Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring the dynamics of building, and losing, consumer trust in B2C eBusiness

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamic nature in building and losing trust in business to consumer (B2C) eBusiness in an effort to better understand the casual nature of trust.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses system dynamics as a lens to interpret and understand the dynamic nature of building and losing trust in B2C eBusiness and reflect the structure of the trust building systems.Findings – This paper provides a four element model and then suggests the cycle of management actions the company must consider if potential customers progressing to purchases is unsatisfactory.Research limitations/implications – This paper provides a new insight into the dynamic nature trust in a B2C eBusiness. However, the intention of this paper is not to present yet another model, but to suggest how to move from the information and knowledge those models provide into a better understanding of the problem of trust in B2C. Future work will involve the validating of this model in practical sit.
Local research evidence for public health interventions against climate change in Vietnam

No abstract available. ( Published: 8 December 2014) Citation : Glob Health Action 2014, 7 : 26552 - http://dx.doi. org/10.3402/gha.v7. 26552 SPECIAL ISSUE : This paper is part of the Special Issue: Climate Change and Health in Vietnam . More papers from this issue can be found at http://www.globalhealthaction. net
Reputation asset and environmental liability

The second largest asset to a company may well be its good reputation. Environmental liabilities warrant special attention in this regard since they may well constitute the largest uncertainty in an annual report, and it is not seldom discovered that they have been underestimated. The purpose of the paper is to compile and present a road map as to how to meet the legal and other requirements, and to analyse the alternatives of proactive and reactive approaches. The legal requirements are to be found in various pieces of legislation, on different topics, and with a highly varying degree of detail. It is found that general statements, including the polluter pays principle, together with the requirements on annual reporting provide a good basis for developing a company strategy. Further information about how to plan for decommissioning and restoration, including financial planning can be found in various recommendations and standards from e.g. IAEA, OECD/NEA and ASTM, and support on cost methods is available from AACE and ISPA. More detail can be found in various open sources such as journal articles, conference proceedings and books. It is concluded that a proactive strategy, which includes early technical and financial planning, is associated with the lowest overall costs, and can eliminate many of the otherwise potentially very troublesome cost raisers. It is also concluded that with proper planning, funding is to be made using untaxed assets. Using taxed assets can constitute an efficient road block against proper decommissioning and remediation actions. It is concluded that a proactive and proper management of environmental liabilities – if properly communicated – can constitute an important asset in terms of raised confidence among share holders, customers, interested parties and others.
Suicide burden in the U.S. Air Force: 1990-2004.

OBJECTIVE To measure indirectly standardized active duty Air Force (ADAF) suicide rates. METHODS The study period was 1990-2004. ADAF suicide deaths were obtained from the Air Force Mortality Registry. ADAF population counts were obtained from the Defense Manpower and Data Center. Suicide rates for the U.S. general population were obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics. RESULTS The standardized mortality ratios (SMRs), adjusted for age, gender, and race, were: all enlisted personnel, 0.64 (95% CI: 0.59-0.69) and all officers, 0.14 (95% CI: 0.10-0.20). Adjusted for age and race, the SMRs were: enlisted men, 0.63 (95% CI: 0.58-0.68); enlisted women, 0.95 (95% CI: 0.66-1.33); officer men, 0.12 (95% CI: 0.08-0.17); and officer women, 0.67 (95% CI: 0.27-1.36). CONCLUSIONS There were significant deficits of suicides in overall enlisted personnel and in overall officers. When analyzed further by gender and rank, there were significant deficits only in enlisted men and officer men. Suicide mortality in enlisted and officer women was not significantly less compared to their general population counterparts.
Continuous-Wave Ultraviolet Generation at 349 nm by Intracavity Frequency Doubling of a Diode-Pumped $\hbox{Pr:LiYF}_{4}$ Laser

We report a continuous-wave ultraviolet laser at 349 nm obtained by intracavity frequency doubling of a diode-pumped Pr3+-doped LiYF4 laser. Power scaling of lasers at 698-nm fundamental wavelength was realized using an InGaN laser diode with a maximum output power of 850 mW and a 5-mm-long 0.5 a.t. % laser crystal. The maximum output power at 698 nm was 215 mW. With beta barium borate crystal employed as the nonlinear medium, 33 mW of output power at 349 nm has been achieved.
Mind the Gap: Why do Experts Have Differences of Opinion Regarding the Sufficiency of Audit Evidence Supporting Complex Fair Value Measurements?

Auditing fair value measurements and other complex accounting estimates (hereafter, FVMs) is a challenging area for auditors, as evidenced by repeated deficiencies reported in the PCAOB inspection reports across several years. Audit firms have publicly disagreed with some post-audit inspection reports of FVMs audit deficiencies. Regulators and PCAOB inspectors contend that the inspection findings are due to deficient auditor performance resulting in auditors obtaining insufficient evidence. Auditors’ responses to inspection findings suggest that they believe that they have complied with auditing standards and gathered sufficient evidence. Academic research to date has focused on auditors’ deficient performance as a cause of the reported deficiencies and evidence suggests deficient performance does contribute to the level of reported deficiencies. However, the fact that reported deficiencies continue to persist despite audit firms’ and regulators’ significant efforts to improve auditor performance suggests that a potential gap exists between what auditors and inspectors regard as sufficient appropriate audit evidence (hereafter, FVMs gap). Research on expertise has found that when experts are confronted with uncertain and complex tasks, disagreements among experts (e.g., inspectors and auditors) are rather common. This study investigates whether there are other factors, in addition to deficient auditor performance, contributing to the FVMs gap. We find evidence that the auditability of estimates with extreme measurement uncertainty and aspects of the current regulatory inspection process may be contributing to the gap. We also report ways that the FVMs gap may be reduced. Our findings are especially relevant in light of the PCAOB’s recent initiative to revise auditing standards related to FVMs and in its ongoing efforts to identify causes of reported deficiencies in its inspection findings.
Elevated CD16 expression by monocytes from patients with tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic syndrome.

OBJECTIVE Tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic syndrome (TRAPS) is an inherited autosomal-dominant autoinflammatory condition caused by mutations in the ectodomain of the 55-kd tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor superfamily 1A. Proinflammatory blood monocytes with the phenotype CD14+,CD16+,HLA-DR++ are a major source of TNF, and the number of such monocytes is increased during infection and inflammation. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the expression of circulating CD16+ monocytes is affected in patients with TRAPS. METHODS Peripheral blood obtained from patients with TRAPS and healthy control subjects was stained with monoclonal antibodies to detect CD14++,CD16- monocytes and CD14+,CD16+ monocytes, using flow cytometry. Lipopolysaccharide-induced TNF production was measured by intracellular cytokine staining. Activation-induced shedding of CD16 was investigated by treating blood samples with phorbol myristate acetate. RESULTS The level of CD16 expression by CD14+,CD16+ monocytes, but not their absolute number, was significantly elevated in patients with TRAPS, even though the patients were not experiencing clinically overt episodes of autoinflammation at the time of sampling. These findings are similar to those for the C-reactive protein levels and erythrocyte sedimentation rates in the same patients. The enhanced level of CD16 expression by monocytes from patients with TRAPS was not attributable to a defect in activation-induced shedding of CD16. The CD14+,CD16+ monocytes were the predominant source of TNF in both patients and healthy control subjects. CONCLUSION The level of CD16 expression by monocytes was elevated in patients with TRAPS, as a feature of the underlying constitutive inflammation status.
Acculturation and Suicide Attitudes: A Study of Perceptions about Suicide among a Sample of Ghanaian Immigrants in the United States

To investigate whether a relationship exists between acculturation and attitudes about suicide, 81 Ghanaian immigrants living in the U.S. who responded to a mail inquiry were selected to participate in the current study. This particular immigrant sample was chosen because although they represent a rapidly growing group in the U.S., they have been rarely studied. Respondents consisted of 42 women and 36 men (3 did not identify their sex), with a mean age of 29.5 yr. (SD = 10.6). Participants completed measures of acculturation and attitudes about suicide. Results indicated significant correlations between length of residency in the United States and negative suicide attitudes, and also between psychological acculturation and negative suicide attitudes. No significant relationship was found between behavioral acculturation and suicide attitudes. Furthermore, length of residency was a stronger predictor of suicide attitudes than other subjective measures of acculturation. Implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.
Financial Distress and the Value Premium

The value premium is the empirical observation that low market/book “value” stocks have higher returns than high market/book “growth” stocks. In this paper, we report evidence that there is a value premium for firms in financial distress despite the anomalous observation that firms in financial distress have low returns and low values. We argue that profitability moderates distress-risk but increases growth-leverage and, thus, we test for a U-shaped relation between returns and profitability from these offsetting forces. We also find a hill-shaped relation between market/book and profitability. A U-shaped relation between returns and profitability and a hill-shaped relation between market/book and profitability generates a value premium for firms in financial distress. When market/book is low (high or low profitability), returns are high.
Psychological Contributions to Chronicity in Asthma: Patient Response Styles Influencing Medical Treatment and Its Outcome

Research is reviewed relating to two aspects of response styles among asthmatic patients, neither of which is a mere derivative of the patient's medical condition. One aspect, indexed by panic-fear symptomatology, appears to be associated with the level of attention directed at breathing difficulties, ranging from symptom disregard (low panic-fear symptomatology) to symptom vigilance (high panic-fear symptomatology). A second aspect, indexed by a derived personality dimension, appears to be associated with the quality of the patient's reactions to acknowledged breathing difficulties, ranging from extreme independence (low panic-fear personality) to helpless and ineffective dependency (high panic-fear personality). Simply, these aspects of patient response styles refer both to the attention directed toward breathing difficulties and to the quality of the patient's reactions in response to acknowledged breathing difficulties. Their importance derives from 1) their interaction with the severity of asthma to influence medical decisions about the intensity of prescribed medications and length of hospitalization during medical treatment and 2) their effect on long-term medical outcome. Awareness of these two aspects of patient response styles should enable differential approaches to be adopted by physicians seeking to counteract psychological contributions to chronicity in asthma.
A Multilingual Analysis of Corporate Governance News

In this study, we conduct a textual analysis of media news for a sample of Chinese ADRs and compare the topics discussed by English- and Chinese-language media outlets. Our findings suggest that a large proportion of corporate governance news articles published by Chinese media outlets appear to be overlooked by the English media. Next we investigate investors’ attention to Chinese corporate governance news. Our findings are consistent with the notion that high costs associated with searching, translating and processing foreign language news creates informational frictions for foreign investors.
Evidence-based palliative care in the intensive care unit: a systematic review of interventions.

BACKGROUND Over the last 20 years, multiple interventions to better integrate palliative care and intensive care unit (ICU) care have been evaluated. This systematic review summarizes these studies and their outcomes. METHODS We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), the Cochrane Library, and the Web of Science; performed a search of articles published by opinion leaders in the field; and reviewed hand-search articles as of August 13, 2012. The terms "palliative care" and "intensive care unit" were mapped to MeSH subject headings and "exploded. " We included trials of adult patients that evaluated an ICU intervention and addressed Robert Wood Johnson group-identified domains of high-quality end-of-life care in the ICU. We excluded case series, editorials, and review articles. We compared two types of interventions, integrative and consultative, focusing on the outcomes of patient and family satisfaction, mortality, and ICU and hospital length of stay (LOS), because these were most prevalent among studies. RESULTS Our search strategy yielded 3328 references, of which we included 37 publications detailing 30 unique interventions. Interventions and outcome measures were heterogeneous, and many studies were underpowered and/or subject to multiple biases. Most of the interventions resulted in a decrease in hospital and ICU LOS. Few interventions significantly affected satisfaction. With one exception, the interventions decreased or had no effect on mortality. There was no evidence of harm from any intervention. CONCLUSIONS Heterogeneity of interventions made comparison of ICU-based palliative care interventions difficult. However, existing evidence suggests proactive palliative care in the ICU, using either consultative or integrative palliative care interventions, decrease hospital and ICU LOS, do not affect satisfaction, and either decrease or do not affect mortality.
Extracting material parameters of porcine arterial tissue at terahertz with applications to vulnerable plaque diagnosis

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a leading cause of death in the United States and industrialized countries [1]. Research conducted over the past 20 years has demonstrated that numerous types of minimal to modest stenotic atherosclerotic plaques, termed vulnerable plaques, are precursors to severe complications, including coronary thrombosis, myocardial ischemia, and sudden cardiac death. Post-mortem analyses have identified the thin-cap fibroatheroma (TCFA), a type of vulnerable plaque, as the culprit lesion in roughly 80% of sudden cardiac deaths [2–4]. Further study is necessary in order to fully understand the morphology, and thus properly diagnose and treat these lesions as means of prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD). The work presented here attempts to take the first step toward gauging the viability of terahertz imaging as a diagnostic procedure. Characterizing the material parameters of healthy arterial tissue is necessary in order to create electromagnetic models to assess the ability of terahertz to penetrate and characterize the specific structure of healthy artery, and thus be able to distinguish it from a vulnerable plaque. Though general tissues have already been characterized at these frequencies (epithelium, adipose, muscle, etc.), no study has attempted to characterize arterial tissue. Porcine tissue was chosen for study, as its biological makeup is relatable to that of a humans, and samples were easily available. Utilizing a transmission geometry THz spectrometer, measurements of the tissue’s electric properties were extracted.
Generation of conditional Mef2cloxP/loxP mice for temporal‐ and tissue‐specific analyses

Mef2c belongs to the myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2) family of MADS‐box containing transcription factors, which have been shown to be important for various processes involved in cell differentiation, cell survival, and apoptosis. Previous gene‐targeting studies have demonstrated a role for mef2c in early heart development since mice lacking mef2c die at embryonic day 9.5 due to cardiac and vascular defects. Since the early embryonic lethality of mef2c prevents an examination of its role in the later stages of heart development, conditional mef2cloxP/loxP mice were generated to allow for temporal‐ and tissue‐specific analyses. We report here that general Cre recombinase‐mediated removal of the second coding exon of mef2c phenocopied the original mef2c null. Additionally, myocardial‐specific removal of mef2c resulted in viable offspring, demonstrating that while mef2c is required for the early development of the heart, it is not necessary for the formation of the heart after looping morphogenesis. genesis 43:43–48, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Viral Dynamics and Pharmacokinetics of Peginterferon Alpha-2A and Peginterferon Alpha-2B in Naive Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C: A Randomized, Controlled Study

The two available pegylated interferon formulations, peginterferon alpha-2a and peginterferon alpha-2b, have different pharmacokinetic profiles; as a result they may have differing abilities to suppress the hepatitis C virus. A recently reported study by Formann and colleagues assessing early viral kinetics among 20 patients receiving peginterferon alpha-2b either once or twice weekly suggests that once-weekly administration of peginterferon alpha-2b is not sufficient for continuous exposure to interferon over 160 h. Twice-weekly administration is recommended to avoid increases in viral load as interferon levels decline prior to the end of the one-week dosing period. The objective of this study was to compare viral dynamics and pharmacokinetics between peginterferon alpha-2a and peginterferon alpha-2b in interferon-naive chronic hepatitis C patients. Patients were randomized to receive peginterferon alpha-2a 180 μg (n=10) or peginterferon alpha-2b 1.0 μg/kg (n=12) once weekly. Serum peginterferon concentrations were measured at baseline, 24, 48, 120 and 168 h. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA was measured at baseline, 24, 48, 120 and 168 h during week 1 and then at 4 and 12 weeks. Peginterferon alpha-2b achieved maximal serum levels at 24 h, and then decreased rapidly. Of the 12 patients who received peginterferon alpha-2b, no drug was detectable in seven (58%) patients at 120 h and in 11 (92%) at 168 h. In contrast, peginterferon alpha-2a concentrations increased continuously over time, reaching maximal serum levels from 48 to 168 h. Drug was detectable in all 10 patients at 168 h. At weeks 1 and 4 no significant difference was observed in mean HCV RNA between the groups. However, at week 12, mean HCV RNA was significantly lower in the peginterferon alpha-2a group versus the peginterferon alpha-2b group (2.8126 vs 3.8726; P<0.01). The differences in mean HCV RNA values at 12 weeks may be related to the different absorption and distribution profiles of the two drugs. In conclusion, once-weekly administration of peginterferon alpha-2b (1.0 μg/kg/wk) may be insufficient for continuous interferon exposure; twice-weekly administration may help avoid increases in viral replication as interferon levels decline. Larger-scale studies assessing both viral kinetics and sustained virological responses are needed to confirm these observations.
Theorising Racism: Exploring the Swedish racial regime

Abstract Sociologists Bonilla-Silva and Baiocchi (2001) assert that sociologists, protected by a myth of neutrality and objectivity, follow the understandings of racism in their analysis of inequality as relegated to a secondary status, either according to the Marxist tradition as the superstructure or within a Weberian framework as a form of status difference. The aim of the article is to put the study of racism, a fundamental principle of social organisation in modern society, at the centre of social theory. The aim is also to develop a productive dialogue with the traditions of Critical Race Theory (CRT), neo-Marxism and Black feminism; traditions that we will argue are highly relevant for the analysis of the Swedish racial regime.
CTHp1-8: Measurements and Modeling of Line-of-Sight UWB Channel in Underground Mines

The necessity for wireless communications in underground mines is well understood. Some companies have started to deploy modern wireless system networks in mine galleries with the objective of increasing safety and productivity. In the last decade, ultra-wideband (UWB) technology has gained much interest for its applications in wireless communications. A number of UWB channel measurement have been published in the literature. However, all these works treated environments such as office buildings, residential or industrial. This paper reports on experimental results of UWB channel characterization in underground mines. The communication channel is still not well modelled in these environments. Important channel parameters such as path loss exponent, shadow fading, spatial correlation, small-scale fading, RMS delay spread and mean excess delay are investigated. This work has been carried out at the underground communications research laboratory LRCS, and at the experimental mine CANMET (Canadian Center for Minerals and Energy Technology) in Val-d'Or, Canada.
Strategies of Coping with Green Trade Barriers for Machinery and Electronics Exports in Hunan Province

The rapid development of machinery and electronics exports in Hunan province are severely confronted with the green trade barriers from abroad.Through the quantity-restrain and price-restrain effect,the green trade barriers impede international free trade and distort resource allocation.The machinery and electronics industry in Hunan should meet the challenges from two aspects that both the government and enterprises innovate and cooperate together.
Large Surface Blebs on Escherichia coli Heated to Inactivating Temperatures

Large surface blebs were observed with phase-contrast optics on Escherichia coli B/r and Bs-1 heated to temperatures at which colony-forming ability was lost. Characterization of such blebs was consistent with the view that they were formed by a physical process and were bounded by the outer membrane of the cell. A hypothesis for thermal inactivation of E. coli is presented that places membrane damage near the primary lethal event.