Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CONCENTRATION RATIOS, FINANCIAL LEVERAGE AND PROFITABILITY: THE CASE OF SELECTED PHILIPPINE CORPORATIONS, 1997-2006

Studies on the empirical relationship between market share and profitability have focused largely on operating profitability, with little attention to the contribution of financial leverage or financing-related profitability. This paper aims to contribute to the literature on what traditionally has been the purview of the field of industrial organization but which needs to recognize the significance of corporate financial decisions in strategic policy formulation. There is no evidence to support the hypothesis that profitability as measured by return on equity is positively and linearly related to concentration indices as measured by relative market share. There seems to be a modicum of evidence, however, that points to the relationship between financial leverage and market share albeit only at the high-end of concentration ratios. At this end of the spectrum, corporations conceivably take advantage of corporate size in leveraging their resources for greater profitability. The use of multi-year averages of profitability and of market share to reduce the “noise” of year-to-year variations did little to address the chaotic behavior of single-year estimates. The procedure failed to smoothen out the variability that was hoped would allow the extraction of empirical evidence to support longstanding theories.
Monetary Policy Objectives in Pakistan: An Empirical Investigation

The Taylor rule (1993) focuses only on two objectives: output and inflation. In practice, the central bank’s loss function (especially in developing countries) contains objectives other than these two, like the interest rate smoothing, exchange rate stabilisation, etc. In this study, the monetary policy reaction function has been estimated, including five objectives for monetary policy as well as controlling for the effect of three other factors. Whereas the results confirm the counter-cyclical response of monetary policy to the factors in the loss function, the response of interest rate to changes in the foreign exchange reserves and the government borrowing has been negative. Variance decomposition shows that most of the variation in the interest rate is explained by its own lagged values. Other variables, in explaining variation in the interest rate, can be ranked as inflation, government borrowing, exchange rate, output gap, trade deficit, and, finally, the foreign exchange reserves.
Why do children want to know more about the donor? The experience of youngsters raised in lesbian families

In this study, we focus on the donor origin of youngsters who are raised in lesbian donor insemination (DI) families. The aim was to explore why some of these DI children like to know more about the donor while others do not, these data were gathered by means of a semi-structured interview. Secondly, we investigated, by means of several questionnaires, whether psychological variables such as global self-esteem, emotional and behavioral adjustment and children's perception of the quality of the parent-child relationship were in some way linked to whether or not they wanted to know more about the donor. In our study the majority of the children who preferred to have no information about the donor expressed their loyalty towards the social mother. For the majority of the children who opted for donor information, curiosity was the most salient motive. No differences were found with regard to the psychological variables between the two groups considered. In conclusion, the wish to know more about the donor or the absence of such a need is not reflected in the child's well-being and is not linked to the quality of the parent-child interaction.
Measuring foundation school effectiveness using English administrative data, survey data and a regression discontinuity design

Apparently sophisticated school performance measures have been used to claim that giving schools autonomy from local government control improves pupil exam performance. This paper explores the extent to which inferring causality between autonomy and pupil achievement is reasonable given that pupils are not randomly assigned to schools and schools do not randomly acquire autonomous status. Rich administrative data and the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England are used to evaluate whether school performance measures are confounded by pupil characteristics that explain both the chances of attending an autonomous school and academic achievement. The assignment of grant-maintained (and thus now foundation) status through a vote of parents is used to compare school that just did, and just did not, gain autonomy over a decade ago. These alternative estimation strategies suggest there is little evidence that foundation status casually yields superior school performance.
Concentration‐dependent effect of (−) epicatechin in hypertensive patients

Non‐vitamin polyphenolic compounds are ubiquitous in food plants and therefore potentially present in human plasma in a diet‐dependent concentration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the concentration‐dependent effect of (−) epicatechin, a polyphenol present in green tea with antioxidant activity, on various biomarkers of oxidative stress. The current study examined the in vitro concentration‐dependent (10−4 M to 10−7 M) effects of (−) epicatechin on biomarkers of oxidative stress viz. malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH), membrane sulfhydryl (‐SH) group and protein carbonyl content in hypertensive patients and normal ones. This effect seems to be due to ability of (−) epicatechin to reduce MDA and protein carbonyl content while increase in GSH and membrane ‐SH group in hypertensive patients. It can be concluded that (‐) epicatechin exerts an antioxidant action inside the cell, responsible for the observed modulation of cellular response to oxidative challenges. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
High-performance work systems in Asian companies

High-performance work systems (HPWSs) have recently attracted considerable interdisciplinary interest in the field of management, industrial relations and economics. There is rising interest in using high-performance work practices, because evidence showed that organizations that implemented such systems recorded remarkable success, especially in organizations in Western countries. The purpose of the study is to explore the extent to which HPWSs are used in organizations in three selected Asian societies and determine the extent to which HR systems directly enhance performance. Research from organizations in three Asian societies showed mixed results. A strong relationship between HR practices and the outcome measure—i.e., subjective performance ( profitability)—was observed. Managerial implications and future research direction will be discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Sun Protection Practices and Sun Exposure among Children with a Parental History of Melanoma

Background: First-degree relatives of melanoma survivors have a substantially higher lifetime risk for melanoma than individuals with no family history. Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is the primary modifiable risk factor for the disease. Reducing UV exposure through sun protection may be particularly important for children with a parental history of melanoma. Nonetheless, limited prior research has investigated sun protection practices and sun exposure among these children. Methods: The California Cancer Registry was used to identify melanoma survivors eligible to participate in a survey to assess their children's sun protection practices and sun exposure. The survey was administered by mail, telephone, or web to Latino and non-Latino white melanoma survivors with at least one child (0–17 years; N = 324). Results: Sun exposure was high and the rate of sunburn was equivalent to or higher than estimates from average-risk populations. Use of sun protection was suboptimal. Latino children were less likely to wear sunscreen and hats and more likely to wear sunglasses, although these differences disappeared in adjusted analyses. Increasing age of the child was associated with lower sun protection and higher risk for sunburn, whereas higher objective risk for melanoma predicted improved sun protection and a higher risk for sunburns. Perception of high barriers to sun protection was the strongest modifiable correlate of sun protection. Conclusions: Interventions to improve sun protection and reduce sun exposure and sunburns in high-risk children are needed. Impact: Intervening in high-risk populations may help reduce the burden of melanoma in the United States. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 24(1); 169–77. ©2015 AACR.
Sulfasalazine-Related Hypersensitivity Reactions in Patients With Rheumatic Diseases

BackgroundSulfasalazine (SSZ), which has an arylamine sulfonamide structure, is an anti-inflammatory drug used in the treatment of many rheumatic diseases. Various adverse effects have been reported related to SSZ. In the present study, we aimed to define the frequency of SSZ-related hypersensitivity reaction in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. MethodsA total of 136 patients were included in this study. During follow-ups, reaction type, reaction duration, and drug doses were recorded in patients who developed hypersensitivity reactions. Drugs were discontinued in patients who developed reactions, and they were treated with antihistaminics and/or corticosteroids, according to requirements. Drug provocation tests with the drugs and aminosalicylic acid were performed in patients with negative skin prick test individually. ResultsA total of 136 patients, with ages ranging from 19 to 71 years (mean, 41.97 [SD, 12.04] years), were included in the study. Hypersensitivity reactions according to the drug provocation test were found against SSZ in 12 patients (8.8%). The SSZ-related hypersensitivity reaction types were urticaria in 7 patients, urticaria and angioedema in 4 patients, and pruritus in 1 patient. ConclusionsSulfasalazine is widely used by rheumatologists in the treatment of rheumatic diseases. Whereas the frequency of sulfonamide-related hypersensitivity reactions was reported as 3.0% in the population, we detected hypersensitivity reactions to be 8.8% with SSZ usage in rheumatic diseases.
Delayed Introduction of Reduced‐Dose Tacrolimus, and Renal Function in Liver Transplantation: The ‘ReSpECT' Study

We report a multicenter, prospective, randomized, open‐label trial investigating the effect of lower levels and delayed introduction of tacrolimus on renal function in liver transplant recipients. Adult patients with good renal function undergoing primary liver transplant were randomized to either: group A (standard‐dose tacrolimus [target trough levels >10 ng/mL] and corticosteroids; n = 183); group B (mycophenolate mofetil [MMF] 2g/day, reduced‐dose tacrolimus [target trough levels ≤8 ng/mL], and corticosteroids; n = 170); group C (daclizumab induction, MMF, reduced‐dose tacrolimus delayed until the fifth day posttransplant and corticosteroids, n = 172). The primary endpoint was change from baseline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at 52 weeks. The eGFR decreased by 23.61, 21.22 and 13.63 mL/min in groups A, B and C, respectively (A vs C, p = 0.012; A vs B, p = 0.199). Renal dialysis was required less frequently in group C versus group A (4.2% vs. 9.9%; p = 0.037). Biopsy‐proven acute rejection rates were 27.6%, 29.2% and 19.0%, respectively. Patient and graft survival was similar. In conclusion, daclizumab induction, MMF, corticosteroids and delayed reduced‐dose tacrolimus was associated with less nephrotoxicity than therapy with standard‐dose tacrolimus and corticosteroids without compromising efficacy or tolerability.
Addressing Teacher Quality Through Induction, Professional Compensation, and Evaluation: The Effects on Labor-Management Relations

Conventional wisdom has it that teacher unions are singularly concerned with enhancing the compensation packages of those whom they represent. Issues central to educational quality, from better teacher preparation to more rigorous professional evaluation, play second fiddle to the primary union focus on wages and benefits, according to conventional wisdom. However, the notion that teacher unions are interested only in improving salary levels belies an emerging truth in some school district-union partnerships. In the locales that are the subject of this article, union and management are creating a new text about labor-management relations. Minneapolis’s Achievement of Tenure process, Denver’s Professional Compensation system, and Montgomery County, Maryland’s Professional Growth System reflect very different kinds of labor-management agreements than are the usual subject of discourse and critique. In these places, labor-management agreements form the foundation of programs designed to improve the quality of teaching and levels of student learning.
Hypoxia-induced downregulation of autophagy mediator Beclin-1 reduces the susceptibility of malignant intestinal epithelial cells to hypoxia-dependent apoptosis

Disruption of tumor blood supply causes tumor hypoxia. Hypoxia can induce cell death, but cancer cells that remain viable in the absence of oxygen often possess an increased survival potential, and tumors formed by these cells tend to grow particularly aggressively. Thus, developing approaches aimed at increasing the susceptibility of malignant cells to hypoxia-induced death represents a potentially important avenue for cancer treatment. Molecular mechanisms that control the survival of cancer cells under hypoxia are not well understood. In an effort to understand them we found that hypoxia downregulates Beclin-1, a mediator of autophagy, in malignant intestinal epithelial cells. The reversal of this downregulation promoted autophagosome accumulation, enhanced the activation of a pro-apoptotic protease caspase-9 and subsequent caspase-9-dependent activation of two other pro-apoptotic proteases caspases 3 and 7 in these cells. Furthermore, the reversal of hypoxia-induced downregulation of Beclin-1 stimulated caspase-9-dependent apoptosis of the indicated cells under hypoxia. Interestingly, we found that Beclin-1-dependent caspase-9 activation in hypoxic cells was not associated with an increased release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria to the cytoplasm (such release represents a frequently occurring mechanism for caspase-9 activation). We also observed that Beclin-1-dependent apoptosis of hypoxic malignant cells was independent of FADD, a mediator of death receptor signaling. We conclude that hypoxia triggers a feedback mechanism that delays apoptosis of oxygen-deprived malignant intestinal epithelial cells and is driven by hypoxia-induced Beclin-1 downregulation. Thus, approaches aimed at the disruption of this mechanism can be expected to enhance the susceptibility of such cells to hypoxia-induced apoptosis.
The Two Na+ Sites in the Human Serotonin Transporter Play Distinct Roles in the Ion Coupling and Electrogenicity of Transport*

Background: The Na+/Cl−-dependent serotonin transporter contains two putative Na+-binding sites (Na1 and Na2). Results: Mutations at Na1, but not Na2, allow Ca2+ to replace Na+ and alter the conducting properties of the transporter. Conclusion: Ca2+ binds at Na1, but in the Na1 mutant, it does not appear to be transported. Significance: This work uncovers distinct roles of the Na+-binding sites for serotonin transporter function. Neurotransmitter transporters of the SLC6 family of proteins, including the human serotonin transporter (hSERT), utilize Na+, Cl−, and K+ gradients to induce conformational changes necessary for substrate translocation. Dysregulation of ion movement through monoamine transporters has been shown to impact neuronal firing potentials and could play a role in pathophysiologies, such as depression and anxiety. Despite multiple crystal structures of prokaryotic and eukaryotic SLC transporters indicating the location of both (or one) conserved Na+-binding sites (termed Na1 and Na2), much remains uncertain in regard to the movements and contributions of these cation-binding sites in the transport process. In this study, we utilize the unique properties of a mutation of hSERT at a single, highly conserved asparagine on TM1 (Asn-101) to provide several lines of evidence demonstrating mechanistically distinct roles for Na1 and Na2. Mutations at Asn-101 alter the cation dependence of the transporter, allowing Ca2+ (but not other cations) to functionally replace Na+ for driving transport and promoting 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)-dependent conformational changes. Furthermore, in two-electrode voltage clamp studies in Xenopus oocytes, both Ca2+ and Na+ illicit 5-HT-induced currents in the Asn-101 mutants and reveal that, although Ca2+ promotes substrate-induced current, it does not appear to be the charge carrier during 5-HT transport. These findings, in addition to functional evaluation of Na1 and Na2 site mutants, reveal separate roles for Na1 and Na2 and provide insight into initiation of the translocation process as well as a mechanism whereby the reported SERT stoichiometry can be obtained despite the presence of two putative Na+-binding sites.
Genetic algorithm for the determination of binodal curves in ternary systems polymer–liquid(1)–liquid(2) and polymer(1)–polymer(2)–solvent

A simple genetic algorithm for the numerical evaluation of binodal curves in ternary systems polymer–liquid (1)–liquid (2) and polymer (1)–polymer (2)–solvent is presented. The technique exploits a specifically developed restarting technique based on a combined elitist and zooming strategy on the last population at each iteration. The objective function (fitness) is represented by the weighted sum of the squared differences of chemical potentials of the two phases of each component, obtained evaluating first derivatives of Gibbs free energy of the mixture with respect to the number of moles of the components. The method proposed (a) is numerically stable since it does not require the evaluation of first derivatives of the objective function and (b) can be applied in a wide range of cases changing the equation of state. Several comparisons with simplified iterative procedures presented in the past in the technical literature both for mixtures of two polymers with identical characteristics in a solvent and for mixtures of solvent–nonsolvent–polymer with solvent–polymer interaction parameter equal to zero are reported. Finally, a comparison between present results and the “alternating tangent approach” is reported for two technically meaningful binary systems, when a simplified PC‐SAFT equation of state is adopted. The comparisons show that reliable results can be obtained by means of the algorithm proposed and suggest that the procedure presented can be used for practical purposes. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2007
The Nature of Equilibrium in Markets with Adverse Selection

In the presence of adverse selection, how does the nature of the market equilibrium depend on the convention used to set the prices? Using a variant of Akerlof's model of the used car market, we examine the equilibrium of the model under three distinct conventions: (1) an auctioneer sets the price; (2) buyers set the price; (3) sellers set the price. Only in the case of the auctioneer is the equilibrium necessarily characterized by a single price which equates supply and demand. When either buyers or sellers set the price, a distribution of prices may emerge with excess supply at some or all of the prices. The analysis suggests that the allocation of goods in markets where adverse selection is a serious problem may be sensitive to the convention by which prices are set.
Exploring the potentialities of export processing free zones (EPZs) for economic development in Africa: lessons from Mauritius

This paper explores the potentiality of export processing zones (EPZs) as a development strategy for Sub‐Saharan African countries using the Mauritian EPZ model as a case study. In the literature positive relationships between export expansion and economic growth and between EPZs and export growth have been found in developing countries. Export‐oriented strategy is particularly important for developing countries given their dependency on foreign countries for most of their key inputs and technologies required in their production. Our findings suggest that EPZs can play a crucial role in the economic and social development of a country. Also that EPZs’ success may be greater if they are implemented as part of an overall trade‐oriented reform programme aimed at opening up the whole country rather than treating them as enclaves. Comprehensive incentives are required. The Mauritian EPZ experience thus provides good lessons to other Sub‐Saharan African countries pursuing economic reforms.
Fluctuating Macro Policies and the Fiscal Theory

This paper estimates regime-switching rules for monetary policy and tax policy over the post-war period in the United States and imposes the estimated policy process on a calibrated dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with nominal rigidities. Decision rules are locally unique and produce a stationary long-run rational expectations equilibrium in which (lump-sum) tax shocks always affect output and inflation. Tax non-neutralities in the model arise solely through the mechanism articulated by the fiscal theory of the price level. The paper quantifies that mechanism and finds it to be important in U.S. data, reconciling a popular class of monetary models with the evidence that tax shocks have substantial impacts. Because long-run policy behavior determines existence and uniqueness of equilibrium, in a regime-switching environment more accurate qualitative inferences can be gleaned from full-sample information than by conditioning on policy regime.
A middleware implementation and performance evaluation of the SNS scheme for network surveillance

Network surveillance (NS), which is basically a (partially or fully) decentralized mode of detecting the faulty/repaired status of distributed computing (DC) components, is a major part of real-time (RT) fault-tolerant DC. One NS technique which is broadly applicable and amenable to rigorous quantitative analyses of fault coverage is the supervisor-based network surveillance (SNS) scheme for use in point-to-point network-based systems. Recently, we have been studying an approach to implementing the SNS scheme within a middleware model, named the TMO (time-triggered message-triggered object) Support Middleware (TMOSM) which is layered above a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) operating system such as Windows 2000 and functions as a reliable RT execution engine for RT DC applications. The DC applications supported by the TMOSM are those designed by use of the TMO programming scheme. The implementation structure as well as the observed performance of a prototype implementation are discussed.
Welfare-improving Government Behaviour and Inequality - Inspection Using a Heterogeneous-agent Model

Governments behavior is expected to be non-neutral in terms of impacts on both welfare and inequality. In spite of their multivariate form, a tentative assessment of such inequality impacts can be provided by using a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous-agents and where wealth and income distribution is determined endogenously. Using a model capable of exploring the relationship between fiscal policy variables and the endogenous cross-section distribution of income, wealth, consumption and leisure, this paper produces a welfare and inequality analysis of several equilibriums resulting from different combinations of debt levels and of government budget variables. Moreover, such assessment is based on the empirical reality of the EU countries.