Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stock Returns, Asymmetric Volatility, Risk Aversion, and Business Cycle: Some New Evidence

"We study how three interrelated phenomena-excess stock returns and risk relation, risk aversion, and asymmetric volatility movement-change over business cycles. Using an asymmetric generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity in mean model and a Markov switching model, we find that excess stock return increases and asymmetric volatility movement is weakened during boom periods. This suggests that investors become more risk-averse during boom periods (i.e., procyclical risk aversion), which we confirm using a calibration of a simple equilibrium model". ("JEL "C32, E32, G12) Copyright (c) 2007 Western Economic Association International.
Long term use of lamotrigine and vigabatrin in severe refractory epilepsy: audit of outcome

New antiepileptic drugs have a pivotal role in the successful treatment of the 20–30% of patients with epilepsy that is resistant to drug treatment. They are considered to be effective in such patients if they reduce the frequency of seizures by 50% or more because few patients are rendered seizure free.1 Despite these drugs' apparent success with this outcome measure,2 3 the question still remains whether new antiepileptic drugs affect the long term prognosis of refractory epilepsy as measured by mortality and freedom from seizures.1 We report our follow up audit of patients recruited from 1987 to 1989 into two uncontrolled open label clinical studies of lamotrigine and vigabatrin.2 3 The two open label trials in 128 patients (vigabatrin) and 125 patients (lamotrigine) …
Surgical compensation of presbyopia with corneal inlays

Presbyopia, the physiological change in near vision that develops with ageing, gradually affects individuals older than 40 years and is a growing cause of visual disability due to ageing demographics of the global population. The routine use of computers and ‘smartphones’, combined with the affluence of the ‘baby boomers’ generation has set high standards for near vision correction. Corneal inlays are a relatively new treatment modality that is effective at compensating for presbyopia. The dimensions of these devices vary from 2 to 3.8 mm in diameter and 5 to 32 μm in thickness. They are implanted in the anterior corneal stroma of the non-dominant eye, most commonly, in a femtosecond laser created corneal pocket. They improve near vision by increasing the depth of focus, creating a hyper-prolate region of increased central cornea power or providing a refractive add power. This article reviews the literature on the efficacy and safety of corneal inlays.
Dynamic Structure of Production under a Quota: The Case of Milk Production in the Federal Republic of Germany

A dynamic multiple output, multiple input model is estimated within the adjustment cost framework to analyze the economic behavior of dairy producers in the Federal Republic of Germany during the first half of the 1980s. The results suggest significant behavior given the introduction of the production quota. The changes in producers' responses were driven by changes in variable input and the evolution from a symmetric to asymmetric adjustment of quasi-fixed factors. In addition, German dairy farmers are found to exhibit considerable excess capacity in production. Coauthors are Jorge Fernandez-Cornejo, Conrado M. Gempesaw II, and Joachim G. Elterich. Copyright 1992 by Oxford University Press.
Substitute effects between Lotto and Big Lotto in Taiwan

Lotto was inaugurated in January 2002 and immediately became a popular activity in Taiwan. The purpose of this investigation is to examine the effective price elasticity of Big Lotto and the substitute effects between Lotto (6/42) and Big Lotto (6/49). The analytical results can provide suggestions to the Taipei Bank on ways to improve lottery sales. The empirical findings of investigation include: (1) no significant substitutive or complementary relationships exist between Big Lotto and Lotto in Taiwan (2) the effective price elasticity of Big Lotto is −0.145, Taipei Bank can increase the revenue gained from Big Lotto by increasing the effective price.
Birds of a Feather? Citizenship Norms, Group Identity, and Political Participation in Western Canada

Abstract. This paper explores how citizenship norms of duty to vote and to volunteer in one's community influence political participation, and the role of group identities in producing these norms. By showing how citizenship norms influence an array of political activities, and by drawing on social psychology literature that shows how citizenship norms are shaped by group identifications, the paper offers a more complete picture of the relationship between citizenship norms and political participation beyond traditional civic duty/federal vote models that currently dominate Canadian political research. The central argument forwarded is that not only do citizenship norms matter to political participation, but that group identities matter, too. Résumé. Cette étude explore les effets sur la participation politique des normes relatives au devoir du citoyen de voter et de contribuer à sa communauté, de même que le rôle des identités de groupe dans la production de ces normes. En montrant comment les normes de citoyenneté influencent une foule d'activités politiques et en puisant dans la littérature en psychologie sociale, qui montre comment ces normes sont formées par des identifications de groupe, cette étude aide à mieux comprendre la relation entre ces normes et la participation politique au-delà du cadre traditionnel devoir civique / vote fédéral qui domine actuellement la recherche en politique canadienne. La thèse avancée est que les normes de citoyenneté jouent effectivement un rôle important dans la participation politique, tout comme les identités de groupe.
Miracle that never was: disaggregated level of inequality in Indonesia

Purpose - The paper aims at re-examining the notion of low and stable income inequality during the high growth period of Indonesia (1970s-1990s). Design/methodology/approach - Different approaches are used to reassess the low and stable trend of the overall inequality at the national level such as assets concentration and functional income inequality. Disaggregated inequality at district level is conducted by treating municipalities as growth centres and estimated using the random and fixed effects models as well as the GMM estimation. Findings - Alternative measures of income inequality have indicated that economic inequality in Indonesia was not as low as it was perceived and exhibited an increasing trend during the period associated with the miracle. Furthermore, using the Susenas-based Gini coefficient, across-district analysis of inequality indicates the presence of inverted-U Kuznets curve of income and inequality, which could not be empirically observed when the analysis is based on time series data of aggregate Gini measure at the national level. Originality/value - The paper challenges the notion of the East Asian economic miracle in the case of Indonesia. It provides some evidence of the Kuznets curve relationship between income and inequality within a country based on cross-districts exercise.
The impact of group-oriented values on choice of conflict management styles and outcomes: an empirical study in Turkey

Globalization has led to increased attention to cultural diversity in workforces and its influences on organizational practice. This study examines group-oriented values and their impact on choice of conflict management styles as well as on conflict resolution outcomes in Turkey. Using a sample of 315 managerial personnel from various public and private organizations, this study shows that norms of subordination of personal needs to group interests and beliefs about the effects of personal pursuit on group productivity are the most important predictors of choice of conflict management styles in Turkey. In addition, dominating and obliging styles are associated with individual profits in actual conflict resolution process and integrating style is the primary determinant of satisfaction and relationship building in conflict management. Managerial implications are then discussed on diversity and conflict management training for effective international human resources management.
Polysilicon Spacer Gate Technique to Reduce Gate Charge of a Trench Power MOSFET

We propose a new trench gate power MOSFET with poly-Si spacers formed in the trench to work as gate material. This approach reduces the total gate charge and gate-to-drain capacitive coupling without affecting any other device performance parameter. Using 2-D numerical simulation on a ~25-V trench gate MOSFET, we have shown that using a 50-nm-wide spacer gate in a 1×1 μm trench may give >; 40% reduction in the gate-to-drain charge compared with the conventional device. The proposed technique has been shown to be better than the other techniques proposed earlier for reducing gate charge as it does not affect the gate control of the accumulation region charge or any other performance parameter, e.g., breakdown voltage, and can be implemented along with any of the existing techniques.
HOW FIRM CHARACTERISTICS AFFECT CAPITAL STRUCTURE: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

In this empirical study I examine the factors correlated with capital structure in the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, France, and Germany. Although both mean leverage and many firm factors appear to be similar across countries, some significant differences remain. Specifically, differences appear in the correlation between long-term debt/asset ratios and the firms' riskiness, profitability, size, and growth. These correlations may be explained by differences in tax policies and agency problems, including differences in bankruptcy costs, information asymmetries, and shareholder/creditor conflicts. The findings of this study suggest links between varying choices in capital structure across countries and legal and institutional differences.
Knowledge of and attitudes towards tobacco control among smoking and non-smoking physicians in 2 Gulf Arab states.

OBJECTIVE The global health professional survey is a project organized by the World Health Organization, to determine the smoking habits, knowledge and attitude towards tobacco control of health professionals in several countries around the world. This paper presents data from Kuwait and Bahrain. METHODS The survey period was between May 2000 and March 2001. A questionnaire was distributed to all physicians in Bahrain and to a random sample from Kuwait. The responses to knowledge and attitude questions were on a scale of 1-5, (1 strongly agree, 2 agree, 3 unsure, 4 disagree and 5 strongly disagree). RESULTS Four hundred and seventy physicians from Bahrain and 1095 from Kuwait completed the questionnaire. The prevalence of cigarette smoking in Kuwait was: current smokers 18.4%, previous smokers 15.8%, Bahrain 14.6% and 14.3%. The prevalence of shisha smoking was 12% and 6.4% for Kuwait and Bahrain, (p=0.004). The mean scores of agreement with the association between passive smoking and lung diseases, lower respiratory tract infections in children were 1.6, 1.7 and 1.8, 1.9 for non smoking physicians and smoking physicians (P<0.01). The mean scores of agreement with the following policies: large health warning on cigarette packages, complete ban on tobacco advertisement and an increase in the price of cigarette were 1.3, 1.4, 1.7 and 1.7, 1.7, 2.5 for smoking and non-smoking physicians (p<0.01). CONCLUSION Smoking physicians have less knowledge and less favorable attitude towards tobacco control compared to non-smokers. There was no difference in the prevalence of cigarette smoking between Kuwait and Bahrain, but the prevalence of shisha smoking was higher in Kuwait.
On the distribution of REM and NREM sleep under two benzodiazepines with comparable receptor affinity but different kinetic properties.

Two clinical-pharmacological investigations were performed to give a retrospective and explorative record, based on electroencephalographic parameters, of spindle density and REM distribution in the first and second halves of the night under a short-acting (triazolam) and medium-acting (lormetazepam) benzodiazepine. A further aim was to determine whether a suitable dose of a short-acting benzodiazepine could lead to a REM suppression in the first sleep cycles and a REM compensation in later sleep cycles on the same night. Since sleep spindles are increased and rapid eye movements reduced under benzodiazepines, the two phenomena were respectively taken as indicators of drug effects on NREM and REM sleep. According to the receptor affinity of the two substances, dosages of triazolam and lormetazepam ought to be equieffective in a ratio of about 1:2. Yet clinical experience has shown that a ratio of 1:4 (0.5 mg triazolam vs. 2 mg lormetazepam) gives the doses that are equieffective and which are widely used in clinical practice. The changes in the number of sleep spindles and rapid eye movements documented the different kinetic properties of the two substances. Even after clinically equieffective doses, the changes in the parameters were less marked under lormetazepam than under triazolam. This suggests that the two benzodiazepines different effects on spindle and REM distribution were not attributable to their kinetics, but that pharmacodynamic aspects must also be considered, even if this does not fit in with the prevalent picture of the benzodiazepines mechanisms of action. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
THE IMPACT OF RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY ON FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR INSTRUCTIONAL ROLES

The classroom is a dynamic social space. When faculty members and students enter that space for purposes of teaching and learning in a racially and ethnically diverse context, there are many actors that come into full participation: faculty members, students, the curriculum, cultural and ethnic diversity, challenges associated with racial and ethnic diversity such as culturally-based learning styles, prejudices and stereotypes, expectations between faculty and students, among other things. The extent to which faculty members are effective in conducting their instructional roles is impacted by their awareness of the classroom dynamic, the opportunities and challenges it provides for teaching and learning, and how adequately they are prepared to overcome the effects of the challenges and optimize the teaching and learning opportunities. This dissertation set out to explore, using faculty experience (in number of years), how culturally-based learning styles/preferences impacted faculty instructional roles: how faculty perceived their roles, their choice and use of course content, and their choice and use of teaching and evaluation methods. To gather such data, forty out of seventy faculty members teaching in one of the most racially and ethnically diverse higher education institutions in the continental United States responded to a survey, and fifteen were interviewed. The result shows that while teaching experience is important to understanding a classroom context, in the racially and ethnically diverse classroom, numbers are not an adequate measure of experience. Experience involves understanding and adequately responding to the racially and ethnically diverse classroom. It consists of intellectual, personal, and relational dimensions. To acquire these, faculty must be committed to acquiring self-knowledge first, and then understanding their need to develop sensibilities for understanding and interacting with race and ethnicity. This yields credibility with students and, eventually, instructional effectiveness. Except for a few instances, years of teaching experience in the racially and ethnically diverse classroom did not have direct affect on how faculty perceived and performed their instructional roles, and faculty preferred to view their commitment to racial and ethnic diversity as a better measure of experience rather than the number of years they have taught in such contexts.
Human capital, poverty, and income distribution in developing countries

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the impact of the components of human capital on the extent of poverty and income distribution in developing countries. Design/methodology/approach - Data for all variables are from the Findings - Based on data from the World Bank and using a sample of 40 developing economies, it is found that the fraction of the population below the poverty line is linearly dependent upon gender parity ratio in primary and secondary schools, the prevalence of child malnutrition, per capita purchasing power parity gross national income, the maternal mortality rate, and the percentage of births attended by skilled health staff. Using another sample of 35 developing countries, it is found that income inequality linearly depends on the same explanatory variables plus the infant mortality rate and the primary school completion rate. Practical implications - Statistical results of such empirical examination will assist governments in those countries identify areas that need to be improved upon in order to alleviate poverty and improve the distribution of income. Originality/value - This paper provides useful information on the impact of the components of human capital on the extent of poverty and income distribution in developing countries.
Extreme learning machine: A review

Feedforward neural networks (FFNN) have been utilised for various research in machine learning and they have gained a significantly wide acceptance. However, it was recently noted that the feedforward neural network has been functioning slower than needed. As a result, it has created critical bottlenecks among its applications. Extreme Learning Machines (ELM) were suggested as alternative learning algorithms instead of FFNN. The former is characterised by single-hidden layer feedforward neural networks (SLFN). It selects hidden nodes randomly and analytically determines their output weight. This review aims to, first, present a short mathematical explanation to explain the basic ELM. Second, because of its notable simplicity, efficiency, and remarkable generalisation performance, ELM has had wide uses in various domains, such as computer vision, biomedical engineering, control and robotics, system identification, etc. Thus, in this review, we will aim to present a complete view of these ELM advances for different applications. Finally, ELM’s strengths and weakness will be presented, along with its future perspectives.
Antemortem Diagnosis and Characterization of Nasal Intranuclear Coccidiosis in Sulawesi Tortoises (Indotestudo Forsteni)

Intranuclear coccidia and Mycoplasma spp. were identified from the nasal cavity of 5 Sulawesi tortoises (Indotestudo forsteni) affected by chronic rhinosinusitis and oronasal fistulae. This study provides the first antemortem diagnosis of intranuclear coccidiosis in tortoises and the first cytomorphologic descriptions of this disease. Histopathologic and ultrastructural morphology of the intranuclear coccidia were identical to those previously described in tortoises. Nucleic acid sequence data of a 1715 base-pair fragment of the 18S small subunit rRNA gene identify this coccidian as a novel species.
Estimating the General Equilibrium Benefits of Large Changes in Spatially Delineated Public Goods

The purpose of this article is to report a new approach for measuring the general equilibrium willingness to pay for large changes in spatially delineated public goods such as air quality. We estimate the parameters of a locational equilibrium model and compute equilibria for alternative scenarios characterizing the availability of public goods within a system of communities. Welfare measures take into consideration the adjustments of households in equilibrium to nonmarginal changes in public goods. The framework is used to analyze willingness to pay for reductions in ozone concentrations in Southern California between 1990 and 1995.
A Longitudinal Study of Significant Change in Stakeholder Management

Despite rich theoretical development, empirical research on stakeholder management is scant, save its relationship with financial performance. Recent research shows significant intrafirm variability in stakeholder management across time. This study seeks to explain why firms would experience significant changes in stakeholder management. Adapting Wood’s framework to discuss three principles of stakeholder management, the authors identify antecedents of change at the institutional, organizational, and executive levels. Pressures for legitimacy at the institutional level suggest that firm age and size, along with industry shifts in stakeholder management, will increase the likelihood of changes in stakeholder management for the focal firm. The authors posit that organizational risk and performance will also affect the likelihood of change, as will managerial discretion, ownership, and succession. The authors test their predictions using a longitudinal sample of stakeholder management data and discuss the implications of the findings for research and practice.
Estimation Risk, Information, and the Conditional CAPM: Theory and Evidence

We theoretically and empirically investigate the role of information on the cross section of stock returns and firms' cost of capital when investors face estimation risk and learn from noisy signals of uncertain quality. The resultant equilibrium is an information-dependent conditional CAPM. We find strong empirical support for the model. Innovations in market volatility, oil prices, exchange rates, and dispersion of analysts' forecasts not only help explain the cross section of stock returns, but their influence depends on the stock's systematic estimation risk. Moreover, dividend and share repurchase initiations have significant downward announcement effects on estimated betas and their standard errors.
Studi Tentang Political Tie, Pengaruhnya Terhadap Keputusan Pemberian Kredit Bank di Indonesia

This study uses bank loan data to examine the effect of ( political tie ) between the company and the government to on the assessment of companies financial leverage and profitability in the bank lending decisions in Indonesia. The numbers of samples are 1465 observations. This study uses moderated regression analysis (MRA). The study finds that a political tie affect corporate profitability assessment in bank lending decisions. Firms with lower profitability receive larger bank loan because their political tie (rent-seeking hypothesis). However, this study inds that a political tie does not affect the assessment of financial leverage in bank's lending decisions. This finding also supports Faccio (2010), Fisman (2001), and Backman (2001). Indonesia condition which has a weak institutional regulation and high information asymmetry is beneficial for companies that have a political tie. This leads to more trusted political tie as an indicator of the profitability.
Women in the White-Collar Nonprofit Sector: The Best Option or the Only Option?

This paper investigates why female employees are overrepresented in the private nonprofit sector. Using the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey, the author determines the importance of occupational locus and compensation structure as explanations for the large number of women in the sector. While occupational locus does contribute to the large number of women in the sector, the structure of nonprofit compensation is also an important factor in drawing women to the sector. Controlling for differences in compensation patterns of for-profit and nonprofit firms, women are not more likely than men to work in the nonprofit sector. Copyright 1990 by MIT Press.