Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The relationship between timing of entry into a foreign market, entry mode decision and market selection

Companies that decide to internationalize have to respond to some basic questions, such as where and how to carry out their strategy. Classic literature regarding the internationalization process has focused on entry mode and market selection decisions. However, the recent international entrepreneurship perspective considers a new dimension: timing of entry. This new approach has opened up a new line of research, arguing that time is a dimension that must be explicitly considered in order to develop a proper understanding of the internationalization process of firms. However, very few papers have looked at all these questions from this perspective in an integrative manner. This article puts forward a proposal about the relationship that exists between the timing of entry into foreign markets, the entry mode decision, and market/country selection. Starting with a review of the variables that have traditionally been used to explain timing of entry and then looking at the different forms of internationalization, the aim of this article is to propose a link between these important questions in order to increase our understanding of a company’s internationalization process.
Performance and nature of genetically improved farmed tilapia: A bioeconomic analysis

Abstract The International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM), in collaboration with its partner organizations, has developed an improved strain of Nile tilapia (known as the GIFT strain) which shows superior performance in terms of growth and survival in on‐station conditions. The on‐station performance of the GIFT strain may, however, not be replicated in actual farm conditions. Before disseminating the GIFT strain, its performance and nature were evaluated in on‐farm conditions relative to the strains already being cultivated. This paper analyses the comparative performance of the GIFT strain on an average as well as on an efficient farm and assesses its nature in five Asian countries (i.e., Bangladesh, China, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam). Ordinary least squares regression and tobit models are estimated on the average weight at harvest and on the survival rate, respectively, to assess the comparative performance of the GIFT strain on an average farm. Stochastic frontier functions for weight at harvest are also estimated to assess the comparative performance of the GIFT strain on an efficient farm. Results show a superior performance of the GIFT strain compared to the non‐GIFT strains on both average and efficient farms. On an average farm, the GIFT strain gives 18% higher body weight at harvest in China to 58% higher in Bangladesh. The breakeven price above variable cost is 7–36% lower for the GIFT strain than for the other Nile tilapia strains in use. The GIFT strain is a neutral technology with respect to feed and fertilizer use in all five countries, except Bangladesh.
An empirical analysis of the determinants of the extent of disclosure in annual reports of joint stock companies in the Czech Republic

The paper1develops and empirically tests a disclosure model for the fifty Czech joint-stock companies that were included in the 1993 Prague Stock Exchange Index. Independent variables are drawn from prior theoretical and empirical research concerning voluntary disclosure. Dependent variables are based on Czech laws and regulations concerning financial disclosures. Univariate analyses generally support the existence of the hypothesized relationships between extent of disclosure in annual reports and firm size, profitability performance, financial risk, and monitoring variables. Multivariate regressions explain about 25% of the variance in the extent of disclosure in annual reports. Statistically significant variables in the multiple regressions include type of auditor, number of employees, stock exchange listing status, and return on equity performance. The results provide initial insights into Czech managements' choices concerning financial reporting and suggest topics for additional research
Sensitization and chronic beryllium disease at a primary manufacturing facility, part 2: validation of historical exposures.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of a job exposure matrix (JEM) constructed for the period 1994-1999. Historical exposure estimates (HEE) for the JEM were constructed for all job and year combinations by applying temporal factors reflecting annual change in area air measurements (1994-1998) to the personal baseline exposure estimates (BEE) collected in 1999. The JEM was generated for an epidemiologic study to examine quantitative exposure-response relationships with sensitization and chronic beryllium disease. METHODS The validity of the BEE and HEE was evaluated by comparing them with a validation dataset of independently collected personal beryllium exposure measurements from 1999 and 1994-1998, respectively. Agreement between the JEM and validation data was assessed using relative bias and concordance correlation coefficients (CCC). RESULTS The BEE and HEE overestimated the measured exposures in their respective validation datasets by 8% and 6%, respectively. The CCC reflecting the deviation of the fitted line from the concordance line, showed good agreement for both BEE (CCC=0.80) and HEE (CCC=0.72). Proportional difference did not change with exposure levels or by process area and year. Overall, the agreement between the JEM and validation estimates (from combined HEE and BEE) was high (CCC=0.77). CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated that the reconstructed beryllium exposures at a manufacturing facility were reliable and can be used in epidemiologic studies.
Exchange Rate Volatility and International Trade

The purpose of this note is to show that a positive effect of exchange rate volatility on export production has a theoretical basis. The key to this claim is that, as the exchange rate volatility increases, so does the value of the real option to export to the world market. Higher volatility increases the potential gains from trade. This may explain part of the mixed empirical findings regarding the effects of exchange rate risk on international trade.
Dietary L-arginine supplementation alleviates liver injury caused by Escherichia coli LPS in weaned pigs

This study was conducted to evaluate whether dietary supplementation with L-arginine (Arg) could attenuate Escherichia coli LPS-induced liver injury through the TLR4 signaling pathway in weaned pigs. Eighteen weaned pigs were allotted to three treatments: non-challenged control, LPS challenged control and LPS + 0.5% Arg. On d 18, pigs were injected with LPS at 100 µg/kg of body weight (BW) or sterile saline. Blood samples were obtained at 4 h post-injection. Pigs were then sacrificed for the collection of liver samples. Arg supplementation (0.5%) alleviated liver morphological impairment, including hepatocyte caryolysis, karyopycnosis and fibroblast proliferation induced by LPS challenge; it mitigated the increase of serum aspartate aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase activities induced by LPS (P < 0.05); it prevented the increase of hepatic TNF-α, malondialdehyde contents and mast cell number induced by LPS administration (P < 0.05); and it attenuated the elevation of hepatic NF-κB and TLR4-positive cell percentages (P < 0.05). These results indicate that Arg supplementation has beneficial effects in attenuating hepatic morphological and functional injury induced by LPS challenge in piglets. Additionally, it is possible that the protective effects of Arg on the liver are associated with a decreased release of liver pro-inflammatory cytokines and free radicals through inhibiting TLR4 signaling.
How Do Remittances Affect Human Capital Formation of School-Age Boys and Girls?

We revisit the impact of remittances on educational attainment of school-age children in Nepal, paying particular attention to differences between girls and boys. A heightened interest in understanding the impact of remitting practices on a variety of economic variables has emerged as remittances to developing countries continue to rise. In Nepal, the World Bank reports that remittances amounted to $1.2 billion (US dollars) in 2005, while GDP was $8.2 billion and official development assistance totaled $425 million (World Bank 2007). We use the 1995/1996 Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS) to examine the impact of remittances on human capital investments for female and male children. If remittances do affect human capital positively, then not only will remittances affect long-run growth in Nepal, but the opportunities for women in Nepal should improve as the female population becomes more educated. The effect of remittances on human capital investment is unclear a priori. Increasing income through remittances may increase investment in children’s schooling by relaxing household budget and capital constraints. Conversely, household absenteeism pressures children to work in the home, reducing time for education. Our data provide an opportunity to separate the effect of household disruption from the income effect of remittances on the decision to invest in schooling. We are able to measure the number of adults living outside the household so that we may control for absenteeism in estimating the impact of remittances on household schooling choices. We ask if the impact varies by gender and age group (young child versus older child). Our results indicate that young children benefit more from remittances, but the benefits, controlling How Do Remittances Affect Human Capital Formation of School-Age Boys and Girls?
U.S. AIRLINE DEREGULATION, IMPLICATIONS FOR EUROPEAN TRANSPORT /

The last fifteen years has seen a proliferation of deregulation in transportation industries throughout the world; in the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. While it is easy to view the European liberalisation of civil aviation as a latecomer to this trend, it takes place in by far the most difficult environment thus far. All previous deregulatory efforts have been solely domestic in nature. Even where trade between nations has been liberalised (such as in the North American Free Trade Agreement), transportation sectors have been explicitly excluded. While deregulation in individual countries has proceeded quickly, even though the various legislation provided for phased processes, the politics in Europe are likely to move the process along much more slowly. This expected sluggishness is due to two factors: the close association of the major European carriers with national governments, and differences in the competitive postures of these airlines. Historically, differences in competitive abilities of air carriers have led to restrictive competition rules. This is clearly evident in the unsuccessful attempts to reach a multilateral agreement on air transport at the I944 Chicago Convention. The United States with its large fleet of military transport aircraft, favoured a competitive 'open skies' international environment. Other industrialised countries, with their economies in near ruin, fearing that their aviation industries would be overwhelmed if they had to compete immediately with the American carriers, resisted. Less-developed countries, without any air transport at all, feared that they would be permanently excluded under an open skies policy. This failure to reach a multilateral agreement led to today's system of bilateral agreements, which specify the number of carriers, routes, capacities and fares for service between the two countries. Today, most countries have seventy or so of these agreements. This pattern of pursuing a pro-competitive multilateral agreement when possessing competitive advantage is also present among European countries. Those which have air carriers with high levels of productivity have pressed for such an agreement (British Airways and KLM). Those whose carriers are relatively poor performers have resisted (Alitalia, Iberia, Olympic). Even in the absence of differences in competitive advantage, countries will be reluctant to allow their national carriers to compete. Our discussion of European liberalisation begins with a description of the
Serological Discrimination of Dogs Infected with Gastric Helicobacter spp. and Uninfected Dogs

ABSTRACT Characterization of the humoral immune responses of people toHelicobacter pylori infection has facilitated the investigation of the host response to bacterial virulence factors and the development of sensitive and specific diagnostic tests. Dogs are commonly infected with gastric Helicobacter spp. , but the presence of multiple Helicobacter spp. and possible coinfection in individual dogs have complicated serological evaluation. Evaluation of the antigenic homology of Helicobacter spp. revealed that the major protein bands of Helicobacter felisand Helicobacter bizzozeronii, two Helicobacterspp. that infect dogs, were very similar to UreA (29 to 31 kDa), UreB (63 to 66 kDa), and HSP (58 to 60 kDa) of H. pylori, and sera from infected and uninfected dogs bound in a similar way to each antigen. Immunoblotting and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with H. felis ATCC 49179 antigen were performed with 101 serum samples (from 78 infected dogs and 23 uninfected dogs). Samples from uninfected dogs (median = 8) had fewer bands on immunoblotting than samples from infected dogs (median = 16) (P < 0.05). Combinations of the presence of any two of the low-molecular-mass bands (19, 25, 30, 32, and 37 kDa) or the high-molecular-mass bands (86 and 94 kDa) were found almost solely in samples from infected dogs (P < 0.0001). Kinetic ELISA results were significantly higher for samples from infected dogs (median = 0.0802 optical density unit [OD]/min) than for samples from uninfected dogs (median = 0.01428 OD/min). The combination of ELISA and immunoblotting results gave a specificity of 95.6% and a sensitivity of 79.8%. No correlation between ELISA results, colonization density, degree of inflammation, and presence of lymphoid follicles was observed. The results indicate substantial antigenic homology between H. felis, H. pylori, andH. bizzozeronii. The combination of ELISA and immunoblotting was a highly specific and moderately sensitive indicator of infection. The degree of seropositivity assessed by ELISA was not related to bacterial colonization density, the degree of gastric inflammation, or the presence of lymphoid follicles.
A family-owned publishing multinational: The Salvat company (1869-1988)

This article analyses the ability of European family businesses in the publishing sector to adapt to the various politico-economic circumstances of the turbulent twentieth century, examined through a case study of one of Spain's most prominent historical publishing houses: the Salvat company. The objective of the paper is to explain the reasons behind Salvat's growth as a family-owned multinational, from the time of its founding in 1869 to its eventual acquisition by the French group Hachette in 1988. It will be shown that this growth was supported by a number of factors: a notable capacity for innovation, not only technological but in terms of management and organisation; the active insertion of owners and managers in a diversity of social networks; an early and intense internationalisation; and - beginning in the 1960s - the professionalisation of the company's management. A process of knowledge accumulation within the company itself was the foundation for all of this adaptational capacity, and the key to understanding how Salvat evolved from a small family-owned Catalonian publishing house in 1869 to the world's leading Spanish-language publisher in the 1970s.
Assessing the impacts of citizen participation in science governance: exploring new roads in comparative analysis

In this paper we explore new avenues of analysis on the thorny issue of the impact of participatory technology assessment (PTA). We apply qualitative comparative analysis to data abstracted from a series of detailed country case studies of policy-making on xenotransplantation to explore which factors are decisive for policy outcomes. Contrary to our expectations that PTAs would contribute to restrictive policy outcomes, we find that this is not the case and that a combination of politicisation and public vigilance is pivotal to explaining policy outcomes. Further, our analysis was symmetrical in attempting to account for both permissive and restrictive policies. We conclude that the paper makes both a substantial and a methodological contribution to the literature on public participation in technology assessment and policy-making. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.
Social Capital and the Spiral of Silence

This study explores the role of social capital in the spiral of silence process and investigates whether (1) individual-level indicators of social capital are associated with willingness to express opinions, (2) individual-level indicators of social capital are associated with the perception that others support one’s opinions, and (3) perceived support for one’s opinions mediates the proposed relationship between individual-level social capital and willingness to express opinions. Three commonly examined individual-level indicators of social capital were analyzed—civic engagement, trust, and neighborliness. Results of a representative survey conducted on Guam showed that civic engagement had a direct effect on willingness to express opinions. Neighborliness and trust had direct positive effects on perceived support for one’s opinions, which in turn, were positively related to willingness to express opinions. Implications were discussed.
Hard Law, Soft Edge? Information, Consultation and Partnership

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the transposition of the EU directive on informing and consulting employees is likely to enhance voice and participation rights of Irish employees.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a literature based critique assessing the reasons for the “voice gaps” the evidence suggests exist in Irish workplaces and analysing the implications of the legal changes brought in by the information and consultation legislation.Findings – The paper argues that the transposition of the EU directive provided a unique opportunity to bolster voice mechanisms in Irish workplaces and “plug” some of the gaps identified in the literature. However, the paper argues this opportunity has been largely squandered, as a result of the Irish Goversment's minimalist approach to “hard” regulation of information and consultation rights in the transposing legislation.Research limitations/implications – The EU directive is perhaps of most relevance to those interested in the employ.
The effect of human resource practices on organizational performance: evidence from Greece

The present study addresses a central research question: how do human resource management practices contribute to organizational performance? We examined the following HR practices: (1) job security; (2) selective hiring; (3) self-managed teams and decentralization of decision making; (4) compensation policy; (5) extensive training; and (6) information sharing. We surveyed food managers in Greece and recorded their perceptions on HR practices and their relation to firm performance. Results provide overall support for all HR practices except of job security. Selective hiring was found to be a key practice that improved organizational performance. Compensation policy, information sharing, decentralization of decision making and extensive training were significant predictors for all performance variables. Directions for further research are provided.
Analysing the European Union's responses to organized crime through different securitization lenses

In the past 30 years, organized crime (OC) has shifted from being an issue of little, or no concern, to being considered one of the key security threats facing the European Union (EU), the economic and political fabric of its society and its citizens. The purpose of this article is to understand how OC has come to be understood as one of the major security threats in the EU, by applying different lenses of Securitization Theory (ST). More specifically, the research question guiding this article is whether applying different ST approaches can lead us to draw differing conclusions as to whether OC has been successfully securitized in the EU. Building on the recent literature that argues that this theoretical framework has branched out into different approaches, this article wishes to contrast two alternative views of how a security problem comes into being, in order to verify whether different approaches can lead to diverging conclusions regarding the same phenomenon. The purpose of this exercise is to contribute to the further development of ST by pointing out that the choice in approach bears direct consequences on reaching a conclusion regarding the successful character of a securitization process. Starting from a reflection on ST, the article proceeds with applying a “linguistic approach” to the case study, which it then contrasts with a “sociological approach”. The article proposes that although the application of a “linguistic approach” seems to indicate that OC has become securitized in the EU, it also overlooks a number of elements, which the “sociological approach” renders visible and which lead us to refute the initial conclusion.
Should Postanoxic Status Epilepticus be Treated Aggressively?—No!

Summary: Electrographic status epilepticus and myoclonus represent frequent findings in patients surviving cardiac arrest; both features have been related to poor clinical outcome. Recent data have outlined that status epilepticus appearing during therapeutic hypothermia and sedation is practically and invariably related to a fatal issue, as opposed to some patients presenting status epilepticus and/or myoclonus after return to normothermic conditions. Although it seems reasonable to give a chance of awakening to the latter patients by administering consequent antiepileptic treatment, especially if other favorable prognostic markers are observed, an aggressive treatment of status epilepticus arising during hypothermia seems futile in view of the existing evidence.
The Analysis of Re‐Employment Probabilities for the Unemployed

This paper is concerned with the modelling and estimation of the process covering the rate at which unemployed individuals leave unemployment. In particular it discusses the problems caused by unobservables in the estimation procedure and ways in which these problems may be attacked. Finally it comes to some rather pessimistic conclusions concerning the identification of the true process in the presence of unmeasured heterogeneity in the population.
Discretized Continuous Speech Emotion Recognition with Multi-Task Deep Recurrent Neural Network

Estimating continuous emotional states from speech as a function of time has traditionally been framed as a regression problem. In this paper, we present a novel approach that moves the problem into the classification domain by discretizing the training labels at different resolutions. We employ a multi-task deep bidirectional long-short term memory (BLSTM) recurrent neural network (RNN) trained with cost-sensitive Cross Entropy loss to model these labels jointly. We introduce an emotion decoding algorithm that incorporates longand short-term temporal properties of the signal to produce more robust time series estimates. We show that our proposed approach achieves competitive audio-only performance on the RECOLA dataset, relative to previously published works as well as other strong regression baselines. This work provides a link between regression and classification, and contributes an alternative approach for continuous emotion recognition.