Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Welfare‐to‐Work Program Activities on Labor Market Outcomes

Studies examining welfare‐to‐work program effectiveness present mixed and sometimes discrepant findings, partly due to research design, data, and methodological limitations. Using administrative data on Missouri and North Carolina welfare recipients, we substantially improve on past estimation approaches to identify the distinct effects of each state’s welfare‐to‐work subprograms—assessment, job search assistance and job readiness training, and more intensive programs designed to augment human capital. More intensive training is associated with greater initial earnings losses but also greater long‐run earnings gains. The negative program impacts we observe in quarters immediately following participation turn positive by the second year after participation.
INFLUENCE OF BROADCAST ECONOMIC PROGRAMMES ON RURAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN LAGOS AND OYO STATES, NIGERIA

The study examined the influence of broadcast economic programmes in rural communities in terms of economic knowledge, training and management. Ijede community in Ikorodu Local Government area, Lagos state and Ikereku community in Akinyele local government area, Oyo state, Nigeria were used as case study. The study was grounded in development media theory, uses and gratification theory and agenda setting theory. The study utilized the survey method as research design, and to obtain data, structured close-ended questionnaire were administered to respondents drawn from the two communities. The study finds that respondents get enlightened through information disseminated in the economic programmes aired by radio and television thereby improving their standard of living, economic standard and development in their communities. The study concludes that informative attributes of broadcast economic programmes improve their awareness in terms of economic knowledge, training and management.
The Externalities of High Frequency Trading

When price competition is constrained by tick size, speed allocates the resources due to the time priority rule. We demonstrate three implications of competition in speed. 1) We find more high frequency liquidity provision for lower price stocks with high market cap, where the one cent tick size has a higher constraint on price competition. 2) Speed has no impact on (the price) of liquidity, because speed competition already implies that liquidity providers cannot undercut each other’s price. We find that exogenous technology improvements improving speed at a one millisecond, microsecond or nanosecond level do not lead to improvements on quoted spread, effective spread, trading volume or variance ratio. However, the cancellation/execution ratio increases, short term volatility increases and market depth decreases. 3) It is relative speed that matters. We find evidence consistent with the quote stuffing hypothesis (Biais and Woolley, 2011) using NASDAQ channel assignment as identification. Competition in speed but not price leads to externalities based on the canonical definition of Laffont (2008). One possible policy solution is the deregulation of tick size or decrease the importance of time priority.
Economic-environmental modelling of Dutch dairy farms incorporating technical and institutional change

Circumstances in Dutch dairy farming are changing continuously. The general objective in this thesis was to develop and apply a method to enlighten the consequences of these changing circumstances for dairy farms. The research was started with the development of a linear programming model of a dairy farm. The model contains activities for common production processes on dairy farms like grass and silage maize production and milk production. To register nutrient flows nitrogen, phosphate and potassium balances at soil, animal and farm level were included in the model. The model was tested and validated based on average results in practice. Scenario analysis was used to assess consistent scenarios for technical and institutional change. Analysis of historical data taking into account external changes was done to assess future technical change of fodder and milk production. Institutional change included national environmental policy and EU market and price policy. For national environmental policy a moderate and a severe variant of a nutrient balance system with levies on unacceptable surpluses were formulated. For EU market and price policy the two alternatives used were continuation of the current system and a system with decreased milk quota receiving a high price combined with free additional milk production receiving a low price. One forecast for technical change, two for environmental policy and two for market and price policy resulted in four scenarios. Using the farm model the consequences of the scenarios for 2005 were calculated. The results showed that technical change contributes to both farm income and reduction of nutrient surpluses. Environmental policy and the two-price-policy for milk tend to decrease income. Besides, the two-price-policy tends to increase milk production by increasing numbers of animals conflicting with environmental policy. In general consequences of the scenarios are larger for more intensive farms. The final step in this thesis was extension of the model in a spatial and a seasonal dimension in order to realize a more realistic representation of nitrogen flows.
Capital Structure Theory and REIT Security Offerings

In this paper, the authors examine the stock price reactions to announcements of new security offerings b y real estate investment trusts. Real estate investment trusts offer a unique setting in which to study these events because they do not p ay taxes at the firm level. Theory suggests that the net tax gain to corporate borrowing is unambiguously negative for a real estate inves tment trust. Contrary to some recent studies, however, the authors fi nd a positive stock price reaction to debt offerings, while the negat ive equity issuance effect is preserved. Further, empirical evidence lends support to signaling as the explanation for the positive signif icant debt issuance effect. Copyright 1988 by American Finance Association.
Financial Statement Information, the Prediction of Book Return on Owners' Equity and Market Efficiency: The Swedish Case

Using Swedish data, this study investigates whether financial statement information can be used to predict changes in the medium-term book return on owners' equity and subsequently evaluates the performance of trading strategies based on such predictions. A univariate prediction model based on the past book return has higher prediction accuracy than more elaborate models that include additional accounting numbers. The main trading strategy generates a hedge position return of 29% over a three-year holding period. Interestingly, most of the return is attributable to the long position. However, the results are found to be sensitive to the choice of return metric. Copyright (c) 2008 The Author Journal compilation (c) 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Agricultural Cooperatives and Rural Livelihoods: Evidence from Ethiopia

Agricultural cooperatives are important rural organizations supporting livelihood development and poverty reduction. In recognition of such roles of cooperatives, Ethiopia showed a renewed interest in recent years in promoting cooperative sector development. However, there is lack of a wider and systematic analysis to produce sufficient empirical evidence on the livelihood development and poverty reduction impacts of cooperatives in the country. Using a matching technique on rural household income, saving, agricultural input expenditure and asset accumulation as indicator variables, this paper evaluates the livelihood impact of agricultural cooperatives in Sidama zone, Ethiopia. The finding shows that cooperatives improved the livelihoods of service user farmers through impacting better income, more savings and reduced input costs. In view of such evidence, further promotion, deepening and supporting of agricultural cooperatives is recommended.
Macroeconomic Impacts of LNG Exports from the United States

New technologies have transformed the U.S. from an importer of natural gas to a potential exporter. The commercialization of new exploration and production (E&P) technologies (hydraulic fracturing “fracking”, horizontal drilling, and 3D seismic) have created the opportunity to economically develop natural gas from shale formations on a very large scale. This new source of domestically produced natural gas has resulted in more abundant supplies and lower natural gas prices than were thought possible ten years ago when it was anticipated that the U.S. would need to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet demand. Instead the U.S. is now in a position to export LNG and compete in the global LNG market.
Designing inquiry: Contexualizing teaching strategies in inquiry-based classrooms

Design projects are rich contexts where students can apply scientific inquiry to develop and test explanations for their design's performance. However, sustaining inquiry within a design context poses unique challenges. Students often focus on improving their design at the expense of developing scientific explanations, even though such explanations could inform later designs. To support student inquiry within this context, many teachers adopt a facilitative role, making decisions that affect the framing of the activity and engaging in ongoing coaching and modeling interactions with students over the course of a design project. What is the nature of these teaching strategies? To what extent can these actions, rooted as they are in the specific context of enactment, serve as general lessons for other teachers facing similar challenges? This paper explores the diverse strategies three high school science teachers employed to motivate and sustain student inquiry within a design context. The analyses of these strategies draw on the specific aspects of each enactment to explain the intent and effect of individual teaching strategies. By characterizing the teacher as a designer of strategies for supporting inquiry, these instructional strategies are summarized in terms of design tradeoffs, based on the teacher's goals, previous experience with design projects, and knowledge of the classroom context, that may inform instructional practice in other inquiry-based environments.
Total quality management adoption: revisiting the levels

Describes six levels of TQM adoption (or lack of it) which are termed uncommitted, drifters, tool pushers, improvers, award winners and world‐class. The levels are not necessarily the stages which organizations pass on their TQM journey, rather they are characteristics and behaviour which organizations display in relation to TQM at one point in time. Finds that the levels can be used as a positioning model to aid organizations in identifying their weaknesses and help them in taking the next steps forward in the continual challenge of continuous improvement. The characteristics underpinning the six levels are also helpful in highlighting different perceptions of progress at different levels of the organization, with respect to continuous improvement. Argues that the characteristics of the more advanced adoptions should provide the requisite inspiration to those less advanced to highlight the type of issues to which attention needs to be given.
Social Entrepreneurs as the Paragons of Shared Value Creation? A Critical Perspective

– The financial crisis of 2007/2008 has caused many to question the basic premises of the current business system. Porter and Kramer suggest that the purpose of the corporation needs to be redefined. They posit that the corporation, rather than merely pursuing financial value creation set out to pursue shared value creation. They further declare social entrepreneurs the paragons of said shared‐value creation. The purpose of this paper is to explore that claim. , – This paper critically analyzes the pathway of shared‐value creation in three leading social enterprises employing a genealogical perspective. , – It is found that very innovative shared‐value creating ventures opted out of balance‐oriented, shared‐value creation strategies and embraced either financial or social‐value primacy strategies over time. The findings thus question the power of the shared‐value creation notion when viewed as balance orientation. , – The paper presents a new concept, a new methodology, and interesting case studies.
Role of Founder Cell Deficit and Delayed Neuronogenesis in Microencephaly of the Trisomy 16 Mouse

Development of the neocortex of the trisomy 16 (Ts16) mouse, an animal model of Down syndrome (DS), is characterized by a transient delay in the radial expansion of the cortical wall and a persistent reduction in cortical volume. Here we show that at each cell cycle during neuronogenesis, a smaller proportion of Ts16 progenitors exit the cell cycle than do control, euploid progenitors. In addition, the cell cycle duration was found to be longer in Ts16 than in euploid progenitors, the Ts16 growth fraction was reduced, and an increase in apoptosis was observed in both proliferative and postmitotic zones of the developing Ts16 neocortical wall. Incorporation of these changes into a model of neuronogenesis indicates that they are sufficient to account for the observed delay in radial expansion. In addition, the number of neocortical founder cells, i.e., precursors present just before neuronogenesis begins, is reduced by 26% in Ts16 mice, leading to a reduction in overall cortical size at the end of Ts16 neuronogenesis. Thus, altered proliferative characteristics during Ts16 neuronogenesis result in a delay in the generation of neocortical neurons, whereas the founder cell deficit leads to a proportional reduction in the overall number of neurons. Such prenatal perturbations in either the timing of neuron generation or the final number of neurons produced may lead to significant neocortical abnormalities such as those found in DS.
Note—Mintzberg was Right!: A Replication and Extension of The Nature of Managerial Work

This paper reports a replication of Mintzberg (McCall M. W., Jr. A. M. Morrison, R. L. Hannan. 1978. Studies of managerial work: results and methods. Technical Report #9, Center for Creative Leadership.). Structured observation with supplemental unstructured interviewing was used to study four top managers for one week each. Mintzberg's field study was supported by our replication in all important dimensions. Explanations for similarities and differences between organizations and industries are briefly discussed.
New technical and normative challenges for XBRL: Multidimensionality in the COREP taxonomy

The New Basel Capital Agreement, known as Basel II, requires some notable changes in the systems of measurement and control of risks of credit entities and investment firms. It introduces new concepts and requirements. The systems of risk management to which the Framework or Agreement makes reference can be implemented in various degrees of sophistication. By measuring the different exposures to risk with greater accuracy, a more advanced system offers such firms and entities the prospect of needing less own funds and using increased financial leverage over secure bases. The national Supervisors, in the various central banks, must approve the systems and instruments established. The new reporting tool that is destined to fulfil this function, for the moment in the context of the European Union only, is the COREP-XBRL Taxonomy. This is based on the mark-up language of the business world, the eXtensible Business Reporting Language, and makes use of the concept of Multidimensionality. This concept is being incorporated into the XBRL specification currently in force, since it is necessary for the structure of the new reporting model that is required.
A framework for analyzing collective action events on Twitter

Recent years have witnessed multiple international protest movements which have purportedly been greatly affected by the use of Twitter, a micro-blogging platform. Social movement actors in Iran, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Thailand are thought to have utilized Twitter to spread information, co-ordinate protest activities, evade government censorship and, in some cases, to spread misinformation. We propose a framework for conceptualizing and analyzing Twitter data related to contentious collective action crises. Our primary research goal is to delineate a framework informed with a social movements lens and to demonstrate the framework by means of Twitter usage data related to the Thailand protests of 2010. Our proposed framework concerns itself with two aspects of protest activities and Twitter usage, namely, analyzing the content and structure of messages and our construct of Twitter protest waves.
Top‐Management Compensation and Capital Structure

The interrelationship between top-management compensation and the design and mix of external claims issued by a firm is studied. The optimal managerial compensation structures depend on not only the agency relationship between shareholders and management, but also the conflicts of interests which arise in the other contracting relationships for which the firm serves as a nexus. We analyze in detail the optimal management compensation for the cases when the external claims are (1) equity and risky debt, and (2) equity and convertible debt. In addition to the role of aligning managerial incentives with shareholder interests, managerial compensation in a levered firm also serves as a precommitment device to minimize the agency costs of debt. The optimal management compensation derived has low pay-performance sensitivity. With convertible debt, instead of straight debt, the corresponding optimal managerial compensation has high pay-to-performance sensitivity. A negative relationship between pay-performance sensitivity and leverage is derived. Our results provide a reconciliation of the puzzling evidence of Jensen and Murphy (1990) with agency theory. Other testable implications include (1) a relationship between the risk premium in corporate bond yields and top-management compensation structures, and (2) the announcement effect of adoption of executive stock option plans on bond prices. The model yields implications for management compensation in banks and Federal Deposit Insurance reform. Our results explain the dynamics of top-management compensation in firms going through financial distress and reorganization.
From National Champions to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: Changing Policy Emphasis in France, Germany and Sweden

This paper examines recent European policy changes designed to support small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). These changes have resulted in both the development of specific support programs for SMEs and more general deregulatory measures to improve the economic environment for business. The rationale often provided is that SMEs contribute to a dynamic and innovative environment and generate high quality employment. An analysis of OECD material and a review of the literature on SMEs reveals that their role in innovation, employment growth and the adoption of new forms of work organisation is often over-emphasised. The vast majority of SMEs do not carry out research and development and are associated with low quality and insecure employment. Policies in support of SMEs need to be formulated with an awareness of the diversity of SMEs. There are only a very limited number of SMEs which make an important contribution to employment and innovation. Efforts to facilitate the establishment and growth of these high quality SMEs need to be based on targeted programs rather than general measures such as tax reduction or labour market deregulation. Targeted policies include R&D support, the improvement of SMEs' intangible investments and regional access to capital and technology. General measures are more likely to create an environment in which low quality, low wage employment is generated in SMEs with little future.
A Year in the Lives of Three Beginning Agriculture Teachers.

The process of becoming socialized into teaching is one of the most difficult stages in the professional development of teachers and agriculture teachers are certainly no exception. Indeed, the nature of the experiences during the first year or more are often pivotal in the eventual success or failure of the beginning teacher. Beginning teachers are usually expected to assume all of the responsibilities of teaching as if they were veteran teachers (Wildman & Niles, 1987). Some beginning teachers experience personal changes, such as moving to a new community and starting a new lifestyle (Levy, 1987).
Disagreement and Learning: Dynamic Patterns of Trade

The empirical evidence on investor disagreement and trading volume is difficult to reconcile in standard rational expectations models. We develop a dynamic model in which investors disagree about the interpretations of public information. We obtain a closed-form linear equilibrium that allows us to study what restrictions on the disagreement process yield empirically observed volume and return dynamics. We show that when investors have infrequent but major disagreements, there is positive autocorrelation in volume and positive correlation between volume and price volatility. We also derive novel empirical predictions that relate the degree and frequency of disagreement to volume and volatility dynamics.
Child Sexual Abuse I: Psychopathology

Objective: To review scientific literature concerning the prevalence, childhood outcome and adult outcome of child sexual abuse, and the hypothetical models that have been postulated to explain its psychopathology. Method: Selective critical review of literature. Results: Estimates of prevalence of sexual abuse suggest that a significant number of children of both sexes are affected. Research into the psychopathology of sexual abuse is hindered by methodological problems. However, sexual abuse has been associated with a number of psychiatric disorders and maladaptive lifestyles in childhood and adulthood. Several theoretical models of the psychopathology of child sexual abuse are examined and compared. Conclusions: A transactional model is the most comprehensive and encompassing.
Inefficiencies in a rural trauma system: the burden of repeat imaging in interfacility transfers.

BACKGROUND Local hospitals (LHs) transferring patients to regional trauma centers (TCs) often obtain CT scans to diagnose injuries and justify transfer. However, these imaging studies are often repeated at the receiving TCs. This study was performed to examine how frequently computed tomography (CT) scans were repeated in interfacility transfers in a rural trauma system and to identify the most common reason for repeating the studies. METHODS Patients transferred to a rural Level I TC from October 2007 through February 2008 were prospectively evaluated. Data abstracted included CT scans performed at LHs and CT scans repeated at the TC. Additionally, the reason for repeating each study was recorded as follows: (1) scan not sent, (2) software not compatible, (3) inadequate technique (no intravenous contrast), (4) inadequate technique (no reconstructions), and (5) clinically indicated. RESULTS During the study period, 138 patients were transferred to the TC. Of these, 104 (75%) underwent CT imaging before transfer. Sixty of these patients (58%) underwent repeat CT imaging at the TC. Overall, 98 of 243 (40%) scans were repeated. Head CT scans were repeated predominantly because of clinical indications. All other body region CT scans were repeated predominantly because of inadequate technique at the LHs. CONCLUSIONS CT scans were repeated in 58% of interfacility transfers. Repeat CT scans inevitably result in increased radiation exposure to patients as well as additional charges and may be an important patient safety and cost issue for trauma systems.