Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Refining the York Index Investment Criteria

There is evidence to suggest that large institutional investors (for example pension funds and mutual funds) are combining socially responsible investment criteria along with their primary criteria of maximization of returns. Additionally investment analysts are increasingly recognizing that intangible assets such as human capital (HC), social capital and intellectual capital contribute to the value creation process of a firm and improve company performance and thus enhance shareholder returns. Measuring these resources can therefore be a powerful tool for active investment management. The link between socially responsible investments and these intangible assets has been comprehensively studied and advocated by a number of academic commentators (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998; Kingsmill, 2003; Wheeler, Colbert and Freeman, 2003) but the challenges in measuring the intangible assets have hindered the process of socially responsible investments in the quantitative world of financial investments. However, based on the premise that some indicators of the quality of human resource management (HRM) are measurable and may be correlated with financial performance, Thomson and Wheeler (2004) devised a set of Human Capital (HC) based investment criteria (the York Index) and Milevski et al (2005) tested these criteria against the financial performance of the SP Reputation of the Employer; Training and Development; and Negative Measures. This is potentially a value added investment analysis tool to assess companies on the basis of their capabilities to create and maintain HC, which is recognized to be an important intangible resource for corporations in the information age.
Trash talk rebuffed: consumers' defense of companies criticized in online communities

Purpose – Marketing literature views word-of-mouth (WOM) as unidirectional communication in which consumers transmit either positive or negative messages based on their consumption experiences. Becoming visible in online forums, however, are consumers who engage in WOM as part of interactions with other consumers. This article aims to investigate a phenomenon frequently occurring in these interactions: consumers who defend companies and brands against others' negative WOM. Design/methodology/approach – The authors investigated the online defense phenomenon in its natural setting using an online ethnography, known as a netnography. Findings – This study provides empirical evidence for the existence of six different defense styles, as well as details of the identified factors underlying consumers' choices of defense styles. Moreover, the authors' analysis highlights the different outcomes of various company- and brand-defending behaviors and illustrates that this consumer phenomenon can be effective in prev.
Cover stories: An emerging aesthetic of prestige science

Our statistical analysis of research publications in the prestigious scientific journals Nature, Science and Cell reveals that papers represented by an image on the journal’s cover gain many more citations in the academic literature than those papers in the same journals that are not represented on the cover. Meanwhile, the number of images used by high-prestige journals is much higher than that used by journals in general, which indicates both the emergence of a new aesthetic of prestige scientific publication, and also that this aesthetic is relevant to journals’ impact. Furthermore, there are significant differences in the use of images in different countries and in different disciplines.
Driving a firmÕs export propensity and export intensity: the role of experience, innovation, and international marketing strategy

Moving from the hypothesis of firm heterogeneity, we analyze whether the firmOs experience, product and process innovation as well as a clear international marketing strategy affect firmsO probabilities of entering export markets and their export intensities (sales achieved abroad). The paper provides further knowledge on the determinants of both the decision to address foreign markets (firm export propensity) and the degree of penetration in those foreign markets (export intensity), by integrating the three above-mentioned streams of research usually approached as distinctive ones. Even though there is a large set of studies dealing with an analysis of export determinants, there is still a lack of theoretical and empirical investigation on how firmOs innovation (product to be developed, process improvement) and marketing strategy (commitment, marketing investments) interplay in the international business processes, taking into account any prior experience of the firm in general terms as well as in the international scenario. Specifically, the paper empirically investigates how experience, innovation and international marketing strategy influence export behavior at the firm level in order to explore how these determinants act as export drivers for a firm and the consequences measured in terms of export intensity. We carried out a quantitative analysis based on a dataset on 582 Italian manufacturing firms observed over the three-year periods 2001Ð2003 and 2004Ð2006. As far as export propensity is concerned, it emerges that the main drivers affecting the firmOs decision to enter foreign markets are related to its internal productivity level, innovation capabilities in terms of product innovation as well as an explicit marketing strategy oriented to foreign markets (establishing collaborations with foreign firms or direct commercial investment abroad). Thus, experience can be interpreted as the capability of a firm to manage internal processes (managerial experience) efficiently rather than in terms of knowledge cumulated through years of economic activities (captured through the age variable) or transferred from other partners or foreign ownership. When considering export intensity, two main elements arise from the analysis. The first one is that the shift from product to process innovations affects exports. This result can be explained by the firmOs capability to efficiently change its internal processes to face the demand arising from foreign clients. The second important element refers to the remarkable role of direct commercial investment in influencing export intensity. This result confirms that the firm gains in terms of value captured by controlling directly its distribution channel.
Ig-Receptor-Dependent Selection of V Regions Reading Frame Usage and H Expression During Neonatal Life Alters D Terminal Deoxynucleotidyl Transferase

During neonatal life, Ig diversity is limited in many respects. The absence of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) expression with the consequent lack of nontemplated addition during the neonatal period, coupled with the predominant usage of a single D H reading frame (RF), leads to severe limitations of diversity in the CDR3 region of Ig heavy (H) chains. The neonatal Ig H chain repertoire is also characterized by restricted V H usage, with predominant expression of certain V H segments, such as V H 81x, that are rarely evident during adult life. In this report, we examine the effect of enforced TdT expression on the neonatal repertoire of V H 81xDJ H rearrangements. We ﬁnd that TdT synthesis abrogates D H RF bias during the fetal/neonatal period through a Ig-receptor-independent mechanism. These ﬁndings suggest that D H RF bias during neonatal life is determined largely by homology-directed joining. We also ﬁnd that TdT synthesis alters the selection of productively rearranged V H 81xDJ H alleles in the neonatal spleen through a Ig-receptor-dependent mechanism. Analysis of predicted CDR3 amino acid sequences indicates that positive selection of V H 81x-encoded H chains is correlated with the presence of a consensus sequence immediately adjacent to the V H segment. These data support the hypothesis that the CDR3 region is critical in determining the ability of V H 81x-encoded H chains to form functional receptors that support positive selection of B lymphocytes. Together, our results demonstrate that TdT can indirectly inﬂuence the Ig repertoire by inﬂuencing both receptor-dependent and receptor-independent selection processes. The Journal of Immunology, 1998, 161: 6657–6663.
Role of entrepreneurship and market orientation in firms' success

Purpose – This article aims to offer empirical evidence pertaining to the relationship among entrepreneurship, market orientation and business performance within the context of disadvantaged socio‐economic regions of the European Union.Design/methodology/approach – Two groups of hypotheses investigate the relationship between entrepreneurship and market orientation and the joint effect of these dimensions on performance. All questions are approached using survey data from 183 firms located in the Castilla y Leon region, Spain.Findings – A strong relationship exists between entrepreneurship and market orientation. Although these orientations may be implemented separately, firms emphasise entrepreneurship when they are market‐oriented. Therefore, the strong relationship and complementarities between entrepreneurship and market orientation reduce the effort involved in the joint adoption of both orientations. Both orientations also demonstrate a strong relationship with performance, such that each contribute.
The Impact of M&A on the Value of Firms

The scope of this project, “The impact of M&A on the value of firms”, is to show the impact of M&A activity on the value of target firms in the public sector by using event study methods and discuss the impact of acquisitions on the value of both acquirers and target firms. To further analyse the project I have divided the event study into two parts. The first is the estimation window which consists of a one hundred and fifty (150) day period running from minus one hundred and fifty five (-155) to minus six (-6) and the second is the event window which consists of an eleven (11) day period running from minus five (-5) to plus five ( 5). Two types of data are given, one is public firms and the second one is private firms. Shares of privately-held firms are usually illiquid and this leads to price discount according to Martynova and Renneboog (2006). The acquisition for a private firm entails higher threat for the acquirer due to a smaller amount of dependable information about the growth potential is available as stated by Martynova and Renneboog (2006). As a result, I have analysed public firms and found out the abnormal returns, average abnormal returns (AAR) and the Cumulative Average Abnormal Return (CAAR) for target firms. I have also analysed the acquirers of both the public and the private firms in order to make a comparison in the Data Description section. Lastly, I have examined the acquirer and target public industry sectors in which the M&A takes place over the span of 300 acquisitions in order to make an astute analysis of the industries that UK acquirers prefer.
Information Technology in Pakistan: An Analysis of Problems Faced in IT Implementation by Pakistan's Banking and Manufacturing Companies

Information Technology is being used both by developed and developing countries for performance improvements. Similar to other developing countries, this technology is also being applied aggressively in all the organizations of Pakistan. This study has examined the problems faced by different companies of Pakistan in manufacturing and banking sectors in implementation of IT, over last decade. The primary data was collected through in-depth interviews and field surveys of 48 companies, 24 in manufacturing sector(12 local and 12 foreign) and 24 in banking sector(12 local and 12 foreign). The data was tested by applying different statistical techniques. The results of the research have led to the conclusion that besides other problems inadequate telecommunication infrastructure has been found the major problem in proper IT implementation in the Pakistani organization. It is suggested that Pakistan must upgrade its IT infrastructure besides doing other things. The government is also needed to concentrate more efforts to overcome these problems.
Quality improvement and quality testing for the determination of carbon disulphide at workplaces

The review and re-fixing of an exposure limit value for carbon disulphide (CS2) faced problems, because several methods used in the past for the determination of carbon disulphide in the air gave only low re - liabilities and systematic errors. The aim of a concerted action of the in - stitution for statutory accident insurance and prevention in the chemical in- dustry, the BG Institute for occupational safety - BIA, the German and Aus- trian viscose industry and scientific experts was the improvement of the CS2 analysis in the air. One of the activities was the improvement of the desorp- tion process of carbon disulphide from activated charcoal. The improv ed sample preparation was combined especially with high resolution gas- chromatography (GC) and mass spectrometry. Furthermore new methods were developed and validated for personal sampling of CS2. Several methods were compared in a proficiency test under real conditions. This led to higher reliabilities and a high comparability of the methods which use GC-proce - dures. It was shown that the reliabilities of photometric techniques were too low for the assessment of current exposure limits. Qualitatsverbesserung und Qualitatsprufung fur die Bestimmung von Schwefelkohlenstoff am Arbeitsplatz Zusammenfassung Die Uberprufung und Neu-Festsetzung eines Grenzwertes fur Schwefelkohlenstoff (CS2) ist problematisch, weil in der Vergangenheit vielfach Verfahren zur Bestimmung von Schwefelkohlenstoff in der Arbeits- platzluft verwendet wurden, die geringe Zuverlassigkeitskriterien und syste- matische Fehler aufwiesen. Deshalb wurde von der Berufsgenossenschaft der chemischen Industrie, dem Berufsgenossenschaftlichen Institut fur Arbeits- sicherheit - BIA, der Viskose-Industrie und wissenschaftlichen Experten eine konzertierte Aktion zur Verbesserung der CS2-Analytik initiiert. Eine der Mas- nahmen bestand in der Verbesserung der CS2-Desorption von Aktiv kohle. Die verbesserte Probenaufarbeitung wurde vornehmlich mit der Kapillar-Gas- chromatografie/Massenspektrometrie gekoppelt. Daruber hinaus wurden neue Verfahren fur die personengebundene Probenahme entwickelt und op- timiert. Die Methoden wurden in einem Ringversuch unter Realbedingungen verglichen. Die Ergebnisse zeigten verbesserte Zuverlassigkeitskriterien und eine hohe Vergleichbarkeit der GC-Methoden. Die Zuverlassigkeit von photo- metrischen Verfahren erwies sich als zu gering, um vorliegende CS2-Belastun- gen zu uberwachen.
Service Quality Measurements: A Review

Service quality measurement is one of the significant measurement tools for firms to understand consumers’ needs and wants by analyzing the experience of consumers and customers’ satisfaction on the services provided. Although there is no general agreement on one particular model used as the measurement of service quality perceived, there are some effective models offered by researchers during decades of study in this area. In the recent years, researchers believe that service quality is multilevel/multidimensional. In addition, industry-specific models which suggested based on the structure of generic models regarding a specific industry found as the most useful models. This article review, presents an overview of researches on the service quality measurement models. The article reviews the advantages and disadvantages of the main service quality measurements and pinpoints the most comprehensive, efficient, effective, and useful measurement.
Audit Firm Switch and Engagement Partner Continuance

This study examines how audit fees change when companies switch audit firms. In particular, we are interested in the effect of engagement partners’ familiarity with clients on the changes in audit fees. On the basis of the unique data on individual engagement partners obtained from auditors’ reports in Japan, this study uses a more direct measure of partner.client familiarity than previous studies. By identifying engagement partners on both final and initial audits, we find that when audit fees increase after an audit firm switch, the ratio of engagement partners on initial audits who had been involved with the client before the switch has a negative impact on the increase in audit fees. On the other hand, when audit fees do not increase, no significant relationship is found between them. Furthermore, this study provides some evidence on the effect of the demise of ChuoAoyama, which was one of the Big 4 firms in Japan.
Effects of Perinatal 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-P-Dioxin Exposure on Development of Taste Preference in Rat Offspring

Perinatal 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-P-Dioxin (TCDD) exposure affects various motivated behaviors controlled by limbic system of the brain in offspring. In this study, effects of perinatal TCDD exposure on taste preference were investigated in the rat offspring whose dams were orally exposed to TCDD on the 15 gestational days. After weaning, offspring were given free access to six amino acid solutions with different tastes (sweet, umami, or bitter), saline (salty taste), and distilled water in a choice paradigm. In the TCDD exposed males, daily food intake was significantly decreased on Postnatal Day (P.D.) 33, whereas no differences of total fluid and any kind of solution intake were found between TCDD exposure and control groups in males. In the exposed females, daily intake of MSG was significantly lower on P.D. 32-34 respectively. Moreover, mean MSG intake rates during P.D. 29-35 was significantly decreased in TCDD exposure females. These results suggest that the TCDD-exposed females need less protein than the control females because of poorer growth than the control females, because MSG has “umami” taste, which reflects preference protein intake. In contrast, daily histidine intake on P.D. 34 was significantly increased in TCDD exposed females, and mean lysine intake rate during PND 29-35 was significantly higher than that of control group. These results suggest that rats preferred bitter taste of histidine and lysine solutions under the chemical stress of TCDD exposure. In conclusion, perinatal TCDD exposure affected development of taste preference of offspring female rats, and more study to clarify neural mechanisms is necessary in future.
Neural Unpredictability, the Interpretation of Quantum Theory, and the Mind-Body Problem

It has been suggested, on the one hand, that quantum states are just states of knowledge; and, on the other, that quantum theory is merely a theory of correlations. These suggestions are confronted with problems about the nature of psycho-physical parallelism and about how we could define probabilities for our individual future observations given our individual present and previous observations. The complexity of the problems is underlined by arguments that unpredictability in ordinary everyday neural functioning, ultimately stemming from small-scale uncertainties in molecular motions, may overwhelm, by many orders of magnitude, many conventionally recognized sources of observed ``quantum'' uncertainty. Some possible ways of avoiding the problems are considered but found wanting. It is proposed that a complete understanding of the relationship between subjective experience and its physical correlates requires the introduction of mathematical definitions and indeed of new physical laws.
Inactivation of C3a and C5a Octapeptides by Carboxypeptidase R and Carboxypeptidase N

Pro‐carboxypeptidase R (proCPR), also known as thrombin‐activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI), precursor of carboxypeptidase U and plasma carboxypeptidase B is present in plasma and following activation by thrombin/thrombomodulin and/or plasmin can remove arginine from the carboxyterminal of C3a and C5a. We have shown that this enzyme can remove terminal arginine from the C5a octapeptide much more efficiently than the classical anaphylatoxin inactivator, carboxypeptidase N (CPN). Since we have previously demonstrated that proCPR is significantly upregulated in the inflammatory state, this enzyme would appear to significantly contribute to the inactivation of C5a, the most potent of the complement derived anaphylatoxins.
Macrophage migration inhibitory factor in rheumatoid arthritis: evidence of proinflammatory function and regulation by glucocorticoids.

OBJECTIVE Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a proinflammatory cytokine whose involvement in tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) synthesis and T cell activation suggests a role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Antagonism of MIF is associated with marked inhibition of animal models of RA. Uniquely, MIF is inducible by low concentrations of glucocorticoids. We sought to investigate the expression of MIF in RA synovial tissue. METHODS MIF was demonstrated in human RA synovium by immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Regulation of MIF expression was investigated by treatment of cultured fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) with interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), TNFalpha, or interferon-gamma (IFNgamma), and dexamethasone (DEX). Mononuclear cell TNFalpha release after exposure to FLS-conditioned medium was measured by ELISA. RESULTS MIF was present in RA synovial lining CD14+ macrophages and FLS. Constitutive MIF messenger RNA (mRNA) expression was demonstrated by RT-PCR of RNA from unstimulated cultured RA FLS, which also released abundant MIF. Serum, synovial fluid, and FLS intracellular MIF were significantly higher in RA patients than in controls. Synoviocyte MIF was not increased by IL-1beta, TNFalpha, or IFNgamma. In contrast, DEX 10(-7)M significantly reduced synoviocyte MIF, while DEX 10(-10)-10(-12)M induced a significant increase in MIF and MIF mRNA. Peripheral blood mononuclear cell TNFalpha release was induced by culture in RA FLS-conditioned medium, and this induction was significantly abrogated by monoclonal anti-MIF antibody, suggesting that MIF is an upstream regulator of TNFalpha release. CONCLUSION These data represent the first demonstration of the cytokine MIF in human autoimmune disease and suggest MIF as a potential therapeutic target in RA.
Changing pattern of acquisition behaviour in takeovers and the consequences for acquisition processes

Since 1985 the U.K. and American corporate markets have been seeing, for the fourth time this century, boom conditions in the acquisition and merging of companies. Most predictions suggest this pattern will continue into the 1990s. Yet the failure of acquired companies remains at 50 per cent. In an attempt to understand this failure rate Kitching's seminal work (1967, 1973) is used as a starting point. His hypothesized relationships for success or failure are tested against a recent U.K. study of 40 cases, and found to be insufficient to explain success or failure. A paradigm of contextual and process variables is proposed as a fuller explanation of the phenomenon. Finally, different contexts and different behavioural processes are suggested as more substantial explanations of outcomes.