Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Economic Restructuring and Income Inequality in Urban China

Economic transition from a planned to a market oriented economy is often associated with a widening of income inequality. The nature of this change, however, may differ during different stages of the economic transition. This paper investigates the increase in income inequality in urban China during two phases of economic reform: a moderate reform era (1988-95) and a radical reform era (1995-99). It is found that although income inequality increased considerably during both stages, the nature and causes of the increase are different. In the moderate reform period, the increase in inequality was a result of some parts of society sharing more of the economic gain than others, and the main cause of this inequality is regional income dispersion. During the radical reform period income reductions at the lower end of the distribution is observed, and it is mainly due to the large-scale unemployment generated by labor reallocation.
The Assessment of Enterprise Education in the Secondary Sector: A new approach?

Purpose: This article explores the challenges of assessing enterprise education in the secondary education sector. It aims to provide useful insights to help practitioners understand how to evidence the impact of enterprise learning by students. It is necessary because although the assessment of enterprise education activities has been widely highlighted as a key area of concern, it continues to be under represented in the literature. Questions remain as to how educators seeking to monitor student progression can capture quality data and measure relevant aspects of development, often leading enterprise education to be monitored rather than assessed. The article challenges this position by investigating the problems of assessing enterprise in secondary education, examining what does and does not work, and providing practitioners with useful guidance. Approach: The paper has two stages; firstly by presenting a critical review of the existing literature with insights from specialist practitioners sourced through an online survey and a seminar. This provides a broad review of the field from a practitioner standpoint focusing on current assessment techniques and standards. Using this data a conceptual pedagogy is proposed for the delivery of enterprise education and a methodology for its assessment, to be developed in future work. Findings: A critical review of the assessment of enterprise education is presented. This exposes challenges of a confused field, with pockets of good practice in schools often not shared or understood out of context. The development of a novel pedagogical model for teaching enterprise education is proposed, linked to a prototype assessment methodology which presents a new approach for enterprise teaching and learning. Practical Implications: The paper provides a conceptual model for structuring enterprise education which may have relevance across the secondary sector and beyond. The work is limited at this stage since participants in the research were drawn from one geographic area in the East of England, and examples of qualifications reviewed were not exhaustive, but these limitations can be addressed in future research. Value: In this important topic it is vital that new approaches are developed which can a broader debate is created especially at a time of such great change in the educational landscape. This paper provides a platform for further development in the field.
Long-term health sequelae following E. coli and campylobacter contamination of municipal water. Population sampling and assessing non-participation biases.

BACKGROUND Following bacterial contamination of a municipal water system in the rural town of Walkerton, Ontario, over 2,300 cases of acute gastroenteritis were documented. The Walkerton Health Study is currently underway to assess for long-term health sequelae among consenting inhabitants of Walkerton, related to the original outbreak. We explored whether the association between the acute exposure and preliminary long-term health outcomes may have been biased through differences between early- and late-recruited study participants. METHODS Using multiple data sources, including the 1996 and 2001 Canadian Census, and records from the Regional Health Unit, hospital and Walkerton Health Study, we determined both sample representativeness and the anticipated effects of intensifying study participant recruitment. Selection bias was assessed by examining for differences between initial and late participants, and their subsequent risk of having hypertension, proteinuria and reduced renal clearance. RESULTS Of the 4,315 participants, 2,756 were permanent residents of Walkerton, representing 55% of the town's total population. The sample was demographically similar to the population of interest, although statistically women were more likely to participate than men (55% of sample were women compared to 52% of population, p<0.01), and the proportion of both young and very elderly adults was smaller than expected (13% of sample were > or = 65 years of age compared to 18% of population, p<0.01). Comparing the initial 3,959 participants to the 356 persons additionally recruited with substantial effort, the latter were more likely to be free of symptoms during the outbreak (21% vs. 7%, p<0.001), but were otherwise similar in terms of age, sex, the use of medical care resources and underlying health state predating the outbreak. The risk of long-term hypertension or renal sequelae did not significantly differ between initial and late study recruits. CONCLUSIONS Participants in the Walkerton Health Study represent the population of interest, and comprise those who were acutely ill during the infected water outbreak. The available study sample should provide reasonably unbiased estimates of the associated risk between acute bacterial gastroenteritis and long-term health sequelae.
Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards: Impact on the Value Relevance of Intangible Assets

We examine whether the value relevance of reported intangibles differs between financial reporting regimes pre- and post- adoption of Australian equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards, AGAAP and AIFRS respectively. Using AIFRS and AGAAP measures of goodwill and identifiable intangible assets for the same financial year and testing their association with share prices, we find evidence that AIFRS generally conveys incremental useful information for investors about goodwill. For aggregated identifiable intangible assets there is no evidence that AIFRS conveys information beyond that in AGAAP. In contrast, we find evidence that AGAAP provides incremental information for investors in relation to identifiable intangibles, but not goodwill.
A Quantitative Study of the Role of Wealth Inequality on Asset Prices

This paper studies the equilibrium properties of asset prices in a Lucas-tree model when agents display a concave coefficient of absolute risk tolerance. The latter introduces a role for wealth inequality, even under the presence of complete markets. The paper finds evidence suggesting that the role of wealth inequality on asset prices may be non-negligible. For the baseline calibration, the equity premium in the unequal economy is half a percentage point larger than the equity premium displayed by an egalitarian economy. The difference increases to one percentage point once we allow for the fact that agents tend to hold highly concentrated portfolios.
[Regional correlation analysis of birth defects in Heshun county, Shanxi Province].

OBJECTIVE To study the regional correlation analysis of birth defects in Heshun county, Shanxi province from 1997 to 2001. METHODS Exploratory data analysis, especially the parallel coordinate plot (PCP) method, and geographic information system were used to analysis the regional correlation of birth defects. In this paper, we selected 1997 to 2001 five groups variables of birth defects to plot the PCP. RESULTS Yangguangzhan and Hengling have stronger positive correlation on the region. Liyang and Niuchuan have weak correlation. Yixing and Songyan have no correlation and other towns have no positive correlation on the region. CONCLUSION The results indicate that this studied region has the regional correlation of birth defects.
Improving Dietary and Physical Activity Practices in Group Homes Serving Residents With Severe Mental Illness

Background: People with severe mental illness (SMI) are at least 50% more likely to be overweight for various reasons, including poor nutrition, sedentary lifestyles, and side effects of antipsychotic medications.Objectives: Among residents with SMI who live in group homes, we examined (1) factors that affected the motivations of both group home operators and residents around improvement of residents' diet and physical activity, (2) how operators and residents viewed responsibility for maintaining good health in group homes, and (3) strategies from operators and residents for improving diet and exercise.Methods: The research team conducted 6 focus groups—3 with group home operators and 3 with residents, using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) process and qualitative data analysis.Results: Both group home operators and residents discussed conflicting feelings about foods they know as healthy and foods they prefer to eat. Operators attributed barriers to better health to the perceived negative attitudes of residents and providers, lack of communication with health care providers, and poor working relationships with the state licensing body that protects individual rights on lifestyle choices. Residents reported barriers of their own negative attitudes, limited menu options, lack of organized activities, existing health problems, and side effects of medications.Conclusion: Residents and operators had concrete suggestions for changes they could make individually, as well as recommendations for systemic changes to support healthier lifestyles. These recommendations provide a basis for designing an urgently needed pilot intervention program to address the current epidemic of obesity and diabetes in people with SMI residing in group homes.
A 0.791 mm$^{2}$  On-Chip Self-Aligned Comparator Controller for Boost DC-DC Converter Using Switching Noise Robust Charge-Pump

Herein we propose a new PWM controller for a DC-DC converter with a Self-aligned Comparator Control (SCC), the purpose of which is to overcome sub-harmonic switching and hysteretic characteristics that are problematic in conventional comparator control schemes. In the proposed scheme, the condition of the output voltage is converted to the form of a phase difference through the SCC block. The main control loop of the converter regulates the inductor current which is built up to an optimum value by using this phase difference. In addition to the SCC, the proposed PWM controller is fully integrated on-chip without off-chip components to decrease the size and cost of the DC-DC converter using a new Switching Noise Robust Charge-pump (SNRC). A boost DC-DC converter with the proposed SCC and SNRC was designed and fabricated in a commercial 0.35 μm BCDMOS process with total controller area of 0.791 mm2 . A maximum efficiency of 90% was achieved at a total output power of 480 mW with a switching frequency of 926 kHz when the input and the output voltages were 3.7 V and 8 V, respectively. Over 85% efficiency was maintained over a wide range of output load current from 40 mA to 300 mA.
Where is the power? Transnational networks, authority and the dispute over the Xayaburi Dam on the Lower Mekong Mainstream

Accounts of hydro-hegemony and counter hydro-hegemony provide state-based conceptions of power in international river basins. However, authority should be seen as transnationalized as small states develop coping strategies to augment their authority over decision-making processes. The article engages Rosenau’s spheres of authority concept to argue that hydro-hegemony is exercised by actors embedded in spheres of authority that reshape actor configurations as they emerge. These spheres consist of complex networks challenging customary notions of the local-global dichotomy and hydro-hegemony. Hydro-hegemony is therefore not fixed. The article examines these processes by analysing the dispute over the Xayaburi Dam in the Mekong Basin.
The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008

Paul Krugman, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in economics, shows how today's crisis parallels the events that caused the Great Depression - and explains what it will take to avoid catastrophe. In 1999, in "The Return of Depression Economics", Paul Krugman surveyed the economic crises that had swept across Asia and Latin America, and warned that those crises were a warning for all of us: like diseases that have become resistant to antibiotics, the economic maladies that caused the Great Depression were making a comeback. In the years that followed, as Wall Street boomed and financial wheeler-dealers made vast profits, the international crises of the 1990s faded from memory. But now depression economics has come to America: when the great housing bubble of the mid-2000s burst, the U.S. financial system proved as vulnerable as those of developing countries caught up in earlier crises - and a replay of the 1930s seems all too possible. In this new, greatly updated edition of "The Return of Depression Economics", Krugman shows how the failure of regulation to keep pace with an increasingly out-of-control financial system set the United States, and the world as a whole, up for the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s. He also lays out the steps that must be taken to contain the crisis, and turn around a world economy sliding into a deep recession. Brilliantly crafted in Krugman's trademark style-lucid, lively, and supremely informed - this new edition of "The Return of Depression Economics" will become an instant cornerstone of the debate over how to respond to the crisis.
Is Workfare Cost-Effective Against Poverty in a Poor Labor-Surplus Economy?

Workfare schemes impose work requirements on beneficiaries. This has seemed an attractive idea for self-targeting transfers to poor people. This incentive argument does not imply, however, that workfare is more cost-effective against poverty than even poorly-targeted options, given hidden costs of participation. In particular, even poor workfare participants in a labor-surplus economy can be expected to have some forgone income when they take up such a scheme. A survey-based method is used to assess the cost-effectiveness of India's Employment Guarantee Scheme in Bihar. Participants are found to have forgone earnings, although these fall well short of market wages on average. Factoring in these hidden costs, the paper finds that for the same budget, workfare has less impact on poverty than either a basic-income scheme (providing the same transfer to all) or uniform transfers based on the government's below-poverty-line ration cards. For workfare to dominate other options, it would have to work better in practice. Reforms would need to reduce the substantial unmet demand for work, close the gap between stipulated wages and wages received, and ensure that workfare is productive -- that the assets created are of value to poor people. Cost-effectiveness would need to be reassessed at the implied higher levels of funding.
Consistency and controversy in corporate financing practices: Evidence from an emerging market

Purpose - The main aim of this paper is to report on a comprehensive survey of corporate financing decision-making process in Sri Lankan listed companies and to compare these results with those of similar studies conducted in developed markets. Design/methodology/approach - The study was based on a survey questionnaire distributed among the chief executive officers (CEOs) of companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange, with the content of the questionnaire being based upon a review of theoretical and empirical literature in the field of finance. Findings - The results demonstrate an adherence to a financial hierarchy, which appears to be the dominant financial policy among listed Sri Lankan companies. Corporate financing decisions seem to be influenced mostly by interest and tax considerations, while lesser weight is accorded to financial flexibility in determining the amount of funds to be raised externally through debt contracts. The evidence largely supports the propositions of the pecking order model, but also confirms some predictions found in static trade-off theory. Practical implications - Some of the most striking implications of the analysis relate to the under-development of the local capital market, and the apparent need for an efficient financial system that spurs economic growth. An efficient capital market will in turn ensure that capital will be more easily channeled into financing investments. Originality/value - This paper highlights how and why the determinants of capital structure decisions reported for developed capital markets may differ from those existing in transitional or emerging economies.
International Management: Managing Across Borders and Cultures, Text and Cases

I. THE GLOBAL MANAGER'S ENVIRONMENT 1. Assessing the Environment: Political, Economic, Legal, Technological 2. Managing Interdependence: Social Responsibility, Ethics, Sustainability New: Case 1. An Ethics Role Playing Case: Stockholders vs Stakeholders. (Global/Sri Lanka) New: Case 2. Blackberry in International Markets. (Global/Middle East) II. THE CULTURAL CONTEXT OF GLOBAL MANAGEMENT 3. Understanding the Role of Culture 4. Communicating Across Cultures 5. Cross-cultural Negotiation and Decision Making New: Case 3. Google Orkut in Brazil: What's So Social About It? (Brazil) Case 4. MTV Networks: The Arabian Challenge (Saudi Arabia) III. FORMULATING AND IMPLEMENTING STRATEGY FOR INTERNATIONAL AND GLOBAL OPERATIONS 6. Formulating Strategy 7. Implementing Strategy: Small Businesses Global Alliances Emerging Economy Firms 8. Organization Structure and Control Systems New: Case 5. Alibaba in 2011: Competing in China and Beyond. (China) New: Case 6. Carrefour's Misadventure in Russia (Russia) New: Case 7. Walmart in Africa (Africa) New: Case 8. Evaluating the Chrysler-Fiat Auto Alliance in 2012. (Italy/U.S./Global) IV. GLOBAL HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT 9. Staffing, Training, and Compensation for Global Operations 10. Developing a Global Management Cadre 11. Motivating and Leading New: Case 9. Indra Nooyi: A Transcultural Leader (India/Global) New: Case 10. Foreign Investment in Chinese Banking Sector: HR Challenges. (China) Integrative Cases: New: Case 11. Mahindra and Mahindra (B): An Emerging Global Giant? (India/Global) New: Case 12. After the Breakup: The Troubled Alliance Between Volkswagen and Suzuki. (Germany/Japan) Integrative Term Project Glossary Endnotes Name and Subject Index
The New Regionalism: Trade Liberalization or Insurance?

Several of the recently negotiated regional trade agreements contain significantly fewer concessions by the large countries to smaller countries than vice versa. In this paper, we compute post-retaliation Nash tariffs by region under various regional trade arrangements using a calibrated numerical general equilibrium model of world trade. Regional agreements constrain strategic behaviour within each trading area, and (in the Customs Union case) enhance it outside the bloc. Results confirm the intuition that without side payments large-small country regional agreements (such as the Canada-U.S. agreement) would not have occurred.
Improved dual adaptive importance sampling method for LDPC codes

An improved dual adaptive importance sampling (DAIS) method is proposed to accelerate the simulation of low density parity check (LDPC) codes at high Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNRs). First, we observed an interesting phenomenon that the conditional probabilities of the error events, which are caused by different noise realizations in the same control quantity bin at the different SNRs, are nearly identical in DAIS. Then, we obtain the joint probabilities of the unconstrained simulations at the high SNRs by substituting the conditional probabilities at the high SNRs with that at the low SNRs based on the observation. This spares the decoding computations of the unconstrained simulation at the high SNRs, and therefore reduces the simulation time. For the specific LDPC code, simulation results verify that the improved method achieves significant simulation gain compared with traditional DAIS, while maintaining the same accuracy.
Stock return reversal and continuance anomaly: new evidence from Hong Kong

Using weekly data, this article conducts a comprehensive analysis and presents new empirical evidences on the short-term stock return reversal and continuance anomaly in the Hong Kong stock market. We confirm that winner stocks behave differently from loser stocks in that the return reversal phenomenon is pervasive within past winner stocks only while past loser stocks tend to show weak return continuance. The arbitrage strategy can earn significantly positive contrarian profits, especially for small firms and illiquid stocks. The anomaly varies across different industries and is also sensitive to the market movement. Despite the existence of the anomaly, our results still in general suggest that the Hong Kong stock market is weak-form efficient because arbitrage trading costs would largely overwhelm the available profits in most cases.
Public sector accounting, accountability and austerity: more than balancing the books?

Purpose - – The era of austerity that has followed the outbreak of the global financial crisis has posed a myriad of challenges for public services, with demands for major cuts in government spending, the delivery of balanced budgets and zstrategies for deficit reduction. The purpose of this paper is to consider how public sector accounting and accountability systems are implicated in the development and implementation of austerity policies. Also, it pinpoints a range of issues that accounting researchers need to be contemplating on the subject of accounting for austerity. Design/methodology/approach - – Interdisciplinary literature review, coupled with an illustrative discussion of the changing nature of public sector accounting practices under austerity. Findings - – Despite the significance and scale of austerity, public sector accounting research on the topic is in its infancy, with the prominent focus being on how accounting technologies are used to manage austerity. There have been few attempts to debate critically the construction of austerity and to provide alternative accounts of austerity. Accounting for austerity, especially in terms of its implications and consequences, is far too complex and challenging to be categorized as simply seeking to “balance the books”. Research limitations/implications - – As an academic community, we need to be developing understanding of public sector accounting research under austerity across different organizational levels and contexts. Also, we should be framing the accounts of austerity in ways that respect and build on a sound understanding of the extensive available interdisciplinary research on this topic. Key research questions to address include: how is accounting shaping constructions of, and impressions, attitudes and behaviors toward, austerity and the status of governments and public service organizations? What do such patterns of development mean for the roles and contributions of public sector accountants under austerity? Are accounting systems destined to be used primarily as vehicles for cost-cutting, or can they be used as engines for growth and for thinking about public service responsibilities in more socially inclusive forms? Originality/value - – Accountings of austerity in the field of public sector accounting research have been worryingly limited. This paper and the papers in this special issue of