Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Governance Regimes and Nationality Diversity in Corporate Boards: A Comparative Study of Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

In this study, the level of nationality diversity of a corporate board is seen as directly dependent on the governance regime of the country of origin of the company. Therefore, to what extent can differences in nationality diversity in corporate boards be explained by structural differences in governance regimes in different countries? Research Findings: A number of hypotheses about the level of nationality diversity in company boards in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK have been derived. These have been tested and confirmed to a large extent. Governance regime effects are strong, even when controlled for the most relevant company effects. Theoretical Implications: For the first time, the explanation of nationality diversity has been directly connected to the characteristics of a country's governance regime. Additionally, the relative strength of competing country and company forces was discussed and tested. Policy Implications: This study shows how the increase in the diversity of nationalities on corporate boards, as result of global economic forces, are translated through national institutions. On a company level, this implies that the governance regime of a company's country of origin might be either an asset or a liability. It also show the importance of national-level institutions when it comes to the ways global economic forces exercise a differentiating effect on the board composition of large multinational enterprises.
Liquidity and Asset Pricing: Evidence on the Role of Investor Holding Period

We use data on actual holding periods for all investors in a stock market over a 10-year period to investigate the links between holding periods, liquidity, and asset returns. Microstructure measures of liquidity are shown to be important determinants of the holding period decision of individual investors. Average holding periods differ across different investor types. Turnover is an imperfect proxy for holding period. While both turnover and spread are related to stock returns, holding period is not.
The clash of institutions: traditional authority, conflict and the failure of ‘hybridity’ in Buganda

In the context of the widespread ‘resurgence’ of traditional authorities in Africa, increasing attention has been devoted to the manner in which the institutions of the state combine with those of non-state authorities. While much of the debate has been focused on the implications for democracy, this paper addresses the relationship between traditional resurgence and violent conflict. An analytical framework that distinguishes between ‘institutional hybridity’ and different forms of ‘institutional multiplicity’ is presented. This is then explored through a case study of the Buganda Kingdom in Uganda, where institutional disputes over land and decentralisation can be linked to the violence between state forces and Kingdom supporters that erupted in 2009. The analysis underscores the importance of careful institutional analysis in cases of traditional resurgence in order to mitigate violent conflict outcomes.
The globalisation of a profession: comparative management accounting in emerging and developed countries

We analyse and compare management accounting practices in a matched sample of firms in Brazil and Germany and contribute to the existing literature in three ways: first, we build on the established frameworks of contingency theory and institutional isomorphism; second, we introduce a novel embedded multiple case study design with qualitative and quantitative elements of content analysis into comparative management accounting research; third, we contribute to the understanding of the management accounting role in different national settings, with a focus on Latin America, on which the literature is scarce. Surprisingly, we find similar practices in both countries, but we also identify differences related to national culture, the economic situation, the information used and the embedding of strategic aspects in management accounting. Furthermore, we show that differences between industries surpass cross-country heterogeneity and we present institutional isomorphism as a suitable theoretical framework to explain our findings against the backdrop of globalisation.
Who Trades Around Earnings Announcements? Evidence from Torq Data

Using TORQ database we investigate the intra-day trading volume reactions to earnings announcements of five trader groups, individuals, institutions, exchange members, program traders, and specialists. The results of this study indicate that institutions are most active in the immediate aftermath of an announcement. Individual investors are slow at the beginning but accumulate heavy volume afterwards and exceed institutional trading volume. We find support for Harris and Raviv (1993) and Admati and Pfleiderer (1988), who respectively argue that divergence of opinion about a public information and portfolio rebalancing cause surges in pre- and post-announcement trading volume. Further we find evidence of swift and aggressive trading by informed and sophisticated institutions in the immediate aftermath of the announcement, and delayed, aggressive trading volume 'overreaction' by 'slow' and 'overconfident' individual investors as documented by Barber and Odean (2000 and 2002) and Daniel et al. (1998). NYSE specialists provide the bulk of the liquidity needs around earnings announcements.
Legal Forms of Joint-Stock Companies and Corporate Behavior in Russia

English translation © 2007 M.E. Sharpe, Inc., from the Russian text © 2007 “Voprosy ekonomiki. ” “Pravovaia forma aktsionernykh obshchestv i korporativnoe povedenie v Rossii,” Voprosy ekonomiki, 2007, no. 1, pp. 112–23. A publication of the NP “Editorial Board of Voprosy ekonomiki” and the Institute of Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences. I. Iwasaki is a Doctor of Economics and senior lecturer at the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University (Japan). Translated by Stephen D. Shenfield. Problems of Economic Transition, vol. 50, no. 5, September 2007, pp. 73–86. © 2007 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN 1061–1991/2007 $9.50 + 0.00. DOI 10.2753/PET1061-1991500505
Wearable ECG system for health and sports monitoring

A wireless ECG system using dry-contact electrodes is presented. The system consists of a pair of coin sized dry-contact electrodes manufactured on a standard printed circuit board that can operate both on top of the skin and through clothing and can be embedded within comfortable layers of fabric. The wireless main unit assures the transmission of the ECG signal to a computer for storage and processing. The system provides a differential gain of 56dB over a 1-150Hz bandwidth. Signals are digitized with a 10-bit ADC and samples are transferred via ultra-low power ANT+ wireless technology. The preliminary results showed that the proposed wearable system is ideally suited for monitoring patient cardiac activity in real time at home, healthcare or sports facilities. It is highly suitable for integration in wearable ECG chest harness.
Corruption in Professional Sumo: An Update on the Study of Duggan and Levitt

In the December 2002 issue of the American Economic Review, Mark Duggan and Steven D. Levitt published an article on corruption in professional sumo. In the present article, the authors update the study of Duggan and Levitt to take into account changes since January 2000. The authors find strong statistical evidence that corruption is reduced after January 2000 but reappears in the period from 2003 to 2006. In addition, they can show that the nonlinearity in the incentive structure disappears from 2000 to 2003 and reappears after 2003. These results confirm the findings of Duggan and Levitt, who suggest that the structure of promotion in rankings gives incentives to the sumo wrestlers to rig matches.
Aggressive surgical approach to recurrent tumors after hepatectomy for metastatic spread of colorectal cancer to the liver.

BACKGROUND Liver resection is currently accepted as the only potential cure for patients with metastases of colorectal tumors in the liver. However, cancer will recur in more than 70% of patients. METHODS In the 7 years to December 1997, 60 patients underwent liver resections for colorectal metastases at our institute. Of these, 20 patients had repeated surgical resections for recurrent disease of the liver and other organs. Another 2 patients had undergone previous hepatectomy elsewhere. The clinical data for these patients were reviewed. RESULTS The median interval between the 2 resections was 16 months. Eighteen hepatectomies, 6 lung resections, and 1 pancreatoduodenectomy were performed in 22 patients. Operative mortality and complication rates were 0% and 18%, respectively. At a median follow-up of 25 months after repeated resection, the survival rate in these patients was 73% at 2 years (12 of 16 evaluable patients are surviving) and 22% at 5 years (2 of 10 evaluable patients are surviving); the median survival time was 44 months. CONCLUSIONS Repeated resections for recurrent colorectal metastases yield comparable results to first liver resections in operative mortality and morbidity rates, survival time, and pattern of recurrence. Although the number of patients surviving more than 5 years is still limited, the absence of other proven treatments supports the concept of an aggressive resectional approach for these patients.
The effect of the classroom activities on classroom management in the teaching- learning process: The case of Uşak City

Accepted: 11.10. 2013 The study is a qualitative single case design study and the study group is the teachers and students of the three different primary school which are in low, middle and high socio-economic and cultural range. And they are 5th grade teachers and students. According to the findings, especially the teachers working in schools located in high-life standards environment regard the classroom activities as the waste of time. Thus, they seemed reluctant to employ classroom activities. The findings also indicated that the teachers working in mid-life standard school used the classroom activities whereas the low-standard school teachers used out of class activities most. Another finding was that teachers think the activities help the teachers develop themselves. The students think they learn better through the activities and they are more interested in the classes where there are activities. It was also concluded that the students do not head towards to the misbehaviors when there are activities in the teaching and learning process.
Mutations affecting mRNA splicing are the most common molecular defect in patients with familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis type 3

This report shows that UNC13D mutations leading to splicing errors are frequent in hemophagocytic lymphohisti-ocytosis type 3. Their detection and identification may be instrumental in the diagnosis of this disease. Mutations of UNC13D have been described in patients affected by familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHL3). The Munc13-4 protein contributes to the priming of the secretory granules. Mutation in this gene results in defective cellular cytotoxicity and the familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis clinical picture. Among reported mutations, few are predicted to impair splicing. Yet, functional impact of these mutations has not been addressed. We identified 18 out of 31 familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis families showing at least one mutation responsible for splicing error. We identified some known and three novel splicing mutations: one falls at the acceptor site of exon 11 and 2 are deep intronic mutations in IVS1 and in IVS30. We demonstrated that these deep intronic mutations affect regulatory sequences causing aberrant splicing. We report that UNC13D mutations leading to splicing errors represent the majority of mutations observed in familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. This finding has implications for designing strategies for analysis of the families with suspected familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.
Predicting the Outcome of Union Certification Elections: A Review of the Literature

This paper reviews the large body of literature examining the outcomes of NLRB certification elections. The authors first review the major patterns of the research conducted to date and then analyze twenty-nine studies in depth. These studies exemplify the range of methodologies used and results obtained within each of the two major kinds of election studies: those analyzing data gathered from individual voters and those analyzing NLRB data on election units. The review concludes with an appraisal of the current state of research on election outcomes and with policy recommendations for labor, management, and government representatives.
Understanding Chinese Diners in an Overseas Context

With increasing numbers of Chinese tourists dining overseas, understanding the cultural perspective of Chinese diners would appear essential to international restaurateurs. Thus, this study identifies a set of core Chinese values that is salient in the overseas dining context. Phenomenological in-depth interviews were used to collect data from a convenience sample of 20 Chinese diners. Face, trustworthiness, and harmony were identified as the three core values. In addition, group membership was found to interact with face and trustworthiness in this context. These findings provide a deeper understanding of Chinese diners in overseas dining contexts and hold significance for both practitioners and theorists. Recommendations are made to enhance the dining service encounter for Chinese tourists in overseas dining contexts.
Littering in protected areas: a conservation and management challenge – a case study from the Autonomous Region of Madrid, Spain

This paper examines issues surrounding littering in protected areas (PAs), one of the most ubiquitous and conspicuous impacts of tourism activity. In addition to obvious visual, landscape-affecting impacts, litter may have hazardous consequences for biodiversity and humans. In order to precisely assess littering in a densely populated region with high levels of visitation to natural and protected areas, we counted, measured and classified all types of non-organic litter covering an area of 1 cm2 or more found on the ground in zones intensively used by visitors (picnic areas and paths) within the 10 PAs of the Autonomous Region of Madrid. On average, 11.65 m2/ha of litter were recorded in those zones. Strict visitor management measures greatly reduced that figure. Over 75% of all litter was paper and cardboard, and plastic; 88% of litter coverage was by large pieces over 25 cm2 in size. We tested the hypothesis that the amount of waste found on paths is correlated with the distance to the entrance to a PA, but no general model fitted actual litter distribution patterns, although empirical results backed the hypothesis for most cases. A range of waste management strategies are explored and litter management measures suggested for problematic PAs.
The infl uence of banks internal performance on market performance: a non-parametric approach

The purpose of the study is to determine the degree to which banks’ market performance, as measured by market value ratios, is aff ected by their internal performance. Annual fi nancial statement reports were used to determine the internal and market performance of listed banks on the JSE Limited over a ten-year period. The internal performance measures used are the profi tability ratios in the Du Pont analysis and two Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models to estimate effi ciency. Income statement data were included as the output of the fi rst model to determine banks’ operating effi ciency, and balance sheet data were included as the output of the second model to determine banks’ fi nance and investment effi ciency. The study concluded that market value ratios correlate better with profi tability ratios than the income statement output-based and balance sheet output-based effi ciencies. This study is the fi rst to compare two DEA models and profi tability ratios with market value ratios. The value of the study is therefore that it indicates that profi tability ratios should be used as a proxy for market value ratios rather than effi ciency measures that focus separately on income statement data and balance sheet data.
Fibronectin promotes migration and invasion of ovarian cancer cells through up‐regulation of FAK–PI3K/Akt pathway

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecological malignancy, and the fourth most common cause of cancer death among American women. This study investigates the mechanism of fibronectin (FN) in stimulating ovarian cancer cell migration and invasion through up‐regulation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) pathway. Human ovarian cancer cells (OVCAR‐3, A2780/CP70) were cultured and treated with fibronectin (10 µg/mL). Trans‐well plates were used to conduct the migration assay, real‐time RT‐PCR for FAK mRNA expression, and FAK siRNA for blocking FAK expression. Western blots were used for P‐FAK, P‐PI3K, and P‐Akt analysis. Fibronectin‐treated OVCAR‐3, A2780/CP70 cells have increased ability to migrate and invade. It significantly promoted this behavior through the phosphorylation of FAK. The cell displayed significantly increased signaling regulation of the FAK pathway (p‐PI3K/P‐Akt). Furthermore, siRNA FAK‐treated cells had reduced the levels of p‐PI3K/P‐Akt after induced by fibronectin. Our results indicate that FAK inhibition can suppress ovarian cancer cells migration and invasion through inhibiting downstream signaling (PI3K/AKT), which might be a therapeutic target or biomarker for ovarian cancer.
Multi-Perspective Tracking for Intelligent Vehicle

The multi-camera array has drawn attention of researchers in recent years, and has been configured and deployed on intelligent vehicle to capture the panoramic views. Understanding surroundings is crucial for the ego-vehicle. This paper presents a Multi-perspective Tracking (MPT) framework for intelligent vehicle. An iterative search procedure is proposed to associate detections and tracklets in different perspectives. This procedure iteratively assigns determined states and estimates non-determined states for the detections and tracklets. An inherent determined and non-determined graph is utilized to reinforce this procedure. For more reliable associations between perspectives, a Siamese convolutional neural network is employed to learn feature representation. The supervised classification and verification signals are added to train the network. The features in different conventional stages are integrated together as the discriminative appearance model. The experiments are conducted on a MPT data set with five perspectives. The proposed framework is tested in each pair of adjacent perspectives for the ability to associate target objects between perspectives.
What Role for Multilateral Development Banks in Project Finance? Some Thoughts from the Rift Valley Railways in Kenya and Uganda

This case study uses primary evidence from the Rift Valley Railways concession—a complex multinational rail concession originating from Mombasa (Kenya) and to Kampala (Uganda)—to discuss strategic roles of multilateral development banks in infrastructure project finance. We find that multilateral development banks were uniquely positioned to play the roles of advisor, honest broker, guarantor and financier required in this transaction. However, we document a number of shortcomings in execution which adversely affected the performance of the concession. First, procurement flaws resulted in the choice of an under-qualified lead investor, and subsequent non-performance of the concessionaire. Second, there was failure to ensure compliance with loan disbursement pre-conditions. Third, governments had unrealistic expectations about the concessionaire’s capacity to improve the railway’s performance and make major capital investments. Extensive due diligence on the lead investor prior to concession award could have circumvented concession restructuring. As investors become more interested in opportunities in Africa, more entities should provide advisory services to African countries. However, such entities should have adequate resources and capacity to remain engaged over a long period.
Environmental Regulation and Location of Industrialized Agricultural Production in Europe

This paper analyzes empirically the extent to which environmental regulation influences production location in the pig industry. The analysis is based on a general empirical location model that captures interactions between region and sector characteristics in determining production location, and data on pig production in 43 European regions. We find that while environmental regulation may not have a measurable effect on the E.U. pig industry location per se, it is a strong influence on the sectoral composition of the industry. Relatively highly polluting sectors of the pig industry are attracted to relatively lax jurisdictions, which become pollution havens (hot spots of hog waste). (JEL Q58, R38)
Space charge behavior of magnesium oxide filled epoxy nanocomposites at different temperatures and electric field strengths

Space charge accumulation is a phenomenon, which is typical for high voltage dc insulation. It is of special importance for polymers, since they do not possess self-healing properties. Thus, the accumulation of space charges, which is linked to ageing, proved to be a limiting factor for HVDC applications. The focus of this paper is the behavior of epoxy based nanocomposites with magnesium oxide filler material. Nanoscale magnesium oxide has already been shown to decrease the space charge density for high field strengths. Additionally, MgO-nanocomposites showed an increase in the short term dc breakdown strength for low filler concentrations. Base material for all samples is commercially available bisphenol-A epoxy resin. Transmission electron microscopy was performed to validate the particle size and dispersion and showed that MgO has an average particle size of 22 nm. Space Charge profiles were obtained with the PEA-method and compared to neat epoxy. The profiles were taken under dc field strengths between 10 and 18 kV/mm. To see the influence of temperature on the charge distribution, the measurement was performed both at room temperature and at 60°C. The field enhancement factor of both the neat epoxy and the nanocomposite for different field strengths and temperatures has been calculated. It turned out that MgO nanocomposites show overall better space charge behavior at higher field strengths and at higher temperatures, compared to the unfilled epoxy. Both the space charge accumulation and the field enhancement factor are reduced, when going to higher electric field strengths or temperatures. Possible explanations for the observed space charge behavior are given.
Empirical Age-Earnings Profiles

The "human capital earnings function," in which earnings are expressed as a quadratic in potential experience, is probably the most widely accepted empirical specification in economics. In spite of its widespread acceptance, the human capital earnings function provides a very poor approximation of the true empirical relationship between earnings and experience. The standard formulation understates early career earnings growth by about 30%-50% and overstates midcareer growth by 20%-50%. However, simple alternative specifications that fit the data are available.