Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ownership and Managerial Competition: Employee, Customer, or Outside Ownership

This paper centres around the question of ownership of firms and managerial competition and how these affect manager and employees' incentives to invest in human capital. We argue that employee's incentives in human capital investment are affected by both ownership and competition since both ownership structure and competition provide bargaining chips to employees. Ownership provides protections which may improve or dull employees' incentives for human capital investment. When there is fierce market competition and no lock-in the allocation of ownership does not play a role (as one might expect), provided that human and physical assets are sufficiently complementary. If asset complementarity is low, ownership matters even in the absence of lock-in. In general, the most efficient ownership arrangement is that which maximizes managerial competition inside the firm.
Corporate governance and firm performance: A study of public listed companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This thesis examines the relationship between CG mechanisms and firm performance among firms in the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) for the periods 2007-2011. Two models have been developed using the framework of agency theory, stewardship theory, and resource dependence theory to test this study’s hypotheses. Model 1 comprises three categories of determinants. The first category is board of directors’ characteristics: board Royal family members, board size, independence, board meetings, board financial knowledge, CEO duality, and board multiple directorships. The second category of determinants is audit committee characteristics: audit committee outside financial expertise, multiple directorships, size, independence, meetings, and financial expertise. The third category is ownership structure: Royal family, non-Royal family, government, and domestic corporate ownership. Model 2, including ownership structure, comprises board of directors’ effectiveness score and audit committee effectiveness score. This study utilizes the Weighted Least Squares (WLS) models. The final sample comprises 573 observations. The results showed that Royal family members, board size, and CEO duality are positively associated with firm performance. In contrast, board meetings, board financial knowledge, and board multiple directorship are negatively associated with firm performance, whereas board independence has no association. Audit committee characteristics, outside financial expertise, size, independence, and meetings are negatively associated with firm performance. In contrast, financial expertise is positively associated with firm performance, whereas multiple directorships have no relationship. For both models, ownership structure—Royal family, non-Royal family, government, and domestic corporations—is positively associated with firm performance. Board of directors’ effectiveness score and audit committee effectiveness score are positively associated with firm performance. It should be noted that the findings established in this study could be useful to regulators, especially the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI), the Capital Market Authority (CMA), Tadawual, and the Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accounting (SOCPA) to improve CG practices. For companies, this study proposes that they should put more emphasis on enhancing the role and the quality of the board of directors and audit committee members, as they are involved in the decisions that improve firm performance
RMIT3DV: Pre-announcement of a creative commons uncompressed HD 3D video database

There has been much recent interest, both from industry and research communities, in 3D video technologies and processing techniques. However, with the standardisation of 3D video coding well underway and researchers studying 3D multimedia delivery and users' quality of multimedia experience in 3D video environments, there exist few publicly available databases of 3D video content. Further, there are even fewer sources of uncompressed 3D video content for flexible use in a number of research studies and applications. This paper thus presents a preliminary version of RMIT3DV: an uncompressed HD 3D video database currently composed of 31 video sequences that encompass a range of environments, lighting conditions, textures, motion, etc. The database was natively filmed on a professional HD 3D camera, and this paper describes the 3D film production workflow in addition to the database distribution and potential future applications of the content. The database is freely available online via the creative commons license, and researchers are encouraged to contribute 3D content to grow the resource for the (HD) 3D video research community.
Cellular inflammatory response to porcine collagen membranes.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to assess local inflammatory changes associated with the implantation of three different porcine collagen membranes having potential use in periodontal regeneration. METHODS Materials were implanted subcutaneously into prepared sites along the dorsal skin surface of 60 female Wistar rats. Saline and turpentine were used as negative and positive controls, respectively. Animals were killed and biopsies obtained after 3 d, and at 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks after membrane implantation. A panel of six monoclonal antibodies was used to identify circulating monocytes (ED1), resident tissue macrophages (ED2), lymphoid macrophages (ED3), Ia-antigen expression (OX6), T-lymphocytes (OX19), and B-lymphocytes (OX33). Cells identified by each antibody were subjected to quantitative immunocytochemistry to compare any differences present among groups. Sera obtained 8 weeks after grafting were used in immunoblotting assays to detect the presence of systemic antiporcine antibodies. RESULTS We found that the mononuclear cell subsets associated with implantation of porcine collagen membranes were similar to those obtained with saline administration. On the other hand, the use of turpentine resulted in an inflammatory infiltrate characterized by significantly higher numbers of all six monoclonal cell subsets at all time periods evaluated, compared to either saline or any of the membranes (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS The collagen membranes do not appear to be associated with a significant local inflammatory response, nor a systemic immune response, and thus appear to be well tolerated, rendering them useful in periodontal regeneration.
Failure of alkylating agents to improve induction chemotherapy of oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer.

BACKGROUND This prospective semi-randomized study was undertaken to assess the effects and effectiveness of alkylating drugs in a preoperative setting. PATIENTS AND METHODS During a 6-year period preceding February 2000, 80 patients with Stage II-IVa (AJCC 2002) squamous cell cancer of the oral cavity were treated. Thirty patients (Group N) received a combination of bleomycin, vincristine and methotrexate (BVM). In the alkylating group, thirty patients (Group A/M) received BVM and mitolactol (dibromodulcitol), while twenty patients (Group A/C) received BVM and cisplatin. Patients underwent surgery within 3 weeks after chemotherapy. Clinical response rate and tumour-free survival were investigated. RESULTS Clinical complete response was 30%-36% (Group N-A). Partial response was 57%-56% (Group N-A). Side-effects were moderate and reversible. Nausea, anaemia and leucopenia were observed in the alkylating (A) group, while other side-effects (alopecia, mucositis, gastritis) were similar in both groups. The observation time was 36 months. Regional disease-free survival showed a significant difference, favouring the non-alkylating (N) group (p=0.03). A higher metastasis rate was observed in the alkylating (A) group. CONCLUSION Cisplatin and mitolactol in combination with BVM showed higher local control and lower disease-free survival than BVM alone. That was mostly due to a higher rate of regional metastatis formation in the alkylating-treated patients. This may be a late side-effect caused by the immunosuppressive and myelosuppressive effect of alkylating agents.
Fhos encodes a Drosophila Formin‐Like Protein participating in autophagic programmed cell death

Larval tissues undergo programmed cell death (PCD) during Drosophila metamorphosis. PCD is triggered in a stage and tissue‐specific fashion in response to ecdysone pulses. The understanding of how ecdysone induces the stage and tissue‐specificity of cell death remains obscure. Several steroid‐regulated primary response genes have been shown to act as key regulators of cellular responses to ecdysone by inducing a cascade of transcriptional regulation of late responsive genes. In this article, the authors identify Fhos as a gene that is required for Drosophila larval salivary gland destruction. Animals with a P‐element mutation in Fhos possess persistent larval salivary glands, and precise excisions of this P‐element insertion resulted in reversion of this salivary gland mutant phenotype. Fhos encodes the Drosophila homolog of mammalian Formin Fhos. Fhos is differentially transcribed during development and responds to ecdysone in a method that is similar to other cell death genes. Similarly to what has been shown for its mammalian counterpart, FHOS protein is translocated to the nucleus at later stages of cell death. Fhos mutants posses disrupted actin cytoskeleton dynamics in persistent salivary glands. Together, our data indicate that Fhos is a new ecdysone‐regulated gene that is crucial for changes in the actin cytoskeleton during salivary gland elimination in Drosophila. genesis 50:672–684, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Using Remedies In Russian Merger Control

This article is motivated by a growing interest in the problem of merger control quality assessment. Remedies are one of the instruments of merger control and have a significant influence on the results of it. This paper aims to build and empirically evaluate a discrete choice model of merger remedies implementation in Russian merger control. The database consists of 443 merger cases accepted by the Russian antimonopoly agency between 2008 and 2011. We analyse the agency’s decisions to find which characteristics of merging firms and markets lead the Federal Antimonopoly Service to decide whether to allow conditional acceptance. We find that variables related to high market power lead more frequently to a remedy outcome. Such industries as the energy sector, communications and insurance positively affect the probability of a structural remedy. We do not find significant effects of “non-structural” variables, such as the world leader and the nationality of the firm-buyer.
Understanding the Digital Individual

This special issue of The Information Society explores the emergent phenomenon of the digital individual. The digital individual is the form of social identity that individuals acquire as their activities become influenced by—and often mediated through— digital representations of themselves. The articles in the special issue describe numerous aspects of the digital individual, from its construction within organizations to its construction in relation to individual others, and from the potential for new forms of social domination to the potential for new forms of social action. This introduction describes the articles and outlines the various themes that draw them together.
Mortality patterns, 1993–98, in a rural area of Burkina Faso, West Africa, based on the Nouna demographic surveillance system

The Nouna demographic surveillance system database was analysed for the period 1993–98. Basic demographic parameters, age‐specific and age‐standardized mortality rates were calculated and a seasonal variation in mortality was analysed. Poisson regression was used to model the calculated mortality rates and to investigate the seasonal mortality pattern. Both the population distribution by age and the mortality rates reflect a typical pattern of population structures and total mortality in rural Africa as a whole: high childhood mortality and a young population (about 60% are up to age 25; about 10% above age 64). We identified a significant seasonal pattern with highest mortality rates in February. Demographic surveillance systems in Africa provide a viable method for the collection of reliable data on vital events in rural Africa and should therefore be established and supported.
Violent deaths among Russian and EU male older adults

Aims: This ecological comparison study explored temporal trends since 1985 in age-adjusted suicide and homicide rates for older male adults (over the age of 65) resident in the EU and the Russian Federation. Methods: The data were extracted from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) European mortality database. Results: Older men resident in the Russian Federation had a higher risk of dying a violent death (by homicide and by suicide) than their younger compatriots (relative risks (RR) ranging from 1.13 to 1.31). Conversely, in the EU, older men had a higher risk of dying from suicide (RRs of 1.52 for men over the age of 65 and 3.27 for men over the age of 75) and a lower risk of being victims of homicide (RRs ranging between 0.84 and 0.89) than their younger compatriots. Conclusions: The European region is characterized by great inequalities in rates of violent deaths among the elderly.
Earnings management and institutional differences : Belgian evidence and audit quality as a constraint on earnings management

This study reports the results of an exploratory study on earnings management in a continental European institutional environment, i.e. Belgium. The far majority of the literature (both analytical and empirical) focuses on the Anglo-Saxon context. However, major differences exist between Anglo-Saxon and continental European countries. This might result in differences in the importance of various incentives for and constraints on earnings management. For a pooled sample of 486 firm-year observations of privately held companies in the Belgian textile and paper industries, we tested whether a higher quality audit constrains earnings management more than a lower quality audit. We used the dichotomous variable big6/non-big6 auditor as a measure for audit quality and discretionary accruals as a measure of earnings management. Discretionary accruals were estimated using a cross-sectional version of the Jones' model that was slightly adapted to fit the Belgian context. We performed a univariate as well as a multivariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis, we adapted the control variables to the continental European context. In addition we also tested whether the income smoothing hypothesis holds in Belgium. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that higher audit quality constrains earnings management more than lower audit quality. This result contrasts those of prior Anglo-Saxon studies (Becker et al., 1998; Francis et al., 1997). The results do however support the income smoothing hypothesis. This finding is (1) consistent with institutional differences being important in earnings management research and (2) the results from a prior Belgian study on earnings management (Branson and Loits, 1997).
The Role of Multi-Restaurant Reservation Sites in Restaurant Distribution Management

A study of 474 U.S. consumers documents the increasing popularity of sites that allow reservations at numerous restaurants—although the telephone remains by far the most common way to make a restaurant reservation. Slightly over half of the respondents to this survey had made a restaurant reservation online. About 60 percent of those who made reservations online used a multi-restaurant site to do so, and the rest used the restaurant’s own website. Those who continued to make phone reservations said they preferred a personal touch. However, a substantial percentage of respondents who telephoned their reservation had located the restaurant using a multi-restaurant site or app. Restaurateurs need to note the demographics and habits of customers who typically make reservations online. There are no gender differences between customers who make reservations online and those who don’t, but the online group is noticeably younger. Multi-restaurant site users also visit restaurants more frequently than the other respondents. They were more likely to rely on online reviews, and they like having several restaurants to choose from. Although participating in a multi-restaurant reservation site represents an additional expense, restaurateurs should consider a distribution strategy that includes such sites, especially since they seem to be the preferred portal for younger guests who dine out more frequently than others.
Bifurcations in a Seasonally Forced Predator-Prey Model with Generalized Holling Type IV Functional Response

A seasonally forced predator–prey system with generalized Holling type IV functional response is considered in this paper. The influence of seasonal forcing on the system is investigated via numerical bifurcation analysis. Bifurcation diagrams for periodic solutions of periods one and two, containing bifurcation curves of codimension one and bifurcation points of codimension two, are obtained by means of a continuation technique, corresponding to different bifurcation cases of the unforced system illustrated in five bifurcation diagrams. The seasonally forced model exhibits more complex dynamics than the unforced one, such as stable and unstable periodic solutions of various periods, stable and unstable quasiperiodic solutions, and chaotic motions through torus destruction or cascade of period doublings. Finally, some phase portraits and corresponding Poincare map portraits are given to illustrate these different types of solutions.
The economic value of healthy workers

Objective 1) To demonstrate the feasibility of a designed intervention in changing targeted health behaviors and 2) to evaluate the impact of changes in health risks on the two measures of job performance (a selfreported measure of health-related work impairment (presenteeism) and an objective measure of illness absenteeism). Design A pre/post study design (2004-2005) utilizing Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) data to assess changes in prevalence of individual health risks and changes in two productivity measures. Setting and Subjects Employees of a private insurance provider in Australia. Measures An HRA questionnaire was used to evaluate self-reported work impairment on different aspects of job demands and to assess the prevalence of health risks during March 2004 with a follow-up assessment December 2005. Absence hours due to illness (illness absenteeism) were obtained from company administrative records. Results The most improved health risks associated with the on-site lifestyle program interventions were increased physical activity, better perception of physical health and reduction in smoking although some health risks increased during the time period (e.g., job dissatisfaction and high stress). Changes in percentages of work impairment were significantly associated with changes in numbers of health risks—as health risks decreased, work impairment decreased; as health risks increased, work impairment increased. On average, each risk factor increased or reduced over time was associated with an incremental change of 4.2 percentage points of work impairment. Although there was a trend for changes in illness absenteeism to follow changes in health risks, the differences were not statistically significant. Conclusions This study demonstrates 1) the impact of a designed intervention program on changing health behaviors and 2) preliminary results indicating that changes in productivity measures follow changes in health risks. The study provides a first indication of the potential benefits of health promotion programming to Australian employees in improving health and to the corporation in minimizing health-related productivity loss.
Validation of Real‐time PCR Assays for Bioforensic Detection of Model Plant Pathogens

The U.S. agricultural sector is vulnerable to intentionally introduced microbial threats because of its wide and open distribution and economic importance. To investigate such events, forensically valid assays for plant pathogen detection are needed. In this work, real‐time PCR assays were developed for three model plant pathogens: Pseudomonas syringae pathovar tomato, Xylella fastidiosa, and Wheat streak mosaic virus. Validation included determination of the linearity and range, limit of detection, sensitivity, specificity, and exclusivity of each assay. Additionally, positive control plasmids, distinguishable from native signature by restriction enzyme digestion, were developed to support forensic application of the assays. Each assay displayed linear amplification of target nucleic acid, detected 100 fg or less of target nucleic acid, and was specific to its target pathogen. Results obtained with these model pathogens provide the framework for development and validation of similar assays for other plant pathogens of high consequence.
Isolated lymphatic endothelial cells transduce growth, survival and migratory signals via the VEGF‐C/D receptor VEGFR‐3

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor‐3 (VEGFR‐3/Flt4) binds two known members of the VEGF ligand family, VEGF‐C and VEGF‐D, and has a critical function in the remodelling of the primary capillary vasculature of midgestation embryos. Later during development, VEGFR‐3 regulates the growth and maintenance of the lymphatic vessels. In the present study, we have isolated and cultured stable lineages of blood vascular and lymphatic endothelial cells from human primary microvascular endothelium by using antibodies against the extracellular domain of VEGFR‐3. We show that VEGFR‐3 stimulation alone protects the lymphatic endothelial cells from serum deprivation‐induced apoptosis and induces their growth and migration. At least some of these signals are transduced via a protein kinase C‐dependent activation of the p42/p44 MAPK signalling cascade and via a wortmannin‐sensitive induction of Akt phosphorylation. These results define the critical role of VEGF‐C/VEGFR‐3 signalling in the growth and survival of lymphatic endothelial cells. The culture of isolated lymphatic endothelial cells should now allow further studies of the molecular properties of these cells.
Cooperation versus competition towards an efficient parking assignment solution

Cars cruising for parking adds a non negligible amount to traffic congestion and CO2 pollution. Hence, good parking management policies are required to reduce such discomfort. In this paper, we address this problem from two sides. First, we consider how local parking authorities called parking coordinators (PC) can optimize the distribution of the slots they manage through a full cooperation between them. Second, we model the problem as a congestion game, where vehicles act as players who will eventually choose the best parking garage for them, while minimizing the whole network cost. We study the effectiveness of both schemes (i.e, PC-aware and game theoretic approaches) in various contexts and compare them with the reference centralized model as well as a greedy approach. Simulation results show that our proposals provide high request satisfaction ratio, close to the optimal baseline approach and outperform the greedy method up to 30%, while ensuring a fair distribution of slots through the network.
Multinational Enterprises and Technological Spillovers

1. Multinational Enterprises and Technological Spillovers: a Survey 2. Multinational Enterprises and Technological Spillovers: an Evolutionary Model 3. Manufacturing and Innovatory Activities of US and Japanese Multinationals in Europe 4. Foreign Multinationals and the British Economy: Technological Spillovers in the Manufacturing Industries 5. Foreign Presence in the Italian Industries: Characteristics and Consequences 6. Concluding Remarks: Towards a System View of Internationalization Processes