Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Productivity and Economic Growth in South Asia and China

This paper, begins with a discussion of the well-known issues involved in defining and measuring total factor productivity (TFP) and its contribution to growth (as well as the possible contribution of growth to productivity), the economic theory underpinning productivity, and policies that impact on and influence changes in productivity. It is followed by, first, a selective discussion of the studies on cross-country variation in productivity levels and growth, and then the experience of South Asia and China in a comparative perspective across the region and across the developing world. The share of South Asia in global GDP and its growth has remained stagnant since the early nineties. Disturbingly, except India, the rest of South Asia experienced a decline in TFP growth between 1989–95 and 1995–2003. The paper concludes that for achieving sustained productivity growth, well-functioning social and economic institutions are important, since through their incentive structure they influence, labour force participation, savings and accumulation of human and physical capital, risk-taking and innovation as well as efficiency of resource allocation. Public policies, particularly macro-economic, foreign trade and investment policies, matter a great deal.
An in vitro comparison of fracture load of zirconia custom abutments with internal connection and different angulations and thickness: part I.

PURPOSE The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the fracture load of one-piece zirconia custom abutments with different thicknesses and angulations. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty zirconia custom abutments were divided into four groups. Group A-1 and group B-1 simulated a clinical situation with an ideal implant position, which allows for the use of straight zirconia custom abutments with two thicknesses (0.7 and 1 mm). Groups A-2 and B-2 simulated a situation with a compromised implant position requiring 15° angulated abutments with different thicknesses (0.7 and 1 mm). Implant replicas were mounted in self-cure acrylic jigs to support the abutments in all groups. The zirconia custom abutments were engaged in the implant replicas using a manual torque wrench. Each jig was secured and mounted in a metallic vice 30° relative to a mechanical indenter. All groups were subjected to shear stress until failure using a universal testing machine with a 0.5 mm/min crosshead speed with the force transferred to the lingual surface of the zirconia custom abutments 2 mm below the top surface. The universal testing machine was controlled via a computer software system that also completed the stress-strain diagram and recorded the breaking fracture load. The fracture loads were recorded for comparison among the groups and subjected to statistical analysis (two-way ANOVA). RESULTS The mean fracture load of zirconia custom abutments across the groups (A-1 through B-2) ranged from 160 ± 60 to 230 ± 95 N. The straight zirconia custom abutment exhibited the highest fracture load among the groups (p = 0.009); however, the thickness of the zirconia custom abutment had no influence on the strength of any of the specimens (p = 0.827). CONCLUSIONS There was no statistically significant difference in fracture strength between the 0.7 and 1.0 mm groups; however, angulated zirconia custom abutments had the lowest fracture load. CLINICAL IMPLICATION The results of this in vitro study will help dental practitioners with their decision-making process in selecting the type of custom abutment to be used clinically.
The political determinants of central governments' economic policies in India: an empirical investigation

Using annual data from India, we investigate whether central governments' economic policies are affected by two political considerations-the proximity of an election to the national legislative assembly, and the nature of the central government (single-party versus coalition). We find that economic policies are responsive to election timing. On the other hand, economic policies are largely insensitive to government type. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Psychomotor Slowness in School-Age Children With Congenital Heart Disease

Psychomotor problems are common in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) but their neuropsychological basis remains unknown. This study investigated motor planning, motor control, and motor slowness, three subprocesses potentially underlying these psychomotor deficits. Using various drawing tasks, 45 school-age children with CHD were compared with 41 healthy peers on several kinematic properties. Taking longer to initiate and execute their movements than the controls, the children with CHD exhibited significant motor slowness. No evidence was found for deficits in planning or motor control. Thus, motor slowness appears to be the major determinant of psychomotor problems in school-age children with CHD.
Ernest Adams Ltd: the demise of a family business

This article tells of the changes experienced by a family business, through restructuring under outside professional management, until being taken over by a multinational company. Evidence was collected from interviews, annual reports and media articles. As a family business, the company exploited lower agency costs and sustained its profitability. Debt levels remained low. Under external professional managers, profitability declined and debt levels rose sharply. Informal communication networks were no longer utilized, and the professional managers were subject to criticism for excessive spending, inappropriate skills and a lack of industry knowledge. The board of directors began to function less effectively. Poor performance led to restructuring under three different CEOs, yet costs continually increased, profitability declined, and a takeover bid was successful. However, all responsibility, of course, cannot be placed on the new professional managers, who inherited responsibility for some decisions made prior to their period of stewardship. Also the family did not adequately plan for successful transition to professional management.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIVIDEND CHANGES AND CASH FLOW: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

It is often assumed that cash flow affects dividend payout. This study provides evidence on the incremental information content of cash flow numbers over Profits and Previous Year's Dividends (Lintner's model) in explaining changes in cash dividends. It further examines whether different measures of cash flow differ in information content for dividend-increasing and dividend-decreasing firms. Lintner's model of dividend changes is robust across firms with either dividend increases or decreases. The null hypotheses, that no definition of cash flow adds to the model, could not be rejected for any of the definitions.
The Performance of the European Union in the International Labour Organization

Abstract This article examines European Union (EU) performance by assessing its effectiveness in the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the relevance of the EU to its major stakeholders between 1992 and 2010. Making a distinction between technical and political domains, it maps the ILO policy-making structures in which the EU must operate. In the technical domain, it argues that although the EU has been effective in uploading its policy preferences into ILO labour standards, the relevance of collective EU representation to the member states has marginally increased since 1992 by comparison to the previous 20 years. In the political domain, there has been considerable progress enhancing EU performance in promoting compliance with labour standards within the ILO’s monitoring system, although the increase results more from higher relevance than from greater effectiveness. It also argues that the institutional environment of the ILO, constituted by its rules, norms and practices, plays an important role in assessing EU performance. Doing so calls into question established assumptions about EU behaviour in international organisations.
Investor Sentiment and Stock Market Response to Earnings News

ABSTRACT: We examine whether market-wide investor sentiment influences the stock price sensitivity to firm-specific earnings news. Using the recently developed measure of investor sentiment by Baker and Wurgler (2006), we find that the stock price sensitivity to good earnings news is higher during high sentiment periods than during periods of low sentiment, whereas the stock price sensitivity to bad earnings news is higher during periods of low sentiment than during periods of high sentiment. This influence of sentiment is especially pronounced for the earnings news of small stocks, young stocks, high volatility stocks, non-dividend-paying stocks, and stocks with extremely high and low market-to-book ratios. Further analysis suggests that the sentiment-driven mispricing of earnings contributes to the general mispricing of stocks due to investor sentiment. JEL Classifications: D14; D21; G24.
Derailed by Diversity? Purpose Buffers the Relationship Between Ethnic Composition on Trains and Passenger Negative Mood

Many individuals feel socially isolated and distressed in ethnically diverse settings. Purpose in life may buffer this form of distress by fostering one’s sense of having a meaningful direction, which may also be of significance to others. In two experience-sampling studies with ethnically diverse participants, we examined associations between the ethnic composition of urban trains and passenger distress, and tested purpose as a moderator of these relationships. Study 1 showed that participants of all ethnic backgrounds reported greater negative mood when the percentage of ethnic out-group members aboard their train increased. However, individual differences in purpose significantly attenuated this effect. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings experimentally by showing that relative to a control condition, briefly writing about purpose prior to boarding trains also diminished the impact of ethnic composition on negative mood. The discussion addresses strategies for promoting positive adjustment in our increasingly diverse society.
Does Information Technology Training Really Matter? A Social Information Processing Analysis of Coworkers' Influence on IT Usage in the Workplace

This paper develops a conceptual framework to explain employees' technology usage within organizations. Much of the prior information systems literature has assumed an underlying relationship between "facilitating conditions" for information technology (IT) adoption (e.g., user training, technical support, resource availability) and employees' technology use. Although these facilitating conditions are important, they do not provide a complete explanation of employees' IT usage. The reality of working in organizational settings suggests a different model of IT adoption and usage. Drawing from research on social information processing theory, and acknowledging the role of other individuals within the work context that shapes employees' learning, values, and behavior, we propose a framework to explain employees' adoption of IT and their level of usage within organizations, featuring both individual-level factors and factors related to the social information processing influence of coworkers. Our results show that an employee's coworkers exert an important influence on IT usage, whereas individual-level factors exhibit more modest effects.
Stockholder–Manager Conflicts and Firm Value

The separation of ownership and control in a modern corporation often requires the delegation of significant decision-making authority to professional managers, which introduces the possibility that managers will have incentives to make decisions that benefit them at the expense of stockholders. We discuss the theory and empirical evidence on stockholder–manager conflicts, provide an overview of the problems that can arise in U.S. corporations, summarize recent empirical evidence on the effectiveness of the various mechanisms that can control these problems, and alert investors to global variations in problems and controls.
The cholinergic system in the olfactory center of the terrestrial slug Limax

Acetylcholine plays various important roles in the central nervous system of invertebrates as well as vertebrates. In the olfactory center of the terrestrial slug Limax, the local field potential (LFP) oscillates, and the change in its oscillatory frequency is thought to correlate with the detection of odor that potentially changes an ongoing behavior of the animal. Acetylcholine is known to upregulate the frequency of the LFP oscillation, and is one of the candidates for the neurotransmitters that are involved in such higher cognitive functions. However, there have been no histological data on the cholinergic system in gastropods, nor are there data on the receptors that are responsible for the upregulation of the oscillatory frequency of LFP due to the lack of analytical tools (such as antibodies or cDNA sequence information on cholinergic system‐related genes). Here we cloned the cDNAs of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), acetylcholinesterase, vesicular acetylcholine transporter, and several nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), and investigated their localization in the brain of Limax. We also generated a polyclonal antibody against ChAT to examine its localization, and investigated pharmacologically the involvement of nAChRs in the LFP oscillation. Our data showed: 1) dense distribution of the neurons expressing mRNAs of ChAT and vesicular acetylcholine transporter in the olfactory center; 2) spatially unique expression patterns of different nAChRs in the olfactory center; 3) involvement of nAChRs in the upregulation of the oscillation; 4) localization of ChAT protein in nerve fibers and/or terminals; and 5) the presence of cholinergic nerves in the tentacles. J. Comp. Neurol. 522:2951–2966, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Building employee commitment in the hospitality industry

Purpose – Employee turnover has lately considerably increased in the Lithuanian hospitality industry. Given the fact that organizational commitment is negatively related to employee turnover, the research aim is to determine the level of employee organizational commitment as well as their empowerment, which can be viewed as a possible means of stimulating employee commitment, as well as the interrelationship between employee commitment and empowerment.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was carried out among customer‐contact employees of Lithuanian upscale (four and five star) hotels.Findings – The levels of both organizational commitment and organizational empowerment in Lithuanian upscale hotels are rather low, while the correlation between them is rather strong. This implies that improvement of conditions that foster empowerment would lead to a higher level of employee organizational commitment, especially the level of affective commitment that is of greater importance for the organiza.
Coordinated High-Light Response of Genes Encoding Subunits of Photosystem I Is Achieved by AT-Rich Upstream Sequences in the Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. Strain PCC 6803

ABSTRACT Genes encoding subunits of photosystem I (PSI genes) in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 are actively transcribed under low-light conditions, whereas their transcription is coordinately and rapidly down-regulated upon the shift to high-light conditions. In order to identify the molecular mechanism of the coordinated high-light response, we searched for common light-responsive elements in the promoter region of PSI genes. First, the precise architecture of the psaD promoter was determined and compared with the previously identified structure of the psaAB promoter. One of two promoters of the psaAB genes (P1) and of the psaD gene (P2) possessed an AT-rich light-responsive element located just upstream of the basal promoter region. These sequences enhanced the basal promoter activity under low-light conditions, and their activity was transiently suppressed upon the shift to high-light conditions. Subsequent analysis of psaC, psaE, psaK1, and psaLI promoters revealed that their light response was also achieved by AT-rich sequences located at the −70 to −46 region. These results clearly show that AT-rich upstream elements are responsible for the coordinated high-light response of PSI genes dispersed throughout Synechocystis genome.
Towards measuring uniqueness of human voice

The use of voice as a biometrie modality for user authentication and identification has grown very rapidly. It is therefore very important that we understand limitations of such systems which will ultimately depend on the discriminative power of the voice biometric. In this paper, we have contributed towards measuring distinctiveness of voice biometric by both formulating a new measure and creating a new dataset to perform more reliable measurements. For this purpose, we evaluate the prominent approaches in the field and propose a new approach that better incorporates within-user variability and is analytically more tractable. Our newly created dataset includes voice samples extracted from close to two thousand TED Talks videos. Overall our measurements on this dataset revealed a biometric information content of about 60 bits in human voice. Further, tests performed by adding some generic voice effects on the samples show that the distinctiveness reduces by almost 20 bits, implying that when true variability is reflected in user samples resulting entropy may further reduce.
Initial Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score versus Simplified Acute Physiology score to analyze multiple organ dysfunction in infectious diseases in Intensive Care Unit

Aims: To investigate initial Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score of patients in Intensive Care Unit (ICU), who were diagnosed with infectious disease, as an indicator of multiple organ dysfunction and to examine if initial SOFA score is a better mortality predictor compared to Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS). Materials and Methods: Hospital-based study done in medical ICU, from June to September 2014 with a sample size of 48. Patients aged 18 years and above, diagnosed with infectious disease were included. Patients with history of chronic illness (renal/hepatic/pulmonary/ cardiovascular), diabetes, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, those on immunosuppressive therapy/chemoradiotherapy for malignancy and patients in immunocompromised state were excluded. Blood investigations were obtained. Six organ dysfunctions were assessed using initial SOFA score and graded from 0 to 4. SAPS was calculated as the sum of points assigned to each of the 17 variables (12 physiological, age, type of admission, and three underlying diseases). The outcome measure was survival status at ICU discharge. Results: We categorized infectious diseases into dengue fever, leptospirosis, malaria, respiratory tract infections, and others which included undiagnosed febrile illness, meningitis, urinary tract infection and gastroenteritis. Initial SOFA score was both sensitive and specific; SAPS lacked sensitivity. We found no significant association between age and survival status. Both SAPS and initial SOFA score were found to be statistically significant as mortality predictors. There is significant association of initial SOFA score in analyzing organ dysfunction in infectious diseases (P < 0.001). SAPS showed no statistical significance. There was statistically significant (P = 0.015) percentage of nonsurvivors with moderate and severe dysfunction, based on SOFA score. Nonsurvivors had higher SAPS but was not statistically significant (P = 0.094). Conclusions: Initial SOFA score is a superior mortality predictor. It easily measures degree of organ dysfunction in infectious diseases and complements other scoring systems.
Easy-to-produce adjustable realistic breast phantoms for microwave imaging

This paper deals with the development of realistic breast phantoms dedicated to microwave imaging for breast tumor detection. The phantoms are based upon 3D-printed structures filled up with different liquid mixtures that mimic the various breast tissue types (healthy or cancerous) in terms of complex permittivity over a broad microwave frequency band.
Anthracyclines in the treatment of HER2-negative breast cancer.

In this issue of the Journal, Gennari et al. ( 1 ) report results of a meta-analysis of eight published studies that tested the worth of HER2 as a predictive marker of benefit from anthracycline regimens over nonanthracycline regimens. The test for treatment by HER2 status interaction yielded statistically significant results. The authors propose that it is time to stop the use of cardiotoxic anthracycline regimens for the treatment of HER2 -negative breast cancer.
Ecotourism and Sustainability in Cuba: Does Socialism Make a Difference?

This paper offers an empirical case study of ecotourism in the island state of Cuba. The paper attempts to gauge the success Cuba has had in establishing eco-tourist practices that could be considered sustainable, and provides analysis of the various political factors that condition this success. Using some well-known benchmarks of sustainable eco-tourist practices, the paper presents the results of numerous interviews with key informants involved with ecological tourism in Cuba, archival research and observations from on-site visits to key ecotourism projects to examine the relative success of ecotourism on the island. Concluding that Cuba has had mixed success in moving to sustainable ecotourism, the paper examines the various political constraints that will likely determine the trajectory of Cuba’s ecotourism in the near and medium term.
LNG Project Valuation with Financial Leasing Contracts

Financial leasing is prevalent in many projects in the oil and energy industries. Examples are tariff payments in existing pipelines, processing tariffs, leasing of rigs and leasing of LNG transportation ships. A common mistake among oil companies in such settings is to treat financial leasing costs as operating cost and discount with the firm's weighted average cost of capital (WACC). This method overstates project profitability and may lead to overinvestment since financial leasing payments should be valued at the costs of debt. We present a practical method for calculating the net present value of projects when there are no investment alternatives, i.e., when leasing is the only option (the cost of investing is not known). Finally, we demonstrate through a real LNG project example, the potential magnitude in the project net present value error.
A Total Differential Approach to Equity Duration

Most of the risk associated with fixed income price movements is accounted for by their duration-that is, their sensitivity to changes in the discount rate. Thus, for bonds, duration and interest rate sensitivity are virtually synonymous. For equities, however, duration is only one of several factors describing risk. A major source of confusion in evaluating equity duration is the definition of "duration" itself. Measured as a function of the sensitivity of stock price to the discount rate-ignoring all links between the discount rate and the growth rate-the traditional dividend discount model (DDM) duration is long-20 years or more. But this measure of duration fails to take into account the offsetting effects of inflation-induced rate increases on corporate profits. A measure of the total sensitivity of stock prices to interest rate movements recognizes that the two components of nominal interest rates-inflation and the real rate-affect both the equity discount rate and the equity earnings growth rate, but not necessarily in the same direction. The stock market as a whole is less sensitive to changes in inflation expectations than to changes in real rates, because most companies can raise prices, hence nominal growth rates, in times of inflation. Thus a measure of stock price total sensitivity to interest rates will generally be substantially shorter than the duration measure derived from the traditional DDM.