Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Models of internationalisation: the New Zealand experience

This paper examines the models of internationalisation adopted by 30 firms from New Zealand. Analysis of the internationalisation model is based on five key dimensions: firm sector and size; international market scope; market entry and servicing strategies; and speed of internationalisation. Drivers and constraints to internationalisation are also considered in the analysis. Evaluation of these dimensions over time finds evidence of both traditional 'stages' and emergent 'born (again) global' models of internationalisation, and reveals that over one third of these firms experience dramatic change to their international activities and resources initiated by divestment or change of ownership. We refer to the alternative internationalisation trajectory adopted by these firms as the 'transformational' model of internationalisation. The paper makes a contribution to the extant literature by providing synthesis of New Zealand firm internationalisation and by building on our understanding of how patterns of internationalisation from a small open economy are changing in response to global environmental pressures.
Informal Employment in Countries in Transition: A Conceptual Framework

In the past few years the informal sector in countries in transition has increasingly become the focus of research, public policy and the media. The term ? informal sector? has been used to describe an extremely wide spectrum of activities, which do not necessarily have much in common, such as tax evasion, corruption, money laundering, organised crime, bribery, subsistence farming, barter, petty trade, and the stealing of state property. This is problematic for the design of public policy as these activities may raise very different (and conflicting) policy issues. This paper provides a framework with which to analyse these different types of ? hidden? activities in order to design appropriate social, labour market, fiscal, and other policies. We build on the concepts and definitions of the System of National Accounts (1993), to develop a new conceptual framework that distinguishes between four types of ? hidden? activities: informal activities, which are undertaken ? to meet basic needs? ; underground activities, which are deliberately concealed from public authorities; illegal activities, which generate goods and services forbidden by the law; and household activities, which produce goods and services for own-consumption. We provide an example of how this concept of informal activities can be operationalised to analyse informal employment, and apply it to the Georgia Labour Force Survey (1999) data. Preliminary results reveal that more than half of Georgia? s employed population works informally.
Cortical diffusion-tensor imaging abnormalities in multiple sclerosis: a 3-year longitudinal study.

PURPOSE To evaluate whether diffusion-tensor imaging can be combined with double inversion recovery to improve the detection of structural changes occurring in the cortex of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). MATERIALS AND METHODS Once local ethics committee approval and informed consent were obtained, 168 patients with relapsing-remitting MS and 45 sex- and age-matched control subjects were included in a 3-year longitudinal study. Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging examinations were performed at study entry and after 3 years. Number and volume of cortical lesions, T2 white matter lesion volume (WMLV), and fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) of normal-appearing gray matter (NAGM) and cortical lesions were analyzed. Between-group differences in terms of NAGM-FA and NAGM-MD were assessed with analysis of variance followed by Tukey test correction. RESULTS At baseline, NAGM-FA was higher in patients (mean ± standard deviation, 0.149 ± 0.011) than in control subjects (0.125 ± 0.008; P < .001) and higher in patients with cortical lesions (0.154 ± 0.011) than in those without (0.138 ± 0.010; P < .001). Moreover, FA was higher in cortical lesions than in NAGM (P < .001). After 3 years, NAGM-FA was unchanged in control subjects and increased in patients (0.154 ± 0.012; P < .001), especially in patients with worsened EDSS score (0.170 ± 0.011; P < .001). The same behavior was observed for NAGM-MD. At baseline, NAGM-FA significantly correlated with EDSS score (r = 0.75; P < .001) and cortical lesion volume (r = 0.850; P < .001). Multivariate analysis identified NAGM-FA (B = 0.654; P < .001) and T2 WMLV (B = 0.310; P < .001) as independent predictors of EDSS score, while NAGM-FA change (B = 0.523; P < .001) and disease duration (B = 0.342; P < .001) were independent predictors of EDSS change. CONCLUSION Compared with control subjects, patients with RRMS had an increase in FA of NAGM that strongly correlated with cortical lesion volume and clinical disability.
Individual-oriented and socially oriented cultural conceptions of subjective well-being: Conceptual analysis and scale development

Adopting a ‘cross-cultural indigenous approach’ (CCI), we attempted a conceptual analysis of cultural conceptions of SWB in terms of individual-oriented SWB (ISWB) and socially oriented SWB (SSWB) views. Also incorporating findings from our previous qualitative studies, a culturally balanced and fair measurement, The Individual-oriented and Socially oriented cultural conceptions of SWB Scales (ISSWB) was developed and evaluated in two studies involving Chinese and American participants. The 51-item version of the new measure showed good internal consistency reliability, test‐retest reliability, convergent and discriminant validity. Further analysis showed that the Chinese possessed stronger SSWB than the Americans, while the Americans possessed stronger ISWB than the Chinese. There were also intracultural differences among the Chinese people. Overall, the studies showed the utility of ISSWB scales for future studies.
Chapter 11: Duration, Outcome, and Post-Reorganization Performance

Abstract We find that among firms that file Chapter 11 those that are smaller have better operating performance, and are in higher operating margin industries spend less time in Chapter 11. Firms are more likely to emerge as going concerns and to achieve positive post reorganization profitability if they significantly reduce assets and liabilities while in Chapter 11. Higher pre-bankruptcy industry-adjusted operating margins and improvements in margin are associated with post-reorganization profitability but do not impact the decision to reorganize. These results reveal characteristics and actions associated with successful reorganizations and, furthermore, suggest that Chapter 11 allows promising firms to successfully reorganize.
Does Timing Matter? A Real Options Experiment to Farmers' Investment and Disinvestment Behaviours

type="main" xml:id="ajar12028-abs-0001"> In this article, we analyse the (dis)investment behaviour of farmers in a within-subject designed experiment. We ascertain whether, and to what extent, the real options approach (ROA) and the classical investment theory can predict farmers' (dis)investment behaviour. We consider a problem of optimal stopping, stylising an option to (dis)invest in agricultural technology. Our results show that both theories do not explain exactly the observed (dis)investment behaviour. However, some evidence was found that the ROA predicted the decision behaviour of farmers better than the classical investment theory. Moreover, we found that farmers learn from repeated investment decisions and consider the value of waiting over time. Socio-demographic and farm-specific variables also affect the (dis)investment behaviour of farmers.
Evolutionary models of phylogenetic trees

The most widely used evolutionary model for phylogenetic trees is the equal–rates Markov (ERM) model. A problem is that the ERM model predicts less imbalance than observed for trees inferred from real data; in fact, the observed imbalance tends to fall between the values predicted by the ERM model and those predicted by the proportional–to–distinguishable–arrangements (PDA) model. Here, a continuous multi–rate (MR) family of evolutionary models is presented which contains entire subfamilies corresponding to both the PDA and ERM models. Furthermore, this MR family covers an entire range from ‘completely balanced’ to ‘completely unbalanced’ models. In particular, the MR family contains other known evolutionary models. The MR family is very versatile and virtually free of assumptions on the character of evolution; yet it is highly susceptible to rigorous analyses. In particular, such analyses help to uncover adaptability, quasi–stabilization and prolonged stasis as major possible causes of the imbalance. However, the MR model is functionally simple and requires only three parameters to reproduce the observed imbalance.
A MODEL OF CORPORATE FINANCING DECISIONS

IN THIS PAPER, an integrated model of corporate financing patterns is presented. The model draws on the current theory of optimal capital structure, but places this theory in the context of the overall, ongoing financing decision. Estimates of the model make specific allowance for balance sheet constraints and the interdependent nature of the financing decision. A fully integrated theory of corporate financing decisions has not yet been developed, so the results presented cannot be interpreted as a test of any one complete theory. Rather, they represent a search for empirical regularities which may help guide future theoretical studies. Some fragments of a theory of corporate financing decisions do exist, however, and an attempt is made to incorporate them in the model and see if they are useful in explaining past data. In the first section of this paper, previous studies are discussed. In the following section, a new model is developed which attempts to improve on these studies by drawing upon current theory. Finally, estimates of the model are presented which improve on previous studies in their use of an estimation technique which explicitly allows for balance sheet interrelationships. A major conclusion is that movements in the market values of long-term debt and equity are important determinants of corporate security issues.
A pilot study to evaluate the development of resistance to nevirapine in asymptomatic human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients with CD4 cell counts of > 500/mm3: AIDS Clinical Trials Group Protocol 208.

Treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection with nevirapine in patients with < 400 CD4 cells/mm3 rapidly selects for virus with reduced susceptibility to nevirapine. To test whether resistance would develop less quickly in patients with a lower virus burden, nevirapine was studied in asymptomatic patients with > 500 CD4 cells/mm3. With 400 mg of nevirapine daily, the median reduction in HIV RNA was 0.51 log10 copies/mL, and all isolates recovered by 12 weeks were resistant to nevirapine. As in patients with lower CD4 cell counts, some patients experienced sustained reduction in plasma HIV RNA despite the presence of resistant virus. These results suggest that lower levels of HIV RNA and immunosuppression did not retard the rate of emergence of nevirapine-resistant virus; also, a polymerase chain reaction-based HIV RNA assay is sufficiently sensitive to evaluate the antiviral effect of a drug in patients with > 500 CD4 cells/mm3.
Understanding the nature of knowledge: an empirical study of knowledge sharing in a knowledge intensive organisation

This paper contributes to knowledge sharing theory and provides a practical approach for managing organisational knowledge. This research study investigates the impact of knowledge on knowledge sharing and defines a framework to manage individuals and organisational knowledge to improve performance. Qualitative methods such as individual semi-structured interviews, on-site observations, and document analysis are used to collect data from a US knowledge intensive organisation. Data analysis is organised through Atlas.ti®, a qualitative analysis software package. Selection, deviation, re-alignment, and conformity emerged as critical aspects of knowledge sharing. This study pointed out the nature of knowledge, highlighted impediments to the knowledge sharing process, and suggested strategies to improve the overall organisational effectiveness. Implications for theory and practise, limitations connected to empirical generalisability, and suggestions for future research are also discussed.
Quantification and Visualization of the Three-Dimensional Inconsistency of the Subthalamic Nucleus in the Schaltenbrand-Wahren Brain Atlas

The Schaltenbrand-Wahren (SW) brain atlas has many limitations: the major two are three-dimensional (3D) inconsistency and spatial sparseness. In this work, we quantify and visualize the 3D inconsistency of the subthalamic nucleus (STN). The STN 3D models, 3D-A, 3D-C and 3D-S, are reconstructed from the SW axial, coronal, and sagittal microseries, respectively, by using a shape-based (NURBS) approach. All three models are placed in the SW coordinate system and compared quantitatively in terms of location (centroids), size (volumes), shape (normalized eigenvalues), orientation (eigenvectors), and mutual spatial relationships (overlaps and inclusions). Analysis is done in 3D within each orientation and across them. A dedicated tool is developed for quantitative validation of 3D modeling. The average error achieved is 0.088 mm, which is at the resolution limit of the digital SW atlas. The reconstructed 3D STN models differ in location, size, shape, orientation, overlap size, and inclusion rate. The 3D-S volume is 1.27 times larger than that of 3D-A and 1.38 times larger than that of 3D-C. The highest overlap size is found between 3D-A and 3D-S. The highest inclusion rates of 52.5 and 66.6% are for 3D-A and 3D-S. 3D-C has the lowest overlap size and results in the lowest inclusion rates (around 20–30%), meaning that 3D-C is substantially displaced in comparison to 3D-A and 3D-S. The lateral centroid coordinate of 3D-C is 9.18 mm while that of 3D-S is 12.17 mm. Each of the 3D models has some limitation: 3D-A in orientation, 3D-C in location, and 3D-S in shape realism. The STN in comparison to the actual almond is smaller, and relatively (i.e. normalized to the same height) 2.2–2.4 times wider and 3.7–5.5 times longer. 3D-C becomes more similar to 3D-S by scaling the SW coronal microseries laterally by 1.3257. Then the lateral coordinates of their centroids coincide, the difference between them in orientation is 0.11 mm, and 3D-S is only 1.06 times larger than the scaled 3D-C. This operation substantially improves registration of the SW atlas with the probabilistic functional atlas. However, 3D visualization shows that both 3D-S and scaled 3D-C models are heavily interwoven resulting in low inclusion rates of about 60%. The STN in the SW atlas shows severe 3D inaccuracy within each orientation and across them, and it has to be employed with great care and understanding of its limitations.
Assessment of symptoms in a concussion management programme: Method influences outcome

Context: Monitoring of subjective symptoms is the foundation of all sport concussion management programmes. The purpose of this study is to examine methodological variables that impact symptom reporting during baseline testing. Objective: To investigate how the administration method of a concussion assessment tool (self-report vs interview) affects the report of symptoms. Design, setting and participants: This was a cross-sectional, semi-randomized study of 117 athletes. Main outcome measurements: Subjects completed the Post-Concussion Scale during pre-season evaluations. Results: A two-factor ANOVA revealed a significant difference in total symptom scores (p = 0.02) and number of endorsed symptoms (p = 0.02) across administration modes. Athletes had a greater total symptom score and reported a greater number of symptoms in the self-administration condition than in the interview condition. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in symptom reporting across interviewer gender. Athletes endorsed more symptoms when the interviewer was a woman. Conclusions: Because the method of collecting symptoms, as well as interviewer gender, can impact test results, self-report measures may be a better way of obtaining consistent results. Clinicians and researchers should be aware that both the nature and extent of symptom reporting is greater when using questionnaires than when athletes are interviewed.
Breast Cancer Risk in Hispanic Agricultural Workers in California

Abstract In a registry-based case-control study/of breast cancer in farm labor union members in Qalifornia, 128 breast cancer (BC) cases newly diagnosed in 1988-2001 and 640 cancer-free controls were investigated. Stage and grade of disease at diagnosis were about the same asin the California Hispanic population. Risk of breast cancer was not associated with work with any specific crops or commodities except mushrooms, where the adjusted odds ratio (OR) was 6.00 (95% CI 2.01–18.0) Controlling for covariates, adjusted ORs (and 95% CIs) for breast cancer in quartiles of pesticide use were 1.00, 1.30 (0.73–2.30), 1.23 (0.67–2.27), and 1.41 (0.66–3.02). Chlordane, malathion, and 2,4-D were associated with increased risk. Risk associated with chemical use was stronger in younger women, those with early-onset breast cancer, and those diagnosed earlier (1988–1994).
A Reduced Phytate Diet Does Not Reduce Endogenous Fecal Zinc in Children on a Habitual High-Phytate Diet

Ten Malawian children, ages 3 to 5 years, at risk for zinc deficiency and receiving a habitual maize-based high-phytate diet, received maize after phytate reduction for 40 days and had their endogenous fecal zinc (EFZ) measured using stable isotope techniques before and after phytate reduction. The phytate:Zn of the diet before reduction was 23.0 and afterward was 7.6. EFZ was similar before and after dietary phytate reduction, 1.15 ± 0.33 and 1.17 ± 0.16 mg/day, respectively. EFZ was not affected by dietary phytate in this population.
A Model of Capital Structure when Earnings Are Mean-Reverting

Abstract A multiperiod model of optimal capital structure is developed under the assumption that earnings follow an autoregressive process. Firm value and leverage vary through time and, at each date, the firm achieves an optimal debt level that is a function of the full state contingent debt policy. The reversion parameter of the earnings series is shown to be positively related to various measures of variability and negatively related to leverage. If earnings processes are not homogeneous across firms, then standard earnings risk measures in capital structure studies do not adequately represent crosssectional differences in variability in firm value.
ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES, ADDITIONAL FEE INCOME AND ACCESS AGREEMENTS: THEIR IMPACT ON WIDENING PARTICIPATION AND FAIR ACCESS

ABSTRACT: This paper argues that the introduction of access agreements following the establishment of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) has consolidated how English higher education institutions (HEIs) position themselves in the marketplace in relation to widening participation. However, the absence of a national bursary scheme has led to obfuscation rather than clarification from the perspective of the consumer. This paper analyses OFFA's 2008 monitoring report and a sample of twenty HEIs’ original 2006 and revised or updated access agreements (2008) to draw conclusions about the impact of these agreements on notions of ‘fair access’ and widening participation. The authors conclude that, unsurprisingly in an increasingly market-driven system, institutions use access agreements primarily to promote enrolment to their own programmes rather than to promote system-wide objectives. As a consequence of this marketing focus, previous differences between pre-1992 and post-1992 institutions in relation to widening participation and fair access are perpetuated, leading to both confusion for consumers and an inequitable distribution of bursary and other support mechanisms for the poorest applicants to HE.
Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research: A Synthesis of Recommendations

Purpose Standards for reporting exist for many types of quantitative research, but currently none exist for the broad spectrum of qualitative research. The purpose of the present study was to formulate and define standards for reporting qualitative research while preserving the requisite flexibility to accommodate various paradigms, approaches, and methods. Method The authors identified guidelines, reporting standards, and critical appraisal criteria for qualitative research by searching PubMed, Web of Science, and Google through July 2013; reviewing the reference lists of retrieved sources; and contacting experts. Specifically, two authors reviewed a sample of sources to generate an initial set of items that were potentially important in reporting qualitative research. Through an iterative process of reviewing sources, modifying the set of items, and coding all sources for items, the authors prepared a near-final list of items and descriptions and sent this list to five external reviewers for feedback. The final items and descriptions included in the reporting standards reflect this feedback. Results The Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) consists of 21 items. The authors define and explain key elements of each item and provide examples from recently published articles to illustrate ways in which the standards can be met. Conclusions The SRQR aims to improve the transparency of all aspects of qualitative research by providing clear standards for reporting qualitative research. These standards will assist authors during manuscript preparation, editors and reviewers in evaluating a manuscript for potential publication, and readers when critically appraising, applying, and synthesizing study findings.
Personalization or Codification? A Marketing Perspective to Optimize Knowledge Reuse Efficiency

Organizations continue to struggle with low returns on knowledge management (KM) investments. This paper's goal is to prescribe a KM strategy that maximizes organizational knowledge reuse efficiency (KRE). Knowledge reuse is defined as the totality of all knowledge transfers, from all producers to all consumers in the same organization, over all locations. Organizational inefficiencies result from individual knowledge producers and consumers having different priorities and agendas during the knowledge exchange. Furthermore, these producers' and consumers' priorities overlap with, but are not congruent with, the organization's priorities to maximize knowledge reuse efficiency. By combining a marketing perspective with a marketing consumer stages process model of knowledge reuse, we develop a contingency model which prescribes the strategy which maximizes KRE. The organizational characteristics on which the model is contingent include organization size, the number of knowledge producers, consumers, these producer and consumer costs and utilities during the knowledge transfer, and the organization's KM infrastructure costs. The prescribed approach specifies the degree to which a personalization and codification strategy should be combined to optimize KRE, contrary to some suggestions in the literature. A simulation supports that the model's prescribed strategy is not overly sensitive to its contingency variables.