Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strategic management accounting practices in Palestinian companies : application of contingency theory perspective

This study uses a quantitative methodology to explore the impact of contingency factors on use of strategic management accounting techniques (SMA), and combined impact of SMA Usage and contingency factors on organisational performance in a less developed country (LDC) context. The exploratory framework included two main dependent variables, namely SMA Usage and organisational performance. For the former, this study gauged the impact of perceived environmental uncertainty (competitive intensity and market turbulence), business strategy (prospector /defender), organisational structure (formalisation and decentralisation), organisational size and organisational technology on SMA Usage. For the latter, this study explored two dimensions of organisational performance (financial and non-financial) and how the conceptualised dimension(s) of organisational structure, SMA Usage, perceived environmental uncertainty and organisational strategy impact on performance. Data were collected from Palestinian large companies (cross sectors); was used to test the conceptualised framework. The analysis was based on 175 responses, representing a response rate of 43.75%. The SPSS package was used to confirm the reliability and validity of factors and also statistically estimated the association coefficients of the conceptualised relationships in the framework. The findings from this study suggest that the usage of SMA techniques is influenced by a number of factors. These are perceived environmental uncertainty (Market Turbulence) and organisational technology. Also, larger organisations tend to use more SMA techniques than smaller.
Genetic polymorphisms as a risk factor for dyslipidemia in children

Abstract Dyslipidemia is an important etiological factor for development of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of deaths in adults. Given the growing global epidemic of dyslipidemia, lipoprotein metabolism disorders have become an important health problem not only in adulthood, but have also emerged as an increasingly risk factor in childhood. Although several genome-wide association studies in multiple large population-based cohorts of adults and meta-analyses have identified susceptibility genes or loci, especially in lipid-related traits, it is of great importance to evaluate genetic predisposition at an early age. Recent findings suggest that the identification of polymorphisms in the metabolism of lipids in childhood may help fight subclinical atherosclerosis and its progression to cardiovascular complications in adulthood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to review genetic polymorphisms as risk factors associated with dyslipidemia in children and adolescents.
Combination of serum adiponectin level and metabolic syndrome is closely associated with coronary artery disease in Japanese subjects with good glycemic control.

OBJECTIVE Metabolic syndrome (MetS) and decreased adiponectin level have been reported to be clinically associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease (CAD). However, it has not been fully defined whether they are associated with the severity of CAD, independent of hyperglycemia. In the current study, we investigated the clinical relationship between serum adiponectin level and MetS, and its association with the severity of CAD in patients with good glycemic control. PATIENTS AND METHODS In this study, we enrolled 97 subjects with an HbA1c concentration of < 7.0% (5.5+/-0.6%), who underwent coronary angiography. We measured serum adiponectin levels and various metabolic variables, and assessed the severity of CAD by angiography. RESULTS Multivariate analysis revealed that the number of MetS components was not correlated with adiponectin level, despite their significant correlation in the univariate analysis. Low adiponectin levels (< 4.5 microg/mL) or > or = 3 of 5 MetS components showed significant association with the severity of CAD (adiponectin, p=0.002; MetS, p=0.049). The correlation of adiponectin levels (divided by tertiles or quartiles) with the severity of CAD was not significant after adjustment for age and gender. On the other hand, two models of combined scores from adiponectin levels and the number of MetS components showed a significant correlation with the severity of CAD even after adjustment for age and gender (model 1, p=0.023; model 2, p=0.018). CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that the combination of adiponectin levels and the number of MetS components is linked to the severity of CAD in subjects with good glycemic control.
Financial Literacy: What Works? How Could it Be More Effective?

This paper highlights the extent and effects of financial illiteracy among American households, reviews previous efforts to promote financial literacy, and discusses new directions for such initiatives. None of the four traditional approaches to financial literacy - employer-based, school-based, credit counseling, or community-based - has generated strong evidence that financial literacy efforts have had positive and substantial impacts. Nevertheless, the apparent success of financial planning efforts and of simplification initiatives suggests that there are both private actions and public policy strategies that can influence saving behavior. There is a key role for the private sector in enhancing financial literacy and the market is responding rapidly to try to fill the void. At the same time, there is an at least equally important role for the public sector, via a campaign that revolves around a comprehensive website, and through better coordination of existing policies toward saving. We conclude that improving financial literacy should be a first-order concern for policy-makers, and that gains could accrue not only to the affected individuals, but also to their family members and society at large.
When do family firms have an advantage in transitioning economies? Toward a dynamic institution-based view

We advance a dynamic institution-based view of the firm that extends the theory's current focus on scope of pro-market reforms (degree of market liberalization in a given year) to consider how speed of reforms (rate of market liberalization achieved over time) affects the performance of firms from transitioning economies. Utilizing a sample of public firms from Chinese provinces with varying reform speeds, we find that while scope of reforms positively impacts firm performance, speed of reforms detracts from firm performance. We further find that while family firms have an advantage in gradually reforming provinces, non-family firms have an advantage in rapidly reforming provinces. Thus, we extend the institution-based view across time (speed of reforms) and firms (family vs. non-family firms).
A CLINICAL STUDY OF THE BENZODIAZEPINE Ro 5‐4023 (CLONAZEPAM) IN THE TREATMENT OF EPILEPSY

A total of 68 patients with various types of epileptic seizures have been treated with Ro 5‐4023 (clonazepam), of these patients 60 between 3 and 27 months. In 50 of these 60 patients Ro 5‐4023 was used as a supplement to medication which was insufficiently effective. With this the frequency of seizures was reduced by more than 50 per cent in 26 patients. Ten patients were previously untreated and were given Ro 5‐4023 alone. Of these 8 were free from seizures during the period of observation. Satisfactory results in the form of a reduction in the frequency of the only or at least one of several types of seizures were seen in 70 per cent of the cases. A favourable effect was seen both as regards grand mal and psychomotor seizures as well as in 2 out of 4 patients with petit mal. The EEG was improved or normalized in 24 out of 51 cases, in which it was controlled. A previously demonstrated connection between an improvement in the EEG and clinical improvement has not been confirmed. No serious side‐effects of the treatment have occurred. Strong sedation during the first stages of the treatment in nearly all the patients made it necessary to start with a small dose (1 mg daily) and to increase this slowly (1/2 to 1 mg every 2 or 3 days) to the maintenance level (3 to 12 mg daily). Cessation of treatment owing to side‐effects was only necessary in 6 cases. Ro 5‐4023 appears on the whole to be the best anti‐epileptic of the benzodiazepine derivatives produced to date.
The Risk of Sudden Depreciation of the Euro in the Sovereign Debt Crisis of 2009-2010

The economic-political instability of a country, which is tied to its credit risk, often leads to sharp depreciation and heightened volatility in its currency. This paper shows that not only the creditworthiness of the euro-area countries with weaker fiscal positions but also that of the member countries with more sound fiscal positions are important determinants of the deep out-of-the-money euro put option prices, which embedded information on the euro crash risk during the sovereign debt crisis of 2009-2010. Using information on the option prices under the stochastic-volatility jump-diffusion model, the euro's crash probability of 11% in a year with crash size of 14% is estimated at the end of April 2010. However, during the period of the global financial crisis between the Lehman default and September 2009 before the debt crisis began, the estimated crash size reflects the potential sharp devaluation of the US dollar that might result from quantitative easing in the US.
A re-examination of stock repurchase in USA

A RE-EXAMINATION OF STOCK REPURCHASE IN USA Hua Yang Old Dominion University, 2010 Director: Dr. Mohammad Najand Since the adoption of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule lOb-18 Safe Harbor for Issuer Repurchases in 1982, stock repurchases have been growing explosively. Extant literature has shed some light on the motivation behind companies' repurchase activities. The most popular beliefs include signaling undervaluation (Dann 1981, Vermaele 1981, Comment and Jarrell 1991), reducing free cash flow (Guay and Harford 2000, Jagannathan, Stephens and Weisbach 2000, Grullon and Michaely 2004), raising leverage ratio (Hovakimian, Op1er and Titman 2001) and increasing earnings (Bens, Nagar, Skinner and Wong 2003). Motivated by Stephens and Weisbach's (1998) research which found that companies on average acquire 74 to 82 percent of the shares announced as repurchase targets within three years of the repurchase announcement, I re-examined the motivations for stock repurchase by linking repurchase announcements with actual repurchases: 1) why some companies announce stock repurchase, but don't actually buy back any of their shares, and 2) why some companies complete the repurchase program as announced. Applying Logit regression to investigate the motives, I find that companies which make repurchase announcements but not actually buy back any stock tend to use announcements to signal undervaluation, so they don't need to actually purchase their stocks to covey the insider information once again. On the other side, those companies which complete repurchase programs are more likely to buy back shares to reduce free cash flow, raise leverage ratio or improve earning per share. And they have to actually repurchase their own stocks to achieve those purposes. I also examine market reaction to announcements made by Non-Repurchaser and Repurchaser. Non-Repurchaser receives more favorable market responses than Repurchaser. It provides further support to my hypothesis that Non-Repurchaser is undervalued and market corrects the mistake after the repurchase announcement.
"Soft" Governance and Firm Performance: A Study of Ghanaian Insurance Firms

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between “soft” governance factors and the performance of insurance companies in Ghana. The study employed panel data methodology for the regression analysis of “soft” governance factors and the performance of the companies for the period 2005 – 2009. The results show that “soft” governance factors of recruitment policy, staff training and development, communication policy and performance evaluation have statistically significant positive relationship with the performance of the companies. It is recommended that management should treat “soft” governance as a strategic issue and formulate strategic policies on these factors. Again they should ensure the full implementation of these policies to ensure that the companies derive the maximum benefit of an improved performance. Keywords: “Soft” governance, Insurance industry, Firm performance
Nitsche"s method for parabolic Partial Differential Equations with mixed time varying boundary conditions

We investigate a finite element approximation of an initial boundary value problem associated with parabolic Partial Differential Equations endowed with mixed time varying boundary conditions, switching from essential to natural and vice versa. The switching occurs both in time and in different portions of the boundary. For this problem, we apply and extend the Nitsche’s method presented in [Juntunen and Stenberg, Math. Comput. (2009)] to the case of mixed time varying boundary conditions. After proving existence and numerical stability of the full discrete numerical solution obtained by using the θ-method for time discretization, we present and discuss a numerical test that compares our method to a standard approach based on remeshing and projection procedures.
Coronary and systemic hemodynamic effects of sustained inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis in conscious dogs. Evidence for cross talk between nitric oxide and cyclooxygenase in coronary vessels.

Sustained inhibition of NO synthesis (N omega-nitro-L-arginine [L-NNA], 20 mg.kg-1.d-1, 7 days) was investigated at rest and during exercise in conscious dogs. At rest, L-NNA did not alter mean arterial blood pressure but markedly increased total peripheral resistance (+73 +/- 14%, P < .01). Exaggerated hypertension was observed during exercise (+132 +/- 5 mm Hg after L-NNA versus +113 +/- 5 mm Hg before L-NNA, P < .01). L-NNA decreased the resting coronary artery diameter by 6 +/- 1% and suppressed its exercise-induced dilation but had no effect on coronary blood flow and resistance. L-NNA decreased flow repayment volumes during reactive hyperemia, but corresponding flow debt volumes remained unchanged. The cyclooxygenase inhibitor diclofenac (10 mg/kg) had no effect on reactive hyperemia parameters before L-NNA but reduced flow repayment volumes, durations, and corresponding debt-to-repayment ratios in L-NNA-treated dogs (all P < .05). In vitro, indomethacin blunted the residual relaxation to bradykinin of large coronary arteries taken from L-NNA-treated, but not from control, dogs. Bradykinin-induced increase in 6-ketoprostaglandin F1 alpha production was greater in coronary arteries taken from L-NNA-treated dogs (+ 179 +/- 41 pg/mm2) than from control dogs (+ 66 +/- 18 pg/mm2) (P < .05). These results indicate that (1) NO is of major importance in the control of systemic but not coronary resistance vessels at rest and during exercise, and (2) after L-NNA, the cyclooxygenase pathway is involved in myocardial reactive hyperemia and in the residual relaxation to bradykinin of isolated coronary arteries. Thus, in conscious dogs, the cyclooxygenase pathway might act as a protective mechanism of the coronary circulation when endothelial nitric oxide synthesis is altered.
Essays on Risk Management for Insurance Companies

In presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the Library of the University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote from, to copy from, or publish this dissertation may be granted by the author or, in his/her absence, the professor under whose direction it was written or, in his absence, by the Dean of the Robinson College of Business. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for scholarly purposes and does not involve potential financial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential gain will not be allowed without written permission of the author. All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University Library must be used only in accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. v ACCEPTANCE This dissertation was prepared under the direction of the Xiaohu Ping's Dissertation Committee. It has been approved and accepted by all members of that committee, and it has been accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration in the J. The dissertation includes two essays on insurer's risk management. The first essay is about how insurers use contract structure to manage their underwriting risks. Existing research on insurance contract theory emphasizes information problems and demand side issues when explaining contract structure. Supply-side factors, especially risk considerations at the insurer, have received much less attention. In this paper, we extend the optimal contracting framework of Raviv, 1979 to explore how background risk at the insurer affects optimal contract structure. We confirm earlier findings that insurer background risk may reduce risk sharing in the optimal contract. We go further to show that positive correlation between the insurer's background risk and the insured's loss can yield contract forms ruled out by the standard model, such as upper limits on coverage, and explain patterns of risk sharing not addressed in the literature, such as large deductibles in catastrophe contracts. The second essay studies the capital allocation rule in a general portfolio optimization problem with irreversible investments. I find that marginal cost pricing can still be connected to capital allocation in this setup, although the basis for allocation is different from that found in …
Identifying a consistent pattern of neural function in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analysis

Background The neurobiological underpinnings of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are inconclusive. Activation abnormalities across brain regions in ADHD compared with healthy controls highlighted in task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies are heterogeneous. To identify a consistent pattern of neural dysfunction in ADHD, a meta-analysis of fMRI studies using Go/no-go, Stop and N-back tasks was undertaken. Method Several databases were searched using the key words: ‘ADHD and fMRI’ and ‘ADHD and fMRI task’. In all, 20 studies met inclusion criteria comprising 334 patients with ADHD and 372 healthy controls and were split into N-back, Stop task and Go/no-go case–control groups. Using Signed Differential Mapping each batch was meta-analysed individually and meta-regression analyses were used to examine the effects of exposure to methylphenidate (MPH), length of MPH wash-out period, ADHD subtype, age and intelligence quotient (IQ) differences upon neural dysfunction in ADHD. Results Across all tasks less activity in frontal lobe regions compared with controls was detected. Less exposure to treatment and lengthier wash-out times resulted in less left medial frontal cortex activation in N-back and Go/no-go studies. Higher percentage of combined-type ADHD resulted in less superior and inferior frontal gyrus activation. Different IQ scores between groups were linked to reduced right caudate activity in ADHD. Conclusions Consistent frontal deficits imply homogeneous cognitive strategies involved in ADHD behavioural control. Our findings suggest a link between fMRI results and the potentially normalizing effect of treatment and signify a need for segregated examination and contrast of differences in sample characteristics in future studies.
Beetroot juice reduces infarct size and improves cardiac function following ischemia–reperfusion injury: Possible involvement of endogenous H2S

Ingestion of high dietary nitrate in the form of beetroot juice (BRJ) has been shown to exert antihypertensive effects in humans through increasing cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) levels. Since enhanced cGMP protects against myocardial ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury through upregulation of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), we tested the hypothesis that BRJ protects against I/R injury via H2S. Adult male CD-1 mice received either regular drinking water or those dissolved with BRJ powder (10 g/L, containing ∼0.7 mM nitrate). Seven days later, the hearts were explanted for molecular analyses. Subsets of mice were subjected to I/R injury by occlusion of the left coronary artery for 30 min and reperfusion for 24 h. A specific inhibitor of H2S producing enzyme – cystathionine-γ-lyase (CSE), dl-propargylglycine (PAG, 50 mg/kg) was given i.p. 30 min before ischemia. Myocardial infarct size was significantly reduced in BRJ-fed mice (15.8 ± 3.2%) versus controls (46.5 ± 3.5%, mean ± standard error [SE], n = 6/group, P < .05). PAG completely blocked the infarct-limiting effect of BRJ. Moreover, BRJ significantly preserved ventricular function following I/R. Myocardial levels of H2S and its putative protein target – vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) were significantly increased by BRJ intake, whereas CSE mRNA and protein content did not change. Interestingly, the BRJ-induced cardioprotection was not associated with elevated blood nitrate–nitrite levels following I/R nor induction of cardiac peroxiredoxin 5, a mitochondrial antioxidant enzyme previously linked to nitrate-induced cardioprotection. We conclude that BRJ ingestion protects against post-I/R myocardial infarction and ventricular dysfunction possibly through CSE-mediated endogenous H2S generation. BRJ could be a promising natural and inexpensive nutraceutical supplement to reduce cardiac I/R injury in patients.
Changes in Market Responses to Financial Statement Restatement Announcements in the Sarbanes-Oxley Era

We examine changes in the market's response to financial statement restatement announcements during the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) era. We define this era as beginning with the U.S. Department of Justice initiation of a criminal investigation into the collapse of Enron, and its attendant loss of billions of dollars of shareholder value, through the November 15, 2004, requirement that all U.S. companies with market capitalizations over $75 million must comply with SOX Section 404, which deals with corporate internal controls over financial reporting We divided the Sarbanes-Oxley era into pre- and post-SOX periods, with the dividing line concurrent with the signing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act into law on July 30, 2002. The comparison of pre- and post-SOX periods shows that post-SOX, the negative impact on companies announcing restatements is reduced 71 percent on average (as measured by the cumulative abnormal return on days 0 and 1) and the positive market response to announced restatements is reduced by 33 percent. This translates into a net reduction in lost market value of $207 million per restatement announcement or $74.4 billion in total market value for the two-day announcement event window. We also find that this reduction is not due to the diluting effects of the increased number of statistically insignificant post-SOX market reactions to restatement announcements. Finally, our results indicate that after SOX became law, post-announcement abnormal returns exhibit statistically significant lower volatility and the trend in statistically insignificant market responses to restatement announcements no longer declines, thus indicating less uncertainty on the part of investors regarding the announcements of restating companies, and perhaps because investors believe the disclosed information conveyed by the restated financials is timelier and of higher quality.