Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dividend Changes and the Persistence of Past Earnings Changes

We examine whether the market interprets changes in dividends as a signal about the persistence of past earnings changes. Prior to observing this signal, investors may believe that past earnings changes are not necessarily indicative of future earnings levels. We empirically investigate whether a change in dividends alters investors' assessments about the valuation implications of past earnings. Results confirm the hypothesis that changes in dividends cause investors to revise their expectations about the persistence of past earnings changes. This effect varies predictably with the magnitude of the dividend change and the sign of the past earnings change.
The density of epidermal p53 clones is higher adjacent to squamous cell carcinoma in comparison with basal cell carcinoma

Background It is well accepted that ultraviolet radiation from the sun can induce and promote growth of skin tumours. Skin cancer develops as a consequence of multiple genetic hits, where an initial, important step includes proliferation of cells susceptible to malignant transformation. Foci of morphologically normal epidermal keratinocytes overexpressing p53 protein are common in chronically sun‐exposed skin. Such foci have previously been shown to represent expanding clones of p53‐mutated keratinocytes. Although several characteristics concerning epidermal p53 clones remain to be resolved, an important role in skin carcinogenesis is anticipated. The density of epidermal p53 clones in human skin is largely unknown.
Compound‐specific carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen isotopic ratios for amino acids in CM and CR chondrites and their use in evaluating potential formation pathways

Abstract– Stable hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen isotopic ratios (δD, δ13C, and δ15N) of organic compounds can reveal information about their origin and formation pathways. Several formation mechanisms and environments have been postulated for the amino acids detected in carbonaceous chondrites. As each proposed mechanism utilizes different precursor molecules, the isotopic signatures of the resulting amino acids may indicate the most likely of these pathways. We have applied gas chromatography with mass spectrometry and combustion isotope ratio mass spectrometry to measure the compound‐specific C, N, and H stable isotopic ratios of amino acids from seven CM and CR carbonaceous chondrites: CM1/2 Allan Hills (ALH) 83100, CM2 Murchison, CM2 Lewis Cliff (LEW) 90500, CM2 Lonewolf Nunataks (LON) 94101, CR2 Graves Nunataks (GRA) 95229, CR2 Elephant Moraine (EET) 92042, and CR3 Queen Alexandra Range (QUE) 99177. We compare the isotopic compositions of amino acids in these meteorites with predictions of expected isotopic enrichments from potential formation pathways. We observe trends of decreasing δ13C and increasing δD with increasing carbon number in the α‐H, α‐NH2 amino acids that correspond to predictions made for formation via Strecker‐cyanohydrin synthesis. We also observe light δ13C signatures for β‐alanine, which may indicate either formation via Michael addition or via a pathway that forms primarily small, straight‐chain, amine‐terminal amino acids (n‐ω‐amino acids). Higher deuterium enrichments are observed in α‐methyl amino acids, indicating formation of these amino acids or their precursors in cold interstellar or nebular environments. Finally, individual amino acids are more enriched in deuterium in CR chondrites than in CM chondrites, reflecting different parent‐body chemistry.
Economic development practices of cities in Ontario, Canada

This article contributes to the discussion on communities’ economic development efforts by providing empirical evidence from cities in Ontario, Canada. This article provides information on activities that cities in Ontario are emphasizing to foster economic development. Analysis of study data suggests that economic development efforts are generally institutionalized, as evidenced by the high number of cities adopting written economic development plans. This finding contrasts the “act now, think later” approach previously reported. However, the vast majority of economic development practices are traditional and conservative due to such reasons as the regulated institutional environment within which the cities operate, similar economic challenges that confront them, and the historical and geographical links that bind the majority of the cities. The article concludes by suggesting key avenues for future research.
Examining the Impact of Inherited Succession Identity on Family Firm Performance

The vast majority of research on family firm performance following intergenerational succession draws on either agency or stewardship theory, resulting in conflicting findings and conclusions. In this study, we depart from the mainstream by focusing on how inherited successor identity and its combined influence with successors’ broader socioeconomic context exert impact on intergenerational post‐succession performance. Drawing on social embeddedness perspective, we hypothesize that a non‐first‐son‐based succession identity disproportionately better positions successors to take advantage of the informational exchange relationships and entrepreneurial opportunities, particularly when succession identity interacts with independent outside board members, as well as large blocks of outside shareholders, while simultaneously avoiding the pressures and constraints associated with “family tradition” aspects of the family business system. Data collected from a sample of Korean family firms showed support for this moderation hypothesis. These results suggest the need for more theoretically grounded research on the inherited identity of successors to help draw a more realistic and balanced picture of social dynamics in family firm performance.
A survival analysis of patent examination requests by Japanese electrical and electronic manufacturers

Our research on patent filing in Japan identified major determinants of the time between application filing and the lodging of an examination request, and considered the influence of two factors on requests: patent value indices, as well as patent filing and innovation strategies. Our sample covered patent applications of 214 listed Japanese electrical and electronics manufacturers during 1988–2001. The empirical results show that, in the early 1990s, large firms and those with high R&D intensity and patent propensity tended to delay requests; in the late 1990s, their requests accelerated, with those for applications likely to be granted being lodged earlier. Meanwhile, such patent value indices as degree of originality, number of self-citations and external citations had a positive correlation to early examination requests for most periods covered in the sample; joint application and generality showed mixed effects; and such time-varying factors as competitive filings produced diverse results.
Payout Policy in the 21st Century

We survey 384 CFOs and Treasurers, and conduct in-depth interviews with an additional two dozen, to determine the key factors that drive dividend and share repurchase policies. We find that managers are very reluctant to cut dividends, that dividends are smoothed through time, and that dividend increases are tied to long-run sustainable earnings but much less so than in the past. Rather than increasing dividends, many firms now use repurchases as an alternative. Paying out with repurchases is viewed by managers as being more flexible than using dividends, permitting a better opportunity to optimize investment. Managers like to repurchase shares when they feel their stock is undervalued and in an effort to affect EPS. Dividend increases and the level of share repurchases are generally paid out of residual cash flow, after investment and liquidity needs are met. Financial executives believe that retail investors have a strong preference for dividends, in spite of the tax disadvantage relative to repurchases. In contrast, executives believe that institutional investors as a class have no strong preference between dividends and repurchases. In general, management views provide at most moderate support for agency, signaling, and clientele hypotheses of payout policy. Tax considerations play only a secondary role. By highlighting where the theory and practice of corporate payout policy are consistent and where they are not, we attempt to shed new light on important unresolved issues related to payout policy in the 21st century.
Increased Aurora B activity causes continuous disruption of kinetochore–microtubule attachments and spindle instability

Significance During mitosis, Aurora B kinase plays a key role in ensuring that sister chromatids (each of the copies of a replicated chromosome) attach to different poles of the spindle to create a bipolar array of microtubules that allows correct distribution of the chromosomes. Aurora B deficiency leads to massive defects in chromosome segregation. Surprisingly, an increase in Aurora B activity also is deleterious for the cells and has been associated with various cancers. Here we demonstrate that in yeast an increase in Aurora B activity causes defects in chromosome segregation and spindle-assembly checkpoint activation by erroneously destabilizing even correct attachments of the chromosomes to the spindle, and also promotes premature collapse of the spindle midzone. Aurora B kinase regulates the proper biorientation of sister chromatids during mitosis. Lack of Aurora B kinase function results in the inability to correct erroneous kinetochore–microtubule attachments and gives rise to aneuploidy. Interestingly, increased Aurora B activity also leads to problems with chromosome segregation, and overexpression of this kinase has been observed in various types of cancer. However, little is known about the mechanisms by which an increase in Aurora B kinase activity can impair mitotic progression and cell viability. Here, using a yeast model, we demonstrate that increased Aurora B activity as a result of the overexpression of the Aurora B and inner centromere protein homologs triggers defects in chromosome segregation by promoting the continuous disruption of chromosome–microtubule attachments even when sister chromatids are correctly bioriented. This disruption leads to a constitutive activation of the spindle-assembly checkpoint, which therefore causes a lack of cytokinesis even though spindle elongation and chromosome segregation take place. Finally, we demonstrate that this increase in Aurora B activity causes premature collapse of the mitotic spindle by promoting instability of the spindle midzone.
Temporal-Enhanced Convolutional Network for Person Re-Identification

We propose a new neural network called Temporal-enhanced Convolutional Network (T-CN) for video-based person reidentification. For each video sequence of a person, a spatial convolutional subnet is first applied to each frame for representing appearance information, and then a temporal convolutional subnet links small ranges of continuous frames to extract local motion information. Such spatial and temporal convolutions together construct our T-CN based representation. Finally, a recurrent network is utilized to further explore global dynamics, followed by temporal pooling to generate an overall feature vector for the whole sequence. In the training stage, a Siamese network architecture is adopted to jointly optimize all the components with losses covering both identification and verification. In the testing stage, our network generates an overall discriminative feature representation for each input video sequence (whose length may vary a lot) in a feed-forward way, and even a simple Euclidean distance based matching can generate good re-identification results. Experiments on the most widely used benchmark datasets demonstrate the superiority of our proposal, in comparison with the state-of-the-art.
Negotiating as Institutional Work: The Case of Labour Standards and International Framework Agreements

Although institutional work has recently attracted considerable attention from organization research, there is a surprising neglect of inter-organizational negotiations as a form of institutional work. This neglect is astonishing, since negotiations provide a unique opportunity both to study institutional change in settings characterized by diverging institutional logics and to illustrate how institutional constraints and strategic agency are linked in interaction processes. Based on a combination of the literature on institutional work and the theory of strategic negotiations, we examine in detail three illuminating negotiation processes taking place around International Framework Agreements on global labour standards. This examination reveals three types of (proto-)institutional outcomes produced by these processes: institutional creation, modification and stagnation. Whereas institutional creation and modification, albeit differing in quality, show how integrative negotiation practices of global unions might engage management in a joint endeavor for institutional change, institutional stagnation illuminates some of the pitfalls of negotiation work.
Proline Precursors to Sustain Mammalian Collagen Synthesis 1 , 2

Biochemically, one-third of the collagen molecule is composed of glycine. The next largest amino acid component is formed by proline (PRO) and hydroxyproline, which together comprise ;23% of the collagen molecule. The best method to support wound collagen biosynthesis is to provide adequate host nutrition, assuring adequate provision of calories and protein. However, despite adequate nutrition, clinically, there is a need to enhance collagen synthesis and research has focused on methods to enhance collagen precursor availability. PRO biosynthesis is related to both the citric acid cycle and the urea cycle. During the early phases of wound healing, wound fluid PRO levels are at least 50% higher than plasma levels, suggesting active import of PRO into the wound. Providing additional PRO in the diet to enhance PRO bioavailability for collagen biosynthesis does not result in increased collagen accumulation. Provision of other citric cycle precursors such as glutamine also does not enhance wound collagen synthesis. In looking at other PRO biosynthetic pathways, the arginine (ARG) ! ornithine (ORN) ! glutamic semialdehyde ! PRO pathway looks the most promising. ARG administration in quantities above those required for growth and reproduction results in a marked enhancement in wound collagen deposition. This effect is also shared by ORN, which cannot replace ARG for growth requirement but shares many of its biological and pharmacological activities. Several mechanisms have been postulated to explain the positive effect of ARG on wound healing, although none have been firmly proven. In conclusion, ARG and ORN supplementation are most effective in increasing collagen deposition, but whether this is accomplished by conversion to PRO is uncertain. J. Nutr. 138: 2021S–2024S, 2008.
Gibrat's Law for (All) Cities: Comment

Jan Eeckhout (2004) reports that the empirical city size distribution is lognormal, consistent with Gibrat's Law. We show that for the top 0.6 percent of the largest cities, the empirical distribution is dramatically different from the lognormal, and follows a power law. This top part is extremely important as it accounts for more than 23 percent of the population. The empirical hybrid lognormal-power-law distribution revealed may be characteristic of other key distributions, such as the wealth distribution and the income distribution. This distribution is not consistent with a simple Gibrat proportionate effect process, and its origin presents a puzzle yet to be answered. (JEL R11, R12, R23)
Fashion Setting in Quality Management and Continuous Improvement

The area of business improvement is particularly prone to the emergence of management fashions. This paper contributes to the understanding of this phenomenon, supported by empirical evidence concerning quality management (QM) and continuous improvement (CI) initiatives. Quantitative evidence of the trends of academic and management discourse on these themes is presented, based on annual publication numbers for a range of important QM and CI approaches. These trends in QM and CI initiatives from the literature are then compared with reported industrial practice, using data from an international company survey conducted by Bain and Company over several years. A quantitative comparison of publication trends with this usage data shows that publication and usage trends appear to resemble each other, but industrial usage tends to lag behind academic discussion and may endure after the latter declines. The article concludes by discussing how these facts help to explain fashions in QM and CI approaches and suggests that dissemination effects are important to global developments in these fields.
Stock Volatility and the Levels of the Basis and Open Interest in Futures Contracts

This article tests a theoretical model of the basis and open interest of stock index futures. The model is based on the differences between stock and futures in terms of investors' ability to customize stock portfolios and liquidity. Empirical evidence confirms the model's prediction that increased volatility decreases the basis and increases open interest. Copyright 1995 by American Finance Association.
Rheumatoid and psoriatic knee synovitis: clinical, grey scale, and power Doppler ultrasound assessment of the response to etanercept

Objective: To determine the effect of tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) blockade with etanercept in refractory knee joint synovitis (KJS) in rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, by local and systemic disease activity assessment and combined grey scale and power Doppler ultrasonographic monitoring. Methods: 27 knees affected by rheumatoid KJS (n = 12) and psoriatic KJS (n = 8) were assessed before receiving treatment and at 3 and 12 months’ follow up. Time dependent clinical changes in disease activity were monitored by C reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), global health status (GHS), and Ritchie (RAI) and knee joint articular (KJAI) indices; synovial changes were monitored by ultrasonographic and power Doppler indices for grey scale synovial thickening and for distinct intrasynovial vessel power Doppler flow configurations (fluid/synovium interface (F/SI-PD) and pannus/cartilage interface (P/CI-PD)). Interobserver and intraobserver variability of grey scale and power Doppler ultrasonographic was evaluated. Response to treatment was assessed by analysis of variance for repeated measures on clinical and ultrasonographic variables. Results: Rapid (3 months) reduction in F/SI-PD flow (p<0.001), parallel to reductions of C reactive protein (p<0.05), ESR (p<0.001), KJAI (p<0.002), RAI, and GHS (p<0.001), was sustained at 12 months when it was accompanied by reduction in both synovial thickening and P/CI-PD flow (p<0.001). No differences (ANOVA) were noted at baseline or at 12 months in clinical and ultrasonographic variables between either the rheumatoid or the psoriatic KJS groups. Conclusion: Grey scale and power Doppler ultrasonography are reliable measures of long term change in rheumatoid and psoriatic KJS disease activity in response to anti-TNFα treatment with etanercept.
Wages and the Composition of Experience

This paper provides evidence on the relation between alternative forms of experience and wages using data drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Prior labor market experience is segmented into mutually exclusive categories based on industry and occupation to examine how subsequent employers value skills acquired on previous jobs. We find that most forms of experience, including tenure at the current job, provide a comparable return. However, the wage return to prior experience in a different occupation and industry is significantly lower. Such “career changes” constitute over half of all prior work experience among workers in their mid-30s.
An evolutionary game for joint wireless and cloud resource allocation in mobile edge computing

This paper mainly focuses on developing a joint cloud and wireless resource allocation algorithm based on evolutionary game (JRA-EG) considering mobile terminals' energy consumption and time delay as well as monetary cost in mobile edge computing environment. The mobile terminals (MTs) in different service areas form different populations. In addition, the competition among populations of MTs in different service areas is to share the limited amount of bandwidth and computation resources in the accessible service providers (SPs). We analyse the stability property of the evolutionary game model and obtain the evolutionary equilibrium (EE). EE is acquired by replicator dynamics approach. Simulation results show that our JRA-EG algorithm can converge to the EE rapidly. Compared with the existing algorithms, the algorithms can save more energy and have less time delay when input data size becomes larger.
Proliferation of computers among Taiwanese SMEs

To upgrade the technology and thereby the economy, governments worldwide have actively encouraged their Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to adopt Computer-Based Information Systems (CBIS). SME managers, however, often question the benefit of computers and use their small size as an excuse to avoid using sophisticated computers. Using Taiwan as an example, this study shows empirically the extent of computer success in SMEs. Other than exploring the current and potential uses of CBIS in Taiwan SMEs, this study identified the effects of computer technology on various jobs and organisational performances and explored how these effects were related to the success. Motivators and inhibitors for SME computer adoption are also discussed. The major conclusion is that, while firm size may influence the initial adoption of computers, the costs and effort put into the subsequent implementations are the key factors that determine the success of such use in SMEs.