Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Three essays on corporate social responsibility, business politicians and corruption

What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and can it be demand-driven ? Is there a business case for corporates providing the public good or should it be solely provided by the government ? Are green products over-priced and should they be taxed ? If they are, who are the beneficiaries and who are the actual tax payers ? Will results differ whether the CSR investments in question complement or substitute for the government provision of public goods ? Chapter 1 of this Ph.D. dissertation will address these questions and create a conceptual framework for further analysis in subsequent chapters of CSR as a desirable activity whereby firms provide a public good alongside the private good they produce. One of the main issues that emerge from this analysis is the need to identify and explore a new kind of dichotomy, i.e. the trade-off between market provision of public goods via CSR and its public counterpart via the government. This question gains particular importance in the context of developing countries, as well as in some developed ones, where firms have strong political ties. In Chapter 2, it is shown that politically connected firms - or, at extreme, the business politicians - may try to influence the government to reduce its provision of the public good to maximize the reputational return on their CSR investments. The mechanism goes as follows. An underprovided public good offers the opportunity for large political benefits to firms stepping in the areas where the government fails to deliver through their CSR activities. Consumers are suspicious about the true motives for which firms engage in CSR, it may be out of benevolence or political greed, however, since all firms, including the greediest and the most prosocial ones participate, politics interfering with business does not spoil firms' image since those political benefits are so large that everyone does it. We refer to this phenomenon as corruption becoming a social norm. Chapter 3 provides a strategic explanation for this phenomenon of corruption being epidemic in the economy. It explains why corruption, in the form of bribe­taking, may become widespread among government agencies, for the mere reason that their efforts are interdependent.
Tolerability and Safety of a Poly-L-Lactide Eustachian Tube Stent Using a Chinchilla Animal Model

Objective: To present the design for a novel, resorbable, drug-eluting Eustachian-tube stent and to ascertain its tolerability and resorption in a chinchilla animal model. Materials and Methods: In a prospective, controlled animal study, a poly-l-lactide stent was implanted via a transbullar approach in one Eustachian tube (ear implanted was randomly selected) of five adult female chinchillas. The other ear served as a matched control. Otoendoscopy was performed at baseline to rule out pre-existing disease. Animals were sacrificed at varying times up to 26 weeks post implantation. Blinded histological sectioning was performed to determine degree of inflammatory response and stent resorption. All adverse events were recorded. Results: Follow-up data were available for three animals at the time of sacrifice. The histologic findings were similar for the test and control ears. The stents did not appreciably resorb over the 6-month period of follow-up. Conclusions: The poly-l-lactide Eustachian tube stent generally was well tolerated by the chinchillae without untowards effects. A follow-up larger sample animal study using another animal model with a larger Eustachian tube (a healthy Eustachian tube in one ear and a non-opening Eustachian tube in the other ear) is planned to further establish a safety profile, to investigate efficacy outcomes, and to follow gas-sterilized stents over time towards complete resorption.
Confocal Raman microscopy can quantify advanced glycation end product (AGE) modifications in Bruch's membrane leading to accurate, nondestructive prediction of ocular aging

The modification of proteins by nonen‐zymatic glycation leading to accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) is a well‐established phenomenon of aging. In the eyes of elderly patients, these adducts have been observed in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), particularly within the underlying pentalaminar substrate known as Bruch's membrane. AGEs have also been localized to age‐related subcellu‐lar deposits (drusen and basal laminar deposits) and are thought to play a pathogenic role in progression of the major sight‐threatening condition known as age‐related macular degeneration (AMD). The current study has quantified AGEs in Bruch's membrane from postmortem eyes and established age‐related correlations. In particular, we investigated the potential of confocal Raman microscopy to identify and quantify AGEs in Bruch's membrane in a nondestructive, analytical fashion. Bruch's membrane and the innermost layers of the underlying choroid (BM‐Ch) were dissected from fresh postmortem eye‐cups (n=56). AGE adducts were quantified from homogenized tissue using reverse‐phase HPLC and GC/MS in combination with immunohistochemistry. For parallel Raman analysis, BM‐Ch was flat‐mounted on slides and evaluated using a Raman confocal microscope and spectra analyzed by a range of statistical approaches. Quantitative analysis showed that the AGEs pentosidine, carboxym‐ethyllysine (CML), and carboxyethyllysine (CEL) occurred at significantly higher levels in BM‐Ch with age (P<0.05–0.01). Defined Raman spectral “fingerprints” were identified for various AGEs and these were observed in the clinical samples using confocal Raman microscopy. The Raman data set successfully modeled AGEs and not only provided quantitative data that compared with conventional analytical approaches, but also provided new and complementary information via a nondestructive approach with high spatial resolution. It was shown that the Raman approach could be used to predict chronological age of the clinical samples (P< 0.001) and a difference in the Raman spectra between genders was highly significant (P<0.000001). With further development, this Raman‐based approach has the potential for noninvasive examination of AGE adducts in living eyes and ultimately to assess their precise pathogenic role in age‐related diseases. —Glenn, J. V. , Beattie, J. R. , Barrett, L. , Frizzell, N. , Thorpe, S. R. , Boulton, M. E. , McGarvey, J. J., Stitt, A. W. Confocal Raman microscopy can quantify advanced glycation end product (AGE) modifications in Bruch's membrane leading to accurate, nondestructive prediction of ocular aging. FASEB J. 21, 3542–3552 (2007)
A Randomized Controlled Trial of 1% Aqueous Chlorhexidine Gluconate Compared with 10% Povidone-Iodine for Topical Antiseptic in Neonates Effects on Blood Culture Contamination Rates

We conducted a randomized controlled trial in neonates with birth weight greater than or equal to 1,500 g that compared 1% aqueous chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) with 10% povidone–iodine (PI) as a topical antiseptic. We found 1% CHG to be more effective than 1% PI in reducing blood culture contamination rates, and no contact dermatitis was observed.
Mitochondrial calcium sequestration and protein kinase C cooperate in the regulation of cortical F‐actin disassembly and secretion in bovine chromaffin cells

Mitochondria play an important role in the homeostasis of intracellular Ca2+ and regulate its availability for exocytosis. Inhibitors of mitochondria Ca2+ uptake such as protonophore CCCP potentiate the secretory response to a depolarizing pulse of K+. Exposure of cells to agents that directly (cytochalasin D, latrunculin B) or indirectly (PMA) disrupt cortical F‐actin networks also potentiate the secretory response to high K+. The effects of cytochalasin D and CCCP on secretion were additive whereas those of PMA and CCCP were not; this suggests different mechanisms for cytochalasin D and CCCP and a similar mechanism for PMA and CCCP. Mitochondria were the site of action of CCCP, because the potentiation of secretion by CCCP was observed even after depletion of Ca2+ from the endoplasmic reticulum. CCCP induced a small increase in the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]c) that was not modified by the protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor chelerythrine. Both CCCP and PMA induced cortical F‐actin disassembly, an effect abolished by chelerythrine. In addition, rotenone and oligomycin A, two other mitochondrial inhibitors, also evoked cortical F‐actin disassembly and potentiated secretion; again, these effects were blocked by chelerythrine. CCCP also enhanced the phosphorylation of PKC and myristoylated alanine‐rich C kinase substance (MARCKS), and these were also inhibited by chelerythrine. The results suggest that the rapid sequestration of Ca2+ by mitochondria would protect the cell from an enhanced PKC activation and cortical F‐actin disassembly, thereby limiting the magnitude of the secretory response.
How Timely are Earnings When Costs are Sticky? Implications for the Link Between Conditional Conservatism and Cost Stickiness

We interpret cost stickiness, i.e., the manager's decision to bear the costs of unutilized resources when sales decline, as a risky project and examine its impact on conditional conservatism. We find that cost stickiness increases the asymmetric timeliness of earnings by weakening the timeliness of earnings for good news firms and, at the same time, intensifying the timeliness of earnings for bad news firms. Additionally, the results suggest that the asymmetric timeliness of earnings for cost sticky firms is more strongly driven through accounting factors, as reflected in accruals than through non-accounting factors, as reflected in cash flow. Our results imply that cost stickiness is more costly due to conditional conservatism and that the market separates the efficient from the inefficient cost sticky firms indicating that information asymmetry is low. Future research could test whether conditional conservatism helps mitigating the information asymmetry induced by cost stickiness.
Decreased drug accumulation in a mitoxantrone‐resistant gastric carcinoma cell line in the absence of P‐glycoprotein

An established gastric‐carcinoma cell line, EPG85‐257P, is extremely sensitive to mitoxantrone (IC50, 0.12 ng/ml). Stepwise selection with mitoxantrone for 3 years resulted in a cell line (EPG85‐257RN) that is 7,056‐fold resistant to mitoxantrone (IC50, 846 ng/ml) and displays cross‐resistance to the topoisomerase(topo)‐II poisons ametantrone (411×), etoposide (112×) and teniposide (60×) as well as the topo‐I poisons 7‐ethyl‐10‐hydroxycamptothecin (331×) and topotecan (58×). We now show that this resistance is multifactorial. Western blotting revealed a 5‐fold decrease in topo‐IIα polypeptide in the mitoxantrone‐resistant cells. Immunohistochemistry and Western blotting failed to demonstrate P‐glycoprotein over‐expression. Formation of trapped topo‐II–DNA complexes in the resistant cells required higher mitoxantrone concentrations than in parental cells, even though nuclei isolated from the EPG85‐257RN cells formed cleavage complexes normally. In agreement with these observations, which suggest the possibility of a defect in mitoxantrone accumulation, examination of mitoxantrone accumulation in both cell lines by confocal laser microscopy revealed that the EPG85‐257RN cells accumulate less mitoxantrone at steady state. From these results, we propose that mitoxantrone accumulation, along with alterations in topo‐IIα expression, contribute to the resistance to mitoxantrone observed in these cells.Int. J. Cancer 71:817‐824, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss Inc.
A survey of token passing approaches for real time communications in WTPN

The most severe challenge faced by the wireless networks in supporting real time communications is sharing of wireless channel. A Wireless Token Passing Network (WTPN) is the one that utilizes token passing approaches for sharing the wireless medium. The token passing approaches are characterised by passing the tokens in the wireless local area network and the station that holds the token gets the permission to access the wireless channel. Token passing approaches are applied for the wireless networks as they are proved to be very effective in providing access for the stations to the shared wireless channel when compared to the existing polling mechanisms and the master-slave techniques. This paper synthesizes the existing token passing approaches that support real time communications in the wireless token passing networks and highlights the comparative analysis of these token passing approaches.
Spectral sharpness and vowel dissimilarity.

The effect of sharpening or smoothing the spectral envelopes of synthetic vowel-like sounds on the dissimilarities perceived among these sounds was investigated by means of triadic comparisons. When a spectral envelope (dB on a log-frequency scale) is considered the sum of a series of sinusoidal spectral modulations (or ripples) of different densities (the ripple spectrum), spectral sharpening or smoothing can be described as an amplification or attenuation of a part of the original ripple spectrum. For a set of nine sounds comprising different degrees of spectral sharpening of a single vowel, the perceived dissimilarities were found to be dominated by a specific part of the ripple spectrum, i.e., by spectral modulations with a density of about 2 ripples/oct. The possible role of lateral suppression in relation to this dominant region is discussed. For a set of 18 sounds comprising six vowels, each in three different versions (sharpened, normal, or smoothed), the dissimilarities were found to be determined mainly by the global shape of the spectral envelopes, i.e., by spectral modulations up to about 1.5-2 ripples/oct. Details of the spectral envelope (including the region of 2 ripples/oct where lateral suppression is effective) appear to be of minor influence on vowel dissimilarities.
Value of Immunohistochemical Detection of DNA Mismatch Repair Proteins in Predicting Germline Mutation in Hereditary Colorectal Neoplasms

The utility of immunohistochemistry (IHC) as a screening method for the identification of persons with mutations in the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes in hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) remains to be defined. In this study, we analyzed the value of IHC versus that of microsatellite instability (MSI) testing in predicting mutation status of the MLH1, MSH2, and MSH6 genes in colorectal carcinomas and adenomas, and explored the frequency and significance of immunohistochemical staining variability. The study samples included 83 carcinomas and 29 adenomas derived from 110 patients who had strong family histories of colorectal cancer. Our results showed that IHC correctly predicted MSI status in 76% of the cases with a specificity of 100%. The overall sensitivity of IHC in predicting a germline mutation was 79% (30 of 38) with a specificity of 89% (48 of 54), whereas that of MSI testing was 97% (30 of 31) with a specificity of 83% (35 of 42). Six of 31 analyzable cases that had a disease-causing mutation and exhibited MSI showed normal IHC. The lower sensitivity of IHC was caused mainly by its low sensitivity in detecting MLH1 gene mutation (4 of 9). Coexisting adenomas and carcinomas observed in the same slide (n = 12) showed a similar or identical staining pattern for all three proteins. No significant difference was detected in the sensitivity of IHC or MSI in detecting a germline mutation between isolated adenomas and carcinomas. In IHC-positive cases, heterogeneous staining was noted in 30% to 40% of the cases with the three different antibodies, and cytoplasmic staining in 5% to 13%. Weak IHC (defined as positive staining in <10% of the tumor with weak intensity) was noted in 14 tumors: 5 for the MLH1 antibody, 1 for MSH2, and 8 for MSH6. One of the 5 MLH1 cases exhibited MSI and had an MLH1 germline mutation. Five of the 8 MSH6 cases exhibited MSI and had MSH2 germline mutations. In conclusion, our study shows that 1) IHC identifies a significant portion of colorectal tumors derived from MMR gene germline mutation carriers and can be used as an adjunct measure in the identification of HNPCC families, but IHC cannot replace MSI testing; 2) adenomas have similar MMR protein expression patterns as carcinomas and may serve as an adequate sample for screening purposes in the identification of patients with MMR mutations; 3) not all IHC-positive cases show uniform positivity throughout the tumor; and 4) weak and focal staining of an MMR protein may be associated with MSI or gene mutation or both, suggesting the need to incorporate staining intensity in further IHC studies.
Low Power BIST for Scan-Shift and Capture Power

Low-power test technology has been investigated deeply to achieve an accurate and efficient testing. Although many sophisticated methods are proposed for scan-test, there are not so many for logic BIST because of its uncontrollable randomness. However, logic BIST currently becomes vital for system debug or field test. This paper proposes a novel low power BIST technology that reduces shift-power by eliminating the specified high-frequency parts of vectors and also reduces capture power. The authors show that the proposed technology not only reduces test power but also keeps test coverage with little loss.
Eroded Coffee Traceability and Its Impact on Export Coffee Prices for Ethiopia

In December 2008, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) opened a new coffee platform that has transformed Ethiopia’s coffee trade. The way ECX handles coffee in a commodity fashion has eroded traceability, a characteristic sought after by overseas coffee buyers. This paper traces the forces that give rise to the commoditization of coffee. An empirical analysis using a dataset on export coffee transactions supports the view that eroded traceability suppresses the export price of non-traceable, ECX-sourced coffee, relative to fully traceable coffee. The cumulative monetary is estimated to be 280 million USD, equivalent to 26% of farmer’ farm gate income from coffee.
Analysis and Critique of the Average Strike Put Option Marketability Discount Model

In this paper I examine the results from Finnerty’s average strike put option marketability discount model, and demonstrate some easy-to-compute lower and upper bounds for the average strike put option obtained using geometric average options for which exact closed-form formulas exist. The results obtained using Finnerty’s formula appear to exceed the upper bound significantly. I investigate the source of the inconsistency and propose an adjusted closed-form formula for the price of the arithmetic average strike put option and the associated marketability discount. The adjusted formula is within the established lower and upper bounds, and agrees with numerical simulation results.
A network synthesis theorem for linear dynamical quantum stochastic systems

In this paper we introduce a network synthesis theorem for linear dynamical quantum stochastic systems that are encountered in linear quantum optics and in phenomenological models of quantum linear circuits. In particular, such a theorem will be important in the physical realization of coherent/fully quantum linear stochastic controllers for quantum control. We show how general linear dynamical quantum stochastic systems can be systematically constructed by assembling an appropriate interconnection of one degree of freedom open quantum harmonic oscillators and, in the quantum optics setting, provide an explicit illustrative example of the systematic synthesis of a two degrees of freedom open quantum harmonic oscillator.
Gestational Pattern of Heme Oxygenase Expression in the Rat

Fetal growth is influenced by many intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Our objective was to determine the pattern of heme oxygenase (HO) expression in the pregnant rat and to study its association with fetal growth and growth factors. Uterine tissues were obtained from nonpregnant and from time-mated rats at 7, 13, 16, 19, and 21 d of pregnancy. Placental tissue was obtained on d 13, 16, 19 and 21 of pregnancy. Tissues were evaluated for HO activity, HO-1, HO-2, leptin and vascular endothelial growth factor protein, and HO-1 and HO-2 mRNA. HO activity in both the uterus and placenta peaked on d 21 of pregnancy. In the uterus, HO-1 and HO-2 protein and total mRNA levels peaked on d 16 of pregnancy, whereas, in the placenta, HO-1 and HO-2 protein levels peaked on d 19. Additionally, placental HO-1 mRNA peaked on d 16, but placental HO-2 mRNA declined toward the end of pregnancy. Placental leptin and vascular endothelial growth factor protein levels followed a similar pattern to placental HO-1 and peaked on d 16. We conclude that there is a clear uterine and placental gestational pattern of HO expression in the rat. This pattern is comparable to that of vascular endothelial growth factor and leptin.
Antiretroviral treatment for injecting drug users in developing and transitional countries 1 year before the end of the "Treating 3 million by 2005. Making it happen. The WHO strategy" ("3 by 5").

OBJECTIVE To describe and estimate the availability of antiretroviral treatment (ART) to injecting drug users (IDUs) in developing and transitional countries. METHODS Literature review of grey and published literature and key informants' communications on the estimated number of current/former injecting drug users (IDUs) receiving ART and the proportion of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) attributed to injecting drug use (IDU), the number of people in ART and in need of ART, the number of people living with HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (PLWHA) and the main source of ART. RESULTS Data on former/current IDUs on ART were available from 50 countries (in 19 countries: nil IDUs in treatment) suggesting that approximately 34 000 IDUs were receiving ART by the end of 2004, of whom 30 000 were in Brazil. In these 50 countries IDUs represent approximately 15% of the people in ART. In Eastern European and Central Asia IDU are associated with > 80% of HIV cases but only approximately 2000 (14%) of the people in ART. In South and South-East Asia there were approximately 1700 former/current IDUs receiving ART ( approximately 1.8% of the people in ART), whereas the proportion of HIV cases associated to IDU is > 20% in five countries (and regionally ranges from 4% to 75%). DISCUSSION There is evidence that the coverage of ART among current/former IDUs is proportionally substantially less than other exposure categories. Ongoing monitoring of ART by exposure and population subgroups is critical to ensuring that scale-up is equitable, and that the distribution of ART is, at the very least, transparent.