Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluating mutual funds in an emerging market: factors that matter to financial advisors

Growth, both in terms of size and choice, in the mutual fund industry among emerging markets has been impressive. However, mutual fund research in emerging markets hardly exists. This paper intends to fill this gap. In particular, the paper surveys the relative importance of factors considered important in the selection of mutual funds by financial advisors in emerging markets. Our survey focuses on Malaysia where the mutual industry started in the 1950s but only gained importance in the 1980s with the establishment of a government initiated programme. The results of our survey point to three important factors which dominate the choice of mutual funds. These are consistent past performance, size of funds and costs of transaction. Factors which relate to fund managers and investment style are not considered to be relatively important. With the impending liberalization of the financial markets in the developing world, our findings would assist those international funds that are considering expanding their operations into these emerging markets.
Housing subsidies and pediatric undernutrition.

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that receipt of housing subsidies by poor families is associated with improved nutritional status of their children. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Pediatric emergency department of an urban municipal hospital. PATIENTS Convenience sample of 203 children younger than 3 years and their families who were being seen during one of twenty-seven 24-hour periods. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Anthropometric indicators (z scores of weight for age, weight-for-height, and height-for-age), and the proportion of children with low growth indicator (weight-for-height below the 10th percentile or height-for-age below the fifth percentile, or both, of the reference population). RESULTS Multivariate analysis controlling for demographics and program participation showed that receipt of housing assistance contributed significantly to z scores for weight-for-age (P = .03) and weight-for-height (P = .04). The risk of a child's having low growth indicators was 21.6% for children whose families were on the waiting list for housing assistance compared with 3.3% for those whose families received subsidies (adjusted odds ratio = 8.2, 95% confidence interval = 2.2 to 30.4, P = .002) CONCLUSION Receiving a housing subsidy is associated with increased growth in children from low-income families, an effect that is consistent with a protective effect of housing subsidies against childhood undernutrition.
Asymmetric Information, Choice of Workout Under Financial Distress, and Absolute Priority Violations

We study the reorganization of a financially distressed firm when public debt-holders are uninformed about future profitability of its projects. With large expected NPV of the continuation project, exchange offers restructure the public debt. Low NPV results in liquidation. For intermediate ranges of NPV, the bank refinances the short-term public debt. We show that the signaling requirements of exchange offers imply additional equity to the firm's shareholders in violation of the Absolute Priority Rule. Our analysis derives testable hypothesis relating the nature of workouts and the magnitude of APR violations to observables such as the short term public debt.
Studies of four new human myeloma cell lines

We describe the establishment and studies of four myeloma cell lines that were derived from 2 young individuals with plasma cell leukaemia (Karpas 25 and 1272) and from 2 older persons with multiple myeloma (Karpas 417 and 929). The cultured cells have the ultrastructural appearance of plasma cells with abundant rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER). Their phenotypic profile conform with that of malignant plasma cells. Karyotype analysis revealed that each cell line is unique and all are hyperdipoide with complex aberrant chromosomes. FISH analysis revealed cryptic translocations affecting the IGH locus in 14q32 of 2 of these cell lines. Using R- and G-banding numerous other chromosomal abnormalities were recorded and illustrated in each of the 4 cell lines.
Clearing prices computation for integrated generation, reserve and transmission markets

In a competitive electricity market, trading and scheduling for electric energy, transmission and reserve related services are often the centerpieces of market functions. The operation of these three markets may reside in centralized pools, system operators or power exchanges. However, they are often conducted separately and sequentially in practice. This paper sets forth a new formulation to determine schedules and clearing prices for integrated electric energy, transmission and reserve markets simultaneously. The formulation yields locational market clearing prices when transmission congestion is present. Example results based on the new formulation are presented.
Trading Places: Employees as Customers, Customers as Employees

Offers a fresh outlook for managing the delicate interaction between the customer and the contact employee in the service environment. Emphasizes that the quality of the customer‐employee interfacehas a great effect on customers′ perceptions of the quality and value of the service, as well as on their satisfaction. Suggests a model of how companies can improve this interface by treating employees ascustomers and customers as employees, thus developing lower cost and higher quality services and also higher levels of satisfaction on the part of both customers and employees. Recommends various steps for management to take.
Competitive Advantage through Engagement

The authors highlight the need for and develop a framework for engagement by reviewing the relevant literature and analyzing popular-press articles. They discuss the definitions of the focal constructs—customer engagement (CE) and employee engagement (EE)—in the engagement framework, capture these constructs’ multidimensionality, and develop and refine items for measuring CE and EE. They validate the proposed framework with data from 120 companies over two time periods, and they develop strategies to help firms raise their levels of CE and EE to improve performance. They also observe that the influence of EE on CE is moderated by employee empowerment, type of firm (business-to-business [B2B] vs. business-to-consumer [B2C]), and nature of industry (manufacturing vs. service); in particular, this effect is stronger for B2B (vs. B2C) firms and service (vs. manufacturing) firms. The authors find that although both CE and EE positively influence firm performance, the effect of CE on firm performance is stronger. Furthermore, the effect of CE and EE on performance is enhanced for B2B (vs. B2C) and for service (vs. manufacturing) firms.
Market orientation processes in retailing: a cross‐national study

Purpose – The main purpose is to provide an in‐depth understanding of market orientation in retailing and to identify the specific activities that have to be understood and managed in order for a retail firm to become market oriented.Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative studies of six firms in Sweden, Italy and the UK were carried out, including in‐depth interviews with retail managers and manufacturers.Findings – Three market orientation processes on different operational levels are identified, including critical activities that support each process. Linkages between retail market orientation and different background characteristics are also identified.Research limitations/implications – The qualitative, in‐depth approach using a limited number of respondents means that the results are not generalizable. The findings can serve as a basis for future operationalizations of retail market orientation in order to measure the degree of retail market orientation as well as its character with regards to the.
Washing Away Your Sins: Threatened Morality and Physical Cleansing

Physical cleansing has been a focal element in religious ceremonies for thousands of years. The prevalence of this practice suggests a psychological association between bodily purity and moral purity. In three studies, we explored what we call the “Macbeth effect”—that is, a threat to one's moral purity induces the need to cleanse oneself. This effect revealed itself through an increased mental accessibility of cleansing-related concepts, a greater desire for cleansing products, and a greater likelihood of taking antiseptic wipes. Furthermore, we showed that physical cleansing alleviates the upsetting consequences of unethical behavior and reduces threats to one's moral self-image. Daily hygiene routines such as washing hands, as simple and benign as they might seem, can deliver a powerful antidote to threatened morality, enabling people to truly wash away their sins.
The Applicability of the Constant Dividend Model for Companies Listed at the Nairobi Stock Exchange

The decision to pay out earnings or retain dividends has been a subject of debate for many scholars. This research paper tests the applicability of constant dividend model from companies listed at the Nairobi stock exchange. Data was collected from annual reports and share price schedules obtained from Nairobi stock exchange and Capital market Authority for a sample of 18 companies that paid dividends consistently from 2002 to 2008. The data was then analyzed by re-computing the dividends that should have been paid if the dividend constant model was applied. This recomputed figure was later compared to the dividends as paid out by the companies during the period of study. Paired sample t-test statistic was performed to determine whether there is a significant difference between the two dividend figures. The findings of the research established that the dividend model was not employed by the companies listed at the Nairobi stock exchange. Most firms adopted a stable and predictable policy where a specific amount of dividend per share was paid each year. In some years, there was a slight adjustment of the dividend paid after an increase in earnings, but only by a sustainable amount. The study shows that the relationship between the stock market prices and the dividend paid from the constant dividend model is uneven from one year to another and where there was a relationship it was insignificant.
Communication flows during financial service innovation

Reports on research concerning the role and nature of communication during the innovation process of new financial services. A causal framework has been developed on the antecedent role of communication in financial service innovation and its impact on success. Project team communication is conceptualized by: intra‐project communication (communication between project team members); and extra‐project communication (boundary‐spanning communication). Examines the effectiveness of these communication flows from an information processing perspective and assesses the amount of uncertainty reduced about customers, competitors, technologies and resources. Also assesses the impact of the reduction of uncertainty on new financial service performance. In view of the context, i.e. financial service innovations, we included the specific characteristics of services (intangibility, inseparability of production and consumption, heterogeneity and perishability) into our theory and research design. Finally, the theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
Biomechanical properties of peripheral nerve after acellular treatment.

BACKGROUND Peripheral nerve injury causes a high rate of disability and a huge economic burden, and is currently one of the serious health problems in the world. The use of nerve grafts plays a vital role in repairing nerve defects. Acellular nerve grafts have been widely used in many experimental models as a peripheral nerve substitute. The purpose of this study was to test the biomechanical properties of acellular nerve grafts. METHODS Thirty-four fresh sciatic nerves were obtained from 17 adult male Wistar rats (age of 3 months) and randomly assigned to 3 groups: normal control group, nerve segments underwent no treatment and were put in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.4) and stored at 4°C until further use; physical method group, nerve segments were frozen at -196°C and then thawed at 37°C; and chemical method group, nerve segments were chemically extracted with the detergents Triton X-200, sulfobetaine-10 (SB-10) and sulfobetaine-16 (SB-16). After the acellularization process was completed, the structural changes of in the sciatic nerves in each group were observed by hematoxylin-eosin staining and field emission scanning electron microscopy, then biomechanical properties were tested using a mechanical apparatus (Endura TEC ELF 3200, Bose, Boston, USA). RESULTS Hematoxylin-eosin staining and field emission scanning electron microscopy demonstrated that the effects of acellularization, demyelination, and integrity of nerve fiber tube of the chemical method were better than that of the physical method. Biomechanical testing showed that peripheral nerve grafts treated with the chemical method resulted in some decreased biomechanical properties (ultimate load, ultimate stress, ultimate strain, and mechanical work to fracture) compared with normal control nerves, but the differences were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION Nerve treated with the chemical method may be more appropriate for use in implantation than nerve treated with the physical method.
High prevalence of cardiovascular comorbidities in patients with rheumatoid arthritis from a population-based cross-sectional study of a Japanese health insurance database

Abstract Objective: To reveal any association between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and cardiovascular comorbidities using a Japanese health insurance database. Method: This population-based cross-sectional study was conducted using health insurance data provided by the Japan Medical Data Center Co., Ltd. We identified 2762 RA subjects having RA diagnostic codes (ICD10 codes; M05, M060, M062–63, M068–069) with at least two physician visits more than two months apart between June 2011 and May 2012 (RA group, n = 2762). We selected age- (±5 years), sex-, and study period-matched non-RA subjects (non-RA group, n = 27,620). We compared the prevalence of cardiovascular and related comorbidities (ischemic heart diseases [IHD], cerebral infarction, hypertension [HT], dyslipidemia [DL], and diabetes mellitus [DM]) between these groups and investigated the association between RA and cardiovascular comorbidities using a conditional logistic regression analysis. Results: The prevalence of all the investigated comorbidities in the RA group was significantly higher compared to the non-RA group. Odds ratios [95% confidence interval] of RA for IHD and cerebral infarction were 2.0 [1.5–2.5] and 3.1 [2.2–4.2] respectively, after adjusting for HT, DL, and DM. Conclusions: This study revealed for the first time in the Japanese population that RA was significantly associated with cardiovascular comorbidities.
The Development of a Novel Protocol for the Treatment of De Novo Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia in a Single Institution in Taiwan

From November 1, 1995 to July 31, 2004, 49 children with de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were treated at our institution. One patient who was treated by a different protocol was excluded. In total, 48 patients with de novo AML were enrolled in this study. Forty-two patients with AML other than acute promyelocytic leukemia (non-APL) were treated consecutively with 2 novel protocols: Mackay Memorial Hospital (MMH)-AML-96, designed as a pilot phase, and Taiwan Pediatric Oncology Group (TPOG)-AML-97A, on the basis of MMH-AML-96 with minor modifications. Six patients with APL were treated consecutively with 2 protocols, TPOG-APL-97 and APL-2001. As of July 31, 2006, the remission rates were 79%, 92%, and 98% after 1, 2, and 3 courses of induction therapy, respectively. The 5-year overall survival was 64%±6.9% (SE), and the 5-year event-free survival was 60%±7.1%; for non-APL AML, the rates were 62%±7.5% and 59%±7.6%; for APL, 83±15.2 and 67±19.3%. Among the factors analyzed, a complete remission achieved after 1 course of induction therapy, lactate dehydrogenase <500 IU/L at diagnosis, patients without invasive fungal infection during chemotherapy, and male sex were associated with a favorable outcome.
The rise and fall of strategic planning

Acknowlegdements xv A Note to the Reader xvii Introduction: The "Planning School" in Context 1 1.Planning and Strategy 5 2.Models of the Strategic Planning Process 35 3. Evidence on Planning 91 4. Some Real Pitfalls of Planning 159 5.Fundamental Fallacies of Strategic Planning 221 6. Planning, Plan, Planners 323 References 417 Index 445 About the Author 459
Rethinking web platform extensibility

OF THE DISSERTATION RETHINKING WEB PLATFORM EXTENSIBILITY by MOHAN DHAWAN Dissertation Director: Vinod Ganapathy The modern Web platform provides an extensible architecture that lets third party extensions, often untrusted, enhance and customize the Web browser and the Web applications. While the prevalence of extensions for both browsers and applications has been instrumental in making the Web browser hugely successful, there are two critical issues that the designers of the modern Web platform have not yet tackled in a principled manner. First, both the third party extensions and the extensible components of the Web platform include numerous vulnerabilities, which can compromise the security and privacy of end users. Second, the black-box and opaque nature of the Web platform limits the extent of extensibility achievable for Web developers, thereby hampering the development of novel browser-based user applications. This dissertation develops new tools and techniques to address the problem of insecure extensibility in the Web platform, proposes novel language and system level solutions to make extensibility a first class primitive for developing Web software, and demonstrates that these methods are applicable to real-world Web applications and Web browser extensions. Specifically, this dissertation makes the following three contributions. First, it studies and characterizes the problem of insecure JavaScript-based Web browser extensions using a specialized program analysis system, Sabre, which leverages JavaScript-level information flow mechanism to detect violations in client’s confidentiality and integrity arising from execution of untrusted extensions. Second, it formalizes the concept of transactions for JavaScript and
The Macroeconomic Relevance of Credit Flows: An Exploration of U.S. Data

This paper exploits the Financial Accounts of the United States to derive long time series of bank and nonbank credit to different sectors, and to examine the cyclical behavior of these series in relation to (i) the long-term business cycle, (ii) recessions and recoveries, and (iii) systemic financial crises. We find that bank and nonbank credit exhibit different dynamics throughout the business cycle. This diverging cyclical behavior of output and bank and nonbank credit argues for placing greater emphasis on sector-specific macroprudential measures to contain risks to the financial system, rather than using interest rates to address any vulnerabilities. Finally, we examine the role of bank and nonbank credit in the creation of financial interconnections and illustrate a method to conduct macro-financial stability assessments.
I Just Cannot Get You Out of My Head: Regulatory Capture of Financial Sector Supervisors

Regulatory capture is generally considered to be a principal cause for shortcomings in financial sector regulation and supervision. Little is known, however, about the mechanisms driving public officials' capture by the financial industry. We argue that social identification with the financial sector is an important psychological mechanism driving regulatory capture of financial sector supervisors and that this is likely to reduce supervisory effectiveness. Using survey data gathered from supervisors working at two Dutch financial supervisory institutions, our results demonstrate that, first, supervisors with previous tenure in the financial sector are more likely to socially identify with the financial sector, second, that social identification with the financial sector negatively affects supervisors' task performance, and, third, that the negative effect from socially identifying with the financial sector can be curbed by a supervisor's professional identity. These results shed light on the, to date, unaddressed psychological mechanisms driving regulatory capture.
Incumbents' and Entrants' Strategies in new Sub-markets within Regulated Environments: The Case of public WLAN Hotspots in Western Europe's Telecommunications

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the incumbents strategies and explore how being regulated affects the success in new sub-markets for entrants in the public hotspot market. Therefore 62 mobile network operators and the entrant market share in 17 Western European countries were analyzed according to their strategies and success. The results reveal that incumbents are caught in an area of conflict between regulation, internationalization, and technology strategy. The finding that late UMTS launch had an influence on incumbents in their sub-market strategy points to a sustaining scenario, as they could enhance their presence in the mobile broadband market. The results of the entrants strategies to enter the hotspot market indicate that the success of entrants in regulated markets depends on the
It's Time to Quit: Using Advertising to Encourage Smoking Cessation

This paper seeks to contribute to social advertising practice by examining the effectiveness of two different quit smoking ads. This research uses Prochaska and DiClemente's (1983) transtheoretical model of addictive behaviour to understand which advertising messages work at different stages of change. Using an experimental design method two real ads were shown to smokers in different stages of change. The results of this experiment indicate that the self‐liberating ‘Get Unhooked’ ads led to more favourable attitudes towards quitting in smokers looking to quit soon, while the more consciousness‐raising British Heart Foundation ad was more effective for those smokers not looking to quit. This research highlights the need for more targeted advertising messages and provides key implications to theory and practice.
Transfer in context: replication and adaptation in knowledge transfer relationships

This paper explores the role of replication and adaptation in knowledge transfer relationships. I develop a model of knowledge transfer in which firms replicate because knowledge is ambiguous and adapt because knowledge depends on context. In the model, firms replicate more when knowledge is discrete and adapt more when they understand the interactions between different areas of knowledge. Replication and adaptation lead to successful knowledge transfer, which leads to improved performance of the receiving unit. The predictions are tested using a survey of cross‐border knowledge transfer relationships among firms in the telecommunications industry. The results are largely consistent with the model and point to potential areas for future research, such as the drivers of replication, the depreciation rate of knowledge, and the role of understanding in organizational knowledge. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.