Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ownership, Dividends, R&D and Retained Earnings - are institutional owners short-term oriented?

This paper investigates the link between institutional ownership and dividend policy. Utilizing a dividend payout model, which accounts for earnings trends and partial adjustments of dividends, a positive but marginally diminishing relation is found between institutional ownership and dividends. This result holds when ownership is retained through the use of control enhancing mechanisms such as vote-differentiation, instruments that induce investors to demand higher payout ratios. A positive effect with respect to earnings is also recognized.By studying a panel of 189 Swedish firms, the paper presents the first evidence for the relationship between dividend payout policy and ownership in a corporate governance system which is characterized by an extensive separation of ownership from control. Most studies on the relationship between ownership and dividends have been made on US or UK data, which do not account for this Continental-European governance attribute. The paper supplements the literature by examining a unique database of ultimate ownership which makes it possible to account for ownership continuously.
Developing Country Proposals for the Liberalization of Movements of Natural Services Suppliers

This chapter criticizes the mercantilist rhetoric of some of the initial proposals because they requested other countries to liberalize their imports without offering reciprocal and equivalent market-opening commitments. It notes the extreme caution of developed country offers and concludes that — even though ‘Mode 4’ appears to be the principal way in which developing countries might expect to reap market access benefits in services — there may not be much liberalization of ‘Mode 4 services’ during the Doha Round in view of, inter alia, the xenophobic European fears of permanent migration. Developing countries likewise continue to be restrictive on opening their labour markets for professional services of foreign workers, in contrast to their more liberal attitude vis-a-vis ‘commercial presence’ (Mode 3) of foreign services suppliers.
Polyphosphate kinase 2: a modulator of nucleoside diphosphate kinase activity in mycobacteria

Mycobacteria encode putative class II polyphosphate kinases (PPKs). We report that recombinant PPK2 of Mycobacterium tuberculosis catalyses the synthesis of GTP from GDP using polyphosphate rather than ATP as phosphate donor. Unlike that of PPK1, this is the favoured reaction of PPK2. The sites of autophosphorylation, H115 and H247, as well as G74 were critical for GTP‐synthesizing activity. Compromised survival of a ppk2 knockout (PPK2‐KO) of Mycobacterium smegmatis under heat or acid stress or hypoxia, and the ability of ppk2 of M. tuberculosis to complement this, confirmed that PPK2 plays a role in mycobacterial survival under stress. Intracellular ATP : GTP ratio was higher in PPK2‐KO compared with the wild‐type M. smegmatis, bringing to light a role of PPK2 in regulating the intracellular nucleotide pool. We present evidence that PPK2 does so by interacting with nucleoside diphosphate kinase (Ndk). Pull‐down assays and analysis by surface plasmon resonance demonstrated that the interaction requires G74 of PPK2MTB and 109LET111 of NdkMTB. In summary, we unravel a novel mechanism of regulation of nucleotide pools in mycobacteria. Downregulation of ppk2 impairs survival of M. tuberculosis in macrophages, suggesting that PPK2 plays an important role in the physiology of the bacteria residing within macrophages.
Complex Phosphatase Regulation of Ca2+-activated Cl− Currents in Pulmonary Arterial Smooth Muscle Cells*

The present study was undertaken to determine whether the two ubiquitously expressed Ca2+-independent phosphatases PP1 and PP2A regulate Ca2+-activated Cl− currents (ICl(Ca)) elicited by 500 nm [Ca2+]i in rabbit pulmonary artery (PA) myocytes dialyzed with or without 3 mm ATP. Reverse transcription-PCR experiments revealed the expression of PP1α, PP1β/δ, PP1γ, PP2Aα, PP2Aβ, PP2Bα (calcineurin (CaN) Aα), and PP2Bβ (CaN Aβ) but not PP2Bγ (CaN Aγ) in rabbit PA. Western blot and immunofluorescence experiments confirmed the presence of all three PP1 isoforms and PP2A. Intracellular dialysis with a peptide inhibitor of calcineurin (CaN-AIP); the non-selective PP1/PP2A inhibitors okadaic acid (0.5, 10, or 30 nm), calyculin A (10 nm), or cantharidin (100 nm); and the selective PP1 inhibitor NIPP-1 (100 pm) potently antagonized the recovery of ICl(Ca) in cells dialyzed with no ATP, whereas the PP2A-selective antagonist fostriecin (30 or 150 nm) was ineffective. The combined application of okadaic acid (10 nm) and CaN-autoinhibitory peptide (50 μm) did not potentiate the response of ICl(Ca) in 0 ATP produced by maximally inhibiting CaN or PP1/PP2A alone. Consistent with the non-additive effects of either classes of phosphatases, the PP1 inhibitor NIPP-1 (100 pm) antagonized the recovery of ICl(Ca) induced by exogenous CaN Aα (0.5 μm). These results demonstrate that ICl(Ca) in PA myocytes is regulated by CaN and PP1 and/or PP2A. Our data also suggest the existence of a functional link between these two classes of phosphatases.
Residual Features and Unified Prediction Network for Single Stage Detection

Recently, a lot of single stage detectors using multi-scale features have been actively proposed. They are much faster than two stage detectors that use region proposal networks (RPN) without much degradation in the detection performances. However, the feature maps in the lower layers close to the input which are responsible for detecting small objects in a single stage detector have a problem of insufficient representation power because they are too shallow. There is also a structural contradiction that the feature maps have to deliver low-level information to next layers as well as contain high-level abstraction for prediction. In this paper, we propose a method to enrich the representation power of feature maps using Resblock and deconvolution layers. In addition, a unified prediction module is applied to generalize output results and boost earlier layers' representation power for prediction. The proposed method enables more precise prediction, which achieved higher score than SSD on PASCAL VOC and MS COCO. In addition, it maintains the advantage of fast computation of a single stage detector, which requires much less computation than other detectors with similar performance. Code is available at this https URL
A conceptual framework for supply chain management: a structural integration

Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to document the research on development of a conceptual framework for the supply chain. The aims of the research were to develop an integrated framework, and to provide a methodology for planning of many components in the supply chain such as suppliers, materials, resources, warehouses, activities and customers. The proposed framework is based on the unitary structuring technique where bills of materials, bills of warehouses, project networks and operations routings, in both manufacturing and distribution networks, are combined into a single structure.Design/methodology/approach – The framework is described along with illustrated numerical examples in the manufacturing and distribution environments.Findings – The numerical testing has shown that each network in the supply chain provides an integrated approach to planning and execution of many components, and is capable of providing visibility, flexibility and maintainability for further improvement in the supply.
Surgical Treatment with Radiofrequencies for Outpatients with Surgical Benign Ano-Perianal Diseases.

INTRODUCTION Nowadays, the occurrence of surgical benign ano-perianal diseases (SBAPD) is raising. Radiofrequency (RF) represents a surgical therapeutic method using high frequency radio waves to perform incisions, excisions and tissue coagulation. The main purpose of the study is to validate the possibility to use RF within the surgical treatment for outpatients with SBAPD; at the same time, a special consideration has been given to appreciate the efficiency of RF compared with other surgical methods. MATERIAL AND METHOD The study presents the results accumulated in 11 years (December 2003 - December 2014) in "PROCTOLINE" International Medical Center; also, we have taken into account the accomplishments on 783 outpatients, submitted to RF surgery for 10 different types of SBAPD. Various RF surgeries (cuttings, excisions, coagulations, curettages etc.) have been performed under local anesthesia. RESULTS The necessary time was usually less than 45 minutes, while the post-operatory duration for a total healing was in the range of 7 to 45 days. The percentage of minor complications was quite a small one (8,3%). Also, we might appreciate excellent post-treatment results (maximum value of 11 years); Typically, the patients return for periodic postoperative examination at first and fourth week after surgery. CONCLUSIONS RF represents an efficient, rapid and secure method for the treatment of SBAPD; it may be used in ambulatory, only under local anesthesia, offering to the patient a minimal post-operatory discomfort, as well as a rapid, esthetic and functional recovery of wound. By comparison with "classical surgery", the complications are rather minor ones and their percentage occurs in a lesser one.
Metallo-β-lactamase-producing Clinical Isolates from Patients of a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: The growing increase in the rates of antibiotic resistance is a major cause for concern in both non-fermenting bacilli and isolates of the Enterobacteriaceae family. β-lactams have been the mainstay of treatment for serious infections, and the most active of these are the carbapenems. Acquired metallo-β-lactamases (MBL) have recently emerged as one of the most worrisome resistance mechanisms owing to their capacity to hydrolyze all β-lactams, including carbapenems. We have undertaken this investigation to ascertain the prevalence of MBL-producing non-fermenting bacilli and Enterobacteriaceae. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted over a period of 4 months in a 1200-bedded teaching hospital. Isolates included in the study were screened for imipenem resistance both by conventional methods and mini analytical profile index (miniAPI). The isolates that showed imipenem resistance were tested for MBL production by imipenem (IMP)-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid combined disc test. Imipenem-resistant non-MBL isolates also tested for Modified Hodge test and AmpC β-lactamases production to detect other mechanisms of carbapenem resistance. Results: Of 638 gram negative bacilli isolates and 3.39% showed imipenem resistance, 2.9% showed MBL production, of which 1.7% were non-fermenters and 1.25% were Enterobacteriaceae, 0.3% showing non-MBL KPC carbapenemas. Most isolates were from the intensive care unit and from post-operative patients. Our findings show that there are significant numbers of isolates having MBL production along with multidrug resistance. There is a need for active surveillance to detect MBL producers.
Nurse-led telephone-based follow-up of secondary prevention after acute coronary syndrome: One-year results from the randomized controlled NAILED-ACS trial

Background Secondary prevention after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) could reduce morbidity and mortality, but guideline targets are seldom reached. We hypothesized that nurse-led telephone-based intervention would increase adherence. Methods The NAILED ACS trial is a prospective, controlled, randomized trial. Patients admitted for ACS at Östersund hospital, Sweden, were randomized to usual follow-up by a general practitioner or a nurse-led intervention. The intervention comprised telephone follow-up after 1 month and then yearly with lifestyle counselling and titration of medications until reaching target values for LDL-C (<2.5 mmol/L) and blood pressure (BP; <140/90 mmHg) or set targets were deemed unachievable. This is a 12-month exploratory analysis of the intervention. Results A total of 768 patients (396 intervention, 372 control) completed the 12-month follow-up. After titration at the 1-month follow-up, mean LDL-C was 0.38 mmol/L (95% CI 0.28 to 0.48, p<0.05), mean systolic BP 7 mmHg (95% CI 4.5 to 9.2, p<0.05), and mean diastolic BP 4 mmHg (95% CI 2.4 to 4.1, p<0.05) lower in the intervention group. Target values for LDL-C and systolic BP were met by 94.1% and 91.9% of intervention patients and 68.4% and 65.6% of controls (p<0.05). At 12 months, mean LDL was 0.3 mmol/L (95% CI 0.1 to 0.4, p <0.05), systolic BP 1.5 mmHg (95% CI -1.0 to 4.1, p = 0.24), and mean diastolic BP 2.1 mmHg (95% CI 0.6 to 3.6, p <0.05) lower in the intervention group. Target values for LDL-C and systolic BP were met in 77.7% and 68.9% of intervention patients and 63.2% and 63.7% of controls (p<0.05 and p = 0.125). Conclusion Nurse-led telephone-based secondary prevention was significantly more efficient at improving LDL-C and diastolic BP levels than usual care. The effect of the intervention declined between 1 and 12 months. Further evaluation of the persistence to the intervention is needed.
Improving Saturation-based Bounded Model Checking

Formal verification is becoming a fundamental step in assuring thecorrectness of safety-critical systems. Since these systems are oftenasynchronous and even distributed, their verification requires methodsthat can deal with huge or even infinite state spaces. Model checkingis one of the current techniques to analyse the behaviour of systems,as part of the verification process. In this paper a symbolic boundedmodel checking algorithm is presented that relies on efficient saturation-basedmethods. The previous approaches are extended with new bounded statespace exploration strategies. In addition, constrained saturationis also introduced to improve the efficiency of bounded model checking.Our measurements confirm that these approaches do not only offera solution to deal with infinite state spaces, but in many casesthey even outperform the original methods.
The Intermediate Filament Vimentin Mediates MicroRNA miR-378 Function in Cellular Self-renewal by Regulating the Expression of the Sox2 Transcription Factor*

Background: We have previously demonstrated that miR-378 expression promotes tumorigenesis and angiogenesis. Results: We show here that miR-378 plays roles in cell self-renewal, survival, and colony formation by enhancing Sox2 expression through repressing vimentin level. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that miR-378 can trigger a signal cascade. Significance: Our study reveals a novel signaling pathway in modulating cell stemness by miR-378 expression. MicroRNAs are short noncoding RNAs that are implicated in cell self- renewal and cancer development. We show that miR-378 is up-regulated in human cancers and found that tumor cells transfected with miR-378 acquired properties of tumor stem cells, including cell self-renewal. Overexpression of miR-378 enhanced cell survival and colony formation. Isolated from a single-cell colony, the miR-378-expressing cells formed tumors in nude mice at low cell densities. These cells expressed higher levels of miR-378 and formed more and larger spheres and colonies. We found that the miR-378-expressing cells contained a large number of side population cells and could undergo differentiation. Cells transfected with miR-378 expressed increased levels of Sox2. Expression of miR-378 and Sox2 was found correlated significantly in cancer cell lines and in cancer patient specimens. We also observed opposite levels of vimentin in the cancer cell lines and human breast carcinoma specimens. We further demonstrated that vimentin is a target of miR-378, and ectopic transfection of vimentin inhibited Sox2 expression, resulting in decreased cell survival. Silencing vimentin promoted Sox2 expression and cell survival. Our study demonstrates that miR-378 is a regulator of stem cell marker Sox2 by targeting vimentin, which may serve as a new tool in studying the role of stem cells in tumorigenesis.
Babesiosis and anaplasmosis in dairy cattle in Northeastern Brazil 1

Souza F.A. L. , Braga J.F. V. , Pires L.V. , Carvalho C.J.S. , Costa E.A. , Ribeiro M.F. B. , Santos R.L. & Silva S.M. M.S. 2013. Babesiosis and anaplasmosis in dairy cattle in Northeastern Brazil. Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira 33(9):1057-1061. Departamento de Clínica e Cirurgia Veterinária, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal do Piauí, Av. Universitária s/n, Teresina, PI 64049-550, Brazil. E-mail: chicoleite@hotmail.com The goal of this study was to characterize the epidemiological situation and the factors involved in the prevalence of babesiosis and anaplasmosis in cattle in the dairy basin of Parnaíba, Piauí, Brazil. The study was conducted in 22 farms, and collected blood samples from 202 cattle to study serological, molecular and determination of the packed cell volume (PCV). On the farms were applied surveys involving epidemiological aspects. Seroprevalence rates were: Babesia bigemina 52.5%, B. bovis 68.8%, and Anaplasma marginale 89.1%. Of the samples analyzed, 73.3% were reactive for Babesia spp. and A. marginale, showing co-infection. In PCR, B. bigemina and B. bovis were positive in 52.0% and 33.2% respectively, and A. marginale in 76.2%. Of these, 51.5% amplified DNA of Babesia spp. and A. marginale. The semi-intensive management predominated in 68.0% of the farms studied. The clinical history of babesiosis and anaplasmosis, was reported from 73% of the farms. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) between age groups and for the PCV of positive compared with negative animals. The study indicates that in this region is enzootic instability for babesiosis and enzootic stability for anaplasmosis, reinforcing the fact that in Brazil there are areas of enzootic instability, even in tropical regions of the country. The PCR technique was a valuable tool for the diagnosis of these diseases and may be used to characterize a geographic region.
Toxicity effect of dichlorvos on loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) assessed by micronucleus test, hepatase activity analysis and comet assay

Pesticides and other chemicals at environmental concentrations often have detrimental effects. Many aquatic species are particularly threatened because of their susceptibility and also because water environment are often polluted. This study preliminarily evaluated the toxicity effect of dichlorvos (DDVP) on loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) using the methods of micronucleus (MN) test, hepatase activity and comet assay. The tested results showed that indeed very little DDVP had strong toxicity effect on loach and its 50% lethal concentration (LC50) at 24 h, 48 h and 96 h was 8.38 μg l−1, 7.168 μg l−1 and 6.411 μg l−1, respectively; The glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (GPT) and glutamic–oxalacetic transaminase (GOT) activity of loach liver decreased; meanwhile, the GPT and GOT activity of loach serum, the MN rate (‰) and three comet parameters of tested fish increased with the increase in the treatment concentration and treatment time of DDVP, and there was significant difference between control group and each treatment group (p < 0.05). These results suggested that DDVP residues might become toxic chemical contaminant in environment and would threaten aquatic and other organisms.
Stock Market Crises in Developed and Emerging Markets

We empirically examine stock price index data for eight developed and ten emerging markets from 1970 to 1997. There were nine stock market crises over our sample period, three each in the developed stock markets, the Asian stock markets and the Latin American stock markets. We find important differences in the characteristics of stock market crises between the developed and emerging stock markets. While each developed market crisis has been less severe than the previous one, both in terms of the extent of price decline and the duration of the crises, this is not so for the emerging stock markets. For emerging markets stock crises, prices tend to fall rapidly and steeply, but take longer to recover, in about three years on average. For both developed and emerging markets, prices fall for at least three years subsequent to recovery from a crisis. All the crises we study are associated with contagion---i.e., most individual markets in a region are in crisis when the regional market is also in crisis. Finally, for U.S. investors with long investment horizons (six months or more), international stocks continue to provide diversification benefits even during times of market crises.
Strategic Management: Total Quality and Global Competition

Preface. Acknowledgments. Maps. 1. Strategic Management Decisions for Total Quality and Global Competition.2. The Environment and the Strategic Plan.Appendix to Chapter 2 - Case Analysis Guide.3. International Strategic Decisions.4. Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.5. Corporate Strategy.6. Business Level Strategy: Competitive Strategy.7. Business Level Strategy: Total Quality and Customer Value Strategy.8. Functional Strategy.9. Strategy Implementation: Structure and Teams.10. Strategy Implementation: Culture and Behavior.11. Evaluation, Control and Process Improvement. Index.
Look at me now: the role of cross-listing in attracting U.S. investors

We use a comprehensive 1997 survey to examine U.S. investors' preferences for foreign equities. We document a variety of firm characteristics that can influence U.S. investment, but the most important determinant is whether the stock is cross-listed on a U.S. exchange. Our selection bias-corrected estimates imply that firms that cross-list can increase their U.S. holdings by 8 to 11 percent of their market capitalization, roughly doubling the amount held without cross-listing. All else equal, we find that firms experience smaller increases in U.S. shareholdings upon cross-listing if they are Canadian, from English-speaking countries, are members of the MSCI World index, or had higher quality accounting standards prior to cross-listing. We argue that these findings suggest that improvements in information production explain U.S. investors' attraction to foreign stocks that cross-list in the United States.
Measurement of nitric oxide in the vagina

Objective. Local measurement of nitric oxide (NO) gas has been used to detect and monitor inflammatory processes in the airways, the colon and in the urinary bladder, but so far NO has not been studied in the lower female genital tract. The objective of this study is to measure NO gas directly in the vaginal lumen of healthy women and in patients with vaginitis. Setting. The outpatient clinic of a university hospital. Methods. Eighteen non‐pregnant women from 19 to 65 years of age with symptoms of vaginitis, eight healthy women in reproductive age with regular menstrual cycles and nine healthy postmenopausal women were enrolled in the study. NO levels were measured in air incubated for five minutes in a catheter balloon in the vagina. Results. In patients with symptoms of vaginitis, NO concentration was almost 100‐fold increased compared to healthy controls (p<0.001) with no individual overlap. Vaginal NO levels were uniformly low among healthy women, both in reproductive age and in menopause. Conclusions. NO gas can be measured directly in the vagina with a fast, simple and safe method. The levels of NO are increased in patients with vaginitis.