Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accountability of Independent Directors - Evidence From Firms Subject to Securities Litigation

We examine which independent directors are held accountable when investors sue firms for financial and disclosure-related fraud. Investors can name independent directors as defendants in lawsuits, and they can vote against their reelection to express displeasure over the directors’ ineffectiveness at monitoring managers. In a sample of securities class action lawsuits from 1996 to 2010, about 11% of independent directors are named as defendants. The likelihood of being named is greater for audit committee members and directors who sell stock during the class period. Named directors receive more negative recommendations from Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy advisory firm, and significantly more negative votes from shareholders than directors in a benchmark sample. They are also more likely than other independent directors to leave sued firms. Overall, shareholders use litigation along with director elections and director retention to hold some independent directors more accountable than others when firms experience financial fraud.
Resources and armed conflicts

A generous endowment of natural resources should favour rapid economic and social development. The experience of countries like Angola and Iraq, however, suggests that resource wealth often proves a curse rather than a blessing. Billions of dollars from resource exploitation benefit repressive regimes and rebel groups, at a massive cost for local populations. This Adelphi Paper analyses the economic and political vulnerability of resource-dependent countries; assesses how resources influence the likelihood and course of conflicts; and discusses current initiatives to improve resource governance in the interest of peace. It concludes that long-term stability in resource-exporting regions will depend on their developmental outcomes, and calls for a broad reform agenda prioritising the basic needs and security of local populations.
County-Level Alcohol Availability and Cirrhosis Mortality

The paper examines the impact of county-level alcohol availability on heavy drinking, as measured by liver cirrhosis mortality, employing data on the 254 Texas counties. In particular, reducing the number of licensed alcohol vendors raises the travel-cost component of the price of alcohol and, therefore, should lower the rate of cirrhosis mortality. Since the observed level of alcohol availability in a county is endogenous to the interaction of alcohol demand and supply, we follow a two-stage estimation method. The results show a strong positive relationship between cirrhosis mortality and alcohol availability: counties with a higher degree of alcohol availability tend to have more deaths from cirrhosis. Therefore, reducing alcohol availability, as measured by the number of licensed alcohol vendors, can be an important policy tool in reducing heavy drinking.
Young Children's Preferences for Listening Rates

A paired-comparison paradigm was utilized to determine the preferences of 20 young children for listening rate for prose speech. An electronic expansion/compression technique yielded nine rates of speech ranging from 100 wpm to 200 wpm, with intervals of 25 wpm. The results indicated that the children most preferred a listening rate of 200 wpm and least preferred a rate of 100 wpm. Comparisons of the present findings with preference rates of older, post-adolescent children and adults are discussed. Direction for further research with temporal alteration and linguistic constraints on the message are considered.
Combining structural and functional measurements to improve detection of glaucoma progression using Bayesian hierarchical models.

PURPOSE To present and evaluate a new methodology for combining longitudinal information from structural and functional tests to improve detection of glaucoma progression and estimation of rates of change. METHODS This observational cohort study included 434 eyes of 257 participants observed for an average of 4.2 ± 1.1 years and recruited from the Diagnostic Innovations in Glaucoma Study (DIGS). The subjects were examined annually with standard automated perimetry, optic disc stereophotographs, and scanning laser polarimetry with enhanced corneal compensation. Rates of change over time were measured using the visual field index (VFI) and average retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (TSNIT average). A bayesian hierarchical model was built to integrate information from the longitudinal measures and classify individual eyes as progressing or not. Estimates of sensitivity and specificity of the bayesian method were compared with those obtained by the conventional approach of ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression. RESULTS The bayesian method identified a significantly higher proportion of the 405 glaucomatous and suspect eyes as having progressed when compared with the OLS method (22.7% vs. 12.8%; P < 0.001), while having the same specificity of 100% in 29 healthy eyes. In addition, the bayesian method identified a significantly higher proportion of eyes with progression by optic disc stereophotographs compared with the OLS method (74% vs. 37%; P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS A bayesian hierarchical modeling approach for combining functional and structural tests performed significantly better than the OLS method for detection of glaucoma progression. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00221897.).
The crystal structure of eEF1A refines the functional predictions of an evolutionary analysis of rate changes among elongation factors.

The complex interplay between sequence, folded structure, and function in a divergently evolving protein family can be reflected in the rate at which individual sites accumulate amino acid replacements. Thus, detecting shifts in the evolutionary rates of individual sites offers a way to identify potential instances of functional divergence among proteins (Benner 1989; Naylor and Gerstein 2000; Gaucher, Miyamoto, and Benner 2001; Marin et al. 2001; Wang and Gu 2001). The covarion model of Fitch and Markowitz (1970) was among the first to consider protein structure and function in this way. The ability to detect rate-shift sites relies on molecular evolutionary approaches (Gu 1999, 2001; Benner and Gaucher 2001; Galtier 2001; Landgraf, Xenarios, and Eisenberg 2001), whereas functional explanations for these changes can be derived from experiments in structural biology (Golding and Dean 1998). This combination defines a powerful approach for studies within the field of functional genomics in general. Gaucher, Miyamoto, and Benner (2001) illustrated how such a combined approach can provide experimentally testable hypotheses that relate individual amino acids to specific functional differences among proteins. They analyzed elongation factor (EF) sequences and identified those sites with shifting rates between the EFTu and eEF1A orthologs from bacteria and eukaryotes, respectively. Their comparisons relied on maximum likelihood (ML) methods to estimate the evolutionary rates of sites in one group, then in the other. Those sites with the greatest rate changes between EF-Tu and eEF1A were identified from a frequency histogram of their individual differences. EF-Tu and eEF1A (formerly known as EF-1a) are essential for translation in bacteria and eukaryotes (Krab and Parmeggiani 1998; Negrutskii and El’skaya 1998). Despite their similar overall roles in translation and very slow rates of evolution, these two orthologous proteins differ in several of their more specific functions. For example, bacterial EF-Tu binds GDP ;100-fold tighter than GTP, in contrast to the near-identical affinities of eEF1A for both. EF-Tu regenerates its active form via the single-subunit nucleotide exchange factor EF-Ts. In contrast, eEF1A is regenerated by the multisubunit nucleotide exchange factor eEF1B (formally known as EF1bgd). eEF1B is composed of the subunits a, b, and g,
Managers and Students Playing Cournot: Experimental Evidence from Malaysia

We report results from a Cournot triopoly experiment with different subject pools: German students, Malaysian students, and Malaysian managers. While German students play Nash, we reject the hypothesis that both Malaysian students and managers select the Nash quantity. Moreover, Malaysian managers perform significantly less competitively than Malaysian students. Finally, the affect of gender is opposite for German and Malaysian subjects.
A Theory of Modern Transition Applied to Thailand

We consider a dual economy consisting of a traditional sector and a modern sector. Each sector uses sector-specific skill, which is accumulated through work experience. There is exogenous productivity growth only in the modern sector, which has an attractive force of shifting people toward the modern sector. However, the transition to the exclusive use of the modern sector technology occurs gradually, because experience and labor are complements within each sector. During transition, aggregate output follows a S-shaped path, eventually converging to the productivity growth of the modern sector. Using micro data from Thailand, Socio-Economic Survey, for 1976-1996, we partition the economy into traditional and modern sectors and estimate the deep parameters of the model, explicitly measuring the size of the sector-specific complementarity. We then simulate the model at the estimated parameters and report on the success of the model in explaining the dynamics of (i) average labor earnings, (ii) sectoral transition, (iii) inter-sectoral earnings inequality and (iv) intra-sectoral earnings inequality. JEL: O11, O47, J31, O15
Proposal on matrix-based collaborative filtering using personal values

This paper proposes a matrix-based collaborative filtering based on users' personal values. On many online shopping sites, hotel booking sites, etc, a huge amount of items are available, from witch it becomes difficult for users to find items of interest. Recommender systems help users by suggesting items expected to be preferred by them. One of the common and successful recommendation methods is collaborative filtering, which determines items to recommend based on information about users' past behaviors. Among various kinds of collaborative filtering proposed so far, matrix factorization-based approach can make a good recommendation especially for sparse rating matrix. On the other hand, it is generally known that personal values affect user's decision making on evaluating / purchasing items, and recommender systems which try to make use of personal values have been studied. This paper proposes a matrix-based collaborative filtering that uses personal values. In the proposed method, user models and item models reflecting personal values are represented as matrices, and predicted score of a target item is calculated by taking the product of them. Effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated with movie dataset. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves comparable results with state-of-the-art matrix-based recommendation methods. In particular, it is observed that the proposed method outperforms the existing methods for users with less rating histories. It is also shown that the proposed recommender system is effective for recommending long-tail items.
Protease-deficient Bacillus subtilis host strains for production of Staphylococcal protein A

We constructed strains of Bacillus subtilis which produced very low levels of extracellular proteases. These strains carried insertion or deletion mutations in the subtilisin structural gene (apr) which were constructed in vitro by using the cloned gene. The methods used to construct the mutations involved the use of a plasmid vector which allowed the selection of chromosomal integrates and their subsequent excision by homologous recombination to effect replacement of the chromosomal apr gene by a derivative carrying an inactivating insert with a selectable marker (a cat gene conferring chloramphenicol resistance). The strains produced no subtilisin, no detectable extracellular metalloprotease activity, and residual extracellular serine protease levels as low as 0.5% of that of the standard strain from which they were derived. The strains proved to be superior host strains for the production of staphylococcal protein A, accumulating higher levels of intact protein than do previously available B. subtilis strains.
jPBC: Java pairing based cryptography

It has been recently discovered that some cyclic groups that could be used in Cryptography admit a special bilinear pairing map that introduces extra structure to the group. Bilinear pairing maps were first used to break cryptosystems (see, for example, [1], [2], [3]) and later it was realized that the extra structure could be exploited to build cryptosystems with extra properties. Boneh and Franklins identity-based encryption scheme [4] is the most famous early example of what could be achieved using bilinear maps. After that, a plethora of cryptosystems have been designed using bilinear maps. No full and freely available implementation of pairing based cryptography was available until this work. Recent proposals [13], [14], [15] fall short of this goal as either their source code is not available or because they support a limited range of elliptic curve. Moreover, neither one of [13], [14], [15] implements preprocessing that is crucial to reduce the computation time. In this work, we present jPBC a Java port of the PBC library written in C [24], [25]. jPBC provides a full ecosystem of interfaces and classes to simplify the use of the bilinear maps even for a non-cryptographer. jPBC supports different types of elliptic curves, preprocessing which can speedup the computation significantly and it is ready for the mobile world. Moreover a benchmark comparison between jPBC and PBC has been performed to measure the gap between the two libraries. Furthermore jPBC has been benchmarked on different Android mobile platforms.
MODELS OF STOCK MARKET PREDICTABILITY

I briefly review the success of past studies purporting to explain equity valuations and predict future equity returns. The Campbell-Shiller mean reversion models are contrasted with an expanded version of the so-called "Federal Reserve" model. At least over the 1970-2003 period, "Federal Reserve-type" models do somewhat better at predicting long-horizon returns than a mean reversion model based on dividend yields and price-earnings multiples. However, timing investment strategies based on any of these prediction models do no better than a buy-and-hold strategy. While some predictability of returns exists, there is no evidence of any systematic inefficiency that would enable investors to earn excess returns.
Don't Just Lead, Govern: Implementing Effective it Governance

Firms achieving above industry average returns from IT investments must be making consistently better IT-related decisions. Effective IT governance is one of the ways these firms achieve superior returns. Many firms are creating IT governance structures that encourage the behavior leading to achieving the firm's business performance goals. We define IT governance as specifying the decision rights and accountability framework to encourage desirable behavior in the use of IT. Effective IT governance requires careful analysis about who makes decisions and how decisions are made in at least four critical domains of IT: principles, infrastructure, architecture, and investment and prioritization. We studied the use of IT in large multi-business unit firms in the USA and Europe and found that the typical firm governs IT by following generally accepted guidelines with broad-based inputs and tightly controlled decision rights. However, top-performing firms governed IT differently with governance structures linked to the performance measure on which they excelled (e.g., growth). Designing an effective IT governance structure requires understanding the competing forces in a large organization and creating harmony among business objectives, governance archetype and business performance goals. An effective IT governance structure is the single most important predictor of getting value from IT. To help understand and design more effective governance, we propose an IT governance framework that specifies how decisions are made in the key IT domains. The framework harmonizes desired governance archetypes (i.e., monarchy, feudal, federal and anarchy) and a series of governance mechanisms (e.g., committees, approval processes and organizational forms). The framework is illustrated with effective IT governance at State Street Corporation. Effective IT governance encourages and leverages the ingenuity of all the firm's people in using IT, not just the leaders, while still ensuring compliance with the firm's overall vision and principles. In short, don't just lead, govern
Variability of Voriconazole Plasma Levels Measured by New High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and Bioassay Methods

ABSTRACT Voriconazole (VRC) is a broad-spectrum antifungal triazole with nonlinear pharmacokinetics. The utility of measurement of voriconazole blood levels for optimizing therapy is a matter of debate. Available high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and bioassay methods are technically complex, time-consuming, or have a narrow analytical range. Objectives of the present study were to develop new, simple analytical methods and to assess variability of voriconazole blood levels in patients with invasive mycoses. Acetonitrile precipitation, reverse-phase separation, and UV detection were used for HPLC. A voriconazole-hypersusceptible Candida albicans mutant lacking multidrug efflux transporters (cdr1Δ/cdr1Δ, cdr2Δ/cdr2Δ, flu1Δ/flu1Δ, and mdr1Δ/mdr1Δ) and calcineurin subunit A (cnaΔ/cnaΔ) was used for bioassay. Mean intra-/interrun accuracies over the VRC concentration range from 0.25 to 16 mg/liter were 93.7% ± 5.0%/96.5% ± 2.4% (HPLC) and 94.9% ± 6.1%/94.7% ± 3.3% (bioassay). Mean intra-/interrun coefficients of variation were 5.2% ± 1.5%/5.4% ± 0.9% and 6.5% ± 2.5%/4.0% ± 1.6% for HPLC and bioassay, respectively. The coefficient of concordance between HPLC and bioassay was 0.96. Sequential measurements in 10 patients with invasive mycoses showed important inter- and intraindividual variations of estimated voriconazole area under the concentration-time curve (AUC): median, 43.9 mg · h/liter (range, 12.9 to 71.1) on the first and 27.4 mg · h/liter (range, 2.9 to 93.1) on the last day of therapy. During therapy, AUC decreased in five patients, increased in three, and remained unchanged in two. A toxic encephalopathy probably related to the increase of the VRC AUC (from 71.1 to 93.1 mg · h/liter) was observed. The VRC AUC decreased (from 12.9 to 2.9 mg · h/liter) in a patient with persistent signs of invasive aspergillosis. These preliminary observations suggest that voriconazole over- or underexposure resulting from variability of blood levels might have clinical implications. Simple HPLC and bioassay methods offer new tools for monitoring voriconazole therapy.
Attitudes About Hard Work: A Global Perspective on the Beliefs of Government Employees

ABSTRACT Government workers are often criticized for holding views that are at odds with the mainstream. Few studies have empirically tested the congruency between attitudes held by government and private sector workers. Using data from the 2009 International Social Survey Programme that includes individual responses across 32 countries, we examine whether government employees’ beliefs about opportunities in society systematically differ from those of private sector workers. We estimate the effect of sector (government/private) and position (supervisor/non-supervisor), among workers in “helping professions,” on perceptions of the role of hard work for getting ahead in society. We find that government supervisors and government/private non-supervisors are significantly less likely than private sector supervisors to emphasize the role of hard work for getting ahead. Private sector supervisors believe that hard work is essential for getting ahead. Government workers are less likely to emphasize the importance of hard work and are more inclined to look beyond the individual for explanations of societal success and failure.
Mapping and Manipulating Facial Expression

Nonverbal visual cues accompany speech to supplement the meaning of spoken words, signify emotional state, indicate position in discourse, and provide back-channel feedback. This visual information includes head movements, facial expressions and body gestures. In this article we describe techniques for manipulating both verbal and nonverbal facial gestures in video sequences of people engaged in conversation. We are developing a system for use in psychological experiments, where the effects of manipulating individual components of nonverbal visual behavior during live face-to-face conversation can be studied. In particular, the techniques we describe operate in real-time at video frame-rate and the manipulation can be applied so both participants in a conversation are kept blind to the experimental conditions.
Adopting and consuming innovations

This paper aims to improve understanding of how innovations are diffused through combining perspectives on the adoption and consumption of innovation. The literature on the adoption of innovation mainly examines issues such as technical functionalities, utility and personality factors. In contrast, research on the consumption of innovation is concerned with the context and meaning of consumer decisions and the values that underlie them. The paper is conceptual and uses Weber’s categories of meaning in action to argue the value of combining the primarily ‘rational’ innovation adoption literature with the more ‘emotive’ consumption literature. By reference to the consumption of hybrid cars, we show how the innovation adoption literature can be valuably supplemented by an understanding of what consumers of innovation do, why they do it and what doing it means to them. We argue that this combination provides a more holistic understanding of how innovations diffuse and has implications for those delivering, using and researching innovation.
Effect of Carbohydrate Supplementation on the Physiological and Perceptual Responses to Prolonged Tennis Match Play

Abstract Gomes, RV, Moreira, A, Coutts, AJ, Capitani, CD, and Aoki, MS. Effect of carbohydrate supplementation on the physiological and perceptual responses to prolonged tennis match play. J Strength Cond Res 28(3): 735–741, 2014—Carbohydrate supplementation is a popular nutritional practice used in tennis to enhance physical capacities, motor-skill performance, and delay fatigue. However, the effects of carbohydrate supplementation on physiological and perceptual responses during tennis match play are not established. This double blind, randomized, placebo (PLA)-controlled crossover study was designed to determine the influence of carbohydrate supplementation (0.5 g·kg−1·h−1) on glycemia, salivary hormones (cortisol and testosterone) concentration, salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA) concentration, and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) during 3 hours of tennis match play in 12 well-trained tennis players. The only significant difference between the 2 conditions was a lower salivary cortisol concentration postmatch in the carbohydrate trial (p < 0.05); however, there was a trend for higher glucose concentration (p = 0.06) and lower session-RPE (p = 0.08) after tennis match play in the carbohydrate condition, which may have some practical implications. There was no change in salivary testosterone, salivary IgA, and RPE responses during tennis match play between conditions (p > 0.05). These data indicate that carbohydrate ingestion during 3 hours of competitive tennis match play helps to maintain glycemia and attenuates the increase in salivary cortisol concentration compared with PLA.