Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Executive Actions For Managing Human Resources Before And After Acquisition

Whenever a young child who is attached to her mother is separated from her, she shows distress-and should the child be placed in a new environment, the distress is likely to intensify. The way the child behaves in this situation will follow a distinct pattern: At first she protests vigorously and tries by all possible means to recover her mother. Later, she seems to despair of getting her mother back, but nevertheless remains preoccupied with her. Finally, the child seems to lose interest and becomes emotionally detached from the mother. '2 What is happening to thousands of employees in acquired firms is similar to the loss of attachment experienced by the child. Employees attach themselves to organizations, jobs, coworkers, work routines, the application of personal skills, and performance and career goals. Like the child, many employees involved in acquisitions experience a powerful sense of loss when strong attachments are destroyed or changed.3 Loss is a common life process. Some losses are more permanent than others; for example, the loss that one experiences when a son leaves for college is more temporary than that experienced when losing a job. Each loss, however, involves a period of immediate grief, a period of adjustment to the loss, and a period that heralds the beginning of the next cycle in life.4 Elisabeth Kiubler-Ross defines death or loss in terms of stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. " Kilbler-Ross's five-stage model and the concept of loss of attachment served as the theoretical underpinnings for our examination of the psychological and behavioral responses of employees of acquired firms. The loss of an organization, a job, a coworker, or a work routine, like the loss of a mother figure, a friend, or relative, can be disruptive and painful. Executives and consultants responsible for structuring acquisitions have shown creative expertise in putting together the legal and financial aspects of deals. " Unfortunately, they have not exhibited corresponding creativity and expertise in understanding and dealing with the psychological trauma that these forms of corporate growth create for employees; continued failure to do so will likely undermine the success of an acquisition venture. Can managers in acquired firms be better prepared to deal with the loss of attachment that many employees experience in anticipation and after a deal is consummated? We believe that once managers become aware of the power of loss of attachment, they will want to help employees avoid many of the negative consequences of that loss. In this article we will discuss the implications of the loss of attachment that is experienced by many employees in acquired firms. We studied individuals who remained with the acquired firm and those who lost their jobs. The research findings point to specific steps that managers can take to ease the loss of attachment and minimize the negative effects.
The Responsiveness of Corporate Investments to Changes in Corporate Income Taxation During the Financial Crisis: Empirical Evidence from Slovenian Firms

ABSTRACT I examine the responsiveness of corporate investments to changes in corporate income taxation during the financial crisis. When investigating tax effects in financially constrained firms, the model of investment demand needs to be extended to include an additional channel through which taxes could affect investments. I model the tax effects via two transmission channels, the traditional user cost of capital channel and the cash flow channel, which is crucial for financially constrained firms. The empirical results show that corporate investments in financially constrained firms do not respond to changes in corporate income taxation through the user cost of capital channel, but there is strong evidence of the effect that materializes through the cash flow channel.
Pathogenicity of Dodecyltrimethylammonium Chloride-Resistant Salmonella enterica

ABSTRACT Salmonella infection causes a self-limiting gastroenteritis in humans but can also result in a life-threatening invasive disease, especially in old, young, and/or immunocompromised patients. The prevalence of antimicrobial and multidrug-resistant Salmonella has increased worldwide since the 1980s. However, the impact of antimicrobial resistance on the pathogenicity of Salmonella strains is not well described. In our study, a microarray was used to screen for differences in gene expression between a parental strain and a strain of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis with reduced susceptibility (SRS) to the widely used antimicrobial sanitizer dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride (DTAC). Three of the genes, associated with adhesion, invasion, and intracellular growth (fimA, csgG, and spvR), that showed differences in gene expression of 2-fold or greater were chosen for further study. Real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (real-time RT-PCR) was used to confirm the microarray data and to compare the expression levels of these genes in the parental strain and four independently derived SRS strains. All SRS strains showed lower levels of gene expression of fimA and csgG than those of the parental strain. Three of the four SRS strains showed lower levels of spvR gene expression while one SRS strain showed higher levels of spvR gene expression than those of the parental strain. Transmission electron microscopy determined that fimbriae were absent in the four SRS strains but copiously present in the parental strain. All four SRS strains demonstrated a significantly reduced ability to invade tissue culture cells compared to the parental strains, suggesting reduced pathogenicity of the SRS strains.
Adaptive Coupled Elastic Actuator Developed for Physical Human–Robot Interaction

Considering the interaction between people and machines under safety constraints without utilizing difficult and complex control strategies, this paper proposes a new actuator design—adaptive coupled elastic actuator (ACEA) with adjustable characteristics adaptive to the applied output force and input force. This would provide oncoming robotic systems with an intrinsic compromise between performance and safety in unstructured environments (i.e., exhibiting desired intrinsic lower and higher output impedance depending on different operation situations). Having introduced its concept and design, this paper also presents modeling, control and analysis for the ACEA system, not only to provide useful information to investigate the performance and basic characteristics of the designed system, but also to benefit the design of a more advanced controller in the near future. Finally, experimental results are presented to show the desired properties of the proposed ACEA system.
Robust Relay Precoding in MIMO Cognitive Networks with Bounded Channel Uncertainties

This paper investigates robust precoding with bounded channel uncertainties for multi-input multi-output (MIMO) cognitive networks which are equipped with two-way relay (TWR). In the networks, the secondary users (SUs) are allowed to share the spectrum with the primary users (PUs) when the interference temperature (IT) is below a specific threshold. The channel uncertainties are characterized in terms of the spherical uncertainty region, and the transmitting strategy of relay is amplify-and-forward (AF). We consider a min-max problem for the sum of mean square error (SMSE) when IT of the PU and the transmitting power of the relay are below their corresponding thresholds. For solving the problem, we can convert it into a semi-definite programming (SDP). Simulation results manifest the merits of the proposed method.
Criteria for Central Bank Assets: Lessons from Pre-ECB Germany

The Banque de France was founded in 1800 to discount bills and issue currency. Initially, it was a private institution run by its stockholders. The Banque was nationalized in 1936 and its governing council was staffed by officials with a mandate to represent various interests in society. The Banque's autonomy was largely restored in 1973, and the Banque became officially independent in 1994. Whereas the Banque had originally lent appreciable sums to the Treasury, such lending was scheduled to be eliminated beginning in 1993 as part of the move toward monetary union. At that time the monetary policy operations of the Banque were revised substantially. The Banque also operates as a commercial bank, including taking deposits and holding an investment portfolio, although such activities are secondary to its responsibilities as the central bank.
Maternal periodontal disease as a significant risk factor for low birth weight in pregnant women attending a secondary care hospital in South India: a case-control study.

CONTEXT Periodontal disease (PD) is a common infection in the community; however, its relationship with low birth weight (LBW) has not been well-established. AIMS The aim was to determine the association between maternal PD and LBW. SETTINGS AND DESIGN A case-control (1:1) study. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study population comprised of women who delivered at the hospital during the study period (September 2011 to February 2012). Women between 18 and 35 years of age, who delivered singleton, live infants during study period with at least 18 teeth were enrolled. Those with pregnancy induced hypertension, gestational diabetes, blood-borne viral infections, periodontal treatment within the past 6 months and valvular heart disease were excluded. Control population was parity matched to the cases. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED Chi-square test, t-test and univariant and multivariant logistic regression were used to analyze various study findings, and level of significance was set at 5% (P<0.05). RESULTS PD was independently associated with LBW (odds ratio: 4.94, 95% confidence interval: 1.03-23.65, P=0.045). Additionally, conventional risk factors such as maternal height (P=0.029), secondary schooling (<8 years of schooling) (P=0.001), socio-economic status (P=0.046), type of family (joint) (P=0.008), number of ante-natal visits (P=0.028) and gestational age at birth (<37 weeks) (P=0.045) showed significant association with LBW. CONCLUSIONS There seems to be an association between PD and LBW independent of conventional risk factors. Women who had PD were 5 times more likely to deliver LBW infants.
Price Behavior of Stock Index Futures: Evidence from the FTSE Xinhua China A50 and H-Share Index Futures Markets

This study presents empirical evidence related to futures pricing for the SGX FTSE Xinhua China A50 and HKEx H-share index futures markets. First, whether the costof-carry model can describe the relationship between index futures prices and underlying stock indexes is examined. As anticipated, the cost of carry model cannot accurately predict the prices of these two index futures, because the two underlying Chinese stock markets display high price volatility. Furthermore, the empirical results indicate that different risk-free interest rate proxies have little effect on the mispricing of the cost-of-carry model. Next, this study compares the pricing performance of the cost-of-carry model and the Hemler-Longstaff (1991) model with stock market volatility. Empirical results demonstrate that incorporating stock market volatility into pricing models appears beneficial for estimating prices on these two index futures. Furthermore, the component GARCH model improves the pricing performance of the Hemler-Longstaff model. Finally, the autocorrelation and regression results suggest high persistence in mispricings.
Genetic influences on early word recognition abilities and disabilities: a study of 7-year-old twins.

BACKGROUND A fundamental issue for child psychology concerns the origins of individual differences in early reading development. METHOD A measure of word recognition, the Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE), was administered by telephone to a representative population sample of 3,909 same-sex and opposite-sex pairs of 7-year-old twins. Analyses allowing for sex differences in aetiology were used to estimate the extent to which genetic and environmental influences contribute to normal variation in word recognition and word recognition difficulties, defined by scores below the 5th and 10th percentiles of the unselected sample. RESULTS Both normal variation in word recognition and impaired word recognition abilities were substantially heritable (h2 = .65-.67; h(g)2 = . 37-. 72). Environmental influences were primarily shared between twins, rather than specific to each individual, and small to moderate in magnitude. There was evidence for qualitative sex differences. Quantitative sex differences were also suggested at the extremes, with genetic influences being more important as a cause of reading difficulties in boys than in girls. CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate that early individual differences and impairments in word recognition are principally influenced by genetic factors and may involve partly distinct genetic or environmental effects in boys and girls. Crucially, they also provide evidence that reading impairments are linked genetically to the normal distribution. Genetic risk for early impairments in word recognition is continuous rather than discrete.
Patterns of failure after total laryngectomy for glottic carcinoma

The 136 patients who underwent total laryngectomy as the primary treatment for squamous cell carcinoma of the glottis at the Mayo Clinic in 1970 through 1981 were followed by retrospective record review for at least 4 years or until death, local recurrence, neck recurrence, or delayed neck metastasis. Cancer recurred or progressed in a previously untreated area in 35 patients; for the 29 affected above the clavicles, the median time to manifestation was 9.9 months. A Cox model with four risk factors (P < 0.05) was found to predict failure above the clavicles: lymph node metastasis in the laryngectomy specimen (Delphian, pretracheal, tracheoesophageal, parathyroid), primary tumor more than 1.5 cm in greatest diameter, subglottic extension, and lymph node metastasis in the neck dissection specimen. A simple risk score computed from the Cox model shows that the more factors present, the higher the risk of disease progression or recurrence.
Information Disclosure and Market Quality: The Effect of SEC Rule 605 on Trading Costs

Abstract The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted Rule 605 (formerly Rule 11Ac1–5) on November 15, 2000. The Rule requires market centers to make monthly public disclosure of execution quality. The Rule is intended to achieve a more competitive and efficient national market system by increasing the visibility of execution quality. The effective and quoted spreads for our study sample of NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ stocks declined significantly after implementation of the Rule. The decline cannot be attributed to a secular trend in spreads, concurrent changes in stock attributes, or the effect of decimal pricing. Although the quoted depth of NYSE stocks also declined, overall market quality is higher after implementation of the Rule. Based on these results, we conclude that the SEC's goal to improve execution quality through more transparent markets has been achieved.
On entrepreneur ship, region and the constitution of scale and scope economies

Abstract This paper proposes a framework of analysis in which: (1) the constitution of new sources of economies of scale or scope is supported by systemic entrepreneurship; (2) the realization of such economies by incremental entrepreneurship takes the form of external economies, or alternatively of internal economies, together with the prevalence of different combinations of organizations, technologies and regional characters; and (3) the manifestation in the form of external economies is sustained by market rules and focused public intervention, which complement the working of markets, and which can be embedded in regional (or local) relations. Further and more specific conclusions will be referred to in the case of external economies within production systems which are assuming or are reproducing the techno‐organizational characters of flexible specialization. The standard case of the industrial district with final markets largely characterized by differentiated and variable markets falls within such a.
The role of lacrimal stent in endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy

We read with interest the recent article concerning the effect of lacrimal stenting on outcomes in endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (endoDCR) [1]. We congratulate the authors for comparing outcomes in two consecutive case-series of patients operated on by the same surgeon and with the same technique. The study demonstrated that silicone tube stenting in DCR does not influence the patency of rhinostomy, provided that adequate sizing and location of the bone window is adopted [2]. Although the importance of osteotomy size was discussed, the authors did not provide details in this respect, which would be useful information to compare their results with other studies and to enable reproduction of the reported study. Did the authors adhere to previous recommendations of creating a 15–20 mm anteroposterior diameter osteotomy [2,3]? Our main concern with the report lies in the limited number of cases with common canalicular stenosis/ obstruction enrolled in the study. In fact, while the authors acknowledged that the difference in success rates between the cases treated with and without the stent in this specific subgroup did not reach levels of statistical significance, they finally concluded that ‘the use of a silicone stent in endoscopic DCR . has an important role in correcting the obstructed distal common canaliculus and maintaining the lumen of the canaliculus. ’ We respectfully highlight that the p value of 0.29 does not allow such a statement, and wecertainlyagree that statistical significancewouldhave been achieved with a sample size three times larger. A further point of criticism regards the assessment of the surgical outcome: we noticed that the objective methods used at the time of the preoperative assessment were replaced by a subjective report of symptoms for the determination of the outcome. Moreover, the definition of success was based on a ‘marked improvement of preoperative epiphora’ rather than on the absence of symptoms. Did the authors use a scoring system [4]. How much is a ‘marked’ improvement? In fact, whether validated scoring systems for the evaluation of surgical outcomes must be preferred to a simple patient self-assessment [5,6], objective functional tests would certainly provide the most accurate assessment of surgical success.
Sustainable development for some: green urban development and affordability

Many brownfield development projects and many redevelopment projects aimed at improving older urban spaces list sustainable development as a stated goal. It is a key question, however, whether the benefits of these redevelopment projects are equitably shared with the original members of the community, and in the case of brownfields with residents of adjacent neighbours, or are there differential benefits that accrue to new higher-income residents at the expense of current residents and retailers, and at the expense of existing community diversity? A case study of a brownfield development in Victoria, Canada, confirms concerns in the literature about income diversity in brownfield developments; a second case study of a Toronto neighbourhood suggests that there is no guarantee that local sustainable development projects within existing neighbourhoods will encourage or even maintain existing social diversity and equity. A similar trend is demonstrated in a series of infill projects that had profound ramifications on adjacent communities and indeed contributed to greater unsustainability in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, British Columbia. It is concluded that the relationship between sustainable development and gentrification is more complex than has been previously suggested.
Position estimation using artificial generated magnetic fields

A positioning system is introduced which overcomes the limitations of existing indoor positioning systems by the use of artificial quasi static magnetic fields. The proposed DC magnetic signals show no special multipath effects and have excellent characteristics for penetrating various obstacles. In this contribution the theory of coil-based magnetic fields as well as the basic function principle of the positioning system are described. Furthermore, a prototype that is currently under development is presented.
The demand for the audit in small companies in the UK

Abstract A recent development of the big GAAP/little GAAP debate in the UK was the proposal to raise the audit exemption thresholds for small companies to EC levels. This paper is based on a survey of the directors of 385 companies conforming to the EC definition of ‘small’. The study investigates whether the three size criteria in company legislation (turnover, balance sheet total and number of employees) are appropriate and sufficient proxies for the demand for the audit by developing and testing a number of theoretical models. The results found that 63% of companies would choose to have their accounts audited if they were exempt, which suggests that the majority of those affected by the proposed increase consider the benefits outweigh the costs. It was found that turnover alone could represent size, but that size was less important than the directors' perceptions of the value of the audit in terms of improving the quality of information and providing a check on internal records. Agency relationships with owners and lenders were also found to be significant influences on the demand for the audit in companies of the size studied.
THE INFLUENCE OF IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE TREATMENT ON IMMUNE RESPONSIVENESS IN VIVO IN KIDNEY TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS

In this study, we have compared the influence of CsA and pred/aza on the immunocompetence in man. Therefore, kidney-transplant recipients were tested for their primary keyhole limpet hemocyanin and secondary (tetanus and KLH) humoral immune responses and their primary dinitrochlorobenzene and secondary (recall antigens) cellular immune responses. We demonstrate that primary immune responses are inhibited by CsA, whereas secondary immune responses are relatively resistant. Pred/aza therapy seems to inhibit all cellular immune responses, as we demonstrated before, as well as the primary humoral immune responses. Secondary humoral immune responses are only slightly affected by pred/aza. Our results provide a strong argument for starting immunosuppression with CsA, either with or without a low-dose pred.
Hepatitis C Virus NS5A Protein Modulates c-Jun N-terminal Kinase through Interaction with Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor-associated Factor 2*

The nonstructural 5A (NS5A) protein of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a phosphoprotein possessing various functions. We have previously reported that the HCV NS5A protein interacts with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated factor (TRAF) domain of TRAF2 (Park, K.-J., Choi, S.-H., Lee, S. Y., Hwang, S. B., and Lai, M. M. C. (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 13122–13128). Both TNF-α- and TRAF2-mediated nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activations were inhibited by NS5A-TRAF2 interaction. Because TRAF2 is required for the activation of both NF-κB and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), we investigated HCV NS5A protein for its potential capacity to modulate TRAF2-mediated JNK activity. Using in vitro kinase assay, we have found that NS5A protein synergistically activated both TNF-α- and TRAF2-medidated JNK in human embryonic kidney 293T cells. Furthermore, synergism of NS5A-mediated JNK activation was inhibited by dominant-negative form of MEK kinase 1. Our in vivo binding data show that NS5A does not inhibit interaction between TNF receptor-associated death domain and TRAF2 protein, indicating that NS5A and TRAF2 may form a ternary complex with TNF receptor-associated death domain. These results indicate that HCV NS5A protein modulates TNF signaling of the host cells and may play a role in HCV pathogenesis.