Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Virtual Systems in Australia: A Study of Individual Users' Commitments and Usage

This article empirically investigates the factors impacting users' commitment to virtual systems and how that commitment impacts usage of virtual systems in an Australian setting. Data were collected from a random sample representing the Australian Capital Territory using a structured questionnaire. A theoretical model is developed based on the extant literature and the relevant theoretical framework. Various statistical techniques, including multiple regressions, are employed in analyzing the data. The results show that individual factors (e.g., trust, usefulness, and image) and social factors (e.g., peers and virtual community) are the most significant predictors of commitment to virtual systems. However, technical aspects of virtual systems (e.g., system quality and information quality) are not significantly associated with commitment to virtual systems. These findings have important implications for both theory and practice of virtual systems. The article also identifies the limits and future direction of research in the field.
Import Price Uncertainty, Production Decisions, and Relative Factor Shares

The effects of import-price uncertainty on factor income in Switzerland are estimated. The production-theory approach is used to derive the import demand function from an expected utility maximization problem, treating imports as an input to the technology. The model is also used to test for risk aversion and to assess the impact of uncertainty on the volume of imports and gross output. Evidence is found that, for most years, labor has been relatively more vulnerable to uncertainty than has capital.
Attitudes of Managers toward Corporate Social Responsibility

Past studies as well as the opinion of some top executives have suggested that inertia or outright resistance from operating management often thwarts the good intentions of top management in defining and implementing policies of corporate social responsibility. On the basis that managerial attitudes may reflect or give rise to such inertia or resistance, a study was done among a sample of Fortune 500 executivesboth operating-level and top-level managers. As contrasted to some previous research and speculation, differences between the attitudes of operating managers and top managers were found to be surprisingly infrequent and small in magnitude. The results suggest that, as a result of several recent developments, the attitudes among managers at both levels have reached a high degree of consensus.
Wage Growth and Job Turnover: An Empirical Analysis

This paper demonstrates that labor turnover is a significant factor in understanding wage growth since it affects both wage growth across jobs and wage growth within the job. Our analysis shows that young men who quit experience significant wage gains compared to stayers and compared to their own wage growth prior to the job change. Among older men, a quit increases wage growth only if the individual said he changed jobs because he found a better job. Yet in both age groups, individuals who expect to remain on the current job experience steeper wage growth per time period on that job. Thus labor turnover has offsetting effects on wage growth, leading to wage gains across jobs but flatter growth in shorter jobs. Our empirical analysis shows however that total life-cycle wage growth is positively related to current tenure. While early mobility may pay, individuals who are still changing jobs later in life experience lower overall wage growth.
Changes to Income Trust Taxation in Canada: Investor Reaction and Dividend Clientele Theory

This paper explores the relationship between tax-induced dividend clientele theory and the recent changes to the taxation of income trusts in Canada. On October 31, 2006, the Canadian government announced the Tax Fairness Plan ("TFP") calling for the elimination of the considerable tax advantage enjoyed by income trusts. Generally, distributions from income trusts are now taxed at rates comparable to those imposed on corporate dividends. We examine market reaction to the "TFP" to address three issues: first, whether the valuation effect of a dividend tax increase is consistent with the traditional or the new view of dividend taxation; secondly, whether the market reaction to tax increases has a differential impact on firm value that is related to the tax preferences of taxable, tax-exempt, and foreign investor tax clienteles; and thirdly, whether firms change their dividend policies in response to the preference of institutional investors (tax-based dividend policy effect) or whether institutional investors are sorting themselves across firms based on their dividend policies (investor sorting effect). Our results provide strong evidence as follows. First, the valuation effect in reaction to the "TFP" announcement is consistent with the traditional view of dividend taxation - i.e. that taxes on dividends reduce the net return to investors, increase the firm's cost of capital and lower the firm's ability to access capital markets, thereby discouraging investment and savings. Secondly, we saw that trusts with a larger percentage of their units held by tax-exempt, low-tax, and foreign investors had a higher decline in value when compared with trusts held mostly by ordinary taxable investors. These results support dividend tax clientele theory. Finally, we observed changes in institutional investor clienteles consistent with the investor sorting effect. Copyright (c) 2009 The Authors Journal compilation (c) 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Nightly Enteral Nutrition Support of Elderly Hip Fracture Patients: A Pilot Study

Objectives: Assess whether postoperative nightly enteral nutrition support improves outcomes of elderly patients with an acute hip fracture Design: Randomized controlled trial Setting: A University and a Department of Veteran’s Affairs Hospital Subjects: Adults >64 years of age who underwent surgical repair of an acute hip fracture Interventions: Subjects randomized to the control (Ctrl) group received standard care while the treatment (Tx) group received standard care plus up to 1,375 Kcal [5,755 kJ/d] of nasoenteral tube feedings each night. When tube feedings had to be discontinued, Tx subjects were asked to drink an equivalent amount of the nutritional supplement each night. Measures of Outcome: Rate of postoperative complications and 6-month postoperative survival Results: Fifty-seven patients were randomized to the Tx (n = 27, mean age 75.9 ± 7.4 yrs) or Ctrl groups (age 81.7 ± 7.7 yrs). All subjects had reduced volitional nutrient intakes after surgery. During the first week subsequent to surgery, there was no difference between the treatment and control groups in the amount of nutrients that they volitionally consumed during the day. However, the treatment subjects had a greater total daily nutrient intake (Median 5,866 (IQR 5,024 to 7,335) kJ/d vs. 3,965 (IQR 2,968 to 4,664) kJ/d, p < 0.001). However, by the second postoperative week this difference was no longer statistically significant. Intolerance to the tube feedings developed commonly. There was no difference between the groups in the rate of postoperative life-threatening complications or mortality within six months subsequent to surgery. Conclusions: This study failed to confirm findings from a prior study of improved postoperative survival with nutrition support. However, it was conducted on multiple hospital wards which may have contributed to the higher rate of tube-related problems and less nutrient delivery signifying the need for further study.
The innovation game: lessons in strategy and managing operations

Purpose – This paper seeks to present a teaching tool (the Innovation Game) which aims to demonstrate the challenges of developing an effective innovation strategy in the context of new product development. The goal of the game is to enable participants to experience how strategic and operational choices made in relation to innovation strategy are interrelated and how these choices can impact on new product development success. Specifically the paper aims to explore the impact of choices made in relation to capability accumulation, capacity management and product‐portfolio management.Design/methodology/approach – After presenting the learning objectives for the game with the support of relevant literature, the paper describes the design of the game and the context in which it was played. The paper reviews feedback (learning outcomes) from formal reflective post‐game sessions with participants. This feedback indicates that the learning objectives have been satisfied.Findings – Through experiential learning.
The Organizational Innovation Laboratory

Organizational 'innovation laboratories', dedicated facilities for encouraging creative behaviours and supporting innovative projects, have received scant academic attention despite their increasing popularity with a range of different practitioners. This paper develops an initial theoretical explanation of the phenomenon, based upon notions of organizational learning and dynamic capabilities. This framework is then used as the basis for analysing the structure, infrastructure, benefits and dis-benefits of three UK-based laboratory facilities (mass service, government department, academic institution). Preliminary conclusions suggest that the 'innovation laboratory' can offer real benefits for organizations: reinforcing corporate commitment to innovation and creativity by providing a physical manifestation of dynamic capability and double-loop learning concepts. Although the physical design of the space is central to its functionality - emphasizing dislocation from day-to-day activity, eliminating hierarchy, encouraging participation - direct facilitation remains critical to successful operation. There are also dis-benefits associated with what can be substantial financial investments and there is some evidence that such facilities can have a relatively short useful lifespan. Given the limited nature of the empirical base, the paper concludes with some specific suggestions for further work.
Audit Committee Member Support for Proposed Audit Adjustments: A Source Credibility Perspective

This study reports the results of an experiment that investigates the effects of financial‐report timing, EPS proximity to analyst forecast, and external auditor argument consistency on audit committee members' support for a proposed audit adjustment. We use source credibility theory to predict greater support for the audit adjustment when the financial report is at year‐end rather than at interim, when unadjusted EPS is above rather than below forecast, and when the auditor consistently argues for adjustment rather than agrees with management's preference to avoid adjustment. One hundred thirty‐one audit committee members participated in a between‐subjects experiment. Consistent with theory, the participants were more likely to recommend adjustment for annual statements and for adjustments that the auditor consistently supported. Two significant interactions indicate that the effect of report timing holds only in the under forecast and inconsistent auditor conditions. Finally, audit committee members who.
Nonparametric Retrospection and Monitoring of Predictability of Financial Returns

We develop and evaluate sequential testing tools for a class of nonparametric tests for predictability of financial returns that include, in particular, the directional accuracy and excess profitability tests. Our sequential methods consider in a unified framework both retrospection of a historical sample and monitoring newly arriving data. To this end, we focus on linear monitoring boundaries that are continuations of horizontal lines corresponding to retrospective critical values, elaborating on both two-sided and one-sided testing. We run a simulation study and illustrate the methodology by testing for directional and mean predictability of returns in young stock markets in Eastern Europe.
Analyst Activity Around the World

In this paper we provide evidence on analyst activity and performance in 47 countries around the world, including several emerging market economies. Our empirical analysis first demonstrates wide variation in the extent and accuracy of analyst activity across our sample countries. A handful of country-specific measures, such as the average firm size, the size of the stock market relative to country GDP, the quality of accounting disclosures, and the country's legal origin, explain a sizeable part of this variation. For a subset of 15 emerging markets in Asia and Latin America, we also investigate the proposition that the business groups, commonly found in these regions, which often take the form of pyramidal ownership structures, hamper analyst activity and their forecast performance. We find that, after controlling for other factors, the earnings of group affiliates are indeed harder to forecast than those of unaffiliated firms. However, group affiliates are more likely to be followed by analysts. Our analysis also shows that the magnitude of the group effect is small, and that it is overshadowed by country-specific contextual factors. Overall, our results are consistent with the view that the transparency problem in an economy is primarily influenced by its legal and information context, rather than by how companies are organized in the economy.
Influences on the choice of HR system: the network organization perspective

Research into the links between HR and performance has assumed that managers have a high degree of strategic choice in this area. We argue this choice is constrained by members of the network within which the firm operates. Two contrasting firms are examined to discuss how and why strategic choice varies by reference to the resource dependency theory. This discussion leads us to conclude that the links between HR and performance can be understood only in the context of the characteristics of network relationships.
The Size of Forest Holding/Parcelization Problem in Forestry: A Literature Review

In the early nonindustrial private forest (family forest) research literature, size of forest holding was identified as a critical variable impacting the propensity of family forest owners to invest in and manage small forest properties. This literature discusses relationships between size of forest holding and variables like forest owners’ financial and asset positions, forest management objectives, use of a forest management plan and professional forestry advice, and use of forestry cost-share funding. Since then, the literature has expanded and now relates to the major problem of forest parcelization. We reviewed this literature for historical themes, technical considerations, and continuing ownership problems, emphasizing the current circumstances of forest parcelization and its historical roots in the size of forest holding problem. Many of the sociological, economic, financial, and technical relationships identified earlier as foundations of the size of forest holding problem are shown to be also fundamental to the parcelization problem in forestry. We suggest that today’s parcelization issues are partially a continuation of the size of forest holding problem and that earlier research may be relevant to parcelization problems. We provide a detailed literature review that relates parcelization to the size of forest holding problem.
VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor) and Fibrotic Lung Disease

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) encompasses a group of heterogeneous diseases characterised by varying degrees of aberrant inflammation and fibrosis of the lung parenchyma. This may occur in isolation, such as in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) or as part of a wider disease process affecting multiple organs, such as in systemic sclerosis. Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (anti-VEGF) therapy is one component of an existing broad-spectrum therapeutic option in IPF (nintedanib) and may become part of the emerging therapeutic strategy for other ILDs in the future. This article describes our current understanding of VEGF biology in normal lung homeostasis and how changes in its bioavailability may contribute the pathogenesis of ILD. The complexity of VEGF biology is particularly highlighted with an emphasis on the potential non-vascular, non-angiogenic roles for VEGF in the lung, in both health and disease.
The influence of emotions displayed and personal selling on customer behaviour intention

The impact of employee performance on customer behavioural intentions and consumption behaviour is important to service marketers. In many service settings, service organizations require emotional display and personal selling to stay competitive in todays market. Based on a review of service literature, this study investigates the effect of emotions displayed and personal selling on customer purchase amount and re-patronage intention in convenience-goods retail service settings. This work applies mystery shopper methods to data collected from a Taiwan bakery chain. Analysis of the results from 519 responded questionnaires in this study reveal that positive emotions displayed by contact personnel are unrelated to consumption expenditure, but do affect re-patronage intention. Further, the results show that personal selling negatively influences consumption amount. This study suggests that service managers consider enhancing their emotional display perspective in human resource practices, and focus on performing personal selling as a consumer need, in different service industries.
The Evolution of Cost-based Pricing Rules in Britain: An institutionalist perspective

This paper illustrates how an institutionalist perspective can help us understand the development of cost-based pricing rules in Britain. It explores the historical development of rule-based procedures, such as absorption costing and the cost allocation systems used by trade associations and government departments in the first half of the last century. The intention is to identify the institutional rationalities that underpinned the evolution of these supposedly 'irrational' practices. A case study of British Printers in the early years of the 20th century illustrates how a rule-based system, collectively designed and built around costing knowledge was used to promote stability and certainty in a chaotic market. Similarly, the cost-based rules introduced and administered by the British Government during the First and Second World Wars were used to control overpricing and profiteering, and hence cost measurement was seen as instrumental in bringing stability and control to a market that was operating in an apparently unacceptable way. In the post-war period, however, similar cost-based pricing rules and cost allocations procedures were implicated in a variety of restrictive practices.
Implications for the Role of Retailers in Quality Assurance

We investigate a manufacturer–retailer channel to explore the role of a retailer in assuring the quality of a manufacturer's product as a quality gatekeeper. Such a gatekeeping activity can entail a reduction in the defective rate for consumers, if the retailer charges the manufacturer a penalty for each identified defect that is no smaller than the market penalty for an unidentified defect. As a result of the retailer's gatekeeping, the change in the negotiated wholesale price only depends on the manufacturer's individual benefit, whereas the change in the retailer's optimal retail price is associated with the channel-wide benefit. When the impact of quality relative to retail price on demand is higher, the retailer benefits more from her gatekeeping activity, thus having a greater incentive to take on the quality gatekeeping responsibility. Moreover, the retailer's gatekeeping generates a larger increase in the demand as well as each firm's profit, when the retailer has a stronger relative bargaining power.
London's Migrant Division of Labour

This article is located in the maelstrom of debate about immigration and employment in the contemporary economy. The article presents original analysis of data from the Labour Force Survey and a workplace case-study in the cleaning sector to highlight growing employer dependence on a very diverse pool of foreign-born labour. The article explains such dependency by drawing on interview material collected from employers, employers' associations, community organizations and policymakers. In sum, we argue that London's Migrant Division of Labour (MDL) is a product of the semi-autonomous actions taken by employers, workers and government in the particular context of London. Understanding the MDL thus needs to encompass employer demand, migrants' `dual frame of reference' and limited access to benefits, as well as employers' preference for foreign-born workers over `native' labour supply.The state is also argued to play a critical role in this employment, determining the nature and terms of immigration, the accessibility and levels of benefits, and employment regulation. London's MDL is shown to intersect with, and in some cases overturn, existing patterns of labour market segmentation on the basis of human capital (class), ethnicity and gender.
An integration of the livelihoods and asset-based community development approaches: A South African case study

This study provides an integrated framework and practice model of the sustainable livelihoods (SL) and the asset-based community development (ABCD) approaches. A household survey of a rural village in South Africa is used as a basis of analysis to demonstrate the application of the integrated approach. The results elucidate the vulnerability of the people and a range of inter-locking and multi-dimensional factors contributing to poverty in the community. The results also show people's assets, capabilities and activities which enable them to cope and survive despite constraints and shortcomings. It was found that the integrated SL/ABCD framework is a useful framework to understand the strengths of a vulnerable community in order to plan and implement sustainable community development strategies.
Financial Leasing under Inflation

* In the last decade, there has been a relatively rapid growth in leasing as a method of financing. Anderson [1] estimated that during the period ending in 1980, approximately twenty percent of new acquisitions of capital goods in the U.S. were financed by leases. Lewellen, Long, and McConnell [13] have demonstrated that in a perfect market the competitive market equilibrium lease payments will be determined such that "the lease or buy choice will be a matter of indifference" (p. 790). They conclude that there may exist market imperfections such as tax rate differentials between lessors and lessees, differences in realizable depreciation deductions and salvage values, and different borrowing possibilities, which may lead to exploitable opportunities by lessors and lessees. While these and many other factors may contribute to a cost difference between leasing and purchasing an asset, income tax differentials among firms were emphasized by Myers, Dill and Bautista (MDB) [15] as the major market imperfection stipulating lease financing. Miller and Upton [14] suggested that other tax asymmetries, such as the inability of some firms to exploit investment tax subsidies, are important in explaining the existence of leasing. However, in light of the recent growth in the leasing industry, it seems that there may be other factors that accentuate the tax-related effects and further
Children's work and welfare, 1780-1890

Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: 1780s-1850s 2. The impact of industrialisation: 1780-1850s 3. Rescue and reform: 1830-67 4. Work and welfare: 1868-80s Conclusion: the working-class child in the 1880s Appendices Select Bibliography Index.