Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Ownership Type on Performance in Public Corporations: A Study of the U.S. Textile Industry 1983-1992

This study examines the neglected issue of power in the context of agency theory. Certain types of shareholders with large ownership stakes are hypothesized to have formal authority, social influence and expertise that enables them to control public corporations, resulting in superior corporate performance. This idea is tested in a study of the U.S. textile industry from 1983-1992, an industry characterized by "transparent" economic conditions and strong social relationships between owners and managers, observed during a highly turbulent time period. Pooled, cross-sectional time series models indicate that controlling for ownership concentration, public corporations with outside director owners, sustained owners and family owners each enjoy increased firm performance relative to industry competitors. These results suggest that large-block owners are not homogeneous and that certain types of owners have a disproportionately large amount of influence in corporate governance.
Structural characterization of the zinc binding domain in cytosolic PSD‐95 interactor (cypin): Role of zinc binding in guanine deamination and dendrite branching

Dendrite morphology regulates how a postsynaptic neuron receives information from presynaptic neurons. The specific patterning of dendrite branches is promoted by extrinsic and intrinsic factors that trigger the activation of functional signaling pathways. However, most of the regulating factors and the biochemical mechanisms involved in regulating dendrite branching are unknown. Our laboratory previously reported that cypin (cytosolic PSD‐95 interactor) plays an active role in regulating dendrite branching in hippocampal neurons. Cypin‐promoted increases in dendrite number are dependent on guanine deaminase activity. In order to identify the specific structural role of zinc‐binding in cypin‐mediated dendrite branching and guanine deaminase activity, we employed computational homology modeling techniques to construct a three dimensional structural model of cypin. Analysis of the protein–ion sequestration scaffold of this model identified several histidines and aspartic acid residues responsible for zinc binding. Single substitution mutations in these specific sites completely disrupted the guanine deaminase enzymatic activity and rendered cypin unable to promote dendrite branching in rat hippocampal neurons. The specific zinc ion‐binding function of each residue in the protein scaffold was also confirmed by Inductively Coupled Plasma–Optic Emission Spectrometry. Inspection of our structural model confirmed that His82 and His84 coordinate with the zinc ion, together with His240, His279, and Asp330, residues that until now were unknown to play a role in this regard. Furthermore, promotion of dendrite branching by cypin is zinc‐dependent. Proteins 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Financial Reporting Environment, Reporting Discretion, and Earnings Management: US GAAP vs. IFRS

In this study we examine the effect of characteristics of the financial reporting environment on the level of financial reporting discretion perceived by managers and the likelihood and method of earnings management. We focus primarily on the effects of financial reporting standards (US GAAP vs. IFRS), while simultaneously considering other important characteristics of the reporting environment and how they interact with the standards—firm domicile, firm ownership, audit quality, firm size, and the direction of the earnings adjustment. Using a web-based case completed by 615 experienced financial officers from the US, Europe and Asia, we find that financial officers under IFRS perceive higher levels of reporting discretion than those under U.S. GAAP, and the perception of higher levels of reporting discretion leads to both a greater likelihood of earnings management and a preference for the use of accruals over real methods. While we generate no evidence that IFRS, compared to U.S. GAAP, leads to a greater likelihood of earnings management, we do observe that U.S. firms under U.S. GAAP show a strong preference for real activities over accruals methods, while all other firms (U.S. firms under IFRS and non-U.S. firms) are either indifferent between the two methods or prefer accruals. We also find that firms adjusting earnings upward strongly prefer real activities, while firms adjusting earnings downward are either indifferent (US GAAP users) or prefer accruals (IFRS users). These findings contribute to research concerning whether differences in financial reporting environments are associated with differences in the perception of allowable reporting discretion, and the inclination to manage earnings via real activities or accruals. They also suggest that adopting IFRS in the US may have little effect on the overall level of earnings management, but instead may encourage firms to substitute accruals for real activities when managing earnings.
Usability of a theory of visual attention (TVA) for parameter-based measurement of attention II: Evidence from two patients with frontal or parietal damage

Based on a ‘Theory of Visual Attention’ (TVA), whole and partial report of brief letter arrays is presented as a diagnostic tool to estimate four clinically significant attentional components: perceptual processing speed, visual working memory storage capacity, efficiency of top-down control, and spatial distribution of attention. The procedure used was short enough to be applicable within a standard clinical setting. Two brain-damaged patients, selected based on lesion location and neuropsychological test profile, were compared to a control group of 22 healthy subjects. One patient with a right inferior parietal lesion showed a pattern of non-spatially and spatially lateralized attention deficits that is typically found in neglect patients. Results from the second patient supported the decisive role of superior frontal brain structures for top-down control of visual attention. This double dissociation supports the hypothesis that, even with a short version of whole and partial report, valid and meaningful results can be obtained in the neuropsychological assessment of attention deficits. The potential and constraints of TVA-based parameter estimation for the clinical application are discussed. (JINS, 2005, 11, 843–854.)
Role of Nonprice Variables in Intertier Competition

This study examines the role of nonprice variables in intertier competition (low-tier versus high-tier brands). Specifically, we examine the asymmetric impact of nonprice variables, such as features, displays, and prior product experience, on brand choice between tiers. Prior research has established that high-tier brands benefit disproportionately from price promotions. From an analysis of scanner panel data for two product categories, we show that low-tier brands benefit disproportionately more than high-tier brands from enhancements in nonprice variables.
Experimental study on internal flowfield characteristics and start-unstart behaviour in a two-dimensional variable geometry inlet

The present paper experimentally investigates the flow field characteristics, starting and a unstarting process of a high-speed air inlet, when the cowl is opened from the fully closed condition at three different cowl rotation rates. High-Speed schlieren image synchronized with the pressure data is used to better understand the changes in internal flow behavior of the inlet. By employing a simple variable geometry inlet, inlet starting is realized even at low free stream Mach number by movement of separation bubble inside the inlet and attachment of cowl lip shock in the cowl lip. Separation bubble formed at the cowl hinge junction and in the expansion corner majorly alters the internal shock structure. As cowl moves further up the separation bubble at the cowl hinge location grows leading to aerodynamic blockage and resulting in inlet unstart. For the present inlet model, unstart is detected earlier by two pressure ports, one located in the throat and another in the middle of the isolator compared to other ports and hence helps in preventing inlet to unstart by sending signals to the feedback system.
The Virion Host Shutoff Protein of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Has RNA Degradation Activity in Primary Neurons

ABSTRACT The virion host shutoff protein (Vhs) of herpes simplex virus type 1 induces destabilization of mRNA following infection. Our study of primary neurons from CD-1 mice demonstrates that vhs is functional in neurons but that more Vhs is required to mediate RNA degradation in neurons than in other susceptible cells.
Intermodal Attention Shifts in Multimodal Working Memory

Attention maintains task-relevant information in working memory (WM) in an active state. We investigated whether the attention-based maintenance of stimulus representations that were encoded through different modalities is flexibly controlled by top–down mechanisms that depend on behavioral goals. Distinct components of the ERP reflect the maintenance of tactile and visual information in WM. We concurrently measured tactile (tCDA) and visual contralateral delay activity (CDA) to track the attentional activation of tactile and visual information during multimodal WM. Participants simultaneously received tactile and visual sample stimuli on the left and right sides and memorized all stimuli on one task-relevant side. After 500 msec, an auditory retrocue indicated whether the sample set's tactile or visual content had to be compared with a subsequent test stimulus set. tCDA and CDA components that emerged simultaneously during the encoding phase were consistently reduced after retrocues that marked the corresponding (tactile or visual) modality as task-irrelevant. The absolute size of cue-dependent modulations was similar for the tCDA/CDA components and did not depend on the number of tactile/visual stimuli that were initially encoded into WM. Our results suggest that modality-specific maintenance processes in sensory brain regions are flexibly modulated by top–down influences that optimize multimodal WM representations for behavioral goals.
Customers' Perspectives of Service Quality in Internet Banking

This article explores the potential dimensions of Internet service quality and examines its impact on customer satisfaction and customer behavioral intentions in the banking context in Mauritius. Internet banking service quality is operationalized by adapting the SERVQUAL model. The field research, which resulted in 242 valid questionnaires, was conducted among Internet banking customers. The findings revealed four analytical dimensions using factor analysis, namely Reliability–Responsiveness, security, ease of use, and accessibility. Reliability–Responsiveness and accessibility were found to be important in determining overall customer satisfaction, with accessibility having the most significant impact. Furthermore, security was found to be the crucial dimension in determining customer intentions for Internet banking usage.
The impact of image format and normative variables on episodic memory

Abstract Cognitive processes are complex and difficult to study because multiple variables can interact and confound the effect of the independent variable. To avoid this potential problem, experimental conditions are rigorously controlled and normative stimuli from standardized data-sets are preferably used. However, norms characterize the stimuli, but they do not prevent potential confounding effects. This is an important issue since many normative variables, such as familiarity and visual complexity, influence cognitive processes, such as memory. In Experiment 1, 20 participants completed an episodic memory task in order to see if name agreement, object agreement, familiarity, visual complexity, manipulability and colour diagnosticity of photos taken from the Bank of Standardized Stimuli (BOSS) influence memory performances. In Experiment 2, 20 participants completed a different episodic memory task to see whether memory performances were different for coloured photos, greyscale photos and black and white line drawings. Results showed that familiarity decreased memory accuracy whereas visual complexity increased it. Object agreement and colour diagnosticity brought a feeling of familiarity, and manipulability decreased the recognition of old objects. Results from the Experiment 2 showed that old photos were more recognized than old drawings and that new coloured photos were more correctly rejected than new greyscale photos and new drawings that had low colour diagnosticity. This study documents the different patterns of influences that normative variables exert on episodic memory and illustrates the importance of carefully controlling them in future studies.
Development and Molecular Characterization of Novel Polymorphic Genomic DNA SSR Markers in Lentinula edodes

Abstract Sixteen genomic DNA simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers of Lentinula edodes were developed from 205 SSR motifs present in 46.1–Mb long L. edodes genome sequences. The number of alleles ranged from 3–14 and the major allele frequency was distributed from 0.17–0.96. The values of observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.00–0.76 and 0.07–0.90, respectively. The polymorphic information content value ranged from 0.07–0.89. A dendrogram, based on 16 SSR markers clustered by the paired hierarchical clustering’ method, showed that 33 shiitake cultivars could be divided into three major groups and successfully identified. These SSR markers will contribute to the efficient breeding of this species by providing diversity in shiitake varieties. Furthermore, the genomic information covered by the markers can provide a valuable resource for genetic linkage map construction, molecular mapping, and marker–assisted selection in the shiitake mushroom.
Bronchoalveolar inflammation after exposure to diesel exhaust: comparison between unfiltered and particle trap filtered exhaust.

OBJECTIVES: Air pollution particulates have been identified as having adverse effects on respiratory health. The present study was undertaken to further clarify the effects of diesel exhaust on bronchoalveolar cells and soluble components in normal healthy subjects. The study was also designed to evaluate whether a ceramic particle trap at the end of the tail pipe, from an idling engine, would reduce indices of airway inflammation. METHODS: The study comprised three exposures in all 10 healthy never smoking subjects; air, diluted diesel exhaust, and diluted diesel exhaust filtered with a ceramic particle trap. The exposures were given for 1 hour in randomised order about 3 weeks apart. The diesel exhaust exposure apperatus has previously been carefully developed and evaluated. Bronchoalveolar lavage was performed 24 hours after exposures and the lavage fluids from the bronchial and bronchoalveolar region were analysed for cells and soluble components. RESULTS: The particle trap reduced the mean steady state number of particles by 50%, but the concentrations of the other measured compounds were almost unchanged. It was found that diesel exhaust caused an increase in neutrophils in airway lavage, together with an adverse influence on the phagocytosis by alveolar macrophages in vitro. Furthermore, the diesel exhaust was found to be able to induce a migration of alveolar macrophages into the airspaces, together with reduction in CD3+CD25+ cells. (CD = cluster of differentiation) The use of the specific ceramic particle trap at the end of the tail pipe was not sufficient to completely abolish these effects when interacting with the exhaust from an idling vehicle. CONCLUSIONS: The current study showed that exposure to diesel exhaust may induce neutrophil and alveolar macrophage recruitment into the airways and suppress alveolar macrophage function. The particle trap did not cause significant reduction of effects induced by diesel exhaust compared with unfiltered diesel exhaust. Further studies are warranted to evaluate more efficient treatment devices to reduce adverse reactions to diesel exhaust in the airways.
David Guston ’ s Between Politics and Science : Assuring the Integrity and Productivity of Research *

Instead of a new world order, we have “a new world of inordinate disorder,” Norman Neureiter told an audience at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service less than a month after the events of September 11. Referring to the topic on everyone’s mind since that tragic day—national security, Neureiter, the Science and Technology Adviser to Secretary of State Colin Powell, acknowledged that the role of science and technology underlies all elements of the security task. [1] Scientific advancements related to intelligence, biological, biochemical and technologic inventions used to ward against terrorist attack, bring science and technology to the forefront of homeland security, now a Department in its own right. [2] These topics, combined with notable preSeptember 11 issues, including stem cell research, cloning, HIV/AIDS, global warming, gene patenting, genetic modification of food, nuclear waste clean-up and bioethics, have clearly placed science and the politics that necessarily accompany it, in the forefront of intellectual debate throughout the country. Politicians appear nightly on cable news shows debating the pros and cons of policy related to science, more often than not, in partisan alignment. What is not typically discussed in the public arena, however, is the framework within which two once unlikely bedfellows—science and politics—have, over the last century, become inexorably entwined in a complex relationship designed to serve the public good.
Long-term efficacy and safety of all-trans retinoic acid/arsenic trioxide-based therapy in newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia

All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)/arsenic trioxide (ATO) combination-based therapy has benefitted newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) in short-term studies, but the long-term efficacy and safety remained unclear. From April 2001, we have followed 85 patients administrated ATRA/ATO with a median follow-up of 70 months. Eighty patients (94.1%) entered complete remission (CR). Kaplan–Meier estimates of the 5-year event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) for all patients were 89.2% ± 3.4% and 91.7% ± 3.0%, respectively, and the 5-year relapse-free survival (RFS) and OS for patients who achieved CR (n = 80) were 94.8% ± 2.5% and 97.4% ± 1.8%, respectively. Upon ATRA/ATO, prognosis was not influenced by initial white blood cell count, distinct PML-RARα types, or FLT3 mutations. The toxicity profile was mild and reversible. No secondary carcinoma was observed, and 24 months after the last dose of ATRA/ATO, patients had urine arsenic concentrations well below the safety limit. These results demonstrate the high efficacy and minimal toxicity of ATRA/ATO treatment for newly diagnosed APL in long-term follow-up, suggesting a potential frontline therapy for de novo APL.
How does Relationship Management Infrastructure influence performance?

The contribution of Relationship Management Infrastructure (RMI) to positional advantage, customer, market and financial performance was tested in major, organisational customer relationships through structural equation modelling. The results support a direct, significant contribution of RMI to positional advantage, however the anticipated direct contribution of RMI to financial performance resulting from efficient and productive relationship infrastructure was not supported. The contribution of RMI to the variance in customer, market and financial performance was indirect. Explanations of these findings are proposed.
An integrated model of the behavioural dimensions of industrial buyer‐seller relationships

Purpose – Research on the behavioural aspects of buyer‐seller relationships, although sizeable, is too heterogeneous and fragmented to yield complete and conclusive insights as to the inter‐relationships of the basic parameters involved. This article attempts to put together extant knowledge on the subject under an integrated conceptual model comprising ten key behavioural constructs.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 24 theoretically‐anchored hypotheses are developed, indicating possible positive or negative associations among the constructs of the model. Based on input received from 122 producers of industrial goods, the proposed model is empirically tested using structural equation modelling.Findings – Of the hypothesized associations examined, 16 were found to be statistically significant and in the right direction, two were significant but in the opposite direction, while the remaining six were not validated. The results confirm most of the findings of previous research on the subject, while so.
Why Buy and Hold?Technical Analysis in the Egyptian Stock Market

APA Citation Mourad, S. (2015). Why Buy and Hold? Technical Analysis in the Egyptian Stock Market [Master’s thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt. edu/etds/238 MLA Citation Mourad, Sherif. Why Buy and Hold? Technical Analysis in the Egyptian Stock Market. 2015. American University in Cairo, Master's thesis. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt. edu/etds/238
What can Restatements Tell Us About Fair Value Reporting and the Financial Crisis of 2008?

Several recent studies have empirically examined the claim that fair value accounting (FVA) contributed to the financial crisis of 2008. Most of this research relies on stock price and/or financial statement data from commercial banks to investigate the role played by FVA in this financial meltdown. To date, the consensus suggests that FVA played little or no role in the crisis. This study informs the FVA debate by examining a broader sample of financial institutions that includes banks, savings and loans, and insurance companies to determine if they experienced any difficulty implementing fair value reporting between 2007 and 2009. This research is based on the premise that (1) given the subjectivity inherent in valuing many financial instruments, there is a greater likelihood that financial institutions will make evaluation errors, and (2) such errors, if significant, will manifest themselves in restatements of previously filed financial reports. Consequently, an examination of financial institution restatements between 2007 and 2009 should provide some insights into the FVA debate. The results reveal few restatements for FVA issues and suggest that financial institutions experienced little or no difficulty with fair value reporting requirements. Instead, bank and insurance companies appear to struggle with operating cash flow classification and basic bookkeeping issues. This study’s findings should interest standard setters concerned about the ability of financial institutions to comply with recently proposed FVA standards for financial instruments. It also provides auditors and regulators with insights into the basic transaction processing deficiencies of financial institutions.