Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ambidexterity Under Scrutiny: Exploration and Exploitation Via Internal Organization, Alliances, and Acquisitions

Prior research on ambidexterity has limited its concern to balancing exploration and exploitation via particular modes of operation. Acknowledging the interplay of tendencies to explore versus exploit via the internal organization, alliance, and acquisition modes, we claim that balancing these tendencies within each mode undermines firm performance because of conflicting routines, negative transfer, and limited specialization. Nevertheless, by exploring in one mode and exploiting in another, i.e., balancing across modes, a firm can avoid some of these impediments. Thus, we advance ambidexterity research by asserting that balance across modes enhances performance more than balance within modes. Our analysis of 190 U.S.-based software firms further reveals that exploring via externally oriented modes such as acquisitions or alliances, while exploiting via internal organization, enhances these firms’ performance.
Ownership Structure, Board Composition and Investors’ Protection: Evidence from S&P 500 Firms

Research Question/Issue: The level and effectiveness of investors’ protection is considered to foster financial markets development and economic growth. While previous studies focused on the relationship between the institutional setting and investors’ protection at country level, we investigate if ownership structure and board composition may significantly affect investors’ protection at firm level. Research Findings/Insights: We collected data for S&P500 companies in the period between 2001 and 2006. Then we tested the impact of ownership structure and board composition on firm investors’ protection. Our results show that the presence of institutional investors and of a large blockholder among shareholders has a positive impact on investors’ protection. At the same time our results indicate that ratio of outside directors have a negative influence on the same variable. Theoretical/Academic Implications: Our study contributes to the development of corporate governance studies as it (i) indicates that some governance variables at firm level may influence investors’ protection, (ii) shows that ownership structure is a complex variable that includes both the identity and the amount of shares owned, and (iii) questions the validity of some board recommendations founded on agency theory and encouraging a strong presence of outside directors. Practitioner/Policy Implications: Our results suggest policymakers to favor the presence and the activism of institutional investors as they may improve the investors’ protection. At the same time, the study casts some doubts about the effectiveness of outside directors as good monitors and encourages both policymakers and companies to devote more attention to other governance variables.
PENGARUH GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE DAN KARAKTERISTIK PERUSAHAAN TERHADAP KEBIJAKAN DIVIDEN (Studi Empiris terhadap Perusahaan Manufaktur Terbuka di Bursa Efek Indonesia tahun 2013)

The aim of this study is to obtain empirical evidence about the influence of Good Corporate Governance and corporate characteristics on dividend policy. Dividend policy proxy for dividend payout ratio (DPR). Good Corporate Governance (GCG) proxy for corporate governance elements include: Transparency, Fairness, Accountability and Responsibility. Characteristics of the company is represented by profitability (ROE), leverage (DER), liquidity (CR), and the size of the company (TA) is used as a control variable to strengthen the influence of Good Corporate Governance on dividend policy (DPR). The sample of this study is go-public manufacturing companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2013 period. The methods used in processing the data is multiple linear regression analysis . The results of this study are: ( 1 ) Good Corporate Governance positive influence on dividend policy , it is consistent with the hypothesis made ​​; ( 2 ) the profitability of a positive influence on dividend policy , it is consistent with the hypothesis made ​​; ( 3 ) leverage does not have positive influence on dividend policy , this means that the hypothesis DER has negative influence the DPR is rejected; ( 4 ) Liquidity does not have positive influence on dividend policy , this means that the hypothesis of CR has positive influence on the DPR is rejected; ( 5 ) the size of the company does not have positive influence on dividend policy , this means that the hypothesis that TA has positive influence on the DPR is rejected Keywords : Dividend Policy (DPR), Good Corporate Governance (GCG), Profitability (ROE), Leverage (DER), Liquidity (CR), Size of the Company (TA).
Are cross-border mergers and acquisitions better or worse than domestic mergers and acquisitions? : the UK evidence

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are important corporate strategy actions that are vital for the companies in order to survive in this competitive global world. The popularity of those actions has increased over the years, especially in the international domain. In the UK, both the number and value of cross-border M&As has increased significantly over the years. Despite this increase, there haven’t been enough studies or clear evidence about whether venturing abroad to acquire foreign targets leads the companies to better performance compared to staying domestically. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate the MA (2) the difference between the operating performance of acquirer firms involved in cross-border and domestic MA and (3) the difference between the impacts of cross-border and domestic M&As on the operating performance of acquirer and target firms combined. Market-based and accounting-based approaches are used to investigate a sample of UK acquirer firms engaged in cross-border and domestic M&As both in the short-term and in the long-term periods. In general, the results reveal insignificant differences between the shareholders’ returns and operating performances of acquirer firms involved in cross-border and domestic M&As over the short- and long-term periods. On the other hand, the results for acquirer and target combined firms show that cross-border M&As have lower operating performances than domestic M&As. Recommendations are provided in order to help the decision and policy makers in the companies to decide whether cross-border M&As should be actively encouraged or discouraged in comparison with domestic M&As.
Harbingers of Long-term Graft Outcome: Go With the Flow?

I in immunosuppressive therapy and patient care have reduced the incidence of acute rejection (AR) and improved short-term renal allograft survival. Late graft loss in living patients, however, remains a vexing problem in kidney transplantation in part because of the myriad of etiologies, immune and nonimmune, that can contribute to this outcome. The possible causes of late graft loss have been intensively discussed butmay include Tcell–mediated rejection, antidonor-specific antibodies, mixed rejection, drug toxicity, polyoma virus nephropathy, glomerulonephritis, and interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy. It is plausible that molecular and cellular changes in the first year posttransplant paint a picture of what is to come. If so, could an early biomarker of impending graft decline provide a therapeutic window of opportunity to prevent late graft loss? Ideally, such a biomarker would be present in biologic material from patients that can be obtained in a noninvasive, repetitive fashion and be measured in assays that are robust, reliable, cost-effective, and suitable for testing in clinical laboratories. Urine has been a popular vehicle for biomarker studies in kidney recipients. It is plentiful, can be obtained easily, is produced by the kidney and can be a source of cells, nucleic acids or protein that can be interrogated to directly assess the status of the graft. The potential of urine-based biomarker development in clinical transplantation was revealed in the early studies of Suthanthiran and coworkers who found that the levels of messenger (m)RNA for perforin and granzyme B, 2 mediators associated with cytotoxic T cell effector function, were significantly increased in urinary cells from patients with biopsy-proven AR compared with patients without AR. An important criterion for establishing the utility of a biomarker is validation in a multicenter trial. Thus, this single-site study was an impetus for a multicenter trial under the auspices of the Clinical Trials of Organ Transplantation 04 (CTOT-04) consortium. The CTOT-04 study measured transcripts for perforin and granzyme B, along with CD3ε, proteinase inhibitor 9, CD103, TGF-β1, interferoninducible protein 10 (IP-10),
Communicating agrometeorological information to farming communities

Agrometeorological information, used for decision making, represents part of a continuum; at the other end is scientific knowledge and understanding. Other components of this continuum are the collection of data and transforming data into useful information. Information has value when it is disseminated in such a way that the end-users get the maximum benefit in applying its content. This paper explores the potential of the new information and communications technologies to improve the access to agrometeorological information. The Internet will play an important role in the collection and transfer of information. In developing countries, Multi-Purpose Community Telecentres (MCTs) will be the equivalent of an information supermarket. Radio can be used to transfer information from MCTs to rural areas. Using response farming as an example, a prototype information system that can have wide applicability is suggested. Procedures on evaluating the impact of agrometeorological information are provided. Future concerns about the information needs of diverse end-users, information on a fee basis, and the training needs of end-users and intermediaries are discussed. Although modern technology has improved agrometeorological information and increased the number of end-users, continued improvements are necessary to ensure that the content of the information is adequate to fulfill the requirements of the farming communities. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Psoriasis and occlusive vascular disease

To test the hypothesis that psoriasis is associated with an increased incidence of occlusive vascular disease (thrombophlebitis, myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolization, and cerebrovascular accident), the clinical records of 323 psoriatic and 325 non‐psoriatic patients admitted to the dermatology service of the Roger Williams General Hospital were examined. The data obtained in this study suggest that (1) the occurrence rate of occlusive vascular disease is significantly greater in the psoriatic than in the non‐psoriatic dermatological patient. This is particularly true in the male population; (2) psoriasis predisposes to occlusive vascular disease; and (3) the psoriatic patient with certain predisposing factors is at greater risk of experiencing an occlusive vascular episode than both the non‐predisposed psoriatic and the non‐psoriatic dermatological patient.
Impact of PEV charging and rooftop PV penetration on distribution transformer life

As Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs) take a greater share in the automobile market; their penetration levels may bring potential challenges to the electric utility especially at the distribution level. However with increasing penetration of rooftop photovoltaics (PVs) in residential networks, one major benefit is for rooftop PV units to counterbalance PEV loads, and hence normalize the useful life of distribution transformers. This effect has yet to be quantified in existing literature. This paper presents a study that evaluates the impact of PEV charging imposed on distribution transformer life, in the presence of rooftop PV units. The proposed methodology in this paper is applied to a real distribution system with various scenarios, including diversified PV and PEV penetration levels. Through deterministic and stochastic simulation, results reveal that distribution transformer increased loss-of-life (LOL), as a function of PEV charging, can be negated through the integration of distributed rooftop PV installation.
BundleFusion

Real-time, high-quality, 3D scanning of large-scale scenes is key to mixed reality and robotic applications. However, scalability brings challenges of drift in pose estimation, introducing significant errors in the accumulated model. Approaches often require hours of offline processing to globally correct model errors. Recent online methods demonstrate compelling results but suffer from (1) needing minutes to perform online correction, preventing true real-time use; (2) brittle frame-to-frame (or frame-to-model) pose estimation, resulting in many tracking failures; or (3) supporting only unstructured point-based representations, which limit scan quality and applicability. We systematically address these issues with a novel, real-time, end-to-end reconstruction framework. At its core is a robust pose estimation strategy, optimizing per frame for a global set of camera poses by considering the complete history of RGB-D input with an efficient hierarchical approach. We remove the heavy reliance on temporal tracking and continually localize to the globally optimized frames instead. We contribute a parallelizable optimization framework, which employs correspondences based on sparse features and dense geometric and photometric matching. Our approach estimates globally optimized (i.e., bundle adjusted) poses in real time, supports robust tracking with recovery from gross tracking failures (i.e., relocalization), and re-estimates the 3D model in real time to ensure global consistency, all within a single framework. Our approach outperforms state-of-the-art online systems with quality on par to offline methods, but with unprecedented speed and scan completeness. Our framework leads to a comprehensive online scanning solution for large indoor environments, enabling ease of use and high-quality results.1
Determinants of business tax evasion in transition economies

ABSTRACT Tax evasion represents one of the major problems facing transition and developing economies. It imposes several economic costs: it slows down economic growth; it diverts resources to unproductive activities; it provides an incentive for firms to remain small and invisible; and it generates inequity between the evaders and the honest taxpayers. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the determinants of business tax evasion for transition economies. We do so by adapting the individual theory to the case of businesses; that is by assuming that the behaviour of businesses is similar to the behaviour of individuals, and that the determinants of business tax evasion may be similar, at least qualitatively, to the determinants of tax evasion by individuals or households. More specifically, beyond theoretical and empirical review of the tax evasion literature, this thesis provides three related empirical investigations: a panel investigation of tax evasion at the country level; a pooled-cross section investigation of firm-level behaviour across the transition economies and a cross-section investigation of business tax evasion and tax morale in Kosovo. For the firm-level investigation we use the BEEPS data for the years 1999, 2002 and 2005; and, for the investigation of business tax evasion in Kosovo, we generate primary data by developing a questionnaire and conducting a survey of businesses in Kosovo. Our econometric findings suggest that, first, regardless of the theoretical and previous empirical ambiguity, when it comes to transition economies the relationship between tax rate and tax evasion is positive; second, the macroeconomic environment has only minor effects on business tax evasion, suggesting that the decision to evade or not must depend on other non-economic factors; third, even if a country is performing well in general economic terms, the presence of negative institutional phenomena exert a dominant and immediate influence on the relationship between businesses and government; fourth, business tax morale, as is the case with individuals, has a strong and negative relationship with tax evasion; fifth, moreover, given that the same considerations on morality apply to both individuals and businesses, policies in the individual context apply also to businesses; sixth, lower corruption, higher trust and better treatment of business taxpayers improves significantly both tax morale and tax compliance; and, seventh, because levels of tax evasion vary across firm characteristics, audit strategies should be set accordingly. Finally this thesis provides a set of corresponding policy recommendations intended to reduce either the possibility and/or the inclination to evade.
Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of rotavirus- and EPEC-associated hospitalized infantile diarrhoea in Basrah, Iraq.

Rotavirus and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) were investigated in fecal specimens from 523 infants hospitalized for diarrhea and 93 healthy infants visiting maternal and child health clinics in Basrah city Iraq during an 8-month period. 24% of cases and 2% of controls and 12% of cases and none of controls were positive for rotavirus and EPEC respectively. Peak admissions of all infantile diarrhea cases rotavirus cases and EPEC cases occurred in the 2-3 months age group although the rotavirus isolation rate was highest in the 8-9 months age group. Rotavirus admissions and isolation rates were highest during late winter and early spring. Rotavirus isolation rates were higher in cases from affluent areas (44%) than in cases from other areas of the city (21%). Rotavirus EPEC and other cases were not readily distinguished by thier clinical features although rotavirus cases were more likely to vomit. Intravenous fluids were administered to 94% of cases but appeared to be necessary in at most 1/3 of cases. Neither antibiotics nor kaopectate were shown to shorten the duration of stay of cases in hospital and among EPEC-positive cases antibiotic administration was associated with longer duration of stay in hospital. The case fatality ratio was 4% and was significantly higher in infants with dyspnea convlusions or moderate-severe dehydration and in infants who were young female or non-breast-fed. (authors modified)
An analytic network process approach for the election of green marketable products

Purpose – In this study, an optimal green product is selected from three newly developed ecological products and a non-environmentally friendly product. An analytic network process (ANP), used widely for multi-criteria decision making (MCDM), is applied to account for the tradeoff issues among the criteria (quality, cost and green issue) in the new green product selection processes. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This paper focuses on current social and consumer requirements. New product selection processes consider three major perspectives, i.e., quality, cost and environment, as criteria. The following two main methods are applied to respond to this multi-disciplinary issue: the eight quality dimensions proposed by Garvin are used to manage the quality issue, and a life cycle costing (LCC) method is applied for consideration of the cost and green issue. Therefore, the dependency issue among the criteria is considered, using a suitably selected method, the ANP metho.
SDSS J1254+0846: A BINARY QUASAR CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF MERGING

We present the first luminous, spatially resolved binary quasar that clearly inhabits an ongoing galaxy merger. SDSS J125455.09+084653.9 and SDSS J125454.87+084652.1 (SDSS J1254+0846 hereafter) are two luminous z = 0.44 radio-quiet quasars, with a radial velocity difference of just 215 km s−1, separated on the sky by 21 kpc in a disturbed host galaxy merger showing obvious tidal tails. The pair was targeted as part of a complete sample of binary quasar candidates with small transverse separations drawn from SDSS DR6 photometry. We present follow-up optical imaging which shows broad, symmetrical tidal arm features spanning some 75 kpc at the quasars’ redshift. Previously, the triggering of two quasars during a merger had only been hypothesized but our observations provide strong evidence of such an event. SDSS J1254+0846, as a face-on, pre-coalescence merger hosting two luminous quasars separated by a few dozen kpc, provides a unique opportunity to probe quasar activity in an ongoing gas-rich merger. Numerical modeling suggests that the system consists of two massive disk galaxies prograde to their mutual orbit, caught during the first passage of an active merger. This demonstrates rapid black hole growth during the early stages of a merger between galaxies with pre-existing bulges. Neither of the two luminous nuclei show significant intrinsic absorption by gas or dust in our optical or X-ray observations, illustrating that not all merging quasars will be in an obscured, ultraluminous phase. We find that the Eddington ratio for the fainter component B is rather normal, while for the A component L/LEdd is quite (>3σ) high compared to quasars of similar luminosity and redshift, possibly evidence for strong merger-triggered accretion. More such mergers should be identifiable at higher redshifts using binary quasars as tracers.
Bacteriological quality of meat sold in retail market in Uttar Pradesh.

Analysis of 60 meat samples comprising 25 chicken, 25 chevon and 10 mutton, collected from retail shops revealed highest (7.83 log 10 CFU/g) total viable count (TVC) in mutton, followed by chevon (7.79 log 10 CFU /g) and chicken meat (log 6.67/g). Similarly, total coliform count (TCC) was also found to be highest in mutton (log 2.99/g) followed by chevon (2.07 log 10 CFU /g) and chicken meat (1.03 log 10 CFU/g). Total staphylococcal count (TSC) of chicken, chevon and mutton were found to be log 4.46, 5.23 and 2.88 CFU/g, respectively. A total of 136 bacterial isolates were recovered. All the 60 samples harboured Staphylococcus aureus, while 38 samples revealed the presence of Bacillus cereus. Salmonella was isolated from only one sample of chicken meat. E coli was predominant in chicken meat as 17 out of 25 samples yielded this organism. In case of chevon and mutton, E coli was recovered from 15 and 5 samples, respectively.
Information Systems and Healthcare XXV: Factors and Actors Affecting the EAI Adoption in the Healthcare Sector

This paper focuses on Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) adoption in healthcare organisations. EAI has emerged to support organisations overcoming their integration problems, and it has been adopted by many sectors. Despite its importance, the healthcare sector develops EAI solutions at a slower pace and can be characterised as a laggard compared to other sectors. The small number of EAI applications in healthcare has resulted in limited research in this area, with many issues requiring further investigation. The normative literature analyses the factors that influence EAI adoption in healthcare but it has not yet explored the role of actors during the adoption process. This paper makes a step forward and contributes to the body of knowledge as it: (a) highlights the role of healthcare actors and attitudes towards EAI adoption; (b) introduces an actor-oriented approach; (c) identifies those actors involved in this process; and (d) combines the actor-oriented approach with the factors influencing EAI adoption. The authors believe that such an approach is significant and novel as it: (a) enhances existing EAI adoption models by incorporating an actor-oriented analysis; and (b) facilitates healthcare organisations in making robust decisions for EAI adoption. The authors discuss the application of their approach through a hospital case study. While a single case study alone cannot be proof, the engagement of the actors was encouraging.