Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical significance of quantitative analysis of facial nerve enhancement on MRI in Bell's palsy

Conclusions. Quantitative analysis of the facial nerve on the lesion side as well as the normal side, which allowed for more accurate measurement of facial nerve enhancement in patients with facial palsy, showed statistically significant correlation with the initial severity of facial nerve inflammation, although little prognostic significance was shown. Objectives. This study investigated the clinical significance of quantitative measurement of facial nerve enhancement in patients with Bell's palsy by analyzing the enhancement pattern and correlating MRI findings with initial severity of facial palsy and clinical outcome. Subjects and methods. Facial nerve enhancement was measured quantitatively by using the region of interest on pre- and post-contrast T1-weighted images in 44 patients diagnosed with Bell's palsy. The signal intensity increase on the lesion side was first compared with that of the contralateral side and then correlated with the initial degree of facial palsy and prognosis. Results. The lesion side showed significantly higher signal intensity increase compared with the normal side in all of the segments except for the mastoid segment. Signal intensity increase at the internal auditory canal and labyrinthine segments showed correlation with the initial degree of facial palsy but no significant difference was found between different prognostic groups.
Molecular systematics of the Malagasy babblers (Passeriformes: timaliidae) and warblers (Passeriformes: sylviidae), based on cytochrome b and 16S rRNA sequences.

The phylogenetic relationships of the Timaliidae (babblers) and Sylviidae (warblers) have long challenged ornithologists. We focus here on three Malagasy genera currently assigned to the Timaliidae, Mystacornis, Oxylabes, and Neomixis, and on their relationships with other babblers and warblers using the sequences of two mitochondrial genes (cytochrome b and 16S rRNA). Maximum parsimony analyses show that the Malagasy "babblers" are not related to any of the other African and Asian babblers. The genus Mystacornis is neither a babbler nor a warbler. The other Malagasy "babblers" are members of warbler groups (the monophyly of the Sylviidae is not demonstrated). Oxylabes madagascariensis and Hartertula flavoviridis (we recognize Hartertula as a genus for the species flavoviridis, previously Neomixis flavoviridis) constitute, with two presumed sylviine taxa, Thamnornis chloropetoides and Cryptosylvicola randrianasoloi, a warbler radiation endemic to the island of Madagascar. The other Neomixis species (tenella, striatigula, and viridis) belong to another warbler group comprising cisticoline taxa. These results show that the Timaliidae did not disperse to Madagascar. Rather, the island has been colonized, independently, by at least two clades of warblers, probably originating from Africa, where the Sylviidae radiation has been the most extensive.
Capital structure and firm characteristics: an empirical analysis from Egypt

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to investigate differences in capital structures across industries in Egypt paying particular attention to: corporate characteristics, such as liquidity, asset structure, growth, and size; fiscal characteristics, namely, the application of differential corporate tax rates; and stock market activity. Design/methodology/approach - Comparisons are made between the four main industrial sectors: food, heavy industries, contracting and services. For each industry four aspects of capital structure are assessed. Firms are also classified according to whether their shares are actively traded on the Egyptian stock market. Multiple regressions are run to test a range of hypotheses. ANOVA and multiple comparison procedures are also employed. Findings - Across Egyptian firms, higher business risks do not generally result in lower levels of long-term capital structure. The contracting sector is significantly different from food, heavy industries and services in its determinants of its short-term financing and interest ratios. The sector also has a higher level of debt, and so a hypothesised tax-induced higher debt level for the services sector, which has the highest corporate tax rate, is rejected. Asset-backing is particularly important in heavy industries, and in non-actively traded firms. Size and growth are positively related to short-term financing in heavy industries and services. Originality/value - The value lies in the comprehensiveness of the study, covering both short- and long-term capital structures across industries, both income measures and capital indebtedness, and distinctions according to whether the shares are actively traded or not.
Correlates of under‐employment among recent business school graduates

The job training schemes have been and still are important for the supply of labour to cultural institutions in Denmark. Particularly the young and experimental cultural manifestations are depending on labour market subsidies for their development and survival. Discusses the clashes, cultural, labour market and industrial policies, each representing particular objectives which cannot easily be co‐ordinated.
Neuroleptic-Induced Tardive Tourette Treated With Clonazepam: A Case Report and Literature Review

Tardive Tourette syndrome has been reported as a rare complication of neuroleptic treatment. This report describes the first case of neuroleptic-induced tardive Tourette syndrome in the Latin Americas and supports the successful treatment of this disorder with clonazepam. The syndrome developed in a female schizophrenic patient who discontinued medication after 8 years of continuous neuroleptic therapy. Symptoms were unresponsive to increased doses of typical antipsychotics and treatment with an atypical antipsychotic. Significant, sustained improvement occurred with clonazepam. In this report all cases of adult-onset tardive Tourette are reviewed.
Should We Really “Force Them to be Free?” An Empirical Examination of Peceny's Liberalizing Intervention Thesis

In his article, entitled “Forcing Them to be Free,” Peceny (1999) presents and empirically tests an argument that while most U.S. military interventions are not successful in bringing about democracy, those cases of intervention in which the U.S. also pushes for “free and fair elections” are likely to produce long-term democratic outcomes in target countries. Our research challenges Peceny's work in two ways. First, we replicate his analysis, finding that military interventions with democratizing intent are not necessarily as successful as his work suggests. Second, we investigate whether these interventions are likely to lead to a broader concept of democracy and good governance using a series of alternative measures of democratic performance and alternate statistical analyses. Again, we generally find that interventions that attempt to “force” free and fair elections do not have a particularly beneficial effect on long-term democratic outcomes. Our results suggest that more work needs to be done before a “forcing them to be free” hypothesis can be considered to be an advancement in the literature on democratization.
Inflation and interest rate movements in Ghana: trends and possible causal links

The relationship between inflation and interest rate has remained controversial in Ghana and this called for the investigation into the trends and causal links between the two variables. Monthly observations from 1995 to 2011 were used for analyses of trends, causality, cointegration and error correction model. The study reveals significant trends of variability over time with the trend of inflation being more volatile relative to interest rate. There is a two-way causal relationship between inflation and nominal interest rate and there exists also a long-run equilibrium relationship between the variables. The results suggest inflation in Ghana in the short-run depends on previous month's inflation rate and past interest rates, but not on current interest rate. The impulse response shows past inflation rates and nominal interest rates account for macroeconomic instability in the economy. It is recommended long-run policy measures be used to promote macroeconomic stability.
The Strategic Role of 'Cost of Capital' in Residual Income Measurement

This paper examines the strategic role of "cost of capital" in residual income measurement in an oligopoly. Because of imperfect competition in the product market, firm market valuation and managerial performance evaluation based on residual income measures or Economic Value Added (EVA) are most closely related to each other so that an interactive effect arises. Facing a stochastic production-technology with diminishing marginal returns in the decision context of capital investment, firm owners can use the "cost of capital" in residual income measures as a competitive tool for their managers. We show that the mode of competition (i.e., Cournot versus Bertrand) has a significant impact on the strategic role, and determines whether the firm owners levy a lower or higher "cost of capital" on their managers than their own opportunity cost of capital. They will charge the managers with their own cost of capital if, and only if, their managers' actions do not cause their competitors to counteract so that the firm's market value is affected (i.e., price-takers in perfect competition or price-setters in monopoly). Consequently, imperfect competition separates the capital's ownership and management, and perfect competition or monopoly unites the two. We consider three different sources of uncertainty: industry-wide demand, firm-specific technological input and output. Our results prove that neither industry-wide demand uncertainty nor firm-specific input uncertainty affects the equilibrium "cost of capital. " Furthermore, firm-specific output uncertainty moves the equilibrium "cost of capital" closer to the firm owners' own cost of capital, and hence, makes the strategic role less valuable, although its effect on the strategic role is of secondary relative to that of imperfect competition.
What precious metals act as safe havens, and when? Some US evidence

Gold’s role as a safe haven asset has been intensively studied in recent years. This article extends the previous literature and examines the safe haven properties of four precious metals (gold, silver, platinum and palladium) in a time-varying manner. Results from the United States show that during some periods of time silver, platinum and palladium act as a safe haven when gold does not. We also provide evidence as to the strength of the safe haven, with a finding that at times gold is not the strongest, safest, haven.
Capabilities for Sustainable Business Success

m T Pro et Professor Dennis Turner in 1990 while attending an Executive Program at he Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM). During the program, fessor Turner referred to his research into organisational capabilities, the research that was later described in Change Power: Capabilities that Drive Corporate Renewal (Turner & Crawford 1998). I subsequently attended Successful Corporate Change and Renewal, the program in which Turner and Crawford assisted participants to understand their model and to develop action plans for their own organisations. These encounters with Professor Turner’s ideas changed the course of my managerial career. When I entered the Executive Program I was a partner in a consulting firm with four staff: six weeks later I was a middle manager with (then) Telecom, with 1,000 staff and 120,000 customers. I later led major change initiatives in which I successfully applied Professor Turner’s theories. I am therefore pleased to critique his ideas on organisational change as part of this review of his contribution to management practice and theory. I
IFRS Adoption and Analysts’ Earnings Forecasts: Australian Evidence

We study 145 large listed Australian firms to explore the impact of IFRS adoption on the properties of analysts’ forecasts and the role of firm disclosure about IFRS impact. We find that analyst forecast accuracy improves and there is no significant change in dispersion in the adoption year, suggesting that analysts coped effectively with transition to IFRS. However, we do not observe the expected relationship between firms’ IFRS impact disclosures in their financial statements issued at the end of the transition year with forecast error and dispersion in the adoption year. The results question the timeliness and usefulness of financial statement disclosure, even in a setting where disclosure was mandated by accounting standards (AASB 1047 and AASB 1) and firms had strong incentives to provide information to analysts.
The Ricardian Vice: Why Sala-I-Martin's Calculations of World Income Inequality are Wrong

The paper discusses recent world income inequality calculations by Sala- i-Martin. It shows that the two main problems with which the author had to grapple (too few data to derive countries’ income distributions, and sparseness of such data in time) are not solved in a satisfactory fashion. They, and several other simplifying assumptions, make Sala-i- Martin results very dubious. We argue that Sala-i-Martin has ended up by producing a population-weighted inter-national distribution of income augmented by a constant shift parameter and not a distribution of income among world citizens.
Long-Run and Short-Run Relationship between Macroeconomic Factors and Returns on Sectoral Indices in Saudi Arabia: An Empirical Analysis

The study analyses the relationship between the select macroeconomic variables, inflation, industrial production, money supply, exchange rate, oil prices and global stock prices on the returns of the 15 sectors listed on Saudi stock market. The study applies cointegration technique and finds that there exists at least one cointegration vector between the chosen macroeconomic variables and the sector indices. Error correction model and Wald test to check the long-run and short-run causality relationship between the macroeconomic variables and sectoral stock indices. Results show that the effect of the macroeconomic variables on the returns of the various sectors is varied. The speed of adjustment of the system in case of short run deviations from the long run equilibrium is also found to be different for the various sectors. This study offers important inputs for investment decision making for the investors in the specific sectors of the Saudi stock market.
Allocating Responsibility in Multilevel Government Systems: Voter and Expert Attributions in the European Union

Democratic accountability requires that citizens can assign responsibility for policy outcomes, yet multilevel structures of government complicate this task as they blur lines of accountability and leave voters uncertain about which level of government is responsible. This study examines the extent to which Europeans are able to navigate the complex and ever-changing divisions of responsibility between their national governments and the European Union (EU). Specifically, we compare citizen and expert responsibility attributions to evaluate if and how voters can competently assign policy responsibility to the European Union. Using multilevel modeling to analyze survey and media data from 27 EU member states, we demonstrate that extreme attitudes reduce citizen competence by motivating biased information processing. Yet at the contextual level, highly politicized environments result in more correct allocations of responsibility by creating an information-rich context.
Victims or Victors? the Effects of Forced Relocations on Housing Satisfaction in Dutch Cities

ABSTRACT: Urban restructuring is changing the face of many Western European cities. Old, relatively cheap dwellings are being demolished and replaced by new, more expensive ones. The spatial effects of this process have been extensively studied, but little is known about the residents who are forced to relocate so that their dwellings can be demolished or updated. We therefore studied how satisfied forced movers are with their current housing situation, and what factors contribute to this. Using data from four Dutch cities, we found that most displaced residents were quite satisfied with their new dwellings and neighborhoods. However, those with low incomes and those from ethnic minority groups were less satisfied with their homes and neighborhoods. We can explain their lower level of neighborhood satisfaction by the fact that they move to less desirable neighborhoods—for example, neighborhoods with higher concentrations of ethnic minorities.
Macroeconomic Fluctuations in Sub-Saharan Africa

The sources of macroeconomic fluctuations in sub-Saharan Africa are examined by comparing the CFA franc countries with the non--CFA franc countries. External shocks, especially terms of trade shocks, appear to have a greater influence on fluctuations of output and the real exchange rate in CFA franc countries. This result does not appear to be associated with differences in the economic structure but may reflect the fixed exchange rate regime, which does not (partially) buffer these countries from external shocks. Macroeconomic fluctuations in non--CFA franc countries are similar to those in other developing countries, particularly in Latin America.
EU Competition policy revisited: Economic Doctrines within european political work

European Union competition policy is often described as neoliberal, without this leading to more investigation. This paper highlights how the European Competition policy doctrine has been shaped, how the ordoliberal movement and the Chicago school ideas have been implemented and supported by the political work of some key actors. We show that, contrary to what is sometimes said in literature, ordoliberal actors were neither hegemonic nor leaders between Rome Treaty and the eighties, even if some neoliberal principles were introduced in antitrust law. These laws are much more a compromise between French and German representatives, and between neo-mercantilists and ordoliberals. However, things have dramatically changed since the eighties, when both (1) new political work from members of the Commission introduced in the European competition policy elements of Chicago School doctrine to complete the European market and (2) some decisions from the ECJ clarified the doctrine of EU Competition law. Nowadays, European competition policy is a mix between an ordoliberal spirit and some Chicago School doctrinal elements.
Policy Watch: Infrastructure Investment and Economic Growth

In the late 1980s, David Aschauer (1989) triggered a long overdue dialogue among economists and political leaders when he published a study arguing that much of the decline in U.S. productivity that occurred in the 1970s was precipitated by declining rates of public capital investment. My own work confirmed these results (Munnell, 1990a). Spending advocates seized on these findings as support for increased public investment. The enthusiasm among policymakers for the early Aschauer results was matched, if not surpassed, by skepticism on the part of many economists. Critics of these studies charged that the methodology was flawed, that the direction of causation between public investment and output growth is unclear and that, even if the historical empirical relationships were estimated correctly, they provide no clear indications for current policy. Who's right? What do we know and not know about the link between public infrastructure and productivity? And what are the implications of these results for policy?
Characteristics, Covariances, and Average Returns: 1929-1997

The value premium in U.S. stocks returns is robust. The positive relation between average return and book-to-market equity (BE/ME) is as strong for 1929-63 as for the subsequent period studied in previous papers. Like others, we also find a size premium in stock returns. Small stocks have higher average returns than big stocks. The size premium is, however, weaker and less reliable than the value premium. The relations between average return and firm characteristics (size and BE/ME) are better explained by a three-factor risk model than by the behavioral hypothesis that investor overreaction causes characteristics to be compensated irrespective of risk loadings.
A comparison of propofol vs. dexmedetomidine for sedation, haemodynamic control and satisfaction, during esophagogastroduodenoscopy under conscious sedation

Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) is a common diagnostic procedure which requires sedation for most patients. We undertook a prospective, randomized, double‐blinded study to compare the effect of propofol vs. dexmedetomidine on the sedation of outpatients during EGD.
“A job well done”: hospitality managers and success

Looks at the different perceptions of success held by hospitality managers, as gauged by a survey undertaken early in 1994. Analyses the tensions between the various perspectives and relates them to their institutional settings and the personal characteristics of managers. Rather than developing an objective classification of “success”, suggests that the variety and conflicts between different perspectives should be recognized and acknowledged, and that there is no one “correct” definition of good job performance.
Within-Team Competition in the Minimum Effort Coordination Game

We report the results of an experiment on a continuous version of the minimum effort coordination game. The introduction of within-team competition significantly increases effort levels relative to a baseline with no competition and increases coordination relative to a secure treatment where the pay-off-dominant equilibrium strategy weakly dominates all other actions. Nonetheless, within-team competition does not prevent subjects from polarizing both in the efficient and the inefficient equilibria.
Estimation of the effective bid-ask spread on high frequency Danish bond data

In this paper the effective bid-ask spread is estimated using 12 high frequency Danish bond samples. A clear-cut MA(1)-model for the mean of the return series, and a GARCH(1,1)-model for the variance, are found. Basically, Roll's model is used, but three different methods of calculating the first-order autocovariance are suggested. Each of these in turn produces three possible ways of estimating the effective bid-ask spread. First, Roll's original autocovariance estimate is used. Second, the autocovariance is calculating using the parameters of an estimated MA(1) model. Third, the autocovariance is obtained from the parameters of a joint MA(1)-GARCH(1,1) model. By means of bootstrapping the standard error of the bid-ask spread estimates are found. It is shown that the gain in efficiency, measured by the relative difference in the standard error of the estimates, is 29% when going from method one to method two, but only 1% when going from method two to method three. These results indicate that the extra gain in efficiency obtained by taking account of the MA(1) structure of the data is noteworthy, but the gain when incorporating the GARCH-effects is negligible.