Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of contracts on trust in entrepreneur–venture capitalist relationships

Venture capitalists (VCs) increasingly rely on elaborate formal contracts and incentivization through share ownership to manage their relationships with the entrepreneurial firms in which they invest. This study analyses the impact of a high degree of such ‘neoclassical contracting’ on entrepreneurs’ trust in their VC backers. The results from a sample of 86 Dutch entrepreneurial firms indicate not only that a high degree of neoclassical contracting tends to erode entrepreneurs’ trust in their VCs, but also that the use of more informal, relational contracting fails to moderate the negative association between a strong focus on neoclassical contracts and trust. However, entrepreneurs do welcome some level of monitoring, which highlights the enduring tension between trust and control, and the need for VCs to strike a productive balance.
Are Survey Forecasts of Macroeconomic Variables Rational

This article examines the rationality of forecasts of 11 macroeconomic variables. Among the nonstationary series, only surveys of housing starts, the unemployment rate, and the trade balance are rational forecasts. Among the stationary series, survey forecasts for only consumer prices and personal income are consistent with rational expectations. Lack of rationality in forecasts of durable goods, industrial production, leading indicators, money supply, and retail sales suggests that such forecasts do not fully exploit public information. Indeed, survey forecasts for industrial production and retail sales can be improved significantly with past information. Copyright 1995 by University of Chicago Press.
Effects of Tigecycline and Doxycycline on Inflammation and Hemodynamics in Porcine Endotoxemia: A Prospective, Randomized, and Placebo-Controlled Trial

ABSTRACT Antibiotics might, apart from an antimicrobial effect, also exert anti-inflammatory effects. The novel antibiotic tigecycline, potentially useful in septic shock from gram-negative multiresistant bacteria, is structurally related to antibiotics with known anti-inflammatory properties. However, its anti-inflammatory effects have not been previously explored in vivo. Using a sterile integrative porcine sepsis model, we investigated the anti-inflammatory and circulatory effects of tigecycline in comparison with doxycycline and placebo. Eighteen pigs were randomized to receive tigecycline 100 mg, doxycycline 200 mg, or placebo and subjected to 6-h endotoxin infusion at 0.5 &mgr;g kg−1 h−1. Markers of inflammation, nitric oxide production, vascular permeability, hemodynamics, organ dysfunction, tissue metabolism, and acid-base parameters were monitored. Peak plasma tumor necrosis factor-&agr; was lower in the doxycycline group (P = 0.031) but not in the tigecycline group (P = 0.86) compared with placebo, with geometric mean plasma concentrations of 16, 79, and 63 ng mL−1, respectively. Mean arterial pressure was higher 4 to 6 h in the tigecycline group, with values at 6 h of 107 ± 9 mmHg compared with the placebo and doxycycline groups (85 ± 27 mmHg and 90 ± 32 mmHg, respectively; P = 0.025). The white blood cell and the neutrophil granulocyte counts were less reduced in the doxycycline group but not in the tigecycline group at 4 to 6 h (P = 0.009 and P = 0.019, respectively). Other markers of inflammation, organ dysfunction, tissue metabolism, and acid-base parameters were unaffected by tigecycline. Consistent with known anti-inflammatory properties, doxycycline yielded decreased tumor necrosis factor-&agr; levels. Tigecycline did not affect cytokine levels but counteracted hypotension and hypoperfusion.
Information Uncertainty, Earnings Management, and Long‐Run Stock Performance Following Initial Public Offerings

We examine how information uncertainty surrounding IPO (initial public offering) firms influences earnings management and long-run stock performance. For low-information-uncertainty issuers, at-issue earnings’ management is positively related to subsequent unmanaged earnings and has no relationship to market reaction to earnings announcement and long-run stock performance following the offering. For high-information-uncertainty issuers, however, at-issue earnings’ management is unrelated to subsequent unmanaged earnings and negatively related to market reaction to earnings announcement and long-run stock performance following the offer. The evidence suggests that, on average, managers in low-information-uncertainty firms tend to engage in earnings’ management for informative purposes, while managers in high-information-uncertainty firms engage in earnings’ management for opportunistic purposes.
Expectations, Tobin's q, and Industry Investment

THE LITERATURE ON RATIONAL EXPECTATIONS (see [7]) has sensitized researchers to the need to model the expectations-forming mechanism of individuals free of systematic error. Expectations of future economic variables are particularly crucial to determining investment decisions where pay-offs extend far into the future. Such decisions are modelled in this paper, and some exploratory tests of the specification ultimately derived for changes in industry investment rates are provided at the end. This year's investment is generally started to implement plans formed last year about the desired stock of capital a firm wishes to have in place in future years.1 It often takes several years from the placement of orders for capital goods to the time where the last component is installed and the entire addition can be brought on stream.2 Thus, firms have to decide in year t what investments with various completion periods they have to start in year t + 1, so that the desired additions to capital stock taking one year to complete are available by the year t + 2, the desired additions taking two years to complete are ready by the year t + 3, and so forth.
What happens to the patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who refuse cystectomy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy?

The median (range) follow-up in event-free patients was 2.4 (0.1-11.6) years. Cancer-speciÞ c mortality was documented in 115 patients (41.5%) during the follow-up. The median actuarial cancer-specific survival (CSS) was 5.3 years (mean 7.1). In the overall cohort, the mean (95% conÞ dence interval) CSS probabilities were 64.2 (58.2-70.8), 51.3 (44.659.1) and 37.7% (29.5-48.2), respectively, at 2, 5 and 10 years after RC. The median actuarial overall survival (OS) was 3.7 years (mean 10.1). The OS probabilities were 60.7 (54.8-67.3), 44.9 (38.3-52.7) and 25.9% (18.4-36.6), respectively, at 2, 5 and 10 years after RC in the overall cohort.
The Lived Experience of Mothers of Multiple Children With Intellectual Disabilities

In this study, we explored the lived experience of Japanese mothers who have delivered multiple children with intellectual disabilities (ID), using interpretative phenomenological analysis. We identified three superordinate themes and seven subordinate themes from the narrative data collected from 10 participants. The superordinate themes were: abandoned hope for having an ordinary family, accumulating physical and mental fatigue, and searching for positive experiences in parenting multiple children with disabilities. How they perceived the birth of children with disabilities for the second time differed depending on the disability types; specifically, whether they detected the disabilities early or not. Encountering the disability in another child overwhelmed mothers, especially when the disabilities were diagnosed after several years with or without suspicion; they struggled to accept the fact. Despite mothers facing extreme difficulties in parenting multiple children with disabilities, they tried to alter the negative perceptions and find an optimistic way of living.
EXPERIMENTS ON NERVOUS FACTORS CONTROLLING RESPIRATION AND CIRCULATION DURING EXERCISE EMPLOYING BLOCKING OF THE BLOOD FLOW.

During uninterrupted work on the bicycle ergometer the blood flow to the legs was suddenly interrupted by means of blood pressure cuffs. In the period with blocked circulation CO2 was added to the inspired air in such amounts that the alveolar PCO2 was maintained constant. The excess work O2-uptake decreased up to 50%. The pulmonary ventilation, the pulse rate and the systolic blood pressure showed a steady and considerable increase. The cardiac output remained nearly constant with a tendency to decrease during the blocking period. The (a—v)O2-difference and the mixed venous PCO2 consequently decreased considerably. These changes in respiratory and circulatory functions were well reproducible and the scattering of the values only small. It was concluded that the observed changes are neurogenic and caused by the increasing anaerobiosis in the blocked muscles. The nervous impulses involved may be elicited from muscle chemoreceptors, or they may stem from mechanoreceptors being activated through an observed recruitment of new motor units necessitated by the anaerobiosis.
From ambient vibrations to green energy source: MEMS piezoelectric energy harvester for low frequency application

Using piezoelectric materials to harvest the ambient vibrations that surround a system is one method that has seen a dramatic rise in the power-harvesting applications. The simplicity associated with piezoelectric micro-generators makes them very attractive for MEMS applications in which ambient vibrations are harvested and converted into electric energy. These micro generators can become an alternative to the battery-based solutions in the future, especially for remote systems. In this paper, we proposed a model and presented the simulation of a MEMS-based arrayed energy harvester under ambient vibration excitation using the Coventorware approach. This arrayed cantilever-based MEMS energy harvester that operates under ambient excitation of frequency band of 67 to 70 Hz, within a base acceleration of 0.2 to 1.3 g produces an output power of 6.8 μw and 0.4 volts at 20.1 k-ohms load.
Divided by a common business? Franchisor and franchisee relationships in the pub sector

The relationship between franchisee and franchisor can be described as being based on a number of dynamic tensions that are clearly illustrated in the relationship between pub operating companies and their tenants and lessees. The differences in business objectives, control and support together with variations in power are common to all franchise relationships. In the pub sector tensions are further intensified when the operating companies are constrained by legal and economic pressures. Short-term concerns often result in tenants and lessees being located in pub properties that are not suited to their circumstances, resource and needs. Selection and recruitment of tenants and lessees is often driven by the need to secure a rent-paying tenant or lessee into a property. A consequence of this approach is that there is a high turnover of tenants and lessees that can add considerably to operating costs. In addition, many of the companies in this research were not providing their tenants and lessees with the levels of advice and support that might help the smaller firms overcome their resource disadvantage. This paper argues that as the pub companies move increasingly towards high volume retail orientations they will need to examine some of the more formal franchise arrangements. These arrangements would involve much more careful scrutiny of potential tenants and lessees together with more centrally defined operating systems and closer support from business advisors.
On Players' Models of Other Players: Theory and Experimental Evidence

Abstract We develop and test a theory of human behavior in 3 × 3 symmetric games. The theory hypothesizes a family of five boundedly rational archetypes distinguished by their model of other players and their ability to identify optimal choices given their priors. We designed and conducted an experiment to detect these archetypes as well as a rational expectations type and to estimate parameters which define these types. The experimental evidence rejects the rational expectations type but confirms the boundedly rational theory. We consider this a stepping stone toward a descriptive and prescriptive theory of games. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: B41, C14, C51, C72, C90.
The Effects of Punishment of Crime in Colombia on Deterrence, Incapacitation, and Human Capital Formation

Using individual data on persons arrested in the Medellin Metropolitan Area, this paper assesses whether the change in punishment at age 18, mandated by law, has a deterrent effect on arrests. No deterrent effect was found on index, violent or property crimes, but a deterrence effect was found on non-index crimes, specifically those related to drug consumption and trafficking. The change in criminal penalties at 18 years of age does not explain future differences in human capital formation among the population that had been arrested immediately after versus immediately before reaching 18 years of age. There is no evidence that the longer length of time to recidivate on the part of individuals arrested for the first time immediately after reaching 18 implies future differences in human capital formation. These results suggest a specific deterrence effect resulting from the harsher experience while in prison of those arrested right after reaching 18.
Cronkhite-Canada syndrome: a new case report of this enigmatic and infrequent disease.

The Cronkhite-Canada syndrome (CCS) is an infrequent disease, non-inherited, characterized by a gastrointestinal non-adenomatous polyposis, chronic diarrhea, low blood proteins, malnutrition and skin and nail alterations (1-6). Etiopathogeny is unknown, there is no effective treatment with a scientific base and, although cases with response to empiric treatments have been described, prognosis is usually poor. We do not know if with an early diagnosis, the prognosis could be better. We expose a new case of this enigmatic and infrequent disease, with no medical treatment response, in order to remind it, improving the casuistry and the available information about it, and promoting, with a higher knowledge and diffusion, an earlier treatment.
Global Compassion: Private Voluntary Organizations and U.S. Foreign Policy Since 1939

Global Compassion is an ambitious account of the relationship between private voluntary organizations (PVOs) and the US federal government from 1939-2005. After World War II, humanitarian aid became a key component of US foreign policy and has grown steadily ever since. Organizations like Oxfam, CARE, World Vision, and Catholic Relief Services are known the world over; however, little is known about the relationship between these private agencies and the federal government, and how truly influential these organizations can be in the realm of foreign policy. Here, Rachel McCleary provides the first truly comprehensive study of PVOs and their complex, often-fraught interaction with the federal government. The book focuses on the work of PVOs from a foreign policy perspective, revealing how federal political pressures shape the field of international relief. McCleary draws on a wide array of data--annual reports, State Department documents, and IRS records--to assess to what extent international relief and development work is becoming a commercial activity. She analyzes the often competing goals of the federal government and religious PVOs. She then exames the continuing trend of decreasing federal funds to PVOs and the simultaneous increasing awards to commercial enterprises, and looks at what this holds for the future. In this thought-provoking and rigorously researched work, Rachel McClearly offers a unique, substantive look at an understudied area of US foreign policy and international development. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship. com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance/9780195371178/toc.html
The role of institutions in economic development: Evidence from 27 Sub-Saharan African countries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the alleged link between institutional quality and economic performance in 27 Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries during the period 1984-2003. Design/methodology/approach – Four institutions' quality indicators, namely government stability, corruption, ethnic tensions and socioeconomic conditions, along with other control and policy variables, are employed in a panel data analysis. Findings – The institutional variables assume a key role in the process of economic development whereas the control variables display a limited effect. Thus, the “conventional variables” of economic theory may not be able to fully explain the SSA experience. Research limitations/implications – Future research efforts should explore how the vast changes experienced by the countries in that region influenced their economic evolution during the last decades. Practical implications – Policy makers should primarily focus on improving institutional quality, which is likely to positively affect economic performance in SSA countries. Social implications – Improving institutional infrastructure (enhancing rule of law and quality regulation, improving contract enforcement, securing property rights and reducing uncertainty) play a key role in delivering long-run economic development and social prosperity. Originality/value – The paper analyzes the impact of institutional quality on economic performance using data from 27 SSA countries.
A study on quantitative benefits of port community systems

Port community systems (PCSs) are rapidly being developed in order to enhance the communications between ports and other port related institutions and gain competitive advantage against the world’s leading ports. Most of the literature regarding PCSs development is either a case study or qualitative in nature. To our knowledge, there is not any research focusing on the quantitative benefits of PCSs to support decision-makers for investment decisions. Thus this study aims to develop a simulation model to capture the differences between conventional port logistics business and a conceptual model where a hypothetical PCS is in place. The differences between the existing system and the proposed system are calculated via simulation based on data obtained from Turkish port industry in terms of time and cost reduction. Finally, the data integration requirements are discussed.
The role of an integrated coastal management framework in the long-term restoration of Yundang Lagoon, Xiamen, China

Thirty years ago, Yundang Lagoon, located in the centre of Xiamen in southeast China, was heavily polluted. A series of clean-up projects have been implemented since the 1980s. After three phases of restoration projects, the lagoon's environment quality has improved significantly, although it is not fully restored. Clean-up activities are still ongoing. In 1994, Xiamen became the first city in China to adopt an Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) strategy to address its coastal environmental problems. The restoration of Yundang Lagoon remained a priority and has been a key issue in the development of the city's pollution abatement and environmental management strategy. This study reviews and examines the restoration efforts and management scheme of Yundang Lagoon from 1988 to the present, analyses the environmental changes, explores the challenges of its restoration and analyses the benefits of ICM to its long-term restoration by extracting six key principles. Specific suggestions are proposed for future restoration and management work. Findings from this review may have general implications for decision makers to formulate future sustainability and management strategies on coastal environment restoration programmes.
Modeling Single-Screw Extrusion Processing Parameters and Resulting Extrudate Properties of DDGS-Based Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Feeds

A single-screw laboratory extruder was used to conduct an L18 (2 2  3 6 ) Taguchi fractional factorial study of aquafeed processing. The ingredients were based on a formulation for nutritionally-balanced Nile tilapia diets containing distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and soybean meal as the main protein sources, in addition to constant amounts of corn flour, whey, and fishmeal. The effects of three levels of DDGS (20, 30 and 40%), soybean meal (30, 40 and 50%), ingredient moisture content (20, 30 and 40% db), screw speed (100, 150 and 200 rpm), die dimension (L/D ratios of 5, 9 and 13), barrel temperature (80-100-100°C, 80-120-120°C and 80-140-140°C) and two levels of screw configuration (compression ratios of 2:1 and 3:1) on extrudate physical properties (moisture content, water activity, bulk density, unit density, expansion ratio, pellet durability index, water absorption and solubility indices, water stability, color) and extruder processing parameters (resulting temperatures, die pressure, extruder torque, mass flow rate, apparent viscosity, and specific mechanical energy) were determined. Data from raw materials, processing conditions, and extrudate properties were used to develop surface response curves and equations. However, predominantly low R 2 values (< 0.5) only permitted linear relationships between some independent parameters and response variables. Regarding main effects, die pressure significantly decreased with higher DDGS levels, moisture content, temperature, lower die L/D, and higher screw compression. Expansion ratio decreased significantly with higher moisture content and lower die L/D. Significant differences in color were caused by changes in DDGS levels and moisture content. In summary, DDGS, moisture content, die dimension, and extrusion conditions had the biggest impact on most of the extrudate physical properties and processing conditions. Different combinations of these independent factors can be used to achieve desired extrudate physical properties and processing conditions.
Innovations and manufacturing export performance in the OECD countries

This paper addresses two puzzles in international trade, namely why traditional estimates of income elasticities of exports are implausibly high and why export growth varies much more markedly across countries than can be explained by changes in price competitiveness and variations in income growth in export markets. Using data for 18 OECD countries it is shown that market integration and the level of technology and competitiveness can, to some extent, explain these two puzzles. Copyright 2008 , Oxford University Press.
Influence of Experience on Personal Computer Utilization: Testing a Conceptual Model

The influence of prior experience on personal computer utilization was examined through an extension of a conceptual model developed and tested previously. Respondents were classified on the basis of their self-reported skill level and length of time having used personal computers. Three competing ways of modeling the influence of experience were tested: (1) a direct influence, (2) an indirect influence through six distinct attitude and belief components, and (3) a moderating influence on the relations between the attitude/belief components and utilization. The results suggested that experience influenced utilization directly, that indirect influences were present but less pronounced, and that the moderating influence of experience on the relations between five of six antecedent constructs and utilization was generally quite strong. For researchers, the implications are that prior experience with an information technology (IT) is an important factor to include when developing, testing, or applying models of IT adoption and use. For practitioners, the results highlight the importance of emphasizing applicability of the information technology to the current job and professional development early in the adoption process, with more emphasis on future benefits as experience is gained.