Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Environmental Disclosure

Corporate-level environmental information disclosure is increasingly common. This article studies the impact of a prominent media-generated sustainability ratings program, Newsweek’s 2009 ranking of the 500 largest U.S. firms. Using an event study methodology, the authors find the rankings had a significant impact on shareholder value. Firms in the top 100 experienced abnormal returns after the information release that were 0.6%–1.0% higher than returns of firms in the bottom 400. The form of the information released had significant effects as well. Nuanced environmental score variables had no independent impact on market outcomes; only the final ranking mattered. This article also explores possible channels through which the rankings may have had their impact. The authors find suggestive evidence that private and public politics mechanisms were the most important.
Recovering Risk Neutral Densities from Option Prices: A New Approach

In this paper we present a new method of approximating the risk neutral density (RND) from option prices based on the C-type Gram-Charlier series expansion (GCSE) of a probability density function. The exponential form of this type of GCSE guarantees that it will always give positive values of the risk neutral probabilities, and it can allow for stronger deviations from normality, which are two drawbacks of the A-type GCSE used in practice. To evaluate the performance of the suggested expansion of the RND, the paper presents simulation and empirical evidence.
Truth commissions, trials-or nothing? Policy options in democratic transitions

Gross human rights violations have constituted a hotly contested national issue in many recent transitions from authoritarianism to democracy. This article analyses how newly elected democratic governments have dealt with violations committed by officials of previous authoritarian regimes. Empirical evidence from around 30 (mainly) Latin American and African countries undergoing democratic transition after the mid-1970s shows that the government's choice of human rights policy largely depends on the relative strength of the public's demand for truth and justice and the outgoing regime's demand for amnesty and impunity. Policy choice will tend towards trials as the outgoing regime becomes weaker and away from trials as the outgoing regime becomes stronger. Truth commissions are the most likely outcome when the relative strength of the conflicting demands is roughly equal. Where human rights policy deviates from predictions, the government always does less than expected. These arguments hold true both at th.
A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON INDIVIDUAL TAX COMPLIANCE: THE ROLE OF THE INCOME SOURCE, AUDIT PROBABILITY AND THE CHANCE OF BEING DETECTED

Individual tax compliance remains an important area of research and still gives many directions that can be followed by economists in their constant struggle to understand the puzzle of taxpayer behaviour. The aim of this article is to offer a new approach regarding individual tax compliance and self-reporting behaviour, through a quasiexperiment with 102 students from three different professional areas: medicine, law and accountancy, which took place in Iasi, Romania. The main results found highlight the importance and the role played by the income source, audit probability and the perceived chance of being detected. Potential taxpayers report less income when there is no evidence on paper for its existence and when the audit probability is low. As the perceived chance of being audited rises, the amount of reported income also rises. The perceived chance of being detected also rises simultaneously with the audit probability. The results are useful to both theorists and practitioners, but also to policy makers.
Financial development and growth in sub-Saharan Africa: do legal origin and CFA membership matter?

This article examines whether relations between legal origin, financial development and economic growth that hold worldwide hold in British and French legal origin Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as well. We also test for the differential impacts on financial development and on growth of Communauté Financière Africaine (CFA) currency union membership within French legal origin SSA. Our panel regressions and descriptive measures agree with the findings of British legal origin advantage with respect to financial development. In addition, financial development contributes positively to economic growth in British legal origin SSA, as it does worldwide. Within French legal origin SSA, we find that currency union constraints tend to hinder financial development in CFA countries beyond the negative impacts of French legal origin. Moreover, contributions to the growth of various indicators of financial development in French legal origin SSA are negative or insignificant irrespective of CFA membership.
Gap effect and reaction time distribution: simple vs choice manual responses.

It is well known that saccadic reaction times (SRT) are reduced when the target is preceded by the offset of the fixation point (FP)--the gap effect. Some authors have proposed that the FP offset also allows the saccadic system to generate a separate population of SRT, the express saccades. Nevertheless, there is no agreement as to whether the gap effect and express responses are also present for manual reaction times (MRT). We tested the gap effect and the MRT distribution in two different conditions, i.e., simple and choice MRT. In the choice MRT condition, subjects need to identify the side of the stimulus and to select the appropriate response, while in the simple MRT these stages are not necessary. We report that the gap effect was present in both conditions (22 ms for choice MRT condition; 15 ms for simple MRT condition), but, when analyzing the MRT distributions, we did not find any clear evidence for express manual responses. The main difference in MRT distribution between simple and choice conditions was a shift towards shorter values for simple MRT.
Peripheral Neuropathy: Clinical Diagnosis of POEMS Syndrome and Treatment with Radiotherapy

POEMS syndrome is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome of plasma cell dyscrasia. Since this is a potentially fatal and devastating disease, prompt diagnosis and appropriate treatment is essential. This report is of a young woman who presented with peripheral polyneuropathy that was treated as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy for 18 months before a diagnosis of POEMS syndrome was made when endocrinological and dermatological manifestations arose. Due to repeated failure in obtaining histological confirmation from the isolated sclerotic vertebra, the diagnosis was made clinically. External radiotherapy, using the intensity modulating technique, was given to 45 Gy in 25 fractions. The intention of this report is to raise awareness of the clinical recognition of POEMS syndrome and the role of radiotherapy in the treatment.
The Changing Nature of Public Values in Developing Countries

Abstract The changing nature of public values has become an important policy debate in the public policy arena in the recent past. Developed countries are already moving forward with Integrated Governance to promote core public values but the building of multifaceted partnerships and the sharing of goal achievements and outcomes advocated by governance is still a novel experience for much of the developing world. The literature has not done much to explore the skills and attributes needed to add the most value to the process of government policy services and administration, nor how their services might be improved under new reforms. In taking up this challenge, this article will explore the skills that civil servants need to add greater value to public service quality and delivery in the new environment of public management in developing countries.
Transnational Influences and Democratic Socialization in Authoritarian Contexts

properly investigated. This paper presents a study that systematically explores the effect of three different types of transnational influence, notably stay abroad, foreign media, and functional cooperation, on the attitude of state officials toward democratic modes of administrative decision-making. By looking at bureaucrats, a group of actors is selected which plays a crucial role in sustaining authoritarian rule or eventually implementing democratic change. Taking the example of Morocco-Europe relations, the results reveal that exposure to democratic governance need to be targeted, structured and interpersonal as to socialize domestic agents into democratic governance. In this vein, the study casts doubt on the effectiveness of external actors’ soft power if understood in terms of diffuse foreign media broadcasting and international education programs.
Nonparametric American Option Pricing

A nonparametric method is introduced to accurately price American‐style contingent claims. This method uses only historical stock price data, not option price data, to generate the American option price. The accuracy of this method is tested in a controlled experimental environment under both Black, F and Scholes, M (1973) and Heston, S (1993) assumptions, and an error‐metric analysis is performed. These numerical experiments demonstrate that this method is an accurate and precise method of pricing American options under a variety of market conditions. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 28:717–748, 2008
Re-examining encounter intensity's conceptualisation, measurement and role

This paper contributes to previous research on encounter intensity in services in two ways. First, it offers a precise conceptualisation and measure of the construct while at the same time reflecting its complexity and multifaceted nature. Second, it sheds a new light on encounter intensity's role as an antecedent to customer satisfaction by introducing the mediation of the services brand in this relationship. The paper builds on a qualitative study, using customers’ introspections, and survey data from retailing customers (N = 1188) analysed with structural equation modelling. These studies lead to a definition as well as a parsimonious and reliable measure of interaction intensity in terms of the frequency of customer–employees exchanges, their diversity, their importance for the customer and his or her interest in the interaction. The data also support that encounter intensity exerts a strong influence on cumulative satisfaction through the mediation of services brand credibility.
Antecedents and influence factors of Macao residents' acceptance intention of Sport Easy Program

This paper investigated the antecedents and influence factors of Macao residents' acceptance intention of Sport Easy Program. Using data obtained from 459 interviewers, regression analysis revealed that acquaintance, convenience, facilities, and athletics habit have positive impacts on the acceptance intention, while gender, age, and education have different moderating effects on these relationships. These findings deepened insights into the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) as well as the ways for the Macao SAR government to improve the public health administration.
Investigating the Preventive Motive for War

The preventive motive for war is a prominent part of many world politics arguments. However, there are no general statistical investigations of either its prevalence or bellicosity. Consequently, no general conclusions about it can be drawn. In this article I operationally define the preventive motive, determine how often it is observed when wars are fought, and estimate its statistical impact on the probability of war. I find the preventive motive is frequently present in both types of dyads, but has no consistent statistical impact on the probability of war.
Toward a Transplantation Therapy in Parkinson's Disease

An experience widely known among clinicians seeing patients with Parkinson’s disease is that in spite of ambitious therapy many patients eventually become seriously disabled. The introduction of a medical therapy utilizing L-DOPA and direct dopamine agonists has dramatically changed the conditions for many patients, insofar as quality of life is concerned. This medical therapy, however, does not influence the progressive and serious nature of the disease. Surgery has long been used to ameliorate symptoms in parkinsonism. It was found empirically that a stereotactic lesion in the pallido-campo-thalamic connections gave relief from contralateral tremor. To some extent, rigidity can also be diminished by such surgery. Today, stereotactic thalamotomy is a routine procedure in patients with tremor as the predominant symptom. In this procedure, a lesion of a size up to approximately 80 mm’ is made in the ventrolateral thalamus, most often in the nucleus ventrointermedius. The surgical risks are fairly low, and, for many tremor patients, thalamotomy produces a significant and permanent improvement. ’ Unfortunately, a bilateral thalamic lesion will significantly increase the risks for neurological deficits and is considered contraindicated by most neurosurgeons. Thalamotomy is thus most often performed as a unilateral procedure, on the side contralateral to the most affected side of the body.
The Euro and the Changing Face of European Banking: Evidence from Mergers and Acquisitions

During the last fifteen years, the European banking industry has experienced considerable consolidation through mergers and acquisitions against the background of the introduction of the single currency and reductions in cross-border barriers. This paper investigates whether these changes impacted on announcement period gains of the banks acquiring targets by examining the pre-euro, run-up to the euro and post euro eras. Evidence suggests bidders' gains have fallen with the development of economic and monetary union. It also reveals significant differences in the gains from acquisitions within and outside the eurozone. These results are consistent with increased competition among bidders and increased integration of the market in the eurozone area in the post-euro era. However, differing results relating to focused and diversifying bids suggest that the level of market integration is sector dependent.
Children's disruptiveness, peer rejection, friends' deviancy, and delinquent behaviors: A process-oriented approach

This study examined whether peer rejection and affiliation with deviant friends throughout childhood could mediate the link between early disruptiveness and two aspects of delinquent behaviors (i.e., violence and substance use) in a sample of 375 children. Furthermore, we tested whether the two putative mediators operated in a sequential manner or in a parallel manner. Participants' disruptiveness, peer rejection, and friends' deviancy were assessed throughout childhood (ages 7 to 13). Delinquency-related outcomes were assessed at ages 14 and 15 years. Results indicate that the sequential mediational model was supported when delinquency-related violence was the outcome, but not when substance use was the outcome. The discussion stresses the differential role of peer rejection and affiliation with deviant friends in regard to the two outcomes considered in this study and in regard to the time frame when they were measured.This research was made possible by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. We thank the authorities and directors of schools in the Val d'Or School Board as well as the teachers and children for their first-rate collaboration.
The Effect of Brand Credibility on Consumers’ Brand Purchase Intention in Emerging Economies: The Moderating Role of Brand Awareness and Brand Image

ABSTRACT This study investigates the impact of brand credibility, composed of trustworthiness, expertise, and attractiveness, on consumers’ brand purchase intention in emerging economies, focusing specifically on China's automobile industry. We propose that brand awareness and brand image play a moderating role in this relationship. Results reveal that brand credibility exerts a positive influence on consumers’ brand purchase intention. Brand image and brand awareness are found to positively moderate the relationship between brand credibility and consumers’ brand purchase intention. Implications concerning both research and managerial practices are offered.
MicroRNAs and apoptosis: implications in the molecular therapy of human disease

1. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), the small non‐coding RNAs of approximately 22 nucleotides, are now recognized as a very large family present throughout the genomes of plants and metazoans. These small transcripts modulate protein expression by binding to complementary or partially complementary target protein‐coding mRNAs and targeting them for degradation or translational inhibition.
The Effects of Monetary Policy on Individual Welfares

Monetary policy affects heterogeneously the individual welfare even though its main goals such as income growth and economic stability are well accomplished. This is because macroeconomic policy has different impact on individuals according to their income and other characteristics. Accordingly, monetary policy changes the status of income distribution and poverty. By using Panel System GMM estimation for household and province-level data of Korea from 1997 to 2007, this study investigates short and long-term effects of monetary policy on income distribution as well as poverty. The estimation results are as follows. First, real interest rate and poverty are positively correlated while real interest rate does not have significant effects on income distribution. Second, income growth reduces poverty and improves income distribution. Third, inflation reduces poverty while inflation improves income distribution in the short-term but has no significant effects on income distribution in the long-term. Fourth, long-term effects of monetary policy on poverty gap are greater than short-term effects by 60%. And long-term effects of monetary policy on poverty severity are larger than short-term effects by 53%. But for the Gini coefficient, effects of monetary policy do not last long because the coefficient’s auto-correlation term is not significant.
On the Determinants of Career Interruption by Childbirth among Married Women in Japan

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to investigate determinants of job continuity across childbirth for married women in Japan. We use data from the Statistical Bureau's 1992 Employment Status Survey on nearly 8000 married women who were employed right before childbirth. Our estimation and simulation results suggest that education and access to child care are important determinants for a married woman to continue her work across childbirth, while high wages and short working hours help her to continue to work but are less important determinants. Also, the estimation result suggests that diversified working environments across industries and firm sizes possibly influence women's decisions. J. Japan. Int. Econ. , March 1999, 13 (1), pp. 73–89. Tokyo Metropolitan University, Department of Economics, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-03, Japan; and University of Tsukuba, Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan. Copyright 1999 Academic Press. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: J22.
A note on the effect of market power in Ricardian economies

We argue that it is the number of agents using market power, rather than the use of market power itself, that may drive Ricardian economies into autarchy. As a consequence, the monopoly equilibrium outcome Pareto-dominates the oligopoly one. Thus, counter-intuitively, a non monotonic relationship between number of agents endowed with market power and economic efficiency may emerge.
Prepayment Behavior of Dutch Mortgagors: An Empirical Analysis

The booming Dutch mortgage market and the development of a promising secondary mortgage market in the Netherlands stress the need for an accurate mortgage prepayment model that incorporates typical Dutch market and contract characteristics.One of those typical Dutch features prescribes that each calendar year the mortgagor is allowed to prepay penalty-free 10 to 20 percent of the original loan amount.As a consequence, Dutch mortgagees suffer a loss when borrowers prepay their loans.This risk, once again, underlines the importance of a prepayment model that focuses on the Dutch market.To derive such model we use historical data on mortgages originated between January 1989 and June 1999.We estimate separate models for two popular redemption types: savings mortgages and interest-only mortgages.In both models we allow for suboptimal prepayment behaviour.The results clearly indicate that prepayment rates depend on interest rates and the age of the mortgage contract.Moreover, Dutch prepayment rates peak in the month December.
National trends in emergency department antibiotic prescribing for elders with urinary tract infection, 1996-2005.

OBJECTIVES Given reported increases in antibiotic resistance among elders with urinary tract infection (UTI) and pyelonephritis, the authors identified national rates and trends in emergency department (ED) trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) and fluoroquinolone prescribing for older adults from 1996 to 2005. METHODS This was a retrospective analysis utilizing the ED component of the 1996-2005 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS). The authors included NHAMCS ED entries aged >or=18 years with a diagnosis of UTI or pyelonephritis; pregnancy was excluded. Records were divided into 18-64 years ("adults") and >or=65 years ("elders"). Primary outcome measures were prescription of TMP-SMX monotherapy, fluoroquinolone monotherapy, and combination therapy with two or more antibiotics. Estimated visit totals and rates were calculated and trends analyzed. RESULTS From 1996 to 2005, there were 5 million elder ED visits for UTI or pyelonephritis. Approximately 9.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 7.9% to 11%) of elders received TMP-SMX monotherapy with rates decreasing over time (p-value for trend = 0.031). Overall, 35% (95% CI = 32% to 38%) of elders received fluoroquinolone monotherapy, which increased from 21% (95% CI = 14% to 27%) in 1996 to 45% (95% CI = 39% to 50%) in 2005 (p-value for trend < 0.001). Therapy with a fluoroquinolone plus a second antibiotic was used in only 4.2% (95% CI = 3.1% to 5.3%) of older patients. CONCLUSIONS From 1996 to 2005, TMP-SMX monotherapy in elder ED patients decreased while fluoroquinolone therapy increased. The majority of older patients receiving fluoroquinolone therapy received a single agent. Given the continued prevalence of monotherapy for elder ED patients with UTI or pyelonephritis, antibiotic resistance patterns in these patients should be better characterized to ensure institution of appropriate empiric therapy.
Investment and Coordination in Oligopolistic Industries

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Department of Economics Berkeley, C a l i f o r n i a Working Paper 8730 INVESTMENT AND COORDINATION IN OLIGOPOLISTIC INDUSTRIES Richard J . Gilbert and Marvin Lieberman February 17, Key words: Investment, o l i g o p o l y , game theory. Abstract Investment by firms i n 24 chemical product i n d u s t r i e s i s ex- amined to determine whether firms invest preemptively to achieve persistent increases i n market share or whether there i s evidence of maintain-market-share behavior. The data i n d i c a t e that invest- ment reduces the p r o b a b i l i t y of capacity expansion by r i v a l firms, but the e f f e c t i s temporary. Large firms tend to display maintain- market-share behavior, while smaller firms tend to invest simulta- neously with r i v a l s . The role of preemptive investment i s l i m i t e d to that of permitting a f i r m to invest with a lower p r o b a b i l i t y of redundant investment by r i v a l s . Preemption does not allow a per- s i s t e n t increase i n market share, but instead acts as a means by which firms may coordinate capacity investment to help avoid epi- sodes of industry over-capacity. JEL C l a s s i f i c a t i o n :