Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Postprints from The Williams Institute Title “ We ’ d Be Free ” : Narratives of Life Without Homophobia , Racism , or Sexism Permalink

Stigma and social inequality deprive disadvantaged social groups of a sense of social well-being. Stress researchers have focused on prejudice-related events and conditions but have not described more intangible stressors experienced by sexual minorities. We use narrative methods to examine how sexual minorities experience stigma and social inequality as we focus on the more intangible stressors that are both pervasive and difficult to measure. Three themes emerged in the narratives of our ethnically diverse sample of 57 adult sexual minority women and men: (a) stigma deprived them of access to critical possibilities and opportunities; (b) stigma deprives them of safety and acceptance; and (c) despite this, the experience of stigma is also related to the adoption of a positive and collective orientation towards their stigmatized identities. Recognizing these stressors and related resilience can direct policy makers toward interventions that go even beyond eliminating prejudice by including goals to strengthen minority communities.
The Effect of Tone Sandhi on Speech Perception of Taiwanese Falling Tones

This study investigates phonetic and lexical effects on speech perception of two Taiwanese tones: high-falling and lowfalling, and suggests that tone sandhi also plays a role. A tonal identification task and a lexical task were conducted on 30 Taiwanese speakers. The results show that onset pitch and pitch drop are more crucial than offset pitch to the contrast of the two falling tones, and participants are more responsive to frequent words. In addition, the response frequency of the two categories is consistently lower than 90%, and that the highfalling responses significantly increase in the tone sandhi condition. This study verifies the psychological reality of multiple linguistic representations, including phonetic, phonological, lexical information, and suggests that a model of speech perception should consider these linguistic cues as processing fundaments.
Limited utility of Kinesio Taping® in the physiotherapy treatment for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation

ABSTRACT Background: Kinesio Taping® has been used as a physiotherapy treatment in musculoskeletal disorders. However, few studies have evaluated its effectiveness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Objectives: To analyze the effects of Kinesio Taping® associated with conventional physiotherapy, on the maximal inspiratory and expiratory pressures (MIP and MEP), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), peak expiratory flow (PEF), and pulse oxygen saturation (SpO2) of patients hospitalized for COPD exacerbation. Methods: Prospective, randomized, single-blinded study. Sixty-two participants who were randomized into two groups: 1) control (medication and standard physiotherapy treatment); and 2) Kinesio Taping® (standard treatment plus application of Kinesio Taping® on the respiratory muscles). The outcomes were assessed 24 hours after the treatment. Results: After the intervention, the Kinesio Taping® group showed a statistically significant increase in all outcomes assessed. However, when the mean differences between groups were analyzed, there were no statistically significant differences in MIP, MEP, FEV1, and PEF. Differences were found only in SpO2 that was improved in the Kinesio Taping® group. Conclusions: The application of Kinesio Taping® associated with physiotherapy improved SpO2 of non-hypoxemic patients with COPD exacerbation. Further studies should be conducted to evaluate the method in the long run and in another outcome.
Sea change in liner shipping : regulation and managerial decision-making in a global industry

Transport policy is undergoing major changes which transcend national boundaries. Meanwhile, strategic alliances and mergers are changing the face of the liner shipping business. A re-examination of competition policy as it relates to liner shipping is underway. This book not only examines the changing regulatory climate for the liner shipping industry but also explores managerial thinking about cooperation and competition within the industry. Using comparisons from the rail and aviation industries, the book develops guiding principles for a common regulatory policy for liner shipping while proposing a framework for shipping managers to guide strategy formulation and implementation in this new business environment. This book explores the issues of national regulation of liner shipping in three legal jurisdictions: the US. , Europe and Canada. It builds on the author's long history of research in liner shipping and its regulation, and her access to the regulators in these markets.
Is Boreout a Threat to Frontline Employees’ Innovative Work Behavior?

With the recognition that innovation is the lifeblood of competitive firms, researchers have investigated multiple antecedents of employees' innovative work behaviors. Most studies focus on supportive work conditions, work requirements, or even high work challenges as drivers of innovative work behavior as the extent to which frontline employees (FLEs) generate new problem-solving ideas and transform these into uses during the service encounter. This study focuses instead on a lack of resources at the service encounter. Specifically, boreout is a negative psychological state of low work-related arousal, manifested in three main forms: a crisis of meaning at work, job boredom, and crisis of growth. According to the conservation of resources theory, these three dimensions of job boreout as lack of resources draw energy from FLEs and thus, likely affect innovative work behavior. Data from 142 FLEs and their customers confirm that these dimensions of boreout affect FLEs' innovative work behavior, though in varying ways. A crisis of meaning at work and crisis of growth both impede innovative work behavior, but job boredom has no effect. Furthermore, support provided by customers moderates the relationships of these three boreout dimensions with innovative work behavior in unique ways.
Current perspectives on CHEK2 mutations in breast cancer

Checkpoint kinase 2 (CHEK2) is a serine/threonine kinase which is activated upon DNA damage and is implicated in pathways that govern DNA repair, cell cycle arrest or apoptosis in response to the initial damage. Loss of kinase function has been correlated with different types of cancer, mainly breast cancer. CHEK2 functionality is affected by different missense or deleterious mutations. CHEK2*1100delC and I157T are most studied in populations all over the world. Although these variants have been identified in patients with breast cancer, their frequency raises doubts about their importance as risk factors. The present article reviews the recent advances in research on CHEK2 mutations, focusing on breast cancer, based on the latest experimental data.
Open innovation and role of ICT in business-to-business services: Empirical Evidence from Facility Management Services

In this explorative study, we investigate innovation practices and how ICT can support service innovation in a specific service sector, facility management (FM) services. More specifically, we are interested in how facility management services organizations develop their innovations and how can the role and significance of ICT in the FM service innovations be conceptualized. In the empirical setting of Danish FM organizations, we investigate how the organizations develop their innovation activities, what is the significance of information and communication technology in initiating and assisting innovation activities in the delivery of facilities management services, and how the strategic orientation of the organization is related to the innovation activities. Our results indicate a relationship between the strategic approach to innovations and the role of ICT as a tool in innovating FM service processes.
Receptive-Field Subfields of V2 Neurons in Macaque Monkeys Are Adult-Like Near Birth

Infant primates can discriminate texture-defined form despite their relatively low visual acuity. The neuronal mechanisms underlying this remarkable visual capacity of infants have not been studied in nonhuman primates. Since many V2 neurons in adult monkeys can extract the local features in complex stimuli that are required for form vision, we used two-dimensional dynamic noise stimuli and local spectral reverse correlation to measure whether the spatial map of receptive-field subfields in individual V2 neurons is sufficiently mature near birth to capture local features. As in adults, most V2 neurons in 4-week-old monkeys showed a relatively high degree of homogeneity in the spatial matrix of facilitatory subfields. However, ∼25% of V2 neurons had the subfield map where the neighboring facilitatory subfields substantially differed in their preferred orientations and spatial frequencies. Over 80% of V2 neurons in both infants and adults had “tuned” suppressive profiles in their subfield maps that could alter the tuning properties of facilitatory profiles. The differences in the preferred orientations between facilitatory and suppressive profiles were relatively large but extended over a broad range. Response immaturities in infants were mild; the overall strength of facilitatory subfield responses was lower than that in adults, and the optimal correlation delay (“latency”) was longer in 4-week-old infants. These results suggest that as early as 4 weeks of age, the spatial receptive-field structure of V2 neurons is as complex as in adults and the ability of V2 neurons to compare local features of neighboring stimulus elements is nearly adult like.
Sales Forecasting Management: A Demand Management Approach

PREFACE 1. MANAGING THE SALES FORECASTING PROCESS INTRODUCTION A DEMAND MANAGEMENT APPROACH TO SALES FORECASTING SALES FORECASTING MANAGEMENT FORECASTS VERSUS PLANS VERSUS TARGETS THE ROLE OF SALES FORECASTING IN SALES AND OPERATIONS PLANNING (S&OP) WHY IS A SALES FORECAST NEEDED? SUMMARY: ORGANIZATIONAL SALES FORECASTING NEEDS THE TOOLS OF SALES FORECASTING MANAGEMENT SALES FORECASTING MANAGEMENT QUESTIONS SALES FORECASTING AND PLANNING: AN ITERATIVE PROCESS FUNCTIONAL SILOS OVERVIEW OF THIS BOOK OVERVIEW OF THIS BOOK 2. SALES FORECASTING PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT INTRODUCTION SALES FORECASTING ACCURACY SALES FORECOSTING COSTS CUSTOMER SATISFACTION PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER--A FORECASTING ROI DECISION CONCLUSIONS 3. TIMES SERIES FORECASTING TECHNIQUES INTRODUCTION FIXED-MODEL TIME SERIES TECHNIQUES FIXED MODEL TIME SERIES TECHNIQUES SUMMARY OPEN-MODEL TIME SERIES TECHNIQUES SUMMARY 4. REGRESSION ANALYSIS INTRODUCTION HOW REGRESSION ANALYSIS WORKS THE PROCESS OF REGRESSION ANALYSIS FOR FORECASTING FURTHER EVALUATION OF CANDIDATE MODELS MODEL VALIDATION AN EXAMPLE CONCLUSION NOTES 5. QUALITATIVE SALES FORECASTING INTRODUCTION QUALITATIVE FORECASTING: ADVANTAGES AND PROBLEMS SUMMARY: QUALITATIVE TECHNIQUE ADVANTAGES AND PROBLEMS QUALITATIVE TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS MARKET RESEARCH TOOLS FOR QUALITATIVE FORECASTING DECISION ANALYSIS TOOLS FOR QUALITATIVE FORECASTING SUMMARY APPENDIX 6. SALES FORECASTING SYSTEMS INTRODUCTION THE SALES FORECASTING SYSTEM AS A COMMUNICATION VEHICLE MULTICASTER SALES FORECASTING SYSTEMS: SUMMARY APPENDIX 7. BENCHMARK STUDIES: THE SURVEYS INTRODUCTION STUDIES PRIOR TO PHASE 1 PHASE 2 METHODOLOGY FINDINGS COMPARING PHASE 1 TO PHASE 2 CONCLUSIONS FROM COMPARING PHASE 1 AND PHASE 2 SALES FORECASTING SYSTEMS SALES FORECASTING MANAGEMENT FORECASTING IN CONSUMER VERSUS INDUSTRIAL MARKETS CONCLUSIONS: INDUSTRIAL VERSUS CONSUMER FORECASTING CONCLUSIONS FROM PHASE 2 8. BENCHMARK STUDIES: WORLD-CLASS FORECASTING INTRODUCTION FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION APPROACH SYSTEMS PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT CONCLUSIONS APPENDIX: SALES FORECASTING AUDIT PROTOCOL 9. BENCHMARK STUDIES: CONDUCTING A FORECASTING AUDIT INTRODUCTION THE ROLE OF AUDITING MANAGEMENT RESPONSE TO AUDITS CONCLUSIONS 10. MANAGING THE SALES FORECASTING FUNCTION INTRODUCTION THE ROLE OF THE SALES FORECASTING CHAMPION THE SEVEN KEYS TO BETTER FORECASTING WHY THE CEO SHOULD CARE THE CEO SHOULD CARE AT TELLABS CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES INDEX
Nasal IgA Provides Protection against Human Influenza Challenge in Volunteers with Low Serum Influenza Antibody Titre

In spite of there being a number of vaccines, influenza remains a significant global cause of morbidity and mortality. Understanding more about natural and vaccine induced immune protection against influenza infection would help to develop better vaccines. Virus specific IgG is a known correlate of protection, but other factors may help to reduce viral load or disease severity, for example IgA. In the current study we measured influenza specific responses in a controlled human infection model using influenza A/California/2009 (H1N1) as the challenge agent. Volunteers were pre-selected with low haemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titres in order to ensure a higher proportion of infection; this allowed us to explore the role of other immune correlates. In spite of HAI being uniformly low, there were variable levels of H1N1 specific IgG and IgA prior to infection. There was also a range of disease severity in volunteers allowing us to compare whether differences in systemic and local H1N1 specific IgG and IgA prior to infection affected disease outcome. H1N1 specific IgG level before challenge did not correlate with protection, probably due to the pre-screening for individuals with low HAI. However, the length of time infectious virus was recovered from the nose was reduced in patients with higher pre-existing H1N1 influenza specific nasal IgA or serum IgA. Therefore, IgA contributes to protection against influenza and should be targeted in vaccines.
Identification of a virulence-associated antigen of Toxoplasma gondii by use of a mouse monoclonal antibody

A monoclonal antibody generated against the mouse-lethal RH strain of Toxoplasma gondii was developed. Tachyzoites of virulent and avirulent T. gondii isolates grown in permanent macrophage cell cultures were examined for differences in reactivity with this antibody. Virulence of these Toxoplasma isolates was quantified by injecting different numbers of tachyzoites into NMRI mice and observing the animals for signs of infection or death. The monoclonal antibody identified a 23-kDa antigen expressed by the mouse-lethal strains BK and RH, whereas this antigen was not detected in low-mouse-virulent strains, which were all clinical isolates from Europe. Using Western blot (immunoblot), immunofluorescence, and immunoelectron microscopy, we localized the 23-kDa antigen to the membrane compartment. From these results, we suggest that this 23-kDa antigen is a marker of strain virulence upon which a virulence classification of T. gondii may be based.
Forecasting corporate revenue and profit : models versus management and analysts

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Limperg Institute, interuniversity institute of accountancy in The Netherlands. The predictability of corporate proflts has attracted considerable research the last decade or so. While early work focusséd on the performance of forecast models, corporate managements and financial analysts per se, later studies have increasingly endeavored to determine the comparative accuracy of the forecasts generated by these sources. One reason for this shift in emphasis has obviously been the search for an external benchmark against which to evaluate forecast accuracy. The need for such a benchmark may have become more apparent because of the trend toward profit forecast disclosure by firms in several countries, both on a voluntary basis and as a result of policy shifts by accounting rulemaking 2 bodies. The question then arises whether these corporate forecasts are useful for outsiders, to improve their investment decisions, for example. Financial analysts have served as a knowledgeable group of outsiders in this context, while forecasting models have served as tools potentially available to any outsider. As to the latter it is, of course, an empirical question which forecast model could best serve as an external Standard for evaluating management's forecast accuracy. This paper tries to shed some more light on this question. It reports primarily on the forecast accuracy of nine models which have been used to describe the time-series of corporate revenues and profits and compares the performance of 3 these models with that of management and analysts, Our research provides several extensions to and replications of previous studies: whereas earlier research focusséd almost exclusively on profits, we give results for both revenues and profits; the comparisons are based on internal data confidentially obtained from corporate management and financial analysts rather than on published data; while most research has used samples from the U.S. or U. K. , our results-2-pertain to a sample of Dutch companies, thus providing opportunities for international comparisons; we have used not only point estimates but also prediction intervals for all three groups of forecasts in this study; and following some leads in the literature we have tried to improve model forecast accuracy by selecting a specific model for each time-series instead of assuming the same model for all time-series, The remainder of this paper is divided into five sections. In the first section we review the major findings from the related literature. Next, we sketch our research …
Variations of the Arctic ice-snow cover in nonhomogeneous geopotential

The overall mapping of glacier elevation changes, the integral geodetic estimation of mass balance and the factor analysis of mutual variations in land and sea ice cover in the Barents-Kara region (BKR), Eurasian Arctic addressed in this paper were performed using a synergetic combination of differential interferometry and altimetry. Careful statistical comparison of the glacier change signal with available maps of gravity anomalies, sea ice charts and long-term rows of glacioclimatic, meteorological and tidal data gave a substantial evidence of cryogravic dependences in the study region. High positive (≥ +0.91) spatial correlation between local extremities in glacier change signal, sea ice concentration and gravity anomalies was determined, explained and formulated using the basic concepts of hydrostatic stress and converging precipitation. It was concluded that significant lateral variations of geopotential influence the local intensity of solid precipitation, snow accumulation rate and sea ice grow, glacier regime and character of glacioclimatic changes.
Editorial: Function of Renal Sympathetic Nerves

Copyright © 2017 Wang, Lim and Denton. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
The Information Content of Timely Sales Disclosures: Evidence from the Retail Industry

This paper examines the information content of voluntary monthly sales disclosures by retailers. Prior research suggests that quarterly earnings announcements explain only a small portion of the variation in annual or quarterly buy-and-hold abnormal returns, but likely play an important role in lending credibility to more timely management disclosures. Consistent with this notion, we find that earnings announcements only explain about 8% of the variation in total quarterly buy-and-hold abnormal returns, while reported monthly sales explain an additional 29%. To our knowledge no other single type of routine disclosure explains more. Monthly sales disclosures also provide a clean setting to isolate the information content of sales from earnings, which enables us to demonstrate that sales information is much more informative to the stock market than documented in prior studies. Furthermore, consistent with forecasting models of earnings and cash flows, we document that the market reaction to monthly sales disclosures stems primarily from growth in same store sales (the persistent portion of total revenue) rather than sales changes from store openings and closings (the transitory portion of total revenue).
Emergence of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus USA300 genotype as a major cause of health care-associated blood stream infections.

BACKGROUND Whether community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) genotypes (e.g., USA300) are a major cause of bloodstream infections (BSIs) and health care-associated infections has been poorly defined. METHODS Consecutive MRSA isolates recovered from patients with BSIs were prospectively collected at an urban public hospital. Molecular typing studies were performed. Prevalence and risk factors for the MRSA USA300 genotype were assessed. RESULTS One hundred thirty-two cases of MRSA BSI were documented over 7.5 months in 2004 (incidence, 6.79 per 1000 admissions); 116 isolates were available for genotyping. Characteristics of the 116 evaluable cases included: a mean age 47 years; 62% were male, 82% were African American, and 22% were HIV seropositive. The crude in-hospital mortality rate was 22%. In 107 cases (92%), there was contact with a health care facility within the year prior to infection, and a nosocomial infection (defined as positive blood culture results obtained >48 h after admission) occurred in 49 cases (42%). PFGE demonstrated that 39 (34%) of the 116 isolates were the MRSA USA300 genotype; 34 (29%) were USA100; 42 (36%) were USA500; and 1 (1%) was USA800. MRSA USA300 accounted for 28% of health care-associated BSIs and 20% of nosocomial MRSA BSIs. In multivariate analysis, isolation of the USA300 genotype was associated with injectiondrug use (OR, 3.67; 95% CI, 1.10-12.28) and skin and soft tissue infection (OR, 4.26; 95% CI, 1.08-16.84). Patients who resided in long-term care facilities (OR, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.01-0.82) and those who were treated with antimicrobials in the prior year were less likely to have MRSA USA300 genotype recovered (OR, 0.10; 95% CI, 0.02-0.49). CONCLUSIONS MRSA USA300 genotype, the predominant cause of community-associated MRSA infections in our area (Atlanta, GA), has now emerged as a significant cause of health care-associated and nosocomial BSI. MRSA USA300 as a nosocomial pathogen presents new challenges to infection control programs.