Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Designing Innovative Organizations in Malaysia: Do Structure and Culture Matter?

The purpose of this article is to determine the influence of organizational structure (formalization and centralization and culture (participative decision-making, support and collaboration, learning and development) on innovation (technological and process, administrative, product and overall) among firms operating in Malaysia. Regression analyses of 123 responses revealed that only cultural variables have positive effects on two forms of innovation (technological and process, and administrative). Specifically, both participation in decision-making, and support and collaboration had significant positive effects on technological and process innovation. On the other hand, both support and collaboration, and learning and development were found to have significant positive effects on administrative innovation. Structural variables (both formalization and centralization) had no effect on all forms of innovation investigated. Implications for managerial practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Diagnostic performance of the medial hamstring reflex in L5 radiculopathy

Background: An avalanche of literature exists on almost every aspect of lumbar disc pathology but very limited studies have quantified the diagnostic performance of elements of clinical examination in predicting disc level, meticulously collated the reflex changes in lumbar disc herniation (LDH) as well as assessed the diagnostic performance of the medial hamstring reflex (MHR). Our study underscores the diagnostic performance of the MHR in L5 radiculopathy comparing its diagnostic power to that of the knee and ankle reflexes. Methods: One hundred consecutive patients operated for de novo LDH in our department between January and December 2011 were prospectively followed-up. A nested case control study was designed from our cohort to assess the performance of the MHR in L5 sciatica. All patients were examined by two independent examiners pre-operatively for the MHR and the results collated and correlated to MRI and intra-operative findings. Results: The MHR has a diagnostic performance intermediate to that of knee and ankle reflexes. The percentages correctly classified were respectively: 86%, 79% and 67% for the knee, MHR and ankle reflexes. The MHR is highly precise with an intra-rater reliability of 100% and inter-rater repeatability of above 90% and test-retest reproducibility of 100%. Conclusion: The MHR hitherto described as elusive has a high diagnostic performance and is a valid neurologic test that should be included in the routine neurologic examination of patients with suspected L5 radiculopathy.
Stock-Flow Matching Model: A Quantitative Analysis

This paper extends Shimer's (2005) Mismatch model to allow for endogenous mobility. Rather than work directly in the original model, I use a related framework, the stock-flow matching model (Taylor, 1995; Coles and Muthoo, 1998). One of the contributions of this paper is therefore to compare the solutions to these two models. Their predictions are quantitatively similar
Review of Canadian Literature to Estimate Risks Associated with Salmonella in Broilers from Retail to Consumption in Canadian Homes

The objective was to review the literature related to the risk of salmonellosis from chicken consumed in private homes in Canada. The pathway of concern was retail-to-consumption at private homes due to the direct link between this pathway and public health. A qualitative review was conducted by searching Canadian governmental agencies' webpages, published peer-reviewed journals, and by contacting experts in the field. Overall, with the data available, estimating risk from Salmonella in chicken breasts using only Canadian information was limited. Enumeration data for Salmonella in retail raw chicken at different regions across Canada are needed to be able to generalize the risk of salmonellosis in the Canadian population. Few Canadian surveys were found to describe consumers' food safety behaviors at Canadians' private homes. Observational designs to study food safety practices and Canadian consumers' behavior in private kitchens are needed to ensure that consumer behavior is consistent with consumer perceptions of their behavior. The results of such studies will give valuable input for designing educational programs needed to increase awareness of safe food handling practices by Canadian consumers when preparing food at their homes.
Toward Representative Bureaucracy

To deliver truly representative and effective democratic governance, a public service (PS) should employ individuals from diverse backgrounds throughout its workforce. In the Canadian government, patterns of underrepresentation persist for each of the four employment equity (EE) groups. This study explores three questions: First, are there differences between the four EE groups in terms of their attraction to jobs in the public sector? Second, what are key work values that predict PS attraction? Third, do EE groups differ in terms of these key work values? Based on a large-scale survey of more than 12,000 final-year Canadian postsecondary students, results indicate that women, Aboriginals, and persons with disabilities report higher levels of PS attraction than visible minorities. Work values such as job security, commitment to social responsibility, benefits, and commitment to diversity were strongly associated with PS attraction, and EE groups differed in their evaluations of the relative importance of these work values.
World Tax Index: New Methodology for OECD Countries, 2000–2012

Abstract This paper follows our previous article, Kotlán and Machová (2012a), which presented an indicator of the tax burden that can be used as an alternative to the tax quota, or for implicit tax rates in macroeconomic analyses. This alternative is an overall multi-criteria index called the WTI - the World Tax Index. The aim of this paper is to present the new World Tax Index 2013 and its methodology, which allowed us to compute it for all 34 OECD countries for the 2000-2012 period, with special references to methodology changes from the previous version. We show that, using the WTI, the highest tax burden is measured for Denmark, Belgium and Turkey, while the lowest tax burden is in Switzerland, Ireland, Chile or Japan. The total ranking of the countries is from 66% correlated with the ranking according to the tax quota, mainly due to a strong correlation in the case of property taxes, personal income taxes and VAT-type taxes. In these cases, the tax quota seems to be a good approximator of the tax burden. However, there is no correlation between corresponding tax quotas and WTI sub-indices for corporate taxes or selective consumption taxes. In those cases, the tax quota apparently fails and is not suitable for use in further analyses.
Persistence of Interindustry Wage Differentials: A Reexamination Using Matched Worker‐Firm Panel Data

We estimate interindustry wage differentials using new French longitudinal data that allow a tracking of workers and their firms over time. We find that, when measured on a cross‐sectional basis, they primarily reflect the interindustry variations in unmeasured labor quality. However, interindustry wage differentials are only a minor component of interfirm wage differentials. The average differential in wages paid to the same workers by different firms is about 20%–30%. In a given industry, wage policies are more favorable to workers in large, capital‐intensive firms.
The Effectiveness of Various Cervical Orthoses: An In Vivo Comparison of the Mechanical Stability Provided by Several Widely Used Models

Study Design The amount of motion allowed by various cervical orthoses was compared with the amount of unrestricted neck motion in vivo. Objectives To determine how much mechanical stability commonly used cervical orthoses provide to the wearer. Summary of Background Data Few studies have compared quantitatively the restriction of motion from cervical orthoses that are commonly prescribed for patients. No studies have used methods allowing measurement of all three rotations throughout the range of motion in passive and active tests. Previous studies may have overstated the amount of restriction provided resulting from the methods used. Methods Five subjects were tested for cervical range of motion in flexion‐extension, axial rotation, and lateral bending. Each was tested with no collar, with soft collar, with Philadelphia collar, with Philadelphia collar with thoracic extension, and with sterno‐occipital mandibular immobilizer brace. Each test was conducted passively and actively. Measurements were taken with the CA‐6000 Spine Motion Analyzer, a highly accurate and precise computerized linkage system that simultaneously records all three rotations in real time. Results All orthoses restricted motion to some extent. Generally, the collars ranked (from least restrictive to most restrictive): soft, Philadelphia, Philadelphia with extension, and sterno‐occipital mandibular immobilizer brace. However, the differences were not usually large, and the collars did not restrict motion as much as previously reported. No collar restricted the motion of any of the subjects to less than 19° of flexion‐extension, 46° of axial rotation, or 45° of lateral bending, and most subjects demonstrated significantly more motion. Conclusions Although cervical orthoses can be helpful for other reasons, they do not provide a high level of mechanical restriction of motion. Additionally, the restriction they do provide can vary widely between people. Prescribing physicians should consider the relative merits of the various orthoses before deciding whether they will meet a patient's needs. The differences between the collars tested may not be enough to justify one of the more expensive or less comfortable collars.
Short-Changing the Small Saver: Federal Government Discrimination against the Small Saver During the Vietnam War

IT IS SHOCKING TO REALIZE how hard the federal government has worked to prevent the small household saver from sharing in the high interest rates of the past five years. While rates on 4to 6-months commercial paper soared above 9 per cent, Federal Reserve authorities kept the maximum rate that member banks could pay on passbook savings at 4 per cent until January 21, 197O, when they raised the applicable maximum a mere half-point. With the co-operation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, which have parallel regulatory authority over state nonmember banks, mutual savings banks, and savingsand-loan associations, rates on savings held in other depositary institutions have been similarly restrained. As the diSerentials between depositary savings rates and market rates on open-market instruments grew larger (as high as 4 and 5 per cent), depositors began to shift more and more funds from depositary institutions into openmarket paper. To forestall these shifts, federal authorities first sanctioned discriminatory relaxation of the ceilings on depositary-savings rates on large deposits, specifically those in excess of $10,000 at savings institutions and those in excess of $100,000 at commercial banks. Because growing numbers of small savers began to shift their funds into small-denomination Treasury bills (available in multiples of $1,000) and FMNA debentures (available in multiples of $5,000), the minimum denominations for these instruments were raised on February 25 to $10,000. Commercial-bank subordinated capital notes and debentures (so-called "mini-bonds," currently available in maturities as short as two years and denominations as small as $100) are regarded as the next most important threat to nonbank intermediary deposits and shares, and the Federal Reserve Board announced on March 2nd that it is considering establishing for these instruments a minimum denomination of $20,000 and a minimum maturity of five years. Finally, interest rates on U. S. Savings Bonds -long and widely promoted as the "perfect" vehicle for the small saver and frequently forced down the throat
Residents’ interactions with and attachments to Retezat National Park, Romania: implications for environmental responsibility

Community residents’ attitudes, behaviours and emotional connections with adjacent natural areas are integral to the optimal management of those areas. Residents in communities proximal to Romanian protected areas have been described in various studies as passive, lacking environmental sensibility and ascribing responsibility for resource protection to authorities. Given little evidence supporting such assertions, this study examined the social and natural landscape interactions and connections of community residents neighbouring a Romanian national park and residents’ perceptions of attachment to the park. The relationship between park attachment and ascribed environmental responsibility was also analysed. Two block model regressions revealed that residents with longer duration of residence, who interacted more with friends and public officials, and those who hiked in the park, reported higher levels of park attachment. Park attachment, time spent in the community, female gender and level of education, positively contributed to the ascription of self-responsibility for environmental protection. Results underscore the importance of the social environment in facilitating attachments to a park. Furthermore, park attachment was found to facilitate increased self-ascription of environmental responsibility. Managerial implications to encourage interactions and ascribed environmental responsibility are discussed.
Activities, resources and inter-organizational relationships: key factors in port competitiveness

In the last decade, the port economics literature has given great emphasis to the Supply Chain Management approach as the new paradigm for the definition of port competitiveness. SCM supports the development of partnerships between the actors of the supply chain and considers the integration of activities and resources along business processes as source of competitive advantage. Nevertheless, the application of SCM approach to the port is particularly compiex given the traditional hostile relationships between port actors. In the effort to overcome such complexity, some authors have considered ports as Logistics Service Providers and interpreted their role within supply chains through the integrative practices undertaken by Global Players–mainly Shipping Companies and Terminal Operators–in the supply of integrated logistics services. Even tough these actors are crucial for the port competitiveness, they determine a passive role of port in the new competitive scenario. The definition of a potential and pro-active role of port in the supply chains is the objective of this paper that presents, through a literature review on SCM and port competitiveness, a new framework for port competitiveness. According to this framework, that is based on the value constellation concept value is generated by joint effort of port actors in the satisfaction of clients' needs, through the exploitation of different I mterdependencies (serial, pooled and reciprocal) between supply chains. In this context, Port Authority has a I fundamental role in identifying those resources–the so called critical assets–that encourage the development of inter-organisational relationships between port actors in the value generation process.
Water and People: Perception and Management Practices in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Cultural perceptions and traditions are part of the intangible aspects of water resources management. However, little attention has been given to their impact on water management issues such as access, use, or allocation, as well as the success of state water projects. This article looks at these issues through a case study of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, drawing on interviews, observations, village meetings, and group discussions among the major ethnic groups in the state. It is argued that knowledge of water as well as management practices is mostly tied to the prevailing belief systems of the people, which are somewhat linked to tradition. This has implications for policies on water resources management in Nigeria.
Epigenetic regulation of intestinal stem cells by Tet1-mediated DNA hydroxymethylation

Here, Kim et al. provide novel insights into the epigenomic changes that occur during intestinal stem cell development and differentiation. They demonstrate that Tet1-mediated DNA hydroxymethylation plays a critical role in the epigenetic regulation of the Wnt pathway in intestinal stem and progenitor cells and consequently in the self-renewal of the intestinal epithelium.
Promoter: An Automated Promotion Evaluation System

A system and methodology for evaluating manufacturers' trade promotions which may be combined with consumer promotions is described. The methodology incorporates concepts from expert systems in order to evaluate promotions on a mass scale i.e., by geographical area and size or flavor with a minimum of analyst intervention. The system uses available data shipments, warehouse withdrawal or store level scanner data and contains a knowledge base to recognize and adjust for data irregularities. The system estimates a baseline of what sales would have been had a promotion not been run. The three available real cases where promotions were discontinued are shown as partial validation for the procedure. The large potential biases in using only factory shipment data for evaluating promotions are also explored.
Names in Chinua Achebe's Anthills of the savannah

This paper examines the formation patterns and functions of names in Chinua Achebe\'s Anthills of the Savannah , motivated by the scanty scholarly studies on names in the text. All the personal names in the text are studied and analysed, using insights from contextual models. The paper identifies four types of names in Anthills : official names, first names, nicknames and institutional/titular names. It also picks out three dimensions of these names: branching, non-branching and active-mentioned, which are associated with the types. It shows that the names have structural and formation patterns such as + title prefixing, +first name, + surname, indigenous language form, coinage, abbronymy, clipping, qualification and full form representation. It also demonstrates that the names play contextual and ideological roles such as being interactional tools, address terms, weapons of criticisms and vision projectors. The paper concludes that names in Anthills are carefully chosen to serve particular thematic and stylistic purposes. Keywords : Chinua Achebe, Anthills , names, formation, context and function MARANG Vol. 18 2008 pp. 49-67
Small Firm Survival and Innovation

This paper explores ‘evolution’ as a means of complementing our understanding and interpretation of creative innovation networks in small firms. The abstracted evolutionary mechanisms of variation, selection and retention (VSR) are employed to add a more dynamic interpretative framework to the reading of social networks and group structures. The paper thus presents a lens through which to appreciate creativity as an evolving and shared process. The principal aim of this research is to illustrate otherwise tacit informal relations within a small business through the application of a qualitative approach to social network analysis (SNA) and, in doing so, to present intra-firm relations as central to creativity and innovation – particularly as the organizational structure moves beyond the dominance of the founding entrepreneur.
Multinationality as a Moderator of National Institutions: The Case of Culture and Capital Structure Decisions

Literature in international business and finance share the belief that country‐level institutions affect the decisions of corporations. In this study, we highlight the other side of the picture and propose that MNCs can moderate the impact of the national institutions of a country. Unlike previous studies, we treat culture not only as an explanatory variable but also as a moderator. We posit that multinationality moderates the influence of national culture on corporate financial leverage. Using a large panel data set of 50 countries, we show that the multinationality of a firm decreases the impact that national culture has on its capital structure. Additionally, our study makes another significant contribution by establishing existing cultural dimensions as economically and statistically significant determinants of capital structure.
Overeducation, undereducation and asymmetric information in occupational mobility

Due to short-term asymmetric information, overeducated and undereducated workers are shown to have different optimal strategies in seeking upward occupational mobility into their next positions. Undereducated workers typically have other human capital strengths, but these strengths are not marketable to outsiders. Overeducated workers typically have other human capital weaknesses that are not apparent to outsiders while their excess schooling is marketable in labour markets with dynamic asymmetric information. This article presents empirical evidence showing that job tenure increases the probability of upward occupational mobility more if individuals are undereducated. Moreover, the probability of finding upward occupational mobility is increased by overeducated workers engaging in firm switching. This article also validates prior empirical studies finding overeducated workers more likely to self report engaging in firm switching activities and more likely to experience upward occupational mobility than others.
Performance differences between IPOs in new industries and IPOs in established industries

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a unique approach to examining issues related to initial public offerings (IPOs). Design/methodology/approach - The price behavior of IPOs in new industries is analyzed relative to IPOs in established industries. Findings - The results show that there are fundamental differences between IPOs of companies in new industries and those in established industries in that there is greater uncertainty regarding future earnings, less competition and fewer barriers to entry. The results indicate that IPOs in new industries outperform IPOs in established industries during holding periods of one to ten years. Furthermore, IPOs in new industries tend to merge less often, declare bankruptcy less often and are delisted less often than firms conducting an IPO in established industries. Originality/value - A longitudinal approach allows analysis of IPOs of firms relative to other IPOs within the same industry that occurred before or after. By performing such a longitudinal study, issues could be examined which would not have been possible to analyze using a cross section of IPOs from a single time period. The usefulness of this study is that it provides new information to the investor when selecting between IPOs in new or established industries, and also when selecting among IPOs of firms entering a new industry in the early, middle or latter stage of its market cycle.