Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Institutional Transformation and System Change: Changes in Corporate Governance of German Corporations

Abstract: This paper examines the many changes which have transformed the German system of corporate governance during the last seven odd years. It concludes that it is in the processof converging towards the Anglo-American model and that this has fundamentally affected the way strategic decisions are made in firms. Convergence is not seen as a functional necessity, nor is it viewed as inevitable. The transformation in capital markets and the rise to dominance of the notion of shareholdervalue is particularly affecting large international and quoted firms but is gradually spreading also to other parts of the economy. This transformation is affecting labour and industrial relations in negative ways, as well as posing a threat to the German production model of diversified quality production. The paper offers both a theoretical exploration of institutional and system transformation and an empirical study which substantiates the theoretical position taken with evidence aboutrecent trends in capital markets, banks, government and firms. Evidence from the pharmaceutical/chemical industry is supplemented by data on firms in other sectors, including the financial sector. The theoretical examination of institutional change focuses on the notions of system logic, institutional complementarity, functional conversion and hybridisation. It examines both external sources of change and internal powerful actors who promote the process of transformation. The notions of hybridisation of the German business system, as well as claims about functional conversion and the evolution of a new complementarity, are rejected in favour of a trend towards convergence. ;
Conditions favouring hard seededness as a dispersal and predator escape strategy

The water‐impermeable seed coat of ‘hard’ seeds is commonly considered a dormancy trait. Seed smell is, however, strongly correlated with seed water content, and hard seeds are therefore olfactionally cryptic to foraging rodents. This is the rationale for the crypsis hypothesis, which proposes that the primary functions of hard seeds are to reduce seed predation and promote rodent seed dispersal. We use a mechanistic model to describe seed survival success of plants with different dimorphic soft and hard seed strategies. The model is based on established empirical–ecological relationships of moisture requirements for germination and benefits of seed dispersal, and on experimentally demonstrated relationships between seed volatile emission, predation and predator escape. We find that water‐impermeable seed coats can reduce seed predation under a wide range of natural humidity conditions. Plants with rodent dispersed seeds benefit from producing dimorphic soft and hard seeds at ratios where the anti‐predator advantages of hard seeds are balanced by the dispersal benefits gained by producing some soft seeds. The seed pathway predicted from the model is similar to those of experimental seed‐tracking studies. This validates the relevance and realism of the ecological mechanisms and relationships incorporated in the model. Synthesis. Rodent seed predators are often also important seed dispersers and have the potential to exert strong selective pressures on seeds to evolve methods of avoiding detection, and hard seeds seem to do just that. This work suggests that water‐impermeable hard seeds may evolve in the absence of a dormancy function and that optimal seed survival in many environments with rodent seed predators is obtained by plants having a dimorphic soft and hard seed strategy.
Resolving Apparent Conflicts between Theoretical and Experimental Models of Phosphate Monoester Hydrolysis

Understanding phosphoryl and sulfuryl transfer is central to many biochemical processes. However, despite decades of experimental and computational studies, a consensus concerning the precise mechanistic details of these reactions has yet to be reached. In this work we perform a detailed comparative theoretical study of the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl phosphate, methyl phosphate and p-nitrophenyl sulfate, all of which have served as key model systems for understanding phosphoryl and sulfuryl transfer reactions, respectively. We demonstrate the existence of energetically similar but mechanistically distinct possibilities for phosphate monoester hydrolysis. The calculated kinetic isotope effects for p-nitrophenyl phosphate provide a means to discriminate between substrate- and solvent-assisted pathways of phosphate monoester hydrolysis, and show that the solvent-assisted pathway dominates in solution. This preferred mechanism for p-nitrophenyl phosphate hydrolysis is difficult to find computationally due to the limitations of compressing multiple bonding changes onto a 2-dimensional energy surface. This problem is compounded by the need to include implicit solvation to at least microsolvate the system and stabilize the highly charged species. In contrast, methyl phosphate hydrolysis shows a preference for a substrate-assisted mechanism. For p-nitrophenyl sulfate hydrolysis there is only one viable reaction pathway, which is similar to the solvent-assisted pathway for phosphate hydrolysis, and the substrate-assisted pathway is not accessible. Overall, our results provide a unifying mechanistic framework that is consistent with the experimentally measured kinetic isotope effects and reconciles the discrepancies between theoretical and experimental models for these biochemically ubiquitous classes of reaction.
Influence of depression and early adverse experiences on illicit drug dependence: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between depression and illicit drug dependence among a Latin-American population. METHOD illicit drug dependent patients (n = 137) and controls (n = 274) were interviewed using the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies, in order to detect lifetime and current depressive disorder and illicit (cocaine, cannabis or inhalants) substance dependence. A regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio for drug dependence according to the diagnosis of depression. RESULTS The lifetime diagnosis of depression (p = 0.001; OR = 4.9; 95% CI, 1.9-12.7) predicts illegal drugs dependence. Sociodemographic variables such as male gender (p < 0.001; OR = 36.8; 95% CI, 11.8-114) and occupational situation (p = 0.002; OR = 5.0; 95% CI, 1.8-13) as well as alcohol dependence (p = 0.01; OR = 3.4; 95% CI, 1.3-8.7) significantly influenced depression and drug dependence. Additional influent factors detected were having parents (p = 0.006; OR = 18.9; 95% CI, 2.3-158) or friends (p < 0.001; OR = 64.4; 95% CI, 6.5-636) who are illicit drugs dependents. CONCLUSION although a causal relationship between dependence on illicit drugs and depression cannot be determined, comparison of the sequence of events point to the occurrence of depression later in life than dependence. It remains to be determined whether depression is a comorbidity of dependence, sharing etiological factors, or a consequence of drug abuse and/or abstinence.
Neural Basis of Two Kinds of Social Influence: Obedience and Conformity

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used in this study to explore the neural mechanism of obedience and conformity on the model of online book purchasing. Participants were asked to decide as quickly as possible whether to buy a book based on limited information including its title, keywords and number of positive and negative reviews. Obedience was induced by forcing participants to buy books which received mostly negative reviews. In contrast, conformity was aroused by majority influence (caused by positive and negative comments). P3 and N2, two kinds of ERP components related to social cognitive process, were measured and recorded with electroencephalogram (EEG) test. The results show that compared with conformity decisions, obedience decisions induced greater cognitive conflicts. In ERP measurements, greater amplitudes of N2 component were observed in the context of obedience. However, consistency level did not make a difference on P3 peak latency for both conformity and obedience. This shows that classification process is implicit in both conformity and obedience decision-making. In addition, for both conformity and obedience decisions, augmented P3 was observed when the reviews consistency (either negative or positive) was higher.
Recent Developments in Microfinance and Beyond

This paper surveys recent research on microfinance and suggests directions for future research. New empirical evidence has emerged, and new theoretical models have resolved some issues. The paper selectively examines recent findings, particularly theoretical and empirical works that deal with the financial and social goals that microcredit must fulfill to provide long-term sustainable poverty reduction. Finally, some issues for which new research is needed are identified.
Quality Physical Education : A Review from Contemporary Situated Research ( 1995-2005 )

From the first World Summit on Physical Education (PE) held in Berlin, in November 1999 (ICSSPE, 2001) to the second edition held in Magglingen, Switzerland, on December 2005, sport pedagogists from all over the world developed a broad international debate on the current state of physical education world-wide, which included its contents, objectives and role in the context of globalization. The results of their work were reflected in several international documents and an international comparison was published (Pühse & Gerber, 2005). However it has become necessary to review the scientific developments of the field during the past ten years that can help policy makers in their decision to promote quality physical education that is to make a distinctive contribution to all children, to girls and boys, to children with special needs, minorities, and disadvantaged youth. Following educational researchers from situated perspectives who shed light on the role of distributed cognition and contextualized situations in education current researchers in PE have shown that teaching and learning are situated and constrained actions (Amade-Escot, 2000a, 2006; Durand, 1998/2000, 2001; Gal-Petifaux & Durand, 2001; Kirk, 2002; Kirk & Macdonald, 1998; Kirk & Almond, 1999; McCaughtry & Rovegno, 2001; Rovegno, 1998; Rovegno, Nevett, & Babiarz, 2001). The focus of contemporary research is to understand how teacher and students as individuals participate in a culturally situated environment, interact Amade-Escot, C. , Amans-Passaga, C. (2006). Quality Physical Education: A Review from Situated Research (1995-2005). Part One: "Curriculum and Content Issues". International Journal of Physical Education, a Review Publication, Vol 43/4, 162172. Amade-Escot, C. , Amans-Passaga, C. (2007). Quality Physical Education: A Review from Situated Research (1995-2005). Part Two: "Teacher education" and "Student learning". International Journal of Physical Education, a Review Publication, Vol 44/1, 4-11.
Reversible Signal Binding by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa Quorum-Sensing Signal Receptor LasR

ABSTRACT Many members of the LuxR family of acyl-homoserine lactone (acyl-HSL)-dependent quorum-sensing transcriptional activators are thought to have the unusual characteristics of requiring the signal ligand during polypeptide synthesis to fold into an active conformation and of binding signal extraordinarily tightly. This is the case for the N-3-oxo-dodecanoyl-HSL-dependent Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence regulator LasR. We present evidence that LasR can fold into an active conformation in vivo in the absence of the acyl-HSL ligand. We also present evidence indicating that in the cellular environment, LasR and N-3-oxo-dodecanoyl-HSL readily dissociate. After dissociation, LasR can remain in a properly folded conformation capable of reassociating with signal. We present a new model for the folding and signal binding of LasR and other members of the family of transcription factors to which LasR belongs. Our findings have important implications concerning the cellular responses to decreased environmental concentrations of signals and have implications about potential quorum-sensing inhibition strategies. IMPORTANCE The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes difficult to treat and incurable diseases. Quorum sensing controls expression of many virulence factors in this bacterium, and the quorum-sensing signal receptor LasR has been targeted for anti-quorum-sensing therapeutic development. The work described here changes the current view about how LasR interacts with the quorum-sensing signal to which it responds. This is of importance for therapeutic development. The experiments also address a poorly studied aspect of quorum sensing: the response to decreases in quorum-sensing signals. This has importance with respect to understanding the ecology and evolution of quorum sensing. The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes difficult to treat and incurable diseases. Quorum sensing controls expression of many virulence factors in this bacterium, and the quorum-sensing signal receptor LasR has been targeted for anti-quorum-sensing therapeutic development. The work described here changes the current view about how LasR interacts with the quorum-sensing signal to which it responds. This is of importance for therapeutic development. The experiments also address a poorly studied aspect of quorum sensing: the response to decreases in quorum-sensing signals. This has importance with respect to understanding the ecology and evolution of quorum sensing.
STT-MRAM cell design with partial source line planes: improving the trade-off between area and series resistance

The series resistance of STT-MRAM cells becomes increasingly important in deeply scaled nodes. Next to the typical scaling of width and thickness of the copper layers, barriers further reduce the cross-section of the actual copper. Moreover, at these small sizes, the resistivity of copper degrades compared to bulk copper. This paper presents a novel STT-MRAM cell design with partial source line planes, which improves the tradeoff between area and source line resistance. A single source line is shared among multiple bit line rows of the embedded memory array, resulting in a smaller cell area at the same source line resistance or a reduced resistance at the same area. The design with a partial source line plane shared among 4 bit line rows results in an area reduction of 11% at the same source line resistance. Alternatively, at the same area, the source line resistance is reduced by more than a factor of 4. The reduced series resistance of the cell results in a performance gain and a reduction of energy consumption.
The star formation histories of low surface brightness galaxies

We have performed deep imaging of a diverse sample of 26 low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) in the optical and the near-infrared. Using stellar population synthesis models, we find that it is possible to place constraints on the ratio of young to old stars (which we parametrize in terms of the average age of the galaxy), as well as the metallicity of the galaxy, using optical and near-infrared colours. LSBGs have a wide range of morphologies and stellar populations, ranging from older, high-metallicity earlier types to much younger and lower-metallicity late-type galaxies. Despite this wide range of star formation histories, we find that colour gradients are common in LSBGs. These are most naturally interpreted as gradients in mean stellar age, with the outer regions of LSBGs having lower ages than their inner regions. In an attempt to understand what drives the differences in LSBG stellar populations, we compare LSBG average ages and metallicities with their physical parameters. Strong correlations are seen between an LSBG’s star formation history and its K-band surface brightness, K-band absolute magnitude and gas fraction. These correlations are consistent with a scenario in which the star formation history of an LSBG primarily correlates with its surface density and its metallicity correlates with both its mass and its surface density.
Is the Prefrontal Cortex Necessary for Establishing Cognitive Sets?

There is evidence from neuroimaging that the prefrontal cortex may be involved in establishing task set activity in advance of presentation of the task itself. To find out whether it plays an essential role, we examined patients with unilateral lesions of the rostral prefrontal cortex. They were first instructed as to whether to perform a spatial or a verbal working memory task and then given spatial and verbal items after a delay of 4–12 s. The patients showed an increase in switch costs, making more errors by repeating what they had done on the previous trial. They were able to establish regional task set activity during the instruction delay, as evidenced by sustained changes in the blood oxygenation level-dependent signal in caudal frontal regions. However, in contrast to healthy controls, they were less able to maintain functional connectivity among the surviving task-related brain regions, as evidenced by reduced correlations between them during instruction delays. The results suggest that the left rostral prefrontal cortex is indeed required for establishing a cognitive set but that the essential function is to support the functional connectivity among the task-related regions.
A mobility‐based clustering approach to support mobility management and multicast routing in mobile ad‐hoc wireless networks

In our proposed structure, mobile nodes are organized into nonoverlapping clusters which have adaptive variable‐sizes according to their respective mobility. The mobility‐based clustering (MBC) approach we are proposing uses a combination of both physical and logical partitions of the network (i.e. geographic proximity and functional relation between nodes, such as mobility pattern etc.) Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Increased Occurrence of Valproic Acid-Induced Hyperammonemia in Carriers of T1405N Polymorphism in Carbamoyl Phosphate Synthetase 1 Gene

Numerous cases of severe and life-threatening hyperammonemia (HA) related to the treatment of epileptic seizures with valproic acid (VPA) have been previously reported in the medical literature. The aim of this prospective, multicenter study was to verify the putative association between T1405 polymorphism and occurrence of VPA-induced HA in the cohort of 142 adult Caucasian patients with epilepsy treated with VPA for at least 1 year and with normal liver functions. The nonsynonymous T1405N polymorphism genotyping was performed by real-time TaqMan PCR genotyping. In addition to plasma ammonia level, concentrations of liver enzymes and total VPA were measured in plasma with standard laboratory methods. HA (defined as ammonia plasma level >65 μmol/L) was observed in total of 11 (7.7%) of patients treated with VPA, and the carrier status for the investigated polymorphism was significantly (P = 0.009, odds ratio 5.4 with 95% confidence interval of 1.58–18.43) associated with the occurrence of HA. The results of this study support a notion that in the Caucasian patients with epilepsy undergoing VPA therapy, a T1405N (4217C > A, rs1047891) nonsynonymous variant was a significant risk factor for the occurrence of HA, even in patients with normal plasma levels of VPA.
Alternative Rules for Monetary Policy and Fiscal Policy in New Zealand

In this paper, I focus on the stabilization properties of alternative simplified approaches to the conduct of monetary policy and fiscal policy. The paper is motivated by questions of topical interest in New Zealand, for example what the costs might be in terms of lost credibility if the Reserve Bank of New Zealand were to have multiple goals rather than the exclusive goal of price stability, and whether output smoothing might significantly reduce the costs of the economy adjusting to shocks without compromising the long-run goals of a low rate of inflation and sustainable, prudent long-run evolution in the government's budget. The paper uses an illustrative model of a small open economy with features like New Zealand's, developed while the author was visiting New Zealand in the spring of 1966. The analysis evaluates several alternative combinations of monetary and fiscal rules by subjecting model variants in which these rules are embedded to representative shocks. Simulation results are presented primarily in graphical form. The paper shows that a highly open economy cannot be insulated from shocks regardless of how macroeconomic stabilization policy is conducted. But the paper also suggests that monetary- policy rules permitting output smoothing in addition to the primary goal of inflation avoidance can foster marginally improved economic performance.
8. Colorful Phenotypes of Colorless Genotypes: Toward a New Evolutionary Synthesis of Color Displays

Few animal taxa rival birds in richness and diversity of color displays, and few traits have stimulated more studies of natural and sexual selection than animal coloration. Although we have some understanding of why and when such diversity is favored, we know exceptionally little about how this diversity is generated and how it evolves. This is especially unfortunate, given that studies of color variation were central to the foundational work in quantitative genetics and evolutionary theory. Working with distinct color variants of flowers, Gregor Mendel discovered discrete and heritable segregation of color between individuals, leading him to conclude that the phenotypic differences are caused by the sorting of heritable and environmentally invariant internal factors. Observing differences among species and domestic breeds in plumage color, Charles Darwin suggested that the differences among individuals and species are caused by their fit to the external environment or to the tastes of animal breeders. A synthesis of these two great insights posited that internal factors cause variation, whereas independent external factors sort, delete, or retain these variants (Lewontin
Visual Interactions with Strategy Tools: Producing Strategic Knowledge in Workshops

How do managers visually interact with strategy tools during workshops to produce knowledge about strategic issues? Building on the strategy-as-practice perspective and visual organization studies, we conceptualize workshops as arenas where visual interaction with strategy tools takes place. Following this approach, we examine how a top management team creates a strategy tool during a workshop (using primarily video data). Our findings reveal three distinctive patterns of visual interactions: shift, inertia, and assembly. We also show how each of these patterns is enabled by the affordances of the tool used. Our study contributes to theoretical elaborations of how actors visually interact with strategy tools, which offers extensions to the strategy-as-practice and visual organization literatures.
My MDE: configuring virtual workspaces in multi-display environments

A low fidelity study was conducted to investigate how users envision configuring their virtual workspace in a multiple display environment (MDE). The results of a low-fidelity prototyping study revealed two primary virtual workspace organisation patterns: Environment-centric and User-centric workspaces. These depict different ways in which users conceived they would configure multiple displays into a single cohesive virtual workspace. The paper then discusses future design implications, specifically the need for the support of multiple user preferences in collaborative MDEs.
Analysis of shape from shading techniques

Since the first shape-from-shading technique was developed by B.K. P. Horn in the early 1970s, different approaches have been continuously emerging in the past two decades. Some of them, improve existing techniques, while others are completely new approaches. However, there is no literature on, the comparison and performance analysis of these techniques. This paper provides comparison and analysis of these techniques. <<ETX>>