Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal Taxation of a Polluting Durable Goods Monopolist

The authors consider optimal taxation in a two-period model of a durable goods monopolist where pollution is a byproduct of production. In the case where the firm rents its output, the optimal tax is lower than the tax placed on a competitive industry, all else held constant. When the monopolist sells its output, the tax will be larger than in the rental case. The authors find that this is due to the "Coase conjecture" that durable goods sales monopolists will be forced nearer to marginal cost pricing than will durable goods rental monopolists. They also show that Buchanan's result that the optimal pollution tax on a simple monopolist is less than the optimal pollution tax on a competitive industry generally holds for the case where the monopolist sells durable goods. However, an exception to this occurs when production costs decrease at the margin. In the durable goods case, Buchanan's result may be reversed. This is not the case when the goods are nondurable.
Underlay device-to-device communications in LTE-A: Uplink or downlink?

Device-to-device (D2D) communications is a promising candidate for increasing the throughput of cellular systems towards 5G. Its current consideration for inclusion in LTE-A is attracting a lot of research interest, including work on mode selection, bandwidth allocation, and power control. Some consider the uplink for D2D operation while others focus on operation over the downlink. It is still unclear, however, which link is preferable for D2D operation. This paper addresses this issue focusing on the outage performance of D2D receivers. We use stochastic geometry tools for our analysis, considering realistic system parameters and Nakagami fading. We find that the interference from the cellular system on the downlink, which is correlated over consecutive time slots, favors underlay D2D operation, resulting in a lower outage probability for the D2D transmissions.
Trade Liberalization in Bangladesh: The Process and Its Impact on Macro Variables Particularly Export Expansion

This paper examines the process of Bangladesh's trade liberalization and its impact on the growth and structure of exports, imports, GDP and other relevant macroeconomic variables with particular emphasis on exports. It also provides an updated account of the various structural adjustment programs undertaken in Bangladesh including trade, fiscal, industrial and financial reforms, and explains how these reforms supplemented one another to promote greater market and export orientation. Various Indicators of trade liberalization show a substantial shift of the Bangladesh external trade regime and the resultant reduction in anti-export bias. Spearheaded by textiles and readymade garments, both total- and manufacturing exports consistently grew over the post-liberalization period. Real GDP also registered a steady growth during the post-liberalization period, particularly during the 1990s. An empirical investigation based on a distributed lag modeling and cointegration suggests that both anti-export bias reduction and import-GDP ratio, the latter being a proxy for imported capital, have significantly impacted on exports in the long-term.
Helpfulness of Online Consumer Reviews: Readers' Objectives and Review Cues

With the growth of e-commerce, online consumer reviews have increasingly become important sources of information that help consumers in their purchase decisions. However, the influx of online consumer reviews has caused information overload, making it difficult for consumers to choose reliable reviews. For an online retail market to succeed, it is important to lead product reviewers to write more helpful reviews, and for consumers to get helpful reviews more easily by figuring out the factors determining the helpfulness of online reviews. For this research, 75,226 online consumer reviews were collected from Amazon.com using a Web data crawler. Additional information on review content was also gathered by carrying out a sentiment analysis for mining review text. Our results show that both peripheral cues, including review rating and reviewer's credibility, and central cues, such as the content of reviews, influence the helpfulness of reviews. Based on dual process theories, we find that consumers focus on different information sources of reviews, depending on their purposes for reading reviews: online reviews can be used for information search or for evaluating alternatives. Our findings provide new perspectives to online market owners on how to manage online reviews on their Web sites.
Observed and simulated temperature extremes during the recent warming hiatus

The discrepancy between recent observed and simulated trends in global mean surface temperature has provoked a debate about possible causes and implications for future climate change projections. However, little has been said in this discussion about observed and simulated trends in global temperature extremes. Here we assess trend patterns in temperature extremes and evaluate the consistency between observed and simulated temperature extremes over the past four decades (1971–2010) in comparison to the recent 15 years (1996–2010). We consider the coldest night and warmest day in a year in the observational dataset HadEX2 and in the current generation of global climate models (CMIP5). In general, the observed trends fall within the simulated range of trends, with better consistency for the longer period. Spatial trend patterns differ for the warm and cold extremes, with the warm extremes showing continuous positive trends across the globe and the cold extremes exhibiting a coherent cooling pattern across the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes that has emerged in the recent 15 years and is not reproduced by the models. This regional inconsistency between models and observations might be a key to understanding the recent hiatus in global mean temperature warming.
Responses of Cells to Flow in Vitro

The response of cells to a flow has been studied in vitro. The response of cells was examined in two types of flow channels: a circumnutating flow in a donut-shaped open channel in a culture dish, and a one-way flow in a parallelepiped rhombus flow channel. Variation was made on the material of the parallelepiped channel to study on adhesion of cells to the plates: glass and polydimethylsiloxane. Behavior of cells on the plate was observed under a flow of a medium with an inverted phase-contrast-microscope. The shear stress on the plate is calculated with an estimated parabolic distribution of the velocity between the parallel plates. The adhesion of cells was evaluated with the cumulated shear, which is a product of the shear stress and the exposure time. The experimental results show that cells are responsive to the flow, which governs orientation, exfoliation, and differentiation. The response depends on the kinds of cells: endothelial cells orient along the stream line, although myocytes orient perpendicular to the stream line. The adhesion depends on the combination between scaffold and cell: myocytes are more adhesive to glass than cartilage cells, and fibroblasts are more adhesive to oxygenated polydimethylsiloxane than glass.
Struggles in optimal labelling: how different consumers react to various labels for genetically modified foods

The labelling of genetically modified (GM) foods is an important policy issue, as consumers' attitudes towards these foods appear to be quite sensitive to information about their potential benefits and risks. Because it is difficult for labels to differ across consumers, differences in reactions to label information could lead to conflicts across consumer groups or to different market outcomes. Using factor and cluster analysis, we uncover three consumer segments with different attitudes to the risks and benefits of GM foods. Our segmentation-based analysis on consumer reactions to information points out important differences across consumers. Not only did we find differences across segments in how they view the credibility of GM-related information, we also find differences in how information influences segments' perceptions of the product, and in their likelihood to buy.
Labor Supply and Taxes: A Survey

I survey the male and female labor supply literatures, focusing on implications for effects of wages and taxes. For males, I describe and contrast results from three basic types of model: static models (especially those that account for nonlinear taxes), life-cycle models with savings, and life-cycle models with both savings and human capital. For women, more important distinctions are whether models include fixed costs of work, and whether they treat demographics like fertility and marriage (and human capital) as exogenous or endogenous. The literature is characterized by considerable controversy over the responsiveness of labor supply to changes in wages and taxes. At least for males, it is fair to say that most economists believe labor supply elasticities are small. But a sizeable minority of studies that I examine obtain large values. Hence, there is no clear consensus on this point. In fact, a simple average of Hicks elasticities across all the studies I examine is 0.30. Several simulation studies have shown that such a value is large enough to generate large welfare costs of income taxation. For males, I conclude that two factors drive many of the differences in results across studies. One factor is use of direct vs. ratio wage measures, with studies that use the former tending to find larger elasticties. Another factor is the failure of most studies to account for human capital returns to work experience. I argue that this may lead to downward bias in elasticity estimates. In a model that includes human capital, I show how even modest elasticities – as conventionally measured – can be consistent with large welfare costs of taxation. For women, in contrast, it is fair to say that most studies find large labor supply elasticities, especially on the participation margin. In particular, I find that estimates of “long run” labor supply elasticities – by which I mean estimates that allow for dynamic effects of wages on fertility, marriage, education and work experience – are generally quite large.
Measuring supply chain efficiency from a green perspective

Purpose – This paper aims to examine whether some countries achieve logistics efficiency at the cost of undermining environmental quality. In so doing, a hybrid index, the green logistics performance index (GLPI) combining both the LPI and the environmental performance index (EPI), is constructed.Design/methodology/approach – Being a macro analysis measuring the green supply chain efficiency of a country, this paper utilizes the secondary data compiled by the World Bank and the World Economic Forum. A series of simple regression analyses were conducted in order to find out the varying degrees of association between the LPI, the EPI, the GLPI and the national income level.Findings – As active logistics activities can have an impact on carbon footprints such as greenhouse gas emissions, it was found that some countries chose to increase their income level at the expense of the environment degradation. Consequently, the GLPI is suggested as a good indicator of a country's green logistics efficiency, showing .
World Heritage, Tourism and Community Involvement: A Comparative Study of the High Coast (Sweden) and Kvarken Archipelago (Finland)

Abstract The main purpose of this article is to portray locals’ perception of tourism impact, rural development and the role of the local communities in two World Heritage (WH) sites. The impact of WH on tourism is a much-debated matter for both WH practitioners and academics while United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) during the last 10 years has emphasised the concept of “community” as an integrated feature of the WH strategy. The results are based on an empirical attitude study in combination with focus group interviews portraying local residents’ perception of WH designation and tourism in the transnational WH High Coast/Kvarken Archipelago situated in Sweden and Finland. The overall local perception of WH designation is quite similar in both countries, although ways of administrating WH sites differ. The results show an overall positive attitude towards local tourism development, but a relatively low understanding of UNESCO WH concept. High Coast residents seem to be overall more positive than the locals in Kvarken to the WH designation and a possible increase in tourism. The Finnish authorities, on the one hand, seem to have a stronger urge to benefit from the WH status than their Swedish counterparts. Nevertheless, the WH status in the rural areas of the High Coast region fits into a larger destination building and does not alone constitute the driving force for regional tourism development. Both WH sites show a limited and partly conflict-laden collaboration between communities and authorities in WH planning. Improved cooperation between actors would give WH and tourism a better chance to develop and at the same time display a more positive image of the WH sites.
E-Service Adoption and Use in Small Farms in Australia: Lessons Learned from a Government-Sponsored Programme

Abstract E-commerce is increasing in use and expanding global business opportunities. One aspect of e-commerce that offers great benefits to sparsely populated, geographically remote countries is E-services. This entry level communication technology referred to interchangeably as online services, web-based services or e-services offers great potential to small firms without the risks associated with a total e-commerce commitment through online banking, EFT, EFTPOS, EDI, Fax, email and Internet access. Studies have primarily focused on the adoption of more complex e-commerce. This study goes beyond adoption to explore the impact of a government-sponsored e- services programme to improve communication activities of farmers in rural Australia. A survey was used to collect data from a group of 75 growers in Northwest Tasmania. Forty-three completed surveys provide the basis for the data analysis. Although the programme had a relative degree of success, there are lessons to be learned from the benefits and drawbacks reported by the growers and their suggestions for improvements. The results provide mixed support for previously reported research on e-commerce and e-services in small firms.
hINADl/PATJ, a Homolog of Discs Lost, Interacts with Crumbs and Localizes to Tight Junctions in Human Epithelial Cells*

dCrumbs is an apical organizer crucial for the maintenance of epithelial polarity in Drosophila(1). It is known that dCrumbs interacts with Discs lost (Dlt), a protein with four PDZ (PSD95/Discs Large/ZO-1) domains (2), and Stardust (Sdt), a protein of the MAGUK (membrane-associated guanylate kinase) family (3, 4). We have searched for potential homologs of Dlt in human epithelial cells and characterized one of them in intestinal epithelial cells. Human INAD-like (hINADl) contains 8 PDZ domains, is concentrated in tight junctions, and is also found at the apical plasma membrane. Overexpression of hINADl disrupted the tight junctions localization of ZO-1 and 3. We also identified a partial cDNA coding the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains of a new human crumbs (CRB3) expressed in Caco-2 cells. This CRB3 was able to interact through its C-terminal end with the N-terminal domain of hINADl. Taken together, the data indicate that hINADl is likely to represent a Dlt homolog in mammalian epithelial cells and might be involved in regulating the integrity of tight junctions. We thus propose to rename hINADl PATJ for proteinassociated to tight junctions.
Genetic toxicology testing of the antimalarial drugs chloroquine and a new analog, AQ‐13

AQ‐13 ([N1‐(7‐chloro‐quinolin‐4yl)‐3‐(N3,N3‐diethylamino)propylamine] dihydrochloride trihydrate) is an aminoquinoline antimalarial drug that is effective against chloroquine‐resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum. It is structurally similar to the widely used chloroquine diphosphate (CQ). We evaluated these drugs in the three assays currently recommended by the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH): bacterial mutagenesis in Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli, mammalian cell mutagenesis in L5178Y mouse lymphoma cells, and micronucleus induction in rat bone marrow. A small but statistically significant increase in revertant colonies was produced by CQ with Salmonella tester strain TA98 without metabolic activation (MA) and by AQ‐13 with strain TA1537 both with and without MA. In L5178Y cells, testing of CQ and AQ‐13 up to cytotoxic concentrations with and without MA produced no increase in mutant colonies and no increase in the numbers of small colonies. Slight decreases in the ratio of polychromatic erythrocytes (PCE) to red blood cells (RBC) were observed in male and female rats treated with CQ and in females only treated with AQ‐13; however, none of these changes was statistically significant. No increases in the frequency of micronucleated PCE were observed at any dose level of CQ or AQ‐13. Although both CQ and AQ‐13 showed weak bacterial mutagenicity, this mutagenic effect was not confirmed in either the mouse lymphoma mutagenesis assay or the micronucleus assay. These results indicate that CQ and AQ‐13 should pose minimal risk of genotoxic damage in human populations being administered these drugs. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 38:69–79, 2001 © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Currency Risk Premium, Interest Rate Differentials, and the Holding Period

Conducting a Beveridge-Nelson decomposition on exchange rates reveals that the prospective interest rate differential -- the expected infinite sum of future interest rate differentials (i.e., the "prospective'') -- can help predict foreign exchange market excess returns. We find that the prospective is even more negatively correlated with excess returns than interest rate differential, implying a more profitable trading strategy and further deepening the forward premium puzzle. Moreover, relative to the U.S. dollar, foreign currencies with higher interest rates, on average, turn from more risky to less risky over cumulative holding periods (i.e., a "level'' effect). However, foreign currencies with higher interest rates remain more risky than foreign currencies with lower interest rates in the cross section (a "slope'' effect). These level and slope effects further deepen the puzzle raised in Engel (2011) and impose more challenges on extant asset pricing models.
A History of Intraspinal Analgesia, a Small and Personal Journey

Introduction: There is a large and robust literature on the spinal use of opioids and non‐opioids alike, but unless one is my age and older, very few persons know how we got here. This small history offering tells us how we got to where we are today regarding the science, clinical uses, and management of intraspinal analgesia.
Finnish and Swedish business cycles in a global context

This paper evaluates the decisions made by the Finnish government to join EMU and the Swedish government not to join EMU in the early 1990s. Focusing on the characteristics of business cycles during the postwar period, we find that output fluctuations in Sweden and Finland are correlated to two measures of the international business cycle, a European and a non-European cycle. The Finnish cycle has become more synchronized to the European cycle but less synchronized to the non-EU cycle after 1999. For Sweden we find the opposite result. The decision by the Finnish government to join EMU on schedule is justified ex post but was not justified ex ante. Similarly, the decision by the Swedish government not to join EMU in 1999 seems to be justified ex post but was not justified ex ante. Our empirical evidence suggests that economic decisions based on historical data may not be optimal ex ante but they may be defensible ex post.
Estimating price and income elasticities in the presence of age-cohort effects

Individual consumption of most food products varies by age, and in countries like Japan that have experienced drastic social and economic changes during the past several decades, it also differs from generation to generation. Unless proper measures are taken to account for these factors, estimates of demand elasticities could be severely biased. In this study, individual consumption of fresh fruit was derived from Japanese household data classified by age of household head for the years 1979-2001. Individual consumption was then decomposed by age, cohort, and period effects using Bayesian cohort analysis. Pure period effects thus determined were regressed against changes in price and income, to obtain less biased estimates for demand parameters than non- or partially age-compensated analysis. lEconlit citations: Q110r. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 22: 201-217, 2006.
A Qualitative Analysis of the Audit Expectations Gap in the Public Sector of Bangladesh

This interview? based research is exploratory in nature and seeks to determine whether or not an audit expectations gap exists in the public sector of Bangladesh. Various audit concepts are employed to test whether the perceptions of the auditors in the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) are the same as the perceptions of the audit report users. The interviewees' responses revealed important differences between the CAG auditors and the audit report users in such important areas as auditor accountability, auditor independence, auditor competence, truth and fairness of the reported information and the role of the performance audit. A comparison is undertaken of the possible causes of the audit expectations gaps in both the private and public sectors. A number of these causes are common for both the private and public sectors but some are relevant only to the public sector audit expectations gap.
A New Way of Revitalizing Distressed Urban Communities? Assessing the Impact of the Federal Empowerment Zone Program

ABSTRACT: The Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community Initiative of 1993 offered targeted funding and tax incentives to distressed urban and rural communities. This initiative required a community-involvement component, setting it apart from more traditional economic development initiatives of the Reagan and Bush administrations. Using reports required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and census data, this study examines the programmatic emphases of four of the original six urban zones and evaluates the overall impact of zone programs on socioeconomic trends. These trends are evaluated by matching zone-designated census tracts to nonzone tracts through a propensity-score matching model using 1990 census data. Trends in poverty and other socioeconomic outcomes are measured by 1990–2000 change at the census tract level for individual zones, as well as across all zones using a series of fixed-effect models. Findings indicate that community building and involvement initiatives received the least amount of funding. Traditional economic development programs received the most emphasis but this did not translate into positive socioeconomic outcomes. With the exception of a few isolated incidences where individual zones fared better than comparison areas, zone initiatives had little impact.