Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Attitudes Of Chinese Listed Enterprises Toward Cash Flow Manipulation: A Resource Dependence Perspective

The prevalence of cash flow manipulation has drawn much scholarly attention in China and worldwide, especially since the exposure of the accounting scandals at Enron, WorldCom, and Qwest. Cash flow status also provides a sound basis for corporate valuation. Using a sample of 12,251 firm-year observations from 1999 to 2009, this study thus investigates the attitudes and behavioral patterns of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs in China toward cash flow manipulation. From a point of departure of resource-dependence theory, we find that non-SOEs tend to manipulate cash flow upward, whereas SOEs are more prone to manipulate cash flow downward. We also demonstrate that non-SOEs are more inclined to manipulate their cash flow statements compared with SOEs. The reason behind this differing behavior could be that non-SOEs are reliant on cash and funds from entities, such as governments and banks, and thus, they falsely enhance cash flow and firm performance in order to signal their solvency and thereby reduce financing costs. By contrast, since SOEs always receive sufficient cash inflows from both government sources and state-owned banks, the managers of these firms are unconcerned about cash flow shortages, which lessens their motivation to manipulate the figures. Indeed, this study finds that these managers may even reduce reported cash flow intentionally in order to obtain government assistance. Therefore, investors and regulators should make their judgments on the cash flow of entities based on their status as SOEs or non-SOEs.
Intra- and Intermolecular β-Pleated Sheet Formation in Glutamine-repeat Inserted Myoglobin as a Model for Polyglutamine Diseases*

An aberrant structure of the expanded polyglutamine might be involved in the formation of aggregates in CAG repeat diseases. To elucidate structural properties of the expanded polyglutamine, we prepared sperm whale myoglobin (Mb) mutants, in which 12, 28, 35, and 50 repeats of glutamine were inserted at the corner between the C and D helices (Gln12, Gln28, Gln35, and Gln50, respectively). Circular dichroism and IR spectroscopies showed that the expanded polyglutamine, which was recognized by the monoclonal antibody 1C2 in Gln28, Gln35, and Gln50 Mb forms an antiparallel β-pleated sheet structure. Gln50 Mb aggregates were found to comprise an intermolecular antiparallel β-pleated sheet. Fluorescence together with 1H NMR spectra revealed partial unfolding of the protein surface in Gln35 and Gln50 Mb, although the structural changes in the protein core were rather small. The present results indicate that the fluctuating β-pleated sheet of the expanded polyglutamine exposed on the protein surface facilitates the formation of aggregates through intermolecular interactions. The present study has first established and characterized structural properties of a molecular model for polyglutamine diseases in which various lengths of polyglutamine including a pathologically expanded glutamine repeat were inserted into a structurally known protein.
REPAYMENT PERFORMANCE UNDER JOINT LIABILITY BORROWING. DOES SOCIAL CAPITAL MATTER?: EVIDENCE FROM ARMENIA

The aim of this paper is to test empirically the role of both cognitive and structural social capital in explaining the repayment performance of individual members under joint liability borrowing in rural Armenia. Based on unique primary data collected in 2006 in Ararat, Armavir and Vayots Dzor provinces, overall 86 observations, we estimated the Logit model to identify the determinants associated with good or bad repayment behavior of individual members. The results revealed that the members with higher level of structural and cognitive social capital as well as with higher farm productivity performed better. This indicates the importance of social as well as economic determinants for the decision and the ability of borrowers to repay the credit.
T‐cells in the cerebrospinal fluid express a similar repertoire of inflammatory chemokine receptors in the absence or presence of CNS inflammation: implications for CNS trafficking

It is believed that chemokines and their receptors are involved in trafficking of T‐cells to the central nervous system (CNS). The aim of the current study was to define the expression on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) T‐cells of six chemokine receptors associated with trafficking to sites of inflammation. Flow cytometry was used to detect chemokine receptor expression. We observed that CD3+T‐cells in the CSF express a restricted array of inflammatory chemokine receptors, specifically CXCR3, CCR5 and CCR6, but little CCR1‐3. This repertoire was independent of the presence of CNS inflammation, since comparable findings were obtained in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and individuals with non‐inflammatory neurological diseases. The enrichment of CCR5+T‐cells in the CSF could largely be explained by higher frequency of CD4+/CD45RO+T‐cells in this compartment. In contrast, CD4+/CD45RO+T‐cells expressing CXCR3 were significantly enriched in CSF as compared with blood. Similar levels of CCR6+/CD3+T‐cells were observed in blood and CSF, while levels of CCR2+/CD3+T‐cells were lower in CSF than in blood. The CSF was virtually devoid of CCR5+/CXCR3‐ T‐cells, suggesting that the expression of CCR5 alone is not sufficient for the trafficking of CD3+T‐cells to the CSF. We hypothesize that CXCR3 is the principal inflammatory chemokine receptor involved in intrathecal accumulation of T‐cells in MS. Through interactions with its ligands, CXCR3 is proposed to mediate retention of T‐cells in the inflamed CNS.
Identification of Acidic and Aromatic Residues in the Zta Activation Domain Essential for Epstein-Barr Virus Reactivation

ABSTRACT Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) lytic cycle transcription and DNA replication require the transcriptional activation function of the viral immediate-early protein Zta. We describe a series of alanine substitution mutations in the Zta activation domain that reveal two functional motifs based on amino acid composition. Alanine substitution of single or paired hydrophobic aromatic amino acid residues resulted in modest transcription activation defects, while combining four substitutions of aromatic residues (F22/F26/W74/F75) led to more severe transcription defects. Substitution of acidic amino acid residue E27, D35, or E54 caused severe transcription defects on most viral promoters. Promoter- and cell-specific defects were observed for some substitution mutants. Aromatic residues were required for Zta interaction with TFIIA-TFIID and the CREB-binding protein (CBP) and for stimulation of CBP histone acetyltransferase activity in vitro. In contrast, acidic amino acid substitution mutants interacted with TFIIA-TFIID and CBP indistinguishably from the wild type. The nuclear domain 10 (ND10) protein SP100 was dispersed by most Zta mutants, but acidic residue mutations led to reduced, while aromatic substitution mutants led to increased SP100 nuclear staining. Acidic residue substitution mutants had more pronounced defects in transcription activation of endogenous viral genes in latently infected cells and for viral replication, as measured by the production of infectious virus. One mutant, K12/F13, was incapable of stimulating EBV lytic replication but had only modest transcription defects. These results indicate that Zta stimulates viral reactivation through two nonredundant structural motifs, one of which interacts with general transcription factors and coactivators, and the other has an essential but as yet not understood function in lytic transcription.
Management of community-acquired pediatric pneumonia in an era of increasing antibiotic resistance and conjugate vaccines

The antibiotic management of infants and children with pneumonia is based on the clinician’s assessment of the most likely infecting pathogens, the susceptibilities of the infecting pathogens and the seriousness of the illness. The bacterial etiology of pneumonia changed significantly following the universal use of protein-conjugated vaccines for Haemophilus influenzae type b. Similar significant changes are likely to occur with universal use of protein-conjugated vaccines for Streptococcus pneumoniae, requiring the clinician to alter assumptions of the risk of invasive bacterial infection in the child who presents with pneumonia. New strategies are likely to require fewer ancillary tests (e.g. white blood cell count, C-reactive protein and blood culture) and suggest a decreased need for empiric antibiotic therapy. Although the majority of lower respiratory tract infections in children have a viral etiology and are not amenable to antibiotic therapy, for the seriously ill child who is thought to be likely to have pneumonia caused by a bacterial pathogen, recent changes in the susceptibility patterns of both common organisms such as S. pneumoniae and more unusual pulmonary pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus have forced changes in the selection of both empiric and definitive antibiotic therapy. Third generation cephalosporins ceftriaxone and cefotaxime appear to be effective therapy for pneumonia caused by virtually all current isolates of S. pneumoniae. In contrast antibiotic regimens for life-threatening pulmonary infections in which Staphylococcus aureus is a suspected pathogen should include vancomycin.
Beta, size and value effects on the JSE, 1994–2007

ABSTRACT This paper builds on the observations of Van Rensburg and Robertson (2003a), who found persistent size and price-earnings effects in the cross-section of returns on the JSE, but surprisingly found that beta had, if anything, an inverse relationship with returns. Based on stock returns from January 1994 to October 2007, this portfolio-based study finds support for these earlier findings. However, when betas are estimated by the Dimson Aggregated Coefficients method with a lead and lag of at least three months, to compensate for the weaknesses of Ordinary Least Squares regression in the face of thin trading, the relationship between beta and return loses its statistical significance. We are left with the conclusion that beta has no predictive power for returns on the JSE, invalidating the CAPM, at least as it is commonly applied, based on a market proxy of the All- Share Index. We find further that the size premium is concentrated in the smallest stocks on the JSE, with no significant difference in returns between the four largest quintiles, and tentative evidence that it has been reducing over time.
A prognosis approach for systems with Alternative Degradation and Recovery

There are various industrial products whose performances deteriorate with time yet recovers under some special conditions. However, prognosis approaches addressing degradation process including recoveries are rarely mentioned by the existing literature. In this paper, an approach is presented to estimate the remaining useful life (RUL) of systems with alternative degradations and recoveries, which are related to the switching state transitions during the system's operation process. To depict the stochastic characteristic of the operating process, a continuous-time Markovian model (CTMM) is constructed and incorporated into the RUL estimate procedure. After identifying the degradation, recovery models and the operating model based on the available historical information, RUL distribution is obtained through a Monte-Carlo simulation based algorithm. The proposed approach differs from other degradation modeling based methods in that the influence of recoveries on the degradation paths has been considered. At the end of the paper, a case study of the aging of Li-ion batteries has also been provided to illustrate and demonstrate the proposed approach.
Will People Be Healthy Enough to Work Longer?

If Americans continue to retire at age 63, a great many will risk income shortfalls especially at older ages. Because work directly increases current income, Social Security benefits, retirement saving, and decreases the length of retirement, a logical solution would be to increase the age of retirement. But are Americans healthy enough to work longer? Using the National Health Interview Study, this paper shows that healthy life expectancy increased by about three years over 1970-2000 for the average 50-year old man. This increase is largely the result of men moving up the education ladder, with minimal increases within educational groups. Moreover, major disparities in healthy life expectancy remain between those in the bottom and top quartiles of the population. And these disparities mean that a vulnerable portion of the population – perhaps those who most need to work longer – might not be able to extend their work lives.
An actuated force feedback‐enabled laparoscopic instrument for robotic‐assisted surgery

Robotic‐assisted minimally invasive surgery systems not only have the advantages of traditional laparoscopic instruments but also have other important advantages, including restoring the surgeon's hand–eye coordination and improving the surgeon's precision by filtering hand tremors. Unfortunately, these benefits have come at the expense of the surgeon's ability to feel. Various solutions for restoring this feature have been proposed.
Arterial spin labeling‐fast imaging with steady‐state free precession (ASL‐FISP): a rapid and quantitative perfusion technique for high‐field MRI

Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is a valuable non‐contrast perfusion MRI technique with numerous clinical applications. Many previous ASL MRI studies have utilized either echo‐planar imaging (EPI) or true fast imaging with steady‐state free precession (true FISP) readouts, which are prone to off‐resonance artifacts on high‐field MRI scanners. We have developed a rapid ASL‐FISP MRI acquisition for high‐field preclinical MRI scanners providing perfusion‐weighted images with little or no artifacts in less than 2 s. In this initial implementation, a flow‐sensitive alternating inversion recovery (FAIR) ASL preparation was combined with a rapid, centrically encoded FISP readout. Validation studies on healthy C57/BL6 mice provided consistent estimation of in vivo mouse brain perfusion at 7 and 9.4 T (249 ± 38 and 241 ± 17 mL/min/100 g, respectively). The utility of this method was further demonstrated in the detection of significant perfusion deficits in a C57/BL6 mouse model of ischemic stroke. Reasonable kidney perfusion estimates were also obtained for a healthy C57/BL6 mouse exhibiting differential perfusion in the renal cortex and medulla. Overall, the ASL‐FISP technique provides a rapid and quantitative in vivo assessment of tissue perfusion for high‐field MRI scanners with minimal image artifacts. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Subsidiary-level outcomes of expatriate staffing: an empirical examination of MNC subsidiaries in the USA

This study examines the relationship between expatriate staffing levels and subsidiary performance among the US subsidiaries of foreign companies headquartered in Europe and Japan. Expatriate staffing is hypothesised to be indirectly related to subsidiary performance – through its differential impact on four globally versus locally desired outcomes. Drawing from the MNC strategy literature, it is argued that expatriate staffing in subsidiaries will be positively related to subsidiaries’ degree of shared vision with and the amount of knowledge transferred from their parent companies, but negatively related to their ability to become locally responsive to and their level of local adaptation to host markets. Based on liability of foreignness theory, these four intermediate mechanisms are proposed to be positively related to subsidiary performance. Results support some of the hypotheses and offer several new insights into the international staffing literature.
Do Wages Continue Increasing at Older Ages? Evidence on the Wage Cushion in the Netherlands

In this study, we investigate the anatomy of older workers’ wages. The central question is whether the wage cushion—i.e., the difference between actual wages and collectively agreed-upon (maximum) contractual wages—contributes to the fact that wages continue increasing at older ages. We follow the wages of individual workers in twenty-two sectors of industry in the Netherlands using administrative data for the period 2006–2010. In the public sector, we find no evidence of a wage cushion. Wage scale ceilings set in collective agreements are guiding for older workers’ wages, and workers earning a contractual wage equal to a wage scale ceiling are not compensated with higher additional wages. In the private sector, we do find evidence of a wage cushion. Wage scale ceilings are less restrictive and workers earning a contractual wage exceeding the highest wage scale ceiling experience higher contractual wage growth. The private sector wage cushion enhances wage differentiation and allows for wages that continue increasing at older ages.
RBCK1 Negatively Regulates Tumor Necrosis Factor- and Interleukin-1-triggered NF-κB Activation by Targeting TAB2/3 for Degradation*

Inflammation is a homeostatic mechanism that limits the effects of infectious agents. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin (IL)-1 are two cytokines that induce inflammation through activation of the transcription factor NF-κB. Various studies have suggested that two homologous and structurally related adapter proteins TAB2 and TAB3 play redundant roles in TNF- and IL-1-mediated NF-κB activation pathways. Both TAB2 and TAB3 contain CUE, coiled-coil, and nuclear protein localization 4 zinc finger (NZF) domains. The NZF domains of TAB2/3 are critical for TAB2/3 to bind to Lys63-linked polyubiquitin chains of other adaptor proteins, such as receptor-interacting protein and TRAF6, which are two signaling proteins essential for TNF- and IL-1-induced NF-κB activation, respectively. In a search for proteins containing NZF domains conserved with those of TAB2/3, we identified RBCK1, which has been shown to act as an E3 ubiquitin ligase in iron metabolism. Overexpression of RBCK1 negatively regulates TAB2/3-mediated and TNF- and IL-1-induced NF-κB activation, whereas knockdown of RBCK1 by RNA interference potentiates TNF- and IL-1-induced NF-κB activation. RBCK1 physically interacts with TAB2/3 and facilitates degradation of TAB2/3 through a proteasome-dependent process. Taken together, our findings suggest that RBCK1 is involved in negative regulation of inflammatory signaling triggered by TNF and IL-1 through targeting TAB2/3 for degradation.
The Aggregate Implications of Machine Replacement: Theory and Evidence

This paper studies an economy in which producers must incur resource costs to replace depreciated machines. The process of costly replacement and depreciation creates endogenous fluctuations in productivity, employment and output of a single producer. We also explore the spillover effects of machine replacement by multiple, independent producers. The implications of our model are generally consistent with observed monthly output and productivity fluctuations in automobile plants and with monthly variations in employment and production in the manufacturing sector.
Rural Resident Tourism Perceptions And Attitudes By Community Level Of Tourism

Focusing on the residents of 28 rural Colorado communities, this research examines differences in resident tourism perceptions and attitudes across communities categorized on the basis of the community's existing level of tourism. The results indicate that the perceived impacts of tourism, both positive and negative, increase with increasing levels of tourism. With respect to resident attitudes toward additional tourism development, however, the results suggest that resident attitudes initially increase in favorability with increasing tourism development, but achieve a threshold level of development beyond which attitudes become less favorable. In this study, this threshold was achieved when approximately 30% ofthe community's retail sales were derivedfrom tourism. Finally, the results also indicate that resident supportfor special tourism user fees and taxes increases with increasing levels of tourism development.
ICT in Education in Namibia

This short Country Report, a result of a larger infoDev-supported Survey of ICT in Education in Africa, provides a general overview of current activities and issues related to ICT use in education in the country. The data presented here should be regarded as illustrative rather than exhaustive. ICT use in education is at a particularly dynamic stage in Africa; new developments and announcements happening on a daily basis somewhere on the continent. Therefore, these reports should be seen as “snapshots” that were current at the time they were taken; it is expected that certain facts and figures presented may become dated very quickly.
Extreme metal adapted, knockout and knockdown strains reveal a coordinated gene expression among different Tetrahymena thermophila metallothionein isoforms

Metallothioneins (MT) constitute a superfamily of small cytosolic proteins that are able to bind metal cations through numerous cysteine (Cys) residues. Like other organisms the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila presents several MT isoforms, which have been classified into two subfamilies (Cd- and Cu-metallothioneins). The main aim of this study was to examine the specific functions and transcriptional regulation of the five MT isoforms present in T. thermophila, by using several strains of this ciliate. After a laboratory evolution experiment over more than two years, three different T. thermophila strains adapted to extreme metal stress (Cd2+, Cu2+ or Pb2+) were obtained. In addition, three knockout and/or knockdown strains for different metallothionein (MT) genes were generated. These strains were then analyzed for expression of the individual MT isoforms. Our results provide a strong basis for assigning differential roles to the set of MT isoforms. MTT1 appears to have a key role in adaptation to Cd. In contrast, MTT2/4 are crucial for Cu-adaptation and MTT5 appears to be important for Pb-adaptation and might be considered as an “alarm” MT gene for responding to metal stress. Moreover, results indicate that likely a coordinated transcriptional regulation exists between the MT genes, particularly among MTT1, MTT5 and MTT2/4. MTT5 appears to be an essential gene, a first such report in any organism of an essential MT gene.
The implementation and adoption of new technology in organizations: The impact on work, people, and culture

This article examines the impact of computer technology on the workforce and workplace. It summarizes research and examines in practice the implementation and adoption of new technology in companies. Two cases are presented: a metal fabrication factory and a professional publishing company. Results of a pre-implementation survey given to personnel in the factory highlight how a top-down change strategy and worker's sense of mistrust and inequity, led to problems with the introduction of computerized machinery and control systems. Surveys taken one and three years after the introduction of word processing and data-based management tools in the publishing company, by comparison, show how a more participatory change strategy coupled with extensive user training and support, contribute to success with technological change and alter perceptions of the company culture.
Use of bacteriophage P1 as a vector for Tn5 insertion mutagenesis

Infection of a strain lysogenic for bacteriophage P1 CM with P1::Tn5 followed by simultaneous selection for the chloroamphenicol resistance associated with the resident prophage and the kanamycin resistance associated with Tn5 results in a large number of independent Tn5 insertion mutations. This superinfection-selection protocol is a fast, easy, and safe way to isolate null mutations in enteric bacteria without generating unwanted cryptic mutations elsewhere in the genome.