Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Desempeño operacional posterior a la oferta pública inicial de acciones de las empresas chilenas

En general, la evidencia empirica internacional ha documentado que las empresas que efectuan una IPO (Initial Public Offering, oferta publica inicial) de acciones presentan en el largo plazo un inferior desempeno financiero y operacional al mostrado por empresas de similares caracteristicas. Pese a las pruebas internacionales, las empresas IPO chilenas no han mostrado un peor desempeno financiero (vease, por ejemplo, Aggarwal et al, 1993; Celis y Maturana, 1998). En cuanto al desempeno operacional, este no ha sido estudiado para el caso chileno. En este articulo se documenta que las empresas IPO chilenas no mostraron un inferior desempeno operacional y tampoco presentaron un incremento en los costos de agencia posterior a la IPO. Posibles causas y efectos de estos resultados son comentados por los autores.
Unions and Job Satisfaction

The dominant theoretical perspective on the effect of unions on job satisfaction suggests that unions reduce job satisfaction by making workers more critical toward the workplace and more willing to complain about problems. However, there are important reasons why unions might be expected to increase satisfaction: Unions reduce wage inequality, increase worker control over jobs, and increase worker commitment to the work and the workplace. Furthermore, the empirical work which found a negative relationship between unionization and satisfaction omitted important variables. Specifically, past work failed to control for the possibility that jobs with undesirable attributes are more likely to be unionized than desirable jobs. We show that when job attributes are controlled, unionization has a significant positive effect on satisfaction. This positive effect is most likely to occur when unions have been able to give workers control over their jobs and involve them in union activities.
Solubility and dissolution performances of spray-dried solid dispersion of Efavirenz in Soluplus

Abstract Efavirenz (EFV), a first-line anti-HIV drug largely used as part of antiretroviral therapies, is practically insoluble in water and belongs to BCS class II (low solubility/high permeability). The aim of this study was to improve the solubility and dissolution performances of EFV by formulating an amorphous solid dispersion of the drug in polyvinyl caprolactam–polyvinyl acetate–polyethylene glycol graft copolymer (Soluplus®) using spray-drying technique. To this purpose, spray-dried dispersions of EFV in Soluplus® at different mass ratios (1:1.25, 1:7, 1:10) were prepared and characterized using particle size measurements, SEM, XRD, DSC, FTIR and Raman microscopy mapping. Solubility and dissolution were determined in different media. Stability was studied at accelerated conditions (40 °C/75% RH) and ambient conditions for 12 months. DSC and XRD analyses confirmed the EFV amorphous state. FTIR spectroscopy analyses revealed possible drug–polymer molecular interaction. Solubility and dissolution rate of EFV was enhanced remarkably in the developed spray-dried solid dispersions, as a function of the polymer concentration. Spray-drying was concluded to be a proper technique to formulate a physically stable dispersion of amorphous EFV in Soluplus®, when protected from moisture.
Specific Factors, Learning, and the Dynamics of Trade

In the postwar period, the volume of trade among developed countries has increased at a much higher rate than GDP. This article presents a dynamic general equilibrium model of trade between developed countries that accounts for this pattern of trade dynamics. Countries trade in goods that use good-specific skilled labor and unskilled labor as factors of production. Specific skills are learned on the job and there exist positive effects in learning. Small initial differences in the distribution of experts in each country generate an increasing pattern of specialization over time. Knowledge spillovers across sectors are crucial determinants of the trade pattern.
Measuring our competitiveness - a critical examination of the IMD and WEF competitiveness indicators for South Africa

This article examines the competitiveness indicators that are produced by the highly influential World Economic Forum (WEF) and the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), specifically in respect of South Africa. Neither provides a clear and persuasive guide as to South Africa's overall competitiveness ranking, nor how this has altered over time. The problem resides principally in the assessment of technological capacities and the contribution that technology makes to overall competitiveness. The IMD and the WEF approaches to technology diverge significantly, but both are inadequate. As a consequence, there is a substantial discrepancy between the two as regards South Africa's current overall competitive ness ranking. Neither individually, nor collectively, are these competitiveness indicators - as they are currently constituted - useful as a guide to policy.
Tourism and the National Parks: A Psychographic and Attitudinal Study

measures less useful in explaining various types of behavior1 including the behavior of tourists. In fact, the advent of some relatively new research methodologies has been due in part to the desire to develop more useful bases for understanding behavior. The purpose of this article is to show how two new methodologies, multidimensional scaling and psychographics, shed useful light on the attitudes of tourists toward National Parks as vacation destinations.
Trends in corporate environmentalism: The chemical and petroleum industries, 1960–1993

Through a content analysis of trade journal articles, it was found that attention paid to environmental issues in both the chemical and oil industries had paralleled trends in public concern observed by Dunlap (1991): (1) a dramatic rise in the late 1960s and a peak in the early 1970s, (2) a dramatic decline in the mid‐1970s, (3) a resurgence around 1982, and (4) a dramatic increase in 1988. In the chemical industry, attention reached unprecedented levels by 1993. Attention from the oil industry was not sustained, declining again from 1990 to 1993. The strategic characteristics of this evolution have been similar between the two industries, following a staged progression through (1) self‐reliance, (2) confrontation, (3) cooperation, and (4) pro‐action, with shifts in 1970, 1982, and 1988. However, the oil industry's strategic progression diverges from that of the chemical industry, entering a fifth stage in 1990 that deviates from the proactive posture that it had started to develop in 1988. The relevant .
Constraint Verification for Concurrent System Management Workflows Sharing Resources

Workflow is an effective way to define and specify the behavior of autonomic systems which manage themselves. However, when a system is working following several workflows sharing resources, it is very difficult to analyze the behavior of the systems with mutual influences between workflows due to the shared resources, and to decide whether problems may be caused by such mutual influences, despite the need to do so in order to develop trustworthy autonomic systems. To solve this problem, we developed a verification framework to identify whether constraint violations could occur in a system working and following workflows sharing resources. In this paper, we initially define the system management workflows. Next, we show the procedure to translate these workflows into hybrid automata, with the mutual influences between workflows taken into consideration. Finally, we show how to detect possible constraint violations by adopting a model checking technique to the hybrid automata through a case study.
IDENTIFICATION AND MEASUREMENT OF CONTAGION EFFECTS AMONG MAIN MARKETS IN FINANCIAL CRISIS

In this paper, a Markov independent switching DCC (MIS-DCC) model featuring easy estimation and advantageous analysis of the contagion effects among markets in crisis is proposed on basis of MS-DCC and IS-DCC models and then employed to analyze the contagion effects among five major stock markets before and after American subprime mortgage crisis. The research findings are as follows. Firstly, the contagion effects of crisis shows different stages, thus the mistake to consider only pre-crisis and post-crisis periods is avoided. Secondly, the crisis usually evolves into a systemic one in the globalized environment, as a result of which it is difficult for any open market to avoid the impacts of crisis and international coordination is required to cope with the crisis. Thirdly, the smoothed probability derived from Markov independent switching DCC (MIS-DCC) model enables more objective and accurate identification of negative impacts on markets and many uncertain factors may cause frequent switching between different regimes in the early stage of crisis. Moreover, the influence degree of crisis on dynamic correlation among markets is presented.
Gaze-contingent scrolling and reading patterns

An automatic technique that scrolls the window content while the user is reading the text in the window has been implemented. Scrolling is triggered by gaze moving outside the reader's preferred reading zone. The reading patterns instigated by automatic scrolling are analyzed both quantitatively and using gaze path visualizations. Automatic scrolling is shown to result in smooth reading activity.
READ-BAD: A New Dataset and Evaluation Scheme for Baseline Detection in Archival Documents

Text line detection is crucial for any application associated with Automatic Text Recognition or Keyword Spotting. Modern algorithms perform good on well-established datasets since they either comprise clean data or simple/homogeneous page layouts. We have collected and annotated 2036 archival document images from different locations and time periods. The dataset contains varying page layouts and degradations that challenge text line segmentation methods. Well established text line segmentation evaluation schemes such as the Detection Rate or Recognition Accuracy demand for binarized data that is annotated on a pixel level. Producing ground truth by these means is laborious and not needed to determine a method's quality. In this paper we propose a new evaluation scheme that is based on baselines. The proposed scheme has no need for binarization and it can handle skewed as well as rotated text lines. The ICDAR 2017 Competition on Baseline Detection and the ICDAR 2017 Competition on Layout Analysis for Challenging Medieval Manuscripts used this evaluation scheme. Finally, we present results achieved by a recently published text line detection algorithm.
TRANSITION AND FOOD CONSUMPTION

This paper examines why transition from planned to market economies in the countries of the former Soviet bloc has changed their mix and volumes of food consumption. During transition, consumption of high value products, such as meat and dairy products, has plummeted, while consumption of staple foods such as bread and potatoes has remained steady, or even increased. The paper shows that in the pre-reform planned economy, planners "desired" the production and national consumption of high value (and cost) foodstuffs more than consumers. When market reform resulted in consumer prices adjusting to reflect the full cost of production, consumer demand switched from high cost foods to other goods and services. The demand-driven nature of food restructuring in these countries has implications for food security, reinforcing the argument that any food security problems are not mainly the result of inadequate aggregate supplies of agricultural products.
Review Paper: Absorbable Polymeric Surgical Sutures: Chemistry, Production, Properties, Biodegradability, and Performance

Among biomaterials used as implants in human body, sutures constitute the largest groups of materials having a huge market exceeding $1.3 billion annually. Sutures are the most widely used materials in wound closure and have been in use for many centuries. With the development of the synthetic absorbable polymer, poly(glycolic acid) (PGA) in the early 1970s, a new chapter has opened on absorbable polymeric sutures that got unprecedented commercial successes. Although several comparative evaluations of suture materials have been published, there were no serious attempts of late on a comprehensive review of production, properties, biodegradability, and performance of suture materials. This review proposes to bring to focus scattered data on chemistry, properties, biodegradability, and performance of absorbable polymeric sutures.
CHARITIES: THE RECURRING QUESTIONS

This special issue of FAM is based on a selection of papers from the EIASM research workshop on the Challenges of Managing the Third Sector which was held at the International University of Venice on San Servolo island on March 12–14, 2007. In previous research workshops in this series, there has been debate on the positioning of different disciplines which are deployed in the investigation of the challenges facing charitable organisations. These considerations have shown the debt owed to both economic and sociological thinking in past studies and the emergence of a more managerial perspective in understanding these distinctive organisations (Helmig, Jegers and Lapsley, 2004). Previous research workshops have also discussed the vitality of the Third Sector, as evidenced by the emergence of charitable organisations in new areas of activity such as credit unions, certain persistent challenges such as the forms of information necessary for monitoring charities and for prospective donors, the use of resources by charities, and the adoption of more professional management techniques (Helmig, Hyndman, Jegers and Lapsley, 2006). Underlying the distinctive nature of charities and charitable giving are fundamental challenges of the quantum of funds available to increasing numbers of charities and the dangers this poses for their continued existence (Lapsley, 2004), as further evidenced by a longitudinal study of Irish voluntary hospitals (Robbins and Lapsley, 2008). This special issue takes forward these recurring questions and adds to our understanding of the tensions confronting the charitable sector in action. Hyndman and McDonnell (2009, this issue) address the matter of charities governance. This is a major issue for charities. In the face of adverse publicity in the case of charitable funding scandals there is a need for charities to demonstrate that they are not only applying the highest standards to the resources at their disposal but they can be clearly seen to be behaving appropriately. This is of concern to donors, to those who rely on charitable services and to governments which increasingly seek to supplement their public sector services with voluntary organisations. However, the achievement of ‘good governance’ is not so straightforward. Hyndman and McDonnell (op.cit.) map out a research agenda to address this issue. Breen (2009, this issue) also demonstrates the unintended consequences of
Unemployment and life satisfaction: a non‐linear adaptation process

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to model the dynamic path of adjustment towards pre-unemployment levels of wellbeing for a group of full-time workers who experienced job loss. Design/methodology/approach - Based on data from the German Socio-economic Panel, a large-scale panel survey, the paper captures the non-linear nature of the adaptation process by using an Exponential Smooth Transition Autoregressive (ESTAR) model. Findings - The study finds that adaptation takes place in a non-linear fashion, with the speed of adjustment being higher for high earners, those with high pre-unemployment levels of life satisfaction and those who were most satisfied with their jobs before becoming unemployed. It also finds that most of the adaptation takes place during the first year of unemployment, with adaptation speeds decreasing with unemployment duration, suggestive of possible habituation effects being present. Originality/value - This is the first study to model the dynamic path of adjustment towards pre-unemployment wellbeing levels as a non-linear process. Despite the challenge posed by adaptation theory and the recent interest in the wellbeing effects of job loss, there is only sparse empirical evidence on the dynamics of the adaptation to unemployment process.
Real option application in PPP/PFI project negotiation

Over the past two decades, many developing countries have grown to become more familiar with the notions and the use of public–private partnership/private financing initiative (PPP/PFI) schemes in building large‐scale infrastructure assets. However, owing to higher levels of complexity and longer contractual durations, PPP/PFI projects are often embedded with higher risks. On the one hand, any private sector concessionaire would strive to secure some forms of subsidies or guarantees from the host government to alleviate its risk concerns. On the other hand, the host government would also attempt to counterbalance the grant of these incentives by introducing additional ‘repayment’ obligations, such as placement of a cap on the tariff or toll rates. Modelled as real options, support and repayment features found in the case of a wastewater treatment plant in Southern China are evaluated using a combination of Monte Carlo simulation and spreadsheet‐based cash flow models. The objective is to illustrate how a negotiation band incorporating these option values can be constructed, which would enlarge the feasible bargaining range for both parties. The risk implications of two disparate bidding scenarios found in the case will also be discussed.
Pulmonary Phenotype of CCSP/UG Deficient Mice: A Consequence of CCSP Deficiency or Altered Clara Cell Function?

Abstract: Clara cell secretory protein (CCSP) is the most abundant secreted protein within airways of the lung. Moreover, CCSP levels are modulated in human lung disease, supporting a potentially important role for CCSP and/or Clara cells in lung homeostasis. However, in vivo roles for CCSP remain elusive. A popular hypothesis is that CCSP is a regulator of the inflammatory response. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the phenotype of CCSP null mice and relate this phenotype to proposed functions for the protein. Phenotypic analysis of mice homozygous for the CCSP‐1 null allele of the CCSP gene (CCSP−/−1) revealed susceptibility to inhaled oxidant gases. Sensitivity of CCSP−/−1 mice to inhaled ozone is unrelated to alterations in antioxidant defenses, but is associated with increased cellular injury. Additional studies investigating inflammatory control in CCSP deficient mice found no differences between wild‐type and CCSP−/−1 mice in their inflammatory response to low‐dose inhaled endotoxin exposure, arguing against a role for CCSP in regulation of pulmonary inflammation. The findings among CCSP−/−1 mice of ultrastructural alterations to Clara cell secretory apparatus, with associated changes in airway lining fluid protein composition, demonstrate that the CCSP−/−1 genotype results in more complex changes to airways than CCSP deficiency per se. It can be concluded that CCSP does not regulate endotoxin‐induced pulmonary inflammation. Moreover, CCSP−/−1 mice represent a valuable tool for probing functional roles for Clara cells in regulation of airway lining fluid composition and lung pollutant susceptibility.
The Blacksburg Manifesto Legacy: Towards Re-Founding the Field of Educational Administration

It is time to seriously consider re-founding educational administration. My Canadian colleague Eugenie Samier at Simon Fraser University has begun a conversation involving Canadian, European and American scholars about such an idea (Samier, 2005). A “re-founding” may not be as radical sounding as may fi rst appear. A similar “re-founding” of public administration occurred in the early 1980s, and came to be known as the Blacksburg Manifesto because it was crafted by scholars at VPI in Blacksburg, Virginia (Evans & Wamsley, 2007, p. 200). We need to understand the context and conditions which produced the Blacksburg Manifesto. Leading scholars in public administration had grown weary of the partisan “bureaucrat bashing” of the Carter and Reagan administrations, as well as the stranglehold of behaviorism and positivism of the social sciences in which public administration had been historically grounded. The premise of the Blacksburg Manifesto scholars was that the founding of public administration was actually a “mis-founding,” or as described by Evans and Wamsley (2007) “a misapplication of the tenets of managerial or administrative science onto government” (p. 200). The “mis-founding” of public administration left it vulnerable to “bureaucrat bashing” and unanswered questions regarding the epistemological legitimacy of the field. I believe we have a similar problem in educational administration (English, 2002; 2006) which has left us open to a range of criticism from the neoconservatives in the Broad Foundation and Fordham Institute (2003), the American Enterprise Institute (Hess, 2003), and even to Arthur Levine’s (2005) “research,” if it can be called that. The Blacksburg Manifesto called for a “re-founding” of public administration’s normativity within a democratic state grounded in effective public
VAN3 ARF–GAP-mediated vesicle transport is involved in leaf vascular network formation

Within the leaf of an angiosperm, the vascular system is constructed in a complex network pattern called venation. The formation of this vein pattern has been widely studied as a paradigm of tissue pattern formation in plants. To elucidate the molecular mechanism controlling the vein patterning process, we previously isolated Arabidopsis mutants van1 to van7, which show a discontinuous vein pattern. Here we report the phenotypic analysis of the van3 mutant in relation to auxin signaling and polar transport, and the molecular characterization of the VAN3 gene and protein. Double mutant analyses with pin1, emb30-7/gn and mp, and physiological analyses using the auxin-inducible marker DR5::GUS and an auxin transport inhibitor indicated that VAN3 may be involved in auxin signal transduction, but not in polar auxin transport. Positional cloning identified VAN3 as a gene that encodes an adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-ribosylation factor-guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) activating protein (ARF–GAP). It resembles animal ACAPs and contains four domains: a BAR (BIN/amphiphysin/RVS) domain, a pleckstrin homology (PH) domain, an ARF–GAP domain and an ankyrin (ANK)-repeat domain. Recombinant VAN3 protein showed GTPase-activating activity and a specific affinity for phosphatidylinositols. This protein can self-associate through the N-terminal BAR domain in the yeast two-hybrid system. Subcellular localization analysis by double staining for Venus-tagged VAN3 and several green-fluorescent-protein-tagged intracellular markers indicated that VAN3 is located in a subpopulation of the trans-Golgi network (TGN). Our results indicate that the expression of this gene is induced by auxin and positively regulated by VAN3 itself, and that a specific ACAP type of ARF–GAP functions in vein pattern formation by regulating auxin signaling via a TGN-mediated vesicle transport system.