Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tapping the power of collective engagement

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain why companies with an exclusive focus on individual engagement miss the opportunity to nurture the collective engagement that is the key to high performance. It aims to report findings from the authors' research on the essential conditions for collective engagement and explain how leaders can create and sustain a mutually engaged workforce.Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a comprehensive survey of 1,367 full‐time employees of large US companies across a range of industries carried out in July 2008, as well as an in‐depth case study of a large, global organization operating in the manufacturing and services sector. In addition, the authors' extensive experience with hundreds of companies across a variety of industries informs the conclusions presented here.Findings – There are three essential conditions for collective engagement. Meaningful work and career opportunities and support for employee effort and recovery are crucial for inspi.
Determinants of Quantitative Information Withholding in Annual Reports

In recent years, the determinants of voluntary disclosure have been explored in an extensive body of empirical research. One major limitation of those studies is that none has tried to find out whether voluntary disclosures were occasional or continuous over time. Yet this point is particularly important, as the voluntary disclosure mechanism can only be fully effective if the manager consistently reports the same items. This paper examines the factors associated with the decision to stop disclosing an item of information previously published voluntarily (henceforth ‘information withholding’ or IW). To measure information withholding, we code 178 annual reports of French firms for three consecutive years. Although disclosure scores are relatively stable over time, we find that this does not mean there is no change in voluntary disclosure across the years. We document that IW is a widespread practice: on average, one voluntary item out of seven disclosed in a given year is withheld the following year. We show that information withholding is mainly related to the firm's competition environment, ownership diffusion, board independence and the existence of a dual leadership structure (separate CEO and chairman).
A novel approach to the use of doxycycline-loaded biodegradable membrane and EDTA root surface etching in chronic periodontitis: a randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND The release profile of 25% doxycycline (DOX) gel loaded on a biodegradable collagen membrane (COL) after 24% EDTA root surface etching was evaluated. METHODS Thirty systemically healthy patients, each with at least one pair of contralateral interproximal intrabony defects ≥4 mm deep, along with an interproximal probing depth ≥6 mm and clinical attachment loss ≥4 mm, were randomized into two groups. Group 1 consisted of sites treated with open-flap debridement followed by placement of DOX gel-loaded COL (DOX-COL), whereas group 2 sites were treated with flap surgery followed by the placement of DOX-COL after EDTA etching of the exposed root surfaces (DOX-COL + EDTA). Samples of gingival crevicular fluid were obtained 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 days after surgery. Separation was performed, and quantitative measurements of DOX were taken with a high-performance liquid chromatography. Clinical evaluation and follow-up for 6 months were performed. RESULTS At 21 days, DOX-COL + EDTA group showed 5.3 μg/mL value. However, no DOX was detected in samples of the DOX-COL group. DOX-COL + EDTA-treated group retained more DOX during the periods of 3, 7, 10, and 14 days than did the DOX-COL group. CONCLUSION EDTA root surface etching could enhance DOX availability in the gingival crevicular fluid after its release from the collagen membrane.
Are ICT Spillovers Driving the New Economy?

Some observers have raised the possibility that production spillovers and network effects associated with information and communications technology (ICT) are an important part of the "New Economy. " Across U.S. manufacturing industries, however, ICT capital appears correlated with the acceleration of average labor productivity (ALP) growth as predicted by a standard production model, but not with total factor productivity (TFP) growth as these New Economy forces imply. Once one allows for productivity differences across industries, measured TFP growth is uncorrelated with all capital inputs, including ICT capital. This provides little evidence for a New Economy story of ICT-related spillovers or network effects driving TFP growth throughout U.S. manufacturing. Copyright 2002 by The International Association for Research in Income and Wealth.
Family CEOs vs. Nonfamily CEOs in the Family-Controlled Firm: An Examination of the Level and Sensitivity of Pay to Performance

This study examines CEO compensation in 82 founding-family-controlled firms; 47 CEOs are members of the founding family and 35 are not. It tests the family incentive alignment hypothesis, which predicts that family CEOs have superior incentives for maximizing firm value and, therefore, need fewer compensation-based incentives. Univariate and multivariate analyses show that family CEOs' compensation levels are lower and that they receive less incentive-based pay—confirming the family incentive alignment hypothesis and suggesting the possible need for family firms to increase CEO compensation when they replace a founding family CEO with a nonfamily-member CEO.
The adoption of ISO 9000 and total quality management in Malaysia

Considers the extent to which ISO 9000 and total quality management (TQM) are being successfully implemented in Malaysian manufacturing companies. A survey on Malaysian companies was conducted in 1995 and produced 247 positive responses. Highlights the findings of the survey such as the status of TQM and ISO 9000 implementation, the benefits and difficulties, quality activities most frequently used and the future trend of Malaysian quality improvement activities. Also highlights a model for the implementation of TQM for the Malaysian small‐ and medium‐sized manufacturing companies.
Prevention of glutaraldehyde-fixed bioprosthetic heart valve calcification by alcohol pretreatment: further mechanistic studies.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY Calcification is a major cause of failure of bioprosthetic heart valves derived from glutaraldehyde-crosslinked bovine pericardium or porcine aortic valve (PAV) cusps. Recently, we have shown that ethanol pretreatment of PAV cusps prevents calcification in animal models. METHODS AND RESULTS In this study we showed that ethanol pretreatment was equally effective in preventing calcification of glutaraldehyde-crosslinked bovine pericardium (control Ca2+ = 121.16+/-7.49 microg/mg tissue; ethanol-pretreated Ca2+ = 2.95+/-0.78 microg/mg). Furthermore, other low-molecular weight alcohols such as methanol and isopropanol were also effective in mitigating calcification of PAV cusps. Storage of ethanol-pretreated cusps in glutaraldehyde before implantation allowed partial return of calcification, suggesting a role for ethanol-glutaraldehyde interactions in preventing calcification. However, when ethanol-pretreated cusps were stored in ethanolic glutaraldehyde up to one month, the anti-calcification effect of ethanol persisted. The conditions whereby PAV cusps were crosslinked in pure, non-aqueous, alcoholic glutaraldehyde solutions were also examined. The crosslinking was equivalent to the standard aqueous glutaraldehyde crosslinking as indicated by thermal denaturation temperatures (Td) obtained by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and resistance to collagenase digestion. However, these cusps had lower water content and showed a marked decrease in spin-lattice relaxation times (T1) obtained by solid-state proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Moreover, these cusps calcified heavily in the 21-day rat subdermal implants. Thus, alcohol treatment during glutaraldehyde crosslinking was not useful. CONCLUSION Glutaraldehyde storage after ethanol pretreatment aggravates calcification; moreover, alcoholic-glutaraldehyde crosslinking solutions are not beneficial for anti-calcification. Ethanol pretreatment of glutaraldehyde-pretreated bovine pericardium prevents its calcification.
The Long-Term Effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Cross-Listing Premia

"This paper uses a triple difference approach to assess whether the adoption of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act predicts long-term changes in cross-listing premia of affected foreign firms. I measure cross-listing premia as the difference between the Tobin's q of a cross-listed company and a non-cross-listed company from the same country matched on propensity to cross-list (first difference). I find that average premia for firms cross-listed on levels 2 or 3 (subject to SOX) declined in the year of SOX adoption (2002) and remained significantly below their pre-SOX level through year-end 2005 (second difference). Firms listed on levels 2 or 3, which are subject to SOX, experienced larger declines in premia than firms listed on levels 1 or 4, which are not subject to SOX (third difference). The estimated decline is 0.15-0.20 depending on specification. Riskier firms and firms from high-disclosing and high-GDP countries suffered larger post-SOX declines. Firm size predicts smaller declines in premia in well-governed countries. Faster-growing firms in poorly-governed countries experienced smaller declines in premia. The results are robust to the use of different before-and-after periods; the use of annual, quarterly, or monthly data; the use of individual companies' Tobin's q's instead of matched pairs, and different regression specifications. The overall evidence is consistent with the view that SOX negatively affected cross-listed premia, and particularly hurt riskier firms and firms from well-governed countries, while perhaps helping high-growth firms from poorly-governed countries. At the same time, after-SOX, level-23 firms continue to enjoy a substantial premium, estimated at about 0.32. " Copyright (c) 2008 The Author Journal compilation (c) 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Money, Growth and Disequilibrium

The analysis of the trilogy of the title receives an increasing attention in the literature. Malinvaud (1980) analyses the dynamics of a disequilibrium model with a fixed-coefficients technology and an investment function that is common to all disequilibrium regimes. His main conclusion is that only Keynesian equilibria are stable in the long run. Laussel (1980) generalizes this model by relaxing these two assumptions. Several cases appear in his model, but Malinvaud's conclusion is in general vindicated. The present paper shows how a strong wealth effect can stabilize the other types of steady states. However, a complete analysis of the investment function involves a multiplication of the number of disequilibrium regimes. This follows from the role of expectations in investment behaviour. Firms must take into account the various cases of disequilibrium they will have to face before reaching their target capital stock. This reduces the attractiveness of the disequilibrium model as a tool for macroeconomic analysis, because of its exaggerated complexity. Following the tradition of neoclassical growth theory, we sidestep this issue and consider a two-asset-money and capital-world, as Tobin (1961, 1969) advocated. B6hm (1978) has analysed the dynamics of money in a disequilibrium framework, but his model ignores capital accumulation. By contrast, our present model puts the emphasis on portfolio equilibrium, somewhat in the IS-LM tradition (Tobin, 1969). We assume an economy without corporate veil, where profits are wholly received as dividends by households. In Bohm's model these profits are taxed away by the government, while Barro and Grossman (1976), Malinvaud (1977) and Laussel (1980) assume a fixed interest rate. In our model, firms take the real wage rate as given, and determine the rate of interest by paying dividends to their owners. On the asset side, we assume a standard demand-for-money function. As there are only two assets, the demand for capital is defined implicitly by the adding-up conditions (Tobin, 1969), and the investment function could be derived from it, given an initial capital stock. The model is specified in Section I, and its temporary equilibria analysed in Section II. Accumulation of capital is the subject of Section III.
MIGRANT ENTREPRENEURS' ACCESS TO BUSINESS FINANCE IN AUSTRALIA

Migration status has been neglected both theoretically and empirically in the financial discrimination literature. Drawing on data from a comprehensive survey of small- and medium-sized businesses in Australia, this paper tests whether Australia's migrant entrepreneurs have greater difficulty accessing external business finance than their Australia-born counterparts. In doing so, it tests the theoretical proposition that the passage of time (or time spent in Australia) mediates a relationship between migration status and access to business finance by determining borrow-lender information asymmetries. We find that long-term migrant entrepreneurs are more likely than Australia-born entrepreneurs to: (1) report access to finance as an obstacle, (2) pass up investment opportunities because of inadequate access to finance, and (3) have obtained funding from family and friends. However, no significant differences are found between migrant and Australia-born entrepreneurs in terms of denial and discouragement rates, or their past use of bank finance.
Spontaneous baroreflex cardiac sensitivity in end‐stage liver disease: effect of liver transplantation

Background and objective: End‐stage liver disease is associated with an imbalance in the autonomic nervous system. The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of liver transplantation on this imbalance. Method: The study involved 10 patients undergoing liver transplantation and 9 patients without liver impairment undergoing liver surgery. The spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity was measured before and 1 month after surgery for the liver surgery group; before and 1, 3, 6, 12 and 18 months after orthotopic liver transplantation. Results: The spontaneous baroreflex slope of patients with end‐stage liver disease was decreased before liver transplantation compared to the liver surgery group (3.9 ± 2.5 ms mmHg−1 vs. 9.9 ± 5.0 ms mmHg−1, P = 0.002). The mean slope was significantly increased at 12 and 18 months compared to the pre‐transplantation value (3.9 ± 2.5 ms mmHg−1 vs. 8.1 ± 6.6 ms mmHg−1 and 7.4 ± 4.8 ms mmHg−1, respectively; P = 0.042). Nevertheless, further analysis of individual data showed that only four patients exhibited a marked increase in their baroreflex slope 12 months after the liver transplantation whereas it remained decreased in the six others. Conclusions: These results confirm that the baroreflex sensitivity is depressed in end‐stage liver disease in line with an autonomic nervous system imbalance. The liver transplantation reverses this disturbance only in some patients.
Foreign direct investment and gendered wages in urban China

Abstract This paper documents the changing impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on gendered wages in urban China. Combining household survey data from 1995 and 2002 with province-level macro-data, the paper finds that FDI as a proportion of investment has a sizable and statistically significant positive effect on both female and male wages in both years. In 1995, women experienced larger gains from FDI than men, but those gender-based advantages had reversed by 2002, with men experiencing larger wage gains from FDI than women. The paper argues that these results reflect the shift of foreign-invested enterprises to higher productivity and more domestically oriented production, a shift that interacts with gender-based employment segregation to more greatly advantage workers in male-dominated than female-dominated industries. These findings indicate that FDI can have considerable structural effects on economies that reach beyond the particular workers and firms linked to foreign investors.
College Scholarship Rules and Private Saving

This paper examines the effect of existing college scholarship rules on the incentive to save. The analysis shows that families that are eligible for college scholarships face "education tax rates" on capital income of between 22 percent and 47 percent in addition to regular slate and federal income taxes. The scholarship rules also impose an annual tax on previously accumulated assets. Through the combination of the implied tax on capital income and the associated tax on previously accumulated assets, the scholarship rules that apply to a middle-income family reduce the value of an extra dollar of accumulated assets by 30 cents in four years. A similar family with two children who attend college in succession will see an initial dollar of assets reduced to 50 cents. Such capital levies of 30 to 50 percent are a strong incentive not to save for college expenses but to rely instead on financial assistance and even on regular market borrowing, Moreover, since any foods saved for retirement are also SUbject to these education capital levies. the scholarship rules discourage retirement saving as well as saving for education. The empirical analysis developed here, based on the 1986 Survey of Consumer Finances, implies that these incentives do have a powerful effect on the actual accumulation of financial assets. More specifically, the estimated parameter values imply that the scholarship rules induce a typical household with a head aged 45 years old, with two precollege children, and with income of $40,000 a year to reduce accumulated financial assets by $23.124. approximately 50 percent of what would have been accumulated without the adverse effect of the scholarship rules.
Pre-service Teachers’ Choice of Physical versus Electronic Instructional Materials

The main goal of the current study was to analyze early childhood and elementary pre-service teachers’ choices of participant-designed materials and the reasons for their selection. To this end, 57 elementary and 39 early childhood teacher candidates were asked to design one physical material and one electronic material for instruction. Then, they were asked which type of material they would prefer if they were teaching and what their rationale was for this selection. The results revealed several dissimilarities between early childhood and elementary teacher candidates in terms of their choices and the reasons for their choices. In their rationale, elementary pre-service teachers more referred their limited technological knowledge while early childhood pre-service teachers took attention to the need for hands-on activities for their instruction. In general, participants raised critical questions related to teachers’ technological knowledge, and teacher preparation programs as well as professional development programs regarding how to integrate such instructional technologies effectively into course activities to enhance learning.
National general practice study of epilepsy: the social and psychological effects of a recent diagnosis of epilepsy.

OBJECTIVES--To determine the nature and extent of psychosocial problems in epilepsy and their associations. DESIGN--A postal survey was used drawing data from prospective consecutive cases. Data on demographic, medical, and social backgrounds were collected. A specially designed, validated attitude questionnaire examined 14 areas of psychosocial adjustment to epilepsy. SETTING--124 primary care general practices. SUBJECTS--Adults (aged over 17) with a recent diagnosis of epilepsy (within previous 36 months). They were registered with the national general practice study of epilepsy and had a confirmed diagnosis according to the usual criteria. 216 subjects were approached for the survey by their general practitioners; 192 returned questionnaires. RESULTS--Problems in at least one area were experienced by 175 (91%) of the 192 subjects. Problems were generally mild, which contrasts strongly with findings in chronic cases. The areas of greatest concern were fear of seizures (80% of cases; 72% moderate or severe) and fear of stigma in employment (69% of cases; 40% moderate or severe). A highly significant relation was found between psychosocial effects and the frequency and recency of seizures. CONCLUSIONS--In the early stages of epilepsy psychosocial effects are closely related to the severity of the medical condition, suggesting that the argument for the stigmatising effect of the diagnosis by itself is less important than previously thought. The findings also suggest that problems may evolve as the condition becomes chronic.
Human and Social Sustainability in Work Organizations

The purpose of this document is to suggest a plan and design for an international research program, called SUSTAIN, that is focusing on human and social sustainability in work organizations. The main research questions are: 1) What defines a sustainable employee and a sustainable work organization ? and 2) How is it possible to promote the sustainability of individuals and social collectives at work ? The goal in the research is to better understand how people can be strengthened and sustained by their work. At the same time, we are interested in seeing how work organizations seen as wholes can sustain themselves by building on the growth and development in their members. We go beyond the traditional approaches to 'good work' by truly understanding an employee as a whole being in a work setting and by exploring how all the aspects of an employee can, on the one hand, develop and transform and, on the other hand, be retained and benefitted from in the working life. In other words, rather than seeking to motivate or satisfy employees, we want to see how their work can offer a meaningful life experience contributing to personal growth and maintenance of beneficial qualities once formed. With this approach, we are able to address human growth and quality of life at work, and also pay attention to the delicate balance between work and private life. The practical relevance of the research is to create processes for the improvement of work experiences in the context of high turbulence, in order to further boost both productivity and quality of working life, and to protect society from the increasing costs of absenteeism and sick leaves, in particular due to burnout. The basic research approach suggested is the case-study in which both theory development and theory testing are guaranteed by using a rigorous methodological design; the aim is to carry out multiple, replicated case studies in several European countries. The document out- lines research hypotheses, research modules, research methods, and research questions for studying individual and collective sustainability in working life.