Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Displaced Diffusion Option Pricing

This paper develops a new option pricing formula that pushes the underlying source of risk back to the risk of individual assets of the firm. The formula simultaneously encompasses differential riskiness of the assets of the firm, their relative weights in determining the value of the firm, the effects of firm debt, and the effects of a dividend policy with both constant and random components. Although this setting considerably generalizes the Black-Scholes [1] analysis, it nonetheless produces a formula via riskless arbitrage arguments that, given estimated inputs, is as easy to use as the Black-Scholes formula.
Exploring the relationship between leadership, leadership behaviours and organisational culture

ed from Alvesson (1995) and cited in Mannion, Davies and Marshall 2005a:17 79 Organisational culture is generally seen as a set of key values, assumptions, understandings and norms that is shared by members of an organisation and taught to new members as correct (Daft 2005). Mannion, Davies and Marshall (2005) focus on the metaphor of organisational culture and on that which is shared between people in organisations. For example: beliefs, values and ideologies, attitudes and norms of behaviour; routines, traditions, customs, symbols, ceremonies and rewards and meanings, narratives and sense making. According to Mannion, Davies and Marshall these shared ways of thinking and behaving help define what is acceptable within any given organisation guiding peoples‟ behaviour. What distinguishes one culture from another is unspoken knowledge, which local practitioners understand but are not necessarily conscious of. Culture, therefore, does not merely include the observable, but also tacit and implicit assumptions. For these reasons most recent studies around culture refer to Schein‟s (1985) definition, who defined organisational culture as: “The pattern of shared basic assumptions – invented, discovered or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration – that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. ”
The Demand for Canadian Fats and Oils: A Case Study of Advertising Effectiveness

The fats and oils market in Canada is characterized by generic (butter) and brand (margarine, shortening, vegetable oils) advertising. In this study the economic interrelationships in the consumption of fats and oils are examined and the effectiveness of the advertising programs is evaluated. The two-stage demand model used is made up of a single equation determining Canadian aggregate expenditure on fats and oils and an expenditure share system derived from a translog indirect utility function for each of four products; butter, margarine, shortening, and vegetable oils. The demand for individual fats and oils is significantly affected by lagged advertising expenditure levels, habit persistence and a time trend, as well as the traditional variables of price and expenditure.
The Elimination of Director Liability and Stockholder Returns: An Empirical Investigation

In this paper, the performance of the common stock of Delaware and non-Delaware firms is examined during the Delaware legislature's debate and approval of an amendment to the Delaware General Corporation Law permitting the elimination of director liability. In addition, stockholder returns surrounding the proxy and meeting dates for certain Delaware firms are examined. Results indicate that Delaware firms performed worse than non-Delaware firms during the legislative period; however, strong differences between the two groups are not documented.
Lead users: a source of novel product concepts

Accurate marketing research depends on accurate user judgments regarding their needs. However, for very novel products or in product categories characterized by rapid change—such as “high technology” products—most potential users will not have the real-world experience needed to problem solve and provide accurate data to inquiring market researchers. In this paper I explore the problem and propose a solution: Marketing research analyses which focus on what I term the “lead users” of a product or process. Lead users are users whose present strong needs will become general in a marketplace months or years in the future. Since lead users are familiar with conditions which lie in the future for most others, they can serve as a need-forecasting laboratory for marketing research. Moreover, since lead users often attempt to fill the need they experience, they can provide new product concept and design data as well. In this paper I explore how lead users can be systematically identified, and how lead user percept.
Gambling and family: A two-way relationship

Background and aims Families play an important role in the evolution of gambling and are also adversely affected by the disordered gambling of any one of their members. The aims of this study were to explore both the role families play in gambling initiation, maintenance, and help-seeking, and the harm caused to families by the gambling behavior using a qualitative approach. Methods Regular older adult gamblers were included in the study. In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 older adults to gain an understanding of gambling from their perspective. Older adult gamblers described their lived experience of gambling ranging from initiation to harm and attempts to cut down or limit gambling. Data were analyzed using thematic network analysis. Results The mean age of the 25 participants was 66.2 years. The majority were male (n = 18), of Chinese ethnicity (n = 16), had secondary education (n = 9), were married (n = 20), and currently employed (n = 15). Four organizing themes related to the role of families in initiation and maintenance of gambling, harm caused to family members, and their role in help-seeking were identified. Discussion and conclusions The study emphasizes the role of Asian families in both initiation and maintenance of gambling. Hence, families must be involved in prevention and outreach programs. Family members must be educated, so that they can encourage help-seeking to ensure early treatment and recovery. There is a need for interventional studies for reducing stress and improving coping among family members.
Referendum Outcomes and Trust in Government: Public Support for Europe in the Wake of Maastricht

The referenda conducted in France and Denmark in 1992 to ratify the Maastricht Treaty are often seen as giving evidence of ‘true’ attitudes towards Europe. In this paper we dispute this assumption, presenting evidence that shows referenda in Parliamentary systems with disciplined party governments to be subject to what we call a ‘lockstep’ phenomenon in which referendum outcomes become tied to the popularity of the government in power, even if the ostensible subject of the referendum has little to do with the reasons for government popularity (or lack of popularity). In the case of the Maastricht referenda in France and Denmark, the apparent unpopularity of the European project in fact appears to have been nothing of the kind, but instead to have reflected the unpopularity of ruling parties in both countries. A referendum conducted at about the same time in Ireland, where the government was more popular, achieved a handsome majority, as did the referendum conducted a year later in Denmark after a more pop.
Do Husbands and Wives Pool Their Resources? Evidence from U.K. Child Benefit

Common preference models of family behavior imply pooling a restriction on family demand functions such that only the sum of husbands income and wifes income affect the allocation of goods and time. Tests of the pooling hypothesis have been hampered by difficulty in finding data on income from sources that are exogenous to the allocations being analyzed. In a cross-section variations in earned or unearned income of husbands and wives are likely to be correlated with the preferences of or prices faced by individual families. In this paper the authors present an alternative test of the pooling hypothesis based on a "natural experiment"--a policy change in the United Kingdom that transferred a substantial child allowance to wives in the late 1970s. Using Family Expenditure Survey data on clothing expenditures the authors find strong evidence that a shift towards relatively greater expenditures on womens goods and childrens goods coincided with this income redistribution. (authors)
Labour markets, commuting and company cars

Commuting is one of the main contributors to road congestion. Does congestion affect the decision of individuals with regard to how much labour they supply? Work absenteeism for sickness reasons is another aspect of labour supply. In a world where shirking (voluntary absenteeism) is a substitute for leisure time and firms cannot fully observe commutes, are workers with long commutes more absent, resulting in lost productivity for firms too? This dissertation studies the effects of commuting distance on both labour supply and absenteeism. In addition, we study the effect of workers' morning start times on their wages, as work start times are closely related to morning peak congestion. Finally, we study the welfare loss resulting from favourable tax treatment of company cars for employees. This is an important topic, because in Europe many employees receive company cars as fringe benefits induced by taxation.
The Public Health Nursing Work Environment: Review of the Research Literature

critical health issues at the individual, family, and population levels. In recent years, a global nursing shortage has posed a signiﬁcant challenge to the recruitment and retention of PHNs. Hospital-based research has shown that a healthy and productive work environment is vital to successful nursing recruitment and retention. Speciﬁc organizational characteristics have been linked to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job vacancies, and turnover rates. Although it is presumed that similarities exist between the public health and acute care nursing work environments, further evaluation is required. This literature review was conducted to identify studies that characterize the PHN work environment. An online database search was conducted to identify prospective PHN studies published between 2000 and 2010. Deﬁnitions were established for screening purposes. Twenty-nine PHN studies in the United States and abroad met criteria for inclusion in this review. Satisfaction with teamwork and job autonomy generally was reported. However, inadequate PHN stafﬁng was described as a concern, with problems magniﬁed during prolonged response to public health emergencies. Insufﬁcient control over PHN practice was reported as well. Perceptions regarding other work environment characteristics were mixed or were not measured in detail. More in-depth research is recommended with the ultimate goal of improving PHN recruitment and retention.
The Road to Good Governance: Via the Path Less Accountable? The Effectiveness of Fiscal Accountability in Liberia

Accountability mechanisms are touted as a path to “good governance. ” But are accountability mechanisms a sure route to achieving the objectives of “good governance”? Limited case studies have offered inconsistent evidence (Blair, 2000; Charlick, 2001; Devas & Grant, 2003). But empirical evidence of the relationships among principles of good governance—high citizen participation, low levels of corruption, high-quality service delivery—and accountability mechanisms is lacking. We examine the effectiveness of accountability mechanisms in Liberia and find relationships between measures of county level fiscal accountability and measures of good governance do not always produce expected results, making fiscal accountability mechanisms no guarantee for achieving goals of good governance.
Exploring the role of country and client type on the auditor's client risk assessments and audit planning decisions

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine whether country (Australia or Japan) and client type (public sector or private sector) impact the auditor's client risk assessments, subsequent audit planning decisions (planned audit hours) and audit planning responsiveness to client risk assessments. Design/methodology/approach - The study is based on previously developed audit planning models and uses working paper-sourced data of planned auditor effort and nine client risk assessments. The study samples are taken from public and private sector audit engagements of two major audit firms in Australia and Japan, respectively. Findings - Evidence is found that country and client type do have an impact on the auditor's client risk assessments and planned total audit hours, but they do not moderate audit planning responsiveness to client risk assessments. Research limitations/implications - The test variable is confounded by the country and client type characteristics inherent in the study's samples. If the differences are caused by country, this suggests that audit planning decisions vary across countries, even when the same auditing standards are adopted. However, if they are caused by client type, this suggests that the same audit approach (i.e. the audit risk model) is applied differently depending on client characteristics. Practical implications - These findings are useful to international standard setters, audit practice quality control and training, and audit research. Originality/value - No prior study has examined the role of country and client type on the auditor's client risk assessments and audit planning decisions. Further, no prior study has examined whether the relationship between the auditor's client risk assessments and audit planning decisions is moderated by country and client type.
Long Swings with Memory and Stock Market Fluctuations

Abstract It is now widely held that stock prices are too volatile to be optimal forecasts of future dividends discounted at a constant rate. Using the present value model with a constant discount rate, we show that when there is memory in the duration of dividend swings, the stock price can move in a more volatile fashion than could be warranted by future dividend movements. The memory in the duration of a dividend swing will lead economic agents to time the swing, thereby generating a spurious bias in the stock price. When memory is strong, this spurious bias becomes significant and induces excess volatility in the stock price as if rational bubbles exist. The Efficient Method of Moments (EMM) procedure is used to examine the long swings property in the dividend series. We cannot reject the hypothesis of a strong memory in the dividend swings, and show that excess volatility, even in large samples, can be generated through simulation.
A Role for Immature Myeloid Cells in Immune Senescence

The reduced efficiency of the mammalian immune system with aging increases host susceptibility to infectious and autoimmune diseases. However, the mechanisms responsible for these pathologic changes are not well understood. In this study, we demonstrate that the bone marrow, blood, and secondary lymphoid organs of healthy aged mice possess increased numbers of immature myeloid cells that are phenotypically similar to myeloid-derived suppressor cells found in lymphoid organs of mice with progressive tumors and other pathologic conditions associated with chronic inflammation. These cells are characterized by the presence of Gr1 and CD11b markers on their surfaces. Gr1+CD11b+ cells isolated from aged mice possess an ability to suppress T cell proliferation/activation and produce heightened levels of proinflammatory cytokines, both constitutively and upon activation, including IL-12, which promotes an excessive production of IFN-γ. IFN-γ priming is essential for excessive proinflammatory cytokine production and the suppressive activities by Gr1+CD11b+ cells from aged mice. These cells suppress T cell proliferation through an NO-dependent mechanism, as depletion of splenic Gr1+ cells reduces NO levels and restores T cell proliferation. Insights into mechanisms responsible for the proinflammatory and immune suppressive activities of Gr1+CD11b+ cells from aged mice have uncovered a defective PI3K–Akt signaling pathway, leading to a reduced Akt-dependent inactivation of GSK3β. Our data demonstrate that abnormal activities of the Gr1+CD11b+ myeloid cell population from aged mice could play a significant role in the mechanisms responsible for immune senescence.
An automatic speaker-speech recognition system for friendly HMI based on binary halved clustering

This work presents a low-cost and fast-trainable automatic speaker-speech recognition (ASSR) system, by proposed binary halved clustering (BHC) method for human-machine interface (HMI) on an embedded platform, owing to the trait of low cost in ASSR system is essential and affordable for real-world application. In addition, fast-trainable ability can provide fast responding time. The reduction of waiting time makes the proposed HMI to be friendly for users. The speech recognition uses enhanced cross-word reference templates (ECWRTs) for template training type. The novel BHC method uses binary-halved splitting to generate speaker models for low complexity requirement. The regularity of binary halved behavior is beneficial for data scheduling and resource sharing in the embedded ASSR system. Compared with the conventional works, simulation results indicate that the proposed hardware accelerator achieves 28% less cost, 90% less responding time, an ASSR accuracy of 90%. Comparison exhibits that performance of the proposed system is greater than the conventional works, thereby demonstrating the friendly and affordable factor of the proposed HMI.
Parvovirus B19V infection in Israel: prevalence and occurrence of acute infection between 2008 and 2013

SUMMARY Differences in the seroprevalence and unique pattern of parvovirus B19 (B19V) acute infections have been documented around the world. This study was conducted to estimate the seroprevalence of anti-parvovirus B19V IgG antibodies in the Israeli population and to assess the pattern of acute infection based on data from two laboratories in Israel. The overall IgG prevalence in the 1008 representative sera samples was 61·4% and the age-adjusted prevalence rate was 58·2%. Seropositivity was significantly associated with age, ranging from 25·7% in children aged <10 years to 70% in people aged >20 years. While no significant differences in seropositivity were detected between sexes and population groups, significantly lower seroprevalence was observed in older Jews born in Africa or Asia. Acute infection rates of 4·1% (234 cases) were found based on the positive IgM results identified in samples from 5663 individuals collected between 2008 and 2013. Annual peaks of infection were observed in 2008 and 2011–2012 and major seasonal peak of B19V IgM positivity was identified in June each year. The number of requests for B19V serology was significantly higher for women aged 20–39 years while the majority IgM-positive cases were identified in young children. With more than 30% of the adult population being susceptible to B19V infection, monitoring B19V status should be considered in specific risk groups such as pregnant women.
Impact of interest rate changes on South African GDP and households: a combined macroeconomic and social accounting matrix modelling approach

In this article, research findings are provided that estimate the impact of interest rate changes from a macroeconomic perspective on South African households. The study addresses the impact on the economy as a result of a 100 basis point increase in the interest rate, with the focus on households, by combining a macroeconomic model and a social accounting matrix. The results from the macroeconomic model show a reduction of 0.54% in nominal GDP as a result of a 100 basis point increase in the nominal interest rate, given a three quarter lag. This equates to a decrease of R13 billion in the GDP (in 2009 prices). The real GDP impact is estimated at -0.22%, or a decrease of R5.3 billion. Employment opportunities are estimated to decrease by more than 26 000. The results from the impact analysis per household and per expenditure decile show that, as expected, the biggest percentage impact as a result of the 100 basis point increase in interest rates is on higher income households. Households in the highest decile have a 0.6% decrease in expenditure compared to a -0.23% impact for the poorest households. This is as a result of households in higher income groups having relatively more access to credit, giving rise to higher average debt to household income ratios. Highly skilled individuals also have the highest percentage drop in employment at 0.28% (compared to -0.22% on average). However, the biggest employment impact (in terms of the number employed) is on the skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled and informal sectors of the economy, where an estimated 21 736 individuals may lose their jobs (using 2009 as the base). The sectors that show the biggest Rand value and employment impacts, as a result of the 100 basis point increase in interest rates, are the wholesale and retail trade sector. This is to be expected given the size of the retail sector in South Africa. The biggest impact, in percentage terms, is on the beverages and tobacco sector. Looking at the results from this model, employment accommodative economic policies would encourage lower interest rates (although the impact of lower interest rates on inflation and the impact of inflation on lower income groups should also be considered). Key words : interest rates impact, macroeconomic modelling, economic impact modelling, South African households, social accounting matrix
The Agmatine-Containing Poly(Amidoamine) Polymer AGMA1 Binds Cell Surface Heparan Sulfates and Prevents Attachment of Mucosal Human Papillomaviruses

ABSTRACT The agmatine-containing poly(amidoamine) polymer AGMA1 was recently shown to inhibit the infectivity of several viruses, including human papillomavirus 16 (HPV-16), that exploit cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) as attachment receptors. The aim of this work was to assess the antiviral activity of AGMA1 and its spectrum of activity against a panel of low-risk and high-risk HPVs and to elucidate its mechanism of action. AGMA1 was found to be a potent inhibitor of mucosal HPV types (i.e., types 16, 31, 45, and 6) in pseudovirus-based neutralization assays. The 50% inhibitory concentration was between 0.34 μg/ml and 0.73 μg/ml, and no evidence of cytotoxicity was observed. AGMA1 interacted with immobilized heparin and with cellular heparan sulfates, exerting its antiviral action by preventing virus attachment to the cell surface. The findings from this study indicate that AGMA1 is a leading candidate compound for further development as an active ingredient of a topical microbicide against HPV and other sexually transmitted viral infections.