Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of International Exposure on Corporate Social Responsibility of the Chinese Corporate Sector: The Moderating Role of CEO Duality

International exposure of a firm into new environments is one of the most important paths to firm growth. It provides growth opportunities and learning, and poses challenges of managing uncertainties of the new institutional environment, and demands of diverse domestic and international stakeholders. Despite the abundance of research on the effects of international exposure of a firm on its performance, the effects on corporate social responsibility (CSR) are not well understood. In addition to examining the direct effects of the international exposure of a firm on CSR activities in the home country, this study also examines the moderating role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) duality in the association between international exposure of a firm and CSR activities in the home country. Drawing from institutional theory and agency theory, this study argues that international exposure of a firm leads to a decrease in CSR activities in the home country. It further posits that CEO duality also negatively affects CSR activities in the home country. Further, the proposed moderation hypotheses argue that the negative effects of international exposure of a firm on CSR activities in the home country are stronger for firms with CEO duality as compared to non-duality. The proposed hypotheses are tested with data from 240 publicly listed Chinese firms between 2008 and 2016, consisting of 1920 firm-years. The panel data is analysed using Linear Mixed Modelling (LMM) with the SPSS software. The findings support all the proposed hypotheses. This study makes three key contributions. Firstly, the study uses the institutional theory and agency theory to provide evidence for the negative effects of international exposure of a firm and CEO duality on CSR activities in the home country. Secondly, it enhances the understanding of how CEO duality acts as a boundary condition between international exposure of a firm and CSR relationships. Thirdly, it contributes to the emerging economy multinational enterprises literature by enhancing understanding of the proposed relationships in the context of the Chinese corporate sector.
A Prospective Trial of a Novel, Silicone-Based, Silver-Coated Foley Catheter for the Prevention of Nosocomial Urinary Tract Infections

Objective. To evaluate the efficacy of silicone-based, silver ion–impregnated urinary catheters in the prevention of nosocomial urinary tract infections (NUTIs). Design. Prospective, crossover study to compare the efficacy of a silicone-based, hydrogel-coated, silver-impregnated Foley catheter with that of a silicone-based, hydrogel-coated catheter in the prevention of NUTIs. Setting. Adult medical and surgical wards of a university teaching hospital. Results. A total of 3,036 patients with catheters were evaluated; 1,165 (38%) of the catheters were silver impregnated, and 1,871 (62%) were not silver impregnated. Study groups were not identical; there were more men, a shorter duration of catheterization, and fewer urine cultures per 1,000 catheter-days in the silver catheter group. The rate of NUTIs per 1,000 Foley-days was 14.29 in the silver catheter group, compared with 16.15 in the nonsilver catheter group (incidence rate ratio, 0.88; 95% confidence interval, 0.70-1.11; P = .29). The median length of catheterization prior to the onset of a urinary tract infection (ie, exposure time) was 4 days for each group. There were no differences in the recovery of gram-positive, gram-negative, or fungal organisms in NUTIs. In a multivariate survival analysis, no factors, including silver catheters, were protective against NUTI. Conclusions. Unlike previous trials of latex-based, silver ion–impregnated Foley catheters, we found that silicone-based, silver-impregnated Foley catheters were not effective in preventing NUTIs; however, this study was affected by differences in the study groups. Prospective trials remain important in assessing the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of new silver-coated products.
Significance of chemokines and soluble CD40 ligand in patients with autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura

Abstract: We investigated the levels of various chemokines and soluble CD40L (sCD40L) in ITP patients, in order to determine the influence of CD40–CD40L interaction on the pathogenesis of ITP. We found increases in MCP‐1 and RANTES levels in ITP patients compared with those in healthy individuals. Thirty‐eight of the 65 ITP patients (58.5%) had elevated levels of sCD40L. We found significant decreases in platelet counts in sCD40L‐positive ITP patients. Although the sCD40L level did not differ significantly between the control and nonimmune thrombocytopenia groups, but among ITP patients. sCD40L level was significantly higher in those with untreated ITP than in those with treated ITP. In addition, significant increases in RANTES, MCP‐1, sCD14, and sP‐selectin levels were observed in sCD40L‐positive ITP patients, although sE‐selectin levels were not increased in such patients. For other factors examined, however, there were no differences in level between sCD40L‐positive and ‐negative ITP patients. These findings suggests that there are two groups of ITP patients, one with elevated and one with normal of sCD40L. ITP cases in which sCD40L was increased appeared to involve changes in platelet counts and monocyte activation. The pathogenesis of ITP may in some patients include alterations of the CD40/CD40L pathway.
Recurrent erythema multiforme: clinical features and treatment in a large series of patients

Recurrent erythema multiforme is an uncommon disorder. We have reviewed the clinical features and treatment of 65 patients with this condition. The mean number of attacks per year was six (range 2–24). and the mean duration of the disease was 9.5 years (range 2–36) reflecting its chronicity. The majority of patients had oral mucous membrane involvement (69%). In 46 patients (71%) the condition was precipitated by a preceding herpes simplex virus infection. Acyclovir was found to be the most useful first‐line treatment, with 55% of patients deriving benefit from either continuous oral acyclovir or a patient‐initiated 5‐day oral course at the onset of herpes simplex virus infection. Of those failing to respond to acyclovir, a small proportion responded to dapsone. The most resistant patients (11) were treated with azathioprine. with complete disease suppression in all cases.
Are Convertibles a Proxy for Firms' Uncertainty and Investors' Disagreement

This paper tests the theoretical explanation that firms issue convertible bonds according to the uncertainty of their company risk. According to the theory, firms with high and indeterminate risk are more likely to issue convertible bonds compared to straight debt and seasoned equity. Consistent with the theory of Brennan & Schwartz (1988), firms with higher stock volatility prefer to issue convertibles over straight debt. The disagreement among investors has a significantly positive effect on the choice of finance between convertibles and straight debt as well. However, riskier firms that are characterized by a large dispersion of opinions among investors do not have a preference between convertible bonds and seasoned equity. The variation in announcement returns is primarily caused by a negative effect of stock volatility, which is inconsistent with the prediction; investors’ disagreement also has a negative impact, to a smaller degree. The variation in the convertibles’ discount offered by companies is primarily caused by a positive effect of stock volatility, and is affected by the disagreement among investors as well.
Characterizing the Impact of Extreme Heat on Mortality, Karachi, Pakistan, June 2015

Abstract Introduction Karachi, Pakistan was affected by a heat wave in June 2015 during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Many media reports attributed the excess deaths in part to the practice of daylight fasting during Ramadan. As much of the published research reports on heat-related mortality in Europe and the United States, an exploration of the effects of extreme heat on residents of a South Asian mega-city address a gap in current disaster research. Hypothesis/Problem This report investigated potential risk factors for excess mortality associated with the June 2015 heat wave in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods Data were obtained through manual review of death certificates at public hospitals and private clinics in Karachi, Pakistan, conducted from July 1 through July 31, 2015 by a trained physician. Demographic data for any deaths with a primary cause of death of heat-related illness were recorded in Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corp.; Redmond, Washington USA). EpiSheet (2012; Rothman. Modern Epidemiology. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA) was used to calculate risk differences (RD), rate ratios (RR), and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results Overall, residents of Karachi were approximately 17 times as likely to die of a heat-related cause of death during June 2015 (RR=17.68; 95% CI, 13.87-22.53) when compared with the reference period of June 2014. Residents with a monthly income lower than 20,000 Pakistani Rupees (US $196; RD=0.03; 95% CI, 0.01-0.05) and those with less than a fifth grade education (RD=0.03; 95% CI, 0.00-0.05) were at significantly higher risk of death during the 2015 heat wave compared to the reference period. Conclusion Fasting during Ramadan was not a significant risk factor for mortality from heat-related causes during the Karachi heat wave of June 2015. A large number of excess deaths were reported across all demographic groups, which due to the burden of record keeping in an under-resourced health system during a public health emergency, are almost certainly an underestimate. GhummanU, HorneyJ. Characterizing the impact of extreme heat on mortality, Karachi, Pakistan, June 2015. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(3):263–266.
Analisis Keuangan Kelayakan Bisnis Syariah Hamdi's Model (Studi Kasus Usaha Swalayan Syariah Di Pekanbaru)

The purporse this studies to calculation of financial analysis on the feasibility of investments the Hamdiâ€™s Model on Islamic concepts. In this study try to do research as the implications of this concept and examples of cases in the supermarket to enrich financial research that will find a new concept in the field of Islamic financial analysis business feasibility study. The result of reseach of the financial aspects of the show that a analysis of the feasibility study that takes in the decision to accept or reject by using Hamdiâ€™s model. This analysis shows the calculation Hamdiâ€™s model could be used in assessing the feasibility of investing can be used in the Islamic feasible study anayisis. The method of syariah are calculation Gold Value Method (GVM), Methods Gold Index (GI) and methods Investible Surplus Analysis Method. Keywords : Feasible study, syariah method and Gold Value Method
Submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum infections in pregnancy in Ghana

Summary Malarial parasitaemia below the threshold of microscopy but detectable by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays is common in endemic regions. This study was conducted to examine prevalence, predictors, and effects of submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum infections in pregnancy. In a cross‐sectional study among 530 pregnant women in Ghana, plasmodial infections were assessed by microscopy and PCR assays. Concentrations of haemoglobin and C‐reactive protein (CRP) were measured and antimalarial drugs (chloroquine, pyrimethamine) in urine were demonstrated by ELISA dipsticks. By microscopy, 32% of the women were found to harbour malaria parasites. This rate increased to 63% adding the results of the parasite‐specific PCR. P. falciparum was present in all but one infection. With increasing gravidity, infection rates and parasite densities decreased and the proportions of submicroscopic parasitaemia among infected women grew. Correspondingly, anaemia, fever and evidence of inflammation (CRP > 0.6 mg/dl) were more frequent in primigravidae than in multigravidae. Antimalarial drugs were detected in 65% of the women and were associated with a reduced prevalence of P. falciparum infections and a raised proportion of submicroscopic parasitaemia. Both gravidity and antimalarial drug use were independent predictors of submicroscopic P. falciparum infections. These infections caused a slight reduction of Hb levels and considerably increased serum concentrations of CRP. Conventional microscopy underestimates the actual extent of malarial infections in pregnancy in endemic regions. Submicroscopic P. falciparum infections are frequent and may contribute to mild anaemia and inflammation in seemingly aparasitaemic pregnant women.
Sémantiques de la logique linéaire et temps de calcul

Des exponentielles heterodoxes avec un travail sur une variante du lambda-calcul proposee par Terui (le lambda-calcul “light”) qui permet de representer toutes les fonctions calculables en temps polynomial, et seulement elles. Ce calcul s’inspire du systeme LLL de Girard et controle le temps de calcul en decomposant la beta-reduction en etapes correspondant a des etapes de reduction de logique lineaire, au moyen d’un mecanisme de pattern-matching. Nous developpons pour ce langage un systeme de types avec intersection garantissant l’absence de deadlocks durant la reduction. Nous interessant toujours aux types avec intersection, nous avons travaille ensuite sur le lambdacalcul usuel, cherchant a etablir des liens plus generaux entre temps de calcul et types. Dans ce but, nous avons considere un systeme de types avec intersections non idempotentes, base sur le modele relationnel multiensembliste du lambda-calcul. Ce systeme est essentiellement identique a un systeme de types introduit en 1980 par Coppo, Dezani et Venneri, que nous situons ainsi dans son environnement naturel : une categorie de co-Kleisli au-dessus de la categorie des ensembles et des relations. Nous avons etabli un lien etroit entre la taille des derivations de types des termes dans ce systeme et leur temps d’execution dans la machine de Krivine, un modele d’evaluation des lambda-termes proche des machines a environnement utilisees en pratique pour l’evaluation des langages de programmation fonctionnels. Notre resultat peut etre vu comme un raffinement quantitatif du theoreme bien connu qui enonce qu’un lambda-terme est normalisable si et seulement si il est typable dans les types avec intersection. Enfin, nous etudions la semantique de la logique lineaire differentielle, un formalisme que Ehrhard a introduit il y a quelques annees avec Regnier et dont il a recemment montre avec Laurent qu’il fournit un nouveau modele du calcul concurrent et mobile. Nous avons considere des modeles du fragment finitaire de cette logique (sans promotion) et montre comment on pouvait definir la promotion en utilisant une version categorique de la formule de Taylor. Nous avons obtenu ainsi des semi-foncteurs pour interpreter les exponentielles de la logique lineaire et en avons etudie les proprietes, en fonction des proprietes algebriques (commutativite et cocommutativite) de l’interpretation finitaire sous-jacente. Nous avons obtenu de cette facon de nouveaux modeles, ou les exponentielles (orthodoxes) ont des interpretations non standard, ainsi que des interpretations non invariantes par reduction, qui ont surement un grand interet pour l’etude de l’elimination des coupures.
CSR Communication Tactics and the Micro-Accumulation of Reputational Capital

There is growing evidence corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance should be understood as something that is not just reported but communicated. Particularly with the advent of social media, CSR is increasingly seen not just in one-way disclosure but in firms’ mobilizational efforts, two-way dialogue with stakeholders, public educational messages, and a variety of other discursive and conversational tactics. Moreover, some of these tactics are more likely to influence public perceptions of the firm. Examining the 18,722 original messages sent by Fortune 200 firms’ dedicated CSR feeds on Twitter in 2014, I thus identify nine communication tactics and test how they are linked to micro-level changes in two dimensions of corporate reputation. I find the aware- ness dimension of reputation is driven by the use of informational tactics such as disclosure, while reputational favorability is significantly influenced not by the provision of information but by the use of more interactive communicative tactics. This study provides evidence of a number of new, non-reporting-based CSR communication tactics and illustrates how firms acquire reputational capital on a micro-, message-by-message, day-to-day level.
A role for p53 in the regulation of extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer in human cancer cells

EMMPRIN, a transmembrane glycoprotein known to pro-mote survival, invasion and metastasis of tumor cells through multiple pathways and mechanisms, has been found to be overexpressed in various types of cancer cells. Here we report that loss of the function of p53, a tumor suppressor protein that is mutated in approximately 50% of human cancers, contributes to the upregulation of EMMPRIN protein. We observed an inverse association between the activity of p53 and the level of EMMPRIN protein in several cancer cell lines. We further demonstrated that p53 is able to negatively regulate EMMPRIN protein, but downregulation of EMMPRIN by p53 is independent of repression of the EMMPRIN transcription. Furthermore, downregulation of EMMPRIN by p53 can be rescued by chloroquine, a lysosome inhibitor, but not by MG132, a proteasome inhibitor, suggesting an involvement of the lysosomal pathway in the p53-regulated degradation of EMMPRIN. Downregulation of EMMPRIN by p53 leads to a decrease in the activity of MMP-9 and an inhibition of tumor cell invasion. Our study suggests that the upregulation of EMMPRIN seen in many cancers can be attributed to, at least in part, the dysfunction of p53 and thus provides new evidence for the roles of p53 in tumor development and progression.
The Impact of Capital Structure on Corporate Performance in Nigeria: A Quantitative Study of Consumer Goods Sector

This study examined the impact of capital structure on corporate performance in Nigeria with special focus on consumer goods firm sector of the economy. Multiple regression of ordinary least square (OLS) analytical technique was used to analyse the data. The results from the study showed a negative and insignificant impact of capital structure on corporate performance of the consumer goods firm sector of Nigeria. That long-term debt ratio to total asset had a negative and insignificant impact on returns on assets, while total debt ratio to equity also had a negative and insignificant impact on returns on assets. The study, therefore, concluded that capital structure is not a major determinant of firm performance. Hence, the study recommends that managers should be careful while using debt as a source of finance since a negative impact exist between the capital structure and corporate firmâ€™s performance. Also, that corporate firms should try to finance their activities with retained earnings and use debt as a last option as this is consistent with the pecking order theory. This implies that, the study strongly recommends that corporate firms should use more of equity than debt in financing their business activities, this is because in spite of the fact that the value of a business can be enhanced with debt capital, it gets to a point that it becomes detrimental (negative) or unfavourable to the business.
Motifs de flot d'Information dans les jeux à information imparfaite. (Information-flow Patterns in Games with Imperfect Information)

De plus en plus de tâches informatiques sont effectuees par des systemes interactifs qui impliquent plusieurs agents distribues, qui n'ont qu'une connaissance locale de l'etat global du systeme, et leurs propres ressources de calcul. Notre travail explore des scenarios interactifs parle prisme des jeux synchrones sur graphes finis et a information imparfaite. Premierement, on s'interesse a la question de la difficulte intrinseque des phenomenes interactifs, en etudiant une variante de notre modele general de jeux, les consensus game acceptors. On montre que, sous hypothese d'information imparfaite, la condition de consensus est suffisante pour causer l'indecidabilite. En utilisant les outils de la theorie des langages formels, on donne une classification des jeux en termes de complexite d'execution des strategies gagnantes. Ensuite, on se concentre sur des cas decidables et sur la facon dont l'information est rendue accessible aux joueurs. On identifie un motif de flot d'information parmi les joueurs qui assure la decidabilite: l'information hierarchique. Un jeu est considere a information hierarchique quand l'information a propos de l'historique actuel est accessible aux joueurs de maniere ordonnee, de telle sorte qu'il n'y a pas deux joueurs ayant de l'information incomparable. On presente trois variantes de l'information hierarchique : l’information hierarchique statique, dynamique, et enfin recurrente, qui elargissent le paysage des architectures decidables. Enfin, on considere une source particuliere d'information imparfaite dans les jeux, qui peut apparaitre en pratique: les delais. Developpant la technique de delayed-response de la litterature de theorie des jeux economique, on elabore une procedure qui prend en charge la structure de systeme de transition a etats multiples de notre modele de jeux, et, en recombinant prudemment des strategies gagnantes dans les instances de jeu avec monitorat instantane, construit des solutions au probleme de la synthese distribuee differee qui preservent les equilibres.
STAPHYLOCOCCAL TRANSDUCING PARTICLE

Dowell, C. E. (The University of Texas, Dallas) and E. D. Rosenblum. Staphylococcal transducing particle. J. Bacteriol. 84:1076–1079. 1962. —When novobiocin-resistant transductants were isolated under conditions that permitted superinfection, almost all the clones were lysogenic for the transducing phage. If superinfection was prevented, then the transductants isolated were nonlysogenic, suggesting the defective nature of the transducing particle. It was noted that the transducing and plaque-forming particles showed no appreciable difference in buoyant density. No difference was found in transduction rates when either sensitive or lysogenic cells were used as recipients. Transduction rates as high as one transductant per 7 × 104 phage particles were obtained for novobiocin resistance.
Clinical Evaluation of the Air Removal Characteristics of an Oxygenator with Integrated Arterial Filter in a Minimized Extracorporeal Circuit

The use of minimized extracorporeal circuits (MECC) in cardiac surgery is an important measure to increase the biocompatibility of cardiopulmonary bypass during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). These circuits eliminate volume storage reservoirs and bubble traps to minimize the circuit. However, the reduction in volume may increase the risk of gaseous microemboli (GME). The MECC system as used by our group consists of a venous bubble trap, centrifugal pump, and an oxygenator. To further reduce the risk of introducing GME, an oxygenator with an integrated arterial filter was developed based on the concept of minimal volume and foreign surface. We studied the air removal characteristics of this oxygenator with and without integrated arterial filter. The quantity and volume of GME were measured with precision at both the inlet and outlet of the devices. Our results showed that integration of an arterial filter into this oxygenator increased GME reducing capacity from 69.2% to 92%. Moreover, we were able to obtain data on the impact of an arterial filter on the exact size-distribution of GME entering the arterial line. The present study demonstrates that an MECC system and oxygenator with integrated arterial filter significantly reduces the volume and size of GME. The use of an integrated arterial filter in an MECC system may protect the patient from the deleterious effects of CPB and may further improve patient safety.