Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
International Supply Chains and the Labour Process

The changing nature of global production and distribution processes and their impact on the capital–labour relationship raise a number of questions for labour process analysis. Where business operates across national boundaries whether as multinational companies (MNCs) or as lead firms in international supply chains, the relational nature of power relationships between and within firms is significant to understanding the bargaining power of labour at the point of production (Coe et al., 2008a). Although there is no single body of theory relating to the analysis of international supply chains, the article argues that the perspectives developed by different authors relating to global commodity chains (GCCs), global value chains (GVCs) and global production networks (GPNs) have a contribution to make to labour process analysis. This contribution lies in the understanding of the contested nature of systems of managerial control, on the one hand, and the sources of resistance and ability of labour to mobilize, on the other.
Human limbic encephalitis serum enhances hippocampal mossy fiber‐CA3 pyramidal cell synaptic transmission

Purpose: Limbic encephalitis (LE) is a central nervous system (CNS) disease characterized by subacute onset of memory loss and epileptic seizures. A well‐recognized form of LE is associated with voltage‐gated potassium channel complex antibodies (VGKC‐Abs) in the patients’ sera. We aimed to test the hypothesis that purified immunoglobulin G (IgG) from a VGKC‐Ab LE serum would excite hippocampal CA3 pyramidal cells by reducing VGKC function at mossy‐fiber (MF)‐CA3 pyramidal cell synapses.
The human dimensions of wildlife tourism in a developing country: watching spinner dolphins at Lovina, Bali, Indonesia

The number of cetacean watching tourism operations in developing countries has doubled in the past decade. Practices are typically unregulated and not informed by research, especially research into the human dimensions of the tourist experience. Dolphin watching tourism at Lovina, Bali, started in the late 1980s when local fishers formed self-regulating cooperatives. Up to 180 dedicated operators use small fishing vessels to carry passengers to watch dolphins close to shore. Most tourists come from western countries, although the industry also attracts Asian visitors. Most visitors are tertiary-educated. Tourist satisfaction ranges from low to medium. While there was no significant difference between the average satisfaction of western and Asian tourists, the associated variables were different. The satisfaction of western tourists was associated with encounter management, preferred number of boats and the number of dolphins seen. Encounter management was the only variable associated with the satisfaction of Asian tourists. Satisfaction was positively associated with willingness to recommend the tour: western respondents who felt neutral to very comfortable with their dolphin encounters were more likely to promote the tour. Better understanding of the tourist experience is crucial in designing sustainable marine wildlife tourism in developing countries; such research appears to be rare.
Policy Capacity for Promoting Green Sectors Reconsidered: Lessons from the Renewable Electricity and Organic Farming Sectors in Serbia†

Abstract What governing capacity is needed for promoting emerging green sectors in a sustainable manner and under what conditions is this governing capacity likely to emerge and be sustained in less-developed and transition countries? The article sets out to explore these questions by conducting a comparative policy analysis of the organic farming and renewable electricity sectors in Serbia—an European Union candidate country in the midst of economic transition and democratic consolidation. Although they both face important difficulties in securing meaningful and stable growth, the organic farming sector in Serbia has been found to perform better than the renewable electricity sector in promoting the green economy objectives. Drawing on the latest insights from the literature on policy capacity, the article demonstrates how the higher level of key components of policy capacity, particularly associative capacity and institutionalized deliberation between state and non-state actors, has led to more comprehensive policy outputs and better policy results in organic farming. The article also shows considerable policy deficits in both sectors and concludes that for the institutionalization of policy capacity and long-term development of green sectors, the controversies in the broader political framework have to be alleviated.
Just boys doing business? : men, masculinities and crime

What is it about crime that makes it `men's work'? Can we imagine masculinity without crime? This is the first book of its kind to bring contributors from three continents together to examine the relationship between masculinity and crime. Covering such areas as policing, prisons, violence against women, homicide, white-collar crime, and male victimisation, this book will force us to rethink many aspects of masculinity and crime.
Incidental diagnosis of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

190 Background: Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are often discovered incidentally during radiologic or endoscopic examinations. The incidence of incidental detection is unknown. It is also unclear whether patients with incidentally discovered, asymptomatic tumors should be treated similarly to patients who present with tumor-related symptoms. METHODS A database of 425 patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors treated at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center was developed. Patient charts were reviewed to assess whether their diagnosis was incidental or prompted by tumor-related symptoms such as pain, jaundice, or neuroendocrine hormone secretion. The frequency of "incidentalomas" was categorized by TNM stage (AJCC, 7th edition). Overall survival was stratified by "incidental" versus "symptomatic" diagnosis. RESULTS Among 425 patients with histologically proven pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, 112 patients (26%) had tumors that were discovered incidentally. The majority of stage I tumors (55%) were incidentally discovered. Among patients with stage IV tumors, 20% were detected incidentally (Table). Median survival of patients with incidentally discovered tumors was 103 months versus 84 months in patients who were symptomatic at diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS A sizeable fraction of patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are diagnosed incidentally during evaluations for other conditions or unrelated symptoms. The majority of patients with stage I tumors are incidentally diagnosed. The increased incidence of pancreatic neuroendocrine "incidentaloms" may be contributing to improving survival rates in this disease. This study highlights the necessity of developing guidelines for management of patients with incidentally discovered, early-stage tumors. [Table: see text] No significant financial relationships to disclose.
Growing a sustainable biofuels industry: economics, environmental considerations, and the role of the Conservation Reserve Program

Biofuels are expected to be a major contributor to renewable energy in the coming decades under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). These fuels have many attractive properties including the promotion of energy independence, rural development, and the reduction of national carbon emissions. However, several unresolved environmental and economic concerns remain. Environmentally, much of the biomass is expected to come from agricultural expansion and/or intensification, which may greatly affect the net environmental impact, and economically, the lack of a developed infrastructure and bottlenecks along the supply chain may affect the industry’s economic vitality. The approximately 30 million acres (12 million hectares) under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) represent one land base for possible expansion. Here, we examine the potential role of the CRP in biofuels industry development, by (1) assessing the range of environmental effects on six end points of concern, and (2) simulating differences in potential industry growth nationally using a systems dynamics model. The model examines seven land-use scenarios (various percentages of CRP cultivation for biofuel) and five economic scenarios (subsidy schemes) to explore the benefits of using the CRP. The environmental assessment revealed wide variation in potential impacts. Lignocellulosic feedstocks had the greatest potential to improve the environmental condition relative to row crops, but the most plausible impacts were considered to be neutral or slightly negative. Model simulations revealed that industry growth was much more sensitive to economic scenarios than land-use scenarios—similar volumes of biofuels could be produced with no CRP as with 100% utilization. The range of responses to economic policy was substantial, including long-term market stagnation at current levels of first-generation biofuels under minimal policy intervention, or RFS-scale quantities of biofuels if policy or market conditions were more favorable. In total, the combination of the environmental assessment and the supply chain model suggests that large-scale conversion of the CRP to row crops would likely incur a significant environmental cost, without a concomitant benefit in terms of biofuel production.
Reflections on the “High Performance” Paradigm's Implications for Industrial Relations as a Field

Over the past decade, several leading U.S. scholars have advanced a new industrial relations paradigm, according to which “high performance” work and human resource management (HRM) practices have replaced unions and collective bargaining as the innovative force in industrial relations. Although this model fundamentally challenges the traditional focus of the field of industrial relations in the United States, research on it has centered on the diffusion and performance effects of HRM innovations, with surprisingly little systematic reflection on either the underlying tenets of the new paradigm or its implications for the future of the field. Drawing on work of British and U.S. scholars, the authors identify critical aspects of the literature on this subject that deserve careful scrutiny, and suggest several criteria (such as industrial democracy) that need to be used in addition to measures of firm performance in evaluating the new paradigm.
Acute heart failure in patients admitted to the emergency department with acute myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND Acute heart failure (AHF), occurring as a complication of ongoing acute myocardial infarction (AMI), is a common predictor of worse clinical outcome. Much less is known about the unique subpopulation of patients who present these two life-threatening conditions in the emergency department (ED). AIM The aim of the study was to establish the prevalence of coexistence of AHF with AMI in the ED, to identify clinical factors associated with the higher prevalence of AHF at very early onset of AMI, and to assess the prognostic impact of the presence of AHF with AMI. METHODS A prospective study of 289 consecutive patients (mean age: 68 ± 11 years, 61% men) admitted to our institution (via the ED) with the diagnosis of AMI between May and October 2012 and followed-up for 2.5 years. RESULTS Acute heart failure was diagnosed in 13% of patients in the ED. In multivariable analysis, female sex, chronic obstruc-tive pulmonary disease, and chronic kidney disease significantly increased the risk of developing AHF together with AMI (all p < 0.05). Patients with AHF were hospitalised for longer (9.2 ± 6.1 vs. 6.3 ± 4.5 days, p < 0.001), had higher in-hospital cardiovascular mortality (8% vs. 0%, p < 0.001), and all-cause (34% vs. 15%, p = 0.004) and cardiovascular mortality (26% vs. 9%, p = 0.002) during long-term follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Despite good logistic- and evidence-based treatment, AHF is present in one in eight patients with AMI at the time of admission to the ED. Particularly poor outcomes characterise critically ill patients; therefore, great effort should be undertaken to improve their care.
Charge transfer and Fermi level shift in p-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes

The electronic properties of $p$-doped single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) bulk samples were studied by temperature-dependent resistivity and thermopower, optical reflectivity, and Raman spectroscopy. These all give consistent results for the Fermi level downshift $(\ensuremath{\Delta}{E}_{F})$ induced by doping. We find $\ensuremath{\Delta}{E}_{F}\ensuremath{\approx}0.35\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{eV}$ and $0.50\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{eV}$ for concentrated nitric and sulfuric acid doping respectively. With these values, the evolution of Raman spectra can be explained by variations in the resonance condition as ${E}_{F}$ moves down into the valence band. Furthermore, we find no evidence for diameter-selective doping, nor any distinction between doping responses of metallic and semiconducting tubes.
A constitutively active mutant thyrotropin-releasing hormone receptor is chronically down-regulated in pituitary cells: evidence using chlordiazepoxide as a negative antagonist.

A carboxyl-terminus truncated mutant of the guanine nucleotide-binding (G) protein-coupled TRH receptor (TRH-R) was previously shown to exhibit constitutive, i.e. TRH-independent, activity (C335Stop TRH-R). Chlordiazepoxide (CDE), a known competitive inhibitor of TRH binding to wild-type (WT) TRH-Rs, is shown to compete for binding to C335Stop TRH-Rs also. More importantly, CDE is shown to be a negative antagonist of C335Stop TRH-Rs. CDE rapidly caused the basal rate of inositol phosphate second messenger (IP) formation to decrease in AtT-20 pituitary cells stably expressing C335Stop TRH-Rs (AtT-C335Stop cells), but not in cells expressing WT TRH-Rs (AtT-WT cells). Similar observations were made in HeLa cells transiently expressing C335Stop or WT TRH-Rs. CDE inhibition of IP formation was shown to be specific for TRH-Rs using GH4C1 cells expressing both TRH-Rs and receptors for bombesin. In these cells, CDE inhibited TRH-stimulated IP formation, but had no effect on bombesin-stimulated IP formation. The effects of chronic administration of CDE were studied. Preincubation of AtT-C335Stop cells, but not AtT-WT cells, with CDE for several hours caused an increase in cell surface receptor number (up-regulation) that led to increased TRH stimulation of inositol phosphate formation and elevation of intracellular free Ca2+. Preincubation with CDE did not affect methyl-TRH binding affinity or TRH potency in cells expressing AtT-C335Stop or in AtT-WT cells. We conclude that CDE is a negative antagonist of C335Stop TRH-Rs and that constitutively active C335Stop TRH-Rs are down-regulated in AtT-20 pituitary cells in the absence of agonist.
Residual Income Compensation Plans and Deferred Taxes

ABSTRACT: Residual income is a popular performance metric that is often calculated from financial accounting numbers. Practitioners argue that financial accounting earnings and book value suffer from various biases and should be adjusted prior to the residual income calculation so that the resulting residual income metric will have better incentive properties, but they often disagree about what the adjustments should be. Using the criterion that a residual income performance metric should align owner and managerial investment incentives, I develop a simple investment model to show how financial accounting choices and adjustments must be chosen jointly to achieve incentive alignment. In particular, I examine conflicting recommendations from the practitioner literature about the proper adjustment for deferred taxes and show that more than one adjustment method can achieve incentive alignment if paired with the correct depreciation schedule. Further, I show that relationships among accounting variables intro.
Beta stability and monthly seasonal effects: evidence from the Australian capital market

A number of studies exist across a range of equity markets showing that a significant proportion of stocks in those markets have betas that vary over time. A research challenge posed by this body of evidence is to identify the factors that explain this time variation in individual stock betas. There is also an extensive literature reporting the existence of strong monthly seasonal patterns in equity returns from many markets and across extraordinarily lengthy time periods. Accordingly, using monthly Australian equity returns data, this paper investigates whether seasonal regularities such as the January effect can provide an explanation of beta variation. A key finding of this paper is that taking account of the January monthly seasonal and other monthly seasonals has no effect on the beta stability characteristics of individual stocks. Hence, based on our analysis, seasonal effects does not provide an explanation of beta instability. A subsiduary finding is that stocks with significant monthly seasonal effects tend to have a smaller average market capitalization.
A novel 8.5 MB dup(1)(p34.1p34.3) characterized by FISH in a child presenting with congenital heart defect and dysmorphic features

Chromosome duplications involving 1p are rarely reported but are apparently associated with short survival as well as congenital malformations and impaired development. Several of these have had congenital heart defects, although too few patients have been reported with similar breakpoints to characterize a syndrome. We present a girl with a novel interstitial duplication in the short arm of chromosome 1 [46,XX,dup(1)(p34.1p34.3)]. She presented with congenital heart defects at 1 month and by 1 year of age manifested delayed acquisition of motor milestones and subsequently of language milestones. By breakpoint‐mapping using FISH analysis, we determined that her 1p duplication spans 8.5 megabases. Her 1p duplication is the smallest reported to date to contain 1p34 in patients with congenital heart defect due to abnormalities of heart looping during development. Thus, her 8.5 MB duplication provides a target region to search for a potentially dosage‐sensitive gene(s) causing abnormal heart looping when duplicated. Two patients have been reported with duplication including 1p34 but without congenital heart defect, and their duplications span all but the distal approximately 2 MB segment duplicated in our patient. Thus, within our patient's 8.5 MB target region for a dosage sensitive gene leading to looping abnormalities (and thereby congenital heart defect), the distal 2 MB region might well be the region to begin the search. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Standard Risk Aversion

This paper introduces the concept of standard risk aversion. A von Neumann-Morgenstern utility function has standard risk aversion if any risk makes a small reduction in wealth more painful (in the sense of an increased reduction in expected utility) also makes any undesirable, independent risk more painful. It is shown that, given monotonicity and concavity, the combination of decreasing absolute risk aversion and decreasing absolute prudence is necessary and sufficient for standard risk aversion. Standard risk aversion is shown to imply not only Pratt and Zeckhauser's 'proper risk aversion" (individually undesirable, independent risks always being jointly undesirable) , but also that being forced to face an undesirable risk reduces the optimal investment in a risky security with and independent return. Similar results are established for the effect of broad class of increases in one risk on the desirability of (or optimal investment in) a second, independent risk.
The moderating influence of financial literacy on the relationship between access to finance and firm growth in Ghana

Abstract The literature on access to finance has confirmed a positive relationship between access to finance and firm growth. Yet the boundary conditions for such linkage are less examined in the context of developing economies. This study draws on resource-based view to introduce financial literacy as a moderator of the relationship between access to finance and firm growth. This theoretically derived research model is empirically tested using survey data from 201 small and medium-sized enterprises in Ghana. Our empirical findings suggest that financial literacy positively enhances the access to finance-firm growth relationship.
Membrane-tethered transcription factors provide a connection between stress response and developmental pathways

Membrane-tethered transcription factors (MTTFs) are proteins that are targeted to membranes and are capable of regulating gene expression. In this way, they are physically restrained from entering the nucleus and are innately dormant. Upon specific signal recognition cues, MTTFs are activated through cleavage by a protease that releases the transcription factor domain into the cytosol thus allowing it to translocate to the nucleus where it can regulate gene expression. MTTFs are classically thought to provide an advantage to an organism by allowing for rapid signal transduction in response to cellular and environmental stresses. However, recent findings suggest that MTTFs may not only act as a means to respond quickly to stress but also are able to regulate developmental pathways, illustrating a point of interaction between stress and development.
Effect of biosynthetic intermediates and citrate on the phenyllactic and hydroxyphenyllactic acids production by Lactobacillus plantarum CRL 778

Aim: To evaluate the influence of biosynthetic precursors, intermediates and electron acceptors on the production of antifungal compounds [phenyllactic acid (PLA) and hydroxyphenyllactic acid (OH‐PLA)] by Lactobacillus plantarum CRL 778, a strain isolated from home‐made sourdough.
Student Expectations and Branding Strategies among Private Institutions of Higher Education in Malaysia

Competition in private higher education in Malaysia is intense and many institutions realize the need to review their branding strategies to become more competitive. In order to conceive a new branding strategy it is crucial that these institutions understand the expectations particularly of Malaysian Chinese students who dominate enrolment in the private education sector. This study examines the expectations of Malaysian Chinese students on selected factors, identified in past research, that influence the choice of institutions in their application for admission. Two hundred Chinese students were randomly selected from several private institutions to respond to a questionnaire which tested on such variables as academic programme and staff, facilities, pricing, and promotion. Data collected were analysed using Factor Analysis and Comparison of Means. Based on the mean score analysis, factors that significantly influenced the choice of an institution of higher education for admission are found to be academic integrity, quality of teaching, duration of course, future employability, educational fees, foreign and local degrees offered, institutional reputation and track record, student testimonies and opportunities of exposure to new social environment. A few factors found to be significant in an earlier study had lost their importance and these are entry requirements, facilities and extra-curricula activities. It is clear that for branding strategies to work, an institution of higher education has to take into account expectations that matter most to students.
How to Better Encourage Homeownership

The way federal housing benefits are doled out suggests a U-shaped curve; subsidies are heaped on most households at higher incomes and some at very low incomes. Those in between get little. This brief describes revenue-neutral reforms that would level out the U-shaped curve and deliver ownership subsidies more equitably and efficiently to lower-to-middle-income households. Converting home-related tax deductions into refundable, capped credits introduces greater progressivity into the tax system, encourages homeownership among those at lower incomes, and curtails government subsidies for ever greater amounts of home borrowing.