Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hyper-Growth Among European SMEs: An Explorative Study

High-growth firms deserve increasing attention from researchers, as they account for the largest amount of new job generation and contribute to wealth and general economic development. However, although it’s easy to conceive that firms rapidly growing hundreds of times their original size are far different from “usual” high-growth firms, literature has never explicitly investigated hyper growth as a different phenomenon with its own distinctive characteristics. This study tries to fill this gap by focusing on the factors distinguishing European hyper-growth firms from their lower-growth counterparts in order to suggest policies that could foster growth in European countries. Such firms are found to be younger (1) more involved in merger and acquisition (2) and listing (3) activities, to raise higher levels of debt (4) with a lower solvency (5) and rely more upon investments in fixed assets (6) Ownership (7) does not seem to play a distinctive role in distinguishing hyper growth firms.
Investor Protection and Financial Structure

Both shareholder protection and creditor protection are considered in a general equilibrium model with two competing technologies. Entrepreneurs are wealth-constrained and resort to banks and the equity market for external financing. The economy's financial structure is determined by the relative quality of shareholder protection and creditor protection. The coexistence of banks and the equity market is shown to be beneficial. The external financing preference of a firm follows the pecking order with limited debt capacity. Better creditor protection leads to larger debt capacity. I show that the ownership structure has a hump-shape relation with the quality of shareholder protection. Ownership is more concentrated with better creditor protection and in firms with wealthier entrepreneurs. The market return and entrepreneurial activities weakly increase with the quality of both shareholder protection and creditor protection. Increases in shareholder protection lower the firm values for firms that use sufficiently small amount of equity financing.
Mycobacterium avium Complex Common-Source or Cross-Infection in AIDS Patients Attending the Same Day-Care Facility

Abstract To delineate the epidemiology of Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome patients, we studied 32 case patients with disseminated MAC infection who attended the same daycare facility during a period of 13 months. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis showed very low similarity between MAC strains, suggesting that, despite close contacts between the patients, nosocomial cross-transmission or exposure to a common source of MAC did not occur
A nationwide surveillance scheme for equine grass sickness in Great Britain: results for the period 2000-2009.

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY Equine grass sickness (EGS) remains a frequently fatal disease of equids in Great Britain (GB). The first nationwide surveillance scheme for EGS was developed to obtain information on the occurrence of EGS and to help facilitate future proposed intervention studies, such as vaccine trials. OBJECTIVES To collect both retrospective and prospective data on cases of EGS occurring in GB since 2000 and to assess potential risk factors for categories of EGS and survival after chronic EGS. METHODS Prospective data were collected using a nationwide surveillance scheme for EGS that was developed and initiated in 2007. Data were collected by means of postal and online questionnaires documenting both retrospective premises-level and prospective case-level information. Data on outcomes of EGS category and survival after chronic grass sickness (CGS) were analysed using univariable logistic regression. RESULTS Descriptive data for 1410 EGS cases occurring in GB in the decade between the beginning of 2000 and the end of 2009 are presented. Univariable logistic regression analyses identified that CGS cases in Scotland were significantly more likely to survive than those occurring elsewhere in GB. There was no relationship between case details and the category of EGS or the outcome among CGS cases. CONCLUSIONS EGS affected equids throughout England, Scotland and Wales. Although an overall average of 141 cases were reported to the nationwide surveillance scheme annually, this number of cases was not consistent between years. Around 50% of CGS cases survived, although regional differences in survival rates existed, probably due to variation in expertise of care and/or disease severity. POTENTIAL RELEVANCE This study provides information on the spatiotemporal occurrence of EGS in GB during the last decade. Data from the nationwide surveillance scheme can be used in developing protocols for future intervention studies such as Clostridium botulinum vaccine trials.
Social Network Analysis Using Coordination Games

Communities typically capture homophily as people of the same community share many common features. This paper is motivated by the problem of community detection in social networks, as it can help improve our understanding of the network topology and the spread of information. Given the selfish nature of humans to align with like-minded people, we employ game theoretic models and algorithms to detect communities in this paper. Specifically, we employ coordination games to represent interactions between individuals in a social network. We represent the problem of community detection as a graph coordination game. We provide a novel and scalable two phased approach to compute an accurate overlapping community structure in the given network. We evaluate our algorithm against the best existing methods for community detection and show that our algorithm improves significantly on benchmark networks (real and synthetic) with respect to standard Normalised Mutual Information measure.
Casino Capitalism?: Insider Trading in Australia

Casino Capitalism? Insider Trading in Australia gives a revelaing insight into insider trading in Australia. Officials, brokers, merchant bankers, partners in law firms, financial advisers, financial journalists, and many others were interviewed and invited to offer their perceptions of the incidence of insider trading abd to comment on the effectiveness of regulation in the industry. The findings of the Griffiths Committee of 1989 and the Federal Government's new insider trading legislation are also examined closely. Case law is discussed in detail and comparisonsare drawn with the securities industry and the securities legislation in the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Markets for Technology: The Economics of Innovation and Corporate Strategy

The past two decades have seen a gradual but noticeable change in the economic organization of innovative activity. Most firms used to integrate research and development with activities such as production, marketing, and distribution. Today, firms are forming joint ventures, research and development alliances, licensing deals, and a variety of other outsourcing arrangements with universities, technology-based start-ups, and other established firms. In many industries, a division of innovative labor is emerging, with a substantial increase in the licensing of existing and prospective technologies. In short, technology and knowledge are becoming definable and tradable commodities. Although researchers have made significant advances in understanding the determinants and consequences of innovation, until recently they have paid little attention to how innovation functions as an economic process. This book examines the nature and workings of markets for intermediate technological inputs. It looks first at how industry structure, the nature of knowledge, and intellectual property rights facilitate the development of technology markets. It then examines the impacts of these markets on firm boundaries, the division of labor within the economy, industry structure, and economic growth. Finally, it examines the implications of this framework for public policy and corporate strategy. Combining theoretical perspectives from economics and management with empirical analysis, the book also draws on historical evidence and case studies to flesh out its research results.
Is the incidence of congenital hypothyroidism really increasing? A 20-year retrospective population-based study in Québec.

CONTEXT Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is reportedly increasing in the United States, possibly reflecting changes in screening methods. In Québec, the same initial TSH cutoff (15 mU/liter) has been used for the last 20 yr, but in 2001, the cutoff was decreased from 15 to 5 mU/liter for the second test, which is requested when TSH is intermediate (15-30 mU/liter) on the first. OBJECTIVES Our objective was to assess the incidence of CH over the last 20 yr in Québec. DESIGN, SETTING, PATIENTS, AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE This is a population-based retrospective study. Incidences by etiology based on thyroid scintigraphy with technetium were compared between 1990-2000 and 2001-2009. RESULTS Of 1,660,857 newborns over 20 yr, 620 had CH (incidence 1:2679). Etiology was dysgenesis (n = 389, 1:4270), either ectopy (n = 290) or athyreosis (n = 99), goiter (n = 52, 1:31,940), normal-size gland in situ (n = 115, 1:14,442), and unknown (n = 64, 1:25,950). The new screening algorithm identified 49 additional cases (i.e. 25 normal-size gland in situ, 12 unknown etiology, 10 ectopies, and two goiters). Consequently, the incidence of normal-size gland in situ or of unknown etiology more than doubled (1:22,222 to 1:9,836, P = 0.0015; and 1:43,824 to 1:17,143, P = 0.0018, respectively) but that of dysgenesis and goiter remained stable. Had the 1990-2000 algorithm been applied in 2001-2009, no change in incidence would have been observed in any category. CONCLUSION Estimating the incidence of CH is influenced by minimal changes in TSH screening cutoffs. Lower cutoffs identify additional cases that have predominantly functional disorders whose impact on intellectual disability, if left untreated, remains to be determined.
Seasoned Equity Issues With 'Soft' Information: Theory and Empirical Evidence

We develop a model of seasoned equity issues (SEOs) under asymmetric information where, in addition to observing the firm's issue/no issue decision, outsiders obtain "soft information" signals about firms through noisy voluntary disclosures made by firms or information production by outsiders. We show that, if sufficiently precise soft information is available to outsiders, firms' equity issue behavior is significantly altered in equilibrium relative to that in existing models of SEOs. In particular, while existing models predict that the announcement effect to a public offering of equity will always be negative, our model predicts that the announcement effect will be positive for a significant fraction of SEOs. We predict that the announcement effect will be positive or negative depending on the realization of outsiders' soft information, the value of the firm's assets-in-place, and the net present value of its growth opportunities, with firms about which outsiders have more favorable soft information receiving algebraically larger (more positive or less negative) SEO announcement effects. We also have predictions for the relationship between the precision of outsiders' soft information and the amount of underinvestment in that firm, and for a firm's debt to equity ratio. Finally our model provides a rationale for the existence of "investor relations" departments in many firms. We test two of the predictions of our model using stock price data of a sample of firms making equity issues, and using revisions in analyst recommendations and earnings forecasts as proxies for the realizations of outsiders' soft information signals about these firms. The evidence is consistent with the predictions of our model.
Thermal behaviour of crustaceans

Specific thermoreceptors or putative multimodal thermoreceptors are not known in Crustacea. However, behavioural studies on thermal avoidance and preference and on the effects of temperature on motor activity indicate that the thermosensitivity of crustaceans may be in the range 0.2–2°C. Work on planktonic crustaceans suggests that they respond particularly to changes in temperature by klinokinesis and orthokinesis. The thermal behaviour of crustaceans is modified by thermal acclimation among other factors. The acclimation of the critical maximum temperature is an example of resistance acclimation, while the acclimation of preference behaviour may be classified as capacity acclimation of some other function. In crustaceans, the use of the concepts stenothermy and eurythermy at the species level is questionable, and it is not possible to divide crustacean species into thermal guilds as suggested for fishes. Thermal preference behaviour contributes to fitness in different ways in different species, often by maximising the aerobic metabolic scope for activity. In crustaceans the peripheral nervous system seems to have retained the capacity for thermosensitivity and thermal acclimation independently of the central nervous system control of behaviour.
No evidence for external genital morphology affecting cryptic female choice and reproductive isolation in Drosophila

Genitalia are one of the most rapidly diverging morphological features in animals. The evolution of genital morphology is proposed to be driven by sexual selection via cryptic female choice, whereby a female selectively uptakes and uses a particular male's sperm on the basis of male genital morphology. The resulting shifts in genital morphology within a species can lead to divergence in genitalia between species, and consequently to reproductive isolation and speciation. Although this conceptual framework is supported by correlative data, there is little direct empirical evidence. Here, we used a microdissection laser to alter the morphology of the external male genitalia in Drosophila, a widely used genetic model for both genital shape and cryptic female choice. We evaluate the effect of precision alterations to lobe morphology on both interspecific and intraspecific mating, and demonstrate experimentally that the male genital lobes do not affect copulation duration or cryptic female choice, contrary to long‐standing assumptions regarding the role of the lobes in this model system. Rather, we demonstrate that the lobes are essential for copulation to occur. Moreover, slight alterations to the lobes significantly reduced copulatory success only in competitive environments, identifying precopulatory sexual selection as a potential contributing force behind genital diversification.
The determinants of the risk premium required by Italian private equity funds

This research aims to identify the determinants of the ex-ante risk premium required by Italian private equity funds (PEFs) when valuing privately-held target companies. In theory, perceived risk is a key driver of expected returns and anticipated value, but: “Although PE (private equity) has experienced rapid growth, the risk and return profile of this asset class is not well understood. ” (Jegadeesh et al., 2009). Some papers have attempted to assess the ex post returns pioneered by Lerner & Gompers (1997). Yet such studies reveal both contradictory conclusions and hitherto inexplicable phenomena: what some authors call the “private equity premium puzzle” (Moskowitz & Jorgensen, 2000). Such contradictory conclusions include a wide spread of abnormal realized returns ranging from -6% (Phalippou & Gottschalg, 2009) to +32% (Cochrane, 2005). In this research, the perceived risk and expected return drivers refer not to the ex-post realized return that PEF investors actually achieve, but to the required return the PEF hopes to gain from the target investment. At this stage, two important indicators adopted in PEF parlance have to be differentiated: (i) the Expected IRR (E.IRR) and (ii) the Threshold IRR (T.IRR). The first is the IRR as an output of a business plan, and the second
An Exploratory Study of Body Awareness in Persons With Heart Failure Treated Medically or With Transplantation

Heart failure is a chronic disabling problem afflicting a growing number of adults. These individuals experience episodes of exacerbation demonstrated by increasing shortness of breath, fatigue, and fluid retention. The symptoms often develop in a slow and insidious manner making perception of worsening difficult to determine. Theoretically, an increase in body awareness may help individuals recognize symptoms of worsening heart failure earlier, but it is not known whether increased body awareness leads to somatization, an abnormal dwelling on body symptoms. This study was conducted to describe body awareness in 90 persons with heart failure or after transplant. We found that the Body Awareness Quesionnaire was a reliable measure of this concept in this sample. When body awareness was examined for age, gender, and treatment (HF or transplant) group were examined, no significant differences were found. Furthermore, there were no significant relationships between body awarenss and negative moods such as anxiety, depression, or anger. Interventions to enhance body awareness may be a fruitful new direction that will improve symptom recognition without increasing somatization in persons with heart failure.
Increased oxidative stress and coenzyme Q10 deficiency in juvenile fibromyalgia: amelioration of hypercholesterolemia and fatigue by ubiquinol-10 supplementation

Abstract Fibromyalgia (FM) is characterized by generalized pain and chronic fatigue of unknown etiology. To evaluate the role of oxidative stress in this disorder, we measured plasma levels of ubiquinone-10, ubiquinol-10, free cholesterol (FC), cholesterol esters (CE), and free fatty acids (FFA) in patients with juvenile FM (n = 10) and in healthy control subjects (n = 67). Levels of FC and CE were significantly increased in juvenile FM as compared with controls, suggesting the presence of hypercholesterolemia in this disease. However, plasma level of ubiquinol-10 was significantly decreased and the ratio of ubiquinone-10 to total coenzyme Q10 (%CoQ10) was significantly increased in juvenile FM relative to healthy controls, suggesting that FM is associated with coenzyme Q10 deficiency and increased oxidative stress. Moreover, plasma level of FFA was significantly higher and the content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in total FFA was significantly lower in FM than in controls, suggesting increased tissue oxidative damage in juvenile FM. Interestingly, the content of monoenoic acids, such as oleic and palmitoleic acids, was significantly increased in FM relative to controls, probably to compensate for the loss of PUFA. Next, we examined the effect of ubiquinol-10 supplementation (100 mg/day for 12 weeks) in FM patients. This resulted in an increase in coenzyme Q10 levels and a decrease in %CoQ10. No changes were observed in FFA levels or their composition. However, plasma levels of FC and CE significantly decreased and the ratio of FC to CE also significantly decreased, suggesting that ubiquinol-10 supplementation improved cholesterol metabolism. Ubiquinol-10 supplementation also improved chronic fatigue scores as measured by the Chalder Fatigue Scale.
Current Perspectives on the Use of Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion in the Acute Care Setting and Overview of Therapy

Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII), also called the insulin pump, has emerged as a safe and effective therapy in the last 20 years. Utilization of CSII in several studies has shown reductions in hypoglycemia and improvement in glycemic control compared with multiple daily injections. Diabetes mellitus is often a comorbid condition in patients requiring critical care. Surprisingly, there exist no guidelines for use of CSII in the inpatient setting, and no tested protocols for management of CSII in the hospital. With solid evidence as to the benefits of this therapy in diabetes and the heightened attention to the importance of optimal inpatient glycemic control, guidelines and tested protocols for CSII use during hospitalization are warranted. We share our own guidelines for the inpatient management of the insulin pump which has allowed our hospital to address the unique challenges that pump users present with during acute illness. A general overview of the insulin pump's history, rationale for use, patient selection, and implementation is also discussed.
Hormone receptor status and pathologic response of HER2-positive breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and trastuzumab.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to compare the extent of pathologic response in patients with HER2-positive (HER2+) breast cancer treated with standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy, with or without trastuzumab (H), according to hormone receptor (HR) status. PATIENTS AND METHODS We included 199 patients with HER2+ breast cancer from three successive cohorts of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy on the basis of paclitaxel (Taxol) (P) administered weekly (w) or three weekly (3-w), followed by 5-fluorouracil (F), doxorubicin (A) or epirubicin (E), and cyclophosphamide (C). Residual cancer burden (RCB) was determined from pathologic review of the primary tumor and lymph nodes and was classified as pathologic complete response (pCR) or minimal (RCB-I), moderate (RCB-II), or extensive (RCB-III) residual disease. RESULTS In HR-positive (HR+) cancers, a higher rate of pathologic response (pCR/RCB-I) was observed with concurrent H + 3-wP/FEC (73%) than with 3-wP/FEC (34%, P = 0.002) or wP/FAC (47%; P = 0.02) chemotherapy alone. In HR-negative (HR-) cancers, there were no significant differences in the rate of pathologic response (pCR/RCB-I) from 3-wP/FAC (50%), wP/FAC (68%), or concurrent H + 3-wP/FEC (72%). CONCLUSIONS Patients with HR+/HER2+ breast cancer obtained significant benefit from addition of trastuzumab to P/FEC chemotherapy; pathologic response rate was similar to that seen in HR-/HER2+ breast cancers.
Comment on “Illusions Promote Mating Success in Great Bowerbirds”

Kelley and Endler (Reports, 20 January 2012, p. 335) claim that male great bowerbirds construct a visual illusion, using display object gradients, that affects mating success. We argue that they provide inadequate statistical support for their hypothesis, inappropriately exclude important data, and do not consider other display traits that explain mating success. We propose a more plausible alternative hypothesis to explain display object patterns.
Private Environmental Regimes in Developing Countries: Globally Sown, Locally Grown

Globally Sown, but Locally Grown: An Introduction Private Environmental Regimes as Tools of Global Governance When Are Private Environmental Regimes Effective, and Why? International Forestry Regulation and the Forest Stewardship Council The Forest Stewardship Council in Argentina and Brazil The International Chemicals Manufacturing Industry and Responsible Care Responsible Care in Argentina and Brazil Globally Sown but Locally Grown: How Local Organizational Capacity Limits the Viability of Global Private Regimes
Attitudes towards Customer Satisfaction Measurement in the Retail Sector

Reports a research study to assess corporate attitudes to customer service measurement (CSM), following criticism of CSM in the literature. Findings are based on a survey among marketing managers in 86 large UK retail and retail service organisations. Results include: 1) CSM is generally agreed to be inadequate on its own, so is often supplemented with mystery shopping and staff surveys; 2) most managers do not agree with the published criticisms of CSM, although some are dissatisfied with their CSM programmes. In particular, more needs to be done in provision of feedback to dissatisfied customers and benchmarking customer satisfaction against competitors.