Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Easy to say, difficult to do: diversity management in retail

This article examines how operational managers are interpreting the management of diversity in practice. It is explicitly concerned with the way in which managing diversity was understood and applied in one large, long-established British retailing company. The findings suggest that while the business benefits attributed to diversity management are appealing to employers, it is a concept that lacks clarity for line managers both in terms of what it is and how it should be implemented within the anti-discrimination legal framework. Line managers, familiar with the value of demonstrating a common approach in their decision-making as the key means of defence against claims of discriminatory treatment, regarded a diversity management agenda concerned with recognising and responding to individual differences as more likely to lead to feelings of unfairness and claims of unequal treatment. It will be argued that, in the implementation of organisational diversity initiatives, employers need to take greater account of the tensions facing line managers, their interpretation of diversity management and perceptions of fair treatment as well as the operational context.
Reflexes from the Aortic Baroreceptor Fibers in the Cervical Vagus of the Cat and the Dog

The baroreceptor fibers which arise from the aortic arch course centrally within the vagus nerve in the dog, and they usually follow this path in the cat. Near the origin of the superior laryngeal nerve, a separate branch of the cervical vagus (the cervical aortic nerve) arises. Previously, it was thought that this nerve contained all the important baroreceptor afferents. Aortic baroreceptor fibers that are not within the cervical aortic nerve were studied in the anesthetized cat and dog after cervical aortic and carotid sinus nerves had been sectioned. Some experiments were acute, but most were conducted 13–60 days after nerve section (to allow transected nerves to degenerate). After degeneration, baroreceptor activity was found in the peripheral aortic nerves in most animals. The sensory terminals of the surviving baroreceptor fibers were on the aortic arch on the left side and at the root of the right subclavian artery on the right side. In one of four chronic cats, four of eight chronic dogs after degeneration, and one of three animals in acute experiments a depressor response (8–70 mm Hg in chronic and 10 mm Hg in acute experiments) followed stimulation of the peripheral aortic nerve. The surviving aortic baroreceptor fibers coursed centrally in the cervical vagus.
Ad Pricing by Multi-Channel Platforms: How to Make Viewers and Advertisers Prefer the Same Channel?

Ad-financed TV channels are two-sided platforms where media houses provide communication from advertisers to viewers. Most media houses air several channels, some of which are particularly valuable to advertisers. At first glance, one might expect the ad volumes to be highest for the channels that are the advertisers' favorites. However, a crucial management challenge for media houses is to ensure that viewers go where the potential for raising advertising revenue is greatest. Because viewers dislike ads, we show that this implies that advertising volumes will be relatively low (and advertising prices relatively high) in such channels. Indeed, other things equal, the ad volume in a channel is inversely related to its attractiveness to the advertising market. Only if the costs of using alternative tools to attract viewers to the advertisers' favorite channels are sufficiently small will the advertising volume in channels with high demand for ads be larger than in channels with low demand for ads.
Making the case for "techno-change alignment": A processual approach for understanding technology-enabled organisational change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop “techno‐change alignment” as an approach for evaluating the effectiveness of large‐scale technology‐enabled organisational change, commonly associated with the adoption of enterprise information systems (IS). Design/methodology/approach – By developing a processual analysis of techno‐change, useful insights are developed concerning techno‐change alignment, within the confines of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) case study. Recent techno‐change literature, emerging ideas on human agency, cultural and social relations are incorporated as part of the evaluation approach taken. The paper also discusses the implications of more recent work on techno‐change and suggests directions for future research.Findings – In terms of “structural” alignment, the ERP system was chosen because it reflected requirements of the case study in the university/education sector. As part of “strategic and intellectual” alignment, business processes were reviewed, as well as align.
Decision Making : Neural Mechanisms Dynamics of individual perceptual decisions

Merfeld DM, Clark TK, Lu YM, Karmali F. Dynamics of individual perceptual decisions. J Neurophysiol 115: 39–59, 2016. First published October 14, 2015; doi:10.1152/jn.00225. 2015. —Perceptual decision making is fundamental to a broad range of fields including neurophysiology, economics, medicine, advertising, law, etc. Although recent findings have yielded major advances in our understanding of perceptual decision making, decision making as a function of time and frequency (i.e., decision-making dynamics) is not well understood. To limit the review length, we focus most of this review on human findings. Animal findings, which are extensively reviewed elsewhere, are included when beneficial or necessary. We attempt to put these various findings and data sets, which can appear to be unrelated in the absence of a formal dynamic analysis, into context using published models. Specifically, by adding appropriate dynamic mechanisms (e.g., high-pass filters) to existing models, it appears that a number of otherwise seemingly disparate findings from the literature might be explained. One hypothesis that arises through this dynamic analysis is that decision making includes phasic (high pass) neural mechanisms, an evidence accumulator and/or some sort of midtrial decision-making mechanism (e.g., peak detector and/or decision boundary).
Board Effectiveness and Short Termism

We examine whether more effective boards in terms of size, experience, shareholding and independence, as discussed in the 2010 UK Corporate Governance Code, limit excessive short-term risk taking or short-termism. We use a state-of-the-art asset pricing model that enables the disentangling of short-term risk (related to short-term returns) and long-term risk (related to long-term returns), and use the former as a proxy for short-termism, where the short-term component not only represents the time horizon for which we are interested but also the risk that is not related to fundamentals. We examine 916 firms in the UK over a possible horizon of 18 years, January 1992–December 2010, and find that more effective boards are associated with lower levels of short-term risk and this result is robust to various types of short-term risk (overall, downside) and specifications.
Methotrexate in autoimmune urticaria.

Sir, Chronic idiopathic urticaria may be autoimmune in origin (autoimmune urticaria), caused by functional autoantibodies that activate mast cells and basophils through cross linking the high affinity IgE receptor (FcεRIα) to secrete histamine. An incidence of 30% to 50% has been reported by various investigators. While there are no clinical features that distinguish ordinary urticaria from autoimmune urticaria, a simple test, the autologous serum skin test, can be used to detect functional autoantibodies. Patients with autoimmune urticaria whose disease is pursuing a severe disabling and recalcitrant course have been treated with immunosuppressive therapy, including cyclosporine. However, its high cost makes this drug an impractical option in India. Gach et al successfully tried methotrexate in two patients without detectable autoantibodies and in whom steroids and antihistamines were not effective. However, there are no randomized controlled studies of the use of methotrexate in patients with autoimmune urticaria. We report our preliminary experience of using methotrexate in four patients with autoimmune urticaria.
Gut modulatory and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory activities of Gaultheria trichophylla

Abstract Context: Gaultheria trichophylla Royle (Ericaceae) and related species have been used in the traditional system of medicine for the treatment of diarrhoea, pain and inflammation. Objective: The present investigation explores G. trichophylla for its potential activity in hyperactive gut disorders. Materials and methods: Antidiarrheal activity was evaluated on castor oil induced diarrhoea in mice with reference to standard drug verapamil. Gut modulatory activity was performed on isolated jejunum tissue preparations on spontaneous and high potassium induced contractions. Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitory activity was performed with an in vitro study. Extract was tested for toxicity in mice. Results: In the in vivo studies, the methanol extract of G. trichophylla and verapamil significantly (p < 0.05, 0.01, 0.001) inhibited the frequency of defecation as well as wetting of faeces when compared with the negative control. The methanol (Gt. MeOH) extract of G. trichophylla caused a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on spontaneous contractions in isolated rabbit jejunum preparations and exhibited a partial inhibitory effect against high K+ (80 mM) induced precontractions. Gt. MeOH shifted the Ca2+ concentration–response curves (CRCs) to the right, suggesting calcium channel blocking like constituents. In an in vitro assay Gt. MeOH inhibited BChE enzyme with an IC50 values of 35.52 ± 1.17 μg/mL. The extract showed no toxicity in mice at the dose of 3 g/kg. Discussion and conclusion: This study provides evidence that G. trichophylla possesses combinations of inhibitory and stimulatory effects mediated through possible cholinergic and less potent calcium blocking constituents, respectively. The latter may be responsible for the antidiarrheal effect.
Integrating procedural generation and manual editing of virtual worlds

Because of the increasing detail and size of virtual worlds, designers are more and more urged to consider employing procedural methods to alleviate part of their modeling work. However, such methods are often unintuitive to use, difficult to integrate, and provide little user control, making their application far from straightforward. In our declarative modeling approach, designers are provided with a more productive and simplified virtual world modeling workflow that matches better with their iterative way of working. Using interactive procedural sketching, they can quickly layout a virtual world, while having proper user control at the level of large terrain features. However, in practice, designers require a finer level of control. Integrating procedural techniques with manual editing in an iterative modeling workflow is an important topic that has remained relatively unaddressed until now. This paper identifies challenges of this integration and discusses approaches to combine these methods in such a way that designers can freely mix them, while the virtual world model is kept consistent during all modifications. We conclude that overcoming the challenges mentioned, for example in a declarative modeling context, is instrumental to achieve the much desired adoption of procedural modeling in mainstream virtual world modeling.
Compliance in the EU Enlargement Process: The Limits of Conditionality

In this article we analyze the effectiveness of EU conditionality. Viewing accession negotiations as a bargaining game, we find incentives to defect exist if the final date of accession is known, but conditions for cooperation prevail if the date is not known. Therefore we find that regardless of domestic conditions, EU conditionality is not equally effective throughout the period of preparation of a candidate for accession. Its effectiveness decreases sharply when the accession date is set and at that stage, as empirical evidence shows, the EU accepts the candidate’s state of reforms as sufficient. This can lead to potential problems with the transposition of EU directives just before and after accession. Our empirical overview shows that by means of breaking the process of enlargement into multiple stages and attaching conditions to the attaining every stage, the EU has aimed to prevent candidates from abandoning reform efforts by increasing their uncertainty about the final date of accession.
Research on agri-food supply chains in Southern Africa involving small-scale farmers: Current status and future possibilities

Abstract The main objective of this article is to review the research by agricultural economists over the past decade on linking smallholder farmers to agri-food supply chains in Southern Africa, and to consider international and local urban trends in the development of such supply chains. The research reviewed covers the constraints placed by transaction costs on access by smallholder farmers to input and product markets; the potential role of contracting in linking smallholders to agribusiness firms; linking smallholders to supermarkets; equity-share schemes; the role of trust in a business relationship; promoting investment in smallholder agriculture by developing rental markets in communal areas; and the role of collective action (e.g., the formation of cooperatives, investor-owned firms or trusts) in promoting access to input and product markets. The development of alternative food networks in urban areas, which face a growing influx of poor people, could provide opportunities for smallholders, as individuals or groups, to supply the communities with the products and services they desire.
The Self-Managing School and Social Justice: are they on the same planet?

The self-managing school is an educational reform that seems to have developed the status of reform 'we had to have'. Regardless of whether it was in the educational interests of schools or not, this reform has been foisted onto schools worldwide, and in many instances, with quite devastating effects. Yet, despite its pervasiveness, there is precious little evidence to show that this reform improves learning. On the contrary, for vast numbers of students, especially those who are already least advantaged, this reform is coming to be seen as being extremely damaging. The paper poses a number of questions about the undisclosed intention of this reform, how it works, for whom, and its corroding effects on large numbers of students and teachers.
Financial Development and Income in African Countries

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the relationship between financial system development and economic development. Using cointegration and vector autoregressive estimations on annual data from Africa, we examine the nature of the relationship between financial development and income. We find mixed results on both the short‐ and the long‐run relationships between the two variables. We find finance causing income, income causing finance, and bidirectional causality. The results indicate that neither the short‐run effects nor the long‐run relationship seem to linearly depend on the level of financial development or the stage of development.
Strategic Forward Contracting in the Wholesale Electricity Market

This paper analyses a wholesale electricity market with supply function competition. Trade in the forward and spot markets is represented by a two-stage game, and its subgame perfect Nash equilibrium (SPNE) is characterized. It is verified that increased forward sales of a producer constitute a credible commitment to aggressive spot market bidding. The paper identifies market situations when this pro-competitive commitment is unilaterally profitable for the producer. It is also proven that a producer has incentives to sell in the forward market in order to reduce competitors’ forward sales, which softens their spot market offers.
Pengaruh Tingkat Inflasi, Utang Luar Negeri dan Suku Bunga Kredit terhadap Cadangan Devisa Indonesia tahun 1996-2011

International trade plays an important role to meet the needs of the country. The international trade, it is necessary foreign exchange. Foreign exchange saved or commonly known reserves is important for the country mainly used for economic development of a country. This study aimed to determine the effect of simultaneous and partial secarak inflation, foreign debt and interest rates on foreign exchange reserves. The research was conducted in Indonesia by using secondary data. The analysis technique used is regression analysis techniques. Results of data analysis showed simultaneous inflation, foreign debt and lending rates significantly influence the foreign exchange reserves of Indonesia Year 1996-2011, the coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.964 means that 96.4 percent of the variation (rise and fall) Indonesia's foreign reserves in 1996 -2011 influenced by variations (rise and fall) the rate of inflation, foreign debt and interest rates, while the remaining 3.6 percent are influenced by other variables not included in the research model. Partially inflation rate has no effect, external debt and significant positive effect, and lending rates significantly and negatively related to the foreign exchange reserves of Indonesia in 1996-2011.
The Tangible Impact of School Finance Litigation

The purpose of this study was to address the extent to which adequacy litigation functions as a means for improving student achievement, particularly among low-income and minority students. The study extended theory established in prior studies, and took into account the idea that change takes several years to realize and that sufficient time to fully implement the court’s decision and embark on a mission of reform may not have been possible with the two-year turnaround time provided for in past studies.Longitudinal NAEP data were examined to answer the research questions and contribute to current theory that deals with adequacy, school finance litigation, and student achievement. A primary finding from the study was that the filing of an adequacy lawsuit can contribute to student achievement outcomes for students overall and that litigation that results in a plaintiff victory can affect achievement among minority student populations, particularly in fourth grade. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that school finance litigation can contribute to overall reform efforts in education. However, with the many influences on student achievement, students living in poverty do not appear to benefit from adequacy litigation.
What Determines Chinese Stock Returns

This study applied the three-factor model to A-shares in the Chinese equity market, one of the fastest growing markets ever. The sample period is July 1996 through June 2002. Size was found to explain the cross-sectional differences in returns, but contrary to findings for the U.S. market, the book-to-market ratio was not helpful. As in the U.S. experience, beta did not account for return differences among individual stocks. Because of the speculative nature of Chinese capital markets, the large proportion of government-owned shares, and the low quality of the companies' accounting information, the free float (that is, the ratio of shares in a public company that are freely available to the investing public to total company shares) was added to the study to serve as a proxy for company fundamentals. The three-factor model that included proxies for size and free float significantly increased the explanatory power of the market model—from 81 percent to 90 percent.
The Changing University Business Model: A Stakeholder Perspective

Universities are in a current state of transition, whereby they are expected to develop a wide range of relationships with stakeholders in order to enhance regional innovation systems. However, despite external environmental pressures commonly regarded as one of the main drivers of business model evolution, there is a lack of studies that explore business model innovation as a result of multiple stakeholder influences. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to examine the changing university business model within a region of the United Kingdom, using a stakeholder perspective that will aid theoretical development and refinement in both the business model and stakeholder fields. This examination is aided by consideration of the university business model as an activity system. Repeat interviews, combined with stakeholder theory, have been used to show how the changing university business model–stakeholder relationship has progressed through different stakeholder stages with resultant changes in content, structure and governance. Furthermore, conflicting objectives between each of the stakeholder groups (i.e. academics, industry liaison staff, technology transfer office staff and government support agency representatives) have led to the university business model evolving not as a process of co-creation but rather in a series of transitions whereby multiple stakeholders are continually shaping the university business model through strategies that are dependent upon their salience. Finally, this paper contributes to the development and refinement of business model innovation research, in that the use of stakeholder constructs can illustrate the impact of multiple stakeholders' power and influence on business model innovation.
Inter-Relay Interference in Two-Path Digital Relaying Systems: Detrimental or Beneficial?

This Letter studies the two-path digital relaying systems, where two relay nodes alternately forward messages from the source to the destination. By applying the signal space diversity (SSD) technique, a novel adaptive scheme is proposed to deal with the inter-relay interference (IRI). Our work reveals that, with careful protocol design, the IRI becomes a beneficial resource that can be utilized rather than a detrimental factor that has to be suppressed. Simulation results demonstrate that, in high average SNR regions, the proposed method outperforms the existing alternatives in terms of symbol error probability.
Empirical Estimates of Filtering Failure in Court-Supervised reorganization

We present the first comprehensive empirical estimates of filtering failure in a bankruptcy system. Using a sample of 303 firms attempting reorganization in Canada during 1977-88, we find that Type I errors (accepting a plan from a non-viable firm) are 4 times more likely to occur than Type II errors (rejecting a plan from a viable firm) and that the incidence of filtering failure is between 22 and 53 percent. Preliminary estimates using Jensen-Conklin data indicate that filtering failure under Chapter 11 is much higher than under Canadian law, and, interestingly, that Type II errors are much more likely than Type I errors in Chapter 11.
Selecting the best contractor to get performance: On time, on budget, meeting quality expectations

The most important element in construction procurement is contractor selection. Particularly, hiring contractors who are performers. Why then do facility owners continue to select non‐performing contractors? This paper presents a system for contractor selection that has resulted in a 99 per cent success rate for completing facility construction on time, on budget and meeting or even exceeding quality expectations. The Performance Information Procurement System (PIPS), a full information system that discourages non‐performers, identifies the best‐performing contractor for the project and motivates the contractor to improve their performance on the current project. Based on $3.5m research and over 300 tests, PIPS has the ability to minimise the owners’ risk (not being on time, on budget, and meeting quality expectations). PIPS allows facility and project managers the ability to control the contractor selection process through the use of performance information, assuring that the right contractor is selected for each project.