PE/VC nas empresas estreantes na BM&FBovespa pode influenciar o desempenho de longo prazo dos IPOs. Entretanto, para a amostra de empresas analisadas, constatou-se o fenomeno long-run underperformance pelo fato dos IPOs apresentarem retornos anormais negativos.
Trust in customer‐salesperson relationship in China's retail sector

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine consumer attitudes and purchase intentions toward three major retail types within China‐department stores, independent specialty stores, and franchising/chain specialty stores. Of particular interest is perceived risk of purchase, the relative importance of frontline sales staff, trust, and the relationships among satisfaction, trust, and customers' commitment to the salesperson.Design/methodology/approach – Data were obtained by a street intercept personal interview survey from 554 Chinese consumers to test hypotheses about consumer behavior and attitudinal reactions to the three types of retail store formats. Personal interviews were conducted in four urban cities, each in a different region of China. Two measures of trust were studied – affective trust and cognitive trust.Findings – There was a difference in perceived risk in purchasing from the different types of stores, but the importance of the frontline salesperson's influence on consumers did not d.
Kinerja Keuangan Berbasis Penciptaan Nilai, Faktor Makroekonomi dan Pengaruhnya Terhadap Return Saham Sektor Pertanian

Stock return is the main indicator of performance for investors in assessing the effectiveness of the invested capital. The volatility of stock price index of the agricultural sector during 2005 - 2011 has resulted in an annualized return was the second-lowest sector after mining sector. The use of value creation-based performance analysis (EVA, MVA, and Q-Tobin) can help companies create corporate value highly associated with stock returns. In addition, external factors may also affect stock returns. The purposes of this study are: (1) to analyze the financial performance of companies in the agricultural sector by using EVA, MVA, and Q-Tobin, (2) to analyze the influence of EVA, MVA, Q-Tobin and macroeconomic factors (inflation and exchange rates) on stock returns agricultural sector, and (3) to develop managerial implications of the results of analyzes performed. Data was collected from eight companies agricultural sector, which listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange before 2005. Descriptive analysis is used to analyze EVA, MVA, and Q-Tobin for each company and data panel is used to find out influence of EVA, MVA, Q-Tobin, and macroeconomic factors on stock returns. The study showed that most companies gained a negative EVA. Tthe MVA analysis showed that most companies gained more positive MVA. The Q-Tobin result shows that most companies gained value q<1. Based on REM analysis, only found MVARET and Q-TobinRET have significant effect on stock returns. EVARET, inflation, an exchange rate, and dummy crisis have insignificant effect on stock returns.
Paying Up for Fair Pay: Consumers Prefer Firms with Lower CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratios

Prior research examining consumer expectations of equity and price fairness has not addressed wage fairness, as measured by a firm’s pay ratio. Pending legislation will require American public companies to disclose the pay ratio of CEO wage to the average employee’s wage. Our six studies show that pay ratio disclosure affects purchase intention of consumers via perceptions of wage fairness. The disclosure of a retailer’s high pay ratio (e.g., 1000 to 1) reduces purchase intention relative to firms with lower ratios (e.g., 5 to 1 or 60 to 1, Studies 1A, 1B, and 1C). Lower pay ratios improve consumer perceptions across a range of products at different price points (Study 2A and 2B), increase consumer ratings of both firm warmth and firm competence (Study 3), and enhance perceptions of Democrats and Independents without alienating Republican consumers (Study 4). A firm with a high ratio must offer a 50% price discount to garner as favorable consumer impressions as a firm that charges full price but features a lower ratio (Study 5).
The effects of climate change on microwave telecommunications

Microwave telecommunications links operating above 10 GHz are severely faded by rain. Recently trends have been identified in rain parameters that directly effect the performance of these links. In the UK, the incidence of rain at outage levels for terrestrial links has been experiencing an increasing trend over the last twenty years. Many links would have seen the underlying incidence of outage double or triple over this period. Globally, rain height has also been increasing as the world has warmed. This leads to an increasing trend in rain fade experienced by Earth-space links. In some areas of the world these effects will be combining to cause steep increases in the levels of fading experienced by Earth-space links. These effects will need to be taken into account when designing future microwave systems with life-expectancies longer than a decade or two. ITU-R recommendations that currently assume a stationary climate will need to be modified or replaced to embed climate change into data analysis and predictive models.
Surface potential decay on material samples taken from in-service aged HVDC silicone rubber composite insulators

Surface potential decay characteristics of specimens extracted from in-service aged and reference HVDC composite insulator sheds are reported and analyzed in this paper. In the experiments, surfaces of the insulator samples were charged by dc corona and the decay was recorded utilizing a non-contact technique. In addition, surface and bulk conductivities of the specimens were determined and used for analyzing by means of computer simulations their impact on the potential distribution profiles and its decay. Based on the performed experiments, trap density distributions, mobility of charge carriers and field dependent bulk conductivities are deduced for the investigated samples with the aim to evaluate the ageing severity.
Can Federalism Be Both State Corroding and Market Preserving? Empirical Evidence from Russia

The paper examines empirical evidence on two competing views of fiscal decentralization in developing countries: state corroding federalism and market preserving federalism and finds that federalism can be state corroding and market preserving at the same time. Data on 79 Russian regions in 1998-99 support both theories: regions attractive to investors are found to compete for mobile capital both by investing in productive infrastructure and by protecting local enterprises from federal tax collectors, while regions unattractive to investors do not engage in such competition.
Job Satisfaction of Faculty Members in Private Universities -In Context of Bangladesh

Job satisfaction is one of the most widely discussed issues in organizational behavior, personnel and human resource management and organizational management. As teaching does require a great deal of thoroughness and commitment, so in teaching it is more important to have mental commitment and loyalty than physical presence. In this study the researchers investigated the present level of job satisfaction among the faculty members of private universities of tertiary level in Bangladesh. Based on a survey, it attempts to gain insights into the satisfaction levels from the perspective of the private university teachers. The study concluded with the facts that faculty members are overall satisfied with their present condition, except the factors like- training facilities, and some physical facilities and distribution of courses. Further it has been found that there is no significant difference between male and female faculty members regarding job satisfaction. As the job itself is not gender bias by nature so it does not play a crucial role for female faculty members while working under masculine culture. The researchers summed up with view that universities may give more attention to motivate and maintain these human resources to make them more contented and to make the most of their effort by ensuring overall excellence of organization.
Accumulating approach to the life-cycle pension model: practical advantages

In the present study, we make an effort to enhance the practical advantages of the life-cycle pension model. We observe that previous studies are based on a â€œswitchingâ€ approach, that is, on the assumption that when a pension fund member reaches a certain age, his accumulated savings are fully switched to another fund with a lower risk profile; we suggest an â€œaccumulatingâ€ approach, according to which, at the same age, the memberâ€™s previously accumulated wealth continues to be invested in the same fund, while his new regular pension contributions start being directed to another (less risky) fund. We consider a hypothetical (average) Israeli employee, analyze two age-dependent life-cycle investment distributions of his pension savings, and perform a comparison between the two approaches to the life-cycle model by employing an estimation-based and a simulation-based technique. The results demonstrate that the â€œaccumulatingâ€ approach provides: (i) higher estimated annualized real returns and real accumulated savings; (ii) significantly higher simulated mean and median values of real accumulated savings. Moreover, we document that, though the â€œaccumulatingâ€ approach increases the standard deviation of total savings, it does not lead to critically low pension wealth levels even for relatively unfavorable sequences of financial assetsâ€™ returns. Therefore, we conclude that the â€œaccumulatingâ€ approach to the life-cycle model has a potential significantly to increase pension fund membersâ€™ total accumulated wealth relatively to the common â€œswitchingâ€ approach, without significantly increasing the membersâ€™ risk.
Depressed Function of a Ouabain‐Sensitive Sodium‐Potassium Pump in Blood Vessels from Renal Hypertensive Dogs

Vasodilator responses to acute intra-arterial infusions of K+ are attenuated in dogs with chronic one-kidney perinephritic hypertension in rats with chronic two-kidney Goldblatt hypertension, and in men with essential hypertension. There is evidence that K+ evokes vasodilation by stimulating vascular smooth muscle membrane Na+-K+-activated adenosine triphosphatase, thereby increasing activity of the cellular Na+-K+ electrogenic pump. We therefore proposed that there may be an underlying decrease in the operation of this pump in vascular smooth muscle of hypertensives. The operation of the cellular Na+-K+ pump may be estimated by measurement of rubidium uptake. Thus, to further investigate our hypothesis, we measured 86Rb uptake in small mesenteric arteries and splanchnic veins from 12 dogs with chronic uncomplicated one-kidney perinephritic hypertension and from 12 normotensive control dogs. Vessels were excised under thiamylal anesthesia and incubated in cold medium (plasma or Krebs-Henseleit solution) for sodium loading and then the velocity of 8SRb uptake was estimated in the absence of or in the presence of ouabain, a specific inhibitor of the Na+-K+ pump. In neither arteries nor veins was there evidence for differences between hypertensives and normotensives in the ouabain-insensitive uptake of 86Rb. In contrast, the ouabain-sensitive 86Rb uptake was depressed by 42% in arteries (P < 0.05) and by 49% in veins (P < 0.01) from hypertensive dogs, if incubated in the dog's own plasma. These results indicate that the activity of a ouabain-sensitive Na+-K+ pump may be depressed in vascular tissue from dogs with chronic one-kidney perinephritic hypertension. Because the Na+-K+ pump in vascular smooth muscle is probably electrogenic, such an abnormality, by partially depolarizing the muscle cell membrane, would help to account for the elevated vascular resistance found in these dogs.
Broad sensory branding

Purpose – The purpose of this research paper is to reveal data that have emerged from an extensive study into the relationship between the five senses and brands.Design/methodology/approach – Research was conducted by the global market research agency, Millward Brown. A team of 60 researchers undertook a quantitative and qualitative study in 13 countries over an 18‐month period. The study set out to determine the role senses play in how one selects brands.Findings – Results revealed that 99 percent of all brand communication currently focuses on only two of the senses – sight and sound. Emotional connections are effectively made with a synergy of all five senses, and as such those brands that are communicating from a multi‐sensory brand platform have the greatest likelihood of forming emotional connections between consumers and their product.Originality/value – The paper uses case studies from global brands to illustrate the effectiveness of messages that incorporate as many senses as possible.
Cytochemical detection of a senescence-associated beta-galactosidase in endothelial and smooth muscle cells from human and rabbit blood vessels.

A beta-galactosidase activity has recently been used as a histochemical marker of replicative senescence in human fibroblasts and keratinocytes. To establish whether this marker could be used to detect senescence of vascular cells, we have investigated its presence in cultures of serially passaged human umbilical vein endothelial cells and rabbit aortic smooth muscle cells. beta-Galactosidase activity was detected by light microscopy using the chromogenic substrate 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl beta-d-galactopyranoside. In endothelial cell cultures, lysosomal beta-galactosidase activity, which is detected at pH 4.0, was present in all cells regardless of their replicative age. In contrast, senescence-associated beta-galactosidase activity, which is detected at pH 6.0, was absent in the majority of cells in early passage cultures (<15 cumulative population doublings), but was present in a large proportion of cells (up to 62%) in late passage cultures (>30 cumulative population doublings); in intermediate passage cultures (15-30 cumulative population doublings) it was found in fewer than 15% of the cells. The increase in the percentage of senescence-associated beta-galactosidase-positive cells correlated with a decrease in the cell density at confluence and with a marked increase in cell size. Counterstaining with an antibody directed against the endothelial cell marker CD31 showed that senescent cells retained the expression of this antigen. Senescence-associated beta-galactosidase was also detected in serially passaged, but not in primary explant cultures of rabbit aortic vascular smooth muscle cells. The presence of senescence-associated beta-galactosidase in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells suggests that this marker could be used to study the role of cellular senescence in vascular disease.
Energy transport and evaporation of weakly interacting particles in the Sun.

The transport of energy and the evaporation rate of conjectured weakly interacting massive particles in the Sun are calculated by simulating their Brownian motion in a model of the Sun. This is an efficient method for the numerical solution of the Boltzmann equation for these particles as a function of their mass and mean free path l. For values of l comparable to or larger than the radius of the Sun we discuss a new approach to the solution of this equation, while for small values of l we apply the Chapman-Enskog expansion to first order to obtain the luminosity function.
Adaptation Challenges Facing Internationally Educated Nurses

This article describes the challenges facing internationally educated nurses working in the United States, combining an extensive literature review with the personal perspectives of a registered nurse from Kenya. An extensive literature search was conducted, and databases were collected and reviewed, while the nurse was participating in an internship at a hospital in a border city in California. Intertwining the personal experiences of the first author with an extensive literature review, the areas of communication, culture shock, nursing roles, and practice and orientation needs are covered. This article reinforces the difficulties faced by internationally educated nurses and makes suggestions for helping them make the adjustment to the US workforce.
Meet/Beat Market Expectation, Accounting Conservatism and Corporate Governance

Accounting conservatism has been recognized as a reporting strategy that benefits shareholders and financial statement users. We hypothesize that managers in general are likely to sacrifice the benefit associated with accounting conservatism when adopting meeting/beating market expectations (hereafter MBME). Our findings show a negative association between MBME, proxied by analysts’ consensus forecasts, and accounting conservatism, defined in terms of conditional conservatism (Basu, 1997; Ball and Shivakumar, 2005, 2006) and we show that such relationship is not a mechanical connection between reporting strategy and managerial incentives to report higher earnings. Further analysis show that the negative relationship still exists after controlling for expectation as well as accrual-based and real earnings management. However, we document that G-index (Gompers et al., 2003), reflecting corporate governance in terms of anti-takeover provisions, has a significant impact on the negative association between accounting conservatism and MBME. Such finding shows that firms with less anti-takeover provisions, proxied by G-index, are less likely to sacrifice the benefit associated with conservative accounting for MBME.
Quadratic separation for uncertain descriptor system analysis, strict LMI conditions

The past have witnessed the emergence of many techniques for solving parameter-dependent linear matrix inequality problems relative to robust analysis of dynamical systems. In these, a polynomial parameter-dependent structure of the Lyapunov function is chosen a priori for proving stability and conservative results are proposed to compute the coefficients of the matrix polynomial. Among such results some demonstrate that the polynomial structure of the Lyapunov function is related to an artificially augmented model in descriptor form. These contributions thus justify a renewed interest for robust analysis results in the descriptor context. Linear matrix inequality based formulas are proposed in the quadratic separation framework. Compared with previously derived results they have better numerical behavior, in particular because there is no need for equality constraints and most inequalities are strict.
Regenerative Braking Modeling, Control, and Simulation of a Hybrid Energy Storage System for an Electric Vehicle in Extreme Conditions

This paper will present the regenerative braking quantification, design control, and simulation of a hybrid energy storage system (HESS) for an electric vehicle (EV) in extreme conditions. The EV is driven by two 30-kW permanent magnet synchronous motors. The HESS contains a Li-Ion battery and ultracapacitor (UC) storage element sources as well as a dissipative resistor. The UC will be mainly involved in braking and traction modes. The role of the resistor is to protect the dc bus and the battery according to the voltage and current constraints. The sizing of the elements takes into consideration the extreme braking conditions of the vehicle while respecting the Economic Commission for Europe Regulation No. 13 Harmonized. Controllers are being used in order to regulate the various electrical variables of the overall system. A sequential logic controller is also being introduced. The role of the sequential logic controller is to activate the different existing regulation controllers and to ensure the switching between the storage elements depending on the system states. Simulation tests will be performed covering a wide operation range for variable braking load, according to vehicle speed and road type, and extreme braking conditions.
Modeling alliance activity: an iterated prisoners' dilemma with exit option

We present and solve a new, more accurate model of behavior within alliance activity. The model is essentially an iterated prisoners' dilemma with an exit option in each stage of the alliance. The proposed solution results in each partner receiving its opportunity cost as its expected average pay‐off in the alliance. Managerial implications include: identification of where to focus efforts to improve alliance cooperation and performance; and an explanation for why more sophisticated partnership strategies than tit‐for‐tat are likely to be superior in this game. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.