Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Linking Innovation and Firm Performance: A New Approach

Using the second Community Innovation Survey (CIS-2) for the Netherlands, we analyse the input and output stages of the innovation process and the links between the innovation process and overall economic performance. We investigate the existence of feedback links running from past economic performance to the input and the output stage of the innovation process and compare the results of a single-equation approach with the results obtained from a simultaneous-equation model.
A postgermination developmental arrest checkpoint is mediated by abscisic acid and requires the ABI5 transcription factor in Arabidopsis

Seed dormancy is a trait of considerable adaptive significance because it maximizes seedling survival by preventing premature germination under unfavorable conditions. Understanding how seeds break dormancy and initiate growth is also of great agricultural and biotechnological interest. Abscisic acid (ABA) plays primary regulatory roles in the initiation and maintenance of seed dormancy. Here we report that the basic leucine zipper transcription factor ABI5 confers an enhanced response to exogenous ABA during germination, and seedling establishment, as well as subsequent vegetative growth. These responses correlate with total ABI5 levels. We show that ABI5 expression defines a narrow developmental window following germination, during which plants monitor the environmental osmotic status before initiating vegetative growth. ABI5 is necessary to maintain germinated embryos in a quiescent state thereby protecting plants from drought. As expected for a key player in ABA-triggered processes, ABI5 protein accumulation, phosphorylation, stability, and activity are highly regulated by ABA during germination and early seedling growth.
Governance System Effectiveness Following the Crisis: The Case of Korean Business Group Headquarters

Various corporate governance initiatives were adopted in Korea following a major corporate governance failure, identified as a direct cause of the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-1998. Our findings indicate that, before the crisis, the likelihood of replacing poorly performing CEOs was not related to business group (chaebol) affiliation. However, after the Asian Financial Crisis, we find CEO turnover sensitivity to performance is greater in chaebol firms than in stand-alone firms. These findings indicated improved monitoring following reforms initiated by the Korean government, NGOs and other capital market participants. These findings have implications for the effectiveness of corporate governance in US firms following governance restructuring imposed by the SEC, the government and various market participants. Copyright (c) 2006 The Authors; Journal compilation (c) 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Article Commentary: Strategic Decisions within Family Firms: Understanding the Controlling Family's Receptivity to Internationalization

Arregle, Naldi, Nordqvist, and Hitt found that external owner and board member involvement within family firms influence the scale and scope of these firms’ internationalization. This commentary further explicates how and under what conditions the family might be receptive to these types of strategic initiatives when they are presented by external owners. In essence, the controlling family's receptivity to internationalization would be influenced by how successfully external owners use persuasion techniques and how these techniques, given the firm's social context, might be viewed. The resulting receptivity would be balanced against the scripts and images that have emerged based on the family's values, goals, and aspirations.
Patterns of consumer response to retail price differentials

Decomposing price elasticity suggests that the major impact of promotions is on brand switching rather than increased consumption. Consumers may also buy smaller quantities of more expensive brands when compared to cheaper ones (inter-brand elasticity). Using panel data for the purchases of 80 consumers buying nine product categories over a 16-week period, we verified that inter-brand elasticities occur, and report the relative importance of intra- and inter-brand elasticities in determining quantity price elasticity per shopping occasion for the product category. Brands were classified by informational (socially mediated) and utilitarian (product-mediated) benefits. Intra-brand elasticity was higher than utilitarian inter-brand elasticity, which was higher than informational inter-brand elasticity.
Tourism, trade, and income: evidence from Singapore

This paper examines the short-run and long-run dynamic interactions between exports, imports, international tourism, and economic growth for Singapore using annual data over 1980–2007. Since the sample size is relatively small, the long-run relationship of these variables is investigated with the bounds test. Granger causality test is then used to examine the dynamic interactions of these variables. The results suggest that the dynamic interactions of these four variables are complex. The results support growth-led tourism, tourism-led imports, and export-led tourism hypotheses in the short run. The results also show that imports have positive effects on economic growth in the long run. It is also found that tourism has indirect effects on economic growth in the long run through import activities. There is a bidirectional causal relationship between exports and income, which, in turn, affects the tourism industry.
Mental Health and Hours Worked Among Nurses

Accounting for the endogenous relationship between health and hours worked, the goal of this study was to estimate the effect of mental health on the working hours of nursing professionals. The impact of hours worked on mental health was also investigated. The data was based on the Work Outcomes Research Cost-benefit (WORC) survey conducted in Australia during 2005 and 2006. The study sample of 6086 nurses represented ~15 per cent of nurses in Queensland. Analysis involved the use of simultaneous equations estimated with Generalized Method of Moments. The analysis of the data identified an endogenous relationship between mental health and hours of labour supplied. The findings revealed that among Queensland nurses, a deterioration of mental health was associated with a reduction in hours worked and increasing hours worsened mental health. The findings imply that an effective approach to meeting nursing shortages should include strategic attempts to improve the mental health capital of nursing staff. Previous studies have shown resilience training in the workplace as effective in increasing the supply of labor.
The Accrual Anomaly and Operating Cash Flows: Evidence from Accrual Components

We argue and show that aggregation of accrual components (changes in inventories, changes in accounts payable, changes in accounts receivable and depreciation expense) into total accruals results in a loss of mispricing-related information in individual accrual components. This motivates us to examine whether the recent evidence that operating cash flows subsume the mispricing effect associated with total accruals holds when accruals are disaggregated into accrual components. We find that accrual components are associated with future abnormal returns even after controlling for operating cash flows and growth. The three-day earnings announcement period abnormal returns also support the finding. The evidence with respect to change in accounts payable is especially noteworthy because its inclusion in total accruals reduces the mispricing effects of other components considerably. Overall, the prior evidence that operating cash flows subsume the mispricing effects associated with total accruals is likely caused by the aggregation of accrual components into total accruals. Future research would benefit from focusing on accrual components rather than total accruals.
How perceptions of physique can influence customer satisfaction in health and fitness centres

Numerous studies have established the link between service quality, satisfaction and loyalty in recreation and fitness settings. However, few studies in the recreation and fitness area have considered the role that one's appearance may play in influencing this relationship. This study of 294 customers of mixed-sex group fitness classes employed structural equation modelling to find general support for the following service quality model adapted from health-care services and health and fitness centres: process service quality → outcome service quality → satisfaction → loyalty. However, of particular interest was that the level of comfort a customer has in their physique significantly and negatively impacted the relationship between staff-oriented service quality and the attainment of outcomes such as improved health, mood, energy and fitness.
The domestic effects of EU cohesion policy in Greece: islands of Europeanization in a sea of traditional practices

This contribution considers whether European Union (EU) cohesion policy has contributed to the development of a more compound polity in Greece and, specifically, considers the extent to which there is a process of Europeanization characterized by emergent features of multi‐level governance. After providing a brief background on the nature of domestic governance and politics, it reviews the development of cohesion policy instruments in Greece and, then, discusses the scope and the nature of changes that have taken place in the last decade. The main finding is that, while the effects of EU cohesion policy on Type I multi‐level governance remain limited, its impact on Type II multi‐level governance is more pronounced. However, change is neither omnipresent nor linear. The overall picture is one of an emerging archipelago of ‘islands of Europeanization’ within a sea of traditional institutions and practices.
Nonparticipation of the 12th graders in the National Assessment of Educational Progress: Understanding determinants of nonresponse and assessing the impact on NAEP estimates of nonresponse bias according to propensity models

Title of Dissertation: NONPARTICIPATION OF THE 12 TH GRADERS IN THE NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS: UNDERSTANDING DETERMINANTS OF NONRESPONSE AND ASSESSING THE IMPACT ON NAEP ESTIMATES OF NONRESPONSE BIAS ACCORDING TO PROPENSITY MODELS Young I. Chun, Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Dissertation directed by: Professor Katharine Abraham Joint Program in Survey Methodology This dissertation examines nonparticipation of 12th graders in the year 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), using a model of nonresponse develope by Groves and Couper (1998). NAEP is a continuing assessment of American student knowledge in various subject areas including mathematics and science, and the possibility that its results could be contaminated by a low response rate was aken as very serious. The dissertation evaluates the statistical impact of nonparticipa tion bi s on estimates of educational performance in NAEP, by applying response propensity models to the NAEP mathematics and science survey data and the corresponding school administrative data from over 20,000 seniors in the 2000 High School Transcript St udy (HSTS). When NAEP and HSTS are merged, one has measures of individualand school-level characteristics for nonparticipants as well as partici pants in NAEP. Results indicate that nonresponse was not a serious contaminant, and applying response propensity based weights led to only about a 1-point difference out on average of 500 points in mathematics and of 300 points in science. The results support other recent research (e.g., Curtin, Press and Singer, 2000; Groves, 2006) showing minimal effects on nonresponse bias of lowered response rates. NONPARTICIPATION OF THE 12 TH GRADERS IN THE NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS: UNDERSTANDING DETERMINANTS OF NONRESPONSE AND ASSESSING THE IMPACT ON NAEP ESTIMATES OF NONRESPONSE BIAS ACCORDING TO PROPENSITY MODELS
Organizational Downsizing: Psychological Impact on Surviving Managers in Hong Kong

The nature, form and functioning of employment relationships in Hong Kong is undergoing change. These changes, in part, are attributable to global competitive pressures, but are also a function of the specific conditions that pertain in Hong Kong. Companies now operate in a much more dynamic and complex business environment than in the past. In the early 1980s, Hong Kong’s economy was transformed from a labourintensive one to a service and technology-oriented one. A large number of manufacturing industries shifted to mainland China; of those that stayed behind, many have turned to property and financial services. During periods of economic growth, the employee market was very favourable, particularly for skilled workers and professionals. To cope with expansion and increased productivity, many companies recruited large numbers of new employees and added layers to their organizational structure, leading to tight labour market conditions and high job turnover. The Asian financial crisis of the recent past and the resulting decline in profit margins plunged many Asian organizations into an increasingly turbulent economic environment. Now, Asian governments face the difficult task of restructuring their economies. For example, Singapore focuses on value-added services and products and welcomes foreign investment to drive economic growth, while Hong Kong is turning into a logistic hub. At the organizational level, to ensure survival and viability, many local companies implement strategic actions like downsizing and restructuring that often entail lay-offs and redundancies. The Hong Kong unemployment rate deteriorated from a low of 2.2 per cent in mid-1997 to 6 per cent in March 1999, the highest in 20 years. The hardest hit industries have been the construction, wholesale and retail sectors, as well as the hotel and restaurant industries. Within the bureaucracy, the civil service has had to learn to live under the conditions of recession, including measures such as a pay freeze, early retirement incentives for older personnel, the replacement of pensionable employment with fixed-term contracts, and the feasibility of privatizing departments. A psychological contract describes employees’ perceived reciprocal obligations with their employer (Rousseau, 1990). While the traditional
Modulating the External Facets of Functional Nanocrystals Enabled by Two-Dimensional Oxide Crystal Templates

The nature of the external crystal facets is critical to control the (photo)catalytic properties. Two-dimensional materials can expose only one type of crystal facet among zero-dimensional (0D), one-dimensional (1D), and two-dimensional (2D) materials. Controllable tuning of the nature of the external crystal facets of 2D materials is highly desirable but very challenging. Here, we show that 2D particles with the desirable crystal facet for high-performance photocatalytic H2 generation can be obtained by using 2D metal oxide materials (i.e., nanosheets of Ca2Nb3O10 and Ti0.87O2) as templates taking consideration of the crystal configuration of 2D oxide and target compounds. We demonstrate that anatase TiO2 crystals grown on different nanosheet templates exhibit variations in photocatalytic hydrogen production rates from aqueous phase methanol solutions (6.7%), which can be attributed to the nature of the main crystal facet exposed. In view of the large number of 2D materials that have already been synthesized, this work offers a key to design and synthesize nanoparticles with the desirable specific external crystal facet for (photo)catalysis application.
Scale Economies and the Geographic Concentration of Industry

In recent empirical literature on spatial agglomeration, many papers find evidence consistent with location-specific externalities of some sort. Our willingness to accept evidence of agglomeration economies depends on how well key estimation problems have been addressed. Three issues are particularly troublesome for identifying agglomeration effects: unobserved regional characteristics, simultaneity in regional data, and multiple sources of externalities. Two empirical results appear to be robust to problems created by the first two issues: (a) individual wages are increasing in the presence of more-educated workers in the local labor force, which is consistent with localized human-capital externalities, and (b) long-run industry growth is higher in locations with a wider range of industrial activities, which suggests that firms benefit from being in more diverse urban environments. Other evidence is supportive of agglomeration effects related to regional demand linkages and short-run, industry-specific externalities.
Conductive Keratoplasty Followed by Collagen Cross-Linking With Riboflavin-UV-A in Patients With Keratoconus

Purpose: To evaluate the combined effect of conductive keratoplasty (CK) followed by corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) in 2 patients with keratoconus. Methods: CK spots were applied on the flatter side of the cornea followed by CXL using riboflavin and UV-A light. Results: Immediately after CK, a significant corneal topographic improvement was observed. The CK effect regressed 3 months postoperatively and remained unchanged until the sixth postoperative month in both patients. Conclusion: Corneal remodeling with CK in patients with keratoconus seems to have a temporary effect despite the subsequent application of CXL.
Organization of cerebellar cortex secondary to deficit of granule cells in weaver mutant mice

This study deals with some consequences of the early postnatal abnormalities of cerebellar Bergmann glial fibers and granule cell neurons. (1) Cerebellar size is mildly reduced in heterozygous weaver (+/wv) mice and markedly reduced in homozygotes (wv/wv), but the pattern of fissures is essentially normal. Comparison with other mutants displaying small cerebella suggests that cell proliferation rate in the external granular layer is a key deteminant of cerebellar cortical folding. (2) Mossy fiber terminals differentiate on schedule despite the reduced number and abnormal positions of granule cells. However, many of them enter the modified molecular layer, and as noted especially in noninbred wv/wv mice one to two years old, form synapses with dendrites of aberrant granule cells. Where granule cells are absent, mossy fibers form more than the normal number of synapses with dendrites of Golgi type II neurons. (3) Purkinje cells are only mildly affected by the disorder of neighbouring cells. Their dendrites grow abnormally into the territory occupied by external granule cells, reach the external surface, and may turn inward. They form few tertiary branches. Dendritic spines are present in profusion and show membrane thickenings akin to normal postsynaptic elements. Although they receive no axonal contacts, the spines persist, enveloped by glial processes, for at least two years. Apart from the absence of parallel fiber contacts, afferent and intrinsic axons form the normal classes of synaptic connections with Purkinje cells. (4) Interneurons of the molecular layer are generated on schedule. At the time of their earliest recognition, they reside in the external granular layer, where they receive synaptic contacts from climbing fibers and other interneurons. In the absence of parallel fibers, interneurons differentiate in situ but their dendrites are abortive and randomly oriented. Growth of their dendrites, in contrast to that of Purkinje cell dendrites, appears to be markedly influenced by the organization of the local cellular milieu.
The general mode of translation inhibition by macrolide antibiotics

Significance Macrolide antibiotics inhibit translation by binding in the ribosomal nascent peptide exit tunnel. It was believed that macrolides interfere with protein synthesis by obstructing the egress of nascent proteins. In contrast to this view, the results of ribosome profiling analysis suggest that the main mode of macrolide action is context-specific inhibition of peptide bond formation. The ribosome with a macrolide molecule bound in the tunnel is impaired in catalysis of peptide bond formation between specific combinations of the peptidyl donors and aminoacyl acceptors, leading to interruption of translation when such problematic substrates are encountered. These findings underscore the existence of a link between the ribosomal tunnel and the peptidyl transferase center and pave the way for development of superior antibiotics. Macrolides are clinically important antibiotics thought to inhibit bacterial growth by impeding the passage of newly synthesized polypeptides through the nascent peptide exit tunnel of the bacterial ribosome. Recent data challenged this view by showing that macrolide antibiotics can differentially affect synthesis of individual proteins. To understand the general mechanism of macrolide action, we used genome-wide ribosome profiling and analyzed the redistribution of ribosomes translating highly expressed genes in bacterial cells treated with high concentrations of macrolide antibiotics. The metagene analysis indicated that inhibition of early rounds of translation, which would be characteristic of the conventional view of macrolide action, occurs only at a limited number of genes. Translation of most genes proceeds past the 5′-proximal codons and can be arrested at more distal codons when the ribosome encounters specific short sequence motifs. The problematic sequence motifs are confined to the nascent peptide residues in the peptidyl transferase center but not to the peptide segment that contacts the antibiotic molecule in the exit tunnel. Therefore, it appears that the general mode of macrolide action involves selective inhibition of peptide bond formation between specific combinations of donor and acceptor substrates. Additional factors operating in the living cell but not functioning during in vitro protein synthesis may modulate site-specific action of macrolide antibiotics.
Cyclooxygenase-2 as a potential target in the prevention and treatment of genitourinary tumors: a review.

PURPOSE Recent years have seen a dramatic expansion in our discovery and knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of cancer development and progression. The discovery and elucidation of prostaglandin pathways, in particular the molecular and clinical role of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 function, has had important application to neoplasms. Current understanding of the role of COX-2 activity and, thereby, the potential clinical usefulness of COX-2 specific inhibitors as they apply to urological oncology are discussed. MATERIALS AND METHODS The discovery of prostaglandin pathways, the molecular and clinical role of COX-2 function, and the corresponding application to neoplasms were reviewed in the scientific literature (MEDLINE from 1960 to the present). In particular, a thorough review of the current literature and recent abstract presentations at scientific meetings was done regarding the potential role of COX-2 in urological cancers (MEDLINE from 1960 to the present, and American Urological Association and American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting abstracts from1998 to the present). RESULTS Decreased apoptosis, increased angiogenesis and immunosuppression are just some of the known sequelae of COX-2 over expression and each effect may have an important role in tumor formation and progression. Preclinical research and pilot clinical studies in urological oncology, in particular prostate, bladder and kidney cancer, have proved to be quite promising to date. CONCLUSIONS Currently we are just beginning to understand the molecular mechanisms and clinical effects of COX-2 function and inhibition, and the potential for COX-2 specific inhibitors to affect potentially tumor biology and growth and, thereby, serve as antitumor drugs with therapeutic and chemopreventive roles for urological cancers. The absence of complete scientific understanding in these areas provides a generous opportunity for innovative and important scientific study.