Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An analysis of construction productivity differences between Canada and the United States

Comparisons of industry sectors in advanced economies since the 1960s show that the construction sector has lagged in productivity growth rates, especially in the United States. Although the US and Canadian economies are highly integrated, Canada’s experience differs in key ways. Analysis of these differences offers insight into fundamental construction productivity drivers. Three levels of analyses of construction productivity in the US are provided in this study. The first analysis compared international levels of labour productivity growth. The second compared construction productivity between the US and Canada, and the third analysed cost estimating data from RS Means estimating manuals to measure the changes in labour and partial factor productivity in the US from 1995 to 2009. Statistical significance testing indicates that labour productivity remained nearly constant in the building sub-sector and that partial factor productivity has improved at an annual compound rate of 0.66%. This supports previous findings that US construction has stagnated but is still improving in Canada, with wage differentials and training systems as potential drivers of this difference. While growth rates of productivity seem to decline with higher absolute levels of productivity, there is no evidence that high absolute productivity levels preclude significant growth.
The Diffusion of Calculative and Collaborative HRM Practices in European Firms

The aim of this paper is to trace and explain variations in calculative and collaborative human resource management (HRM) practices between companies and across national borders. Variations and similarities are explained in terms of the convergence and divergence of HRM practices determined by national institutions, and the increasing influence of multinational companies (MNCs). We explore the diffusion of HRM practices in Europe over time, using data sets from two surveys conducted in several European countries in 1995 and 2000. We use institutional explanations for the development of three selected bundles of HRM practices: individual, calculative performance-oriented practices; collective incentive schemes for the alignment of interests; and collaborative practices that seek to enhance the commitment of employees. We found substantial effects of country-specific institutions and of the country of origin of MNCs, which clearly support the institutional duality thesis. Foreign-owned MNCs, especially those that are US-based, appear to moderate country-specific institutional effects on the diffusion of the three HRM bundles.
A Bargaining Model of Auditor Reporting

In this paper, I demonstrate that the quasi-rents earned in audits undermine an auditor's independence By considering the incentives of the auditor and the client and the interaction between them, I conclude that auditor will maintain his or her independence if the firm-specific quasi-rents are zero, but compromise his or her independence if the quasi-rents are positive. The extent of the compromise is an increasing function of the quasi-rents, since the auditor will propose that a higher value be reported in the financial statements when the quasi-rents increase. I also show that disputes between the auditor and the client increase as the scope for errors for an auditor's test increases. When the error scope is large, the client becomes more aggressive in preparing a proposal while the auditor becomes more cautious.
The impact of corporate growth opportunities on the market response to new equity announcements

In this paper we present novel evidence on the stock market reaction to new equity issues in the UK. Using a sample of 116 announcements made during the period 1989–1991 we find evidence of significantly negative market reactions to such news, consistent in both sign and magnitude with earlier US results. We proceed to examine the role of growth opportunities, proxied for by accounting growth, in affecting cross-sectional variation within the negative share price response and provide evidence that, while income growth in particular does have some bearing on announcement period price adjustments, this relationship is not monotonic and appears to be driven by a subset of the worst-performing firms for whom the market reaction to equity issues is especially unfavourable.
A New Approach to Estimating Production Function Parameters: The Elusive Capital–Labor Substitution Elasticity

Parameters of taste and technology are central to a wide variety of economic models and issues. This article proposes a simple method for estimating production function parameters from panel data, with a particular focus on the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor. Elasticity estimates have varied widely, and a consensus estimate remains elusive. Our estimation strategy exploits long-run variation and thus avoids several pitfalls, including difficult-to-specify dynamics, transitory time-series variation, and positively sloped supply schedules, that can bias the estimated elasticity. Our results are based on an extensive panel comprising 1860 firms. Our approach generates a precisely estimated elasticity of 0.40. Although existing estimates range widely, we document a remarkable convergence of results from two related approaches applied to a common dataset. The method developed here may prove useful in estimating other structural parameters from panel datasets.
Barriers, Benefits, and Behaviors Related to Breakfast Consumption Among Rural Adolescents.

BACKGROUND We sought to determine if perceived barriers, benefits, and modifiable behaviors support or interfere with breakfast consumption in a racially and economically diverse rural high school population. METHODS The participants were 832 Minnesota adolescents from 16 rural high schools. We used baseline data from a group randomized trial aimed at increasing school breakfast participation through policy and environmental-level school changes. Students completed an online survey asking about demographics, breakfast eating behaviors, and the barriers and benefits of eating as it relates to school performance. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression, accounting for clustering by school, was performed using SAS. Each scale was modeled independently. RESULTS Participants were 9th and 10th grade students, 36% free/reduced-price lunch (FRL), 30% non-White, and 55% female. Breakfast skippers compared to nonbreakfast skippers reported fewer school related benefits and beliefs and more barriers to eating breakfast (p < .01). Adjusted models revealed students reported more positive beliefs (OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.73-0.83), more benefits (OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.93-0.97) and fewer barriers (OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.82-0.87) and were less likely to skip breakfast. CONCLUSIONS Future intervention research should focus on alleviating barriers and enhancing education around the school related benefits of eating breakfast.
Macroeconomic approach to external debt: the case of Nigeria

One of the greatest problems facing many Sub-Saharan African countries today is the amount of their external indebtedness. The external debt problem is becoming more acute for a number of reasons. First, the size of the debt relative to the size of the economy is enormous and can lead not only to capital flight but it also discourages private investment. Secondly, debt servicing payments form a significant proportion of the annual export earnings. Meeting debt servicing obligations eats significantly into whatever other facilities can be provided to improve the welfare of the citizens and therefore has macroeconomic implications. This raises the question of whether a country can grow fast enough to maintain debt obligations and maintain adequate domestic investment. Thirdly, the burden of debt for a large number of Sub-Saharan countries threatens not only the execution but also the prospects of success of adjustment programmes being embarked upon. Fourth, the current system of debt management has a dire macroeconomic impact on an economy's output. This assumes a significant magnitude when the amount of time expended by chief executives of debtor countries who are involved in the various phases of rescheduling negotiations is considered. It has been claimed that the debt payments have neither been the fundamental cause of Africa's low growth nor the cause of the difficulties. The debt problem is nevertheless becoming more acute as the proportion of debt payments not eligible for rescheduling is rising rapidly. The implication of this is clear as discussed previously. In addition the costs of debt transfer from scheduled debt repayments into lower manageable actual payments is becoming costly. The external indebtedness of African countries is an obstacle to the restoration of the conditions needed for growth (World Debt tables 1987—88, p. xix). Sub-Saharan African countries fall into different groups when the issue of debt is discussed. The two most significant groups are the debt-distressed countries and the heavily indebted ones. Experiences do, however, differ not only amongst the groups but also between countries in the same group. It is in this light that an explanation of the debt crisis must necessarily be country specific. Two West African countries Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria belong to the group of seventeen heavily indebted countries. The focus of the present work is on Nigeria.
An Empirical Analysis of Pricing in Patent Licensing Contracts

We empirically examine the determinants of the price of patent licensing. We find factors affecting the profitability of patents and bargaining power of licensors and licensees are good predictors of the royalty rate of patent licensing, while proxies for the reservation price of licensors are less informative. Our findings suggest large licensors' adverse selection to license only small and unprofitable inventions. Large, technology-intensive licensees appear to have greater bargaining power, whereas research organizations exercise weak bargaining power. More appropriable patents command higher prices. Copyright 2010 The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved. , Oxford University Press.
Comparative Outcome Between Chemoradiotherapy and Lateral Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection Following Total Mesorectal Excision in Rectal Cancer

Objective:To evaluate comparative outcome between adjuvant postoperative chemoradiotherapy (postoperative CRT) and lateral pelvic lymph node dissection (LPLD) following total mesorectal excision (TME) in rectal cancer patients. Background:Although TME results in lower rate of locoregional recurrence compared with conventional surgery, these 2 treatment modalities following TME have not adequately been appraised until the present trend of preoperative chemoradiotherapy. Patients and Methods:Between 1995 and 2000, patients with stage II and III rectal cancer underwent TME plus postoperative CRT (n = 309) or LPLD (n = 176). Patients in the postoperative CRT group received 8 cycles of 5-fluorouracil plus leucovorin and 45 Gy pelvic radiotherapy. Patients in the LPLD group underwent lateral lymph node dissection outside the pelvic plexus. Results:The 5-year overall and disease-free survival rates were 78.3% and 67.3% in the postoperative CRT group, respectively, and 73.9% and 68.6% in the LPLD group, respectively, without significant differences between these groups. Patients in the LPLD group with stage III lower rectal cancer had a locoregional recurrence rate 2.2-fold greater than those in the postoperative CRT group (16.7% vs. 7.5%, P = 0.044). Multivariate analysis showed that APR and advanced T-category (T4) were significantly associated with locoregional recurrence, whereas lymph node metastases, high preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen, and APR were significantly associated with shortening of disease-free survival. Conclusions:Postoperative-CRT and LPLD following TME resulted in comparable survival rates, but the locoregional recurrence rate was higher in the LPLD group. These findings suggest that initial surgery is appropriate for rectal cancer patients who are candidates for low anterior resection without extensive local disease (T1–T3), regardless of lymph node status.
Partial acquisitions, corporate control, and performance

A partial acquisition represents a unique form of corporate restructuring because it alters the ownership structure of two entities (in opposite ways), and therefore alters the form of control over the target's management. The proportion of the partial target that is owned by other shareholders is reduced by the increase in ownership by the partial acquirer. Yet, the transaction is unique in that the target firm continues as a going concern. Therefore, the target can be evaluated over time to determine the impact of the restructuring. Given the shift in ownership structure and control over the partial target, the performance of partial targets could be affected. It is found that while the partial targets experience favourable valuation effects at the time of the announcement, there is no evidence of unusual long-term performance beyond the initial announcement effects. Therefore, the realized benefits to the partial target due to improved monitoring by the partial acquirer are limited on average to the initial market reaction. However, there is much dispersion in the performance levels of the partial targets following the date at which they were partially acquired. A cross-sectional analysis to determine whether the variance in performance levels among partial targets can be attributed to corporate control characteristics. It is found that the performance of the partial targets subject to the least amount of control before the partial acquisition is more favourable following the acquisition. This finding attributed to the greater change in discipline as a result of the partial acquisition. In addition, it is found that the performance of the target following the partial acquisition is conditioned on characteristics of the partial acquisition itself that represent the partial acquirer's degree of control over the partial target.
Personalization and rule strategies in data-intensive intelligent context-aware systems

Abstract The concept of personalization in its many forms has gained traction driven by the demands of computer-mediated interactions generally implemented in large-scale distributed systems and ad hoc wireless networks. Personalization requires the identification and selection of entities based on a defined profile (a context); an entity has been defined as a person, place, or physical or computational object. Context employs contextual information that combines to describe an entities current state. Historically, the range of contextual information utilized (in context-aware systems) has been limited to identity, location, and proximate data; there has, however, been advances in the range of data and information addressed. As such, context can be highly dynamic with inherent complexity. In addition, context-aware systems must accommodate constraint satisfaction and preference compliance. This article addresses personalization and context with consideration of the domains and systems to which context has been applied and the nature of the contextual data. The developments in computing and service provision are addressed with consideration of the relationship between the evolving computing landscape and context. There is a discussion around rule strategies and conditional relationships in decision support. Logic systems are addressed with an overview of the open world assumption versus the closed world assumption and the relationship with the Semantic Web. The event-driven rule-based approach, which forms the basis upon which intelligent context processing can be realized, is presented with an evaluation and proof-of-concept. The issues and challenges identified in the research are considered with potential solutions and research directions; alternative approaches to context processing are discussed. The article closes with conclusions and open research questions.
Mean-Variance Spanning

The authors propose a likelihood- ratio test of the hypothesis that the minimum-variance frontier of a set of K assets coincides with the frontier of this set and another s et of N assets. They study the relation between this hypothesis, exac t arbitrage pricing, and mutual-fund separation. The exact distributi on of the test statistic is presented. The authors test the hypothesi s that the frontier spanned by three size-sorted stock portfolios is the same as the frontier spanned by thirty-three size-sorted stock po rtfolios. Copyright 1987 by American Finance Association.
The effect of cues to illumination on apparent lightness.

The observation that the apparent lightness, or albedo, of an object does not appear to change despite variations in the amount of incident illumination is defined as lightness constancy. Helmholtz (1962) proposes that lightness constancy occurs because, in addition to the data from the amount of light stimulating the retina, the perceptual system utilizes information about the amount of light falling on the target. Through the process of 'unconscious inference' these two sources of information are combined to produce an appropriate perception of lightness, corresponding to the physical reflectance of the target. Woodworth (1938) suggests that the term 'cues to illumination' be used to designate data about the light incident on the object, in order to avoid the more mentalistic terms in the Helmholtzian hypothesis. A number of experiments have attempted to show that cues for illumination may affect the perception of the brightness of a surface. The typical paradigm involves presenting a target both in the presence and in the absence of cues to the nature of incident light or shadow. Some typical experimental manipulations of this nature include those of Gelb (1929) and Kardos (1934). Gelb (1929) introduces a white piece of paper to indicate the presence of a spotlight on a disc, while no paper exists in the control condition. Kardos (1934) uses the presence of a penumbra to indicate that a shadow is falling on the target, while no penumbra is present for the control group. Similarly, MacLeod (1932) uses a shadow on the background as a cue, and Beck (1971) uses a shadow from a card in front of the target. Hochberg and Beck (1954) use shadows from nearby objects in an enriched environment as cues to the direction of illumination.
Constraining external governance: interdependence with Russia and the CIS as limits to the EU's rule transfer in the Ukraine

The question of how effective the EU's external governance is cannot be answered without looking at the broader geographical and historical framework in which the Union extends its influence. We argue that interdependence between Ukraine and Russia in several key aspects shapes the context within which the EU and Russia compete to export their policies. Based on an analysis comparing the institutional rules underpinning the EU's external governance and the CIS rules as well as several sectoral analyses, we show that the effectiveness of external governance varies with patterns of interdependence. We identify sectoral differences in the extent of Ukraine's interdependence with Russia: it is low and receding in trade; medium in foreign policy and high in energy.
Financialization and financial profit

This article starts from the critical review of the concept of financial capital. I consider it is necessary not to confuse this category with of financialization, which has acquired a certificate of naturalization from the rise of neoliberalism. Although financial monopoly-financial capital is the hegemonic segment of the bourgeoisie in the major capitalist countries, their dominance does not imply, a fortiori, financialization of economic activity, since it depends of the conditions of the process reproduction of capital. The emergence of joint stock companies modified the formation of the average rate of profit. The "promoter profit" becomes one of the main forms of income of monopoly-financial capital. It is postulated that financial profit is a kind of "extraordinary surplus-value" which is appropriated by monopoly-financial capital by means of the monopolistic control it exerts on the issue and circulation of fictitious capital.
Volunteering flexibility across the tourism sector

Volunteers play a pivotal role in the tourism sector, contributing invaluable human resources to museums, visitor attractions, visitor information services and small and large-scale events. Recognition is being increasingly afforded to the role flexibility can play in efforts to attract and retain volunteers, given that volunteers appear to be more and more attracted to opportunities that provide them with a degree of flexibility in choosing how often and in what way they contribute to organisations. This paper combines an organisational and volunteer perspective to provide an exploratory insight into the flexibility options made available to and preferred by volunteers working within the tourism sector. The implications of adopting a flexible approach to volunteer management are highlighted and areas for future research discussed.
CORRUPTION AND CORRUPT PRACTICES IN NIGERIA: AN AGENDA FOR TAMING THE MONSTER

The paper examines the phenomenon of corruption in Nigeria. It argues that while it is indeed a global challenge, its prevalence, persistence and gravity varies from country to country. In Nigeria, the crisis of corruption seems to have defied all the solutions put forward by governments over the years in the country. In spite of all the rhetoric about a war on corruption, the phenomenon has shown so much resilience that it seems to have become normal in the country. The agencies charged with the fight against corruption all seem to be at a loss in this direction. The paper proposes an agenda for dealing with the scourge of corruption. The major issue in this agenda is the need to muster the necessary political will in the war on corruption.
Valuing Bermudan options when asset returns are Lévy processes

Abstract Evidence from the financial markets suggests that empirical returns distributions, both historical and implied, do not arise from diffusion processes. A growing literature models the returns process as a Lévy process, finding a number of explicit formulae for the values of some derivatives in special cases. Practical use of these models has been hindered by a relative paucity of numerical methods which can be used when explicit solutions are not present. In particular, the valuation of Bermudan options is problematical. This paper investigates a lattice method that can be used when the returns process is Lévy, based upon an approximation to the transition density function of the Lévy process. We find alternative derivations of the lattice, stemming from alternative representations of the Lévy process, which may be useful if the transition density function is unknown or intractable. We apply the lattice to models based on the variance-gamma and normal inverse Gaussian processes. We find that the lattice is able to price Bermudan-style options to an acceptable level of accuracy.