Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perceived training benefits and training bundles: a Canadian study

The purpose of this study is to examine the link between training and the perceived contribution of training to enhanced productivity or cost reduction. Using data from 92 Canadian organizations, the results show that organizations with higher percentage of trained employees are likely to perceive training to be beneficial. In addition, the results indicate that perceived benefits of training are further enhanced by the presence of human resources management practices that either encourages employees to undertake training (the motivation bundle) and/or provides a systematic assessment of post-training effectiveness (the assessment bundle). The evidence however also shows that open climate as measured by autonomous work systems nullifies the benefits of training, suggesting that under such a structure, employees are unlikely to put in practice the skills they acquired during training.
Trade Reform in the Partially Liberalized Economy of Turkey

Recent reforms in trade policy in Turkey have produced a foreign trade regime that exhibits very little antiexport bias on average. A quantitative, multisectoral general equilibrium model of the Turkish economy shows that piecemeal trade policy reform, based on first-best rationales that are appropriate for highly distorted economies, would not now be appropriate. Further tariff reductions must be coordinated with export subsidy reductions to attain significant welfare benefits. The dispersion of distortions, especially export subsidies, is more important than their level. A policy of harmonizing tariffs to the common external tariff of the European Community has virtually no effect on welfare.
Women Participation in National Development in Nigeria: The Imperative of Education

Women constitute an indispensable force in the quest for national development of any nation. In the developed nations, women have been able to play this important role. However, in Nigeria, women are still relegated to the background as they lack the educational, economic and political power necessary to actualize their innate potentials. The paper examines the important place of women education in the empowerment of women to enable them contribute their quota to national development. The study relied solely on secondary data and this was analysed using content analysis. The paper shows that women access to education is still low as the gender disparity in the enrolment of women into primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions is widening over the years. These problems are further compounded by the high rate of girls’ dropout and failure among women that sat for ‘O’ Level examination. The implication is that many of them lacked the required minimum numbers of credits that qualify them to enrol or get admission into the tertiary institutions. The paper postulates that more pro-active actions need to be taken by the government and other stakeholders to ensure gender parity in education through special child girls education, scholarships and effective implementation of policies and programmes geared towards this .
Human resource practices and firm performance of multinational corporations: influences of country origin

Drawing from a cultural values perspective, we investigate the effects of country origins on HR (human resource) practices of firms from the United States, Great Britain, Japan and Hong Kong operating in Hong Kong. In general, results supported hypothesized differences in HR practices of firms from different countries. In addition, results indicated that HR practices, specifically structural training and development and retention-oriented compensation, were related to various measures of firm performance. Of further interest was the finding that country origin moderated relationships of HR practices with firm performance; in general, relationships of structural training and development and retention-oriented compensation were stronger for Hong Kong firms. Implications of the results are discussed.
Union Corporate Campaigns: An Assessment

The authors examine 28 labor disputes occurring during the period 1976–88 in which the unions involved publicly declared they conducted “corporate campaigns. ” They distinguish three types of campaigns —complements to traditional organizing drives, complements to strikes, and substitutes for strikes—and argue that fundamental differences among these campaigns result in different prospects for success. Organizing-related campaigns, they find, were more likely to yield gains for the union than were bargaining-related campaigns. Strike complement campaigns resulted in the largest number of unequivocal failures; and several strike substitute campaigns appear to have played only limited roles in achieving contract settlements.
Cytosolic Free Calcium During Focal Cerebral Ischemia and the Effects of Nimodipine on Calcium and Histologic Damage

The role of calcium as a mediator in neuronal death during ischemia is now quite strong. Evidence supporting this link includes studies in cell cultures and measurements of calcium accumulation in the mitochondria during ischemia, as well as direct measurements of shifts in extracellular calcium using microelectrodes. Since it is dangerously high concentrations of the intracellular free calcium that have been hypothesized to lead to neuronal damage, direct in vivo measurements of this parameter in ischemia are important. A technique for the measurement of intracellular free calcium is described, along with data from studies that dramatically demonstrate the time course of changes in intracellular free calcium induced by focal ischemia. Additional data are also presented that indicate that cellular damage can be attenuated by the use of agents that block calcium channels (nimodipine, which blocks voltage-sensitive calcium channels, and MK-801, which blocks receptoroperated channels) and support the concept that these agents owe their beneficial effects to their ability to reduce the accumulation of intracellular calcium. (Stroke 1990;21(suppl rV):IV-72-IV-77)
Impact of bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis On larvae of chironomus thummi thummi and psectrocladius psilopterus (Diptera: chironomidae)

Chironomid larvae, especially species of the subfamily Chironominae, are known to be sensitive to the mosquitocidal bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (B.t.i.). In this study, bioassays and electron microscopic investigations were carried out with third- and fourth-instar larvae of Chironomus thummi thummi Kieffer (subfamily Chironominae) and Psectrocladius psilopterus Kieffer (subfamily Orthocladiinae) in order to study the sensitivity of species belonging to different chironomid subfamilies. Both species showed susceptibility to increased B.t. i. concentrations, with LC50 values (24 h) ranging from about 40- to 60-fold the LC50 for Aedes aegypti (LC50 (24 h) is 0.77 mg/L for C. thummi thummi and 1.17 mg/L for P. psilopterus). C. thummi thummi was shown to be twice as sensitive as P. psilopterus. Ultrastructural investigations of the anterior midgut showed cellular alterations in larvae exposed to a high B.t. i. concentration (2.8 mg/L, about 50-fold the LC50 for A. aegypti), such as swelling of mitochondria, dilatation of intercellular spaces and basal labyrinth, fenestration or disorganization of the Golgi complex, concentric arrangement of rough endoplasmic reticulum, and an increase of lysosomes and myelin figures. Electron-lucent regions within the cell, cell protrusion, and, in some cases, swelling or lysis of cells were further effects observed in treated animals. Most effects were found in both species, though they seemed to be more severe in C. thummi thummi. The alterations coincide with those known from target organisms (Culicidae, Simuliidae). This study shows that there is a difference in sensitivity to B.t. i. between chironomid species from different subfamilies and that the susceptibility of chironomid larvae to the bacterial toxins is due to damage of the midgut epithelium as it is in target organisms. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.
Unemployment and Subjective Well-being

In this article we focus on the level of subjective well-being and its determinants among the unemployed as compared to those currently in paid labour. We subject three strongly contradictory theoretical approaches to an empirical test. The first is the traditional deprivation theory, which maintains that unemployment is a major psychological stressor. The second is the incentive theory, which claims that the level of well-being among the unemployed may be sufficiently high to discourage them from actively and effectively searching for a new job and re-entering the labour market. The third approach emphasizes the adverse effects of financial stress for subjective well-being during unemployment. We use the European Social Survey (ESS) data from 21 countries in our empirical analysis. We find no support for the incentive theory. The deprivation theory points in the right direction by stressing the psychological factors associated with unemployment but makes a notable omission by disregarding the financial strain which, according to our analysis, proves to be crucial for the well-being of the unemployed.
Food Prices and Market Integration in Russia: 1992–93

constituted genuine price liberalization, i.e., food prices that respond to supply and demand conditions. Two reasons for skepticism are, first, food marketing enterprises were not privatized or significantly restructured, and second, regulation and subsidization of food continued in sub-national jurisdictions. Nonetheless, it is possible that local monopolies and policy makers permitted market forces to operate sufficiently to achieve improvements in market and pricing efficiency. We test for such improvements by means of econometric investigation of geographical price differences.
The Politics of Healthcare Quality

Improving the quality of care provided by the U.S. healthcare system is an important societal goal. Policymakers who wish to operationalize this goal must navigate an increasingly polarized health policymaking environment. In this dissertation, I examine three stakeholders who can influence this environment: the public, state governors, and health care providers. In Chapter 1, I explore attitudes of and experiences with health care quality among Democrats and Republicans. Relying on a national survey of 1,508 American adults, I find that regardless of having a recent medical issue, Democrats express greater concerns about national quality of care problems relative to Republicans. At the same time, I find no difference in their personal experiences with quality of care received while hospitalized or with healthcare providers. In Chapter 2, I examine how gubernatorial candidates treat health policy in the 2012 and 2014 elections given the states’ increasing role in ACA implementation, which can collectively impact the quality of care provided nationally. After generating a novel database of all gubernatorial candidates’ campaign websites, I summarize the presence of healthcare content, framing of health system problems, and issue engagement with the ACA and its key coverage provisions in these two elections. I find the majority of gubernatorial candidates discuss health policy but are selective in their focus. Republicans, who are more likely than Democrats to express their views specifically regarding the ACA (which they nearly all refer to as “Obamacare”), won the majority of these 47 gubernatorial seats. Winning candidates from both parties discussed the
Bank Lending Standards and Access to Lines of Credit

This paper examines how changes in bank lending standards are related to the availability of bank lines of credit for private and comparable public firms. Overall, we find that access to lines of credit is more contingent on bank lending standards for private than for public firms. The impact of bank lending standards is however asymmetric: While private firms are less likely than public firms to gain access to new lines when credit market conditions are tight, we find no difference between public and private firms in terms of their use or retention of pre-existing lines. We also find that private firms without lines of credit use more trade credit when bank lending standards are tight, which is suggestive of a supply effect. Overall, the evidence suggests that “credit crunches” are likely to have a disproportionate impact on private firms. However, pre-existing banking relationships appear to mitigate the impact of these contractions on private firms.
Are mutual fund investors in jail?

The absence of investor reaction to the poor performance of mutual funds is a widely reported phenomenon. This article investigates the role of load costs as an explanation for the phenomenon and concludes that back-end load fees are an obstacle to reaction. We found evidence consistent with the hypothesis that medium and long-term investors do not react to poor performances due to the fact that they are ‘imprisoned’ by back-end load fees.
Non-uniform directional dictionary-based limited feedback for massive MIMO systems

This work proposes a new limited feedback channel estimation framework. The proposed approach exploits a sparse representation of the double directional wireless channel model involving an over complete dictionary that accounts for the antenna directivity patterns at both base station (BS) and user equipment (UE). Under this sparse representation, a computationally efficient limited feedback algorithm that is based on single-bit compressive sensing is proposed to effectively estimate the downlink channel. The algorithm is lightweight in terms of computation, and suitable for real-time implementation in practical systems. More importantly, under our design, using a small number of feedback bits, very satisfactory channel estimation accuracy is achieved even when the number of BS antennas is very large, which makes the proposed scheme ideal for massive MIMO 5G cellular networks. Judiciously designed simulations reveal that the proposed algorithm outperforms a number of popular feedback schemes in terms of beam forming gain for subsequent downlink transmission, and reduces feedback overhead substantially when the BS has a large number of antennas.
International Competitiveness of Korea Service Industry

Problem statement: This study examines the competitiveness of Korean Service Industry through the empirical analysis based on the comparative advantage index and suggests the policy implications from the research results. Approach: The model of empirical analysis was set using the equation of ratio of Export and Import (EXIM) and net export (XM) for service industry. Results: The present study showed the estimation results of the EXIM and XM. Conclusion: With regard to the competitiveness of service industry, the analysis results suggested the policy implications: First, it was necessary to introduce an incentive system for skilled workers and invest more in research and development in order to increase the labour productivity of human capital. Second, government should implement the open market policy to liberalize the labour movement and induce low-paid labour.
Estimating Portfolio Credit Losses in Downturns

This paper suggests formulas able to capture potential strong connection among credit losses in downturns without assuming any specific distribution for the variables involved. We first show that the current model adopted by regulators (Basel) is equivalent to a conditional distribution derived from the Gaussian Copula (which does not identify tail dependence). We then use conditional distributions derived from copulas that express tail dependence (stronger dependence across higher losses) to estimate the probability of credit losses in extreme scenarios (crises). Next, we use data on historical credit losses incurred in American banks to compare the suggested approach to the Basel formula with respect to their performance when predicting the extreme losses observed in 2009 and 2010. Our results indicate that, in general, the copula approach outperforms the Basel method in two of the three credit segments investigated. The proposed method is extendable to other differentiable copula families and this gives flexibility to future practical applications of the model.
External Imbalances and Financial Fragility in the Euro Area

This paper presents two views of the European sovereign debt crisis. The first is that countries in the South of the Eurozone were fiscally irresponsible and failed to implement pro-competitive supply side policies. The second view holds that the crisis reflects a deep divide between the external surpluses of the North and external deficits of the South. Basic stylized facts cast doubt on the explanation based on the first thesis alone. A relatively simple model shows how poor fundamentals can create a debt problem independently of fiscal responsibility. The empirical analysis of the determinants of government bond yield spreads relative to Germany suggests that both views in fact provide useful insights into the roots of the current sovereign crisis. However, differences in growth and competitiveness and capital flows between North and South have assumed a much more dominant role since the onset of the global crisis.
The Sources of Productivity Growth in Turkish Banks by Ownership: The Initial Responses of Public, Private, and Foreign Banks to Liberalization

Abstract Banks depending on their ownership type may demonstrate different responses to the changing operational environment. The Turkish financial system has undergone significant legal, structural and operational changes as a result of financial liberalization launched in the early 1980s. This paper investigates the sources of initial productivity changes in public, private and foreign banks as financial repression is phased out of the Turkish financial system. According to the non‐parametric Malmquist indexes, the results show that publicly owned banks realized the slowest productivity growth and foreign banks experienced the fastest after liberalization. Most of the productivity growth at public banks has come from changing scale, while private (domestic or foreign) banks have seen more productivity growth from increasing technical efficiency. Apparently, the productivity growth observed in Turkish banks during the liberal period mostly results from banks coming closer to the existing technological frontier (increased efficiency). However, the progress of the technological frontier during the period, representing the most efficient deployment of resources possible, was not as impressive. This implies that the source of productivity growth in Turkish banks is mainly “imitation”—the efforts of the inefficient banks to catch up with the best‐practice banks—rather than “innovation”—the outward shifts of the production frontier by leading banks.
Takeover Exposure, Agency, and the Choice between Private and Public Debt

Abstract We examine how governance characteristics are related to the corporate choice between public and private debt. We find that firms with fewer takeover defenses and larger outside blockholder ownership are more likely to borrow from banks and to issue 144A debt. We also document that public debt cost is more sensitive to takeover exposure than bank debt cost. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that banks mitigate the expected negative effect of takeovers on debt value through covenants and debt renegotiations. Moreover, we show that firms with weaker internal monitoring are less likely to borrow from banks. Copyright (c) 2009 The Southern Finance Association and the Southwestern Finance Association.
Teen Birth Rates in the U.S. from 1990 to 2008: The Role of State Policy, Women's Opportunity and Contextual Factors

Objective: Teen birth rates in the U.S. have declined significantly, with the most recent decline spanning two decades; but patterns of teen childbearing differ substantially across states. Although many policy and expenditure decisions are made at the state level, few studies have examined the relationship between state policies intended to reduce teen births or enhance opportunity and the teen birth rate. Methods: Data from 1989 to 2008 for all 50 states were used in analyses combining time-varying effects models and multilevel modeling, allowing the identification of associations between teen birth rates and state policies that affect women’s health and their educational and employment opportunities, as well as other state characteristics that vary over time, while accounting for between-state differences in the teen birth rate. Results: We find that, at the state level, greater family planning expenditures, higher public assistance benefits, and the proportion of children who are uninsured, are associated with lower teen birth rates and that this relationship has remained constant over the past 18 years. Higher rates of female labor force participation, a lower poverty rate, a higher freshman graduation rate, higher levels of education funding, and a higher proportion of the population with a Bachelor’s degree are also associated with lower teen birth rates rates. Further research on how public assistance policies affect teen childbearing is needed. Conclusion: This study suggests that state-level efforts to provide reproductive health care and to improve educational and employment prospects for state residents are associated with lower teen birth rates.
CSR expectations: the focus of corporate marketing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between individuals' expectations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and their readiness to support the socially responsible behaviour of companies in light of the expectational relationship a company has with its stakeholders, as defined in the corporate marketing model.Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected using an online survey of 354 respondents from different backgrounds. The sample was 57 per cent female and 43 per cent male with 66 per cent of respondents aged between 20 and 40 years. The authors conducted descriptive statistics, a factor analysis, and structural equation modelling.Findings – The results show that expectations of ethical‐philanthropic CSR tend to have a significant positive influence on both types of intended CSR support by customers.Research limitations/implications – The limitation of the research is the limited scope of the model. For more insight into the relevance of CSR for corporate marketin.
The Commissioning Process in the NHS: The theory and application

This article explores the commissioning process introduced into the NHS in 1991. Its purpose is to consider the relevance of this experience for future commissioning structures. In particular the implementation of Changing Childbirth (Department of Health 1993) is discussed as an illustration of the commissioning process in action. The article is informed by empirical data gathered from four research sites within the NHS.