Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE PRACTICES AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE IN NEW ZEALAND: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

I TABLE OF CONTENTS . V LIST OF TABLES . XII LIST OF DIAGRAMS AND FIGURES . XV CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING THE STUDY . 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE ENVIRONMENT IN NEW ZEALAND . 3 1.2 CONTEXT AND GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES . 5 1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY . 7 1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY . 7 1.5 ORGANISATION OF THE THESIS . 13 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW . 14 2.0 INTRODUCTION . 14 2.1 AGENCY THEORY . 17 2.1.1 INSIDER OWNERSHIP . 19 2.1.2 CONCENTRATED OWNERSHIP . 21 2.1.3 BOARD OF DIRECTORS . 23 2.1.3.1 BOARD COMPOSITION . 23 2.1.3.2 BOARD SIZE . 27 2.1.3.3 BOARD DIVERSITY . 28 2.1.3.4 BOARD COMMITTEES . 28 2.1.4 CEO COMPENSATION, AGE, TENURE AND EDUCATION . 29 2.1.5 DEBT . 30 2.1. 6 DIVIDENDS . 31 2.1. 7 MARKET FOR CORPORATE CONTROL, LABOUR MARKET COMPETITION AND PRODUCT MARKET COMPETITION . 32 2.1. 7.1 MARKET FOR CORPORATE CONTROL . 32 2.1. 7.2 LABOUR MARKET COMPETITION . 32
QUANTIFICATION OF WEST NILE VIRUS IN VECTOR MOSQUITO SALIVA

ABSTRACT Saliva was collected from 4 species of mosquitoes intrathoracically inoculated with West Nile virus (WNV). The amount of infectious virus in the saliva was quantified by plaque assay and the number of WNV genomic equivalents (GE) was measured by reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction. Ochlerotatus triseriatus had the greatest mean amount of infectious virus per saliva collection, followed by Aedes albopictus, Culex pipiens, and Cx. quinquefasciatus. The mean GE/saliva collection was also greatest in Oc. triseriatus, followed by Cx. quinquefasciatus, Cx. pipiens, and Ae. albopictus. The variance of log GE/saliva collection for Ae. albopictus was significantly lower than the variance for the other 3 species. This study provides a basis for comparing this component of vector competence and for determining the amounts of virus inoculated into vertebrates in experimental host competence studies.
Investigating Email Users Behavior against Spam: A Proposed Theoretical Framework

Spam is the most common problem faced by email users today when they communicate via the Internet or mobile technology. Despite numerous efforts taken, the battle to contain this problem still goes on. This paper describes a proposed model which focuses on the behavior of email users in avoiding spam while using this popular channel of communication. Based on the Technology Threat Avoidance Theory (TTAT), the model is enhanced by incorporating the ethics perspectives. The enhanced research model is hoped to be able to explain the email users’ behavior in avoiding the spam email as a threat. Several factors have been identified as possibly influencing the behavior of email users, including perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, safeguard effectiveness, safeguard cost, self-efficacy and IT ethics. Although yet to be tested, it is anticipated that a study adopting the proposed model will contribute towards providing the knowledge to the ISP or ESP, decision maker and individual user to handle the spam problem more effectively in addition to the existing approaches.
Influence of Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism on Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Obese Children

Aim: The main objective of the study was to determine whether risk factors associated with obesity are influenced by genetic variation of apolipoprotein E (ApoE). Methods: 81 obese children (mean age 9.4 ± 2.8 years) and an age-matched control group were included. Body composition, lipid profile, and glucose and insulin levels were evaluated according to international recommendations, and the blood pressure was measured by an oscillometric method. Results: The calculated frequencies of the ApoE alleles *2, *3, and *4 (0.04, 0.88 and 0.08) in obese children were similar to those of eutrophic age-matched controls (0.07, 0.82, and 0.11) and fitted the range of variation generally observed in southern European populations. Age, anthropometric parameters, body fat mass, and blood pressure were similar in E2/3, E3/3 and E4/3 genotypes. Total/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratios were higher in the E4/3 group as compared with E3/3 (p < 0.01) and E2/3 (p < 0.05) groups. No differences concerning clusters of risk factors were observed among the three genotypes. No associations were found between ApoE polymorphism and glucose levels (fasting and at 2 h) and between fasting insulin levels and HOMAIR results. Higher levels of fasting and 2-hour insulin and higher HOMAIR values were significantly associated with a higher fat mass. Conclusions: ApoE polymorphism seems to influence some lipid profile abnormalities associated with obesity in childhood. However, clustering of risk factors and insulin resistance seem not to be dependent on ApoE polymorphism.
MANAGING VENDOR INVENTORY IN A DUAL LEVEL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

Collaborative arrangements among members of the supply chain have received a great deal of interest in recent years as a means of reducing costs. One such arrangement is vendor managed inventory (VMI). VMI allows the vendor to make decisions concerning the quantity and timing of deliveries to the retailer. Such an arrangement offers the potential of a more efficient supply chain by removing the negative effects of retail ordering policies. A thorough review of the literature was conducted to identify factors likely to impact the performance of a VMI partnership. Computer simulation was used to study the effects of these factors from both the vendor's and retailer's perspectives. The results lend insight into the performance of VMI and guidance for managers as to the environments in which VMI is most effective.
Toward reproducibility and comparability of IVC simulation studies: a literature survey

Intervehicle communication is currently transitioning from an academic exercise to a commercially attractive and feasible technology. However, many aspects of IVC protocols, their parameters and configurations, as well as application-specific adaptations are still to be studied. One of the key tools used is simulation. Looking back at recent years in IVC research, tremendous improvements in precision and realism of simulation models concerning all its aspects can be observed. These models offer a vast number of parameters, enabling investigation of a huge variety of different scenarios. We reviewed simulation studies published at major vehicular network conferences from 2009 to 2011 with a key focus on reproducibility and comparability of the published simulation studies. We are glad to present a clear trend toward a consolidated set of established standards, models, and tools. However, looking at individual papers, we commonly find key information (e.g., the used model) missing. This limits both the reproducibility and comparability of simulations conducted. We further present commonly used basic building blocks of simulations that can serve as a first step toward deriving an agreed-upon set on which IVC simulations can be based. We advocate providing all essential information as set out in this article to help keep future research reproducible and comparable.
Role of switching costs in the service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and customer retention linkage

Purpose – The study attempts to chart out the role of switching costs in the interrelationships between perceived value, perceived service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer retention. The mediating role of switching costs as well as its direct impact is explored among customers of mobile telephone service providers in India.Design/methodology/approach – The conceptual model is developed based on the existing literature and then the model is validated through the analysis of data collected from customers of mobile services in India.Findings – The mediating role of switching costs is found to have adequate statistical support and the other direct linkages are also found to be valid. The findings suggest that service firms may benefit from pursuing a combined strategy of increasing customer satisfaction and switching costs both independently and in tandem, depending upon the product‐market characteristics.Originality/value – The study extends the knowledge about customer retention by bringing in s.
The Development of Buyer‐Seller Relationships in Industrial Markets

Notes buyer‐seller interdependence is crucial to industrial marketing — industrial firms establish buyer‐seller relationships of the close kind and long term. Examines buyer‐seller nature in industrial markets by considering development as a process through time, it is based on ideas from the IMP Project. Analyses the process of establishment and development of relationship over time by considering stages in revolution. Notes also that this process described herein does not argue the inevitability of relationship development. Discusses the pre‐relationship stage: the early stage; the development stage; the long‐term stage; and the final stage with points to debate. Describes how the development of buyer‐seller relationships can be seen as a process in terms of: the increasing experience of the two companies; reduction in their uncertainty and the distance between them; growth of both actual and perceived commitment; formal and informal adaptation to each other and the investments and savings involved. Fin.
Role for Irrigation and Debridement in Periprosthetic Infections

Abstract Irrigation and debridement (I&D) has been described as a possible option to eradicate early postoperative periprosthetic hip and knee infections, as well as late, acute, and hematogenous ones. Still, the literature fails to uniquely assess the effectiveness of this procedure and often provides conflicting evidence. To reconcile this difference, a systematic review of the available literature from 1970 to 2013 was undertaken. Fifteen articles, for a total of 796 patients, met the inclusion criteria; the average success rate was 44.9 and 52% after a single or repeated I&D procedures, respectively, at an average of 4 years follow-up. Despite the methodological differences and the heterogeneity of the material reviewed, this study demonstrates that this procedure only attains a relatively low success rate of infection eradication, depending on when patients are selected for surgical intervention according to the timeframe of their symptoms.
The impact of generic goods in the pharmaceutical industry.

This paper studies the effects of generic drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. Two firms produce two branded goods, with a different active ingredient, and the patent for one of them has expired, so that a generic alternative is in the market. This paper focuses on the case where the branded goods are perfect substitutes and where there exists a degree of differentiation between the branded and the generic goods. The study looks at whether the firm producing the branded good whose patent has expired has incentives to produce its own generic alternative too. For this purpose, the scenario where the firm producing the branded good also produces the generic drug is compared with the situation where the generic good is produced by a third firm. It is found that the firm producing the branded good has incentives to produce its generic alternative, owing to a market segmentation effect. This induces an increase in the price of the branded good produced by this firm, which in turn implies a welfare reduction.
Web 2.0 Use in Higher Education

Abstract This study analyzed current uses of emerging Web 2.0 technologies in higher education with the intent to better understand which tools teachers are using in the classroom. A total of 189 faculty in higher education from three western US universities were invited to participate, with 54 completing the survey. The survey included open-ended questions as well to offer an alternative analysis approach. In this study, the respondents claimed that the intrinsic factors of a lack of time and training were the main barriers to use, and reported positive views of Web 2.0 use in class, with 75% saying that these tools would benefit students and 83% saying they would benefit teacher-student interactions. In contrast to these results only 44% of the respondents used at least 4 of the 13 listed Web 2.0 tools with students. The reported uses did not match with the reported benefits, and this would support the results that extrinsic factors (time, training, support), instead of intrinsic factors (beliefs, motivation, confidence) are the main barriers to faculty in this study using more Web 2.0 in education. The top five Web 2.0 tools used, in order of preference, follow: (a) video sharing with tools like YouTube; (b) instant messaging; (c) blogs; (d) social communities, such as Facebook; and (e) podcasts or video casts. This data was originally submitted to the Abraham S. Fischler School of Education in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education.
Enhancing the competitive nature of Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through the cloud computing

Despite of cloud computing attractiveness for enterprises, it has been demonstrated SMEs are lagging behind when it comes from movement of traditional system into an innovative IT platform such as cloud computing taxonomy. Thus, this research aims to evaluate to what extent cloud computing adoption can develop the competitive nature of the SMEs in Malaysia through implementing the Technology Acceptance Model. The results reveal that SMEs would deploy and recommend cloud computing into their organization due to the significant benefits of the cloud computing in term of security, cost, organisation needs and reliability of the cloud system.
The innovation value chain in advanced developing countries: An empirical study of Taiwanese manufacturing industry

In the era of knowledge economy, innovation does not only depend on internal R&D, but is also complemented with external knowledge sources. Knowledge sourcing has been emphasized as a crucial input of innovation activities to create value for a firm. The Innovation value chain is a model inclusive of knowledge sourcing, innovation production and value production. It helps highlight important complementarities between different knowledge sources, their effect on innovation and the effect of the latter on firm performance. In this paper, 1806 innovative manufacturing firms from 2nd Taiwanese Industry Innovation Survey are used to demonstrate IVC model by adopting a combination of probit, tobit and robust regression models. This is the first paper on the IVC of manufacturing firms in an advanced developing
Convolutional Neural Networks for Soft-Matching N-Grams in Ad-hoc Search

This paper presents \textttConv-KNRM, a Convolutional Kernel-based Neural Ranking Model that models n-gram soft matches for ad-hoc search. Instead of exact matching query and document n-grams, \textttConv-KNRM uses Convolutional Neural Networks to represent n-grams of various lengths and soft matches them in a unified embedding space. The n-gram soft matches are then utilized by the kernel pooling and learning-to-rank layers to generate the final ranking score. \textttConv-KNRM can be learned end-to-end and fully optimized from user feedback. The learned model»s generalizability is investigated by testing how well it performs in a related domain with small amounts of training data. Experiments on English search logs, Chinese search logs, and TREC Web track tasks demonstrated consistent advantages of \textttConv-KNRM over prior neural IR methods and feature-based methods.
Crohn’s Disease–like Reaction Predicts Favorable Prognosis in Colitis-associated Colorectal Cancer

Background: Idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease is associated with an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer. Colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CAC) has unique histomorphology features; however, whether histomorphology is predictive of survival in CAC, independent of overall clinical tumor stage, remains unknown. The aim of this study is to determine if clinicodemographics and tumor histomorphologic features are prognostic in patients with CAC. Methods: A cohort of CAC patients were identified from the Pathology Database at Cleveland Clinic; slides were reviewed and other relevant data were collected by retrospective review of medical records. Results: Univariate analysis demonstrated that poor differentiation, N stage (N1/N2 versus N0), M stage (M1 versus M0), Tumor, Node, Metastasis (TNM) stage (III/IV versus I/II), positive margin, and Crohn's–like reaction were significantly associated with both overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in CAC. Additionally, the presence of >2 tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes/high-power field was found to be significantly associated with longer PFS. Multivariate analysis confirmed that high TNM stage (III/IV versus I/II) was associated with shorter OS and PFS (hazard ratio 2.7, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1–6.7, P = 0.04; 4.84 [95% CI: 2.0–11.5], P < 0.001, respectively), and positive margin status was associated with shorter OS (hazard ratio 4.0 [95% CI: 1.0–15.7], P = 0.05), whereas the presence of Crohn’s–like reaction was associated with longer OS and PFS (hazard ratio 0.3 [95% CI: 0.12–0.79], P = 0.02; 0.25 [95% CI: 0.11–0.58], P = 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: In CAC, high tumor clinical stage and positive margin predict worse survival but Crohn’s disease–like reaction is associated with longer OS and PFS.
Academic Staff Disposition To Promotion Criteria In Nigerian Universities

This study aimed at determining academic staff satisfaction with promotion criteria and what, in their view, should be included in the promotion criteria. A researcher-designed questionnaire was utilized for data collection from a sample size of 349 academic staff. Findings show that the majority of the academic staff were dissatisfied with the promotion practices. Academic staff were satisfied with promotion criteria that had to do with required number of publications but dissatisfied with those related to computer literacy and international publication requirements. An oral interview before promotion was advocated for inclusion into the promotion criteria by academic staff. Evolving a more holistic criterion for promotion of academic staff was recommended.
What Can We Learn from the Crystal Structures of Metallacarboranes

The determination of the molecular structures of metallacarboranes by X-ray diffraction remains critical to the development of the field, in some cases being the only viable way in which the overall architecture and the isomeric form of the molecule can be established. In such studies one problem frequently met is how to distinguish correctly {BH} and {CH} vertices, and this review begins by describing two relatively new methods, the Vertex-Centroid Distance (VCD) and Boron-Hydrogen Distance (BHD) methods, that have been developed to overcome the problem. Once the cage C atoms are located correctly, the resulting metallacarborane structure can frequently be analysed on the basis that cage B has a greater Structural Trans Effect (STE) than does cage C. In the absence of significant competing effects this gives rise to unequal M–L distances for a homogeneous ligand set and to a preferred Exopolyhedral Ligand Orientation (ELO) for a heterogeneous ligand set. ELO considerations can be used, amongst other things, to rank order the STEs of ligands and to identify suspect (in terms of cage C atom positions) metallacarborane structures.
Induction of neurite outgrowth by v-src mimics critical aspects of nerve growth factor-induced differentiation

PC12 cells treated with nerve growth factor (NGF) or infected with Rous sarcoma virus differentiate into sympathetic, neuronlike cells. To compare the differentiation programs induced by NGF and v-src, we have established a PC12 cell line expressing a temperature-sensitive v-src protein. The v-src-expressing PC12 cell line was shown to elaborate neuritic processes in a temperature-inducible manner, indicating that the differentiation process was dependent on the activity of the v-src protein. Further characterization of this cell line, in comparison with NGF-treated PC12 cells, indicated that the events associated with neurite outgrowth induced by these two agents shared features but could be distinguished by others. Both NGF- and v-src-induced neurite outgrowths were reversible. In addition, NGF and v-src could prime PC12 cells for NGF-induced neurite outgrowth, and representative early and late NGF-responsive genes were also induced by v-src. However, unlike NGF-induced neurite growth, v-src-induced neurite outgrowth was not blocked at high cell density. A comparison of phosphotyrosine containing-protein profiles showed that v-src and NGF each increase tyrosine phosphorylation of multiple cellular proteins. There was overlap in substrates; however, both NGF-specific and v-src-specific tyrosine phosphorylations were observed. One protein which was found to be phosphorylated in both the NGF- and v-src-induced PC12 cells was phospholipase C-gamma 1. Taken together, these results suggest that v-src's ability to function as an inducing agent may be a consequence of its ability to mimic critical aspects of the NGF differentiation program and raise the possibility that Src-like tyrosine kinases are involved in mediating some of the events triggered by NGF.
The antecedents of direct management communication to employees in Mauritius

We measure whether, in a developing country, existence of a ‘hard’ strategic human resource management (SHRM) strategy developed at high organizational levels or one designed to enhance employee knowledge inputs and thereby promote employer–employee interdependence (EEIN) is a stronger antecedent of direct communication to employees. We use data from a comprehensive survey of HR practices in Mauritius, one of Africa's most open and successful economies. We find that both SHRM and EEIN are antecedents, but that the latter is stronger in public organizations and in smaller and older companies. We conclude that EEIN is a significant analytic category for explaining management practices especially in a historic sense in this and possibly other developing country contexts.
4‐Hydroxynonenal Induces Oxidative Stress and Death of Cultured Spinal Cord Neurons

Abstract: Primary spinal cord trauma can trigger a cascade of secondary processes leading to delayed and amplified injury to spinal cord neurons. Release of fatty acids, in particular arachidonic acid, from cell membranes is believed to contribute significantly to these events. Mechanisms of fatty acid‐induced injury to spinal cord neurons may include lipid peroxidation. One of the major biologically active products of arachidonic acid peroxidation is 4‐hydroxynonenal (HNE). The levels of HNE‐protein conjugates in cultured spinal cord neurons increased in a dose‐dependent manner after a 24‐h exposure to arachidonic acid. To study cellular effects of HNE, spinal cord neurons were treated with different doses of HNE, and cellular oxidative stress, intracellular calcium, and cell viability were determined. A 3‐h exposure to 10 μM HNE caused ∼80% increase in oxidative stress and 30% elevation of intracellular calcium. Exposure of spinal cord neurons to HNE caused a dramatic loss of cellular viability, indicated by a dose‐dependent decrease in MTS [3‐(4,5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐5‐(3‐carboxymethoxyphenyl)‐2‐(4‐sulfophenyl)‐2H‐tetrazolium, inner salt] conversion. The cytotoxic effect of HNE was diminished by pretreating neurons with ebselen or N‐acetylcysteine. These data support the hypothesis that formation of HNE may be responsible, at least in part, for the cytotoxic effects of membrane‐released arachidonic acid to spinal cord neurons.