Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Socio‐demographic factors and shared leadership behaviors in dispersed teams: Implications for human resource management

Companies increasingly make use of geographically dispersed teams to capture knowledge residing at different locations. In this context, shared leadership is considered a key enabler of team performance. Taking a functional perspective on shared leadership, we thus investigate the relationship between shared leadership behaviors and team performance in dispersed teams. Furthermore, we analyze how socio-demographic factors that are characteristic for dispersed teams (i.e., high female-to-male ratio, high mean age, and high levels of national diversity) affect shared leadership behaviors. Based on data from 96 dispersed teams, we show that shared leadership behavior fosters team performance. Further, we find the socio-demographic characteristics typical for dispersed teams to foster shared leadership. Theoretical and managerial implications for human resource management are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Applications oriented medium access control protocols for wireless sensor networks.

In this article two new MAC protocols for wireless sensor networks based on TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) access method are proposed. The proposed protocols are convenient for applications demanding a small number of sensors highly concentrated in a small region, such as in medical areas. The main characteristic of the proposed protocols is the simplified access scheduling that guarantees a low energy consumption and a reduced overhead. The energy consumptions of the proposed protocols are estimated analytically and compared to the consumptions of the protocols known in the literature. The results show that the energy consumptions of the proposed protocols, in certain conditions, are smaller than other compared protocols.
Probiotic administration in patients with ileal pouch–anal anastomosis for ulcerative colitis is associated with expansion of mucosal regulatory cells

Background: Probiotics have anti‐inflammatory effects in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and appear to regulate mucosal immune response through reductions in proinflammatory cytokines. The probiotic VSL#3 prevents pouchitis if started within a week of ileostomy closure and maintains remission following antibacterial treatment in patients with refractory or recurrent pouchitis. However, the efficacy of probiotics and their effects on regulatory cells if started at a greater time after surgery in patients undergoing ileal pouch anal anastomosis (IPAA) for ulcerative colitis are unknown. Methods: We conducted an open‐label study in which 31 patients at different periods from surgery without signs and symptoms of pouchitis were randomized to 2 sachets of VSL#3 once daily or no treatment for 12 months. Pouchitis disease activity index (PDAI) was evaluated at baseline and after 3, 6, and 12 months. The percentage of CD4+ T lymphocytes expressing CD25 and the inactive form of transforming growth factor‐&bgr; [latency‐associated peptide (LAP)] were evaluated at baseline and after 3 and 6 months in peripheral‐blood mononuclear cells and mucosal biopsies. Variation in tissue interleukin‐1&bgr; and Foxp3 mRNA expression was also evaluated. Results: During the study period, VSL#3‐treated patients showed a significant reduction in PDAI score and a significant increase in the percentage of mucosal CD4+CD25high and CD4+ LAP‐positive cells compared with baseline values. Tissue samples at different points showed a significant reduction in IL‐1&bgr; mRNA expression, and a significant increase in Foxp3 mRNA expression. Conclusions: We conclude that VSL#3 administration in patients with IPAA modulates the PDAI and expands the number of mucosal regulatory T cells.
Pill taking ‘routinization’: a critical factor to understanding episodic medication adherence

This exploratory study examines the contextual factors that lead to episodic nonadherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy. Unlike global adherence that refers to the overall probability that a participant will take his or her medication over a given time period, episodic adherence refers to whether an individual took a particular dose (e.g., Saturday morning, 17 September). Semi-structured, qualitative interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 27 consecutive participants enrolled in ongoing adherence trials who had missed at least one dose of antiretroviral medication during the past 2 days. A qualitative analysis revealed that routinization of pill regimens and factors associated with the participant's ability to maintain these routines (e.g., time of day of scheduled dose; location of participant at time of dose) play an important role in successful adherence. In addition, psychosocial factors such as psychological distress, substance abuse, and active and unpredictable social lives may act as barriers to adherence. Implications for adherence interventions are discussed.
Live, attenuated simian immunodeficiency virus vaccines elicit potent resistance against a challenge with a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 chimeric virus

Three rhesus macaques, previously immunized with SIVdelta3 or SIVdelta2, each an attenuated derivative of SIVmac239, and two naive monkeys were challenged with 30,000 50% tissue culture infective doses of SHIV, an SIV/human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) chimeric virus bearing the dual-tropic envelope of HIV-1DH12. By several criteria, including virus isolation, serological assays, and PCR (both DNA and reverse transcriptase), SHIV levels were reduced to barely detectable levels in the circulating blood of vaccinated animals. The resistant SIV-vaccinated macaques had no preexisting neutralizing antibodies directed against SHIV, nor did they produce neutralizing antibodies at any time over a 14-month observation period following SHIV challenge. Interestingly, SIV sequences, derived from the vaccine, could be amplified from numerous tissue samples collected at the conclusion of the experiment, 60 weeks postchallenge, but SHIV-specific sequences (viz., HIV-1 env) could not. These results demonstrate that live attenuated SIV vaccines provide strong long-term protection even against challenge strains with highly divergent envelope sequences.
Antecedents of zakat payers' trust in an emerging zakat sector: an exploratory study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate and explain the factors underlying the inclination of zakat payers to trust a particular zakat institution.Design/methodology/approach – Based on the literature review and experience survey, a context specific questionnaire was developed as the main method of quantitative data collection. The instrument was administered to a sample of Muslim professionals who observe religious seclusion in the last ten days of the Islamic fasting month (itqaf) in 12 purposely selected mosques across four states and the federal capital territory.Findings – Drawn from the resource dependence and legitimacy theories, the study finds that board capital, disclosure practices, governmental model of zakat institution, and stakeholder management were identified through the use of structural equation modeling as being the antecedents of zakat payers' trust.Originality/value – This paper is the first to report an empirically based model of zakat payers' trust.
Different Paths to Free Trade: The Gains from Regionalism

We compare free trade reached through expanding regional trading blocs to free trade accomplished by multilateral negotiation. With sunk costs, the outcomes are different. Trade in an imperfectly competitive good flows disproportionately more between the original members of a regional agreement even after free trade is reached. They secure a higher welfare level from regionalism than from free trade achieved multilaterally; nonmembers, however, reach a lower welfare level. A surprising result is that world welfare during free trade is greater when it is achieved by the regional path. We conclude with some empirical evidence from the European Union that is consistent with the model.
Opportunism as the Inhibiting Trigger for Developing Long-Term-Oriented Western Exporter–Hong Kong Importer Relationships

Notwithstanding the extensive literature on opportunism in buyer–seller relationships, scant empirical attention has been given to this issue in both international and Chinese contexts. Using a sample of 202 Hong Kong Chinese importers, this article highlights the harmful effect of Western exporters’ opportunism on importers’ long-term orientation through the intervening role of key behavioral constructs. The study confirms almost all hypothesized associations between the constructs examined, indicating that an exporter's opportunistic behavior reduces trust and generates conflict. In turn, low trust reduces commitment, and conflict impedes communication. Low levels of both commitment and communication reduce importers’ satisfaction, which inhibits their long-term orientation. The importer's proactive initiation of the relationship moderates the link between opportunism and trust but not that of opportunism with conflict. The study also confirms the moderating role of importer dependence and exporters’ marketing adaptation on the association of satisfaction with long-term orientation. The authors find moderating effects on this association through the Chinese constructs of renqing and mianzi, albeit in the opposite direction to that hypothesized.
Can political and business connections alleviate financial constraints?

This article examines the relationship between political and business connections (PBCs) and firms’ financial constraints. We proxy a firm’s PBCs by whether or not the firm’s CEO should hold a directorship in major trade organizations. Using an endogenous switching regression model, we find that firms with a connected CEO are less likely to be classified as financially constrained firms. Our results can provide a possible explanation why firms allow their CEOs to hold directorships in trade associations.
DEPARTMENT OF DECISION SCIENCES AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (KBI)

This paper investigates the predictive power for future domestic economic activity included in domestic stock prices, using a Granger causality analysis in the frequency domain. We are able to evaluate whether the predictive power is concentrated at the slowly fluctuating components or at the quickly fluctuating components. Using quarterly data for the G-7 countries, we found that the slowly fluctuating components of the stock prices have large predictive power for the future GDP, while this is not the case for the quickly fluctuating components. This finding holds both in a single-country setting and in a multi-country setting. Therefore, macro-economic policy makers could use the slowly fluctuating components of the stock prices to improve their predictions of the future GDP.
A New Perspective on Industry R&D and Market Structure

This paper aims to shed some new insights on the long-debated and both extensively and intensively explored relationship between market concentration and industry R&D intensity. In order to do so, this study develops, from a classic Dorfman-Steiner [1954] model of firm R&D, a model of industry R&D, where consumer preference over quality and price, R&D technology, and the joint distribution of firm-specific technological competence and market share jointly determine the level of industry R&D intensity. The joint distribution term, which reflects both the underlying distribution of firms-specific technological competence and the strength of its link with market share, suggests that the concentration-R&D relationship differs depending on the strength of the link or simply the appropriability of R&D in terms of market share: A positive relationship is predicted for low-appropriability industries, where market concentration supplements low R&D appropriability, while a negative or an inverted U-shaped relationship for high-appropriability industries. An empirical analysis of data, disaggregated at the five-digit SIC level, on R&D and market concentration of Korean manufacturing industries provides supportive evidence for the predictions.
Muscle tendon elasticity efficiency of University athletes

Department of Sports and Exercise Science, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Department of Pathology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education, University of Ibadan, Nigeria Federal Science and Technical College, Ijebu-Imusin, Ogun State, Nigeria *Corresponding author
Competition in tourism among the Mediterranean countries

This paper examines tourism competition among the Mediterranean countries with particular emphasis on Greece. The estimated model includes as explanatory variables an income index, a price index of the host country, a price index of the competitors (Spain, Portugal and Italy) and exchange rate. The results show that the main determinants of Greece's tourism demand are both price indexes and exchange rate. They also show that Spain seems to be Greece's main competitor.
Is Chinese Education Underfunded?*

Abstract Scholarship on education in China has correctly emphasized the massive inequalities in reform era educational funding. In describing these inequalities, however, scholars have made dubious claims about the supposedly low level of funding for education in China in relation to other countries. In this article, we examine the statistics on which this claim is based and detail the ways in which education is funded in China that do not get counted in the statistics. We conclude that though funding for education in China is unequal, the total level of such funding may not be low. Moreover, the official statistics are not a reliable guide to comparative discussions of educational funding.
The Rohingya Refugee Crisis and Bangladesh-Myanmar Relations

The Rohingya refugee crisis is a contentious issue that has strained Myanmar-Bangladesh relations since the late 1970s. The Rohingya crisis emanated from the military junta's widespread violations of human rights in Myanmar against the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine. Rendered stateless, the Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh and other neighboring countries to take refuge. Years of negotiation have failed to resolve the Rohingya refugee crisis. This research note proposes the need for intensive bilateral and multilateral negotiations, a prospect which is likely to be facilitated by the process of democratization in Myanmar.
Do regulated microfinance institutions achieve better sustainability and outreach? Cross-country evidence

In spite of increasing pressure on microfinance institutions (MFIs) operating in developing countries to transform into regulated financial intermediaries, to date, no study has investigated whether regulated MFIs actually achieve better financial results and reach more poor clients than nonregulated MFIs. This article explores the impact of regulation on MFI performance using newly released data for 114 MFIs from 62 countries in an empirical model where performance is specified as a function of MFI-specific, regulatory, macroeconomic and institutional variables. Consistent with recent cross-country evidence on the impact of banking regulations on bank performance (Barth et al ., 2004), this article finds that regulatory involvement does not directly affect performance either in terms of operational self-sustainability or outreach. The article also finds that less leveraged MFIs have better sustainability. The policy implication is that MFIs’ transformation into regulated financial institutions is may not lead to improved financial results and outreach. However, the finding that MFIs collecting savings reach more borrowers suggests that there may be indirect benefits from regulation, if regulation is the only way for MFIs to access savings.
Changes in characteristics and outcome of acute upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage: a comparison of epidemiology and practices between 1996 and 2000 in a multicentre French study

Objective To evaluate the main changes in characteristics, practices and outcome between 1996 and 2000 in patients admitted for an acute upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage (AUGIH). Patients and methods All consecutive patients (n=1165) admitted for an AUGIH in four French administrative areas were entered into two separate 6-month studies conducted in 1996 (n=712) and 2000 (n=453). Epidemiological and biological characteristics, endoscopic haemostatic procedures and outcomes were compared. Results Patient characteristics remained unchanged between the two studies; the two main bleeding lesions were peptic ulcer and oesophagogastric varices (30.2 versus 31.1% and 22.5 versus 20.3%). The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or aspirin was more frequent in 2000 (26.5 versus 32.6%; P<0.03). Proton pump inhibitor preventative therapy was administered in less than 15% of patients with a high risk of peptic ulcer bleeding in each period. In patients admitted for varices bleeding, the use of endoscopic haemostatic ligation increased (17.1 versus 40%; P<0.001), with a concomitant decrease in endoscopic sclerotic therapy (76.1 versus 37.5%; P<0.001). We observed a significant decrease in AUGIH mortality in the whole group (11.7 versus 7.2%; P=0.03), and particularly in the subgroup of cirrhotic patients (19.5 versus 11.1%; P=0.05) whatever the source of their bleeding. Conclusion Our time-trend evaluation of changes in AUGIH characteristics revealed that peptic ulcer and varices were still the two most frequent bleeding lesions. In patients with varices bleeding, endoscopic ligation became the routine standard treatment instead of varices sclerosis. The mortality rate decreased significantly over the 5-year study period in the whole group and particularly in the subgroup of cirrhotic patients.
Oil and the U.S. Macroeconomy: A Reinvestigation Using Rolling Impulse Responses

Abstract This paper investigates the role of extreme oil price increases in empirical studies of the macroeconomics of oil prices. The innovative approach of rolling impulse responses is applied and data on both the aggregate and the industry-level is considered. The results show that the first oil crisis drives long-run results and superimposes both subsample and industry-specifics. Furthermore, there is evidence that the non-occurrence of large oil shocks after the mid-1980s is an important explanation for the Great Moderation.
Injuries in artistic gymnastic elite adolescent male and female athletes.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to record the incidence of Sport Injuries (acute and overuse syndromes) in Greek artistic gymnasts in relation to sex, age, event and exercise phase. METHODS 187 Greek elite artistic gymnastic athletes (100 male and 87 female athletes) participating in Greek artistic gymnastic championship involving all age-related categories, were observed on a weekly basis for a year. The athletes consisted of the pre-national team that was chosen to prepare for the next Olympic games. RESULTS 147 (61.5%)acute injuries and 93 (38.5%) overuse syndromes were recorded. The most common anatomical location of injury was the ankle (110 cases, 46%), followed by the knee (63 cases, 26.2%). According to the results, the rate which involved mild injuries was 26.8% (64 cases, 34 males, 30 females) moderate injuries was 44% (106 cases, 59 males, 48 females), major injuries was 29% (70 cases, 38 males, 31 females). For the total sport injuries recorded, the injury incidence on the "floor" and especially during "landing phase", were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS Artistic gymnastics predisposes to acute injuries, by its nature, but up to 70% are mild and moderate. Special attention needs to be given during "floor exercises", especially on landing phase.
Relationship dependencies and autonomy as mediation pathways of incarceration and HIV risk outcomes among low income drug involved adults

Relationship dependencies and autonomy mediation pathways of incarceration and HIV risk outcomes among low income drug involved adults Bright Eli Sarfo HIV/AIDS prevalence within correctional settings and among populations with criminal justice histories are several times that of the general population. Despite prior investigations that have empirically identified associations between criminal justice system involvement and HIV risk behavior, few studies have investigated mechanisms of autonomy and relationship dependencies as mediating mechanisms between incarceration history and HIV risk behavioral outcomes. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the role of relationship dependencies (reliance on a partner for drug and non-drug related expenses) and autonomy (personal access to resources including housing, employment and educational opportunities, relationship dependency) as a pathway linking prior incarceration and HIV risk behavior. An integrated theory combining General Strain Theory and the Theory of Gender and Power informed the hypothesis for this dissertation. It was hypothesized that incarceration history would be associated with HIV risk behaviors among drug involved adults. Relationship dependencies and autonomy was also hypothesized to be associated with HIV risk behaviors among drug involved adults, relationship dependencies and autonomy were hypothesized to mediate any observed positive relationships between incarceration history and HIV risk behavior. This investigation represented a cross-sectional design using a baseline dataset of street recruited heterosexual couples participating in a NIDA funded randomized HIV prevention intervention trial (343 men, 346 women). Findings showed that incarceration had significant associations with HIV risk behaviors including sex exchange, injection drug use and sharing injection equipment among women but not among men. It was also found that autonomy had significant negative relationships with HIV risk indicators among women, with no significant associations being found among men. Multivariate results also suggested that relationship dependencies regarding expenses for drugs were associated with HIV risk indicators including sex exchange and injection drug use for women, and sex exchange for men. Although incarceration history was significantly associated with relationship dependencies for drug expenses among women, there was not sufficient evidence to suggest that relationship dependencies or autonomy were mediating mechanisms of HIV risk outcomes. Results of this study have important implications for the development of practice and policy level harm reduction and HIV prevention interventions for drug involved adults.
Environmental Quality and Development: Is There a Kuznets Curve for Air Pollution Emissions?

Abstract Several recent studies have identified inverted-U relationships between pollution and economic development. We investigate this question using a cross-national panel of data on emissions of four important air pollutants: suspended particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, and carbon monoxide. We find that per capita emissions of all four pollutants exhibit inverted-U relationships with per capita GDP. While this suggests that emissions will decrease in the very long run, we forecast continued rapid growth in global emissions over the next several decades.