Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Proposed Response Model for Controversial Advertising

Abstract A number of advertisers have used the strategy of controversial images (fear, sexual), or promoted their controversial product (alcohol, underwear), in a way to get the audiences' attention and a positive reaction. However, the use of controversial advertising can also potentially offend people and create a negative reaction. This article discusses controversial advertising and proposes a conceptual model of responses to controversial advertising.
Management and outcomes of very low birth weight.

With increasing numbers of extremely premature infants surviving, the outcome for these infants has generated much interest and controversy. This article reviews recent progress in the management and outcomes of some of the most common conditions affecting infants with very low birth weight (1500 g or less) and extremely low birth weight (1000 g or less).
Insider Trading: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work

This paper analyzes the academic and regulatory studies on insider trading available in the finance literature. First, a review of the laws regulating insider trading is provided. The paper then takes a look at the parties involved in insider trading, and analyzes the theories of insider trading and empirical evidences. Finally, the paper concludes by giving some indication as to the direction of future research on insider trading.
The impact of accountability in employment equity and minority hiring situations

The Impact o f Accountability in Employment Equity and Minority Hiring Situations Maria D. Ashkewe Submitted April 23, 2001 This experiment investigated the impact of accountability the need to justify one’s views to others on ratings o f videotaped interview performance and likelihood of hiring. Participants were shown a Native or non-Native fictional job applicant applying for a position in human resources, and were presented as applying in the context o f an Employment Equity programme, or they were not. As well, participants were either told that they may be asked to justify their ratings of the applicant (accountability condition), or they were not told this information. Significant differences were found between ratings given for Native and non-Native candidates on three o f four rating variables, with Native candidates rated lower. A main effect o f Employment Equity was also found, although it was not easy to explain. Contrary to patterns found in past literature, no significant impact o f accountability under any condition was found. In light o f the findings, the possibility of hiring discrimination is proposed. Table of
Everolimus: efficacy and safety in cardiac transplantation

Importance of the field: Prognosis after cardiac transplantation continues to improve with long-term outcomes limited by malignancy and coronary allograft vasculopathy (CAV). Everolimus may potentially reduce these late term complications, while maintaining the low cellular rejection rates seen with standard therapy. Areas covered in this review: Multiple studies have demonstrated the efficacy of everolimus in reducing acute rejection in heart transplant patients, progression and development of CAV, and the prevention and treatment of common malignancies, including skin cancer and Kaposi sarcoma. This review re-examines these studies with a focus on patient tolerability and safety. What the reader will gain: Tolerability and safety of everolimus remain a concern with pneumonitis, effusions, mouth ulcers, edema and impaired wound healing associated with morbidity and mortality. Studies have repeatedly demonstrated renal function deterioration with concomitant everolimus and a standard dose calcineurin inhibitor (CNI). This impact can be partly reduced with CNI dose reduction without an increase in the rate of rejection. Take home message: If future studies confirm reduced CAV and malignancy rates, everolimus will become an important agent in de novo and maintenance immunotherapy in cardiac transplantation. Patient centered immunotherapy is preferred to protocol-based immunotherapy as it allows tailoring of immune therapy to each individual patient's rejection risk and side profile.
Dental microwear evidence for a dietary shift between two nonmaize-reliant prehistoric human populations from Indiana.

Several recent studies have demonstrated the efficacy of dental microwear analysis (DMA) for dietary reconstruction among nonhuman primates, early hominids, and prehistoric humans. The current study seeks microwear evidence for a paleobotanically suggested change in the types of foods that were consumed by two temporally distinct populations of the North American eastern woodlands. This particular dietary shift between the Late Archaic and the Early/Middle Woodland periods did not include the introduction of maize or any other tropical cultigen. In contrast, most dietary reconstructions from this area have compared later populations that consumed tropical cultigens (such as maize) with those that did not. High-resolution casts of adult mandibular second molar protoconid phase II wear facets were viewed via a scanning electron microscope at 500x. Photomicrographs of the microwear features were analyzed with specialized software, Microware 2.2 (Ungar [1995] Scanning 17:57-59). Analysis of variance statistical tests were performed, with one variable requiring rank-transformation. A dietary transition is evidenced by a statistically significant increase in the mean number of pits and concomitant decreases in scratch width and scratch length from the Late Archaic to the Early/Middle Woodland. Overall, the diet became harder and less abrasive. The implication here is that dental microwear analysis is able to discern relatively subtle dietary transitions in human populations that may not be as readily accessible by other means of dietary reconstruction.
Hip abductor weakness and lower extremity kinematics during running.

OBJECTIVE To determine if females with hip abductor weakness are more likely to demonstrate greater knee abduction during the stance phase of running than a strong hip abductor group. STUDY DESIGN Observational prospective study design. SETTING University biomechanics laboratory. PARTICIPANTS 15 females with weak hip abductors and 15 females with strong hip abductors. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Group differences in lower extremity kinematics were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA with one between factor of group and one within factor of position with a significance value of P < . 05. RESULTS The subjects with weak hip abductors demonstrated greater knee abduction during the stance phase of treadmill running than the strong group (P < .05). No other significant differences were found in the sagittal or frontal plane measurements of the hip, knee, or pelvis. CONCLUSIONS Hip abductor weakness may influence knee abduction during the stance phase of running.
Adoption of paddy growers about recommended technology.

The study wasconducted in Armori Panchayat Samiti of Gadchiroli district of Eastern Vidarbha. For the present study, 150 farmers were selected from 10 villages by using random sampling method. The main objective of study was to know the extent of knowledge and adoption of recommended technology among the paddy growers. The data were collected by personal interview with the help of pre-tested and well structured interview schedule, which were subjected to appropriate statistical analysis. The findings of the present investigation indicated that majority of the paddy growers had medium level of scientific orientation and economic motivation. Over half of the respondends paddy cultivation possessed high level of knowledge about recommended paddy cultivation technology. The respondents possessed cent per cent knowledge were about cross ploughing, leveling of field, weeding, and control of stem borer by use of endosulphan, harvesting and threshing period of paddy. Whereas, majority of the respondents had poor knowledge about disease resistant varieties, seed treatment, use of Trichogramma, BGA and micro-nutrient of paddy.
Preparation of a Stable Biocatalyst of Bovine Liver Catalase Using Immobilization and Postimmobilization Techniques

Bovine liver catalase was immobilized on different supports. The tetrameric nature of this enzyme was found to cause its rapid inactivation in diluted conditions due to subunit dissociation, a fact that may rule out its industrial use. Multi‐subunit immobilization using highly activated glyoxyl agarose was not enough to involve all enzyme subunits. In fact, washing the derivative produced a strong decrease in the enzyme activity. Further cross‐linking of previously immobilized enzyme with tailor‐made dextran‐aldehyde permitted the multimeric structure to be fully stabilized using either multisubunit preparations immobilized onto highly activated glyoxyl‐agarose support or one subunit enzymes immobilized onto poorly activated glyoxyl‐agarose. The highest stability of the final biocatalyst was observed using the multisubunit immobilized derivative cross‐linked with dextran‐aldehyde. The optimal derivative retained around 60% of the immobilized activity, did not release any enzyme subunits after boiling in the presence of SDS, and did not lose activity during washing, and its stability did not depend on the dilution. This derivative was used for 10 cycles in the destruction of 10 mM hydrogen peroxide without any decrease in the enzyme activity.
Fulfilment of planned and unplanned purchases of sale- and regular-price items: a benchmark study

A descriptive benchmark study of 2,172 shoppers introduces nine mutually exclusive planned/actual shopper purchase categories. It identifies, for shoppers entering a store, the actual number of shoppers and dollars spent in each of the nine mutually exclusive planned/actual shopper categories, differentiating planned and actual purchases based on whether they were sale or regular-price items. Approximately 13.5 per cent of the 2,172 shoppers stated that they did not plan to purchase items. Another 13.7 per cent indicated they planned to purchase only items on sale, 60.2 per cent of the shoppers indicated they planned to purchase only regular-price items, and 12.6 per cent planned to purchase both sale and regular-price items. Of the 2,172 shoppers surveyed, only 11.1 per cent (242) completed all purchases they planned to make, 58.1 per cent of all planned items were purchased, and 18 per cent (391) of all shoppers left the store without buying anything. This study differentiates sale-price purchases based on whether they were planned before coming to the store (pre-store) or unplanned and decided in the store (in-store). It also identifies the reasons why planned purchases were not fulfilled. The research methodology and analysis are explained, followed by a discussion of the findings and their implications for retailers.
Growing Existing Customers’ Revenue Streams through Customer Referral Programs

Customer referral programs are an effective means of customer acquisition. By assessing a large-scale customer data set from a global cellular telecommunications provider, the authors show that participation in a referral program also increases existing customers’ loyalty. In a field experiment, recommenders’ defection rates fell from 19% to 7% within a year, and their average monthly revenue grew by 11.4% compared with a matched control group. A negative interaction between referral program participation and customer tenure reveals that the loyalty effect of voicing a recommendation is particularly pronounced for newer customer–firm relationships. A laboratory experiment further demonstrates that referral programs with larger rewards strengthen attitudinal and behavioral loyalty, whereas smaller rewards affect only the behavioral dimension. This article contributes to our theoretical understanding of the roles played by the commitment–consistency principle and positive reinforcement theory as mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of customer referral programs.
Dectin-1 Stimulation by Candida albicans Yeast or Zymosan Triggers NFAT Activation in Macrophages and Dendritic Cells1

Innate immune pattern recognition receptors play critical roles in pathogen detection and initiation of antimicrobial responses. We and others have previously demonstrated the importance of the β-glucan receptor Dectin-1 in the recognition of pathogenic fungi by macrophages and dendritic cells and have elucidated some of the mechanisms by which Dectin-1 signals to coordinate the antifungal response. While Dectin-1 signals alone are sufficient to trigger phagocytosis and Src-Syk-mediated induction of antimicrobial reactive oxygen species, collaboration with TLR2 signaling enhances NF-κB activation and regulates cytokine production. In this study we demonstrate that Dectin-1 signaling can also directly modulate gene expression via activation of NFAT. Dectin-1 ligation by zymosan particles or live Candida albicans yeast triggers NFAT activation in macrophages and dendritic cells. Dectin-1-triggered NFAT activation plays a role in the induction of early growth response 2 and early growth response 3 transcription factors, and cyclooxygenase-2. Furthermore, we show that NFAT activation regulates IL-2, IL-10 and IL-12 p70 production by zymosan-stimulated dendritic cells. These data establish NFAT activation in myeloid cells as a novel mechanism of regulation of the innate antimicrobial response.
Changing role of the retail sector in Poland during a period of economic transition

Centrally‐planned economies generally put little emphasis on the retail sector. The communist government in Poland, for example, worked with an “economy of shortages”, where demand for most goods was greater than supply and there was no incentive to develop an efficient distribution system. However, in 1989 the Polish government introduced a free market economy. Deregulation and liberalisation of trade allowed retailers to play a leading role in the subsequent changes, and make a major contribution to economic growth. The transformation of this sector needed a new approach to organisation, operations and ownership. This paper describes some of the changes in the Polish retail sector during a period of radical change.
Online EM with Weight-Based Forgetting

In the online version of the EM algorithm introduced by Sato and Ishii (2000), a time-dependent discount factor is introduced for forgetting the effect of the old estimated values obtained with an earlier, inaccurate estimator. In their approach, forgetting is uniformly applied to the estimators of each mixture component depending exclusively on time, irrespective of the weight attributed to each unit for the observed sample. This causes an excessive forgetting in the less frequently sampled regions. To address this problem, we propose a modification of the algorithm that involves a weight-dependent forgetting, different for each mixture component, in which old observations are forgotten according to the actual weight of the new samples used to replace older values. A comparison of the time-dependent versus the weight-dependent approach shows that the latter improves the accuracy of the approximation and exhibits much greater stability.
Comparative Effects of Tin- and Zinc-Protoporphyrin on Steroidogenesis: Tin-Protoporphyrin is a Potent Inhibitor of Cytochrome P-450-Dependent Activities in the Rat Adrenals

Synthetic metalloporphyins inhibit formation of bilirubin by the heme oxygenase system, an ability that is of considerable experimental and clinical interest for suppression of jaundice in the newborn. The present investigation compares the consequences of treatment with Sn- and Zn-protoporphyrin on hemoprotein-dependent enzymes of the rat adrenals and corticosterone production and defines Sn-protoporphyrin as a potent toxin to adrenal functions. Treatment of rats with Sn-protoporphyrin (two doses of 50 μmol/kg, in 7 d) resulted in a marked reduction of 30–40% in cytochrome P-450-dependent adrenal microsomal 21α-hydroxylase and mitochondrial 11β-hydroxylase activities. In the serum, the levels of corticosterone were reduced to about 70% of the control value. In addition, the mitochondrial cytochrome P-450SCC activity was decreased by about 50%. This decrease, however, could not be attributed to a reduced total heme level or an accelerated heme degradatory activity. Disruption by Sn-protoporphyrin of adrenal hemoprotein-dependent functions was not restricted to steroidogenic activities and encompassed drug metabolism activity of the organ; benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylase activity of both the microsomal and the mitochondrial fractions, as well as the microsomal NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase activity, were significantly reduced. Zn-protoporphyrin did not cause significant alterations in the above measured parameters although it too was effective in inhibiting the hepatic microsomal heme oxygenase activity. In light of the presently defined adverse effects of Sn-protoporphyrin on adrenal Steroidogenesis, we suggest Zn-protoporphyrin is the agent of choice for potential use in treatment of hyperbilirubinemia in humans.
CTLA-4 directly inhibits osteoclast formation

CTLA-4 is a regulator of co-stimulation and inhibits the activation of T cells through interfering with the interaction of CD80/86 on antigen-presenting cells with CD28 on T cells. CTLA-4 binds to the surface of antigen-presenting cells, such as dendritic cells and monocytes through CD80/86. Monocytes can differentiate in osteoclasts, the primary bone resorbing cells. Herein, we investigated whether the binding of CTLA-4 affects the differentiation of monocytes into osteoclasts in vitro and vivo. We show that CTLA-4 dose-dependently inhibits RANKL- as well as tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-mediated osteoclastogenesis in vitro without the presence of T cells. Furthermore, CTLA-4 was effective in inhibiting TNF-induced osteoclast formation in a non-T cell dependent TNF-induced model of arthritis as well as the formation of inflammatory bone erosion in vivo. These data suggest that CTLA-4 is an anti-osteoclastogenic molecule that directly binds osteoclast precursor cells and inhibits their differentiation. These findings are an attractive explanation for the anti-erosive effect of abatacept, a CTLA-4 immunoglobulin fusion protein used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
EVOLUTION OF THE HOUSEHOLD VEHICLE FLEET: ANTICIPATING FLEET COMPOSITION AND PHEV ADOPTION IN AUSTIN, TEXAS

In today’s world of volatile fuel prices and climate concerns, there is little study on the relation between vehicle ownership patterns and attitudes toward potential policies and vehicle technologies. This work provides new data on ownership decisions and owner preferences under various scenarios, coupled with calibrated models to microsimulate Austin’s personal-fleet evolution. Results suggest that most Austinites’ (63%, population-corrected share) support a feebate policy to favor more fuel efficient vehicles. Top purchase criteria are price, type/class, and fuel economy (with 30%, 21% and 19% of respondents placing these in their top three). Most (56%) respondents also indicated that they would consider purchasing a PHEV if it were to cost $6,000 more than its conventional, gasoline-powered counterpart. And many respond strongly to signals on the external (health and climate) costs of a vehicle’s emissions, more strongly than they respond to information on fuel cost savings. Microsimulation provides near-term estimates of Austinites’ vehicle fleet turnover, as a function of several potential policies. Results suggest that 16% of Austin’s vehicle fleet could be comprised of HEVs and another 10% as PHEVs within 5 years under immediate feebate-policy adoption and PHEV availability. An optimistic PHEV pricing scenario results in a 12% PHEV share within 5 years, while a $5-per-gallon gas price scenario suggests 6%. In the short term, tax incentives, feebates and purchase prices may well have significant effects on energy dependence and greenhouse gas emissions, alongside mode, destination and other choices. The question then becomes how quickly policymakers and auto manufacturers can act.
Improving small farmer participation in export marketing channels: perceptions of US fresh produce importers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify important elements of a strategy to facilitate small farmer participation in international supply chains for fresh produce.Design/methodology/approach – The study employs survey data collected from a national sample of US fresh produce importers. Their concerns and suggestions regarding potential for transactions with small Mexican farmers were assessed, with factor analysis providing a thematic summary of their perspectives.Findings – Results of the study reveal that US importers are not uniformly pessimistic about the ability of small farmers to meet their demands. On the contrary, almost one‐third said they probably would work with small farmers in the near future. In general, importers are interested in transactions in which the product meets consumer and government expectations and is grown on the buyer's terms, the grower is reliable over time, the transaction is simplified, and the grower handles transportation. Importers rate small farmers poorly .
Regulatory T-cell immunotherapy for allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation

From mouse studies to recently published clinical trials, evidence has accumulated on the potential use of regulatory T cells (Treg) in preventing and treating graft-versus-host disease following hematopoietic-cell transplantation (HCT). However, controversies remain as to the phenotype and stability of various Treg subsets and their respective roles in vivo, the requirement of antigen-specificity of Treg to reduce promiscuous suppression, and the molecular mechanisms by which Treg suppress, particularly in humans. In this review, we discuss recent findings that support a heterogeneous population of human Treg, address advances in understanding how Treg function in the context of HCT, and present data on recent clinical trials that highlight the feasibility and limitations on Treg immunotherapy for graft-versus-host disease.
Financial Reporting Quality and Economic Growth

We investigate whether financial reporting quality facilitates economic growth. Our hypothesis is that better reporting quality improves project identification and selection, and lowers the cost of capital, translating into faster growth. Based on the premise that information uncertainty exacerbates decision making difficulty and agency problems, and that reporting quality mitigates these problems, we predict and find that high information uncertainty industries grow disproportionately faster in countries with better reporting quality. Specifically, we find that high information uncertainty industries grow between 0.12% and 0.22% faster in countries with high reporting quality. Additional evidence using International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as an exogenous shock to reporting quality supports our hypothesis.