Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investor Protection and Ownership Decentralization

On the premise that the expropriation of corporate assets by controlling shareholders would generate a residual loss, we studied how the laws of investor protection influenced on the decentralization of corporate ownership and what role the litigation cost play in this story by continuous time finance model. There are several interested conclusions we reached. At first, the decentralization of ownership is the result of the effective legal protection of minority shareholders’ rights and interest, and this result is irrelevant to whether there is a litigation cost or who pays for this cost. Second, effective investor protection leads to lower private benefits of control. Third, our results demonstrated that an efficient investor protection system would evolve through a self-reinforcing pathway. This means that if the law can effectively protect the minority shareholders, then this protection will become increasingly strong. In contrast, if the investor protection system is ineffective, then this protection system will be practically dead in the end. Fourth, the conclusions about the judicial procedure of how to share the litigation cost means that if penalty remain unchanged, an effective investor protection would lead to the increase of litigation costs over time, while an ineffective investor protection would lead to a decrease over time. This result is independent of who will pay the cost. Finally, our results showed that if the minority shareholders within the legal timeliness of the investor protection law pay the litigation cost, an increase in the penalty rate would lead to an increase in litigation costs. The opposite result we obtain if the controlling shareholders pay the litigation cost; this will lead to a negative correlation between the penalty rate and litigation costs.
Snail Induction of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition in Tumor Cells Is Accompanied by MUC1 Repression andZEB1 Expression*

E-cadherin protein plays a key role in the establishment and maintenance of adherent junctions. Recent evidence implicates the transcription factor Snail in the blockage of E-cadherin expression in fibroblasts and some epithelial tumor cells through direct binding to three E-boxes in the E-cadherin promoter. Transfection of Snail into epithelial cells leads to a more fibroblastic phenotype. Cells expressing Snail presented a scattered flattened phenotype with low intercellular contacts. Other epithelial markers like Cytokeratin 18 or MUC1 were also repressed. The effects of Snail on MUC1 transcription were mediated by two E-boxes present in the proximal promoter. Snail also induced expression of the mesenchymal markers fibronectin and LEF1 and the transcription repressor ZEB1. ZEB1 and Snail had a similar pattern of expression in epithelial cell lines, and both were induced by overexpression of ILK1, a kinase that causes the loss of E-cadherin and the acquisition of a fibroblastic phenotype. Snail overexpression in several cell lines raised ZEB1 RNA levels and increased the activity of ZEB1 promoter. ZEB1 could also repress E-cadherin and MUC1 promoters but less strongly than Snail. However, since ZEB1 expression persisted after Snail was down-regulated, ZEB1 may regulate epithelial genes in several tumor cell lines.
Fuzzy heterogeneous neurons for imprecise classification problems

In the classical neuron model, inputs are continuous real‐valued quantities. However, in many important domains from the real world, objects are described by a mixture of continuous and discrete variables, usually containing missing information and uncertainty. In this paper, a general class of neuron models accepting heterogeneous inputs in the form of mixtures of continuous (crisp and/or fuzzy) and discrete quantities admitting missing data is presented. From these, several particular models can be derived as instances and different neural architectures constructed with them. Such models deal in a natural way with problems for which information is imprecise or even missing. Their possibilities in classification and diagnostic problems are here illustrated by experiments with data from a real‐world domain in the field of environmental studies. These experiments show that such neurons can both learn and classify complex data very effectively in the presence of uncertain information. ©2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Corporate social reporting in the Republic of Ireland: an analysis from 1991 to 1995

This paper reports on the results of a five year study of the corporate social reporting (CSR) practices of listed companies in the Republic of Ireland. CSR has a long history of both practice and research in western Europe but this is the first detailed study of its kind in Ireland. The results show that disclosure levels in Ireland were quite low throughout the five year period with larger companies tending to disclose more information. Mandatory disclosures relating to human resources information tended to predominate with only a limited number of companies reporting detailed voluntary information on a consistent basis. The increasing trends in environmental disclosure in western European surveys were not evident in the sample. Although different average volumes of disclosure were found between different industry sectors, these were only statistically significant in the first three years of the study.
SME's readiness for e-govemment services: the case of Egypt

Many developing countries have introduced e-Government projects to facilitate government services for business. However. due to the lack of appropriate ICT infrastructure and digital illiteracy among SMEs. e-Government projects are abundant. This is an empirical research that closely investigates the e-readiness of SMEs to adopt e-Government services. A conceptual model is proposed based on reviewing the all e-readiness assessments and relevant adoption literature. The Egyptian e-Government project is selected as an example of e-Govemment services offered for SMEs in developing countries. Surveying SMEs in Egypt confirmed the importance of the e-readiness factors as the first step in adoption. However. being e-ready is not enough for adoption. Other factors including benefits of using e-Govemment services should be in place.
A Study on E-Training Adoption for Higher Learning Institutions

Conducting or attending training sessions have become essential for developing the required competencies to fulfil organizations’ needs and for individual personal growth. This is also becoming part of developing knowledge society or workers. Most of the organizations are still applying the traditional training approach for human resource training (e.g. employees need to be in a certain place, duration, and with an appointed trainer). However, the traditional training practices consume high cost, less flexibility, and difficult to meet the needs and expectations of participants and the organizations. This research aims to explore the possibility of adopting electronic-training (e-training) concept at the higher learning institutions. The e-training in this research context covers the training provider (the institution) and the trainee (employees) for inhouse training or for external participants. UNITEN was used as a case study to identify the requirements and the possibilities to adopt the e-training concept. This research applied the quantitative and qualitative approach that involved survey and interview techniques. The outcome from this research is an e-training adoption framework that could assist an institution to step forward into another level of delivering and engaging knowledge to build knowledgeable and skilful staffs.
Blind channel identification using RLS method based on second-order statistics

In this paper, we show a new blind identification algorithm which is based on second order statistics and exploits a single-input double-output (SIDO) model. It is suitable for a real-time processing system because of lower operation and high-speed convergence. The proposed blind identification algorithm is superior to conventional algorithms in view of simple structure and the uniqueness of solution. We also verify its efficiency by computer simulation.
Image Gradient-based Joint Direct Visual Odometry for Stereo Camera

Visual odometry is an important research problem for computer vision and robotics. In general, the feature-based visual odometry methods heavily rely on the accurate correspondences between local salient points, while the direct approaches could make full use of whole image and perform dense 3D reconstruction simultaneously. However, the direct visual odometry usually suffers from the drawback of getting stuck at local optimum especially with large displacement, which may lead to the inferior results. To tackle this critical problem, we propose a novel scheme for stereo odometry in this paper, which is able to improve the convergence with more accurate pose. The key of our approach is a dual Jacobian optimization that is fused into a multi-scale pyramid scheme. Moreover, we introduce a gradient-based feature representation, which enjoys the merit of being robust to illumination changes. Furthermore, a joint direct odometry approach is proposed to incorporate the information from the last frame and previous keyframes. We have conducted the experimental evaluation on the challenging KITTI odometry benchmark, whose promising results show that the proposed algorithm is very effective for stereo visual odometry.
Combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy (without surgery) compared with radiotherapy alone in localized carcinoma of the esophagus.

BACKGROUND Esophageal carcinoma can be managed primarily with either a surgical or non-surgical radiotherapeutic approach. Combination chemotherapy (CT) and radiotherapy (RT) has been incorporated into clinical practice and applied increasingly, especially in North America. OBJECTIVES To evaluate combined CT and RT (CTRT) versus RT alone in patients with localized esophageal carcinoma. Outcomes included overall survival, cause-specific survival, local recurrence, dysphagia relief, quality of life, acute and chronic toxicities. SEARCH STRATEGY The Cochrane strategy for identifying randomized trials was combined with relevant MeSH headings. The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, CancerLIT and EMBASE were last searched in April 2005. References from relevant articles and personal files were included. SELECTION CRITERIA Randomized controlled trials in patients with localized esophageal cancer comparing RT alone with combined CTRT were included. Studies comparing non-chemotherapy agents such as pure radiotherapy sensitisers, immunostimulants, planned esophagectomy, were excluded. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two reviewers extracted data independently. Trial quality was assessed using the Jadad scale and Detsky checklist. Sensitivity analyses were planned to examine the effect of concomitant versus sequential treatment, study quality, radiotherapy dose, and whether the drug regimen contained cisplatin or 5-fluorouracil were performed. MAIN RESULTS Nineteen randomized trials were included, with eleven concomitant and eight sequential RTCT studies. Concomitant RTCT provided significant reduction in mortality with a harms ratio (HR) of 0.73 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.64 to 0.84). Using an estimated mortality rate for the control group of 62% at year one and 83% at year two, the absolute survival benefit for RTCT was 9% (95% CI 5 to 12%) and 4% (95% CI 3 to 6%]) respectively. There was an absolute reduction of local recurrence rate of 12% (95% CI 3 to 22%), number needed to treat (NNT) of 9, when the local recurrence rate for the RT alone arm was 68%. This was associated with a significant risk of severe and life-threatening toxicities (number needed to harm (NNH)of 6). Sensitivity analyses did not identify any factors that interacted with the results. The results from sequential RTCT studies showed no significant benefit in survival or local control but significant toxicities. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS Based on the available data, when a non-operative approach is selected then concomitant RTCT is superior to RT alone for patients with localized esophageal cancer but with significant toxicities. In patients who are in good general condition, and the risk benefit has been thoroughly discussed with the patient, concomitant RTCT should be considered for the management of esophageal cancer compared with radiotherapy alone.
Determinants of smartphone shopping adoption: Key factors for online shopping of consumer goods through smartphones in Sweden

The purpose of this thesis was to examine key factors for adoption of online shopping of consumer goods through smartphones in Sweden. Previous research on online shopping and m-commerce was reviewed and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al. 2003) was chosen. Interviews were conducted with 11 online shoppers and 5 industry experts to explore current beliefs and to modify the model to the empirical context. The model with hypotheses was tested with statistical analysis of data obtained by a survey on 303 shoppers in the Malmoe region. The findings suggest that social influence and the location of the shopper have significant positive effects on behavioural intention to shop consumer goods through smartphones. The experience of the shopper was shown to moderate the effects of the determinants. High trustworthiness and performance of smartphone web shops was appreciated, but did not affect intention. A positive relation was found between intention to shop through smartphones and self-reported past smartphone shopping habits. The findings suggest that online retailers should customise their marketing efforts to consumers with different experience levels of smartphone shopping if they wish to increase its adoption. This is one of few studies that investigate the determining factors for online shopping exclusive to smartphones.
Effective slip and friction reduction in nanograted superhydrophobic microchannels

Enabled by a technology to fabricate well-defined nanogrates over a large area (2×2cm2), we report the effect of such a surface, in both hydrophilic and hydrophobic conditions, on liquid slip and the corresponding friction reduction in microchannels. The grates are designed to be dense (∼230nm pitch) but deep (∼500nm) in order to sustain a large amount of air in the troughs when the grates are hydrophobic, even under pressurized liquid flow conditions (e.g., more than 1bar). A noticeable slip (i.e., slip length of 100–200nm, corresponding to 20%–30% reduction of pressure drop in a ∼3μm high channel) is observed for water flowing parallel over the hydrophobic nanogrates; this is believed to be an “effective” slip generated by the nanostrips of air in the grate troughs under the liquid. The effective slip is clearer and larger in flows parallel to the nanograting patterns than in transverse, suggesting that the nanograted superhydrophobic surfaces would not only reduce friction in liquid flows under pressur.
The intra- and inter-rater reliabilities of the Short Form Berg Balance Scale in institutionalized elderly people

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to examine the intra- and inter-rater reliabilities of the Short Form Berg Balance Scale in institutionalized elderly people. [Subjects and Methods] A total of 30 elderly people in a nursing facility in Y city, South Korea, participated in this study. Two examiners administered the Short Form Berg Balance Scale to one subject to investigate inter-rater reliability. After a week, the same examiners administered the Short Form Berg Balance Scale once more to investigate intra-rater reliability. [Results] The intra-rater reliability was 0.83. The inter-rater reliability was 0.79. Both reliabilities were high (more than 0.7). [Conclusion] The Short Form Berg Balance Scale is a version of the Berg Balance Scale shortened by reducing the number of items, but its reliabilities were not lower than those of the Berg Balance Scale. The Short Form Berg Balance Scale can be useful clinically due to its short measurement time.
Mekanisme Corporate Governance, kualitas laba dan nilai perusahaan

This study’s objectives were to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and earnings quality, earnings quality and value of the firm, corporate governance mechanism and value of the firm, and whether earnings quality is the intervening variable between corporate governance and value of the firm. By using 74 samples and 197 observations, the result indicates that first, corporate governance influence earnings quality. (1)Managerial ownership positively influences earnings quality, (2)Board of commissioner negatively influences earnings quality, (3)Audit committee positively influence earnings quality. Second, earnings quality positively influences value of firm. Third, corporate governance mechanism influences value of the firm. Finally, the result indicates that earnings quality is not the intervening variable between corporate governance mechanism and value of the firm. Keyword: corporate governance, earnings quality, discretionary accrual, value of the firm
Electromagnetic assessment for mobile phone base stations at major cities in Malaysia

This paper describes a research carried out to study electromagnetic exposure emitted by mobile phone base stations in public areas at major cities in Malaysia, i.e. Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru. Two measurement methods, namely broadband and narrowband measurements were used for that purpose. The recorded power densities were then compared with the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines. The measurements show that the electromagnetic exposures from mobile phone base stations are well below the ICNIRP limit. The highest recorded broadband measurement value was 2.17% of the worst case RF Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) value set by ICNIRP, which is 2 W/m2. For narrowband measurement, the highest total exposure ratio recorded was 0.3741% of the corresponding MPE.
A Benchmark for Breast Ultrasound Image Segmentation (BUSIS)

Breast ultrasound (BUS) image segmentation is challenging and critical for BUS Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) systems. Many BUS segmentation approaches have been proposed in the last two decades, but the performances of most approaches have been assessed using relatively small private datasets with differ-ent quantitative metrics, which result in discrepancy in performance comparison. Therefore, there is a pressing need for building a benchmark to compare existing methods using a public dataset objectively, and to determine the performance of the best breast tumor segmentation algorithm available today and to investigate what segmentation strategies are valuable in clinical practice and theoretical study. In this work, we will publish a B-mode BUS image segmentation benchmark (BUSIS) with 562 images and compare the performance of five state-of-the-art BUS segmentation methods quantitatively.
Market-Led Strategic Change

Part 1 The marketing potential for organizations: is there anything left to say about marketing managing customer satisfaction - do we really care about creating long-term customer satisfaction? Part 2 What doing marketing is about - marketing strategies and programmes of action: marketing strategies - do we know what we want our marketing to do? marketing programmes, plans and actions - but do we ever think our marketing through? Part 3 The real issues in managing marketing: organization for marketing - do we organize to make it happen - or don't we? information for marketing - do we know what we know, and who decides what we need to know? planning for marketing - how do we create the "ownership" of marketing strategies to make them happen? budgeting for marketing - how do we resource marketing to make it happen? Part 4 Making marketing happen: implementing marketing - why not look at what we can do, before we decide what we are going to do? market-led strategic change - do we need internal and external marketing strategies? agendas for creating and implementing marketing strategies - what are our real marketing problems? action planning - what do we do now?
Versus Exogenous Immunogen Responses to Endogenous Tissue Protein CTLA-4 Differentially Regulates T Cell

and CTLA-4 is critical to the regulation of CD4 T cell homeostasis in vivo. However, whether CTLA-4 regulates responses to both self and foreign proteins is not clear. We have directly compared the role of CTLA-4 in controlling T cell responses to the same protein presented as an endogenous tissue Ag vs a foreign immunizing Ag. We show that CTLA-4 only modestly reduces responses to Ag administered with adjuvant, but dramatically inhibits responses to the same Ag expressed transgenically as a tissue self protein. The critical consequence of CTLA-4 engagement is to inhibit T cell accumulation in the local lymph node draining the Ag-bearing tissue, and failure of this control leads to the onset of autoimmune tissue destruction. Thus, CTLA-4 may preferentially dampen pathologic immune responses to self proteins while permitting protective immunity to foreign agents. The Journal of Immunology, 2002, 169: 6202–6209.
Therapy with atazanavir plus saquinavir in patients failing highly active antiretroviral therapy: a randomized comparative pilot trial

Objectives: To assess the safety, efficacy of atazanavir (400 and 600 mg)/saquinavir (1200 mg) once daily versus ritonavir/saquinavir (400 mg/400 mg) twice daily with two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) in highly active antiretroviral therapy failure. Design and methods: Randomized, multinational, 48‐week, pilot trial with antiretroviral‐experienced patients having at least 1000 HIV‐1 RNA copies/ml, 100 × 106 CD4 cells/l (75 × 106 cells/l without AIDS diagnosis) and virological response to a prior regimen. Efficacy was evaluated by HIV‐1 RNA and CD4 cell changes from baseline to 48 weeks. Results: Comparable efficacy across groups at 48 weeks: mean HIV‐1 RNA decreases, 1.44, 1.19 and 1.66 log10 copies/ml (P = NS) and comparable virological response (> 1.0 log10 decrease HIV‐1 RNA or HIV‐1 RNA < 400 copies/ml) was achieved in 41, 29 and 35% (P = NS); and mean CD4 cell increases, 109, 55 and 149 × 106 cells/l in atazanavir 400‐mg, atazanavir 600‐mg and ritonavir groups, respectively. There were fewer adverse event discontinuations in the atazanavir groups (9%, 11%) versus the ritonavir group (30%) and atazanavir lacked adverse effects on lipids. In the atazanavir 400‐mg, atazanavir 600‐mg and ritonavir groups the mean changes from baseline at 48 weeks in fasting low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentrations were ‐0.6, ‐6.7 and 23.2%, respectively and in fasting triglyceride concentrations they were ‐4.8, ‐27.1 and 93.0%, respectively (P < 0.05, LDL cholesterol; P < 0.001, fasting triglyceride; atazanavir/saquinavir versus ritonavir/saquinavir). Conclusions: In antiretroviral‐experienced patients, once‐daily atazanavir/saquinavir was safe and well tolerated, showing comparable efficacy to twice‐daily ritonavir/saquinavir, both with two NRTIs. Small lipid changes from baseline with atazanavir/saquinavir were not clinically significant in comparison with the prompt, marked and sustained changes of a magnitude suggesting clinical relevance achieved in the ritonavir/saquinavir group.