Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Teaching Practice In The Greater Vaal Triangle Area: The Student Teachers Experience

Teaching Practice as observed by (Ngidi and Sibaya 2003) forms an integral part of teacher training. It exposes the students to a teaching environment in which they will contextualise their theoretical knowledge gained during their training. It also grants student teachers experience in the actual teaching and learning environment. Given the importance of teaching practice, the researcher sought to investigate the experiences of student teachers doing their teaching practice. This paper examines of the positive experiences and challenges faced by Vaal University of Technology (VUT) Post Graduate Certificate Education (PGCE) student teachers (n=24) during their 10 week teaching practice in the Vaal area. A qualitative research design was followed. Semi-structured interviews with all student teachers were used to collect the data while content analysis was used to identify themes and analyse the data. The research established that despite the enriching experiences during teaching practice, student teachers experienced many challenges which significantly affected their ability to fully achieve the desired outcomes from the exercise. Based on the findings of this study, measures were suggested on how to improve teaching Practice in order to enable the student teachers to accrue maximum benefits/ outcomes from the experience.
Monetary Transmission and Inventory: Evidence from Japanese Balance-Sheet Data by Firm Size

I analyse the response of inventories and short-term debts to monetary policy using disaggregated data on Japanese manufacturing firms classified by firm size. I find that monetary contraction decreases the inventories of large firms; however, inventories of small and medium firms increase considerably for the first several quarters. This implies that in a subcontracting system small and medium subcontractors serve as a buffer and alleviate the monetary shocks felt by their large parent firms. Moreover, inventory build-ups are financed by increases in accounts payable. I also find that for small firms land asset is important in easing credit conditions and increasing inventories.
Uncertainty, heterogeneous expectation errors and economic activity: evidence from business survey data

What is the impact of time-varying business uncertainty on economic activity? We construct empirical measures of uncertainty based on business survey data from the U.S. and Germany. We show that measured uncertainty is robustly negatively correlated with economic activity far into the future. In particular, adverse “supply” shocks lead to large increases in measured uncertainty. In contrast, innovations in measured uncertainty uncorrelated with shocks identified as having a permanent impact on production have quantitatively small impacts on economic activity. Our results are consistent with two economic environments: uncertainty shocks cause rather low-frequency negative effects on activity, or high uncertainty events are mainly a by-product of bad economic times – recessions breed uncertainty. 1This chapter is based on joint work with Rudiger Bachmann and Eric Sims. It is based on our paper “Uncertainty and Business Activity: Evidence From Business Survey Data,” Working Paper 16143, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2010.
The Difference between Earnings and Operating Cash Flow as an Indicator of Financial Reporting Fraud

This paper examines the relation between earnings and operating cash flow to derive and test an indicator of financial statement fraud. Accrual measurement concepts indicate that financial statement fraud should be associated with high levels of earnings relative to operating cash flow. We demonstrate that the excess of earnings over operating cash flow is extreme in most fraud cases in years immediately prior to the fraud discovery based on a sample of 56 fraud cases from 1978 to 1991. We compare the distribution of the earnings minus operating cash flow variable for fraud firms with that for a sample of 60,453 firmâ€ years for firms listed on COMPUSTAT. We test a logistic regression model in which the discovery/nondiscovery of fraud is the dependent variable, and earnings minus operating cash flow is the explanatory variable. Other control variables are included in the model based on prior studies. Results are consistent with expectations derived from accrual measurement theory. We then examine the predictive ability of the model using our sample of fraud firms and a sample of nonfraud firms in the same fourâ€ digit SIC code industries. Observations for the fraud firms are for the fiscal year prior to the discovery of fraud. Observations for the nonfraud firms are for the same fiscal years as the fraud firms in the same industries. The predictive ability of the model, including the excess of earnings over operating cash flow, is substantially higher than the predictive ability of the model omitting this variable. We conclude that the earningsâ€ operating cash flow relation provides important information for those interested in identifying financial statement fraud, especially when considered in conjunction with other factors associated with fraud risk.
Alternative Theories of the Rate of Interest

This article develops a general framework for the analysis of alternative theories concerning the determination of interest rates. The framework extends Kenneth Boulding's asset approach in which Keynesian liquidity preference theory is interpreted as a theory of asset valuation. A model of asset price determination is used to examine neoclassical, monetarist, portfolio balance, and horizontal theories of interest rates. Finally, the article uses the framework to reconcile liquidity preference theory with an endogenous money approach. It is argued that endogenous money, liquidity preference, and the expenditure multiplier are the three essential and interrelated principles of the Keynesian approach. Copyright 1992 by Oxford University Press.
Insights from action research: implementing the balanced scorecard at a wind‐farm company

Purpose - After a diagnosis of the existing management control systems (MCS) at a wind-farm company, the paper seeks to develop a balanced scorecard (BSC) in order to enable the organization to compress and streamline management decision making and to show what is to be taken into account for a successful implementation of this framework. Design/methodology/approach - An action research study, using Otley's performance management framework – to get a comprehensive view of MCS, identify strengths and weaknesses of the systems in place, and then develop a BSC – was conducted to the attainment of useful empirical knowledge, and to help achieve effective change within the organization. Findings - The paper identifies the main issues related to performance measurement and presents a BSC designed for a wind-farm company. Practical implications - A comprehensive guide of the balanced scorecard methodology is described, including how the concept can be customized to the wind-farm industry. The paper is especially of interest for practitioners. Originality/value - The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, the paper describes how the BSC concept can be improved through customizing the normal four perspectives, by including additional perspectives that provide awareness about stakeholders, such as suppliers, community and government. Second, the research provides practical guidelines to design a performance measurement model, considering the organization's stakeholders and the strategies to ensure that value is created for them. Finally, and for the first time, the paper provides a systematization of the key performance indicators for a wind-farm organization.
How Do Young Firms Choose Among Different Modes of Investor Communications?

This paper analyzes how managers of young firms choose among various modes of investor communications, using data on analyst presentations, management earnings forecasts, press releases and corporate finance disbursements for a sample of 645 post-IPO firms. Firms that plan to access capital markets initiate investor communications through analyst presentations. Firms with high return volatility make management earnings forecasts as their first act of investor communications. Firms with low return volatility and increasing earnings communicate by initiating dividends. Undervalued firms use repurchases to initiate their communication. Further, firms in poor information environments are more likely to use corporate financial disbursements to solve information asymmetry problems. The results show that the modes of investor communications differ from each other, with firms choosing the mode that best suits their communications objective.
The Performance of Newly Privatized Firms in Selected MENA Countries: The Role of Ownership Structure, Governance and Liberalization Policies

The paper works with a sample of 95 newly privatized firms (NPFs) that went public through stock markets in four Middle East and North Africa countries (Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey). We find that these firms experience significant increase in profitability and operating efficiency, and significant decline in employment and leverage. We also document strong performance improvements for firms that not relinquish control from the state, that are not sold to foreigners and that come from Egypt. Employment decline is more severe in Egypt and in firms where the state is no longer in control. Also, the results indicate that revenue firms and NPFs in Morocco yield significantly less leverage than control firms and those from other countries. As for the sources of these performance changes, we find that profitability change is negatively related to control relinquishment by the government and positively related with foreign ownership. Trade openness, change in real GDP over the privatization window, index of investor protection and foreign ownership are important determinants of the change in sales efficiency and output changes. These findings suggest that NPFs become more productive in environments where property rights are better protected and enforced and that foreign investors influence the firm's productivity through their monitoring role.
Managing human resources in SMEs in a transition economy: evidence from China

The objective of this study is to explore the changing nature of people management on the under-researched area of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. A mix of research methods, which combined a survey approach with in-depth, semi-structured interviews, was adopted. The major characteristics of people management in China's SMEs were then identified. Problems and difficulties that may occur during HRM take-up were illustrated. Key factors influencing the nature of people management in China's SMEs were highlighted. People management in SMEs in China was compared and contrasted with Western HRM models. The findings indicate that a relative convergence with Western HRM practice, although one that is strongly influenced by unique ‘Chinese characteristics’, will be the trend of development of people management in China's SMEs. The study leads to a better understanding of SMEs in China and helps fill some of the gaps in the analysis of management in China. Since, in the presence of cultural disparities, organizational practices and their effectiveness may differ from those in the West, the findings of the study contribute not only to the development of SMEs, but also to the debates of possible convergence or continuation of differences in management practice worldwide.
The Implementation and Benefits of Activity‐Based Costing: A Hong Kong Study

Activity‐Based Costing (ABC) is a relatively new accounting system that has received a substantial amount of publicity and is heavily marketed by consulting firms. In light of this, we surveyed companies in 1999 to evaluate the adoption of ABC in Hong Kong. We set out to investigate factors that might lead to its adoption and also surveyed whether companies are satisfied with the new system. Our findings reveal a low adoption rate of ABC. There is directional support for companies with diverse product lines and those facing intense competition using activity‐based costing. Companies that have adopted ABC report high satisfaction with the new system. Overall, activity‐based costing has made limited inroads in Hong Kong. The reasons for this are not readily apparent.
Fully Automated Data-Driven Respiratory Signal Extraction From SPECT Images Using Laplacian Eigenmaps

We propose a data-driven method for extracting a respiratory surrogate signal from SPECT list-mode data. The approach is based on dimensionality reduction with Laplacian Eigenmaps. By setting a scale parameter adaptively and adding a series of post-processing steps to correct polarity and normalization between projections, we enable fully-automatic operation and deliver a respiratory surrogate signal for the entire SPECT acquisition. We validated the method using 67 patient scans from three acquisition types (myocardial perfusion, liver shunt diagnostic, lung inhalation/perfusion) and an Anzai pressure belt as a gold standard. The proposed method achieved a mean correlation against the Anzai of 0.81 ± 0.17 (median 0.89). In a subsequent analysis, we characterize the performance of the method with respect to count rates and describe a predictor for identifying scans with insufficient statistics. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first large validation of a data-driven respiratory signal extraction method published thus far for SPECT, and our results compare well with those reported in the literature for such techniques applied to other modalities such as MR and PET.
Assessing the contribution of Islamic finance to economic growth: empirical evidence from Malaysia

Purpose – This purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the contribution of the Islamic banking and financial institutions (IBFIs) to economic growth in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – Focusing on the post-1997 economic turmoil, the paper relies on several time series tests, such as autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL), vector error correction model (VECM) and variance decompositions (VDCs). Findings – The paper documents significant role played by the IBFIs in Malaysian economy. In particular, significant unidirectional causality was found from the IBFIs development to economic growth, supporting the finance-growth led hypothesis or the supply-leading view. Research limitations/implications – The paper only focuses its analysis on the role of the IBFIs in the Malaysian economy and not the financial sector as a whole. Thus, the findings of this paper are indicative, but inconclusive for the entire financial sector in the country. Practical implications – Continuous efforts should be undert.
The Effect of Practice on Component Submovements is Dependent on the Availability of Visual Feedback

Abstract Participants (N = 16) were given extensive practice (1,500 trials) on a perceptual-motor aiming task. The full-vision (FV) group practiced with vision of their response cursor, whereas the no vision (NV) group practiced in a condition without vision. Movements were made as quickly and accurately as possible, and knowledge of results (KR) was provided. The authors tested the importance of vision early and late in practice by transferring participants to the NV condition without KR. The effects of practice differed between the two conditions. The FV group increased the speed of initial impulse to get to the target quickly, then relied on vision so make discrete error corrections. Transfer tests revealed that reliance on vision remained after extensive practice. For the NV group, practice effects were associated with a reduction in the extent to which discrete error corrections were produced.
In WTO We Trust? : International Institutions and Domestic Interactions

s the distribution as well as the tendency from above scatter graphs by using a fitting curve like Quadratic Fit and Local Polynomial Fit with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Figure 3-4 Net Conflict Gains of Two Groups by Quadratic Fit and Local Polynomial Fit In general, as Figure 3-4 shows, group 1 might either transfer from a peaceful behavior to conflict or change from conflict to peace with the intervention of international institutions; group 2 follows a similar route in behavioral choice and it is also possible to keep peace before and after the effects of international institutions. In respect to the overall tendency, domestic groups would prefer a non-conflict approach as their choice, which seems to be more pacific after receiving the influence of international institutions. Furthermore, under asymmetric settings on mobilization efforts between two groups, they show various changing tendencies and different gaps of net conflict gains before and after the influence of international institutions. As Table 3-3 and Figure 3-5 indicated, in most cases, two groups have changed their behavioral logics on conflict or peace except that in the most asymmetric cases such as 1:9 and 9:1 on mobilization efforts. 1 The illustrations on 9 data subgroups by Local Polynomial Fit are attached in Figure A-2 in Appendix II. -6 00 -4 00 -2 00 0 20 0 40 0 Po st er io r N et C on fli ct G ai n -20 -10 0 10 20 Prior Net Conflict Gain Net Conflict Gains by Quadratic Fit (95%) -2 00 0 -1 00 0 0 10 00 Po st er io r N et C on fli ct G ai n -20 -10 0 10 20 Prior Net Conflict Gain Net Conflict Gains by Local Polynomial Fit (95%) Net Conflict Gains of Two Groups by Quadratic Fit and Local Polynomial Fit
Graduate entrepreneurship: intentions, education and training

Purpose – The paper's purpose is to present an introduction to the special issue is that positions and explores some of issues and challenges in the field of graduate entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines a range of issues and themes and introduces papers of six authors/author teams. The introductory paper is divided into three sections: what is graduate entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial intentions; and education and training.Findings – The paper finds that, despite increasing attention on graduate entrepreneurship, there remains a lack of research on entrepreneurial intentions and enterprise/entrepreneurship education and training in varied and multiple contexts. This special issue includes research from a number of countries, including England, Ireland, Australia and the USA.Originality/value – The paper provides the basis for a more nuanced understanding of entrepreneurial intentions and related education and training – of interest to both researchers and policy makers in te.
Glycemic control in non-critically ill hospitalized patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND The effect of intensive therapy to achieve tight glycemic control in patients hospitalized in non-critical care settings is unclear. METHODS We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the effect of intensive glycemic control strategies on the outcomes of death, stroke, myocardial infarction, incidence of infection, and hypoglycemia. We included randomized and observational studies. Bibliographic databases were searched through February 2010. Random effects model was used to pool results across studies. RESULTS Nineteen studies (nine randomized and 10 observational studies) were included. The risk of bias across studies was moderate. Meta-analysis demonstrates that intensive glycemic control was not associated with significant effect on the risk of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke. There was a trend for increased risk of hypoglycemia (relative risk, 1.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.97-2.57), particularly in surgical studies and when the planned glycemic target was achieved. Intensive glycemic control was associated with decreased risk of infection (relative risk, 0.41; 95% confidence interval, 0.21-0.77) that was mainly derived from studies in surgical settings. CONCLUSION Intensive control of hyperglycemia in patients hospitalized in non-critical care settings may reduce the risk of infection. The quality of evidence is low and mainly driven by studies in surgical settings.
Saving and Growth with Habit Formation

Saving and growth are strongly positively correlated across countries. Recent empirical evidence suggests that this correlation holds largely because high growth leads to high saving, not the other way around. This evidence is difficult to reconcile with standard growth models, since forward-looking consumers with standard utility should save less in a fast-growing economy because they know they will be richer in the future than they are today. We show that if utility depends partly on how consumption compares to a "habit stock" determined by past consumption, an otherwise-standard growth model can imply that increases in growth can cause increased saving.
Interstate Peacekeeping: Causal Mechanisms and Empirical Effects

Peacekeeping is perhaps the international community's most important tool for maintaining peace in the aftermath of war. Its practice has evolved significantly in the past ten or fifteen years as it has been used increasingly in civil wars. However, traditional peacekeeping between states is not well understood. Its operation is undertheorized and its effects undertested. This article explores the causal mechanisms through which peacekeepers keep peace and examines its empirical effects after interstate wars. To take the endogeneity of peacekeeping into account, it also examines where peacekeepers tend to be deployed. Duration analysis shows that, all else equal, peacekeeping significantly increases the chances that peace will last. Peacekeepers can help adversaries to maintain peace by making surprise attack more difficult, by reducing uncertainty about enemy intentions, and by preventing and controlling accidents and incidents that can spiral back to war.
Textural analysis of diffuse myocardial fibrosis in aging rats: A late gadolinium enhancement magnetic resonance imaging study

Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging has been shown to identify myocardial fibrosis secondary to myocardial infarction at nearly a cellular level. The purpose of this study is to assess diffuse myocardial fibrosis in aging hearts using LGE CMR imaging and histological staining as a reference. We present a quantitative approach to compare the amount of myocardial fibrosis between young (6-week-old) and elderly (2-year-old) rats. We hypothesize that 3D texture analysis of the high resolution MR images can characterize the level of diffuse fibrosis present in the myocardium and discriminate between the two age groups. Our results show the elderly hearts have an apparent increase of myocardial fibrosis in the histological slices stained with picrosirius red, which were qualitatively compared to the young group. The CMR quantification also shows a significant increase of myocardial fibrosis in the elderly group compared to the young rats. Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis shows texture features derived from the MR images can distinguish between the two age groups better than signal intensity of the MR images. Our results suggest that texture analysis may improve the ability of detecting diffuse myocardial fibrosis in LGE CMR images.