Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structural or communicative approach: A case study of English Language teaching in Masvingo urban and peri-urban secondary schools

This paper investigates the teaching of English as a second language (ESL) in Zimbabwe, using Masvingo urban and peri-urban secondary schools as a case study. The study employed both the quantitative and the qualitative designs. A questionnaire and document analysis was used to gather data. The data gathered were also analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively through tables, thick descriptions and paraphrases. The study established that the structural approach and its associated methods and techniques were mainly used in the teaching of ESL, with communicative language teaching (CLT), which is recommended by the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) O-Level English syllabus, playing second fiddle. The paper concludes that this could be due to ignorance, on the part of teachers, of the principles and advantages of CLT, or it could be a result of conservatism. The paper recommends that relevant authorities, such as universities, teachers’ colleges and the responsible Ministry should vigorously strive to make English Language teachers have a paradigm shift towards full implementation of CLT. Key words: Structural Approach, Communicative Approach, English as a Second Language (ESL), Linguistic Competence, Communicative Competence.
A Dynamic Exercise in Reducing Deer- Vehicle Collisions: Management Through Vehicle Mitigation Techniques and Hunting

The costs of deer-vehicle collisions (DVCs) nationwide are estimated to be in excess of $1 billion annually. In this study, factors contributing to the abundance of DVCs are identified and the potential effectiveness of various deer management strategies in reducing DVCs is investigated. The added benefits of such strategies are also evaluated in a bioeconomic context by comparing alternative outcomes achievable from implementing DVC mitigation techniques. Focusing on Ohio, results suggest potentially large economic gains exist from reducing DVCs, especially with strategies that combine both deer management schemes and DVC mitigation techniques.
Long-Run Earnings Inequality and Earnings Instability among Canadian Men Revisited, 1985-2005

Abstract I consider two flexible models of earnings dynamics suggested in the recent literature and alternative approaches to the treatment of left-censored observations to examine trends in the permanent and transitory variances of earnings of Canadian male workers from 1985 to 2005. I find that both permanent and transitory variances were higher in the 2000s than in the late 1980s or 1990s. In contrast to the late 1980s and the recession period of the early 1990s, both components of variance grew at a similar pace during the post-recession period, and the share of each component in the total variance remained fairly stable. The results are robust to the choice of a model. The study is based on a large sample from a uniquely rich longitudinal administrative dataset.
Managerial Compensation and Corporate Demand for Insurance

This article examines the role of insurance in shaping efficient compensation contracts and thereby in determining the value of the firm, assuming rational expectations. With fixed compensation, insurance coverage sufficient to eliminate insolvency is optimal. With compensation based on the firm's liquidating value, full insurance is optimal because it allows for a higher reliance on performance compensation, which then induces higher managerial efforts in both business operation and risk management and therefore a higher value of the firm. With compensation based on stock price, partial coverage or no coverage is optimal due to the cost arising from the imperfect impounding of the effect of insurance in the stock price.
Gender Pay Gap

The article explains the origins of the gender pay gap as a Nash equilibrium of a game with incomplete information about women's work at home and in the marketplace based on the earlier results of Chichilnisky (2005, 2008a, 2008b). Expectations about women's lower market wages leads to the over utilisation of women in the household, and this, in turn, leads to lower productivity and lower wages for women in the marketplace. The situation is rational, but (as the prisoner's dilemma) it is generally Pareto inferior. Inequity at home breeds inequity in the marketplace and reciprocally, leading to a persistent gender gap. With learning by doing, at high levels of skill there is a Pareto superior equilibrium where men and women share efforts equally at home and receive the same pay in the marketplace, firms enhance their profits, and there is additionally more welfare at home. Updated Family Law and appropriate contracts can help resolve this Pareto inferior situation as well as increase productivity and economic growth in the economy as a whole (Pyle, 1990).
Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in Very Low Birth Weight Subjects and Lung Function in Late Adolescence

OBJECTIVES. The purpose of this work was to determine the relationship between lung function in late adolescence and bronchopulmonary dysplasia, to establish whether lung function changed more from earlier in childhood in those with bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and to assess the effect of different definitions of bronchopulmonary dysplasia on respiratory outcome. METHODS. Subjects were composed of 147 survivors of birth weight <1500 g from the Royal Women's Hospital (Melbourne, Australia) born during 1977–1982 and who had lung function tests at a mean age of 18.9 years. Of the 147 subjects, 33 (22%) had bronchopulmonary dysplasia in the newborn period. Lung function was measured according to American Thoracic Society guidelines. RESULTS. All of the lung function variables reflecting airflow were substantially diminished in the bronchopulmonary dysplasia group, but lung volumes were not significantly different. More subjects in the bronchopulmonary dysplasia group had reductions in airflow in the clinically significant range (eg, forced expired volume in 1 second/forced vital capacity ratio <75%; bronchopulmonary dysplasia: 42.4% [14 of 33]; and no bronchopulmonary dysplasia: 16.4% [18/114]). Results were not substantially affected after adjustment for confounding variables, including intrauterine growth restriction or birth weight. Compared with earlier in childhood, the forced expired volume in 1 second/forced vital capacity ratio deteriorated more in bronchopulmonary dysplasia subjects between 8 and 18 years. Lung function results varied little with different definitions of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. CONCLUSIONS. Subjects of very low birth weight with bronchopulmonary dysplasia in the newborn period have poorer lung function in late adolescence than those without bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and their lung function may be deteriorating at a more rapid rate.
Bridging the Knowledge and Skills Gap: Tapping Federal Retirees

Almost every study dealing with workforce planning in the government emphasizes the critical challenges that agencies are facing with respect to strategic human capital issues. With the government moving towards a market-driven approach, some authors suggest that a more flexible workforce is needed for today's (and tomorrow's) government. One pool of relatively untapped talent that hasn't been creatively applied to help address the ensuing human capital issues in the government deals with the use of federal retirees. Federal retirees could help bridge the knowledge and skills gaps in the government. This study addresses this issue and makes some specific recommendations to help agencies better deal with related human capital challenges.
Accounting flexibility and managers’ forecast behavior prior to seasoned equity offerings

This study examines the effect of accounting flexibility on managers’ forecasting behavior prior to seasoned equity offerings (SEOs). Although SEO firms have a strong incentive to convey optimistic information to boost the pre-SEO stock price, they also face enhanced litigation risk arising from SEO-related regulations. Thus, I hypothesize that managers will release positive news through their forecasts (relative to the prevailing analyst consensus) prior to an SEO only if they have the accounting flexibility to manage subsequent reported earnings to meet or exceed their forecasts. I find that managers with greater accounting flexibility are more likely to issue a forecast prior to the SEO and that their forecasts are more likely to convey positive news and are more specific. Furthermore, I find no effect of accounting flexibility for non-SEO control firms or for non-SEO periods. My results suggest that when managers experience a tension between the incentive for voluntary disclosure and high litigation risk, accounting flexibility is an important factor that determines their forecasting behavior.
Content Analysis of Annual Reports for Corporate Strategy and Risk

Annual report content analysis is used to explore corporate strategy and elements of risk and return. Sets of reports from three industries, food processing, computer peripherals, and containers, show relationships which are otherwise difficult to obtain and which can be tested for validity. Revealed are a negative correlation of risk and return between companies within industries, and a tendency of troubled companies to seek risk. Profits following higher risk positions are explored in light of current finance theory using content analysis.
Using Nursery Rhymes to Foster Phonological and Musical Processing Skills in Kindergarteners

th , 2012; revised June 10 th , 2012; accepted June 27 th , 2012 The aim of this study was to assess the efficiency of four learning conditions to develop phonological and musical processing skills through a set of 10 nursery rhymes. According to the analysis of the teachers’ practices, eight kindergarten classes (n = 100 kindergarteners) were paired and assigned to one of the following conditions: 1) music; 2) language; 3) combined [music and language]; and 4) passive listening (control classes). Participants in conditions 1, 2, and 3 were met for 40 minutes per week over a ten-week period. In condition 1, the nursery rhymes were supplemented by musical activities and in condition 2 by language activities. Condition 3 was a combination of activities from conditions 1 and 2. In condition 4, children listened to a recording of the same nursery rhymes for 15 minutes daily during free exploration periods. No intervention was proposed for this control condition. All participants were evaluated using the same phonological and musical processing measures prior to and after the implementation of the program. Results indicated that children in conditions 1, 2 and 3 significantly improved their phonological awareness and their invented spelling skills at post-test. However, only the two conditions in which the music component was integrated enhanced significantly their results at the verbal memory task. Children in conditions 1, 3 and 4 enhanced tonal and rhythm perception skills. This study demonstrated that supplementing nursery rhymes with language activities is an efficient manner to develop emergent literacy skills, but the addition of musical activities could also boost phonological processing skills.
Insiders and Market Efficiency

THE STRONG-FORM of the efficient market hypothesis assumes all available public and private information is fully relected in a security's market price. The strongform, in terms of market participants, also assumes that no individual can have higher expected trading profits than others because of monopolistic access to information. One possible test of the strong-form is to determine whether insiders earn better than average profits from their market transactions. To ascertain if the market is truly efficient will involve determining how well insiders do relative to the market in general. To date, some work has already been done in evaluating rates of return earned by insiders trading for their own accounts. Jaffe [3,4], Pratt and DeVere [8], Rogoff [9], and Glass [2] have calculated rates of return earned by insiders trading for their own accounts and their work lends some support to the hypothesis that insiders do, in fact, earn above average profits. A major shortcoming of these studies centers on data availability, as no precise price per share or date of insider trades were reported to the S.E. C. prior to 1965. Further, except for Jaffe, the studies do not incorporate an explicit adjustment for risk. An additional problem with all of the studies is the skimming of the cream of the crop in their sample selection. That is the selection of samples based on "intensive" insider trading criteria, i.e., the samples are biased in favor of whose performance would more than likely be superior to the average insider. This bias, while not affecting their results relative to the semi-strong-form, invalidates the findings for a test of the strong-form. By testing the entire population of insiders, this study evaluates the performance of the "average" insider. Section II presents an explanation of the methodology used to evaluate insider performance, while Section III list and evaluates the results. The final section presents implications and conclusions.
Impact of supply chain management practices on innovation and organizational performance in Iranian Companies

Supply chain management (SCM) is effective way to improve innovation and organizational performance. This research conceptualizes and develops five dimensions of SCM practice (strategic supplier partnership, customer relationship, information technology, information sharing, and Supply chain integration) and tests the relationships between SCM practices, innovation and organizational performance. A survey is conducted on 186 Iranian managers. Data are analyzed using principal components analysis and relationships are tested using linear regression. Results show the importance of supply chain management practices adoption. It reveals their positive impacts on innovation and organizational performance.
Participation in a Public Insurance Program: Subsidies, Crowd-Out, and Adverse Selection

This paper examines how varying the level of subsidies affects participation in a public insurance program, crowd-out of private insurance, and adverse selection. We study the experience in Washington's Basic Health program in 1997. Findings show that adverse selection is not a problem in voluntary public programs. Increasing subsidies have only modest effects on participation in subsidized programs, though the gains are not at the expense of the private market. Overall participation in the subsidized plan is also modest, even though participants benefit from it. The challenge to policymakers is to find program design characteristics, beyond subsidies, that attract the uninsured.
Unit Labour Costs, International Competitiveness, and Exports: The Case of Senegal

Despite some favourable conditions and a number of policy reforms, Senegal's participation in the global economy remains tenuous. This paper uses a Ricardian framework to study Senegal's international competitiveness in manufacturing. Wages, productivity and unit labour costs in Senegal are compared to those of other developing countries. Senegal's labour productivity has grown much more slowly than in successful emerging economies. The 1994 devaluation of the CFA franc has dramatically improved Senegal's international competitiveness but further improvements in competitiveness depend on productivity growth given the constraint of the fixed exchange rate. We find a significant effect of relative unit labour costs on exports, particularly of manufactured goods. Sustained export-led growth, however, requires additional structural reforms. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.
Women and the Changing Urban Household Economy in Tanzania

Women in Tanzania's largest city, Dar es Salaam, used to be described as ‘relatively inactive’ as regards paid work or self-employment.1 One study undertaken in 1971 found that only one-fifth of urban women were either working for wages (13 per cent) or earning their own sources of income (7 per cent). 2 The situation could not have been more different in the late 1980s, with as many as 66 per cent in Dar es Salaam being self-employed. Although about the same proportion of women were in some kind of paid employment as during the previous decade, it appeared that since then many of them had been leaving their place of work to farm and to engage in small income-generating projects, known as miradi midogo midogo or shughuli ndogo ndogo in Kiswahili3.
The (Neo) institutionalization of legacy and its sustainable governance within the Olympic Movement

Abstract The purpose of this article was to further explore the emergence of legacy and the process through which it becomes a taken-for-granted institutional rule that has impacted how organizations plan and implement the Games. More specifically, this article reviews why and how legacy was adopted, the forces at play, and the subsequent implications on bid and organizing committees and other actors within the Olympic Movement. Institutional theory is applied as a theoretical framework to investigate the emergence and evolution of legacy and its governance. The organizational field under investigation consists of the committees involved in the bidding for and hosting of the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee as the main rights holder, and other actors within the Olympic Movement which impact or can be impacted by the event's legacy (e.g., national and international sport organizations and sponsors). Archival material was used as the primary source of data. This source included multiple types of documentation such as bid documents, candidature files, final reports, and related websites. Institutionalization is an ongoing process. As such, in order to further understand the adoption of legacy into the Olympic Movement, the evolution of the concept was broken down into the pre-institutionalization, semi-institutionalization, and full institutionalization phases as described by Tolbert and Zucker. Managerial implications that arise as a result of the institutionalization of legacy and the subsequent objectification of its governance are discussed.
Japanese stock market reaction to announcements of news affecting auditors’ reputation: The case of the Olympus fraud

The revelation of accounting fraud by the Olympus Corporation gave rise to shareholder allegations of audit failure against Olympus’ auditors—Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC and KPMG AZSA LLC—in 2011. In this study, we investigate whether the auditors’ affiliation with Olympus contributes to divergent perceptions of audit quality in the event of news announcements affecting the reputation of Olympus’ auditors. First, we use a nonparametric generalized rank event study methodology on 918 sample firms from the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) to observe Japanese investors’ perceptions of auditor reputation as proxied by abnormal returns. Second, we perform a multivariate linear regression on firms’ abnormal returns after controlling for firm-specific variables. We find that Japanese investors do not respond to negative or neutral reputational information arising from news announcements concerning Olympus’ auditors for firms affiliated and not affiliated with those auditors. In the absence of legal penalties imposed on Olympus’ auditors, we argue that Japanese investors consider the Olympus fraud case as an expected occurrence of audit failure due to a lack of evidence suggesting systematic audit failure on the part of Olympus’ auditors and an expectation of lower audit quality in the Japanese capital market. As a result, Japanese investors do not consider news announcements affecting the Olympus auditors’ reputation as sufficient evidence to change their prior expectation regarding the reputations of the audit firms affiliated with the Olympus fraud case.
Professional Work and Professional Careers in Manchester's Business and Financial Sector

This paper examines professional work and professional careers and the extent to which professionals face change, uncertainty and risk in their careers. The key issue is whether the power and privilege of the professions is being undermined. It draws on research from Manchester's business and financial sector including accountancy, law, actuarial work and corporate finance. Interviews with senior partners and managers in a range of organisations indicate that important changes in the professions are taking place including diversification, inter-professional competition, organisational change and specialisation. There has also been a change in relationships with clients and an intensification of work. Interviews with junior professionals show that job mobility is high in the early career although most envisaged staying with one organisation for the majority of their careers. Hours of work were long but not necessarily seen as onerous. They were well remunerated in commanding high salaries at a relatively young age with the prospect of greatly enhanced rewards in the future. Few had experiences of redundancy and none of unemployment although the consensus of opinion was that the professions are no longer a job for life. Perceptions of insecurity were greater than experiences of it. It is argued that the privilege and power of the professions can only be understood in the context of the organisations in which they are employed and the political economy in which those organisations operate. Increased economic competitiveness has led to changes in professional work but professionals continue to enjoy advantaged careers in the labour market.
The Impact of Home-Based Child Care Provider Unionization on the Cost, Type, and Availability of Subsidized Child Care in Illinois

In February 2005, Illinois became the first U.S. state to grant home‐based child care providers (HBCPs) the right to form a labor union in order to bargain collectively with the state government. This policy inspired similar efforts across the country and represents a potentially important direction for child care policy. To date, the implications of labor unions for the cost, type, and availability of subsidized child care have not been evaluated empirically. In this study, we examine the impact of granting Illinois HBCPs the right to form a labor union on (a) the type of child care (licensed vs. license‐exempt/home‐based vs. center‐based) used by subsidy‐receiving Illinois infants and toddlers; (b) the per‐child cost of subsidized child care for infants and toddlers; and (c) the percentage of Illinois infants and toddlers who use child care subsidies. To conduct these analyses, we combine data from the Current Population Survey with Child Care and Development Fund administrative records on U.S. infants and toddlers whose families received child care subsidies during the period from 2002 to 2008. We use both a traditional difference‐in‐differences as well as a comparative case study with a “synthetic” control group approach. The synthetic control group approach improves on traditional comparative case studies by providing a transparent, empirical approach for constructing the counterfactual, documenting comparison units’ contribution to the synthetically created control group and detailing the degree to which the synthetic control group is, or is not, similar to the treated unit on preintervention measures of the outcome as well as on other selected characteristics. We find that subsidy‐receiving Illinois infants and toddlers spent an average of between 6.4 and 7 percentage points more hours in licensed care settings, as compared to license‐exempt settings, in the three years following child care unionization. We also find that between 0.7 and 1.1 percentage points fewer Illinois infants and toddlers used child care subsidies following unionization.