Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shareholder Primacy and Stakeholders' Interests in the Aftermath of a Takeover: A Review of Empirical Evidence

Since the takeover of Cadbury Plc in 2010, there has been increased academic attention on investor short-termism during takeovers and whether the continued imposition of the board neutrality rule has made it easy to acquire UK companies. This paper contributes to this growing body of research by examining existing empirical studies to determine whether concerns over short-termism and the continued imposition of the board neutrality rule are justified.
Minimal Agent Based Model For The Origin And Self-Organization Of Stylized Facts In Financial Markets

We introduce a minimal Agent Based Model with two classes of agents, fundamentalists (stabilizing) and chartists (destabilizing) and we focus on the essential features which can generate the stylized facts. This leads to a detailed understanding of the origin of fat tails and volatility clustering and we propose a mechanism for the self-organization of the market dynamics in the quasi-critical state. The stylized facts are shown to correspond to finite size effects which, however, can be active at different time scales. This implies that universality cannot be expected in describing these properties in terms of effective critical exponents. The introduction of a threshold in the agents' action (small price fluctuations lead to no-action) triggers the self-organization towards the quasi-critical state. Non-stationarity in the number of active agents and in their action plays a fundamental role. The model can be easily generalized to more realistic variants in a systematic way.
Exocytic and endocytic membrane trafficking in axon development

In the complex neuronal circuits in the nervous systems, billions of neurons are precisely interconnected by long, thin processes called the axons. The growth cone, a highly motile structure at the tip of an extending axon, navigates by responding to a variety of extracellular molecular cues toward their distant target cells and make synaptic connections. Emerging evidence indicates that exocytic and endocytic membrane trafficking systems play multiple important roles in the regulation of such axonal morphogenetic processes. Exocytosis and endocytosis organize the subcellular distribution of membrane‐associated molecules, such as receptors, cell adhesion molecules, and cytoskeletal regulators, to control intracellular signaling and driving machineries. Furthermore, the exocytosis of trophic factors and extracellular proteinases act on surrounding microenvironments to affect growth cone motility. In this Review Article, we summarize our current understanding of the regulation and function of exocytic and endocytic membrane trafficking in axon morphogenesis during development, and discuss potential mechanisms of how the membrane trafficking systems exert such morphological changes.
Noninvasive assessment of coronary artery ectasia using multidetector computed tomography

ObjectivesThe aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of coronary artery ectasia and its relationship to atheromatous changes in participants undergoing coronary computed tomography angiography. BackgroundCoronary artery ectasia occasionally encountered on conventional coronary angiography is considered a manifestation of atherosclerosis. MethodsFour hundred consecutive participants, 300 men (mean age 56 years) who underwent coronary computed tomography angiography were evaluated. Coronary artery ectasia was defined as an arterial segment with a diameter of at least 1.5 times the diameter of the adjacent normal coronary artery. The prevalence and location of coronary artery ectasia as well as concomitant atherosclerotic changes were evaluated. The association of coronary artery ectasia with coronary risk factors was also studied. ResultsCoronary artery ectasia was encountered in 31 participants (8%), 29 men. The right coronary artery was most commonly affected with ectasia (50%) and most participants had single-vessel involvement (74%). Twenty-six of 31 participants (84%) had coexisting atheromatous wall changes or insignificant coronary artery disease; four participants out of 31 (13%) had significant coronary artery disease. Coronary artery ectasia thrombosis was found only in one patient (3%). No apparent correlation was present between coronary artery ectasia and diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, smoking and family history of coronary artery disease. ConclusionThe prevalence of coronary artery ectasia in consecutive participants who underwent coronary computed tomography angiography is 8%. The right coronary artery was most commonly affected and most participants had single-vessel involvement. Coronary artery ectasia usually is associated with atheromatous changes, but not with significant coronary artery disease. Coronary artery ectasia thrombosis was a rare complication. No specific predisposing factors have been identified.
The effect of audit partner tenure on client managers' accounting discretion

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the effect of audit partner tenure (PARTEN) on client managers' accounting discretion. Design/methodology/approach - The authors contend that, when a new audit partner is from the same audit firm as the outgoing audit partner (audit partner rotation), audit quality increases because the new audit partner brings “fresh eyes” to the engagement. Findings - The results confirm this conjecture. The authors find that, in the initial years of tenure of a new audit partner, client managers' accounting discretion decreases when the new partner is from the same audit firm as the outgoing partner. However, when the new audit partner is from a different audit firm as the outgoing partner (audit firm rotation), it is found that client managers' accounting discretion increases in those initial years. Originality/value - The results provide support for recent legislation in the US restricting audit PARTEN and should be of interest to other regulatory bodies contemplating mandatory audit partner rotation.
Evaluation of Antioxidant Activity of Isoferulic Acid in vitro

Isoferulic acid (3-hydroxy-4-methoxycinnamic acid, IFA), the isomer of ferulic acid (4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamic acid), is a rare phenolic acid occurring in Rhizoma Cimicifugae. Unlike ferulic acid, which has been well investigated, the antioxidant activity of IFA has not been measured. In this study, IFA was systematically evaluated for its in vitro antioxidant activity for the first time. IC50 values were calculated of 7.30±0.57, 4.58±0.17, 1.08±0.01, 8.84±0.43, 7.69±0.39, 1.57±0.2, 13.33±0.49 μg/mL, respectively, for lipid peroxidation, DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical) and ABTS (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid diammonium salt) radical scavenging, reducing power on Fe3+ and Cu2+ ions, and hydroxyl and superoxide anion radical scavenging. Comparison with the IC50 values with those of the positive controls, Trolox and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), it can be concluded that isoferulic acid is an effective natural antioxidant in both lipid and aqueous media.
Economic Preconditions for the Asian Regional Integration

Recent developments in Europe and North America suggest that the world is now under a tide of new regionalism. This paper asks whether conditions are favorable or unfavorable for regional economic integration in Asia. By referring to statistical indicators and applying by various statistical methods including a principal component analysis we reach the following tentative conclusion: Economic conditions for regional integration in Asia are at least as favorable as those in unifying Europe. Preconditions for a free trade area in Asia is satisfied. However since Asian countries depend heavily on trade with the United States and Japan a free trade area that hinders the trade with these countries would not be practical. Preconditions for a currency union in Asia are also met. In the case of a currency union however it is not clear whether Asian countries would be benefitted by linking their common currency to a major currency such as the dollar or the yen. (authors)
Wage Setting and the Tax System: theory and Evidence for the UK

This paper analyses the effect of a non-linear tax system on wage bargaining. The main conclusions are: an increase in the marginal income or payroll tax reduces the pre-tax wage; in the iso-elastic case, an increase in the average tax rate increases the pre-tax wage by more than the tax increase, and a measure of the progressivity of the tax system (residual income progression) is a sufficient measure of the effect of the tax system on wage pressure. Empirical evidence is presented to support these propositions, and the predictions of the model regarding the effect of recent changes to the U.K tax system on the distribution of earnings discussed.
Kidney function in a selected lithium population

ABSTRACT– Forty‐six lithium (Li) patients who had been on Li for about 1–11 years were studied while on Li and after about 3 months (7 weeks‐26 months) off Li. Kidney function was compared between patients on Li and the same patients off Li, and, in 32 matched pairs, between patients on and off Li and psychiatric controls. Urine osmolality (U‐osmol) was significantly lower, urine volume higher in patients on Li than in controls. Measures of both glomerular and tubular function improved when Li‐patients discontinued medication. U‐osmol remained somewhat lower than in controls and was negatively correlated with time‐on‐Li. Although serum creatinine was somewhat higher in Li‐patients off Li than in controls, clearance values were not different between the two groups. Long‐term lithium treatment causes a permanent reduction of tubular function. Time‐on‐Li is a risk factor. In this population the reduction was clinically insignificant. In addition, Li treatment causes a reversible reduction of both tubular and glomerular function. The results can probably be generalized to other outpatient Li populations with the same time‐on‐Li and with U‐osmol below 800 mOsm/kg during ongoing treatment.
Evaluation of Linkage between Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction and Repurchase Intentions: An Application of SEM

The study deals with the predictive ability of the two measurements, namely SERVQUAL and SERVPERF, on customer satisfaction in three service industries initially. Second, it investigates the role of mediation of consumer satisfaction between overall service quality and repurchase intention: and also the role of mediation of overall service quality between customer satisfaction and repurchase intention. Finally, it examines the relative importance of service quality factors on customer satisfaction in the three service industries. The result shows the betterment of application of SERVPERF measures and the mediation role of customer satisfaction between the overall service quality and repurchase intension. The relative importance of service quality factors on customer satisfaction differs in different service industries.
Reputation, Price, and Death: An Empirical Analysis of Art Price Formation

We analyze how an artist’s death influences the market prices of her works of art. Death has two opposing effects on art prices. By irrevocably restricting the artist’s oeuvre, prices, ceteris paribus, increase when the artist dies. On the other hand, an untimely death may well frustrate the collectors’ hopes of owning artwork that will, as the artist’s career progresses, become generally known and appreciated. By frustrating expected future name recognition, death impacts negatively on art prices. In conjunction, these two channels of influence give rise to a hump-shaped relationship between age at death and death-induced price changes. Using transactions from fine art auctions, we show that the empirically identified death effects indeed conform to our theoretical predictions. We derive our results from hedonic art price regressions, making use of a data set which exceeds the sample size of traditional studies in cultural economics by an order of magnitude.
Academic copyright in the publishing game: a contest perspective

As scientists are motivated by readership rather than by royalties, one might doubt that academic copyright is required for stimulating research. Consequently, establishing an open access regime is currently intensively being discussed. We contribute to the literature by using a contest-model in which differently talented researchers compete for limited journals space. The contest perspective adds a rent-seeking motive into the publishing game which questions that private incentives for research are always too low due to the positive externalities of scientific progress. In our model, open access always leads to higher social welfare when incentives are too high. When incentives are too low, then open access is only superior if the benefits from larger readership is sufficiently high.
The Month-of-The-Year Effect: Evidence from GARCH Models in Fifty Five Stock Markets

This paper studies the month of the year effect, where January effect presents positive and the highest returns of the other months of the year. In order to investigate the specific calendar effect in global level, fifty five stock market indices from fifty one countries are examined. Symmetric GARCH models are applied and based on asymmetries tests asymmetric GARCH models are estimated. The main findings of this study is that a December effect is found on twenty stock markets, with higher returns on the specific month, while February effect is presented in nine stock markets, followed by January and April effects in seven and six stock markets respectively. These patterns provide positive and highest returns on the mentioned months, while a pattern where a specific month gives a persistence signal of negative returns couldn’t be found.
CSR and Sustainable Development: Multinationals are they Socially Responsible in Sub-Saharan Africa? The case of Areva in Niger

The purpose of this paper is to contribute in understanding issues related to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper demonstrates that even though multinationals strategies participate with economic and social development, there still is much to do given environmental, social and economic expectations. The case of Areva discussed here illustrates the discrepancy that exists between such companies’ CSR strategies and the local conditions in which they evolve (armed conflicts, poverty, social inequalities, air pollution, environmental degradation, water contamination, etc.). Therefore, two challenges are essentials. On one hand, MNCs should take into account external costs of their activities and participate in projects that improve social and economic welfare. On the other hand, in case of accentuated opposition between MNCs and stakeholders (civil society, social partners, NGOs, etc.) public regulations could orientate corporate actions in a more responsible social development process.
A Radio-on-Hybrid WDM Transport System Based on Mutually Injection-Locked F-P LDs

A radio-on-hybrid wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) transport system employing mutually injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser diodes (F-P LDs) is proposed and demonstrated. System performances evaluated by carrier to noise ratio (CNR), composite second order (CSO), composite triple beat (CTB), bit error rate (BER) for simultaneous transmission of CATV/LAN/ITS are improved. Our proposed systems are relatively simple and potentially low cost due to the use of mutually injection-locked F-P LDs as broadband light source (BLS).
A Genomewide Mutagenesis Screen Identifies Multiple Genes Contributing to Vi Capsular Expression in Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhi

ABSTRACT A transposon-based, genomewide mutagenesis screen exploiting the killing activity of a lytic ViII bacteriophage was used to identify Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi genes that contribute to Vi polysaccharide capsule expression. Genes enriched in the screen included those within the viaB locus (tviABCDE and vexABCDE) as well as oxyR, barA/sirA, and yrfF, which have not previously been associated with Vi expression. The role of these genes in Vi expression was confirmed by constructing defined null mutant derivatives of S. Typhi, and these were negative for Vi expression as determined by agglutination assays with Vi-specific sera or susceptibility to Vi-targeting bacteriophages. Transcriptome analysis confirmed a reduction in expression from the viaB locus in these S. Typhi mutant derivatives and defined regulatory networks associated with Vi expression.
Competencies of sport managers in German sport clubs and sport federations

Growing and diversifying public interest in sport demands greater professional competencies in sport managers in clubs and National Federations. In 1995- 6 this study sought to identify activities undertaken and competencies needed by such paid managers, through mailed questionnaires (response n=199, 30% from clubs, 70% from Federations). Factor analysis identified five groups of activities and seven groups of competencies. The activities of sport managers comprised strong communicative and social aspects. This must be considered more strongly than hitherto by including corresponding interdisciplinary management aspects in training and education courses. The interviewees particularly emphasized the importance of interpersonal communication--as indicated by several of Mintzberg's managerial roles--as well as competencies like public relations, advertising and techniques of personal management. Nevertheless the core of training should comprise aspects of business administration. The interviewees particularly emphasized the management functions and areas of financing, budgeting, sponsorship and event management. Sport management is becoming differentiated from coaching and teaching. Sport managers had to know their respective sports and be part of the culture, but physical education and sport science skills were generally not needed. On the one hand, the evaluation of many competencies showed clear differences from job to job, but on the other hand the significant regression coefficients between different types of activity sets and different competency sets indicated that a broad qualification is needed, regardless of the type of job.
Dairy farmer attitudes and empathy toward animals are associated with animal welfare indicators.

Attitudes and empathy of farmers influence human-animal interaction, thereby affecting their behavior toward animals. The goal was to investigate how measures of attitude and empathy toward animals were associated with animal welfare indicators such as milk yield, mastitis incidence, fertility index, and the prevalence of skin lesions on cows. To assess empathy toward animals, a photo-based pain assessment instrument was developed depicting various conditions that could be associated with some degree of pain in cattle and included questions aimed at assessing attitudes toward animals. Photos of painful conditions are useful in eliciting measurable empathic responses to pain in humans. A total of 221 farmers were sampled via e-mail and 154 responses were obtained. In the first analysis, farmers were categorized into 2 groups according to their agreement or disagreement with the attitude statement "animals experience physical pain as humans do. " In the second analysis, farmers were assigned a median pain assessment score obtained from their estimates on the visual analog scale of 21 conditions assumed painful for cattle. In the third analysis, farmers were clustered in 3 groups according to their visual analog scale responses. Three conditions were ranked as the most painful: fracture of tuber coxae, dystocia, and serious mastitis. Farmers with positive attitudes toward animals scored 2 points higher on their empathy score compared with farmers with negative attitudes. Personal experience with each additional condition resulted in a 0.09 higher score. Cluster analysis revealed 3 groups. Farmers in group 3 had the highest median pain assessment score (6.7+/-0.2), indicating a high level of empathy and a positive attitude toward animals. They had the lowest prevalence of skin lesions over the carpus (24+/-6%) and the lowest milk production (6,705+/-202 kg). The complex associations between indicators of empathy and attitudes with relevant welfare outcomes suggest that competence building to safeguard animal welfare could benefit from including both attitudes and empathy in human-animal interactions studies.
Declining Mortgage Prepayment Penalties and the Value of Delay

Mortgages are complicated instruments, and the pace of financial innovation complicates them further. Unlike standard single family mortgages, the terms on commercial loans are heterogeneous, and the motivations of property owners are not well understood. Single family lenders are increasingly adopting the prepayment penalties found in the commercial market. This paper fills in a gap in the study of mortgage finance by determining the optimal refinancing strategy under common forms of prepayment penalties. Our paper uses a bivariate binomial options pricing technique to value call options within various mortgages with different types of prepayment penalties. Using simulations, we calculate the spread between contract and prevailing interest rates needed to trigger an optimal refinance, and find that it is often substantially larger for mortgages with declining penalties than for mortgages with static penalties. The larger required spreads caused by the enhanced value of delay explain much of the slow prepayment behavior discovered in the multifamily market by Follain, Ondrich, and Sinha (1997). Therefore, borrower decisions which appear slow (or irrational) in a static setting may be quite rational in a dynamic setting. Our results have important implications for both the interpretation of regression results based on historical data, and for the pricing of newly originated mortgages. Declining prepayment penalties were used extensively for multifamily mortgages in the 1970's and 1980's. While their use has declined in the 1990's in favor of yield maintainance agreements, empirical studies which use 1970's and 1980's data need to incorporate the effects of these penalty structures or risk specification bias. At the same time that their use is declining in the multifamily market it is growing in the single-family market. Understanding the behavior of these mortgages will be crucial to their pricing.
Enhanced luminance in polymer composite light emitting devices

We demonstrate that mixing insulating oxide nanoparticles into electroluminescent polymer materials results in increased current densities, radiances, and power efficiencies in polymer light emitting diode devices. For low driving voltages, an order of magnitude increase in current density and light output is achieved with minimal loss in device lifetime. At 5 V, we achieve radiances of 10 000 cd/m2 with external quantum efficiencies ∼1% for nanoparticle/MEH–PPV composite films.
Executive succession as an antecedent to corporate restructuring

One of the most visible adjustments in company strategies in recent years was the dramatic increase in the level of corporate restructuring activity that took place during the 1980s. Strategic decisions that result in the realignment of firms with their environments are likely to be influenced by the composition of the top management team. This study found that firms experiencing non-routine executive succession events within the management team subsequently underwent more restructuring activity than did firms without non-routine executive turnover. These findings suggest that unexpected executive turnovers can significantly alter managerial perspectives within top teams and may thus provide an important mechanism by which firms adapt to their competitive environments. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.