Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Training investment and organizational outcomes: a moderated mediation model of employee outcomes and strategic orientation of the HR function

Using a predictive research design with data collected at three different time points over a four-year period from 277 firms in South Korea, we investigated how and when investment in employee training leads to improved organizational outcomes. The results showed that employee commitment and competence mediated the relationship between training investment and organizational outcomes. The moderated mediation analyses further revealed that the mediated relationship between training investment and organizational outcomes via employee commitment and competence was stronger when the human resources (HR) function within an organization was highly strategically oriented. Based on the results, implications for strategic HR research and practice were provided.
Pension Funding, Share Prices, and National Saving

This paper examines empirically the effect of unfunded pension obligations on corporate share prices and discusses the implications of these estimates for national saving, the decline of the stock market in recent years, and the rationality of corporate financial behavior. The analysis uses the information on inflation-adjusted income and assets that large firms were required to provide for 1976 and subsequent years. The evidence for a sample of nearly 200 manufacturing firms is consistent with the conclusion that share prices fully reflect the value of unfunded pension obligations. Since the conventional accounting measure of the unfunded pension liability has a number of problems (which we examine in the paper), it would be more accurate to say that the data are consistent with the conclusion that shareholders accept the conventional measure as the best available information and reduce share prices by a corresponding amount. The most important implication of the share price response is that the existence of unfunded private pension liabilities does not necessarily entail a reduction in total private saving. Because the pension liability reduces the equity value of the firm, shareholders are given notice of its existence and an incentive to save more themselves. For this reason, unfunded private pensions differ fundamentally from the unfunded Social Security pension and the other unfunded federal government civilian and military pensions.
Impact of Leverage on Investment by Major Shareholders: Evidence from Listed Firms in China

In this paper, we analyze whether leverage had impacts on investment in the period 1999–2009, and whether these impacts, if they exist, differed among companies with different investment opportunities and with different major shareholders. In order to identify governance with different major shareholders, we grouped China’s listed firms into central government owned firms (CSOEs), local government owned firms (LSOEs) and non-state-owned firms (NONSOEs). Our results are as follows. First, our analysis reveals that leverage does have significantly negative impacts on CSOE, LSOE and NONSOE investments. Secondly, in LSOEs and NONSOEs, negative leverage impacts on low-growth firms are stronger than average firms, implying that a disciplinary effect of leverage over investment can be found in LSOEs and NONSOEs. Finally, however, no such effect can be observed in CSOEs. We have provided a first finding that the effect of leverage varies according to a firm’s major shareholders.
Laparoscopic compared with open adrenalectomy for resection of pheochromocytoma: a review of 47 cases.

OBJECTIVE We conducted a retrospective cohort study to determine whether laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LA) is a safe and effective therapy for the management of pheochromocytoma, as compared with open adrenalectomy (OA). METHODS We collected pertinent data on 47 pheochromocytoma resections from 44 patient charts. Perioperative outcomes of 30 LAs were compared with 14 OAs. RESULTS Median (and standard deviation [SD]) length of postoperative stay was shorter in the laparoscopic group (3.0, SD 3.3 d v. 6.0, SD 1.1 d; p < 0.05), and tumour size was smaller (3.9, SD 2.7 cm v. 5.0, SD 2.9 cm; p < 0.05). No statistically significant differences were found for operative time or rate of postoperative complications. There were no statistically significant between-group differences in intraoperative hypertensive episodes (systolic blood pressure > 180 and/or diastolic blood pressure > 90) or hypotensive episodes (systolic blood pressure < 100 and/or diastolic blood pressure < 60) or in the need for antihypertensive or vasopressive agents. There were no intraoperative complications related to extremes of blood pressure. There were no perioperative mortalities in this series, nor was there an increased risk of recurrent disease with the laparoscopic technique. CONCLUSION LA is safe and effective for the management of pheochromocytoma.
Willingness to Seek HIV Testing and Counseling among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinics in Ogun State, Nigeria

HIV counseling and testing (CT) is slowly being introduced as one of several key components of the comprehensive package of HIV/AIDS prevention and care in Nigeria, particularly in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT). Across-sectional survey of 804 women attending antenatal clinics (ANC) in Ogun State, Nigeria was done using questionnaires to assess their willingness to seek and undergo CT and know the determinants. Focus group discussions were also held in the general community: 84.3% of respondents believed in AIDS reality, while 24.3% thought they were at risk of HIV infection. Only 27% knew about MTCT, while 69.7% of 723 who had heard of HIV/AIDS did not know about CT. Only 71 (8.8%) had thought about CT and 33 (4.5%) mentioned HIV testing as one of antenatal tests. After health education on CT, 89% of the women expressed willingness to be tested. Their willingness for CT was positively associated with education (p < 0.05), ranging from 77% (no education) to 93% (post-secondary). More of those with self-perceived risk expressed willingness to test for HIV (p < 0.05). Those willing to be tested had a higher knowledge score on how HIV spreads than those not willing. Multiple regressions identified four key factors that were associated with willingness for CT: increasing educational level; not fearing a blood test; perception that the clinic offered privacy; and perceptions of higher levels of social support from relatives and peers. Those unwilling or undecided about CT expressed strong fear of social stigma/rejection if tested positive. The results provided insights for planning promotional programs and showed that not only are IEC efforts needed to boost knowledge about HIV/AIDS, but that change in clinic setting and community are imperative in creating supportive environment to encourage uptake of CT services.
RECOVERING A BASIC SPACE FROM A SET OF ISSUE SCALES

This paper develops a scaling procedure for estimating the latent/unobservable dimensions underlying a set of manifest/observable variables. The scaling procedure performs, in effect, a singular value decomposition of a rectangular matrix of real elements with missing entries. In contrast to existing techniques such as factor analysis which work with a correlation or covariance matrix computed from the data matrix, the scaling procedure shown here analyzes the data matrix directly. The scaling procedure is a general-purpose tool that can be used not only to estimate latent/unobservable dimensions but also to estimate an Eckart-Young lower-rank approximation matrix of a matrix with missing entries. Monte Carlo tests show that the procedure reliably estimates the latent dimensions and reproduces the missing elements of a matrix even at high levels of error and missing data. A number of applications to political data are shown and discussed.
The crowdsourcing process: an intermediary mediated idea generation approach in the early phase of innovation

Intermediary mediated crowdsourcing (CS) has become a widely adopted open innovation approach for idea generation in various companies of different industries. Despite many success stories and a large body of literature in the fields of idea generation, online competition and open innovation, little is known about the intermediary mediated CS process in the early stage of the innovation process. An explorative, qualitative and quantitative multi-case study research design was applied to extract the longitudinal data that were analysed in this research. Based on 12 CS projects executed by nine Swiss companies from four industries on the Swiss intermediary CS platform atizo.com, five important phases of the intermediary mediated CS process were identified and described. Additionally, important tasks within each phase which ought to be considered by companies when engaging in an intermediary mediated CS project for idea generation were elaborated.
'Potency': the validation of information from a self-administered questionnaire using objective measurements of night-time erections and test-retest reliability.

OBJECTIVE To assess the validity and reliability of a questionnaire assessing 'physiological potency'. PATIENTS AND METHODS The study comprised 89 patients with prostate cancer and 43 men without; the latter were attending a consultation clinic because of problems with erection. All men answered three questions assessing erectile rigidity during sexual activity, morning and spontaneous erections. In the questionnaire, 'potency' was defined as erectile rigidity 'sufficient for intercourse most of the time' or better. 'Potency' in one or more of the three aspects of erection was defined as 'physiological potency'. The patients with prostate cancer answered the questionnaire twice with a 3-week interval. The men attending the consultation clinic underwent two nights of erectile monitoring (using the RigiScan device) and the minimum criterion for RigiScan potency was defined as 55% rigidity at both tip and base. RESULTS The test-retest assessment showed 93% conformity in the questionnaire diagnosis of 'physiological potency/impotence' between the tests. The sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaire assessment compared with the RigiScan method were 40% and 100%, respectively, when the question assessing sexually stimulated erectile rigidity was used alone. Using 'physiological potency', the sensitivity increased to about 60% without jeopardizing the specificity, and when men reporting depression were excluded from the analysis, the sensitivity increased to about 80%. CONCLUSIONS The test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was satisfactory. Using questions in a self-administered questionnaire, 'physiological impotence' can be diagnosed with complete and 'physiological potency' with 60-80% sensitivity. The sensitivity of the self-assessment for 'potency' depended on the number of questions asked and the proportion of men reporting depression.
Anatomical variations of the carotid arteries in adult Kenyans.

OBJECTIVE To describe the topography and anatomical variations of the carotid arteries among Kenyans. DESIGN A descriptive cross-sectional study. SETTING Department of Human Anatomy, University of Nairobi. SUBJECTS Eighty carotid arteries of forty cadavers were dissected. RESULTS The bifurcation of the commonest carotid artery was high (above the reference points) in 63.8% of vessels and the external carotid was antero-lateral to the internal carotid artery in 30% of the vessels. A linguo-facial trunk was the most common variation of the external carotid artery. The origin of the right common carotid artery was high and low in 10% and 2.6% of vessels respectively. CONCLUSION The carotid arteries show important variability and thus emphasise caution for clinicians during surgical procedures in the neck.
Lessening the difference is more – the relationship between diversity management and the perceived organizational climate for gay men and lesbians

With a growing number of European companies following a variety of diversity management strategies, the number of companies including the ‘sexual orientation’ dimension in their diversity programs is increasing. Partially explained by the lack of research on that topic, most companies apply the risk-minimizing strategy of copying actions implemented by companies which have already done more in that field. In this context, this paper aims to provide more profound evidence for evaluating the interrelation between sexual orientation diversity management and the perceived organizational climate for gay and lesbian employees. Study 1 compares Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and a German equivalent, showing that companies including ‘sexual orientation’ in their diversity programs can be associated with a more supportive organizational climate for gay men and lesbians. Applying a Heideggerian theoretical framework, Study 2 compares regression models based on a sample of 1308 gay men and lesbians working in Germany. It is shown that those organizational practices that lessen the difference between homosexuality and heterosexuality within the organization are more strongly related to positive psychological climates than those practices that accentuate the difference. Equalization of heterosexual and homosexual partnerships, internal thematization of homosexuality and gay marketing are associated with positive climate perceptions; LGBT networks and mentoring are not.
An integrated perspective on alliance management

Alliance management has been on the agenda of management scholars and corporations for many years now. In spite of the growing attention that the academic and management literature has paid to many aspects of alliance management, track records of alliances are still poor. It can therefore be argued that the academic and management literature has been unable to unveil the secret ingredients of alliance success. In the past decades, academic research has identified three main levels of analysis in the field of alliances i.e. the dyadic perspective, the firm level and the network level. With a few exceptions the current body of literature discusses these three main levels of alliance management in isolation of each other. The combined effect of these different levels of alliance management has been largely neglected. In order to fill this void we argue that successful alliance management requires a profound understanding of all three levels of alliance management and their interaction. From this perspective, the contributions made by the different streams of alliance research are not autonomous, but are inherently interrelated.
The Impact of Hispanic Growth on the Racial/Ethnic Composition of New York City Neighborhoods

Between 1970 and 1990, a surging Hispanic population succeeded whites across New York City, resulting in major increases in both all-minority and multiethnic neighborhoods. Puerto Rican and Dominican flows resulted in transitions to all-minority neighborhoods, whereas South Americans showed a more integrated pattern of settlement. The unique settlement patterns of Hispanic subgroups need to be understood in the context of larger political, social, and economic forces operating in the city. In the post-1990 period, newer Hispanic groups have begun to succeed Puerto Ricans. Thus, earlier patterns of white to Hispanic transitions now have been supplemented by ethnic succession among Hispanics.
A Bitter Brew? Futures Speculation and Commodity Prices

We introduce a new approach to measuring the possible impact of futures speculation on spotcommodity prices. We advocate the use of a non-parametric, highly flexible empirical model formeasuring this impact, in order to account for possible non-linearity in the transmission fromfutures to spot market. Empirical results for the coffee market show that most of the changes inspot prices can be attributed to shifts in demand and - in particular - supply. Nevertheless,speculation is an important part of the coffee price generation process. The effect of speculationon the price of coffee is indeed spiky, which explains why traditional, mean-variance basedmethods have failed to identify this. However, it is also significant, both statistically andeconomically. An extensive robustness analysis confirms the validity of our results, and - withinthe limitations posed by the data - we have been able to establish causality.
14-Week Quarters

Many firms define their fiscal quarters as 13-week periods. For these firms each fiscal year contains 52 weeks, which leaves out one/two day(s) a year. To compensate, one extra week is added to every fifth/sixth year; consequently, one quarter therein comprises 14 weeks. We find evidence of predictable stock returns and forecast errors in 14-week quarters, which suggests that investors and analysts do not, on average, adjust their expectations for the extra week. The ease with which 14-week quarters can be predicted, and expectations adjusted, suggests a surprising lack of effort on the part of investors and analysts.
Complexity and food hubs: five case studies from Northern Ontario

This paper reports findings from the Northern region of a province-wide initiative aimed at better understanding local food hubs in communities throughout the province of Ontario. Drawing on case studies of five key hubs in the emerging Northern local food system, we explore from the theoretical framework of complex adaptive systems theory the emergence and development of each hub as they collectively give shape to a regional local food system. This analysis focuses on the four phases of the adaptive cycle which describes the typical developmental sequence of complex systems and reveals how they emerge, self-organise, adapt to change and harness innovation for new cycles of growth within the shadow of the dominant food system.
Process Improvement, Quality, and Learning Effects

While quality has attracted significant attention in the past two decades, the debate is still on as to whether a firm should aim for zero defects or base its quality decisions on cost-benefit trade-offs. The continuous improvement advocates generally eschew the cost trade-off approach, but U.S. firms, after spending substantial sums on quality-related activities in the 1980s, appear to be focusing again on cost trade-offs and measures such as return on quality. This paper provides analytical support for the continuous improvement argument while relying on a cost trade-off analysis. We present a dynamic model of a monopolist making decisions on price, production, process improvement, and quality assurance efforts. The model is comprehensive and captures the effects of autonomous and induced learning on both productivity and quality and incorporates quality related costs in detail. Using this model, we show that quality improves over time, while process improvement effort and quality assurance effort decrease over time. In fact, as anecdotal and empirical evidence suggests, process improvement and quality assurance effort is high when quality level is low, and vice-versa. The optimal production rate is increasing and the optimal price is decreasing over time. We also provide valuable insights into the impact of changes in key parameters such as interest rates on production, price, process improvement effort, and quality assurance effort.
Comparative analysis of managerial values in the USA and China

Purpose – China, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, has become a major trading partner with the USA. However, trading with Chinese involves major cultural barriers. The Chinese and US cultures differ widely in their values, which produces different attitudes and behaviors. This study purports to add to the existent knowledge on the managerial values in the USA and China by empirically comparing and contrasting these values along several dimensions.Design/methodology/approach – This empirical investigation examines the differences in managerial values between US and Chinese managers through independent sample t‐tests based on survey responses from 1,741 US and 982 Chinese managers.Findings – The findings indicate that significant cultural differences exist between the two samples. Results show that US managers are more individualistic than their Chinese counterparts. The managerial values of the US sample are also characterized by lower power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and work ethics.
Corporate Boards and Regulation: The Effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Exchange Listing Requirements on Firm Value

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and recently modified exchange listing requirements impose uniformly high levels of outside director monitoring on all firms. However, recent research in finance suggests that corporate governance structures, including boards of directors, are chosen endogenously by firms in response to their unique operating and contracting environments. Using the relative costs and benefits of outside director monitoring as a benchmark, I find significant cross-sectional variation in the wealth effects around the announcement and passage of these regulations. I find that firms which have high monitoring costs and fewer benefits from outside monitoring benefited less from the regulations. In particular, I find that the wealth effects around the passage of these new regulations are positively related to firm size and age, and negatively related to growth opportunities and the uncertainty of the firm's operating environment. The results suggest that a blanket one size fits all governance regulation may be detrimental to certain firms, particularly young, small, growth firms operating in uncertain business environments, that are costly for outsiders to monitor.
Janus kinases in immune cell signaling

Summary: The Janus family kinases (Jaks), Jak1, Jak2, Jak3, and Tyk2, form one subgroup of the non‐receptor protein tyrosine kinases. They are involved in cell growth, survival, development, and differentiation of a variety of cells but are critically important for immune cells and hematopoietic cells. Data from experimental mice and clinical observations have unraveled multiple signaling events mediated by Jaks in innate and adaptive immunity. Deficiency of Jak3 or Tyk2 results in defined clinical disorders, which are also evident in mouse models. A striking phenotype associated with inactivating Jak3 mutations is severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome, whereas mutation of Tyk2 results in another primary immunodeficiency termed autosomal recessive hyperimmunoglobulin E syndrome. By contrast, complete deletion of Jak1 or Jak2 in the mouse are not compatible with life and, unsurprisingly, do not have counterparts in human disease. However, activating mutations of each of the Jaks are found in association with malignant transformation, the most common being gain‐of‐function mutations of Jak2 in polycythemia vera and other myeloproliferative disorders. Our existing knowledge on Jak signaling pathways and fundamental work on their biochemical structure and intracellular interactions allow us to develop new strategies for controlling autoimmune diseases or malignancies by developing selective Jak inhibitors, which are now coming into clinical use. Despite the fact that Jaks were discovered only a little more than a decade ago, at the time of writing there are 20 clinical trials underway testing the safety and efficacy of Jak inhibitors.