Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Examining Hip-Hop as Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Culturally relevant pedagogy is a framework that conceptualizes the process of student learning as contingent upon educators’ deep understanding of students’ cultural backgrounds to co-construct knowledge and develop academic skills. Concurrently, there are a growing number of studies that explore hip-hop as a culturally relevant curriculum for urban youth of color. This work explores the potential and pitfalls of hip-hop as culturally relevant pedagogy by offering insights from two studies based in Chicago that incorporate hip-hop discourses and ideologies into curriculum and programing in and out of schools. Insights suggest that hip-hop can be a powerful tool to engage youth of color, but educators must first truly grasp students’ realities, develop strong relationships with students, families, and communities, and be committed to social justice.
How Important are Foreign Ownership Linkages for International Stock Returns?

We derive a foreign ownership return as the weighted average return of foreign stocks that are connected to a stock through common ownership. The foreign ownership return is of similar economic significance as traditional country and industry factors in explaining international stock returns. It is not related to omitted fundamentals or wealth effects but shifts substantially around ADR and index listings when the investor habitat changes. A decomposition shows that the foreign ownership return is driven by active reallocations of global institutions as opposed to fund flows from end investors. Our findings have important implications for international portfolio diversification.
Market efficiency of commodity futures in India

This article aims to examine the market efficiency of the commodity futures market in India, which has been growing phenomenally over the last few years. We estimate the long-run equilibrium relationship between multi-commodity futures and spot prices and then test for weak-form market efficiency by applying both the dynamic ordinary least squares and fully modified ordinary least squares methods. The entire sample period is from 2 January 2006 to 31 March 2011. The results indicate that a cointegrating relationship exists between these indices and that the commodity futures market appears efficient during the more recent sub-sample period since July 2009 onwards.
The Simple Economics of Optimal Auctions

We show that the seller's problem in devising an optimal auction is virtually identical to the monopolist's problem in third-degree price discrimination. More generally, many of the important results and elegant techniques developed in the field of mechanism design can be reinterpreted in the language of standard micro theory. We illustrate this by considering the problem of bilateral exchange with privately known values.
Effect of insemination time and method on fertilization and delivery rate at the onset of estrus cats

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of artificial insemination (AI) time and methods on fertilization and delivery rate at onset of estrus cats. Artificial insemination method was used by a transcervical insemination (TCI) or intra-vaginal insemination (IVI) using frozen epididymal sperm (FES) with Norwegian catheter. Semen was collected from epididymal spermatozoa after testis ectomization and frozen in Tris-buffered solution supplemented with 7% glycerol and 0.5% Orvus ES Paste. The concentration of frozen spermatozoa was adjusted to 200×10 6 sperm/ml. The CASA data on motility and progressive motility of FES after thawing was approximately 40.3±5.8 and 35.9±6.5%. The female cats were subcutaneously treated with 50 IU pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) and ovulated with 100 IU human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) 4 days after PMSG injection. One treatment was inseminated at 36 h after hCG injection and the other treatment was inseminated immediately hCG injection. At 36 h after hCG injection group, 5 female cats were inseminated TCI or IVI method using 50×10 6 sperm/0.2 ml per AI. Three of 5 female cats could be inseminated by TCI method and then delivered the 10 kittens from 2 of 3 inseminated females. Immediately hCG injection group, 4 female cats were inseminated TCI or IVI method using same sperm concentration per AI. Two of 4 female cats could be inseminated by TCI method and then delivered the 4 kittens from 1 of 2 inseminated female cats. The results revealed that AI time and method could be affected the fertilization and delivery rates at onset of estrus cats.
Performance Commitments of Controlling Shareholders and Earnings Management

Since the Split Share Structure Reform took effect in China in 2005, holders of nontradable shares (controlling shareholders) have had to negotiate with holders of tradable shares (minority shareholders) to gain the liquidity right. In a typical deal reached, the controlling shareholder agrees to pay share compensation to minority shareholders and, in many cases, also pledges to meet a specific firm performance target (performance commitments). Using this reform setting, we examine the impact of performance commitments on earnings management behavior, and find the following results. First, less profitable firms have greater incentives to make performance commitments that help to reduce the share compensation that controlling shareholders have to pay. Second, firms entering into such commitments engage in earnings management to meet the promised performance target when actual performance falls short, and firms facing greater default costs tend to manage earnings more aggressively. Third, depending on the performance metric stipulated in the commitment contract, firms employ varying methods to manage earnings. We also find that firms that rely on earnings management to meet their performance targets display inferior performance in the postcommitment years relative to firms that do not. Overall, our evidence is consistent with performance commitment contracts (with costly defaults) between a firm's controlling and minority shareholders causing incentives for earnings management.
The mediating effect of job satisfaction and organizational commitment on self-reported performance: more robust evidence of the PSM—performance relationship

Public service motivation (PSM) has been linked to various outcome variables, but as more and more public administration research is devoted to improving performance, the possible link between PSM and performance is increasingly of interest. The current study contributes to this literature by investigating whether this relationship is present in a dataset of Belgian civil servants. The results corroborate the general thesis and demonstrate a mediation effect (to some extent) of job satisfaction and organizational commitment on this relationship. By doing so, the present study partly unveils the mechanisms upon which the PSM—performance relationship is based. Points for practitioners The findings of this study should urge public managers and decision-makers to value the effect of PSM in a public sector environment. First, as individual PSM apparently correlates with performance, this might provide some ideas about how to manage human resources in an effectiveness and efficiency driven public sector. Considering PSM in recruitment, retention and training may engender better individual performance. Next to this, the mediating role of job satisfaction and organizational commitment should enable public managers to find more openings to harness PSM effectively. After all, it embeds PSM better into vested theory and practices, with which practitioners may be more familiar.
Probing the effect of OSCE checklist length on inter-observer reliability and observer accuracy

Purpose The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a widely employed tool for measuring clinical competence. In the drive toward comprehensive assessment, OSCE stations and checklists may become increasingly complex. The objective of this study was to probe inter-observer reliability and observer accuracy as a function of OSCE checklist length. Method Study participants included emergency physicians and senior residents in Emergency Medicine at Dalhousie University. Participants watched an identical series of four, scripted, standardized videos enacting 10-min OSCE stations and completed corresponding assessment checklists. Each participating observer was provided with a random combination of two 40-item and two 20-item checklists. A panel of physicians scored the scenarios through repeated video review to determine the ‘gold standard’ checklist scores. Results Fifty-seven observers completed 228 assessment checklists. Mean observer accuracy ranged from 73 to 93% (14.6–18.7/20), with an overall accuracy of 86% (17.2/20), and inter-rater reliability range of 58–78%. After controlling for station and individual variation, no effect was observed regarding the number of checklist items on overall accuracy (p=0.2305). Consistency in ratings was calculated using intraclass correlation coefficient and demonstrated no significant difference in consistency between the 20- and 40-item checklists (ranged from 0.432 to 0.781, p-values from 0.56 to 0.73). Conclusions The addition of 20 checklist items to a core list of 20 items in an OSCE assessment checklist does not appear to impact observer accuracy or inter-rater reliability.
Structures of multinational nonprofit organizations

Investigations of the structures of multinational organizations have been primarily limited to the multinational for-profit form, while examinations of alternative structural arrangements of nonprofit organizations have been focused on single-nation organizations. This article draws on the extensive descriptive literature on nonprofits and the theoretical literature on the structural determinants of organizations to make predictions about the potential range of structures of multinational nonprofits. The authors show that local resource density and environmental variation are key factors in determining multinational nonprofit structures. They conclude that nonprofit organizations operating in multiple national settings are likely to be structured as umbrella organizations that act as an additional layer of hierarchy for multiple indigenous organizations, and that unitary, hierarchical corporate structures are not likely to be found in these organizations.
Identifying energy discourses in Canada with Q methodology: moving beyond the environment versus economy debates

Drawing inspiration from the literature on social imaginaries and cultural models, this study explores contending perspectives on energy and sustainability, moving beyond a simplistic understanding of support or opposition to specific energy developments. With a comparative study in three regions of Canada, we use Q methodology to identify five key discourses on energy issues: (1) climate change is a primary concern, (2) maintain the energy economy, (3) build on the resilience of nature and local energy systems, (4) markets and corporations will lead and (5) renewable energy sources are the path forward. We find several under-examined perspectives on energy and society – one discourse that attempts to balance growth in the energy economy with environmental concern and another discourse that promotes the resilience of natural and local energy systems. We also find a proclivity towards science, ingenuity and technological innovation as a strategy to resolve contemporary challenges in the energy sector. This study helps to elaborate energy policy conversations beyond the common environment versus economy tropes. The study also reveals opportunities to forge common ground and mutual understanding on complex debates.
Archetype Change in Professional Organizations: Survey Evidence from Large Law Firms

This paper examines the proposition that the traditional archetype of the professional partnership is said to have changed into a more ‘business-like’ entity, the managed professional business. It broadens the restricted case sample base on which much of the evidence has been adduced, by developing a survey questionnaire through which 197 large British law firms were sampled. Change, consistent with the notion of a more commercially oriented and consciously managed organization, is concentrated in the market-facing area of the firm but coexists with areas of continuity in the governance of the firm and its strategic management. The findings reveal a more managerial form of organization in which the core elements of the traditional form of professional organization have not been transformed. These results contest the assertion of either transformational or sedimented change found in other, case-based research and suggest that archetype change needs theoretically to be distinguished from the general phenomenon of greater managerialism within the professional service firm.
Letting Secessionists Have Their Way: Can Partitions Help End and Prevent Ethnic Conflicts?

This study examines partition's success in ending old and preventing new ethnic conflicts. Opponents of partition often claim that partition only invites (further) conflict by its inability to divide existing multiethnic countries in ways satisfying to all concerned ethnic groups. In contrast, proponents of partition argue that partition is the only ethnic conflict solution that provides ethnic separation, an element that is key if conflict prevention is of concern. By separating the belligerent groups, partition provides safety and a decrease in the need for interaction between groups that do not get along. When domestic and international violence is considered, partition's consequences largely depend on the timing of partition. In cases of partitions resulting from ethnic secessionist conflicts, there is a widespread continuation of serious domestic conflict but its frequency does decrease significantly, to a level that can be considered "normal. " Internationally, dyads made up of violently partitioned countries avoid militarized conflict in more than one-third of the cases. In cases of peaceful (i.e., preventative) ethnic partitions, domestic conflict starts up in about half of the cases, but despite the significant increase in its frequency, the frequency remains "normal. " Internationally, dyads made up of peacefully partitioned countries avoid militarized conflict almost completely. Accordingly, peaceful ethnic partitions produce dyads that are significantly less likely to engage in militarized conflicts and wars than dyads emerging from violent ethnic partitions. Contrary to some expectations, partitions do not create overwhelmingly nondemocratic countries; however, in cases of violent ethnic secessions, democratic institutions do not exhibit significant pacifying effect on subsequent domestic conflict. Important caveats notwithstanding, the overall results indicate that peaceful ethnic partitions have conflict management potential.
Transformation Strategy and Economic Performance Hungary and Poland

We use monthly time series data for Poland and Hungary to assess the impact of differences in the pace of implementation of economic reforms. The selected policy variables are a measure of reforms in both the domestic and external sectors of the economy, and they also indicate the initial level of distortions. We use impulse response analysis to measure the effect of changes in the interest rate, the exchange rate, and the share of exports to the European Union on each other and on industrial production. Our results indicate that a faster rate of implementation results in a system that quickly adjusts to a new equilibrium. The exception for Poland is the impact of the interest rate on production, indicating that domestic reforms may not yet be complete. Our results show that, when compared with Hungary, faster reform implementation gives Poland more policy options in one sector with less destabilization in another.
The influence of collectivist human resource management practices on team-level identification

In this study, we investigate how a culturally specific human resource management (HRM) approach influences employees' relational identification at the team level, which may in turn influence the behavior of team members. Given the boundary condition of a collectivistic societal culture, collectivist HRM helps improve employees' team-level identification and their performance. Collecting empirical data from firms in different regions of China, we found that the collectivism-oriented HRM approach has a positive effect on employees' team-level relational identification. This team-level identification, in turn, can significantly improve the job satisfaction of team members and reduce their turnover intention. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings for academic researchers and practitioners.
Discovering a Profitable Trading Strategy in an Apparently Efficient Market: Exploiting the Actions of Less Informed Traders in Speculative Markets

This study explores the extent of mispricing in a market for state contingent claims that is commonly believed to be efficient, the UK horserace betting market. We develop conditional logit models for weekend and weekday markets and show that prices are inefficient at weekends when the presence of a larger proportion of less informed bettors results in mispricing. A Kelly investment strategy focused on high probability outcomes in such markets yields considerable positive returns.We identify the need for research exploring the implications for information suppliers and users, regulators and operators in wider financial markets
Blood cholesterol and walnut consumption: a cross-sectional survey in France.

BACKGROUND The preventive role of polyunsaturated fatty acids in cardiovascular disease has been recognized. We conducted a cross-sectional study to assess the association between walnut consumption (oil and kernel) as a source of polyunsaturated fatty acids and blood lipid levels. METHODS Seven hundred ninety-three persons, males and females, ages 18-65 years, living in a walnut production area (Dauphiné, France) attended health screening visits organized by the Agriculture Social Security. Past diet (1-year recall, including walnut and animal fat consumption) and cardiovascular risk factors were ascertained using food frequency questionnaires. For each participant a blood sample was taken to measure HDL, LDL, and total cholesterol; apo A1; and apo B. RESULTS A high level of HDL cholesterol and apo A1 was associated with a high amount of walnut consumption (oil and kernel) in the regular diet, with a positive trend with increasing degree of walnut consumption. This association did not appear to be confounded by dietary animal fat and alcohol as measured in this study. Other blood lipids did not show significant associations with walnut consumption. CONCLUSION The positive effect of walnut consumption on blood HDL cholesterol and apo A1 is of special interest since these lipid parameters have been shown to be negatively correlated with cardiovascular morbidity.
A Novel Mechanism of Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases-1 Activation by Interleukin-1 in Primary Human Astrocytes*

Reactive astrogliosis is the gliotic response to brain injury with activated astrocytes and microglia being the major effector cells. These cells secrete inflammatory cytokines, proteinases, and proteinase inhibitors that influence extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling. In astrocytes, the expression of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) is up-regulated by interleukin-1 (IL-1), which is a major neuroinflammatory cytokine. We report that IL-1 activates TIMP-1 expression via both the IKK/NF-κB and MEK3/6/p38/ATF-2 pathways in astrocytes. The activation of the TIMP-1 gene can be blocked by using pharmacological inhibitors, including BAY11-7082 and SB202190, overexpression of the dominant-negative inhibitor of NF-κB (IκBαSR), or by the knock-down of p65 subunit of NF-κB. Binding of activated NF-κB (p50/p65 heterodimer) and ATF-2 (homodimer) to two novel regulatory elements located –2.7 and –2.2 kb upstream of the TIMP-1 transcription start site, respectively, is required for full IL-1-responsiveness. Mutational analysis of these regulatory elements and their weak activity when linked to the minimal tk promoter suggest that cooperative binding is required to activate transcription. In contrast to astrocytes, we observed that TIMP-1 is expressed at lower levels in gliomas and is not regulated by IL-1. We provide evidence that the lack of TIMP-1 activation in gliomas results from either dysfunctional IKK/NF-κB or MEK3/6/p38/ATF-2 activation by IL-1. In summary, we propose a novel mechanism of TIMP-1 regulation, which ensures an increased supply of the inhibitor after brain injury, and limits ECM degradation. This mechanism does not function in gliomas, and may in part explain the increased invasiveness of glioma cells.
Solvability and approximate solvability of fuzzy relation equations*

We give here a discussion of approximate solvability of a system of fuzzy relation equations. We demonstrate how problems of interpolation and approximation of fuzzy functions are connected with solvability of systems of fuzzy relation equations. First we explain the general framework, and later on we prove some particular results related to the problem of the best approximation.
The returns to general experience, job and occupational tenure: a study using Australian panel data

This article uses Australian panel data for the years 2001–2009 to estimate returns to general experience, job and occupational tenure. We pay particular attention to issues of unobserved heterogeneity bias in our estimations. We find that both general experience and occupational tenure have statistically and numerically significant effects on wage outcomes, even after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. Job tenure on the other hand only seems to matter in OLS regressions that do not control for heterogeneity biases. Once these biases are controlled for, only a modest effect from job tenure remains. The inclusion of occupational tenure in the estimating equation tends to negate even this modest job tenure effect. The only exception to this is for workers in large organizations. For these workers a small but statistically significant effect from job tenure remains, even once we have controlled for heterogeneity and included occupational tenure in the estimating equation. The results reported in this article have implications for the various theories of the labour market that predict upward-sloping wage-job-tenure profiles.
What Drives Stock Market Growth? A Case of a Volatile Emerging Economy

ABSTRACT We study the determinants of the explosive stock market growth and increased foreign portfolio investment in Pakistan. Our results indicate that in contrast to evidence from developed markets, the aggregate stock returns are not driven by macroeconomic fundamentals in Pakistan. Moreover, foreign portfolio investors do not tend to react to changes in economic variables in Pakistan. As fundamentals fail to affect stock returns in Pakistan, they may be based more on speculative motives. Our results suggest that in the absence of a strong institutional and regulatory framework, economic policies have only a limited effect on stabilizing an emerging market.