Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corporate Governance and the Shareholder: Asymmetry, Confidence, and Decision-Making

Corporate Governance and the Shareholder: Asymmetry, Confidence, and Decision-Making by E. John Buchanan MBA, Nova Southeastern University, 2006 BBA, Florida Atlantic University, 2003 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Management Walden University May, 2017 Abstract In the decade following the ten-plus percent stock market collapse of 2000, regulatorsIn the decade following the ten-plus percent stock market collapse of 2000, regulators enacted a myriad of regulations in response to increasing angst experienced by U.S. capital market retail investors. Systemic asymmetric disclosures have fractured investor confidence prompting many commentators to characterize the relationship between Wall Street and the investment community on Main Street as dire. Though copious works exist on the phenomenon of corporate behaviors, especially matters of shareholder welfare, weak boards, pervious governance mechanisms, and managerial excess, current literature has revealed a dearth in corporate governance praxis specific to the question and effects of asymmetric disseminations and its principal impact on the retail/noninstitutional accredited investor’s (NIAI) confidence and decision-making propensities. This phenomenological study is purposed to bridging the gap between the effects of governance disclosure and the confidence and decision-making inclinations of NIAIs. Conceptual frameworks of Akerlof’s information theory and Verstegen Ryan and Buchholtz’s trust/risk decision making model undergirded the study. A nonrandom purposive sampling method was used to select 21 NIAI informants. Analysis of interview data revealed epistemological patterns/themes confirming the deleterious effects of asymmetrical disseminations on participants’ investment decision-making and trust behaviors. Findings may help academicians, investors, policy makers, and practitioners better comprehend the phenomenon and possibly contribute to operating efficiencies in the capital markets. Proaction and greater assertiveness in the investor/activist community may provide an impetus for continued regulatory reforms, improved transparency, and a revitalization of public trust as positive social change outcomes. Corporate Governance and the Shareholder: Asymmetry, Confidence, and Decision-Making
Relationship of soil organic matter dynamics to physical protection and tillage

Tillage has been reported to reduce organic matter concentrations and increase organic matter turnover rates to a variable extent. The change of soil climate and the incorporation of aboveground C inputs within the soil lead to no unique effect on biodegradation rates, because of their strong interaction with the regional climate and the soil physical properties. The periodical perturbation of soil structure by tools and the subsequent drying±rewetting cycles may be the major factor increasing organic matter decomposition rates by exposing the organic matter that is physically protected in microaggregates to biodegradation. This paper reviews the assessed effects of tillage on organic matter, the scale, extent and mechanisms of physical protection of organic matter in soils. # 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
The Control Preferences Scale.

The Control Preferences Scale (CPS) was developed to measure a construct that emerged from a grounded theory of how treatment decisions are made among people with life-threatening illnesses. The control preferences construct is defined as "the degree of control an individual wants to assume when decisions are being made about medical treatment. " The CPS consists of five cards that each portrays a different role in treatment decision-making using a statement and a cartoon. These roles range from the individual making the treatment decisions, through the individual making the decisions jointly with the physician, to the physician making the decisions. The CPS involves subjects in making a series of paired comparisons to provide their total preference order over the five cards. These preference orders are analyzed using unfolding theory to determine the distribution of preferences in different populations and the effect of covariates on consumer preferences. The scale has been tested in a variety of populations, ranging from the general public to highly stressed groups. The CPS has proven to be a clinically relevant, easily administered, valid, and reliable measure of preferred roles in health-care decision-making.
Tick Size Wars, High Frequency Trading, and Market Quality

We show that competitive stock exchanges undercut other exchanges’ tick sizes to gain market share, and that this tick size competition increases investors’ trading costs. Our empirical analysis is focused on an event in 2009 where three stock exchanges, Chi-X, Turquoise, BATS Europe, reduced their tick sizes for stocks with an Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE) primary listing. We find that the tick size-reducing exchanges captured market shares from the large-tick OSE. Trading costs at the OSE increased while trading costs in the competing exchanges remained unchanged. High frequency trading appears to be the main driver behind the market share and trading cost results. Our findings suggest that unregulated stock markets can produce tick sizes that are excessively small.
Water quality status and Primary productivity of Valanthakad Backwater in Kerala

The water quality and primary productivity of Valanthakad backwater (9 ° 55 ′ 10. 24 ′′ N latitude and 76 ° 20 ′ 01. 23 ′′ E longitude) was monitored from June to November 2007. Significant spatial and temporal variations in temperature, transparency, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, sulphides, carbon dioxide, alkalinity, biochemical oxygen demand, phosphate-phosphorus, nitrate-nitrogen, nitrite-nitrogen as well as primary productivity could be observed from the study. Transparency was low (53.75 cm to 159 cm) during the active monsoon months when the intensity of solar radiation was minimum, which together with the run off from the land resulted in turbid waters in the study sites. The salinity in both the stations was low (0.10 ‰ to 4.69 ‰) except in August and November 2007. The presence of total sulphide (0.08 mg/ l to 1.84 mg/ l) and higher carbon dioxide (3 mg/ l to 17 mg/ l) could be due to hospital discharges and decaying slaughter house wastes in Station 1 and also from the mangrove vegetation in Station 2. Nitrate-nitrogen and phosphate-phosphorus depicted higher values and pronounced variations in the monsoon season. Maximum net primary production was seen in November (0.87 gC/ m
Dimensions of Business Resilience in the Context of Post-Disaster Recovery in Davao City, Philippines

This study determined the dimensions of business resilience in the context of post-disaster recovery among business establishments in Davao City and developed a post-disaster business resilience and recovery framework based on the findings. Descriptive method was used to characterize or describe the factors or attributes of business resilience of businesses, while multivariate analysis via exploratory factor analysis discovered and determined the underlying factor structure in various analysis and techniques. The survey questionnaire was administered to 392 respondents who are proprietors and managers of businesses that were affected by the highest water level rise (flashflood) recorded and experienced by the city last June 28, 2011. The exploratory factor analysis yielded five (5) valid dimensions of business resilience in the context of post-disaster recovery in the case of Davao City. These five factors are labelled as (a) institutional control, (b) planning and preparedness, (c) philosophy and integrity, (d) external support and linkages, and (e) communication and media. These five dimensions are the components that typify a realistic business resilience model that would benefit the businesses concerned in withstanding the future onslaughts of disasters.
Harvesting contractor production and costs in forest plantations of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay

ABSTRACT Timber production from forest plantations has increased substantially in South America in the last few decades. The timber harvesting process is carried out mainly through logging contractors. This research developed production and cost 'functions for logging contractors working in Misiones and Corrientes (Argentina), Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and Uruguay. Data were obtained from surveys: 22 in Argentina, 35 in Brazil and 10 in Uruguay between 2008 and 2012. When considered as a share of the total production region, we sampled a weighted average of 21% of the firms, which means an annual production of 17.7 million cubic meters. Regressions of the variables species, operations, contractors and mechanization indicated that the logging costs per ton were higher in Uruguay, as were logging contract prices. The contract prices paid for thinning were significantly higher than those of clearcutting, but average logging costs did not differ significantly. A large amount of capital was needed to begin operations, but there was an inflection in the average cost curves at 50,000 tons/month, and average costs were asymptotic at 100,000 tons/month. Logging contractors working for pulp companies have significantly higher capital value and the largest payroll. The fully mechanized logging firms had the highest capital costs. The Cobb-Douglas function was best to estimate production and cost models. Last, the size of the logging firms in these three countries was larger than those reported for southeastern USA and for Scandinavia. However, average costs were not as low as reported in those countries.
Influence of individual dynamic managerial capabilities over business sustainability commitment, stakeholder engagement and gender

En el complejo y hostil entorno economico actual que acompana desde su inicio al siglo XXI, las empresas requieren de nuevas estrategias, para mantener su ventaja competitiva en el mercado, garantizar la sostenibilidad a largo plazo y considerar las demandas de los grupos de interes (stakeholders). El papel del manager de la empresa es relevante para ello y este debe disponer de nuevas capacidades que le permitan dar respuesta a las exigencias del mercado. Esta tesis doctoral, a traves de una encuesta realizada a 339 managers utilizando una metodologia empirica basada en un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales, propone como nuevas capacidades de gestion del manager (individual dynamic managerial capabilities- IDMC), las competencias emprendedoras (alertness, creativity and self-awareness) y las capacidades dinamicas individuales (sensing, seizing y transforming). Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que existe una relacion directa y positiva entre el grado de desarrollo de las IDMC y el nivel de compromiso social y ambiental y con los stakeholders. Se propone que las IDMC que posee el/la manager las que impulsan su compromiso con la sostenibilidad y este a su vez, impulsa el compromiso con los stakeholders. Finalmente, se analiza por primera vez si existen diferencias de genero en las relaciones anteriores, resultando que la mujer dispone de mayor compromiso tanto social como medioambiental con la sostenibilidad; si bien, se concluye que la empresa requiere de un equipo directivo comprometido con la sostenibilidad a largo plazo independientemente del genero de sus miembros.
Human Action Recognition With Video Data: Research and Evaluation Challenges

Given a video sequence, the task of action recognition is to identify the most similar action among the action sequences learned by the system. Such human action recognition is based on evidence gathered from videos. It has wide application including surveillance, video indexing, biometrics, telehealth, and human-computer interaction. Vision-based human action recognition is affected by several challenges due to view changes, occlusion, variation in execution rate, anthropometry, camera motion, and background clutter. In this survey, we provide an overview of the existing methods based on their ability to handle these challenges as well as how these methods can be generalized and their ability to detect abnormal actions. Such systematic classification will help researchers to identify the suitable methods available to address each of the challenges faced and their limitations. In addition, we also identify the publicly available datasets and the challenges posed by them. From this survey, we draw conclusions regarding how well a challenge has been solved, and we identify potential research areas that require further work.
Undergraduate students' knowledge of copyright infringement

This study examined undergraduate students’ knowledge of copyright infringement at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted. Three hundred and seventy-two (372) undergraduate students randomly selected from twelve universities constituted the sample for the study. Four research questions were developed and answered and data was collected through a self-designed questionnaire. The findings demonstrate that the majority of the respondents are aware of copyright infringement and have strong perception that copyright infringement is a form of intellectual dishonesty. In addition, the results indicate that downloading content from the internet without permission from the owner is the major way through which undergraduates mostly infringed on the copyright. The findings also show that high cost of textbook is a contributing factor that leads students to infringe on copyright law, followed by scarcity of materials, fear of scoring poor marks, lack of awareness and overarching curricula while the desire to defy authority had the least influence. The increasing awareness of copyright law and possible punishment for violating the law was rated as the most fundamental way of reducing copyright infringement. The only hypothesis tested in the study revealed a significant difference in the perception of undergraduate students on copyright infringement based on their academic level with (Chi Cal. = 740.85, df=16, chi table= 26.30 at 0.05 level of significant difference). Upon these findings, the study recommends that author and publishers should try to reduce the cost of their textbooks. In addition, libraries in higher institutions should be well equipped with enough and relevant printed/literary resources. These should be readily available and accessible to the students when needed, in order to help reducing the rate of piracy and photocopying in higher institutions.
Isokinetic muscle strength of knee extensors in individuals with parkinson ’ s disease

Introduction: Despite tremor, bradykinesia, and rigidity are the classic motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), muscle weakness has also been pointed out as an important motor symptom associated to this disease, however, this condition is still poorly studied and the results are inconsistent. Objectives: This study aimed to compare the quadriceps muscle strength between individuals with PD and neurologically healthy individuals matched for age and gender. We also compared muscle strength in the limb more and less affected by the disease. Materials and methods: This study had the participation of 26 volunteers, 13 from the Parkinson group (64.08 ± 6.87 years; 73.82 ± 13.03 kg; 1.66 ± 0.07 m) and 13 from the control group (62.73 ± 6.42 years; 79.46 ± 11.40 kg; 1.71 ± 0.07 m). Peak Torque (PT) was measured in knee extensors using isokinetic dynamometry, at a velocity of 90°. s-1. Student’s t-test was used to compare average values intraand inter-groups (p < 0.05). Results: Absolute PT was significantly lower in the Parkinson group (119.29 ± 40.06 N.m) when
Molecular-dynamics study of the local symmetry changes in metallic liquids

It has been conjectured that the local structure of simple monoatomic liquids is mainly of five-fold symmetry. Experimental evidence for such icosahedral building blocks has recently been found in liquid droplets of lead adjacent to a silicon wall and in deeply undercooled melts of metallic elements like bcc iron, fcc nickel and bcc zirconium. We have used molecular dynamics in order to investigate supercooling effects in the melt of another element (aluminum) on the basis of a common neighbour analysis. In the simulation, we have employed an embedded atom method potential optimized with the help of ab initio calculations for aluminum. The simulations confirm the recent experimental results that, independent of the system, the icosahedral short-range order strongly increases with the degree of undercooling.
Functional Effects of Human Antiplatelet Antibodies

Systematic studies of series of patients with idio­ pathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) revealed that the occurrence of human antiplatelet antibodies that affect platelet function is a rather common event: Clancy et al 1 detected abnormal platelet function in 9 of 11 (82%) patients with chronic ITP, Cortelazzo et al 2 did so in 18 of 49 (37%) ITP patients in remission, whereas Yanabu et al 3 found inhibition of platelet function in 12 of 60 (20%) and enhanced platelet aggregation with plasma from 8 of 60 (13%) ITP patients. Despite these observations
Hepatitis C Virus Infection Down-regulates miR-29 : Effects on Viral Fitness and Hepatic Stellate Cell Activation

Background. Chronic Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) induced liver fibrosis is mediated by upregulation of Transforming Growth Factor (TGF)-beta and subsequent hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate HCV infection and HSC activation. Methods. TaqMan miRNA profiling identified 12 miRNA families differentially expressed between chronically HCV-infected human livers and uninfected controls. To identify pathways affected by miRNAs, we developed a new algorithm (PACT, Pathway Analysis of Conserved Targets), based on the probability of conserved targeting. Results. This analysis suggested a role for miR-29 during HCV infection. Intriguingly, miR-29 was down-regulated in most HCV-infected patients. miR-29 regulates expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. In culture, HCV infection down-regulated miR-29 and miR-29 over-expression reduced HCV RNA abundance. miR-29 also appears to play a role in HSCs. Hepatocytes and HSCs contribute similar amounts of miR-29 to bulk liver. Primary HSC activation and TGF-β treatment of immortalized HSCs both down-regulated miR-29. miR-29 over-expression in LX-2 cells decreased proliferation and collagen expression. miR-29 down-regulation by HCV may derepress ECM synthesis during HSC activation. Conclusions. HCV infection down-regulates miR-29 in hepatocytes and may potentiate collagen synthesis by reducing miR-29 levels in activated HSCs. Treatment with miR-29 mimics in vivo might inhibit HCV while reducing fibrosis.
Text Messaging to Improve Hypertension Medication Adherence in African Americans: BPMED Intervention Development and Study Protocol

Background Hypertension (HTN) is a major public health concern in the United States, with almost 78 million Americans age 20 years and over suffering from the condition. Moreover, HTN is a key risk factor for health disease and stroke. African Americans disproportionately shoulder the burdens of HTN, with greater prevalence, disease severity, earlier onset, and more HTN-related complications than age-matched whites. Medication adherence for the treatment of HTN is poor, with estimates indicating that only about half of hypertensive patients are adherent to prescribed medication regimens. Although no single intervention for improving medication adherence has emerged as superior to others, text message medication reminders have the potential to help improve medication adherence in African Americans with uncontrolled HTN as mobile phone adoption is very high in this population. Objective The purpose of this two-phased study was to develop (Phase I) and test in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) (Phase II) a text message system, BPMED, to improve the quality of medication management through increasing medication adherence in African Americans with uncontrolled HTN. Methods In Phase I, we recruited 16 target end-users from a primary care clinic, to assist in the development of BPMED through participating in one of three focus groups. Focus groups sought to gain patient perspectives on HTN, medication adherence, mobile phone use, and the use of text messaging to support medication adherence. Potential intervention designs were presented to participants, and feedback on the designs was solicited. In Phase II, we conducted two pilot RCTs to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of BPMED in primary care and emergency department settings. Both pilot studies recruited approximately 60 participants, who were randomized equally between usual care and the BPMED intervention. Results Although data collection is now complete, data analysis from the two pilot RCTs is still ongoing and results are expected in 2015. Conclusions This study was designed to determine preliminary feasibility and acceptability of our approach among African Americans with uncontrolled HTN in primary care and emergency department settings. Results from these studies are of great interest as little work has been done to document the use of text message medication reminders to improve HTN-related outcomes, particularly within underserved urban minorities. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01465217; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01465217 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6V0tto0lZ).
Pre‐treatment of Stegomyia aegypti mosquitoes with a sublethal dose of imidacloprid impairs behavioural avoidance induced by lemon oil and DEET

The present study was conducted to determine whether imidacloprid can impair the avoidance behaviour of the mosquito Stegomyia aegypti. Laboratory investigations using a T‐maze apparatus showed that St. aegypti mosquitoes present long term avoidance behaviour when they are exposed to repetitive trials with lemon oil and DEET. The present study tested the effect of a sublethal dose of imidacloprid on the avoidance behaviour of St. aegypti mosquitoes over a 48 h period. Data suggest that 0.5 ng of imidacloprid/mosquito reduces the avoidance behaviour of mosquitoes exposed to lemon oil, on the first day of exposure, after the second trial; whereas imidacloprid affected DEET repellency only the first day of exposure, after the second trial. Imidacloprid was toxic against St. aegypti mosquitoes, and at sublethal doses was able to impair the repellency induced by lemon oil and DEET. The present data were consistent with the finding that St. aegypti mosquitoes exhibit long term avoidance behaviour, and treatment of mosquitoes with a sublethal dose of imidacloprid under DEET application can affect the repellency of DEET against St. aegypti.