Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of TQM practices on employee satisfaction and loyalty in government

Employee satisfaction and loyalty had been verified to be critical to a service-oriented organisation's survival and success. Previous research also established the importance of total quality management practices in building operational performance and customer satisfaction. This study integrates total quality management practices by introducing employee training, employee empowerment, teamwork, employee compensation, and management leadership into a theoretical model for studying employee satisfaction and loyalty within the context of government. The results of this study show that employee empowerment, employee compensation, teamwork and management leadership are significant positive predictors of employee satisfaction; and employee loyalty can be enhanced through employee satisfaction.
Financial literacy and retirement planning in chile*

Abstract This paper studies the relationship between financial literacy and retirement planning in Chile, a country with mandatory defined contribution pension plans at the core of its retirement policy. Using a novel dataset, we find that very few Chileans are planning for their retirement and that the levels of financial literacy are remarkably low with only 47% of the population understand compound interest and only 18% understand the concept of inflation. We also find a positive and significant relationship between financial literacy and retirement planning suggesting that investments in financial education could have a substantial impact on the way people think about retirement and therefore on their ability to reach retirement with adequate resources.
Homogeneous tetracycline‐regulatable gene expression in mammalian fibroblasts

The expression of transfected genes in mammalian cells is rapidly repressed by epigenetic mechanisms such that, within a matter of weeks, only a fraction of the cells in most clonal populations still exhibit detectable expression. This problem can become prohibitive when one wants to express two ectopically introduced genes, as is necessary to establish cell lines that harbor genes regulated by the tetracycline‐controlled transactivators. We describe an approach to establish Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines that stably induce a tet‐responsive reporter gene in all cells of a transfected clonal population. Screening of more than 100 colonies resulting from a standard co‐transfection of the tetracycline transactivator (tTA) with a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter plasmid failed to identify a single colony that could induce GFP in more than 20% of cells. The presence of chromatin insulator sequences, previously shown to protect some transfected genes from epigenetic silencing, moderately improved stability but was not sufficient to produce homogeneous transformants. However, when cell lines were first established in which selection could be maintained either for the expression of tTA activity (co‐transfection with a tTA‐responsive selectable marker) or the presence of tTA mRNA (bicistronic message encoding a selectable marker), these cell lines could be subsequently transfected with the GFP reporter construct, and nearly 10% of the resulting colonies exhibited stable homogeneous tet‐responsive GFP expression in 100% of the expanded clonal cell population. J. Cell. Biochem. 76:280–289, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Tourism Area Life Cycle in Kim Yujeong Literary Village, Korea

The application of Butler's tourism area life cycle model to the Korean literary village and hyper-destination of Kim Yujeong yields a basic pattern of conformity, although the staggered and overlapping sequencing of indicators suggests the presence of successive exploration, involvement, and development “tendencies” rather than stages. Apparent contradictions between very high guest-to-host ratios and contact and relatively low levels of resident dissatisfaction and attraction change reflect the topophilia of both residents and visitors and, more speculatively, the influence of a homogeneous cultural context.
Ownership Structure, Discretionary Accruals and the Informativeness of Earnings

In this paper we use panel data methodology to examine the relationship between ownership structure, discretionary accruals and the informativeness of earnings for a sample of Spanish non-financial companies listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange during the period 1999-2002. We find a non-linear relationship between insider ownership and discretionary accruals and between insider ownership and earnings explanatory power for returns. This supports the hypothesis that insider ownership contributes both to the informativeness of earnings and to constraining earnings management when the proportion of shares held by insiders is not too high. When insiders own a large percentage of shares, however, they are entrenched and the relation between insider ownership, discretionary accruals and earnings informativeness reverses. Copyright (c) 2007 The Authors; Journal compilation (c) 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
CEO Cash and Stock-Based Compensation Changes, Layoff Decisions, and Shareholder Value

The chief executive officers (CEOs) of firms announcing layoffs receive 22.8% more total pay in the subsequent year than other CEOs. The pay increases result almost entirely from increases in stock-based compensation and are found to persist. In addition, layoff announcements are accompanied by shareholder value increases averaging $40 million to $95 million. One-time labor cost savings from layoffs average $65 million. We conclude that CEOs receive pay increases following layoffs as rewards for past decisions and to motivate value-enhancing decisions in the future.
The Effect of Internal Control and Risk Management Regulation on Earnings Quality: Evidence from Germany

We investigate the impact of mandatory internal control and risk management (ICRM) reform on earnings-based attributes of accounting quality in Germany. Although prior studies examine changes in accounting quality under SOX Sections 302 and 404, there is scant evidence of the accounting quality effects of ICRM reform in foreign jurisdictions. Such evidence is warranted given the ongoing global policy debate of ICRM reform in the post-SOX era. We extend existing research by examining changes in earnings quality following the 1998 German legislation on control and transparency (KTG). The KTG regime provides a unique setting in which the regulatory scope extends beyond internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) to include broad business and enterprise risk control. Using both a differences and difference-in-differences research design, we find that German firms experience an increase in timely loss recognition and a decrease in earnings smoothing after KTG. We also find some evidence of a decrease in loss avoidance behavior. Additional analyses show that the sensitivity of capital investment efficiency to earnings quality increases in the German market after KTG, suggesting that earnings quality effects of mandatory ICRM reform has positive consequences for capital resource allocation. Together, our results are consistent with the achievement of one of the intended outcomes of ICRM regulation—increased accounting quality through effective ICRM systems.
Accelerator beam data commissioning equipment and procedures: Report of the TG-106 of the Therapy Physics Committee of the AAPM.

For commissioning a linear accelerator for clinical use, medical physicists are faced with many challenges including the need for precision, a variety of testing methods, data validation, the lack of standards, and time constraints. Since commissioning beam data are treated as a reference and ultimately used by treatment planning systems, it is vitally important that the collected data are of the highest quality to avoid dosimetric and patient treatment errors that may subsequently lead to a poor radiation outcome. Beam data commissioning should be performed with appropriate knowledge and proper tools and should be independent of the person collecting the data. To achieve this goal, Task Group 106 (TG-106) of the Therapy Physics Committee of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine was formed to review the practical aspects as well as the physics of linear accelerator commissioning. The report provides guidelines and recommendations on the proper selection of phantoms and detectors, setting up of a phantom for data acquisition (both scanning and no-scanning data), procedures for acquiring specific photon and electron beam parameters and methods to reduce measurement errors (<1%), beam data processing and detector size convolution for accurate profiles. The TG-106 also provides a brief discussion on the emerging trend in Monte Carlo simulation techniques in photon and electron beam commissioning. The procedures described in this report should assist a qualified medical physicist in either measuring a complete set of beam data, or in verifying a subset of data before initial use or for periodic quality assurance measurements. By combining practical experience with theoretical discussion, this document sets a new standard for beam data commissioning.
Religion and Income

See also the article 'Religion and income: heterogeneity between countries' in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization , 74, 12-29. This paper tests whether the behaviour of households in different countries is homogeneous with respect to the influence of religion on income. The violation of the homogeneity assumption would have two consequences. First, results based on country studies might not be applicable to other countries. Second, one should be careful when pooling cross-country data in this type of research. Data at household level of the European and World Values Survey are pooled for 25 Western countries. We estimate simultaneously an income and a religion equation to correct for the endogeneity of religiosity. We find that estimation outcomes are different between low and high-income countries. Whereas church membership is found to have a positive effect on income for high-income countries, this effect is negative for low-income countries. This result is robust to denominational distribution, participation effects and alternative measures of religiosity.
Comparing the performance of autocracies: issues in measuring types of autocratic regimes and performance

This paper discusses two methodological issues in research studying the performance of political regimes. First, it compares the conceptualisation and measurement of three data sets on types of autocratic regimes developed by Geddes et al. (2012a), Hadenius et al. (2012), and Cheibub et al. (2010). The data sets are found to differ with respect to their conceptualisation of autocratic regimes (narrow vs. flexible concepts) and types of autocratic regimes (criteria for classification, number of autocratic regime types and definition of the main types), as well as their levels of measurement (simple vs. complex indicators). As a result, the choice of data sets matters for this type of research. Second, with respect to the data on performance, the paper summarises the current state of research on the issue of the availability of data for democratic and autocratic regimes, discusses possible effects on empirical findings and addresses ways to deal with the problem.
Capital Market Access and Financing of Private Firms

How does capital market access affect the capital structure decisions of firms? To examine this question, we compare the financing decisions of a large sample of private and public companies from 18 different European countries. We find significant differences in the leverage policies of private and public firms. Private firms have much higher leverage ratios than public firms. In particular, the leverage of private firms is more negatively related to past profitability, consistent with their less active adjustment. Other evidence corroborates sluggish adjustment and suggests that private firms face significantly higher cost of accessing external capital markets. When we compare private and public firms in countries that differ on creditor rights and contract enforceability, we find more pronounced differences in the leverage policies of private and public firms in countries that are strong on legal rights and their enforcement. In countries with weak rights and poor enforcement, the financing policies of public firms begin to resemble those of private firms.
Alcohol affordability and alcohol demand: cross-country trends and panel data estimates, 1975 to 2008.

BACKGROUND Relatively little is known about cross-country differences in alcohol affordability or factors that determine differences in affordability over time. This information is potentially important for alcohol policy, especially policies that focus on higher taxes or prices to reduce total alcohol consumption. This study estimates cross-country alcohol consumption relationships using economic models incorporating income and prices and alternative models based on alcohol affordability. The data and analysis are restricted to higher income countries. METHODS Data for alcohol consumption per capita (ages 15+) are analyzed for 2 samples: first, 17 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for the period 1975 to 2000; second, 22 countries in the European Union for the period from 2000 to 2008. Panel data models are utilized, with country and time fixed-effects to control for confounding influences. In economic demand models, covariates are real per capita income and real alcohol price indices. In affordability models, income is divided by prices to yield an index of alcohol affordability. RESULTS Analysis of data trends reveals that much of the increase in affordability is due to rising real incomes, and not falling real prices. Economic models of demand perform slightly better statistically, but differences are not substantial as income and affordability are highly correlated. For both samples, exogenous rates of growth of alcohol consumption are negative. Price and income elasticities, on average, are within the range of prior estimates. Affordability elasticities are between 0.21 and 0.25. CONCLUSIONS Although alcohol affordability is a valid concept statistically, its use in policy discussions tends to hide underlying causes of changes in affordability. A better approach is a comparison and analysis of trends and cross-country differences in real incomes and real alcohol prices together with the affordability index. Country-level analysis of income and price elasticities also is required.
Added Value of Mental Practice Combined with a Small Amount of Physical Practice on the Relearning of Rising and Sitting Post-Stroke: A Pilot Study

Background and Purpose: The additional effects of combining mental practice with a small amount of physical practice on the relearning of a motor task post-stroke are unknown. This study investigated the added value of mental practice on the relearning of rising up from a chair and sitting down when combined with a small amount of physical practice. Methods: Twelve individuals with chronic stroke were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a group that combined mental practice with physical practice (MP), a group that combined physical practice with cognitive training (Cog) and a group without training (NOT.). Training was provided three times per week for four weeks, and participants were assessed at baseline, after training, and three weeks later. The vertical forces were recorded under each foot, and the vertical impulse was calculated for five trials and converted in percent of body weight. Results: The MP and Cog groups received the same amount of physical training. Significant gains (P < 0.04) in limb loading found only in the MP group were retained. Larger (P < 0.03) change scores in limb loading for rising up from a chair and sitting down were found in the MP group (median = rising up: 18.4%; sitting down: 12.2%) compared with Cog group (median = rising up: −6.8%; sitting down: 5.4%) and a group without training (median = rising up: 6.2%; sitting down: 5.4%). Conclusion: Combining series of mental repetitions (∼1100 repetitions) with minimal physical repetitions (∼120 repetitions) yielded significant gains and retention of those gains. These preliminary results provide some support to the added value of combining mental repetitions with a small number of physical repetitions to promote the relearning of motor strategies post-stroke and warrant further investigation in clinical trials.
Attention Bias towards Personally Relevant Stimuli: The Individual Emotional Stroop Task

The emotional Stroop task is a widely used method for investigating attentional bias towards stimuli due to mood or affect. In general, standardized stimuli are used, which might not be appropriate when investigating individual contextual frameworks. It was investigated whether words chosen to be related to individuals' personal life events would produce more pronounced Stroop interference (as an indicator of attentional bias) than stimuli without any personal relevance. Twenty-six non-clinical subjects, 20 female and 6 male, participated in the study. Mean age was 36.1 yr. (SD=18.1). All were recruited by means of local advertising. Stimulus material consisted of four word types: personal words related to negative life events with and without current personal relevance, and negative and neutral words without any personal relevance. Words were presented in three blocks. Analysis of variance showed main effects for word type and blocks, with slower reactions in the personally relevant conditions than in the negative, or neutral conditions, and in response to the first blocks as opposed to the last. These findings indicate that regardless of the word valence, personally relevant stimuli evoke more pronounced Stroop interference than do stimuli without personal relevance.
Value-at-Risk Analysis for Asian Emerging Markets: Asymmetry and Fat Tails in Returns Innovation

This paper examines value-at-risk (VaR) analysis performance in the context of the market volatility of five Asian emerging stock markets. From the performance of VaR analysis, we found that the skewed Studenti? ½i? ½s t APARCH model is the best for incorporating the skewness and excess kurtosis of stock returns, and the appropriate assumption of return distribution can provide more accurate VaR models for Asian stock markets. This means that risk-averse investors or portfolio managers of long and short trading positions in Asian stock markets can build optimal margin levels using the VaR computation based on the skewed Studenti? ½i? ½s t APARCH model.
The Role of Ideas and the Institutional Change in Finnish Public-Sector Reform

This paper explores institutional change and the role of ideas in Finnish public sector reform. The analysis extends from the late 1970s to 2007. The main purpose of the study is to explore the ideas advanced in favour of legislative reforms – what have been the objectives behind them and to what extent have the objectives and arguments changed. The paper explores the ideas that have impacted policy changes and asks whether the role of ideas differs for different policies within the public sector and between different time periods. In addition, the paper asks whether the different roles of ideas are associated with different processes of change. The paper includes an empirical analysis of the parliamentary policy documents produced during the legislative reforms. The analysis illustrates that there have been ideational changes behind the public sector reforms and that they have served as policy blueprints, ideological weapons and cognitive locks. Hence, the paper shows that ideas are an important locus of policy development and a major source of institutional change in public policy.
Do Urban Agglomeration Effects and Household Amenities Have a Skill Bias?

There are several hypotheses why urban scale affects wages. Most focus on agglomeration economies that increase labor demand, especially for high-skilled workers (e.g., dynamic externalities stress knowledge transfers, and imply the urban wage gap favors skilled workers). Others stress urban amenities that increase labor supply and decrease wages. Amenities should have a stronger influence on affluent households if they are normal goods. By examining whether urban-scale affects net returns to education, it can be determined whether skilled workers are influenced more by urban productivity or amenities. Empirical results suggest net returns to education decline with urban scale, implying a key role for urban amenities in affecting skilled workers.
Information Asymmetry and Corporate Investment Decisions: A Dynamic Approach

This paper develops a dynamic model of the financing and operating decisions of firms in the presence of information asymmetry. When the value of growth opportunities is not fully recognized, securities are undervalued, thus influencing the financing and investment decisions. The agency-based underinvestment problem is re-examined under information asymmetry. For firms with greater growth opportunities, the investment distortion resulting from information asymmetry is especially significant. Information asymmetry also increases the expected bankruptcy cost. The cost of information asymmetry in terms of both the firm value and the information spread under the optimal capital structure could be substantial.
Audit quality and market pricing of earnings and earnings components in China

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of audit quality on the market pricing of earnings and earnings components in China. Design/methodology/approach - – The paper measures audit quality using three tiers of audit firm designation, namely International Big 4 audit firms, local Top 10 audit firms and, finally, the local second-tier audit firms. Earnings are decomposed into accruals and cash flow components and accruals are further decomposed into discretionary and non-discretionary accruals. Findings - – The paper finds that, although earnings and its components are priced positively by the Chinese stock market, Big 4 audit does not provide any incremental benefit to clients in terms of market pricing of clients’ financial numbers. The paper finds a negative impact of local Top10 audit on the pricing of earnings in China. However, the paper finds no incremental effect of local Top 10 audit on the market pricing of earnings components. Originality/value - – Although prior research in China has used modified audit opinion as the audit quality matrix, the paper considers market valuation of earnings and earnings components for firms audited by different categories of auditors.
SURVEY EXPECTATIONS IN THE TIME SERIES CONSUMPTION FUNCTION

This paper introduces survey-based measures of expectations and uncertainties about income and real interest rates into an otherwise conventional consumption function. The survey dat a contribute more than conventional variables to the explanation of changes in consumption. The hypothesis that consumption follows a random walk is rejected in favor of a model in which consumption responds with a lag to changes in expected income growth. The significance of inflation in earlier estimates of the U.S. consumpti on function is shown to be spurious and due to a strong negative correlation between expected inflation and expected income growth. Copyright 1992 by MIT Press.