Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of International Production Sharing in EU Productivity and Competitiveness

Is international production sharing associated with stronger competitiveness? We address this question from the complementary viewpoints of firms and industries. We show that international production sharing is indeed associated with stronger competitiveness not only at the firm level but also at the industry level. From the viewpoint of firms, stronger competitiveness gives access to a larger number of more complex options when it comes to the design of international operations. From the viewpoint of industries, stronger competitiveness arises from the possibility of reallocating resources from less to more productive firms. For both firms and industries stronger competitiveness arises from the possibility of exploiting a richer set of internationalization strategies to deal with the challenges and the opportunities of globalization.
Childhood sexual abuse and psychiatric disorder in young adulthood: I. Prevalence of sexual abuse and factors associated with sexual abuse.

OBJECTIVE To present accounts of the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and social, family, and related factors that are associated with increased risk of CSA, using data gathered during an 18-year longitudinal study of a New Zealand birth cohort. METHOD A birth cohort of more than 1,000 children born in Christchurch (New Zealand) was studied prospectively to the age of 16 years. At age 18, retrospective reports of CSA were obtained. RESULTS Of the cohort, 10.4% (17.3% of females and 3.4% of males) reported having experienced CSA before the age of 16 years. Rates of severe abusive experiences involving intercourse were lower: 5.6% of females and 1.4% of males reported abuse involving attempted or completed intercouse. Multivariate analyses that the risk of CSA was elevated among females (p < .0001), those exposed to high levels of marital conflict (p < .005), those reporting low parental attachment (p < .001), those reporting high levels of paternal overprotection (p < .005), and those with parents who reported alcoholism/alcohol problems (p < .05). The level of prediction of CSA from childhood and family factors was not sufficient to identify individuals at risk of CSA with any degree of accuracy. CONCLUSIONS CSA was not an uncommon experience in this cohort. Those most likely to be exposed to CSA were girls reared in families in families characterized by high levels of marital conflict and impaired parenting and in families having parents with adjustment problems.
The choice between real and accounting earnings management

This study develops a theoretical model and presents empirical evidence on crosssectional variation in managers’ choice of AEM and REM. In particular, it studies how AEM and REM are jointly affected by firms’ growth prospects, managers’ market-based compensation incentives, and the cost of real earnings management. The model yields several testable hypotheses. First, when the firm’s growth prospects are good, the firm will boost current period earnings through AEM, but not REM. Second, when the sensitivity of the manager’s compensation to stock price and/or value-relevance of earnings go up, the firm will use AEM, but not REM, to inflate current period earnings. Third, when the cost of REM increases, the manager will reduce opportunistic excess investment. Meanwhile, AEM decreases in the cost of REM. Firms that barely meet or beat analysts’ forecasts are used to test the model’s predictions. The results are in general consistent with the hypotheses.
Fisiopatologia das doenças falciformes: da mutação genética à insuficiência de múltiplos órgãos

The most important pathophysiological abnormalities of sickle cell disease are reviewed, taking into account three levels: a) molecules and cells, b) tissues, c) organism as a whole. We dedicated especial attention to the chronic inflammatory phenomena, abnormally expressed adhesion molecules, the interaction among sickle cells, endothelial cells, leukocytes and platelets, and their role in the pathophysiology of vaso-occlusion. The clinical manifestations, like anemia, pain crises and multiorgan dysfunction are covered. Factors that modulate disease severity, like the co-inheritance of a-thalassemia, gene mutations related to thrombophilia and the elevation of fetal hemoglobin are discussed.
Human Resource Management: A Strategic Introduction

1. SHRM: A New Way of Managing? 2. Linking Organisational and Human Resource Strategies. 3. SHRM in a Global Context. 4. Performance Management Strategies. 5. Training & Development Styrategies. 6. International Human Resource Management. 7. Organizational Structuring and Restructuring. 8. Beyond Organisational Structure: The end of classical forms? 9. Employment Relations. 10. Learning Organizations. 11. Promoting Learning in Organizations. 12. Managing the Process of Training & Development Strategies. 13. Change Management Strategies and Assumptions. 14. Change Management Choices and Outcomes. 15. The Role of Culture in Organisational Performance. 16. The Possibilities of Culture Change. 17. Some Key Difficulties. 18. The Redefining of People and Organisations?
The Impact of Senior IT Executives on IT Capability

This study introduces a causality-based framework of antecedents and consequences in order to examine the positive reciprocity between senior IT executives (sITes) and IT capable firms. More specifically we propose that: 1. There is a positive association between accrued sources of managerial power of sITes, such as structural and expert power, and a firm's ability to develop superior IT capability. 2. Firms that achieve such superiority are more likely to signal their appreciation and reward (promote) their sITes. 3. If sITes value this reward, they are more likely to stay longer with their firm. There is a positive association between continuity of an already successful IT leadership and a firm’s ability to sustain its IT superiority. Results based on panel data of 1326 large US firms from a wide spectrum of industries over a 13-year period (1997-2009) support our propositions. Empirical evidence validates our position that firms that want to achieve and sustain IT superiority need to create an organizational climate of positive reciprocity. Such an organization climate can only be developed over time and there is no short cut that competitors can take in order to replicate it
The Role of Contextual Factors in the Uptake and Continuance of Mobile Money Usage in Kenya

The use of mobile money, mobile payments and other related mobile financial transactions in Africa vary from one country to another. This can be attributed to the level of technology maturity, a country's level of social‐economic development and the financial transactions ecosystem. The study investigates usage patterns and adoption of mobile money in day‐to‐day person‐to‐person money transfers using mobile telephone, mobile payments and integration of mobile money in financial services in Kenya. The study explores the underlying contextual social and economic factors influencing successful use of mobile money in Kenya by probing the pre‐usage (before mobile money) transfer of funds and the innovation attributes of mobile money that could have positively influenced this rapid uptake and continuance intentions. The study employs a survey questionnaire and two focus groups to collect data from mobile money users. The study result indicates that pre‐usage methods of money transfers significantly influenced initial uptake of mobile money in Kenya while its technical attributes have sustained a positive influence on continuance intentions. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Propranolol, post-traumatic stress disorder and narrative identity

Funding: Research funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research, NNF 80045, States of Mind: Emerging Issues in Neuroethics. While there are those who object to the prospective use of propranolol to prevent or treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), most obstreperous among them the President’s Council on Bioethics, the use of propranolol can be justified for patients with severe PTSD. Propranolol, if effective, will alter the quality of certain memories in the brain. But this is not a serious threat to the self understood in terms of narrative identity. A narrative identity framework acknowledges that memory is always being subtly altered or modified. For severe cases of PTSD propranolol may help victims who don’t respond to any other therapy or therapy combination regain their authentic self-narrative and engage once more in life activities. For those whose symptoms are not so severe the potential risks and side-effects of the drug may outweigh the benefits. Patients and family members should be allowed to decide, in consultation with their physician, whether this drug is appropriate in their case.
GROWTH OF THE AGENT OF TRACHOMA IN THE EMBRYONATED EGG *

The success in growing the trachoma agent in convenient laboratory systems such as embryonated eggs (T’ang et al., 1957; Collier & Sowa, 1958) and cell cultures (Gordon et al., 1960; Furness et al., 1960) has permitted more detailed observations on the morphology, antigenicity, and growth characteristics of this organism. The evidence now available suggests that the trachoma agent is related to and may be considered a member of the psittacosis group of microorganisms because of these common characteristics. They share group-specific complement-fixing antigens (Collier & Sowa, 1958; Hanna et al., 1959), their growth is inhibited by the same antibiotics (T’ang et ul., 1957; Jawetz & Hanna, 1960b), a large concentration of organisms will produce a toxic effect in mice (Bell et al., 1959), the inclusions formed in man, chick embryos, and cell cultures have the same general appearance and staining characteristics (Furness et al., 1960; Gilkes et al., 1958; Gordon et al., 1960; Hanna et al., 1959), and electron micrographs of purified, air-dried particles and thin sections through infected cells (Collier et al., 1958; Collier & Sowa, 1958; Mitsui et al., 1958) show particles of similar size and submicroscopic morphology. Agents of the psittacosis group have a distinctive microscopic and submicroscopic growth structure, and chronological changes in their particle populations have been observed in detail (Litwin, 1959; Litwin et al., 1961). These properties are very sensitive criteria for identifying organisms belonging to this group. The purpose of this paper is to correlate the growth properties and submicroscopic morphology of the trachoma agent with those of other members of the psittacosis group grown in the yolk sac and chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). Under these conditions, the trachoma strains studied grew much more slowly, and their growth was less lethal to the chick embryo than any of the other members of the psittacosis group or their mutants. The growth cycle of the trachoma agent in the CAM ectoderm was estimated a t about 3 days, which agrees with observed growth cycles in HeLa cells (Furness et al., 1960). Most members of the psittacosis group have a growth cycle of 25 to 30 hours in the CAM ectoderm and certain cell culture systems (Litwin et al., 1961; Officer IIBrown, 1960).
Prior Forecasting Accuracy and Investor Reaction to Management Earnings Forecasts

We examine the properties of firms' forecasting records and whether the accuracy of their prior earnings forecasts affects investor response to their subsequent forecasts.Within the context of a Bayesian model of investor learning, we find that the stock price response to management forecast news is increasing in prior forecast accuracy and also in the length of a firm's forecasting record. Further, we document that investors are more responsive to extreme good and bad news forecasts when a firm has an established forecasting record. Overall, these results suggest that a firm's prior forecasting behavior allows it to establish a forecasting reputation, and that market forces encourage accurate forecasting as firms benefit from having a reputation for forecasting accurately. Data Availability: Data are available from public sources cited in the text. JEL Classifications: G19; G39; D89; M40.
Burn scars treated by pinhole method using a carbon dioxide laser

Many patients with burn injuries have various complications and emotional problems due to scars. Although various modalities to improve burn scars have been attempted, such as excision of scars, skin grafts, laser abrasion and silicone product usage, the cosmetic outcomes have not been satisfactory for a large portion of patients. Herein, we describe two cases which showed satisfactory cosmetic results after treatment of burns scars with the pinhole method using a carbon dioxide (CO2) laser that allowed us to make deep, closely set holes reaching down to the upper dermis. A 20‐year‐old female patient with a scar on her neck and a 25‐year‐old female patient with a scar on her right forearm after burn injuries are presented. As early as only a few weeks after the treatment, the scars showed relaxation of contracture, reduction of wrinkles and improvement of texture and color compared to before the treatment. Treatment of burn scars with the pinhole method can be easily performed and results in dramatic improvement in scar quality with only a few side‐effects.
A study of employees' attitudes towards organisational information security policies in the UK and Oman

There is a need to understand what makes information security successful in an organization. What are the threats that the organization must deal with and what are the criteria of a beneficial information security policy? Policies are in place, but why employees are not complying? This study is the first step in trying to highlight effective approaches and strategies that might help organizations to achieve good information security through looking at success factors for the implementation. This dissertation will focus on human factors by looking at what concerns employees about information security. It will explore the importance of information security policy in organizations, and employee’s attitudes to compliance with organizations' policies. This research has been divided into four stages. Each stage was developed in light of the results from the previous stage. The first two stages were conducted in the Sultanate of Oman in order to use a population just starting out in the information security area. Stage one started with a qualitative semi-structured interview to explore and identify factors contributing towards successful implementation of information security in an organization. The results suggested a number of factors organizations needed to consider to implement information security successfully. The second stage of the research was based on the first stage’s results. After analysing the outcomes from the semi-structured interviews a quantitative questionnaire was developed to explore for information security policy. The findings did suggest that the more issues the organization covers in their security policy the more effective their policy is likely to be. The more an organization reports adoption of such criteria in their security policy, the more they report a highly effective security policy. The more the organization implements the ‘success factors’ the more effective they feel their security policy will be. The third stage was conducted in the UK at Glasgow University because employees are somewhat familiar with the idea of information security. It was based on the findings derived from the analysis of the quantitative questionnaire at stage two. The findings revealed different reasons for employee’s non-compliance to organization security policy as well as the impact of non-compliance. The fourth stage consolidates the findings of the three studies and brings them together to give recommendations about how to formulate a security policy to encourage compliance and therefore reduce security threats.
AUDIO-CASI: THE IMPACT OF OPERATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS ON DATA QUALITY

INTRODUCTION The past five years have seen the development of several automated self-interviewing systems that portend an important shift in the way surveys of sensitive topics will be conducted in the 21 st century. Those systems are • video computer-assisted self-interviewing (videoCASI); • audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (audioCASI), a modification of video-CASI that adds audio features; and • telephone audio-CASI, a modification ofaudio-CASI that permits interviewing by telephone. During 1995, three large-scale surveys were fielded using audio-CASI technology: the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth, the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males, and the Adolescent Health Survey. In addition, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recently announced plans to convert the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse to an audioCASI format. The number of such conversions of other surveys of sensitive behaviors is likely to accelerate during the remainder of the decade. The fast-paced adoption of audio-CASI technology stems from its benefits: it affords a fully private, standardized interview even for respondents who are not literate in any language. Although the technology's adoption is gratifying to those who have been its early advocates, many implementation issues are poorly understood. In particular, the ways in which its implementation may affect data quality have not been adequately identified and assessed. This paper reports the results of a field study that examined how key details of audio-CASI implementation influence the quality ofaudio-CASI measurements and the types of sensitive measurements that are most likely to be affected. Results were derived from a methodological survey (N = 194) of a sample of households in Baltimore County, Maryland. The survey varied two elements of audio-CASI implementation: the presentation of questions in video as well as audio format (versus presentation in audio-only mode) and the gender of the spoken voice. We assessed the impact of those variations and of the rated sensitivity of the questions on the quality of data obtained during the field interviews. Indicators of data quality were (1) the timing of responses relative to the reading of the survey questions and response categories and (2) rates of item nonresponse.
Evidence of Asset Impairment Reversals from China: Economic Reality or Earnings Management?

Accounting practice for asset write-down reversals varies significantly among different countries. China is unique not only because such reversals are allowed without much restriction, but also because the disclosure of detailed reversal information is mandated. Based on a sample of reversal firms in China, we provide the following findings: First, although economic factors and reporting incentives both explain reversals, reporting incentives dominate managerial reversal decisions. Second, while total reversals provide investors with value-relevant information, the price-earnings multiples of this information are significantly weaker as compared to other income statement components. More importantly, we find that the valuation consequence of reversals, if unrealized, disappears completely. Third, impairment reversals negatively affect the association of accounting earnings with contemporaneous stock returns. Taken together, our results show that managerial opportunism may have reduced the reliability of otherwise value-relevant reversal information. While the intention of granting discretion in impairment reversal is for management to communicate private value recovery information, which reflects the essence of accrual accounting, our findings suggest that a high-quality accounting standard may not necessarily lead to high-quality accounting information.
The Relationship between Method of Pain Management during Labor and Birth Outcomes

This study examined the relationship between method of pain management during labor and birth outcomes. A retrospective comparative chart review of 233 primiparous deliveries was conducted and group assignment was based on method of pain control (nonnarcotic, narcotic, or epidural). Epidural analgesia or anesthesia was associated with increased rates of instrumental and cesarean delivery. Augmentation of labor using a synthetic oxytocin was reported in more charts than expected, and the length of the second stage of labor was longer in those who received epidural analgesia or anesthesia. Apgar scores for those who received early epidural analgesia or anesthesia were lower than for those who received late or no epidural analgesia or anesthesia, although Apgar scores were satisfactory across all groups. Between-groups differences were unrelated to time of epidural placement or maternal temperature. Findings are relevant for maternal child nurses who serve as a resource for families wishing to make informed decisions about pain management in labor.
Production and characterization of a monoclonal antibody to the complement fixation antigen of Coccidioides immitis

Detection of complement-fixing antibody to coccidioidin by using the complement fixation test or an immunodiffusion assay for complement-fixing antibody (IDCF) is widely viewed as the most useful immunodiagnostic test for coccidioidomycosis. In this investigation, we report the production of an immunoglobulin G subclass 1 (IgG1) monoclonal antibody (MAb) to the IDCF antigen for use as a biospecific ligand for purifying the IDCF antigen on solid-phase immunosorbents and for use as a reagent for screening genomic or cDNA expression libraries from Coccidioides immitis. BALB/c mice were immunized by intramuscular injections of coccidioidin in adjuvant, followed by an intrasplenic booster injection of coccidioidin in saline. The spleen cells were fused with SP2/0 Ag14 myeloma cells, and the fusion products were screened for IgG antibody to coccidiodin by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Positive hybridomas were cloned and evaluated for reactivity to the IDCF antigen by two-dimensional immunoelectrophoresis and by immunoblotting. An IgG1 Mab was produced that was specific for the IDCF antigen when evaluated by two-dimensional immunoelectrophoresis and immunoblotting. The epitope recognized by the MAb was heat labile (60 degrees C, 30 min) and susceptible to enzymatic digestion with pronase but was resistant to treatment with lipase, alpha-mannosidase, glucose oxidase, and endoglycosidase H. This heat-labile peptide epitope appears to be specific to C. immitis, as judged by the fact that the MAb was not reactive in immunoblots or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays of histoplasmin or blastomycin.
Epidemiology of invasive fungal infections in lung transplant recipients on long‐term azole antifungal prophylaxis

Lung transplant recipients (LTR) at our institution receive prolonged and mostly lifelong azole antifungal (AF) prophylaxis. The impact of this prophylactic strategy on the epidemiology and outcome of invasive fungal infections (IFI) is unknown. This was a single‐center, retrospective cohort study. We reviewed the medical records of all adult LTR from January 2002 to December 2011. Overall, 16.5% (15 of 91) of patients who underwent lung transplantation during this time period developed IFI. Nineteen IFI episodes were identified (eight proven, 11 probable), 89% (17 of 19) of which developed during AF prophylaxis. LTR with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis were more likely to develop IFI (HR: 4.29; 95% CI: 1.15–15.91; p = 0.03). A higher hazard of mortality was observed among those who developed IFI, although this was not statistically significant (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.71; 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.58–4.05]; p = 0.27). Aspergillus fumigatus was the most common cause of IFI (45%), with pulmonary parenchyma being the most common site of infection. None of our patients developed disseminated invasive aspergillosis, cryptococcal or endemic fungal infections. IFI continue to occur in LTR, and the eradication of IFI appears to be challenging even with prolonged prophylaxis. Azole resistance is uncommon despite prolonged AF exposure.