Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Econometric Analysis of Income Convergence in Selected EU Countries and Their Nuts 3 Level Regions

The paper estimates equations for regional income convergence in selected EU countries and their NUTS 3 level regions during the European Union pre-enlargement period (1995–2002), using both spatial and non-spatial approaches. There has been absolute income convergence between regions in both the groups of countries looked at, the countries of the EU15, or the old member states, and the new member states or NMS. When national effects are included in convergence equations using country dummies, no evidence of regional income convergence can be observed. The results of the analysis assert the importance of regional policies in inhibiting the increase of regional income disparities and improving conditions for income growth, particularly within the new member states.
The Vindication of Tradition

In this carefully reasoned book, noted historian and theologian Jaroslav Pelikan offers a moving and spirited defense of the importance of tradition. "Magisterial. Ought not to be missed. "-M.D. Aeschliman, National Review "A soul-stirring self-analysis, no less than a distillation of the life-work of the living historian best qualified to provide solutions to those `Tradition versus Bible-Only' controversies that have plagued Christianity since the Reformation. "-L.K. Shook, Canadian Catholic Review "Admirably concise and penetrating. "-Merle Rubin, The Christian Science Monitor "It takes a scholar thoroughly steeped in a subject to be able to write with lucidity and charm about its traditions. When the scholar is Dr. Pelikan, the result is a kind of classic, something sure to become a standard text for an interested public. "-Northrop Frye "Wit, grace, style, and wisdom vie with knowledge. A rare combination, delightful to mind and memory. Recommended broadly for scholarly and general use on many levels, and especially among theology students, undergraduate and graduate. "-Choice "Pelikan's customary erudition, wit, and gracious style are evident throughout this stimulating volume. "-Harold E. Remus, Religious Studies Review "The book clearly constitutes a unified plea that modern society finds ways and means to recapture the resources of the past and to overcome its fear of the tyranny of the dead. "-Heiko A. Oberman, Times Literary Supplement Jaroslav Pelikan is Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University. Among his many books are Jesus Through the Centuries and the multivolume work The Christian Tradition.
Changing Income Inequality and Immigration in Canada, 1980­1995

While there is a general consensus that income inequality has increased in most developed countries over the last two decades, the analytical focus has been on the national scale. However, these increases in inequality have not been uniform across different segments of society, either in terms of social groups or geographic region. In particular, the high levels of immigration to metropolitan Canada have contributed to growing inequality. Using individual household income data from the 1981, 1986, 1991, and 1996 censuses, this paper identifies the role of immigration and its differential impact on metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. The impacts became more prominent during the first half of the 1990s when immigration remained high yet the economy slowed. The evidence suggests that the overall impact of immigration is a relatively short-run phenomenon as recent immigrants take time to adjust to the labour market. If recent immigrants are excluded, inequality is still increasing, but at a slower rate, especially in the largest metropolitan areas.
Switching the Default Rule

There is a standard analysis of default rules in contract law, including those forms of contract law that fall under the label of employment law. But behavioral economics raises many complications. The default rule can create an endowment effect, making employees value certain rights more simply because they have been granted such rights in the first instance. Similarly, the default rule for savings plans, set by employers or law, seems to have a large effect on employee behavior. When the default rule affects preferences and behavior, conventional economic analysis seems indeterminate; either default rule can be efficient. In employment law, analysis of distributive consequences also suggests the difficulty of deciding which default rule to favor, because any switch in the rule is unlikely to have significant redistributive effects. Nonetheless, switching the default rule can, in certain circumstances, have desirable effects on workers' welfare. A central question is whether the stickiness of the default rule reflects a genuine change in values, or instead employee confusion or bargaining strategy.
The Growing Interdependence Between Financial And Commodity Markets

Financial investment has become increasingly important on commodity exchanges. This paper distinguishes two types of financial investors and emphasizes differences in their position taking motivation and price impacts. Index traders follow a passive strategy holding virtually only long positions. Money managers trade on both sides of the market and attempt to maximize short-term returns. Regression analysis indicates that: (i) index trader positions are particularly influenced by roll returns, while money managers emphasize spot returns; and that: (ii) money managers moved from emphasizing diversification to a more speculative strategy by taking commodity positions that are positively, rather than negatively, related to developments in equity markets. Granger-causality tests indicate that these differences translate into different price impacts: (i) index trader positions have a causal price impact particularly for agricultural commodities; and (ii) money managers had a causal impact during the sharp increases in the prices for some non-agricultural commodities.
Determinantes do Investimento Privado no Brasil: 1970-1995

his paper discusses brazilian private investment between 1970 and 1995. First, we review the most important theoretical approaches to investment and special attention is given to idiosyncratic facts about developing countries. That forms a basis for a later econometric treatment. Second, a brief empirical survey is done with the objective of placing this work between others that deals with this issue. As one verifies that the series of private investment, public investment, GDP, interest rate and inflation rate are cointegrated, it is possible to establish a formal model of the behavior and dynamics of investment. Some conclusions are pointed out: macroeconomic instability has an adverse impact on private investments and so do the public investment (crowding-out effect). T DETERMINANTES DO INVESTIMENTO PRIVADO NO BRASIL: 1970 — 1995 7
Differential use of learning strategies in first-year higher education: the impact of personality, academic motivation, and teaching strategies.

BACKGROUND Although the evidence in support of the variability of students' learning strategies has expanded in recent years, less is known about the explanatory base of these individual differences in terms of the joint influences of personal and contextual characteristics. AIMS Previous studies have often investigated how student learning is associated with either personal or contextual factors. This study takes an integrative research perspective into account and examines the joint effects of personality, academic motivation, and teaching strategies on students' learning strategies in a same educational context in first-year higher education. SAMPLE In this study, 1,126 undergraduate students and 90 lecturers from eight professional bachelor programmes in a university college participated. METHODS Self-report measures were used to measure students' personality, academic motivation, and learning strategies. Students' processing and regulation strategies are mapped using the Inventory of Learning Styles. Key characteristics of more content-focused versus learning-focused teaching strategies were measured. Multivariate multi-level analysis was used to take the nested data structure and interrelatedness of learning strategies into account. RESULTS Different personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism) and academic motivation (amotivation, autonomous, and controlled motivation) were found to be independently associated with student learning strategies. Besides these student characteristics, also teaching strategies were found to be directly associated with learning strategies. CONCLUSIONS The study makes clear that the impact of teaching strategies on learning strategies in first-year higher education cannot be overlooked nor overinterpreted, due to the importance of students' personality and academic motivation which also partly explain why students learn the way they do.
Job Burnout: toward an Integration of Two Dominant Resource-Based Models

The goal of this study was to integrate the job demands-resources model and the conservation of resources model of job burnout into a unified theoretical framework. The data were collected through a mail questionnaire survey among nurses holding managerial positions in the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong. From a computer-generated random sample of nurses, 543 (84.3% women) returned usable surveys, amounting to a response rate of 24.2%. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed paths originating from job demands and job resources to the core job burnout dimensions, namely, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Results supported the integrated model, indicating that job demands and job resources had differing effects on the burnout dimensions. The effect of job demands was stronger and partially mediated the effect of job resources. Implications of the results from this study on management practices were discussed.
Empirics for growth and distribution

This paper studies cross-country patterns of economic growth from the viewpoint of income distribution dynamics. Such a perspective raises new empirical and theoretical issues in growth analysis: the profound empirical regularity is an \emerging twin peaks" in the cross-sectional distribution, not simple patterns of convergence or divergence. The theo- retical problems raised concern interaction patterns among sub-groups of economies, not only problems of a single economy's accumulating factor inputs and technology for growth
Saturday Morning Censors: Television Regulation before the V-Chip

Many parents, politicians, and activists agree that there's too much violence and not enough education on children's television. Current solutions range from the legislative (the Children's Television Act of 1990) to the technological (the V-chip). Saturday Morning Censors examines the history of adults' attempts to safeguard children from the violence, sexism, racism, and commercialism on television since the 1950s. By focusing on what censorship and regulation are and how they work-rather than on whether they should exist-Heather Hendershot shows how adults use these processes to reinforce their own ideas about childhood innocence. Drawing on archival studio material, interviews with censors and animators, and social science research, Hendershot analyses media activist strategies, sexism and racism at the level of cartoon manufacture, and the product-linked cartoons of the 1980s, such as Strawberry Shortcake and Transformers. But in order to more fully examine adult reception of children's TV, she also discusses "good" programs like Sesame Street and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Providing valuable historical context for debates surrounding such current issues as the V-chip and the banning of Power Rangers toys in elementary schools, Saturday Morning Censors demonstrates how censorship can reveal more fears than it hides. Saturday Morning Censors will appeal to educators, parents, and media activists, as well as to those in cultural studies, television studies, gender studies, and American social history.
Understanding National Identity

Preface Introduction 1. Thinking about national identity 2. Accessing national identity 3. National identity: do people care about it? 4. Debatable lands: national identities on the border 5. Claiming national identity 6. The politics of national identity 7. The notional other: ethnicity and national identity 8. A manner of speaking: the end of being British? 9. Whither national identity? Appendix. National identity publications.
Dietary modulation of the human gut microflora using the prebiotics oligofructose and inulin.

Although largely unproven in humans, better resistance to pathogens, reduction in blood lipids, antitumor properties, hormonal regulation and immune stimulation may all be possible through gut microflora manipulation. One approach advocates the oral intake of live microorganisms (probiotics). Although the probiotic approach has been extensively used and advocated, survivability/viability after ingestion is difficult to guarantee and almost impossible to prove. The prebiotic concept dictates that non viable dietary components fortify certain components of the intestinal flora (e.g., bifidobacteria, lactobacilli). This concept has the advantage that survival of the ingested ingredient through the upper gastrointestinal tract is not a prerequisite because it is indigenous bacterial genera that are targeted. The feeding of oligofructose and inulin to human volunteers alters the gut flora composition in favor of bifidobacteria, a purportedly beneficial genus. Future human studies that exploit the use of modern molecular-based detection methods for bacteria will determine the efficacy of prebiotics. It may be possible to address prophylactically certain gastrointestinal complaints through the selective targeting of gut bacteria.
Prevalence of Oral Habits in 11–13 year-old School Children in Gulbarga city, India

Objective: To assess the prevalence of oral habits in 11-13 year old children in Gulbarga city, India. Method: Data was gathered from 1000 children of age group 11-13 years, attending different primary schools of Gulbarga city. Information pertaining to the study was collected from the parents in the form of questionnaire, fallowed by the clinical examination of the subjects using torch, disposable mirror and the probe. Results: Out of 1000 children examined, 38% had oral habits, out of which 18% children had tongue thrusting habit, 17% had mouth breathing habit and only 3% had nail biting habit. There was no significant difference in prevalence of habits between male and female except for nail biting habit. Prevalence of the oral habit decreased with the increasing age. Conclusions: The data revealed that most of the children had oral habits. This highlights the importance of identifying children who are in need of preventive orthodontic treatment to avoid future occurrence of malocclusion. Further it is suggested that the same pattern of research has to be done on wide strata to identify the potentially occurring malocclusions.
The impact of managerial cognitions on the structure‐conduct‐performance (SCP) paradigm: A strategic group perspective

Purpose – The structure‐conduct‐performance (SCP) paradigm was devised over half a century ago in an effort to contextualise and explain industry dynamics. However, the framework suffers from a number of shortcomings and, consequently, it has been criticised over the years. Yet, despite its weaknesses, it has survived its criticisms and is still used in industrial organisations (IOs) for the purposes of competitive analysis. In time, the framework has also been adopted by strategic management, and in the area of strategic groups it holds a prominent position in the literature. This study aims to address this issue.Design/methodology/approach – The study is cross‐sectional and is based on primary research. It involves face‐to‐face semi‐structured interviews and the sample size is near to the sampling frame of the research.Findings – The paper develops a cognitive dimension and, based on the findings of primary research, extends the framework in a manner that provides a better insight into competitive dynam.
Gendered Trends of Retirement Propensities in East and West Germany : An Analysis of the Period 1975 to 2005

Objective: This paper examines the propensity to retire in East and West Germany before and after the reunification from the year 1975 until 2005. The aim is to explain the period-trends in the retirement propensities in East and West Germany with special attention to gender. Conditions are discussed that may restrict an individual’s ability to retire. The ability to retire may for instance apply to the length of earnings-histories, which in turn may be affected by public child-care services, tax and retirement regulations.Method & Data: Event history analysis is applied using a multivariate piece-wise constant hazard model. The data comes from the first wave of the German Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) conducted in the year 2005. The sample size consists of 3698 individuals which produced 2070 events.Results: The results indicate that the propensity to retire was higher in East Germany than in West Germany. In West Germany, there was no significant difference in the propensity to retire for menand women. In East Germany, the propensity to retire was higher for women compared to men. In West Germany, no significant difference was found between married and single women. However, in East Germany, single women had a higher propensity to retire than married women. In West Germany, the propensity had increased after the reunification for men, but not significantly for women. In East Germany, the fall of the Berlin Wall in the year 1989 is clearly visible in the formof a highly elevated retirement propensity for especially women directly after the fall. However, the propensity quickly decreased and together with an increase of men’s propensity to retire since the reunification, the gender gap in the East eventually closed.Conclusion: For the period 1975 to 2005, it can be concluded that the propensity to retire was higher in East Germany than in West Germany. Environmental factors such as the breakdown of the East German economy, the division of paid and unpaid labour and the provision of child-care services probably have a significant effect on a person’s propensity to retire and lay the foundation for the different retirement patterns between the East and the West.
Genetic basis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

The understanding of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) has matured from its cornerstone as a disease of the sarcomere to a compendium of diseases with various clinical, genetic and morphologic substrates. Research has provided us more insights into i) the pathogenetic development of HCM, ii) the possible pro-hypertrophic pathways that are triggered, and iii) the modifiers that influence the disease phenotypes. These findings have opened the door for individualized medicine and the development of therapeutic trials aimed at disease prevention or slowing of disease progression in patients with genotype positive, hypertrophy negative HCM. However, far more research is needed to understand its exact pathogenic pathways, discover novel drug targets or understand and prevent its devastating feature of sudden cardiac death.
Problems of Constructing Russian Input-Output Tables into the International Classifications

A methodology has been developed to construct a time series of Russian Input-Output (IO) accounts for 2003 and subsequent years. This was based on the OKVED (All-Russian classifier of activities) and OKPD (All-Russian classifier of Products by Activity) classifications that are harmonized with the NACE rev. 1/CPA. The construction used IO Accounts for 2003 built in the Soviet classifications as the starting point.An iterative algorithm has been proposed to transform these tables for 2003 into the OKVED/OKPD classifications. In the first step Use table (initial approximation) at purchasers' prices has been transformed using the conversion table bridging the Soviet classifications to the OKVED/OKPD classifications. In the second step the initial approximations of the 5 components of Use table at purchasers’ prices have been developed: the use of domestic goods and services at basic prices, the use of imported goods and services at basic prices; transport margins; trade margins and net taxes on products are developed. In the third step balancing each of the five tables has been taken place to ensure compliance of the row totals with the respective targets of national accounts. In the fourth step the final version of the use table at purchasers' prices has been calculated as the sum of the balanced five tables.The method has been proposed to construct time series of IO Accounts at current prices based on these classifications for 2004 and subsequent years on the basis of transformed IO accounts for 2003 using the RAS procedure. RAS method is applied in two stages, first to determine the column totals of each of the calculated five tables and then to calculate all other items of these tables. Unlike traditional applications, in this paper RAS method is used to calculate matrices of intermediate consumption and final demand of goods and services simultaneously.IO Accounts at basic prices account for 2004 and subsequent years have also been derived at previous year prices. For this purpose the deflators have been calculated on the basis of national accounts variables and statistics of international trade in goods and services.
The iterative nature of person construal: Evidence from event-related potentials

Abstract Recently, a dynamic-interactive model of person construal (DI model) has been proposed, whereby the social categories a person represents are determined on the basis of an iterative integration of bottom-up and top-down influences. The current study sought to test this model by leveraging the high temporal resolution of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) as 65 participants viewed male faces that varied by race (White vs Black), fixating either between the eyes or on the forehead. Within face presentations, the effect of fixation, meant to vary bottom-up visual input, initially was large but decreased across early latency neural responses identified by a principal components analysis (PCA). In contrast, the effect of race, reflecting a combination of top-down and bottom-up factors, initially was small but increased across early latency principal components. These patterns support the DI model prediction that bottom-up and top-down processes are iteratively integrated to arrive at a stable construal within 230 ms. Additionally, exploratory multilevel modeling of single trial ERP responses representing a component linked to outgroup categorization (the P2) suggests change in effects of the manipulations over the course of the experiment. Implications of the findings for the DI model are considered.