Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accounting Rules? Stock Buybacks and Stock Options: Additional Evidence

This paper finds that CEO stock options influence the choice, amount, and timing of funds distributed as a buyback. These results favor a managerial opportunism motive for buybacks over other theories and support two key research expectations – that buybacks impose option-induced agency costs on outside shareholders, and that managers benefit from weak governance and unclear accounting in this choice. CEOs increase their insider selling following a buyback, which also supports a managerial opportunism perspective. Once we control for these agency factors, we find no evidence that buyback activity associates reliably with EPS accretion from the reduction in common shares. We conclude that the popular use of stock buybacks as a form of cash distribution derives significantly from a strong contemporaneous relation between buybacks and CEOs’ use of stock options as additional compensation.
The performance of proprietary compared with mutual life offices

There are reasons to believe that the form of ownership of an organisation may have an impact on its performance but no evidence before now for the UK life insurance industry, which contains proprietary and mutual offices operating in the same environment. This article compares the two groups in terms of average payouts on endowment policies for 1970–92, average cost ratios for 1983–90 and average growth rates between 1981 and 1990. On these three measures the mutuals have performed better during the periods analysed.
Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour

Written in the classical tradition this essay attempts to determine what can be made of the classical framework in solving problems of distribution accumulation and growth first in a closed and then in an open economy. The purpose is to bring the framework of individual writers up to date in the light of modern knowledge and to see if it helps facilitate an understanding of the contemporary problems of large areas of the earth. The 1st task is to elaborate the assumption of an unlimited labor supply and by establishing that it is a useful assumption. The objective is merely to elaborate a different framework for those countries which the neoclassical (and Keynesian) assumptions do not fit. In the 1st place an unlimited supply of labor may be said to exist in those countries where population is so large relative to capital and natural resources that there are large sectors of the economy where the marginal productivity of labor is negligible zero or even negative. Several writers have drawn attention to the existence of such "disguised" unemployment in the agricultural sector. If unlimited labor is available while capital is scarce it is known from the Law of Variable Proportions that the capital should not be spread thinly over all the labor. Only so much labor should be used with capital as will reduce the marginal productivity of labor to zero. The key to the process of economic expansion is the use that is made of the capitalist surplus. In so far as this is reinvested in creating new capital the capital sector expands taking more people into capitalist employment out of the subsistence sector. The surplus is then larger still and capital formation is still greater and so the process continues until the labor surplus disappears. The central problem in the theory of economic development is to understand the process by which a community which was previously saving and investing 4 or 5% of its national income or less converts itself into an economy where voluntary saving is running at about 12-15% of national income or more. This is the crucial problem because the central fact of economic development is rapid capital accumulation (including knowledge and skills with capital). Much of the plausible explanation is that people save more because they have more to save. The model used here states that if unlimited supplies of labor are available at a constant real wage and if any part of profits is reinvested in productive capacity profits will grow continuously relative to the national income and capital formation will also grow relatively to the national income. As capitalists also create capital as a result of a net increase in the supply of money particularly bank credit it is necessary to take account of this. Governments affect the process of capital accumulation in many ways and not least by the inflations which they experience. The expansion of the capitalist sector may be stopped because the price of subsistence goods rises or because the price is not falling as fast as subsistence productivity per head is rising or because capitalist workers raise their subsistence standards.
Older Living Kidney Donors: Surgical Outcome and Quality of Life

Background. Older living kidney donors remain controversial because of their physiological decline in glomerular filtration rate and their increased susceptibility of surgical complications. Little is known about the quality of life (QOL) of this elderly group. The purpose of this study is to examine surgical outcome and the QOL in older living donors. Patients and Methods. All 105 consecutive living donors who underwent a laparoscopic donor nephrectomy between June 2002 and February 2006 were prospectively included in the study. Intra- and postoperative complications were measured. Quality of life was recorded preoperatively and at several endpoints postoperatively. Older donors were defined as 55 years and older. Results. There were no significant differences in intra- and postoperative complication rates and 1-year graft survival rate between both groups. Elderly donors (n=34) had both a significant lower postoperative pain at rest at day 1 compared with the younger group (P=0.019) and a lower total pain score in the analysis for the whole follow-up period (P=0.002). Although small solitary significant differences in Short Form-36 Health Survey, Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-20 and visual analogue scale measuring pain, between both groups were detected, in general QOL of older donors was not different than of younger donors. Conclusion. Although small solitary significant differences exist with respect to pain, social functioning and mental health older donors, in general, have similar surgical outcome and quality of life when compared with younger donors. There is no need to exclude older donors in screening programs for transplantation.
The relationship between devoted study time and auditing learning approaches followed by prospective chartered accountants in South Africa

Learning approaches in accounting, distinguishing between deep, surface and strategic approaches, have been researched in several countries other than South Africa. The study reported in this article provided a South African perspective by investigating the auditing learning approaches of prospective chartered accountants in relation to time they spent studying during their final university postgraduate programme and their preparation for auditing topics examined in the first part of their professional accounting qualifying examination. The widely accepted research instrument, the Approaches and Studies Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST), was applied. Statistical analysis revealed a preference for the strategic approach by candidates who passed the auditing question in the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants’ 2010 Qualifying Examination Part 1. The study found that those who devoted more time were more inclined to follow a strategic or deep approach, while less devoted study time resulted in a surface approach. Various areas for future research were identified.
Performance of International and Global Equity Mutual Funds: Do Country Momentum and Sector Momentum Matter?

This is the first paper analyzing the impact of index momentum factors on the performance of international and global equity funds. Extending an international, index-based version of the Fama and French (1993) three-factor model by adding the factors of country momentum and sector momentum, we find that more than 50% of funds exhibit significant exposure to at least one of these factors. Including both new factors in performance evaluation clearly impacts results when analyzing (i) the risk-adjusted performance, (ii) the performance persistence of funds, and (iii) luck versus skill in the cross-section of funds. Our main results are robust against models which additionally cover a stock-based momentum factor as well as single country, regional and sector factors.
Stability of a random Riccati equation with Markovian binary switching

We consider the stability of a random Riccati equation arising from Kalman filtering with observation losses. More specifically, we are concerned with the boundedness of the solution of a random Riccati difference equation with a Markovian binary jump parameter. A sufficient condition for the peak covariance stability is obtained which has a simpler form and is shown to be less conservative in some cases than a very recent result in existing literature. Furthermore, we show that a known sufficient condition is also necessary when the observability index of the system equals one. In addition, we give some conditions under which the covariance matrix is bounded for a special case or unbounded in the usual sense. The equivalence between the peak covariance stability and the usual covariance stability is established for systems with the observability index of one and i.i. d. observation losses.
AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MICRO -LOANS AND VARIOUS ECONOMIC INDICATORS OF INDIA

Microfinance is the provision of a broad range of financial services such as deposits, loans, payment services, money transfers and insurance to poor & low-income households and micro enterprises. Microfinance sector in India has grown manifolds from its inception. This evolutionary growth process has given a great opportunity to the rural poor to attain reasonable economic, social and cultural empowerment, leading to better living standard and quality of life for participating households. Microfinance has been a panacea for poverty reduction in India and thus it is profoundly promoted by our financial system throughout the economy. Moreover the phenomenon, as an important part of our innovative financial tool, must be sharing certain relationship with various economic indicators. Such a financing tool helps in increasing the economic activities in a countr y and thus adds value to the economic growth as a whole. And if economy grows it improves the financial system and thus such financial tools. Apart from this direct relation, micro loans would be, in a way, linked to other economic indicators as well and t hus it provides us with a great area to focus on. For the same purpose, various variables, i.e. GDP, WPI, IIP, IAP, SENSEX and Micro loans to Self Help Groups (SHG), have been taken for the study. Their annual data from the financial year 1992 -93 to 2011-12 (20 years) have been taken for the analysis. The study investigates the dynamic relationship between these variables selected. The objectives of the study are examined by employing ADF test to check the stationarity and Granger Causality test to know the cause and effect relationship between the variables.
Conference Presentations and the Disclosure Milieu

Conference presentations differ from other voluntary disclosures in that the audience for the disclosure is co-located with managers in a well-defined physical and social setting, or “disclosure milieu. ” The milieu affects the degree to which conference participants can update their prior beliefs about the firm with information signals obtained through interactions with management and other informed participants. While the average abnormal stock return and volume reactions to presentations are positive, there is a great deal of cross-sectional variation as indicated by negative median reactions. We find that conference characteristics that determine the nature of the audience and its interactions, such as sponsor, location, size, and industry-focus, are significantly associated with the market reaction, consistent with the disclosure milieu explaining the cross-sectional variation in the information content of the presentation. We also find that conference characteristics explain changes in subsequent analyst and institutional investor following, consistent with the disclosure milieu creating differences in access to management by potential new investors and analysts.
Waterfront Labour Reform in New Zealand: Pressures, Processes and Outcomes

New Zealand's programmes of waterfront reform, and of labour market deregula tion through the Employment Contracts Act 1991, have both attracted considerable attention from state reformers and organised business interests in Aus tralia. This article examines the combined effects of these legislative interventions on employment relations on the waterfront, and sounds a note of warning to tbose wbo seek to emulate the New Zealand experience. It argues that the causes and consequences of the process of waterfront labour reform can only be understood in the context of the historic effects of tbe 'bureau' system of labour administration, the scheme that regu lated the employment of watersiders for almost fifty years. While the abolition of this scheme in 1989, together with award restructuring, has increased the efficiency of New Zealand ports, recent moves by employers to increase labour flexibility' using the Employment Contracts Act 1991 have the potential to undermine these gains. This piece of legislation has eroded union coverage, led to the re-casualisation of a significant proportion of waterfront employment, allowed opportunistic small firms back, onto the waterfront, and opened up unbridled competition based on cutting labour costs in a manner that is having a detrimental effect on the work lives of watersiders. This development is counterproductive, given tbe continuing centrality of labour to tbe workflow systems, both container and conventional, on the waterfront.
Mitigation of Systemic Oxidative Stress by Curcuminoids in Osteoarthritis: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

ABSTRACT Oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. Curcuminoids are natural polyphenols with strong antioxidant capacity and may thus be helpful in the treatment of osteoarthritis. The present randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial investigated the efficacy of curcuminoids in reducing systemic oxidative burden in patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis. Forty patients with mild-to-moderate primary knee osteoarthritis were given curcuminoid capsules (1500 mg/day in 3 divided doses; n = 19) or matched placebo capsules (n = 21) for a period of 6 weeks. Curcuminoids were co-administered with piperine (15 mg/day) in order to improve the bioavailability. Serum activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and concentrations of reduced glutathione (GSH) and malonedialdehyde (MDA) were determined spectrophotometrically at baseline and at the end of the treatment period in both groups. Serum activities of SOD as well as GSH and MDA concentrations were comparable between the study groups at baseline (p > 0.05). There was a significant elevation in serum SOD activities (mean change: 2.94 ± 3.73 vs. −0.38 ± 1.33; p < 0.001), a borderline significant elevation in GSH concentrations (mean change: 1.39 ± 2.78 vs. −0.02 ± 1.62; p = 0.064) and a significant reduction in MDA concentrations (mean change: −5.26 ± 4.46 vs. −2.49 ± 3.81; p = 0.044) in the curcuminoids compared with the placebo group. Changes in serum activities of SOD and concentrations of GSH and MDA during the course of trial were significantly correlated. Short-term supplementation with curcuminoids attenuates systemic oxidative stress in patients with osteoarthritis. These antioxidant effects may account for the reported therapeutic effects of curcuminoids in relieving osteoarthritis symptoms.
Why Do Companies List Shares Abroad?: A Survey of the Evidence and Its Managerial Implications

The purpose of this monograph is to survey the academic literature on the economic implications of the corporate decision to list shares on an overseas stock exchange. My focus is on the valuation and liquidity effects of the listing decision, and the impact of listing on the company's global risk exposure and its cost of equity capital. The evidence shows: (1) share prices reacts favorably to cross-border listings in the first month after listing; (2) post-listing price performance up to one year is highly variable across companies depending on the home and listing market, its capitalization, capital-raising needs and other company-specific factors; (3) post-listing trading volume increases on average, and, for many issues, home-market trading volume increases also; (4) liquidity of trading in shares improves overall, but depends on the increase in total trading volume, the listing location and the scope of foreign ownership restrictions in the home market; (5) domestic market risk is significantly reduced and is associated with only a small increase in global market risk and foreign exchange risk, which can result in a net reduction in the cost of equity capital of about 126 basis points; (6) American Depositary Receipts represent an effective vehicle to diversify U.S.-based investment programs globally; (7) stringent disclosure requirements are the most important impediment to cross-border listings.
The Effect of Laterality on Venous Thromboembolism Formation after Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter Placement

Purpose The use of peripherally inserted central venous catheters (PICCs) has become widespread in hospital medicine. PICCs are preferentially placed on the right side due to anatomic ease of insertion into the superior vena cava. However, no data exists examining whether this practice is also protective against symptomatic venous thrombosis. The purpose of this study is to assess placement of right-sided versus left-sided PICCs and the resulting rates of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in a community teaching hospital. Methods and Results A retrospective analysis was performed of 798 sequential PICCs placed in our community teaching hospital in 2008. Indication for PICC placement, laterality of PICC placement, and signs and symptoms leading to ultrasound assessment were examined as well as the resulting VTE location. Six hundred and seventy two patients had a total of 798 PICCs placed over the course of the year, 568 of these were right-sided catheters, and 230 were left-sided catheters. Forty-nine of these patients required 68 Doppler ultrasounds within 30 days of PICC placement. Of these ultrasounds, 47 (8.27%) followed right-sided PICCs and 21 (9.13%) followed left-sided PICCs (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.52–1.54). VTE events were documented in 1.23% of right-sided PICCs and 1.30% of left-sided PICCs (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.24–3.68). The overall incidence of this complication was 1.25%. Mean time until discovery of the thrombus was 13.6 days. Conclusions Laterality of PICC placement is not significantly associated with symptomatic VTE formation. The overall rate of thrombosis in our study is comparable to that of previous studies.
Modelling traditional accounting and modern value‐based performance measures to explain stock market returns in the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the explanatory power of two value‐based performance measurement models, Economic Value Added (EVA®) and shareholder value added (SVA), compared with three traditional accounting performance measures: earnings per share (EPS), return on investment (ROI), and return on equity (ROE), in explaining stock market returns in the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE). Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses the Easton and Harris formal valuation model and employs both a relative and an incremental information content approach to examine which performance measure best explains stock market returns; and the explanatory power of the pairwise combinations of one value‐based performance measurement model and one traditional accounting performance measure in explaining stock market returns. For this purpose, pooled time‐series, cross‐sectional data of listed companies in the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) over the period 1992‐2001 have been collected and modelled.Findings –.
A Nutrient Approach to Prostate Cancer Prevention: The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT)

The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) randomized 35,533 healthy men, >55 yr old (>50 yr if African American), with normal digital rectal exams and prostate specific antigens <4 ng/ml to 1) 200 μg/day l-selenomethionine, 2) 400 IU/day all-rac-alpha-tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E), 3) both supplements, or 4) placebo for 7 to 12 yr. The hypotheses underlying SELECT, that selenium and vitamin E individually and together decrease prostate cancer incidence, derived from epidemiologic and laboratory evidence and significant secondary endpoints in the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer (selenium) and Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene (vitamin E) trials. In SELECT, prostate cancer incidence did not differ among the 4 arms: hazard ratios [99% confidence intervals (CIs)] for prostate cancer were 1.13 (99% CI = 0.95–1.35, P = 0.06; n = 473) for vitamin E, 1.04 (99% CI = 0.87–1.24, P = 0.62; n = 432) for selenium, and 1.05 (99% CI = 0.88–1.25, P = 0.52; n = 437) for selenium + vitamin E vs. 1.00 (n = 416) for placebo. Statistically nonsignificant increased risks of prostate cancer with vitamin E alone [relative risk (RR) = 1.13, P = 0.06) and newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes mellitus with selenium alone (RR = 1.07, P = 0.16) were observed. SELECT data show that neither selenium nor vitamin E, alone or together, in the doses and formulations used, prevented prostate cancer in this heterogeneous population of healthy men.
A biclustering algorithm for extracting bit-patterns from binary datasets

MOTIVATION Binary datasets represent a compact and simple way to store data about the relationships between a group of objects and their possible properties. In the last few years, different biclustering algorithms have been specially developed to be applied to binary datasets. Several approaches based on matrix factorization, suffix trees or divide-and-conquer techniques have been proposed to extract useful biclusters from binary data, and these approaches provide information about the distribution of patterns and intrinsic correlations. RESULTS A novel approach to extracting biclusters from binary datasets, BiBit, is introduced here. The results obtained from different experiments with synthetic data reveal the excellent performance and the robustness of BiBit to density and size of input data. Also, BiBit is applied to a central nervous system embryonic tumor gene expression dataset to test the quality of the results. A novel gene expression preprocessing methodology, based on expression level layers, and the selective search performed by BiBit, based on a very fast bit-pattern processing technique, provide very satisfactory results in quality and computational cost. The power of biclustering in finding genes involved simultaneously in different cancer processes is also shown. Finally, a comparison with Bimax, one of the most cited binary biclustering algorithms, shows that BiBit is faster while providing essentially the same results. AVAILABILITY The source and binary codes, the datasets used in the experiments and the results can be found at: http://www.upo.es/eps/bigs/BiBit.html CONTACT dsrodbae@upo.es SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.