Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Number 104 October 2009 Contract Enforcement and Firm Organization : Evidence from the Indian Textile Industry

Using new field-level and international survey evidence we highlight one channel via which weak legal institutions may lower Indian productivity and growth. We provide evidence that top executives in Indian firms are highly centralized and do not delegate functional responsibility and decision making to middle-management. Case-study evidence and large-scale firm surveys suggest executives fear that managers will misappropriate firm assets given the opportunity to do so, in part because the weak legal system is unlikely to successfully punish the culprits and recover the assets. As a result, firms’ growth potential is limited because of the limited time and attention of the top executives. This can help explain why Indian firms are smaller on average than those in the US or Europe. It can also explain why there is less reallocation of capital and labor from low productivity to high productivity firms in India, since otherwise-successful firms find it harder to grow. As a result, weak legal institutions may play a potentially important role in reducing aggregate productivity and growth in India. JEL No. L2, M2, O32, O33.
Dopaminergic modulation of resting‐state functional connectivity in de novo patients with Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by degenerative changes of nigral dopamine neurons, resulting in the dopaminergic denervation of the striatum. Resting state networks studies have demonstrated that dopamine modulates distinct network connectivity patterns in both a linear and a nonlinear fashion, but quantitative analyses of dopamine‐dependent functional connectivity secondary to PD pathology were less informative. In the present study, we performed a correlation analysis between striatal dopamine levels assessed quantitatively by FP‐CIT positron emission tomography imaging and resting‐state functional connectivity in 23 drug naïve de novo patients with PD to elucidate dopamine‐dependent functional networks. The major finding is that the patterns of dopamine‐dependent positive functional connectivity varied depending on the location of striatal seeds. Dopamine‐dependent functional connectivity with the caudate predominantly overlay pericentral cortical areas, whereas dopamine‐dependent structures functionally connected with the posterior putamen predominantly involved cerebellar areas. The dorsolateral frontal area overlapped as a dopamine‐dependent cortical region that was positively connected with the anterior and posterior putamen. On the other hand, cortical areas where functional connectivity from the posterior cingulate was negatively correlated with dopaminergic status in the posterior putamen were localized in the left anterior prefrontal area and the parietal area. Additionally, functional connectivity between the anterior putamen and mesiofrontal areas was negatively coupled with striatal dopamine levels. The present study demonstrated that dopamine‐dependent functional network connectivity secondary to PD pathology mainly exhibits a consistent pattern, albeit with some variation. These patterns may reflect the diverse effects of dopaminergic medication on parkinsonian‐related motor and cognitive performance. Hum Brain Mapp 35:5431–5441, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Emergence, Trapping, and Seasonal Abundance of Adult Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) Associated with Cupressaceae in Connecticut

Abstract Emergence, attraction to traps, and seasonal abundance of cerambycids (Coleoptera) whose larvae injure Cupressaceae were studied under natural conditions in southern Connecticut between 1999 and 2005. Adults of the Asian cerambycid Callidiellum rufipenne (Motschulsky) emerged from trunk sections of Thuja occidentalis L. between late March and mid-May. In contrast, the native Atimia confusa confusa (Say) emerged from trunk sections of Juniperus virginiana L. between late August and mid-October. Emerged adults of both cerambycids had a 1:1 sex ratio, and the emergence of Callidiellum rufipenne showed protandry. In a comparison of four trapping methods, sticky bands stapled to trap logs and dead trees of J. virginiana had the highest density of adults of A. confusa confusa and Callidiellum rufipenne. Based on adults trapped on sticky bands on trap logs, dead trees, or girdled trees of J. virginiana or T. occidentalis at different locations, Callidiellum rufipenne was active on hosts for 5–8 wk between April and June; Semanotus ligneus ligneus (Say) for 4 wk in April; Callidium frigidum Casey for 5 wk between early May and early June; and A. confusa confusa for ≈12 wk between April and early July and again for 2–5 wk between September and late October. Catches of A. confusa confusa were significantly female-biased. Number of beetles captured usually was not correlated with the size of the sticky band on trap logs, cut trees, or girdled trees. This is the first quantitative study on emergence, trapping, and seasonal abundance of cerambycids associated with Cupressaceae in northeastern North America.
Critical Success Factors for Effective Risk Management

Risk management is extremely important in achieving overall organizational goals and objectives. Achieving organizational goals amid risks entails determining and implementing critical success factors (CSFs). This chapter presents composite CSFs which organizations can focus on to achieve their overall goals and objectives by portraying a case study of the construction industry. Using this case study reveals statistical significance of impact of risk management on the project as reduction in design/production time, improved public perception, and improved team morale and productivity. Similarly, CSFs mostly implemented are awareness of risk management processes, appreciating that risk management practice is viable in the construction industry, organizations have policies to support the development of risk management and organization deal with internal/external environment that influences risk management in their organizations. The chapter also presents nine composite CSFs determined by the case study namely: management approach; goals and objectives of the organization; risk management policy and experts; information technology and culture; environment and usage of tools; teamwork and commitment of the top management; communication and training; awareness of risk management process and legal requirements; and risk monitoring and review. Lastly, the conclusion is drawn on nine composite CSFs for effective risk management.
Debt Signaling and Outside Investors in Early Stage Firms

By imposing a market like governance and directing entrepreneurs towards professional management, debt, and especially business debt, can serve as a reliable signal for outside equity investors. Such signals of firm accountability can alleviate the stringent information asymmetry at the early stages of the firm, and become stronger for bank business debt, in the presence of personal debt, and in high capital industries. Using the Kauffman Firm Survey, we find evidence consistent with our hypotheses. Outside investors can rely on the governance role of debt and its underpinnings such as the bank-firm relationship. We also corroborate that young firms tend to focus on growth rather than profitability.
Accounting environment impact on use of discretionary accruals to raise financing by financially constraint firms with positive projects

The study was conducted to examine the effect of accounting environment on use of discretionary accruals by constrained firms in order to raise finance by debt and equity. For the purpose of the study Germany was chosen as code law country and United Kingdom was chosen as common law country. The data included firms listed on Deutsche Börse Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange. Data was collected for years 1990 to 2015. Regression analysis was done on 7827 firm year observations. Modified Jones model was used to determine discretionary accruals and lagged year return on assets was added to Modified Jones model to adjust for performance. Performance adjusted accruals were called abnormal accruals in the study. Net leverage, free cash flow and KZ index methods were used as constraint measures and capital expenditure has been used as investment opportunity. Pooled regression controlled for year effect was performed to capture the influence of time series trends. All the models have insignificant results, but when pooled regressions controlled for year effect were run significant results were obtained. For first hypothesis pooled regression controlled for years by net leverage constraint has significant results revealing that common law countries have lower accruals for constrained firm with investment opportunity. This can be because in common law countries firms signal growth to investors by income decreasing accounting choices as it is taken as positive signal. On the other hand, in code law countries firms can use discretionary accruals to get waivers and debt at low cost. Furthermore, for second hypothesis only pooled regression accounting for year on debt financing using net leverage have significant results revealing that when discretionary accruals are used more debt financing is raised by financially constrained firm with investment opportunity in common law countries as compared to code law countries. This can be because in common law countries firms are not closely monitored by banks as financial disclosure is considered high in such countries. Results were insignificant for pooled regression controlled for year effect for raising equity. However, for all pooled regression controlled for year effect for debt and equity raised significant results were obtained for result that more equity and debt is raised by financially constrained firm when they have positive projects. The study results will help investors in respective accounting environments to make financing decisions. Moreover, it will assist managers to make corporate and financing decisions using accruals. The study also adds to literature of signaling and opportunistic hypothesis. However, future research is needed to examine the motivation of accrual use in different accounting environments.
Cognition assessment using the NIH Toolbox

Cognition is 1 of 4 domains measured by the NIH Toolbox for the Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function (NIH-TB), and complements modules testing motor function, sensation, and emotion. On the basis of expert panels, the cognition subdomains identified as most important for health, success in school and work, and independence in daily functioning were Executive Function, Episodic Memory, Language, Processing Speed, Working Memory, and Attention. Seven measures were designed to tap constructs within these subdomains. The instruments were validated in English, in a sample of 476 participants ranging in age from 3 to 85 years, with representation from both sexes, 3 racial/ethnic categories, and 3 levels of education. This report describes the development of the Cognition Battery and presents results on test-retest reliability, age effects on performance, and convergent and discriminant construct validity. The NIH-TB Cognition Battery is intended to serve as a brief, convenient set of measures to supplement other outcome measures in epidemiologic and longitudinal research and clinical trials. With a computerized format and national standardization, this battery will provide a “common currency” among researchers for comparisons across a wide range of studies and populations.
Destination website quality, users’ attitudes and the willingness to participate in online co-creation experiences

Purpose An official destination website (ODW) is a key component for tourist’s decision-making processes. ODW acts as a direct channel where users may share experiences and opinions about previous or future travels. At the same time, it drives user participation in destination branding activities. In this context, it is crucial to identify how the destination website, using Web 2.0 technologies, could motivate user’s participation with the brand. The purpose of this paper is to propose and evaluate a model that posits the destination website quality as a determinant factor to predict users’ attitudes toward the website and their willingness to participate in co-creation experiences. Design/methodology/approach Using a combined qualitative and quantitative method, this paper provides an exploratory research that examines the role of destination website quality on attitudes toward the website and the willingness to participate in online co-creation experiences. Findings Findings confirm that there is a direct and significant relationship between website quality, attitudes toward the website and willingness to participate in online co-creation experiences. Moreover, attitudes toward the website partially mediate relationships between destination website quality and willingness to participate in online co-creation experiences. Originality/value The literature of value co-creation is trying to identify which factors drive consumer’s participation with brands across different consumption contexts. This study provides evidence that confirms, from a tourism destination website point of view, that website quality is one of these key factors that motives user’s co-creation with a destination.
Computational Studies on Acetylcholinesterases

Functions of biomolecules, in particular enzymes, are usually modulated by structural fluctuations. This is especially the case in a gated diffusion-controlled reaction catalyzed by an enzyme such as acetylcholinesterase. The catalytic triad of acetylcholinesterase is located at the bottom of a long and narrow gorge, but it catalyzes the extremely rapid hydrolysis of the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, with a reaction rate close to the diffusion-controlled limit. Computational modeling and simulation have produced considerable advances in exploring the dynamical and conformational properties of biomolecules, not only aiding in interpreting the experimental data, but also providing insights into the internal motions of the biomolecule at the atomic level. Given the remarkably high catalytic efficiency and the importance of acetylcholinesterase in drug development, great efforts have been made to understand the dynamics associated with its functions by use of various computational methods. Here, we present a comprehensive overview of recent computational studies on acetylcholinesterase, expanding our views of the enzyme from a microstate of a single structure to conformational ensembles, strengthening our understanding of the integration of structure, dynamics and function associated with the enzyme, and promoting the structure-based and/or mechanism-based design of new inhibitors for it.
Processes of auroral thermal structure at Jupiter: Analysis of multispectral temperature observations with the Jupiter Thermosphere General Circulation Model

[1] We use our three-dimensional Jupiter Thermosphere General Circulation Model (JTGCM) to quantify thermal processes that take place in the auroral thermosphere. These processes tend to control the thermal budget in the Jovian ovals and polar caps and maintain thermospheric temperatures consistent with those derived from multispectral observations of Jupiter's aurora. The main heat source in the JTGCM that drives the thermospheric flow is high-latitude joule heating resulting from frictional motion of the ions relative to the neutrals. A secondary source of heating that dominates the exospheric region of the Jovian ovals is the auroral process of particle precipitation. Both sources of high-latitude heating in the JTGCM are strongly related to the current system in the outer magnetosphere that allows plasma to flow in and out of the Jovian ionosphere. The mapping of this flow to ionospheric altitudes gives rise to an ion drag process that dominates the neutral momentum forcing near the altitude of the ionospheric peak. We find that the ion drag and joule heating inputs in the JTGCM significantly intensify the underlying global thermospheric circulation, thereby affecting the distribution of the neutral temperature. Global simulations of the Jovian thermospheric dynamics indicate strong neutral outflows from the auroral ovals with velocities up to 1.9 km s−1 and subsequent convergence and downwelling at the Jovian equator. Such circulation is shown to be an important mechanism for transporting significant amounts of auroral energy to the rest of the planet and for regulating the global heat budget in a manner consistent with temperature observations of Jupiter's oval and polar cap regions. Adiabatic expansion of the neutral atmosphere resulting from outward flows is found to be an important source of cooling for the auroral exosphere. The distribution of neutral temperature from 1 μbar to 1 nbar is determined by the thermal balance between the total heating caused by joule and adiabatic heating processes and dynamical cooling mainly from the hydrodynamic advection process. The thermal balance of the Jovian thermosphere below the homopause (≥1 μbar) is shown to be dominated primarily by wind transport processes. The heating in this region both for the Jovian ovals and polar caps is due to hydrodynamic advection and adiabatic compression processes. This dynamical heating is efficiently dissipated by hydrocarbon cooling through CH4 and C2H2 infrared radiation at 7.8 and 12.6 μm, respectively.
Expanding Pedagogical Horizons: A case study of teacher professional development

Development of pedagogies within schools that inform adolescent learning has been an ongoing struggle within education systems. A novel approach to this issue was taken by the Non Government Organisation (NGO) 'Evolve’ based in Victoria, Australia, who worked in partnership with disadvantaged secondary schools to develop a multi-faceted curriculum. This curriculum incorporated traditional outdoor learning approaches of residential experiences and expeditionary journeys, alongside school based inquiry projects. Data collected over three years found that the different educational settings of the program exposed teachers to a range of teaching practices. This exposure combined with the collaborative development of curriculum with Evolve staff broadened the pedagogy used by teachers. This study indicates that programs collaboratively implemented by schools with external providers can expand the development of teachers’ teaching practice. The process is most effective when external providers work directly with teachers and students collaborating on the development and delivery of the curriculum.
The Main Factor Affecting Companies Knowledge Management Maturity

Knowledge management (KM) is the process of capturing the value from the knowledge assets and intellectual capital of the organization. Knowledge and effective knowledge management could be a source of competitive advantage. However, due to intangible nature of knowledge resources managers and academics struggle to evaluate the effectiveness of KM systems in organizations. The main objective of this paper is to understand and describe the specific factors that influence on the level of KM development in Russian companies. Keywords—knowledge management, knowledge management life cycle, country specifics, knowledge management practices,
High-dose recombinant tumor necrosis factor alpha in combination with interferon gamma and melphalan in isolation perfusion of the limbs for melanoma and sarcoma.

PURPOSE To determine the toxicity and the therapeutic efficacy of the combination of the recombinant tumor necrosis factor alpha (rTNF alpha), recombinant interferon gamma (rIFN-gamma), and melphalan, we designed a protocol using isolation limb perfusion (ILP) with hyperthermia for in-transit metastases of melanoma and recurrent sarcoma. The triple combination was chosen because of the reported synergistic antitumor effect of rTNF alpha with IFN-gamma and of rTNF alpha with alkylating agents. PATIENTS AND METHODS Twenty-three patients received a total of 25 ILPs with the triple combination. There were 19 females and four males with either multiple progressive in-transit melanoma metastases of the extremities (stage IIIa or IIIab; 19 patients) or recurrent soft tissue sarcoma (five). The rTNF alpha was injected as a bolus in the arterial line, and total dose ranged between 2 and 4 mg, under hyperthermic conditions (40 degrees C to 40.5 degrees C) for 90 minutes. The rIFN-gamma was given subcutaneously (SC) on days -2 and -1 and in the perfusate, with rTNF alpha at the dose of 0.2 mg. Melphalan (Alkeran; Burroughs Wellcome Co, London, England) was administered in the perfusate at 40 micrograms/mL. RESULTS Toxicity observed during three ILPs in a pilot study with rTNF alpha included only two severe toxicities: one severe hypotension with tachycardia and transient oliguria and one moderate hypotension for 4 hours followed by severe kidney failure with complete recovery on day 29. In all 18 ILPs performed in the triple combination protocol, the patients received continuous infusion dopamine at 3 micrograms/kg/min from the start of ILP and for 72 hours and showed only mild hypotension and transient chills and temperature. Regional toxicity attributable to rTNF alpha was minimal. There have been 11 cases with hematologic toxicity consisting of neutropenia (one grade 4 and one grade 3) and neutropenia with thrombocytopenia (one grade 4 and three grade 2). Twelve patients had been previously treated with melphalan in ILP (11) or with cisplatin (one). The 23 patients are assessable: there have been 21 complete responses (CRs; range, 4 to 29 months; 89%), two partial responses (PRs; range, 2 to 3 months), and no failures. Overall disease-free survival and survival have been 70% and 76%, respectively, at 12 months. In all cases, softening of the nodules was obvious within 3 days after ILP and time to definite response ranged between day 5 and 30. CONCLUSION This preliminary analysis of a phase II study suggests that high-dose rTNF alpha can be administered with acceptable toxicity by ILP with dopamine and hyperhydration. Tumor responses can be evidenced in melanoma and sarcoma. Furthermore, combination of rTNF alpha, rIFN-gamma, and melphalan seems to achieve high efficacy with minimal toxicity, even after failure of prior therapy with melphalan alone.