Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Size, Structure and Administrative Overheads: An Empirical Analysis of English Local Authorities

The relationship is analysed between size, local government structure and administrative overheads in English local authorities. Size and structure effects are tested while controlling for a range of other variables, including the relative prosperity of the local population and the diversity of their service needs. The empirical results show that population size consistently has a linear negative effect: central administrative costs are lower in larger local authorities. The results also show that, controlling for size, administrative overheads are higher for councils in the lower tier of the existing two-tier system. The analysis provides support for arguments that economies of scale might be achieved by amalgamating smaller councils into larger units and by combining counties and districts into unitary authorities.
Exploring the relationship between management accounting and structural capital in a knowledge‐intensive sector

Purpose – In the context of intellectual capital (IC) research, it has been proposed that management accounting is most appropriately situated as an element of a firm's structural capital. This paper sets out to explore this contention within the confines of the indigenous Irish information and communications technology (ICT) sector.Design/methodology/approach – A survey instrument was used to collect the necessary data and responses from 88 firms were generated. A form of structural equation modelling (SEM) called partial least squares (PLS) was used to test the data.Findings – The findings suggest that management accounting systems within the indigenous Irish ICT sector have a positive influence on the generation of management accounting information. No statistical support was found, however, for the suggestion that management accounting systems positively influence firms' structural capital, whereas the results did indicate a positive relationship between management accounting information and structura.
Customer Base Analysis: An Industrial Purchase Process Application

Customer base analysis is concerned with using the observed past purchase behavior of customers to understand their current and likely future purchase patterns. More specifically, as developed in Schmittlein et al. (1987), customer base analysis uses data on the frequency, timing, and dollar value of each customer's past purchases to infer • the number of customers currently active, • how that number has changed over time, • which individual customers are most likely still active, • how much longer each is likely to remain an active customer, and • how many purchases can be expected from each during any future time period of interest. In this paper we empirically validate the model proposed by Schmittlein et al. In doing so, we provide one of the few applications of stochastic models to industrial purchase processes and industrial marketing decisions. Besides showing that the model does capture key aspects of the purchase process, we also present a more effective parameter estimation method and some results regarding sampling properties of the parameter estimates. Finally, we extend the model to explicitly incorporate dollar volume of past purchases. Our results indicate that this kind of customer base analysis can be both effective in predicting purchase patterns and in generating insights into how key customer groups differ. The link of both these benefits to industrial marketing decision making is also discussed.
The Effect of Food Store Access and Income on Household Purchases of Fruits and Vegetables: A Mixed Effects Analysis

This paper combines national-level retail food availability information with data on actual purchases to determine the effect that availability of different types of food stores and income have on fruit and vegetable purchases. The results of our mixed effects analysis suggest that the densities of supermarkets and other retail outlets in metropolitan statistical areas do not have significant effects on household fruit and vegetable purchases. Income, however, has a positive significant effect on fruit and vegetable purchases. Results also indicate that while neither food access nor income account for the variability in fruit and vegetable purchases, the interaction of these terms has a small but significant impact indicating that policy actions designed to address access and affordability issues in isolation are not likely to succeed. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.
Hydro-hegemony – a framework for analysis of trans-boundary water conflicts

The increasing structural and physical scarcity of water across the globe calls for a deeper understanding of trans-boundary water conflicts. Conventional analysis tends to downplay the role that power asymmetry plays in creating and maintaining situations of water conflict that fall short of the violent form of war and to treat as unproblematic situations of cooperation occurring in an asymmetrical context. The conceptual Framework of Hydro-Hegemony presented herein attempts to give these two features – power and varying intensities of conflict – their respective place in the perennial and deeply political question: who gets how much water, how and why? Hydro-hegemony is hegemony at the river basin level, achieved through water resource control strategies such as resource capture, integration and containment. The strategies are executed through an array of tactics (e.g. coercion-pressure, treaties, knowledge construction, etc.) that are enabled by the exploitation of existing power asymmetries within a weak international institutional context. Political processes outside the water sector configure basin-wide hydro-political relations in a form ranging from the benefits derived from cooperation under hegemonic leadership to the inequitable aspects of domination. The outcome of the competition in terms of control over the resource is determined through the form of hydro-hegemony established, typically in favour of the most powerful actor. The Framework of Hydro-hegemony is applied to the Nile, Jordan and Tigris and Euphrates river basins, where it is found that current hydro-hegemonic configurations tend towards the dominative form. There is evidence in each case of power asymmetries influencing an inequitable outcome – at the expense of lingering, low-intensity conflicts. It is proposed that the framework provides an analytical paradigm useful for examining the options of such powerful or hegemonized riparians and how they might move away from domination towards cooperation.
Duplicating Moody's Municipal Credit Ratings

In this article we have shown that it is possible to duplicate with fairly high accuracy the credit ratings recently published in Moody's Analytical Overview of 25 Leading U.S. Cities. Using multiple discriminant analysis and a set of nine discriminating variables, we can predict the distribution of cities among five credit rating categories with 83% accuracy and among two aggregated cate gorres with 95% accuracy. Our accuracy rate is much higher than that of pre vious studies in this field. However, we wish to offer a note of caution in re porting our results. The sample we worked with was relatively small. We used it because it seemed to us that the publication of Moody's Analytical Overview provided a unique set of comparable intercity financial data and therefore a new opportunity to attempt a duplication of their ratings. We are pleased with the predictive accuracy we achieve but feel that before we can be sure that our techniques are reliable, future research using a larger sample and perhaps a greater number of variables is needed.
Optical and Visual Quality Comparison of Implantable Collamer Lens and Laser in Situ Keratomileusis for Myopia Using an Adaptive Optics Visual Simulator

Purpose. To compare optical and visual quality of the implantable Collamer lens (ICL) and laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) for myopia. Methods. An adaptive optics visual simulator (CRX1, Imagine Eyes, France) was used to simulate the vision after ICL implantation and LASIK procedure from the wavefront aberration pattern for −3 and −6 D. Monocular visual acuity (VA) at different contrasts and contrast sensitivity (CS) at 10, 20, and 25 cycles/degree (cpd) were measured for 3- and 5-mm pupils. Modulation transfer function (MTF) and point spread function (PSF) were calculated for a 5-mm pupil. Results. The ICL showed a MTF near of diffraction-limited MTF, but the post-LASIK of MTF worsened moving away from both curves. Statistically significant differences were found in VA between both procedures for all conditions (p<0.05). For −3 D ICL and LASIK, we did not find statistically significant differences in CS between the procedures for both pupils and any spatial frequencies (p>0.05). But for −6 D ICL and LASIK, the effect of aberrations became apparent, finding statistically significant differences in CS between both procedures for 2 pupils and all spatial frequencies evaluated (p<0.05). In all cases optical and visual quality was better with the ICL procedure. Conclusions. Both ICL and LASIK procedures provide good optical and visual quality, although the ICL provides better outcomes, especially for large refractive errors and pupil sizes. These outcomes are due to the LASIK procedure inducing higher higher-order aberrations than ICL implantation.
Founding-family firms and the creation of value: Swedish evidence

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which founding-family firms create value. In particular, the paper investigates how agency costs and monitoring capabilities influence the value creation process. Design/methodology/approach - The empirical analysis relies on unique hand-collected ownership data that has been collected for all Swedish publicly listed firms in the years 2001 to 2010 (2,128 observations). The research design employs level regression specifications and they are tested using pooled cross-sectional regressions with controls for year and industry fixed effects. Findings - The paper confirms previous studies that firms with founding family ownership have a higher value (Tobin's Q) and higher performance (RNOA). In contrast to prior studies, the paper finds that firm value and performance is significantly higher when ownership is concentrated the most. The paper also shows that firm value and performance is significantly lower for long-term non-founding-family ownership. Originality/value - This is one of the largest single-country analyses of founding family owner effects on value and performance in publicly listed firms. The paper confirms known associations between ownership and performance in a unique institutional setting. The paper extends previous research findings by identifying differences in value and performance between founding family owners and long-term non-founding-family owners.
Porter's business strategies in Japan

Purpose – The Japanese government is promoting a move towards a variety of generic business strategies based on the Porter Prize as a way to regain global competitiveness and end their long economic recession. The purpose of this paper is to report on the current state of Japanese business strategies to a practitioner audience based on the authors' previous academic‐oriented research.Design/methodology/approach – A survey of 101 Japanese respondents was conducted to determine their relative use of Porter's generic business strategies. Examples of implementation are presented to illustrate use of the critical strategies.Findings – The Japanese are using two of Porter's generic strategies, namely cost leadership and differentiation and they are using two variations of Porter's focus strategies.Research limitations/implications – As is typical with all survey research, the convenience sample of organizations used in this survey may not be representative of all Japanese organizations.Practical implications – .
Trading Volume and Asset Prices

Price and quantity are the two fundamental variables in any analysis of market interactions. Yet the study of financial markets has focused primarily on the behavior of asset pricesiapredictability, volatility, and their relation to economic fundamentals. Far less attention has been devoted to the understanding of quantities such as trading volume. Only recently, there has been a growing body of work to link both price and volume to economic fundamentals. In this paper, I attempt to review some of these work within a unified framework. I start by describing an intertemporal asset pricing model that explicitly models investorsi¯ trading motives, their optimal portfolio choices and the resulting equilibrium asset prices. I then examine the price-volume implications within the framework of the model. Finally, I discuss the results from the empirical analysis of volume and stock returns based on the data of the U.S. stock market. The theoretical analysis together with its empirical support clearly demonstrate that volume and prices are jointly linked to the economic fundamentals, e.g., the risks of the assets and the investorsi¯ attitude toward them. Moreover, the behavior of volume is closely related to the behavior of prices and from which we can learn a great deal about the prices as well as the economic fundamentals.
Acute Effect of Whole-Body Vibration Warm-up on Footspeed Quickness

Abstract Donahue, RB, Vingren, JL, Duplanty, AA, Levitt, DE, Luk, H-Y, and Kraemer, WJ. Acute effect of whole-body vibration warm-up on footspeed quickness. J Strength Cond Res 30(8): 2286–2291, 2016—The warm-up routine preceding a training or athletic event can affect the performance during that event. Whole-body vibration (WBV) can increase muscle performance, and thus the inclusion of WBV to the warm-up routine might provide additional performance improvements. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the acute effect of a WBV warm-up, using a vertical oscillating platform and a more traditional warm-up protocol on feet quickness in physically active men. Twenty healthy and physically active men (18–25 years, 22 ± 3 years, 176.8 ± 6.4 cm, 84.4 ± 11.5 kg, 10.8 ± 1.4% body fat) volunteered for this study. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used to examine the effect of 4 warm-up scenarios (no warm-up, traditional warm-up only, WBV warm-up only, and combined traditional and WBV warm-up) on subsequent 3-second Quick feet count test (QFT) performance. The traditional warm-up consisted of static and dynamic exercises and stretches. The WBV warm-up consisted of 60 seconds of vertical sinusoidal vibration at a frequency of 35 Hz and amplitude of 4 mm on a vibration platform. The WBV protocol significantly (p ⩽ 0.0005, &eegr;2 = 0.581) augmented QFT performance (WBV: 37.1 ± 3.4 touches; no-WBV: 35.7 ± 3.4 touches). The results demonstrate that WBV can enhance the performance score on the QFT. The findings of this study suggest that WBV warm-up should be included in warm-up routines preceding training and athletic events which include very fast foot movements.
Pesticides and risk of Parkinson disease: a population-based case-control study.

BACKGROUND Pesticide exposures are suspected risk factors for Parkinson disease (PD), but epidemiological observations have been inconsistent. OBJECTIVE To investigate associations between pesticide exposures and idiopathic PD. DESIGN Population-based case-control study. SETTING Group Health Cooperative, a health care system in western Washington State, and the University of Washington. PARTICIPANTS Two hundred fifty incident PD case patients and 388 healthy control subjects (age- and sex-matched). We assessed self-reported pesticide exposures using a structured interview. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were determined using logistic regression models, controlling for age, sex, and smoking. RESULTS Odds ratios for occupational exposures were not significant but suggested a gradient that paralleled occupational exposures (pesticide worker: OR, 2.07; 95% CI, 0.67-6.38; crop farmer: OR, 1.65; 95% CI, 0.84-3.27; animal and crop farmer: OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.60-2.00; and dairy farmer: OR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.46-1.70). Odds ratios for organophosphates paralleled the World Health Organization hazard classifications, with parathion much higher than diazinon or malathion. We also found elevated ORs from herbicides (OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 0.51-3.88) and paraquat (OR, 1.67; 95% CI, 0.22-12.76). We found no evidence of risk from home-based pesticide exposures. We found significantly increased ORs from lifelong well water consumption (OR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.02-3.21). CONCLUSIONS The findings for occupational pesticide exposures are consistent with a growing body of information linking pesticide exposures with PD. However, the lack of significant associations, absence of associations with home-based exposures, and weak associations with rural exposures suggest that pesticides did not play a substantial etiologic role in this population.
Electricity Demand and Factor Substitution in the Swedish Mining Industry - An Econometric Approach 1

We were interested in establishing electricity demand elasticities and factor substitution possibilities in the mining industry. This is an industry with relatively high electricity use and it is therefore relevant to show how responsive the industry is to changes in the electricity price (such as the introduction of a tax), and the substitution possibilities to use other input factors in the production. We chose to study mining for ores and minerals (excluding energy minerals), which includes e.g. iron ore, copper, zinc and lead industries. A unique data set from Swedish Statistics containing plant level data on outputs and inputs, as well as investments in R&D, from 1990 to 2005 was used to estimate a factor demand model. Of special interest was to study if R&D has affected electricity consumption, i.e., if there has been a link between investing in R&D and lower electricity use. The results showed that short-run factor substitution exists between the input factors. Regarding electricity elasticities, the results indicate that the industry’s electricity use has been responsive to changes in the price of electricity. Investments in R&D have decreased the use of labour, electricity and oil, but only the elasticity for labour is significant. This result might indicate that the focus of the R&D investments in the mining industry have so far been directed towards increased productivity in labour use, rather than on energy efficiencies.
Terror, oil and repression in Algeria

This paper investigates the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on human rights in Algeria. No direct link is discovered between foreign investment and the repression of human rights. This is largely due to the peculiarities and, in the special case of Algeria, the location of the hydrocarbon sector, which together make repression less necessary. First, since the hydrocarbon sector uses relatively little labour, there are fewer occasions on which labour rights would be suppressed. Second, oil and gas reserves are concentrated in a thinly populated region of Algeria, where there are fewer people to protest the allegedly negative effects of foreign investment and, hence, fewer people to repress. Nevertheless, case study findings indicate that FDI has indirectly sustained repression in Algeria. Explanation is attributed to the centrality of the country's hydrocarbon resources to the global economy. It is suggested that countries in demand of Algeria's oil and gas have exercised restraint in criticising Algeria's human rights record. Buttressed by the diplomatic support of their partners as well as by large arms transfers, the Algerian government has been able to choose repression over concession as its primary response to domestic unrest. This study also points to ways in which the Algerian experience provides the grist for theoretical refinement. Specifically, it suggests that repression is more likely in industries that are more labour-intensive and concentrated in densely populated regions.
Another Puzzle: The Growth in Actively Managed Mutual Funds

Mutual funds represent one of the fastest growing type of financial intermediary in the American economy. The question remains as to why mutual funds and in particular actively managed mutual funds have grown so fast, when their performance on average has been inferior to that of index funds. One possible explanation of why investors buy actively managed open end funds lies in the fact that they are bought and sold at net asset value, and thus management ability may not be priced. If management ability exists and it is not included in the price of open end funds, then performance should be predictable. If performance is predictable and at least some investors are aware of this, then cash flows into and out of funds should be predictable by the very same metrics that predict performance. Finally, if predictors exist and at least some investors act on these predictors in investing in mutual funds, the return on new cash flows should be better than the average return for all investors in these funds. This article presents empirical evidence on all of these issues and shows that investors in actively managed mutual funds may have been more rational than we have assumed.
T regulatory cells are markedly diminished in diseased salivary glands of patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the abnormalities of T regulatory cells (Treg) in salivary glands and peripheral blood in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). METHODS Levels of CD4+CD25+ high T cells of the peripheral blood of 52 patients with pSS were measured by flow-cytometric assay. Lower lip salivary gland biopsies were examined by immunohistochemistry, using monoclonal mouse anti-human antibodies [CD25, CD4, CD8, CD68, forkhead transcription factor (Foxp3)] in 30 patients with pSS. Using real-time polymerase chain reaction, Foxp3 messenger RNA expression was assessed in the salivary glands and CD4+ T cells from peripheral blood. RESULTS Many inflammatory cells, predominantly CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and macrophages, were found in salivary glands of patients with SS, but CD4+CD25+ Treg numbers and Foxp3 expression were markedly reduced in those biopsy samples. Levels of CD4+CD25+ high T cells and Foxp3 expression in peripheral blood of patients with pSS were significantly lower than in healthy controls. However, the inhibitory function of CD4+CD25+ T cells in pSS was unchanged compared to that of controls. Peripheral CD4+CD25+ high T cell numbers in pSS did not correlate with Schirmer's test and salivary flow rate, or with the presence or absence of anti-SSA/SSB antibodies and immunoglobulin level. CONCLUSION The remarkable reduction of Treg numbers in salivary glands and reduction of CD4+CD25+ high T cells in peripheral blood suggests a possible role for absence of Treg in the pathogenesis of salivary gland destruction in pSS.
On the licensing of innovations

We study a three-stage, asymmetric duopoly game of RD (2) fixed-fee licensing of the innovation; and (3) sale of the final product. We find that major innovations will not be licensed, but that equally efficient firms will tend to license minor innovations. For some innovations, licensing is both privately and socially undesirable. If at least one of the two producers would refuse to license (were it to acquire the innovation), then licensing will not occur; an excluding firm will obtain the innovation. The possibility of licensing may decrease the returns to innovation if the licensee appropriates most of the licensing gains to trade.