Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nexus between corporate governance practices and cost of capital in PSX listed firms

Abstract The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between corporate governance (CG), in terms of its internal significance, and cost of capital (COC), based on a sample of listed firms of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) over the period of 2009–2015. We used Pakistan as a case study mainly because we expect that key features of Pakistani setting in terms of CG and financial markets will have impact on the relationship between CG and COC. Drawing on a sample of 120 PSX listed firms, we find that CG compliance and disclosure (CG index [CGI]) has improved over time among PSX listed firms. The findings also reveal a positive relationship of institutional, government and director ownership with both CGI and COC, while this relationship becomes negative with block ownership. The findings of 2SLS reveal a significant negative association between CG compliance and COC; hence, firms with higher CG score enjoy a lower COC. Interestingly, gender diversity and board size have a negative association with CG compliance and COC, while audit firm size reveals a positive association with CG compliance and disclosure while a negative association with COC. The study contributes to existing literature dealing with CG and determinant of firm value (COC) in emerging markets, particularly in Pakistan, which has not been extensively explored in existing research.
Chemical composition, cytotoxicity, antimicrobial and antifungal activity of several essential oils

Essential oils (EOs) are known and used for their biological, antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant properties. Numerous studies have shown that EOs exhibit a large spectrum of biological activities in vitro. The incidence of drug-resistant pathogens and the toxicity of antibiotics have drawn attention to the antimicrobial activity of natural products, encouraging the development of alternative treatments. The aim of this study was to analyse the phytochemical and the cytotoxic characteristic of 36 EOs; we then evaluated the antimicrobial activity of the less-toxic EOs on Gram-positive, Gram-negative and fungi strains. The results showed low cytotoxicity in seven EOs and good activity against Gram-negative and Candida spp. strains. Based on our results, EOs could be proposed as a novel group of therapeutic agents. Further experiments are necessary to confirm their pharmacological effectiveness, and to determine potential toxic effects and the mechanism of their activity in in vivo models.
ARDL bound test approach for co-integration between FDI, human capital and innovation activities

FDI can be beneficial in term of creating spillover in the hosts’ country, but there is no direct evidence to confirm that FDI affects innovation activities in Malaysia. Innovation means fresh thinking and approaches that add value to consistently create wealth and social welfare. This study examines the effect of inward FDI and human capital on innovative activities thus to provide an evidence on the interaction term between inward FDI and human capital using the ARDL bound test approach. The results show that inward FDI is negatively related with the innovation activities in the short run but is positively related in the long run. The presence of the human capital as an absorptive tool helps in mediating the effects of inward FDI on innovative activities in Malaysia. Meanwhile, it suggests that the injection of inward FDI require human capital to facilitate the innovation process in order to enhance the innovation capacity. To raise the contribution of inward FDI and human capital on innovative activities, there is a need to shift from the old trend assembly of goods and products into the knowledge-based economy that concentrates on research, knowledge and skills.
Causes of musculoskeletal disorders in dental hygienists and dental hygiene students: a study of combined biomechanical and psychosocial risk factors.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to address the high prevalence and costs of musculoskeletal disorders in dental hygienists and dental hygiene students by assessing the combined role of biomechanical and psychosocial risk factors. The paper explores new methods for measuring the effects of psychosocial risk factors (job stress) in hygienists. METHODS In a sample of practicing dental hygienists and dental hygiene students in Connecticut, the study assessed biomechanical exposures, psychosocial exposures, and symptom status by survey. Study participants were examined by physicians, providing measures of symptom and disease status. Two methods of bio-monitoring the potential effects of stress on the sympathetic nervous system were used: vibrotactile perception thresholds and nerve conduction velocity. RESULTS Biomechanical and psychosocial exposures have independent and additive associations with the wide variety of outcomes, often of similar magnitude. Biomechanical exposures tend to be associated with negative outcomes in identifiable body areas, whereas job stress had fewer identifiable associations with outcomes by body area. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study indicate that, in addition to identifying and controlling biomechanical risk factors, dental schools, dental practices, and dental hygienists themselves should pay attention to the identification and control of psychosocial risk factors in the workplace.
Performance Evaluation and Optimization of Parallel Systems with Synchronization

Abstract : This thesis considers synchronization issues such as resequencing and fork/join in parallel architectures. The discussion is carried out in the context of K parallel single server queues with general servers where jobs are subject to resequencing. Both performance evaluation and optimal routing problems are addressed for such systems. In the first part of the thesis, Poisson arrivals are assumed to be randomly allocated to different queues according to a Bernoulli switch. The distributions of the various delays in the system are obtained by sample path arguments. The problem of choosing the switching probabilities that minimize the average end-to-end delay is considered. In addition to obtaining exact results in some cases, simple but accurate approximations are provided when the service time distributions are exponential. The simple form of these approximations is then utilized to solve the optimization problem in the case where the service parameters are unknown, and a simple stochastic approximation algorithm is proposed. When the servers are all identical, several useful asymptotic results are obtained as K increases to infinity. Various stochastic monotonicity and convexity results also are provided for this parallel system. In the second part of the thesis, the dynamic optimization of the same model is investigated under more general assumptions for the arrival process. The resequencing problem is combined with a fork/join problem, in which the incoming packets are broken into smaller subpackets for processing at different queues. The problem of finding the optimal allocation policy that minimizes the average discounted and the long-run average costs is formulated as a Markov Decision problem, where the cost-per-stage is taken as the end-to-end delay of each packet. In both cases, the optimal policy is identified as the one that drives the workload in each queue to a balanced configuration as quickly as feasible.
Adiponectin, Diabetes and Coronary Artery Disease

White adipose tissue is an active endocrine gland communicates with the brain and the peripheral tissue including pancreatic beta cell through adipocytokines [1]. Examples of adipokines are; acylation stimulating protein (ASP), adiponectin, adipsin, angiotensinogen, bone morphogenic protein (BMP), estrogen, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), various IGF binding proteins, interleukins (ILs), leptin, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), plasminogen activator I (PAI-1), resistin, TNF-alpha, transforming growth factorbeta (TGF-beta) and various prostaglandins [2-8] (Figure 1).
Caesarean Section—A Density-Equalizing Mapping Study to Depict Its Global Research Architecture

Caesarean section (CS) is a common surgical procedure. Although it has been performed in a modern context for about 100 years, there is no concise analysis of the international architecture of caesarean section research output available so far. Therefore, the present study characterizes the global pattern of the related publications by using the NewQIS (New Quality and Quantity Indices in Science) platform, which combines scientometric methods with density equalizing mapping algorithms. The Web of Science was used as a database. 12,608 publications were identified that originated from 131 countries. The leading nations concerning research activity, overall citations and country-specific h-Index were the USA and the United Kingdom. Relation of the research activity to epidemiologic data indicated that Scandinavian countries including Sweden and Finland were leading the field, whereas, in relation to economic data, countries such as Israel and Ireland led. Semi-qualitative indices such as country-specific citation rates ranked Sweden, Norway and Finland in the top positions. International caesarean section research output continues to grow annually in an era where caesarean section rates increased dramatically over the past decades. With regard to increasing employment of scientometric indicators in performance assessment, these findings should provide useful information for those tasked with the improvement of scientific achievements.
CEO Pension and Auditors Going Concern Opinion

In U.S., CEO pension is common and sizable compensation recorded as off - balance sheet liabilities before CEOs’ retirement . Also, since it becomes unplayable after bankruptcy, CEOs awarded with pension plans are known to manage their firms conservatively to prevent such bankruptcies. Therefore, it was empirically examine d how auditors consider CEO pension in determining their going - concern opinions. O ur empirical results indicate that auditors are more likely to issue nega tive going - concern opinions for firms that provide their CEOs with pension plans. The results remain robust after controlling various endogeneity issues. Overall, our findings impl y that auditors recognize CEO pensions as liabilities rather than significan tly consider how CEO pensions provide incentives for conservative firm management .
Seasonal lai estimation of irrigated rice using soil - leaf - canopy, SLC, radiative transfer model

This study compared the use of both the MODIS LAI (MOD15A2) product, which provides directly the 8-day LAI at 1km spatial resolution, and the MODIS 8-day surface reflectance product (MOD09A1) in retrieving and estimating the seasonal variation of LAI for irrigated rice in the Mekong delta, Vietnam. The Soil-Leaf-Canopy (SLC) radiative transfer model was employed to invert MOD09A1 reflectance spectra to get LAI estimates through the look-up table (LUT) approach. The result showed that the dynamic evolution of LAI of irrigated rice during one cropping season could be estimated fairly well by the SLC model (R 2 = 0.69, RMSE= 0.9). This result is a great improvement compared to the retrieved LAI from MOD15A2 (R 2 = 0.07, RMSE = 2.1).
Plasma testosterone concentrations in asthmatic men treated with glucocorticoids.

4 Colucci M, Paramo JA, Collen D. Generation in plasma of a fast-acting inhibitor of plasminogen activator in response to endotoxin stimulation. J Clin Invest 1985 ;75 :818-24. 5 Willems PL, Piessens J. Implementation and experience with a computer based coronary artery reporting and information system. In: Ostrow HG, Ripley KL, eds. Computers in cardiology. Long Beach: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Computer Society Press, 1977:465-70.
Développement d'outils d'évaluation d'un modèle pré-clinique de dystrophie musculaire de Duchenne, le chien GRMD.

La dystrophie musculaire de Duchenne (DMD) touche un garcon sur 3500, contraint a l'usage du fauteuil roulant a l'âge de 10 ans, et entraine le deces a une vingtaine d'annees. Cette maladie demeure incurable, et les pistes therapeutiques envisagees necessitent d'etre validees en amont, dans les modeles murins, puis au stade pre-clinique, dans les modeles canins.L'un d'eux, le chien GRMD (Golden Retriever Muscular Dystrophy), est le plus largement utilise, et presente l'interet de partager, avec le patient qu'il modelise, de nombreuses similitudes genotypiques et phenotypiques. Les differentes fonctions touchees doivent donc pouvoir faire l'objet de mesures objectives et quantitatives, a l'aide d'outils dedies. Par ailleurs, une problematique inherente a l'utilisation de ce modele est sa grande variabilite sur le plan phenotypique.L'objectif du travail mene ici a ete de developper des outils d'evaluation du chien GRMD, afin de mieux connaitre et maitriser cette heterogeneite clinique.La mesure de force de flexion du tarse a permis de demontrer que la force tetanique maximale pouvait etre utilisee comme indice d'evaluation a differents stades de la maladie, sans que le deficit de force musculaire puisse etre relie a l'atteinte motrice globale. De plus, la relaxation s'est averee alteree chez les chiens GRMD, en correlation avec leur atteinte motrice.La locomotion, evaluee par accelerometrie tri-dimensionnelle, a pu montrer des alterations multiples, mesurees par differentes variables. Certaines variables sont alterees de maniere precoce, tandis que d'autres anomalies s'installent durant les premiers mois, traduisant l'aggravation de la fonction locomotrice.La dysfonction respiratoire, evaluee par spirometrie en respiration de Tidal, et cinematique diaphragmatique sur images radioscopiques, a egalement pu etre objectivee par differents indices. Une moindre mobilite diaphragmatique, une retraction caudale du diaphragme, et un effondrement du debit expiratoire en fin d'expiration, s'installent au cours des premiers mois.Afin de controler l'heterogeneite clinique ainsi mesuree, une recherche de marqueurs predictifs de l'evolution clinique a ete menee. Differents indices histologiques et cliniques ont ete evalues sur leur valeur pronostique a un stade precoce. La frequence des cycles locomoteurs a 2 mois et le defaut de relaxation a 4 mois se sont averes predictifs de formes accelerees.Enfin, les differents outils mis en place ont ete evalues dans le cadre du suivi d'animaux au cours d'un essai therapeutique, qui a, de plus, permis de disposer d'une population de reference sous traitement immunosuppresseur. Une amelioration fonctionnelle des animaux traites a pu etre demontree par nombre des indices mesures.Ces resultats demontrent que les outils developpes sont utilisables au cours d'essais pre-cliniques, et permettent, malgre l'heterogeneite clinique qu'ils mesurent, de demontrer un benefice fonctionnel. Plus largement, ces donnees permettent d'optimiser l'utilisation pre-clinique du modele GRMD.
Boards of Directors’ Characteristics and Firm Value: A Comparative Study between Egypt and USA

Purpose This research aims to compare the effect of board of directors’ characteristics on the firm’s value in Egypt as an emerging country and USA as a developed country. Five characteristics have been exposed from the literature review that may influence the enhancement of a firm’s value. In corporate governance, these characteristics are CEO duality, board independence, board size, board meetings and gender diversity. Design The model is developed and 84 Egyptian firms listed on the Egyptian stock exchange and 27 American firms listed on The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are utilized in this research for testing this model. The research covers a six-year period (2012-2017). Five main hypotheses and ten sub-hypotheses were derived from the model. GLS regression is used to test these hypotheses. Findings The results of this research revealed that board of directors’ characteristics affects firm value almost in the same way in both Egypt and the USA. The results revealed that board independence, board meetings and gender diversity are positively and significantly related to firm value in both countries. Furthermore, it displayed that board size affected firm value in both the Egyptian and American contexts negatively and significantly. Finally, the results showed that the CEO duality has a positive effect on firm value in the Egyptian setting while it has a negative effect on the firm value in the American setting. This research contributes to the literature on the subject of how corporate governance enhances a firm’s value. Participants in the stock market would benefit from the results when assessing the board of directors’ roles in enhancing the firm’s value. Regulators will be able to use the results of this research to recognize the critical characteristics of corporate governance and to assess the governance practices of the board of directors.
FLUCTUATIONS IN HYPOTHALAMIC LH-RF (LUTEINIZING HORMONE-RELEASING FACTOR) DURING THE RAT ESTROUS CYCLE.

A study has been made of changes in LH-RF content of the rat hypothalamus during the various phases of the estrous cycle. Normally cyclic female Sprague- Dawley rats under a regimen of 14 hr of light and 10 hr of darkness were killed at different times of day during each of the stages of the cycle. The stalk-median eminence region (SME) of the hypothalamus was quickly dissected out, extracted in O.1N HC1 and boiled for 10 min. The supernate was tested for LHreleasing activity in immature Holtzman rats by a variant of the Parlow LH method: the ovarian ascorbic acid depletion induced by the extract was considered the index of LH-RF. The amount of LH-RF present in the SME during late proestrus and early estrus was significantly lower than at other times during the cycle. The drop in SME LH-RF occurred later than the critical period of the day of proestrus, during which there is evidence for the release of pituitary LH. It is postulated that released pituitary LH in the plasma may exert a negative internal fe.
Suxamethonium pains and early electrolyte changes

Significant changes in the plasma electrolytes were found in a group of ninety-two female patients in the first 5 min following suxamethonium administration. The plasma potassium rose to a higher level in those patients who developed suxamethonium pains than in those who did not; the plasma calcium decreased in the former group, but increased in the latter. The plasma sodium decreased early in most patients, with the greatest reduction in those patients who did not develop symptoms. A decrease in the level of plasma calcium at 1 min correlated well with the incidence of 'the pains'. There were significant differences in the electrolyte changes, depending on whether thiopentone or Althesin was used for induction, but there was no difference in the incidence of suxamethonium pains. Suxamethonium pains are attributed to damaged muscle-spindles with enhanced calcium release playing an important part.
High intake of selenium, beta-carotene, and vitamins A, C, and E reduces growth of Helicobacter pylori in the guinea pig.

PURPOSE Helicobacter pylori is a human gastroduodenal pathogen associated with type-B gastritis and gastric cancer. Low gastric tissue antioxidant levels are believed to increase the risk of developing gastric cancer. We investigated whether dietary antioxidant levels protect against infection and type-B gastritis in H. pylori-infected guinea pigs. METHODS Dunkin-Hartley guinea pigs infected for 6 weeks with H. pylori were fed diets with various antioxidant levels. Stomach specimens were cultured, and gastritis was graded from 0 to 3. RESULTS Supplementation with vitamins A, C, and E and with selenium yielded H. pylori recovery from 17% of challenged animals, compared with 43% of those fed a control diet. Gastritis was scored at 0.33 and 0.93, respectively. Supplementation with only vitamin C or astaxanthin had less effect on gastritis and recovery rate. In a second experiment, gastritis score in a group given vitamins A, C, E, and selenium and beta-carotene was 2.25 and in a control group, it was 2.57. The H. pylori recovery rate was 75 and 100%, respectively, with fewer colonies from animals given antioxidant supplementation (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS A combination of antioxidants can protect against H. pylori infection in guinea pigs. In animal studies, antioxidant intake should be low to optimize development of H. pylori-associated disease. Furthermore we established that H. pylori causes severe gastritis in guinea pigs.
Evidence of selection, adaptation and untapped diversity in Vietnamese rice landraces

Vietnam possesses a vast diversity of rice landraces due to its geographical situation, latitudinal range, and a variety of ecosystems. This genetic diversity constitutes a highly valuable resource at a time when the highest rice production areas in the low-lying Mekong and Red River Deltas are enduring increasing threats from climate changes, particularly in rainfall and temperature patterns. We analysed 672 Vietnamese rice genomes, 616 newly sequenced, that encompass the range of rice varieties grown in the diverse ecosystems found throughout Vietnam. We described four Japonica and five Indica subpopulations within Vietnam likely adapted to the region of origin. We compared the population structure and genetic diversity of these Vietnamese rice genomes to the 3,000 genomes of Asian cultivated rice. The named Indica-5 (I5) subpopulation was expanded in Vietnam and contained lowland Indica accessions, which had with very low shared ancestry with accessions from any other subpopulation and were previously overlooked as admixtures. We scored phenotypic measurements for nineteen traits and identified 453 unique genotype-phenotype significant associations comprising twenty-one QTLs (quantitative trait loci). The strongest associations were observed for grain size traits, while weaker associations were observed for a range of characteristics, including panicle length, heading date and leaf width. We identified genomic regions selected in both Indica and Japonica subtypes during the breeding of these subpopulations within Vietnam and discuss in detail fifty-two selected regions in I5, which constitute an untapped resource of cultivated rice diversity. Our results highlight traits and their associated genomic regions, which were identified by fine phenotyping and data integration. These are a potential source of novel loci and alleles to breed a new generation of sustainable and resilient rice.
Analisis Pengaruh Distribusi Pendapatan, Tingkat Pengangguran, Dan Pengeluaran Pemerintah Sektor Pendidikan Terhadap IPM Di Indonesia

Kualitas sumberdaya manusia menjadi faktor utama penggerak pembangunan. Tingginya ketimpangan pendapatan serta pengangguran mengakibatkan terhambatnya pembangunan. Salah satu upaya untuk mengatasi masalah yang ada yaitu dengan meningkatkan kualitas sumberdaya manusia melalui sektor pendidikan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis pengaruh Distribusi Pendapatan, Tingkat Pengangguran, dan Pengeluaran Pemerintah Sektor Pendidikan terhadap Indeks Pembangunan Manusia di Indonesia tahun 2010-2015. Melalui regresi data panel dengan model Fixed Effect diperoleh hasil bahwa variabel distribusi pendapatan dan pengeluaran pemerintah sektor pendidikan berpengaruh positif tidak signifikan terhadap IPM. Sedangkan variabel tingkat pengangguran berpengaruh negatif dan signifikan terhadap IPM. Adapun secara simultan ketiga variabel tersebut berpengaruh signifikan terhadap IPM dengan nilai R2 sebesar 0,9644 artinya ketiga variabel tersebut berpengaruh sebesar 96,44% terhadap IPM dan 3,56% IPM dipengaruhi oleh variabel lain diluar penelitian. Kata Kunci: Distribusi Pendapatan, TPT, Pengeluaran Pemerintah Sektor Pendidikan, IPM, Regresi Data Panel