Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of Corporate Governance in Egypt

This paper aims at evaluating corporate governance rules, laws and standards in Egypt. It starts with a discussion on the concept and importance of corporate governance, followed by a review of the various aspects of the capital market, including the structure of the stock market, the legal and supervisory framework, registration requirements, and the ownership structure. The paper then assesses Egypt’s corporate governance standards in accordance with the five OECD principles, namely, shareholders’ rights, equitable treatment of shareholders, stakeholders’ role in corporate governance, disclosure and transparency, and responsibilities of the board of directors. The analysis shows that corporate governance standards in Egypt have improved significantly, as reflected in the overall assessment of all five OECD principles. The degree of progress, however, varies from one principle to another. Finally, the paper points out that Egyptian companies are still far from properly implementing corporate governance principles.
Molecular aspects of rheumatoid arthritis: role of environmental factors

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic, chronic inflammatory disease that affects 0.5–1% of the population. RA causes progressive joint destruction that leads to the restriction of activities of daily living and deterioration of quality of life. Although the pathogenesis of RA has not yet been fully elucidated, it is considered to be a complex, multifarious disease that is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Genetic influences that contribute to RA susceptibility have been demonstrated both in studies of twins and families, as well as in genome‐wide linkage scans, and it is estimated that genetic factors are responsible for 50–60% of the risk of developing RA. Thus, environmental factors may explain the remaining risk of developing RA. A large variety of environmental factors such as infectious agents, smoking, sex hormones, pregnancy etc. have been extensively studied previously. Understanding of how these factors contribute to the development of RA may lead to the better understanding of pathogenesis of RA.
The Profitability of Price Fixing: Have Stronger Antitrust Sanctions Deterred?

In this study we investigate whether changes in antitrust penalties issued by the Department of Justice have led to improved effectiveness of antitrust actions with respect to price-fixing over 1981-2001. We use effectiveness of antitrust enforcement documented by Bosch and Eckard (1991) and Thompson and Kaserman (2001) for 1962-80 as a basis for comparison. Results indicate that the changes in antitrust law do improve effectiveness as measured by changes in market valuations of offenders, but the durability of deterrent effect and the rate of recidivism are left unaffected, suggesting that Sherman Act Section 1 enforcement has little lasting effect.
Factors Affecting Isfahanian Mobile Banking Adoption Based on the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior

Mobile banking is considered a new era in banking, in which banks are spending considerable amount of money to have it available to their customers and to cut their operations costs. The current exploratory study is an attempt to investigate the factors that influence Isfahanian’ intention to adopt mobile banking by extending the renowned framework of Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior model (DTPB) by additionally examining the effects of trust and perceived risk as components of attitude on behavioral intention. A self-administrated questionnaire had been developed and distributed in Isfahan city. Out of 400 questionnaires that have been distributed, 315 are returned (78.0%). Of these, five (5) responses had to be discarded due to invalid or incomplete data entries. Thus the sample comprising of a total of 310 respondents was used for analysis. The data was analyzed by AMOS software. Results of the study discovered that the decisive or crucial factors influencing mobile banking adoption are attitude and perceived behavioral control, However, social norms were the only factor found insignificant. The perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use ,compatibility, and trust under 'behavioral attitude' have positive effect on behavioral attitude; while perceived risk under 'behavioral attitude' has negative effect on behavioral attitude. the influence of the interpersonal influence under 'subjective norms' was also evident, while self-efficacy and facilitating condition under 'perceived behavioral control' are significant influential factors.
Polar Localization of CheA2 in Rhodobacter sphaeroides Requires Specific Che Homologs

ABSTRACT Rhodobacter sphaeroides is a motile bacterium that has multiple chemotaxis genes organized predominantly in three major operons (cheOp1, cheOp2, and cheOp3). The chemoreceptor proteins are clustered at two distinct locations, the cell poles and in one or more cytoplasmic clusters. One intriguing possibility is that the physically distinct chemoreceptor clusters are each composed of a defined subset of specific chemotaxis proteins, including the chemoreceptors themselves plus specific CheW and CheA proteins. Here we report the subcellular localization of one such protein, CheA2, under aerobic and photoheterotrophic growth conditions. CheA2 is predominantly clustered and localized at the cell poles under both growth conditions. Furthermore, its localization is dependent upon one or more genes in cheOp2 but not those of cheOp1 or cheOp3. In E. coli, the polar localization of CheA depends upon CheW. The R. sphaeroides cheOp2 contains two cheW genes. Interestingly, CheW2 is required under both aerobic and photoheterotrophic conditions, whereas CheW3 is not required under aerobic conditions but appears to play a modest role under photoheterotrophic conditions. This suggests that R. sphaeroides contains at least two distinct chemotaxis complexes, possibly composed of proteins dedicated for each subcellular location. Furthermore, the composition of these spatially distinct complexes may change under different growth conditions.
PROGNOSTIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE AUDITORY BRAINSTEM EVOKED RESPONSE HIGH‐RISK NEONATES

The prognostic significance of the auditory brainstem evoked response (ABR) was examined in this prospective study of neonates at risk for neurodevelopmental sequelae. ABR testing was performed in the neonatal period (37 to 45 weeks conceptional age) and at two and/or six months corrected age. 34 high‐risk newborns and 14 controls were followed to one year of age, when they received neurological and developmental assessments. Increased I to III and I to V interwave latencies predicted gross motor delay at one year, with a positive predictive power of 83 per cent and a specificity of 94.7 per cent. Increased brainstem conduction, dispersal of waves III to V and V/I amplitude ratio abnormalities predicted abnormal neurological findings at one year, with positive predictive values of 100, 100 and 80 per cent, respectively. A standard clinical examination of the newborn, performed on the at‐risk and control infants at 40 weeks conceptional age, was not found to be strongly predictive of neurodevelopmental deficits at one year.
Power Loss Minimization in Distribution System Using Network Reconfiguration in the Presence of Distributed Generation

This paper presents a new method to solve the network reconfiguration problem in the presence of distributed generation (DG) with an objective of minimizing real power loss and improving voltage profile in distribution system. A meta heuristic Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA) is used to simultaneously reconfigure and identify the optimal locations for installation of DG units in a distribution network. Sensitivity analysis is used to identify optimal location s for installation of DG units. Different scenarios of DG placement and reconfiguration of network are considered to study the performance of the proposed method. The constraints of voltage and branch current carrying capacity are included in the evaluation of the objective function. The method has been tested on 33-bus and 69-bus radial distribution systems at three different load levels to demonstrate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed method. The results obtained are encouraging.
Does Private Equity Stir Up European Industries?

Private equity is subject to public debate regarding its impact on economies. While several papers have documented the effects of private equity on a firm level, the effects of private equity on an industry level is hardly addressed. This paper analyzes the influence of private equity on industry performance across twelve European countries. We find that the relative investment level of private equity positively influences the industries’ productivity, operating income, number of employees and average wage level. Causality tests show that the relative level of private equity investments causes the changes in the industries and not vice-versa.
Integrated Primary Care and Behavioral Health Services for Latinos: A Blueprint and Research Agenda

ABSTRACT Disparities in Latino utilization of mental health services have been documented for some years. Factors such as stigma, low rates of health insurance, paucity of culturally competent providers, and linguistic inaccessibility have contributed to this underutilization. The documented tendency of many Latinos to experience the mind and body as a unified whole, often referred to as “non-dualism,” provides a unique opportunity to address these disparities in utilization. This article advocates a specific model of engagement of Latinos into a continuum of needed behavioral health services via the primary care clinic, and suggests a variety of clinical and administrative outcome measures for evaluating the effectiveness of the model. The model centers on the inclusion of a behavioral health specialist who is “nested” within the primary care team. The preparation and perspectives of clinically trained social workers make them ideal for this role.
Multinational Subsidiary Evolution: Capability and Charter Change in Foreign-Owned Subsidiary Companies

There has been a profound evolution in thinking about multinational corporations (MNCs) [since the late 1980s]. Traditionally, in academic models researchers assumed that ownership-specific advantages were developed at the corporate headquarters and leveraged overseas through the transfer of technology to a network of foreign subsidiaries (Vernon, 1966; Dunning, 1981). As these overseas subsidiaries grew in size and developed their own unique resources, however, it became apparent to many researchers that corporate headquarters was no longer the sole source of competitive advantage for the MNC. Scholars developed models such as the heterarchy (Hedlund, 1986) and the transnational (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989) to reflect the critical role played by many subsidiaries in their corporations’ competitiveness, and research attention began to shift toward understanding the new roles played by subsidiaries.
The autoimmune-associated genetic variant PTPN22 R620W enhances neutrophil activation and function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and healthy individuals

Objectives A genetic variant of the leukocyte phosphatase PTPN22 (R620W) is strongly associated with autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Functional studies on the variant have focussed on lymphocytes, but it is most highly expressed in neutrophils. We have investigated the effects of the variant on neutrophil function in health and in patients with RA. Methods Healthy individuals and patients with RA were genotyped for PTPN22 (R620W) and neutrophils isolated from peripheral blood. Neutrophil adhesion and migration across inflamed endothelium were measured. Calcium (Ca2+) release and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in response to fMLP stimulation were also assessed. Results Expression of R620W enhanced neutrophil migration through cytokine activated endothelium (non-R620W=24%, R620W=45% migrating cells, p<0.001). Following fMLP stimulation, neutrophils that were heterozygous and homozygous for R620W released significantly more Ca2+ when compared to non-R620W neutrophils, in healthy individuals and patients with RA. fMLP stimulation, after TNF-α priming, provoked more ROS from neutrophils heterozygous for R620W in patients with RA (non-R620W vs R620W=∼1.75-fold increase) and healthy individuals (non-R620W vs R620W=fourfold increase) and this increase was statistically significant in healthy individuals (p<0.001) but not in patients with RA (p<0.25). Conclusions Expression of PTPN22 (R620W) enhanced neutrophil effector functions in health and RA, with migration, Ca2+ release and production of ROS increased. Neutrophils are found in large numbers in the RA joint, and this hyperactivity of R620W cells may directly contribute to the joint damage, as well as to the initiation and perpetuation of the chronic immune-mediated inflammatory processes driving the disease.
Marketing Orientation of Croatian Food Industry

The research of 60 companies in Croatian food industry has indicated the insufficient marketing orientation of the industry neither in terms of marketing philosophy of the companies, nor in terms of marketing behavior. Although marketing resources are generally recognized, inadequate marketing knowledge and existence and role of marketing department make this industry predominantly sales oriented. Such orientation is not corresponding to contemporary market situation in domestic and international market and creates serious constraints to the industry growth and development.
Agents of change: how young consumers are changing the world of marketing

This paper looks at young adults' relationship with digital media. From a commercial perspective the opportunity to deploy these channels to promote consumer recruitment and loyalty is very significant indeed. However, consumer marketing companies will have to learn to meet the needs of this very discerning and highly cynical audience by combining the best creative ideas and strategies with a transformed approach to marketing sales and service, embodying the best of information and communications technology, reliably and securely implemented. Communication networks underpin this report. While teens complain that they have less public space to hang out in, they are making the online world their milieu, their domain where they develop personal relationships and where they play and learn new things. The conclusions cover not only the effect of current market drivers, but also emerging trends that will allow brands to better understand the behaviour of young adults, so as to establish more truthful binds with them.
Effect of Tissue Fixatives on the Immunohistochemical Expression of ABH Blood Group Isoantigens

Immunohistochemical analysis of ABH blood group isoantigens has been shown to be a useful ancillary technique for resolving problems associated with specimen mix-ups in the daily practice of surgical pathology. However, the effects of different fixatives on the expression of these antigens in paraffin-embedded tissues are not known. Therefore, the effects of seven different fixatives on the immunohistochemical expression of ABH blood group isoantigens were studied in tissues from several organs. The following fixatives were used: acetone, 70% ethanol, B5, Bouin, Carnoy, methanol, and 10% formalin. After fixation for 6, 12, and 72 hours, the tissue blocks were embedded in paraffin, and immunohistochemistry was performed on 4-&mgr;m-thick tissue sections using monoclonal antibodies to blood group isoantigens (A, B, and H) and the avidin-biotin detection method. Also, immunostaining was performed on step tissue sections with and without antigen retrieval using citrate buffer at pH 6.0. The expression of the blood group isoantigens was concordant with the blood group of the patient in all the cases studied, irrespective of the fixative and time of fixation. However, in the absence of antigen retrieval, the intensity of the staining reaction was diminished. These results showed that irrespective of the fixative used, immunohistochemical staining of paraffin-embedded tissue sections with ABH blood group antibodies is a rapid, reliable, and cost-effective method for sorting out interpretative problems of tissue contaminants (floaters) and specimen mix-ups in surgical pathology.
Arachidonic acid as a retrograde signal controlling growth and dynamics of retinotectal arbors

In the developing visual system, correlated presynaptic activity between neighboring retinal ganglion cells (RGC) stabilizes retinotopic synapses via a postsynaptic NMDAR (N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate receptor)‐dependent mechanism. Blocking NMDARs makes individual axonal arbors larger, which underlies an unsharpened map, and also increases branch turnover, as if a stabilizing factor from the postsynaptic partner is no longer released. Arachidonic acid (AA), a candidate retrograde stabilizing factor, is released by cytoplasmic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) after Ca2+ entry through activated NMDARs, and can activate presynaptic protein kinase C to phosphorylate various substrates such as GAP43 to regulate cytoskeletal dynamics. To test the role of cPLA2 in the retinotectal system of developing zebrafish, we first used PED6, a fluorescent reporter of cPLA2 activity, to show that 1–3 min of strobe flashes activated tectal cPLA2 by an NMDAR‐dependent mechanism. Second, we imaged the dynamic growth of retinal arbors during both local inhibition of tectal cPLA2 by a pharmacological inhibitor, arachidonic tri‐fluoromethylketone, and its suppression by antisense oligonucleotides (both injected intraventricularly). Both methods produced larger arbors and faster branch dynamics as occurs with blocking NMDARs. In contrast, intraocular suppression of retinal cPLA2 with large doses of antisense oligos produced none of the effects of tectal cPLA2 inhibition. Finally, if AA is the retrograde messenger, the application of exogenous AA to the tectum should reverse the increased branch turnover caused by blocking either NMDARs or cPLA2. In both cases, intraventricular injection of AA stabilized the overall branch dynamics, bringing rates down below the normal values. The results suggest that AA generated postsynaptically by cPLA2 downstream of Ca2+ entry through NMDARs acts as a retrograde signal to regulate the dynamic growth of retinal arbors. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol, 2008.
EXPERIMENTAL MANIPULATION OF PUTATIVE SELECTIVE AGENTS PROVIDES EVIDENCE FOR THE ROLE OF NATURAL ENEMIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF PLANT DEFENSE

Although biologists have long assumed that plant resistance characters evolved under selection exerted by such natural enemies as herbivores and pathogens, experimental evidence for this assumption is sparse. We present evidence that natural enemies exert selection on particular plant resistance characters. Specifically, we demonstrate that elimination of natural enemies from an experimental field population of Arabidopsis thaliana alters the pattern of selection on genetic variation in two characters that have been shown to reduce herbivore damage in the field: total glucosinolate concentration and trichome density. The change in pattern of selection reveals that natural enemies imposed selection favoring increased glucosinolate concentration and increased trichome density, and thus, supports one of the major assumptions of the coevolution hypothesis. We also demonstrate that a pattern of stabilizing selection on glucosinolate concentration results from a balance between the costs and benefits associated with increasing levels of this resistance character. This result provides direct confirmation of the appropriateness of cost‐benefit models for characterizing the evolution of plant defenses.
Housing market system and policy experiment: an empirical case in Shenzhen

This paper attempts to apply system dynamic technique to solve the problems of market forecasting and policy experiments. By constructing a dynamic system to depict the housing market mechanism, our study provides a tool to investigate how different housing policies will influence the market simultaneously. In addition, with an empirical case of Shenzhen, a major city of southern China, we illustrate how our system performs in real world. The error between predicted housing prices and real housing prices can be reduced to merely 8.72%; and we also show how the Shenzhen Government analyse housing policy before execution.
When Auditors Say 'No', Does the Market Listen?

Previous research on whether the market responds to auditors’ opinions has provided mixed results. We revisit this issue in China, where the stock market is dominated by individual investors who are less sophisticated in assimilating value-relevant information such as modified audit opinions (MAOs). In addition, China permits audit modifications triggered by violations of the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) or disclosure rules (GAAP/DISC MAOs), which are subtler than going concern opinions (GCOs) in their value implications and thus are more likely to be mispriced. The Chinese stock market thus gives us the best chance of detecting MAO mispricing. We find that MAOs predict firms’ future financial performance, and that the market reaction during the short window around MAO disclosure is also consistent with such predictive power of MAOs. Importantly, MAO disclosure is not followed by negative long-term stock returns, suggesting that stock price adjustments to MAOs are speedy and unbiased. These findings hold for both GCOs and GAAP/DISC MAOs. Together, our findings support the informativeness of audit opinions and cast doubt on the argument that investors inefficiently use this important information in pricing securities due to information processing bias.
Validation of the Icelandic version of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory with Caregiver Distress (NPI-D)

Background: Dementia is a complex and often debilitating illness, presenting with not only wide-ranging cognitive impairment but also neuropsychiatric challenges, which can have diverse consequences in quality of life for both patient and caregiver. Aim: Studying the validity and reliability of an Icelandic translation of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory with Caregiver Distress (NPI-D). Methods: NPI-D was administered to 38 primary caregivers of dementia patients. The concurrent validity was explored by statistically comparing the NPI-D to the Behavioural Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease Rating Scale (BEHAVE-AD) and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Regarding caregiver distress, concurrent validity was established between NPI-D, BEHAVE-AD Global Rating and two other caregiver distress scales. Results: Significant correlation was found when total score on the BEHAVE-AD was compared with total score on the NPI-D. All NPI-D subscales achieved significant correlation with the corresponding BEHAVE-AD subscales apart from the ‘depression/dysphoria subscale’. This NPI-D subscale correlated however, significantly with the GDS depression scale, a frequent and well validated measure of depressive symptoms in the elderly population. Cronbach's alpha coefficient indicated a high degree of overall internal consistency among the items of the NPI-D. Interestingly, apathy was the most frequent neuropsychiatric disturbance and the only subscale that differed significantly between dementia severity levels. Finally, when studying caregiver distress, the NPI-D showed good concurrent validity with other measures of caregiver burden and distress. Conclusions: The results demonstrate an acceptable level of validity and reliability; therefore the Icelandic translation of the NPI-D is well suited for identifying neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia and associated caregiver burden.