Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Global Brand Architecture Position and Market-Based Performance: The Moderating Role of Culture

Companies expend vast resources to create product and brand portfolios in the global marketplace. Yet knowledge of the market-based performance implications of various positions in a firm's portfolio architecture is lacking in the literature. To further the understanding of managing brands in the global marketplace, the authors develop a conceptual framework based on the tenets of signaling theory, explore the relationship between global brand architecture and market-based performance, and consider how culture moderates this relationship. The results of the analyses, from a panel data set of 165 automotive brands operating in 65 countries from 2002 to 2008, reveal that global brands perform better in the marketplace than their nonglobal counterparts. Cultural values indeed provide boundary conditions for this relationship, suggesting that alternative strategies for some markets may be advisable.
The Circumstances and Legal Consequences of Non‐GAAP Reporting: Evidence from Restatements*

Our study examines the circumstances of non-GAAP financial reporting by 492 U.S. companies that announced restatements from 1995 to 1999. We analyze the occurrence and resolution of litigation over restatements; and, we explore the role of accounting items in bringing and resolving this litigation. To do so, we focus on the income statement. We provide evidence on the nature and pervasiveness of accounting misstatements and how, if at all, they affect litigation. We assess the nature of restatements by whether normal, recurring earnings from primary perations (core) or other components of earnings (non-core) are misstated and their pervasiveness by estimating the number of primary accounts misstated. In our sample, companies with core restatements have higher frequencies for intentional misstatements (fraud) and subsequent bankruptcy or delisting. They likewise have, on average, more material misstatements, more negative security price reactions to restatement announcements, and more negative security price changes over the six months preceding and following restatement announcements. However, controlling for these and other factors, we find a significant association between accounting items and litigation, whether occurrences or resolutions. Specifically, core restatements - driven primarily by revenue misstatements, a component of core earnings - and more pervasive restatements each play a role, while misstatements of non-core earnings alone do not.
Tax Effects in Term Structure Estimation

This study is a refinement and an extension of an earlier study by McCulloch of tax effects in the regression equation for term structure estimation. This study includes tests for tax effects and heteroskedasticity, a reconsideration of the need for an instrumental variable, and a search for the capital gains tax rate in addition to the ordinary-income tax rate. There are two major findings: (1) statistically significant taxinduced bias in the non-tax-adjusted equation and (2) evidence that the capital gains tax is misspecified in the tax-adjusted equation. IT IS WELL-KNOWN (e.g., see [4], [2; pp. 727-30], and [25]) that the yield curve is an imperfect surrogate for the term structure of interest rates, and various methods have been developed to estimate the term structure "directly" by regressing prices on payments in a sample of default-free securities.1 Since investors are concerned with the after-tax payments on securities, it is desirable to incorporate tax effects in term structure estimation. McCulloch [22] and Schaefer [26, 29] have employed different approaches to the tax-effect problem. McCulloch employed the regression approach and searched for a single tax rate,
Industrial Policy: A Missing Link in Mexico's Quest for Export‐led Growth

This article explores the need for Mexican policymakers to add an active industrial policy as a key instrument to assist in the nation’s so far failed quest for high and sustained economic growth. Mexico implemented drastic reforms in the mid-1980s to open its markets to foreign competition and to reduce the state’s intervention in the economy, but these reforms failed to ensure robust economic growth. The article explores myths and facts of the theory and practice of industrial policy. It identifies what type of industrial policy the new administration, which took office in December 2012, will apparently implement during 2013–2018 and how it may, or may not, help to put Mexico onto a path of high, sustained economic expansion. Este articulo explora la necesidad para el gobierno de hacer de la politica industrial un instrumento clave para ayudar a Mexico en su busqueda, hasta ahora, fallida de un crecimiento economico alto y sostenido. Mexico aplico reformas drasticas a mediados de la decada de 1980 para abrir sus mercados a la competencia extranjera y reducir la intervencion del estado la economia, pero estas medidas no lograron asegurar un crecimiento robusto. El articulo explora mitos y hechos de la teoria y practica de la politica industrial. Identifica que tipo de politica industrial la nueva administracion, que inicio en diciembre de 2012, parece implementara durante 2013–2018 y como esta ayudaria, o no, a que Mexico entre en una senda de expansion economica alta y sostenida.
Civic entrepreneurship in Australia: Opening the “black box” of tacit knowledge in local government top management teams

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to expand on previous research conducted by Hornsby et al. that examined the corporate entrepreneurship internal factor of managerial attitude.Design/methodology/approach – This paper develops and tests a group level factor of knowledge, the explication of tacit knowledge and a factor of managerial attitude, namely leadership support that is inherently multi‐level in nature.Findings – Leadership support is significant at both the dyad level and at the group level of analysis. Ordinary least squares regression supported the main hypothesis, that leadership support has a direct positive impact on explication of tacit knowledge.Research limitations/implications – Successfully testing the group level significance of leadership support has implications for future research because it is considered an individual level variable. Developing and testing the explication of tacit knowledge construct contributes to research on knowing in organisations because it provides a metric.
Tumour necrosis factor alpha blockade is associated with sustained regression of carotid intima-media thickness for patients with active psoriatic arthritis: a 2-year pilot study

We have reported that psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients without overt cardiovascular diseases have evidence of premature atherosclerosis as indicated by an increased carotid intima-media thickness (IMT). 1 Whether an increase in IMT reflects current (but reversible) inflammation of the vessel wall rather than more permanent structural vessel changes in PsA has never been assessed. We undertook a prospective, observational study to determine whether a 12-week treatment of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) blockers may reduce IMT in patients with active PsA, and whether the changes in IMT can be sustained in patients who were continued on long-term TNFα blockers. Twenty consecutive PsA patients with active disease were recruited to receive TNFα blockers. After 12 weeks, nine patients continued (group 1) while 11 patients discontinued TNFα blockers due to financial constraints (group 2). Twenty PsA patients who were naive to TNFα blockers were recruited as controls (group 3). Patients …
Welfare states amid economic turmoil: adjusting work-oriented policy

This article analyses the socioeconomic context within which a range of active labour market policies (ALMPs) were initiated in many countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the extent to which these measures had an impact on unemployment over the last several decades prior to the contraction of economic growth in 2008. Examining how the downturn of the economy has altered this context, the analysis goes on to scrutinise the choices that confront policy makers and the implications of alternative approaches to ALMPs in times of high unemployment.
Supervisory support for the transfer of team-building training

Relationships between specific supervisory support behaviours and training transfer among subordinates were investigated in the context of a team-building training programme. Ninety-nine employees who attended outdoor team-building training and their supervisors rated the extent to which trainees transferred each of twenty-one trained skills to the work-place. Additionally, trainees responded to an open-ended question regarding what, if anything, they applied from the training to the work-place. Ratings of transfer, provided by both trainees and their supervisors, and coded responses to the open-ended question indicated that: (1) most trainees transferred only a small to moderate amount of skills from the outdoor training; (2) the amount of training transfer varied across trainees; and (3) skills reportedly transferred the most concerned seeking and listening to the views and ideas of other team members. Trainees also rated whether their supervisors displayed each of twenty-seven specific supervisory supp.
Family dynamics and housing: Conceptual issues and empirical findings

Background: In this reflection I discuss my conceptual ideas and the latest empirical findings regarding the connections between leaving the parental home, marriage, parenthood, and separation on the one hand, and housing on the other. I also discuss the limitations of the research and directions for future research. Conclusions: Parental housing of good quality keeps specific categories of potential nest-leavers in the parental home, but is also positively associated with the likelihood of young adults starting their housing careers as homeowners. The connections between housing and marriage and between housing and parenthood can be characterized using the concepts of housing space, quality, and safety or security – all three of which married couples and families need more than singles – and flexibility, which couples and families need less. These four needs are strongly subject to social norms. There is a strong tendency for married couples and prospective families to move into home ownership and higher quality homes. Separation tends to lead ex-partners with lower moving costs and fewer resources to move from the joint home, and tends to lead to a longer lasting decrease in housing quality, particularly for women. Future research could focus on the impact of housing on the transformation of dating partnerships into co-residential partnerships, the impact of housing quality and home ownership on the quality of partner relationships, partnership and housing histories rather than single events and short-term effects, unraveling the causal connections between family and housing, and incorporating the impact of the socio-spatial context in the research.
Governing for Results on a Postcollective Bargaining Wisconsin School Board

The popular narrative of Wisconsin’s collective bargaining battle started out being about money. Should public employees pay more toward their healthcare? Can school districts offset state aid cuts using the additional revenue from employee healthcare contributions? Does collective bargaining have a cost? This article gives an overview of Wisconsin school boards, explains exactly how Act 10 increased their power, demonstrates why and how improved school board governance can have an impact on student achievement, reviews the changes Wisconsin school boards are making because of Act 10, and provides policy recommendations to improve both board governance behaviors, and the quality of policies enacted by school boards in the postcollective bargaining era.
The 2012 Greek Parliamentary Elections: Fear and Loathing in the Polls

In his spatial representation of party competition, Downs (1957) made an important distinction between a stable democratic regime and a dysfunctional political system with a high probability of civil conflict. In the first case, public opinion in the main underlying ideological dimension resembles a normal distribution with a single peak on or near the midpoint of the ideological continuum. The second case was depicted by a bimodal distribution with two modes near the two extremes of the same ideological dimension. A graphical illustration of the two patterns is shown in Figure 1. The last two Greek general elections signify a two-step process from the first stage to the second. Since 1981 and until the 2009 election, the Greek political system resembled a typical case of two-partyism. Aided by an electoral system that has always allowed significant deviations from proportionality, the two major parties, Panellinio Sosialistiko Kenema (Panhellenic Socialist Movement, PASOK) on the centre-left and Nea Democratia (New Democracy, ND) on the centre-right, were competing for the reins of government. Few smaller parties have always found their way to the parliament but their vote shares and their number of seats was much lower from the two major parties. As shown in Figure 2, this pattern drastically changed in 2012. The May election saw a dramatic decline in the vote shares of the two major parties, giving room to a uniform-like distribution of preferences. The results led to a deadlock and soon a decision was taken for new elections. If the May elections served to confirm a widespread belief about the end of the old party system, the June election marked a new departure point. On the one hand, PASOK’s collapse converted ND into the only viable representative of a pro-EU solution. On the other hand, it was Synaspismos Rizospastikis Aristeras (Coalition of the Radical Left,
Social Incentives and Voter Turnout: Evidence from the Swiss Mail Ballot System

This paper uses a natural experiment to document the impact of social pressure on voting behavior. The main hypothesis is that social pressure creates incentives to vote for the purpose of being seen at the voting act. This incentive is particularly high in small and close-knit communities. Empirically, I analyze the effect of postal voting on voter participation in Switzerland. Optional postal voting decreased the voting costs, but simultaneously removed the social pressure to vote. In spite of the large reduction in voting costs, the effect on aggregate turnout was small. However, voter participation was more negatively affected in the smaller communities. This lends support to the view that social incentives played a role for certain people's voting decisions. (JEL: H0, Z13) (c) 2010 by the European Economic Association.
Short-latency ocular following responses of monkey. I. Dependence on temporospatial properties of visual input.

The ocular following responses elicited by brief unexpected movements of the visual scene were studied in 10 rhesus monkeys. Test patterns were either random dots or sine-wave gratings [spatial frequency (Fs) 0.046-1.06 cycles per degree (c/degree)]. Test stimuli were velocity steps [speed (V) 5-400 degrees/s] of 100-ms duration, applied 50 ms after spontaneous saccades to avoid saccadic intrusions. Eye velocity response profiles were nonmonotonic and idiosyncratic, but consistent and closely time-locked to stimulus onset. Two measures of response amplitude were used: initial peak in eye velocity (ei), and average final eye velocity over the period of 110-140 ms measured from stimulus onset (ef). Using random dot patterns, response latencies were short, e.g., when the criterion for onset was an eye acceleration of 100 degrees/s2, mean latency (+/- SE) for eight monkeys with a 40 degrees/s test ramp was 51.5 +/- 0.6 ms. Using gratings of low spatial frequency (Fs less than 0.5 c/degree), latency was inversely related to, and solely a function of, contrast and temporal frequency, Ft (where Ft = V X Fs). We conclude from the latter that ocular following is triggered by local changes in luminance, and propose a model of the detection mechanism that reproduces all the essential features of these data. Moderate low-pass spatial filtering ("blurring") of the random dot pattern, by interposing a sheet of ground glass between the animal and the scene, progressively increased the response latency and decreased ef, but ei was either little affected or increased. When used with gratings, the ground glass simply reduced the contrast (range: 0.5-0.003), with very similar consequences for ocular following: latency increased and ef decreased, but ei changed little over the first decade of contrast reduction, increased over the second, and began to show attenuation (often pronounced) only at the lowest contrast. We suggest that these anomalous increases in ei with reductions in contrast are secondary to the delay in response onset and might be explained if the motion detectors responsible for triggering ocular following act as a gate for integrated retinal slip inputs to the tracking system proper: the delay in detection causes a buildup in the error signal driving the tracking response. En masse movement of the visual field was not the optimal stimulus for ocular following. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Neonatal Portal Venous Blood Flowmetry by Doppler Ultrasound for Early Diagnosis of Ischemia in Intestinal Tract

Abstract Purpose The aim of this article is to evaluate the utility of portal blood flow and other hemodynamic measurements for early diagnosis of ischemia that may cause necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Patients and Methods We measured neonatal portal blood flow by Doppler ultrasound and performed hemodynamic examinations in 75 newborns without congenital anomalies. All newborns were followed for 1 month after birth. The average gestational period was 30.5 weeks, and the average birth weight was 1,172 g. Results A positive correlation was observed between both body weight and the following parameters: portal vein cross-sectional area, blood flow velocity, and portal blood flow volume. A greater coefficient of correlation was observed between the portal vein cross-sectional area and weight in newborns weighing ≤ 1,500 g than in those weighing > 1,500 g. The portal vein cross-sectional area and blood flow velocity changed over time to maintain a fixed portal blood flow volume. The portal vein blood flow demonstrated a poor increase in patients with poor weight gain after birth. Seven infants demonstrated a reduction in portal vein blood flow before the development of abdominal symptoms. Both the cross-sectional area and blood flow velocity decreased over time before the onset of any symptoms of NEC. Conclusions A significant decline in portal blood flow volume may be useful for the early diagnosis of NEC.
Financial Literacy and Pension Plan Participation in Italy

By requiring individuals to decide whether to participate in (newly established) pension funds, how much to contribute and how to invest their retirement wealth, pension reforms have raised concerns about the ability of households to deal with financial decisions. Using the Bank of Italy's Survey on Household Income and Wealth, our empirical analysis shows that most individuals lack knowledge of basic concepts such as interest rates and inflation. Males, the more educated and residents in the Centre-North possess higher literacy. As for the effects, financial literacy has a positive and significant impact on the probability of pension plan participation.
Development and characterization of PLGA nanoparticles as delivery systems of a prodrug of zidovudine obtained by its conjugation with ursodeoxycholic acid

Abstract Context: Zidovudine (AZT) is employed against AIDS and hepatitis; its use is limited by active efflux transporters (AETs) that induce multidrug resistance for intracellular therapies and hamper AZT to reach the brain. Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) conjugation with AZT (prodrug UDCA–AZT) allows to elude the AET systems. Objective: To investigate the effect of the Pluronic F68 coating on the loading, release and stability of poly(D,L lactide-co-glicolide) nanoparticles (NPs) embedded with UDCA–AZT. Materials and methods: The mean diameter of the NP prepared by nanoprecipitation or emulsion/solvent evaporation methods was determined using both photon correlation spectroscopy and sedimentation field–flow fractionation; particle morphology was detected by scanning electron microscope. The stability of the free and encapsulated UDCA–AZT was evaluated in rat liver homogenates by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. Results and discussion: The mean diameter of the NPs was found to be ∼600 nm with a relatively high polydispersity. The NPs obtained by emulsion/solvent evaporation were not able to control the prodrug release, differently from NPs obtained by nanoprecipitation. The presence of the Pluronic coating did not substantially modify the kinetics of the drug release, or the extent of the burst effect that were instead only influenced by the preparation parameters. UDCA–AZT incorporated in the NPs was more stable in the rat liver homogenates than the free prodrug and no influence of the Pluronic coating was observed. Conclusions: Considering the different potential applications of nanoparticles coated and uncoated with Pluronic (brain and macrophage targeting, respectively), both of these nanoparticle systems could be useful in the therapies against HIV.
Role of dietary calcium and available phosphorus in the aetiology of tibial dyschondroplasia in growing turkeys

1. Large White male turkeys from a heavy commercial male-line were fed 16 diets containing 4 concentrations of calcium (6, 10, 14 and 18 g/kg) and available phosphorus (3, 5, 7 and 9 g/kg) in a 4 4 factorial experiment. There were three replicates (pens) of each treatment and the skeletal health, morphology and mineral status of 4 turkeys from each pen were assessed at 7, 10 and 13 weeks of age. 2. The prevalence of tibial dyschondroplasia increased after 7 weeks of age and was present in 50 and 71% of turkeys respectively at 10 and 13 weeks. The lesion was localised in the caudal aspect of the proximal tibiae. Dietary calcium and available phosphorus did not affect the prevalence of the lesion except in turkeys on the diet containing 6 g calcium/kg, where body weight and the incidence of tibial dyschondroplasia were low. 3. Hisological investigation showed no evidence of rachitic changes. 4. Low dietary calcium was associated with lower tibial plateau angles at 10 and 13 weeks of age. Tibial torsion and the angle of rotation were not affected by dietary treatments or age. 5. Increasing dietary calcium increased tibial radiodensity, cortical density and the widths of the cortex and proximal tibiotarsus. Radiodensities increased to 10 weeks and were significantly lower at 13 weeks of age. 6. Bone ash, calcium and phosphorus declined with age, particularly between 10 and 13 weeks, whereas bone calcium:phosphorus ratios were not affected by dietary treatment or age. 7. Dietary calcium was positively associated with blood calcium and calcium ion concentrations and was without effect on blood phosphorus. Available phosphorus was associated positively with increased blood phosphorus and lower calcium ion concentrations but had no effect on total calcium. Alkaline phosphatase activity was low at high concentrations of dietary calcium with low available phosphorus and there was higher activity on diets containing low calcium and high available phosphorus.