Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Properties of accounting earnings associated with legal regime and the relative value-relevance of earnings, dividends and cash flows: evidence from American depositary receipts

Prior literature finds that the properties of accounting information are associated with the legal regime of a firm's country of domicile. Extending this line of research, this study investigates whether investors rely more on other valuation parameters (e.g., dividends and cash flows) when the quality of earnings is perceived to be low. Our evidence suggests that accounting earnings (dividends and cash flows) are relatively less (more) value-relevant for code (common) law country firms whose earnings are considered to be of lower (higher) quality. Overall, our results are consistent with the view that dividends and cash flows serve as substitutes for earnings for valuation purposes and that US investors' choice of valuation model largely depends on the quality of earnings.
Factors associated with the publication of a CEO letter

Purpose – In most European code-law oriented Latin countries, the publication of a CEO's letter to shareholders in a company's annual report is a fairly recent phenomenon. In this paper, the authors seek to determine the characteristics that explain why companies in one such country, i.e. Portugal, published a CEO letter. Design/methodology/approach – The paper's holistic theoretical framework draws on elements of agency theory, institutional theory and signalling theory. To understand the characteristics of Portuguese holding companies that published CEO letters, the authors used a logistic regression model to explore 266 observations over the years 2006-2011. Findings – The publication of a CEO letter becomes more likely if a firm is audited by a Big 4 accounting firm; has a higher level of profitability; and has a high number of foreign subsidiaries. Other findings are that finance companies are slightly more likely to publish a CEO letter than non-finance companies. The number of CEO letters increased.
Enhancing the Development Impact of Migration

Migration is a phenomenon that reflects economic, social and demographic imbalances across countries and requires a multi-disciplinary approach to understand and manage. This paper offers some observations on the complex issue of the development impact of migration. It will do so by commenting on three broad questions. First, how and in what ways is migration important for development? Second, what are the costs and benefits of migration for developing and developed countries? And finally, what are the strategic choices that countries – both receiving and sending – are facing, and what do we know and not know on how to advise them?
The impacts of health and nutrition on wages in Ethiopia

The paper examined the impacts of health human capital indicators on wages using cross-section data from urban Ethiopia. The study took into account both measurement error and ability biases in the earning function using instrumental variable quantile regression (IVQR) to capture heterogeneous effects of a variable across the wage distributions. Nutrition status indicators as measured by height and body mass index (BMI) were significant predictors of wages. The marginal effects of height on wages were considerably large for women than men at almost all quantiles of the wage distribution suggesting that targeted nutritional investment and interventions for women were attractive both on the ground of efficiency and distributional aspects. Formal tests for equality of coefficients confirmed that the impacts of height were indeed heterogeneous across the wage distributions. Moreover, the study found significant and large differences in the height-wage premium at all quantiles between the young and old cohorts. The differences were reasonably reflecting the additional health human capital investments that belong to young cohorts. BMI had significant impact on wages at all quantiles of the wage distributions only for young cohorts and women because women were relatively involved in lower paid jobs that require sustained physical inputs and bodily strength. Key words: Nutrition, health, wages, instrumental variable quantile regression, Ethiopia.
MBA Teaching Challenges in a Changing Political and Economic Environment: A Case Study of MBA Teachers and Students in Poland

Master of Business Administration (MBA) education was introduced to Poland in the early 1990s with the purpose of preparing business practitioners for effective management and leadership in a market economy and increasingly globalizing marketplace. Due to individual, institutional, and national factors; adjusting teaching to address the complex needs of business professionals has proved to be challenging and often problematic for Polish faculty. The purpose of this paper is to examine these challenges in the context of Poland's nondegree MBA programs and to explore potential solutions. The main conclusion of this paper is that adjusting teaching is a slow and complex process that cannot occur without substantial changes in values as well as proactive leadership and collaboration at the individual, institutional, and national levels.
HUMAN PULMONARY SECRETIONS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE

During the past two and one-half years, work in this laboratory has been directed toward the study of human pulmonary secretions in health and disease. For this purpose the secretions of three groups of patients have been examined: so-called “normal” secretions from a group of laryngectomized patients, secretions from patients with bronchiectasis, and secretions from a group of patients with cystic fibrosis. The pulmonary secretions were collected essentially according to the method of Denton,’ and then stored a t -770” C. prior to use. TABLE 1 shows that the per cent solids in the secretions of the “normal” and bronchiectasis groups is about half the value found for the cystic fibrosis group, whereas ash content is highest in the “normal” group, intermediate in bronchiectasis, and lowest in cystic fibrosis. It was of interest to examine the inorganic constituents of the secretions, and the same table shows that sodium and chloride parallel the relationship observed for total ash content, that is highest in the “normal,” intermediate in bronchiectasis, and lowest in cystic fibrosis. This relationship is reversed when potassium and phosphorus content are considered. Calcium is found in highest amount in bronchiectasis secretions, whereas the cystic fibrosis secretions are intermediate in magnitude and elevated with respect to the “normal” secretions. TABLE 2 summarizes the protein, lipid, and carbohydrate content of the three groups of secretions. Total protein is highest in cystic fibrosis and lower in amount in bronchiectasis secretions. The “normal” secretions contain the smallest amount of protein. About 70 to 80 per cent of the total nitrogen of the three groups is present as protein nitrogen. The values in the table for total carbohydrate represent the additive sum of hexosamine, hexose, methyl pentose, and sialic acid, and parallel the relationship observed for total protein. However the differences between the groups are not significant. The results of analyses for total lipid in the secretions of the three groups of patients show that the values are in the same relationship as total protein and carbohydrate. TABLE 3 summarizes the over-all chemical composition of the secretions of the three groups. The values for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) content illustrated in the table were determined by Schmidt-Thannhauser fractionation.2 The table shows that there is a spectrum of values for DNA, protein, lipid, and carbohydrate ranging from the low in the “normal” group to the highest values in the cystic fibrosis group. The values for the bronchiectasis secretions are all intermediate. The experimental data has been uniformly presented on a wet weight basis. Because of the elevated values for total lipid and protein in cystic fibrosis secretions, calculation of the other components of the cystic fibrosis secretions on a dry weight basis yields values which are deceptively low relative to the other two groups of secretions. The similarity between our results and those of Chernick and Barbero3 on secretions
Combination hepatitis C virus antigen and antibody immunoassay as a new tool for early diagnosis of infection

Summary. Reduction of the window period of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection represents an important goal in the transfusional and diagnostic setting. A prototype assay designed to simultaneously detect circulating HCV antigen and anti‐HCV, has been developed. Aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of this new assay in terms of specificity and sensitivity and to compare its efficacy with commercial assays. To evaluate the specificity of the assay, 400 samples from the general population and 100 ‘difficult’ sera, negative for anti‐HCV, were tested. To assess sensitivity, the new test was used on 76 PCR‐positive and anti‐HCV negative sera, seven natural or commercial seroconversion panels that included 17 RNA‐positive and anti‐HCV negative sera and 31 anti‐HCV positive sera, 20 weak anti‐HCV positive sera, 80 viraemic and anti‐HCV‐positive sera from patients infected with different subtypes and 10 sera from patients with HBV–HCV or HIV–HCV co‐infections. Of 500 anti‐HCV negative samples, 499 (99.8%) were negative with a cut‐off index <0.5, while one sample was within the grey zone. Of the 93 HCV‐RNA positive and anti‐HCV negative sera from patients and panels, 85 (91.4%) resulted positive, and one had the cut‐off index in the grey zone. The reduction in the diagnostic window period observed with the new test and HCV‐RNA assays were equal, on average, to 24 and 34.4 days respectively. All anti‐HCV positive sera were positive. The new assay shows high sensitivity and specificity and could be a useful tool not only in the diagnostic setting, where procedures to reduce the window period, such as antigen or HCV‐RNA detection, are not currently recommended, but also in the screening of blood donations, when nucleic acid technologies is not feasible because of costs, organization, emergency and/or logistic difficulties.
Private Justice in a Global Economy: From Litigation to Arbitration

Drawing on the analytical framework developed by Barbara Koremenos, Charles Lipson, and Duncan Snidal in the Rational Design project, I seek to shed light on the striking institutional differences among the various methods of international commercial dispute resolution for private parties. These methods include recourse to public courts and more frequently to private international courts, such as the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce or the London Court of International Arbitration, as well as recourse to so-called ad hoc arbitration and alternative dispute-resolution techniques, such as conciliation and mediation. The key institutional dimensions along which these methods of international dispute resolution vary are (1) procedural and adaptive flexibility, and (2) centralization of procedural safeguards and information collection. I explain why different methods of international commercial dispute resolution are selected. I argue that these methods respond to the varying institutional needs of different types of disputes and disputants. Such needs can be explained in terms of the severity of the enforcement problem, uncertainty about the preferences or behavior of contractual partners, and uncertainty about the state of the world.
Cortical speech processing mechanisms while vocalizing visually presented languages

TO elucidate cortical processing during vocalization, we used positron emission tomography to measure regional cerebral blood flow during vocalization in six Japanese subjects. During reading Japanese sentences used daily or short syllables aloud, the visual cortices, the left Heschl's gyrus, Broca's area, the primary motor area of the articulatory organs, the supplementary motor area and the cerebellum were significantly activated, compared with resting conditions. The superior temporal gyri were rarely activated. Significant activation of the cerebellum was observed by comparing cortical activity during reading sentences used daily with that during reading meaningless short syllables. These results suggest that vocalization of familiar materials is taken over by the cerebellum, rather than cortical speech areas, and without engagement of the superior temporal gyri.
The children of assisted reproduction--the need for an ongoing debate.

Throughout the short history of assisted reproduction there has been concern to monitor the safety of this important technology. There are several components to the shortand long-term safety of treatment for the woman involved (Barlow, 1999), but perhaps the greatest challenge has been to identify whether the offspring of assisted reproduction are at greater risk of, or enter life with a greater burden of, abnormalities than their naturally-conceived peers. In the late 1980s reports from a number of countries provided a reasonably, but not totally, reassuring picture, particularly in relation to rates of neonatal problems and congenital anomaly in registries of IVF children (Lancaster, 1987; Cohen et al., 1988; Beral and Doyle, 1990; Olivennes et al., 1993). These studies inevitably use observational methodologies that are subject to the difficulties commonly encountered in epidemiological research such as the selection of control groups and surveillance bias. Other confounding factors specific to the field which may influence outcome but which affect the IVF group but not controls include: (i) the basic infertility problem; (ii) the increased age of IVF mothers; (iii) the increased multiple pregnancy rate with IVF; (iv) the possible use of fetal reduction; (v) the direct effect of fertility drugs; (vi) the effects of IVF culture media and conditions for early cell divisions; and (vii) the effects of invasive prenatal diagnosis procedures which may be more common in the IVF group. The case for the monitoring of the health of children conceived by assisted reproduction became even stronger with the development of invasive fertilization techniques, predominantly ICSI, and the subsequent evolution in the 1990s of invasive sperm retrieval methods to obtain epididymal or testicular sperm. Unfortunately these additional techniques increase the confounding factors, such as paternal genetic anomalies, that may affect these observational studies. Followup studies in this era have been emerging, particularly in a series of reports from the Brussels group (Bonduelle et al., 1998; for example). This group has recently published further generally reassuring data on ICSI (Bonduelle et al., 2002) but there has been a recent focus of attention on this matter as a result of a cluster of publications which suggests that a variety of problems over control rates are increased in different categories of IVF or ICSI cases [low birthweight (Schieve et al., 2002); major congenital anomalies (Hansen et al., 2002); sex chromosome abnormalities (Bonduelle et al., 2002); imprinting disorders (Olivennes et al., 2001); and cerebral palsy (Strömberg et al., 2002)]. This issue of Human Reproduction includes another such paper (Koivurova et al., 2002). All these reports are open to discussion over the many confounding issues and some have attracted headlines in the public media. With the increasing complexity of the available effective assisted reproduction interventions and the growing under-
The effects of fluoridated water on bone strength

Fluoride from fluoridated water accumulates not only in the enamel of teeth but also in the skeleton. The effects of fluoridated water on the skeleton are not well understood, yet there is some evidence that fluoridated water consumption increases the incidence of fractures. In the present study, femoral bending strength was measured in rats on fluoride intakes that ranged from low levels to levels well above natural high fluoride drinking water. Bone strength followed a biphasic relationship with bone fluoride content. Fluoride had a positive effect on bone strength for lower fluoride intakes and a negative influence on bone strength for higher fluoride intakes. The vertebral fluoride content at which femoral strength was maximum was between 1,100 and 1,500 ppm. The increase in femoral strength at this fluoride level was not accompanied by an increase in femoral bone density. The optimal fluoride content is within the range of bone fluoride contents found in persons living in regions with fluoridated water (1 ppm) for > 10 years.
Immunohistochemical analysis of the segregation process of the quail germ cell lineage.

An antiserum against quail 7 day gonadal germ cells was found to react specifically with gonadal germ cells of both sexes. Transverse sections from a range of early quail developmental stages were submitted to the antibody PAP reaction. Blastodiscs from the earliest uterine stages (II to X E.G. & K) reacted very strongly, while the overall reaction gradually decreased in older blastoderms. At stage XIII both epiblast and hypoblast were weakly stained, but some large, PGC-like cells stained intensively. During gastrulation (PS formation) the reaction of the epiblast disappears quicker than that of the hypoblast. The newly formed mesoderm and entoderm do not react at all and the reaction gradually becomes limited mainly to the PGCs and somewhat to the primary hypoblast which is moving into the germinal crescent. The widely spread reaction at the early stages is thus gradually being restricted to the PGCs.
Butyrate esterified to starch is released in the human gastrointestinal tract.

BACKGROUND Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) maintain human colonic function and may help prevent colonic disease. A study with ileostomists showed that starches acylated with specific SCFAs largely survive passage through the small intestine, but the percentage released in the colon has not been established. OBJECTIVE The objective was to determine the percentage of ingested esterified butyrate released in the human gastrointestinal tract. DESIGN The study was a randomized, crossover, controlled trial consisting of baseline and four 2-wk periods during which 16 volunteers consumed diets low in resistant starch plus 20 and 40 g cooked high-amylose maize starch (HAMS: HAMS20 or HAMS40) or butyrylated HAMS (HAMSB20 or HAMSB40) daily. HAMSB20 contained 31.8 mmol esterified butyrate. Complete 48-h fecal collections were made on days 2-3 and 12-13 of each period. RESULTS Free fecal butyrate concentrations were higher after HAMSB40 than after HAMSB20 (P < 0.005) and HAMS (P < 0.0001) and higher than baseline data (P < 0.0001). Fecal esterified butyrate concentrations were highest in the HAMSB40 (days 12-13; P < 0.0001) group, and concentrations in the HAMSB40 (days 2-3) and HAMSB20 groups were higher than those in the HAMS groups and those at baseline (P < 0.0001). Ingestion of HAMSB20 and HAMSB40 resulted in the release of 26.8 ± 1.0 and 50.2 ± 2.4 mmol butyrate/d (days 12-13) (84.2 ± 3.0% and 79.0 ± 3.1% of total ingested esterified butyrate), respectively, in the gastrointestinal tract. By calculation, ∼57.2% of ingested esterified butyrate was released in the colon. Microbial analysis showed that this release was probably facilitated mainly by Parabacteroides distasonis, which increased in abundance with HAMSB40 (days 12-13) (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS This study shows that cooked butyrylated starch delivers esterified butyrate to the human colon effectively and has the potential to improve human bowel health. This trial is registered in the Australian Clinical Trials Registry as ACTRN012606000398505.
Critical success factors in enterprise resource planning implementation: A review of case studies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consolidate the critical success factors (CSFs) as published in enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation case studies. The authors perform the analysis and propose the final CSFs based on the reported ERP implementation process stages. Design/methodology/approach – The paper follows the eight category coding steps proposed by Carley (1993) and utilizes only ERP implementation case studies to identify a distinct set of critical success factors. The 37 case studies used in this paper provide a reasonable sample from different countries and contexts. Two methodologies were followed, one for the literature review process and the other for the analysis and synthesis. Findings – Out of 64 reported CSFs that were extracted from the literature and subsequent detailed analysis and synthesis the authors found a total of 22 factors that are distinct. These factors which encompass change management, are proposed with five ERP implementation stages. Research limitatio.
Cost structure and technological change of local public transport: the Kaohsiung City Bus case

This study has developed a translog cost function for the Kaohsiung City Bus (KCB) to analyse its cost structure and economic characteristics, based on monthly data over the time period from January 1996 to December 2000. The empirical results reveal that economies of density in the provision of bus services in Kaohsiung do prevail. The estimated marginal cost, which is less than the average cost but greater than the current bus fare, indicates that the subsidy is necessary. Due to the existence of returns to density (RTD), the KCB could obtain cost-saving benefits by extending its output scale. The KCB production technology is also not neutral. The effects of technological change on the KCB costs suggest that over the period 1996–2000 technological progress did lead to cost saving; the pure productivity growth rate increased from 0.45% in 1998 to 3% in 2000.
The effect of short-term intoxication of rats with pentabromodiphenyl ether (in mixture mimic commercial products)

Until quite recently, pentabromodiphenyl ether (PentaBDE) was most commonly used as a flame retardant. Due to the considerably long atmospheric half-life of PentaBDE and its contribution to environmental pollution, it is categorized as a persistent organic pollutant (POP). As the data on the toxicity of PentaBDE is rather scarce, its potential acute toxicity was the subject of this study. PentaBDE was administered intragastrically to female rats, in a single dose (25, 200 or 2000 mg/kg b.w.). PentaBDE administered to rats disturbed redox homeostasis, which was manifested by lower total antioxidant status (TAS) in serum and by higher liver glutathione reduced (GSH) concentration. The toxic effect of PentaBDE intensified lipid peroxidation. On histopathological examination, administration of the highest PentaBDE dose (2000 mg/kg b.w.) was seen to induce symptoms of fatty liver. PentaBDE caused an increase in relative liver mass, cytochromes P-450 (after two highest doses), a dose-dependent increase in the activity of CYP lA (12—26 fold) and CYP 2B (5—6 fold) as well as the levels of CYP lAl (16—50 fold) and CYP 4A (2—3 fold) in liver.