Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How Relevant Is the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) for Tests of Market Efficiency on the Nigerian Stock Exchange

We find an asset pricing model which consists of the market portfolio, the market skewness or co-skewness factors, and portfolio idiosyncratic volatility factor best explains portfolio risk-return trade-offs on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), indicating this model is appropriate for studies of semi-strong form efficiency of the Nigerian Stock Market. Our finding that an asset pricing model which consists of the market portfolio alone tends to consistently understate portfolio risk indicates this conventional one-factor specification of the CAPM is inappropriate for tests of the efficiency of the Nigerian Stock Market. With respect to the effects of non-synchronous trading of stocks on portfolio risk-return trade-offs, while the presence of non-synchronous trading induces greater diversification benefits for investors, we find it simultaneously results in a higher price for market risk; that is, higher levels of risk aversion. Our findings demonstrate preference for market skewness or co-skewness can be a risk mitigating response to anticipated adverse effects of changes in the risk of the market portfolio on portfolio returns.
Chief Executive Officer Incentives, Monitoring, and Corporate Risk Management: Evidence from Insurance Use

Corporate governance and risk management issues have received prominent publicity in recent years following several major company failures such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. While prior studies have examined this issue within the context of derivatives’ trading, little is known regarding the linkage between corporate governance and alternative corporate risk management activities such as insurance. Using a detailed firm survey conducted by the World Bank (2004), we examine the impacts of various governance monitoring mechanisms and chief executive officer (CEO) characteristics on the corporate insurance decision. Overall, our results suggest that both monitoring mechanisms and managerial incentives induce the corporate purchase of property insurance. However, the purchase of property insurance for managerial self-interest is only prevalent in firms subject to lax monitoring, and the determinants of insurance purchases are more in line with the prediction of the economic theory in firms with strong monitoring. In addition, our study contributes a number of new insights into the determinants of corporate purchase of property insurance.
CHROMOPHORE‐ASSISTED LASER INACTIVATION OF SUBUNITS OF THE T‐CELL RECEPTOR IN LIVING CELLS IS SPATIALLY RESTRICTED

Abstract— Chromophore‐assisted laser inactivation (CALI) is a molecular photoablation technique that has been used to elucidate the in vivo roles of specific proteins in neural development. The interpretation of its effects on proteins in living cells relies on knowing how spatially restricted the CALI‐induced damage is in vivo. To determine the spatial specificity of CALI in living cells, we have applied CALI to individual subunits of the T‐cell receptor (TCR) complex on the surface of 2B4 hybridoma cells in culture and have examined the consequent structural and functional integrity of the TCR‐α, TCR‐β and CD3‐α. The CALI of TCR‐β resulted in the disruption of the β subunit and also resulted in a small effect on antibody binding alone to the neighboring TCR‐α but caused no effect on another subunit, CD3‐ε. Reciprocal experiments directing CALI to TCR‐α and CD3‐ε gave consistent results. No effects other than a simple loss of function were observed for any of these CALI experiments. These data demonstrate the extent of CALI‐induced damage within a multisubunit complex in living cells and provide greater confidence for the future application of this technique to understanding in vivo function of proteins during complex cellular processes.
Strategic clarity, business strategy and performance

Purpose – This paper seeks to investigate the link between business strategy and performance, giving special attention to the composition of combination strategies.Design/methodology/approach – A survey assessing business strategy and performance was completed by managers representing 277 retail businesses in the USA.Findings – The combination strategy was associated with higher performance in some but not all instances. Strategic clarity – the extent to which a single strategy reflects the organization's strategic intent – was also associated with organizational performance. Businesses with high and low strategic clarity outperformed those with moderate strategic clarity.Research limitations/implications – This paper investigated US retailers and did not assess businesses in other industries or countries. Future research that seeks to replicate these findings is warranted.Practical implications – Businesses can pursue either a single generic strategy (i.e. low cost or differentiation, prospector or defen.
Consumer research in the restaurant environment, Part 1: A conceptual model of dining satisfaction and return patronage

This article proposes a conceptual model that explains dining satisfaction and predicts post‐dining behavioural intentions. The model provides a reference framework for conceptualising and describing the effects of disconfirmation on individuals’ dining and post‐dining experience processes, and within which dining satisfaction research findings can be related, organised, and integrated to form a systematic body of knowledge. The resulting discussion reviews consumer satisfaction research to date and evaluates applications of the approach in customer feedback. The article concludes that disconfirmation theory has sufficient comprehensiveness by suggesting that dining satisfaction is a consequence of disconfirmation and that satisfaction with the dining event does lead to repeat patronage. Subsequent articles (Part 2) will report and explain the research design and analytical methods used in this study, and (Part 3) will report on data analysis and findings of the study.
Impact of Globalization on Production and Export of Turmeric in India: An Economic Analysis

India is a major supplier of turmeric to the world with more than 60 per cent share in turmeric trade. The production and export performance of turmeric in India have been examined using secondary data for the period from 1974-75 to 2007-08 and exponential form of growth function has been used for the analysis. The growth in production and export of turmeric has been reported significant, because of the high demand coupled with inflation. Instability index has been worked for the production and export for preliberalization and post-liberalization periods. Instability has been observed high for production, export and prices of domestic and international markets and domestic and international prices have shown high integration. For the assessment of direction of trade, the Markov chain model has been used. The data regarding country-wise export of turmeric has shown that the previous export share retention for Indian turmeric has been high in minor importing countries (pooled under others category) (87 %), followed by UAE (49 %), Iran (41 %) and UK (35 %). The countries such as USA and Japan have not been the stable importers of Indian turmeric. The plans for export may be oriented towards these two countries and also plans should be formulated for stabilizing the export of turmeric to other countries. The farmers should be provided training on production of a quality product.
Efficacy of Transgenic Cotton Expressing Cry1Ac and Cry1F Insecticidal Protein Against Heliothines (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Abstract Cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L, plants expressing Cry1Ac and Cry1F (Phytogen 440W) insecticidal crystal proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Berliner, were evaluated against natural populations of tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens (F.), and bollworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), across 13 southern U.S. locations that sustained low, moderate, and high infestations. The intrinsic activity of Phytogen 440W was compared with nontreated non-Bt cotton (PSC355) and with management strategies in which supplemental insecticides targeting heliothines were applied to Phytogen 440W and to PSC355 cotton. Infestations were composed primarily of bollworm, which is the least sensitive of the heliothine complex to Cry toxins. Therefore, damage recorded in these studies was primarily due to bollworm. Greater than 75% of all test sites sustained heliothine infestations categorized as moderate to high (10.6–64.0% peak damaged bolls in nontreated PSC355). Phytogen 440W, alone or managed with supplemental insecticide applications, reduced heliothine-damaged plant terminals, squares (flower buds), flowers, and bolls equal to or better (1.0–79.0-fold) than managing a non-Bt cotton variety with foliar insecticides across all infestation environments. Rarely (frequency of ≤11% averaged across structures), sprayed Phytogen 440W reduced damaged structures compared with nontreated Phytogen 440W. Protection against heliothine-induced plant damage was similar across the three levels of infestation for each viable management strategy, with exception to damaged squares for nontreated Phytogen 440W. In situations of moderate to high heliothine infestations, cotton plants expressing Cry1Ac and Cry1F may sustain higher levels of damage compared with that same variety in low infestations. No significant difference in yield was observed among heliothine management strategies within each infestation level, indicating cotton plants may compensate for those levels of plant damage. These findings indicate Phytogen 440W containing Cry1Ac and Cry1F provided consistent control of heliothines across a range of environments and infestation levels.
Compensating for development: Orang Asli experiences of Malaysia's Sungai Selangor dam

Abstract: In 2001, two indigenous Orang Asli communities living in Peninsula Malaysia were forced to leave their homelands to make way for the Sungai Selangor dam. The dam, built to resolve water shortages in Kuala Lumpur, came with a comprehensive compensation package designed to alleviate the hardships faced by the displaced communities. This paper explores the discursive and material impacts of these compensation packages. We argue that the emerging literature on compensation for displaced people values the same sorts of economic and social criteria as the Malaysian government does in its pursuit of modernising the Orang Asli. Their shared belief that effective compensation would improve the quality of life for affected communities above pre-displacement levels helped to publicly legitimise the dam-building project. Interviews with the displaced communities, however, found stark differences in community satisfaction which have more to do with losses of intrinsic place-based cultural and spiritual values, for which there may be no effective or adequate compensation, than social and economic criteria. We conclude that compensation programmes will always struggle to effectively cope with these less tangible place-based values and that open acknowledgement of this weakness is required if alternatives to displacement-inducing development projects are to be more readily considered.
Purification of a 58-kDa protein (ER58) from monkey liver microsomes and comparison with protein-disulfide isomerase.

A 58-kDa protein (ER58) was purified from monkey liver to apparent homogeneity. It accounts for more than 3% of microsomal proteins and is highly conserved among several mammalian species. The amino acid compositions of the N-terminal part and that of two internal peptide fragments present strong similarities with the sequence ascribed to phospholipase C-alpha. Numerous proteins exhibiting a high similarity with this sequence have been isolated by other investigators. Their biological function is controversial. Our purified protein is not active as a phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C, protease or carnitine acyl transferase. Although less efficient than authentic protein-disulfide isomerase, ER58 catalyses the glutathione-dependent reduction of insulin and the reorganization of disulfide bonds of randomly oxidized (scrambled) ribonuclease in reducing conditions. In contrast, ER58 is devoid of oxidizing activity on thiol groups of reduced proteins. Many studies suggest that the proteins bearing the phospholipase C-alpha sequence could be considered as protein-disulfide isomerase isozymes. Our results indicate that ER58 is not totally similar to protein-disulfide isomerase in performing thiol :protein-disulfide oxidoreductase reactions and suggest that the two proteins may exert distinct cellular functions.
Comparing Apples to Oranges: Productivity Convergence and Measurement across Industries and Countries: Comment

In a widely quoted paper-Bernard and Jones, AER December 1996-it is found that productivity in manufacturing does not show evidence of convergence across selected OECD countries. The main message in this comment is that the absence of convergence in manufacturing is not a robust finding. In particular, it depends heavily of the choice of base year, because the applied conversion factor-expenditure PPPs for total GDP-is not appropriate for measuring productivity in manufacturing. Hence, whether or not productivity in manufacturing converges across OECD countries remains an open question.
Contribution of Basic Residues of the Autolysis Loop to the Substrate and Inhibitor Specificity of Factor IXa*

The autolysis loop (residues 143–154 in chymotrypsinogen numbering) plays a pivotal role in determining the macromolecular substrate and inhibitor specificity of coagulation proteases. This loop in factor IXa (FIXa) has 3 basic residues (Arg143, Lys147, and Arg150) whose contribution to the protease specificity of factor IXa has not been studied. Here, we substituted these residues individually with Ala in Gla-domainless forms of recombinant factor IX expressed in mammalian cells. All mutants exhibited normal amidolytic activities toward a FIXa-specific chromogenic substrate. However, Arg143 and Lys147 mutants showed a ∼3- to 6-fold impairment in FX activation, whereas the Arg150 mutant activated factor X normally both in the absence and presence of factor VIIIa. By contrast, Arg143 and Lys147 mutants reacted normally with antithrombin (AT) in both the absence and presence of the cofactor, heparin. However, the reactivity of the Arg150 mutant with AT was impaired 6.6-fold in the absence of heparin and 33- to 70-fold in the presence of pentasaccharide and full-length heparins. These results suggest that Arg143 and Lys147 of the autolysis loop are recognition sites for FX independent of factor VIIIa, and Arg150 is a specific recognition site for AT that can effectively interact with AT only if the serpin is in the heparin-activated conformation.
Coordination Mechanisms for Implementing Complex Innovations in the Health Care Sector

Abstract Coordination is a central element in the public sector, especially for introducing complex innovations. In health care, this issue takes on great importance since many stakeholders are involved, pursuing multiple interests, and influencing the outputs and outcomes of the health care system. This paper discusses the introduction of a specific health care innovation (i.e. electronic patient records) in two Italian regions, and it aims to contribute to the debate on coordination in health care, depicting the coordination mechanisms that took place in two different contexts in order to introduce the same kind of innovation, and highlighting any potential enabling conditions.
Activation of Toll-like Receptor-7 Exacerbates Lupus Nephritis by Modulating Regulatory T Cells

Background: Toll-like receptor-7 (TLR7), which recognizes viral single-stranded RNA, can trigger immune complex glomerulonephritis in experimental lupus erythematosus. However, whether it modulates dendritic cells (DCs) phenotype and regulatory T cells (Treg) function is incompletely understood. Method: Splenocytes and bone marrow DCs were obtained from 5- and 20-week-old female MRLlpr/lpr mice and C57BL/6 mice. In addition, to understand the response of Treg and DCs to TLR7 ligation in vivo, 16-week-old female MRLlpr/lpr and C57BL/6 mice were distributed into two groups with or without intraperitoneal injections of TLR7 ligand every other day. Results: After activation with the TLR7 ligand imiquimod in vivo and vitro, DCs from imiquimod-treated MRL/lpr mice showed an altered costimulatory profile, with decreased induction of CD80, CD86, and MHCII expression, comparing to age-matched C57BL/6 control mice. There was no significant difference in the numbers of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells after TLR7 ligation by imiquimod in MRLlpr/lpr and control mice. Immunostaining of kidney sections of nephritic MRL/lpr mice revealed that CD11c was expressed in the infiltrated tubulointerstitial cells, and confocal microscopic analysis of renal CD11c+MHCII+, CD11c+CD80+, and CD11c+CD86+ cells showed an immature phenotype with low levels of CD80, CD86, and MHCII in imiquimod-treated MRL/lpr mice. There was no difference in the number of Foxp3 positive cells in kidneys between the imiq‑uimod and vehicle-treated groups. Conclusions: Our results suggest that activation of TLR7 exacerbated lupus nephritis by modulating the abnormally costimulatory phenotype of dendritic cells and functions of Treg in MRL/lpr mice.
Integrating work‐based and academic learning in international and cross‐cultural settings

A recent study focused on workplace learning in the UK, USA and Canada; 14 universities, two community colleges and 15 host organisations were included. Interviews were conducted with directors of professional peak associations, academic supervisors, placement officers, managers and/or field supervisors and students. This paper reports on the ways in which higher education institutions organise and prepare students, academic staff and site supervisors to work in international and cross‐cultural work‐based programmes. It examines the level of integration that occurs between academic learning and the planning and execution of cross‐cultural and/or international work‐based placements.
1995 Wharton Survey of Derivatives Usage by US Non-Financial Firms

In November, 1994, the Weiss Center for International Financial Research of the Wharton School undertook its first survey of derivatives and risk management practice by non-financial corporations in the United States. This 1995 survey, sponsored by CIBC Wood Gundy, is more detailed than the 1994 survey, with a broader range of questions about valuation and risk management and with more specific questions about the use of derivatives. One of the primary objectives of the survey is the development of a database on risk management practices suitable for academic research.
THE DIFFUSION OF PRIVATIZATION IN EUROPE: POLITICAL AFFINITY OR ECONOMIC COMPETITION?

Privatization has spread around the globe. While a number of studies find empirical evidence for the diffusion of privatization, it remains unclear what the relevant linkages between states are. This article analyses whether it is economic competition or political affinity that influences the diffusion of privatizing public utilities. The sample includes telecommunications, postal, and railway providers as the main network-based utilities operating at the national level in 15 European countries from 1980 until 2007. The results of the spatial regressions clearly show that governments follow each other for economic reasons. Trading partners strategically interact when privatizing their national public-utility providers to form strategic cross-border company alliances and to avoid competitive disadvantages in the global market. This applies particularly to economies that are highly integrated in the international market. Surprisingly, political and ideological similarities do not seem to matter for the diffusion of privatization.
Too busy to show up? An analysis of directors’ absences

This study contributes to the debate on the benefits and costs of multiple directorships by investigating the impact of multiple directorships on board meeting attendance. Individuals with multiple board seats (or "busy" directors) exhibit a higher tendency to be absent from board meetings. The results are robust even after controlling for firm-specific characteristics, board of directors structure and endogeneity. Furthermore, our results do not support the hypothesis that directors with higher ownership stakes are more motivated to attend board meetings. Monetary inducements such as board meeting fees and annual director retainers do not appear to enhance attendance. Finally, the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) appears to have a material impact on board attendance.
Glucocorticoid Hormone Regulates the Circadian Coordination of μ-Opioid Receptor Expression in Mouse Brainstem

The 24-h variation in glucocorticoid secretion from the adrenal cortex is observed not only in nocturnally active rodents but also in diurnally active humans. Although the cyclic change in circulating glucocorticoid levels is thought to influence the efficacy and/or toxicity of many drugs, the mechanism underlying the influence remains poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrate that the 24-h variation in circulating glucocorticoid levels modulates the analgesic effect of morphine by regulating the expression of the μ-opioid receptor. Significant time-dependent variations in the mRNA levels of the μ-opioid receptor and its binding capacity were observed in mouse brainstem. The analgesic effect of morphine was enhanced by administering the drug when μ-opioid receptor levels were increased. However, corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH)-deficient mice, disrupting the 24-h rhythm of glucocorticoid secretion, showed no significant time-dependent variation in the expression of the μ-opioid receptor. As a consequence, there was no significant dosing time-dependent difference in the analgesic effect of morphine in CRH-deficient mice. A single administration of corticosterone significantly induced the expression of the μ-opioid receptor in the CRH-deficient mouse brainstem and also enhanced the analgesic effect of morphine. These findings suggest a mechanism underlying the time-dependent variation in μ-opioid receptor function and provide clues to select the most appropriate time of day for administration of morphine.
Duration and Strength of Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Signals Are Altered During Positive Versus Negative Thymocyte Selection1

During thymocyte development, high-affinity/avidity TCR engagement leads to the induction of negative selection and apoptosis, while lower TCR affinity-avidity interactions lead to positive selection and survival. To elucidate how these extracellular interactions are translated into intracellular signals that distinguish between positive and negative selection, we developed a culture system in which naive double-positive thymocytes were either induced to differentiate along the CD8+ lineage pathway or were triggered for clonal deletion. Using this system, we show that sustained low level activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) promotes positive selection, whereas strong but transient ERK activation is coupled with negatively selecting stimuli. Importantly, similar ERK activation profiles were demonstrated during positive selection for strong agonist ligands presented at low concentrations or weak agonist ligands. This is consistent with the affinity/avidity model and a role for strong or weak agonists during positive selection. Surprisingly, the addition of a pharmacological inhibitor which blocks ERK activation prevented the induction of negative selection. These data suggest that the duration and strength of the TCR signal is involved in discriminating between positive and negative selection.