Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application of Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis to Determine Consumers' Preferences and Willingness to Pay for Grass Fed Beef in the United States

U.S. consumption of beef has declined during the last three decades. Consumer preferences have shifted toward products that are considered healthy, environmentally friendly and obtained through sustainable production methods. Because of the characteristics of grass-fed beef production, consumers are becoming more interested in grass-fed beef products than conventional beef products. A choice-based experiment was used to assess consumers preferences for grass-fed beef. A national online survey was conducted in May 2012 and the information from 4000 respondents was collected from the entire U.S. The respondents were divided in two groups of similar size: grass-fed beef eaters, comprised by the respondents who had eaten grass-fed beef in the last year and 2000 respondents from the general population. The participants were asked to evaluate three sets of three hypothetical beef steaks. Each set also included the no purchase option. In addition to the choice experiment, information regarding the consumers lifestyle, belief and attitudes towards grass-fed beef along with their demographic and socioeconomic information was requested. The attributes that consumers evaluated for the grass-fed beef choice experiment included the type of production (grass-fed or grain-fed beef) with USDA certification, source grade and price. Price was the most important attribute for consumers choice, followed by the type of production. The results revealed that on average, grass-fed beef with USDA certification was preferred over grain-fed beef. Consumers valued steaks produced in the U.S. more than imported. The interactions between the consumers demographic characteristics and the product attributes revealed that female consumers prefer grass-fed beef with USDA certification and were willing to pay more for this product. The USDA certification was valued by the consumer and certified grass-fed beef products were preferred over grass-fed beef products without certification. The analysis also showed that sustainability, novelty and convenience are consumers attitudinal and behavioral characteristics that affect their choice for grass-fed beef products. The nutrition dimension, which accounts for the consumers interest in food composition and weight control, did not affect his choice for beef products.
Customer loyalty in e-retailing: an exploratory study

This study explores the nature and dimensionality of customer loyalty within an online retailing context. Results show that many types of consumer behaviours that are typically attributed to customer loyalty in the traditional, offline context can also be found in the web-based environment. The analysis also indicates that the attitudinal dimension of e-loyalty itself is multi-dimensional and can be considered as a function of customers' present and future predispositions towards a retailer. The research highlights the complex nature of e-loyalty that is evident through the way in which its different components relate differently to one another. Two levels of e-loyalty are identified, both of which are multi-dimensional and are important to web-based retailers in different ways.
Beating heart myocardial revascularisation of a sudden cardiac death survivor with spontaneous coronary artery dissection: pitfalls from diagnosis to surgery

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a rare clinical condition with a wide range of clinical presentations ranging from asymptomatic cases to life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. The exact pathophysiological mechanism has not been fully established yet. We would like to present a survivor of sudden cardiac death presenting with ventricular fibrillation due to spontaneous coronary artery dissection. The prompt evaluation, medical management, surgical myocardial revascularisation and value of off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery are discussed.
Correlation of insulin resistance by various methods with fasting insulin in obese

Background: Several studies indicate that obesity is closely related to insulin resistance (IR). However, this relationship has not been adequately explored. Aims: This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of IR among obese using some indirect methods for assessment of IR. Materials and Methods: We analyzed the correlation of fasting insulin (FI) with body mass index. We examined 100 obese and overweight. Anthropometric measurements were done for all individuals. Blood lipids parameters, glucose, and insulin were assayed after a 10 h fast. The indices McAuley (McA), homeostasis model assessments (HOMA), quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) were used to assess IR. Results: In this study, the correlations of FI with McA, HOMA and QUICKI were significant (P < 0.05). FI test had significant sensitivity and specificity when compared with McA, HOMA and QUICKI indices. FI gives parallel results to the assessment of IR by other methods. Validity of FI was further analyzed by Cohen's kappa test and had a satisfactory agreement (χ =0.940). Conclusion: Altogether, this study suggested that FI was sensitive and also specific as McA in assessment of IR in obese. Thus, FI can be used as an easy test to detect IR also in obese.
Service delivery systems: the transformational context

This paper suggests that many of the works found within the services literature require reappraisal to ensure their relevance and utility in a radically changing business landscape. Approaching inquiry from a General Systems Theory perspective the paper proposes a new framework for future research on service design through an operations management lens. This framework suggests that research is needed to address the transformational context of service delivery systems, in particular the correlation of ‘customer input’ type with ‘transformation types’, categorized by material, information, and customer. This potentially provides archetypical forms of service delivery systems which are more closely aligned to organizational practice. These archetypes may be used for the logical derivation of future hypothetical propositions and subsequent confirmation through empirical investigation and thus provides a platform for future research. We suggest that this approach facilitates the pursuit of theory which informs organizational practice in a changing and expanding service context.
Growth Pattern and Competitiveness of Indian Shrimp Export Trade

Shrimp is the world's most important commodity accounting for about 19 percent of international seafood trade in value terms. In India's export trade shrimp contributed about 29 percent in quantity and 67 percent in value in the years 2002-2003. Thre present study was an attempt to critically examine compound growth rate and competitiveness of Indian shrimp in international seafood market based on the data collected from FAO fisheries statistics database, MPEDA statistics and Globe fish commodity update.
Transient UWB Antenna Near-Field and Far-Field Assessment From Time Domain Planar Near-Field Characterization: Simulation and Measurement Investigations

In this paper, we present the experimental validation of time domain (TD) near-field to near-field (NFNF) and near-field to far-field (NFFF) transformations for ultrawideband (UWB) antenna transient characterization. The used computation schemes for near-field to near- or far-field transformations are based on the Green's function representation of the radiated field where NF and FF are directly calculated in the TD. The first step of the validation process comprises the electromagnetic simulation results dedicated to evaluate the accuracy of NFFF and NFNF transformations. The second step uses near-field measurement data of a Vivaldi antenna to validate the developed computation schemes, whereas the measurement and calibration procedures are fully described. The measured NF data using Supelec planar and cylindrical near-field facilities are also compared with the electromagnetic simulation transient results of the Vivaldi antenna.
Research for the resonant characteristic of ultrasonic motor affected by matching circuit

Matching circuit can be used not only to improve the degree of coupling between the driving circuit and the ultrasonic motor, but also to reduce the power loss of the circuit by the tuning function themselves. The shunt inductance matching, series inductance matching and leakage inductance matching have been introduced in this paper. Some simulation and experiments have been finished to verify this view by the driving voltage waveform and the spectrum for RTWUSM which is the most widely used USM in industrial applications. All these can apply one conveniently driving circuit for researching the characteristic of RTWUSM.
Reporting Quality, SOX, and the Cost of Debt

This paper studies the heretofore unexamined effect of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) on the spread-accruals relationship. We document that SOX has no impact on the overall spread-accruals relationship but, as hypothesized, it has a moderating effect on the discretionary (but not innate) component of accruals. The latter effect however is only revealed in the subset of firms characterized by high information quality risk in the pre-SOX period. The paper also adds robustness to prior findings by reconfirming the positive relationship between accruals and cost of debt but using a sample of seasoned debt issues with available secondary market prices. Earlier studies used historical costs of debt or focused only on newly issued debt. We also reconfirm that the accrual-debt cost relationship is stronger for innate than for discretionary accruals.
Is it Appropriate for Patients to be Discharged at the Scene by Paramedics?

Abstract Background: Outcomes of patients who are discharged at the scene by paramedics are not fully understood. Objective: We aimed to describe the risk of re-presentation and/or death in prehospital patients discharged at the scene. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using linked ambulance, emergency department (ED), and death data. We compared outcomes in patients who were discharged at the scene by paramedics with those who were transported to ED by paramedics and then discharged from ED between January 1 and December 31, 2013 in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia. Occurrences of subsequent ambulance requests, ED attendance, hospital admission and death were compared between those discharged at the scene and those discharged from ED. Results: There were 47,330 patients during the study period, of whom 19,732 and 27,598 patients were discharged at the scene and from ED, respectively. Compared to those discharged from ED, those discharged at the scene were more likely to subsequently: request an ambulance (6.1% vs. 1.8%, adjusted odds ratio [adj OR] 3.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.0–3.9), attend ED (4.6% vs. 1.4%, adj OR 3.3; 95% CI 2.8–3.8), be admitted to hospital (3.3% vs. 0.8%, adj OR 4.2; 95% CI 3.4–5.1). Those discharged at the scene tended towards an increased likelihood of death (0.2% vs. 0.1%, adj OR 1.8; 95% CI 0.99–3.2) within 24 hours of discharge compared to those discharged from ED. Conclusion: Patients attended by paramedics who were discharged at the scene had more subsequent events than those who were transported to and discharged from ED. Further consideration needs to be given to who is suitable to be discharged at the scene by paramedics.
Attempts to optimize induction and consolidation treatment in acute myeloid leukemia: results of the MRC AML12 trial.

PURPOSE To optimize treatment for younger patients with acute myeloid leukemia and high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome by comparing induction options and the number of consolidation courses and whether consolidation should include transplantation. PATIENTS AND METHODS We randomly assigned 1,658 patients younger than age 60 years to receive mitoxantrone/cytarabine/etoposide versus cytarabine/daunorubicin/etoposide and subsequently 1,193 patients to daunorubicin/cytarabine/thioguanine (DAT) where the cytarabine dose was standard (S-DAT) versus double the standard dose (H-DAT). Patients in this randomization were randomly assigned to all-trans-retinoic acid or not. In consolidation, 992 patients were randomly assigned between a total of four courses versus five courses, and 324 patients who were not good risk were randomly assigned to transplantation or chemotherapy as the final course. RESULTS Complete remission (CR) was achieved in 74% of patients and CR without recovery was achieved in an additional 11%; overall survival (OS) at 8 years was 38%. No differences in CR, relapse-free survival, relapse, or OS were seen between any of the induction randomizations except for a reduction in relapse risk (RR) on the mitoxantrone arm, which was offset by increased myelosuppression and deaths in CR. The addition of a fifth course did not improve OS and may be detrimental in older patients. Although transplantation reduced RR, it did not improve OS for the intermediate-risk group but was probably of benefit in high-risk patients. CONCLUSION Several chemotherapy schedules achieved similar remission rates and OS. Four courses of chemotherapy are adequate, but the addition of transplantation as a final course does not improve OS. New agents are required to enhance conventional chemotherapy.
Design of model reference adaptive sliding mode tracking controllers for mismatched uncertain dynamic systems

Based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, a model reference adaptive sliding mode control scheme is proposed in this paper for a class of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) dynamic systems with mismatched model uncertainties and external disturbances in order to solve robust tracking problems. In this method adaptive mechanisms are employed both in sliding surface function and control effort so that once the dynamics of controlled system enter the designated sliding surface, the trajectories of tracking errors can achieve asymptotic stability even if the mismatched perturbations exist. In addition, with adaptive mechanisms embedded in the proposed control scheme, the controller is able to adapt the unknown upper bound of perturbations without requiring the information of upper bound of perturbations. A numerical example is given for demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed control scheme.
Polarized porcine trophoblastic cell lines spontaneously secrete interferon-gamma.

Following the demonstration of high levels of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) synthesis by the pig trophectoderm around implantation, an adequate experimental system was established so as to study the regulation of endogenous IFN-gamma gene. Several stable cell lines have been isolated from Day 14 and 15 pig trophoblast, that could withstand indefinite growth when cultured on collagen-coated supports. Since no feeder cells were used for culture, and cell lines could be successfully cloned, these lines represent the first pure porcine trophoblastic (TB) cell lines isolated so far. These cells were shown to exhibit most differentiation markers of epithelial cells and in addition to express the porcine trophectoderm-specific antigen SN1-38. The TB cell line A (TBA) was characterized in more details upon culture on microporous filters, where a high apico-basal polarity could be obtained. In those conditions, a transient and acute interferon-gamma secretion was detected only in the apical medium. Moreover, the two trophoblast-specific mRNA of 1.3 and 1.4 kb that have been described in the blastocyst collected in vivo were shown to be synchronously transcribed. This polarized synthesis and secretion of IFN-gamma was correlated with the acquisition of maximal levels of electric resistance of TBA monolayers on filters, and was not observed on the same cells cultured on plastic. This differentiation was maintained over 30 passages, demonstrating that the induction of IFN-gamma secretion by pig conceptus is not maternally controlled. This cellular model will be of prime importance for studies on the developmental regulation of the IFN-gamma gene, and more generally for studies on relationship between secretion and polarity in transporting epithelia.
Properties of Implied Volatility and Risk-Free Rate for Market Models with Risk-Neutral Valuation

The paper studies option price models for diffusion market with random volatility and with pricing rules based on risk-neutral valuation. It is found that there are some properties of implied volatility that are presented for all possible risk neutral measures for the case when random historical volatility does not depend on the driving Brownian motion. Properties of the pairs consisting of implied volatility and implied risk-free interest rate are also studied.
A Formal Model of Phonological Typology

One of the most contested debates in phonology concerns identifying factors that affect typology. Two lines of thought emerge in this discussion: Analytic Bias (AB) and Channel Bias (CB) approach (Moreton, 2008). The AB approach claims that cognitive biases in learning influence the typology, while the CB approach assumes phonetic precursors and transmission of language affect the typology (Moreton, 2008). Both approaches are supported by empirical evidence. Phonological processes that are typologically rare have been shown to be more difficult to learn or their learning requires more input data (e.g. Wilson, 2006; White, 2014, and many others; for a survey, see Moreton & Pater, 2012a,b). On the other hand, processes that result from phonologization of phonetically motivated sound changes with clear phonetic precursors are also typologically more frequent (Blevins, 2004). While an increasing body of work acknowledges that both AB and CB influence the typology (Moreton, 2008), very few attempts have been made to model the two approaches together: research either focuses on one or the other factor (Blevins, 2004; Kiparsky, 2006; Wilson, 2006; White, 2017, i.a.). This paper aims to fill this gap and proposes a model of phonological typology that models both AB and CB influences together. I argue that this unified model performs better in deriving the surface typology and has an advantage over the current “split” models in that it encodes not only that some processes are rare and others more frequent, but also why such typological differences arise. The first step in the direction of the new typological model are quantitative models of the two sub-components: AB and CB. While several attempts have been made to quantify and model learning of phonology (AB; Wilson, 2006; White, 2017), quantitative approaches to CB have received less attention. The most recent attempt in Cathcart (2015) is computationally too demanding and fails to provide implementable quantitative results. In the first part of this paper, I present and expand on a new model of typology within the CB approach that introduces the concept of Historical Probabilities of Alternations (Pχ ) (from Beguš, 2016). In the second part, I propose a model of typology that admits both CB and AB and employs the Maximum entropy probability distribution over candidates (Goldwater & Johnson, 2003) to derive typological probabilities. The new model of typology combines Historical Probabilities of Alternations introduced here with the learnability metric adapted from Wilson (2006) and unifies them in an MaxEnt-compatible framework.
Empirical study on initial public offering (IPO) underpricing and long-run performance: Evidence from China's A-share market

This paper studies the underpricing and long-term performance of A-share initial public offerings (IPOs) in China from June 19, 2006 to June 30, 2007. The average underpricing of A-share IPOs is 107%, and the average abnormal returns over one and three years after listing are both significantly negative at the 1% level. Considering both market risks and stock risks, abnormal returns over one year cover the interval [-1.71, -0.54], and abnormal returns over three years cover [-1.54,-0.27]. The underpricing of A-share IPOs is significantly affected by market volatility,ex-ante uncertainty, lucky number ratio, and first day trading ratio. In the long run, aftermarket abnormal returns over one year are significantly determined by market volatility, ex-ante uncertainty and, to a lesser extent, initial excess returns. Overthree years, abnormal returns are driven by market volatility, offering price, ex-ante uncertainty and first day trading ratio. It is indicated that the initial excess returnsdoes not show any influences on abnormal returns. Key words: Initial public offering (IPO), underpricing, long-run performance, China’s A-share market.
PHO TR 609 Multivariate Linear Path Models

Path analysis is useful to explain the interrelationships among sets of observed variables in a causal chain. However, path analysis has been underutilized in health science and epidemiology research, because of its restrictive requirement of a complete causal ordering of variables. In order to solve this problem, we suggest the use of multivariate path models and derive a multivariate ”Calculus of Coefficients (COC)”, which results in a partitioning of the matrix of total effects into a sum of the matrix of direct effects and all matrices of indirect effects through intermediate outcome vectors. The multivariate COC derived in this study extends the classical univariate path model and associated results to the multivariate case, where vectors of outcome variables replace single variables in the causal chain. A general methodology for inferences is developed by utilizing bootstrap methods and union-intersection tests. The methods are applied to data from the Western New York Health Study to describe the direct and indirect effects of health behaviors such as diet, smoking, drinking, and exercise on an index of risk factors called the Cardio-Metabolic Risk Index (CMRI). With its less restrictive assumption on causal ordering and its simplicity of the method for general inferences , the suggested model can be a powerful tool for examining the interrelationship among quantitative variables from the types of studies commonly undertaken in epidemiology or health science research.
Pursuing an Evidence Base to Change Nurse Staffing Policy in China

The policy-making process is different in China than in the United States. In China, the government is the sole policy maker. Administrators play an important role in policy making by influencing government with relevant data. This study was planned to provide relevant data with implications for evaluating nursing workload. Updated data was needed because 1978 standards based on the number of hospital beds were being used to determine nurse-patient workload ratios. Because of the rapid development of health sciences and technology in Chinese hospitals over the last 2 decades, the previously established standards did not meet current needs. This study explored patient diagnosis and length of stay (LOS) in 2 urban hospitals in China as a first step toward adjusting workload ratios. The study occurred within a social context that demanded updated evidence. The social context was defined by adoption of new economic marketing principles, changing nursing practice, and increasing family demands. Economic marketing principles became dominant in the healthcare delivery system after China opened to the outside world in the early 1980s, when it started economic reforms. One result was that costs of healthcare increased leading to healthcare reform. Hospitals and healthcare providers no longer get full financial support from the Chinese gov-