Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comovement in the FTSE 100 Index

This article extends recent research (Barberis et al., 2005) on the impact of index changes on stock comovement. Stocks that are added to the FTSE 100 comove more closely with the FTSE 100, whilst the reverse is found in stocks deleted from the FTSE 100. Consistent with previous research, these changes appear to have become larger over more recent years. As a result of the method by which changes are made to the FTSE 100, this article is able to distinguish between additions that are new firms and additions that have previously been constituents. There is a significant difference between these two sets of firms, both in terms of the change in comovement and the extent of their comovement after addition to the FTSE 100. Specifically, it is the change in comovement among firms that are new to the FTSE 100 that drives much of the overall increase in comovement among additions. This result implies that the change in comovement cannot be explained solely by the behavioural finance view of comovement and the associated impact of category or habitat traders.
Increased resting energy expenditure is related to plasma TNF-alpha concentration in stable COPD patients.

UNLABELLED The objective of this study was to test whether increased resting energy expenditure (REE) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients is related to increased cost of breathing and/or to increased cytokine production. In 36 non-inflammatory (CRP: 17.6 +/- 13.1 mg.l(-1), mean +/- SD; orosomucoid: 0.71 +/- 0.18 g.l(-1)), non-malnourished (BMI: 23.6 +/- 4.3 kg.m(-2)), clinically stable, non severely hypoxic COPD patients (60.5 +/- 8.9 years) we measured REE, pulmonary function and plasma cytokine concentrations (TNF-alpha, IL1 and IL6). REE was increased by 10 +/- 11% (P< 0.001) above predicted values. Plasma TNF-alpha concentration was increased in all patients (mean value 26.3 +/- 14.3 pg.ml(-1)). Excess REE (with respect to values predicted by Harris-Benedict equations) was correlated with plasma TNF-alpha concentration (P< 0.005), but not with the degree of airway obstruction, lung overinflation, or with oxygen cost of breathing. Theophylline treatment resulted in a significant increase in REE by 15%. IN CONCLUSION non-malnourished, clinically stable, non-severely hypoxic COPD patients display an increased REE that is related with plasma TNF-alpha concentration (without apparent systemic inflammation) and to theophylline treatment, but that is independent of parameters of respiratory function.
Generalized SURE for optimal shrinkage of singular values in low-rank matrix denoising

We consider the problem of estimating a low-rank signal matrix from noisy measurements under the assumption that the distribution of the data matrix belongs to an exponential family. In this setting, we derive generalized Stein's unbiased risk estimation (SURE) formulas that hold for any spectral estimators which shrink or threshold the singular values of the data matrix. This leads to new data-driven spectral estimators, whose optimality is discussed using tools from random matrix theory and through numerical experiments. Under the spiked population model and in the asymptotic setting where the dimensions of the data matrix are let going to infinity, some theoretical properties of our approach are compared to recent results on asymptotically optimal shrinking rules for Gaussian noise. It also leads to new procedures for singular values shrinkage in finite-dimensional matrix denoising for Gamma-distributed and Poisson-distributed measurements.
Intra‐day futures price volatility: Information effects and variance persistence

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Conference on Nonlinear Dynamics and Econometrics, UCLA, 5–6 April, 1991, under the title ‘Information and chronological time effects in intra-day futures price volatility. ’ The authors are grateful to participants of the Nonlinear Dynamics Conference and to Leigh Riddick, George Wang, and two anonymous referees for helpful comments. The BDS program was provided by W. D. Dechert and the BISPEC program was provided by Doug Patterson. The views stated within are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission or its staff. This paper examines the role of the rate of information arrival proxy variables, as they relate to persistence in the variance structure of minute-by-minute S&P 500 Index Futures returns series. The role of contract volume, floor transactions, the number of price changes, executed order imbalance, and an information composite in reducing variance persistence is examined. All proxy variables are found to explain a significant amount of returns variance. While the characteristics of returns data vary daily, some evidence of remaining variance persistence is found, regardless of the definition of the rate of information arrival variable. Our results suggest that utilization of a pure ARCH-type model for highfrequency returns data implies a mis-specification.
Phytoestrogens and carcinogenesis—differential effects of genistein in experimental models of normal and malignant rat endometrium

The phytoestrogen genistein was studied in normal and malignant experimental uterine models in vivo. The action of genistein on the uterus and vagina of ovariectomized DA/Han rats after 3 day oral administration (25, 50 or 100 mg/kg/BW/d) was compared to ethinyl oestradiol (0.1 mg/kg/BW/d). Effects on uterine and vaginal morphology, uterine growth and uterine gene expression were studied. A dose dependent increase of the uterine wet weight and the uterine and vaginal epithelial height, a dose dependent up‐regulation of complement C3, down‐regulation of clusterin mRNA expression and a stimulation of the vaginal cornification was observed after administration of genistein. Uterine gene expression and vaginal epithelium respond to genistein at doses where no significant effects on uterine wet weight were detectable. In general the vagina was more sensitive to genistein than the uterus. To analyse the action of genistein in malignant uterine tissue, the impact of a 28 d treatment with 50 mg/kg/d of genistein on the in‐vivo tumour growth of RUCA I endometrial adenocarcinoma cells, following subcutaneous inoculation into syngeneic DA/Han rats, was assessed. In contrast to ethinyl oestradiol (0.1 mg/kg/BW/d), a dose of 50 mg/kg/BW/d of genistein did not affect tumour growth. Nevertheless C3 and TRPM2 mRNA expression in the tumour were both significantly stimulated by ethinyl oestradiol and genistein. In comparison to ovariectomized animals genistein up‐regulated uterine wet weight and uterine dependent gene expression in tumour bearing animals. In conclusion, four independent uterine and vaginal parameters indicate genistein is a weak oestrogen receptor agonist in the uterus and vagina of female DA/Han rats, and evidence is provided for a selective oestrogen receptor modulator (SERM)‐like action of genistein in normal and malignant uterine tissue.
Facilitation and Delay Sensitivity of Auditory Cortex Neurons in CF‐FM Bats, Rhinolophus rouxi and Pteronotus p.parnellii

Responses of auditory neurons to complex stimuli were recorded in the dorsal belt region of the auditory cortex of two taxonomically unrelated bat species, Rhinolophus rouxi and Pteronotus parnellii parnellii, both showing Doppler shift compensation behaviour. As in P.p.parnellii (Suga et al., J. Neurophysiol, 49, 1573–1626, 1983), cortical neurons of R. rouxi show facilitated responses to pairs of pure tones or frequency modulations. Best frequencies for the two components lie near the first and second harmonic of the echolocation call but are in most cases not harmonically related. Neurons facilitated by pairs of pure tones show little dependence on the delay between the stimuli, whereas pairs of frequency modulations evoke best facilitated responses at distinct best delays between 1 and 10 ms. Facilitated neurons are found in distinct portions of the dorsal cortical belt region, with a segregation of facilitated neurons responding to pure tones and to frequency modulations. Non‐facilitated neurons are found throughout the field. Neurons are topographically aligned with increasing best delays along a rostrocaudal axis. The best delays between 2 and 4 ms are largely overrepresented numerically, and occupy ˜56% of the cortical area containing facilitated neurons. A functional interpretation of the large overrepresentation of best delays ˜3ms is proposed. Facilitated neurons are located almost entirely within layer V of the dorsal field.
Effects of a Stress-Management Program for Inpatients With Mental Disorders

Stress-management interventions have been integrated into treatments for people with mental disorders. Nevertheless, most studies on these interventions have been conducted on patients with schizophrenia in Western countries, and limited studies have used objective measurements of stress. We developed a group-based, four-session stress-management (S-Manage) program for people with mental disorders, consisting of two major components: psychoeducation and relaxation practice. This single-group, pretest–posttest, quasi-experimental study was undertaken to test the initial effects and determine the effect sizes of the program. A convenience sample of 55 inpatients were recruited from a mental health ward at a tertiary hospital in Singapore. Self-report questionnaires and physiological measures of stress (skin temperature and salivary immunoglobulin A [SIgA]) were used for data collection. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and repeated-measures analysis of variance. Most participants were Singaporean, female, single, and employed. Diagnoses included schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, and mixed diagnoses. All received standard care provided by the hospital. Participants had significant reductions in objective stress, measured by skin temperature (effect size = 0.54) and SIgA (effect size = 0.16), and subjective stress (effect size = 0.16) as well as improved psychological health (effect size = 0.40) in response to the intervention. This study provides preliminary evidence to support the positive effects of the S-Manage program on people with mental disorders. Future studies should further test the efficacy of the program using more rigorous methods such as randomized controlled trial and multicenter study.
A Deliberate Inclusive Policy (DIP) Approach for Coastal Resources Governance: A Fijian Perspective

The objective of this article is to analyze and identify gaps in Fisheries Act 1942 (Chapter 158, 1991 and 1997 Decree), the policymaking structure and use of policy instruments via a meta-policy approach. It captures the views of other researchers in coastal and marine governance, and offers socioeconomic, ecological, and management suggestions for future fisheries legislations. Fiji's marine environment is threatened by increased population growth, coastal development, urban pollution and inadequate legislative frameworks to addresses these pressures. The existing Fisheries Act and associated policy frameworks are inadequate to support the conservation, management, and sustainable use of inshore coastal and marine resources. Much of the current policies, in particular the Fisheries Act, are approached from a governmental perspective towards maximizing commercial production with little recognition of addressing and solving conservation and broader environmental problems associated with inshore marine fisheries resources. The most important recommendations that emerges from this review is that any new fisheries legislation must promote streamlined policymaking process, use a mixture of market and non-market-based policy instruments and integrate broad views of other ministries, citizen groups as well as initiatives of local communities. There is strong evidence to give recognition and strengthen customary marine practices such as fishing areas (qoliqoli), while extending community engagement, participation, and awareness to wider sectors involving subsistence users, artisanal, commercial, aquarium, and aquaculture sectors. The article proposes the use of ecosystem-based approach, deliberate inclusive process (DIP) and co-management to policymaking and implementation to help facilitate the measures outlined towards improved coastal governance and conservation of inshore marine resources.
Salary Distribution and Collective Bargaining Agreements: A Case Study of the NBA

Traditional non‐sports unions attempt to institutionalize pay between workers by reducing productivity‐related differences in wages and increasing pay differences based on seniority and other non‐productivity‐related characteristics. Recent changes made to the collective bargaining agreements of the NBA have mirrored those of unions that are more traditional. The purpose of this article is to analyze how the changes made in the bargaining agreements of the NBA affect the salary distributions of players over time.
Market Segmentation and Collusive Behavior

The recent literature on oligopolistic third-degree price discrimination has been primarily concerned with rival firms' incentives to acquire customer-specific information and the consequences of such information on firm profitability and welfare. This literature has taken mostly a static view of the interaction between competing firms. In contrast, in this paper, we investigate the impact of customer-specific information on the likelihood of tacit collusion in a dynamic game of repeated interaction. This issue is very important because competitive price discrimination usually leads to a cutthroat price competition (prisoners' dilemma) among firms. Firms, therefore, may seek ways to soften competition and sustain higher prices. Our main result is that collusion becomes more difficult as the firms' ability to segment consumers improves.
A multicenter study on the prevalence and spectrum of mutations in the otoferlin gene (OTOF) in subjects with nonsyndromic hearing impairment and auditory neuropathy

Autosomal recessive nonsyndromic hearing impairment (NSHI) is a heterogeneous condition, for which 53 genetic loci have been reported, and 29 genes have been identified to date. One of these, OTOF, encodes otoferlin, a membrane‐anchored calcium‐binding protein that plays a role in the exocytosis of synaptic vesicles at the auditory inner hair cell ribbon synapse. We have investigated the prevalence and spectrum of deafness‐causing mutations in the OTOF gene. Cohorts of 708 Spanish, 83 Colombian, and 30 Argentinean unrelated subjects with autosomal recessive NSHI were screened for the common p.Gln829X mutation. In compound heterozygotes, the second mutant allele was identified by DNA sequencing. In total, 23 Spanish, two Colombian and two Argentinean subjects were shown to carry two mutant alleles of OTOF. Of these, one Colombian and 13 Spanish subjects presented with auditory neuropathy. In addition, a cohort of 20 unrelated subjects with a diagnosis of auditory neuropathy, from several countries, was screened for mutations in OTOF by DNA sequencing. A total of 11 of these subjects were shown to carry two mutant alleles of OTOF. In total, 18 pathogenic and four neutral novel alleles of the OTOF gene were identified. Haplotype analysis for markers close to OTOF suggests a common founder for the novel c. 2905_2923delinsCTCCGAGCGCA mutation, frequently found in Argentina. Our results confirm that mutation of the OTOF gene correlates with a phenotype of prelingual, profound NSHI, and indicate that OTOF mutations are a major cause of inherited auditory neuropathy. Hum Mutat 29(6), 823–831, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Do Export Promotion Agencies Increase Exports

type="main"> In this paper, we examine the role of export promotion agencies (EPAs) in promoting exports from Japan and Korea. Looking at two home countries enables us to tackle endogeneity issues by controlling for both country-pair time-invariant characteristics and importing-country time-varying characteristics. Our empirical results indicate that EPA has a positive and significant effect on exports even when we control for endogeneity. However, the size of the effect becomes substantially smaller, implying the importance of addressing endogeneity in accurately measuring the impact of EPA on exports. In addition, we find that EPA's (marginal) effects are larger in exporting to low-income trade partners than in exporting to high-income trade partners.
Market valuation of real estate finance mergers: a note

Purpose – Real estate finance institutions as well as the mortgage banking landscape have undergone a profound restructuring since the late 1980s. This study seeks to examine the value implications of 69 domestic and cross‐border merger and acquisition (M&A) deals of exchange‐listed real estate finance institutions.Design/methodology/approach – To identify relevant M&A transactions between 1995 and 2002 the following data sources are used: Thomson Financial SDC (Securities Data Company – Mergers and Acquisitions Database), Bloomberg, and Computasoft M&A Data. To assess the value implications of M&A standard event study methodology is used, which relies on the market adjusted model and the market model. Cumulated abnormal returns stemming from the market model and the market adjusted model are calculated for four different event windows.Findings – The results document that shareholders of targets earn, at least in the closest analyzed interval, significant positive abnormal returns. There are no significan.
Brazilian Software SME's Export Propensity: Bridging “Born Global” and Stage Approaches

ABSTRACT How software small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a developing country context might enhance their propensity to export is central to this study. This article aims to examine factors that influence the small- and medium-sized firms' propensity to export. Drawing on theoretical contributions from international entrepreneurship literature, the stages model and the underlying theories of entrepreneurship and of the growth of the firm, we develop hypotheses regarding the relationship between several antecedents of the propensity to export: foreign market knowledge, international entrepreneurship orientation, international experience, and local inter-organizational relationships. Using a small sample (n = 76) of software SMEs located in Brazil's Northeastern region, we test a path model using partial least squares (PLS) technique and PLS-Graph software. We find empirical support for the argument that the more restrictive Penrosian theory of firm growth is compatible with the more enabling, proactive Schumpeterian view of entrepreneurship. The results also suggest that some resources and capabilities built by domestic inter-organizational relationships may become a hindrance or a driver for the propensity to export depending on whether they are sticky or whether they may be easily redeployed elsewhere. The study provides recommendations for executives and policymakers interested in the question of how SMEs might enhance their propensity to export.
Coalition Building in Direct Democracy Campaigns

Common to many social movement studies is the argument that ideological heterogeneity causes organizational dilemmas. Yet, few scholars consider, let alone test, the impact of ideological heterogeneity on direct democracy campaigns (DDCs). Drawing from the extant social movements literature, I argue that DDCs function like short-term social movements. Based on in-depth interviews of initiative activists, and in some cases participant-observation opportunities, I conclude that ideological heterogeneity is also a contributing cause of DDC failure. Ideological heterogeneity within DDCs either results in factionalism that wastes time and resources, or the development of homogeneous groups that pursue policies unacceptable to the median voter. I also conclude that ideological heterogeneity is more destructive to DDCs than social movements. Whereas social movements can adapt over time, DDCs must achieve a singular electoral victory, within a specific electoral cycle, in order to succeed. Therefore, time constraints make factionalism more problematic for DDCs.
A Denotational Semantics for SPARC TSO

The SPARC TSO weak memory model is defined axiomatically, with a non-compositional formulation that makes modular reasoning about programs difficult. Our denotational approach uses pomsets to provide a compositional semantics capturing exactly the behaviours permitted by SPARC TSO. It uses buffered states and an inductive definition of execution to assign an input-output meaning to pomsets. We show that our denotational account is sound and complete relative to the axiomatic account, that is, that it captures exactly the behaviours permitted by the axiomatic account. Our compositional approach facilitates the study of SPARC TSO and supports modular analysis of program behaviour.
An Investigation of the Long-run Properties of Aggregate Non-durable Consumers' Expenditure in the United Kingdom

This paper estimates the effects of the modeling of nondurable consumption in the light of the five years of new data since the publication of the paper by J. E. H. Davidson et al. (1978) and the development of the new cointegration technique of R. F. Engle and C. W. J. Granger (1987). Existing models are found to be inadequate on two grounds, they fail parameter stability tests and they do not contain a suitable equilibrium specification. The paper uses the cointegration approach to search for an encompassing model that is both stable and cointegrates. The main finding is that the analysis must be extended to allow for differential income effects caused by changing higher rate income tax bands. Copyright 1989 by Royal Economic Society.
Globalization, growth, and poverty: the missing link

Purpose - To review the literature on the relationship between growth, globalization, and poverty, and present empirical evidence on whether countries registering high growth rates do necessarily succeed in reducing the incidence of poverty. Design/methodology/approach - Notwithstanding data and methodological problems cited in the literature, this paper makes an effort to quantitatively examine the issue of statistical correlation between growth and poverty variables, through regressing the share of population in poverty on growth rates of countries for which data is available from World Bank surveys. Findings - The paper concludes that countries registering high growth rates do not necessarily succeed in reducing poverty, thereby, holding that a wide-ranging policy approach could be more effective in poverty reduction than the broad-based growth policy approach. Originality/value - The debate among academics and practitioners over the causal relationship between growth and poverty has not rendered any conclusive evidence that growth is a sufficient condition for reducing poverty, hence the difficulty facing policy makers on the most effective approach for poverty reduction. This paper is an attempt to contribute to this debate and assessing whether to embrace the broad-based growth or pro-poor growth policies.
Influence of Franchisors' Competitive Strategies on Network Size: The Impact of Entry Timing Decision

This article provides evidence on the strategies that lead to a greater franchise network size. Though the empirical literature has studied the ownership structure and the incentive policy, our work expands the analysis by including another important source of differences in the strategies implemented by firms: the stage of the life cycle at which the firm enters. The objective of this study is to examine whether pioneers implement a different strategy than fast followers, early majority entrants, and late majority entrants. Our results confirm the differences in competitive strategy between entrants at each stage of the industry life cycle.