Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Ownership Structure Affect Performance? Evidence from the Italian Market

This study contributes to the recent debate on the effects of government regulations inspired by the Anglo-Saxon model of corporate governance in the small European countries. In questioning the alleged competitive superiority of the widely held company, our paper also suggests that the existence of good corporate law is not a sufficient condition for the development of a corporate economy resembling the US model. This study provides empirical support for the agency theory and the managerial entrenchment argument. As such, it suggests new avenues of research for the ownership structure literature willing to reflect the diverging interests of different types of shareholders and to explore both endogeneity and non-linearity issues. Using panel data for the period 2000-2003 with respect to the Italian market, we find that the ownership concentration of the five largest shareholders is beneficial to firm valuation. On the contrary, managerial ownership is beneficial only in non-concentrated firms, suggesting that the controlling owner may use his/her position in the firm to extract private benefits at the expense of the other shareholders by appointing managers that represent its own interest. This paper aims at exploring the relationship between ownership structure and firm performance in the context of a small European capital market. Further developing existing literature, we acknowledge the multi-dimensionality of ownership by including both the fraction of shares owned by the five largest shareholders and the fraction of shares owned by management.
The Ethics Development Model Applied To Declining Ethics in Accounting

This paper presents the Ethics Development Model (EDM) as a lens by which to view declining ethics in accounting and other business professions. The paper also provides a background on fraud (one type of ethical breakdown) and its causes. The EDM comprises personal ethical understanding, application of ethics to business situations, ethical courage and ethical leadership. The model is applied to declining ethics, teaching styles and educational responsibility.
Shareholder activism by hedge funds in a concentrated ownership environment: an empirical study for Germany

This study seeks to extend hedge fund activism research to a country where the ownership structure is dominated by large major shareholders. Until now, studies about hedge fund activism mainly treated countries with dispersed ownership structures. Using an event study with 133 German hedge fund events between January 2000 and April 2008, we found that hedge fund activism shows significant positive short-term abnormal returns, which do not hold in the long term. It showed that family shareholders have a significant influence on the success of hedge fund activism. Moreover, it could be measured that hedge fund activism is especially successful if it tries to force the company to sell assets. This study provides empirical support for the influence of the ownership structure on the success of hedge fund activism. It indicates that large major shareholders impact hedge fund activism.
Coherence and Conditionality in European Foreign Policy: Negotiating the Eu-Mexico Global Agreement

The EU-Mexico Global Agreement is one of the most comprehensive agreements ever made by the EU with a non-European country, and the first pact that Mexico has ever accepted that conditions the relationship on respect for democracy and human rights. This article explains why the EU insisted on such political conditions in the agreement, and why Mexico ultimately accepted the EU's terms after initially refusing them. As the economic case is only moderately compelling, we focus instead on the Commission's unique capacity to manipulate key elements of the negotiation process. The article also highlights the growing importance of two principles governing the EU's external relations - coherence and political conditionality - and how those principles might further expand the EU's global political influence. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005.
Health Education: Analysis of teachers' and future teachers' conceptions from 16 countries in Europe, Africa and Middle East.

School is an important setting for health education and health promotion, and it has been recognised that teachers' conceptions play a crucial role for the effective implementation of school health education. With the European FP6 Biohead-Citizen project on "Biology Health and Environmental education for better citizenship" we analysed the potential differences between several countries by associating teachers' and future teachers' conceptions to controlled parameters, such as level of training, religion, political view. A questionnaire was constructed during the first year of the project, and following a pilot test, the final questionnaire was applied to 6379 teachers and future teachers. We then used well-suited statistical multivariate methods to investigate complex data featuring the conceptions of many individuals, according to many topics. We show that a prominent source of variation in teachers' conceptions is related to countries, and further suggest that there are differences in two kinds of conceptions: a) individual health responsibilities and abilities; b) social policies. Religion, academic level or training had also an impact in teachers' conceptions of health education. Another important feature is the gap between what teachers and future teachers say about their own health and what they say it should be taught in school. Results are then discussed.
Channel Equalization and Symbol Detection for Single-Carrier MIMO Systems in the Presence of Multiple Carrier Frequency Offsets

A new frequency-domain channel equalization and symbol detection scheme is proposed for multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) single-carrier broadband wireless systems in the presence of severely frequency-selective channel fading and multiple unknown carrier-frequency offsets (CFOs). Multiple CFOs cause severe phase distortion in the equalized data for large block lengths and/or constellation sizes, thus yielding poor detection performance. Instead of explicitly estimating the CFOs and then compensating them, the proposed scheme estimates the rotated phases (not frequencies) caused by multiple unknown CFOs and then removes the phase rotations from the equalized data before symbol detection. The estimation accuracy of the phase rotation is improved by utilizing a groupwise method rather than symbol-by-symbol methods. This paper differs from other related work in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) studies in that it can combat multiple CFOs that are time varying within each block. Numerical examples for 4 × 2 and 8 × 4 single-carrier systems with quaternary phase-shift keying (QPSK) and eight-phase-shift keying (8PSK) modulation illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in terms of scatter plots of constellation, mean square error (MSE), and bit error rate (BER).
Persuading the Regulator to Wait

We study a Bayesian persuasion game in the context of real options. The Sender (firm) chooses signals to reveal to the Receiver (regulator) each period but has no long-term commitment power. The Receiver chooses when to exercise the option, affecting welfare of both parties. When the Sender favors late exercise relative to the Receiver but their disagreement is small, in the unique equilibrium information is disclosed discretely with a delay and the Receiver sometimes ex-post regrets waiting too long. When disagreement is large, the Sender, instead of acquiring information once and fully, pipets good information over time. These results shed light on the post-market surveillance practices of medical drugs and instruments by the FDA, and the role of pharmaceutical companies in keeping marginally beneficial drugs in the market. When the Sender favors early exercise, the lack of commitment not to persuade in the future leads to unraveling, in equilibrium all information is disclosed immediately. In sharp contrast to static environments, the ability to persuade might hurt the Sender.
Perceiving Action Identity

Can skilled performers, such as artists or athletes, recognize the products of their own actions? We recorded 12 pianists playing 12 mostly unfamiliar musical excerpts, half of them on a silent keyboard. Several months later, we played these performances back and asked the pianists to use a 5-point scale to rate whether they thought they were the person playing each excerpt (1 = no, 5 = yes). They gave their own performances significantly higher ratings than any other pianist's performances. In two later follow-up tests, we presented edited performances from which differences in tempo, overall dynamic (i.e., intensity) level, and dynamic nuances had been removed. The pianists' ratings did not change significantly, which suggests that the remaining information (expressive timing and articulation) was sufficient for self-recognition. Absence of sound during recording had no significant effect. These results are best explained by the hypothesis that an observer's action system is most strongly activated during perception of self-produced actions.
Young people and political (in)activism: why don't young people vote?

Continued experimentation with methods to make the process of voting easier signals a growing concern amongst politicians that the public is becoming increasingly disaffected from politics in Britain. However, these government initiatives may be failing to tackle the real problem—that the electorate appear to find the business of politics uninviting and irrelevant. In this article we examine the results from a nationwide survey of over 700 young people, and find that this generation, whilst supportive of these new electoral methods, are unlikely to be persuaded to turnout to vote while they continue to feel marginalised from the political process.
Marketable Incentive Contracts and Capital Structure Relevance

This article investigates the claim that debt finance can increase firm value by curtailing managers' access to 'free cash flow. ' The author first shows that incentive contracts that tie the managers' pay to stockholder wealth are often a superior solution to the free cash flow problem. He then considers the possibility that the manager can trade on secondary capital markets. Liquid secondary markets are shown to undermine management incentive schemes and, in many cases, to restore the value of debt finance in controlling the free cash flow problem. Copyright 1997 by American Finance Association.
The Decentralisation of Employment Relations in the British Public Sector

The aim of this article is to investigate differences between the British public and private sectors in terms of the decentralisation of employment relations. Drawing on data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey, the article arrives at three main conclusions. First, the analysis reveals that while local-level managers in both sectors have similar levels of responsibility for employment relations issues, those in the public sector are, on the whole, significantly less likely to be able to exercise authority. Second, the results indicate some marked variations in practice within the public sector, with managers in education having the greatest level of authority. Finally, the article explores the extent to which differences in local-level authority between the public and private sectors can be explained by higher-level collective bargaining, and the presence of higher-level personnel specialists. These factors have only a partial influence, and do not fully explain why local-level employee relations managers in some areas (notably health) are less able to exercise authority than their counterparts in the private sector.
Induction of Pulmonary Granuloma Formation by Propionibacterium acnes Is Regulated by MyD88 and Nox2

&NA; Sarcoidosis is characterized by noncaseating granulomas with an unknown cause that present primarily in the lung. Propionibacterium acnes, an immunogenic commensal skin bacterium involved in acne vulgaris, has been implicated as a possible causative agent of sarcoidosis. Here, we demonstrate that a viable strain of P. acnes isolated from a patient with sarcoidosis and instilled intratracheally into wild‐type mice can generate pulmonary granulomas similar to those observed in patients with sarcoidosis. The formation of these granulomas is dependent on the administration of viable P. acnes. We also found that mice deficient in the innate immunity adapter protein MyD88 had a greater number and a larger area of granuloma lesions compared with wild‐type mice administered P. acnes. Early after P. acnes administration, wild‐type mice produced proinflammatory mediators and recruited neutrophils into the lung, a response that is dependent on MyD88. In addition, there was an increase in granuloma number and size after instillation with P. acnes in mice deficient in CybB, a critical component of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase required for the production of reactive oxygen species in the phagosome. Myd88−/− or Cybb−/− mice both had increased persistence of P. acnes in the lung, together with enhanced granuloma formation. In conclusion, we have generated a mouse model of early granuloma formation induced by a clinically relevant strain of P. acnes isolated from a patient with sarcoidosis, and, using this model, we have shown that a deficiency in MyD88 or CybB is associated with impaired bacterial clearance and increased granuloma formation in the lung.
Technology Sourcing and Reverse Productivity Spillovers in the Multinational Enterprise: Global or Regional Phenomenon?

The focus of this paper is the importance of regions in technology transfer by the multinational firm. Specifically, we focus on an issue that has become known as knowledge or technology sourcing via ‘reverse spillovers’, i.e. productivity effects running from domestic firms to foreign establishments. Traditionally this issue has presented a challenge for international business scholars, both in terms of identifying the phenomenon and in terms of determining the success of the strategy. In this paper we examine these questions within the context of the debate on globalization/regionalization. For a set of some 4500 subsidiaries of multinationals across a wide range of countries we show that reverse productivity spillovers via technology sourcing are significant but that they tend to be concentrated within ‘triad regions’ rather than across them. We also find that reverse spillovers from host country multinational enterprises are greater than those from other host country firms or from other foreign affiliates.
The More, the Merrier: An International Analysis of the Frequency of Dividend Payment

The joint contributions of prospect theory and mental accounting imply that investors receive a higher utility when a given level of dividends is paid more frequently, suggesting that dividends should be paid as often as possible. We document a strong positive relationship between payment frequency and firm value, confirmed with an event study of dividend payment frequency changes. Upon examining the frequency with which dividends are paid around the world, we discover that considerable variation exists, and that dividends are not paid as often as behavioral aspects suggest they should. From our multivariate analysis, we determine that non-behavioral factors such as the legal regime as well as the level and standard deviation of operating income exert significant influences on the payment frequency of dividends, suggesting that a tradeoff exists between behavioral and non-behavioral factors. The relationship between payment frequency and firm value remains robust in the presence of these non-behavioral factors. Copyright (c) 2009 The Authors Journal compilation (c) 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Travel Research Bookshelf

This paper examines the similarities and differences in demand for coastal and marine tourism activities and experiences from three European markets. Long-haul travellers from the United Kingdom, Germany and The Netherlands were studied using archival survey data. The research explored the similarity of the demand from these markets in order to address the question of whether proposals to shift mass tourism towards smaller scale alternative types of coastal and marine tourism are consistent with the size of the ecotourism market. The results demonstrated that nationality was an important variable shaping the size of the ecotourism markets with budget-oriented German ecotourists (46%) providing the largest market share of German coastal and marine tourists. By way of contrast UK ecotourists were the least cost conscious, but were only 19% of the total UK coastal and marine tourism sector. The paper is supplemented with a commentary on the impacts of the anticipated ecotourism activities. In particular, the German ecotourism market appears likely to enhance pressures on the environment rather than being a benign alternative to mass tourism activities. In addition, it was argued that cross-national studies of tourist demand represent an important check on the consistency of tourism trends for destination marketers and managers.
The Impact of Exchange Rate Volatility on International Trade Flows

Despite the best efforts of economists, a basic paradox as to the impact of exchange rate volatility on trade flows remains unresolved at both the theoretical and empirical level. This paper surveys the vast literature in the area in an attempt to identify major issues which have contributed to the development of the debate and examine whether any general direction for consensus may be found. Copyright 1999 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd
A Cross-Country, Cross-Industry Comparison of Productivity Growth

This paper presents evidence on the nature of productivity growth for five major industries in six countries. Output growth is found to be more correlated across countries than productivity growth. In addition, productivity growth is more correlated across industries within one country than across countries within one industry. Using an error-components model, I find that a substantial fraction of changes in annual productivity can be attributed to nation-specific factors that are common across industries. The evidence suggests that short-run productivity growth is similar across industries in a nation but less similar across countries in any specific industry.
School and Family Effects on Educational Outcomes Across Countries

type="main" xml:id="ecop12033-abs-0001"> This study analyses the link between student test scores and the school students attend, the policies and practices of the schools, students' family background and their parents' involvement in their education using data from the 2009 wave of the Program for International Student Assessment. We find that (1) a substantial proportion of the variation of test scores within countries is associated with the school students attend; (2) a sizeable proportion of the school fixed effects is associated with school policies and teaching practices beyond national policies or other mechanisms that sort students of differing abilities among schools; (3) school fixed effects are a major pathway for the link between family background and test scores. The implication is that what schools do is important in the level and dispersion of test scores, suggesting the value of further analysis of what goes on in schools to pin down causal links between policies and practices and test score outcomes. — Richard B. Freeman and Martina Viarengo
Reputation and product tampering in service industries

This theoretical paper aims to identify the role of trust and reputation between consumers and firms when there is product tampering or other types of product liability. When product tampering occurs, trust implicitly built towards brand or corporation by consumers or customers can be dissipated. This article assesses the impact of quality uncertainty and measurement costs on the trust relationship between consumers and corporations. The ideas are also applied to the case of bank runs. Preliminary findings indicate that in cases where the trust between consumer and firms is strong, and there are high measurement costs and uncertainty, the reputational relationship between customers and firms can experience strong repercussions.
Contribution of Disulfide Bridging to Epitope Expression of the Dengue Type 2 Virus Envelope Glycoprotein

ABSTRACT The individual contributions of each of the six conserved disulfide (SS) bonds in the dengue 2 virus envelope (E) glycoprotein (strain 16681) to epitope expression was determined by measuring the reactivities of a panel of well-defined monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) with LLC-MK2 cells that had been transiently transformed with plasmid vectors expressing E proteins that were mutant in their SS bonds. Three domain I (DI) epitopes (C1, C3, and C4) were affected by elimination of any SS bond and were essentially the only epitopes affected by elimination of the amino-proximal SS1 formed between Cys 3 and Cys 30. The remaining DI epitope (C2) was sensitive to only SS3-bond (Cys 74-Cys 105) and SS6-bond (Cys 302-Cys 333) elimination. Of the four DII epitopes examined, reactivities of three anti-epitope MAbs (A1, A2, and A5) were reduced by elimination of SS2 (Cys 61-Cys 121), SS3, SS4 (Cys 94-Cys 116), SS5 (Cys 185-Cys 285), or SS6. The other DII epitope examined (A3) was sensitive only to SS2- and SS3-bond elimination. The three DIII epitopes tested (B2, B3, and B4) were most sensitive to elimination of SS6. The flavivirus group epitope (A1) was less sensitive to elimination of SS3 and SS6. This result may indicate that the region proximal to the E-protein fusion motif (amino acids 98 to 110) may have important linear components. If this observation can be confirmed, peptide mimics from this region of E protein might be able to interfere with flavivirus replication.
Role of ,B-Lactam Hydrolysis in the Mechanism of Resistance of a 3-Lactamase-Constitutive Enterobacter cloacae Strain to Expanded-Spectrum r-Lactams

Enterobacter cloacae strains producing chromosomally mediated j8-lactamase constitutively show high degrees of resistance to most of the third-generation I8-lactams. It has been proposed that this resistance is due to the nonhydrolytic binding or trapping of f-lactams by the enzyme. We found that the outer membrane of E. cloacae strain 55M indeed had permeability to cefazolin about 14-fold lower than that of Escherichia coli, and that the number of I-lactamase molecules produced by this constitutive mutant was exceptionally large (2 x 105 per cell). These conditions are expected to produce a low degree of resistance, but could not explain the high resistance level of the mutant. We showed that the P-lactamase of this strain hydrolyzed third-generation j8-lactams at measurable rates. Although the Vmax for these compounds was less than 0.01% of that for cefazolin, the enzyme could hydrolyze them at rates comparable to the rate for cefazolin when the substrate concentration was near 0.1 ,uM, a concentration thought to be physiologically relevant for the inhibition of cell growth, because of the exceptionally high affinity of the enzyme to many third-generation compounds. Calculations based on kinetic parameters of the enzyme, outer membrane permeability, and affinity toward penicillin-binding proteins succeeded in predicting the MICs for several third-generation P-lactams. The data suggest that hydrolysis may be more important than nonhydrolytic binding for the expression of the resistant phenotype, and that studies on the