Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RELATIONSHIPS AMONG FARMERS' GOALS AND FARM ADJUSTMENT STRATEGIES: SOME EMPIRICS OF A MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPROACH

A knowledge of farmers' goals provides an important basis for understanding farmers' preferences for, and choices among, various farm adjustment strategies. Such information is also valuable in estimating the acceptability to farmers of various government measures to assist rural adjustment. The goals of Queensland graziers, with and without a history of farm expansion, are compared. Different adjustment strategies are analysed in terms of the ways in which they satisfy different individual goals. A dimensional analysis of relationships among goals and adjustment strategies reveals that, for those willing to expand but without a history of expansion, income and social goals are at odds with each other. For these graziers, property expansion seemed to be the strategy most likely to meet both these goals. For graziers with a history of expansion, income goals were complementary with social goals.
Reputation and Credibility in the European Monetary System

EMS credibility Axel Weber This article provides a quantitative assessment of the credibility of the European Monetary System during the disinflation period of the 1980s. The results contradict the widely held view that the EMS has operated as a DM-zone. It is shown that, after a brief early phase, the EMS has functioned as a bipolar system with a hard currency option supplied by the German Bundesbank and a soft currency option offered by the Banque de France. Whilst from the onset the Netherlands have chosen the hard currency option, at least in a first stage the remaining smaller economies, Belgium, Denmark and Ireland, adopted the soft currency alternative. At a later stage of the EMS, however, the soft currency block has disintegrated and some countries, most noticeably Ireland and to a lesser extent France, have shifted towards the ‘hard currency’ standard. It is argued that this increased tightening of the EMS provides a favourable starting condition for the transition to Economic and Monetary Union.
A Comparison Between Bonobos and Chimpanzees: A Review and Update

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (P. paniscus) are our closest living relatives, with the human lineage diverging from the Pan lineage only around five to seven Mya, but possibly as early as eight Mya.1–2 Chimpanzees and bonobos even share genetic similarities with humans that they do not share with each other.2 Given their close genetic relationship to humans, both Pan species represent crucial living models for reconstructing our last common ancestor (LCA) and identifying uniquely human features. Comparing the similarities and differences of the two Pan is thus essential for constructing balanced models of human evolution.3
The Impact of Mandatory IFRS Adoption on Accounting Quality: Evidence from Australia

ABSTRACT: Following the mandatory implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Australia as of January 1, 2005, this study examines its impact on accounting quality by focusing on three perspectives: (1) earnings management, (2) timely loss recognition, and (3) value relevance. Using four years of adoption experience since the mandate was first made effective in Australia for a wide range of accounting-based metrics and market-based information, we find that the mandatory adoption of IFRS has resulted in better accounting quality than previously under Australian generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). In particular, the findings indicate that the pervasiveness of earnings management by way of smoothing has reduced, while the timeliness of loss recognition has improved post-adoption. Additionally, the value relevance of financial statement information has improved, especially for non-financial firms. This is despite the fact that there is evidence to suggest that financ.
Financial Constraints, Global Engagement, and Firm Survival in the United Kingdom: Evidence from Micro Data

Financial constraints have been found to play an important role on various aspects of firm behavior. Yet, their effects on firm survival have been largely neglected. We use a panel of 61,496 UK firms over the period 1997–2002 to study the effects of financial variables on firms' failure probabilities, differentiating firms into globally engaged and purely domestic. Estimating a wide range of specifications, we find that lower collateral and higher leverage result in higher failure probabilities for purely domestic than for globally engaged firms. This can be seen as evidence that global engagement shields firms from financial constraints.
Innovation capabilities in tourism and food production SMEs in the Baltic Sea Region

Drawing on the resource-based view, this paper addresses two fundamental questions: what innovation capabilities are most important for the creation of innovations in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and what are the relations between different innovation capabilities? We propose a model for the analysis of innovation capabilities in small and medium enterprises. In the model, we distinguish between capacities, such as access to financial, physical, technological and human resources, and competencies, such as knowledge and skills, market and entrepreneurial orientation. The findings are based on surveys from 277 tourism and food production SMEs from five Baltic Sea Region countries.
Channels of financial market contagion

This study aims to fill a gap in the current literature by determining which channels of financial contagion are the most significant in transmitting crises between countries. Initial results, using χ2 contingency tables, indicate that there is a significant relationship between contagion and the inflation rate and between contagion and financial liquidity. A simultaneous comparison of the channels is then performed using a series of best subset logit regressions. These suggest that a combination of high inflation and an emerging market classification form the most significant subset in increasing the probability of a contagious event.
Locus of Control and Health: A Review of the Literature

Locus of control, qn individual difference construct from social learning theory, has shown some promise in predicting and explaining specific health-related behaviors. Research is reviewed on the utility of the locus of control construct in understanding smoking reduction, birth control utilization, weight loss, information-seeking, adherence to medication regimens, and other health or sick-role behaviors. Implications for health educators are presented.
Expected satiation after repeated consumption of low- or high-energy-dense soup

We investigated whether repeated consumption of a low-energy-dense (LED; 208 kJ/100 g) or high-energy-dense (HED; 645 kJ/100 g) soup modifies expectations relating to the satiating capacity of the food, and its subsequent intake. In study 1, participants consumed either a novel-flavoured LED (n 32; 21 (sd 1·6) years, BMI 21·4 (sd 1·6) kg/m2) or HED soup (n 32; 21 (sd 1·6) years, BMI 21·3 (sd 1·7) kg/m2). Soup was served in a fixed amount on days 1–4 and ad libitum on day 5. ‘Expected satiation’ was measured on days 1, 2 and 5. Expected satiation did not change after repeated consumption of the LED or HED soup. Ad libitum intake did not differ between the LED (461 (sd 213) g) and HED soup (391 (sd 164) g). Only on day 1, expected satiation was higher for the HED soup than for the LED soup (P = 0·03), suggesting a role for sensory attributes in expected satiation. In study 2, thirty participants (21 (sd 1·6) years, BMI 21·3 (sd 1·7) kg/m2) performed a single measurement of expected satiation of the LED and HED soup, and four commercially available types of soup. Ratings on sensory attributes were associated with expected satiation. Results on expected satiation coincided with those of study 1. Thickness and intensity of taste were independently associated with expected satiation. Expectations may initially rely on sensory attributes and previous experiences, and are not easily changed.
Memory of mice and men: CD8+ T‐cell cross‐reactivity and heterologous immunity

Summary: The main functions of memory T cells are to provide protection upon re‐exposure to a pathogen and to prevent the re‐emergence of low‐grade persistent pathogens. Memory T cells achieve these functions through their high frequency and elevated activation state, which lead to rapid responses upon antigenic challenge. The significance and characteristics of memory CD8+ T cells in viral infections have been studied extensively. In many of these studies of T‐cell memory, experimental viral immunologists go to great lengths to assure that their animal colonies are free of endogenous pathogens in order to design reproducible experiments. These experimental results are then thought to provide the basis for our understanding of human immune responses to viruses. Although these findings can be enlightening, humans are not immunologically naïve, and they often have memory T‐cell populations that can cross‐react with and respond to a new infectious agent or cross‐react with allo‐antigens and influence the success of tissue transplantation. These cross‐reactive T cells can become activated and modulate the immune response and outcome of subsequent heterologous infections, a phenomenon we have termed heterologous immunity. These large memory populations are also accommodated into a finite immune system, requiring that the host makes room for each new population of memory cell. It appears that memory cells are part of a continually evolving interactive network, where with each new infection there is an alteration in the frequencies, distributions, and activities of memory cells generated in response to previous infections and allo‐antigens.
Characterization of PVL‐positive MRSA from Norway

Norway is a country in which the Methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) prevalence has been low for the last decades. There are virtually no epidemic, hospital‐acquired MRSA because of an emphasis on strict infection control rules and restrictive use of antibiotics. However, community‐acquired and/or Panton‐Valentine leucocidin (PVL)‐positive MRSA need to be monitored as these strains are transmitted outside of healthcare facilities and cannot be contained by healthcare‐centred strategies. All 179 non‐repetitive isolates of PVL‐positive MRSA that were received during 2011 at the regional infection control laboratory at Akershus University Hospital were preserved and spa typed. Seventy isolates were further characterized by DNA microarray hybridization. The most common PVL‐MRSA lineages were ST8‐MRSA‐IV and CC30‐MRSA‐IV. Further common clones were CC80‐MRSA‐IV and CC5‐MRSA‐IV. Other clones were found sporadically. These included ST772‐MRSA‐V and ST834‐MRSA‐IV, the latter in patients with epidemiological connections to the Philippines. Small‐scale family outbreaks affecting at least 49 individuals were noted, with numbers of known cases per outbreak ranging from two to seven. At least 24 cases were related to foreign travel to Eritrea, India, Iraq, Macedonia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Turkey, the USA and Vietnam. These data show that community‐acquired/PVL‐positive MRSA are not yet a major public health problem in Southern Norway. Our study corroborates the current practice of mandatory screening of patients and staff with travel histories, admissions or employment in healthcare institutions outside the Scandinavian countries or with known MRSA contacts.
Clinical Impact of the New Criteria for the Diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract In 1997 the American Diabetes Association lowered the threshold for diagnosis of diabetes from a fasting plasma glucose concentration of 7.8 mmol/l to 7.0 mmol/l and advised that the oral glucose tolerance test no longer be used in routine clinical practice. In 1999 the World Health Organization endorsed the reduction in fasting plasma glucose threshold but recommended retaining the oral glucose tolerance test for anyone with impaired fasting glucose (6.1 mmol/l–6.9 mmol/l). This Review discusses the impact of these changes on the prevalence of diabetes and examines the implications for individuals and specific high-risk groups. The phenotype of those diagnosed with diabetes and the predictive value for the development of complications according to the different criteria are compared. It is clear that these changes in diagnostic criteria have major importance both for individuals and for resource planning at a national level.
Investigating resilience thresholds in Sub-Saharan Africa

‘Getting to zero’ – the post-2015 development aim of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030 – involves not just ensuring that people currently in poverty escape from it but also that people do not fall into poverty in the future. Is there a ‘resilience threshold’: a line which, once people are living over, means that they are highly unlikely to live in poverty in the future? If such a threshold exists, what form does it take? Is it dependent upon achieving a certain level of income/expenditure; a particular number of years of education or access to a particular type of (informal) insurance arrangement? Using data from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, this Oxfam GB and Chronic Poverty Advisory Network research report explores the multi-dimensional issue of resilience.
Industry Effects of Monetary Policy in Germany

This paper is on monetary policy transmission. First, it asks the question whether industries are affected differently by monetary policy shocks. Here both output and price effects are compared. Second, some industry characteristics are explored which may help to understand the existence of asymmetric effects. Third, since industries are regionally clustered, possible regional effects are being discussed as well. The analysis takes place within a VAR framework, and monthly data on West- German industries and are being employed. The results indicate that about one half of German industries show significantly different reactions compared to the aggregate. These differences can be partially explained by varying capital-output-ratios, export-orientation and subsidies. Finally it is likely, at least in the case of the German Lander, that asymmetric regional effects of monetary policy shocks will occur.
Online distance education: towards a research agenda

eleed, Iss. 10 - Online Distance Education: Towards a Research Agenda offers a systematic overview of the major issues, trends, and areas of priority in online distance education research. In each chapter, an international expert or team of experts provides an overview of one timely issue in online distance education, summarizing major research on the topic, discussing theoretical insights that guide the research, posing questions and directions for future research, and discussing the implications for distance education practice as a whole. Intended as a primary reference and guide for distance educators, researchers, and policymakers, Online Distance Education addresses aspects of distance education practice that have often been marginalized, including issues of cost and economics, concerns surrounding social justice, cultural bias, the need for faculty professional development, and the management and growth of learner communities. At once soundly empirical and thoughtfully reflective, yet also forward-looking and open to new approaches to online and distance teaching, this text is a solid resource for researchers in a rapidly expanding discipline.
The price of snow: albedo valuation and a case study for forest management

Several climate frameworks have included the role of carbon storage in natural landscapes as a potential mechanism for climate change mitigation. This has resulted in an incentive to grow and maintain intact long-lived forest ecosystems. However, recent research has suggested that the influence of albedo-related radiative forcing can impart equal and in some cases greater magnitudes of climate mitigation compared to carbon storage in forests where snowfall is common and biomass is slow-growing. While several methodologies exist for relating albedo-associated radiative forcing to carbon storage for the analysis of the tradeoffs of these ecosystem services, they are varied, and they have yet to be contrasted in a case study with implications for future forest management. Here we utilize four methodologies for calculating a shadow price for albedo radiative forcing and apply the resulting eight prices to an ecological and economic forest model to examine the effects on optimal rotation periods on two different forest stands in the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire, USA. These pricing methodologies produce distinctly different shadow prices of albedo, varying from a high of 9.36 × 10−4 and a low of 1.75 × 10−5 $w−1yr−1 in the initial year, to a high of 0.019 and a low of 3.55 × 10−4 $w−1yr−1 in year 200 of the simulation. When implemented in the forest model, optimal rotation periods also varied considerably, from a low of 2 to a high of 107 years for a spruce-fir stand and from 35 to 80 years for a maple-beech-birch stand. Our results suggest that the choice of climate metrics and pricing methodologies for use with forest albedo alter albedo prices considerably, may substantially adjust optimal rotation period length, and therefore may have consequences with respect to forest land cover change.
Investment Under Trade Policy Uncertainty: An Empirical Investigation

The link between trade policy uncertainty and the share of investment in GDP per capita is investigated using panel data drawn from over a hundred countries for the period 1960–2000. Five indicators of trade policy are used. Two specifications of volatility for each of the trade policy indicators are constructed as measures of trade policy uncertainty. Panel regression results suggest a robust correlation between the volatility of trade policy indicators and the investment share. A significant negative impact of trade policy volatility on the investment share is found in most trade policy indicators with an exception—the volatility of the trade share indicator more closely associated with volatility in quantity than in prices has a significant positive impact on the investment share.
Lesson-drawing and public policy: secondhand smoking restrictions in Scotland and England

The dangers associated with the use of tobacco products have been documented extensively in the literature on public health and tobacco control. As a result, various countries, including subcentral units in federations and other devolved political systems, have adopted policies to control tobacco consumption. This article examines the effects lesson-drawing had on the adoption of restrictive secondhand smoke policies in Scotland and England in 2006 and 2007. Using elite interviews and documentary sources, the study finds that in both countries secondhand smoke policies were influenced by the adoption of similar policies in other English-speaking jurisdictions, especially the nearby Republic of Ireland. In turn, the adoption of a non-smoking policy in Scotland influenced England. This confirms Castles’ (1993) claim of similar policies developing in the English-speaking ‘family of nations’ even at different levels of government. Policy transfer from Ireland to the United Kingdom is highly unusual, as is lesson-drawing from another jurisdiction within the United Kingdom to England. This may have occurred because the policy is fundamentally declaratory but with some need for compliance checks that are not resource-intensive. This path of lesson-drawing may be rare in the United Kingdom, but it may have broader implications for different types of lesson-drawing in multilevel governance.
The Influence of Effective Teaching in Accounting on Student Attitudes, Behavior, and Performance

In 1993 the School of Business at a large midwestern university established a task force to redesign its introductory accounting/business course. The task force shared many goals of the contemporaneous Accounting Education Change Commission, which addressed desirable attitudes and behaviors for the profession. Although approaches to knowledge and skill development are well understood at universities, much less is known about the impact of effective accounting education on student attitudes and behavior. After implementing instructional interventions, student attitudes and study skills improved significantly over one semester. The causal relationship of attitudes and behaviors was modeled using the Theory of Reasoned Action. Self‐reported behaviors were validated by external ratings and course performance. Achievement attitudes were strongly and directly influenced by subjective norms. Our results reflect positively on the activities and procedures used to create normative influences within the class. In p.
Shareholder wealth effects of M & As: the third wave from Malaysia

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the short-term wealth effects of mergers and acquisitions (M & - As) in Malaysia. In addition, this study also examines the factors that affect the short-term shareholders’ wealth during M & - A announcements in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach - – The short-term wealth effect is measured by the Cumulative Average Abnormal Returns (CAARs). For the purpose of this study, the wealth effects of a sample of 180 target and 196 bidding companies announced in Malaysia during the period from 2001 to 2009 are analyzed. Findings - – Results of the study revealed that there are positive market reactions by both target and bidding shareholders towards M & - A announcements. However, target shareholders earned significantly higher CAARs than bidding shareholders. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that economic condition surrounding merger announcements, type of acquisition (diversified/related), premium paid and status of bid (successful/failed) affect the short-term wealth effects of target and bidding shareholders during M & - A announcements. However, the impact on the target and bidding shareholders are different. Relative size negatively affects bidding shareholders’ wealth. Target with higher ROE also earned significantly higher returns. Originality/value - – There is high number of announced M & - A deals in Malaysia, little is known about the determinants of short-term wealth effects of M & - As in emerging market Malaysia, in particular the third M & - A wave.
The End of Chimerica

For the better part of the past decade, the world economy has been dominated by a world economic order that combined Chinese export-led development with US over-consumption. The financial crisis of 2007-2009 likely marks the beginning of the end of the Chimerican relationship. In this paper we look at this era as economic historians, trying to set events in a longer-term perspective. In some ways China's economic model in the decade 1998-2007 was similar to the one adopted by West Germany and Japan after World War II. Trade surpluses with the U.S. played a major role in propelling growth. But there were two key differences. First, the scale of Chinese currency intervention was without precedent, as were the resulting distortions of the world economy. Second, the Chinese have so far resisted the kind of currency appreciation to which West Germany and Japan consented. We conclude that Chimerica cannot persist for much longer in its present form. As in the 1970s, sizeable changes in exchange rates are needed to rebalance the world economy. A continuation of Chimerica at a time of dollar devaluation would give rise to new and dangerous distortions in the global economy.