Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Financial Disclosure Levels on Firms' Choices among Alternative Foreign Stock Exchange Listings

Firms are increasingly adopting a global perspective. Nowhere is this more evident than in the accelerating internationalization of the world's financial capital markets. In just five years the dollar volume of debt and equity securities placed annually by firms outside of their national borders has increased by 900%. ' In the US, primary offerings of foreign debt and equity have averaged over $5 billion per year since 1975. Between 1974 and 1984, the dollar volume of foreign stocks traded in secondary markets in the US rose 839%. A recent survey lists 472 companies as having active international trading in their equity securities. Once a firm decides to list its equity securities on a foreign exchange, available evidence suggests that the choice of listing location(s) is not random. This study addresses this question by presenting empirical evidence on the cross-sectional association between the financial disclosure levels of nine major stock exchanges (in eight countries) and the observed exchange choices of a sample of 207 US and non-US firms whose equity securities are listed on at least one foreign exchange. We interpret "financial disclosure" broadly to include both mandated accounting, listing and regulatory requirements and voluntary disclosures dictated by the expectations of market participants. Examining large firms with at least one foreign listing allows us to more effectively control for factors motivating firms' decisions to list abroad and to concentrate on factors influencing choices among alternative foreign exchange listings. Results from univariate and multivariate tests are consistent with financial disclosure levels influencing foreign exchange listing decisions.
Two types of projection neurons in the internal pallidum of primates: Single‐axon tracing and three‐dimensional reconstruction

The axonal projections of the internal pallidum (GPi) in cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) were studied by labeling small pools of neurons with biotinylated dextran amine. Fifty‐two axons were reconstructed entirely from serial sections with a camera lucida. Two types of projection neurons were identified in the GPi on the basis of their target sites. The abundant and centrally located type I neurons gave rise to a long axonal branch that descended directly to the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus, where it arborized discretely. Other branches ascended to the thalamus and broke into 10–15 thinner collaterals that ran through most of the ventral anterior nucleus, where they terminated as typical plexuses. About half of these axons gave rise to collaterals that arborized in both components of the centre médian/parafascicular thalamic complex. The less numerous and peripherally located type II neurons had an axon that climbed the rostral thalamic pole, coursed along the stria medullaris, and arborized profusely within the lateral habenular nucleus, which stood out as the most densely innervated pallidal target. Some type II axons provided collaterals to the anterior thalamic nuclei. A small proportion of axons of both types had branches that crossed the midline and terminated in contralateral GPi target structures. Three‐dimensional reconstruction showed that type I axons arborized principally along the sagittal plane. These data reveal that GPi neurons of type I act through a widely distributed axonal network upon thalamic and brainstem premotor neurons, whereas type II neurons act in a much more focused manner upon lateral habenular neurons. J. Comp. Neurol. 439:162–175, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
C-V parameter extraction technique for characterisation the diffused junctions of semiconductor devices

Considering the Gaussian model for the diffused junctions and beginning with the electric charge density equation applied for the semiconductor junctions, new relations for the depletion region width and barrier capacitance were obtained. Based on these relations, a new C-V method to extract the parameters of semiconductor devices, respectively of semiconductor junctions is presented. A very good agreement was obtained between the theoretical model and experimental data. This technique can be applied to many semiconductor devices with diffused junctions, like p-n diodes, bipolar transistors, thyristors, IGBTs.
The good, the bad and the ugly : employment relations in new non-union workplaces

David Guest, who is Professor of Occupational Psychology at Birkbeck College, and Kim Hoque, who is Research Officer in the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics and Political Science, draw on a postal survey of nearly 350 new establishments to consider their propensity to unionise, to adopt practices associated with HRM, and to deliver a number of performance outcomes. Key findings are that not only were there examples of the ‘good’, the ‘bad’ and the ‘ugly’ so far as practice generally was concerned, but also that those establishments which used HRM practices extensively tended to report better results in terms of a number of both employee relations and performance outcomes.
Goblet cell-speciﬁc expression mediated by the MUC2 mucin gene promoter in the intestine of transgenic mice

Goblet cell-speciﬁc expression mediated by the MUC2 mucin gene promoter in the intestine of transgenic mice. Am. J. Physiol. 276 ( Gastrointest. Liver Physiol. 39): G666–G676, 1999. —The regulation of MUC2 , a major goblet cell mucin gene, was examined by constructing transgenic mice containing bases 2 2864 to 1 17 of the human MUC2 5 8 -ﬂanking region fused into the 5 8 -untranslated region of a human growth hormone (hGH) reporter gene. Four of eight transgenic lines expressed reporter. hGH message expression was highest in the distal small intestine, with only one line expressing comparable levels in the colon. This contrasts with endogenous MUC2 expression, which is expressed at its highest levels in the colon. Immunohistochemical analysis indicated that goblet cell-speciﬁc expression of reporter begins deep in the crypts, as does endogenous MUC2 gene expression. These results indicate that the MUC2 5 8 -ﬂanking sequence contains elements sufficient for the appropriate expression of MUC2 in small intestinal goblet cells. Con-versely, elements located outside this region appear neces- sary for efficient colonic expression, implying that the two tissues utilize different regulatory elements. Thus many, but not all, of the elements necessary for MUC2 gene regulation reside between bases 2 2864 and 1 17 of the 5 8 -ﬂanking region. with a nonrelevant antibody, i.e., rabbit anti-porcine IgG in lieu of the speciﬁc antiserum; ) incubation with a nonrelevant gold reagent, i.e., goat anti-mouse IgG-Au speciﬁc gold reagent; ) of nontransgenic, control tissues. controls negligible deposits colloidal speciﬁc
Factors Influencing Farmer Adoption of Portable Computers for Site-Specific Management: A Case Study for Cotton Production

Personal digital assistants (PDA) and handheld global positioning systems (GPS) have become increasingly important in cotton production but little is known about their use. This research analyzed the adoption of PDA/handheld GPS devices in cotton production. A younger farmer who used a computer in farm management and had a positive perception of Extension had a greater likelihood of adopting the devices. In addition, farmers who used complementary remote sensing, plant mapping, and grid soil sampling information were more likely to use PDA/handheld GPS devices. Finally, the COTMAN in-field decision support program from Extension also positively impacted adoption.
Business Excellence model for supply chain management

Supply chain management (SCM) has been increasingly adopted by companies worldwide so as to utilize better their supply chain activities for competitive advantages. This paper reviews the relationships between total quality management (TQM) and SCM and concludes that existing SCM models have inadequacies which can be enriched by TQM principles and concepts. The authors selected Kanji's Business Excellence model, which uses TQM principles and concepts to help companies achieve business excellence, to fulfil the inadequacies of the existing SCM models and to create a new structured model for SCM. The model was tested with the data using the supply chain activities of 139 companies in Hong Kong. The results support that the structured model provides a good fit for the supply chain activities. Business excellence indices, which can be obtained for companies' SCM, can be further developed based on this new model.
New surface biopolymers for oxygenators: an in vitro hemocompatibility test of poly(2-methoxyethylacrylate).

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE The continuous interaction of blood with artificial contact surfaces under cardiopulmonary bypass can lead to a substantial damage of blood cells and plasma factors. Surface biopolymers in oxygenation systems can help increasing the hemocompatibility, often combined with anticoagulative agents such as heparin. The poly(2-methoxyethylacrylate) [PMEA] is a new heparin-free polymer. The objective of this experimental study was to evaluate the hemocompatibility of a PMEA-coated oxygenator (Terumo Capiox RX-25) (PTX) under standardized in vitro conditions compared to two ionic-bound and one covalent-bound heparin-coated models. METHOD Each oxygenator was mounted in a separate standardized closed circulation system. Heparinized (5 IE/mL) fresh human blood from the same donor (hemodilution: Ringer's solution) was used. Circulation time: 120 - 180 min with a flow rate of 4.0 L/min. Blood samplings: at the beginning, 5. min and every 30 min of the circulation. PARAMETERS platelets, granulocytes, plasma factors (p-selectin, alpha-granulomeres expression, and TAT(III)-complex). After the experiment, oxygenators were dismantled and examined by scanning electron microscopy. RESULTS All of the oxygenators led to an initial reduction of platelets and granulocytes. PTX had the lowest platelet and granulocyte reduction rates. With a lower p-selectin release compared to covalent-bound heparin-coated oxygenator and higher expression of alpha-granulomeres compared to ionic-bound heparin-coated oxygenators, the results of PTX indicated that a high number of circulating platelets were intact on the PMEA surface. TAT(III)-complex showed a steady increase in all of the oxygenators during the tests, more remarkably in PTX. In contrast to ionic-bound heparin-coated oxygenators, the electron microscopy displayed virtually no cellular accumulation on hollow fiber and housing surfaces of PTX and covalent-bound heparin-coated oxygenator. CONCLUSIONS 1. The hemocompatibility characteristics of PTX were remarkably better than ionic-bound heparin-coated oxygenators and slightly better than the covalent-bound heparin-coated model under in vitro conditions. 2. The PMEA coating can be a useful alternative for patients with heparin-associated disorders. 3. The clinical feasibility of PTX should be evaluated under in vivo conditions.
Influencing the Agents of Urban Structure

From the perspective of applied research, a critical urban theory presents the opportunity to become a force for social change. Nowhere has this perspective been more present than in activities around supporting the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The author applies evidence from an evaluation of the impact of CRA organizing to assess the success of efforts to bring about institutional change. This research suggests that local organizing provided the impetus for the establishment of a national political climate favorable to serious CRA enforcement. Evaluation approaches are needed to move theory from being pure critique to developing strategies for change.
Explaining the Breakdown of the Religion–Vote Relationship in The Netherlands, 1971–2006

This article examines the extent to which changes in the effect of religion on voting in The Netherlands since the 1970s can be explained by ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ approaches. The first includes religious integration and education. The latter category encompasses the restructuring of the party system and changes in party positions. Hypotheses are tested employing logistic and conditional logistic regression analyses of the Dutch Parliamentary Election Studies (1971–2006) supplemented by data from the Comparative Manifesto Project. Weakening religious integration largely explains the decline of political boundaries between non-religious voters and Catholics and Calvinists. In line with earlier research, the article finds that the creation of a single Christian Democratic Party (CDA) has reduced the religion–vote relationship. However, this merger effect largely disappears after taking into account party positions. Moreover, party positions influence the religion–vote association: the effect of religion on voting increases as religious parties emphasise traditional moral issues in their manifestos.
Political Influence on Public–Private Partnerships in the Public Health Sector in New Zealand

The purpose of this article is highlight the influences on the performance of public-private partnership organizations established to provide procurement services for public-sector organizations. The findings provide evidence of some values-based fracturing in public-private partnerships in the New Zealand public sector. However, it is the impact of political influence that illustrates significant potential to undermine effectiveness and efficiency. This case suggests there are innovative approaches which can be adopted—other than traditional models of public expenditure—yet still providing a sustainable public health service. Finally the case argues for the importance of appropriate political understanding of the changing scenarios.
An interactive quality of work life model applied to organizational transition.

Most healthcare organizations in the United States are in the process of some type of organizational change or transition. Professional nurses and other healthcare providers practicing in U.S. healthcare delivery organizations are very aware of the dramatic effects of restructuring processes. A phenomenal amount of change and concern is occurring with organizational redesign, generating many questions and uncertainties. These transitions challenge the basic assumptions and principles guiding the practice of clinical and management roles in healthcare.
Best value in Welsh local government: Progress and prospects

The development and distinctive characteristics of Best Value in Wales are analysed on the basis of an extensive set of interviews with elected members and officers in all of the Welsh pilot authorities. The close relationship between the Welsh Office and the Welsh Local Government Association has shaped the Best Value regime. These organisations have steered the formulation of the policy, and have drivem its implementation at a faster pace than in England. A consequence is that Welsh pilots have confronted difficult issues concerning performance plans and service reviews ahead of their English counterparts. The prospects for the implementation of Best Value are evaluated on the basis of Welsh pilots’ experience with the first wave of 127 service reviews.
The Judicial Common Space

To say that positive political theory (PPT) scholarship on the hierarchy of justice is theory rich and data poor is to make a rather uncontroversial claim. For over a decade now, scholars have offered intriguing theoretical accounts aimed at understanding why lower courts defy (comply with) higher courts. But only rarely do they subject the accounts to rigorous empirical interrogation. The chief obstacle, it seems, is the lack of a reliable and valid measurement strategy for placing judges of lower courts and justices of higher courts in the same policy space. Without such a strategy, we can systematically test few, if any, hypotheses flowing from PPT models of the judicial hierarchy. With such an approach not only can we investigate the implications of these models, we can assess many others flowing from the larger PPT program on judging, as well. It is to the challenge of scaling judges and justices (as well as legislatures and executives) that we turn in this article. We begin by explicating our measurement strategy, and then by explaining its advantages over previous efforts. Next we explore the results of our approach and provide a descriptive look at data it yields: a Judicial Common Space (JCS) score for all justices and judges appointed since 1953. The last section offers three applications designed to shore up the suitability and adaptability of the JCS for a range of positive projects on the courts.
Identifying best practice in national tourism organisations

The UK Leisure and Tourism sector is uniquely fragmented at government and industry levels and comprises a wide and diverse range of products and services. Tourist boards and strategic authorities are important for the thousands of small enterprises that provide accommodation, food, attractions and travel services in Britain. These organisations are responsible for marketing to incoming visitors and they provide a voice on industry issues. This article presents the findings of qualitative, exploratory analysis into the remits and positioning of six National Tourism Organisations in terms of the role each plays in interfacing with other interest groups to influence tourism policy issues and to support the tourism industry. Emphasis is placed on exploring the partnership-working dynamic between national tourism organisations and interest groups towards exerting influence on policy formulation. The study identifies best practice in partnership working and government lobbying based on thematic interviews. A thematic network is presented to suggest how the best practice partnership aspects that are identified might be applied in a UK context.
Feature-fused SSD: fast detection for small objects

Small objects detection is a challenging task in computer vision due to its limited resolution and information. In order to solve this problem, the majority of existing methods sacrifice speed for improvement in accuracy. In this paper, we aim to detect small objects at a fast speed, using the best object detector Single Shot Multibox Detector (SSD) with respect to accuracy-vs-speed trade-off as base architecture. We propose a multi-level feature fusion method for introducing contextual information in SSD, in order to improve the accuracy for small objects. In detailed fusion operation, we design two feature fusion modules, concatenation module and element-sum module, different in the way of adding contextual information. Experimental results show that these two fusion modules obtain higher mAP on PASCAL VOC2007 than baseline SSD by 1.6 and 1.7 points respectively, especially with 2-3 points improvement on some small objects categories. The testing speed of them is 43 and 40 FPS respectively, superior to the state of the art Deconvolutional single shot detector (DSSD) by 29.4 and 26.4 FPS.
How do income distributions change in Europe

This study explores income changes in nine European countries. First, in order to rank the distributions of income, we apply dominance criteria. Then, we extend this standard approach and examine the differences between Lorenz and Generalized Lorenz curves by means of nonparametric methods. We trace movements in relative position of particular income groups by investigating the direction and magnitude of the impact of changes in income that took place. Analysis of the inequality distributions allows us to reveal the information concealed in these curves, but not provided by the ranking. Apart from the time- and country-specific phenomena, we identify some regular, consistent across time and space patterns. To assess the consistency of our results, we employ different specifications of equivalence scales. In addition, this sensitivity analysis provides evidence of a U- and inverted J-shape pattern displayed by the value of inequality index, when the parameters of the equivalence scale are changed.
School Librarians and Response to Intervention.

to Intervention (RtI) is a three-tiered model of instruction that increases learning for all students. RtI meets the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act to provide research- based instruction and interventions for students as needed. RtI is supported with federal funds from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and federal Race to the Top grant funding. School districts nationwide are adopting RtI. For this study school librarians in schools that practice RtI participated in an online survey. Results indicate that seven processes are needed to implement RtI programs. Sixty-two percent of the surveyed librarians have a role in one or more of these processes. The school librarian's involvement differs depending on which processes are supported. Data demonstrate that, in support of RtI activities, librarians have opportunities to lead and assist teachers and to impact student achievement through each of the seven processes: getting started, training staff, planning interventions, assessing students, scheduling interventions, implementing interventions, and evaluating the RtI program.
Declining Voter Turnout in Advanced Industrial Democracies, 1950 to 1997

Past comparative voting-behavior research has revealed that electoral institutions can explain much of the variation in voter turnout between nations. This study takes an alternative and dynamic approach by identifying and explaining a pattern of turnout decline within industrial democracies, which is beyond purely institutional explanation. Multivariate analysis of a pooled cross section of 18 industrial democracies between 1950 and 1997 suggests that turnout decline can best be explained in terms of changing patterns of group mobilization and electorate demographics. The authors specifically point to the decline of unions and labor parties, which have traditionally been associated with the mobilization of peripheral voters and the real increases in the cost of mobilization. The authors control for institutional changes and find that they are less useful in explaining variation in turnout within advanced industrial democracies.
CARDIODYNAMIC RESPONSE TO ESCHERICHIA COLI ENDOTOXEMIA: EFFECTS OF FLUID RESUSCITATION

We tested the influence of in vivo volume resuscitation on intrinsic contractile properties of left ventricular (LV) preparations of endotoxemic guinea pigs. Escherichia coli endotoxin (LPS)-injected animals were divided into nonresuscitated and resuscitated groups. Volume resuscitation improved cardiac output and stroke volume, increased arterial pH and body temperature, and decreased mortality. In isovolumetric LV preparations isolated 4 h after LPS injection, LV systolic pressures (in mmHg) of LPS with (42 ± 3) and without (42 ± 2) fluid resuscitation were consistently less than control values (70 ± 3). LV end-diastolic pressure-volume (compliance) decreased in LPS-nonresuscitated hearts, while LV compliance of LPS-resuscitated hearts was similar to control. Thus, intravascular volume expansion selectively improved LV diastolic compliance of LPS hearts without affecting LV systolic function. These findings suggest that LV systolic and diastolic dysfunctions associated with endotoxemia and Gram-negative sepsis may involve separate pathogenic mechanisms.