Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Managing corporate performance: Investigating the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in emerging markets

Purpose - Corporate social responsibility is important and fundamental to the sustainable operations of corporations. Similarly financial performance is undoubtedly fundamental to the continuing operating of any corporation. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between corporate social responsibility and firm financial performance. Design/methodology/approach - The main part of this paper is based upon an exploration of the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in developing countries. The authors do this by investigating the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) 100 index companies and their social responsibility policy and financial indicators. The relationship between CSR and financial performance is empirically examined between 2005 and 2007 with different approaches and measurement methods. The authors show that some causality is related to lagging between periods for financial performance and CSR. Based upon previous empirical studies, this study conducts the analysis based on the assumption that there may be a relationship between firm size, profitability, risk level and CSR. Findings - In doing this analysis the authors found a relationship between firm size and corporate social responsibility. However the authors were not able to find any significant relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance/profitability. Research limitations/implications - The paper has implications in enhancing the understanding of performance management through understanding the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance particularly in a developing country, although it is necessarily limited by the size of the sample. Originality/value - This paper increases the understanding of the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance. This research is also the first research that has examined Turkish companies.
Testing the Rationality of Price Forecasts: New Evidence from Panel Data

This paper tests the rationality of individual price forecasts in a panel of professional forecasters. Here, unlike in most previous studies, rationality is not rejected. The results here differ because (1) using individual forecasts avoids aggregation bias, (2) comparison of forecasts to initial data avoids bias due to data revision, (3) the professional forecasters have economic incentives to state their expectations accurately, and (4) a new covariance matrix estimator consistent when forecast errors are correlated across individuals is used. Copyright 1990 by American Economic Association.
Poverty alleviation through strategic public library services in Nigeria in the 21st century: a model

This paper attempts to discuss the strategic roles of public libraries in Nigeria in poverty alleviation programmes in the 21st century. The various poverty alleviation programmes aimed at combating poverty that have been put in place by the successive Federal Governments of Nigeria are brought to light. Despite the poverty reduction schemes introduced by the successive governments, the soaring rate of poverty in the country is still very alarming. Furthermore, the roles of libraries, particularly, the public libraries, have not been realized in that regard. Within this context, the paper examines the strategic roles of the public libraries in reducing the rate of poverty in the country. It concludes by making some recommendations that can assist the Nigerian public libraries to actively play their deserved roles, and/or participate fully in the poverty reduction programmes.
Infant word segmentation and childhood vocabulary development: a longitudinal analysis.

Infants begin to segment novel words from speech by 7.5 months, demonstrating an ability to track, encode and retrieve words in the context of larger units. Although it is presumed that word recognition at this stage is a prerequisite to constructing a vocabulary, the continuity between these stages of development has not yet been empirically demonstrated. The goal of the present study is to investigate whether infant word segmentation skills are indeed related to later lexical development. Two word segmentation tasks, varying in complexity, were administered in infancy and related to childhood outcome measures. Outcome measures consisted of age-normed productive vocabulary percentiles and a measure of cognitive development. Results demonstrated a strong degree of association between infant word segmentation abilities at 7 months and productive vocabulary size at 24 months. In addition, outcome groups, as defined by median vocabulary size and growth trajectories at 24 months, showed distinct word segmentation abilities as infants. These findings provide the first prospective evidence supporting the predictive validity of infant word segmentation tasks and suggest that they are indeed associated with mature word knowledge. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=jxzLi5oLZQ8.
The Effectiveness of Agreements and Protocols to Bridge Between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Toolboxes for Protected Area Management: A Case Study from the Wet Tropics of Queensland

In the Australian Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA), protected areas impact on the rights and obligations of Indigenous traditional owners. This research investigated the effectiveness of two new policy instruments, a negotiated agreement, and a protocol, as mechanisms to bridge between the differing protected area management approaches of Kuku-Yalanji Aboriginal people and the WTWHA managers. The policy innovation sought from these instruments reflects a paradigm shift in protected areas globally toward a more inclusive approach, and recognition of diversity in governance types. However, the instruments' effectiveness in achieving innovation was hampered by the lack of substantive legal mechanisms to overcome the colonial legacy within protected areas. Legislative reform to properly recognize diversity in protected area governance would assist effective bridging. Internationally, rigorous criteria to measure progress toward a more inclusive approach in national systems would enhance our capacity to ensure the current paradigm shift becomes more than convenient rhetoric.
Full-Duplex Secure Communications in Cellular Networks With Downlink Wireless Power Transfer

This paper investigates full-duplex (FD) secure transmissions with simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) on downlink (DL), where an FD base station, with multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas, serves a group of single-antenna users on both DL and uplink (UL). An optimization problem with non-convex form is formulated for minimizing the system power under constraints on energy harvesting (EH) and security rates. In order to efficiently solve it, the original non-convex problem is first approximated to a convex one and then casted into a form of second-order cone programming (SOCP). Iterative solving algorithms are presented with the computational complexity analysis. Simulation results show that the proposed FD secure scheme is more power-efficient than conventional one, and the SOCP formulation is more computationally efficient than its semi-definite programming alternative. Compared with half-duplex schemes, the FD scheme is also advantageous in power performance especially under high DL and low UL security rate requirements.
International variations in new housing supply

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that affect the responsiveness of new housing supply to price changes in Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, the UK and the USA. The practical purpose is to identify and consider the similarities and differences in the factors that affect new housing supply amongst the selected countries.Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative estimates of the price elasticity of new housing supply were reviewed and evaluated. Generally they were found to describe and measure but not explain variations in housing supply responses to house price changes. Qualitative research was undertaken based on case study interviews with experienced senior managers of house‐building firms with the objective of obtaining insights into the variables affecting housing supply in each country.Findings – First, quantitative studies provide necessary but insufficient explanation of the factors determining new housing supply. Second, there are a large number of .
WHAT CORPORATE BOARDS HAVE TO DO WITH STRATEGY: A COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE*

Traditional research on corporate governance has viewed the contribution of corporate directors to strategy making as limited by their lack of independence or firm‐specific knowledge. To the degree that directors contribute to strategy, most previous research has viewed their role primarily as dealing with the conflict resulting from divergent preferences of agents and principles. The cognitive perspective this paper proposes suggests that directors contribute to dealing with the complexity and uncertainty associated with strategic decisions. It argues that directors possess valuable problem‐solving expertise, which they can apply to a variety of contexts. Directors make their cognitive contributions to strategic decision making by performing along with a firm's managers a set of cognitive tasks: scanning, interpretation and choice.
Combined endovascular and surgical treatment of head and neck paragangliomas—A team approach

Paragangliomas are highly vascular tumors of neural crest origin that involve the walls of blood vessels or specific nerves within the head and neck. They may be multicentric, and they are rarely malignant. Surgery is the preferred treatment, and these tumors frequently extend to the skull base. There has been controversy concerning the role of preoperative angiography and embolization of these tumors and the benefits that these procedures offer in the evaluation and management of paragangliomas.
Comparison of indicators of women’s labour between Turkey and EU member states by employing multidimensional scaling analysis and clustering analysis

ABSTRACT At present, because of social, cultural and economic changes, women support the economies of their countries by their status as workers. In this research, we aim at comparing the status of Turkey in terms of indicators of women in the labour force with that of EU countries, thereby revealing the similarities and differences. The variables indicating women in the labour forces of the 28 EU countries and Turkey were analysed utilizing multidimensional scaling analysis (MDSA) and clustering analysis (CA). According to the MDSA, the countries form three different groups in two-dimensional space. The clusters formed by the CA are congruent with the groups formed according to the MDSA. When compared with EU members, Turkey has very low values, particularly in terms of the ratio of working women, the ratio of jobless females who are primary or secondary school graduates and the ratio of women who are senior high school graduates.
Does financial variable(s) explain the Japanese aggregate import demand? A cointegration analysis

This study is an extension of the study by Tang (Japan and the World Economy, 15, 419–36, 2003b), which has documented no long-run equilibrium relationship among the Japanese aggregate imports, real income and relative price of imports. This finding, however, is probably due to the bias of variable(s) omission. To fill this gap, financial variable(s) has been empirically incorporated into the Japan's import demand analysis. Using a cointegration approach, this study has provided empirical support for the inclusion of financial variable(s) into the Japanese aggregate import demand function. This is an important finding from the viewpoint of policymakers upon the implications of momentary policies on the Japanese trade balance.
Di Bao Receipt and Its Importance for Combating Poverty in Urban China

Since the second half of the 1990s, economic restructuring in urban China has led to widespread joblessness and income insecurity. The rapid expansion of the system of social assistance, Di Bao, can be understood from this perspective. Using a survey covering large parts of urban China in 2002, we investigate factors affecting receipt and how receipt affects urban poverty. Results from estimating probability models indicate that social assistance receipt is strongly linked to joblessness among household members, the household's expenditure burden, as well as the lack of financial assets. Furthermore, a long education of the household head and membership in the Communist Party reduces the probability of receiving social assistance while having been sent to rural China during the Cultural Revolution increases it. For some types of households, receipt of Di Bao differs greatly across cities in China. The social assistance payments appear strongly targeted to the poor. However, as the Di Bao payments typically are small and many of the urban poor are not receivers, much urban poverty remains.
Microwave and continuous flow technologies in drug discovery

Introduction: Microwave and continuous flow microreactors have become mainstream heating sources in contemporary pharmaceutical company laboratories. Such technologies will continue to benefit from design and engineering improvements, and now play a key role in the drug discovery process. Areas covered: The authors review the applications of flow- and microwave-mediated heating in library, combinatorial, solid-phase, metal-assisted, and protein chemistries. Additionally, the authors provide a description of the combination of microwave and continuous flow platforms, with applications in the preparation of radiopharmaceuticals and in drug candidate development. Literature reviewed is chiefly 2000 – 2012, plus key citations from earlier reports. Expert opinion: With the advent of microwave irradiation, reactions that normally took days to complete can now be performed in a matter of minutes. Coupled with the introduction of continuous flow microreactors, pharmaceutical companies have an easy way to improve the greenness and efficiency of many synthetic operations. The combined force of these technologies offers the potential to revolutionize discovery and manufacturing processes.
Exports, Supply Constraints and Growth: An Investigation using Regional Data

In this work we first model the role of demand‐ and supply‐side factors (labour market adjustment, productive efficiency) in explaining economic growth. Empirically testing the model, we evaluate why different growth regimes may appear in the 20 Italian administrative regions. This exercise uses a two‐stage econometric approach. Estimates for the elasticity of manufacturing output to exports are obtained from regional time series: a significant long‐run relationship indicates the existence of a demand‐constrained growth regime. We then ascertain whether the regional dispersion of supply‐side factors has an impact on the regional dispersion of growth regimes. The empirical evidence supports our expectations of strong regional differences. Southern regions are less likely to display demand‐constrained regimes. In explanation of these differences, second‐stage analysis reveals that a strong role is played by such efficiency‐enhancing factors as technological innovation, bank diffusion and ‘social capital’. No role is found for labour market rigidities.
Capital Accumulation During the Transition from Plan to Market

This paper focuses on the process of capital accumulation and the forces that drive it in the countries undergoing the transition from plan to market. The methodological framework for analyzing the determinants of aggregate business investment draws on the neoclassical accelerator model, extending it to reflect some of the specificities of the transition environment. The model is estimated on data for the economies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The results highlight the role of some key drivers of capital accumulation in an economy in transition, in particular, the relatively significant accelerator response to output, the importance of adjustment effects and financing constraints and the relatively minor role of the cost of capital.
Corporate governance and voluntary disclosure in Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between corporate governance and voluntary disclosure. The expectation is that with the introduction of the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance in 2000, companies would be more aware of the need to have good governance and that good governance would lead to enhanced transparency. Regression analysis was performed on data collected from annual reports for years 2001 and 2006. Consistent with expectation, the extent of voluntary disclosure has increased from 2001 to 2006. The increase was statistically significant at the 5% level. However contrary to expectation, none of the corporate governance variables recommended in the Code was statistically significant.
Oral mucosal lesions in a representative cross-sectional study of aging Germans.

OBJECTIVES To determine prevalence of oral mucosal lesions in a cross-sectional study among aging Germans. METHODS Three specially trained dental teams examined adults (35-44 yrs, Group 1) and senior individuals (65-74 yrs, Group 2) in 90 sample points of which 60 were located in the former West and 30 in the former East part of Germany. The spectrum comprised 28 different oral lesions with subforms. RESULTS 655 individuals in Group 1 (35-44 yrs) and 1367 individuals in Group 2 (65-74 yrs) were studied. 33.8% (Group 1) and 33.9% (Group 2) were without any pathology of the oral mucosa. Several lesions were not recorded in both Groups like oral hairy leukoplakia and gingival hyperplasia (Group 1 and two) and xerostomia (Group 1). In Group 1 history for labial herpetic lesions (31.7%), Fordyce granules (26.6%), history for recurrent aphthous ulceration (18.3%) and lip and/or cheek biting (10.1%) were recorded. In Group 2 Fordyce granules (23.7%), history of labial herpes (20.0%), plicated tongue (19.0%) and denture stomatitis (18.3%) were those lesions most frequently recorded. Leukoplakia was seen in 1.8% (West) and 0.9% (East) respectively; men were more often affected than women (2.3% versus 0.0% P<0.05, Group 1; 2.3% versus 0.9%, Group 2. There was association between the prevalence of leukoplakia and a lower (3.3%) or higher educational level (0.5%). Denture associated lesions were seen in 18.3% (Group 2) compared to 2.5% (Group 1) (P<0.001). Other age-related lesions were lip and/or cheek biting being more prevalent in Group 1 10.1% versus 1.9% (P<0.001), plicated tongue 19.0% in Group 2 versus 3.8% in Group 1 (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS The present study has shown prevalence to be comparable to other relevant Western European studies. Since the spectrum of oral mucosal lesions changes with age and increases with general morbidity, routine examinations of oral cavities of the aging are mandatory particularly to detect early precancerous and other mucosal lesions.
Investors’ Judgments, Asset Pricing Factors, and Sentiment

This paper presents results based on new data showing that the relationships involving investors’ judgments of risk and variables such as beta, size, and book-to-market equity (B/M) have the same directional effects as those involving realized returns. Moreover, the relationships involving risk are mediated by Baker-Wurgler sentiment, with directional effects similar to those that have already been documented for realized returns. In this regard, Baker-Wurgler sentiment mediates the time series of investors’ judgments of expected return and the cross-section of their judgments about risk. The results are consistent with the position that investors’ judgments of risk and return, both mediated by sentiment, influence market prices.
Government Expenditures and Economic Growth: The Nigerian Experience

The paper investigates the empirical relationship between government expenditure and economic growth. Government expenditure was disaggregated unto, total expenditure, public debt expenditure, expenditure on health and government expenditure on Education. The ordinary least square (OLS) was applied to ascertain the short-run relationship between variables, however, the Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test, was used to examine long-run relationship between variables in the equation. Results of the test show that there is an inverse relationship between government expenditures on health and economic growth; while government expenditure on education sector, is seen to be insufficient to cater for the expending sector in Nigeria. It was also discovered that government expenditure in Nigeria could increase foreign and local investments. The paper recommended that government should spend more on key macro-variables, such as health, infrastructure, power, etc. This it is believed that judicious expenditure of government, will power the transformation agenda of government as well as engender growth in the Nigerian economy.
A Theory of Price-Earnings Ratios

In theory, true investment value cannot change; it is always determined by future dividends and interest rates. But this ideal cannot be attained, and investors must find a way of substituting an operational concept that is practical and works. This article provides a blueprint of the operating mechanism of the price-to-earnings ratio in the valuation process. It establishes the view that capitalized earning power is an operational expression of value in the stock market, and it derives the relationships among current earnings, earning power, and the P/E. To the extent that stock prices depend on value, the deviations of current earnings from earning power determine the extent of needed compensation or discount in the price. The article compares actual historical P/Es with hypothetical P/Es—the reciprocal of the deviations of current earnings from estimated earning power—and discusses deviations of history from theory and what the deviations reveal about investor opinions of prices and future earning powe.
Assessing the Effect of Microfinance on Vulnerability and Poverty among Low Income Households

Abstract We empirically investigate whether participation in the Indian Self Help Group (SHG) microfinance programme has helped reduced poverty and household vulnerability using cross-sectional SHG rural household survey data. The potential selection bias is eliminated by propensity score matching to estimate the average treatment on treated effect using nearest neighbour matching and a local linear regression algorithm. We find that vulnerability in SHG members is not significantly higher than in non-SHG members, even though the SHG members have a high incidence of poverty. However, vulnerability declines significantly for those that have been SHG members for more than one year. These results are found to be robust using sensitivity analysis and the Rosenbaum bounds method.