Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of environmental disclosure in the oil palm industry in Malaysia

This study examines the determinants of environmental disclosure in the oil palm industry in Malaysia. The primary methodology is quantitative, however both survey and interview data are used to enhance the validity of the findings. The research is motivated by the growing concern over the environmental impact of the oil palm business which has led to an increased demand for public disclosure on how companies are fulfilling their social and environmental obligations. Malaysia is chosen as the country setting as it is the second largest producer of palm oil after Indonesia, and is therefore a key player in the palm oil supply chain. The study adopts a stakeholder theory perspective to capture the environmental impact of oil palm plantations on multiple stakeholders. It applies Ullmann’s (1985) three-dimensional stakeholder model to examine the association of stakeholder power, strategic posture and economic performance of the companies to their environmental disclosure. The first phase of the research is analysis of annual reports environmental disclosure of thirty-three oil palm public listed company (PLCs) and a matched thirty-three non-oil palm PLCs over five years of data (20052009). The extent of environmental disclosure is measured using a ten-point score of environmental factors developed specifically for this study. The second and third phase of the research employs the use of semi-structured interviews and questionnaire survey to obtain views from senior managers of oil palm companies regarding environmental disclosure. Environmental disclosure of Malaysian companies is shown to be low overall, with a significant difference between oil palm and non-oil palm companies. For oil palm companies, the quantitative analysis confirms the significant positive influence of government power, social/environmental concern, ISO 14001 certification and environmental committee on environmental disclosure. Economic performance measured by the ROA is not significant. For the matched non-oil palm companies, the results confirm the significant positive influence of shareholder concentration, creditor power, environmental committee and economic performance as measured iii by ROA on environmental disclosure. Results from the interviews and survey were broadly supportive of the findings from the annual reports disclosure. From a theoretical perspective, the study confirms the robustness of Ullmann’s stakeholder model in examining environmental disclosure in a single industry (Malaysian palm oil) in a developing country. It also suggests that future stakeholder studies should include the role of customers/buyers, Board of Directors and senior management. From a practical perspective, the low level of environmental reporting found in this study suggests there may be a role for regulation in improving the transparency of environmental reporting.
Identifying talented track and field athletes: The impact of relative age effect on selection to the Spanish National Athletics Federation training camps

ABSTRACT This study examined the impact of relative age effect (RAE) on selection to the Spanish National Athletics Federation (RFEA) training camps (TC) between 2006 and 2013. Overall, 1,334 selected athletes at U15 years (cadet) and U17 years (juvenile) were compared against 27,711 licensed but unselected athletes for the same age groups. The results highlighted the influential role of the RAE on selection to national level track and field training camp opportunities. Interestingly, this effect was mediated by age and gender, where effects were stronger for both males and younger athletes (U15), with no evidence of RAE for older (U17) female athletes. These results support the “maturation-selection” hypothesis as a mechanism for RAE. Particularly given the long-term goals of RFEA (e.g., production of successful senior elite athletes), these results highlight the need to consider the impact of current selection processes on effective provision of opportunities to those athletes with most potential to succeed in the long term. A number of possible context-relevant solutions are discussed, including education and awareness raising, using holistic selection criteria and correction adjustments techniques.
Making sense of entrepreneurship journals

Purpose – Dozens of peer‐reviewed, English language journals are currently published in our field. How ought we to evaluate them? This paper seeks to answer this question.Design/methodology approach – The paper utilizes both relevant literature and data on entrepreneurship journals. The literature derives from both information science and other research areas that reflect on their journals. The data derives from six citation measures from Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science.Findings – The paper finds that there are 59 currently published English language, peer reviewed journals in entrepreneurship. Contestable judgments based on their impact measures suggest that one of these 59 could be considered as “A+”, four as “A”, five as “AB”, eight as “B”, four as “BC”, 23 as “C”, thirteen as “barely detectable”, and one as “insufficient data but promising”. Research limitations/implications – Journal rankings affect the resources and prestige accorded to business schools, disciplines and subdisciplines, and.
Closing the gap between perceived and actual waiting times in a call center: results from a field study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate what factors influence the gap between caller's perception of how long they think they waited and how long they actually waited on hold and to determine what call managers can do to reduce this gap called estimation error.Design/methodology/approach – A field experiment was conducted with a corporation's call center.Findings – The findings were: the higher the estimation error of callers, the less satisfied they are; music increases estimation error, unless callers can choose the music; waiting information reduces estimation error; callers with urgent issues have more estimation error and they overestimate more; and females have higher estimation error and they overestimate more than males.Research limitations/implications – Limitations are one call center in one context. Implications are identification of antecedents of overestimation.Practical implications – The paper provides guidelines for call center managers for reducing estimation error and incr.
Contraction Options: Implications for the Profitability-Return Relation and Momentum Profits

We develop a firm valuation model with repeated expansion and contraction options to show operating profitability is a proxy for time-varying systematic risk. Relative to riskier assets, the proportionate value of contraction options increase as profitability falls, lowering the firm beta. Consistent with the predictions, operating profitability relates positively to stock betas and stock returns, and momentum strategies yield higher returns if constructed from past winners and losers with diverging operating profitability. Corroborating a risk-based explanation, the momentum results remain unexplained by, among other things, empirical measures for information diffusion, information uncertainty, credit risk and financial distress.
What's changed? Issues of impact and evaluation in primary science professional development

This article reports on issues arising from the external evaluation of a teacher development project—the Active Learning in Primary Science (ALPS) project—undertaken in eight Bristol (UK) primary schools during 2007. The ALPS project aimed to raise pupil attainment in science by developing participating teachers' skills, knowledge and enthusiasm through a programme of centre‐based continuing professional development, classroom workshops, in‐school consultancy and visits to a hands‐on science centre. The evaluation used a combination of documentary evidence, pupil performance data, teacher interviews and observations to gain a view of the strengths, weaknesses and impact of the programme. This raised questions concerning the timing of such evaluation studies, the tensions between the agendas of the various stakeholders and the validity of any short‐term apparent gains in pupil performance or teacher attitude. The article problematises the current UK government emphasis on ‘measuring impact’ from continuing professional development activity.
A Study of Hair Follicular Transplantation as a Treatment Option for Vitiligo

Background: Repigmentation of vitiligo is closely related to hair follicles. Hence, replenishing melanocytes in vitiliginous patches utilizing undifferentiated stem cells of the hair follicles using follicular unit transplantation (FUT) is a possible treatment option. Objectives of the Study: To study the efficacy of FUT in cases of segmental/stabilized vitiligo as a treatment option for leukotrichia. Materials and Methods: Fifty patients with 63 lesions of stable vitiligo over nonglabrous areas were treated with follicular unit grafts. Reduction in the size of vitiligo patches as well as improvement in the associated leukotrichia were evaluated using subjective and objective assessments. Results: Of the 63 patches, good to excellent response was seen in 39 (61.9%), fair in 16 (25.4%), and poor in eight (12.7%) lesions. No repigmentation was seen in two (4.8%) lesions. The mean improvement seen was 61.17%. Excellent color match was observed in 44 lesions (69.8%). Repigmentation of the depigmented hairs occurred in 11 out of 46 patients with associated leukotrichia. Conclusion: FUT is a safe and effective method for treating localized and segmental vitiligo, especially on hairy parts of the skin. Though labor intensive, it was found to be associated with a quick patient recovery time, very low morbidity, and good color match.
Adaptive control of unknown plants using dynamical neural networks

In this paper, we are dealing with the problem of controlling an unknown nonlinear dynamical system. The algorithm is divided into two phases. First a dynamical neural network identifier is employed to perform "black box" identification and then a dynamic state feedback is developed to appropriately control the unknown system. We apply the algorithm to control the speed of a nonlinearized DC motor, giving in this way an application insight. In the algorithm, not all the plant states are assumed to be available for measurement. >
Comparative prognostic value of Ki-67 and MIB-1 proliferation indices in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND Tumor proliferation index was evaluated in 246 samples of breast carcinoma using Ki-67 and MIB-1 monoclonal antibodies on frozen and paraffin sections, respectively, with the purpose to compare the two proliferation indices from both a quantitative and prognostic point of view. MATERIALS AND METHODS All determinations were performed with the same immunohistochemical procedure (Avidin-Biotin Complexes). The prognostic relevance of tumor proliferation index, defined by both the antibodies, was investigated in 127 patients. Ki-67 and MIB-1 median values were used to obtain two groups of patients at different risk and life-table analysis (Mantel-Cox) was performed to assess the probabilities of overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS). The median time of observation was 61 months. RESULTS Ki-67 and MIB-1 values were exponentially distributed with overlapping ranges varying from 2% to 90%. Ki-67 mean and median values were 16.7% and 14.0%, respectively, compared to 22.5% and 20% for MIB-1. Ki-67 and MIB-1 mean values were statistically different (t = -4.396; p < 0.001), while no difference was observed for MIB-1 mean values on frozen and paraffin sections (t = 1.35; p = n.s.). Ki-67 and MIB-1 values were statistically correlated (Spearman's coefficient = 0.75; p < 0.0001) and directly associated (agreement rate = 79.3%; p < 0.0001). Patients with tumors having a high proportion of MIB-1 positive cells showed a higher 5-year probability of relapse of disease (43.7% versus 27.6%; p = 0.02) and death (35.4% versus 15.8%; p = 0.007) than those with a low one. In parallels Ki-67 was found to be prognostically relevant for OS (32.2% versus 16.2%; p = 0.02) but not for RFS (40.7% versus 27.9%; p = 0.10). CONCLUSIONS Such results indicate that the detection of proliferative activity on paraffin sections with MIB-1 monoclonal antibody provides in formation analogous to or even better than that obtained with Ki-67 antibody on frozen ones. Moreover, it represents a valuable tool to obtain kinetic data on "routine" histological samples and, above all, to give prognostic evaluations on the clinical outcome of breast cancer patients.
Impact of Human Resource Management on the Organizational Efficiency of Kushtia Sugar Mills Ltd

This research is conducted to study human resource management (HRM) practices in the public sector and investigate the association of HRM practices with the organizational efficiency. For this purpose, primary data has been collected through questionnaire from 62 employees working in a state owned entity (SOE) namely Kushtia Sugar Mills Ltd (KSML), which is operating under Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC). Simple random sampling was used to select respondents from KSML. Correlation analysis, regression analysis and T-test were carried out through SPSS software to examine the relationship between the selected HRM practices and organizational efficiency of KSML. The analysis of the opinion and perception collected from the respondents revealed that, there is a positive relationship between effective HRM practices (especially recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, involvement and communication and employee relationship) and the organizational efficiency of KSML. Among all other HRM practices employee relationship has significant impact on the organizational efficiency of KSML.
Bank Leverage, Credit Traps and Credit Policies

We construct an overlapping generations macroeconomic model with which to study the causes, consequences and remedies to ‘credit traps’ — prolonged periods of stagnant real activity accompanied by low productivity, financial sector undercapitalisation, and the misallocation of credit. In our model, credit traps arise when shocks to bank equity capital tighten banks’ borrowing constraints, causing them to allocate credit to easily collateralisable but low productivity projects. Low productivity weakens bank capital generation, reinforcing tight borrowing constraints, sustaining the credit trap steady state. We use the model to study policy options, both ex ante(avoiding credit traps) and ex post (escaping them). Ex ante, restrictions on bank leverage can help to enhance the economy’s resilience to the shocks that can cause credit traps. Further, a policymaker focused on maximising the economy’s resilience to credit traps would set leverage countercyclically, allowing an expansion of leverage in minor downturns and reducing leverage in upswings. However, ex post, relaxing a leverage cap will not help escape the trap. Instead, a range of unconventional policies are needed. We study publicly intermediated lending, discount window lending, and recapitalisation, and compare the efficacy of these policies under different conditions.
Bilingual Dictionary Based Neural Machine Translation without Using Parallel Sentences

In this paper, we propose a new task of machine translation (MT), which is based on no parallel sentences but can refer to a ground-truth bilingual dictionary. Motivated by the ability of a monolingual speaker learning to translate via looking up the bilingual dictionary, we propose the task to see how much potential an MT system can attain using the bilingual dictionary and large scale monolingual corpora, while is independent on parallel sentences. We propose anchored training (AT) to tackle the task. AT uses the bilingual dictionary to establish anchoring points for closing the gap between source language and target language. Experiments on various language pairs show that our approaches are significantly better than various baselines, including dictionary-based word-by-word translation, dictionary-supervised cross-lingual word embedding transformation, and unsupervised MT. On distant language pairs that are hard for unsupervised MT to perform well, AT performs remarkably better, achieving performances comparable to supervised SMT trained on more than 4M parallel sentences.
BUFFER STOCK MONEY AND THE COMPANY SECTOR

This paper investigates the role of financial buffer stocks in company sector decisions. A stylized.analytic model is used to consider how adjustment costs in changing dividends can generate a role for a financial buffer stock in any expenditure decision by the firm which has a influence beyond the current period. Cointegration techniques are then used to focus on the desired holding of financial buffers by the U.K. industrial and commercial companies. When included in a number of company sector expenditure equations taken from the National Institute's U.K. macro model these measures of desired holdings were in the main correctly signed. The authors find support for the view that reducing stocks was one of the most common ways of improving liquidity and also evidence of strong effects on employment and investment. Copyright 1992 by Royal Economic Society.
Generalized Hopfield Neural Network for Concurrent Testing

The use of generalized Hopfield neural networks in designing the checking circuitry of a concurrent testable circuit is discussed. The aliasing probability, a measure for evaluating the performance of the checking circuitry, is provided. It is shown how, by using spectral techniques based on the Reed-Muller transform, the aliasing probability can be expressed as a function of the Reed-Muller coefficients. Therefore, obtaining the checking circuitry means selecting a set of Reed-Muller spectral coefficients, with fewer elements than a given bound, that minimizes the aliasing probability. To apply the neural networks to design the checking circuitry for concurrent testing, the aliasing probability has been used as an energy function, and the Hopfield neural network has been modified to have an associated energy function with any type of polynomial dependence on the processor states. >
GOODS-Herschel: the far-infrared view of star formation in active galactic nucleus host galaxies since z ≈ 3

We present a study of the infrared properties of X-ray selected, moderate-luminosity (i.e. L_X= 10^(42)–10^(44) erg s^(−1)) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) up to z ≈ 3, in order to explore the links between star formation in galaxies and accretion on to their central black holes. We use 100 and 160 μ m fluxes from GOODS-Herschel – the deepest survey yet undertaken by the Herschel telescope – and show that in the vast majority of cases (i.e. >94 per cent) these fluxes are dominated by emission from the host galaxy. As such, these far-infrared bands provide an uncontaminated view of star formation in the AGN host galaxies. We find no evidence of any correlation between the X-ray and infrared luminosities of moderate AGNs at any redshift, suggesting that global star formation is decoupled from nuclear (i.e. AGN) activity in these galaxies. On the other hand, we confirm that the star formation rates of AGN hosts increase strongly with redshift, by a factor of 43^(+27)_(−18) from z < 0.1 to z = 2–3 for AGNs with the same range of X-ray luminosities. This increase is entirely consistent with the factor of 25–50 increase in the specific star formation rates (SSFRs) of normal, star-forming (i.e. main-sequence) galaxies over the same redshift range. Indeed, the average SSFRs of AGN hosts are only marginally (i.e. ≈20 per cent) lower than those of main-sequence galaxies at all surveyed redshifts, with this small deficit being due to a fraction of AGNs residing in quiescent (i.e. low SSFR) galaxies. We estimate that 79 ± 10 per cent of moderate-luminosity AGNs are hosted in main-sequence galaxies, 15 ± 7 per cent in quiescent galaxies and <10 per cent in strongly starbursting galaxies. We derive the fractions of all main-sequence galaxies at z < 2 that are experiencing a period of moderate nuclear activity, noting that it is strongly dependent on galaxy stellar mass (M_(stars)), rising from just a few per cent at M_(stars) ∼ 10^(10) M_⊙ to ≳20 per cent at M_(stars)≥ 10^(11) M_⊙. Our results indicate that it is galaxy stellar mass that is most important in dictating whether a galaxy hosts a moderate-luminosity AGN. We argue that the majority of moderate nuclear activity is fuelled by internal mechanisms rather than violent mergers, which suggests that high-redshift disc instabilities could be an important AGN feeding mechanism.
Body condition scores of Holstein cows on Prince Edward Island, Canada: relationships with yield, reproductive performance, and disease.

An observational study of 429 Holstein cows in 13 herds (mean 305-FCM yield of 7225 kg) was conducted to determine the relationship between body condition score and its changes with milk yield, reproductive performance, and disease incidence. Cows were scored once for body condition during the dry period, near calving, and then every 14 d until termination of lactation. Condition score at calving had no effect on either peak of 305-d milk yields. Condition loss averaged . 73 and . 83 points for primiparous and multiparous cows, respectively. The duration and magnitude of condition loss depended primarily on score at calving and was greater for cows that calved with higher condition scores. After reaching minimum score, cows gained an average of . 53 condition points in the remainder of lactation. Total amount of gain was not affected by body condition score at calving or by milk yield. No significant differences were found for days to first observed estrus, days to first breeding, days to conception, or number of times bred for cows grouped by body condition score at calving or by condition loss between calving and first breeding. Body condition score at calving was not significantly different for diseased cows. Cows that were diagnosed with a disease lost more condition than undiseased cows, but the difference generally was < . 25 points.