Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
STATE EARNED INCOME TAX CREDITS AND PARTICIPATION IN REGULAR AND INFORMAL WORK

This paper examines how low-income single parents alter their regular and informal labor supply in response to the earned income tax credit (EITC). Variation in state EITCs from 1997–2005 identifies changes in informal and regular labor supply of unmarried low-income parents in response to tax credits. The informal-sector participation of single fathers declines by 7.3 percentage points, conditional on working in the regular sector, if a state EITC increases by 10 percent of the federal credit. Regular-sector hours worked per week increase by 4.5 hours and informal-sector hours per week fall by 2.2 hours with no significant effect on total hours.
Community-based participatory research: assessing the evidence.

ion of relevant information from eligible articles and the creation of summary evidence tables presenting the key details and findings for the articles. The EPC paired trained abstractors with a senior reviewer, who used an analyticors with a senior reviewer, who used an analytic framework to guide development of abstraction tables. The EPC researchers used the same framework to rate the quality of both the primary research and primary community-based participation elements. They rated the quality of only those studies (often represented by a set of published articles) representative of a completed intervention study evaluation, or an observational study designed to permit extrapolation beyond the study population.
Taking risks in regions: the geographical anatomy of Europe's emerging venture capital market

Over the past 25 years, the USA has pioneered a new technological revolution, based on large numbers of new small enterprises, financed by a dynamic venture (risk) capital market. The European Union, meanwhile, has lagged behind in this sector of economic activity, and compared to the US innovative small and medium enterprises appear to find it more difficult to get started and grow. At a time when regional and local banking systems - traditionally major sources of capital for small and medium sized enterprises across Europe - are undergoing intense reorganisation and restructuring, the European Commission considers the development of a substantial risk capital market to be a key condition for closing the `enterprise gap` with the US. While the venture capital industry is much less developed in Europe than it is in the US, nevertheless it has recently experienced a marked increase in activity. But whereas the European Commission argues that venture capital activity needs to be much more regionally clustered if it is to emulate the US experience, the OECD and some EU member states have argued for a more even regional distribution. The aim of the paper is to chart the growth and geographical anatomy of the emerging European venture capital market, and to examine its spatial development and regional implications in the context of these somewhat opposing views.
Pe Ratios, Peg Ratios, and Estimating the Implied Expected Rate of Return on Equity Capital

I describe a model of earnings and earnings growth and I demonstrate how this model may be used to obtain estimates of the expected rate of return on equity capital. These estimates are compared with estimates of the expected rate of return implied by commonly used heuristics—viz., the PEG ratio and the PE ratio. Proponents of the PEG ratio (which is the price‐earnings [PE] ratio divided by the short‐term earnings growth rate) argue that this ratio takes account of differences in short‐run earnings growth, providing a ranking that is superior to the ranking based on PE ratios. But even though the PEG ratio may provide an improvement over the PE ratio, it is arguably still too simplistic because it implicitly assumes that the short‐run growth forecast also captures the long‐run future. I provide a means of simultaneously estimating the expected rate of return and the rate of change in abnormal growth in earnings beyond the (short) forecast horizon—thereby refining the PEG ratio ranking. The method may also.
Measuring the cost of quality in a hotel restaurant operation

Purpose – The objective of this research is to apply the cost of quality (COQ) concepts in a hotel restaurant environment using the PAF (prevention, appraisal, and failure costs) model. Then use the percentage of sales approach to evaluate the significance of the COQ measures in the PAF model.Design/methodology/approach – This research involved reviewing available literature on the COQ framework. Then through the process of interviews and secondary data collection, an analysis of the COQ measures in the PAF model was accomplished.Findings – While researchers suggested that the COQ should be 2 to 4 percent of sales, the actual findings were 12 to 16 percent over a two‐year period. These findings help the restaurant quality management team to reevaluate the quality of food and services, and provide justification for more investment in prevention activities.Practical implications – The practical implication from this study was that an investment in prevention activities in the PAF model for the restaurant di.
Emergence of Captive Finance Companies and Risk Segmentation in Loan Markets: Theory and Evidence

A seller with some degree of market power in its product market can earn rents. In this context, there is a gain to granting credit to purchase of the product and thus to the establishment of a captive finance company. This paper examines the optimal behavior of such a durable good seller and its captive finance company. The model predicts a critical difference between the captive finance company's credit standard and that of independent lenders ("banks"), namely, that the captive finance company will adopt a more lenient credit standard. Thus, we should expect the likelihood of repayment of a captive loan to be lower than that of a bank loan, other things equal. This prediction is tested using a unique data set drawn from a major credit bureau in the United States, and the evidence supports the theoretical prediction. Copyright 2008 The Ohio State University.
Non-Debt Development Financing Mix and Implications on Nigerian Economic Growth

The development of infrastructural facilities is an impetus towards the achievement of full employment of national resources and increase in national output. Although, this could not be achieved without adequate and optimal financing options mix. Among the various developmental financing options available, this study examined the implications of no-debt financing mix on economic growth in Nigeria between a decade after independence and 2008 fiscal years. The study incorporated Foreign Private Investment, Official Development Assistance and National Savings as non-debt financing options. Domestic Interest rate and Inflation were also included. The Augmented Dickey Fuller unit root test result revealed that all the time series variables considered in this study are integrated of order one. While, the Johansen Co-integration test result revealed that their exist long-run relationship between the selected non-debt developmental financing options and macroeconomic growth in Nigeria at rank 1 and 2 for unrestricted and restricted linear deterministic test models. Proper policy recommendations were proffered based on the research findings.
Hedge Fund and Commodity Fund Investments in Bull and Bear Markets

A primary motivation for investing in hedge funds and commodity funds is to diversify against falling stock prices. The authors evaluate the performance of 16 different such funds during rising and falling stock markets between 1990 and 1998 both as stand–alone assets and as portfolio assets. They use the Sharpe ratio and alternative safety–first criteria to evaluate performance. The conclusion is that commodity funds generally provide more downside protection than hedge funds. Commodity funds have higher returns in bear markets than hedge funds, and generally have an inverse correlation with stock returns in bear markets. Hedge funds typically exhibit a higher positive correlation with stock returns in bear markets than in bull markets. Three hedge fund styles—market–neutral, event–driven, and global macro—provide fairly good downside protection with more attractive returns over all markets than commodity funds.
Barriers to Work Among Recipients of Housing Assistance

This article describes how current and former welfare recipients receiving housing assistance differ from those not receiving assistance on various potential barriers to employment. The authors evaluate whether housing-assisted welfare recipients have different welfare and employment outcomes compared with unassisted welfare recipients. They examine eight outcomes: whether employed, whether on welfare, whether sanctioned, whether left a job, months on welfare, months employed, the number of hours worked, and the natural log of wages. They find more similarities than differences between women who receive housing assistance. In the authors’ multivariate analysis, they find housing assistance is not associated with the probability of receiving welfare or being sanctioned for noncompliance with the work requirement. Additionally, they find that support for the relationship between housing assistance and work outcomes is weak. Housing assistance has no effect on the probability of being employed, the natural log of weekly earnings, the percentage of months observed working, or the percentage of months observed receiving welfare. The authors find weak support for the role of vouchers in fostering attachment with employers and the role of public housing residence in increasing the number of hours worked on all jobs.
Mapping the fMet‐tRNAfMet binding site of initiation factor IF2

The interaction between fMet‐tRNAfMet and Bacillus stearothermophilus translation initiation factor IF2 has been characterized. We demonstrate that essentially all thermodynamic determinants governing the stability and the specificity of this interaction are localized within the acceptor hexanucleotide fMet‐3′ACCAAC of the initiator tRNA and a fairly small area at the surface of the β‐barrel structure of the 90‐amino acid C‐terminal domain of IF2 (IF2 C‐2). A weak but specific interaction between IF2 C‐2 and formyl‐methionyl was also demonstrated. The surface of IF2 C‐2 interacting with fMet‐tRNAfMet has been mapped using two independent approaches, site‐ directed mutagenesis and NMR spectroscopy, which yielded consistent results. The binding site comprises C668 and G715 located in a groove accommodating the methionyl side‐chain, R700, in the vicinity of the formyl group, Y701 and K702 close to the acyl bond between fMet and tRNAfMet, and the surface lined with residues K702‐S660, along which the acceptor arm of the initiator tRNA spans in the direction 3′ to 5′.
Do Venture Capitalists Have a Continuation Bias?

Venture capitalists (VCs) follow elaborate procedures to identify the top candidates, out of countless aspiring start-ups, for financing and other types of investor support. Purportedly, VCs also carefully evaluate, based on venture performance, whether or not it deserves to receive follow-on funding. But could decision making biases interfere withthe evaluation process? In this article, we introduce the notion of a continuation bias defined as the proclivity to provide follow-on funding contingent on investor’s earlier investment. We argue that a continuation bias differs from sunk costs, status quo bias and escalation of commitment as it stems from the dual fallacy—information and narcissistic—exaggerating the benefits of greater data availability at later stages of investment and investor’s own contribution to the venture. We also argue that a continuation bias is influenced by contingency factors such that it is more likely to be observed when VCs apply competition-related rather than venture-related investment criteria. A survey of 51 VCs from the US provided support for the hypotheses.
THP-1 Cell Apoptosis in Response to Mycobacterial Infection

ABSTRACT We previously reported that Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection primes human alveolar macrophages (HAM) for tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)-mediated apoptosis and that macrophage apoptosis is associated with killing internalized bacilli. Virulent mycobacterial strains elicit much less apoptosis than attenuated strains, implying that apoptosis is a defense against intracellular infection. The present study evaluated the potential for phorbol myristate acetate-differentiated THP-1 cells to mimic this response of primary macrophages. Consistent with the behavior of alveolar macrophages, attenuated M. tuberculosis H37Ra and Mycobacterium bovis BCG strongly induce THP-1 apoptosis, which requires endogenous TNF. THP-1 apoptosis is associated with reduced viability of infecting BCG. In contrast, virulent wild-type M. tuberculosis H37Rv and M. bovis do not increase THP-1 apoptosis over baseline. BCG induced early activation of caspase 10 and 9, followed by caspase 3. In contrast, wild-type M. bovis infection failed to activate any caspases in THP-1 cells. BCG-induced THP-1 apoptosis is blocked by retroviral transduction with vectors expressing crmA but not bcl-2. We conclude that differentiated THP-1 cells faithfully model the apoptosis response of HAM. Analysis of the THP-1 cell response to infection with virulent mycobacteria suggests that TNF death signals are blocked proximal to initiator caspase activation, at the level of TNF receptor 1 or its associated intracytoplasmic adaptor complex. Interference with TNF death signaling may be a virulence mechanism that allows M. tuberculosis to circumvent innate defenses leading to apoptosis of infected host cells.
Boussignac continuous positive airway pressure device in the emergency care of acute cardiogenic pulmonary oedema: a randomized pilot study

This study aimed to assess the short-term respiratory effects of a new portable device that delivers a continuous positive airway pressure via a face mask (Boussignac-CPAP) in patients with severe acute cardiogenic pulmonary oedema, and the feasibility of using this technique in an emergency department. We prospectively studied 30 consecutive patients with acute cardiogenic pulmonary oedema. They were randomly assigned either to the Boussignac-CPAP valve, which delivered oxygen, or to standard oxygen delivery for a duration of 30 min. The end-expiratory pressure reached 9.3±0.3 cm H2O with the Boussignac-CPAP valve. At the end of the 30 min period, the decreases in respiratory rate and muscular activity were significantly greater among patients assigned to the Boussignac-CPAP valve compared with those on standard oxygen delivery [24±1.6 breaths/min, median 24 (15–37) versus 28.5±1.9, median 27 (16–38) and 1.3±0.2, median 1 (0–4) versus 2.7±0.3, median 2 (0–4), respectively]. Moreover, the arterial oxygen tension to inspired oxygen concentration ratio and tidal volume were improved at the end of the 30 min Boussignac-CPAP period compared with baseline. Boussignac-CPAP was easily implemented and no side-effects were reported. Continuous positive pressure delivered using the Boussignac-CPAP device is feasible in an emergency care setting. It can quickly improve respiratory distress in acute cardiogenic pulmonary oedema patients. A larger trial should be initiated in such an emergency care setting to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Boussignac-CPAP device.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND DECISION-MAKING STYLES AMONG MANAGERS AT SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS IN FARS PROVINCE *

Decision-making is one the main tasks of managers at all levels and there for an understanding of the factors affecting it is of particular importance. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of emotional intelligence on decision-making styles among managers of the General Department of Sports And Youths in Fars Province. To this end a correlation research design was used. The population and the sample size were the same and included 67 respondents. The instruments used in this study were Siberia Schering's Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire and Scott and Bruce's Decision Making Questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using synchronous regression analysis. The results showed that selfawareness as a component of emotional intelligence has the greatest role in predicting rational decisionmaking style. Besides, social awareness has the highest impact on predicting intuitive decision-making style. Self-motivation was found to play the most important role in predicting spontaneous decisionmaking style. The results also indicated that self-management has the greatest role in predicting avoidant decision-making style. However, it was found that none of emotional intelligence components play a role in dependency decision-making style. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that emotional intelligence plays an important role in sports management and especially in sports managers’ decisionmaking styles.
Incidental Findings on Preoperative Computed Tomography for Nonsyndromic Single Suture Craniosynostosis

Abstract Although the diagnosis of nonsyndromic single suture craniosynostosis (NSSC) can usually be made by clinical examination, computed tomography (CT) is still commonly used in preoperative evaluation. This practice has been questioned in light of recent studies that document a small, but measurable, increased risk of malignancy from CT-associated radiation. The purpose of this study was to examine whether preoperative CT for patients with NSSC provided clinically important information beyond confirmation of craniosynostosis. We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients with NSSC undergoing cranial vault remodeling at our center from March 1999 to March 2011. Only patients with complete preoperative CT scans available for review were included. Staff pediatric neurosurgeons were blinded to patient diagnosis and official radiology report, analyzed the CT images, and documented the site of synostosis and any other findings. Of the 231 patients, 80 met the inclusion criteria. Sites of synostosis included sagittal (51 patients), coronal (17 patients), metopic (11 patients), and frontosphenoidal (1 patient). Clinical diagnosis correlated with radiographic site of fusion in all patients except the patient with frontosphenoidal synostosis. Incidental findings were documented in more than 50% of the patients including prominent extra-axial cerebrospinal fluid (n = 36, 45%), ventriculomegaly (n = 5, 6.25%), choroid fissure cyst (n = 2), cavum septum pellucidum (n = 2), Chiari malformation (n = 1), and prominent perivascular space (clinically nonsignificant finding, n = 1). Incidental findings required additional follow-up or management in 5 patients (6.25%). Our findings support the use of preoperative imaging in this population to identify intracranial anomalies that cannot be discerned by clinical examination. Whereas many findings were not clinically important, some required additional attention.
Accumulation of advanced glycation end products in the rabbit blastocyst under maternal diabetes.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) during pregnancy is one of the leading causes of perinatal morbidity and birth defects. The mechanism by which maternal hyperglycemia, the major teratogenic factor, induces embryonic malformations remains unclear. Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are known to accumulate during the course of DM and contribute to the development of diabetic complications. Employing a diabetic rabbit model, we investigated the influence of maternal hyperglycemia during the preimplantation period on AGE formation (pentosidine, argpyrimidine, and N(ϵ)-carboxymethyllysine (CML)) in the reproductive tract and the embryo itself. As a consequence of type 1 DM, the AGE levels in blood plasma increased up to 50%, correlating closely with an AGE accumulation in the endometrium of diabetic females. Embryos from diabetic mothers had increased protein-bound CML levels and showed enhanced fluorescent signals for AGE-specific fluorescence in the blastocyst cavity fluid (BCF). The quantification of CML by HPLC-mass spectrometry (MS/MS) showed a higher amount of soluble CML in the BCF of blastocysts from diabetic rabbits (0.26±0.05 μmol/l) compared with controls (0.18±0.02 μmol/l). The high amount of AGEs in blastocysts from diabetic mothers correlates positively with an increased AGER (receptor for AGE (RAGE)) mRNA expression. Our study gives alarming insights into the consequences of poorly controlled maternal diabetes for AGE formation in the embryo. Maternal hyperglycemia during the preimplantation period is correlated with an increase in AGE formation in the uterine environment and the embryo itself. This may influence the development of the embryo through increased AGE-mediated cellular stress by RAGEs.
Strategic human resource management and knowledge workers: A case study of professional service firms

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of adopting a strategic approach to human resource management (HRM) in professional service firms (PSFs). It provides the empirical evidence by comparing and contrasting the adoption of a strategic approach to HRM in two Australian PSFs. , – A qualitative case study approach is adopted. Data were collected from multiple sources. The secondary sources comprised annual reports, press releases and industry reports. In total, 40 semi‐structured interviews were conducted with senior partners, professional staff, HR managers and ex‐employees of the two firms. , – The findings suggest that differences in the performance of PSFs could be explained by organizational control systems such as personnel and cultural controls. The qualitative data generated by the two PSF cases provided evidence to support the notion that strategic human resource management is an important factor in explaining firm performance. Our findings provide empirical support for the importance of strategic approaches to HRM. , – One limitation of this study is the adoption of case study method, the findings of which cannot be generalized to a wider population. Thus, the study provides only a limited body of accumulated knowledge. Future studies could adopt a longitudinal research design to test the relationships between HRM systems, control systems and firm performance. , – To be competitive, PSFs must restructure their HRM functions to allow the department to participate in strategic decision‐making. HR departments in firms should also incorporate cultural and personnel controls as a way to achieve higher levels of firm performance. , – The paper provides empirical evidence of how PSFs use HRM as a component of success.
The political and legal determinants of venture capital investments around the world

This paper investigates the political and legal determinants of cross-country differences in venture capital (VC) investments. Our results show strong and positive effects of a favorable sociopolitical and entrepreneurial environment on the inception and development of VC investment activity. Controlling for effects due to the legal system prevailing in each country, we find strong evidence that this factor plays an important role in explaining cross-sectional variance. This result conveys important normative implications: entrepreneurship and innovation benefit significantly from an active VC industry, which also allows the ignition of virtuous cycles. Activating this cycle, though, relies on some socioeconomic prerequisites that government and institutions should primarily address.