Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accounting for workplace flexibility : internal communication in an Australian financial institution

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of social accounting at the micro level and examines the use of social reporting for constructive purposes through internal communication devices. It explores the discourse adopted by a large organisation in social accounting and reporting (workplace flexibility) through employee newsletters. In doing so the paper seeks to answer two research questions. First, what workplace flexibility practices are evident in the employee newsletters? Second, do management use discourse (including self-accounts) in newsletters for self-serving management control purposes or for the emancipatory purposes of benefiting employees? Design/methodology/approach - – Content and discourse analysis are used to examine “workplace flexibility” practices portrayed within the newsletters. This study explores the discourse adopted by a large Australian financial institution, in its social accounting disclosure in employee newsletters. It does so by examining the discourse adopted by the organisation in relation to one aspect of social accounting, that is, “workplace flexibility” in the employee newsletters over the period 2003-2007. Findings - – The paper finds the financial institution used its internal newsletters to influence employee attitude and behaviour, not as claimed for social “betterment” – justice, welfare, emancipation. The possibility of social accounting's emancipatory potential was suppressed by those responsible for providing the accounts. The paper found that management used discourse (including self-accounts) in the newsletters for self-serving management control purposes and not as claimed for benefiting employees. Originality/value - – The idea that the organisation provides workplace flexibility for the sake of benefitting employees is questionable. The discourse found in the newsletters suggests that flexible work options instead appear to be aimed at garnering employee loyalty, with subsequent employer benefits of improved organisational performance. The organisation used the discourse on workplace flexibility to blur the boundaries of work and life and persuade the employees to work harder and longer, to continuously increase productivity. In doing so, the organisation camouflaged its own economic sustainability and profitability as workplace flexibility.
Aggregation Without Separability: Tests of the United States and Mexican Agricultural Production Data

The generalized composite commodity theorem (GCCT) and testing procedure is extended to test for consistent aggregation of the United States and Mexican agricultural production data in each category for which earlier tests rejected homothetic separability. Nonrejected GCCT and separability hypotheses provide empirical support for aggregating all the United States agricultural outputs into as few as two categories: crops and livestock. Mexican agricultural outputs also can be aggregated into as few as two categories. Support for aggregating all outputs into a single category is ambiguous in both countries and is only provided by the GCCT. Copyright 2000, Oxford University Press.
Effects of 10 cleaning instruments on four different implant surfaces.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a variety of implant cleaning instruments on different implant surfaces, specifically surface roughness and cleaning efficacy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Biofilm layers of Streptococcus mutans were cultivated on titanium disks with four different surface structures (polished, grit-blasted, acid-etched, and acid-etched/grit-blasted). Five disks each were cleaned using nine mechanical implant cleaning instruments or an erbium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser. Surface roughness (average, Ra; maximum, Rz) and waviness (Lr) were evaluated by two-dimensional laser profilometry. Surface structure damage and cleaning scores were assessed by scanning electron microscopy. Statistical analyses of the results were performed with one- and two-way analyses of variance and Bonferroni-Dunn multiple-comparison post hoc analysis (α = .05). RESULTS Ra and Rz values for the acid-etched surfaces and Ra, Rz, and Lr values for the polished and the grit-blasted surfaces showed no significant differences between the different cleaning methods or cleaning instruments compared to the control (not cultured, not cleaned) groups. Significantly lower Ra and Rz values on grit-blasted/acid-etched implant surfaces were found following use of the Sonic-Flex clean with prophylaxis brush and the plastic curette compared to Satelec ProphyMax with Periosoft curette. Ra and Rz values of the different implant structure surfaces before cleaning were significantly different between all implant surfaces except for the polished compared to the acid-etched surfaces. CONCLUSIONS Cleaning effect and alterations of the implant surfaces were strongly dependent on the implant cleaning method used.
Scratching the surface: Regulation of cell surface receptors in cholesterol metabolism

Elevated plasma levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) are an established risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. The LDL-Receptor is a key determinant in regulating LDL levels in plasma, and current lipid-lowering strategies aim to increase its cell surface expression. My PhD research has largely focused on the characterization of novel post-translational regulators of the LDL-Receptor. Mainly, I studied the Liver X Receptor (LXR) responsive E3 ubiquitin ligase, the Inducible Degrader of the LDL-Receptor (IDOL), which negatively regulates the LDL-Receptor and attenuates LDL uptake into cells. Through genetic, molecular and biochemical characterization, we identified novel mechanisms and components that regulate IDOL-mediated degradation of the LDL-Receptor. Specifically, I was involved in investigating the endocytic trafficking route of this degradation pathway, identifying a deubiquitlyase (DUB) that attenuates IDOL activity, describing a novel transcriptional regulatory mechanism, as well as characterizing a rare IDOL variant in individuals with low circulating LDL-cholesterol levels. These findings suggest that IDOL inhibition would be beneficial for developing new lipid lowering strategies, and thus, have laid the foundation for ongoing research aimed at solving the structure of IDOL as well as characterizing its physiological impact in vivo. Collectively, my research resulted in the publication of 7 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 2 articles currently in submission.
Mapping Knowledge Space and Technological Relatedness in US Cities

The accumulation of knowledge is a key driver of technological change and economic growth. Significant attention has been directed to the processes of knowledge production in a spatial context, but little attention has been given to the type of knowledge produced within specific places. The objectives of the present study are to map the US technology/knowledge space, to examine the evolution of that space over the time period 1975–2005, and to investigate the character of knowledge cores within US cities. The knowledge space is based on the proximity of technology classes, utilizing measures derived from co-classification information contained in patent documents. Results show that over time, patents increasingly cluster within technology classes that are located close to one another in technology space. They also reveal considerable heterogeneity in measures of technological specialization across US metropolitan areas. In general, smaller cities tend to display higher levels of knowledge relatedness, often because invention is controlled by a small number of firms with a limited range of technological know-how. Larger cities generate knowledge that is more broadly dispersed across the US knowledge space. Some cities maintain their technological coherence over time, the technological trajectories of others fracture and dissipate, while yet in other cities new technology cores emerge and develop. Higher levels of technological relatedness (specialization) in cities are linked to faster rates of knowledge production and to distinctive trajectories of knowledge evolution.
Chemotherapy versus chemotherapy with intralymphatic tumor cell vaccine in canine lymphoma

Fifty‐eight dogs with lymphoma were treated with combination chemotherapy (vincristine, cyclophosphamide, L‐asparaginase, and doxorubicin HCI [VCAA]) followed by intralymphatic autochthonous tumor cell vaccine (CI). Thirty dogs received chemotherapy alone (VCAA). There was no overall significant difference in survival times between the two groups, although there was a trend toward prolonged survival in the CI group. Asymptomatic dogs (Stage A) and dogs less than 7 years of age with Stage A disease treated with CI had significantly longer survival. Dogs treated with CI had a significantly longer first remission. Regardless of treatment group, male dogs had significantly longer remission times compared with female dogs.
RADICALITY OF INNOVATION: PERCEPTIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBERS

Evaluations of “radicality” of innovations are mostly related to final products and services, however, examination of innovative ideas earlier on has an important implications for future innovations. Organisational members make decisions on whether or not to propose innovative ideas to the agenda. These decisions are often based on their personal judgements and perceptions. In this paper, a categorisation of innovative ideas by low, medium and high degree of radicality is proposed. The objective is to, on one hand, demonstrate the correctness of the categorisation proposed and, on the other hand, retrieve insights on how the level of radicality of products is conceived by practitioners. The results of a quasi-experimental investigation report that radicality of innovation relates to a degree of change in products. Based on perceptions of practitioners, with an increase in degree of radicality of innovative ideas, the value for rewards enhances.
Social Implications of Fiscal Policy Responses During Crises

This paper studies the social implications of fiscal policy responses to crises in Latin America over the last 40 years and in the Eurozone during the aftermath of the global financial crisis. We focus on the behavior of four social indicators: the poverty rate, income inequality, unemployment rate, and domestic conflict. We find a causal link from counteryclical (procyclical) fiscal policy responses to reductions (increases) in all four social indicators. These results call into question recent claims on "expansionary fiscal austerity. "
Time to laparotomy for intra-abdominal bleeding from trauma does affect survival for delays up to 90 minutes.

OBJECTIVE We examined the relationship between survival and time in the emergency department (ED) before laparotomy for hypotensive patients bleeding from abdominal injuries. METHODS Patients in the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation trauma registry with isolated abdominal vascular, solid organ, or wall injuries grade 3 to 6 and hypotension were identified. Deaths were predicted from the prehospital time, systolic blood pressure (SBP) on ED admission, and time in the ED before either laparotomy or ED death. RESULTS Two-hundred forty-three patients met the criteria. SBP ranged from 30 to 90 mm Hg. Time to the ED ranged from 7 to 185 minutes. Time in the ED ranged from 7 to 915 minutes. Overall, 98 patients died (40%). The risk ratio for the SBP increased, as expected, as SBP dropped. The risk ratio for time spent in the ED before laparotomy increased until 90 minutes, then significantly decreased below all earlier values. Logistic regression on the 165 patients spending 90 minutes or less in the ED showed that the probability of death increased with time in the ED. The increase was as much as 0.35% per minute. CONCLUSION Among patients in a trauma registry who were hypotensive on arrival in the ED and had major injuries isolated to the abdomen requiring emergency laparotomy, the probability of death showed a relationship to both the extent of hypotension and the length of time in the ED for patients who were in the ED for 90 minutes or less. The probability of death increased approximately 1% for each 3 minutes in the ED.
Are Students Dropping Out or Simply Dragging Out the College Experience? Persistence at the Six-Year Mark

Abstract Standard analyses of college outcomes look at six-year graduation rates, treating all non-graduates alike as “failures”. However, we find that 36% of non-graduates are still enrolled. Using micro-level data with rich information on demographic and academic background, we employ a multinomial logit model to distinguish among graduates, persisters, and dropouts six years following matriculation. We find that there are significant differences across these populations. Separate evidence indicates that as many as half of those persisting at the six-year mark will graduate within a few years. Thus, six-year graduation rates understate “success,” but future success is not the same for all groups. Holding academic background constant, reported graduation rates are lower for Hispanics because they are taking longer to graduate and lower for first-generation college students because they are dropping out. The most important factor is academic background, suggesting that increased financial aid is unlikely to substantially increase graduation rates.
New directions for Rayleigh–Taylor mixing

We study the Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) mixing layer, presenting simulations in agreement with experimental data. This problem is an idealized subproblem of important scientific and engineering problems, such as gravitationally induced mixing in oceanography and performance assessment for inertial confinement fusion. Engineering codes commonly achieve correct simulations through the calibration of adjustable parameters. In this sense, they are interpolative and not predictive. As computational science moves from the interpolative to the predictive and reduces the reliance on experiment, the quality of decision making improves. The diagnosis of errors in a multi-parameter, multi-physics setting is daunting, so we address this issue in the proposed idealized setting. The validation tests presented are thus a test for engineering codes, when used for complex problems containing RT features. The RT growth rate, characterized by a dimensionless but non-universal parameter α, describes the outer edge of the mixing zone. Increasingly accurate front tracking/large eddy simulations reveal the non-universality of the growth rate and agreement with experimental data. Increased mesh resolution allows reduction in the role of key subgrid models. We study the effect of long-wavelength perturbations on the mixing growth rate. A self-similar power law for the initial perturbation amplitudes is here inferred from experimental data. We show a maximum ±5% effect on the growth rate. Large (factors of 2) effects, as predicted in some models and many simulations, are inconsistent with the experimental data of Youngs and co-authors. The inconsistency of the model lies in the treatment of the dynamics of bubbles, which are the shortest-wavelength modes for this problem. An alternative theory for this shortest wavelength, based on the bubble merger model, was previously shown to be consistent with experimental data.
Industry Influence on Dividend Policy

* The relationship between dividend policy and firm valuation is a major unresolved issue in corporate finance. Both theoretically and empirically, research evidence proves to be contradictory. The seminal article by Miller and Modigliani [10] showed that dividend policy is irrelevant to investors, provided that each investor is rational and that dividends and capital gains are taxed at the same rate. Yet, dividend policy is an important concern of most financial managers (for example, see [6 and 16]). A plausible reason for the attention accorded dividend policy would be a relationship between the firm's dividend decision and the level and profitability of its investment decisions. Several studies have addressed this issue, yet the evidence to date has been contradictory. On the one hand, Baumol, Heim, Malkiel, and Quandt [1] conclude that the rate of return on internally-financed investment is significantly lower than on that financed externally. Pye [11] has observed that an abnormally small percentage of firms issued new stock and also paid dividends. Higgins [7] finds dividends to vary positively with earnings and negatively with investment. Existing owners, according to Mehta [9], are unlikely to be indifferent between additional stock issuance and financing through retained earnings (forgone dividends). Wallingford [15, p. 633] indicates that it has been "observed in practice" that "corporate managers view dividend policy as a trade-off against new investments. " Each of these findings is consistent with the view that the dividend decision does affect the value of the firm.
Perceived Health Risk Effects on the Adoption of 3G Cell Phones

The possible health hazards of cell phones are a controversial issue that is being debated in various literatures. This study reports on an empirical investigation of the effect of these hazards on the intention to use third generation (3G) cell phones. A model explicating the relationships between health risk perception and behavioural intention to use cell phones is developed and tested using structural equation modeling techniques. Furthermore, the moderating roles of several demographic variables are examined. To obtain variation in health risk perceptions, the study employs an experimental design in which two groups receive contradictory information from trusted sources on the possible health hazards of cell phones. Overall, this study integrates the perceived health risk concept into the technology acceptance literature.
Validity of different cytological grading systems of breast carcinoma--a hospital-based study in South India.

INTRODUCTION With increase in the incidence of breast carcinoma, fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) has began to play a major role in diagnosing and grading. The study was aimed at validating the different cytological grading systems like Hunt's cytological grading (HCG), modified black grading (MBG), Robinson's cytological grading (RCG) and Masood's cytology index (MCI) in comparison with a modified Bloom-Richardson (MBR) histopathological grading. METHODS AND MATERIAL Fifty breast carcinoma cases were prospectively studied by comparing various cytological grading methods with histopathological grading over a period of three years. All statistical analyses were carried out with the Epi-info package. RESULTS The concordance rate of RCG was 82% which is highest of all, while that of MBG was 68%. HCG and MCI were not comparable with MBR due to insufficient grading. CONCLUSIONS RCG for breast carcinoma is validated. A consensus for a standard cytological grading method similar to the gold standard MBR histological grading must be arrived at based on conducted comparative studies and has to be inculcated in routine cytology reports.
Accounting for afforestation externalities: a comparison of contingent valuation and choice modelling

One issue faced by those using social cost–benefit analysis to make decisions on forestation is how to account for environmental externalities. This paper compares two different valuation techniques, contingent valuation and choice modelling. Both approaches were applied to an afforestation programme in the northeast of Spain, and were found to yield similar estimates of welfare change when the utility function was fully specified. However, when elements of the utility function were omitted, significant differences were detected in the welfare estimates derived from the two techniques. Choice modelling is the method recommended for use in policy evaluation contexts, such as cost–benefit analysis applications, because of the additional valuation information it provides. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
The application and testing of diatom-based indices in the Vaal and Wilge Rivers, South Africa

Chemical monitoring of water resources is time-consuming and comparatively expensive and may not always provide a composite reflection of actual water quality. Biotic indices using faunal elements, such as macroinvertebrates and fish, are already in place in South Africa as part of the National Biomonitoring Programme for Aquatic Ecosystems (NBPAE). As yet periphyton communities are not included in this programme due to perceived difficulties in the application of these methods. Diatom samples were collected from 10 sites in the Vaal and Wilge Rivers for a period of one year. Diatom cells from these communities were enumerated and diatom-based indices were calculated using OMNIDIA v.3. Diatom index scores were correlated to physical and chemical water quality variables over different time periods and at different concentrations. It was found that the tested diatom indices in general have the best correlation with average chemical data for a one-month period, starting six weeks prior to biological sampling. The Biological Diatom Index showed the strongest relationship to general water quality, while the Eutrophication and Pollution Index showed the strongest relationship to dissolved inorganic phosphorus. Results of correlation analyses obtained in South Africa were comparable to those obtained in several European studies. Hence, it is concluded that diatom-based indices, if implemented in South Africa, will provide a valuable addition to South Africa's suite of tools for the biological monitoring of water quality.
From local to global: the rise of AIM as a stock market for growing companies: a comprehensive report analysing the growth of AIM

In the light of a great deal of negative press activity and factual inaccuracies presented in the media, The London Stock Exchange approached LSE Enterprise to commission an independent research study, which would analyse and comment on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), London's stock market for small or growing businesses. This report, which looked extensively at the statistical data available, as well as the regulatory reforms which AIM has undergone throughout its history, was designed as an authoritative guide to the development, governance and dynamics of AIM and of its contribution to the UK economy. The report, published in full, electronically (an abridged hard copy is also available), considers both how successful AIM has been to date, as well as the reasons for its various successes, and the challenges that it has faced.
A Structural Equation Model for Tax Compliance and Auditing

In this paper. we estimate a three equation model for taxpayers' reported income and tax liability and for the probability of an audit. Our work differs from previous studies in that our dependent variables in the compliance equations are taxpayer reports rather than a variable related to auditor estimates of noncompliance and in that we estimate a structural equation for audits. We find that audits stimulate compliance although the effect is not large and is not statistically significant for all groups. Audits are more effective at inducing accurate reporting of subtractions from income than of income. Reduced-form results suggest that IRS activities other than audits have significant compliance effects. Results for the sociodemographic variables are interesting and help to explain some seemingly incongruous findings in the literature. We find compliance to be higher, if anything. in areas with less educated and older taxpayers, a large proportion of households headed by females. and a mostly native born population.