Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The development and preliminary performance analysis of Islamic REITs in Malaysia

With the significant growth in Islamic financial products in recent years, the world's first Islamic real estate investment trust (REIT) was established in Malaysia in August 2006, with these REIT portfolios needing to be Shariah compliant. This paper constructs three Malaysian REIT (M‐REIT) series and assesses the significance, risk‐adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits of Islamic M‐REITs in a mixed‐asset portfolio in Malaysia over 2006–2008, contrasting this performance with conventional M‐REITs in Malaysia. While the impact of the global financial crisis is evident, Islamic M‐REITs are seen to be a differentiating property investment product from conventional M‐REITs, as well as displaying the defensive characteristics of low‐risk levels and portfolio diversification benefits to those seen by conventional M‐REITs. These differentiating features and portfolio diversification benefits for Islamic M‐REITs were further evident and enhanced in the global financial crisis; reflecting a degree of robustness not seen in most other global REIT markets during the global financial crisis. The ongoing implications for Islamic M‐REITs and Islamic REITs in other global REIT markets are also highlighted.
Genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of an antifungal biocontrol strain belonging to Bacillus subtilis

Physiological and molecular fingerprints of biotechnologically relevant rhizobacteria are necessary for registration, patenting, recognition and quality checking of the strains. To characterize the biological control agent, Bacillus subtilis B2g, the strain was compared with other plant‐associated B. subtilis isolates. Phenotypic characterization included biochemical and nutritional properties, in vitro activity and analysis of potential antagonistic mechanisms towards several plant pathogenic fungi. According to the phenotypic characteristics, it was not possible to differentiate the biocontrol agent from the other strains, although the enzymatic fingerprint was unique. Genotypic diversity among the isolates was characterized by molecular fingerprinting methods using REP–PCR (repetitive extragenomic palindromic PCR), and macrorestriction of genomic DNA and electrophoretic separation of DNA fragments by pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). A protocol for PFGE analysis using restriction enzyme SfiI for B. subtilis was developed. PFGE typing of B. subtilis B2g resulted in a unique fingerprint. Therefore, it was possible to differentiate B. subtilis B2g, the biocontrol agent of Phytovit®, from other antifungal B. subtilis isolates.
The provision of weight management advice: an investigation into occupational therapy practice.

BACKGROUND/AIM Obesity affects more than half the Australian population and has become epidemic throughout the world. Little is known regarding occupational therapy interventions with clients who are overweight or obese. This study aimed to identify occupational therapy practice in relation to the provision of weight management. This was part of a larger study investigating health professional practice. METHODS A cross-sectional study design using a self-administered, purpose-designed survey was employed to identify the current practices of occupational therapists working in a regional area of New South Wales, Australia. Participants were recruited via email or mail as publically available. RESULTS Fifty-one occupational therapists anonymously completed the survey. Results revealed that 53% (n = 26) of respondents did not consider weight management to be within their scope of practice or their workplace role description. The most common intervention was the provision of physical activity advice (65.2%; n = 30). Dietary advice was provided by 20.8% (n = 10), while 77% (n = 32) referred onto dietitian services. During entry-level occupational therapy education, only 7.8% (n = 4) had received weight management advice education. Completion of postgraduate professional development training in this area was reported by 14% (n = 7) of respondents. CONCLUSION This study provides insight into the current practices of Australian occupational therapists in relation to the provision of weight management advice. This research displays a need to acknowledge both a generic and a discipline-specific role for the provision of healthy lifestyle interventions. This may be achieved through better access to education during entry-level programmes and in the workplace.
High-involvement work systems and performance outcomes: the strength of variable, contingent and context-bound relationships

Whether high-involvement work systems (HIWSs) contribute to the performance of firms has been a major issue in debates on workplace reform and economic outcomes. Discussion has been polarized between those identifying strong effects of HIWSs and critics. These debates are placed in the context of an analysis of the social relations of production which draws on earlier studies of industrial relations and productivity. It is argued that (1) the HIWS-performance connections are less strong than is often implied, but this does not destroy the underlying theme that how employees are managed affects productivity; (2) HIWSs have several outcomes which need to be considered together, not subsumed under the positive-sounding label of 'performance'; (3) HIWSs may be the 1990s equivalent of other mechanisms, and thus be simply the current delivery vehicle rather than being causal in a strong sense; and (4) reciprocal causation and reinforcement remain important, that is that 'performance' sustains an HIWS as much as the reverse.
Impact of Customer‐Based Corporate Reputation on Non‐Monetary and Monetary Outcomes: The Roles of Commitment and Service Context Risk

A firm's reputation is an important intangible asset, because of its potential for value creation. The authors explore non-monetary and monetary outcomes of customer-based corporate reputation (CBR) and hypothesize that commitment serves as a partial mediator, while service context risk is a moderator, of these relationships. Using a large sample of service customers who evaluated the reputation of service firms in four service categories, the results show that (1) commitment partially mediates the relationship between CBR and most of the outcome variables, and (2) service provider selection risk moderates these relationships, such that reputation has a stronger effect on several non-monetary outcomes for higher-risk services and commitment has a stronger effect for lower-risk services, consistent with a dual-processing framework explanation. The authors discuss the theoretical and managerial implications.
Planning for Housing Development in Malaysia: Developers' Response to the Regulatory Policy Framework

Abstract This paper unfolds the inherent tension between private developers and local authorities in the development process of medium- to high-cost housing units in Malaysia. It examines how developers respond to the government's regulatory housing policy framework by deploying resources and tactics to realize their investment strategies. The analysis focuses on the Bumiputra quota policy, the low-cost housing policy, the One-Stop-Centre approving system and the review of planning guidelines in Johor and Kuala Lumpur which have very different socio-economic circumstances. The findings highlight the lack of trust and communication between developers and the government in the development process and the importance of cultural influence and socio-economic contexts on the structuration process.
Valuing Commercial Mortgages: An Empirical Investigation of the Contingent‐Claims Approach to Pricing Risky Debt

This paper empirically investigates a contingent-claims model of commercial mortgage pricing. The authors find that the magnitude of the observed default premia for a sample of nonprepayable fixed rate bullet mortgages can be explained by the contingent-claims model. In addition, the model explains a significant proportion of the period to period changes in the default premia. However, given an assumed negative correlation between building value changes and interest rate changes, the model's risk structure tends to increase less steeply with increasing maturity than the observed risk structure. Copyright 1989 by American Finance Association.
Inward technology transfer and competitiveness: the role of national innovation systems

This paper examines the role of national innovation systems in the inward transfer of technology that has underpinned the transformation of Japan and other East Asian economies since 1945. The economies that have benefited most from inward technology transfer have national innovation systems that have strengthened their 'national absorptive capacity. ' This capacity relies primarily on investments in scientific and technical training and on economic policies that enforce competition among domestic firms. The particular channels for inward technology transfer, the identity of any 'strategic industries' targeted for public intervention, and the overall level of a nation's trade restrictions are all of secondary importance. (c) 1995 Academic Press, Inc. Copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press.
Judgemental revision of sales forecasts: Effectiveness of forecast selection

When managers make revisions to sales forecasts initially generated by a rational quantitative model it is important that the particular forecasts selected for adjustment are those which would benefit most from the adjustment process (i.e. realize high errors). This study reports an empirical investigation on this issue, spanning six quarterly forecasting periods and incorporating forecasting data on over 850 products. The results show that the errors of the forecasts chosen for revision are, in general, higher than those which were not chosen. In addition, it is shown that managesrs tend to revise forecasts which are initially low, hence possibily introducing some degree of bias into the overall forecasts.
Flower Pollen Extract and its Effect on the Liver The Effect of Cernitins on Galactosamine-Induced Hepatic Injury in Rat

Cernitins correspond to microbiologically fermented pollen extract. Cernitin T60 contains mainly water soluble, while Cernitin GBX mainly fat-soluble substances. The aim of the present work was to examine the effect of Cernitins on the d-galactosamine-induced liver damage in rat. It has been shown, that galactosamine administration to tat resembles viral hepatitis both biochemically and histologically. Our studies proved that Cernitin T60 given orally or intraperitoneally inhibited of counteracted the elevation of amino transferases activity and the inflammatory process, necrosis and steatosis of the liver cells. The protective effect of Cernitin GBX on the liver parenchyma was only slightly expressed. It is concluded; that application of pollen extracts in-patients with liver diseases should be considered.
Patients' experiences and perceptions of integrative care for back and neck pain.

CONTEXT Conventional guidelines in Sweden recommend primary care management for back and neck pain, yet these two conditions are the most common ones for which patients use complementary therapies. Despite the recent growth of integrative medicine (IM) in different clinical, academic, and societal contexts, few studies have defined and investigated comprehensive models of integrative care as compared to conventional management, especially using randomized clinical trials. OBJECTIVE The study explores patients' experiences and perceptions when receiving conventional or integrative care in the management of back and neck pain. DESIGN The research team conducted this study within a larger interventional study. In that study--a pragmatic randomized clinical pilot trial--the team developed a model for integrative medicine that combines complementary therapies that have an emerging evidence base and conventional treatments for patients with nonspecific back and neck pain. The research team implemented the model and compared the results for integrative care to results for conventional primary care. The current qualitative study included 11 focus-group discussions: conventional care (n= 5) and integrative care (n=6). SETTING The research team implemented the interventional study in south suburban Stockholm, an area with higher unemployment, lower incomes, and receipt of more welfare support and sickness benefits compared to the average levels in Stockholm. PARTICIPANTS The participants in the focus-group discussions were volunteers drawn from the larger randomized clinical trial. OUTCOME MEASURES The research team transcribed all discussions from the focus groups verbatim and used latent content analysis to evaluate the data. RESULTS Receiving diagnostic support and excluding pathology were strong reasons for participants to seek conventional care. Participants reported that they found conventional management to be reductionistic, with a focus on disease, and a lack of accessibility, time, and guidance. In contrast, participants reported that integrative care was holistic, whole-person management and facilitated increased treatment response, support, empowerment, and self-help strategies. Participants, however, perceived integrative care to be challenging because of additional treatment costs with complementary therapies and collaborative shortcomings between integrative and conventional practitioners generally. CONCLUSION Integrative care represents a combination of valuable conventional medical diagnosis with empowering self-help strategies for some patients with nonspecific back and neck pain in Swedish primary care. Future studies should also investigate experiences and perceptions in the longer term from the perspective of patients, caregivers, and health systems.
A time-varying analysis of abnormal performance of UK property companies

The investment selection ability of property company managers is investigated. The specialized nature of commercial property portfolio holdings presents the opportunity for added value and, therefore, for abnormal performance. It is argued that property company share investment performance should be undertaken using time-varying abnormal performance measures; in particular, a time-varying measure of Jenen's excess performance. Furthermore, because of the changing structure of both the composition of the underlying property portfolios held by property companies and the levels of gearing, the analytical framework should also employ a time-varying beta measure. Over the period of analysis, 1980-1995, the majority of property companies analysed exhibited an enduring risk-adjusted underperformance profile, although this was not found to be statistically distinguishable from zero. For the few companies delivering a positive abnormal performance it did not prove statistically significant. The implication is that the total returns delivered by property companies are not significantly different from a random buy-and-hold strategy. This may be indicative of the indifferent performance of the underlying direct property portfolio holdings, with the implication that property company managers have not demonstrated any property selection skills by exploiting their specialist knowledge in identifying underpriced investment opportunities. If property selection ability does exist in the direct commercial property market then, in the main, it is not reflected in risk-adjusted outperformance in property company share prices. If investors believe there are inefficiencies in the direct commercial property market, and therefore opportunities for outperformance, it does not appear to be possible to exploit such inefficiencies indirectly by investing in property company shares.
Is the Effect Really so Large? Firm‐Level Evidence on the Role of FDI in a Transition Economy

Foreign subsidiaries usually perform better than domestic enterprises, but selection effects have been acknowledged in the literature. This article contributes by quantitatively evaluating the size of the selection effects and direct effects of FDI entry. We use a large panel of firm‐level data from Poland and match foreign‐owned firms to a control group of non‐foreign‐owned companies and analyse various performance indicators. In terms of efficiency measures, between 50 and 70 percent of the foreign affiliates advantage may be attributed to direct ownership effects. However, in the case of export intensity, the majority of the differential between the domestic companies and foreign subsidiaries is attributable to selection effects: MNEs choose export‐oriented companies and sectors.
Localized large cell lymphoma: is there any need for radiation therapy?

Purpose of review Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is the most common lymphoma diagnosed in the United States and presents as localized disease in about 25% of the patients. The standard of care was established by Southwest Oncology Group trial 8736, which showed the superiority of a short course of chemotherapy followed by radiation over a longer course of chemotherapy alone. This review discusses the studies that followed with the intent to establish whether the standard of care has changed. Recent findings Subsequent studies examined the role of radiation therapy, the number of cycles and intensity of chemotherapy, and addition of rituximab. Interpretation of results has been confounded by patient selection, especially by including patients with bulky stage II disease. Quality of radiation therapy may have diminished its efficacy in some of the studies. Concurrent administration of rituximab provided a more modest improvement as compared with advanced disease setting. Attempts are now made to use PET scans to eliminate the need for radiation therapy in some patients. Summary Radiation therapy remains useful when administered expediently and as initially described, but PET scans successfully define a subset of patients who do not benefit from radiation. Using a longer or more intensive course of rituximab-containing chemotherapy without radiation has never been compared to combined modality treatment and remains investigational.
Nondominant CD8 T Cells Are Active Players in the Vaccine-Induced Antitumor Immune Response

We previously reported that CD8+ T cells are directed predominantly toward the immunodominant Her-2/neu (neu) epitope RNEU420–429 in nontolerized FVB/N but not tolerized HER-2/neu (neu-N) mice. In this study, we screened overlapping peptides of the entire neu protein and identified six new epitopes recognized by vaccine-induced neu-N–derived T cells. Evaluation of individual nondominant responses by tetramer staining and IFN-γ secretion demonstrate that this repertoire is peripherally tolerized. To address the role that the complete CD8+ T cell repertoire plays in vaccine-induced antitumor immunity, we created a whole-cell vaccine-expressing neu cDNA that has been mutated at the RNEU420–429 anchor residue, thereby abrogating activation of immunodominant epitope responses. Studies comparing the mutated and nonmutated vaccines indicate that nondominant CD8+ T cells can induce antitumor immunity when combined with regulatory T cell-depleting agents in both neu-N and FVB/N mice. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that the neu-directed T cell repertoire is not intrinsically incapable of eradicating tumors. Rather, they are suppressed by mechanisms of peripheral tolerance. Thus, these studies provide new insights into the function of the complete T cell repertoire directed toward a clinically relevant tumor Ag in tumor-bearing hosts.
Is angel investing worth the effort? A study of Keiretsu Forum

This paper provides a case study of Keiretsu Forum, a Silicon Valley-based angel group. Computing an internal rate of return for the group's investments reveals that they generated higher returns than could have been obtained from the broader equity market as measured by popular index funds. Perhaps more important, this study also indicated that the processes developed by and regularly used by the angel group are effective at identifying potential failed deals but are not so restrictive as to bypass potential winners.
Facilitating qualitative research in business studies: Using the business narrative to model value creation

This is a conceptual paper supported by empirical research giving details of a new Business Narrative Modelling Language (BNML). The need for BNML arose given a growing dissatisfaction with qualitative research approaches and also due to the need to bring entrepreneurs, especially those with little training in management theory, closer to the academic (as well as practitioner) discussion of innovation and strategy for value creation. We aim primarily for an improved communication process of events which can be described using the narrative, in the discussion of the value creation process. Our findings, illustrated through a case study, should be of interest to both researchers and practitioners alike.
Adaptive Category Mapping Networks for all-mode topological feature learning used for mobile robot vision

This paper presents an adaptive and incremental learning method to visualize series data on a category map. We designate this method as Adaptive Category Mapping Networks (ACMNs). The architecture of ACMNs comprises three modules: a codebook module, a labeling module, and a mapping module. The codebook module converts input features into codebooks as low-dimensional vectors using Self-Organizing Maps (SOMs). The labeling module creates labels as a candidate of categories based on the incremental learning of Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART). The mapping module visualizes spatial relations among categories on a category map using Counter Propagation Networks (CPNs). ACMNs actualize supervised, semi-supervised, and unsupervised learning as all-mode learning to switch network structures including connections. The experimentally obtained results obtained using two open datasets reveal that the recognition accuracy of our method is superior to that of the former method. Moreover, we address applications of the visualizing function using category maps.
On the Interplay between Structural and Logical Dependencies in Open-Source Software

Structural dependencies have long been explored in the context of software quality. More recently, software evolution researchers have investigated logical dependencies between artifacts to assess failure-proneness, detect design issues, infer code decay, and predict likely changes. However, the interplay between these two kinds of dependencies is still obscure. By mining 150 thousand commits from the Apache Software Foundation repository and employing object-oriented metrics reference values, we concluded that 91% of all established logical dependencies involve non-structurally related artifacts. Furthermore, we found some evidence that structural dependencies do not lead to logical dependencies in most situations. These results suggest that dependency management methods and tools should rely on both kinds of dependencies, since they represent different dimensions of software evolvability.
Asset Pricing Information in Vintage REIT Returns: An Information Subset Test

REIT return data prior to the new REIT era offer important asset pricing information. At issue is whether empiricists should focus attention on returns series covering only the new period. We use a generalized asset pricing and information subset test to disentangle REIT information from information available in several benchmark series. Results indicate that REIT returns are informative about the discounting process during the pre-new-era period. Thus, the distribution of vintage REIT returns is not fully explained by either broad market indexes or from size-based anomalies. This study should be viewed as a useful empirical precedent for those studying REIT data preceding the new REIT era. Copyright 2005 by the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association