Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of earnings and cash flow permanence on their incremental information content in Thailand

Abstract We examine whether the incremental information content of cash flows from operations (earnings) increases when earnings (cash flows) are transitory in Thailand's emerging capital market. Prior research for developed capital markets (e.g. the United States and Japan) has found cash flows play a more important role in explaining security returns when earnings are transitory. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (“SET”) required listed firms to provide a Statement of Cash Flows beginning in 1994. This requirement was not in response to investor demand, but was motivated by the SET's desire to employ standards similar to those of developed markets. We find that for a sample of 448 firm-years between 1995 and 1997, cash flows have greater incremental information content and earnings have less information content when earnings are relatively transitory and cash flows are relatively permanent. When cash flows are relatively transitory, we find they have significantly less information content and earnings have significantly more. © City University of Hong Kong.
How Long can a Euclidean Traveling Salesman Tour Be?

Where S is a set of N points in the unit square, let $t(S)$ be the Euclidean length of the shortest traveling salesman tour through S. Let $t_N = \max_st (S)$. We improve Few’s bound [Mathematika, 2 (1955), pp. 141–144] that $t_N \leqq \sqrt {2N} + 7/4$ to $t_N \leqq \alpha \sqrt N + 11$, where $\alpha /\sqrt 2 < 0.984$.
On the Efficiency of Stock-Based Compensation

When the market can observe the profitability of all projects with equal precision, then with stock compensation (1) the weight on any given project in managerial compensation is independent of the marginal productivity of effort in the project; (2) the projects that are the noisiest indicators of managerial effort receive the most weight in compensation; and (3) investors have the greatest incentive to collect information about projects that are the noisiest indicators of managerial effort. Article published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Financial Studies in its journal, The Review of Financial Studies.
Understanding storage traffic characteristics on enterprise virtual desktop infrastructure

Despite the growing popularity of enterprise virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), little is known about its storage traffic characteristics. In addition, no prior work has considered the detailed characteristics of virtual machine (VM) behavior on VDI. In this paper, we analyze the enterprise storage traffic on commercial office VDI using designated VMs. For 28 consecutive days, we gathered various types of traces, including a usage questionnaire and active and passive measurements. To characterize the storage traffic, we focused on two perspectives: fibre channel (FC) traffic and VM behavior. From the FC traffic perspective, we found that read traffic is dominant, although the applications are similar to those in a previous small-scale VDI. In particular, the write response time of large transactions, e.g.,128 KiB, is strongly affected by a slight decrease in cache hits during an update storm. From the VM behavior, we found that all active user VMs generate only 25% of traffic. Although a few VMs generate massive traffic, their impact is small. These characteristics are unique in comparison with the small-scale VDI. Our results have significant implications for designing the next generation of VDI and improving its performance.
Equity capital and bank profitability: evidence from the United Arab Emirates

The objective of this paper is to understand the effect of increasing equity capital in domestic banks of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The paper also examines whether the relationship differs by bank size particularly at the time of financial crisis. We apply three different approaches including: 1) ordinary least squares; 2) fixed-effect regression; 3) system generalised method of moments to examine the research questions. The results exhibit that increasing equity capital improves bank profitability in the UAE, and thus high equity capital is a critical value-driver for UAE banks. The evidence also shows that the Dubai debt crisis had an insignificant effect on bank performance. We however do not find significant evidence that high equity capital of domestic banks is used as a buffer to absorb financial shock. This finding holds regardless of individual bank sizes.
Cross-Clade Reactivity of HIV-1-Specific T-cell Responses in HIV-1-Infected Individuals From Botswana and Cameroon

Summary: An effective HIV type 1 (HIV-1) vaccine will likely require elicitation of broadly reactive cell-mediated immune (CMI) responses against divergent HIV-1 clades. We compared anti-HIV-1 T-cell immune responses among 363 unvaccinated adults infected with diverse HIV-1 clades. Response rates to clade B Gag and/or clade B Nef in Botswana (95%) and Cameroon (98%) were similar when compared with those in countries previously studied, including Brazil (92%), Thailand (96%), South Africa (96%), Malawi (100%), and the United States (100%). Substantial cross-clade cell-mediated immune responses in Botswana and Cameroon confirm previous findings in a larger, more genetically diverse collection of HIV-1 samples.
Does media pressure moderate CSR disclosures by external directors

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of media pressure on external directors in relation to disclosure of information on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts a multilevel approach, integrating the institutional, organisational and individual levels of analysis in a whole model that explains corporate transparency. The paper uses a sample composed of 98 non-financial listed Spanish companies for the period 2004-2010, Findings – The results show heterogeneity between external board members. Proprietary directors, representing shareholders, tend to promote adoption of the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines in order to increase value for shareholders. On the contrary, independent directors are risk adverse in relation to the effect that CSR information disclosure could have on their professional reputations. Research limitations/implications – The sample could be improved, including companies from different countries and m.
Noisy Range Network Localization Based on Distributed Multidimensional Scaling

This paper considers the noisy range-only network localization problem in which measurements of relative distances between agents are used to estimate their positions in networked systems. When distance information is noisy, existence and uniqueness of location solution are usually not guaranteed. It is well known that in presence of distance measurement noise, a node may have discontinuous deformations (e.g., flip ambiguities and discontinuous flex ambiguities). Thus, there are two issues that we consider in the noisy localization problem. The first one is the location estimate error propagated from distance measurement noise. We compare two kinds of analytical location error computation methods by assuming that each distance is corrupted with independent Gaussian random noise. These analytical results help us to understand effects of the measurement noises on the position estimation accuracy. After that, based on multidimensional scaling theory, we propose a distributed localization algorithm to solve the noisy range network localization problem. Our approach is robust to distance measurement noise, and it can be implemented in any random case without considering the network setup constraints. Moreover, a refined version of distributed noisy range localization method is developed, which achieves a good tradeoff between computational effort and global convergence especially in large-scale networks.
Age at entry in international markets of Spanish SMEs

Purpose – From a multidisciplinary perspective, combining international entrepreneurship and institutional theory, a model is presented in order to enrich the understanding of the speed of internationalization in small firms. This is achieved by including individual's attitudes and behaviour, as well as factors from the environment that may enhance firms' international behaviour.Design/methodology/approach – Information from a random sample of 104 Spanish SMEs was gathered via personal interview with a structured questionnaire. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), specifically Partial Least Squares (PLS), was employed in analyzing the multiple relationships among the proposed constructs.Findings – The results show how one of the main institutional determinants of the age of entry into international markets are the inter‐firm relationships, specifically the tendency to imitate the behaviour of other firms with successful activities in international markets. In addition, the results note the complementary n.
Nonlinearity in the British Interest Rate Transmission Mechanism

This paper explores the interest rate transmission mechanism on the basis of a large disaggregated sample of British monthly deposit and loan rates 1993-2005 for seven key products. The focus is on the adjustment speed towards the long run equilibrium rate. A sizeable proportion of UK deposits and credit products are found to have a time-varying adjustment speed, driven by the change in the policy rate. Tests based on regime-switching models indicate that the adjustment speed has four states defined by the sign of the policy rate change and the sign of the gap. The magnitude of changes in the policy rate also influences the adjustment speed in a regime-switching manner, but this nonlinear aspect is less pervasive across products than the sign asymmetry. Furthermore, mainly for deposit products there is curvature in the catch-up effect towards equilibrium - the error correction is disproportionately larger for big gaps. The marked heterogeneity found across financial institutions and products in the adjustment process raises important questions about the monetary transmission and the effectiveness of monetary policy.
Understanding contemporary networks of environmental and social change: complex assemblages within Canada’s ‘food movement’

Emerging forms of social mobilisation are explored, using food initiatives in Canada as an example. Food networks are particularly interesting as a case study: they have holistic goals that include both environmental and social concerns, the number and scope of food initiatives have rapidly increased, and there has recently been a high level of public engagement around food issues. Networks among alternative food initiatives (AFIs) are investigated using a survey and in-depth interviews. Food movement networks exhibit some elements of collective identity, but network members have diverse goals, projects, and tactics that do not always align into a coherent political program. Social network theory and the analytic of complex assemblages are employed to help understand these results. Understanding how these food networks function provides insight not just into food networks, but also more generally into the study and practice of social mobilisation around environmental issues.
The puzzle on the causality of the productivity and employment growth: evidence from firm-level data

This article analyses the causality between the firm’s employment and productivity growth based on the population of manufacturing firms registered in Slovenia in the 1994–2003 period. By using the system GMM estimator, we show that the employment–productivity growth trade-off does not exist. Moreover, we find significant complementarities between employment and productivity growth, mostly driven by SMEs and firms from high-tech industries. Accordingly, we argue that the job-creation policy and productivity-promoting policy are complementary rather than trade-offs and that policymakers should focus on the optimal policy mix that provides the highest aggregate effect with regard to all growth aspects. Further, significant differences among the factors of employment and productivity growth suggest that job-creation policy measures are most successful when targeted at younger export-oriented firms with high total factor productivity levels and capital-intensive production. Meanwhile, the outcome of policy measures aimed at promoting productivity increases with a firm’s capital intensity and size up to the threshold employment level and with the intensity of market competition.
Female Role Models: Protecting Women’s Math Test Performance

Recent theory and research suggest that certain situational factors can harm women’s math test performance. The three studies presented here indicate that female role models can buffer women’s math test performance from the debilitating effects of these situational factors. In Study 1, women’s math test performance was protected when a competent female experimenter (i.e., a female role model) administered the test. Study 2 showed that it was the perception of the female experimenter’s math competence, not her physical presence, that safeguarded the math test performance of women. Study 3 revealed that learning about a competent female experimenter buffered women’s self-appraised math ability, which in turn led to successful performance on a challenging math test.
Empirical Evidence on Corporate Governance and Corporate Performance in Tunisia

Recent high-profile corporate failures in the US and elsewhere in the world, many of which were caused by, or at least exacerbated by, weak governance practices, have convinced an increasing number of once sceptical investors that governance is a separate risk class that certainly requires attention and, in many cases, expert analysis. In this paper we examine corporate governance in Tunisia, North Africa, by analysing the board, the ownership structures and the financial market. By using a panel data set of 24 firms listed on the Tunisian Stock Exchange for the period 2000 to 2005, we provide evidence that governance in Tunisian firms is characterised by strong blockholders (often including families). Moreover, firms can choose between a dual board and a monist board. Our estimates show that Tunisian governance is weak. Finally we provide evidence for a strong relationship between governance and corporate performance. Copyright (c) 2007 The Author; Journal compilation (c) 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Sleep disturbances in Rett syndrome: Impact and management including use of sleep hygiene practices

Sleep disturbances are debilitating for individuals with Rett syndrome (RTT) and their families yet the evidence base for management is poor. We investigated management strategies and their relationships with sleep problems. Data were provided by 364/461 (79%) families with a child with RTT and registered with the International RTT Phenotype Database. Logistic regression models were used to investigate relationships between impacts of sleep problems on the child and family with age group, mutation type, medication type, and sleep hygiene score. Linear regression models were used to estimate the association of disorders of initiating and maintaining sleep (DIMS) with age group, mutation type, medication type, and sleep hygiene. Among those who ever had difficulty falling asleep or night waking, use of any medication was associated with higher odds of moderate/major impact sleep problems (relative to minor/no impact) for the affected child and the family, as well as higher DIMS scores, when compared with the no treatment/nonmedication group accounting for the effects of age, mutation type, and sleep hygiene score. Better use of sleep hygiene practices was associated with lower odds of moderate/major impact on the family (odds ratio 0.60, 95% confidence intervals [CIs] 0.37, 0.98) and lower DIMS scores (geometric mean ratio 0.86, 95%CI 0.80, 0.92) compared with poorer use after adjusting for covariates. Attention to sleep hygiene remains an important management strategy for sleep problems in RTT. Further prospective research is required to investigate efficacy of pharmaceutical treatments.
Regional Patterns in Vacancies, Exits and Rental Housing

Utilization of the housing stock is determined by the interplay between a slowly adjusted housing stock and changing regional patterns. Temporal mismatch between adjustments of the housing stock and regional change may lead to variations in the incidence of vacant housing units, over time and over space.Within this context this article analyses the determinants of exit rates from the housing stock in use and what determines the utilization of vacant housing units. This article demonstrates empirically that changes in the stock of vacancies in the housing stock within a municipality increase as one moves from the most central parts of the country towards the less central parts. Furthermore, the growth in the stock of vacant housing correlates positively with the share of inhabitants aged 65 years or over. We relate these empirical findings to a particular form of centralization which has taken place in Norway over the last 50 years: upon leaving the parental home, young people have often left the peripheral parts of the country.As their childhood homes were still inhabited by their parents, they did not leave any vacant housing units behind them.After some 30—50 years, the parents have died. Hence, a centralization process may produce vacant housing units — with a time lag of up to 30—50 years.
Differential Tumor Biology Effects of Double-Initiation in a Mouse Skin Chemical Carcinogenesis Model Comparing Wild Type versus Protein Kinase Cepsilon Overexpression Mice

Our previous studies showed that protein kinase Cepsilon (PKCɛ) verexpression in mouse skin resulted in metastatic squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) elicited by single 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA)-initiation and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-promotion in the absence of preceding papilloma formation as is typically observed in wild type mice. The present study demonstrates that double-DMBA initiation modulates tumor incidence, multiplicity, and latency period in both wild type and PKCɛoverexpression transgenic (PKCɛ-Tg) mice. After 17 weeks (wks) of tumor promotion, a reduction in papilloma multiplicity was observed in double- versus single-DMBA initiated wild type mice. Papilloma multiplicity was inversely correlated with cell death indices of interfollicular keratinocytes, indicating decreased papilloma formation was caused by increased cell death and suggesting the origin of papillomas is in interfollicular epidermis. Double-initiated PKCɛ-Tg mice had accelerated carcinoma formation and cancer incidence in comparison to single-initiated PKCɛ-Tg mice. Morphologic analysis of mouse skin following double initiation and tumor promotion showed a similar if not identical series of events to those previously observed following single initiation and tumor promotion: putative preneoplastic cells were observed arising from hyperplastic hair follicles (HFs) with subsequent cancer cell infiltration into the dermis. Single-initiated PKCɛ-Tg mice exhibited increased mitosis in epidermal cells of HFs during tumor promotion.
Endogenous Structures of Association in Oligopolies

The formulation of associations of firms in an oligopoly with linear demand is analyzed as a two-stage noncooperative game. In the first stage, firms form associations in order to decrease their costs, and in the second stage they compete on the market. Examples of associations include R&D joint ventures and groups of firms adopting common standards. In equilibrium, the associations formed exhibit two general features: they are asymmetric and inefficient.
The Role of Intermediary Groups in Shaping Management Fashion: The Case of Knowledge Management

This article seeks to analyze the role of intermediary groups, specifically professional groups and consultants, in the development of management fashion. Consideration of that role highlights the need to develop the institutional perspective on fashion to encompass not only diffusion, but also episodes of theorization and institutionalization. Based on available evidence on the importance of intermediary groups in these episodes, a number of propositions are advanced as to their roles and activities, and the implications that these have for the development of fashion. These propositions are illustrated and explored by drawing on experience with the knowledge management (KM) fashion. Here, evidence on the activities of professionals and consultants highlights the interplay between the colonizing efforts of professionals and the commodifying activities of consultants. Both constituencies are seen as benefiting from the ambiguity of KM, in that it allows particular groups to pursue competitive differentiation through the development of their own interpretations. The analysis of KM's development suggests that the factors that promote the diffusion of a new fashion may in turn limit its translation into practice. The role of intermediary groups is important here. The collusive interaction between and among consultants and professional groups to promote their own versions of KM may have accelerated its diffusion, but it also had the effect of reducing the legitimacy of KM-inspired changes to a narrowly technological domain--thereby rendering them ineffective, on the one hand, but intensifying the fashion cycle, on the other.
Role of frozen sections in the evaluation of moderate to severe dysplasia during uterine cervix conization.

BACKGROUND The utility of frozen section examination (FSE) of cone specimens in evaluation of the resection margin status and in ruling out invasion in patients with high grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia requires evaluation. METHODS Twenty patients with high grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia who underwent conization biopsy and frozen section examination were studied in a prospective trial from March 2008 through September 2009. The results with permanent paraffin sections were compared with those of FSE. RESULTS Among the twenty cases, 15 (75%) had the same results in frozen and permanent sections of cone biopsy specimens. Among the other 5 patients, 2 had high grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in frozen sections and 2 showed a lower grade while only one case was found in which the FSE result was CIN3 while the permanent section showed invasive carcinoma which was of clinical importance and considered as significant. Paired sample t-testing showed no significant difference in the results of the two groups of frozen and permanent sections (P=0.716, CI=95%). CONCLUSION Frozen section evaluation of cervical cone biopsy specimens in patients with a diagnosis of CIN 3 is accurate, efficient and cost-effective. Because of the great importance of missing even one case, further research is highly recommended on this controversial subject.
Equivalence of Ten Different Methods for Valuing Companies by Cash Flow Discounting

This paper shows that ten methods of company valuation using cash flow discounting (WACC; equity cash flow; capital cash flow; adjusted present value; residual income; EVA; business's risk-adjusted equity cash flow; business's risk-adjusted free cash flow; risk-free-adjusted equity cash flow; and risk-free-adjusted free cash flow) always give the same value when identical assumptions are used. This result is logical, since all the methods analyze the same reality based upon the same assumptions; they only differ in the cash flows taken as the starting point for the valuation. We present all ten methods allowing the required return to debt to be different from the cost of debt. Seven of them require an iterative process. Only the APV and business risk-adjusted cash flows methods do not require iteration.