Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rainfall and temperature scenario for Bangladesh using 20 km mesh AGCM

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the use of the Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) global 20-km mesh Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM), called MRI-AGCM, to simulate rainfall and mean surface air temperature. Through calibration and validation the MRI-AGCM was adapted for Bangladesh for generating rainfall and temperature scenarios. Design/methodology/approach – The model generated rainfall was calibrated with ground-based observed data in Bangladesh during the period of 1979-2006. The Climate Research Unit (CRU) data are also used for understanding of the model performance. Better performance of MRI-AGCM obtained through validation process increased confidence in utilizing it in the future rainfall projection for Bangladesh. Findings – Rainfall and mean surface air temperature projection for Bangladesh is experimentally obtained for the period of 2075-2099. This work finds that the MRI-AGCM simulated rainfall and temperature are not directly useful in application purpo.
Planning Strategies for Mangrove and Saltmarsh Changes in Southeast Australia

Estuarine habitats of southeast Australia have been undergoing changes characterized by a reduction of saltmarsh and an increase of mangroves. Incorporated into these changes have been mangrove migration into saltmarsh areas, thus contributing to the latter's decline. At the same time, rapid and extensive change in the catchments of many estuaries has occurred as a result of urban and rural development. It has been estimated that the changes observed between mangrove and saltmarsh wetland vegetation is caused by a series of processes, including urbanization and increased population pressure, increased rainfall, increased nutrients, mangroves recolonizing previously cleared areas, engineering works and subsequent altered tidal patterns, sea-level rise, and subsidence of intertidal flats. Planning strategies are suggested that can be implemented in an integrated manner to mitigate the threats from these processes and to ensure the sustainable management of mangrove and saltmarsh wetlands.
You Can Pay Me Now and You Can Pay Me Later: The Dynamic Response of Executive Compensation to Firm Performance

Empirical studies estimating the impact of firm performance on executive pay have primarily concentrated on the short-run response. In this study, the authors present estimates of the complete dynamic response of CEO pay to firm performance. They find that the cumulative response of pay to performance is roughly ten times that of the contemporaneous response, a onetime innovation in firm performance typically raises pay over the next 4-5 years, and compensation arrangements have shifted toward greater performance sensitivity and longer-term pay arrangements over the four decades studied. Copyright 1995 by University of Chicago Press.
The Effect of Corporate Status on External Audit Fees: Evidence from the UK

This paper simultaneously examines, for the first time, the determinants of external audit fees of UK companies drawn from the quoted sector (Main Market, the Alternative Investment Market and Ofex), and the unquoted sector (public and private limited companies). The paper also provides new evidence on the effects of corporate failure and the persistence of the big four and mid-tier auditor premiums across the public and private corporate sectors. After controlling for firm size, audit risk and complexity, we find that quoted and unquoted public limited companies have significantly higher audit fees than their private limited counterparts. Our estimates imply that relative premiums for market/corporate form are as follows: Main Market over AIM, 6.8%; AIM over Ofex, 19.5%; Ofex over unquoted plc, 15.5%; and unquoted plc over private, 16.7%. However, despite indications in prior US research to the contrary, we find no evidence that insolvent firms that failed were charged higher audit fees in the year preceding failure. A positive relationship is also found between audit and consultancy fees - a result that persists using an instrumental variables approach to control for endogeneity.
Firm-Level Disclosures and the Relative Roles of Culture and Legal Origin

In this paper, I investigate the relative roles of legal origin and national culture in explaining firm-level disclosure levels internationally. Using a significantly larger and more representative sample than prior research, I document, using univariate and multivariate analyses, that both legal origin and culture (as operationalized by Hofstede and Schwartz) are important in explaining firm disclosure. Neither legal origin nor culture dominates with respect to overall explanatory power for variations in disclosure levels. Consequently, it is premature to write off culture as an important factor in the financial reporting environment. Furthermore, I find that legal origin is an important conditioning variable for the role of culture. Finally, although legal origin is a key determinant of disclosure levels, I hypothesize and find that its importance decreases with the richness of a firm's information environment.
Do Regions Matter for R&D?

KLEINKNECHT A. and POOT T. P. (1992) Do regions matter for RD a notable exception is service industries in the four major cities. Moreover, smaller firms do not seem to be more dependent on their regional environment than their larger counterparts. Furthermore, we find no indication that branch plants of larger firms are typically located in the periphery of The Netherlands. However, our finding that firms in more rural areas tend to have relatively higher shares of process-related R&D is consistent with the urban hierarchy and filter-down theory. KLEINKNECHT A. et Poot T. P. (1992) Les regi.
Questioning csr in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: the case of Aracruz Celulose sa

Abstract This article is a preliminary attempt to understand the corporate social responsibility claims and impacts of Aracruz Celulose sa, Brazil's largest pulp and paper manufacturer. Aracruz locates its operations in the vulnerable biodiversity hotspot of the Atlantic Forest, having acquired 800 000 hectares of land in five states of Brazil for the planting of eucalyptus. It owns some of the largest pulp and paper mills in the country. Both its record of land acquisition and its impact on the environment have resulted in considerable social conflict with the indigenous inhabitants, former slave communities and other small farmers in the state of Espírito Santo, and with supportive activist ngos. The company's application of formal corporate social responsibility practices often flies in the face of its social and environmental impacts. This raises questions about the nature of corporate social responsibility and its claims in developing countries like Brazil and elsewhere.
Coloring Jacobians revisited: a new algorithm for star and~acyclic bicoloring

This paper presents a new polynomial-time algorithm, approximate star bicoloring (ASBC), for star bicoloring and acyclic bicoloring. These NP-complete combinatorial problems arise from problems associated with computing large sparse Jacobian matrices. The main results of this paper lie in approximation analysis related to these problems. In particular, it is shown that (i) both star and acyclic bicoloring can be approximated in polynomial time to the ratio O(n 2/3) and (ii) both star and acyclic bicoloring cannot be approximated to the ratio O(n 1/3−ε) in polynomial time under reasonable complexity theoretic hypotheses. The ASBC algorithm is also analysed experimentally on a collection of realistic test cases from the Harwell–Boeing sparse matrix collection. The experimental results indicate that ASBC performs quite well in practice; the performance of the new algorithm always fell within the range of 1.53 and 6 times optimal on the given test sets.
Health Investment and Economic Output in Regional China

type="main" xml:lang="en"> Using a 29-year (1978–2006) panel of provincial-level data from China, this article investigates the role of health capital in a human capital model of economic output. Robust evidence is found through panel cointegration analysis that health capital has a significant and positive effect on the Gross Regional Product in China; the effect being stronger in the inland regions compared to the coastal areas based on estimates that account for regional heterogeneity. This article highlights and discusses the potential role of diminishing returns to health investment in this globally important area. (JEL I15, R11, C23)
Capturability of realistic generalized true proportional navigation

The capturability of a realistic generalized true proportional navigation (RGTPN) guidance law, against a nonmaneuvering target, is analyzed. The RGTPN law is obtained by relaxing the somewhat unrealistic assumption of constant closing velocity, made in all earlier studies on generalized true proportional navigation (GTPN), and incorporating the actual time-varying value in the guidance law. Closed-form solutions for the complete capture region of RGTPN is obtained in terms of both zero and acceptable non-zero miss distances. It is shown that the capture region of RGTPN in the initial relative velocity space is significantly smaller than that of GTPN, for reasonable values of navigation constant (N) and angular direction (/spl eta/) of the missile commanded latax. However, for certain values of N and /spl eta/, capturability of RGTPN is found to be better. It is also shown that if in one of the versions of GTPN, which uses constant values of both the closing velocity and the line-of-sight (LOS) angular velocity in the guidance law the corresponding realistic time-varying quantities are used, the capture region actually expands to cover the whole of the initial relative velocity space. A number of examples are given to compare the capture performance of RGTPN with other versions of the GTPN guidance laws.
The Code of Conduct against Harmful Tax Competition: Open Method of Coordination in Disguise

The European Union is experimenting with new, non-binding policy instruments in business taxation, namely a voluntary code of conduct among member states against harmful tax competition. This article raises the question to what extent can the code be considered a manifestation of the open method of coordination (OMC)? Is an open method (based on guidelines, peer review, best practice, benchmarking, learning and diffusion of shared beliefs among policy-makers) emerging as a new governance architecture in tax policy? If so, what can the code achieve in terms of policy learning and convergence? There are similarities between the code and the open method of coordination – especially with reference to guidelines, peer review, timetables and the identification of ‘worst practice’. However, the political logic of the code does not fit in well with the OMC aims of participatory governance and social learning. In terms of achievements, the code has contributed to the creation of a community of discourse and the diffusion of shared beliefs about what constitutes ‘acceptable’ and ‘harmful’ tax competition. Convergence at the level of discourse, however, should not be confused with convergence of actual tax policies in the member states. THE ARGUMENT After a lengthy period of neglect and political stalemate, the European Union (EU) is now making progress in direct tax policy. Indeed, the initiatives against harmful tax competition have now become a cornerstone of the EU policy for the single market. This article raises the question of whether recent developments in EU direct tax policy foreshadow changes in the governance architecture of European taxation. Specifically, it benchmarks innovation in policy instruments (where member states are experimenting with a non-binding code of conduct on business taxation) with the innovations introduced by the open method of coordination (OMC). The latter was defined by the Lisbon Council of March 2000 (although prototypes of this method appeared earlier see Wincott in this volume) and aired in the White Paper on Governance of the European Commission (European Commission 2001a) in the context of the changing governance architecture of the Union. The OMC is – according to the Lisbon Council – a means of spreading best practice and achieving convergence towards the EU goals. The idea is to use the EU as a transfer platform rather than as a law-making system. Thus, the
Vascular permeability activity of botulinum C2 toxin elicited by cooperation of two dissimilar protein components

Botulinum C2 toxin has vascular permeability as well as lethal activities. Both activities are elicited by cooperation of two dissimilar protein components, designated components I and II, which individually have very low activities. The vascular permeability activity of C2 toxin, demonstrated as blueing response after intravenous injection of Evans blue, was markedly enhanced by treatment with trypsin and was abolished by neutralization with either anti-component I or II serum. Inflammatory reactions, such as edema, congestion, and hemorrhage, were found at the site of intradermal injection of trypsinized C2 toxin. No vascular permeability activity was demonstrated by the intradermal injection of the toxin of Clostridium botulinum types A through F. These results indicate that C2 toxin has a novel biological activity, which is not possessed by the neurotoxin elaborated by C. botulinum types A through F. This suggests that C2 toxin causes lethality in a different way from that of botulinum neurotoxin, which is known to inhibit the presynaptic release of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction.
Bubbles in UK house prices: evidence from ESTR models

Recent movements in stock and house prices have led to an examination of the presence of bubbles. Whilst, there is extensive research on stock price data, there is relatively less for house prices. This paper uses a present‐value model for house prices to test for the presence of bubbles. The results support the presence of a non‐fundamental component within UK national and regional house prices. In particular, for the majority of series considered, evidence is presented of linear non‐stationarity within the fundamental present‐value relationship, and of non‐linear stationarity, implying the presence of a non‐fundamental, or bubble, component. Furthermore, evidence is presented that prices adjust quicker when they are below fundamental equilibrium, than when they are above fundamental equilibrium, i.e. there is downward price stickiness. These results support the hypothesis that house price dynamics can be characterised by price‐to‐price momentum. Finally, forecast evidence suggests that real prices are likely to adjust downwards and converge with fundamental value.
İHRACATA DAYALI-BÜYÜME HİPOTEZİNİN TÜRKİYE EKONOMİSİ VERİLERİ İLE ANALİZİ, 1960–2002

Export-led growth hypothesis is an important subject of research in applied economics. This study investigates the causal relationship between export growth and output growth in the empirical framework of the Turkish Economy using cointegration procedure, eror correction model and Granger causalty techniques. A sensivity analysis based on impulse responses is applied to check the robustness of the results. The ampirical findings suggest a unidirectional causalty from output growth to export growth in the long-run. Consequently, the estimation procedure generates robust results, indicating that the ELGH isn’t valid in the case of Turkey.
More Fun in the Philippines? Factors Affecting Transfer of Western Field Methods to One Developing World Context

This paper presents some of the challenges encountered by a field re- search team when deploying an educational game for Physics. These included problems with site infrastructure and institutional support, logistical challenges, compliance with ethics requirements, launch delays, and student inattention or misunderstanding of directions. The paper shares these experiences with the wider community to help fellow researchers prepare, should they decide to con- duct field studies in the Philippines.
Perception of green brand in an emerging innovative market

Purpose – The purpose of this empirical research is to study the main factors affecting the green brand preference in the telecom industry in Egypt as an example of an emerging innovative market.Design/methodology/approach – The researchers develop a conceptual framework highlighting the dimensions of the green brand preference focusing on four constructs; green brand image, green satisfaction, green trust, and green awareness. The researchers started with a qualitative exploratory research in order to support the conceptual framework followed with a quantitative research in the form of a survey distributed among 302 respondents.Findings – The consumers tended to disagree that they are aware of environmental promotions or that they recognize the meaning of environmental slogans and labels for their preferred brand. It was also found that the correlation between green awareness and green brand preference is the weakest. On the other hand; there is a strong correlation and a positive effect of the other fac.
Does the Chinese official CPI underestimate inflation

This paper examines the behaviour of the Chinese official CPI relative to a market-based index. The empirical results indicate that the official index underestimates the actual inflation rate and that the bias is time-varying. The biasedness of the official index is attributed to covert price rises induced by the presence of price controls and quantity rationing.
Trauma Specific versus Generic Measurement of Distress and the Validity of Self-Reported Symptoms in Sexually Abused Children

ABSTRACT This study examined two issues in the assessment of child sexual abuse victims: sensitivity to trauma-related symptoms and validity of self-reports. The Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC) and Personality Inventory for Youth (PIY) were completed by 41 sexually abused children. Parents and children completed diagnostic interviews for PTSD. We predicted that TSCC validity scales would be moderately correlated with PIY scales measuring similar constructs, and that TSCC clinical scales would be more sensitive to PTSD status than the PIY clinical scales. Results supported both hypotheses. TSCC validity scales appeared to be less likely to identify clinical cases, however. Clinical and research implications are discussed.
Varieties of legacies: a critical review of legacy explanations of public administration reform in East Central Europe

This article examines the status of historical legacies in debates on the reform of public administration in East Central Europe. It identifies limitations of existing accounts and derives three dimensions for the further development of legacy explanations of administrative reform in East Central Europe. First, legacy arguments tend to zoom in on the negative effects of the communist past. Yet there is not one but many legacies that matter for post-communist reforms and these many legacies have to be carefully distinguished and conceptualized. Second, legacy explanations tend to search for broad similarities between the administrative past and the present set-up of East Central European administrations in order to demonstrate the importance of the legacy. The identification of similarities is, however, not sufficient for the identification of legacy effects. Instead, the article argues in favour of the identification of causal mechanisms of legacification to explain recent administrative developments in East Central Europe. Finally, the article draws attention to the interaction of legacy effects with other determinants of administrative reform such as European integration and political parties. Points for practitioners This article addresses primarily policy-makers who deal with the reform of public administration in Central and Eastern Europe. It addresses the issue of how administrative traditions and, generally, historical legacies affect the design of administrative reforms and the successful implementation of reforms. Conventional wisdom concentrates on the negative effects of the communist-type administration on contemporary reform in Central and Eastern Europe. This article advances a more differentiated perspective on the impact of historical legacies. It argues that communist administrations evolved over time and differed considerably across countries. The administrative experience of other historical periods further interacts with the communist legacy of the past. The article also identifies various mechanisms that help to ‘transport’ the legacy of the past into the contemporary administrative reform context. For administrative policy-makers this approach implies that they cannot take for granted that the effect of the communist legacy is identical across countries and they cannot even assume that the communist administration will be long-lasting after transition. Instead, it is recommended that the specifics of local administrative traditions and the kind of mechanisms that produce legacy effects in the context of contemporary reform efforts be examined more closely.
European migrants in Ireland: Pathways to integration

Within the EU, efforts in relation to integration are generally directed towards migrants from outside the EU. However, there is evidence that intra-EU migrants face similar obstacles to integration to those of non-EU citizens. Since Ireland has a large EU migrant population, this paper critically explores EU migrants’ integration in Ireland. Drawing on awider longitudinal study, the paper focuses on the lived experiences of 39 migrants from EU Member States living in Ireland. Focusing on domains of integration, we explore the different pathways by which EU migrants move to Ireland and become part of Irish society. Cultural and social pathways – including language, study, adventure and social relationships – are important as the original motivation for migration. Contrary to popular perception, economic factors such as employment were mostly seen as enabling social and cultural interests. However, economic but also social pathways came to the fore during the recession, when securing one’s livelihood and networks took on a new importance. We show that migrants developed various tactics to intensify their contact with Irish society and to develop feelings of being ‘at home’, despite a deteriorating economic situation. Despite these individual efforts, EU migrants continue to face obstacles to integration in Ireland: obstacles that need to be acknowledged at addressed within Ireland and across the EU more broadly.
Joint risk management through transactionally efficient relational contracting

The appropriate contracting method and the contract documents for any construction project depend on the nature of the project, but an appropriate contracting method coupled with clear and equitable contract documents do not by themselves ensure project success where people work together in the face of uncertainty and complexity with diverse interests and conflicting agendas. The attitudes of the contracting parties and the co-operative relationships among the project participants are important for successful project delivery. These are examined in the light of transaction cost economics and relational contracting (RC) principles. It is found that RC may well be a useful route towards reduced transaction costs, while also fostering co-operative relationships and better teamwork that in turn facilitate joint risk management (JRM). The usefulness of the latter is reinforced by relevant observations from a recent Hong Kong-based survey, followed by a case study in Mainland China. A basic model is conceptualized for improved project delivery via JRM. This is also seen to be reinforceable by further transactional efficiencies that can be achieved through other RC-based approaches, such as partnering or alliancing.