Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Developing an exit readiness index: a research note

A proactive and viable exit strategy is a key influence on the ability of firms to raise equity capital. Investors in firms with such an exit strategy will improve their prospects of achieving a successful exit. However, the issue of ‘exit readiness’—especially in the context of trade sales, which account for the majority of exits of venture capital-backed firms—has attracted limited attention. Based on interviews with business angels, venture capitalists and others, this paper develops an ‘exit readiness index’ for trade sales that can be used by investors to identify firms that are exit ready and demonstrate to entrepreneurs what is required to build a viable exit strategy. The paper proposes that the ‘exit readiness index’ should be tested on longitudinal panels of start-up and nascent firms in various countries in order to determine its predictive ability.
Political Cultures Do Matter: Citizens and Politics in Western Europe and East and Southeast Asia

This article is concerned with the examination of the attitudes of the ‘common man’ in two regions of the globe, both with respect to basic relations between citizen and state and with respect to the extent to which ‘globalisation’ affects these relations. These questions have too long been discussed primarily at the level of elites or on the basis of assumptions or ‘hunches’ about what the reactions of the people at large may be. By providing at least some evidence pertaining to both these questions, the study thus aims at beginning to fill a gap which has long needed to be filled and at giving the debate on ‘convergence’ and on ‘globalisation’ some of the empirical basis which it badly needs.
Religious Coping and Psychological and Behavioral Adjustment After Hurricane Katrina

ABSTRACT Positive and negative religious coping are related to positive and negative psychological adjustment, respectively. The current study examined the relation between religious coping and PTSD, major depression, quality of life, and substance use among residents residing in Mississippi at the time of Hurricane Katrina. Results indicated that negative religious coping was positively associated with major depression and poorer quality of life and positive religious coping was negatively associated with PTSD, depression, poorer quality of life, and increased alcohol use. These results suggest that mental health providers should be mindful of the role of religious coping after traumatic events such as natural disasters.
The Effect of Employee Uniforms on Employee Satisfaction

Many hospitality-industry employees must wear uniforms, and those outfits can affect employees' attitudes. In turn, those attitudes almost certainly affect customer satisfaction, if only because the employees are a part of a property's atmosphere. One might guess that some uniform attributes (e.g., appearance, function, character, and comfort) make a difference to employees, while others have no effect. A survey of 201 employees at Las Vegas casino-resorts found a significant relationship between uniform design and employee attitudes. The study found, for instance, that uniforms can increase employees' self-confidence and enhance their credibility. On the other hand, certain costume designs actually elicit rude reactions from guests (who comment on the uniforms). Surprisingly, the level of contact between employees and guests had no influence on the how employees viewed their uniforms. The wisest course is for managers to involve employees in uniform selection.
AmSUT1, a Sucrose Transporter in Collection and Transport Phloem of the Putative Symplastic Phloem Loader Alonsoa meridionalis1

A sucrose (Suc) transporter cDNA has been cloned from Alonsoa meridionalis, a member of the Scrophulariaceae. This plant species has an open minor vein configuration and translocates mainly raffinose and stachyose in addition to Suc in the phloem (C. Knop, O. Voitsekhovskaja, G. Lohaus [2001] Planta 213: 80–91). These are typical properties of symplastic phloem loaders. For functional characterization, AmSUT1 cDNA was expressed in bakers' yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Substrate and inhibitor specificities, energy dependence, and Km value of the protein agree well with the properties measured for other Suc transporters of apoplastic phloem loaders. A polyclonal antiserum against the 17 N-terminal amino acids of the A. meridionalis Suc transporter AmSUT1 was used to determine the cellular localization of the AmSUT1 protein. Using fluorescence labeling on sections from A. meridionalis leaves and stems, AmSUT1 was localized exclusively in phloem cells. Further histological characterization identified these cells as companion cells and sieve elements. p-Chloromercuribenzenesulfonic acid affected the sugar exudation of cut leaves in such a way that the exudation rates of Suc and hexoses decreased, whereas those of raffinose and stachyose increased. The data presented indicate that phloem loading of Suc and retrieval of Suc in A. meridionalis are at least partly mediated by the activity of AmSUT1 in addition to symplastic phloem loading.
Zimbabwe's Hijacked Election

From 9 to 11 March 2002, more than three million Zimbabwean voters went to the polls—often standing patiently in line for many hours—to cast their ballots for the office of president. In all likelihood a majority of these voters, especially in larger cities such as Bulawayo and Harare, the capital, were hoping to bring a nonviolent end to the despotic twodecade-old rule of 78-year-old President Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). The means to this goal would be the lawful election to the presidency of Mugabe’s main challenger, former labor leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). In the event, the voters would see their hopes dashed, but only after the regime deployed tactics whose sheer brutality and underhandedness were without precedent even in the troubled postindependence history of this southern African republic of 11.4 million people. When the fraudulent “contest” was over, Mugabe was declared the winner while Tsvangirai, braving the threat of treason charges, rejected the officially announced result and called for a new vote to be held under close international supervision. A number of countries and international organizations had sent teams to observe the election, but these groups came to different conclusions. The Commonwealth Observer Group, along with the Norwegians, the Ghanaians, and the Parliamentary Forum of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)—joined by nearly every Zimbabwean civic observer team—strongly condemned what it saw, arguing that the state and ruling party had created a climate of violence and fear John Makumbe, senior lecturer in political science at the University of Zimbabwe, is coauthor (with Daniel Compagnon) of Behind the Smokescreen: The Politics of Zimbabwe’s 1995 General Elections (1996). He is currently chairing the Zimbabwe chapter of Transparency International (www.transparency.org), an international nongovernmental organization devoted to fighting corruption.
ARDL Approach in Estimating International Tourism Demand in Thailand.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the short-term and long-term relationships between international tourism demand and the most popular explanatory variables such as GDP, jet fuel prices, the exchange rate, exchange rate risk, and temperature during 1997(Q1)-2005(Q2). The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration was utilized to estimate international tourism demand in Thailand. The short-term and long-term relationships results indicated that growth in income, the high jet fuel prices, exchange rate variations, exchange rate risk, and temperature in Thailand affected the number of international visitor arrivals to Thailand.
New Perspectives on Human Resource Management

List of tables List of figures List of contributors Preface Abbreviations 1. Introduction: from personnel management to human resource management 2. Human resource management: a critical analysis 3. Human resource management: its implications for industrial relations and trade unions 4. Human resource management and the personnel function 5. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management 6. Selection and appraisal: reconstituting 'social relations'? 7. Corporate training strategies: the vital component? 8. Financial participation 9. Human resource management and changes in management control systems 10. Limits and possibilities for HRM in an age of management accountancy 11. Looking to the future Bibliography Index
Morbidity and Mortality After Vertebral Fractures: Comparison of Vertebral Augmentation and Nonoperative Management in the Medicare Population

Study Design. Vertebral compression fracture (VCF) patients in the 100% US Medicare data set (2005–2009). Objective. To compare the mortality and morbidity risks for VCF patients undergoing conservative treatment (nonoperated), balloon kyphoplasty (BKP), and vertebroplasty (VP). Summary of Background Data. Studies have reported lower mortality risk for BKP or VP cohorts than nonoperated cohorts, but it is uncertain whether there are any differences in morbidity risks. Methods. Survival and morbidity was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and the differences in outcomes were assessed by Cox regression between BKP, VP, and nonoperated cohorts. A propensity matching analysis was used to account for potential bias. Results. A total of 1,038,956 VCF patients were identified, including 141,343 BKP patients and 75,364 VP patients. The nonoperated cohort was found to have a 55% higher adjusted risk of mortality (P < 0.001) than the BKP cohort and 25% higher adjusted risk of mortality (P < 0.001) than the VP cohort. The BKP cohort was also found to have a 19% lower adjusted risk of mortality (P < 0.001) than the VP cohort. The findings were similar for mortality with pneumonia diagnosed in the 90 days before death and also after propensity matching, as well as for subgroups of osteoporotic VCF patients, including those who survived at least 1 year and those with no cancer diagnosis. With propensity matching, the nonoperated cohort had significantly higher adjusted risks of pneumonia, myocardial infarction/cardiac complications, DVT, and urinary tract infection than the BKP cohort but lower adjusted risks of subsequent augmentation/fusion, subsequent augmentation, and pulmonary/respiratory complications. The BKP cohort also had significantly lower risks of morbidity than the VP cohort, except for deep venous thrombosis (DVT), infection, and myocardial infarction/cardiac complications, which were similar between both cohorts. Conclusion. VCF patients in the Medicare population who received vertebral augmentation therapies, specifically BKP and VP, experienced lower mortality and overall morbidity than VCF patients who received conservative management. Level of Evidence: 3
Disequalizing Equalization Grant: An Assessment of the Relationship Between Equalization Grant and Local Fiscal Capacity in Northeast Thailand

Abstract: This paper examines the extent to which Thailand's current general or equalization grant program has helped reduce local fiscal disparity. Theoretically, the general grant transfers ought to be inversely related to local revenue-generating capacity. However, based on the 2010–2012 local government financial data from Khon Kaen province, this paper finds that local jurisdictions with high fiscal capacity and income per capita tend to receive more equalization grant per capita than the fiscally and economically disadvantaged localities. Descriptive statistics, the Gini coefficients, and fixed-effects econometric model are used to examine the relationship between general grant transfers and local fiscal capacity.
Investment and growth in Europe during the Golden Age

During the ‘Golden Age’, the high investment rates reached by the European countries have been considered crucial in explaining growth. The literature about the Golden Age has emphasized supply-side explanations based on structural change, the reconstruction effort and the catch-up hypothesis, but also demand-side explanations focused on the effects of demand stability for promoting high rates of investment. In this article we have focused our attention on the evolution of the user cost of capital for explaining the high rates of investment. Our hypothesis is that the increase in investment rates was propelled by the decline in the user cost of capital, the consequence largely of the drop in the relative price of machinery. The embodiment of new technology and the reductions in trade barriers explain this decrease in the relative price of machinery.
The How and Who of Strategy Making: Models and Appropriateness for Firms in Hospitality and Tourism Industries

A strategy-making process typology of ideal types is proposed describing salient dimensions from previous research. Two main dimensions are described as deliberate-emergent and individualistic-collective approaches. These dimensions address research questions of “how” strategies are formulated or implemented and “who” is involved in the process. It is proposed that, in general, firms adapt these dimensions in the strategy-making process to the level of dynamism and complexity in the environment. Further discussion provides insight into appropriate choices of strategy-making process models for firms in the food-service industry and expresses the need for researchers and managers to consider the degree and type of dynamism and complexity, firm size, level of analysis, level of strategy or tactic, culture, and institutional factors. It is suggested that service firms have a potential need to utilize multiple models simultaneously to affect conflicting objectives of control and adaptability.
Monitoring Role of Customer Firms in Suppliers and Its Effect on Supplier Value: Evidence from Block Acquisitions of Suppliers by Customer Firms

Using a large sample of block acquisitions, this paper examines the governance role of customers that acquire block ownership in supplier shares. We find that compared to targets acquired by noncustomers, those acquired by customers experience higher abnormal announcement returns, larger increases in post-acquisition long-term operating performance, and higher non-routine turnover of poorly performing CEOs. These results are evident when target managerial agency problems are highly detrimental to the supplier–customer relationship. The results support the view that customers’ nonfinancial claims in targets provide customers strong incentives to monitor target managers above and beyond previously documented monitoring by large shareholders.
Exchange Rate Assessment for Sub-Saharan Economies

This paper provides an exchange rate assessment for sub-Saharan African economies by using methodologies similar to those developed by the International Monetary Fund’s Consultative Group on Exchange Rate Issues. As in the World Economic Outlook (IMF, 2009a), the unbalanced panel dataset covers 182 countries from 1973 to 2014. We apply four methodologies to assess the fundamental exchange rate: macroeconomic balance, equilibrium real exchange rate, external sustainability, and purchasing power parity. Results show that the impact of macroeconomic fundamentals on the equilibrium real exchange rate is different for sub-Saharan African economies than for advanced and less advanced economies.
International Development Assistance and Economic Growth: the Case of Four Southeast European Countries

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of international development assistance on economic growth in the case of four Southeast European countries, Albania, Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia, during the period 1991-2010. Foreign aid as additive to domestic savings is expected to cause an increase in economic growth and domestic savings. Surprisingly, our empirical results do not support this hypothesis, since foreign aid is negatively related to domestic savings. These results are consistent with the notion that foreign aid transfers can distort individual incentives, and hence hurt savings and growth, by encouraging rent-seeking as opposed to productive activities.
Cutting Edge: CLEC5A Mediates Macrophage Function and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Pathologies

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a devastating disease with no effective therapies. We investigated the role of the C-type lectin receptor, CLEC5A, in macrophage activation and pulmonary pathogenesis in a mouse model of COPD. We demonstrate that CLEC5A is expressed on alveolar macrophages in mice exposed long-term to cigarette smoke (CS), as well as in human smokers. We also show that CLEC5A-mediated activation of macrophages enhanced cytokine elaboration alone, as well as in combination with LPS or GM-CSF in CS-exposed mice. Furthermore, using Clec5a-deficient mice, we demonstrate that CS-induced macrophage responsiveness is mediated by CLEC5A, and CLEC5A is required for the development of inflammation, proinflammatory cytokine expression, and airspace enlargement. These findings suggest a novel mechanism that promotes airway inflammation and pathologies in response to CS exposure and identifies CLEC5A as a novel target for the therapeutic control of COPD pathogenesis.
The effects of electrospinning collection surface modification on nylon 6-6 placement

The nature of fibre placement/manipulation in electrospinning has been recorded through the utilization of surface actuation and electrostatic manipulation. This study investigates the potential of a simplistic approach to fibre placement manipulation through the utilization of non-uniform non-conducting collecting surfaces. A solution of Nylon 6,6 and Formic acid was electrospun with an ES1a device and through the use of SEM analysis submicron and nanofibre alignment was identified. This study achieved the generation of actuation-less and electrode-less alignment reiterating current literatures rationale of alignment formation. The study noted limitations regarding the potential combination of mold/cavity and electrospinning based manufacturing. From this work future recommendations regarding surface modification have been derived.
Size, Productivity, and Returns to Scale: An Analysis of Farm-Level Data in Indian Agriculture

The paper uses individual farm-level data for nearly 1,000 Indian farms to analyze (a) the well-known inverse relationship between farm size and output per acre, (b) returns to scale, and (c) imperfections in the labor market. One major result is that while predominantly wheat areas show constant returns to scale, diminishing returns seem to prevail in predominantly paddy areas. But both in paddy and wheat agriculture the observed negative relation between output per acre and farm size is likely to be the result more of an inverse relation between size and other inputs than of scale diseconomies. In the last section of the paper we discuss factors that may have contributed to this inverse relation, some of these involving production uncertainty in agriculture and some others involving the interlinked phenomenon of land- and labor-market imperfections.
Clear cell acanthoma: a rare clinical diagnosis prior to biopsy.

BACKGROUND Clear cell acanthoma is a rare, benign epidermal tumor with a clinical hybrid appearance and a distinct histological one. It is frequently mistaken for other clinical lesions. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the frequency that clear cell acanthoma was listed in the clinical differential diagnosis of histologically confirmed specimens. METHODS A regional dermatopathology lab database was evaluated from January 1998 through March 2008 for histologically diagnosed cases of clear cell acanthoma. Clinical data that was submitted with these cases including differential diagnoses was analyzed. RESULTS During this time period of review, 411 histologically confirmed cases of clear cell acanthoma were identified. This entity was listed as a diagnostic possibility in 11 (2.7%) of the cases. CONCLUSION Clear cell acanthoma was rarely listed amongst the differential diagnosis of biopsy proven specimens. This may be due to a variable clinical appearance with overlapping features of several other lesions making it difficult to distinguish, or an entity that is rare and not frequently suspected. Additional studies with dermatoscopy may help to further delineate the reasons for the low diagnostic sensitivity.
Acute Psychological Impact of Disaster and Large-Scale Trauma: Limitations of Traditional Interventions and Future Practice Recommendations

Abstract Nearly everyone will experience emotional and psychological distress in the immediate aftermath of a disaster or other large-scale traumatic event. Although extremely upsetting and disruptive, the reaction is understood best as a human response to inordinate adversity, which in the majority of cases remits over time without formal intervention. Nevertheless, some people experience sustained difficulties. To prevent chronic post-traumatic difficulties, mental health professionals provide early interventions soon after traumatic exposure. These interventions typically take the form of single-session debriefings, which have been applied routinely following disasters. The research bearing on these traditional forms of early crisis interventions has shown that, although well-received by victims, there is no empirical support for their continued use. However, promising evidence-based, early interventions have been developed, which are highlighted. Finally, traumatic bereavement and complicated grief in survivors of disasters, an area largely neglected in the field, is discussed.
Altered global and regional brain mean diffusivity in patients with obstructive sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common and progressive disorder accompanied by severe cardiovascular and neuropsychological sequelae, presumably induced by brain injury resulting from the intermittent hypoxia and cardiovascular processes accompanying the syndrome. However, whether the predominant brain tissue pathology is acute or chronic in newly‐diagnosed, untreated OSA subjects is unclear; this assessment is essential for revealing pathological processes. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)‐based mean diffusivity (MD) procedures can detect and differentiate acute from chronic pathology and may be useful to reveal processes in the condition. We collected four DTI series from 23 newly‐diagnosed, treatment‐naïve OSA and 23 control subjects, using a 3.0‐Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Mean diffusivity maps were calculated from each series, realigned, averaged, normalized to a common space, and smoothed. Global brain MD values for each subject were calculated using normalized MD maps and a global brain mask. Mean global brain MD values and smoothed MD maps were compared between groups by using analysis of covariance (covariate: age). Mean global brain MD values were significantly reduced in OSA compared with controls (P = 0.01). Multiple brain sites in OSA, including medullary, cerebellar, basal ganglia, prefrontal and frontal, limbic, insular, cingulum bundle, external capsule, corpus callosum, temporal, occipital, and corona radiata regions showed reduced regional MD values compared with controls. The results suggest that global brain MD values are significantly reduced in OSA, with certain regional sites especially affected, presumably a consequence of axonal, glial, and other cell changes in those areas. The findings likely represent acute pathological processes in newly‐diagnosed OSA subjects. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.