Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Life‐Cycle Patterns of Interest‐Rate Mark‐Ups in Small‐Firm Finance

We derive empirical implications from a theoretical model of bank–borrower relationships. The interest-rate mark-ups of banks are predicted to follow a life-cycle pattern over the age of the borrowing firms. Because of endogenous bank monitoring by competing banks, borrowing firms initially face a low mark-up, and thereafter an increasing mark-up as a result of informational lock-in, until it falls for older firms when the lock-in is resolved. By applying a large sample of predominantly small unlisted firms and a new measure of asymmetric information, we find that firms with significant asymmetric-information problems have a more pronounced life-cycle pattern of interest-rate mark-ups. Additionally, we examine the effects of concentrated banking markets on interest-rate mark-ups. The results indicate that the life cycle of mark-ups is mainly driven by asymmetric-information problems and not by concentration. However, we find evidence that bank market concentration matters for older firms†
Private property and collective action: co-operation instead of competition

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reconsider commonly held views on the ownership and management of private property, contrasting capitalist and simple property, particularly as it relates to the impact of the firm shareholder governance model on the shape of society. Design/methodology/approach – The author contrasts an exchange value standpoint with a use value perspective to explicate current conditions under which neither the state nor the market prevail in organizing economic activity (i.e. the co-operative form of governance and community-created brand value). Findings – This paper offers mechanisms and recommendations regarding the formalized conditions for collective action and definitions of common guiding principles to facilitate new expressions of the principles of co-ordination. Such behaviour will allow for the development of common resources the purpose being a re-appropriation of the world. Originality/value – This consideration is motivated by the scale and scope of the modern glob.
Modeling of tendon-pulley transmission systems with application to surgical robots: A preliminary experimental validation

Tendon-pulley based motion/force transmission has been widely used in surgical robots. Such mechanisms, however, exhibit substantially nonlinear behavior due to tendon compliance and tendon-pulley friction. Although the power loss due to tendon-pulley friction has been broadly studied in belt-drive systems in automation and automotive industry, the concept seems to be largely unknown outside these disciplines. A tendon-pulley transmission modeling scheme was recently developed by the authors based on concepts from tendon elastic creep theory. This paper focuses on the experimental validation of the model in tendon-driven robots. Motion transmission of the first three joints of the RAVEN II® surgical robot is analyzed, and backlash-like hysteresis within the transmission systems is modeled using the proposed scheme. The modeling accuracy is experimentally evaluated, showing more than 50% improvement in comparison with the conventional friction/compliance-free models.
The Soviet Social Contract and Why It Failed: Welfare Policy and Workers’ Politics from Brezhnev to Yeltsin

As their woefully backward economy continues to crumble, much of the Soviet population remains indifferent, if not downright hostile, to the idea of reform. This phenomenon, so different from the Solidarity movement in Poland or the velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia, has been explained in terms of a "social contract" - a tacit agreement between the post-Stalin regime and the working class whereby the state provided economic and social security in return for the workers' political compliance . This book provides a critical assessment of the likelihood and implications of such a contract. Linda Cook pursues the idea from Brezhnev's day to the 1990s and considers the constraining effect it may have had on Gorbachev's attempts to liberalise the Soviet economy. In case studies on job security, retail price stability, and social service subsidies, Cook identifies points at which leaders had to make critical decisions - to commit more resources or to abandon other policies at significant cost - in order to maintain the contract. The pattern that emerges attests to the validity of the social contract thesis for the Brezhnev period. At the same time, Cook's analysis points to several important factors, such as the uneven distribution of benefits, that help explain why labour unrest and activism have varied dramatically from sector to sector in recent years. Ultimately, these case studies reveal, particularly for the Gorbachev period, deep conflicts between the old contract and the requisites of economic reform. Cook extends her analysis into the Yeltsin period to show how the democratising state dealt weakly with labour's demands, seeking to stabilise labour relations with an inappropriate corporate structure. In the end, mobilised labour contributed greatly to the pressures that undermined Gorbachev's regime, and remained an obstacle to economic reform through the early months of Yeltsin's Russia.
Acceptability indexes via $$g$$-expectations: an application to liquidity risk

Recently, several authors focused their attention on acceptability indexes (AI) and their applications in Finance. The AI notion turns out to be quite flexible and several applications in different directions have been proposed. In particular, in Cherny and Madan (Int J Theor Appl Finance 13(8):1149–1177, 2010) illiquid markets are modeled via AI and bid and ask prices are described through a “Conic Finance” approach. A different approach of dynamic type to bid and ask prices has been suggested by Bion-Nadal (J Math Econ 45(11):738–750, 2009), taking into account both transaction costs and liquidity risk, and based on time consistent pricing procedures. The purpose of the present paper is to suggest a further link between AI and risk measures based on the notion of $$g$$-expectation, and by this powerful tool to fill the gap between the static description of liquidity introduced by Corcuera et al. (Int J Portfolio Anal Manag 1(1):80–91, 2012) and the dynamic description provided by Bion-Nadal (J Math Econ 45(11):738–750, 2009).
Levels of emotional awareness and autism: An fMRI study

Abstract Autism is associated with an inability to identify and distinguish one's own feelings. We assessed this inability using alexithymia and empathy questionnaires, and used fMRI to investigate brain activity while introspecting on emotion. Individuals with high functioning autism/Asperger syndrome (HFA/AS) were compared with matched controls. Participants rated stimuli from the International Affective Picture System twice, once according to the degree of un/pleasantness that the pictures induced, and once according to their color balance. The groups differed significantly on both alexithymia and empathy questionnaires. Alexithymia and lack of empathy were correlated, indicating a link between understanding one's own and others’ emotions. For both groups a strong relationship between questionnaire scores and brain activity was found in the anterior insula (AI), when participants were required to assess their feelings to unpleasant pictures. Regardless of self-reported degree of emotional awareness, individuals with HFA/AS differed from controls when required to introspect on their feelings by showing reduced activation in self-reflection/mentalizing regions. Thus, we conclude that difficulties in emotional awareness are related to hypoactivity in AI in both individuals with HFA/AS and controls, and that the particular difficulties in emotional awareness in individuals with HFA/AS are not related to their impairments in self-reflection/mentalizing.
Using imaging spectroscopy to detect variation in terrestrial ecosystem productivity across a water-stressed landscape.

A central challenge to understanding how climate anomalies, such as drought and heatwaves, impact the terrestrial carbon cycle, is quantification and scaling of spatial and temporal variation in ecosystem gross primary productivity (GPP). Existing empirical and model-based satellite broadband spectra-based products have been shown to miss critical variation in GPP. Here, we evaluate the potential of high spectral resolution (10 nm) shortwave (400-2,500 nm) imagery to better detect spatial and temporal variations in GPP across a range of ecosystems, including forests, grassland-savannas, wetlands, and shrublands in a water-stressed region. Estimates of GPP from eddy covariance observations were compared against airborne hyperspectral imagery, collected across California during the 2013-2014 HyspIRI airborne preparatory campaign. Observations from 19 flux towers across 23 flight campaigns (102 total image-flux tower pairs) showed GPP to be strongly correlated to a suite of spectral wavelengths and band ratios associated with foliar physiology and chemistry. A partial least squares regression (PLSR) modeling approach was then used to predict GPP with higher validation accuracy (adjusted R2 = 0.71) and low bias (0.04) compared to existing broadband approaches (e.g., adjusted R2 = 0.68 and bias = -5.71 with the Sims et al. model). Significant wavelengths contributing to the PLSR include those previously shown to coincide with Rubisco (wavelengths 1,680, 1,740, and 2,290 nm) and Vcmax (wavelengths 1,680, 1,722, 1,732, 1,760, and 2,300 nm). These results provide strong evidence that advances in satellite spectral resolution offer significant promise for improved satellite-based monitoring of GPP variability across a diverse range of terrestrial ecosystems.
Comparative Mapping of GABA‐Immunoreactive Neurons in the Buccal Ganglia of Nudipleura Molluscs

Phylogenetic comparisons of neurotransmitter distribution are important for understanding the ground plan organization of nervous systems. This study describes the γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)‐immunoreactive (GABA‐ir) neurons in the buccal ganglia of six sea slug species (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Euthyneura, Nudipleura). In the nudibranch species, Hermissenda crassicornis, Tritonia diomedea, Tochuina tetraquetra, and Dendronotus iris, the number of GABA‐ir neurons was highly consistent. Another nudibranch, Melibe leonina, however, contained approximately half the number of GABA‐ir neurons. This may relate to its loss of a radula and its unique feeding behavior. The GABA immunoreactivity in a sister group to the nudibranchs, Pleurobranchaea californica, differed drastically from that of the nudibranchs. Not only did it have significantly more GABA‐ir neurons but it also had a unique GABA distribution pattern. Furthermore, unlike the nudibranchs, the Pleurobranchaea GABA distribution was also different from that of other, more distantly related, euopisthobranch and panpulmonate snails and slugs. This suggests that the Pleurobranchaea GABA distribution may be a derived feature, unique to this lineage. The majority of GABA‐ir axons and neuropil in the Nudipleura were restricted to the buccal ganglia, commissures, and connectives. However, in Tritonia and Pleurobranchaea, we detected a few GABA‐ir fibers in buccal nerves that innervate feeding muscles. Although the specific functions of the GABA‐ir neurons in the species in this study are not known, the innervation pattern suggests these neurons may play an integrative or regulatory role in bilaterally coordinated behaviors in the Nudipleura. J. Comp. Neurol. 524:1181–1192, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Hydrogen-deuterium exchange in the free and immunoglobulin G-bound protein G B-domain.

Hydrogen-deuterium exchange experiements have been used to measure backbone amide proton (NH) exchange rates in the free and IgG-bound protein G B2-domain (GB2). Exchange rates were analyzed in terms of the free energy required for transient opening of an H-bonded NH (delta Gop), and exchange mechanisms were interpreted in the context of local and global opening motions. In free GB2 at 22 degrees C, 28 detectable NHs have delta Gop values which approximate the free energy of thermal unfolding (delta Gu) obtained from calorimetry. This indicates that the majority of detectable NHs exchange through a global unfolding mechanism, reflecting the cooperative two-state unfolding behavior observed thermodynamically [Alexander et al. (1992) Biochemistry 31, 3597-3603]. IgG binding results in a broadening of exchange rates and delta Gop values, consistent with a less cooperative exchange mechanism than in free GB2. The large range of protection factors (1.3 to > 210) also indicates that exchange does not occur cooperatively for all detectable NHs in bound GB2. Nineteen of the detectable NHs have significantly slowed exchange rates in the complex with protection factors > 5. Residues with protection factors of the order of 100 or more occur in both the helix region (F30, K31, A34) and in the central core of the beta-sheet (V6, F52, V54). The highest protection factors are consistent with a binding constant of approximately 10(8) M-1. The pattern of high protection observed in the helix overlaps with the putative binding site suggested from previous studies. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The effect of governance on performance of commercial banks in Kenya: a panel study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of corporate governance on the performance of 37 commercial banks in Kenya over the period 2005‐2009.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses two measures of performance, i.e. return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE), and the dependent variables and three measures of governance – namely the board size, independent directors, and CEO duality – as the key independent variables. The study follows a panel econometrics technique to investigate the relationship between governance variables and bank performance.Findings – The main findings are as follows: a large board size tends to impact performance negatively; the existence of independent board directors tends to enhance the performance of the banks; and there is no evidence that CEO duality or otherwise has impact on the performance of commercial banks in Kenya.Practical implications – The study therefore recommends that for commercial banks in Kenya to register high performance th.
Submission to the New Zealand Productivity Commission ‘More effective social services inquiry’

Much has been made of the promise that social entrepreneurs can harness the power of free enterprise and innovation to solve difficult problems facing disadvantaged communities, whose needs are neglected by the government, the free market or even the non-profit sector. This research explores the kind of value educational social entrepreneurs who run a new kind of public-private partnership school in the New Zealand education system plan to create. It is proposed that social entrepreneurs plan to create value by contributing to human development, through innovations which carry out new combinations of human capabilities. The findings show that this framework can describe and explain the value that educational entrepreneurs plan to create, as a kind of social entrepreneurship. Educational entrepreneurs plan to create value not only through improving educational outcomes, but also by enhancing complementary capabilities that affect educational achievement and welfare—such as deepening pupils’ cultural competences, and addressing family dysfunction, poor health or material poverty. These findings suggest that educational entrepreneurship could well improve the fortunes of marginalised communities.
STUDY ON DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIP AMONG GOLD PRICE, OIL PRICE, EXCHANGE RATE AND STOCK MARKET RETURNS

The dynamic and complex relationship among economic variables has attracted the researchers, policy makers and business people alike. This study is an attempt to test the dynamic relationship among gold price, stock returns, exchange rate and oil price. All these variables have witnessed significant changes over time and hence, it is absolutely necessary to validate the relationship periodically. This study takes daily data from 2nd January 1998 to 5th June 2011, constituting 3485 observations. Using techniques of time series the study tried to capture dynamic and stable relationship among these variables using vector autoregressive and cointegration technique. The results show that exchange rate is highly affected by changes in other variables. However, stock market has fewer roles in affecting the exchange rate. In this study we tested two models and one model suggests that there is weak long term relationship among variables.
Formal and Informal Gender Quotas in State-Building: The Case of the Sahara Arab Democratic Republic.

In the last fifteen years peacebuilding and gender sensitive approaches have been promoted in order to restore some form of stability in places emerging from conflicts. Recent literature on armed conflicts, women and peacebuilding claims that the international community has still not given sufficient attention to the means by which women’s participation could be enhanced, but the recent introduction of gender quotas system in many post-conflict countries, seems to succeed in elevating political representation of women. Saharawi refugee women, during the latest parliamentarian election in February 2008, increased their representation to over 30%. The
A Surprising Development: Tests of the Capital Asset Pricing Model and the Efficient Market Hypothesis in Turkey's Securities Markets

This paper performs two tests of the efficient market hypothesis in the markets for Turkish securities using GARCH-M methods. The first test is a joint test of the Efficient Market Hypothesis and a Multifactor Capital Asset Pricing Model. We wondered if a Capital Asset Pricing Model with inter-temporal variation of risks would shed any light on the reason for surprisingly low estimates of beta in the Classical Capital Asset Pricing Model for Turkey and other Emerging Markets. We also wondered whether, because of the newness and high volatility of Turkey's financial markets, we could find market inefficiencies. We find that we cannot reject the null hypothesis that the CAPM applies and Turkish securities markets are efficient. The first test analysis also provides an estimate of the cost of capital in Turkey and gives us an estimated value of the beta of Turkey's common stock with the World stock portfolio of about one. The second test develops a forecasting model for returns to a specific portfolio, long the ISE Dollar Index and short the S&P 500 composite. We sought once again evidence of market inefficiency by asking whether returns to this portfolio were greater than or were commensurate with its systematic risks. We find that simply buying and holding the portfolio produced a low ratio of return to risk, suggesting that the portfolio is not on the efficient frontier of the Capital Market line. But we found that an active trading rule generates very high returns. Normally this is evidence of weak form inefficiency. But because portfolio risks also vary over time we still cannot reject the efficient market hypothesis. A surprising development.
Toward an Externalizing Spectrum in DSM–V: Incorporating Developmental Concerns

Progress and innovation in DSM-V include the proposal of a new structural organization of disorders that stands to bring childhood and adult disorders together. Specifically, many common disorders would be grouped under broader dimensions of internalizing and externaliz- ing problems. Although this distinction originated in child- hood psychopathology research, current work has drawn heavily from studies with adults. The integration of com- mon childhood disorders into the current approach remains an important task. This article reviews evidence for a structural model of externalizing pathology with a focus on research with younger populations and highlights both commonalities and distinctions that exist between externalizing dimensions in children and the externalizing spectrum in adults. The article also summarizes 3 areas that pose key questions for delineating an externalizing spectrum that better reflects developmental concerns: the incorporation of childhood disorders, the integration of temperament and personality traits, and better accounting for relevant developmental issues, including person-envi- ronment interaction, critical developmental periods, and differentiating normal and abnormal behavior.
The impact of rapid palatal expansion on children's general health: a literature review.

AIM The original indication for rapid palatal expansion was to treat skeletal maxillary constriction. As positive effects were clinically proven, the number of indications for rapid palatal expansion has continuously grown. The purpose of the present article was to review the literature and to evaluate the effect of rapid palatal expansion on nose breathing, natural head position, obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome, nocturnal enuresis and conductive hearing loss. CONCLUSION It can be concluded that rapid palatal expansion is predominantly recommended in children with maxillary constriction. In those with normal occlusion, maxillary expansion can be considered as the really last choice of treatment when other treatment options in patients with nose breathing, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), nocturnal enuresis and conductive hearing loss (CHL) have failed. Therefore, collaboration between paediatricians, otolaryngologists, paediatric dentists and orthodontists will lead to the best treatment outcomes in the future.
[Significance of alloantibodies other than anti-D hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDF/N)].

OBJECTIVE Because of immunoprophylaxis, the proportion between HDF/N caused by anti-D and other antibodies have changed. We assessed HDF/N due to non anti-D among women with antibodies detected during a screening programme. MATERIAL AND METHODS Blood samples from 507 women with antibodies were examined for Ig class of antibody, specificity, the titer by routine serological tests and for functional activity by chemilumine-scence test (CLT). The father's and fetal/newborn's blood was also examined. RESULTS Among 507 women, anti-D was detected in 231 (45.5%), non-anti-D (potentially clinically important) in 106 (21%), and in 170 (33.5%) IgM of various specificity regarded as clinically benign. The first and last group will not be discussed. Among 106 cases with non anti-D in 46 (43%) antibodies reacted with antigens from Rh system (C,c,E,e,G,Rh17), in 35 (33%) with K and k (only 1), and in 25 (24%) with other antigens. Feto-maternal incompatibility was found in 50 cases. HDF/N was diagnosed as: mild (without treatment) in 27 (54%) cases, moderate (phototerapy and/or top-transfusions) in 12 (24%), severe (exchange transfusions) in 4 (8%) and very severe (intrauterine transfusions, oedema and death) in 7 (14%) cases. CONCLUSIONS Among 337 women with clinically significant antibodies, in 106 cases, they reacted with a non-D antigen. 37% of mothers had children with HDF/N, including two rare cases due to anti-Rh17 and anti-G. Most had mild/moderate HDF/N, however 22% severe/very severe due to anti-c, -E, -K, two of them died in utero. The CLT results were helpful in prognosing the severity of HDF/N.