Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bargaining Theory and Portfolio Payoffs in European Coalition Governments 1945–83

Coalition formation has been the subject of much theoretical and empirical work in the past decade or so. The theories that have been tested all rest, one way or another, upon assumptions about the ways in which the payoff accruing to a particular coalition is distributed among its members. Yet much less empirical work has been done on the process of payoff distribution. Thus some of the fundamental assumptions of coalition theories, at least in terms of their practical application to coalition governments, have been more scantily tested. Several theories of payoff distribution have been recently developed, however. It is the purpose of this article to test the application of these theories to the practice of coalition government in Europe.
Listing and the liquidity of bank stocks: revisited

This paper investigates the association between listing and liquidity over the January 1991-December 1994 period for a large number of bank stocks. An empirical model is developed in which liquidity (using a measure that reflects the volume-price effects of demand and supply in market price) is a function of listing and certain other (ceteris paribus) variables. The model is virtually identical to the one employed in the previous study of the topic. The empirical results of the current study are compared to those of the prior one. Despite enormous changes in the structure of the financial system and in the banking system, the empirical results are consistent with those of the prior study: listed bank stocks do not appear to have greater liquidity than unlisted bank stocks. In fact, the results suggest that listing adversely affects liquidity. Various potential reasons for this finding are presented in the paper.
Tenure security, resource poverty, public programs, and household plot-level conservation investments in the highlands of northern Ethiopia

Land degradation poses a serious problem for the livelihoods of rural producers. Furthermore, there is rarely enough private investment taking place to commensurate the scale of the problem. This article examines the role of tenure insecurity, resource poverty, risk and time preferences, and community-led land conservation on differentiated patterns of household investment in land conservation in northern Ethiopia. We control for biophysical, household characteristics, market access conditions, and village level factors. Investments in soil bunds and stone terraces are specifically studied so as to capture the link between these various factors and the durability of conservation investments. We introduce the distinction between the determinants of the decision to invest and how much to invest in conservation. Regression results show that publicly led conservation programs seem to significantly stimulate private investment. A host of plot-level variables and household perceptions of returns on conservation investments, expressed in terms of perceived improvements in land quality and increased crop yields, were found to be critical to the decision to invest and intensify soil conservation. The evidence on the significance of households' attitudes toward risk aversion suggests the important role of risk and the household's risk-bearing capacity in the decision to intensify conservation measures. At the same time, tenure security indicators and households' resource endowments (resource poverty) had weaker effects in increasing willingness to invest and the level of investment made. The policy implications of these results point to the importance of agricultural research and extension efforts that target technologies which reduce household risk and poverty while enabling sustainable investments in conservation measures by individual households. Copyright 2006 International Association of Agricultural Economics.
The Use of Finite Element Analyses to Design and Fabricate Three-Dimensional Scaffolds for Skeletal Tissue Engineering

Computational modeling has been increasingly applied to the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Where in early days computational models were used to better understand the biomechanical requirements of targeted tissues to be regenerated, recently, more and more models are formulated to combine such biomechanical requirements with cell fate predictions to aid in the design of functional three-dimensional scaffolds. In this review, we highlight how computational modeling has been used to understand the mechanisms behind tissue formation and can be used for more rational and biomimetic scaffold-based tissue regeneration strategies. With a particular focus on musculoskeletal tissues, we discuss recent models attempting to predict cell activity in relation to specific mechanical and physical stimuli that can be applied to them through porous three-dimensional scaffolds. In doing so, we review the most common scaffold fabrication methods, with a critical view on those technologies that offer better properties to be more easily combined with computational modeling. Finally, we discuss how modeling, and in particular finite element analysis, can be used to optimize the design of scaffolds for skeletal tissue regeneration.
The Economic Consequences of Disappearing Government Debt

FEDERAL BUDGETARY DEVELOPMENTS in the United States of late have been fast moving and nothing short of outstanding: The latest projections of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) peg the federal surplus for fiscal year 2000 in excess of $230 billion, around $50 billion more than its forecast of just six months earlier. For a generation accustomed to mounting government obligations and dire warnings of adverse macroeconomic consequences, a surplus in 2000 amounting to 2.4 percent of nominal GDP—the largest since 1948—would seem to imply a changed economic landscape. Yet these developments are not limited to the United States. Several factors have combined to improve fiscal positions in a number of countries worldwide. Among these factors are cyclical recoveries that have boosted income tax revenue, increases in equity values that have produced capital gains tax windfalls, and spending restraint due in part to spending caps and, in many European countries, a desire to satisfy the fiscal criteria in the 1993 Maastricht treaty. In its latest OECD Economic Outlook, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development projects that fourteen of twenty-three countries covered will achieve fiscal balance or surplus over the immediate two-year projection period. Indeed, if one excludes Japan, whose fiscal position is moving in the opposite direction,
A Note On the Effect of Changes in Ad Valorem Tax Rates On Net Revenue of Firms: an Application To the Hotel Room Tax

This article employs comparative static analysis to derive a general expresscon for Abstract the effect of an increase in the ad valorem tax rate on a good on the net revenue of firms. The magnitude of this effect is expressed as a function of the initial levels of the tax rate and net revenue of taxed firms as well as the elasticities of supply and demand for the good. The authors' results applied to the hotel industry suggest caution in relying heavily on revenues derived from hotel room taxes. Increases in hotel room tax rates may have large negative effects on the financial viability of the industry.
Workfare as welfare: governing unemployment in the advanced liberal state

Case management has become a key technology in governing the problem of unemployment in western countries such as Britain, the United States and Australia. In this paper we argue that case management represents a radical localization of governance wherein the rights and responsibilities between unemployed people and the state are articulated primarily in the relationship between the case manager and his or her client. This paper reports on a study undertaken in Australia’s Job Network system of employment services. Using a governmental analysis we show how the case management relationship is experienced by case managers and long-term unemployed people in a sample of nonprofit and for-profit Job Network agencies in two states of Australia. The research reveals the micro relations of power and authority that are invoked in the everyday politics of welfare reform. We argue that engaging in policy research at a local level of analysis acts as a necessary balance to more macro welfare state comparisons. Working within a ‘street-level’ approach illuminates how workfare policies and programmes are aligning social relations and identities with new welfare ends and means.
Voluntary Disclosure to Influence Investor Reactions to Merger Announcements: An Examination of Conference Calls

ABSTRACT: We find that bidders are more likely to hold conference calls at merger announcements when the mergers are financed with stock and when the transactions are large. After controlling for endogeneity, we also find that conference calls are associated with more favorable market reactions to merger announcements. A content analysis of merger-related information releases for a limited subsample indicates that the more favorable reaction is related to the fact that, compared to press releases, conference calls provide a greater volume of information and place greater emphasis on forward-looking details. We find no evidence that the superior announcement returns associated with conference calls subsequently reverse or that conference calls are positively associated with pre-merger announcement abnormal accruals. Overall, the results suggest that managers use conference calls around merger announcements to credibly convey favorable private information to the market.
Current accounting investigations: effect on Big 5 market shares

Arthur Andersen’s conviction and its decision not to audit public firms will transform the Big 5 into the Big 4. Meanwhile, other Big 4 firms face investigations that threaten their future market shares. The article compares the observed post‐scandal shifts in market share with those estimated by a Markov model. It then estimates the year‐by‐year and long‐term market shares that the Big 4 firms would have achieved had they remained untouched by these investigations. The study finds that the absence of Arthur Andersen alone would not have led to excessive market share concentration. It demonstrates how the post‐scandal shifts reveal the impacts of the investigations on the Big 4 firms and provides market share benchmarks against which the firms can evaluate the long‐term effects of the investigations. Finally, the article concludes that a firm’s long‐term gain in market share depends on its ability to retain audit clients.
Physician Perspectives on Medical Care Delivery in Assisted Living

To describe the provision of medical care in assisted living (AL) as provided by physicians who are especially active in providing care to older adults and AL residents; to identify characteristics associated with physician confidence in AL staff; and to ask physicians a variety of questions about their experience providing care to AL residents and how it compares with providing care in the nursing home and home care settings.
Ultrasound of Focal Neuropathies

Summary: Focal neuropathies represent the most common indication for referral to electrodiagnostic laboratories. The etiologies range from chronic compression, as might be seen in carpal tunnel syndrome, to acute traumatic nerve injuries that require rapid intervention. The gold standard for diagnosis, electrodiagnostic testing, cannot provide the complementary anatomical information necessary to guide accurate diagnosis and treatment. An expanding body of literature supports the use of neuromuscular ultrasound as a standard component for evaluating focal neuropathies. In the current review, the role of ultrasound in both common and unusual compression neuropathies is reviewed, along with the use of ultrasound in traumatic nerve injury. The evidence demonstrates that nerve ultrasound has an essential, complementary role with electrodiagnostic testing.
Demonstrating the benefits of impact assessment for proponents

This paper is a call for more studies that explicitly demonstrate the benefits of impact assessment to proponents. While the community of impact assessment practitioners generally believe that impact assessment is beneficial (to all stakeholders), empirical demonstration of this, particularly to project proponents, is warranted, and especially in financial terms. While many impact assessment benefits are intangible in nature, learning from the business and management literature shows how such benefits can usefully be measured based upon perceptions of managers within proponent agencies in tandem with archival material. A framework of the nature of impact assessment benefits for proponents, and their relative tangibility, is presented along with a five-step methodology for determining benefits. We now call upon impact assessment researchers and practitioners alike to use this framework and methodology to structure investigations from practice that will contribute to an empirical database for demonstrating the benefits of impact assessment to proponents.
A Transmitter or a Receiver Consisting of Two Strongly Coupled Resonators for Enhanced Resonant Coupling in Wireless Power Transfer

This paper proposes a novel resonator structure for efficiency and transferred power improvements: a transmitter (a receiver) that consists of two strongly coupled resonators. The two strongly coupled resonators are embedded within a transmitter device (a receiver device) and behave as a single resonator with enhanced performances. Unlike the conventional four-coil system, the first and the fourth resonators are also designed to have high loaded-Q and maximum cross couplings. Therefore, the first and the fourth resonators also take part in the coupled resonance with opposite-side resonators. This provides additional energy exchange path. The exact design guidelines are provided for each different resonance topology from analytical derivation. It is analyzed and experimentally demonstrated that the efficiency and the transferred power are increased by the proposed two-resonator technique. For a 30 cm × 25 cm parallel-resonant transmitter and an 18 cm × 16 cm parallel-resonant receiver at 13-cm distance, the efficiency and the transferred power with the proposed technique are 65.2% and 17.2 W, respectively, whereas those values without the proposed technique are only 37.3% and 6.2 W.
Ischial Apophyseal Avulsions: Proximal Hamstring Repair With Bony Fragment Excision

Background: Avulsion injury of the hamstring muscles from their origin on the ischium is an uncommon injury. In persons aged 14 to 25 years, such an avulsion may include detachment of an epiphyseal fragment at the growth plate of the ischial apophysis. The literature suggests that surgery is not necessary unless there is a large displacement of the fragment. The objective of this report is to present evidence that treatment planning should be based on symptoms, regardless of displacement. Methods: Between July 1998 and July 2002, 3 consecutive patients with avulsion of the immature ischial apophysis were evaluated by the senior author. In each case the bony fragment was excised and the hamstrings were reattached to the ischium with suture anchors. All patients were assessed postoperatively by biodex strength testing. Results: The average age of the patients was 15 years and the average time to repair was 7 months from the time of injury. The average retraction was 3.7 cm. The average follow-up period was 78 months. The average strength was 86% and the average power was 100% compared with the contralateral side at the final follow-up. In all 3 cases pain was relieved, and with adequate rehabilitation normal strength was regained and the subjects returned to sport. There was one complication involving an activity-related peroneal nerve palsy. This was treated by neurolysis with good functional return. Conclusions: The 3 cases presented here suggest that treatment should be planned on the basis of pain and disability rather than pathology, and that surgical treatment can effectively address a chronic condition. Each case requires an individualized treatment plan and should include a consideration of the patient’s functional goals.
Exploring adoption difficulties in mobile banking services

Factors associated with adopting and resisting mobile banking technologies were investigated among university students in Taiwan. Adoption factors included the belief that mobile banking helps fulfill personal banking needs, provides location-free conveniences, and is cost effective. The primary factors associated with resistance included concerns over system configuration security and basic fees for mobile banking web connections. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Le present article examine les facteurs qui poussent les etudiants taiwanais a adopter les technologies de la banque mobile ou a y resister. Parmi les facteurs d'adoption, il y a la croyance selon laquelle les operations bancaires mobiles permettent de satisfaire les besoins bancaires personnels, sont disponibles partout et coutent moins cher. Les facteurs de resistance comprennent, entre autres, les inquietudes liees a la securite du systeme de configuration et les frais de connexion au reseau banque mobile. L'article s'acheve par une presentation des implications theoriques et pratiques de l'etude. Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Overexpression of glycogen synthase kinase 3β sensitizes neuronal cells to ethanol toxicity

The developing central nervous system (CNS) is particularly susceptible to ethanol toxicity. The loss of neurons underlies many of the behavioral deficits observed in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). The mechanisms of ethanol‐induced neuronal loss, however, remain incompletely elucidated. We demonstrated that glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), a multifunctional serine/threonine kinase, was involved in ethanol neurotoxicity. The activity of GSK3β is negatively regulated by its phosphorylation at serine 9 (Ser9). Ethanol induced dephosphorylation of GSK3β at Ser9 and the activation of Bax as well as caspase‐3 in the developing mouse brain. These ethanol‐induced alterations were ameliorated by the pretreatment of a GSK3β inhibitor, lithium. To determine the role of GSK3β in ethanol neurotoxicity, we overexpressed wild‐type (WT), S9A mutant or dominant‐negative (DN) mutant GSK3β in a neuronal cell line (SK‐N‐MC). Ethanol only modestly reduced the viability of parental SK‐N‐MC cells but drastically induced caspase‐3 activation and apoptosis in cells overexpressing WT or S9A GSK3β, indicating that the high levels of GSK3β or the active form of GSK3β increased cellular sensitivity to ethanol. Contrarily, overexpression of DN GSK3β conferred resistance to ethanol toxicity. Lithium and other specific GSK3β inhibitors abolished the hypersensitivity to ethanol caused by WT or S9A overexpression. Bax, a proapoptotic protein, is a substrate of GSK3β. Cells overexpressing WT or S9A GSK3β were much more sensitive to ethanol‐induced Bax activation than parental SK‐N‐MC cells. Our results indicate that GSK3β may be a mediator of ethanol neurotoxicity, and its expression status in a cell may determine ethanol vulnerability. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Gender Empowerment through Women's Higher Education: Opportunities and Possibilities

In Pakistan, particularly in the rural and suburban areas, promoting women’s education can perhaps play a vital role in gender equality. Education will also increase the ability of women to secure employment in the formal sector. The purpose of this study was to explore the possibilities and opportunities for women’s empowerment in Pakistan. This first stage looked at the perceptions of a small group of ten women who hold senior posts in a female university. Data were gathered by semistructured informal interviews and it was hoped that considering information-rich cases would illuminate the questions under study. 1) How the participants in the study understand the role of higher education in empowering women at home and at their work, 2) what they see as the major constraints to progress in career, 3) what type of coping strategies they propose for the entire female population to realise their full potential. Participants were more or less agreed that women have to face socio-cultural hurdles to acquire education and pursue careers. Pakistani women are struggling hard naturally to get their rights but also to write history of success indicating how opportunities were/ are created and possibilities can be explored and negotiated in a non-confrontational manner.
Private equity and labour management in Australia: The case of Myer

Private equity has been controversial because of its apparent impact on labour and employment. Analysis of the effects has generated mixed results in the literature, and the reasons for this divergence remain unclear. The article considers whether labour regulation, business strategy and the role of labour in the process of value creation moderate the impact of private equity ownership on labour. It does so by examining the case of Myer, one of the largest private equity buyouts in Australia to date. The article examines the range of initiatives taken by management after the buyout. It is found that the business strategy, the state of the business and the nature of labour’s contribution are all key influences on what happens to labour after private equity buyouts. By contrast, the potential to take advantage of the weakening of labour regulation in Work Choices to make major changes was not exploited by management.
Spheree: a 3D perspective-corrected interactive spherical scalable display

We constructed a personal, spherical, multi-projector perspective-corrected rear-projected display called Spheree. Spheree uses multiple calibrated pico-projectors inside a spherical display with content rendered from a user-centric viewpoint. Spheree uses optical tracking for head-coupled rendering, providing parallax-based 3D depth cues. Spheree is compact, supporting direct interaction techniques. For example, 3D models can be modified via 3D interactions on the sphere, providing a 3D sculpture experience.
The economics and politics of output volatility: evidence from Indian states

Employing data for 1981–2009, this paper examines the factors influencing the volatility of state output, using India as a case study. The analysis appears to suggest that high income states exhibit relatively higher output volatility. At the state-level, the proximate determinants of a decline in output volatility can be traced to financial deepening, government expenditures and institutional quality. Also, state-level political factors are also found to play an important role. In addition, at the macroeconomic level, monetary policy considerations are observed to be the most important factor impacting output volatility.