Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Linking Corporate Risk Disclosure Practices with Firm-Specific Characteristics in Saudi Arabia

This study explores Corporate Risk Disclosure practices (CRD) in the annual reports of Saudi (non-financial) listed companies and investigates the relationship between the Saudi firm-specific characteristics and the level of such practices. Using content analysis of a sample of 307 company-year observations over the period of 2008-2011, the results indicate that Saudi Arabia provides a moderate level of CRD among the developed and developing countries. However, the content of this CRD is found to be of a low quality, by including non-financial, qualitative, neutral, or non-time-specific information. In addition, the unbalanced panel regression analysis shows a significant positive influence of firm size and audit firm size on the level of CRD. This indicates that Saudi companies which disclose higher risk-related information are those characterised by their larger size, and are audited by the Big 4 audit firms. This study contributes to the risk literature by providing an initial understanding of the CRD practices and their variations in light of the firm-specific characteristics in emerging markets in general and Arab countries in particular.
Prevalence of CTX-M beta-Lactamases in Escherichia coli from community-acquired urinary tract infections and associated risk factors among women in Cameroon

Background: In recent years, a worldwide dissemination of CTX-M beta-lactamase-type in Escherichia coli strains isolates from community-acquired urinary tract infections (CA-UTI) has been observed. However little is known on the prevalence and risk factors of this global threat in developing countries. Objective: The aim of this study was to study the prevalence and risk factors for CA-UTI in Yaounde, Cameroon. Methods: Eighty six patients with urinary E.coli infection recruited from 10 health structures in the town of Yaounde, Cameroon. After taking the first urine, faeces were collected from the patients for the study of the intestinal flora. The sample collection of faeces was done on a selected gel of enterobacteria resistant to third generation of cephalosporin. The molecular typing of extended-spectrum -lactamase (ESBL) was carried out. Results: Eighty-six strains of E. coli from 86 patients were included. We found that 39 (45.3%) strains produced an extendedspectrum beta-lactamase. Among risk factors, previous use of antibiotic and the dry season were associated with the presence of an ESBL-producing strain in the urine. All ESBL were identified as CTX-M. The production of CTX-M was found to be significantly associated with resistance to fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides and to the association of trimethoprim-sulfamethazole. Conclusions: The prevalence of CTX-M ESBL in Yaounde, Cameroon, provides new evidence on the global dissemination of CTX-M and the extent of this phenomenon in developing countries.
Internal Capital Markets: The Insurance-Contagion Trade-Off

This paper shows that the pooling of financial resources in an internal capital market may magnify financial distress situations. This effect, which is closely related to the well-known debt overhang phenomenon, arises when there is a illiquidity in one part of the conglomerate, which then spills over to other divisions. This effect is the flip side of the coinsurance function of conglomerates, the leading rationale for internal capital markets. We show that contagion will prevail for very volatile firms, whereas coinsurance is likely to dominate for more stable firms. Taking into account that conglomeration is likely to exacerbate incentive problems in the firm, a non-monotonic relationship between the severity of risk and the preference for conglomeration emerges, where the best and the worst firms prefer to incorporate as stand-alone firms. Our model can account for the empirical observation that the conglomerate discount tends to increase as financial market conditions worsen. For conglomerates with considerable contagion risks, the discount will actually deepen as the divisions become more closely related, in line with empirical studies.
Effect of Estradiol Supplementation on Induced Diabetic Changes in the Vagina of Albino Rat: An Experimental Immunohistochemical Study

Background: Estrogen hormone and receptors (ER) play an important role in maintaining vaginal health. Therefore, their disruption may adversely affect vaginal structure and function. Limited studies are available investigating the effects of diabetic complications on ER expression and distribution in the vaginal wall. Aim of the Work: This work aimed to study the effects of diabetes-induced changes on the vaginal structure, the expression of ERα as well as to determine whether the supplementation of estradiol can ameliorate these changes or not. Material and Methods: Thirty female albino rats were divided into 3 equal groups, 10 rats each. The ﬁrst was the control received the vehicle only, the second was the diabetics, received a single intraperitoneal injection of alloxan (150mg/kg), and the third was diabetic/estradiol treated. Eight week-diabetic animals were injected subcutaneously with estradiol 20μg/kg/day dissolved in peanut oil for 8 weeks. By the age of 16 weeks, the animals were sacriﬁced, blood samples were collected to estimate the serum estradiol level and the vagina was removed and processed for parafﬁn sections at 5μm thick. For routine histopathological assessment H and E was used. Masson’s trichrome used for collagen ﬁbers and estrogen immunoperoxidase stains for ERα. Results: Diabetic rats showed highly signiﬁcant decline in the serum estradiol level (19.6 ± 8.4 pcg/ml) compared to the controls (126.6 ± 7.6 pcg/ml). Histopathological examination revealed thinning of the vaginal epithelial layers, increase in the collagen deposition in the submucosa, marked atrophy in the muscularis layer and decrease in ERα immunostaining. Treatment of diabetic animals with estradiol for eight weeks led to its increase to a sub-physiological level (35.1 ± 5.7pcg/ml) and marked hypertrophy of the muscularis layer and re-stratiﬁcation of the vaginal epithelium. Moreover, there was marked reduction in the nuclear and cytoplasmic ERα immunostaining in the epithelium and increase in its expression in the stroma of the lamina propria and in the muscularis layer as compared to the control group. Conclusion: Diabetes-induced structural changes in the vagina may be a consequence of decreased levels of estrogen. The increase in the estradiol level, even at a sub-physiologic level, can ameliorate these atrophic effects.
Sorption of Lead(II) ions from Aqueous Solution by Fabricated Magneto responsive CNT-IPSF/Fe 3 O 4 Nanocomposites

Rapid industrial development associatedwith production of toxic wastes, especially heavy metals, has led to anurgent need of creating new sorption materials to remove these wastes from water supplies. This study aimed atdetermining the effectiveness of as-prepared CNT-IPSF/Fe3O4nanocomposites in removal of lead(II) ionsfrom contaminated water. Carbon nanotubes prepared by CVD exhibited fine threads with average internal diameters of 40-50 nm while magnetite silica NPs had cubic spinel structure; due to the strongest reflection from the (311) plane. The silica coated magnetite had magnetization value of 2.5 emu/g while the polysulfonecontributed towards well packed and uniform structure depicting higher surface area suitable in adsorption studies. The magnetite silica NPs had very intense peaks, indicating the ultra-fine nature and small crystallite size of the particles. The peaks indexed as planes (220), (311), (400), (422), (511) and (440) corresponded to a cubic unit cell, characteristic of a cubic spinel structure while crystallite size measurements were determined as 22.4 nm from the strongest reflection of the (311) peak, using the Scherrer approximation. Optimization of parameters for Pb(II) ions removal gave optimum conditions of adsorbent dose (0.05 g), contact time (60 mins) and pH5 which were set constant in further analysis. Kinetics for adsorption of Pb(II) ions fitted well with pseudo second order model with highest correlation coefficient values of >0.9 while the adsorption process gave best fit with Freundlich isotherms.Desorption efficiencies (%) for Pb(II) ions of above 50%confirms the reliability of the desorption test in the reusability of the magnetoresponsive CNT- IPSF/Fe3O4nanocomposite fabricated. Desorption of the Pb(II) ions using HNO3 made the developed adsorbent a viable alternative to the common adsorbents available for treatment of wastewater with heavy metal ions. The nanocomposites showed 69 % for Pb(II) ions removal from wastewater compared to 54% Pb(II) ions removal for activated carbon used as standard adsorbent.
Petrography, mineralogy, and trace element geochemistry of lunar meteorite Dhofar 1180

Abstract— Here we report the petrography, mineralogy, and trace element geochemistry of the Dhofar 1180 lunar meteorite. Dhofar 1180 is predominantly composed of fine‐grained matrix with abundant mineral fragments and a few lithic and glassy clasts. Lithic clasts show a variety of textures including cataclastic, gabbroic, granulitic, ophitic/subophitic, and microporphyritic. Both feldspathic and mafic lithic clasts are present. Most feldspathic lithic clasts have a strong affinity to ferroan anorthositic suite rocks and one to magnesian suite rocks. Mafic lithic clasts are moderately to extremely Fe‐rich. The Ti/[Ti+Cr]‐Fe/[Fe+Mg] compositional trend of pyroxenes in mafic lithic clasts is consistent with that of low‐Ti mare basalts. Glasses display a wide chemical variation from mafic to feldspathic. Some glasses are very similar to those from Apollo 16 soils. KREEP components are essentially absent in Dhofar 1180. One glassy clast is rich in K, REE and P, but its Mg/[Mg+Fe] is very low (0.25). It is probably a last‐stage differentiation product of mare basalt. Molar Fe/Mn ratios of both olivine and pyroxene are essentially consistent with a lunar origin.
PENGARUH ORIENTASI PASAR, ORIENTASI KEWIRAUSAHAAN TERHADAP KEUNGGULAN BERSAING DAN KINERJA PEMASARAN Pada Warung Kucingan/Angkringan Di Kota Semarang

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh orientasi pasar, orientasi kewirausahaan terhadap keunggulan bersaing dan kinerja pemasaran pada warung kucingan (angkringan) di kota Semarang. Tipe penelitian yang digunakan adalah explanatory research. Sampel dalam penelitian ini adalah 100 orang responden yang menjadi pemilik warung kucingan/angkringan yang diambil secara inccidental sampling. Pengumpulan datanya dilakukan dengan menggunakan kuesioner. Analisis yang digunakan adalah analisis regresi linier berganda, dimana X1 menunjuk pada variable orientasi pasar, X2 pada orientasi kewirausahaan, Y1 pada keunggulan bersaing, dan Y2 pada kinerja pemasaran. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian disimpulkan bahwa orientasi pasar dan orientasi kewirausahaan berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap keunggulan bersaing dan kinerja pemasaran. Orientasi pasar dan orientasi kewirausahaan yang lebih baik akan meningkatkan keunggulan bersaing dan kinerja pemasaran. Keunggulan bersaing berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap kinerja pemasaran.
School resources and student achievment: worldwide findings and methodological issues

The issues raised in the Education Production Function literature since the US 1966 Coleman Report have fuelled high controversy on the role of school resources in relation to student performance. In several literature reviews and some self estimates, Erik Hanushek (1986, 1997, 2006) systematically affirms that these two factors are not associated one to another – neither in the US nor abroad. In recent cross-country analyses, Ludger Woessmann (2003; 2005a; 2005b) links international differences in attainment to institutional differences across educational systems – not to resourcing levels. In the opposite direction, Stephen Heyneman and William Loxley (1982, 1983) tried to demonstrate in the 1980’s that, at least for low income countries, school factors seemed to outweigh family characteristics on the determination of students’ outcomes – although other authors show evidence that such a phenomenon may have existed only during a limited period of the 20th Century. In the 1990s, meta-analyses raised the argument that school resources were sufficiently significant to be regarded as pedagogically important. The turn of the Century witnessed a new movement: the recognition that endogenous determination of resource allocation is a substantial methodological issue. Therefore, efforts have been made to incorporate the decision-making processes that involve families, schools and policy-makers in economic models. This implies changes in research designs that may affect the direction of future policy advices patronised by international development and educational organisations.
A Flexible Logistics Distribution Hub Model considering Cost Weighted Time

The delivery time of order has become an important fact for customers to evaluate logistics services. Due to the diverse and large quantities of orders in the background of electronic commerce, how to improve the flexibility of distribution hub and reduce the waiting time of customers becomes one of the most challenging questions for logistics companies. With this in mind, this paper proposes a new method of flexibility assessment in distribution hub by introducing cost weighted time (CWT). The advantages of supply hub operation mode in delivery flexibility are verified by the approach: the mode has pooling effects and uniform distribution characteristics; these traits can reduce overlapping delivery time to improve the flexibility in the case of two suppliers. Numerical examples show that the supply hub operation mode is more flexible than decentralized distribution operation mode in multidelivery cycles.
Reflections on the Historical Antecedents to Revitalize Higher Education Research in Africa

A vibrant higher education sector is a cornerstone to the production and application of cutting-edge knowledge and human resources relevant to spearheading socioeconomic development. While this is true, Africa has a discouraging performance in research, as compared with other world regions. In raising its research performance, Africa is now receiving considerable attention to revitalize its higher education sector from both global and local forces. In a bid to enhance success of different local and global interventions that Africa is currently receiving, it is imperative to revisit the past to comprehend what has made Africa’s higher education research be where it is today. Informed by the postcolonial theory, this paper seeks to establish the historical antecedents that have undermined the development of research in Africa. Several antecedents are established including the role of colonial higher education policies, incompatible supranational donor policies, unstable political landscape, interrupted academic freedom and autonomy, and unfamiliar language of academic, research and scholarly communication. The paper argues that any initiative that aimed at revitalizing research in Africa should place the present higher education research doldrums in its wider sociohistorical context where Africa’s higher education sector had been hindered for decades by challenges, as discussed in this paper.
Role of Gender, Age, and Geographical Locality in Metacognitive Listening Skills of English as a Foreign Language

Research in second language listening is inadequate with regard to impact of certain demographic variables such as gender, age, and geographical localities in a country. Role of these factors in listening of English as a foreign language was studied in present research. Three hundred and fourteen students of functional courses of English language of public and private language institutes filled in modified version (Fayyaz & Kamal, 2011) of Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (Vandergrift, Goh, Mareschal, & Tafaghodtari, 2006). Factorial analysis of variance showed that women were significantly higher on overall use of listening strategies, whereas participants belonging to different geographical locations were relatively equal on these strategies. No interaction effect was established between the three predicting factors. The findings are likely to have implications for research and teaching of English in Pakistan. However, modest effect size of relationships does not allow generalized conclusion.
A fundamental theorem for submanifolds of multiproducts of real space forms

Abstract We prove a Bonnet theorem for isometric immersions of submanifolds into the products of an arbitrary number of simply connected real space forms. Then we prove the existence of associate families of minimal surfaces in such products. Finally, in the case of 𝕊2 × 𝕊2, we give a complex version of the main theorem in terms of the two canonical complex structures of 𝕊2 × 𝕊2.
A First Comparison of Millimeter Continuum and Mg ii Ultraviolet Line Emission from the Solar Chromosphere

We present joint observations of the Sun by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). Both millimeter/submillimeter-λ continuum emission and ultraviolet (UV) line emission originate from the solar chromosphere and both have the potential to serve as powerful and complementary diagnostics of physical conditions in this enigmatic region of the solar atmosphere. The observations were made of a solar active region on 2015 December 18 as part of the ALMA science verification effort. A map of the Sun’s continuum emission was obtained by ALMA at a wavelength of 1.25 mm (239 GHz). A contemporaneous map was obtained by IRIS in the Mg ii h doublet line at 2803.5 Å. While a clear correlation between the 1.25 mm brightness temperature TB and the Mg ii h line radiation temperature Trad is observed, the slope is <1, perhaps as a result of the fact that these diagnostics are sensitive to different parts of the chromosphere and that the Mg ii h line source function includes a scattering component. There is a significant difference (35%) between the mean TB (1.25 mm) and mean Trad (Mg ii). Partitioning the maps into “sunspot,” “quiet areas,” and “plage regions” we find the relation between the IRIS Mg ii h line Trad and the ALMA TB region-dependent. We suggest this may be the result of regional dependences of the formation heights of the IRIS and ALMA diagnostics and/or the increased degree of coupling between the UV source function and the local gas temperature in the hotter, denser gas in plage regions.
Critical Theory and the Pragmatist Challenge

Habermas's theory breaks with the Continental tradition that has denigrated pragmatism as an Aglo-Saxon philosophy subservient to technocratic capitalism. While Habermas deftly uses pragmatist insights into communicative rationality and democratic ethos, he shows little sensitivity to other facets of pragmatism. This article argues that incorporating the pragmatist perspective on experience and indeterminacy brings a corrective to the emancipatory agenda championed by critical theorists. The pragmatist alternative to the theory of communicative action is presented, with the discussion centering around the following themes: disembodied reason versus embodied reasonableness, determinate being versus indeterminate reality, discursive truth versus pragmatic certainty, rational consensus versus reasonable dissent, transcendental democracy versus democratic transcendence, and rational society versus sane community.
From stability to growth in neoclassical multisector models

Analysis of the multisector models was an important strand of inquiry within neoclassic growth theory from the early 1960s and at the end of the decade the multisector approach constituted one of the most promising areas of inquiry within growth theory as a whole. Studies in this area dwindled away at the end of the 1970s but the situation abruptly changed with the advent of endogenous growth theory in the second half of the 1980s which with Lucas (1988) and Romer (1990) was from the outset framed in a multisectorial perspective. The multisector approach was resumed in the literature on endogenous growth, but with features different from those that had previously characterized it. The aim of this paper is to analyze the evolution of some particular aspects of the neoclassical multisector approach from the first studies of the 1960s until current theorization.
Asymmetric dividend smoothing in the aggregate stock market

This paper explores the asymmetric dividend smoothing behavior of the aggregate stock market. We extend the Lintner (1956) model so as to incorporate asymmetry in the dividend payout policy, which involves the regime-dependent adjustment costs depending on the deviations of the actual dividends from the permanent earnings. We find a strong evidence of the threshold effect in the adjustment process of the aggregate real dividends when real stock prices are used for the permanent earnings. The empirical results indicate that the dividend decision accompanies asymmetric smoothing behavior of the aggregate dividends.
Continuum limit of amorphous elastic bodies. III. Three-dimensional systems

Extending recent numerical studies on two dimensional amorphous bodies, we characterize the approach of elastic continuum limit in three dimensional (weakly polydisperse) Lennard-Jones systems. While performing a systematic finite-size analysis (for two different quench protocols) we investigate the non-affine displacement field under external strain, the linear response to an external delta force and the low-frequency harmonic eigenmodes and their density distribution. Qualitatively similar behavior is found as in two dimensions. We demonstrate that the classical elasticity description breaks down below an intermediate length scale $\xi$, which in our system is approximately $23$ molecular sizes. This length characterizes the correlations of the non-affine displacement field, the self-averaging of external noise with distance from the source and gives the lower wave length bound for the applicability of the classical eigenfrequency calculations. We trace back the ``Boson-peak" of the density of eigenfrequencies (obtained from the velocity auto-correlation function) to the inhomogeneities on wave lengths smaller than $\xi$.
What Drives Fiscal Multipliers? The Role of Private Wealth and Debt

We show that fiscal multiplier estimations may be biased by movements in asset and credit markets, as they facilitate spurious correlations of changes in cyclically adjusted revenues and spending with GDP growth via wrong identifications and an omitted variable bias, thus overstating episodes of expansionary consolidations and downplaying contractionary consolidations. When controlling for asset and credit market movements in otherwise standard approaches to identification, we find multipliers to increase on average by 0.3 to 0.6 units. Consolidations are thus more likely to be contractionary and more harmful to growth than expected by some strands of the existing literature.