Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation and Business Behavior

If socio-legal research has taught us anything, it is that legal coercion is expensive and difficult. Law can rarely hope to be meaningful and effective without the cooperation, indeed the normative accord, of the vast majority of populations it hopes to control. Thus after years of researching the behavior of regulatory agencies, regulatory scholars increasingly have turned their attention to the principal subjects of regulation, business entities themselves. For while governments promulgate laws and regulations, it is business corporations that must test the safety of products and vehicles, devise ways of reducing workplace hazards, and institute accurate accounting systems. Environmental regulation depends almost entirely on business firms to develop, finance and install pollution measurement and prevention technologies. The day-to-day effectiveness of regulatory compliance measures depends on the training and diligence of the corporate employees assigned to maintain equipment, monitor quality-control systems, train operatives, and take appropriate action when problems occur. For socio-legal scholars, therefore, the key theoretical and empirical issues have come to involve the relationships between regulatory norms and business behavior. What factors, legal and non-legal, influence the incidence of compliance and over-compliance? How do firms respond to different modes of regulation, and to different enforcement styles? What explains variation among enterprises in responsiveness to regulatory goals? How do variations in market structure and conditions affect business attitudes toward legal compliance? How do different modes of regulation affect business decision-making concerning innovation and investment? One particularly salient set of issues, reflected in the several studies in this issue, concerns business motives to comply with (or evade) regulations. How important in bringing about compliance is the imminent threat of legal sanctions-as compared to education, social pressures, and internalized commitments to comply with law? Existing research points to a tension between (a) the common vision of business firms as "amoral calculators," motivated only by rational self-interest (Kagan & Scholz 1984), and
International Liquidity: The Fiscal Dimension

This paper argues that if policymakers seek to enhance global liquidity, then the international community must provide a higher and better coordinated level of fiscal support than it has in the past. Loans to troubled sovereigns or financial institutions imply a credit risk that ultimately must be lodged somewhere. Expanded international lending facilities, including an expanded IMF, cannot remain unconditionally solvent absent an expanded level of fiscal backup. The same point obviously applies to the European framework for managing internal sovereign debt problems, including proposals for a jointly guaranteed eurozone sovereign bond. Even attainment of a significant role for the Special Drawing Right depends upon enhanced fiscal resources and burden sharing at the international level.
The thrifty phenotype: An adaptation in growth or metabolism?

The thrifty phenotype hypothesis is widely used to interpret associations between early nutritional experience and degenerative disease risks. However, it remains unclear what is adaptive about early life thrift, and biomedical approaches struggle to explain why associations between early growth and later disease hold across the entire range of birth size. This issue can be addressed using a simple model, attributing disease to a high metabolic load (large tissue masses, rich diet, and sedentary lifestyle) relative to metabolic capacity (physiological traits contingent on fetal/infant development). In this context, different hypotheses regarding the long‐term functions of thrift can be examined. The “predictive adaptive response” hypothesis considers thrift to involve metabolic adaptations (insulin resistance and central adiposity) that emerge in anticipation of a poor quality adult breeding environment. The competing “maternal capital” hypothesis considers thrift to involve reductions in lean mass and organ phenotype arising through constraints on maternal phenotype, reflecting both maternal developmental experience and current ecological conditions. This hypothesis assumes offspring developmental responses to stresses such as temperature, altitude, and nutritional ecology occur under the influence of maternal capital indices, including size, physiology, reproductive history and social status. I argue that insulin resistance only emerges after infancy, and far from being anticipatory of a low nutritional plane, indicates perturbations of metabolism. Following exposure of early thrifty growth to the obesogenic niche. Thrift as early growth variability represents a plausible profile of developmental plasticity for human evolutionary history, aiding understand how the modern obesogenic environment interacts with physiological variability to induce disease. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Transaction-level determinants of transfer-pricing policy: evidence from the high-technology sector

This paper uses transaction cost economics (TCE) as the basis for an empirical study of transfer pricing--pricing of intra-firm transactions--in a multi-divisional firm. The study finds the evidence to support predictions that transaction-specific investment and quality requirements increase the likelihood that headquarters will centrally administer the pricing of transactions between divisions. This article concludes that, just as transaction-cost economizing plays a role in organizing transactions between firms, it also affects organization of exchange within firms. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.
Hotel yield management using different reservation modes

Purpose – This paper explores the implementation of yield management using different reservation modes at a global hotel network (referred to as the “Group”). Design/methodology/approach – The Group operates close to half‐a‐million rooms in about 4,000 hotels world‐wide. Following an overview of yield management in hotel industry, the two reservation modes used in the Group are presented. The performance of Group's online and off‐line reservation modes globally over a two‐year period is then discussed in terms of three yield management performance measures, namely: average price (AP), occupancy rate, and average revenue per available room.Findings – The findings indicate that the online mode outperforms the off‐line mode with respect to performance measures of AP and average revenue. Further to a global‐based comparison, a localized evaluation of these two modes is also presented for two sub‐groups of hotels clustered in a given region. Statistical analysis of findings is provided, pointing to a substantia.
Selected Determinants of Precinct Voting Decisions in School Budget Elections

S OUND scientific method requires that any effort toward constructing a "grand theory" of voting be preceded by additional research into relatively neglected domains such as voting in local, nonpartisan elections. Research comparing individual or group correlates to voting in different types of elections' is sparse relative to the number of presidential election studies.2 Both this research and the aggregate of research testing important theoretical assumptions in different local election settings3 contain conflicting conclusions regarding such elemental hypotheses as the effect of social class on voter choice.
Filtration of bacteria and yeast by ultrasound‐enhanced sedimentation

Continuous flow filtration of suspensions of eukaryotic cells by ultrasonic standing wave enhanced sedimentation has recently been reported. The filtration efficiency for Escherichia coli in such a filter has been characterized at frequencies of 1 and 3 MHz in the present work and compared with results for Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The yeast can be filtered at greater than 99% efficiency at a flow rate of 5 ml min‐1 at either frequency. The filtration efficiency of the smaller E. coli at 3 MHz is in excess of 80% at concentrations in the region of 1010 mI‐1 but decreased at lower concentrations. However, E. coli in a mixed suspension with yeast were, because of inter‐particle interactions, removed with the filtrate at an efficiency ranging from 80 to 50% over the eight orders of bacterial concentrations tested (down to 103 mI‐1) at 3 MHz. Quantitative considerations show that poor filtration of pure suspensions of the smaller cells at the lower frequency arises because, at reasonable flow rates, the residence time is not sufficient for the cells to reach the pressure nodal cell concentration regions. The filtration efficiencies of both cell types are comparable at 3 MHz. It is suggested that the more comparable efficiencies arise because concentration regions are narrower at the high frequency and Stokes drag by the filter bulk flow inhibits sedimentation of the concentrated cells.
Downsizing implementation and financial performance

In the present study we explore the relationship between downsizing decisions and corporate financial performance after top management has decided to downsize. Our focus is on the financial consequences arising from the amount of downsizing and the use of disengagement incentives. For this purpose, we use a sample of downsizing announcements in the Spanish press from 1995 up to 2001. Although the results show that the amount of downsizing is not significantly related to post-downsizing profitability, the evidence provided supports the finding that the use of disengagement incentives (which motivate workers to leave the organization) is negatively related to firm performance. Our analysis helps to understand the role that strategic downsizing decisions play in explaining observed variance in the performance of downsized firms. Thus, it advances scholarly organizational research by reinforcing the concept that corporate performance is not only contingent on strategies, but also influenced by the means through which these strategies are implemented.
Identification of plant cell wall mutants by means of a forward chemical genetic approach using hydrolases

A previously undescribed forward chemical genetic screen using hydrolases affecting the extracellular matrix is introduced. The developed screen takes advantage of the power of chemical genetics and combines it with the known substrate specificity of glycosylhydrolases, resulting in the selection of conditional mutants that exhibit structural defects in their extracellular matrix. Identification of the responsible genetic locus in those mutants significantly extends our knowledge of genes involved in the biosynthesis, metabolism, signaling, and functionality of components of the extracellular matrix. The method is exemplified by a screen of mutagenized Arabidopsis plants subjected to growth in liquid culture in the presence of a xyloglucanase, an enzyme acting on the major cross-linking glycan found in the extracellular matrix of this plant. Using this hydrolase-based screen, dozens of plant cell wall mutants (xeg mutants) were identified, leading to the identification of 23 genetic loci that affect plant cell walls. One of the identified loci is XEG113, encoding a family 77 glycosyltransferase (GT77). Detailed analysis of the wall of this mutant indicated that its extensins, structural glyocoproteins present in walls, are underarabinosylated. Xeg-113 plants exhibit more elongated hypocotyls than WT, providing genetic evidence that plant O-glycosylation—more specifically, extensin arabinosylation—is important for cell elongation.
Research on the impact of cooperative behaviors in alliance organization in member psychological contract

Take the alliance of Chinese hotels for example; it is necessary to adopt sampling investigation to study the impact of cooperative behaviors selection due to psychological contracts. Besides, hypothesis model should be established based on the reference of EVNL individual response classification model in organizational behaviors starting from each member enterprise. Then, empirical test is undertaken by questionnaire, and then the conclusions are drawn. As perfection and complement of incomplete cooperative contracts, psychological contract has an important effect on cooperative behaviors selection.
Test–retest reliability of the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire

Background: The DePaul Symptom Questionnaire (DSQ) was developed to provide a structured approach for collecting standardized symptomatology and health history information to allow researchers and clinicians to determine whether a patient meets the diagnostic criteria for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), and/or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the test–retest reliability of the DSQ. Methods: Test–retest reliability of the measure was examined with a sample of 26 adults self-identifying as having either ME/CFS, ME, and/or CFS and 25 adults who did not self-identify as having these illnesses and were otherwise healthy controls. Results: Overall, the majority of items on the DSQ exhibited good to excellent test–retest reliability, with Pearson's or kappa correlation coefficients that were 0.70 or higher. Conclusions: Thus, the present study suggests that the DSQ is a reliable diagnostic measure that can provide a standardized way of examining illness constructs and symptomatology among patients who identify as having ME/CFS, ME, and/or CFS.
Location, Location, Location: Film Corporations' Social Responsibilities

Many TV series are set and filmed in small rural communities that are often attempting to deal with issues of rural decline. Increasing tourism is an extremely attractive option for these communities. Entrepreneurial film‐tourism business activities such as guided tours, branded souvenirs, and guidebooks can also assist in arresting decline in these communities. However, such opportunities do not always eventuate, with the community left to deal with increased visitation and often a serious loss of privacy. Film companies have a vested interest in maintaining a positive relationship with the location communities, particularly if they wish to continue filming there. This paper argues that they need to consider their responsibilities to the communities in which they film, particularly in relation to the tourism legacy they leave behind.
Types of innovation and inter-firm co-operation

The paper presents the results of an empirical study that aims to investigate the impact of interfirm co-operation over innovation on four different types of innovation: product, process, incremental and radical innovation. Drawing on the innovative milieu literature, the impact on the above four types of innovation was tested for both external and internal factors of innovation such as inter-firm co-operation over innovation, production networking, as well as R&D investment and R&D personnel. Four probit models were run by using a unique data set compiled as part of the Regional Innovation Strategy for the West Midlands (UK) Project. The main findings of the paper seem to provide substantial evidence that, for any of the four types of innovation considered, firms' capacity to innovate could greatly improve if they co-operated with other firms over innovation in addition to or instead of investing in R&D. Innovation policy should not overlook, therefore, the systemic component of innovation and ought to attempt to initiate and support inter-firm co-operation. This would mean a renewed and more focused analysis of firms' clusters as part of a multi-faceted approach to innovation policy.
Post-Keynesian economics – how to move forward

Post Keynesian Economics (PKE) is at a cross road. The academic climate at universities has become more hostile to survival and the mainstream has become more diverse internally. Moreover, a heterodox camp of diverse groups of non-mainstream economists is forming. The debate on the future of PKE has so far focussed on the relation to the mainstream. This paper argues that this is not an important issue for the future of PKE. The debate has overlooked the dialectics between academic hegemony and economic (and social) stability. The important question is, whether PKE offers useful explanations of the ongoing socio-economic transformation. PKE has generated valuable insights but it offers little on important real world phenomena such as supply-side phenomena like the increasing use of ICT and the globalisation of production, social issues like precarisation and the polarization of income distribution or ecological challenges like climate change. It is these issues that will decide the future of PKE.
Differences in lower extremity alignment between males and females. Potential predisposing factors for knee injury.

AIM The goal of this study was to compare measures of lower extremity alignment between males and females, which may account for gender differences in anterior cruciate ligament injury rates. Static lower extremity alignment has been implicated as predisposing individuals to anterior cruciate ligament injury and may vary between males and females. An initial step in identifying relevant risk factors for injury is to determine those factors that vary between genders. METHODS Thirty male and 27 female college aged individuals with no history of lower extremity injury participated. Three indices of lower extremity alignment were measured on each subject: quadriceps angle, thigh foot angle, and subtalar joint range of motion ratio. RESULTS Q-angles in females exceeded values for males by 4.4 degrees (p<0.001). Thigh foot angle for females was 3.6 degrees greater than for males (p=0.020). Subtalar joint movement ratio did not vary between genders (p=0.573). CONCLUSION Previous research suggests that abnormal alignment may predispose individuals to anterior cruciate ligament injury. The present findings may help to explain the difference in anterior cruciate ligament injury rates between males and females. Any tangible links between lower extremity alignment and anterior cruciate ligament injury rates must be confirmed with prospective studies.
PilA localization affects extracellular polysaccharide production and fruiting body formation in Myxococcus xanthus

Myxococcus xanthus is a Gram‐negative bacterium capable of complex developmental processes involving vegetative swarming and fruiting body formation. Social (S‐) gliding motility, one of the two motility systems used by M. xanthus, requires at least two cell surface structures: type IV pili (TFP) and extracellular polysaccharides (EPS). Extended TFP that are composed of thousands of copies of PilA retract upon binding to EPS and thereby pull the cell forward. TFP also act as external sensor to regulate EPS production. In this study, we generated a random PilA mutant library and identified one derivative, SW1066, which completely failed to undergo developmental processes. Detailed characterization revealed that SW1066 produced very little EPS but wild‐type amounts of PilA. These mutated PilA subunits, however, are unable to assemble into functional TFP despite their ability to localize to the membrane. By preventing the mutated PilA of SW1066 to translocate from the cytoplasm to the membrane, fruiting body formation and EPS production were restored to the levels observed in mutant strains lacking PilA. This apparent connection between PilA membrane accumulation and reduction in surface EPS implies that specific cellular PilA localization are required to maintain the EPS level necessary to sustain normal S‐motility in M. xanthus.
Tics and Tourette syndrome in autism spectrum disorders

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are more frequently associated with tic disorders than expected by chance. Variable rates of comorbidity have been reported and common genetic and neurobiological factors are probably involved. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of tic disorders in a clinical sample (n = 105) of children and adolescents with ASDs and to describe the clinical characteristics of a group with comorbid ASDs and tics (n = 24). The overlap between tics and other repetitive movements and behaviors in ASDs was carefully assessed. Among individuals with ASDs, 22 percent presented tic disorders: 11 percent with Tourette disorder (TD), and 11 percent with chronic motor tics. All had various degrees of cognitive impairment. An association between the level of mental retardation and tic severity was found. It is concluded that the occurrence of tics in ASDs should not be overlooked and should be carefully evaluated.
Can We Capture the Value of Option Volatility?

Volatility is the one parameter that is added to information utilized in traditional discounted cash flow analysis in order to calculate the value of a real option. There is no single, theoretically justified approach for calculating the volatility coefficient for real options. This article reviews and compares the methods currently available to estimate the volatility parameter to be used in real options analysis. As these techniques often overlook the investment cost risk when estimating project volatility, a new method of computing volatility that utilizes the expected internal rate of return is presented. The methods are compared using two case studies. Furthermore, a definition of “actionable” volatility is offered in order to classify the risky parameters to be used in real options valuation. Most methods overestimate the volatility parameter, because the volatility of the decision is included in the estimate, not the volatility associated with the option, which we term actionable risk.
Government Liquidation: How Online Auctions Will Replace Bob's Army-Navy Store

ABSTRACT In the private sector, there is a great deal of interest in the use of forward auctions as a means of increasing recovery rates on surplus or returned items, as part of an overall reverse logistics strategy. Only recently has the public sector realized that it too has the potential to solve its reverse logistics problem and derive revenue at the end of the governmental supply chain. The biggest current experiment in this area involves the Department of Defense. Until recently, American military surplus was sold through physical auctions at 200 facilities worldwide. In mid-2001, the Defense Reutilization and Management Service entered into a unique partnership with Liquidity Services, awarding the firm an exclusive contract to surplus for the armed forces that is not claimed for reuse by other federal, state, and local agencies. Liquidity Services set up a special subsidiary, Government Liquidation, which oversees the storage, display, lotting, and auctioning of military surplus items on its specially-created auction site, www.govliquidation. com. The company's proprietary auction platform provides complete fulfillment solutions, including the handling of payments, shipments, and customer service, and dispute resolutions. This paper is an analysis of this unique partnership and the results produced to date.