Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Personal characteristics and strategic orientation: entrepreneurs in Canadian manufacturing companies

Purpose – Extant theories suggest that entrepreneurs' personal characteristics have substantial impacts on their firm's performance. From a resource‐based view, the paper considers an entrepreneur's personal characteristics to be a unique resource endowment to their firm. The paper seeks to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through a national survey of owners and senior managers of small‐ to medium‐sized Canadian manufacturing companies. Mediation relationships were tested with hierarchical regression analyses.Findings – Consistent with the authors' hypotheses, it is found that entrepreneurs' personal characteristics, such as need for achievement, need for cognition, and internal locus of control, have positive influences on firm performance. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that their strategic orientations mediated these influences. The data indicate that entrepreneurs with higher levels of internal locus of control are more likely to adopt an entrepreneurial orientat.
Financial Development and Productive Efficiency in OECD Countries: An Exploratory Analysis

The recent literature provides evidence for a positive relationship between financial deepening and growth but is quite silent on the exact channels through which it materializes. Theory suggests that production efficiency should be one of those main channels. We attempt to capture this channel by modeling productive efficiency explicitly and constructing efficiency frontiers using data envelopment analysis. We apply this procedure to consider whether financial development creates productive efficiency gains in the industrialized OECD countries. Our results show that financial development contributes to productive efficiency. However, this effect weakens over time during the period under scrutiny. Moreover, we find that the effects of financial deepening on productive efficiency depend on the degree of efficiency already achieved.
The influence of contests on optimal clutch size: a game–theoretic model

We develop a game–theoretic model to predict the effect of size–dependent contest outcomes on optimal–clutch–size decisions. We consider the case where larger individuals develop from smaller clutches and, as adults, are advantaged in competition for limiting resources. The relationship between fitness and size thus depends on the sizes of other members of the population. We show that clutch–size optima are decreased by body–size–dependent contest outcomes, with larger effects when body size is most affected by clutch size, when prior resource ownership has less influence on contest outcome and when contests occur more frequently. We also show the existence of polymorphisms in clutch–size optima and that clutch–size driven changes in population density can, via an effect on the probability of host finding, further influence optimal clutch size. Our model is formulated to match the life history of a parasitoid wasp, in which clutch size affects offspring size and females engage in direct contests for host ownership, which larger females tend to win; we confirm that female–female competition is likely to influence clutch size in this species. However, the model is also relevant to clutch size in other taxa and supports recent suggestions concerning reproductive decisions in great tits.
Why Bank Governance is Different

This paper reviews the pattern of bank failures during the financial crisis and asks whether there was a link with corporate governance. It revisits the theory of bank governance and suggests a multi-constituency approach that emphasizes the role of weak creditors. The empirical evidence suggests that, on average, banks with stronger risk officers, less independent boards, and executives with less variable remuneration incurred fewer losses. There is no evidence that institutional shareholders opposed aggressive risk-taking. The Financial Stability Board published Principles for Sound Compensation Practices in 2009, and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued principles for enhancing corporate governance in 1999, 2006, and 2010. The reports have in common that shareholders retain residual control and executive pay continues to be aligned with shareholder interests. However, we argue that bank governance is different and requires more radical departures from traditional governance for non-financial firms. Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.
Organizational Behavior Today

Chapter 1 The Person and the Organization Chapter 2 Understanding People and Their Behavior Chapter 3 Ethics & Values Chapter 4 Communication Chapter 5 Power and Influence in Organizations Chapter 6 Relationships and Social Networks Chapter 7 Decision Making Chapter 8 Conflict Management and Negotiation Chapter 9 Leading and Managing Teams Chapter 10 Leadership Chapter 11 Organizational Channels Chapter 12 Fairness and Justice Chapter 13 Diversity and Culture Chapter 14 The Virtual Workplace Chapter 15 Life, Learning and Personal Development
Twenty-four hour noninvasive ventilation in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: a safe alternative to tracheostomy.

BACKGROUND Almost all patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) eventually develop respiratory failure. Once 24 h ventilation is required, either due to incomplete effectiveness of nocturnal noninvasive ventilation (NIV) or bulbar weakness, it is common practice to recommend invasive tracheostomy ventilation; however, noninvasive daytime mouthpiece ventilation (MPV) as an addition to nocturnal mask ventilation is also an alternative. METHODS The authors' experience with 12 DMD patients who used 24 h NIV with mask NIV at night and MPV during daytime hours is reported. RESULTS The mean (± SD) age and vital capacity (VC) at initiation of nocturnal (only) NIV subjects were 17.8±3.5 years and 0.90±0.40 L (21% predicted), respectively; and, at the time of MPV, 19.8±3.4 years and 0.57 L (13.2% predicted), respectively. In clinical practice, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels were measured using different methods: arterial blood gas analysis, transcutaneous partial pressure of CO2 and, predominantly, by end-tidal CO2. While the results suggested improved CO2 levels, these were not frequently confirmed by arterial blood gas measurement. The mean survival on 24 h NIV has been 5.7 years (range 0.17 to 12 years). Of the 12 patients, two deaths occurred after 3.75 and four years, respectively, on MPV; the remaining patients continue on 24 h NIV (range two months to 12 years; mean 5.3 years; median 3.5 years). CONCLUSIONS Twenty-four hour NIV should be considered a safe alternative for patients with DMD because its use may obviate the need for tracheostomy in patients with chronic respiratory failure requiring more than nocturnal ventilation alone.
The relationships between soft-hard TQM factors and key business results

Purpose – This paper aims to advance in the knowledge of the EFQM model as a framework for implementing total quality management (TQM). To do so, the work identifies the soft-hard TQM factors in the EFQM model, investigates the relationships between these factors and analyses their influence on key business results. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology used is factorial analysis and structural equations – specifically the partial least squares technique. The sample is made up of 116 private firms. TQM is an integral management philosophy which is based on a set of social and technical factors that must be put into practice through a reference framework, such as the one in the EFQM model. Findings – The work empirically identifies three dimensions that correspond to the soft-hard TQM factors (management and human resources, strategic management of partnerships and resources and processes management). Furthermore, it shows how these dimensions make up a management system that has a significant effe.
Optimum currency areas, structural changes and the endogeneity of the OCA criteria: evidence from six new EU member states

This article has two aims. The first aim is to assess the potential for an Optimum Currency Area (OCA) of six New Member States (NMS) of the EU (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) with the eurozone, by applying the theory of the Generalized Purchasing Power Parity (G-PPP). The second aim is to examine whether the introduction of the euro in 1999 and the policy decision of the six countries to join the eurozone, have created any forces fostering their convergence – evidence which would be in line with the theory on the endogeneity of the OCA criteria. Our findings indicate that G-PPP holds for the real exchange rates of the six NMS for the post euro period, and that the introduction of the euro and the choice of the six economies to participate in the EU did promote their integration.
Evaluation and refinement of a handheld health information technology tool to support the timely update of bedside visual cues to prevent falls in hospitals

Aim: To evaluate clinicians’ perspectives, before and after clinical implementation (i.e. trial) of a handheld health information technology (HIT) tool, incorporating an iPad device and automatically generated visual cues for bedside display, for falls risk assessment and prevention in hospital. Methods: This pilot study utilized mixed-methods research with focus group discussions and Likert-scale surveys to elicit clinicians’ attitudes. The study was conducted across three phases within two medical wards of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Phase 1 (pretrial) involved focus group discussion (five staff) and surveys (48 staff) to elicit preliminary perspectives on tool use, benefits and barriers to use and recommendations for improvement. Phase 2 (tool trial) involved HIT tool implementation on two hospital wards over consecutive 12-week periods. Phase 3 (post-trial) involved focus group discussion (five staff) and surveys (29 staff) following tool implementation, with similar themes as in Phase 1. Qualitative data were evaluated using content analysis, and quantitative data using descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis, with subgroup analyses on user status (P ⩽ 0.05). Results: Four findings emerged on clinicians’ experience, positive perceptions, negative perceptions and recommendations for improvement of the tool. Pretrial, clinicians were familiar with using visual cues in hospital falls prevention. They identified potential benefits of the HIT tool in obtaining timely, useful falls risk assessment to improve patient care. During the trial, the wards differed in methods of tool implementation, resulting in lower uptake by clinicians on the subacute ward. Post-trial, clinicians remained supportive for incorporating the tool into clinical practice; however, there were issues with usability and lack of time for tool use. Staff who had not used the tool had less appreciation for it improving their understanding of patients’ falls risk factors (odds ratio 0.12), or effectively preventing hospital falls (odds ratio 0.12). Clinicians’ recommendations resulted in subsequent technological refinement of the tool, and provision of an additional iPad device for more efficient use. Conclusion: This study adds to the limited pool of knowledge about clinicians’ attitudes toward health technology use in falls avoidance. Clinicians were willing to use the HIT tool, and their concerns about its usability were addressed in ongoing tool improvement. Including end-users in the development and refinement processes, as well as having high staff uptake of new technologies, is important in improving their acceptance and usage, and in maximizing beneficial feedback to further inform tool development.
Alcoa: The Influence of Recycling on Monopoly Power

Puzzle 1: Was Judge Hand correct in his celebrated judicial opinion that Alcoa's monopoly in "virgin" aluminum provided indirect control over "secondary" production? Answer: Estimates based on three models suggest that the "procompetitive" effect of recycling was largely offset by a reduction in virgin production in anticipation of future conversion into secondary. Thus, Hand's judgment appears sound. Puzzle 2: Is it in Alcoa's own interests to suppress recycling of scrap aluminum if feasible? Answer: If current users show that they value the future use of the product by selling scrap to merchants, then Alcoa is likely to value the recycling market also. If users discard scrap which is subsequently scavenged, then Alcoa is likely to be harmed by such activity.
Revisiting Consumer Environmental Responsibility: A Five Nation Cross-Cultural Analysis and Comparison of Consumer Ecological Opinions and Behaviors

Cross-cultural marketing of consumer products and services has become an integral part of the mainstream strategic thinking of multinational consumer products firms. These firms must increasingly address ecological concerns of the individuals comprising the various global market segments where these products will be marketed. Green Marketing has thus become a hot topic for both producers and consumers across cultures. This study investigates how consumers across cultures feel about the environment, whether it makes sense to stress green marketing to consumers in other cultures if they are not environmentally sensitive, and whether there are rudimentary differences in ecological attitudes based on cultural origins. The paper compares consumer attitudes toward the environment to determine whether major differences do exist among cultures. Sample data of 459 consumers was gathered from five countries (Azerbaijan, Italy, Spain, the United States and Venezuela) and was analyzed. Factor analysis was performed to indicate dimensions of environmental responsibility. ANOVA was used to see if differences exist between cultures with regard to the various dimensions. Environmental responsibility is characterized by awareness of environmental problems, knowledge of remedial alternatives best suited to alleviate those problems, skills needed to pursue those actions, and a possession of a genuine desire to act.
Pengaruh Return On Assets, Leverage, Corporate Governance, Ukuran Perusahaan dan Kompensasi Rugi Fiskal pada Tax Avoidance (Perusahaan Manufaktur yang Terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia Tahun 2011-2013)

Tax Avoidance is a strategy to do legally with tax evasion does not violate the rules of taxation. This research aims to test the influence of Return On Assets (ROA), Leverage (LEV), independent Commissioner (KOM), Audit Committee (AUD) Perusahaani, size (SIZE), and the fiscal Loss Compensation (RFIS) against Tax Avoidance (Y). The population of this research is the entire manufacturing company registered in indonesia stock exchange (BEI ) 2011-2013 during the period . A method of sampling nonprobability using methods with techniques of sampling purposive sampling . The technique of analysis of data using the test is the classic multikolinieritas , autokorelasi test , test and test heteroskedastisitas normality . Testing the hypothesis of the use of regression analysis double. The results of research concluded that: return on assets not impact on tax avoidance evidenced by the coefficients of beta 0,094 and 0.338 of a significant degree , leverage positive influence on tax avoidance evidenced by the coefficients of beta 0,332and 0,001 a significant degree , independent commissioner bepengaruh negative against tax avoidance evidenced by the coefficients of beta -0,195 and 0,045 of a significant degree , audit committee have negative effects on tax avoidance evidenced by the coefficients of beta -0,319 and 0,001 of a significant degree , the size of the company has no impact on tax avoidance evidenced by the coefficients of beta -0,088 and 0,363 of a significant degree , compensation for loss of fiscal not impact on tax avoidance evidenced by the coefficients of beta 0,040 and 0,675 of a significant degree
Risk management with expectiles

Expectiles (EVaR) are a one-parameter family of coherent risk measures that have been recently suggested as an alternative to quantiles (VaR) and to expected shortfall (ES). In this work we review their known properties, we discuss their financial meaning, we compare them with VaR and ES and we study their asymptotic behaviour, refining some of the results in Bellini et al. [(2014). “Generalized Quantiles as Risk Measures. ” Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, 54:41–48]. Moreover, we present a real-data example for the computation of expectiles by means of simple Garch(1,1) models and we assess the accuracy of the forecasts by means of a consistent loss function as suggested by Gneiting [(2011). “Making and Evaluating Point Forecast. ” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 106 (494): 746–762]. Theoretical and numerical results indicate that expectiles are perfectly reasonable alternatives to VaR and ES risk measures.
Governance of flood risk management in a time of climate change: the cases of Jakarta and Rotterdam

More than half the world's population lives in cities, and over two-thirds of the world's cities will be exposed to flooding within the next 30 years due to factors including climate change, land subsidence, sea level rise, and socio-economic development. Traditionally, flood management has concentrated on providing protection against floods using technical measures, but there is currently an international shift towards more integrated flood risk management, whereby flood risk is defined as the probability of flooding multiplied by the potential consequences. Governance plays a key role in this transition. However, relatively little has been written on how climate governance lessons are implemented on a city-scale. Several characteristics of recent climate change adaptation governance, relating to its structure, orientation, content, and timeframe, are gleaned from the research literature. Flood risk management of two cities – Jakarta and Rotterdam – is examined.
Comparison of Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry of the Proximal Femur with Morphologic Data

Measurements of bone mineral density (BMD) of the proximal femur (including femoral neck, Ward's triangle and trochanteric region) were compared with the Singh index grading in 40 normal subjects (20 male, 20 female) and in 116 patients (18 male, 98 female) referred for assessment of possible osteoporosis. Additionally, the BMD and the Singh index of 12 cadaver specimens (6 male, 6 female) of the proximal femur were compared with each other and with the histomorphology of the femoral necks of the specimens. Although there was a good correlation of Singh index with BMD in the group of male patients with suspected osteoporosis and in the series of bone specimens, there was a poor correlation in the group of female patients as well as in the normal controls and in the patient population as a whole. There was also poor correlation of Singh index values with histomorphologic data, whereas the BMD measurements correlated well with the amount of calcified bone found histologically in the femoral necks of the bone specimens. We conclude that the Singh index cannot be used to predict BMD of the proximal femur accurately.
Molecular Parameters of Type IV α-Internexin and Type IV-Type III α-Internexin-Vimentin Copolymer Intermediate Filaments*

During neuronal development, a dynamic replacement mechanism occurs in which the type VI nestin and type III vimentin intermediate filament proteins are replaced by a series of type IV proteins beginning with α-internexin. We have explored molecular details of how the type III to type IV replacement process may occur. First, we have demonstrated by cross-linking experiments that bacterially expressed forms of α-internexin and vimentin form heterodimer molecules in vitro that assemble into copolymer intermediate filaments. We show using a urea disassembly assay that α-internexin molecules are likely to be more stable than those of vimentin. Second, by analyses of the induced cross-links, we have determined the axial lengths of α-internexin homodimer and α-internexin-vimentin heterodimer molecules and their modes of alignments in filaments. We report that these dimensions are the same as those reported earlier for vimentin homopolymer molecules and, by implication, are also the same for the other neuronal type IV proteins. These data suggest that during neuronal development, α-internexin molecules are readily assimilated onto the pre-existing vimentin cytoskeletal intermediate filament network because the axial lengths and axial alignments of their molecules are the same. Furthermore, the dynamic replacement process may be driven by a positive equilibrium due to the increased stability of the α-internexin network.
Influence of stimuli colour in SSVEP-based BCI wheelchair control using support vector machines

Abstract This study aims to develop a Steady State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP)-based Brain Computer Interface (BCI) system to control a wheelchair, with improving accuracy as the major goal. The developed wheelchair can move in forward, backward, left, right and stop positions. Four different flickering frequencies in the low frequency region were used to elicit the SSVEPs and were displayed on a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitor using LabVIEW. Four colours (green, red, blue and violet) were included in the study to investigate the colour influence in SSVEPs. The Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals recorded from the occipital region were first segmented into 1 s windows and features were extracted by using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Three different classifiers, two based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and one based on Support Vector Machine (SVM), were compared to yield better accuracy. Twenty subjects participated in the experiment and the accuracy was calculated by considering the number of correct detections produced while performing a pre-defined movement sequence. SSVEP with violet colour showed higher performance than green and red. The One-Against-All (OAA) based multi-class SVM classifier showed better accuracy than the ANN classifiers. The classification accuracy over 20 subjects varies between 75–100%, while information transfer rates (ITR) varies from 12.13–27 bpm for BCI wheelchair control with SSVEPs elicited by violet colour stimuli and classified using OAA-SVM.
Effect of Depth Upon the Smoothness of Excimer Laser Corneal Ablation

The Argon Fluoride (ArF) Excimer laser is currently used for experimental reshaping of the front surface of the cornea for the correction of myopic refractive error (photorefractive keratectomy, PRK) and for smoothing corneal irregularities (phototherapeutic keratectomy, PTK). Both PRK and PTK are in FDA clinical trials, but are more readily available outside the U.S.A. These techniques have achieved reasonable success in spite of early reports that deeper ablation procedures can cause reduced corneal clarity (haze) or a result which is less accurate or tends to regress. We studied how different depths of excimer tissue removal affect the smoothness of the ablation zone of the rabbit cornea. Dutch belted rabbits were immediately sacrificed by pentobarbital overdose. Their corneas were de-epithelialized with a knife or by the excimer laser and then were photoablated. A 4.5-mm circular ablation beam was delivered to each denuded area, but the beam was masked by positioning a steel blade to partially block the laser beam, thus creating variable ablation depths corresponding to 0.0, 12.5, 37.5, and 62.5 µm. The eyes were fixed in situ by topical and anterior chamber application of glutaraldehyde and the corneas were excised after 5 min and placed in glutaraldehyde for tissue processing. The corneas were whole-mounted and examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The resultant micrographs show increasing irregularity of the ablated surface as a function of depth. The irregularity appeared to be due largely to the inhomogeneities of the anterior stroma, which is known to be layered by alternately directed collagen fibrils. The presence of a less regular surface after deeper ablations may contribute to the increased corneal haze noted by other investigators for higher refractive corrections when more tissue is removed.