Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improved genetic evaluation of survival using MACE to combine direct and correlated information from yield and functional traits

Objective of this study was to improve the estimation of survival breeding values using multiple-trait across country evaluation procedures to combine direct information with milk, fat and protein yields and functional traits: milk persistency, somatic cell count, fertility (male and female) and calving ease (direct and maternal). A set of bulls was selected from the Austrian Simmental population and their breeding values were deregressed. An Expectation-Maximization REML procedure based on the multiple-trait across country evaluation equations was used to compute genetic (co)variance components among all traits and to predict breeding values. Mean rank correlation between direct and combined breeding values was 0.85. Direct (original), indirect and combined reliabilities were compared to appreciate the impact of the proposed method on improvement of reliability of survival breeding values. This improvement could be up to 0.24 for animals with low direct reliability. For young bulls born in 1992 without direct survival information but with already reliable information on milk, fat and protein yields and functional traits, mean reliability improvement was 0.13. For all bulls this value was 0.06.
Human Rights Practices and the Distribution of U.S. Foreign Aid to Latin American Countries

Do the human rights practices of other nations influence U.S. foreign policy? The most relevant research on this question concluded that the distribution of U.S. foreign aid among Latin American countries has tended to reward human rights violators and punish human rights champions. This paper reexamines the relationship between human rights practices and the distribution of U.S. economic and military assistance to Latin America in fiscal 1982. The findings suggest an increased importance for human rights considerations in U.S. bilateral aid decisions. They also provide evidence of a two-stage bilateral aid allocation process, with different factors affecting decisions at each stage. Human rights practices were found to be related to the decision to provide or not to provide military assistance and to the decision to provide particular levels of economic assistance to Latin American nations. Though most attention has been focused upon the role of U.S. presidents in shaping foreign policy, the findings suggest that human rights considerations have become institutionalized in the foreign aid distribution process largely because of the consistent emphasis placed on human rights by Congress since the mid 1970s.
Internal Auditors Assessment of Their Contribution to Financial Statement Audits: The Relation With Audit Committee and Internal Audit Function Characteristics

This paper examines the relation between audit committee characteristics, internal audit function characteristics and internal auditors' assessment of their contribution to financial statement audits. Using survey data from chief internal auditors of 76 Malaysian publicly-listed firms, we provide evidence of a positive relationship between internal auditors' assessment of their contribution to financial statement audits and three audit committee characteristics: the proportion of independent audit committee members, their knowledge and experience of accounting and auditing, and the extent of audit committee review of internal audit programmes, budget and coordination proposals. Further, a positive relationship is found between internal auditors' evaluation of their contribution to the financial statement audit and internal audit function characteristics including size, prior experience of staff in auditing, time availability and the closeness of the function's relationship with the external auditor. The results indicate that more effective audit committees and well-resourced internal audit units tend to be positively associated with the internal auditors' assessment of their contribution to the external audit.
Resting Energy Expenditure, Body Composition, and Dietary Intake: A Longitudinal Study Before and After Liver Transplantation

Background The loss of hepatic innervations after liver transplantation (LTx) might affect the energy metabolism of the patients. The aim of this study was to assess the resting energy expenditure (REE), body composition, and dietary intake before and during the first year after the LTx. Methods The REE was measured by indirect calorimetry. Nutritional status was assessed by anthropometric assessment, bioimpedance, handgrip strength, and dietary intake (before and 30, 90, 180, 270, and 370 days after LTx). Social, clinical, and nutritional variables were assessed as being potentially associated with REE or hypermetabolism and hypometabolism after LTx. Results Seventeen patients were included. REE was elevated at 30 days and reduced at the end of the study (P<0.05). Hypermetabolism/hypometabolism were low but present at the end of the study (11.8% of each). Increases in body weight and fat mass were observed (P<0.05). Handgrip strength and phase angle improved after LTx (P<0.05). Energy balance was positive at all times after LTx, and an increase in fat intake occurred (P<0.05). After multivariate analyses (P<0.05), the REE before transplantation and triceps skinfold thickness were positively associated and the cumulative dose of prednisone was negatively associated with REE after LTx. The presence of hypermetabolism was significantly associated with the presence of hypermetabolism before LTx and the cumulative dose of prednisone. Percentage of fat intake and fat mass before LTx was associated with hypometabolism. Conclusion Some potential modifiable factors are related to resting energy metabolism in patients undergoing LTx. Adequate and individualized nutritional guidance should be started before LTx.
Investigation of dermatology life quality index and serum prolactin and serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate levels in patients with chronic urticaria.

BACKGROUND Chronic urticaria (CU) is known to be one of the most disturbing diseases which significantly affect the quality of life. Prolactin (PRL) and DHEA-S (dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate) are stress-associated hormones in chronic urticaria. OBJECTIVE In the present study, we measured DHEA-S and prolactin levels of CU patients, compared them with healthy subjects and evaluated the association between disease status and serum levels. METHODS Plasma DHEA-S and serum PRL concentrations were measured in 48 CU patients and 31 healthy subjects. CU activity was assessed with the use of the symptom scores recommended with EAACI/GALEN/EDF guidelines. All the patients participating in this study were evaluated by means of Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). With respect to DLQI and clinical activity scores, plasma DHEA-S and serum prolactin levels were compared. RESULTS Median plasma concentration of DHEA-S was significantly lower in CU patients as compared with healthy subjects (p = 0.026). DHEA-S levels of females were significantly lower than males (p = 0.001). Mean PRL values of the patients were higher than the controls, but not statistically significant (p = 0.619) and there was a statistically signifcant inverse correlation with DHEA-S levels (p = 0.04, r = -0.298). Therewas a significant correlation between DLQI and clinical disease activity (p < 0.001, r = 0.748). CONCLUSIONS The exact relation of hormones to CU pathogenesis remains to be determined by further clinical studies. In addition, therapies aiming to increase DHEA-S and decrease PRL may be subject to trial in CU.
Board Size, Corporate Information Environment and Cost of Capital

: Prior academic research has found a discount for equity holders but a premium for bondholders of firms with large boards. We argue that these results could have been impacted by the relation between board size and corporate information environment, which is absent in prior empirical analyses. In this study, we examine the impact of board size on both the equity holders and bondholders by analyzing how board size affects the information environment of a firm. Using a sample of S&P 1500 firms, our study finds that board size is positively associated with variables that proxy for information transparency. Further tests indicate that firms with larger boards pay lower weighted average cost of capital and that the discount is greater for firms that are less transparent. We find that firms with greater transparency do not benefit from larger boards. These results hold even when we use alternative measures of cost of capital. Overall, the results suggest that investors perceive larger boards as providing a more transparent information environment, which leads to a lower cost of capital for the firm.
How personality traits affect clinician-supervisors’ work engagement and subsequently their teaching performance in residency training

Abstract Purpose: Clinician-supervisors often work simultaneously as doctors and teachers. Supervisors who are more engaged for their teacher work are evaluated as better supervisors. Work engagement is affected by the work environment, yet the role of supervisors’ personality traits is unclear. This study examined (i) the impact of supervisors’ personality traits on work engagement in their doctors’ and teachers’ roles and (ii) how work engagement in both roles affects their teaching performance. Methods: Residents evaluated supervisors’ teaching performance, using the validated System for Evaluation of Teaching Qualities. Supervisors’ reported work engagement in doctor and teacher roles separately using the validated Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Supervisors’ personality traits were measured using the Big Five Inventory’s five factor model covering conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, emotional stability and openness. Results: Overall, 549 (68%) residents and 636 (78%) supervisors participated. Conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness were positively associated with supervisors’ engagement in their teacher work, which was subsequently positively associated with teaching performance. Conclusions: Conscientious, extraverted, and agreeable supervisors showed more engagement with their teacher work, which made them more likely to deliver adequate residency training. In addition to optimizing the work environment, faculty development and career planning could be tailor-made to fit supervisors’ personality traits.
Exploring efforts to engender on‐line trust

The Internet presents many possibilities by which small firms can better identify and exploit marketing opportunities. A prerequisite to successful on‐line firm‐customer interactions is the existence of a trusting bond between the network players. This research study examines the extent to which key informants perceive on‐line trust‐mark branding as important in this trust generation process. Results from in‐depth interviews with government support agency staff and other key informants are reported. Findings indicate a general perception among respondents that the generation of on‐line trust is not an area of great importance and the use of trust‐mark brands is a longer‐term consideration.
Health Status and Earnings of Migrant Workers from Rural China

The migration of rural laborers into cities for employment has been one of the main driving forces of China's economic growth over the past three decades. Based on a dataset collected by the Ministry of Agriculture of China from 2003 to 2007, this paper examines the impact of health on the earnings of migrant workers engaging in physically-intensive work requiring good health. Our findings indicate that a poor health status not only weakens the incentive of rural laborers to participate in the migrant labor force but also significantly reduces their earnings. A migrant worker in poor health only earns 67 percent of what a healthy worker makes. Among all the human capital characteristics and family economic factors, health status is the most influential on earnings for less educated workers. Labor productivity has a greater impact on earnings than the annual number of days that a person works. Ongoing health-care reforms aimed at the improvement of the health-care services available to rural laborers are urged to help reduce poverty in rural China.
Idiosyncratic Volatility and the Cross Section of Expected Returns

Abstract This paper examines the cross-sectional relation between idiosyncratic volatility and expected stock returns. The results indicate that i) the data frequency used to estimate idiosyncratic volatility, ii) the weighting scheme used to compute average portfolio returns, iii) the breakpoints utilized to sort stocks into quintile portfolios, and iv) using a screen for size, price, and liquidity play critical roles in determining the existence and significance of a relation between idiosyncratic risk and the cross section of expected returns. Portfoliolevel analyses based on two different measures of idiosyncratic volatility (estimated using daily and monthly data), three weighting schemes (value-weighted, equal-weighted, inverse volatility-weighted), three breakpoints (CRSP, NYSE, equal market share), and two different samples (NYSE/AMEX/NASDAQ and NYSE) indicate that no robustly significant relation exists between idiosyncratic volatility and expected returns.
Excuses, Excuses: The Ritual Trivialisation of Environmental Prosecutions

Environmental criminal law in England and Wales is dominated by strict liability offences with prosecutions generally undertaken by the Environment Agency in front of local lay magistrates. Legal convention and the nature of the offences give considerable leeway to defence lawyers to construct mitigation arguments designed to extract sympathy from the courts where guilty pleas are entered. A recent study of environmental cases reveals the range of arguments considered by lawyers most likely to influence magistrates. These include blaming misfortune or third parties, suggesting unjustified restraint on trade, and disputing the environmental significance and consequences of their clients' actions. Mitigation arguments are an inherent element of the adversarial process, but affect the social construction of environmental crime and need to be seen in the light of current concern over low sentencing practice. It is arguable that the type of aggressive mitigation seen in practice undermines the efficiency of adjudication by a non-specialised court, and strengthens the case for reconsidering the most appropriate forum for dealing with these types of cases.
Sex Ratio and Sexual Dimorphism of Three Lice Species with Contrasting Prevalence Parasitizing the House Sparrow

Abstract: Female-biased sex ratio is a common phenomenon in parasites; however, the cause and consequence of the skewed sex ratio is less well known. Here, we studied the difference in sex ratio, a possible mechanism responsible for the development of unbalanced proportion of sexes and its consequences on sexual size dimorphism, between 3 louse species parasitizing the house sparrow Passer domesticus. Philopterus fringillae was more prevalent than Sturnidoecus refractariolus and Brueelia cyclothorax. As expected, the most common species, which was probably least affected by isolation and, hence, inbreeding, was characterized by a balanced sex ratio, whereas the 2 other species with low prevalence were significantly more female biased than expected on the basis of the local mate competition hypothesis. Further, in support of this notion, we found that P. fringillae infrapopulation size significantly, and positively, correlated with the sex ratio. Finally, we found significant differences in sexual dimorphism among the 3 louse species and, as expected, the relative size of males was smallest in species with a more female-biased sex ratio.
Two‐Sided Matching: How Corporate Issuers and Their Underwriters Choose Each Other

In this article, the authors update and confirm the findings of a 2005 article that was the first to view corporate underwriter choices as the outcome of a two‐sided matching process in which issuers look to the abilities of the underwriters offering their services and underwriters focus on the quality of the issuers that wish to use their services. This view offers a contrast with both the conventional representation of issuer-underwriter associations as one‐sided decisions (by either issuers or underwriters) and the classical economist's representation of a competitive market in which prices serve as the primary market-clearing mechanism. In their examination of both initial public offerings (IPOs) and seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) during the period 1980–2010, the authors continue to find strong evidence that higher-quality issuers associate with more reputable underwriters and lower-quality issuers match with lower reputation underwriters. Moreover, when examining cases of underwriter switching between an IPO and SEOs by the same issuer, they find that cases involving the largest divergence in the relative rankings of issuer and underwriter were the most likely to produce a change of underwriter — and that issuers that experienced larger post‐ IPO increases in quality were more likely to find more reputable underwriters for their SEOs (than for their IPOs). The authors also find that the larger the number of offerings brought to market in a given year, the smaller the market share of the top‐tier underwriters, likely reflecting the willingness of the most reputable underwriters to turn down business to maintain quality and reputation. Finally, the most reputable underwriters appear to benefit from the fact that the issuers whose IPOs they underwrite end up raising larger amounts of capital, both at the time of the IPO and in the larger and more frequent seasoned offerings by such issuers that come after the IPO. This evidence in support of two-sided matching suggests that, especially for high‐quality issuers, the reputation of the underwriters they contract with for security offerings is likely to be more important than the underwriting fees they incur. What's more, the authors' finding that the most reputable underwriters are less likely to lose high‐quality clients and have more stable market share — and that the higher-quality issuers they attract end up raising larger amounts of capital over their lives as public companies — suggests that underwriters' investments in building and preserving their reputations have a large expected payoff.
Exploring Farm investment Behaviour in Transition: The Case of Russian Agriculture

This paper analyses the investment behaviour of Russian farms during the period of economic stabilisation that followed Russia’s financial crisis of 1998, and is the first to apply the error‐correction investment model to describe farms’ investment behaviour in the transitional context. Additionally, the paper employs the error‐correction and the adjustment‐cost model to test for differences in the investment behaviour between various farm categories. The results show that in general Russian farms exhibited an error‐correcting behaviour in the period under investigation. From 1999 to 2005 the output–capital gap was closed by an average rate of 10% per year. Estimates of the adjustment‐cost model show that Russian farm investments are very sensitive to the sales–capital ratio, suggesting that Russian farms exhibit increasing returns to scale and positive expectations about future revenues. Yet, such farm characteristics as ownership structure, access to input markets and also regional specifics were found to be decisive for farm investment not only in the short but long term too. Finally, the results show that the adjustment‐cost model is adequate for the evaluation of differences in short‐term investment behaviour, whereas it is noticeably less powerful for investigating differences in the farms’ long‐term investment behaviour.
Short-term plasticity of the primary somatosensory cortex during tool use

Plastic changes within the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) related to tool use are reported. Subjects manipulated a small object with a pair of tongs or with their hand. Functional organization of SI during tool use was compared with that during executing the task with the fingers and during rest, respectively. Topography of SI was assessed using neuromagnetic source imaging based on tactile stimulation of the first (D1) and fifth digit (D5). We found that cortical representations of D1 and D5 are further apart during tool use than during non-tool use and rest. Our data suggest that somatosensory cortical maps are part of the neural network representing the modified schema of the hand in which the tool was incorporated.
The Effects of Corporate Governance, Competition, and Political Costs on Strategic Executive Pay Disclosure: Evidence from Korea

ABSTRACT: We examine factors influencing firms' strategic disclosure of executive pay in Korea. In Korea, executive pay is disclosed through directors' pay disclosure in a firm's annual report. Because the disclosure rules in Korea do not mandate but only recommend that firms distinguish between inside executive directors and outside nonexecutive directors when reporting the average pay of directors, this regulatory policy provides a unique opportunity to examine managers' incentives to opportunistically manage the disclosed levels of average executive pay. We find that strategic disclosure for cloaking executive pay prevails when firms have weak corporate governance and high (low) political costs of disclosing high levels of executive pay (making strategic disclosures), but that such disclosure is not associated with proprietary costs. Furthermore, using the subsample of firms that can choose between different types of strategic disclosures, we examine whether firms base their choice on the political cos.
The Equilibrium Distribution of Income and the Market for Status

This paper explores the implications for risk‐taking behavior and the equilibrium distribution of income of assuming that the desire for status positions is a powerful motive and that it raises the marginal utility of consumption. In contrast to previous analyses, we consider the case in which status positions are sold in a hedonic market. We show that such a complete hedonic market in status positions can be perfectly replicated by a simpler arrangement with a “status good” and a social norm that assigns higher status to those that consume more of this good. The main result is that for a wide range of initial conditions the equilibrium distribution over income, status, and consumption is the same, that this allocation requires inequality of income and consumption, and that this allocation coincides with the optimum of a utilitarian planner.
Applying Swedish Eco-labelling to Finnish Tourism Operation: Which Associations does it elicit amongst Customers

Eco-tourism labels convey promises and are effective when they are recognized by the markets, generate the desired associations, are trusted, used as decision tools, and direct behavior. Despite the fact that labels have been recognized as central marketing tools, few research projects have been devoted to this area. The associations that the recently launched Swedish eco-tourism label produces among Finnish tourists, one important customer segment, are analyzed in this article and compared to the value structure the launching organization wants to communicate. The respondents were of the opinion that the Swedish eco-tourism label only partially represented a high quality travel arrangement, local anchorage, protection of nature, environmentally friendly traveling, and a responsibility for nature and culture. A content analysis of the associations the eco-label generated resulted in the following four main knowledge categories, “parents playing with their children”, “poverty”, “Vikings”, and “environmentally friendly”, not all of which are relevant in eco-tourism. A large share of the respondents were also of the opinion that it is not suitable for Finnish eco-tourism firms to use the Swedish eco-tourism label without modifications, results which justify further discussion about the development of a comparative Finnish eco-tourism label.