Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Choice and performance of corporate governance mechanisms in the German financial sector and the financial crisis

Corporate governance (CG) has been one of the most widely discussed topics over the last few years. Especially the role of the financial sector within the current financial and economic crisis has led to a loss of trust and put pressure not only on companies within the financial sector but also on policy makers to reform CG. Nevertheless, governance shortcomings contributing to the crisis of confidence are not uniquely American as one could expect taking a look at Lehman Brothers or Bear Stearns, however, with companies also in Germany adding their own governance shortcomings to the crisis. We try to find evidence for such shortcomings researching on a sample of the biggest companies within the German financial sector listed in the Prime Standard segment at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. We identify shortcomings on compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code (GCGC) mainly in the cooperation between management board and supervisory board (one of the most remarkable characteristics of the German two-tier system) and also on transparency & disclosure on CG (e.g. on remuneration issues) and try to give answer on how to solve such problems in the future.
Credit rationing of rural households in China

Purpose - In the presence of credit rationing the poor are unable to exploit growth-promoting opportunities. Using data gathered from a household survey on North China Plain, the purpose of this paper is to find pervasive rationing in the highly regulated formal credit market in rural China. The subsidized credit policies favor local elites instead of the targeted poor strata and earmarked credit programs are less effective. By jointly estimating credit rationing in both the formal and informal sectors, this paper elaborates on the fragmented rural credit market in China where different borrower segments are systematically sorted out across different loan types. Non-targeted credit programs cannot address income redistribution or sustainable poverty reduction in the presence of such skewed equality and equity. Design/methodology/approach - The basis of this study is a multi-topic household survey data on rural households in the North China Plain, with 337 rural households being randomly sampled out of five purposely selected counties. The particular objectives are to identify the determinants of credit rationing in both formal and informal sectors, to show the extent of credit rationing by using Probit model, to explore the substitutability of institutional and informal lending by using bivariate probit specification. Findings - First, there exists pervasive rationing in the highly regulated formal credit market in rural China. Second, the subsidized credit policies favor local elites, instead of the targeted poor strata; and the earmarked credit programs are less effective. Third, informal credits, in a form of reciprocal arrangement, are weak substitutes for institutional loans. Different segments of borrowers are systematically sorted out across different loan types; the rural credit market is fragmented. Fourth, government-led credit programs are not effective in promoting agricultural investments; credits of rural non-farm activities facilitate agricultural transformation. Originality/value - Since 2004, the policymakers in China initiated a set of policies towards promoting agricultural and rural development to spur the rural economy and ease tensions in rural area. Credit policies, believed often to be efficient and guided tools to provide financing to investors, gained a great deal of appeal. Given the widely existing failure of government-driven rural credit programs in many other developing countries, how the interventions affect the rural economy in China should be investigated. However, little has been done to explore the interventions on smallholder farmers and the existing evidence is therefore pieced and anecdotal. This paper aims to fill that gap.
Aberrant pattern of regional cerebral blood flow in Alzheimer's disease: a voxel-wise meta-analysis of arterial spin labeling MR imaging studies

Many studies have applied arterial spin labeling (ASL) to characterize cerebral perfusion patterns of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, findings across studies are not conclusive. A quantitatively voxel-wise meta-analysis to pool the resting-state ASL studies that measure regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) alterations in AD was conducted to identify the most consistent and replicable perfusion pattern using seed-based d mapping. The meta-analysis, including 17 ASL studies encompassing 327 AD patients and 357 healthy controls, demonstrated that decreased rCBF in AD patients relative to healthy controls were consistently identified in the bilateral posterior cingulate cortices (PCC)/precuneus, bilateral inferior parietal lobules (IPLs), and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The meta-regression analysis showed that more severe cognitive impairment in the AD samples correlated with greater decreases of rCBF in the bilateral PCC and left IPL. This study characterizes an aberrant ASL-rCBF perfusion pattern of AD involving the posterior default mode network and executive network, which are implicated in its pathophysiology and hold promise for developing imaging biomarkers.
GDP and life satisfaction in European countries – focus on transition

This article contributes to the debate about the impact of the transition on subjective well-being. After reviewing the relevant literature the authors draw on the surveys of the European Values Study of 1991, 1999 and 2008 to describe the trends in life satisfaction in 13 Western and 11 Eastern countries. The analysis finds that life satisfaction levels in transition countries have come to approach those in the West: the ‘rather unhappy’ 1990s were followed by the ‘rather happy’ 2000s. The strengthening correlation between life satisfaction and GDP reflects this process of convergence. The characteristics of respondents, however, are more important than the national GDP, and a regression of life satisfaction with basic demographic and stratification variables shows their reinforcing effect, especially in Eastern countries. The findings of other surveys reporting on developments of attitudes since 2008 vary but are far from proving a uniform negative impact of economic recession on life satisfaction.
Mechanical consequences of rod contouring and residual scoliosis in sublaminar segmental instrumentation

The mechanical performance of contoured Luque rods in a neuromuscular model of spine deformity was examined to define an upper limit of deformity above which rod stresses would exceed the endurance limit for 316L stainless steel and therefore predict fatigue. Bovine constructs varying from 0–120° scoliosis were loaded axially, with strain recordings obtained at the apex of the curve. Relatively low loads produced enough tensile stress to contemplate implant fatigue in all except the nondeformed (0°) construct. Construct stiffness was found to decrease rapidly in spines with greater than 38° deformity. In addition, data on patients who had suffered rod fracture from four different centers were found to compare favorably with experimental observations. We conclude that the vulnerability of Luque rod constructs to implant failure, from a mechanical standpoint, is greater than is generally assumed. Cross‐linking of rods was found to increase stiffness. Methods to decrease tensile stresses in the implants and increase stiffness include external immobilization, larger diameter rods, and procedures to enhance correction.
Housing prices and policy dilemmas: a peculiarly Australian problem?

House price inflation has a long tradition in Australia. By international standards the current housing boom is ‘world class’; Australia, along with Britain, heads the OECD league table for house price increases. This article first describes the boom in Australian house prices, distinguishing the differences across geographic and dwelling type sub‐markets. The drivers behind these changes are then discussed, ranging from short‐term factors like interest rate levels and investor behaviour to longer‐term factors like economic growth and demographic change. Institutional influences, notably tax regimes and land‐use planning regulations, are also addressed. The article then considers the tendentious but timely question—‘is Australia experiencing a speculative housing investment bubble and, if so, will it burst? ’ The article goes on to consider what the consequences or costs might be, in terms of the broader issues of macroeconomic policy.
Direct Evidence on the Market-Driven Acquisitions Theory

We provide direct empirical evidence that share overvaluation is an important motive for firms to make stock acquisitions. We find that more overvalued firms are more likely to acquire with stock, and acquirers are more overvalued in successful stock mergers than in withdrawn mergers. Acquirers' overvaluation, on average, exceeds the targets' premium-adjusted overvaluation. Shareholders of stock acquirers, whose overvaluation is greater than their targets' premium-adjusted overvaluation, realize sustained wealth gains from one day before the merger announcement up to three years after the merger completion, as compared with a matching sample of similarly overvalued but nonacquiring firms.
Rising to the Challenge: Bayesian Estimation and Forecasting Techniques for Macroeconomic Agent-Based Models

This paper investigates the impact of income diversification on farming households' welfare in Nigeria on two rounds of the Nigeria General Household Survey-Panel, namely the 2010/2011 and 2012/2013. The study finds that income diversification is the norm in Nigeria, with about 60 percent of farmers diversifying away from subsistence farming into non-farm activities and cash crops. In addition, using the panel of farmers interviewed before and after a severe drought that hit Northern Nigeria in particular in 2011, the study finds that diversification increased throughout Nigeria from 60 to 64 percent and in the North from 58 to 63 percent. The study postulates the existence of heterogeneous returns on diversification as a consequence of the drought, and estimates the returns through a non-parametric selection model using a local instrumental variable. The choice of this model is dictated by the necessity to account for both heterogeneous effects of diversification and selection bias related to households' decision to diversify. Overall, it is found that diversification positively affects consumption in Nigeria. However, who benefits the most is crucially determined by the initial conditions under which diversification is undertaken and the specific agro-climatic context in which households operate.
Nasal-only syllables in Tswana

In Tswana parsing of nasals in syllabic peak position is avoided by deletion. This implies the general ranking *P/NAS >> MAX. However, there are three distinct environments where faithfulness is respected and the marked nasal peaks are preserved onto the surface. These three environments are when the nonparsing of the nasal will result in: (i) a word below the minimal word length requirement of two syllables; (ii) contiguity violations in the head foot of the prosodic word; (iii) total loss of a morpheme. The constraint interaction that is responsible for blocking nasal deletion and forcing the marked nasal peak to emerge are discussed in this paper.
Complications and benefits of intrahospital transport of adult Intensive Care Unit patients

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Customers’ Evaluation of the Quality of Insurance Services in Lagos, Nigeria

This paper aims at evaluating customers’ assessment of the quality of insurance services in Nigeria, with the objective of finding how this can be used to boost the demand for insurance which is presently low in Nigeria. Questionnaire was administered to wide spectrum of insurance customers who had insurance policies in Lagos State, in order to gather information related to their perception of quality. Descriptive analysis such as percentage and table presentations was used to analyze the collected data. The study revealed among other things that prompt claim settlements is the most important factor considered by the customers of insurance companies in Nigeria in their evaluation and measurement of quality of the policies they are holding. The study therefore recommended that the culture of delay in premium payment or non-payment should be stopped and organizations should look inward to see the reasons why the payment of premium is a problem.
The effect of corporate reputations on customer perceptions and cross-buying intentions

Cross-selling additional services to existing customers is an important task for multi-service companies. This paper examines whether and how a corporate reputation influences customers' economically orientated (that is, perceived benefits of buying new services from current supplier) and relationship perceptions (that is, evaluations of relationship strength and supplier's offerings) and, in turn, their cross-buying intentions. Good corporate reputations build customer cross-buying intentions by increasing customers' expected service quality, decreasing information costs, and enhancing trust and affective commitment. Survey data from the Taiwanese life insurance industry support the arguments, and the results offer some important extensions to cross-buying theory.
Associations between family history of Parkinson's disease and dementia and risk of dementia in Parkinson's disease: A community‐based, longitudinal study

Dementia is common in patients with Parkinson's disease (PDD). The etiology of PDD is still unclear, but exciting advances have been made in discovering pathogenetic components in Parkinson's disease (PD), implicating the role of genetic factors. It is, however, still controversial whether genetic factors also contribute to the development of dementia in PD. Thus, we investigated the association between development of dementia and a positive family history of PD or dementia in a community‐based study of PD in Rogaland County, Norway (n = 219). The patients were followed prospectively with neurological and neuropsychological assessments. Dementia was more common in patients with a strong family association of PD (first‐degree relatives > second‐degree relatives > no family history; P < 0.05). However, time to dementia did not differ between the two groups. No associations between dementia in PD and familial occurrence of dementia could be shown. Further studies with larger samples are needed to explore a possible relationship between a family history of PD and development of dementia in PD and its potential pathogenetic mechanisms. © 2006 Movement Disorder Society
Pain, sleep disturbance, and fatigue in children with leukemia and their parents: a pilot study.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To determine the feasibility of collecting symptom data at home from school-age children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and from their fathers and mothers and to obtain initial descriptions of pain, sleep disturbance, and fatigue experienced by the family members at home. DESIGN Prospective and descriptive. SETTING Children's homes in Oregon and southwestern Washington. SAMPLE 9 children with ALL (aged 8-16 years), 6 fathers, and 7 mothers. The children received vincristine during the maintenance phase of their outpatient chemotherapy treatments. METHODS With age-appropriate, paper-and-pencil diaries and wrist actigraphy, data were collected for three days in the families' homes. Families were reminded by telephone to complete their sleep and activity diaries. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES Pain, sleep disturbance, and fatigue in school-age children and their fathers and mothers. FINDINGS Most of the families who were approached indicated willingness to participate in the study. After receiving outpatient chemotherapy, the children reported pain, sleep disturbance, and fatigue data over three days. Fathers and mothers also reported symptoms. Actigraphy showed children waking more often during the night than mothers or fathers. CONCLUSIONS Children's pain, sleep disturbance, and fatigue suggest that the symptoms are influencing families' quality of life. Larger studies are needed to examine the symptom patterns and health outcomes of children, fathers, and mothers over the course of chemotherapy. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING Improving sleep and managing pain and fatigue after chemotherapy treatment for children with ALL may improve health outcomes for children and parents.
Incidence of self reported glaucoma in people with diabetes mellitus

AIM To determine the incidence of self reported glaucoma in a group of people with diabetes mellitus. METHODS In an 11 county area in southern Wisconsin, a cohort of people with diabetes mellitus was identified and characterised by history, physical examination, fundus photographs, and laboratory evaluation in 1980–2 (n=2366). The cohort was followed for 10 years with 891 younger onset and 987 older onset people participating in at least one follow up examination. RESULTS The 10 year incidence of glaucoma was 3.7% in younger onset people, 6.9% in older onset people not using insulin, and 11.8% in older onset people using insulin. Univariate analyses revealed that in younger onset people greater body mass index, older age, longer duration of diabetes, history of cataract surgery, and increased severity of diabetic retinopathy at baseline conferred increased risk. In older onset people using insulin, older age and longer duration of diabetes, higher intraocular pressure, and history of cataract surgery at baseline were associated with increased risk of glaucoma. In multivariate analyses, only age was significantly related to increased incidence in younger onset people and age, intraocular pressure, and insulin use were significantly associated with increased risk in the older onset group. CONCLUSION Most risk factors associated with self reported glaucoma in people with diabetes cannot currently be modified to decrease incidence. Older onset people who are at increased risk of many ocular complications of diabetes may be particularly in need of specialised ophthalmic observation.
Phylogeography of the mountain chickadee (Poecile gambeli): diversification, introgression, and expansion in response to Quaternary climate change

Since the late 1990s, molecular techniques have fuelled debate about the role of Pleistocene glacial cycles in structuring contemporary avian diversity in North America. The debate is still heated; however, there is widespread agreement that the Pleistocene glacial cycles forced the repeated contraction, fragmentation, and expansion of the North American biota. These demographic processes should leave genetic ‘footprints’ in modern descendants, suggesting that detailed population genetic studies of contemporary species provide the key to elucidating the impact of the late Quaternary (late Pleistocene–Holocene). We present an analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation in the mountain chickadee (Poecile gambeli) in an attempt to examine the genetic evidence of the impact of the late Quaternary glacial cycles. Phylogenetic analyses reveal two strongly supported clades of P. gambeli: an Eastern Clade (Rocky Mountains and Great Basin) and a Western Clade (Sierra Nevada and Cascades). Post‐glacial introgression is apparent between these two clades in the Mono Lake region of Central California. Within the Eastern Clade there is evidence of isolation‐by‐distance in the Rocky Mountain populations, and of limited gene flow into and around the Great Basin. Coalescent analysis of genetic variation in the Western Clade indicates that northern (Sierra Nevada/Cascades) and southern (Transverse/Peninsular Ranges) populations have been isolated and evolving independently for nearly 60 000 years.
Cross-plane thermal conductivity reduction of vertically uncorrelated Ge∕Si quantum dot superlattices

A drastic reduction in temperature dependent cross-plane thermal conductivity κ⊥ occurs in Ge quantum dot superlattices (QDSLs), depending on the vertical correlation between dots. Measurements show at least a twofold decrease of κ⊥ in uncorrelated dot structures as compared to structures with the same Si spacer of 20nm but good vertical dot alignment. The observed impact of disorder on the conductivity provides an alternative route to reduce the thermal conductivity of QDSLs. The results of this work have implications for the development of highly efficient thermoelectric materials and on-chip nanocooling devices.
The stereochemistry and conformation of lignin as judged by X-ray crystallographic investigations of lignin model compounds: Arylglycerol beta-guaiacyl ethers

The conformations of a variety of crystalline lignin models representing different diastereomeric forms of structural elements in lignin of the arylglycerol b-guaiacyl ether type have been studied using X-ray crystallography. Based on X-ray crystallographic data, sequences of units attached to each other by b-guaiacyl ether linkages were constructed. The appearance of the resulting oligomers shows that stereoisomerism can be expected to influence the shape of the lignin molecules to a great extent. The constructed oligomers provide an idea about the contribution to the complexity of lignins by stereochemistry alone. It is proposed that structural differences, together with conformational variations, are the main reasons for the broadness of the signals in NMR spectra of lignins.
Observed one‐dimensional return stroke propagation speeds in the bottom 170 m of a rocket‐triggered lightning channel

The return‐stroke propagation speeds of five strokes from a seven‐stroke triggered lightning flash are measured, with a 2 ns sampling interval, using a vertical array of photodiodes. Various methods for determining the reference point to be tracked are explored, and the speed is seen to vary over nearly an order of magnitude depending upon which method is chosen. The speeds are generally in agreement with the values found in the literature. The return‐stroke speed appears to increase with height and then decrease with height in four of the five strokes examined.