Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Credit Constraints Affect SME Investment and Employment

This paper explores the potential presence of credit constraints confronting Irish SMEs and investigates the impact of these constraints on firms’ employment and investment. Using new survey data collected by the Department of Finance, we define firms as credit rationed or discouraged borrowers and link these constraints to employment and the propensity to invest. We find a negative and significant effect of SME credit constraints on employment for firms that are discouraged from applying for credit. We also find a negative effect of constraints on the probability of an SME investing. This effect is driven by firms who are credit rationed when seeking capacity expansion loans.
Determinants of Participation and Response Effort in Web Panel Surveys

Web panels are widely employed to conduct marketing research surveys, yet little is known regarding why consumers join web panels or participate in web surveys. The present research investigated the effects of individuals' motivational traits on whether they joined web panels, participated in surveys upon joining, and the effort they put into their responses. A longitudinal study employing population profiling gathered personality measures from the entire population of potential panelists (N=751) and invited them to join a web panel. Those accepting (N=503) were sent a series of six marketing research surveys. Results revealed that consumers' need for cognition, curiosity, agreeableness and extraversion were significant predictors of joining the web panel. The first three traits also predicted survey participation, as did openness to experience. Among participants, response effort was affected the greatest by curiosity, extraversion, and conscientiousness. An additional experiment, conducted with 327 participants, ruled out a selection bias explanation for some results. These findings provide useful insights to researchers using web panels, and point out limitations with using strictly demographics-based weighting schemes when selecting web panels.
On Modeling and Mitigating Financial Bubbles

Financial “bubbles,” show a period of strong asset price appreciation followed by a collapse. As witnessed currently, the collapse of a bubble can lead to a loss of jobs and a severe economic contraction. The two question addressed here are: “Can bubbles be modeled sufficiently well so that meaningful forecasts of their impending development can be made well in advance of their collapse and if so, what is the most appropriate action to mitigate their development and ultimately to prevent them from forming? ” These questions are explored using a simple model for the demand and pricing of assets, which is tested by seeing how well it can simulate several prior and current bubbles including the ongoing bubble in the U.S. housing market.
Structure, function and regulation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa porins

Abstract Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram‐negative bacterium belonging to the &ggr;‐proteobacteria. Like other members of the Pseudomonas genus, it is known for its metabolic versatility and its ability to colonize a wide range of ecological niches, such as rhizosphere, water environments and animal hosts, including humans where it can cause severe infections. Another particularity of P. aeruginosa is its high intrinsic resistance to antiseptics and antibiotics, which is partly due to its low outer membrane permeability. In contrast to Enterobacteria, pseudomonads do not possess general diffusion porins in their outer membrane, but rather express specific channel proteins for the uptake of different nutrients. The major outer membrane ‘porin’, OprF, has been extensively investigated, and displays structural, adhesion and signaling functions while its role in the diffusion of nutrients is still under discussion. Other porins include OprB and OprB2 for the diffusion of glucose, the two small outer membrane proteins OprG and OprH, and the two porins involved in phosphate/pyrophosphate uptake, OprP and OprO. The remaining nineteen porins belong to the so‐called OprD (Occ) family, which is further split into two subfamilies termed OccD (8 members) and OccK (11 members). In the past years, a large amount of information concerning the structure, function and regulation of these porins has been published, justifying why an updated review is timely.
Reliability of the Roenigk classification of liver damage after methotrexate treatment for psoriasis: a clinicopathologic study of 160 liver biopsy specimens.

OBJECTIVE To determine the interobserver reliability of the Roenigk score as a classification system of liver damage and its possible consequences for clinical practice. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING Academic research. Patients One hundred sixty liver biopsy specimens from patients with psoriasis receiving methotrexate treatment were rereviewed and analyzed blindly by an experienced pathologist with an interest in liver pathologic conditions. Main Outcome Measure Interobserver variation was evaluated using kappa statistics. RESULTS A high concordance was present in the evaluation of the Roenigk grade of fibrosis (weighted kappa = 0.73; 95% confidence interval, 0.63-0.83). Agreement was good regarding the number of biopsy specimens for patients whose clinical management should be changed (kappa = 0.71; 95% confidence interval, 0.56-0.87). Conclusion The Roenigk classification in the assessment of liver fibrosis is a reliable scoring system.
Information Asymmetry and the Comparative Level of Accounting Accruals

Arguments about increased (market based) accounting accruals suggest that the information benefits accrue directly to investors (Barth, 2007; Barth et al., 2008). This paper compares Spanish and Australian accruals as a test of relative information asymmetry, measured by the ability of insiders to earn risk and size adjusted returns and to predict future income. We find larger excess returns and higher asymmetry surrounding conditioned insider accrual transactions in Australia. Results are consistent with (i) market based accruals creating asymmetric information that provide a first round information advantage to insiders and financial analysts, and (ii) with Ball et al.’s (2000) argument that information asymmetries in lower accrual based countries are mitigated by economic and institutional features other than the accounting system.
The impact of public sector innovation on Firm Performance

The public sector plays an important role in econom ically developed countries by contributing to a substantial share of national GDP. By creating a fa vorable business climate the public sector can also have a profound impact on the economic and innovative performance of firms. Efficient and high quality public services also act as a driver of bus iness performance. The aim of this paper is to esti mate the impact of public sector innovation on firm perf ormance. We use a unique business data from the latest 2011 Innobarometer survey covering companies’ perceptions of public sector innovation in thirty-three European countries. We test five hypot hesis regarding the impact of innovation in public administration procedures, the impact of innovation s in public services for innovation on firm performance. Our results suggest that public admini stration has a positive impact on company innovation but no impact on sales growth. We also f ind that innovation in public services have a positive impact on company innovation and sales gro wth. We find that companies that perceive in general that public services have improved are expe cted to be 8% more likely to innovate, 4% more likely to experience an increase in their sales and 6% more likely to use services for innovation. We use a bivariate probit with an instrumental variable as an estimation method to control for endogeneity of services for innovation. We use the index of improv ements in public sector administration procedures as an instrument to recover causal effects. We find that companies that use services for innovation ar e 27% more likely to innovate.
The development of functional innervation in the hind limb of the chick embryo.

1. The development of functional motor innervation was studied in the hind limb of chick embryos from Stages 25 to 43 by observing contraction of individual muscles and by recording the resultant tension when individual spinal nerves were electrically stimulated. 2. At later developmental stages (35–43) a given muscle always received functional innervation from specific spinal nerves. This pattern, with respect to the craniocaudal position of motoneurones, was similar to those described for amphibians and mammals. 3. The observed pattern was similar throughout development from the time that movement could first be elicited at Stages 27–28. There was no indication that motoneurones form initial synapses with inappropriate muscles. 4. Recordings from muscle nerves during excitation of individual spinal nerves gave results similar to the tension recordings, showing that even at early developmental stages muscle nerves did not contain substantial numbers of inappropriate axons. 5. Most limb muscles or primitive muscle masses became functionally innervated at the same time with no clearly defined proximo‐distal sequence of limb innervation. 6. It appears that chick motoneurones are initially specified with respect to their peripheral destination and grow out selectively to synapse with appropriate muscles from the outset.
Tracking Global Demand for Emerging Market Sovereign Debt

This paper proposes an approach to track US$1 trillion of emerging market government debt held by foreign investors in local and hard currency, based on a similar approach that was used for advanced economies (Arslanalp and Tsuda, 2012). The estimates are constructed on a quarterly basis from 2004 to mid-2013 and are available along with the paper in an online dataset. We estimate that about half a trillion dollars of foreign flows went into emerging market government debt during 2010–12, mostly coming from foreign asset managers. Foreign central bank holdings have risen as well, but remain concentrated in a few countries: Brazil, China, Indonesia, Poland, Malaysia, Mexico, and South Africa. We also find that foreign investor flows to emerging markets were less differentiated during 2010–12 against the background of near-zero interest rates in advanced economies. The paper extends some of the indicators proposed in our earlier paper to show how the investor base data can be used to assess countries’ sensitivity to external funding shocks and to track foreign investors’ exposures to different markets within a global benchmark portfolio.
Impact of preeclampsia on megakaryocytopoesis and platelet homeostasis of preterm infants

Abstract The aim of this article is to investigate the megakaryopoyesis and thrombopoiesis in preterm infants born to mothers with preeclampsia and the potential effects mediated by soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt1) and thrombopoietin (TPO). A perspective case–control study was performed on 26 cord blood of preterm newborns born to mothers with preeclampsia (PE group) and 26 of preterms born to mothers without preeclampsia (control group). Circulating megakaryocyte count and megakaryocyte colony forming units (CFU-MK) were quantified by whole blood infiltration method and plasma clot culture system, respectively. Platelet activation markers, CD62P and CD63, were estimated by flow cytometry. Immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were employed to estimate plasma levels of sFlt1 and TPO of the two groups. When compared to the controls, infants born to mothers with PE had significantly lower peripheral platelet count (PE vs. controls: 157.9 [44.6] vs. 239.6 [57.5] × 109/l, p < 0.001), circulating MK count (5.8 [1.0] vs. 7.7 [0.9]/ml, p < 0.001) and CFU-MK (14.1 [2.1] vs. 20.1 [2.8]/1 × 105 cell, p < 0.001); greater expressions of CD62P (15.5 [2.3] vs. 11.4 [1.9]% platelets, p < 0.001) and CD63 (12.3 [2.4] vs. 9.0 [1.6]% platelets, p < 0.001); increased plasma Flt level (130.1 [8.0] vs. 97.7 [8.7] pg/ml, p < 0.001) and TPO level (129.5 [17.8] vs. 98.9 [11.8] pg/ml, p < 0.001). In PE group, sFlt instead of TPO showed a significantly negative relationship with platelet counts, CFU-MK and circulating MK count, a positive relationship with CD62P, CD63 expressions. In control group, both sFlt and TPO did not show any relationship with these parameters. sFlt played important role in megakaryocytopoesis and platelet homeostasis in preterm infants born to mothers with PE. Its mechanism maybe the effect of impaired megakaryocyte formation and increased platelet activation.
Concurrent Strength and Endurance Training Effects on Running Economy in Master Endurance Runners

Abstract Piacentini, MF, De Ioannon, G, Comotto, S, Spedicato, A, Vernillo, G, and La Torre, A. Concurrent strength and endurance training effects on running economy in master endurance runners. J Strength Cond Res 27(8): 2295–2303, 2013—Running economy (RE) has been seen to improve with concurrent strength and endurance training in young and elite endurance athletes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of 2 different strength training protocols on RE and strength parameters in a group of regularly training master marathon runners. Sixteen participants were randomly assigned to a maximal strength training program (MST; n = 6; 44.2 ± 3.9 years), a resistance training (n = 5; 44.8 ± 4.4 years), and a control group (n = 5; 43.2 ± 7.9 years). Before and after the experimental period, resting metabolic rate, body composition, 1 repetition maximum (1RM), squat jump, countermovement jump, and RE were evaluated. The MST group showed significant increases (p < 0.05) in 1RM (+16.34%) and RE (+6.17 %) at marathon pace. No differences emerged for the other groups (p > 0.05). Anthropometric data were unchanged after the training intervention (p > 0.05). Taken together, the results of this preliminary study indicate that master endurance athletes seem to benefit from concurrent strength and endurance training because the rate of force development may be crucial for RE improvement, one of the major determinants of endurance performance.
Consistent effects of nitrogen amendments on soil microbial communities and processes across biomes

Ecosystems worldwide are receiving increasing amounts of reactive nitrogen (N) via anthropogenic activities with the added N having potentially important impacts on microbially mediated belowground carbon dynamics. However, a comprehensive understanding of how elevated N availability affects soil microbial processes and community dynamics remains incomplete. The mechanisms responsible for the observed responses are poorly resolved and we do not know if soil microbial communities respond in a similar manner across ecosystems. We collected 28 soils from a broad range of ecosystems in North America, amended soils with inorganic N, and incubated the soils under controlled conditions for 1 year. Consistent across nearly all soils, N addition decreased microbial respiration rates, with an average decrease of 11% over the year‐long incubation, and decreased microbial biomass by 35%. High‐throughput pyrosequencing showed that N addition consistently altered bacterial community composition, increasing the relative abundance of Actinobacteria and Firmicutes, and decreasing the relative abundance of Acidobacteria and Verrucomicrobia. Further, N‐amended soils consistently had lower activities in a broad suite of extracellular enzymes and had decreased temperature sensitivity, suggesting a shift to the preferential decomposition of more labile C pools. The observed trends held across strong gradients in climate and soil characteristics, indicating that the soil microbial responses to N addition are likely controlled by similar wide‐spread mechanisms. Our results support the hypothesis that N addition depresses soil microbial activity by shifting the metabolic capabilities of soil bacterial communities, yielding communities that are less capable of decomposing more recalcitrant soil carbon pools and leading to a potential increase in soil carbon sequestration rates.
Global players in the world’s construction market

Global players need global markets. Companies that understand themselves as global players use a geocentric perspective for their business. They standardize their products or performances, they use worldwide branding, and strife for economies of scale. There is seemingly no way to associate the construction industry with such a market behavior. Typically, construction markets are characterized as local, not global markets and still there are companies that do business in many countries around the world. To bring order to this confusion we can distinguish between six different markets (regional, national, international, multinational, global, and transnational). On all of these markets specific products (or performances) are demanded by specific clients from specific construction companies. By looking at archival data of national and international construction activities it is possible to establish an allocation of companies to one of the six market strategies. From interview data collected on two types of mega-projects it is also possible to determine what characterizes a global player in construction.
Entrepreneurial Outcomes and Organisational Performance through Business Coaching

The hereby article aims to address the main question of whether organisational performance is directly or indirectly enhanced by business coaching. The research integrates a quantitative study having as major purpose the investigation of the manner in which business coaching contributes to corporation growth in start-up firms and developing companies. The primary objective of the research is to quantitatively determine the effects enhanced by business coaching on company performance and growth of organisational incomes. SME growth and coaching impact are studied through inter-relationships between distinctive company characteristics (such as: industry category, company maturity, number of employees), entrepreneur features (among which can be mentioned: leader age, nominal gender, studies), and entrepreneur character (for instance: locus of control at work, selfefficacy in the work place). The comparison is made between two types of entrepreneurs: the ones who have received business coaching previously with entrepreneurs with no prior business coaching experience, except the one after which research is performed. The research concludes that business coaching has a great impact on the development of entrepreneurs’ locus of control and self-efficacy, these leading to organisational growth.
Structural basis for SUMO‐E2 interaction revealed by a complex model using docking approach in combination with NMR data

The interaction between small ubiquitin‐related modifier SUMO and its conjugating‐enzyme Ubc9 (E2) is an essential step in SUMO conjugation cascade. However, an experimental structure of such a transient complex is still unavailable. Here, a structural model of SUMO‐3‐Ubc9 complex was obtained with HADDOCK, combining NMR chemical shift mapping information. Docking calculations were performed using SUMO‐3 and Ubc9 structures as input. The resulting complex reveals that the complementary surface electrostatic potentials contribute dominantly to the specific interaction. At the interface, similar numbers of oppositely‐charged conserved residues are identified on the respective binding partners. Hydrogen bonds are formed in the vicinity of the interface to stabilize the complex. Comparison of the structure of SUMO‐3‐Ubc9 complex generated by HADDOCK and the experimental structures in free form indicates that SUMO‐3 and Ubc9 maintain their respective fold as a whole after docking. However, the N‐terminal helix α1 and its subsequent L1 loop of Ubc9 experience sizeable changes upon complex formation. They cooperatively move towards the hydrophilic side of the β‐sheet of SUMO‐3. Our observations are consistent with the data from previous Ubc9 mutational analysis and conformational flexibility studies. Together, we have proposed that the SUMO‐3‐Ubc9 interaction is strongly electrostatically driven and the N terminus of Ubc9 shifts to SUMO‐3 to facilitate the interaction. The NMR‐based structural model, which provides considerable insights into the molecular basis of the specific SUMO‐E2 recognition and interaction, implicates the general interaction mode between SUMO‐3 and Ubc9 homologues from yeast to humans. Proteins 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Banks as Shareholders: The Spanish Model of Corporate Governance

Compared to the Anglo-Saxon framework on which most of the financial research has focused, in many European corporate systems such as Spain, banks and other financial intermediaries are more important than capital markets. In addition to lending, banks usually own significant proportions of shares and sit at the board of directors. Our results for a sample of 142 non-financial firms between 1999 and 2002 show that banks play an outstanding role in the corporate governance of the Spanish firms. More specifically, due to the banking specialization in monitoring and control, we find that banks have a dual and very relevant influence on the performance of the firms. For bank-controlled firms, bank shareholdings can enable colluding interactions among banks and, thus, reduce the performance of the firm. On the contrary, for non-bank controlled firms, bank shareholdings improve the corporate governance and increase the performance of the firm. This effect is particularly significant for the firms in which bank scrutiny is more crucial: when the largest shareholder has voting rights in excess of his cash flow rights, and when the control of the largest shareholder can be more contested.
Towards deeper financial integration in Europe: What the Banking Union can contribute

The European Banking Union is a major step forward in fixing major deficiencies in the institutional framework of the Euro area. The absence of effective banking supervision and resolution powers at the European level promoted excessive private risk-taking in the up-run to the Euro crisis. Effective private risk sharing once risks materialized has been hampered. A properly designed Banking Union facilitates and improves private risk sharing, and it is thus a necessary institutional complement to a monetary union. Yet, the institutional framework of the Banking Union needs further strengthening in three regards. First, the supervisory framework needs to ensure uniform supervisory standards for all banks, including those located in non-Euro area countries. Also, conflicts of interest between monetary policy and banking supervision need to be mitigated. Second, bank resolution suffers from a highly complex governance structure. Restructuring and bail-in rules allow for a high degree of discretion at the level of the resolution authority. We propose to introduce a statutory systemic risk exception, by which the exercise of discretion would be reduced, thereby strengthening the credibility of the bail-in. Third, in order to enhance the credibility of creditor involvement, fiscal backstops and ex-ante specified cross-border burden-sharing agreements are needed.
The Impact of the Asian Crisis on Stock Market Liquidity: Evidence from the Malaysian Stock Exchange

In this study, we examine the impact of the 1997 Asian Crisis on the liquidity levels in the Malaysian stock market. We find that the level of liquidity went up and the stock prices went down in the Malaysian stock exchange after the Asian Crisis started. We argue that the forced trading by the investors to quickly exit the stock market and avoid further losses had caused higher turnover rates (i.e. higher liquidity levels) and lower stock prices in this market. Our results also show that the variation in the liquidity levels went down after the crisis. These findings imply that while the sellers dominated the market after the crisis, the volume of trading did not fluctuate as much as the Pre-Crisis Period.