Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Critical strategies for Chinese architectural, engineering and construction firms to achieve profitability

Purpose – An appropriate choice of strategies helps firms to survive and develop in a turbulent economic environment. The problem is that there are many strategies that can be adopted, but it is not clear which ones would boost profitability. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how architectural, engineering and construction (A/E/C) firms headquartered in mainland China (Chinese A/E/C firms) can achieve profitability in China; specifically, to uncover the critical strategies and practices adopted by Chinese A/E/C firms to achieve profitability using Porter's generic competitive strategies, Sun Tzu's Art of War, and the networking approach.Design/methodology/approach – The data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire. The data collection methods were mail survey and face‐to‐face interviews. The population comprised all A/E/C firms headquartered in China. Samples were randomly drawn from the China Construction Industry Association's database. Stratified sampling was adopted to select on.
Contemporary trends in employee involvement and participation

Employee involvement and participation have been at the heart of industrial relations since its inception, although much of the contemporary terminology has moved away from ‘industrial democracy’ employed by the Webbs in 1898. The labels and terms for employee involvement and participation have expanded and varied over time, reflecting different disciplinary bases (industrial relations, human resource management, psychology and political science), changing socio-economic contexts, competing goals between management, labour and government, and a variety of practices. This complexity has become problematical because not all terms are equivalent in their meanings and their different parameters are not always clearly defined. We attempt to provide some clarity by defining ‘employee voice’ or ‘participation’ as umbrella terms denoting a wide range of practices. The article also clearly delineates direct and representative approaches to employee participation, and their interrelationship. Two critical contemporary issues are the role of the state and the link between participation and organisational performance. The article concludes that the sphere of employee involvement and participation is likely to remain contested, but that its strategic viability is enhanced when linked with employee well-being as well as performance. Successful state intervention requires public policy integration and dialogue between government, employers and employee representatives.
FDI Legitimacy and MNC Subsidiary Control: From Legitimation to Competition

This study contributes to the subsidiary control literature by empirically demonstrating the importance of FDI legitimacy in determining subsidiary ownership and expatriate staffing levels. Based on organizational ecology theory (OET), our study considers the tension between legitimation and competition pressures. This is a significant step beyond institutional theory, which only accounts for the former pressure. Based on a sample of Japanese MNCs, we find that there is an interaction effect between subsidiary size and FDI legitimacy on both subsidiary ownership and expatriate staffing levels. With increasing FDI legitimacy, smaller subsidiaries tend to increase their ownership and expatriate staffing levels, whereas larger subsidiaries tend to reduce their ownership and expatriate staffing levels. The results hold both across host countries and over time. Our findings have significant theoretical and practical implications. MNCs are advised to give full attention to the dual pressure of legitimation and competition when determining subsidiary control strategies. Caution is advised when applying the institutional theory based prescription that MNCs should assume higher ownership and expatriate staffing levels in their subsidiaries with increasing FDI legitimacy.
The dynamics of local innovations among formal and informal enterprises: Stories from rural South Africa

Exploiting the developmental potential of innovation for marginalised communities requires a context-specific understanding of the features and mechanics of innovation. In this article we explore the nature of innovation with the aid of evidence collected from formal and informal enterprises in rural district municipalities (RDMs) in South Africa. It is a complex socio-economic space which invites rethinking of traditional notions of innovation: the rigid divide between formal and informal innovations, fluid spatial scales of innovation and interactions across actors and sectors. The findings contribute to our understanding of innovations, innovation activities and their place in our society by illustrating that narrow views about the origin and formality of innovators and innovations obscure the reality. Informal innovations occur within and are undertaken by actors in the so-called informal and formal sectors of the rural economy and, despite their location in different parts of the local economy and the possible differences in complexity of the outputs, the innovation characteristics are similar and resemble those of informal innovation. These findings identify four areas for policy action.
Interaction of Stock Return Momentum with Earnings Measures

Examination of the interaction of stock return momentum with various earnings measures finds that large-capitalization companies with poor past returns and high return on equity (ROE) significantly underperform the market and companies with poor past returns and low ROE. Thus, the profitability of high-ROE companies with poor past returns may have peaked. In addition, companies with poor past returns and poor earnings quality (as measured by accruals) significantly underperform the market and companies with poor past returns and good earnings quality. Therefore, the market may not fully recognize manipulation of earnings. The findings are consistent with the explanation that momentum is driven by slow reaction to news. This article examines the interaction of stock return momentum with various measures of earnings. I had two goals in mind. First, such an analysis could help investors and portfolio managers understand the dynamics of the stocks in their portfolios and thus enhance portfolio performance. Second, and as important, the analysis deepens the profession’s theoretical understanding of the intermediate-term momentum phenomenon. I computed the historical performance of 25 bivariate stock quintile portfolios. Stocks were placed in the first set of quintiles based on their past year’s return and in a second set of quintiles based on an earnings measure. The universe is the S&P 500 Index, and the historical time period is 1970 to 2004. The earnings measures that I report are trailing return on equity, change in ROE, and earnings quality (as measured by balance sheet accruals). I also used as earnings measures forecast ROE, change in forecast ROE, P/E, and price-to-book ratio (results reported in the appendix). Results for a one-month holding period are reported (with results for a six-month holding period available online). I found that large-cap companies with poor past returns and high ROEs not only significantly underperform the market but also underperform companies with poor past returns and low ROEs. (Similar results were found for forecast ROE, change in ROE, and change in forecast ROE.) This finding suggests that the profitability of companies with high ROEs and poor past returns may have already peaked. In addition, I found that companies with poor past returns and poor earnings quality significantly underperform the market and companies with poor past returns and good earnings quality. This finding implies that company managers’ manipulation of earnings may not be fully recognized by the market, which enhances the momentum effect. These findings are consistent with the behavioral explanation that the momentum phenomenon is driven by the market’s slow reaction to news.
Earth: The Sequel: The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming

The forecasts are grim and time is running out, but that's not the end of the story. In this book, Fred Krupp, longtime president of Environmental Defense Fund, brings a stirring and hopeful call to arms: We can solve global warming. And in doing so we will build the new industries, jobs, and fortunes of the twenty-first century.In these pages the reader will encounter the bold innovators and investors who are reinventing energy and the ways we use it. Among them: a frontier impresario who keeps his ice hotel frozen all summer long with the energy of hot springs; a utility engineer who feeds smokestack gases from coal-fired plants to voracious algae, then turns them into fuel; and a tribe of Native Americans, for two thousand years fishermen in the roughest Pacific waters, who are now harvesting the fierce power of the waves themselves.These entrepreneurs are poised to remake the world's biggest business and save the planet-if America's political leaders give them a fair chance to compete.
Clinical Nurse Specialist Participation on a Collaborative Research Project: Barriers and Benefits

Clinical nurse specialists are expected to contribute to the development of new nursing knowledge through research activities. Competing demands require constant juggling of time and priorities, and activities, such as research, often do not receive the attention they deserve. Research requires specific skills and knowledge and significant time expenditure. Collaborative research is an appropriate way for the clinical nurse specialist to both contribute to research and improve his or her research skills. This article discusses two pediatric critical care clinical nurse specialists’ participation in a collaborative research team led by university faculty. The study was designed to reduce family uncertainty and stress and to increase staff nurse competency in providing family care. The ability of the clinical nurse specialists to contribute to the research team was enhanced by knowledge of the research process, good communication skills, and clinical expertise in the specific population of interest. Challenges for the clinical nurse specialists included limited experience in conducting clinical research and balancing clinical and research priorities. Both clinical nurse specialists and the university faculty benefited from this collaboration. The clinical nurse specialist, with expertise in a clinical specialty, is able to bridge the gap between the academic and clinical sites, making clinical research more likely. At the same time, working with expert researchers allows the clinical nurse specialist to increase his or her research skills.
Rotavirus P[8] Infections in Persons with Secretor and Nonsecretor Phenotypes, Tunisia

To determine whether rotavirus infections are linked to secretor status, we studied samples from children in Tunisia with gastroenteritis. We phenotyped saliva for human blood group antigens and tested feces for rotavirus. Rotavirus was detected in 32/114 patients. Secretor genotyping showed that P[8] rotavirus infected secretors and nonsecretors, and infection correlated with presence of Lewis antigen.
The Impact of Geographical Proximity on Vertical Integration through Specific Assets: The Case of the Spanish Meat Industry

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the role that agglomeration may have on vertical boundaries in exchanges associated with high transaction costs. Transaction cost economics identifies the presence of specific assets in stages of the value chain as the main driver of vertical integration. However, under the trustworthy and shared social milieu that agglomerated spaces may confer, neighboring firms can enjoy lower opportunism risk and communication costs. Therefore, we assume that even in the presence of specific assets, physically proximate firms are more likely to remain specialized and establish market exchanges. Empirical evidence in 10,186 establish- ments from the Spanish meat industry confirms these hypotheses, although it is found that the moderating role of agglomeration in the relationship between asset specificity and vertical inte- gration has a limited geographical reach. grow_541
Industrial Location and Protection: The Political and Economic Geography of U.S. Nontariff Barriers

The debate over the relationship between the location of industry and the incidence of import barriers has been miscast. Three problems call into question the findings reported in the endogenous protection literature. First, geographic concentration is widely used as a proxy for political concentration (i.e., the spread of industry across political districts), although these two variables are conceptually and empirically distinct. Second, extant measures of geographic concentration ignore the spatial relationship among units (e.g., counties or states) in which "lumpy" industries make their home, thereby often failing to detect concentration where it exists. Third, in those few studies in which political concentration receives any direct attention at all, nonmonotonic effects and interaction terms are seldom tested, despite their grounding in theories of interest group politics more generally. This article addresses all three problems. The results indicate that geographically concentrated but politically dispersed industries are the ones most likely to receive relief from imports, although a handful of very large industries benefit from being politically concentrated. The article thus reveals how to reconcile the two competing hypotheses around which one of endogenous protection theory's most enduring debates has taken shape.
Guest Editorial: Introduction to the Creative Class in European City Regions

Abstract This special issue presents the results of a European research project on the creative class in European city regions. In this introduction, the need for contextualizing the approach is underlined, taking into account the differences between the United States, where Richard Florida’s ideas were developed, and Europe. In modifying the approach to suit European conditions, varieties of capitalism and social capital perspectives were applied.
Firm failure and relationship lending in an emerging economy: new evidence from small businesses

We study the effect of relationship lending on small firms' failure probability using a uniquely rich data set comprised of information on individual loans of a large number of small firms in Colombia. We control for firm-specific variables and find that small firms involved in long-term liaisons with commercial banks have a significantly lower probability of becoming bankrupt than otherwise identical firms not involved in a long-term credit relationship. We also find that small firms with multiple banking relationships face a lower failure hazard than otherwise identical firms involved in a unique long-term relationship.
An Agent Dependent on the EU Member States? The Determinants of the European Commission’s Legislative Success in the European Union

Abstract For decades the European Commission’s possible legislative influence has interested scholars of EU studies, yet few empirical studies on the determinants of the Commission’s influence exist. This paper analyses quantitative data on 60 EU proposals to show to which degree rather endogenous resources of the Commission, external conditions determined by the EU member states or institutional constraints determine the Commission’s influence on EU legislation. Modeling the Commission as an agent having resources and strategic options, I demonstrate that the Commission’s ability to defend the content of its original proposals is to a large extent dependent on its principals, the member states. Endogenous resources of the Commission such as expertise and experience influence only to a small extent the legislative success of the Commission. Thus, this study allows gaining a deeper understanding on the factors influencing the European Commission’s influence on legislative affairs.
Treatment of Reverse Oblique and Transverse Intertrochanteric Fractures with Use of an Intramedullary Nail or a 95° Screw-Plate: A Prospective, Randomized Study

Background: Intertrochanteric fractures are composed of different anatomic patterns that vary in their degree of stability following open reduction and internal fixation. A particularly unstable group is classified as AO/OTA 31-A3, with the fracture pattern described as reverse oblique or transverse. The purpose of this study was to compare the results of intramedullary fixation with those of plate fixation for these intertrochanteric fractures in elderly patients.Methods: Thirty-nine elderly patients with AO/OTA 31-A3 intertrochanteric fractures of the femur were randomized into two treatment groups and were followed for a minimum of one year. The nineteen patients in Group I were treated with a 95° fixed-angle screw-plate (Dynamic Condylar Screw), and the twenty patients in Group II were treated with an intramedullary nail (Proximal Femoral Nail). The treatment groups were comparable with regard to all demographic and injury variables.Results: Patients treated with an intramedullary nail had shorter operative times, fewer blood transfusions, and shorter hospital stays compared with those treated with a 95° screw-plate. Implant failure and/or nonunion was noted in seven of the nineteen patients who had been treated with the 95° screw-plate. Only one of the twenty fractures that had been treated with an intramedullary nail did not heal.Conclusion: The results of our study support the use of an intramedullary nail rather than a 95° screw-plate for the fixation of reverse oblique and transverse intertrochanteric fractures in elderly patients.
Role of the Grain Oxidation in Improving the In-Field Behavior of ${\rm MgB}_{2}$  Ex-Situ Tapes

The grain size and the grain boundaries play an important role in determining the pinning properties and the current carrying capability of MgB2. Here we present an experimental study on the effect of grain oxidation on the superconducting properties of MgB2 ex-situ Powder-in-Tube (PIT) tapes. We fabricated Fe-sheathed monofilamentary tapes using a variety of powders synthesized in inert (IA) or oxidizing (OA) atmosphere. In order to understand the role of magnesium oxide (MgO) we studied the effect of the presence of the oxidation layer on the field dependence of the critical current density. To this purpose, we developed a process for the powder synthesis and tube filling and sealing in controlled atmosphere to reduce the oxygen contamination; with this process the connectivity of the grains in the final tapes proved to be increased. Then, we introduced a controlled oxidation step. We will show how the presence of the MgO layer enhances the critical current field dependence. High energy X-ray diffraction measurements were performed on the samples, and the grain size of the unsintered and sintered powders in the tapes was measured by means of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The pinning force was studied, and different mechanisms were found for the samples prepared in IA and OA. The different behavior shown by the two different typologies of tapes was correlated with the presence or absence of the MgO layer.
H2 and mixed-H2/H∞ stable stabilization

This paper presents sufficient conditions for designing stable H2 and H2/H, controllers. Specifically, we generalize previous results on strong stabilization using fixed-structure controller design by providing several new closed-loop Lyapunov/Riccati equations that guarantee that the compensator dynamics are stable prior to carrying out the optimization.
The Impact of Education Expenditure on India's Economic Growth

This paper tries to redefine the relationship between expenditure in education and economic growth in the Indian economy. Earlier emperical results reveal mixed results about the relationship in the Indian context. An econometric model is applied to the analysis with time series from 1980-2008, and the results obtained indicate that there exist a long-run relationship between education expenditure and economic growth. The error-correction estimates show that education expenditure per labour have a lesser impact on economic growth as compared to physical capital per labour. It can be observed that a 1% increase in physical capital per labour will lead to 0.28% increase in GDP per labour, and a 1% increase in government expenditure on education per labour will lead to 0.11% increase in GDP per labour.
Towards transformative social protection: a gendered analysis of the Employment Guarantee Act of India (MGNREGA)

The Employment Guarantee Act of India came into existence in 2005, with an associated policy and programme that have attracted a large number of women as participants. Primarily, women's participation in this programme has been as wage-seekers. This article argues that currently MNREGA, the well-known public works programme, has no impact on the social transformation (though legally claimed through provisions such as equal wages) that women involved in the programme need, but we can nevertheless see huge potential for women to do more than benefit in terms of day-to-day welfare: the programme has potential to support women's empowerment in the sense that it affords them the opportunity to experience their collective strength, and potentially redefine relations with men through involvement in the programme.
Memory-efficient discrete wavelet transform architecture based on wordlength optimization

Unlike the existing designs that improve the memory efficiency by reducing the on-chip memory words, we propose a memory-efficient 2-D DWT architecture which improves the memory efficiency by reducing the wordlength of the on-chip memory. Based on our recently proposed memory-efficient 2-D DWT architecture, which achieves the highest memory efficiency among the existing designs, we analyze the dynamic range and optimize the required integer bit (IB) width of every internal signal for memory reduction. We construct an architecture-specific accuracy model for both 9/7 and 5/3 2-D DWT and optimize the factional bit (FB) width of every internal signal without sacrificing the precision of the output. Theoretical estimation shows a 17.5% reduction of the temporal memory regardless of input image size and throughput. In addition, the arithmetic resource is reduced. The synthesis results in 90-nm CMOS show a better area-delay product (ADP) of 25.1% over the best existing design.