Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corporate Governance and Capital Structure Dynamics: An Empirical Study

type="main" xml:lang="en"> Consistent with theoretical predictions, we find that both a higher level of financial leverage and a faster speed of adjustment of leverage toward the shareholders' desired level are associated with better corporate governance quality as defined by a more independent board featuring CEO–chairman separation and greater presence of outside directors, coupled with larger institutional shareholding. In contrast, managerial incentive compensation on average discourages use of debt or adjustments toward the shareholders' desired level, consistent with its entrenchment effect. The effect of corporate governance on leverage adjustments is most pronounced when initial leverage is between the manager's desired level and the shareholders' desired level where the interests of managers and shareholders conflict.
North Carolina Climate Changes Reconstructed from Tree Rings: A.D. 372 to 1985

Millennium-old bald cypres trees (Taxodium distichum [(L.) Rich. ] have ben used to develop a 1614-year reconstruction of the June Palmer drought severity index for North Carolina. This proxy paleoclimatic record indicates that the growing season climate of North Carolina has undergone many changes between significantly different regimes of drought and wetness that persist for approximately 30 years. Alternating wet and dry regimes were particularly well developed during the Medieval Warm Epoch (A.D. 1000 to 1300). The record June droughts in 1985 and 1986 and the preceding three decades of much wetter than average conditions both appear to have been rare climatic events, equaled only five times each since A.D. 372.
Structural Change and Economic Growth

This paper presents a model in which a country's measured average propensity to save endogenously rises when its economy industrializes. The model has agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Only agriculture uses land. If at early dates income per capita is low, agricultural consumption is important, land is valuable, and capital gains on land may constitute most wealth accumulation, leaving the country's NIPA APS low. If exogenous technological progress raises incomes over time, Engel's law shifts demand to manufactured goods. Then land's portfolio importance relative to reproducible capital diminishes and the national income and products account saving rate can rise.
Increased morbidity associated with chronic infection by an epidemic Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain in CF patients

Background: Chronic pulmonary infection with transmissible Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains in individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) has been reported, raising issues of cross infection and patient segregation. The first such strain to be described (the Liverpool epidemic strain, LES) is now widespread in many UK CF centres. However, whether such infection carries a worse prognosis is unknown. To address this, the clinical course of a group of CF patients chronically infected by LES was compared with that in patients harbouring unique strains. Methods: Using P aeruginosa strain genotyping, two cohorts of CF patients attending the Liverpool CF service were identified who were LES positive or negative in 1998 and remained so until 2002. From these, two groups of 12 patients were matched in 1998 for age, spirometric parameters, and nutritional state and their clinical course was followed for 5 years. Patients chronically infected with Burkholderia cepacia were excluded. Results: Patients chronically infected with LES had a greater annual loss of lung function than those not chronically infected by LES (mean difference between groups −4.4% (95% CI −8.1 to −0.9; p<0.02)), and by 2002 their percentage predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) was worse (mean 65.0% v 82.6%, p<0.03). Their nutritional state also deteriorated over the study period (mean difference between groups in body mass index −0.7 (95% CI −1.2 to −0.2; p<0.01)), such that by 2002 they were malnourished compared with LES negative patients (mean BMI 19.4 v 22.7, p<0.02). Conclusions: Chronic infection with the Liverpool epidemic P aeruginosa strain in CF patients confers a worse prognosis than infection with unique strains alone, confirming the need for patient segregation. Since this strain is common in many CF units, strain identification in all CF centres is essential. This can only be carried out using genomic typing methods.
Gender-specific and menstrual cycle dependent differences in circulating microparticles

In comparison to age-matched men, young women are at increased risk to suffer from venous thromboembolism (VTE). Some risk factors of inherited and acquired thrombophilia are known, but approximately 30% of the overall risk remains unexplained. Recently, a role for microparticles (MP) in coagulation has been suggested. We investigated, if gender- and menstrual cycle-specific differences in circulating MP exist. Platelet- and endothelial cell-derived microparticles (PMP, EMP) and subpopulations thereof were evaluated flow-cytometrically in healthy women (n = 27) in different phases of their menstrual cycles (follicular phase: n = 14, luteal phase: n = 13) and in healthy men (n = 18). Additionally, D-dimer levels were determined. Compared to men, women had elevated numbers of annexin V-binding MP (p = 0.007), PMP (CD61; p = 0.013), P-selectin-exposing PMP (p = 0.002) and E-selectin-exposing EMP (p = 0.009). During the luteal phase, women had strongly elevated concentrations of MP, PMP, P-selectin- and CD63-exposing PMP as well as E-selectin-exposing EMP (p = 0.001, p < 0.001, p = 0.004, p = 0.003, and p < 0.001, respectively), and the ratio of P-selectin-exposing PMP/platelet increased more than three-fold as compared to men (p = 0.01). When different phases of the menstrual cycle were analysed, MP (annexin V; p = 0.025), PMP (CD61: p < 0.001; CD63: p = 0.015) and E-Selectin-positive EMP (p = 0.006) were all increased in the luteal phase. Although D-dimer concentrations in women were increased compared to men (p = 0 = 0.006), no menstrual cycle-specific differences were observed. In summary, circulating MP and subpopulations thereof are increased in women when compared to men, and this increase seems to be modulated by the menstrual cycle. Therefore, circulating MP may be an additional risk factor contributing to the hitherto unexplained procoagulatory state of young women.
Fiscal and Monetary Systems in the Mahdist Sudan, 1881–1898

This article focuses on two major aspects of the Mahdist political economy, i.e., its fiscal and monetary systems. It attempts to integrate an analysis of their structure with that of the political behavior of the Mahdist rulers in order to show how the Mahdist rulers' political power and personal aspirations affected the development of both systems. In doing so, the article will be primarily concerned with the struggle of the successors of the Mahdi for resource control; it will examine the efforts of the ruling group to control and manipulate the fiscal and monetary systems in order to turn these—and indeed the economy as a whole—into a power base so as to preserve the established political order.
Governing long-term social–ecological change: what can the adaptive management and transition management approaches learn from each other?

Maintaining social welfare and opportunity in the face of severe ecological pressures requires frameworks for managing and governing long-term social–ecological change. In this paper we analyse two recent frameworks, adaptive management and transition management, outlining what they could learn from each other. Though usually applied in different domains, the two conceptual frameworks aim to integrate bottom-up and top-down approaches, and share a focus on the ability of systems to learn and develop adaptive capacity whilst facing external shocks and long-term pressures. Both also emphasize learning from experimentation in complex systems, but transition management focuses more on the ability to steer long-term changes in system functions, whilst adaptive management emphasizes the maintenance of system functions in the face of external change. The combination of iterative learning and stakeholder participation from adaptive management has the potential to incorporate vital feedbacks into transition management, which in turn offers a longer-term perspective from which to learn about and manage socio-technical and social–ecological change. It is argued that by combining insights from both frameworks it may be possible to foster more robust and resilient governance of social–ecological systems than could be achieved by either approach alone. The paper concludes by critically reflecting upon the challenges and benefits of combining elements of each approach, as has been attempted in the methodology of a research project investigating social–ecological change in UK uplands. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Stock Evaluation Using a Preference Disaggregation Methodology

This paper presents a real application of a multicriteria decision aid (MCDA) approach to portfolio selection based on preference disaggregation, using ordinal regression and linear programming (UTADIS method; UTilites Additives DIScriminantes). The additive utility functions that are derived through this approach have the extrapolation ability that any new alternative (share) can be easily evaluated and classified into one of several user-predefined groups. The procedure is illustrated with a case study of 98 stocks from the Athens stock exchange, using 15 criteria. The results are encouraging, indicating that the proposed methodology could be used as a tool for the analysis of the portfolio managers' preferences and choices. Furthermore, the comparison with multiple discriminant analysis (either using a stepwise procedure or not) illustrates the superiority of the proposed methodology over a well-known multivariate statistical technique that has been extensively used to study financial decision-making problems.
Enhanced face/audio emotion recognition: video and instance level classification using ConvNets and restricted Boltzmann Machines

Face-based and audio-based emotion recognition modalities have been studied profusely obtaining successful classification rates for arousal/valence levels and multiple emotion categories settings. However, recent studies only focus their attention on classifying discrete emotion categories with a single image representation and/or a single set of audio feature descriptors. Face-based emotion recognition systems use a single image channel representations such as principal-components-analysis whitening, isotropic smoothing, or ZCA whitening. Similarly, audio emotion recognition systems use a standardized set of audio descriptors, including only averaged Mel-Frequency Cepstral coefficients. Both approaches imply the inclusion of decision-fusion modalities to compensate the limited feature separability and achieve high classification rates. In this paper, we propose two new methodologies for enhancing face-based and audio-based emotion recognition based on a single classifier decision and using the EU Emotion Stimulus dataset: (1) A combination of a Convolutional Neural Networks for frame-level feature extraction with a k-Nearest Neighbors classifier for the subsequent frame-level aggregation and video-level classification, and (2) a shallow Restricted Boltzmann Machine network for arousal/valence classification.
SHIMMER™ – A Wireless Sensor Platform for Noninvasive Biomedical Research

Applying new sensing technology to healthcare maybe part of a solution to the financial and demographic crisis facing global healthcare systems. Researchers applying new approaches to noninvasive patient monitoring and diagnostics are assisted by the features of Sensing Health with Intelligence, Modularity, Mobility and Experimental Reusability (SHIMMER™), a flexible sensing platform. Integrated peripherals, open software, modular expansion, specific power management hardware, and a library of applications supported with platform validation provide SHIMMER with advantages over many other medical research platforms.
A framework to evaluate particulate matter emissions in bulk material ports: case study of Colombian coal terminals

The objective of this work is to provide a framework for the evaluation of dust pollution as a result of bulk cargo terminal (BCT) operations. This comprises the formulation of a simplified but comprehensive model of BCT operation, which will be used as a base for dust emissions estimation. An implementation of the methodology is presented by performing the evaluation of dust emission in typical coal terminals located at the Caribbean Region of Colombia. In this context, a classification for coal export terminals is proposed to evaluate the relation between operation parameter and particulate matter emissions.
Bioavailability‐based chronic toxicity measurements of permethrin to Chironomus dilutus

Compared with acute toxicity, chronic exposures to low levels of contaminants are more environmentally relevant, but fewer data are available. In the present study, sediment toxicity of the pyrethoid permethrin to Chironomus dilutus was determined. The whole‐life‐cycle toxicity testing was conducted with the endpoints covering survival, growth, emergence, and reproduction. Permethrin caused 50% lethality in C. dilutus at 1.83 ± 1.13 µg/g organic carbon (OC) and 1.20 ± 0.55 µg/g OC after exposures of 20 d (before pupation) and 58 d (the end of the testing), respectively. The 5% and median effect concentrations (EC5 and EC50) represented the marginal and toxic levels of the sublethal effects, respectively, and effect data were all normalized to the controls before Probit analysis. The EC5s for growth, emergence, and reproduction were 0.034 ± 0.006 µg/g OC, 0.016 ± 0.008 µg/g OC, and 0.009 ± 0.008 µg/g OC, respectively; the respective EC50s were 1.09 ± 0.56 µg/g OC, 0.838 ± 0.077 µg/g OC, and 0.039 ± 0.105 µg/g OC. In addition, a 24‐h Tenax extraction was employed to better assess permethrin bioavailability. Ultimately, response spectra with a series of endpoints were developed for permethrin using either OC‐normalized bulk sediment concentrations or bioavailability‐based Tenax extractable concentrations as the dose metric. The development of bioavailability‐based chronic toxicity endpoints for sediment‐associated permethrin would provide valuable benchmarks for evaluating ecological risk of this contaminant and contributing to improve sediment management policies. Environ Toxicol Chem 2013;32:1403–1411. © 2013 SETAC
Labour Market Flexibility and Immigrant Adjustment

A comparative analysis of adult male immigrant earnings and unemployment in the US and Australia using a measure of expected earnings shows that immigrants in the US perform relatively well, and the pattern of the differences between immigrant adjustment in the US and Australia appears to have links to differences in methods of pay determination. The results suggest an advantage to a more flexible labour market. A simulation exercise demonstrates the sensitivity of the findings to cohort effects.
The impact of financial development and bank characteristics on the operational performance of commercial banks in the Chinese transitional economy

Purpose - This paper attempts to empirically examine the impact of financial development and bank characteristics on the operational performance of commercial banks in the Chinese transitional economy. Design/methodology/approach - Pooled cross-section (banks) and time-series data are employed in the empirical estimation, with the sample comprising a total of 14 Chinese banks. The period under consideration extends from 1996-2004. Fixed effects and random effects models are estimated. Findings - Empirical results exhibit higher levels of moneterization that can translate into better ROA performance for banks. The longer a bank has been in existence, the worse its ROA performance is found to be. Rather than leading to improved profitability, Chinese banks' efforts to develop non-traditional banking business actually have a negative impact on the ROA. The ROA performance of larger Chinese banks (in terms of assets) is found to be inferior to that of the smaller shareholding commercial banks. Originality/value - Particular emphasis will be placed on the unique characteristics of China's banking industry during this period of institutional transformation.
Chandlerism in Post-war Europe: Strategic and Structural Change in France, Germany and the UK, 1950-1993

This paper examines the Chandlerian model of corporate development in the light of new data on the strategies and structures of large European firms in the post-war period. Conglomerate strategies continue to spread, but these are typically less stable than strategies of related diversification. The divisional structure now predominates in Europe, suppressing more indigenous forms. The paper discusses implications both for economic arguments around the resource-based view of the firm and for institutionalist arguments around the spread of American management ideas. The paper concludes that Chandler's original model is remarkably robust to both change over time and differences across countries. Copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press.
Thrombotic events in critically ill children with myocarditis

Abstract Background: Children with myocarditis have multiple risk factors for thrombotic events, yet the role of antithrombotic therapy is unclear in this population. We hypothesised that thrombotic events in critically ill children with myocarditis are common and that children with myocarditis are at higher risk for thrombotic events than children with non-inflammatory dilated cardiomyopathy. Methods: This is a retrospective chart review of all children presenting to a single centre cardiac intensive care unit with myocarditis from 1995 to 2008. A comparison group of children with dilated cardiomyopathy was also examined. Antithrombotic regimens were recorded. The primary outcome of thrombotic events included intracardiac clots and any thromboembolic events. Results: Out of 45 cases with myocarditis, 40% were biopsy-proven, 24% viral polymerase chain reaction-supported, and 36% diagnosed based on high clinical suspicion. There were two (4.4%) thrombotic events in the myocarditis group and three (6.7%) in the dilated cardiomyopathy group (p = 1.0). Neither the use of any antiplatelet or anticoagulation therapy, use of intravenous immune globulin, presence of any arrhythmia, nor need for mechanical circulatory support were predictive of thrombotic events in the myocarditis, dilated cardiomyopathy, or combined groups. Conclusions: Thrombotic events in critically ill children with myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy occurred in 6% of the combined cohort. There was no difference in thrombotic events between inflammatory and non-inflammatory cardiomyopathy groups, suggesting that the decision to use antithrombotic prophylaxis should be based on factors other than the underlying aetiology of a child's acute decompensated heart failure.
Self-sampling is associated with increased detection of human papillomavirus DNA in the genital tract of HIV-seropositive women.

BACKGROUND Analysis of self-collected swab samples from the genital tract could improve accrual and retention of women in studies of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and precancerous cervical lesions. Self-collected vaginal swab specimens and physician-collected cervical swab specimens were compared for detection and typing of HPV DNA in 158 HIV-seropositive women. METHODS Paired samples were collected for 157 participants. Beta-globin was not detected in 6 (3.3%) physician-collected specimens and 8 (4.3%) self-obtained specimens collected from 11 women, leaving 146 paired samples suitable for PCR analysis. HPV DNA was amplified with the HPV primers PGMY09 and PGMY11 and typed using the line blot assay. RESULTS HPV DNA was detected more frequently in self-collected samples (95 [65.1%] of 146), compared with physician-collected samples (78 [53.4%] of 146) (P = .04). Self-collected samples contained a greater number of types (mean +/- SD, 1.60 +/- 1.80 types; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.31-1.90), compared with physician-collected samples (mean +/- SD, 1.25 +/- 1.66 types; 95% CI, 0.98-1.52) (P = .04). A good agreement between sampling methods was achieved for detection of any HPV DNA (kappa = 0.73; 95% CI, 0.58-0.89), high-risk types (kappa = 0.84; 95% CI, 0.68-0.99), and low-risk types (kappa = 0.71; 95% CI, 0.67-0.75). Agreement between sampling methods for detection of HPV DNA was found for 24 (88.8%) of 27 follow-up samples collected from a total of 20 women. A comparison of samples collected at consecutive visits revealed agreements for detection of any HPV DNA, detection of high-risk HPV, and HPV typing results between visits of 88.9% (24 of 27 samples), 81.5% (22 of 27), and 55.5% (15 of 27), respectively, for physician-collected samples, and 96.3% (26 of 27 samples), 92.6% (25 of 27), and 55.5% (15 of 27), respectively, for self-collected samples. CONCLUSION Analysis of self-collected vaginal swab samples improved the detection rate of HPV, suggesting that such samples might be of greater value than physician-obtained samples in studies of HPV transmission.
Clinical features associated with pre-hospital time delay in acute myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND The pre-hospital time delay in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is still a challenging problem since for many patients there are long intervals between the onset of symptoms and the initiation of therapy. The aim of this study was to verify which, among several clinical variables, are associated with a prolonged pre-hospital time delay. METHODS Five hundred and twenty-six unselected patients with AMI and consecutively admitted to three coronary care units were enrolled. The pre-hospital time delay was defined as the time interval from the onset of symptoms to admission to the coronary care unit. Clinical variables included: age, gender, body mass index, level of education, alcohol consumption, smoking habits, regular physical activity, history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, history of coronary artery disease (documented history of angina and/or previous myocardial infarction), chronic atrial fibrillation, Q-wave AMI and off hours onset of symptoms. After univariate analysis, multivariable regression analysis was used. RESULTS The mean age of the patients was 66.6 +/- 12.1 years and 28.7% were female. The median pre-hospital time interval was 200 min (95% confidence interval 60-1140). For 342 patients the pre-hospital time interval was < or = 6 hours and for 184 patients it was > 6 hours. Those variables which, at univariate analysis, were found to significantly influence the pre-hospital delay were analyzed using a multivariable regression model where the dependent variable was the pre-hospital time interval. Chronic atrial fibrillation (p = 0.010), a history of coronary artery disease (p = 0.017), diabetes (p = 0.016) and age > or = 70 years (p = 0.009) were found to be independently associated with a prolonged prehospital time interval. Similar results were obtained when considering only Q-wave AMI. As expected, the thrombolytic therapy rate was much lower in patients with a longer pre-hospital time delay. CONCLUSIONS The present study shows that, in case of AMI, the time interval between the onset of symptoms and a patient's arrival to hospital is still far from being optimal. This is especially true for older patients with diabetes, a history of coronary artery disease or chronic atrial fibrillation. Cardiologists should be aware of this problem and should implement adequate educational strategies addressed to those patients at highest risk.