Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stoichiometry of the degradation of dissolved and particulate biogenic organic matter in the NW Iberian upwelling

[1] The average composition of the dissolved and particulate products of early degradation of marine phytoplankton has been established for the first time in a coastal upwelling system using a mixing analysis along isopycnal surfaces combined with a stoichiometric model. About 17–18% of the mineralized organic matter is derived from the decomposition of organic particulates, and 16–35% is from the dissolved organic matter. The remaining 50–70% is derived probably from large fast sinking particles. On average, the mineralized material on large particles has the closest composition to the Redfield formula. The ratio of dissolved saccharides to dissolved organic matter respiration is >40% higher than expected from a material of Redfield composition. Finally, the ratio of lipid to particulate organic matter respiration is >80% larger than expected from a material of Redfield composition. Regarding the decomposition of hard structures, biogenic silica dissolves predominantly in the inner shelf, where organic carbon oxidation is more intense, and diatom deposition occurs preferentially.
Contracts, Price Rigidity, and Market Equilibrium

This paper presents a model of a market characterized by uncertainty and transaction costs. The uncertainty and transaction costs create incentives for firms to use both long- and short-term fixed-price contracts. The model sheds light on several puzzling empirical observations. I explain why long-term-contract prices can move by different magnitudes and even in different directions than short-term prices, why econometric price equations are likely to find costs, but not demand forces, mattering, and why "rigid" prices and delivery lags are not necessarily disequilibrium phenomena but, rather, can be perfectly understandable and predictable equilibrium phenomena.
Capital as Power: A Study of Order and Creorder

FROM THE BACK COVER Conventional theories of capitalism are mired in a deep crisis: after centuries of debate, they are still unable to tell us what capital is. Liberals and Marxists both think of capital as an 'economic' entity that they count in universal units of ‘utils’ or 'abstract labour', respectively. But these units are totally fictitious. Nobody has ever been able to observe or measure them, and for a good reason: they don’t exist. Since liberalism and Marxism depend on these non-existing units, their theories hang in suspension. They cannot explain the process that matters most – the accumulation of capital. This book offers a radical alternative. According to the authors, capital is not a narrow economic entity, but a symbolic quantification of power. It has little to do with utility or abstract labour, and it extends far beyond machines and production lines. Capital, the authors claim, represents the organized power of dominant capital groups to reshape – or creorder – their society. Written in simple language, accessible to lay readers and experts alike, the book develops a novel political economy. It takes the reader through the history, assumptions and limitations of mainstream economics and its associated theories of politics. It examines the evolution of Marxist thinking on accumulation and the state. And it articulates an innovative theory of 'capital as power' and a new history of the 'capitalist mode of power'.
Enhanced bone regeneration by gelatin–β‐tricalcium phosphate composites enabling controlled release of bFGF

The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of biodegradable gelatin–β‐tricalcium phosphate (β‐TCP) composites as a cell scaffold and controlled‐release carrier of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) suitable for inducing bone regeneration at a segmental bone defect. The composite of gelatin sponge and β‐TCP granules had an interconnected pore structure with an average size of 340 µm. The composite provided the controlled release of bFGF over 2 weeks. Segmental, critical‐sized, bone defects of 20 mm length were created in the ulnas of New Zealand white rabbits and the gelatin–β‐TCP composites, with or without incorporated bFGF, were implanted into the defects. Bone regeneration and β‐TCP resorption profiles were evaluated by microcomputed tomography scanner analysis and haematoxylin and eosin staining. The composites incorporating bFGF promoted significantly higher bone regeneration at the defect site as compared to the bFGF‐free composites. The controlled release of biologically active bFGF from the composites may possibly be achieved through the biodegradation of the composites, resulting in the promotion of bone regeneration. We conclude that the biodegradable gelatin–β‐TCP composite is a promising scaffold for bone regeneration that enables the controlled release of bFGF. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PURCHASING SHRIMP FOR AT-HOME CONSUMPTION: THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF CREDENCE VERSUS PHYSICAL PRODUCT FEATURES

Consumers have become increasingly concerned with the quality, safety and production features of food. Certain population segments will pay more for food products carrying a label identifying credence features that consumers cannot evaluate, even after consumption. Seventy-nine market research questionnaires were completed by consumers purchasing live shrimp at two harvest sales at a University of Florida pond aquaculture facility. A conjoint analysis experiment was included to quantify the utility value and relative importance of seven different shrimp product physical and credence features: species, size, refrigeration state, product form, purchase price, country of origin label, and production method label. Both credence features had positive impacts on shrimp product utility, with country of origin label conferring higher positive utility than any other shrimp feature. Utility associated with wild-harvested shrimp was slightly higher than the utility of farm-raised shrimp. These results provide justification of seafood industry support for mandatory country of origin labeling.
Segmentation of the market for table eggs in Ontario

This article reports on research designed to segment the market for table eggs in Ontario. Using benefit segmentation procedures, four segments were found. These segments are: Disinterested Consumers, Casual Egg Users, Health Conscious Consumers, and Enthusiastic Users. Profiles of these segments have been developed using beliefs about eggs, attitudes toward eggs, lifestyle factors, health and nutrition consciousness, media habits, consumption habits, and demographics. The results can be used to help marketing groups develop more highly targeted promotional programs.
Avian influenza: recent developments

This paper reviews the worldwide situation regarding avian influenza infections in poultry from 1997 to March 2004. The increase in the number of primary introductions and the scientific data available on the molecular basis of pathogenicity have generated concerns particularly for legislative purposes and for international trade. This has led to a new proposed definition of ‘avian influenza’ to extend all infections caused by H5 and H7 viruses regardless of their virulence as notifiable diseases, although this has encountered some difficulties in being approved. The paper also reviews the major outbreaks caused by viruses of the H5 or H7 subtype and the control measures applied. The zoonotic aspects of avian influenza, which until 1997 were considered to be of limited relevance in human medicine, are also discussed. The human health implications have now gained importance, both for illness and fatalities that have occurred following natural infection with avian viruses, and for the potential of generating a reassortant virus that could give rise to the next human influenza pandemic.
Frequency of Diet and Physical Activity Goal Attainment and Barriers Encountered Among Adults With Type 2 Diabetes During a Telephone Coaching Intervention

IN BRIEF Participants with type 2 diabetes established personalized dietary and physical activity goals as behavioral strategies to reduce cardiovascular risk during a 16-week telephone coaching intervention. People were most likely to attain dietary goals that involved altering the intake of specific foods rather than certain nutrients and were more successful at physical activity goals to increase activity levels rather than to add new types of activity. Barriers to goal success included time management, physical limitations/illness, and social/cultural activities.
The impact of ICT on the work patterns of managers and their organisations

Purpose – The main aim of this paper is to present the results of a study examining managers' attitudes towards the deployment and use of information and communications technology (ICT) in their organisations. The study comes at a time when ICT is being recognised as a major enabler of innovation and new business models, which have the potential to have major impact on western economies and jobs.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was specially designed to collect data relating to three research questions. The questionnaire also included a number of open‐ended questions. A total of 181 managers from a wide range of industries across a number of countries participated in the electronic survey. The quantitative responses to the survey were analysed using SPSS. Exploratory factor analysis using Varimax rotation was used and ANOVA to compare responses by different groups.Findings – The survey showed that many of the respondents appeared equipped to work “any place, any time”. However, it also highli.
Citizen Advisory Boards: Autonomy and Effectiveness

The research question addressed in this paper is whether the amount of independence or autonomy that citizen advisory boards develop has an impact on their effectiveness. The independence of boards is measured in regard to board relations with administrators. In this paper, nine citizen advisory boards in Kalamazoo, Michigan are rated for effectiveness. Many individuals are cynical about the role of citizen advisory boards, since they do not have formal powers. However, this research suggests that boards can have an impact on policy if their members engage in certain activities designed to enhance their independence from administrators.
Turnover and Promotion of Lawyers An Inquiry into Gender Differences

This paper analyzes the turnover and promotion of male and female lawyers, using data on two cohorts of lawyers; one which entered law firms between 1969 and 1973, and the other entering between 1980 and 1983. This study considers whether law firm promotion decisions have differed for women, and if so, whether these differences have declined over time. A competing risks duration model is employed to capture the link between the lawyer's decision to stay or leave and the firm's decision to grant or deny promotion. We find that over the entire sample period, women are considerably less likely to be promoted and slightly more likely to leave the firm without being promoted. However, we also find that the parametric differential between men and women in partnership hazards has been reduced substantially, and in the most general of our specifications, eliminated across the two cohorts. In contrast, the gap between male and female job turnover rates does not appear to change over time. We find that the gap between males and females in the cumulative partnership rate at seven years of experience falls from 32 to 14 percent. The turnover gap increases about 0.2 percent, with females slightly more likely to exit from the firm in the later period.
Language of the Gun: Youth, Crime, and Public Policy

Legal and public policies concerning youth gun violence tend to rely heavily on crime reports, survey data, and statistical methods. Rarely is attention given to the young voices belonging to those who carry high-powered semiautomatic handguns. In "Language of the Gun", Bernard E. Harcourt recounts in-depth interviews with youths detained at an all-male correctional facility, exploring how they talk about guns and what meanings they ascribe to them in a broader attempt to understand some of the assumptions implicit in current handgun policies. In the process, Harcourt redraws the relationships among empirical research, law, and public policy. Home to over 150 repeat offenders ranging in age from twelve to seventeen, the Catalina Mountain School is made up of a particular stratum of boys - those who have committed the most offenses but will still be released upon reaching adulthood. In an effort to understand the symbolic and emotional language of guns and gun carrying, Harcourt interviewed dozens of these incarcerated Catalina boys. What do these youths see in guns? What draws them to handguns? Why do some of them carry and others not? For Harcourt, their often surprising answers unveil many of the presuppositions that influence our laws and policies.
The fundamental drivers of the obesity epidemic

Most policy makers do not yet understand that the obesity epidemic is a normal population response to the dramatic reduction in the demand for physical activity and the major changes in the food supply of countries over the last 40 years. A national focus on individual behaviour reflects a failure to confront the facts. Thus, the changes in food supply and physical environment are socioeconomically driven, and the health sector simply picks up the consequences. Urbanization alone in China has reduced daily energy expenditure by about 300–400 kcal d−1 and cycling/bussing or going to work by car determines another variation of 200 kcal d−1. Thus, energy demands may have dropped with additional TV/media, mechanization and computerized changes by 400–800 kcal d−1, so weight gain and obesity are inevitable for most or all the population. Food intake should have fallen substantially despite the community's focus on the value of food after all the food crises of the past. Yet, Chinese fat and sugar intakes are escalating, and these policy‐mediated features are amplified by the primeval biological drive for those commodities with specialized taste buds for fatty acids, meat, sugar and salt. Yet, traditionally, Chinese diets had negligible sugar, and 25‐year‐old data show that the optimum diet for Chinese contains 15% fat. Policies relating to food imports, agriculture, food quality standards, appropriate food traffic light labelling, price adjustments and controlled access to unhealthy foods are all within the grasp of the Chinese government. China has traditionally been far more responsive to the value of policies which limit inequalities and establish standards of care than many western governments, who have yet to recognize that the individualistic free‐market approach to obesity prevention is guaranteed to fail. China could therefore lead the way: if it follows western approaches, the health and economic burden will become unsustainable.
Colanic Acid Intermediates Prevent De Novo Shape Recovery of Escherichia coli Spheroplasts, Calling into Question Biological Roles Previously Attributed to Colanic Acid

ABSTRACT After losing their protective peptidoglycan, bacterial spheroplasts can resynthesize a cell wall to recreate their normal shape. In Escherichia coli, this process requires the Rcs response. In its absence, spheroplasts do not revert to rod shapes but instead form enlarged spheroids and lyse. Here, we investigated the reason for this Rcs requirement. Rcs-deficient spheroids exhibited breaks and bulges in their periplasmic spaces and failed to synthesize a complete peptidoglycan cell wall, indicating that the bacterial envelope was defective. To determine the Rcs-dependent gene(s) required for shape recovery, we tested spheroplasts lacking selected RcsB-regulated genes and found that colanic acid (CA) biosynthesis appeared to be involved. Surprisingly, though, extracellular CA was not required for recovery. Instead, lysis was caused by mutations that interrupted CA biosynthesis downstream of the initial glycosyl transferase, WcaJ. Deleting wcaJ prevented lysis of spheroplasts lacking ensuing steps in the pathway, and providing WcaJ in trans to a mutant lacking the entire CA operon triggered spheroplast enlargement and lysis. Thus, CA is not required for spheroplast recovery. Instead, CA intermediates accumulate as dead-end products which inhibit recovery of wall-less cells. The results strongly imply that CA may not be required for the survival E. coli L-forms. More broadly, these findings mandate that previous conclusions about the role of colanic acid in biofilm formation or virulence must be reevaluated. IMPORTANCE Wall-less bacteria can resynthesize their walls and recreate a normal shape, which in Escherichia coli requires the Rcs response. While attempting to identify the Rcs-dependent gene required for shape recovery, we found that colanic acid (CA) biosynthesis appeared to be involved. Surprisingly, though, cell death was caused by mutations that interrupted CA biosynthesis downstream of the initial step in the pathway, creating dead-end compounds that inhibited recovery of wall-less cells. When testing for the biological role of CA, most previous experiments used mutants that would accumulate these deadly intermediates, meaning that all prior conclusions must be reexamined to determine if the results were caused by these lethal side effects instead of accurately reflecting the biological purpose of CA itself.
Quality management and quality practice: Perspectives on their history and their future

The purpose of this article and a companion article is to explore a number of topics in Statistics in Business and Industry. This article sketches the history of Quality Management, from its emergence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through to the present day. Particular emphasis is placed on activities in Japan immediately following the end of the Second World War, and subsequent developments elsewhere in the world. We draw a careful distinction between Quality Management and various methodologies that aid in its implementation, such as Six Sigma. In the words of one management practitioner, Norbert Vogel, ‘TQM in its broadest sense examines all aspects of management and the alternative methodologies being promoted are merely sub-sets of what should be an integrated management system. ’ The article concludes with some speculative thoughts about the future of Quality Management from a statistician's point of view. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Consideration of Economic Risks in a Valuation Practice: Journey from the Kingdom of Tradition to the Kingdom of Common Sense

Many of those who regularly utilize discount rates in various economic estimates often do not seem to make an inquiry as to their veritable functions they are intended to serve, but rather focus merely on utilitarian aspects of their impact on value: "discount rate ↓ - value ↑" or "discount rate ↑ - value ↓". However, a discount rate - is not an artificial technical construct for the "fitting" of value or plugging in gaps devoid of any economic sense. It is piteous that because of an array of 'generally recognized' economic and mathematical attire imposed on them, discount rates have become of such technical nature, in the process, losing out their original economic meaning. Valuers and analysts continue with the perseverance that would do credit to medieval alchemists to use the 'magical' formulas of the built-up method, CAPM and the like discount rate structures adjusted for risk. All this does not fall short of a material misconception in the real state of things, be it though of a pervasive nature, and serves to discredit the very standing of the Valuation Profession. Further slide down this ladder of practice might deal a heavy blow to the entire institution of Professional Valuation and compromise the public trust in the way it happened with the auditors in the wake of a scandalous Enron and Worldcom bankruptcies and the tragic 'demise' of Arthur Andersen.
Information, Electoral Equilibria, and the Democratic Ideal

A considerable literature argues that poor information among voters produces an elitist or class bias in public policy. Owing to the complexity of public issues and their generally slight impact on outcomes, citizens fail to invest in information, and in their voting decisions rely instead on cues such as party labels, the opinions of friends, and interest group endorsements. As a result, political entrepreneurs are unable to mobilize effectively the general electorate to vote in their own self-interest. This essay takes issue with some theoretical premises of this argument. Using a rational expectations approach to modeling elections with incomplete information, we show first that citizens require only very general information to vote correctly. Second, this information can be deduced from exactly those cues that are commonly interpreted as substitutes for "voting on the issues. " Finally, even if interest groups attempt to influence candidate positions with money, equilibria exist to the election game that are identical to what occurs under full information, provided some strong symmetry conditions hold with regards to the resources of such groups. Thus, popular control of public policy is not precluded per se by lower levels of voter information about the candidates' positions on issues.
A Fuzzy Multi-criteria Group Decision-Making Model for the Financial Performance Evaluation of Airlines

Lots of previous researches concerning airlines focused on operation performance, where as they ignored the finance aspect that directly influenced their survivals. To evaluate airlines’ financial performance, we model the problem to be a multi-criteria decision-making(MCDM)one. And the same time, evaluation criteria are grasped form financial ratios, and presented with fuzzy numbers to show their values under given periods. Then a fuzzy multi-criteria group decision-making(FMCGDM) method is utilized to solve the evaluate problem of airlines’financial performance. Finally, we illustrate an empirical example of evaluating the financial performance of three domestic airlines in Taiwan.
Evaluation of Conducted Noise of Resonant Switched Capacitor Converter

Conventional switched capacitor converters have an inherent drawback that their efficiency is much decreased as the output current is increased. To solve this problem we presented a novel resonant switched capacitor converter topology that uses a resonant operation instead of the forced charging and discharging operation. Its advantages over a conventional switched capacitor converter are a high efficiency and a low switching noise. In this paper, the operation analysis and steady-state characteristics are briefly reviewed for a boost type switched capacitor converter, and conducted noise characteristics are investigated experimentally
The scaling effect on microstructure and creep properties of Sn-based solders

The paper describes attempts to explain the scaling effect on microstructure and creep of Sn-based solders. It compares creep data that was gained on bulky samples and on small solder joints. The microstructural properties of the bulk specimens and real solder joints were examined using metallographic sectioning, optical microscopy techniques, and SEM-microprobe analysis. The results of the microstructural analysis were related to the investigated mechanical properties of the solders.