Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Business Travelers’ Intention to Purchase: The Application of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

ABSTRACT This research focused on parameters of e-comments effecting business travelers’ intention to purchase a hotel room. In order to explore the relationships among behavioral belief toward ease of use and usefulness of e-comments with intention to purchase, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used. The results of this research indicated a positive relationship between usefulness of e-comments and business travelers’ intention to purchase. The study also found that age was a moderating effect on ease of use of e-comments. The findings of this research can help both hoteliers and online-review website operators. Since business travelers are considered an important target market in the hotel industry, hoteliers need to put more emphasis on these factors to attract more business travelers. On the other hand, online-review website operators should design websites that make it easier for users to write and read e-comment reviews.
Musculotendinous transfer as a treatment option for irreparable posterosuperior rotator cuff tears: Teres major or latissimus dorsi?

Irreparable posterior cuff tears can cause pain and lack of shoulder function. Surgical treatment includes musculotendinous transfers of either latissimus dorsi (LD) or teres major (TM). This study aimed to give a detailed description of the morphology of these two muscles with particular regard to their suitability for use in transfers. Sixty‐two shoulders in 31 cadaveric specimens (mean age 50 years) were dissected. The mean length of the TM was 13.7 cm at its superior edge while the distance from the muscle origin to the greater tuberosity (GT) was 19.2 cm. The tendon of the TM had a length of 1.5 cm, a width of 3.4 cm, and a thickness of 1.3 mm. The mean length of the LD was 26.0 cm and the distance from its origin to the GT was 32.9 cm. The mean length of the LD tendon was 5.2 cm, its width 2.9 cm, and its thickness 1.0 mm. The increased length required to achieve transfer was 47% (of the original length) for TM and 33% for LD. Both TM and LD could reach the GT with ease, according to the potential muscle excursions. Tension of the neurovascular bundle is more probable with LD because it enters the muscle relatively closer to the tendon. Problems with regard to reattachment may be more likely to occur in a transfer of the TM because of its short tendon. Clin. Anat. 20:919–923, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Input of Protein to Lake Water Microcosms Affects Expression of Proteolytic Enzymes and the Dynamics ofPseudomonas spp

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to determine how an input of protein to lake water affects expression of a proteolytic potential and influences the abundance and composition of a specific group of bacteria. Pseudomonas spp. were chosen as a target group that can be recovered on selective growth media and contain both proteolytic and nonproteolytic strains. Amendment with 2 mg of casein per liter increased total proteinase activity (hydrolysis of [3H]casein) by 74%, leucine-aminopeptidase activity (hydrolysis of leucine-methyl-coumarinylamide) by 133%, bacterial abundance by 44%, and phytoplankton biomass (chlorophylla) by 39%. The casein amendment also increased the abundance of culturable Pseudomonas spp. by fivefold relative to control microcosms but did not select for proteolytic isolates. Soluble proteins immunochemically related to thePseudomonas fluorescens alkaline proteinase, AprX, were detected in amended microcosms but not in the controls. The expression of this class of proteinase was confirmed exclusively for proteolyticPseudomonas isolates from the microcosms. The population structure of Pseudomonas isolates was determined from genomic fingerprints generated by universally primed PCR, and the analysis indicated that casein amendment led to only minor shifts in population structure. The appearance of AprX-like proteinases in the lake water might thus reflect a general induction of enzyme expression rather than pronounced shifts in the Pseudomonaspopulation structure. The limited effect of casein amendment onPseudomonas population structure might be due to the availability of casein hydrolysates to bacteria independent of their proteinase expression. In the lake water, 44% of the total proteinase activity was recovered in 0.22-μm-pore-size filtrates and thus without a direct association with the bacteria providing the extracellular enzyme activity. Since all Pseudomonasisolates expressed leucine-aminopeptidase in pure culture, proteolytic as well as nonproteolytic pseudomonads were likely members of the bacterial consortium that metabolized protein in the lake water.
Bandwidth maximization of a vertical U-shaped folded dipole antenna designed for WiMAX

This study presents the method of maximizing the resonant bandwidth of a vertical U-shaped folded dipole antenna (VUFDA) that projects from a small ground plane, designed for WiMAX applications in two frequency bands of 2.3~2.7 GHz and 3.4~3.8 GHz. By applying a suitable formulation of the objective function which represents the resonant bandwidth of VUFDA in a particle swarm optimization (PSO), an optimal shape of VUFDA is derived, which has the maximum possible bandwidth that includes the two WiMAX bands (2.31~4.3 GHz for VSWR≤3).
A Comparative Study of Medium-Voltage Power Converter Topologies for Plasma Torch Under Dynamic Operating Conditions

This paper compares several medium-voltage power conversion systems for plasma torch application. The thermal plasma torch rated for 3 MW, 2 kA with the physical size of 1 m long is selected. The dynamic characteristics of the dc arc in a plasma torch are investigated using advanced 3-D magnetohydrodynamics simulation. The arc voltage noise of plusmn10% due to the periodic pressure wave is modeled as a sawtooth waveform in arc power loss term. The parameters of the Cassie-Mayr arc model are calculated based on 3-D simulation. A 12-pulse thyristor rectifier and two-phase staggered three-level step-down dc-dc converter having 12-pulse front-end diode rectifier are compared under the same dynamic operating condition. The three-level dc-dc converter has superior dynamic performance over the 12-pulse thyristor rectifier under the existence of arc disturbance noise. This power converter topology provides higher ignition voltage around 5 kV during ignition phase and higher arc stability.
Absorption of carotene from carrots in man and the use of the quantitative chromic oxide indicator method in the absorption experiments.

Shaw, J. C. & Petersen, W. E. (1938a). Amer. J. Physiol. 123, 183. Shaw, J. C. & Petersen, W. E. (1938b). Proc. Soc. exp. Biol., N.Y. , 38, 632. Snedecor, G. W. (1940). Stati8tical meth4d8, 3rd ed. Iowa: Iowa State College Press. Stadie, W. C. (1945). Phy8iol. Rev. 25, 395. Takehara, H. (1938). J. Biochem. Tokyo, 28, 309. Turner, C. W. (1939). Sex and internal 8ecretions, 2nd ed. Chap. 11. Edited by E. Allen, London and Baltimore: Bailli6re, Tindall and Cox. Van Slyke, D. D. & ,Archibald, R. M. (1946). J. biol. Chem. 165, 293. Weatherford, H. L. (1929). Amer. J. Anat. 44, 199. Woodman, H. E. & Hammond, J. (1923). J. agric. Sci. 13, 180.
Physical activity, sedentary index, and mental disorders in the SUN cohort study.

PURPOSE There is evidence to suggest a beneficial effect of physical activity on several mental disorders. METHODS The study aim was to assess the association between low physical activity during leisure time (or sedentary lifestyles) and the incidence of mental disorders in 10,381 participants, from a Spanish dynamic prospective cohort of university graduates followed up for 6 yr (the SUN study). The baseline assessment included a validated questionnaire on physical activity during leisure-time and sedentary activities. A subject was classified as an incident case of mental disorder if he or she reported a physician diagnosis of depression, anxiety or stress, and/or the use of antidepressant medication or tranquilizers in at least one of the follow-up questionnaires. RESULTS The odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of a mental disorder for successive levels of leisure-time physical activity were 1 (reference), 1.00 (0.81, 1.23), 0.99 (0.81, 1.21), 0.72 (0.58, 0.89), and 0.81 (0.65, 1.00) (P for trend: < 0.01). The OR for subjects who spent more than 42 h.wk(-1) watching television and/or using the computer was 1.31 (95% CI = 1.01, 1.68) as compared with those spending less than 10.5 h.wk(-1). CONCLUSION Our findings suggest a joint association of leisure-time physical activity and sedentary behavior on the incidence of mental disorders.
Crime and Punishment in Taxation: Deceit, Deterrence, and the Self-Adjusting Penalty

Avoidance and evasion continue to frustrate the government's efforts to collect much needed tax revenues. This article articulates one of the reasons for this lack of success and proposes a new type of penalty that would strengthen tax enforcement while improving efficiency. The economic analysis of deterrence suggests that rational taxpayers choose among various avoidance or evasion strategies that are subject to identical statutory sanctions those that are more difficult for the government to find. I argue that many taxpayers do just that. Because probability of detection varies dramatically among different items on a tax return while nominal penalties do not take likelihood of detection into account, expected penalties for inconspicuous noncompliance are particularly low. Adjusting existing penalties will not solve the problem because what is (and is not) inconspicuous depends on a given tax return and, therefore, is not susceptible to the type of generalization on which the current penalties rely. I propose to complement the existing sanctions with a new penalty equal to a fraction of the legitimate subtraction item (such as a deduction, credit, or loss) reported on the same line of a return that contains the illegitimate one. With this penalty in place, the harder it is for the government to find a given avoidance transaction, the higher is the statutory sanction if the transaction is detected. The proposed penalty adjusts itself. As a result, the differences in expected penalties for many forms of avoidance and, to a lesser extent, evasion are reduced, the inefficient incentive to hide noncompliance is diminished, and the overall deterrence is improved.
Understanding vacation destination choice through travel motivation and activities

In describing research into tourists' motivations Krippendorf suggested that many of the quoted motives are nothing but empty boxes, which every individual may fill with quite different contents'. 1 The central proposal of the present paper is that activities are important items in these motive boxes. The authors argue that activities are the critical link between tourist motivation and destination choice and develop a model in which travel motivations are related through activity preferences to vacation destination choice. These proposed relationships were tested through a secondary analysis of survey data collected from 1,503 Australian outbound travellers. These analyses did reveal consistent relationships between travel motivation and activities and between activities and features of preferred destinations.
Implied alignment: a synapomorphy‐based multiple‐sequence alignment method and its use in cladogram search

A method to align sequence data based on parsimonious synapomorphy schemes generated by direct optimization (DO; earlier termed optimization alignment) is proposed. DO directly diagnoses sequence data on cladograms without an intervening multiple‐alignment step, thereby creating topology‐specific, dynamic homology statements. Hence, no multiple‐alignment is required to generate cladograms. Unlike general and globally optimal multiple‐alignment procedures, the method described here, implied alignment (IA), takes these dynamic homologies and traces them back through a single cladogram, linking the unaligned sequence positions in the terminal taxa via DO transformation series. These “lines of correspondence” link ancestor–descendent states and, when displayed as linearly arrayed columns without hypothetical ancestors, are largely indistinguishable from standard multiple alignment. Since this method is based on synapomorphy, the treatment of certain classes of insertion–deletion (indel) events may be different from that of other alignment procedures. As with all alignment methods, results are dependent on parameter assumptions such as indel cost and transversion:transition ratios. Such an IA could be used as a basis for phylogenetic search, but this would be questionable since the homologies derived from the implied alignment depend on its natal cladogram and any variance, between DO and IA + Search, due to heuristic approach. The utility of this procedure in heuristic cladogram searches using DO and the improvement of heuristic cladogram cost calculations are discussed.
An Evaluation of the Investment Strategy Based on Book-to-Market Ratio and Other Financial Indicators

This work aims at refining and complementing the analysis of portfolios composed of commercial papers from companies with high Book-to-Market ratio, which were dealt in BOVESPA from 2004 to 2008, through the creation of an one-dimensional variable, called F_total. It synthesizes data from financial indicators of companies’ liquidity, profitability and gearing. The adoption of such evaluation strategy can also be characterized as a value investing strategy. The idea is to compare companies’ performance not only based on BM ratio, but also drawing attention to their financial performance. Furthermore, this work tries to identify which are the determinants of returns from high BM companies by using the pooled Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method. In summary, the results show that high and low BM shares returns are statistically the same and that the use of refining based on financial indicators is not enough to identify which shares have the highest returns in the Brazilian market. The results obtained from the test are corroborated by the statistical insignificance presented by the variable F_total in the model estimated by pooled OLS.
Aging in Place in Every Community: Social Exclusion Experiences of Parents of Adult children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

This article offers an examination of aging processes of lifelong caregivers and the possibilities for social exclusion place experienced by parents of adult children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study of parental caregivers (n = 51) sheds light on how enduring caregiving roles can lead to social exclusion in three ways: misunderstanding of ASD and stigma, the complexity of the caregiving roles, and impact on daily routines including challenges with long-term planning for both the adult children and the parental caregivers. Implications for practice to address social exclusion include education and building greater communication ties among family member for family members and advocacy for more and higher quality services including respite care. This article concludes with discussion of the impact of this aging, yet caregiving population and the need for knowledge about aging processes and anticipating aging for these caregivers.
Immobilization Techniques to Avoid Enzyme Loss from Oxidase-Based Biosensors: A One-Year Study

Background: Continuous amperometric sensors that measure glucose or lactate require a stable sensitivity, and glutaraldehyde crosslinking has been used widely to avoid enzyme loss. Nonetheless, little data is published on the effectiveness of enzyme immobilization with glutaraldehyde. Methods: A combination of electrochemical testing and spectrophotometric assays was used to study the relationship between enzyme shedding and the fabrication procedure. In addition, we studied the relationship between the glutaraldehyde concentration and sensor performance over a period of one year. Results: The enzyme immobilization process by glutaraldehyde crosslinking to glucose oxidase appears to require at least 24-hours at room temperature to reach completion. In addition, excess free glucose oxidase can be removed by soaking sensors in purified water for 20 minutes. Even with the addition of these steps, however, it appears that there is some free glucose oxidase entrapped within the enzyme layer which contributes to a decline in sensitivity over time. Although it reduces the ultimate sensitivity (probably via a change in the enzyme's natural conformation), glutaraldehyde concentration in the enzyme layer can be increased in order to minimize this instability. Conclusions: After exposure of oxidase enzymes to glutaraldehyde, effective crosslinking requires a rinse step and a 24-hour incubation step. In order to minimize the loss of sensor sensitivity over time, the glutaraldehyde concentration can be increased
Firm R&D, Processing Trade and Input Trade Liberalisation: Evidence from Chinese Firms

This paper examines the impact of input trade liberalisation on firm R&D activity by taking China's accession to the WTO as a quasi-natural experiment. Different from ordinary imports, processing imports in China enjoy zero tariffs and are not affected by input trade liberalisation due to the WTO accession. The paper uses disaggregated firm-level production data and transaction-level trade data to perform difference-in-difference analysis by taking processing import firms as a control group. An intensive empirical search shows that after China's accession to the WTO, input trade liberalisation fostered firm R&D significantly. The findings are robust to different measures and various empirical specifications.
Treatment of adults with BCR‐ABL negative acute lymphoblastic leukaemia with a modified paediatric regimen

Between 2000 and 2006, 85 adult BCR‐ABL negative acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) patients between 18 and 60 years of age were treated using a modified paediatric regimen, which included high doses of asparaginase delivered weekly for 30 weeks during intensification. The complete response rate with induction therapy was 89%, and decreased with increasing age, mainly due to higher induction mortality. All post‐induction treatments were delivered on an outpatient basis. The most common complications during intensification were infections (47%), osteonecrosis (32%), venous thromboembolism (23%) and neuropathy (22%). At a median follow‐up of 4 years, the 5‐year overall survival (OS) and relapse‐free survival (RFS) were 63% and 71%, respectively. Significant adverse predictors for OS were age >35 years, high white blood cell count, MLL rearrangement, allogeneic stem cell transplantation in first complete remission and <80% of the planned asparaginase dose delivered during intensification. Patients aged ≤35 years had a 3 year OS of 83%, as compared to 52% for patients aged >35 years. We conclude that the administration of this paediatric regimen is feasible and has considerable activity in adult ALL, particularly in younger patients. Effective delivery of asparaginase dosing appears to be important in achieving an optimal antileukaemic effect.
Toward Discovery Support Systems: A Replication, Re-Examination, and Extension of Swanson's Work on Literature-Based Discovery of a Connection between Raynaud's and Fish Oil

Don R. Swanson has undertaken a program of research to use the published medical literature as a source of discoveries. We have attempted to replicate his discovery of a connection between Raynaud's disease and dietary fish oil, as well as develop computer-based searching methods that could usefully support literature-based discoveries. We have been successful in replicating Swanson's discovery and have developed a method of discovery support based on the complete text of MEDLINE records. From these, we compute statistics based both on the frequency of tokens within a literature and on the number of records containing various tokens. We discuss the use of these statistics, suggesting that token and record frequencies are good indicators of literatures profitably related to some source literature, and that relative record frequencies are useful in isolating literatures with the potential of containing a discovery. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
White matter abnormalities in dystonia normalize after botulinum toxin treatment

The pathophysiology of dystonia is still poorly understood. We used diffusion tensor imaging to screen for white matter abnormalities in regions between the basal ganglia and the thalamus in cervical and hand dystonia patients. All patients exhibited an abnormal hemispheric asymmetry in a focal region between the pallidum and the thalamus. This asymmetry was absent 4 weeks after the same patients were treated with intramuscular botulinum toxin injections. These findings represent a new systems-level abnormality in dystonia, which may lead to new insights about the pathophysiology of movement disorders. More generally, these findings demonstrate central nervous system changes following peripheral reductions in muscle activity. This raises the possibility that we have observed activity-dependent white matter plasticity in the adult human brain.
[A comparative survey of sex hormones levels between elderly men with chronic heart failure and normal elderly subjects].

OBJECTIVE To understand the sex hormone levels in elderly men with chronic heart failure and the relationship between sex hormone levels and heart function. METHODS One hundred male patients diagnosed chronic heart failure clinically aged from 60 to 87 were selected in this study. All patients' left ventricular ejection fraction were less than 0.45. Four hundred elderly healthy men were studied as control. Blood samples were collected in the morning and TT, FT, DHEAS, SHBG, E(2), LH, FSH were measured. The results were compared with the hormone levels of healthy men with the same mean age. RESULTS (1) In elderly men with chronic heart failure, the level of DHEAS was decreased with age (P < 0.05). However, the levels of SHBG, LH, FSH were increased with age (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). (2) Compared with healthy men the levels of TT, FT, E(2) and DHEAS were decreased significantly (P < 0.01) and the level of SHBG was significantly increased (P < 0.01). (3) The level of FT was positively correlated with LVEF (r = 0.279, P = 0.034). CONCLUSION The androgen levels in elderly male patients with chronic heart failure were decreased significantly and the level of FT was negatively correlated with degree of heart failure.