Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
C-Band SAR Data for Mapping Crops Dominated by Surface or Volume Scattering

In this letter, a C-band SAR classification algorithm mapping agricultural crops dominated by surface or volume scattering is derived and assessed. The algorithm is an adaptive thresholding method based on the iterative solution of the Kittler-Illingworth method applied to exploit temporal series of cross-polarized SAR data. The performances of the classification algorithm have been assessed on ENVISAT ASAR data acquired over Görmin (Germany) during the AgriSAR'06 campaign and on RADARSAT-2 data acquired over Flevoland (The Netherlands) and Indian Head (Canada) during the ESA AgriSAR'09 campaign. The results indicate that the classification method improves the accuracy with respect to the one obtained by the threshold method based on a constant value, unless the data distributions are mono-modal. The algorithm is fast and robust versus changes of site location and it is expected to achieve an average overall accuracy better than 80%.
Implied rates of return, the discount rate effect, and market risk premia

We show analytically under quite general conditions that implied rates of return based on analysts' earnings forecasts are only a downward biased estimator for future expected one-period returns and therefore not suited for computing market risk premia. The extent of this bias is substantial as verified by a bootstrap approach. We present an alternative estimation equation for future expected one-period returns based on current and past implied rates of return that is superior to simple estimators based on historical returns. The reason for this superiority is a lower variance of estimation results and not the circumvention of the discount rate effect typically stated as a major problem of estimators based on historical return realizations. The superiority of this new approach for portfolio selection purposes is verified numerically for our bootstrap environment and empirically for real capital market data.
Unemployment insurance for mortgage borrowers: is it viable and does it cover those most in need?

One of the principal downside risks of financial deregulation is the possible deleterious effect it may have on the incidence of mortgage arrears and possessions. Successive UK governments have enthusiastically pursued both financial deregulation and the promotion of private mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI) as the primary safety net for mortgage borrowers. As such, the UK is an important test case for other European countries considering either or both avenues of policy. With this motivation, we review the mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI) debate in the UK and examine whether mortgage borrowers who choose to remain uninsured do so because they are in the most stable forms of employment and/or have sufficient financial resources to cover periods of unemployment, or because their employment risks are not covered by MPPI and/or they cannot afford the premium. These are important questions because if affordability proves to be a key driver of take-up, then private mortgage insurance is fundamentally flawed as an antidote to the risks that follow from financial deregulation. Family Resources Survey data are used to examine the characteristics of the uninsured which are then compared to data on employment stability in an attempt to identify those groups of mortgage borrowers most at risk. Income and savings of the uninsured are also examined to establish whether borrowers consider personal financial resources to be substitute for insurance. We find that neither those in the riskiest categories of employment, nor those with the least financial resources, have the highest rates of MPPI take-up. We also find a surprisingly large variation in the take-up across household types. In particular, we find that households with a greater number of children relative to adults have significantly lower MPPI take-up rates. These findings provide evidence that affordability is an important driver of MPPI take-up, for whilst there is no obvious reason why having more children reduces the default risk of a household, it is clear that the number of children will have a direct effect on the ratio of outgoings to earnings and hence on a household's ability to afford MPPI. Inability of certain borrowers to afford MPPI may explain why the highest risk groups do not have the highest levels of take-up. The corollary of our results is that MPPI is not viable as a widespread safety net for mortgage borrowers, and so the assumption that private mortgage insurance can be a substitute for stateprovided protection is fundamentally flawed.
Three decades of implementation of school‐based management in the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria in Australia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how the process of implementation of school‐based management (SBM) has worked within the public school systems in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Victoria in Australia. The period covered was 1976‐2006.Design/methodology/approach – The approach adopted was the mixed methodology which included empirical surveys, interviews with stakeholders and documentary analyses including Parliamentary acts, statutes, school board or council constitutions, research reports, parliamentary and official reports.Findings – The findings suggest that both systems had a strong commitment to the proper implementation of SBM towards the improvement of school outcomes and student achievements. Whenever problems arose stakeholders were keen to sort them out and move forward by covering the gaps to avoid the repetition of similar problems. Both systems have succeeded in strengthening their own model of SBM and are satisfied with the achievements through SBM.Research limit.
Evaluation of water use sustainability under future climate and irrigation management scenarios in Citarum River Basin, Indonesia

Sustainable water use in agriculture faces several challenges due to future climate change, increasing population, and higher living standards. Adapting to possible future changes in climate and sustaining the use of water are some of the challenges that face future agricultural water management. In this research, the sustainability of irrigation water use was assessed by performance criteria that consider the effects of climate change and adaption management on irrigation. The model, built using the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) system, is calibrated using the stream flow and the requirement of water for irrigation. The model was used to examine two future climate projections (A2 and B2), for time periods until 2099, and for four scenarios: (1) an increase in the irrigated area, (2) an increase in crop intensity, (3) a change in the crop pattern, and (4) a combination of increased irrigation area and increased crop intensity. Results show water supply is projected to increase by about 85 and 60% (relative to the historical period) in A2 and B2 climate scenarios, respectively, by the end of the century. The requirement for irrigation water will decrease in the future, relative to the historical period. The sustainability index will also decrease in the future, relative to the historical period. Relative to the baseline scenario, increasing the irrigated area is more sustainable than increasing the crop intensity or combining increased crop intensity with increased area under irrigation. Increasing the irrigated area is more amenable to adaption to possible future climate changes.
Merit Pay in a Public Higher Education Institution: Questions of Impact and Attitudes

The use of merit pay is increasing in public institutions. The prevalence of merit pay has extended to public universities to evaluate faculty performance. A general perception is that faculty scholarship is disproportionably used relative to instructional and service activities in assessing whether merit pay is warranted. Yet, little actual empirical research has been conducted to predict what components of faculty performance lead to merit pay awards. A survey concerning perceptions of faculty performance and subsequent merit pay was distributed to the entire faculty of a large public eastern research university. Logistic regression analysis found faculty research activities were significantly more predictive of merit pay receipt compared to instructional and service performance. Female faculty members were less supportive of merit pay compared to their male colleagues and perceived less improvement in their overall performance post merit pay awards.
Long-Term Effects of Nasoalveolar Molding on Three-Dimensional Nasal Shape in Unilateral Clefts

Objective: This objective of this study was to determine the effect of presurgical nasoalveolar molding on long-term nasal shape in complete unilateral clefts. Design: The study was retrospective, and the subjects were chosen at random. Nasal casts of the subjects were scanned in three dimensions. Each nose was best fit to its mirror image, and a numerical asymmetry score was determined. Setting: All patients were treated at the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, NYU Medical Center, New York, New York. Patients: The study subjects (n = 10) were selected from a group that had undergone presurgical nasal molding in conjunction with alveolar molding. The control subjects (n = 10) were selected from a group that had undergone presurgical alveolar molding alone. Interventions: All subjects underwent presurgical orthopedic treatment until the age of approximately 4 months at which time the primary surgery was performed. Main Outcome Measure: The nasal shape following nasal molding should be more symmetrical than if molding had not been done. Results: The mean asymmetry index for the nasoalveolar molding group was 0.74, and the control group was 1.21. This difference was statistically significant (p < .05). Conclusions: Presurgical nasoalveolar molding significantly increases the symmetry of the nose. The increase in symmetry is maintained long term into early childhood. The limitations of this study include (1) asymmetry alone is not an adequate shape result in most situations, (2) the children evaluated in this study were not fully grown, and (3) the control group was not age matched.
Symposium Introduction: Local Responses to ‘Austerity’

Abstract This introduction to the symposium sets out the context for local government in the United Kingdom at the current time. It outlines the scale of the reductions in funding since 2010, showing how uneven these cuts have been across the country and the reasons for this. It also describes the increased exposure to risk of both local government and of the citizens and communities it serves. The central question for the papers which follow is how local government is responding to these twin challenges. The papers provide insights from a number of detailed studies of individual authorities, exploring the strategies adopted to manage in response. The analyses focus on the distributive consequences for individuals and communities, but they also reflect on the wider consequences for local government itself. A particular concern is whether local responses are changing as austerity moves from its initial to its later phase.
Transaction Costs and Interest Arbitrage: Tranquil versus Turbulent Periods

This paper deals with the effects of transaction costs on the efficacy of covered interest arbitrage during three periods: 1962-67, the tranquil peg; 1968-69, the turbulent peg; and 1973-75, the managed float. Several conclusions emerge: (i) during the managed float transaction costs have risen dramatically, (ii) these costs played a similar role in accounting for deviations from parity during the periods of the tranquil peg and the managed float but not during the turbulent peg. Similar conclusions emerge from a time-series analysis of the various exchange rates with the implication that a classification of periods according to the degree of turbulence is preferred to a classification based on the legal arrangement (e.g., pegged or floating rates), and (iii) covered interest arbitrage does not seem to entail unexploited opportunities for profits.
A behavioural finance approach to working capital management

This paper documents the behaviour of corporate treasurers who are involved in the decision-making process in the areas of cash, inventory, accounts receivable, accounts payable and risk management during the global financial crisis. Using a survey questionnaire, we attempt to find out if working capital managers are prone to certain heuristic-driven biases, such as loss aversion, high confidence level, anchoring and self-serving biases. Our findings show that these professionals exhibit signs of behavioural biases. Although the biases lead to sub-optimal decisions in certain areas of working capital management (WCM), they can also be desirable attributes in other aspects of WCM. We propose a profile of a good working capital manager.
A 'Health Kuznets' Curve'? Cross-Country and Longitudinal Evidence

The distribution of income related health inequalities appear to exhibit varying patterns when developing countries and developed countries are examined. One explanation is the existence of a health Kuznets’ curve. This paper sets out as an exploratory analysis to test the hypothesis of an inverse U shape pattern between both economic development (as measured by GDP per capita) and income inequalities in health (as measured by concentration indices). We draw upon two datasets, the World Health Survey and the European Community household survey. Our results show that income-related inequalities in self-reported health rise but tail off once a threshold level of economic development has been attained. Thus, there is a health Kuznets’ curve on per capita income, with a polynomial association where the tipping point lies around $26,000 to $38,700.
Segmenting East Asian Tourists to Greece by Travel Motivation

This study compares the push and pull motivations of East Asian (Japanese, Chinese and Korean) tourists who visit Greece and also proposes market segmentation based on travel motivations that transcend the national boundaries of those countries. Four main push factors were identified: “Knowledge”, “Ego-enhancement”, “Escape & Relaxation” and “Novelty”. Similarly, four pull factors were also identified: “Leisure, shopping and safety”, “Variety and cost”, “Culture & heritage” and “Travel arrangements and facilities”. Cross-cultural differences were found regarding the importance of travel motivations. Chinese tourists scored higher than other nationalities for almost all motivation categories. Although the cross-cultural differences are important, this study proposes another way to tackle the market segmentation by conducting an international segmentation based on inherent similarities across different nationalities of travelers. Three segments emerged from that analysis with the “Novelty Seekers” to be the largest followed by the “Want-it-All” and the “Lowly Motivated”.
Search and Stochastic Dynamics in the Old Keynesian Economics: A Rationale for the Shimer Puzzle

Following Farmer's micro‐foundation of the General Theory, I build a competitive search model in which agents are divided in two categories, i.e. wage and profit earners. Within this framework, I show that the model economy has a continuum of equilibria that might be consistent with a certain degree of endogenous real stickiness. Moreover, calibrating and simulating the model in order to fit US first‐moment data, I show that this setting can provide a rationale for the Shimer puzzle, i.e. the relative stability of labor productivity in spite of the large volatility of labor market tightness.
Factors Affecting Group-Oriented Travel Intention to Major Events

ABSTRACT Large-scale, major social events, such as music and cultural festivals and international sporting events, are an important motivator of tourism activity and an increasingly significant component of destination marketing. Despite the growing consumption trend of group-oriented travel behavior and the economic significance of large-scale, event-based tourism, a theoretical gap exists in understanding what drives potential attendees' desire to attend these events, particularly in groups. A theoretically developed conceptual model is empirically tested using survey data from 170 Australian respondents planning to attend, and travel in a group, to a major social event. The results support the model showing that travel motivations (configured as a Type II multidimensional model), affective destination image, and enduring involvement in the event category influence group-oriented travel behavior to major events. Managerial implications and recommendations for future research are also presented.
The Consumption - Real Exchange Rate Anomaly: an Asset Pricing Perspective

Idiosyncratic consumption risk explains more than 60 percent of the cross-sectional variation in quarterly exchange rate changes and currency returns. Our results are obtained from data of 13 industrialized countries and are based on an international version of the consumption capital asset pricing model (CCAPM) in which we account for international consumption heterogeneity. We use this framework to dissect the consumption-exchange rate anomaly, the empirical fact that international variation in purchasing power alone does not appear to account for differences in consumption growth rates across countries. As an explanation for this phenomenon, we explore the presence of currency risk premia that also lead to departures from uncovered interest parity (UIP). We decompose the cross-sectional variation in consumption into one component that is due to cross-country differences in inflation rates and a second component that is due to international variation in nominal interest rates. We interpret these factors as indicators of goods and financial market segmentation respectively. We find that both help account to virtually equal parts for the cross-section of exchange rate changes. Interestingly, the price of aggregate consumption risk has declined over the 1990s, in line with a growing literature that documents a growing internationalisation of country portfolios over this period.
Permissiveness Toward Illegal Actions in Uruguay: Has this Attitude Changed in Time?

The aim of this paper is to assess the willingness to justify illegal actions (or permissiveness) in the case of Uruguayans. We introduce new factors within the analysis: whether this attitude has changed between 1996 and 2006. In line with previous findings, some sociodemographic variables (age, education, beliefs in God, and patriotism) reduce the probability of being permissive. We also add new elements to the discussion and present some particularities of the Uruguayan case: the role of political affiliation depends on the ideological ground of the elected political party, permissiveness has dramatically changed and it is much higher in 2006.
Regression of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver by Vitamin D Supplement: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.

OBJECTIVE Evidence indicates that NAFLD patients are vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D has new roles in lipid and glucose metabolism. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of calcitriol supplementation on the NAFLD progression based on liver lipid accumulation, serum lipid profile and insulin resistance. METHODS We randomly assigned 73 patients with NAFLD-confirmed by ultra-sonography to 12 weeks of treatment with hypocaloric diet (reduction of 500 kcal per day) plus 25 µg of calcitriol supplement or a hypocaloric diet plus placebo. Before and after treatment, we assessed anthropometric parameters, grade of fatty liver, serum lipoproteins, liver enzymes and insulin level. RESULT Baseline variables were not significantly different between groups. A statistically significant reduction in anthropometric measures was observed over the 12 weeks in both groups. However, no significant differences were seen between groups after intervention. Compared with the placebo, reductions in triglyceride and an increase in HDL cholesterol were seen over the 12 weeks of intervention in the calcitriol group (P = 0.002 and P = 0.004). AST level was decreased in the calcitriol group (-4.2 ± 4.3 µmol/L, P < 0.001), but increased in the placebo group (12.6 ± 6.1 µmol/L, P = 0.02) after 12 weeks. Reductions in mean difference of ALT, insulin and HOMA were significantly higher in the calcitriol than placebo group (P = 0.01, P = 0.007 and 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Calcitriol supplementation combined with weight loss diet showed no significant effects on anthropometric measures in NAFLD patients. However, it may have positive effects on lipid profile, liver enzyme tests and insulin sensitivity during a weight-loss program.
Permanent alteration of the murine Ly‐1 B repertoire due to selective depletion of Ly‐1 B cells in neonatal animals

Studies presented here demonstrate that paternal allotype Ly‐1 B cells are permanently depleted following neonatal treatment with antibodies to the paternal IgM allotype. Paternal allotype conventional B cells, in contrast, are temporarily depleted by treatment with either anti‐IgM or anti‐IgD allotype antibodies and return rapidly to normal frequencies once the antibody treatment disappears. These differences are explained by basic developmental differences between Ly‐1 B and conventional lineage B cells. That is, the conventional B cell population is replenished from Ig‐ precursors throughout life and, therefore, is only temporarily affected when depleted in neonates. The Ly‐1 B cell population, in contrast, develops from Ig‐ progenitors during the prenatal and neonatal life but survives because it is exclusively self‐replenishing in adults. Therefore, elimination of a population of Ly‐1 B cells from neonates is tantamount to removing it forever.
Leverage, Growth Opportunities and Stock Price Response to New Financing

This paper examines the impact of leverage and growth opportunities on stock price reactions to seasoned equity offerings in Finland. The empirical results provide novel evidence of a negative relationship between leverage and stock price decline associated with equity offerings. In addition, the results indicate that growth opportunity is positively related to announcement abnormal return. Furthermore, we examine the effect of leverage and growth opportunities on equity offerings. It is found that high-levered low–growth firms are the worst performers at the announcement and issuance of seasoned equity offerings.