Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF BANKS IN THE POST-CONSOLIDATION ERA IN NIGERIA

The Nigerian banking system went through another type of reform soon after the completion of banking consolidation exercise in 2005. This came after a stress test which was done to ascertain the level of compliance with corporate governance code and soundness of banks in the country. Twelve banks were found to be in substantial compliance with the code of corporate governance and therefore considered healthy. The study has the objective of studying the impact of compliance with corporate governance code on the performance of the banks considered healthy by the Central Bank. The twelve banks considered healthy are the study sample. Data covering the period 2006-2010 were extracted from their financial statements. The study employed two techniques (t-test and ANOVA) to test for the three hypotheses formulated from the mathematical model outlined for the study. Findings revealed an impact of dispersed equity on the profitability of banks. However for board size, findings are mixed; a large board size relates to profitability but does not significantly impact on financial performance. It is recommended that there is the need to strengthen managerial policies so that both operational and financial performance can be improved.
Practices for environmental sustainability in the Italian Textile Clothing and Leather sector: preliminary results

The present study analyzed the practices adopted by Italian fashion companies to reduce their environmental impact. In particular, the aim of this work is to investigate the relationships among three areas of sustainable practices (i.e. Products and Services, Supply Chain Management, Production Process), the stakeholders involved in the sustainable strategy and the economic impacts of sustainability on the business. This paper presents the preliminary results of an empirical study on the sustainability practices adoption of Italian companies in the Clothing and Leather industries. The research has been conducted through an online survey submitted to a sample of 192 Italian companies, having respectively the 14 and 15 ATECO 2007 code in the AIDA database, with a response rate of 21,8%. A structural equation modelling (SEM) approach was employed to test the hypothesized model. Results indicate that the implementation of sustainable production process practices have a positive influence on company business. Moreover stakeholders typology involved by the company in the sustainable strategy is connected to the implemented Supply Chain Management sustainable practices. In particular, practices connected to suppliers’ cooperation and the use of low environmental impact vehicles, are important if the involved stakeholders are respectively providers or competitors. This research study also highlights that the stakeholders typology involved in the sustainable strategy is connected to the economic impact on the business. In this context, the greatest economic impacts have been shown by companies that focused their sustainable strategy on suppliers.
WHY DO FIRMS BECOME GREEN? THE INFLUENCE OF INTERNATIONALIZATION ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY.

The article analyzes whether international activity and a firm's capability of organizational learning have an impact on the development of an advanced environmental approach in corporate internationalization. The generation of valuable and innovative environmental managerial practices is described as one capability that can be generated through the internationalization process, which is believed to lead firms to adopt a proactive environmental strategy (PES). An observation is made about how firms with high learning capability do not necessarily have to be in many regions with different environmental profiles in order to be environmentally proactive.
Relationships between Service Providers and Their Impact on Customers

Relationships between service providers and customers are important for achieving high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, service management scholars have shown. Building from existing theories, the author proposes that relationships between service providers are another important contributor to customer outcomes. When service processes are highly interdependent, uncertain, and time constrained, relationships between service providers are integral to the process of coordination and therefore are an important contributor to customer outcomes. In a study of postsurgical care in nine hospitals, the author finds that strong provider-provider relationships directly increase customer satisfaction and loyalty because the overall service experience is more effectively coordinated. Second, strong provider-provider relationships help service providers to develop more effective relationships with their customers, which further increases customer satisfaction and loyalty. Managers should therefore select, train, and reward service providers in a way that supports the formation of strong working relationships between them.
Development and implementation of a web-based continuing professional development (CPD) programme on medical genetics

We developed, implemented and evaluated a web-based continuing professional development (CPD) programme on medical genetics. Development of the CPD programme followed the ADDIE model, i.e. Analysis, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluation. An invitation to participate in a needs analysis survey was sent to all doctors on the email list of the Sri Lanka Medical Association. A total of 129 completed surveys was received (57% of the 228 who accessed the online survey). The average age of respondents was 42 years (range 27-81). The male: female ratio was approximately 2 : 1. Almost all respondents (96%) selected web-based CPD programmes, or web-based and conventional lectures, as their preferred method of learning. The programme was piloted on a group of 10 doctors. The average pre-knowledge score was 40.3 and the post-knowledge score was 62.1 marks out of 100 (P = 0.002). We conclude that a web-based CPD programme on medical genetics is feasible in Sri Lanka.
A Preliminary Study of Sex Differences in Brain Activation during a Spatial Navigation Task in Healthy Adults

The hippocampus plays a significant role in spatial memory processing, with sex differences being prominent on various spatial tasks. This study examined sex differences in healthy adults, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in areas implicated in spatial processing during navigation of a virtual analogue of the Morris water-maze. There were three conditions: learning, hidden, and visible control. There were no significant differences in performance measures. However, sex differences were found in regional brain activation during learning in the right hippocampus, right parahippocampal gyrus, and the cingulate cortex. During the hidden condition, the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and cingulate cortex were activated in both men and women. Additional brain areas involved in spatial processing may be recruited in women when learning information about the environment, by utilizing external cues (landmarks) more than do men, contributing to the observed sex differences in brain activation.
Renewable energy, sustainability and environment: are we there yet?

Unlimited access to energy sources is essential for any economic development; this is specially factual for a developing country like Bangladesh. Most developing countries have ample renewable energy resources. By developing such energy sources developing countries can reduce their dependence on oil and natural gas, creating energy portfolios that are easily available and less vulnerable to price rises. This paper first presents an empirical investigation on sustainability and environmental disclosure by all the listed companies in Bangladesh; followed by highlight different potential renewable energy sources and probable challenges. Analysis of annual reports published in 2007-2008 reveals that only about 10 per cent of listed companies made sustainability and environmental disclosures, however none of them disclosed any use of renewable energy sources. There are still opportunities to improve the current practice. To alleviate shortage of energy recourses and to ensure uninterrupted production this is the right time for companies to adapt renewable energy sources like solar energy, wind power, biomass and biogas and hydro energy.
Epitope scanning reveals gain and loss of strain specific antibody binding epitopes associated with the conversion of normal cellular prion to scrapie prion

We used anti‐prion (PrP) monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) in different combinations to scan changes in the availability of antibody binding epitopes – using an epitope scanning assay – in brain homogenates from normal mice, and from mice infected with either ME7 or 139 A strains of infectious scrapie prion (PrPSc). In ME7‐infected brains, the epitope detected by the Mab pair 8B4/8H4 is reduced, while the epitope detected by the Mab pair 8F9/11G5 is increased. Mab 8F9/11G5 detect a conformational epitope on PrPSc because the rise in Mab 8F9/11G5 binding is sensitive to a denaturing agent but resistant to proteinase K (PK). While the increase in Mab 8F9/11G5 binding correlates with the presence of PK‐resistant PrP and clinical signs of infection, the reduction in Mab 8B4/8H4 binding is detected earlier. Fractionation of the ME7‐infected brain homogenate in sucrose gradient revealed that the PrPSc species detected by the epitope scanning assay are heterogeneous in size, with a molecular mass of ≈ ≥ 2000‐kDa. We also investigated whether these findings were applicable to two other strains of PrPSc, namely 87 V and 22 L. We found that the decrease in Mab 8B4/8H4 binding detected in ME7‐infected brains was also detected in 87 V‐infected brains but not in 22 L‐infected brains. In contrast, the increase in Mab 8F9/11G5 binding detected in ME7‐ and 139 A‐infected brains was also detected in 22 L‐infected brains but not in 87 V‐infected brains. Therefore, each prion strain has its unique conformation, and we can monitor the conversion of normal cellular prion (PrPC) to PrPSc based on the changes in the antibody binding patterns. The epitope can be decreased or increased, linear or conformational, detected late or early during infection, in a strain specific manner.
Why Do Temporal Generalization Gradients Change When People Make Decisions as Quickly as Possible?

Three experiments investigated temporal generalization performance under conditions in which participants were instructed to make their decisions as quickly as possible (speed), or were allowed to take their time (accuracy). A previous study (Klapproth & Müller, 2008) had shown that under speeded conditions people were more likely to confuse durations shorter than the standard with the standard than in the accuracy conditions, and a possible explanation of this result is that longer stimulus durations are “truncated” (i.e., people make a judgement about them before they have terminated, thereby shortening their effective duration) and that these truncated durations affect the standard used for the task. Experiment 1 investigated performance under speed and accuracy conditions when comparison durations were close to the standard or further away. No performance difference was found as a function of stimulus spacing, even though responses occurred on average before the longest durations had terminated, but this lack of effect was attributed to “task difficulty” effects changing decision thresholds. In Experiment 2, the standard duration was either the longest or the shortest duration in the comparison set, and differences between speed and accuracy groups occurred only when the comparisons were longer than the standard, supporting the “truncation” hypothesis. A third experiment showed that differences between speed and accuracy groups only occurred if some memory of the standard that was valid for more than one trial was used. In general, the results suggest that the generalization gradient shifts in speeded conditions occur because of truncation of longer comparison durations, which influences the effective standard used for the task.
Sweden: Bank of the Year Recognition and Performance

Swedish banking has been recognized for financial prudence, innovations, and service provision. Bank of the Year winners are characterized in terms of their prize-winning performance. This article details and then generalizes items that led to awards and quantifies the financial rewards that come from providing superior performance. In most cases, growth slowed, but winners still tended to attain above-average performance. It would appear that (a) service really is the foundation for recognition; (b) more recently, sound management, innovation, and financial performance have come into play; and (c) it is easier to be recognized if the organization is small.
Searching for interference effects in learning new face–name associations

In three experiments we attempted to increase interference using experimental manipulations in a face–name learning paradigm. All experiments included young and older adult participants because ageing is associated with increases in both susceptibility to interference and difficulty in learning face–name associations. None of the experiments produced interference for either age group: The inclusion of confusable (i.e., ambiguous) names and occupations, having to learn an additional piece of information in association with each face, and requiring participants to guess when uncertain all failed to negatively impact name learning. Interference does not appear to be the critical mechanism underlying the difficulty of learning proper names, and it cannot account for older adults' disproportionate decline in name-learning ability.
E-Service Quality Framework In A Revenue Authority Setting For South Africa

Tax revenue forms the backbone of any economy. The quality of the e-services provided by a revenue authority is therefore crucial, as e-service quality directly influences the burden of complying with tax obligations, and hence directly affects the tax compliance climate in a country. The aim of the study is the development of a conceptual e-service quality framework for South Africa that encapsulates the ‘lens of a tax practitioner’ in a revenue authority setting. In order to develop the conceptual ‘lens of the tax practitioner’, an in-depth, qualitative approach was used to identify a comprehensive range of attributes and determinants that potentially drive service quality in the revenue service setting. One such qualitative method is the critical incident technique, which relies on a set of procedures to collect comments on service experiences, to perform a content analysis and to classify the observations of the reported service experiences. This study proposes a theoretical e-service quality framework that encapsulates the ‘lens of the tax practitioner’ in a revenue authority setting. Findings from this study may advance the understanding and the management of the service quality of the electronic services in a revenue authority setting.
Corporate Governance, Stock Market Development and Private Capital Accumulation: A Case Study of India

In the present LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation) regime the stock market has been assigned to play an important role. There is now a call for better corporate governance in order to protect the interests of the share holders. In this perspective the Centre for Business Research (at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge) has produced a comprehensive time series dataset for corporate governance with reference to shareholder protection for a number of countries including India. The coverage of the dataset is much more comprehensive than that of the LLSV index (La Porta et al, 1998). The paper examines this dataset to answer the question whether the government concern for corporate governance is misplaced - whether more and more reliance on private sector for capital accumulation and development through popularisation of stock market works.
Marketing eco-fashion: The influence of brand name and message explicitness

This study investigated the influence of two variables – brand name and message explicitness – on attitude toward advertisement and attitude toward brand, and further, explored the impact of attitude toward advertisement, attitude toward brand, and other variables on consumer purchase intention. A questionnaire with an experimental design component was administered to 343 college students. Results revealed that respondents formed positive attitudes toward apparel brand when the advertising message contained explicit information about environmentally friendly products. Attitude toward brand, subjective norm, attitude toward advertisement, eco-fashion involvement, and environmental commitment were strong predictors of intention to purchase an environmentally friendly apparel brand. Implications are that apparel marketers may build more positive attitudes toward brands by providing explicit information about environmentally friendly products in their marketing claims. This may be one way for marketers to attract college students who are interested in purchasing environmentally friendly products, but who are not fully committed to a green lifestyle. Further, marketers may be able to reach those who are less interested in purchasing environmentally friendly products by raising awareness and knowledge of the benefits associated with their products and brands, which may help to establish a sustainable market for eco-fashion.
CADA, a novel CD4-targeted HIV inhibitor, is synergistic with various anti-HIV drugs in vitro

Objective: To evaluate the anti-HIV-1 activity of the cyclotriazadisulfonamide CADA against primary isolates in vitro and the combination of CADA with approved anti-HIV drugs for potential synergy. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were treated with CADA and infected with 16 different clinical isolates. After 8 days of infection, the median inhibitory concentration (IC50) was calculated from the p24 viral antigen content in the supernatant. MT-4 cells were infected with HIV-1NL4.3 and then cultured with CADA or other antiretroviral drugs (i.e., several reverse transcriptase, protease and entry inhibitors), alone and in combination. After 4 days, IC50 was determined for the various drugs in replicate assays. Analysis of combined effects was performed using the median effect principle (CalcuSyn; Biosoft). Results: The entry inhibitor CADA exerted a potent and consistent anti-HIV-1 activity against a wide range of R5, R5/X4 and X4 primary isolates in PBMC. From the two-drug studies, combination indices showed synergy between CADA and reverse transcriptase inhibitors (zidovudine, stavudine, lamivudine, zalcitabine, didanosine, abacavir, tenofovir, nevirapine, delavirdine and efavirenz), and protease inhibitors (lopinavir, saquinavir, indinavir, nelfinavir, amprenavir and ritonavir). In addition, the combination of CADA with the gp41 fusion inhibitor T-20 (enfuvirtide), the CXCR4 antagonist AMD3100 and the gp120-specific interacting plant lectins from Galanthus nivalis (GNA) and Hippeastrum hybrid (HHA) also resulted in a synergistic inhibition. Conclusions: Compounds that can specifically downmodulate the CD4 receptor in PBMC have broad-spectrum anti-HIV activity against primary isolates and act synergistically when used in conjunction with currently available antiretroviral drugs. They deserve further study as potential candidate anti-HIV drugs.
The effects of work – rest duration on intermittent exercise and subsequent performance

This study examined the effects of different work – rest durations during 40 min intermittent treadmill exercise and subsequent running performance. Eight males (mean ± s: age 24.3 ± 2.0 years, body mass 79.4 ± 7.0 kg, height 1.77 ± 0.05 m) undertook intermittent exercise involving repeated sprints at 120% of the speed at which maximal oxygen uptake (v-[Vdot]O2max) was attained with passive recovery between each one. The work – rest ratio was constant at 1:1.5 with trials involving short (6:9 s), medium (12:18 s) or long (24:36 s) work – rest durations. Each trial was followed by a performance run to volitional exhaustion at 150% v-[Vdot]O2max. After 40 min, mean exercise intensity was greater during the long (68.4 ± 9.3%) than the short work – rest trial (54.9 ± 8.1% [Vdot]O2max; P < 0.05). Blood lactate concentration at 10 min was higher in the long and medium than in the short work – rest trial (6.1 ± 0.8, 5.2 ± 0.9, 4.5 ± 1.3 mmol · l−1, respectively; P < 0.05). The respiratory exchange ratio was consistently higher during the long than during the medium and short work – rest trials (P < 0.05). Plasma glucose concentration was higher in the long and medium than in the short work – rest trial after 40 min of exercise (5.6 ± 0.1, 6.6 ± 0.2 and 5.3 ± 0.5 mmol · l−1, respectively; P < 0.05). No differences were observed between trials for performance time (72.7 ± 14.9, 63.2 ± 13.2, 57.6 ± 13.5 s for the short, medium and long work – rest trial, respectively; P = 0.17), although a relationship between performance time and 40 min plasma glucose was observed (P < 0.05). The results show that 40 min of intermittent exercise involving long and medium work – rest durations elicits greater physiological strain and carbohydrate utilization than the same amount of intermittent exercise undertaken with a short work – rest duration.
Job satisfaction and the educated entrepreneur

Abstract The job satisfaction literature finds evidence that self-employed workers are more satisfied than their wage and salary counterparts. However, self-employed individuals are a widely heterogeneous group of workers. Using data from the National Survey of College Graduates, this paper explores the job satisfaction gap among educated workers – individuals with at least a bachelor's degree. Consistent with the literature, this paper finds a statistically significant, yet modest premium in satisfaction for educated entrepreneurs compared to educated wage and salary workers. This finding varies by occupation, although many occupations, constituting a quarter of the sample, have no satisfaction differential by employment sector. Satisfaction gaps differ by gender, but not by level or conditional earnings. Satisfaction gaps with nine job-specific traits are also estimated. These findings support the encouragement of entrepreneurship by government and private sectors, as well as imparting autonomy and entrepreneurial environments in the wage and salary sector.
Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Gastric Cancer

AbstractClinical application of sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping in patients with early-stage gastric cancer has been a controversial issue for years. However, a recent meta-analysis and a prospective multicenter trial of SLN mapping for early-stage gastric cancer have shown acceptable SLN detection rates and accuracy of determination of lymph node status. A dual-tracer method that uses radioactive colloids and blue dyes is currently considered the most reliable method for the stable detection of SLNs in patients with early-stage gastric cancer. However, the new technologies such as indocyanine green infrared or fluorescence imaging might revolutionize the SLN mapping procedures in gastric cancer. For early-stage gastric cancer, the establishment of individualized, minimally invasive treatments based on SLN concept may retain the patients’ quality of life.