Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A visitor-based brand equity perspective: the case of a public festival

Purpose – This paper aims to empirically examine how five different brand equity dimensions of a festival brand (i.e. awareness, image, quality, value and loyalty) are inter-related. Specifically, this study aims to examine the impact of brand awareness on perceived brand image, perceived brand quality and perceived value; the impact of perceived brand image on perceived brand quality and brand loyalty; and the impact of perceived brand quality on perceived value and brand loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – The conceptual model was tested with an onsite sample of a public festival referred to as the VEISHEA (Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Industrial Science, Home Economics and Agriculture) festival, which is located in a Midwestern college-town. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to reach the goals of the study. Findings – The findings revealed that improving attendees’ awareness is a keystone in promoting brand quality perceptions, increasing perceived value an.
Wnts, bone and cancer

The Wnt pathway plays vital roles in bone and in cancer. In this issue of The Journal of Pathology, Cai and colleagues report results that suggest that the Wnt pathway is inactivated in bone cancers, a finding that could have significant implications for the development of Wnt agonists as bone anabolic agents. While these findings are at odds with the prevailing view that the Wnt pathway is oncogenic in all systems studied to date, they remind us how complex and still poorly understood this important signalling pathway remains. At the very least, these findings should provoke debate and stimulate further research into the role of Wnt signalling in osteosarcoma. Copyright © 2009 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Theories of legislative politics and committee action in the postwar U.S. House of Representatives

Scholars of American legislative politics have settled into debating the merits and faults of majoritarian and party theories to explain legislative actions, brushing aside theories that see committees as autonomous. However, all three types of theories have rarely been tested together. This study builds upon an existing game-theoretic model of the legislative process in the U.S. House of Representatives to compare all three simultaneously. Competing hypotheses are generated and tested using observable actions by legislative committees. Support is found for both committee and party theories, conditional on the congressional era and the relative preferences of key institutional actors.
Initial features and prognosis in 363 children with acute lymphocytic leukemia

The relationship of a variety of initial features and the outcome of therapy was analyzed for 363 children with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). All had entered “total therapy” studies between 1962 and 1971. The standard for comparing outcome of therapy was whether patients with a given feature attained or exceeded the median duration of complete remission, hematologic remission or survival for the group. The results showed that, in general, the more massive or extensive the disease at diagnosis, the poorer the outcome. Factors associated with a significantly poorer prognosis included: initial leukocyte count above 100,000/mm3; spleen enlargement greater than 5 cm; me–diastinal involvement and early CNS involvement. Children over 10 years old at diagnosis and Negro children also had a poor prognosis. From another viewpoint features were examined for patients who attained at least 3 years of continuous complete remission. This confirmed some earlier findings and, in addition, showed that children under 2 years of age at diagnosis or with hepatomegaly over 5 cm were less likely to attain this goal. With the exception of early CNS involvement, however, patients with excellent responses to therapy were found with each factor of poor prognosis. Two major factors were not analyzed because their relationship to prognosis is generally accepted: therapeutic differences and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia.
Effect of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer Disease on Auditory Steady-State Responses

Introduction: Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a disorder of the elderly people, is difficult to diagnose and often progresses to Alzheimer Disease (AD). Temporal region is one of the initial areas, which gets impaired in the early stage of AD. Therefore, auditory cortical evoked potential could be a valuable neuromarker for detecting MCI and AD. Methods: In this study, the thresholds of Auditory Steady-State Response (ASSR) to 40 Hz and 80 Hz were compared between Alzheimer Disease (AD), MCI, and control groups. A total of 42 patients (12 with AD, 15 with MCI, and 15 elderly normal controls) were tested for ASSR. Hearing thresholds at 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz in both ears with modulation rates of 40 and 80 Hz were obtained. Results: Significant differences in normal subjects were observed in estimated ASSR thresholds with 2 modulation rates in 3 frequencies in both ears. However, the difference was significant only in 500 Hz in the MCI group, and no significant differences were observed in the AD group. In addition, significant differences were observed between the normal subjects and AD patients with regard to the estimated ASSR thresholds with 2 modulation rates and 3 frequencies in both ears. A significant difference was observed between the normal and MCI groups at 2000 Hz, too. An increase in estimated 40 Hz ASSR thresholds in patients with AD and MCI suggests neural changes in auditory cortex compared to that in normal ageing. Conclusion: Auditory threshold estimation with low and high modulation rates by ASSR test could be a potentially helpful test for detecting cognitive impairment.
Return Predictability and Dynamic Asset Allocation: How Often Should Investors Rebalance?

To exploit return predictability via dynamic asset allocation, investors face the important practical issue of how often to rebalance their portfolios. More frequent rebalancing uses statistically and economically significant short-horizon return predictability to aggressively pursue the dynamic investment opportunities afforded by changes in expected returns. However, the degree of return predictability typically appears stronger at longer horizons, which, along with lower transaction costs, favors less frequent rebalancing. The authors analyze the performance effects of rebalancing frequency in the context of dynamic portfolios constructed from monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual return forecasts for U.S. stocks, bonds, and bills, where the dynamic portfolios rebalance at the same frequency as the forecast horizon. Along the transaction-cost/rebalancing frontier, monthly (annual) rebalancing provides the greatest outperformance when unit transaction costs are below (above) approximately 50 basis points, and dynamic portfolios based on annual rebalancing typically outperform the benchmarks for unit transaction costs well in excess of 400 basis points.
A Tax Loss Trading Rule

Technical analysis has been so pummeled by evidence supporting the efficient nature of market behavior that most researchers gave it up for dead years ago. ' By now it seems a foregone conclusion that any sort of general trading rule based on past prices is bound to fail. That is, any general trading rule is quite unlikely to pick up sufficient dependencies to overcome the extra transactions costs of a switching strategy compared with a buyand-hold strategy. Trading rules which deal with special situations, however, may still be found to be useful. For example, Smidt suggests that there may be price dependencies associated with demand for liquidity, reaction lags, and speculative bubbles.2 Following up Smidt's hypothesis, several studies suggest profitable trading strategies associated with block trading.3 On the other hand there have been many attempts to find usable price dependencies associated with splits, dividends, and earnings reports, with mixed results.4 This paper is in the tradition of those studies which have searched for "special situation" price dependencies.
Profit-sharing and employee share ownership

Profit-sharing and employee share ownership Saul Estrin, Paul Grout and Sushil Wadhwani This paper evaluates the likely effects of linking a part of a worker's pay to the employer's profits. It has been suggested, by Weitzman, that this would raise employment by lowering the cost of taking on an extra worker. However, this can only happen if existing workers are willing to let their share of value added fall, and experience of those firms in the UK who already operate profit-sharing schemes suggests that the Weitzman mechanism is not operative. There is, however, some evidence that profit-related pay does boost productivity; but there are other ways of raising productivity, such as performance-related pay, which may be more effective. Productivity-enhancing effects are likely to be greatest when employees are involved in decision-making as well, but this is likely to undermine the Weitzman case still further. Even if the argument that profit-sharing raises employment is not compelling, it is sometimes suggested that it can do little harm. However, there is evidence that it may well be inflationary, in which case the government would be advised to proceed cautiously. We argue that there is very little case for the introduction of a permanent subsidy to encourage increased profit-sharing, although there may be a case for a temporary one to overcome managerial inertia. However, there is a danger that a subsidy will promote ‘cosmetic’ schemes designed to be eligible for the subsidy but which do not reflect any real change in behaviour.
Document Title: Exploring the Key Components of Drug Courts: A Comparative Study of 18 Adult Drug Courts on Practices, Outcomes, and Costs

To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally-funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. This NIJ funded paper examined process, outcomes and costs in 18 drug courts across 4 states and one U.S. territory (California, Michigan, Oregon, Maryland and Guam). This study explores how different drug court programs are implementing the 10 Key Components and, in particular, how practices vary across programs. This paper also examines whether and how these practices have impacted participant outcomes and program costs including graduation rate, program investment costs, and outcome costs related to participant criminal justice recidivism. A thorough understanding of the drug courts' procedures, and the variation in procedures, helps increase awareness of the unique aspects of the programs and may help explain why some drug courts are more effective than others. Our analyses revealed that despite the availability of benchmarks through the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, drug courts still have a lot of discretion in how they implement the 10 Key Components. Analysis of outcomes showed that some drug court practices were significantly associated with higher graduation rates and lower outcome costs (higher cost savings). However, it is important to acknowledge that what is a best practice in one drug court context may not be in others. Participant populations differ in drug of choice, level of addiction, legal issues, and life issues such as employment, education, and health needs. Drug courts must remain flexible in practices so as to best fit their participants, their relationships among the collaborating agencies, and their environment. In spite of this, there may be practices that transcend these differences. This study provides a list of practices that were most effective across 18 drug court sites. This list represents a starting point for further examination of best practices for drug courts. or close to 20 years in the United States, there has been a trend toward guiding nonviolent drug offenders into treatment rather than incarceration. The drug court model links the resources of the criminal system and substance treatment programs to increase treatment participation and decrease criminal recidivism. Drug treatment courts are one of the fastest growing programs designed to reduce drug abuse and criminality in nonviolent offenders in the nation. Given the rapid expansion …
Pricing and Packaging: The Case of Marijuana

In many markets, unit prices decline as the quantity purchased rises, a phenomenon that can be considered part of the economics of packaging. This article reviews the economic foundations of quantity discounts and proposes new ways of measuring and analyzing them. These ideas are implemented with the prices of marijuana, a product that is shown to be priced in a manner not too different from that used for groceries as well as some other illicit drugs. In broad terms, the results support the following pricing rule: the unit price falls by 2.5% when the package size increases by 10%.
Armed Groups and Sexual Violence: When Is Wartime Rape Rare?

This article explores a particular pattern of wartime violence, the relative absence of sexual violence on the part of many armed groups. This neglected fact has important policy implications: If some groups do not engage in sexual violence, then rape is not inevitable in war as is sometimes claimed, and there are stronger grounds for holding responsible those groups that do engage in sexual violence. After developing a theoretical framework for understanding the observed variation in wartime sexual violence, the article analyzes the puzzling absence of sexual violence on the part of the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of Sri Lanka.
Democracy and dictatorship in Pakistan

“… despite Mr Bhutto's juggling with the command structure and his many rewards to Army and Police, there will still be a coup … this type of regime is likely not to sfart in the tradition of Suharto or Pinochet; rather, it is likely to adopt a populist and puritanical stance … In the name of an ‘Islamic way of life’, it will impose a medieval labor code in the factories; will weed out all remnants of intellectual life in the universities; and will seek to reverse all the marginal gains the peasantry has made during struggles of the past five years … and terror under such a regime, if it comes about, is likely to reach a scale heretofore unknown and unimagined in our body politic. ” Pakistan Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 5, March 1977
Quantile Regression Analysis of Wage Determinants in the Korean Labor Market

This paper investigates wage determinants in the Korean labor market using the recently available Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS). This paper uses the quantile regression method for each conditional quantile wage group. Most other labor market analysis uses (mean) regression analysis, which focuses only on average statistics. Different wage groups behave differently with respect to the different socio-economic covariates. Quantile regressions allow us to examine more comprehensive pictures for different quantile wage groups. In the Korean labor market, we found that age is the most significant factor for wage determination while experience premium is lower for higher quantile wage groups. Education also plays an important role for wage determination as predicted, and the return on education is quite consistent among all wage groups. However, the return to education in Korea is relatively low when compared to labor markets in the US and other countries. This difference may be explained partly by the fact that the Korean education system does not provide necessary job skills for workers. Female workers are significantly underpaid compared to their male counterparts. Union premiums increase for higher quantile wage groups, but lower quantile wage groups do not appear to enjoy comparable union premiums.
Entry Mode and Location of Foreign Manufacturing Enterprises in China

Foreign investors in China may choose between three modes of entry: equity joint ventures (EJVs), contractual joint ventures (CJVs), or wholly foreign owned enterprises (WFOEs). Those entry modes vary considerably in their legal forms, risk characteristics, resource commitments, and investment motivations. This paper evaluates and compares their locational patterns, and reveals similarities and differences in their locational behaviors. A regression model is developed to explain the distinctive locational patterns of these modes of entry, providing results that may serve both to guide locational decisions of potential investors, and provide scientific support for local governments in designing FDI policies. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F21, F23, R30. 5 figures, 3 tables, 40 references.
Hours of Work and Gender Identity: Does Part-Time Work Make the Family Happier?

Taking into account inter-dependence within the family, we investigate the relationship between part-time work and happiness. We use panel data from the new Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia Survey. Our analysis indicates that part-time women are more satisfied with working hours than full-time women. Partnered women's life satisfaction is increased if their partners work full-time. Male partners' life satisfaction is unaffected by their partners' market hours but is increased if they themselves are working full-time. This finding is consistent with the gender identity hypothesis of Akerlof and Kranton (2000).
[Correlation between hepatic immunological markers and virus genotype in patients with chronic hepatitis C].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the hepatic expression of immunological markers relevant to a cytotoxic response in relation to viral genotype. METHODS The frozen liver biopsies were obtained from 28 HF genotyped patients and made the sections stained. The morphometry was used to analyze the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I), CD8, beta(2)-microglobulin (beta(2) -mG), HFE and CD68 in the stained sections. Biopsy data of response to therapy with interferon were available in 18 cases. RESULTS CD8+ was usually clustered together and localized in portal tracts and sinusoids, and seen to interact with MHC I positive lining cells. MHC-I and beta(2) -mG were expressed mainly in endothelial and Kupffer cells. HFE was expressed in most round and dendritic CD68+ cells. Patients with virus genotype 3a had higher hepatic MHC-I and HFE expression, and a better sustained response to interferon (IFN) therapy than patients without. CONCLUSION The MHC-I expression in the liver of patient with chronic hepatitis C virus infection seems to relate to viral-genotype. The hepatic MHC-I and HFE expression are higher in patients with virus genotype 3a than that in patients with non-3a genotype.
The Superiority of Analyst Forecasts as Measures of Expectations: Evidence from Earnings

If both producers and consumers demand forecasts based solely on their forecasting ability, then the equilibrium employment of analysts, a higher cost factor than time series models, implies that analysts must produce better forecasts than time series models. Past studies of comparative earnings forecast accuracy have concluded otherwise. Using nonparametric statistics that provide proper yet powerful tests, we find that Box-Jenkins time series models consistently produce better forecasts than martingale and submartingale earnings models; but Value Line Investment Survey consistently makes significantly better earnings forecasts than the Box-Jenkins models.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Risk

While studies have called the performance of socially responsible investments competitive, many investors do not choose to invest their assets in a socially responsible fashion. Part of this reluctance may relate to reduced diversification possibilities and the risk effects of application of ethical screens to portfolios. This investigation of a sample of Canadian stocks challenges the popular opinion that socially responsible investments are more volatile than conventional portfolios. Judged by two different methodologies, socially responsible companies tend to show less diversifiable risk in their stock behavior than non-socially responsible companies. These findings seem to support social investors? view that the adoption of corporate social responsibility codes of conduct can help diminish the overall business risk of a company, and even improve its long-term risk-adjusted performance.
Association of the response to tumor necrosis factor antagonists with plasma type I interferon activity and interferon-beta/alpha ratios in rheumatoid arthritis patients: a post hoc analysis of a predominantly Hispanic cohort.

OBJECTIVE Despite the substantial clinical efficacy of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) antagonist therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), some patients respond poorly to such agents. Since an interferon (IFN) signature is variably expressed among RA patients, we investigated whether plasma type I IFN activity might predict the response to TNF antagonist therapy. METHODS RA patients (n = 35), the majority of whom were Hispanic, from a single center were evaluated before and after initiation of TNF antagonist therapy. As controls, 12 RA patients from the same center who were not treated with a TNF antagonist were studied. Plasma type I IFN activity was measured using a reporter cell assay, and disease status was assessed using the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28). Levels of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) were determined in baseline plasma samples using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The clinical response was classified according to the European League Against Rheumatism criteria for improvement in RA. RESULTS Plasma type I IFN activity at baseline was significantly associated with clinical response (odds ratio 1.36 [95% confidence interval 1.05-1.76], P = 0.020), with high baseline IFN activity associated with a good response. Changes in DAS28 scores were greater among patients with a baseline plasma IFNbeta/alpha ratio >0.8 (indicating elevated plasma IFNbeta levels). Consistent with the capacity of IFNbeta to induce IL-1Ra, elevated baseline IL-1Ra levels were associated with better therapeutic outcomes (odds ratio 1.82 [95% confidence interval 1.1-3.29], P = 0.027). CONCLUSION The plasma type I IFN activity, the IFNbeta/alpha ratio, and the IL-1Ra level were predictive of the therapeutic response in TNF antagonist-treated RA patients, indicating that these parameters might define clinically meaningful subgroups of RA patients with distinct responses to therapeutic agents.
Selection of multiple-antibiotic-resistant (mar) mutants of Escherichia coli by using the disinfectant pine oil: roles of the mar and acrAB loci

Mutants of Escherichia coli selected for resistance to the disinfectant pine oil or to a household product containing pine oil also showed resistance to multiple antibiotics (tetracycline, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and nalidixic acid) and overexpressed the marA gene. Likewise, antibiotic-selected Mar mutants, which also overexpress marA, were resistant to pine oil. Deletion of the mar or acrAB locus, the latter encoding a multidrug efflux pump positively regulated in part by MarA, increased the susceptibility of wild-type and mutant strains to pine oil.