Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Information Effects of Spin-Offs, Equity Carve-Outs, and Targeted Stock Offerings

This paper investigates whether a spin-off, equity carve-out, or targeted stock offering results in making the operating performance of a firm's business segments more transparent. Using a sample of 146 spin-offs, equity carve-outs, and targeted stock offerings between 1990-1995, we document significant decreases in analyst earnings forecast errors as well as divergence among individual analyst earnings forecasts following these transactions. Moreover, we find that the levels of analyst and brokerage house coverage increase significantly following these transactions. Tracking the identity of individual analysts, we find that there is substantial analyst turnover around the sample deals, and the decrease in analyst earnings forecast errors following the sample deals is greatest when firms are able to attract new analysts. Taken together, these findings suggest that firms experience improvements in the quality of analyst coverage around spin-offs, equity carve-outs, and targeted stock offerings, and these improvements are at least partially driven by changes in the composition of analyst coverage. See also the related papers "Valuation of Bankrupt Firms" by Stuart Gilson, Edith Hotchkiss, and Richard Ruback; and "Junk Bonds, Bank Debt, and Financing Corporate Growth" by Stuart Gilson and Jerold Warner
The Stock Market Valuation of R&D Information in Biotech Firms

We assess whether a firm's research and development (R&D) expenditures, as well as uncertainty metrics that underlie their ultimate conversion into value, can significantly enhance the relevance of a valuation model based solely on traditional financial reporting variables and improve equity value predictions. We focus on the biotech industry during the 1998-2004 period and classify firms into emerging and mature categories to reflect their commercial maturity. The 1998-2004 period also comprises three distinct market cycles: a bubble (1998-99), a downturn (2000-2), and a rebound (2003-4). We first show that R&D expenditures are incrementally value-relevant over the baseline financial reporting model (book value and earnings). Also, the value-relevance of R&D expenditures is enhanced significantly by introducing uncertainty metrics as interaction terms. Second, the mapping into value reveals differential roles according to commercial maturity. We find that alliance networks and targeting high profile diseases have greater value-relevance for emerging firms. In contrast, the value of mature biotechs is more sensitive to drug development status and product diversification. Third, the mapping to value also differs across stock market cycles, with a tendency toward a return to fundamentals (financial and nonfinancial) as we move away from the 1998-99 bubble. Fourth, we find that adding R&D expenditures generally improves equity value predictive ability. Adding uncertainty metrics further improves predictions, with differences still prevailing across firms and stock market conditions. Both sets of R&D information make higher contributions to predictive accuracy in the case of mature biotechs, and results reinforce our view of a return to fundamentals, especially for these firms.
Formalization and innovation revisited

The many studies into the relationships between formalization and innovation have produced little but inconsistent findings. The conceptual and operational definition of the formalization construct is proposed to be one of the reasons for these inconsistencies. It is argued that aggregate (organization‐level) measurements of formalization are inappropriate and should be replaced with department‐specific or process‐specific measurements. Second, it is argued that formalization has been defined in an inconsistent way. However, it is not just the coexistence of different definitions (and their measurements) that is problematic. The exclusion, or improper inclusion, of rule observation from the conceptualization of formalization appears to be a third fallacy. A revised definition of formalization is advanced as a solution to these problems. This definition may prove to be instrumental in determining the true effect of formalization on organizational innovation.
Low-Profile Pattern-Reconfigurable Vertically Polarized Endfire Antenna With Magnetic-Current Radiators

A low-profile pattern-reconfigurable vertically polarized antenna is proposed. The reconfigurable antenna with a profile of about 0.06 wavelengths can emit three different vertically polarized beams, which are two directional beams and a quasi-bidirectional beam. The overlapped measured band of the three statuses has a bandwidth of 11.3%, which covers the operational bands of EN 302 663 and 802.11p–1609.x standards used in intelligent transportation systems.
Antibodies to Toxin B Are Protective Against Clostridium difficile Infection Recurrence.

BACKGROUND Although newer studies have evaluated risk factors for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), the vast majority did not measure important biomarkers such as endogenous anti-toxin A and anti-toxin B antibody levels. METHODS Data from the placebo group of a phase 2 trial testing monoclonal antibodies to C. difficile toxins A and B for preventing CDI recurrence (rCDI) were analyzed to assess risk factors associated with rCDI. Patients with symptomatic CDI taking metronidazole or vancomycin were enrolled. The primary outcome was rCDI within 84 days of treatment start. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to examine associations between potential risk factors and rCDI. At baseline, demographic and clinical characteristics were recorded; endogenous antibody levels were assessed using 2 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. RESULTS A predictor of recurrence was age ≥65 years, and an antibody-mediated immune response to toxin B appears to be protective against rCDI. CONCLUSIONS Our findings demonstrate the importance of clinical as well as immunological risk factors in rCDI and provide more robust evidence for the protective effects of antibody to toxin B in the prevention of rCDI. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION NCT00350298.
Ravensdale Park, Derbyshire, and medieval deer coursing

ABSTRACT A possible late medieval deer course has been discovered within a deer park at Ravensdale, Derbyshire. The site is described and analysed and its history summarised. The archaeological and historical evidence for post-medieval deer courses is examined and the complex rules of the sport, as well as its social background, are looked at. The conclusion reached is that deer coursing and courses must have developed earlier in the medieval period. The attempt to prove this involves a summary of the documentary, illustrative and archaeological evidence. The paper then traces the possible links between developments in hunting in late medieval times with political, economic and social changes. It ends with a reconstruction of the landscape of Ravensdale Park in the late fourteenth century.
Malignant melanomas of the parotid: comparison of survival for patients with metastases from known vs unknown primary tumor sites.

BACKGROUND Malignant melanoma (MM) rarely affects the parotid, and usually this diagnosis will herald a search for a primary skin neoplasm. Occasionally, no primary tumor is ever found, raising questions regarding prognosis and the issue of primary melanoma of the parotid. OBJECTIVE To evaluate retrospectively the clinical and histological features of MM involving the parotid in 19 patients. DATA SOURCES Pathology and hospital files at 3 tertiary care university hospitals. STUDY SELECTION Patients with MM within the parotid with adequate histopathologic and immunohistochemical documentation, as well as clinical information regarding patient outcome. DATA EXTRACTION In 6 patients, no extraparotid MM was ever identified. After parotidectomy, 5 patients (including 1 patient who died of other causes) were melanoma free at a mean of 4.2 years (range, 14 months to 7.5 years). Only 1 patient died of disease after 17 months. An extraparotid primary tumor was present in 13 patients, 10 with dermal and 3 with mucosal sites. At follow-up, only 1 of these patients was disease free after 2 years. Nine patients died of melanoma after a mean of 2.6 years (range, 10 months to 5 years); the other 3 had evidence of metastatic disease at a mean of 4.3 years (range, 3-6 years). Nondermal sites of primary tumors were the nasal cavity, sclera, and conjunctiva. DATA SYNTHESIS Patients with metastatic MM from unknown primary tumors have a longer disease-free survival than those with metastases from known primary disease. CONCLUSIONS Although rare, MM should be considered in the differential diagnosis of parotid tumors. Unusual mucosal or ocular sites should be considered in the search for possible primary tumor sites to avoid treatment delay. These data support the idea that patients with metastatic MM from unknown primary tumors may follow a more improved course than that of patients with metastases from known primary disease.
Tracing College Students’ Acceptance of Online Health Services

ABSTRACT The popularity of online health information has increased because of its easy accessibility. The present study employs longitudinal data to investigate perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and trust in the online health information context. More specifically, the authors classified trust as both trust in the provider and in the website for health information. In light of this discussion, the purpose of this study is twofold: (1) To better understand the multidimensional and dynamic nature of trust in the online health information context and (2) To carry out a longitudinal investigation to study the technology acceptance model (TAM) in the online health information context. This study focuses on college students’ behaviors related to online health information services; this is because engagement with online health information is a dynamic area for research among young populations. By analyzing the longitudinal data, the authors found that both trust in website and trust in provider can integrate TAM variables well to influence college students’ behavior for seeking out online health information. Moreover, when college students gain more experience with online health information servers, perceived ease of use becomes less important to form positive behavior intentions.
F1000 highlights

Gefitinib or chemotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer with mutated EGFR. Maemondo M, Inoue A, Kobayashi K, Sugawara S, Oizumi S, Isobe H, Gemma A, Harada M, Yoshizawa H, Kinoshita I, Fujita Y, Okinaga S, Hirano H, Yoshimori K, Harada T, Ogura T, Ando M, Miyazawa H, Tanaka T, Saijo Y, Hagiwara K, Morita S, Nukiwa T, North-East Japan Study Group N Engl J Med 2010 Jun 24 362(25):2380–8 Evaluation by Raymond Osarogiagbon University of Tennessee, USA Evaluated 14 Jul 2010
Foreign Exchange Risk and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns

We examine the relation between the cross-section of US stock returns and foreign exchange rates during the period from 1973 to 2002. We find that stocks most sensitive to foreign exchange risk (in absolute value) have lower returns than others. This implies a non-linear, negative premium for foreign exchange risk. Sensitivity to foreign exchange generates a cross-sectional spread in stock returns unexplained byÂ existing asset-pricing models. Consequently, we form a zero-investment factor related to foreign exchange-sensitivity and show that it can reduce mean pricing errors for exchange-sensitive portfolios. One possible explanation for our findings includes Johnson's [2004. Forecast dispersion and the cross-sectionÂ of expected returns. Journal of Finance, 59, 1957-1978] option-theoretic model in which expected returns are decreasing in idiosyncratic cashflow volatility.
Market Power in the Retail Food Industry: Evidence from Vermont

Abstrac-t-The profits of leading firms in concentrated markets may be due to market share related cost efficiencies or market power. One way to identify the separate effect of market power is to analyze the relationship of market concentration and market share to the prices charged by firms in local geographic markets. This study analyzes the prices charged by supermarkets in local Vermont markets. Prices are significantly higher in more concentrated markets. The Herfindahl index, as a concentration measure, out-performs the four-firm or one-firm concentration ratio. Herfindahl marginally out-performs a firm's market share as a predictor of its price level.
Substitution Among Exhaustible Resources and Intergenerational Equity

In Hartwick [3], it was shown that implicit in Solow's [10] model of intergenerational equity and exhaustible resources was the savings-investment rule: society should invest in reproducible capital precisely the current returns from the use of flows of exhaustible resources in order to maintain per capita consumption constant. Population was assumed to remain constant. In Solow [10] and Hartwick [3] it was assumed that there was only one exhaustible resource. Beckmann [1] & [2] has investigated optimal growth in models with many exhaustible resources. In this paper we consider the case of many exhaustible resources and derive results on substitution among resources and on the nature of paths of development. One of Beckrmann's results on substitution is analysed. Our approach is first to analyse efficient paths under the assumption of general savings functions and then to analyse efficient paths under the assumption of the special savings function referred to above. Our results indicate the Solow's existence theorem remains valid for the case of many exhaustible resources and some light is shed on the existence of paths for production functions not of the Cobb-Douglas form.
Prediction of Outcome in Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke Based on Initial Severity and Improvement in the First 24 h

Introduction Stroke severity measured by the baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) is a strong predictor of stroke outcome. Early change of baseline severity may be a better predictor of outcome. Here, we hypothesized that the change in NIHSS in the first 24 h after stroke improved stroke outcome prediction. Materials and methods Patients from the Leuven Stroke Genetics Study were included when the baseline NIHSS (B-NIHSS) was determined on admission in the hospital and NIHSS after 24 h could be obtained from patient files. The delta NIHSS, relative reduction NIHSS, and major neurological improvement (NIHSS of 0–1 or ≥8-point improvement at 24 h) were calculated. Good functional outcome (GFO) at 90 days was defined as a modified Rankin Scale of 0–2. Independent predictors of outcome were identified by multivariate logistic regression. We performed a secondary analysis after excluding patients presenting with a minor stroke (NIHSS 0–5) since the assessment of change in NIHSS might be more reliable in patients presenting with a moderate to severe deficit. Results We analyzed the outcome in 369 patients. B-NIHSS was associated with GFO (odds ratio: 0.82; 95% CI 0.77–0.86). In a multivariate model with B-NIHSS and age as predictors, the accuracy [area under the curve (AUC): 0.82] improved by including the delta NIHSS (AUC: 0.86; p < 0.01). In 131 patients with moderate to severe stroke, the predictive multivariate model was more accurate when including the RR NIHSS (AUC: 0.83) to the model which included B-NIHSS, age and ischemic heart disease (AUC: 0.77; p = 0.03). Conclusion B-NIHSS is a predictor of stroke outcome. In this cohort, the prediction of GFO was improved by adding change in stroke severity after 24 h to the model.
Facing the Squeeze: A qualitative study of household finances and access to credit in a 21st-century recession

The Money Advice Trust commissioned this short exploratory research project to provide a snapshot of the views and experiences of people on low and middle incomes in the face of a 21st -century recession. In particular, it set out to examine in detail the extent to which worsening economic conditions in 2008/2009 had resulted in changes to conumers' spending, borrowing and money management. The research comprised face-to-face depth interviews with 35 householders in England, Wales and Scotland, all of whom were credit users. While quantitative survey data can inform us about the number of people who behave in a certain way or hold certain views, the real strength of qualitative research is that it allows us to better understand how and why people behave in the way they do or hold particular views. It is not, however, intended to to be representative of the general population. The qualitative interview data collected in this research enables a depth of understanding about a range of coping responses people employ that it would be impossible for a quantitative survey to provide, not least because people's attitudes and behaviours are not always consistent. The main focus of this study was credit-users living in low or middle income households. The people we interviewed were of working age and included mortgage-holders, private tenants, and tenants renting from a housing association or local authority. They were deliberately recruited to be credit users who did not report any arrears on household bills or credit commitments at the time of recruitment. However, the interviews subsequently revealed that a few of them were actually in arrears and several more had experienced debt problems in the recent past.
Regional economic integration and multinational firm strategies

This paper analyzes the effects of regional economic integrations on investment patterns among multinational firms. We develop a model in which heterogeneous firms decide on the optimal foreign direct investment (FDI) strategies for serving trade-integrated regions consisting of asymmetric countries: developed and developing nations. Following reduced trade costs within the trade-integrated region, our model shows that integrating into a regional economic zone affects firms with relatively low productivity levels to enter developing nation within the region via complex FDI – a firm activity of engaging in multiple types of FDI. Specifically, we show that depending on the size of the region respective to the home country, complex FDI involves different investment patterns. Using Korean firm- and plant-level data, we specify a binary choice model to link firms’ choice of FDI strategies with their productivity levels and trade-integrated regions. Our empirical results are consistent with the theoretical implications.
Social and health-care priorities of local politicians in Finland: do the attitudes of politicians reflect the actual processes in municipalities?

The aim of this study was to find out whether elected politicians’ attitudes influence policy-making processes in terms of social and health-care resource allocation. A preliminary hypothesis was developed on the basis of previous empirical findings on the attitudes of politicians. If health-care costs decreased during the period 1993–1999, then secondary care costs should have increased and vice versa; if the total amount of resources increased, then secondary care must have been allocated fewer resources. However, the results of this study showed that the actual resource-allocation processes did not reflect the attitudes of local politicians. Expenditure on secondary health care increased during this period, while primary health-care services were allocated fewer resources. Analysing the actual decision-making processes rather than investigating attitudes to priority setting may prove more useful in gaining a better understanding of priority-setting processes and the mechanisms used in different contexts.
Local Academic Knowledge Transfers and the Concentration of Economic Activity

Agglomeration effects on the intensity of local knowledge spillovers from universities to high technology innovations are examined within the modified Griliches-Jaffe knowledge production function framework. Estimations are carried out at the level of US metropolitan areas. Concentration of high technology employment turns out to be the most important factor promoting local academic knowledge spillovers. It is found that a ? critical mass? of agglomeration needs to be reached in order to expect substantial local economic effects of academic research spending. (JEL O31, H41, O40)
Knowledge management – The next generation of TQM?

Abstract During the past few decades, TQM principles were universally accepted as a means of improving overall organizational performance, and the nature of each organization, its specific marketplace challenges, usually defined the boundaries of implementation. Back in the 1990s, an attempt was made to downsize and re-engineer organizational processes in order for organizations to become leaner, while at the same time remaining competitive in the fast moving global marketplace. Re-engineering was fundamentally a structured coordination of people and information, based on a conviction that corporate knowledge could be contained in technological systems. However, both, instead of posing a challenge to the TQM approach, resulted in a critical loss of knowledge and expertise from organizations. Today, the Knowledge Management (KM) approach is poised to replace the TQM as a quality approach measurement tool. Leveraging corporate knowledge in order to gain competitive advantage in the global marketplace is not just a matter of knowledge creation or innovation. It must be built on a foundation of challenging what is true and what nurtures the organization. If the KM approach can hold onto its ability not to regard blindly all knowledge as true, and not to repeat some of the TQM mistakes of impracticability and exaggeration of achievement, then it has the potential to replace the TQM in the near future.
Commonalities and Differences in Teacher Leadership at the Elementary, Middle, and High School Levels.

Abstract This article reports the findings of three integrated studies initiated by principals/researchers in an elementary, middle, and high school. Using case study methodology with multiple sources of evidence, six identified teacher leaders from each site are examined. Both similarities and differences in teacher leadership within the three levels are discussed. In the article, similarities in findings indicate that (a) teacher leaders have more years of teaching experience; (b) teacher leaders assume leadership roles for personal and professional reasons and increased involvment in decision making; (c) teacher leaders are supported by encouraging individuals, time, decision making, teacher empowerment, and professional opportunities; (d) teacher leaders are constrained by time, power, and politics; (e) teacher leadership improves professional practice by encouraging collaboration and decision making; and (f) teacher leadership assists in school improvement efforts by recognizing and utilizing teacher.