Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Outside Director Liability

This Article analyzes the degree to which outside directors of public companies are exposed to out-of-pocket liability risk - the risk of paying legal expenses or damages pursuant to a judgment or settlement agreement that are not fully paid by the company or another source, or covered by directors' and officers' (D&O) liability insurance. Recent settlements in securities class actions involving WorldCom and Enron, in which lead plaintiffs succeeded in extracting out-of-pocket payments from outside directors, have led to predictions that such payments will become common. We analyze the out-of-pocket liability risk facing outside directors empirically, legally, and conceptually and show that this risk is very low, far lower than many commentators and board members believe, notwithstanding the WorldCom and Enron settlements. Our extensive search for instances in which outside directors of public companies have made out-of-pocket payments turned up thirteen cases in the last twenty-five years. Most involve fact patterns that should not recur today for a company with a state-of-the-art D&O insurance policy. We offer a detailed assessment of the liability risk outside directors face in trials under corporate and securities law, including settlement dynamics. We argue that, going forward, if a company has a D&O policy with appropriate coverage and sensible limits, outside directors will be potentially vulnerable to out-of-pocket liability only when (1) the company is insolvent and the expected damage award exceeds those limits, (2) the case includes a substantial claim under section 11 of the Securities Act or an unusually strong section 10(b) claim, and (3) there is an alignment between outside directors' or other defendants' culpability and their wealth. Absent facts that fit or approach this perfect-storm scenario, directors with state-of-the-art insurance policies face little out-of-pocket liability risk, and even in a perfect storm they may not face out-of-pocket liability. The principal threats to outside directors who perform poorly are the time, aggravation, and potential harm to reputation that a lawsuit can entail, not direct financial loss. A companion article, Brian Cheffins & Bernard Black, Outside Director Liability Across Countries, 84 Texas Law Review 1385-1480 (2006), http://ssrn.com/abstract=438321, studies six comparison common-law and civil-law countries (Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan). This article and Outside Director Liability Across Countries are the most fully developed of our articles on outside director liability. Earlier pieces of this overall project are listed below. http://ssrn.com/abstract=382422 (a pre-Enron and WorldCom version of this article) http://ssrn.com/abstract=878135 (policy analysis) http://ssrn.com/abstract=628223 (study of Korea) http://ssrn.com/abstract=682507 (summary article for a finance audience) http://ssrn.com/abstract=800584 (Germany-centered) http://ssrn.com/abstract=800604 (German language version of Germany-paper) http://ssrn.com/abstract=590913 (summary for practitioner audience)
Input–Output Analysis from a Wider Perspective: a Comparison of the Early Works of Leontief and Sraffa

Abstract This paper compares Leontief's 1928 PhD thesis and Sraffa's work in Cambridge in 1927–1928 as reconstructed from Sraffa's unpublished papers. Both authors showed that relative prices and the interest rate can be determined exclusively in terms of the observable amounts of commodities produced and used up during a year – without any reference to demand and supply. While Sraffa continued to elaborate a comprehensive objectivist, surplus-based alternative to the marginalist theory, Leontief's interest shifted towards applying the new tool of input-output to practical problems. However, his assumption of given value added coefficients in his price equations cannot be sustained.
Leadership in a Changing Business World:: A Multilevel Perspective on Connecting Employees to Organizational Goals

In a dynamic business world, supervisors need to link employees to the organization. Yet, we know little about how leadership operates at different levels or boundary conditions for supervisors' effectiveness. I address these questions considering the alignment between the supervisor and the organizational context. Chapter 2 explores the role of supervisors' psycho-social and career mentoring for organizational career management. I distinguish individual-level differentiated mentoring (i.e., deviation of individual perception from the average team perception) and group-level mentoring (i.e., average perception of all team members). Differentiated psycho-social mentoring enhances promotability via career motivation, and job satisfaction mediates the favorable effects of both differentiated mentoring functions on intentions to stay. In contrast to dyadically focused psycho-social mentoring, group-level career mentoring, which is aligned with more general organizational aspects, has contextual effects on both outcomes. In Chapter 3, I find that nationality diversity is only positively related to diversity climate and team performance in interdependent teams when supervisors' cultural intelligence is high. However, the relationship is nonsignificant when the team is diverse in terms of age or gender, or when close cooperate is not needed. Thus, in order to be effective, supervisors' characteristics need to be aligned with the specific work group needs. Chapter 4 explores the role of alignment between supervisor and the organization, represented by supervisors' cynicism about change. Supervisors' contingent reward leadership only attenuates employees' cynicism about change and enhances performance when supervisors' cynicism is low. In sum, I shed light on the complex mechanism through which supervisors act as organizational sense-makers. By considering the implications of alignment, organizations can capitalize on supervisors' potential to manage contemporary careers, diversity, and change.
Earnings Disclosures and Stockholder Lawsuits

This paper provides evidence on the relation between the timeliness of voluntary earnings disclosures and the outcomes of related stockholder litigation. Like Francis Philbrick and Schipper (1994a) I find that many lawsuits result from voluntary disclosures of adverse earnings news. However I also document that: (1) many voluntary earnings disclosures are not made on a timely basis; (2) less timely voluntary disclosures result in more costly lawsuit outcomes; (3) a simple model that predicts that lawsuits occur if large firms release adverse earnings news on earnings announcement dates works well in predicting stockholder litigation. Overall it seems lawsuit outcomes depend at least to some degree on the "merits" of stockholders' claims so that managers can benefit by making more timely earnings disclosures.
North‐South trade and female labour in manufacturing: An asymmetry

A simple method of measuring the impact of North‐South trade on the female intensity of manufacturing is applied to data for developed and developing countries. The results confirm that growth of exports has increased the relative demand for female labour in the South. However, there does not appear to have been a general counterpart reduction in the relative demand for female labour in Northern manufacturing, even among blue‐collar workers. There are several possible reasons for the apparent conflict between these findings and other evidence that in Northern manufacturing females have been disproportionately displaced by trade with the South.
erm genes in erythromycin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase‐negative staphylococci

Erythromycin‐resistant S. aureus from general practice and a dermatology ward with a very high consumption of erythromycin was studied for ermA and ermC content by Southern blot analysis. The prevalence of these erm genes was also studied in coagulase‐negative staphylococci from the same dermatology ward and in a collection of 15 S. aureus and 18 coagulase‐negative staphylococci found in the same specimen from 15 different patients. ermA was only found as a chromosomal insert and ermC only on small plasmids. In erythromycin‐resistant S. aureus from general practice ermC was responsible for 84% of erythromycin resistance, while 16% of the strains contained ermA. In 17 of 18 S. aureus strains from the dermatology ward a 2.5 kb plasmid contained ermC. Among 58 erythromycin‐resistant coagulase‐negative staphylococci only 2 (3%) had ermA, whereas 44 strains (76%) had ermC. ermA or ermC genes were common in S. epidermidis (36/38). However, in 20 isolates of erythromycin‐resistant coagulase‐negative staphylococci of other species, 10 had neither ermA nor ermC. ermC was the most common erm gene in both coagulase‐negative staphylococci and S. aureus. In 11 of 15 patients with erythromycin‐resistant S. aureus the co‐isolated erythromycin‐resistant coagulase‐negative staphylococcus had another resistance mechanism, either another gene or a different pheno‐typic expression of the same gene. Resistance to pristinamycin, a streptogramin antibiotic only used in animals, was not found in S. aureus but was found in 14% of erythromycin‐resistant coagulase‐negative staphylococci.
Randomized, double-blind comparison of venlafaxine and sertraline in outpatients with major depressive disorder. Venlafaxine 631 Study Group.

BACKGROUND This 8-week, double-blind, randomized trial compared the efficacy and tolerability of venlafaxine and sertraline in patients with major depression. METHOD Outpatients (N = 147) with DSM-IV major depressive disorder and a baseline 21-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) score of at least 18 were randomly assigned to venlafaxine, 37.5 mg b.i. d. , or sertraline, 50 mg once daily. From day 15, the doses could be increased to venlafaxine, 75 mg b.i. d. , or sertraline, 50 mg b.i. d. Efficacy was assessed with the 21-item HAM-D, the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and the Clinical Global Impressions scale (CGI) using a modified intent-to-treat analysis. RESULTS No significant differences were noted between treatments for mean HAM-D, MADRS, or CGI scores. At week 8, the HAM-D response rate was 83% with venlafaxine (N = 75) and 68% with sertraline (N = 72) (p = .05). A HAM-D score less than 10 was recorded in 68% of venlafaxine-treated and 45% of sertraline-treated patients at week 8 (p = .008). Among patients who increased their dose, the remission rate (HAM-D score < 10) was 67% with venlafaxine and 36% with sertraline at week 8 (p < .05). The overall discontinuation rate was 21% with venlafaxine and 17% with sertraline. The most common adverse events with venlafaxine were nausea, headache, and sweating and with sertraline were nausea, headache, and diarrhea. CONCLUSION Among patients who increased their dose, approximately twice as many experienced a remission with venlafaxine, which is a more clinically relevant endpoint than response and represents the proportion of patients who have recovered or are well.
Intergovernmental Grants Systems and Management: Applications of a General Framework to Indonesia

Intergovernmental equalization grants have been described as the glue that holds a nation together. Getting the grants system right is critical to countries as they decentralize. This paper illustrates general principles with an example based on Indonesia in 2000. A general grant should be used to supplement own revenues and to finance local service provision where there are no central mandates. The special needs of backward regions would be better provided for by specific grants. Specific grants need to be taken into account in the general grants scheme.
Inoculating Poultry Manure with Companion Bacteria Influences Growth and Development of Black Soldier Fly (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) Larvae

ABSTRACT The growth and development of black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens (L.), larvae fed chicken manure inoculated with bacteria isolated from black soldier fly larvae and associated larval feed was evaluated. Four strains of Bacillus subtilis were evaluated. B. subtilis strains S15, S16, S19, were isolated from the gut of black soldier fly larvae. B. natto strain DI was isolated from the diet fed to black soldier fly larvae. These bacteria were added individually into nonsterile 200 g fresh hen manure at 106 cfu/g and homogenized. Treated manure was then inoculated with 4-d old black soldier fly larvae. Prepupal weight ranged from 0.0606 g in the control to 0.0946 g in manure treated with the S15 strain. Larval survivorship to the prepupal stage in all treatments ranged from 98.00 ± 2.65% to 99.33 ± 1.15%. Prepupal survivorship to the pupal stage ranged from 91.92 ± 1.87% to 97.95 ± 1.03%. Adult emergence from the pupal stage did not significantly (P < 0.05) differ across treatments and ranged from 98.95 ± 1.82% to 100.00 ± 0.00%. Adult body length resulting from the larvae in each of the treatments was significantly greater than those from the control. Longevity of adults did not differ significantly between treatments. Time from hatching to the development of the first pupa did not differ significantly across treatments; however, development time from hatching to 90% reaching the prepupual stage was significantly different between treatments and ranged from 29.00 ± 1.00 d to 34.33 ± 3.51 d. Development time from hatching to 90% reaching the adult stages was significantly different between treatments. Our results demonstrate that inoculating poultry manure with bacteria from black soldier fly larvae influences the growth and development of conspecific larvae feeding on the manure.
The Angiotensin IV System: Functional Implications

The brain renin-angiotensin system has been implicated in the central regulation of the cardiovascular system, body water balance, and cyclic regulation of reproductive hormones and behaviors. It also exerts some influence over the secretion of pituitary hormones. This system appears to be complete with the necessary precursors and enzymes for the formation and degradation of biologically active forms of angiotensins and several binding subtypes that are presumed to mediate these and other functions. Much information is now available on the AT1 site which preferentially binds angiotensin II (AngII), but also binds angiotensin III (AngIII), and appears to be responsible for mediating the above described classic angiotensin physiologies and behaviors. Less is known about the functional importance of the AT2 site which also binds AngII but preferentially binds AngIII. This site has been implicated in vascular growth and cerebral blood flow. Recently, an AT4 site has been discovered and characterized that preferentially binds AngII (3-8), a fragment of AngII referred to as angiotensin IV (AngIV). This AT4 site is prominent in cerebral cortex, hippocampus, basal ganglia, cerebellum, and spinal cord, as well as several peripheral tissues including kidney, bladder, heart, spleen, prostate, adrenals, and colon. The AT4 site may mediate memory acquisition and recall and the regulation of blood flow. The function(s) of the AT4 receptor subtype in peripheral tissues is currently unknown, although it does appear to be involved in kidney blood flow.
Stabilizing an Unstable Economy

"Mr. Minsky long argued markets were crisis prone. His 'moment' has arrived. " -The Wall Street Journal In his seminal work, Minsky presents his groundbreaking financial theory of investment, one that is startlingly relevant today. He explains why the American economy has experienced periods of debilitating inflation, rising unemployment, and marked slowdowns-and why the economy is now undergoing a credit crisis that he foresaw. Stabilizing an Unstable Economy covers: The natural inclination of complex, capitalist economies toward instability Booms and busts as unavoidable results of high-risk lending practices "Speculative finance" and its effect on investment and asset prices Government's role in bolstering consumption during times of high unemployment The need to increase Federal Reserve oversight of banks Henry Kaufman, president, Henry Kaufman & Company, Inc., places Minsky's prescient ideas in the context of today's financial markets and institutions in a fascinating new preface. Two of Minsky's colleagues, Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Ph.D. and president, The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, and L. Randall Wray, Ph.D. and a senior scholar at the Institute, also weigh in on Minsky's present relevance in today's economic scene in a new introduction. A surge of interest in and respect for Hyman Minsky's ideas pervades Wall Street, as top economic thinkers and financial writers have started using the phrase "Minsky moment" to describe America's turbulent economy. There has never been a more appropriate time to read this classic of economic theory.
Stakeholder relations and financial performance

We analyze how shareholder performance can be associated with stakeholder relations. As such, we try to find out whether there is an association between financial performance and stakeholder relations with respect to different theoretical notions about the firm. Financial performance is operationalized as the financial return of a firm's shares. For stakeholder relations, we look into community involvement, corporate governance, employee relations, environmental conduct, diversity of the workforce, human rights policies and product attributes. We find that the different components of stakeholder relations appear to be associated in a complex manner with shareholder performance. Therefore, it adds value to look closely into the details of stakeholder relations in connection with financial performance. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Revisiting Occupational Crowding in the United States: A Preliminary Study

In her study of occupational segregation in the United States using the 1960 Census, Barbara R. Bergmann found black males with low levels of education more concentrated in low-skill service and laborer occupations than white males and virtually excluded from higher status occupations. Utilizing a crowding index which, similar to Bergmann's, controls for the education level of the worker, this paper presents an analysis of the employment patterns of black males and females in fifty-nine occupations in Wayne County (Detroit, Michigan) and Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) in 1990. Within blue-collar and service employment, males are under-represented in the craft occupations and concentrated in low-skill operative, laborer, and service occupations. Females are under-represented in both craft and operative occupations and concentrated in low-skill service occupations. Within white-collar employment, both males and females are largely excluded from high-skill private sector managerial occupations. Black representation in public sector managerial and private sector professional occupations is better in Detroit than Pittsburgh. The decline in manufacturing employment in both counties has left black males with fewer occupational options and black females over-represented in low status clerical and service occupations.
Long-term effects of "ecstasy" use on serotonin transporters of the brain investigated by PET.

UNLABELLED Alterations of the serotonergic system due to ecstasy consumption have been extensively documented in recent literature. However, reversibility of these neurotoxic effects still remains unclear. To address this question, PET was performed using the serotonin transporter (SERT) ligand (11)C-(+)-McN5652 in a total of 117 subjects subdivided into 4 groups: actual ecstasy users (n = 30), former ecstasy users (n = 29), drug-naive control subjects (n = 29), and subjects with abuse of psychoactive agents other than ecstasy (n = 29). METHODS About 500 MBq (11)C-(+)-McN5652 were injected intravenously. Thirty-five scans were acquired according to a dynamic scan protocol of 90 min using a full-ring whole-body PET system. Transaxial slices were reconstructed using an iterative method. Individual brains were transformed to a template defined earlier. Distribution volume ratios (DVRs) were derived by application of a reference tissue approach for reversible binding. Gray matter of the cerebellum served as reference. SERT-rich brain regions--mesencephalon, putamen, caudate, and thalamus--were selected for the evaluation of SERT availability using volumes of interest predefined in the template. RESULTS Compared with drug-naive control subjects, the DVR in actual ecstasy users was significantly reduced in the mesencephalon (P = 0.004) and the thalamus (P = 0.044). The DVR in former ecstasy users was very close to the DVR in drug-naive control subjects in all brain regions. The DVR in polydrug users was slightly higher than that in the drug-naive control subjects in all SERT-rich regions (not statistically significant). CONCLUSION Our findings further support the hypothesis of ecstasy-induced protracted alterations of the SERT. In addition, they might indicate reversibility of the availability of SERT as measured by PET. However, this does not imply full reversibility of the neurotoxic effects.
[Percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Personal experience in 100 cases].

100 reno-ureteric calculi have been treated by the same operator between April 1984 and November 1986 by means of PCNL. 78 of them were greater than 1 cm in diameter, 15 were ureteric and 13 were staghorn calculi. 31 patients had already undergone at least one lumbotomy on the same side. The operation was always performed under general anaesthesia and fluoroscopic control and in 2 stages for the first 20 patients. The mean duration of irradiation was 13 minutes. Total success was obtained in 71 cases (including 10 of the 13 staghorn calculi). 18 cases presented with residual stone debris, equal to or less than 3 mm in diameter in 8 cases. Complete failure was observed in 11 cases and the stone had to be removed surgically (4 cases) or by repeat PCNL (2 cases) or by ECL (5 cases). 9 complications were inconsequential in 8 cases and never required a surgical operation, but 1 severe infection was almost fatal. There were no cases of nephrectomy or loss of renal function. The mean duration of hospital stay was 7 days. 31 patients were lost to follow-up, including 26 without stones. The other 69 patients have been followed for 3 months to 2 years. 5 of the 45 patients discharged from hospital without stones returned with a recurrence. Of the 24 patients with a residual stone fragment (less than 3 mm in diameter in 8 cases), only 2 have eliminated it spontaneously and in 2 other patients the residual fragment has increased in size. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)