Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neighborhoods in the Wake of the Debacle: Intrametropolitan Patterns of Foreclosed Properties

A key aspect of the U.S. subprime crisis was the accumulation of vacant, foreclosed properties in many neighborhoods and localities. This article describes zip-code-level patterns of foreclosed homes, or what are typically called “real estate owned” (REO) properties, at the peak of the subprime crisis in late 2008 and estimates a model of REO accumulation from 2006 to 2008. Three key findings emerge. First, during the peak of the subprime foreclosure crisis in late 2008, large central cities, on average, experienced higher levels of REO per mortgageable property than suburban areas. This contradicts some suggestions that the crisis was primarily centered in suburban or exurban communities. Second, the suburbanization of REO varied across two key types of metropolitan areas, with boom—bust regions experiencing more suburbanization than weak- or mixed-market metros. Finally, determinants of zip-code-level REO accumulation included high-risk lending activity and the age of housing stock. After controlling for these and other variables, neither the central city versus suburban location of a zip code nor the proportion of residents commuting over 30 minutes was significantly associated with REO growth. The intrametropolitan location of a zip code appears to have been a less important factor in REO growth than the fact that a large amount of development in newer communities was financed during the subprime boom.
Laminectomy and the Treatment of Lower-Back Pain in Massachusetts

Abstract During 1984–1985, laminectomy rates in Massachusetts demonstrated a 2.2-fold variation among districts. Thirty-five percent of laminectomies occurred in 7 of the 108 hospitals studied. Approximately 81% of laminectomies were performed by neurosurgeons. Rates of laminectomy decline with increasing age after 65, while rates of hospitalization for lower-back pain rise.
Cyclic Amp‐Mediated Inhibition of Noradrenaline‐Induced Contraction and Ca2+ Influx in Guinea‐Pig vas Deferens

The relaxation effects of forskolin and methylxanthines on noradrenaline (NA)‐induced contractions were investigated by measuring isotonic contraction and intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) in the epididymal side of guinea‐pig vas deferens. NA (100 μM) and high K+ (55 mM) induced a biphasic contraction; fast, transient (phasic) and slow, sustained (tonic) phases. Both phases in either NA or high K+ stimulation were abolished in Ca2+‐free solution. Pretreatment with 10 μM nifedipine, an L‐type Ca2+ channel blocker, reduced both phasic and tonic contractions induced by high K+. In the case of NA‐induced contraction, however, nifedipine reduced the phasic contraction but not the tonic contraction. The nifedipine‐insensitive tonic contraction was relaxed by the application of polyvalent cations (Mn2+, Co2+, Cd2+ and La3+). These findings indicate that NA‐induced biphasic contraction is mainly due to nifedipine‐insensitive Ca2+ influx, especially in the tonic phase. Cyclic AMP‐increasing agents such as forskolin (0.5‐10 μM), IBMX (5‐500 μM) and caffeine (1‐20 mM) relaxed the NA‐induced contraction extensively in a concentration‐dependent manner. However, these agents only partially relaxed the high K+‐induced contraction. Forskolin (10 μM) and IBMX (100 μM) reduced the [Ca2+]i response to NA, but had no effect on the [Ca2+]i response to high K+. These results suggest that an increase in intracellular cAMP may relax the NA‐induced contraction by attenuating a nifedipine‐insensitive Ca2+ influx and by a mechanism independent of a reduction in [Ca2+]i.
Systemic increase in type I interferon activity in Sjögren's syndrome: A putative role for plasmacytoid dendritic cells

In the salivary glands of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSjS) patients, type I IFN activity is increased, but systemic levels of type I IFN proteins are rarely detected. This study focused on the systemic activity of type I IFN in pSjS, as well as the role of peripheral plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC). Monocytes obtained from pSjS patients showed an increased expression of 40 genes. Twenty‐three of these genes (58%), including IFI27, IFITM1, IFIT3 and IFI44, were inducible by type I IFN. pSjS serum had an enhanced capability of inducing IFI27, IFITM1, IFIT3 and IFI44 in the monocytic cell line THP‐1, likely due to the action of IFN‐β. This effect could be inhibited by blocking the type I IFN receptor, supporting a high type I IFN bioactivity in pSjS serum. In addition, circulatory pDC showed increased expression of CD40. This expression was correlated to the expression level of the type I IFN‐regulated genes IFI27 and IFITM1 in monocytes of the same individual. This study indicates that the increased type I IFN activity observed in pSjS patients is not only a local but also a systemic phenomenon and points to pDC as a possible source of this activity.
Asymmetric Price Impacts of Order Flow on Exchange Rate Dynamics

We generalize the portfolio shifts model advanced by Evans and Lyons (2002a; b), and develop the dynamic asymmetric portfolio shifts (DAPS) model by explicitly allowing for possible market under- and overreactions and for asymmetric pricing impacts of order flows. Using the Reuters D2000-1 daily trading data for eight currency markets over a four-month period from 1 May to 31 August 1996, we find strong evidence of a nonlinear cointegrating relationship between exchange rates and (cumulative) order flows: The price impact of negative order flows (selling pressure) is overwhelmingly stronger than that of the positive ones (buying pressure). Through the dynamic multiplier analysis, we find two typical patterns of the price discovery process. The markets following overreactions tend to display a delayed overshooting and a volatile but faster adjustment towards equilibrium whereas the markets following underreactions are generally characterized by a gradual but persistent adjustment. In our model, these heterogeneous adjustment patterns reflect different liquidity provisions associated with different market conditions following under- and overreactions. In addition, the larger is the mispricing, the faster is the overall adjustment speed, a finding consistent with Abreu and Brunnermeier (2002) and Cai et al. (2011). We also find that underreactions are followed mostly by positive feedback trading while overreactions are characterized by delayed overshooting in the short run but corrected by negative feedback trading at longer horizons, the finding is consistent with Barberis et al. (1998) who show that positive short-run autocorrelations (momentum) signal underreaction while negative long-run autocorrelations (reversal) signal overreaction.
Mandatory CEO Retirements, Discretionary Accruals, and Corporate Governance Mechanisms

Prior research predicts that retiring CEOs will attempt to increase reported earnings in their final year in order to receive larger bonus payments (the short horizon hypothesis) (Murphy and Zimmerman [1993]). An alternative incentive to increase earnings in final years may come from the desire to secure lucrative post-retirement board seats. Brickley et al. (1999) find that performance in the departing CEO's final four years is positively related to: (1) the probability of the CEO retaining his or her board seat after departure, and (2) the probability of securing other post-departure board seats. We extend research in this area by expanding the pre-turnover event window to four years, by examining only CEO turnovers that are the result of a mandatory retirement policy, and by controlling for corporate governance factors, CEO stock ownership and post-retirement board seat retention. We find evidence of earnings management in departing CEOs' final year and final two years, with the evidence being stronger when the CEO retained his or her board seat after retirement; that independent directors and CEO stockholdings appear to mitigate the earnings management; and that institutional stockholders appear to exacerbate earnings management in CEOs' final years.
What matters most for student assessment systems : a framework paper

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of what matters most for building a more effective student assessment system. The focus is on systems for assessing student learning and achievement at the primary and secondary levels. The paper extracts principles and guidelines from countries' experiences, professional testing standards, and the current research base. The goal is to provide national policy makers, education ministry officials, development organization staff, and other stakeholders with a framework and key indicators for diagnosis, discussion, and consensus building around how to construct a sound and sustainable student assessment system that will support improved education quality and learning for all.
Managerial Applications of Neural Networks: The Case of Bank Failure Predictions

This paper introduces a neural-net approach to perform discriminant analysis in business research. A neural net represents a nonlinear discriminant function as a pattern of connections between its processing units. Using bank default data, the neural-net approach is compared with linear classifier, logistic regression, kNN, and ID3. Empirical results show that neural nets is a promising method of evaluating bank conditions in terms of predictive accuracy, adaptability, and robustness. Limitations of using neural nets as a general modeling tool are also discussed.
International Diversification, Ownership Structure, Legal Origin, and Earnings Management: Evidence from Taiwan

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the impact of corporate internationalization on earnings management. We also explore the mitigating roles of corporate ownership structure, as measured by divergence of controlling owner's control and cash rights, and the proportion of firms that operate in common law countries on earnings management. Using a sample drawn from Taiwan, we find that greater corporate internationalization is associated with a higher level of earnings management, as proxied by discretionary accruals and the likelihood of exactly meeting or just beating analyst forecast. Corporate internationalization is measured by the ratio of foreign assets to total assets, foreign operational country scope, and the number of foreign investees, respectively. In addition, we find that companies can reduce the negative effects of internationalization on earnings management by improving their corporate ownership structures or investing in a higher proportion of common law countries where there is a better investor legal protection environment and higher information transparency.
The theory of attractive quality and experience offerings

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to discuss the use of the theory of attractive quality and the Kano methodology in an experience context in order to understand how different experienced attributes contribute to delight and satisfaction among customers.Design/methodology/approach – The study applied theoretical and quantitative approaches in order to examine the theory of attractive quality and the Kano methodology. A total of 270 respondents responded to the survey instrument, which was based on qualitative interviews.Findings – The research showed that existing questions and answering alternatives included in the Kano methodology must be adapted to the nature of experiences. The paper contributes in the form of a new evaluation table, having shown that existing tables were invalid in relation to the importance rating and the Must‐Be>One‐dimensional>Attractive>Indifferent evaluation rule. Finally, the paper also shows how hedonic attributes create delight and utilitarian attributes create satisfaction,.
Top heavy : a study of the increasing inequality of wealth in America

Once considered the land of opportunity, it is thought that America now has a gap between the haves and the have-nots that is much wider than in Europe, and that the concentration of wealth is at its highest point since World War II. This book places the distribution of household wealth in the USA in a historical and international context. The book aims to establish long-term trends of American wealth inequality and compares them with those of the UK, Sweden, and France. It then points out that a majority of OECD countries have a wealth tax, and explores the potential benefits and costs of a wealth tax in the US along the lines of levies that many European nations charge.
Non‐resident enrollment and non‐resident tuition at land grant colleges and universities

Universities around the United States are seeking ways to attract students to their institutions. One possible strategy is to compete for out‐of‐state students. Since an early 1970s examination of the determinants of student migration by Tuckman, there have been several subsequent studies that have either further developed the methodology of the studies or taken some different perspective on the problem. This paper differs from the existing literature in two ways. First, it focuses exclusively on land‐grant institutions. Second, it uses panel data rather than just time‐series or cross‐sectional data. Evidence regarding the impact of historical Black college/university status and regional variations are presented as well. The evidence indicates that quality has more influence on student migration than price, indicates that historical Black college/universities attract fewer out‐of‐state students than other land grant institutions and indicates that there are non‐specific regional differences in land grant institutions’ abilities to attract migrant students.
Wages and Employment in the United States and Germany: What Explains the Differences?

Over the last 20 years the wage-education relationships in the United States and Germany have evolved very differently, while the education compositions of employment have evolved in a parallel fashion. In this paper, we show how these patterns shed light on the nature of recent technological change and highlight the importance of taking into account movements in the ratio of human capital to physical capital when examining changes in the returns to skill. Our analysis indicates that the United States could have prevented the increase in wage inequality observed in the 1980's by a faster accumulation of physical capital.
Inside the Judicial Mind : Exploring Judicial Methodology in the Mixed Legal System of Quebec

=2366459 European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance (2013) DOI 10.1163/22134514-45060013 © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013 DOI 10.1163/22134514-45060013 brill.com/ejcl Inside the Judicial Mind: Exploring Judicial Methodology in the Mixed Legal System of Quebec
Many-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm: Objective Space Reduction and Diversity Improvement

Evolutionary algorithms have been successfully applied for exploring both converged and diversified approximate Pareto-optimal fronts in multiobjective optimization problems, two- or three-objective in general. However, when solving problems with many objectives, nearly all algorithms perform poorly due to the loss of selection pressure in fitness evaluation. An extremely large objective space could inadvertently deteriorate the effect of an evolutionary operator. In this paper, we propose a new approach to directly handle the challenges to solve many-objective optimization problems (MaOPs). This novel design includes two stages: first, the whole population quickly approaches a small number of “target” points near the true Pareto front; then, the proposed diversity improvement strategy is applied to facilitate these individuals to spread and well distribute. As a case study, the proposed algorithm based on this design is compared with five state-of-the-art algorithms. Experimental results show that the proposed method exhibits improved performance in both convergence and diversity for solving MaOPs.
Health Worker mHealth Utilization: A Systematic Review

This systematic review describes mHealth interventions directed at healthcare workers in low-resource settings from the PubMed database from March 2009 to May 2015. Thirty-one articles were selected for final review. Four categories emerged from the reviewed articles: data collection during patient visits, communication between health workers and patients, communication between health workers, and public health surveillance. Most studies used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to assess acceptability of use, barriers to use, changes in healthcare delivery, and improved health outcomes. Few papers included theory explicitly to guide development and evaluation of their mHealth programs. Overall, evidence indicated that mobile technology tools, such as smartphones and tablets, substantially benefit healthcare workers, their patients, and healthcare delivery. Limitations to mHealth tools included insufficient program use and sustainability, unreliable Internet and electricity, and security issues. Despite these limitations, this systematic review demonstrates the utility of using mHealth in low-resource settings and the potential for widespread health system improvements using technology.
A theory of innovation resource synergy

Abstract The current paper aims to develop a new theory to explain the iceberg phenomenon that has emerged in recent years, in which some small firms prosper while large firms decline. In this paper, the construction of a theoretical framework involves the consideration of several concepts and theories, including resource-based theory, resource dependency theory, theories of the diffusion of innovation, dynamic capability theory, and business ecosystem theory. An experimental design is developed to verify four hypotheses. The results support a theory of innovation resource synergy that provides insight into the phenomenon mentioned above. This article provides implications for managers of both large and small firms and suggestions for future research.
Asymptotic Fuzzy Tracking Control for a Class of Stochastic Strict-Feedback Systems

This paper presents an asymptotic tracking control design method for stochastic strict-feedback systems via fuzzy logic systems. In the existing results, stochastic controls are usually limited to be bounded in probability. However, how to realize the asymptotic tracking control for stochastic strict-feedback systems remains a control dilemma. This paper achieves the asymptotic tracking control by proposing a novel gain suppressing inequality approach. Specifically, the three-part construction is performed to achieve such control objective for stochastic systems. First, the novel gain suppressing inequality technique is developed to lay the foundation for carrying out the Lyapunov stability analysis. Second, the developed inequality technique is integrated with each step of the backstepping-based adaptive control design procedure. Third, analyses are provided to realize the asymptotic tracking control of stochastic strict-feedback systems.
The Effect of Coadministration of Duloxetine on Steady-State Serum Concentration of Risperidone and Aripiprazole: A Study Based on Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Data

Previous studies have categorized duloxetine as a moderate inhibitor of CYP2D6. The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential interactions between duloxetine and the two CYP2D6 substrates risperidone and aripiprazole in psychiatric patients. Serum concentration data from patients treated with risperidone (n = 8) or aripiprazole (n = 7) in combination with duloxetine were retrieved from therapeutic drug monitoring files at the Center for Psychopharmacology, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway. The degree of interaction was assessed by comparing the data with a control group of CYP2D6-genotyped patients (homozygous “extensive metabolizers”) using oral risperidone or aripiprazole without duloxetine. Coadministration of duloxetine did not significantly increase the concentration of the parent drug or the parent drug/metabolite ratio of either risperidone or aripiprazole. The present study therefore indicates that duloxetine may safely be used concomitantly with risperidone or aripiprazole.
Corruption, Growth, and Governance: Private vs. State-Owned Firms in Vietnam

We provide a firm-level analysis of the relation between corruption and growth for private firms and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Vietnam. We obtain three different measures of the perceived corruption severity from a 2005 survey among 741 private firms and 133 SOEs. We find that corruption hampers the growth of Vietnam’s private sector, but is not detrimental for growth in the state sector. We document significant differences in the corruption severity across 24 provinces in Vietnam that can be explained by the quality of provincial public governance (such as the costs of new business entry, land access, and private sector development policies). Our results suggest that corruption may harm economic growth because it favors the state sector at the expense of the private sector and that improving the quality of local public governance can help to mitigate corruption and stimulate economic growth.
Is the Stern Review an Economic Analysis?

Although the Stern Review presents aggregate climate damages and abatement costs in dollars, in many ways it is not an economic analysis. First, and most importantly, it does not seek to minimize the present value of the sum of abatement costs and climate damages. Rather it compares the abatement cost of a single aggressive program with the climate damages of doing nothing at all for two centuries. Second, it does not use the same assumptions in the two cases. Third, it makes very strong assumptions about abatement that may underestimate near-term costs by several-fold. Fourth, it makes even stronger assumptions about climate damages that may overestimate damages by an order of magnitude. All economic analyses recommend near-term abatement, but the Stern Review argues for very aggressive near-term abatement. This article argues that such a policy would be a mistake. The bulk of these mitigation dollars would be less costly and far more effective if spent in future periods.
Private Equity-Backed IPOs and Long-Run Market Performance Analysis of Italian Firms

We examine the long-run market performance of a sample of family and nonfamily Italian firms that went public from 1995 to 2005, in order to analyse the influence of family ownership and private equity participation on such performance. We first investigate the influence of family ownership and private equity participation on the full sample of firms considered. Afterwards, we restrict our attention to the subset of family firms, with the aim of studying the impact of private equity on their market performance. Symmetrically, we focus on the subsample of private equity backed IPOs and examine the effect of family ownership on this category of firms. As a result, our research does not provide any strong evidence of the expected positive synergies resulting from the association between private equity and family ownership.