Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence on inflation expectations from Canadian real return bonds

Starting with the UK in 1981, many of the industrialized countries have issued long-term bonds whose principal value is indexed to the rate of inflation. One of the benefits that economists predicted from issuing such bonds is that the difference between the yield on indexed and nominal bonds would be an indicator of the market’s expectations of inflation. This could be a useful guide for central banks in judging the success of their monetary policy in stabilizing the inflation rate. This paper examines the data from Canada, which began issuing indexed (“real return”) bonds in 1991. It is found that it is possible to explain the relationship between real and nominal bonds with very small residuals, using a moving average of historical inflation and the US bond yield as explanatory variables. The implication is that expectations in the nominal bond market are adaptive rather than forward looking. Therefore, while we are able to infer the market’s expectations of inflation with a high degree of precision, this is not actually very useful as a guide to monetary policy or predicting future inflation.
Serological response in sheep vaccinated against Coxiella burnetii (Q fever).

The occurrence of human Q fever is to a large extent the result of widespread enzootic coxiellosis in live-stock, principally in dairy animals Sheep are an important amplifying host in the epidemiology of human Q fever. Like goats, infected animals frequently abort, transmitting large numbers of the agent into the environment and thus to other susceptible hosts, of which humans are apparently the most vulnerable. The control of Q fever in humans should aim at the sources of infection for animals, using either sanitary management or vaccination. Sanitary management applied to populations with low level infection uses "test and slaughter" based on serologic identification of infected animals. Vaccination immunizes young breeding stock before natural exposure, thereby preventing the trans-mission cycle in the herd.
Ascites in the state of Qatar: aetiology and diagnostic value of ascitic fluid analysis.

INTRODUCTION Ascites is common and represents an important feature of liver disease and other diseases. The aim of this study is to determine the causes of ascites in Qatar, and to evaluate the value of ascitic fluid analysis in different types of ascites. METHODS This is a descriptive, prospective study of all patients admitted to the medical department at Hamad General Hospital with ascites between January 2004 and January 2005. RESULTS Of the 104 patients enrolled in the study, 70 (67.3 percent) were males and 34 (32.7 percent) were females, with a mean age of 52.9 (+/-14.8) years. Liver cirrhosis was the most frequent cause of ascites in 62 patients (59.6 percent), while chronic alcoholism was the main cause of liver cirrhosis. Other frequent causes of ascites were malignant ascites in 12 patients (11.5 percent), malignancy-related ascites in ten patients (9.6 percent), and tuberculous peritonitis in eight patients (7.7 percent). Based on the serum-ascites albumin gradient (SAAG), different causes of ascites were divided into two main groups. The first group was characterised by a mean SAAG of 1.1 or higher, and the second group was characterised by a mean SAAG of less than 1.1. The most common cause of high gradient ascites was liver cirrhosis, while the most common causes of low gradient ascites were carcinomatous peritonitis and tuberculous peritonitis. The mean ascitic lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level was higher in cancer patients than in tuberculous patients (p-value is less than 0.05), while the mean ascitic glucose concentration was significantly lower in peritoneal tuberculosis than in carcinomatous peritonitis (p-value is less than 0.05). CONCLUSION Liver cirrhosis is the main cause of ascites in Qatar. SAAG is a better distinguishing marker for separating ascites related to portal hypertension from other causes of ascites without portal hypertension. In patients with low gradient ascites, ascitic fluid glucose and LDH level are useful indicators for separating tuberculous from malignant ascites.
Evolution of olive oil import demand structures in nonproducing countries: the cases of Germany and the UK

Consumption patterns of olive oil have changed over recent years influencing the supply chain. The consumption has increased in countries where olive oil is not part of the traditional diet as for example Germany and the UK, where the average consumption grew by 11 and 13% respectively during the period 1995-2003. The opening of new non-traditional markets has shifted exports and re-structured the supply chain. Mediterranean countries have been the traditional suppliers of olive oil with the EU Mediterranean Member States being the main exporters and with the non-EU Mediterranean countries trying to gain market shares in the EU markets in an attempt to benefit from the preferential access due to the Barcelona Agreement. This paper tries to identify which factors influenced olive oil demand of non-traditional consumers using Germany and the UK as case studies with the help of a gravity model. The results of the random effects models corrected for serial correlation and heteroskedasticity indicate that the Barcelona Agreement has boosted the non-EU Mediterranean exports to Germany and the UK while olive oil exports are positively related to direct marketing strategies and tourism, implying that these factors have the largest impact on the olive oil exports from producing countries and consequently on the overall supply chain.
‘I see it as a phase: I don't see it as the future’: academics as managers in a United Kingdom university

This study investigates the experiences of academics who take on temporary, middle management roles within a university faculty. Individuals with titles such as Associate or Sub Dean, Head of Department or Programme Director were interviewed but, for the purposes of this paper, we will refer to all of these as Associate Deans. We are aware that these titles may mean different things in different higher education institutions and even in different departments, faculties or countries. We purposely focus on individuals working below the level of Dean and look at both their motivations for, and experiences of, taking on a management role whilst at the same time retaining some level of research and teaching responsibility as an academic.
Selenoproteins are expressed in fetal human osteoblast-like cells.

Selenoproteins are involved in mechanisms of cell differentiation and defense. We investigated the expression of glutathione peroxidases, as well as other selenoproteins, in fetal human osteoblasts (hFOB-cells). Using 75-selenium metabolic labelling of viable hFOB-cells, we identified several selenoproteins in cell lysates of about 45-80 kDa and in the migration range of 14 kDa to 24 kDa. Cells expressed low mRNA levels of both cellular glutathione peroxidase and plasma glutathione peroxidase mRNA as analysed by Southern analysis of RT-PCR products. Basal cellular glutathione peroxidase enzyme activity in hFOB-cells (19.7 nmol NADPH oxidised per min and microg protein) was further increased 2.5-fold by the addition of 100 nM sodium selenite to the culture medium for 3 days. Furthermore, expression of selenoprotein P mRNA was demonstrated by RT-PCR. hFOB-cells did not show activities of the selenoproteins type I or type II 5'-deiodinase. In summary, we identified cellular glutathione peroxidase, plasma glutathione peroxidase and selenoprotein P among of a panel of several 75-selenium labelled proteins in human fetal osteoblasts. The expression of selenoproteins like glutathione peroxidases in hFOB-cells represents a new system of osteoblast antioxidative defense that may be relevant for the protection against hydrogen peroxide produced by osteoclasts during bone remodelling.
Dietary treatment of thrombogenic disorders related tothe metabolic syndrome

The increased risk of coronary heart disease associated with the metabolic syndrome may be partially explained by prothrombotic deviations of the haemostatic system. Individuals with insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia and obesity are characterized by elevated plasma fibrinogen and factor VII coagulant activity levels and raised concentrations of plasminogen-activator inhibitor, the main inhibitor of endogenous fibrinolysis. These haemostatic abnormalities may be corrected with dietary treatment of the underlying clinical disorder. Dietary trials of diseased and healthy volunteers suggest that the optimal antithrombotic diet is a low-fat diet with a high content of foods rich in complex carbohydrates and dietary fibre. The dietary fatty acid composition has a profound effect on blood lipids, but seems of minor importance for the haemostatic system.
Cellular changes in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) of pigs, following immunization by the enteral or respiratory route

Normal young pigs were immunized by the oral or aerogenic route with the viable or inactivated lung‐pathogenic bacterium Actinobacillus (Haemophilus) pleuropneumoniae. Three weeks later the cellular composition as well as the lymphocyte subset composition of the bronchoalveolar space were examined by BAL. Lymphocytes in the lavage increased significantly, including CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. After oral immunization a dramatic increase of plasma cells and lymphoid blasts was found. Among immunoglobulin‐positive lymphocytes IgG+ cells showed the most pronounced increase. For most lymphocyte subsets there was no difference between viable and inactivated bacteria. Oral immunization with a lung‐pathogenic bacterium results in increased numbers of lymphocytes in the bronchoalveolar space and might play a critical role in protection against lower respiratory tract infections.
Offshoring, Extent of the Shadow Economy and Firm Performance. Evidence from Italy

Being the G-7 country with the largest shadow-economy share, we posit that Italy's manufacturing firms - to counter emerging economies' competition - could alternatively offshore or enter the shadow economy. Within this context, we investigate, in a sample of Italian firms, whether internationalised firms outperform purely domestic firms in terms of efficiency, innovativeness and skill composition. Using propensity-score-matching and difference-in-difference techniques we find evidence that: (i) offshoring impacts TFP negligibly but, (ii) labour cost relocation robustly causes offshoring; (iii) offshoring firms are more likely innovative and RD (iv) firms in high- shadow -economy provinces less likely offshore. It is also evidenced that the latter firms show lower TFP and R&D expenditure.
Planning Land Reform on a Regional Scale: A Case Study from Brazil

This article makes a case for using regional planning to improve the social and economic regional impact of land reform policy in developing countries. We focus on rural settlements in the Brazilian north-east, where land reallocation has been approached in a variety of ways over many decades. The study identifies problems deriving from the lack of a plan-led strategy, leading to failures in identifying sustainable areas and designing appropriate policy interventions on a regional scale. Based on the planning literature and our empirical results, it is proposed that different views on land reform should be combined into a broader regional strategy. This involves strategic targeting of specific areas to define a portfolio of investment and spending priorities, combined with intergovernmental and intersectoral co-ordination, running from the early stages of a project's formulation until the final stages of its implementation. Additionally, this paper shows that combining top-down and bottom-up approaches to land reform, and supplementing policy-making at the national level with programme/project design and implementation at the subnational level, allows an effective government response to rural poverty and landlessness.
Determining the economic gains from regulation at the extensive and intensive margins

Among the second-best approaches for the regulation of pollution, little attention has been paid to the distorting effect of intensive margin policies on the extensive margin. This article shows, within a dynamic framework, that regulation of the intensive margin has to be complemented by regulation of the extensive margin. Depending on the elasticity of the pollution function with respect to nitrogen use, the appropriate regulation at the extensive margin is zero, a tax or a subsidy. We show empirically that combining a nitrogen tax with land-use taxes is about 18 per cent more cost efficient than a nitrogen tax alone and 58 per cent more efficient than off-site abatement in the form of groundwater treatment. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.
The Impact of External Debts on Economic Growth: An Empirical Assessment of the Sudan: 1978-2001

This paper investigates, from an empirical point of view, the impact of Sudan's external indebtedness on economic growth over the period (1978-2001). In addition to that, the growth rate of real export earnings is included in the empirical model to capture the impact of export promotion strategy in inducing economic growth, while inflation rate is incorporated as a macroeconomic policy variable. The results of the study reveal the existence of debt overhang problem in Sudan, i.e. external debts exceed the country's repayment ability. The study concluded that external debt and inflation deter economic growth, while export earnings have positive impacts. Thus, the findings of this study support the need of Sudan to be considered for comprehensive debt relief measures. The study recommends the adoption of export- led growth strategy besides improving infrastructure. Furthermore, encouraging domestic saving and realizing peace in a united Sudan will help restore debt sustainability.
Educational Reforms Set Professional Boundaries: The Spanish Audit Function, 1850–1988

Research on the accounting profession considers the notion of boundaries a useful, albeit wide and elusive, concept. However, recent sociological and organizational research has sharpened the concept of boundaries to enable further examination of relational processes. In this paper, we draw on this research to advance our understanding of the process of constructing boundaries in auditing. In doing so, we focus on the unique institutional conditions in Spain during the period 1850–1988. This period witnessed the overwhelming role of the State in any sphere of economic and social life. In the case of auditing, the influence of the State was augmented as the academic background became the site of influence, which resulted in educational reforms setting professional boundaries. Our findings provide some additional insights into the boundaries construction process and the dynamics of the symbolic and social boundaries contingent on the wider contexts of the audit function.
Systematic Review of the Impact of Employment Guarantee Schemes and Cash Transfers on the Poor

Employment Guarantee Schemes (EGSs) are a form of employment programme that guarantees paid employment, in return for a cash or in-kind payment, to a specified population over a sustained or ongoing period, unlike public works programme that tend to only offer employment for short periods of time. Cash transfers (CTs) provide a cash benefit, without a work requirement, and may or may not offer ongoing or guaranteed transfers. Cash transfers may either be unconditional (UCTs) or conditional on satisfying requirements such school enrolment or making regular visits to health clinics (CCTs). EGSs are sometimes considered to be a particular form of conditional cash transfers, with the condition being the work requirement. The work requirement however represents a significantly greater time contribution than the satisfaction of conditionalities relating to service utilisation from recipients and for this reason, the two interventions may be considered as alternatives, and materially different policy options, as in this review.
Does Dirty Surplus Accounting Conceal the Facts

Advocates of dirty surplus accounting practices argue that such practices produce more useful reported earnings numbers because value irrelevant flows are eliminated from reported earnings. Opponents of such practices suggest that dirty surplus accounting can result in the exclusion of value relevant flows from reported earnings. By observing the relationship between stock return and the components of U.K. clean surplus earnings over intervals ranging from one year to twenty years, this paper seeks evidence as to whether dirty surplus accounting practices can cause the systematic exclusion from reported earnings of items which, in the long run, prove to be value relevant. It is argued that, if dirty surplus accounting has the effect of excluding value relevant events from reported earnings and of delaying the recognition by the market of the value relevance of these events, then the power of clean surplus earnings to explain stock returns would be low relative to that of reported earnings in short-interval tests but would dominate that of reported earnings as the interval is extended. Over short intervals, dirty surplus flows (i.e. components of clean surplus earnings other than reported earnings) would contribute little to the explanation of stock returns after controlling for reported earnings but the contribution of dirty surplus flows to the explanation of return would increase as the interval increased. The results of this study suggest that the power of U.K. reported earnings to explain returns dominates that of clean surplus earnings over all return intervals and that dirty surplus flows have little explanatory power, after controlling for reported earnings, even over long intervals. The results do not suggest that any increase in the usefulness of U.K. yearly reported earnings numbers that might have been obtained through the use of dirty surplus accounting practices was acquired at the cost of the exclusion of items which, in the long run, proved to be value relevant.
Information technology, organisational capital and firm performance

Our objective is to examine the mediating effect of organisational capital on the relationship between information technology and firm performance. Using the mediated regression method and a sample of Taiwan's listed firms, an IT intensive context, empirical results provide statistical support for our argument that through organisational capital (OC), IT investments indirectly contribute to firm performance, measured by Tobin's Q. Moreover, we also find that firms with high ratio of OC value change to IT expenditures have better future performance. This supports our argument that management should put attention on how IT investments being complementary with organisational practices to boost a firm's organisational capital and thereby firm performance. As a whole, the results offer insights into how or why IT contributes to firm performance, and thus explain the IT productivity paradox phenomenon.
Repudiation Risk and Restitution Costs: Toward Understanding Premiums on Insured Deposits

This paper contains a theoretical development of the relationship of CD premiums to both the risks of the CD issuer and the third party government guarantor of those deposits. The theoretical development shows that the risk of the guarantor derives from the possibility that the guarantee could be repudiated and/or the restitution of the depositor's claim could be costly. The empirical analysis of the premiums for insured CDs indicates that during the years preceding the ultimate collapse of the FSLIC, the market priced the risk of both the guarantor as well as the firm. The guarantor risk pricing was responsive to the insolvency of the guarantor, the attempts to recapitalize the guarantor and the efforts to resolve the insolvent thrifts. During this eventful time period CD premiums rose to 187 basis points and averaged 79 and 54 basis points. Copyright 1994 by Ohio State University Press.
GraphGAN: Graph Representation Learning with Generative Adversarial Nets

The goal of graph representation learning is to embed each vertex in a graph into a low-dimensional vector space. Existing graph representation learning methods can be classified into two categories: generative models that learn the underlying connectivity distribution in the graph, and discriminative models that predict the probability of edge existence between a pair of vertices. In this paper, we propose GraphGAN, an innovative graph representation learning framework unifying above two classes of methods, in which the generative model and discriminative model play a game-theoretical minimax game. Specifically, for a given vertex, the generative model tries to fit its underlying true connectivity distribution over all other vertices and produces "fake" samples to fool the discriminative model, while the discriminative model tries to detect whether the sampled vertex is from ground truth or generated by the generative model. With the competition between these two models, both of them can alternately and iteratively boost their performance. Moreover, when considering the implementation of generative model, we propose a novel graph softmax to overcome the limitations of traditional softmax function, which can be proven satisfying desirable properties of normalization, graph structure awareness, and computational efficiency. Through extensive experiments on real-world datasets, we demonstrate that GraphGAN achieves substantial gains in a variety of applications, including link prediction, node classification, and recommendation, over state-of-the-art baselines.
Profiles of Kindergarten Classroom and Elementary School Contexts: Associations with the First-Grade Outcomes of Children Transitioning from Head Start

Poor-quality classroom and school contexts may impede the academic and behavioral adjustment of low-income students when they transition into kindergarten. Several studies have examined the impact of teacher-student interactions on student progress, whereas others have explored the impact of school-level adversity (e.g., student poverty, school achievement levels). Expanding on prior findings, this study used latent profile analysis to characterize kindergarten contexts in terms of both classroom teacher-student interaction quality and school-level adversity. Following 164 children longitudinally and accounting for functioning in Head Start prior to kindergarten entry, associations between kindergarten context profiles and first-grade outcomes revealed that children who experienced dual-risk contexts in kindergarten (classrooms with poor-quality teacher-student interactions in schools with high levels of adversity) demonstrated the greatest aggression and social difficulties in first grade. Associations between kindergarten context profiles and first-grade academic outcomes were less clear.
A Steindlian Model of Concentration, Debt and Growth

Income distribution plays a crucial role in the Kaleckian models of growth. The recent US experience has seemingly turned the Kaleckian argument on stagnationism on its head. Does it, therefore, render the Kaleckian growth framework redundant? We argue that while there is a tendency towards underconsumption, there could be other counteracting tendencies like the wealth effect of the capitalists or the possibility of debt for the workers. But such a growth process, which is primarily driven by the asset price markets, is, by its very nature, iniquitous and extremely volatile and the downturn is far more severe than the normal business cycles.