Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Drivers and Enablers That Foster Environmental Management Capabilities in Small‐ and Medium‐Sized Suppliers in Supply Chains

The limited capabilities and resources available within many small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises frequently hamper an effective response to environmental pressures, which in turn hurts large buying firms (i.e., customers). Using a case study method with multiple suppliers of two large buying firms, we mapped factors that initiated and improved environmental capabilities in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises over time. Through several specific mechanisms, buyers' green supply chain management initiated and then enabled the improvement of suppliers' environmental capabilities. Independent of buyers, internal championing of environmental concerns also provided an impetus for small‐ and medium‐sized enterprise suppliers to acquire resources outside the supply chain. Thus, synergistic linkages emerged in supportive buyer‐supplier relationships, resource acquisition, and capability development. When these findings are combined with earlier research on larger suppliers, an integrative framework emerges that provides direction for suppliers, buyers, and public agencies seeking to improve environmental performance.
Convenient Selective Differential Broth for Isolation of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus from Fecal Material

ABSTRACT Studies have shown that vancomycin broth enrichment is superior to direct plating for the detection of vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE), but vancomycin selective broth is not generally commercially available. We developed an easy-to-prepare VRE selective differential broth and compared it to direct plating on bile esculin azide (BEA) agar for the isolation of VRE from fecal samples. A total of 528 consecutive rectal swabs and stools were inoculated onto BEA agar and into BEA broth with vancomycin at a concentration of 15 μg/ml (BEA VAN15μg/ml broth). After 1 to 2 days of incubation, broths were subcultured to BEA VAN6μg/ml agar. Bile esculin-positive colonies from the direct and broth subculture plates were evaluated for the presence of VRE by standard microbiological techniques. Addition of the broth enrichment step led to the detection of significantly more VRE isolates than did direct plating alone (28 versus 18 VRE isolates, respectively). In all, 30 VRE strains were isolated from 29 cultures, all of which were Enterococcus faecium. MICs of vancomycin ranged from 32 μg/ml (n = 2) to > 256 μg/ml (n = 28). Twenty-two VRE isolates were available for further testing: sixteen exhibited a VanA phenotype and six were of the VanB phenotype. van genotypes were in agreement with phenotypes for all VRE isolates except one, which could not be genotyped. The broth method also resulted in significantly fewer bile esculin-positive, non-VRE isolates requiring further workup. We have thus developed an easily prepared vancomycin selective differential broth that is significantly more sensitive and specific in the detection of VRE than is direct fecal plating to BEA agar.
The Impact of Stock-Option Compensation for Outside Directors on Firm Value

We study firms adopting stock-option plans for outside directors in a sample of Fortune 1000 firms from 1997 to 1999. Fixed-effects models accounting for self-selectivity bias indicate that companies with such plans have higher market-to-book ratios and profitability metrics. Option plan adoptions generate positive cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) and favorable revisions in analysts' earnings forecasts. Outside director appointments produce CARs close to zero for firms with option plans but significantly negative CARs for firms without them. We conclude that such stock-option plans help align the incentives of outside directors and shareholders, thereby improving firm value.
The Threat of Terrorism as an Intervention on International Travel Flows

This article applies the method of intervention analysis to the study of flows of U.K. air passengers to a variety of destinations. The significance and form of interventions on U.K. air travel are examined for the U.S. bombing of Libya in 1986 for which implicit assistance was given by the United Kingdom, the Lockerbie air disaster (1988), and the Persian Gulf crisis (1990-1991). The effects of these interventions on U.K. air travel vary in onset, magnitude, and duration according to the destination involved and the state that a crisis has reached.
Urinary Tuberculosis: Ten Years' Experience

In this study of 26 patients, clinical features diagnosed as urinary tuberculosis in our nephrology and urology clinics between 1993 and 2002 were investigated retrospectively. Fifteen patients (52%) were male, and mean age was 43.5 (18–71). Twenty percent of the patients were asymptomatic. Frequency-dysuria (46%), flank pain (33%), and macroscopic hematuria (12%) were presenting symptoms. Physical examination was not diagnostically helpful in most patients. Hematuria and/or pyuria were detected in 80% of the patients. Eleven patients had positive urine cultures of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (42%), and 7 patients had positive smears (25%). Definitive diagnosis of urinary tuberculosis was established microbiologically in 15 patients (58%) and histopathologically in 11 patients (42%). Tuberculin skin test was positive in 60% of the patients. Eight patients had an abnormal chest roentgenogram. Hydronephrosis (majority bilateral) in 11 patients (42%), contracted bladder in 9 patients (34.6%), and renal calcification in 6 patients (23%) were detected. Two patients also had genital tuberculosis (epididymoorchitis). Although only medical treatment was applied in 13 patients for 9 months, in the rest of the patients medical therapy plus surgical intervention was carried out. End-stage renal failure developed in one patient who died on hemodialysis. Renal functions had decreased moderately in two other patients. In conclusion, the diagnosis of urinary tuberculosis was able to be established after the obstructive complications and functional losses were developed in a fair number of cases. Surgical treatment was carried out in half the patients. Urinary tuberculosis should be taken into consideration because early diagnosis and treatment is very important for the presenting of irreversible sequelae.
Predicting Consumers' Acceptability of Pesticide-Free Fresh Produce in Canada's Maritime Provinces

ABSTRACT This study examines consumers' willingness to purchase pesticide-free fresh produce (PFFP) in Canada's Maritime Provinces. Households' decisions in purchasing organic foods are reflected in their willingness-to-pay (WTP) a premium for obtaining these types of products. WTP was modeled as a function of a series of explanatory variables including sociodemographic, socioeconomic, media, and public awareness about the impact of pesticide use on health and environment. Results suggest that Maritimes' consumers tend to pay the premium because they believe that the use of pesticide in conventional farming is life threatening. In addition, males and individuals with bachelor degrees are more willing to pay the premium, but those who visit farmers' markets on a regular basis are less likely to pay a premium for pesticide-free fresh fruit and vegetables. Finally, results show that media have no impact on consumers' decisions to purchase pesticide-free fresh produce.
Religion, competition and liability : Dutch cooperative banking in crisis, 1919-1927

What accounts for the differences in the performance of cooperatively-owned banks in the Dutch financial crisis of the early 1920s? This thesis measures and explains the (relative) performance of boerenleenbanken (rural Raiffeisen banks) and middenstandsbanken (urban Schulze-Delitzsch banks) during the Netherlands' interwar banking crisis by applying various economic methods to new historical evidence. The thesis asks: (1) what were the effects on risk-taking behaviour of differences in the religious attitudes of bankers and their customers? (2) what was the relationship between interbank competition and financial stability? and (3) what was the consequence of the liability choices made by shareholders for their banks' continued survival? Using a combination of economic theory, quantitative financial analysis and qualitative business histories, this thesis finds that: (1) banks serving small religious groups were less willing, despite being more able, to take on risks than those serving majority denominations; (2) those banks that were subject to the lowest competitive pressures enjoyed the most liquid investment portfolios; and (3) the choice of liability limitation available to bankers in uenced their balance sheet risks, for the worse. Together, these findings lead to the conclusion that social, organisational and institutional factors each explain part of the heterogeneity in the fate of the Netherlands' cooperative banks during a period which includes unprecedented debt- deflationary financial turmoil: hence, (1) strict membership criteria and the use of personal guarantors in loan agreements acted as strong devices to allow banks for minorities, regardless of their denomination, to screen and monitor their customers; (2) the switching costs associated with religious affiliation resulted in a competition- stability tradeoff during periods of extreme distress; and (3) the stakeholders of the banks which failed were probably less risk-averse than those of banks which did not, the consequence of endogenous group formation by risk type.
The impact of inequity aversion on relational incentive contracts

This thesis consists of three self-contained essays that investigate the impact of fairness concerns among agents on the efficient design of real-world incentive contracts used to mitigate moral-hazard problems under non-verifiable performance. All papers consider situations in which a firm employs two inequity averse workers whose individual performances are, albeit observable by the contracting parties, not contractible. The first paper studies the effects of inequity aversion on relational employment contracts. Performance is evaluated via an agent’s individual non-verifiable contribution to firm value. In contrast to the literature, we find that inequity aversion may be beneficial: In the presence of envy, for a certain range of interest rates relational contracts may be more profitable. For some interest rates reputational equilibria exist only with envious agents. In the second paper, I compare group to individual performance pay. Avoiding payoff inequity, the group bonus contract is superior as long as the firm faces no credibility problem. The individual bonus contract may, however, become superior albeit introducing the prospect of unequal pay. This is due to two reasons: The group bonus scheme is subject to a free-rider problem requiring a higher incentive pay and impeding credibility of the firm. Moreover, with individual bonuses the firm benefits from the incentive-strengthening effect of envy, allowing for yet smaller incentive pay and further softening the credibility constraint. The third paper contrasts a rank-order tournament with independent bonus contracts. Whereas the bonus scheme must be self-enforcing, the tournament is contractible. Yet the former incentive regime outperforms the latter as long as credibility problems are not too severe. This is due the fact that the tournament requires unequal pay across peers with certainty and thus imposes large inequity premium costs on the firm. For a simple example, I show that the more envious the agents are the larger is the range of interest rates for which the bonus scheme dominates the tournament.
Quality of working life indicators in Canadian health care organizations: a tool for healthy, health care workplaces?

BACKGROUND Quality-of-work-life (QWL) includes broad aspects of the work environment that affect employee learning and health. Canadian health care organizations (HCOs) are being encouraged to monitor QWL, expanding existing occupational health surveillance capacities. AIM To investigate the understanding, collection, diffusion and use of QWL indicators in Canadian HCOs. METHODS We obtained cooperation from six diverse public HCOs managing 41 sites. We reviewed documentation relevant to QWL and conducted 58 focus groups/team interviews with strategic, support and programme teams. Group interviews were taped, reviewed and analysed for themes using qualitative data techniques. Indicators were classified by purpose and HCO level. RESULTS QWL indicators, as such, were relatively new to most HCOs yet the data managed by human resource and occupational health and safety support teams were highly relevant to monitoring of employee well-being (119 of 209 mentioned indicators), e.g. sickness absence. Monitoring of working conditions (62/209) was also important, e.g. indicators of employee workload. Uncommon were indicators of biomechanical and psychosocial hazards at work, despite their being important causes of morbidity among HCO employees. Although imprecision in the definition of QWL indicators, limited links with other HCO performance measures and inadequate HCO resources for implementation were common, most HCOs cited ways in which QWL indicators had influenced planning and evaluation of prevention efforts. CONCLUSIONS Increase in targeted HCO resources, inclusion of other QWL indicators and greater integration with HCO management systems could all improve HCO decision-makers' access to information relevant to employee health.
Quality management for seaports integrated in supply chains

Over the years, seaports have evolved through various generations to become an integral node in supply chains. Continual reforms have been required for seaports to change their organisational structure and management practice to provide higher quality of service whilst maintaining lower costs to ensure long-term sustainability. To achieve this, a framework of quality management practices for modern day seaports integrated in supply chains is proposed. Based on the framework, the practices and attributes for seaport quality management are conceptually developed and empirically tested through a postal survey of senior seaport managers in Vietnam. The findings show that eight internal and four external quality practices are recognised by senior managers as being important conditions for quality management in seaports, however, further investigation of the external practices is recommended as seaports and supply chains become further integrated and dependent on a global scale.
Investment Drivers in a Fishery with Tradable Quotas

I analyze drivers of investment in a fishery with tradable quotas. Theory predicts that tradable quotas increase efficiency because efficient firms buy quotas from less efficient firms. I identify what drives investment, using data on Norwegian purse seiners. Results show that while the basic economic investment model explains investment within firms, it does not explain differences between firms. These differences are explained by other firm-specific factors such as geographical location, whether it is a family firm, and prices paid for quotas. Consequently, investment strategies are not necessarily driven by efficiency considerations, and quota trade may not increase allocative efficiency. (JEL Q22, Q28)
Evaluation the Difference between Results of MRI and Electrodiagnostic Methods in Inferior Lumbosacral Discopathies

Introduction: To achieve an appropriate treatment for low back pain we should know the exact reason of the pain. Beside physical examination, imaging modalities like CT scan and MRI are the other diagnostic methods for LBP. Furthermore, electrodiagnostic studies help to diagnose the reason behind radiculopathy. Actually when the reason of radiculopathy is unclear, these methods help to localize the exact nerve root causing the pain and rule out the similar reasons of radiculopathy. The aim of this study was to compare MRI and EMG in diagnosing the reason of lumbosacral radiculopathies. Methods: In this cross sectional descriptive-analytical study, the number of patients who came to neurosurgery clinics with LBP and lumbar discopathy and been evaluated by MRI and EMG were studied. Later, for every patient a questionnaire was completed based on the results achieved from MRI and EMG and the obtained results were compared. Results: 100 patients were participated in this study, 60% female and 40% male. The average age of patients was 39/75 years. The most frequent chief complaint of patients was LBP with a prevalence of 43%. MRI findings showed 64% involvement of L4/L5 level in these patients. On the other hand, EMG findings also showed L4/L5 level involvement in 64% of patients confirming the hypothesis of our study that MRI and EMG findings are compatible with each other in determining the level and intensity of disc involvement. Conclusion: For determining the level of injury in lumbosacral radiculopathies, both MRI and EMG are equally useful. Additionally, in borderline cases we can use EMG to confirm MRI findings to determine the intensity and level of injury. Keywords : Lumbosacral radiculopathy; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Electromyography
Electricity Consumption and Economic Growth in Bangladesh: Co-integration and Causality Analysis

This paper tries to investigate the relationship between economic growth, electricity consumption and investment for Bangladesh through co-integration and causality analysis over the period 1981 to 2011. Using ADP and PP unit root tests it is found that all the three variables are integrated of order 1. The Johansen co-integration tests indicate that all the variables are co-integrated with one co-integrating vector. The Granger F test results show the existence of unidirectional causality running from electricity consumption to economic growth, electricity consumption to investment and investment to economic growth without feedback in the short run. The source of causation in the long run is also found to be the error correction terms from electricity consumption and economic growth to investment. The long run elasticity of economic growth with respect to electricity consumption and investment are higher than their short run elasticity. This implies that over time higher electricity consumption and investment in Bangladesh give rise to more economic growth.
Evaluation of Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry for Identification of Nocardia Species

ABSTRACT The identification of Nocardia species, usually based on biochemical tests together with phenotypic in vitro susceptibility and resistance patterns, is a difficult and lengthy process owing to the slow growth and limited reactivity of these bacteria. In this study, a panel of 153 clinical and reference strains of Nocardia spp. , altogether representing 19 different species, were characterized by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). As reference methods for species identification, full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phenotypical biochemical and enzymatic tests were used. In a first step, a complementary homemade reference database was established by the analysis of 110 Nocardia isolates (pretreated with 30 min of boiling and extraction) in the MALDI BioTyper software according to the manufacturer's recommendations for microflex measurement (Bruker Daltonik GmbH, Leipzig, Germany), generating a dendrogram with species-specific cluster patterns. In a second step, the MALDI BioTyper database and the generated database were challenged with 43 blind-coded clinical isolates of Nocardia spp. Following addition of the homemade database in the BioTyper software, MALDI-TOF MS provided reliable identification to the species level for five species of which more than a single isolate was analyzed. Correct identification was achieved for 38 of the 43 isolates (88%), including 34 strains identified to the species level and 4 strains identified to the genus level according to the manufacturer's log score specifications. These data suggest that MALDI-TOF MS has potential for use as a rapid (<1 h) and reliable method for the identification of Nocardia species without any substantial costs for consumables.
Delineation of a Negative Feedback Regulatory Loop That Controls Protein Translation during Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress*

Transient protein synthesis inhibition is an important protective mechanism used by cells during various stress conditions including endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. This response centers on the phosphorylation state of eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF)-2α, which is induced by kinases like protein kinase R-like ER kinase (PERK) and GCN2 to suppress translation and is later reversed so translation resumes. GADD34 was recently identified as the factor that activates the type 1 protein serine/threonine phosphatase (PP1), which dephosphorylates eIF-2α during cellular stresses. Our study delineates a negative feedback regulatory loop in which the eIF-2α-controlled inhibition of protein translation leads to GADD34 induction, which promotes translational recovery. We show that activating transcription factor-4 (ATF4), which is paradoxically translated during the eIF-2α-mediated translational block, is required for the transactivation of the GADD34 promoter in response to ER stress and amino acid deprivation. ATF4 directly binds to and trans-activates a conserved ATF site in the GADD34 promoter during ER stress. Examination of ATF4–/– MEFs revealed an absence of GADD34 induction, prolonged eIF-2α phosphorylation, delayed protein synthesis recovery, and diminished translational up-regulation of BiP during ER stress. These studies demonstrate the essential role of GADD34 in the resumption of protein synthesis, define the pathway for its induction, and reveal that cytoprotective unfolded protein response targets like BiP are sensitive to the eIF-2α-mediated block in translation.
Bretton Woods II Still Defines the International Monetary System

In this paper we argue that net capital inflows to the United States did not cause the financial crisis that now engulfs the world economy. A crisis caused by such flows has been widely predicted but that crisis has not occurred. Indeed, the international monetary system still operates in the way described by the Bretton Woods II framework and is likely to continue to do so. Failure to properly identify the causes of the current crisis risks a rise in protectionism that could intensify and prolong the decline in economic activity around the world.