Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Insider researchers in schools and universities: the case of the professional doctorate.

Students on professional doctorates often engage with what is frequently termed insider research. It seems ironic that one of the most difficult boundaries in higher education is between practice and research. Yet it is this boundary that professional doctoral students are expected to navigate successfully. Students may be explicitly compromised by the insider nature of their research, and in managing their position as insiders, necessarily change position, sometimes frequently, along axes with respect to both their research and their professional practice. Tensions may arise from ethical issues, position in employing organisations, relationships with the other participants in the projects, any practitioner responsibilities that exist with respect to employing institutional aims and mission, and how these connect with the necessary criticality of position required for a successful thesis. Whilst access to research participants may be very privileged, it is also likely that institutional or professional circumstances may affect the inquiry and subsequent writing up. Professional doctoral students may also live in their workplace with the consequences of doing research/being a researcher. We draw upon a small study in two universities in which we explored through interview and discussion some of these issues with professional doctoral students and graduates of the degree. In this chapter we discuss three aspects of doing a professional doctorate/insider research: Managing the process of research and writing; Interpersonal relationships and research at work; Developing criticality in the context of workplace mission.
What life after default? Time horizons and the outcome of the Argentine debt restructuring deal

ABSTRACT Although a recurrent phenomenon, sovereign debt restructurings following defaults on debt obligations do not engender today the exact same dynamics they did in the past. On the one hand, prevalent reputational models have overestimated the costs of default in terms of access to new credit. On the other hand, debtors' restructuring strategies have been underestimated in the face of anticipated constraints on developing countries' policy autonomy believed to flow from financial globalization. By focusing on the latest Argentine debt restructuring (the largest and most complex in history to date), I find that the outcome of sovereign debt restructurings in terms of credit (re)access are much less contingent on market punishments based on reputations than on the short-term nature of financial incentives in the bond industry as well as on international lending cycles. Time horizons play a crucial role in how debtors take advantage of different creditors' incentives to participate in a restructuring. A critical implication is that governments have more room to maneuver in taking contentious policy stances (such as stringent debt restructuring deals) than the literature on economic globalization accounts for. Also, far from a zero-sum game, for both debtors and some of their creditors, debt restructurings can prove to be attractive deals for their specific purposes.
SPECIFYING THE DYNAMICS OF INDUSTRY CONCENTRATION

Previous studies generally explain changes in concentration by its initial determinants or by changes in its determinants. Little attention is paid to the dynamic structure of the model. This study provides a framework to sort out adjustment effects in a systematic manner. The empirical model distinguishes long-term from short-term effects and estimates the rate of adjustment when concentration deviates from its long-term equilibrium level. CONSIDERABLE attention has focused on industry concentration as a key element of market structure. While earlier empirical studies examined determinants of the level of industry concentration, a more recent literature focuses on changes in concentration. ' These more recent papers typically explain intertemporal changes in concentration by the past levels of industry growth, concentration, advertising intensity and minimum efficient plant size. However, the dynamic relationship between changes in concentration and the levels of the independent variables has not been explicitly specified. Caves and Porter [1980] have argued that explaining changes in concentration by past levels of market structure variables is tantamount to assuming that the sampled industries are in the process of adjusting to a disequilibrium situation. As an alternative, they adopt a "long-term equilibrium" approach, whereby changes in concentration are explained by lagged changes in the relevant market conditions. They find that this approach "as a whole was unsuccessful, exhibiting low levels of significance and a lack of robustness when the cross-section regressions were shifted to different time periods"
Critical education in resource and environmental management: Learning and empowerment for a sustainable future

Changing from current patterns of resource use to a sustainable and equitable economy is a complex and intractable problem. This paper suggests that critical education may form part of the solution. Critical environmental assessment (EA) education, the model explored in this paper, offers a tool for resource and environmental managers to use in managing public involvement processes. This model challenges current patterns of resource use and addresses criticisms of public involvement processes. Critical EA education, involving both cognitive development and personal empowerment, focuses on critical intelligence, problem solving and social action. The concept is offered as a means to facilitate and improve public involvement and, thereby, empower local communities to take greater control of resource use decisions affecting their lives. Positive implications of critical EA education for change, complexity, uncertainty and conflict, which are four enduring themes in resource and environmental management, are discussed in the paper. The implications include: cognitive development and personal empowerment at the level of local resource communities; simplification of the often complex discourse encountered in resource management; reduction in feelings of powerlessness often experienced by members of the public in environmental assessment scenarios; a reduction of ignorance and indeterminacy regarding resource management issues; conflict resolution at the cognitive level; and, clarification of the opposing values, interests or actions at the heart of a conflict.
Halothane Antagonizes Effect of Morphine on the Motor Reaction Threshold in Rats

The ability of halothane (used in “sub-MAC” concentrations) to modify the effect of morphine on motor response threshold to pressure was studied and compared with pentobarbital in 241 rat experiments. It was found that halothane (0.5–0.7%, insp.) decreased the reaction threshold to pressure, as did pentobarbital. Halothane (0.5%) increased morphine ED50 for the reaction threshold to pressure from 0.21 mg·kg−1 (95% fiducial limits: 0.13–0.29 mg·kg−1) to 0.52 mg·kg−1 (0.28–0.73 mg·kg−1, P < 0.0001). Pentobarbital in a dose of 3 mg·kg−1 demonstrated a similar antanalgesic effect. Neither halothane nor pentobarbital antagonized the effect of morphine with motor response to the tail clamp. On the contrary, both agents strengthened this effect. It has been suggested that the effect of morphine on the motor response threshold to pressure results primarily from activation of inhibitory control mechanisms concerned with this response; halothane in a subanesthetic concentration depresses the inhibitory control mechanisms and, therefore, weakens the effect of morphine.
Melanopsin retinal ganglion cells receive bipolar and amacrine cell synapses

Melanopsin is a novel opsin synthesized in a small subset of retinal ganglion cells. Ganglion cells expressing melanopsin are capable of depolarizing in response to light in the absence of rod or cone input and are thus intrinsically light sensitive. Melanopsin ganglion cells convey information regarding general levels of environmental illumination to the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the intergeniculate leaflet, and the pretectum. Typically, retinal ganglion cells communicate information to central visual structures by receiving input from retinal photoreceptors via bipolar and amacrine cells. Because melanopsin ganglion cells do not require synaptic input to generate light‐induced signals, these cells need not receive synapses from other neurons in the retina. In this study, we examined the ultrastructure of melanopsin ganglion cells in the mouse retina to determine the type (if any) of synaptic input these cells receive. Melanopsin immunoreaction product was associated primarily with the plasma membrane of (1) perikarya in the ganglion cell layer, (2) dendritic processes in the inner plexiform layer (IPL), and (3) axons in the optic fiber layer. Melanopsin‐immunoreactive dendrites in the inner (ON) region of the IPL were postsynaptic to bipolar and amacrine terminals, whereas melanopsin dendrites stratifying in the outer (OFF) region of the IPL received only amacrine terminals. These observations suggested that rod and/or cone signals may be capable of modifying the intrinsic light response in melanopsin‐expressing retinal ganglion cells. J. Comp. Neurol. 460:380–393, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cutting Public Expenditures in Advanced Industrial Democracies: The Importance of Avoiding Blame

This article examines three conditions for cutting public expenditures across a sample of 16 advanced industrial democracies: intent, ability, and need during the 1970s and 1980s. Unlike spending increases, cuts require purposeful action. A first condition, therefore, for cutting expenditures is that leaders intend to curb spending. Surprisingly, the results indicate that leftist parties are considerably more effective at cutting expenditures than parties of the right. Indeed, leaders appear to have most latitude when a feared course of action is considered least likely. A second condition is that of ability. Institutions constrain and facilitate leadership. The degree to which decision-making must be shared within the executive both helps and hinders budget-cutting across exogenous conditions. While oversized coalitions may impede losses, they may also facilitate them by sharing responsibility for unpopular measures and thus reducing electoral repercussions. Indeed, both party and institutional results point to the centrality of avoiding blame in the loss-inducing process. A third condition for cutting public expenditures involves need. While objective economic indicators are not irrelevant, the issue of need is largely politically defined.
THE REVOLUTION IN CORPORATE RISK MANAGEMENT: A DECADE OF INNOVATIONS IN PROCESS AND PRODUCTS

The explosion of corporate risk management programs in the early 1990s was a hasty and ill‐conceived reaction by U.S. corporations to the great “derivatives disasters” of that period. Anxious to avoid the fate of Barings and Procter & Gamble, most top executives were more concerned about crisis management than risk management. Many companies quickly installed (often outrageously priced) value‐at‐risk (VaR) systems without paying much attention to how such systems fit their specific business requirements. Focused myopically on loss avoidance and technical risk measurement issues, the corporate risk management revolution of the '90s thus got underway in a disorganized, ad hoc fashion, producing a curious amalgam of policies and procedures with no clear link to the corporate mission of maximizing value. But as the risk management revolution unfolded over the last decade, the result has been the “convergence” of different risk management perspectives, processes, and products. The most visible sign of such convergence is a fairly recent development called “alternative risk transfer,” or ART. ART forms consist of the large and growing collection of new risk transfer and financing products now being offered by insurance and reinsurance companies. As just one example, a new class of security known as “contingent capital” gives a company the option over a specified period—say, the next five years—to issue new equity or debt at a pre‐negotiated price. And to hold down their cost, such “pre‐loss” financing options are typically designed to be “triggered” only when the firm is most likely to need an infusion of new capital to avoid underinvestment or financial distress. But underlying—and to a large extent driving—this convergence of insurance and capital markets is a more fundamental kind of convergence: the integration of risk management with corporate financing decisions. As first corporate finance theorists and now practitioners have come to realize, decisions about a company's optimal capital structure and the design of its securities cannot be made without first taking account of the firm's risks and its opportunities for managing them. Indeed, this article argues that a comprehensive, value‐maximizing approach to corporate finance must begin with a risk management strategy that incorporates the full range of available risk management products, including the new risk finance products as well as established risk transfer instruments like interest rate and currency derivatives. The challenge confronting today's CFO is to maximize firm value by choosing the mixture of securities and risk management products and solutions that gives the company access to capital at the lowest possible cost.
Capital aggregation and growth accounting: A sensitivity analysis

With the increasing importance of investment in Information Technology, methods for measuring the contribution of capital to growth have re-assumed centre-stage in recent growth accounting literature. The importance of using capital service growth rates rather than capital stock growth rates has long been advocated, and has become mainstream practice. However, the choice for a particular rate of return in the derivation of capital service prices is not straightforward and has barely been researched. Using four alternative rental price models – based on both external and internal rates of return models–this paper quantifies the differences in multifactor productivity growth rates (MFPG) under different model assumptions. The differences in MFPG are also examined in terms of the inclusion of taxes and subsidies in the calculation of rental prices. Empirical analysis, carried out for four EU countries and the US in 26 industries during 1979-2003 shows that the use of capital stock overestimates MFPG in most industries. Incorporation of taxes seems to have only modest effect. The magnitude of divergence generated by alternative rental price models-particularly between internal models- is quite low. The difference is seen to be relatively high between external rate of return models and internal rate of return models.
Colorectal Cancer Blood-Based Biomarkers

Mortality and morbidity associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) are increasing globally, partly due to lack of early detection of the disease. The screening is usually performed with colonoscopy, which is invasive and unpleasant, discouraging participation in the screening. As a source of noninvasive and easily accessible biomarkers, liquid biopsies are emerging. Blood-based biomarkers have the potential as diagnostic and prognostic tool in CRC. Early stage detection of CRC with high sensitivity and specificity would likely lead to higher participation in the screening test. It would also improve the prognosis of the disease and improve the recurrence risk. In this review, we summarize the potential biomarkers for early detection and monitoring of CRC.
Executive compensation in government-linked companies: evidence from Malaysia

The aim of this study was to explore the characteristics of executive pay, equity ownership incentives and pay–performance relationship in government-controlled firms. Data were hand-collected from the annual reports of 179 companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. The results show that executive pay is lower in government-linked companies. Positive pay–performance relationship is also not evident for this category of firms, which indicates that their executives were largely guaranteed with certain level of pay irrespective of performance. The level of equity ownership incentives provides the executives in government-controlled firms with very little incentive to produce effort that can improve firm performance. Overall, our findings are consistent with the inefficient pay hypothesis developed in this study.
Revisiting the heavy-user segment for vacation travel marketing

Usage segmentation is a tool utilised by many travel marketers, and many place great emphasis upon the heavy-user segment. This paper looks at heavy vacation travellers’ demographics, psycho-graphics and their adoption of new Internet technologies, and finds, as a delineated segment, that these travellers share many characteristics and differ markedly from the light user. The key finding of the paper, however, is that the long-held axiom that marketers should focus the majority of their efforts on the heavy-user segment may no longer be sound advice, as vacation travel eÂgaliteÂ has given greater importance to the balance of the population.
Exchange Rate Uncertainty and Agricultural Trade

Using a sample of bilateral trade flows across ten developed countries between 1974 and 1995, this article explores the effect of exchange rate uncertainty on the growth of agricultural trade as compared to other sectors. Based on a gravity model that controls for other factors likely to determine bilateral trade, the results show that real exchange rate uncertainty has had a significant negative effect on agricultural trade over this period. Moreover, the negative impact of uncertainty on agricultural trade has been more significant compared to other sectors.
An Appraisal of Economic Research on Changes in Wage Inequality

In this paper (based on my invited lecture to the 2007 Association of Italian Labour Economists) I offer an appraisal of the large economic literature on changes in wage inequality. I describe the origins of the recent work, the sizable body of research trying to understand national and international differences, and discuss the directions in which more recent work has moved. The paper concludes with the observation that, for a number of reasons, research that tries to better understand changing patterns of wage inequality (especially in a cross-country context) is likely to remain high on the research agenda of empirical labour economists.
Asset Pricing and Optimal Portfolio Choice in the Presence of Illiquid Durable Consumption Goods

We analyze a model of optimal consumption and portfolio selection in which consumption services are generated by holding a durable good. The durable good is illiquid in that a transaction cost must be paid when the good is sold. It is shown that optimal consumption is not a smooth function of wealth; it is optimal for the consumer to wait until a large change in wealth occurs before adjusting his consumption. As a consequence, the consumption based capital asset pricing model fails to hold. Nevertheless, it is shown that the standard, one factor, market portfolio based capital asset pricing model does hold in this environment. It is shown that the optimal durable level is characterized by three numbers (not random variables), say x, y, and z (where x
Educated Preferences or Selection Effects? A Longitudinal Analysis of the Impact of Educational Attainment on Attitudes Towards Immigrants

While previous studies unequivocally show that education and attitudes towards immigrants correlate, the underlying mechanisms remain debated. The liberalization effect claims that education fosters egalitarian values and analytic skills, which translate into positive attitudes. Additionally, the higher educated are less likely to face economic competition from immigrants. However, research on socialization shows that political attitudes develop early in life. Thus, there may be self-selection into education. While there is reason to expect both education and selection effects, previous work has relied exclusively on cross-sectional analyses, thus confounding the two mechanisms. Drawing on the Swiss Household Panel, we find that virtually all variation in education disappears when only withinindividual variance is modelled. While we find strong differences in attitudes towards immigrants between individuals, we observe little change in attitudes as individuals pass through education. Furthermore, our findings show that when entering the labour market, higher educated individuals also become more likely to oppose immigrants. This suggests that differences between educational groups are mostly due to selection effects, and not to the alleged liberalizing effect of education. We conclude that future research on attitudes towards immigrants would greatly benefit from addressing selection into education.
A multilevel analysis of private-vehicle evacuation clearance times along the US Gulf Coast

This study uses multilevel regression analysis to examine the effect of social characteristics and the built environment on clearance time under an evacuation scenario. The primary unit of analysis is the US Census tract (N = 1660), nested within 31 incorporated places spanning five US states. The dependent variable is an estimate of clearance time in hours derived using network analysis techniques within a geographic information system. We find that tracts with a more peripheral location, more female residents, a higher proportion of Hispanic residents, and higher median household incomes are associated with higher clearance times, on average. Our research suggests the relationship between suburbanization and clearance time is complex and evolving, mediated by past investments in the built environment and shifting social conditions. In addition to facilitating the evacuation of areas with low access to personal vehicles, urban planners and emergency management officials should also consider how the degree of connectivity in the street network impacts congestion and clearance time.
Towards a contingency approach to performance measurement: an empirical study in Scottish SMEs

Purpose – The literature emphasizes the important role performance measurement systems (PMS) play in supporting organizational development in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, there are very few empirical and theoretical studies on the factors that influence performance measurement practices in SMEs. This paper aims to contribute to filling this gap using both theoretical and empirical approaches.Design/methodology/approach – A literature review and interviews were used to identify four key contingency factors for PMS in SMEs. A qualitative research design involving a multiple case study methodology was carried out to investigate how these factors influence performance measurement.Findings – The relationship between the contingency factors and performance measurement were formalized in four theoretical propositions. First corporate governance structure is one of the main factors influencing performance measurement adoption and use. Second, advanced information practices and advanced behaviours.