Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social and Environmental Disclosures: Substitutes or Complements?

Most prior research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure considers environmental and social components as additive or complementary. In this paper, we extend the existing literature on CSR by investigating the substitution effect of social disclosure and environmental disclosure in reducing information asymmetry between managers and investors. We also attempt to study the association between different environmental disclosure sources and information asymmetry. Our results suggest that social disclosure and paper-based environmental disclosure substitute each other in reducing stock market asymmetry. We also show that environmental information communicated on the web page or by press releases does not affect information asymmetry when we consider social disclosure. These observations suggest that future research in CSR disclosure might fruitfully distinguish between social and environmental disclosure as well as communication devices. Moreover, as expected, we observe that environmental performance is negatively associated with environmental disclosure. Our results also show that environmental news exposure and firm size are key drivers of environmental disclosure.
Coronary stent patency and in-stent restenosis: determination with 64-section multidetector CT coronary angiography--initial experience.

PURPOSE To prospectively assess the diagnostic performance of 64-section multidetector computed tomography (CT) for the evaluation of coronary stent stenosis and occlusion by using conventional coronary angiography as the reference standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS Institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained. Thirty patients (27 men, three women; mean age, 58.2 years; range, 42-67 years) with 39 coronary stents were examined with 64-section multidetector CT. Scanning was retrospectively electrocardiographically gated, and an automatic bolus-tracking method was used. For image reconstruction, an edge-enhancing kernel (B46f) was chosen. Evaluations were performed by two radiologists who were blinded to the results of conventional coronary angiography performed within 2-3 days after CT. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated. RESULTS At conventional angiography, nine of the 39 stents were shown to be totally occluded. All of the occluded stents were correctly diagnosed with CT angiography. Nineteen of 20 patent stents were correctly demonstrated with CT angiography. Ten stents had in-stent restenosis; eight were correctly diagnosed with CT. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of 64-section multidetector CT were 89% (17 of 19), 95% (19 of 20), 94% (17 of 18), and 90% (19 of 21), respectively, for in-stent restenosis and occlusion. With the McNemar test, no significant difference was found between 64-section multidetector CT and conventional coronary angiography for the detection of coronary in-stent restenosis and occlusion. CONCLUSION Sixty-four-section multidetector CT coronary angiography is a promising method for the noninvasive diagnosis of in-stent restenosis and occlusion.
Cache Side Channels: State of the Art and Research Opportunities

Cache side channels are a type of attack vectors through which an adversary infers secret information of a running program by observing its use of CPU caches or other caching hardware. The study of cache side channels, particularly access-driven cache side channels, is gaining traction among security researchers in recent years. A large volume of papers on cache side-channel attacks or defenses is being published in both security and computer architecture conferences each year. However, due to the diversity of the research goals, methods, and perspectives, it becomes much harder for researchers new to this field to keep track of the frontiers of this research topic. As such, in this tutorial, we will provide a high-level overview of the studies of cache side channels to help other security researchers to comprehend the state of the art of this research area, and to identify research problems that have not been addressed by the community. We also hope to bridge the gaps between the security community and the computer architecture community on this specific research topic by summarizing research papers from both sides.
An Economic Analysis: Is Fidaxomicin Worth the Cost?

To the Editor— We recognize the efforts by Bartsch et al [1] to evaluate fidaxomicin (DIFICID). The conclusions drawn by the authors, however, warrant reexamination in light of numerous clinical and methodological problems. Clinically, the “all-or-none” treatment approach used in the decision model does not accurately represent real-world treatment patterns. The model assumes if a treatment fails, a second course will be effective, thus biasing the results toward a relatively ineffective first-line treatment. The severity classification used by the authors also limits the applicability of this model and does not reflect Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of American/Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines, nor does it provide a reliable way to classify patients at the onset of treatment [2]. Given the efficacy data in Table 1 [1], it should be mathematically impossible to derive the result that fidaxomicin is less effective. It seems likely that there is a typographical error in either the table or model calculations, or both. The selection of a NAP1/BI/027 frequency of 50% considerably overestimates the burden of this strain of C. difficile. Current estimates of 22%–34% suggest that the prevalence of the BI strain is declining, with the United States likely experiencing a period of endemicity rather than epidemicity and outbreaks [3–5]. We also question the use of utility weights for noninfectious diarrhea (range, 0.817–0.92, Table 1 [1]) as a proxy for C. difficile–associated diarrhea (CDAD). The values in Table 1 present a situation where the utility for nonsevere disease (0.88) is higher than the baseline utility for patients aged ≥65 years (0.84). If this were true, a patient aged ≥65 could potentially have improved quality of life when experiencing an episode of nonsevere CDAD. Other potential, more appropriate utility probabilities can be found in the Tufts Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry [6]. Using inaccurate or widely disparate utility values can significantly magnify errors in output [7]. Finally, we draw attention to the independently conducted economic analysis of fidaxomicin vs vancomycin recently published by Stranges et al in Value in Health [8]. The two models share several efficacy and cost parameters, the inputs for which vary substantially. The significantly different inputs, combined with a more appropriate clinical scenario, produced a very different cost per quality-adjusted life-year of $67 576, substantially lower than Bartsch et al's $43.7 million [1, 8]. We recognize the complexity of modeling treatment patterns in C. difficile infection; however, several inappropriate clinical and methodological assumptions significantly limit the value of this work.
Supporting Small Firm Development in Tourism

The international experience points to few countries having designated support programmes that are specific to small tourism firms. In 2000 South Africa's Tourism Enterprise Programme (TEP) was launched, functioning as a dedicated support initiative to assist the development and upgrading of small tourism firms within the national tourism economy. This article analyses TEP's activities within the changed environment of post-apartheid tourism development, and highlights the evolution of its innovative operations for supporting tourism entrepreneurship and the upgrading of small, medium-sized and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa's tourism economy. It is argued that TEP's activities might provide an example of ‘good practice’ for other developing countries.
A framework for operations management: the value chain

Proposes that a broad perspective needs to be taken of operations management, so that it is no longer seen as the domain of mechanistic functionalism, but rather as the architect and engineer of the business model driving in turn the firm's creation of value. Suggests that a value chain approach provides an appropriate framework for such business model architecture. Draws a distinction between industry level value chains and value chain analysis at the level of the firm where the focus is on business processes. Suggests that mapping one against the other is critical to business model effectiveness and the creation of value. Finally, notes that a firm's value chain should not be seen as necessarily a series of smooth synchronous links, but as dynamic that creates its own interaction costs. This should not be seen as dysfunctional, but as a source of dynamism replicating the market environment the firm is operating in. While it does not sit well with the notions of scientific management so commonly associated with classical operations management, suggests that this process fusion is a fundamental aspect of the firm's operations that needs to be purposefully managed.
Perceived environmental uncertainty's effect on commitment in business-to-business channels

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the null hypothesis that there is no significant association between perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU) and a three component conceptualisation of commitment.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from owner/managers of community pharmacy businesses in New South Wales, Australia, with 268 responses analysed by confirmatory factor analysis to test a measurement model for each construct and a structural model to test the paper's hypothesis.Findings – The hypothesis was partially supported with results indicating that greater PEU is associated with lower instrumental and normative commitment. The association with affective commitment was more complex. No direct association with PEU was evident, however a standardised indirect effect was identified.Research limitations/implications – The primary theoretical implications are that commitment in business‐to‐business channels is evidently affected by PEU, suggesting in part that PEU is likely to hav.
The termination of inter‐firm relationships

Much of the recent attention devoted to marketing channel relationships has focused on the development or maintenance of effective relationships. Relatively little research has been devoted to the termination of an inter‐firm relationship and that which does is largely based on the concepts of personal or consumer relationship termination. This deficiency is addressed through exploratory research involving case studies of dyads with experience of inter‐firm relationship termination. The case studies illustrated the complex nature of inter‐firm relationship termination. Each termination situation was uniquely characterised by a different combination of relationship factors that complicated the termination process and the termination strategies that could be used. It appears that the use of direct and other‐oriented termination strategies will increase the likelihood of both firms perceiving the termination process and its outcomes more favourably.
Should Preferred Stock be Classified as a Liability? Evidence from Implied Cost of Common Equity Capital

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are currently working together towards a comprehensive standard of accounting for financial instruments with characteristics of equity, liability, or both. An important facet of this project is to determine the appropriate liability vs. equity classification of preferred stock. In its preliminary views, the FASB has selected an ownership approach. Recent Board deliberations resulted in a majority vote (with two dissenting board members) for classifying even perpetual preferred stock as a liability under the ownership approach. We contribute to this important question by examining how the equity market, on average, incorporates different forms of preferred stock (and the components of their other liability obligations) into the cost of common equity capital (COCEC). Using a change model for a large sample of firms over the period 1980-2005, we find that COCEC increases with firms' preferred stock holdings. This finding holds whether the increase in preferred stock relates to shares that are redeemable, non-redeemable, or convertible. Our results suggest that a strict liability view of preferred stock is a viable classification scheme.
The Affordable Care Act: Coverage Implications and Issues for Immigrant Families

The Affordable Care Act has particular relevance for the United States? foreign-born population since they are over 2.5 times more likely than their native-born peers to lack health insurance and because they constitute a large and growing share of the U.S. population. This brief highlights the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and health insurance coverage for key immigrant subgroups and describes how the ACA could affect coverage and access to care for these subgroups and their families.
Challenges for privacy preservation in data integration

Techniques for integrating data from diverse sources have attracted significant interest in recent years. Much of today’s data collected by businesses and governments are about people, and integrating such data across organizations can raise privacy concerns. Various techniques that preserve privacy during data integration have been developed, but several challenges persist that need to be solved before such techniques become useful in practical applications. We elaborate on these challenges and discuss research directions.
Globalization and Higher Education in Taiwan

Within the last decade, Taiwan’s higher education system has experienced transformation along the lines of decentralization and marketization (Mok, 2000). The pressure to compete internationally and to attain global recognition has become one of the major benchmarks in evaluating university performance (Mok, 2003; Song & Tai, 2007). Together with rising concerns about the value of money, public accountability has already changed the way higher education is governed (Welch, 2004). Advanced nations, such as the UK (with its University Appropriations Committee) and the US (with its Higher Education Project Funds in the Department of Education), along with Japan and Germany, have all allocated funds to assist in the development of key universities. In Taiwan, the government has realized that globalization has accelerated competition among universities around the world (Lo & Weng, 2005; Lu, 2004; MOE, 2006). A series of large-scale projects were launched in order to catch up with the rest of the world’s higher education systems amid the powerful trend of globalization (Song & Tai, 2007). With the revision of the University Act in 1994, which prompted the restructuring of state owned higher education institutions (HEIs) into independent legal entities (Mok, 2006), thereby reducing the control of the Ministry of Education (MOE) over HEIs and making campus operations more flexible. In the following years, Taiwan’s government, acknowledging that the state alone can never satisfy the pressing demand for higher education, decided to revise its education ordinances and create room for the expansion of private higher education (Mok, 2000; Mok & James, 2005). This sparked a growth in the number of HEIs over the decades. Currently, the number of HEIs has increased dramatically from 7 in 1950 to 164 in 2008, among which are 100 universities, 49 colleges, and 15 junior colleges (MOE, 2008). This sudden increased in numbers of HEIs did not only inflame the competition among HEIs, but also hasten the internationalization of Taiwan’s HEIs. Among the major projects Taiwan’s MOE organized the Plan to Develop First-class Universities and Top-level Research Centers is the project with largest competitive fund. The empirical part of this paper analyzes the outcome of this project, adopted by the Taiwan Ministry of Education, in creating world-class universities and research centers. The prospective performances of the funded universities were evaluated with official data from the Department of Higher Education in Taiwan. The following section shall discuss the definition of globalization and internationalization of Taiwan’s higher education, which is
The value of a positional advantage for agricultural SMEs

Abstract Marketing and strategy scholars have established the importance of a market orientation and innovativeness as drivers of firm performance. This study examines how a market orientation, innovativeness, entrepreneurship, organizational learning, and a cost focus contribute to a positional advantage within the context of agricultural SMEs. Using a sample of 307 Illinois beef farmers, we empirically measure and test the construct of positional advantage and examine the relationship between positional advantage and firm performance. Our results indicate that market orientation, entrepreneurship, innovativeness, organizational learning and a cost focus are first-order indicators of positional advantage and that organizational learning, market orientation, and experience are positively related to firm performance.
Air Pollution and Public Health: A Guidance Document for Risk Managers

This guidance document is a reference for air quality policymakers and managers providing state-of-the-art, evidence-based information on key determinants of air quality management decisions. The document reflects the findings of five annual meetings of the NERAM (Network for Environmental Risk Assessment and Management) International Colloquium Series on Air Quality Management (2001–2006), as well as the results of supporting international research. The topics covered in the guidance document reflect critical science and policy aspects of air quality risk management including i) health effects, ii) air quality emissions, measurement and modeling, iii) air quality management interventions, and iv) clean air policy challenges and opportunities.
A Kalman filter in motion analysis from stereo image sequences

In this paper, a Kalman filter-based algorithm for 3-D motion estimation from a stereo image sequence using the unified temporal-spatial optical flow field (UOFF) has been proposed. The modeling problem is discussed first. More consideration has been given to determining the covariance matrices for system noise and sensor noise than the previous works using Kalman filtering in image sequence processing. The newly visible image areas, i.e., the disocclusion issue, which have not been considered in the most of previous works, are handled in our algorithm by using a threshold method. Two experiments are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm. <<ETX>>
The prevalence, influential factors and mechanisms of relative age effects in UK Rugby League

Relative age effects (RAEs), reflecting observed inequalities in participation and attainment as a result of annual age‐grouping policies in youth sport, are common in most team sports. The aims of this study were to determine if and when RAEs become apparent in Rugby League, determine how influential variables (e.g., gender) lead and clarify whether player retention at junior representative levels can explain persistent RAEs. Player data were collected for the male and female community games ranging from Under 7s to Senior (N=15 060) levels, junior representative selections (i.e., Regional) and professional players (N=298). Chi‐square analyses found significant (P<0.05) uneven birth date distributions beginning at the earliest stages of the game and throughout into senior professionals. In junior representative selections, 47.0% of Regional and 55.7% of National representative players were born in Quartile 1, with RAE risk increasing with performance level. Gender and nationality were also found to moderate RAE risk. When tracking representative juniors, over 50% were retained for similar competition the following season. Findings clearly demonstrate that RAEs exist throughout Rugby League with early selection, performance level and retention processes, appearing to be key contributing factors responsible for RAE persistence.
The East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey (Belgium): a population-based registe

Abstract The East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey (EFPTS), started in 1964, is unique among the 17 major European twin registers because it is population based, the twins (and higher order births) are ascertained at birth, basic perinatal data are collected, chorion type is established and, when appropriate, genetic markers including DNA fingerprints, are determined. The total number of sets is 5089 twin, 158 triplet and 14 of higher order. Zygosity has been diagnosed on the basis of sex, placental structure and genetic markers in more than 95% of pairs. The EFPTS is the only large register that includes placental data and allows differentiation of three subtypes of monozygotic twins based on the time of the initial zygotic division: the dichorionic—diamnionic pairs (early), the monochorionic—diamnionic pairs (intermediate), and the monochorionic—monoamnionic pairs (late). Methodology and basic results in twins are considered in this article; detailed studies will be reported later. The sex proportion in dizygotic (DZ) twins is the same as in singletons, whereas monozygotic (MZ) twins number more girls than boys. The difference in perinatal mortality between DZ and MZ twins is limited to the monochorionic MZ subgroup. Birth weight is highest in DZ twins and diminishes stepwise in MZ dichorionic and MZ monochorionic twins. Duration of pregnancy follows the same trend but is limited to a few days. Iatrogenic pregnancies are increasing to the point of representing almost 50% of the twin births in 1997.
Exploring Leadership Styles, Flexibility, Postponement and Integration Levels of Mass Customizations Firms

In earlier times, pure customization and mass production were the two prime production techniques in industry management. Pure customization helps manufacturers to produce unique products to satisfy specific customer needs. These practice leads to high product price, high lead time and complicated production line. On the other hand, mass production leads to lower product variety and lower customer satisfaction. Mass Customization is a production process to attract customer and deliver them the products according to their choice at a very low cost. This paper presents an ongoing research on the leadership style of the companies that follows mass customization. Several hypotheses exploring personality styles and leadership styles of leaders of mass customization firms has been proposed.
Ethics and Social Responsibility in Australian Grocery Shopping

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify, and explore the importance of, ethical and socially responsible (ESR) factors in Australian consumers' choices of grocery products and stores.Design/methodology/approach – Following an earlier study in the UK, an initial qualitative investigation, then a survey of grocery shoppers in New South Wales, was conducted. Factor analysis explored the structure of the choice factors for grocery products and stores in “main” and “top‐up” shopping situations. Finally, four multiple regression equations measured the effects of these factors.Findings – This paper finds that, when “top‐up” shopping, ESR consumers are less discriminating than when “main” shopping. The provision of ethically farmed produce has most influence on store choice when “main” shopping, while retailers' fair trading and environmentally responsible policies have the greatest influence when “topping‐up”. The ethical provenance of goods is the most important factor in product choice.Research limi.