Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Executive Labor Market Segmentation: How Local Market Density Affects Incentives and Performance

I study how the density of executive labor markets affects managerial incentives and thereby firm performance. I find that U.S. executive markets are locally segmented rather than nationally integrated, and that the density of a local market provides executives with non-compensation incentives. Empirical results show that in denser labor markets, executives face stronger performance-based dismissal threats as well as better outside opportunities. These incentives result in higher firm performance in denser markets, especially when executives have longer career horizons. Using state-level variation in the enforceability of covenants not to compete, I find that the positive effects of market density on incentive alignment and firm performance are stronger in markets where executives are freer to move. This evidence further supports the argument that local labor market density works as an external incentive alignment mechanism.
The Impact of Different Players on the Volume-Volatility Relation in the Foreign Exchange Market

We examine the volume-volatility relation in the foreign exchange (FX) market using a unique data set from the Swedish krona (SEK) market that contains observations of 90-95 percent of all transactions from 1995 until 2002. We show that the strength of the volume-volatility relation depends on the group of market participants trading. Financial trading volume has the highest correlation with volatility. Interbank trading between the largest Market making banks is also positively correlated with volatility, while trading among Other market making banks show no correlation with volatility. Trading by Non-Financial customers is not correlated with volatility at all when controlling for trading by other market participants. Interestingly, we show that (unexpected) spot volume and changes in net positions (spot and forward) by Financial customers Granger cause spot volume and changes in net positions by Non-Financial customers. Our results clearly show that market participants in the FX market are heterogenous, suggesting that differences in trading strategies and information may explain the volume-volatility relation.
Corporate governance reform in a developing country : the case of Bangladesh

Bangladesh reformed its corporate governance by adopting Bangladesh Corporate Governance Guidelines-2006 (the BCGG-2006 hereafter) due to pressures from international financial institutions (IFIs). However, there is huge controversy in prior literature regarding the IFIs’ suggested reform initiatives. The thesis asks specific research questions: RQ1. Do institutional investors and bankers in Bangladesh perceive that the level of compliance with the BCGG-2006 by the investee or borrowing company influences the investment and lending decisions respectively? RQ2.1. To what extent is the BCGG-2006 implemented in form rather than in substance? RQ2.2 Is there a relationship between the nature of compliance with the BCGC-2006 and firm performance? RQ3.1. To what extent does reported compliance with the BCGG-2006, as reported in annual reports, overstate underlying compliance with the BCGC-2006? RQ3.2 Does the overstatement of compliance reported in annual reports lead to a different relative ranking of a firm’s corporate governance structure? RQ3.3 What factors influence the overstatement of compliance with the BCG-2006 in annual reports? To investigate RQ1, an inductive approach is taken and data are collected by using semi-structured interviews of investment managers and credit rating analysts. In order to examine the remaining RQs, a deductive approach is taken and data are collected: (1) by using a structured survey questionnaire addressed to company secretaries or CFOs; and (2) from annual reports and stock exchanges. With respect to RQ1, this study finds (1) strong evidence that institutional investors and bankers perceive limited impact of corporate governance mechanisms recommended by the BCGG-2006 on investment and lending decisions respectively. In order to theorise the above findings, two theories: agency theory and the theory of path dependence are contrasted. Using a grounded theory coding, this study finds that (1) companies are locked in the path of control by sponsor families and sponsor families then impede the implementation of the BCGG-2006 and (2) institutional investors and bankers lock themselves in the path of name-based and relationshipbased investment and lending practices which deters consideration of corporate governance mechanisms introduced by the BCGG-2006. Very few interviewees provide an explanation consistent with the agency theory. This evidence thus points more to the theory of path dependence than to agency theory. In relation to RQ2.1, this study finds that local privately-owned companies and government-owned companies either do not comply or comply in form but not in substance with the BCGG-2006, while subsidiaries of foreign multinational companies comply in form and in substance with the BCGG-2006. The relative strength of path dependence in local privately-owned companies and governmentowned companies and subsidiaries of foreign multinational companies explains these
Examining direct and indirect pathways to health behaviour: The influence of cognitive and affective probability beliefs

This study aimed to extricate the influence of rational (e.g. ‘I think …’) and intuitive (e.g. ‘I feel …’) probability beliefs in the behavioural decision-making process regarding skin cancer prevention practices. Structural equation modelling was used in two longitudinal surveys (sun protection during winter sports [N = 491]; sun protection during summer [N = 277]) to examine direct and indirect behavioural effects of affective and cognitive likelihood (i.e. unmediated or mediated by intention), controlled for attitude, social influence and self-efficacy. Affective likelihood was directly related to sun protection in both studies, whereas no direct effects were found for cognitive likelihood. After accounting for past sun protective behaviour, affective likelihood was only directly related to sun protection in Study 1. No support was found for the indirect effects of affective and cognitive likelihood through intention. The findings underscore the importance of feelings of (cancer) risk in the decision-making process and should be acknowledged by health behaviour theories and risk communication practices. Suggestions for future research are discussed.
Consumer preferences for US beef products: a meta-analysis

By conducting a meta-analysis with 57 observations collected from 20 primary studies, we systematically analyze heterogeneities in consumer preferences for the Country-of-Origin-Labeling (COOL) of US beef products. We find that consumers often prefer their domestic beef products due to patriotism. Consumers in Asian (mainly, Korea and Japan) and European countries (such as France, Germany and UK) are willing to pay significantly lower prices for US beef products compared to their domestic products; while the US consumers are willing to pay more for the domestic products than the imported ones.
Employment Patterns of Husbands and Wives and Family Income Distribution in Italy (1977-98)

The pattern of employment among men and women has changed remarkably over the past decades. While the employment rate of women has risen, that of men has continued to decline. Disproportionate growth in the participation in the labor market of women with highincome husbands has heightened concerns that wives’ earnings may increase income inequality among married couples. Questions about the implications for income distribution have also been raised, especially in countries like Italy, the UK, and the US, where more noticeable growth of income inequality during the last decade has accompanied changes in employment levels. In this paper we attempt to measure the impact of the changes of women and men’s employment patterns on the distribution of income among Italian households. Using microdata from the Historical Archive of the Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW), a repeated cross-sectional survey that covers the period 1977-1998, we examine the impact of employment changes on inequality in family income distribution and how this relationship has changed over time and across regions. Our preliminary results show that the increase in the employment of women during the period of observation had the effect of reducing inequality in family incomes, while the decline in men's employment had the opposite effect. The equalizing impact of wives' work on income inequality has become increasingly important over time and has been greater among Northern households. Especially since the mid-nineties, wives' earnings have reduced inequality in as much as the distribution of income would have been less equal in their absence. More conclusive results could be achieved by analyzing a more structural approach where the labor supply of husbands and that of wives are determined simultaneously.
The economic value of elephants

1 Department of Economics, University of Pretoria 2 De Wit Sustainable Options 3 Design & Development Services, Windhoek, Namibia 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Introduction.2 Economic value: Some background discussion.3 The economic factors determining the Total Economic Value (TEV) of elephants . 5 Economic value of elephants in southern Africa: a literature overview.8 The economic value of elephants: Other examples . 19 Assessing elephants’ contribution to the economic value of elephant-containing ecosystems.23 Conclusion . 28 Acknowledgements . 30 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Figures Figure 10.1: Values for the environment. Source: Adapted from Turner, R.K. , Pearce, D. and Bateman, I. 1994. Environmental Economics. An Elementary Introduction. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf. 5 Figure 10.2: Impact of elephant crop damage costs on the economic gross output, the contribution to the gross national income, and the private community net benefits for a model CBNRM community trust investment in the Okavango Delta, Botswana (Pula/annum: 2006) (Source: Barnes, 2006.). 17
Noradrenergic mechanisms in the prefrontal cortex

There is growing evidence that noradrenergic inputs to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) play an important role in regulating its function. This paper reviews the pharmacological control of noradrenaline (NA) release in this region, with particular reference to our studies using brain microdialysis, and also describes how NA levels are modulated by antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs. The suggestion that atypical antipsychotics such as clozapine and risperidone may produce clinical benefits by their ability to increase NA release is discussed. Finally, a new class of drugs, which show selectivity for imidazoline receptors is described. These compounds are shown to similarly increase extracellular NA in the PFC. Their potential utility as clinical treatments is discussed.
Bradykinin B 1 receptor blocks PDGF-induced mitogenesis by prolonging ERK activation and increasing p 27 Kip 1

Dixon, Bradley S. , David Evanoff, Wei B. Fang, and Michael J. Dennis. Bradykinin B1 receptor blocks PDGFinduced mitogenesis by prolonging ERK activation and increasing p27Kip1. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 283: C193–C203, 2002. First published March 6, 2002; 10.1152/ ajpcell.00289. 2001. —The mechanism by which the bradykinin B1 receptor (B1R) inhibits platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-stimulated proliferation was investigated in cultured rat mesenteric arterial smooth muscle cells. The B1R agonist des-Arg9-bradykinin (DABK) was found to inhibit PDGF-mediated activation of the cyclin E-cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (Cdk2) complex and to prevent hyperphosphorylation of retinoblastoma protein. DABK did not inhibit upregulation of cyclin E expression but increased expression of the Cdk2 inhibitor p27Kip1 and the association of p27Kip1 with the cyclin E-Cdk2 complex. In addition, DABK inhibited the PDGF-stimulated expression of cyclin D that would otherwise siphon p27Kip1 away from inhibition of cyclin E-Cdk2. The signaling mechanism by which DABK regulated p27Kip1 was explored. DABK was found to stimulate the activity of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and to prolong activation of MEK and ERK by PDGF. Inhibition of ERK activation with the MEK inhibitors PD-98059 and U-0126 as well as the Src family kinase inhibitor PP2 completely blocked the effect of DABK to increase p27Kip1 and partially reversed the DABK-mediated inhibition of PDGF-stimulated proliferation. These studies demonstrate that the B1R inhibits PDGF-stimulated mitogenesis in part by prolonged activation of ERK leading to increased expression of p27Kip1.
DNA damage in leukocytes of workers occupationally exposed to arsenic in copper smelters

Inorganic arsenic (i‐As) is a known human carcinogen; however, humans continue to be exposed to i‐As in drinking water and in certain occupational settings. In this study, we used the Comet assay to evaluate DNA damage in the somatic cells of workers from three Polish copper smelters who were occupationally exposed to i‐As. Blood samples were collected from 72 male workers and 83 unexposed male controls and used for the detection of DNA damage, oxidative DNA damage, and DNA damage after a 3‐hr incubation in culture. Urine samples were collected to assess the level of exposure. The mean concentration of arsenic metabolites in urine [the sum of arsenite (AsIII), arsenate (AsV), monomethylarsenate (MMA) and dimethylarsenate (DMA)] and the concentrations of DMA (the main metabolite in urine) were higher in workers than in controls, but the differences were not statistically significant. By contrast, the level of DNA damage, expressed as the median tail moment, was significantly higher in the leukocytes of workers than in the controls. Comet assays conducted with formamidopyrimidine glycosylase (FPG) digestion to detect oxidative DNA damage indicated that oxidative lesions were present in leukocytes from both the exposed and control groups, but the levels of damage were significantly higher among the workers. Incubation of the cells in culture resulted in a significant reduction in the levels of DNA damage, especially among leukocytes from the workers, suggesting that the DNA damage was subject to repair. Our findings indicate that copper smelter workers have increased levels of DNA damage in somatic cells, suggesting a potential health risk for the workers. Although i‐As was present in air samples from the smelters and in urine samples from workers, no clear association could be made between i‐As exposure and the DNA damage. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. , 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Discussing the Duluth Curriculum: Creating a Process of Change for Men Who Batter

This is an edited version of a heretofore unpublished conversation between Ellen Pence and Luis Aravena. It provides a clear explanation of the philosophy and method of the Duluth Model men’s program, emphasizing the need to put the experience of women who have been abused at the center of our work with abusive men, especially by helping abusive men become more self-reflective with regard to their behavior.
Adaptive sliding mode control for Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems

This paper is devoted to robust adaptive sliding mode control for a class of nonlinear systems in the Takagi-Sugeno forms with mismatched parametric uncertainties. Sufficient conditions for the existence of linear sliding surfaces are given in terms of linear matrix inequalities, by which the corresponding adaptive reaching motion controller is also designed. Simulation studies show the effectiveness of the control scheme.
Antimitochondrial antibodies in acute liver failure: Implications for primary biliary cirrhosis

In our previous work, including analysis of more than 10,000 sera from control patients and patients with a variety of liver diseases, we have demonstrated that with the use of recombinant autoantigens, antimitochondrial autoantibodies (AMAs) are only found in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and that a positive AMA is virtually pathognomonic of either PBC or future development of PBC. Although the mechanisms leading to the generation of AMA are enigmatic, we have postulated that xenobiotic‐induced and/or oxidative modification of mitochondrial autoantigens is a critical step leading to loss of tolerance. This thesis suggests that a severe liver oxidant injury would lead to AMA production. We analyzed 217 serum samples from 69 patients with acute liver failure (ALF) collected up to 24 months post‐ALF, compared with controls, for titer and reactivity with the E2 subunits of pyruvate dehydrogenase, branched chain 2‐oxo‐acid dehydrogenase, and 2‐oxo‐glutarate dehydrogenase. AMAs were detected in 28/69 (40.6%) ALF patients with reactivity found against all of the major mitochondrial autoantigens. In addition, and as further controls, sera were analyzed for autoantibodies to gp210, Sp100, centromere, chromatin, soluble liver antigen, tissue transglutaminase, and deaminated gliadin peptides; the most frequently detected nonmitochondrial autoantibody was against tissue transglutaminase (57.1% of ALF patients). Conclusion: The strikingly high frequency of AMAs in ALF supports the thesis that oxidative stress‐induced liver damage may lead to AMA induction. The rapid disappearance of AMAs in these patients provides further support for the contention that PBC pathogenesis requires additional factors, including genetic susceptibility. (HEPATOLOGY 2007.)
A Sociocultural Approach to Narcissism: The Case of Modern China

Using large Internet samples, we examined the possible influence of sociodemographic factors on the Chinese self–concept and in particular, on the level of narcissism. We found that (i) younger persons are more narcissistic than older ones; (ii) persons from higher socioeconomic classes are more narcissistic than those from lower socioeconomic classes; (iii) persons from only–child families are more narcissistic than those from families with multiple children; (iv) persons from urban areas are more narcissistic than those from rural areas; and (v) individualistic values are predictive of individual differences in narcissism. The findings suggest that sociocultural changes contribute to the rise of narcissism in China. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
You See What you Fear: Spiders Gain Preferential Access to Conscious Perception in Spider-Phobic Patients

In phobic individuals, behavioral responses to phobia-related cues are facilitated and brain responses are augmented. It has rarely been investigated whether this preferential processing is accompanied by an altered conscious perception of phobia-related cues. We used binocular rivalry to investigate conscious perception of phobia-related cues in phobic individuals. 21 spider-phobic patients and 20 non-anxious control participants viewed pictures of spiders or flowers, each paired with a neutral pattern under conditions of binocular rivalry. Spider-phobic patients more often reported that they saw spider pictures as the first percept, and the total duration of seeing spider percepts was significantly longer in patients than in non-anxious participants. A second experiment was conducted to rule out that these differences were caused by different response criteria. Results support the validity of self-report in Experiment 1. In sum, predominance of phobia-related cues in binocular rivalry provides evidence that phobia-related cues gain preferential access to visual awareness in phobic individuals.
Buffer-aided relay selection with inter-relay interference mitigation for successive multiple antennas relay systems

In this paper, we consider a cooperative network comprising of a source node, a destination node and M amplify-and-forward half-duplex relay nodes. Both the source and destination have one antenna and each relay is equipped with N antennas. There exists a buffer at each relay in order to store the incoming data packet and retransmit it to the destination later. At each time slot, simultaneous data transmission of the source and one of the relay results in inter-relay interference (IRI). We propose a novel buffer-aided relay selection scheme which mitigates the IRI with the aid of minimum variance (MV) beamforming and the relay buffers. More specifically, at each time slot, two relays are selected to receive data from the source and to transmit data to the destination provided that the associated source-to-destination signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) is maximized. By simulations, we investigate the performance of the proposed policy in terms of the throughput, delay, outage probability and SER (symbol error rate). It is shown that the proposed scheme suppresses the IRI efficiently, achieves higher throughput and lower outage probability compared to the other recently proposed successive relaying policies.
Consumers’ Attitudes Related to Biofuel Use in Transportation

This paper presents the results of a field survey to determine the attitudes of consumers (citizens) related to the use of biofuels in transport. Attitudes of citizens towards biotechnologies and renewable energy use to reduce pollutant effects on the environment are an important factor (and even decisive) in political decision-making necessary to develop new investments and the practical implementation of the proposed projects in the field of renewable sources. The aim of the study was to identify the attitudes of citizens (consumers) regarding follow specific issues: the identification of environmental attitudes and use of biofuels, exploring the connections between attitudes and actions declared effective environmentally taken and exploring attitudes towards authorities environmental policies. It was found that there is a favorable attitude for a massive use of biofuels in transport, even in the absence of relevant sources of information about the complexity of the effects of using biofuels in transport.
Identification and Validation of Urinary Metabolite Biomarkers for Major Depressive Disorder*

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a widespread and debilitating mental disorder. However, there are no biomarkers available to aid in the diagnosis of this disorder. In this study, a nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy–based metabonomic approach was employed to profile urine samples from 82 first-episode drug-naïve depressed subjects and 82 healthy controls (the training set) in order to identify urinary metabolite biomarkers for MDD. Then, 44 unselected depressed subjects and 52 healthy controls (the test set) were used to independently validate the diagnostic generalizability of these biomarkers. A panel of five urinary metabolite biomarkers—malonate, formate, N-methylnicotinamide, m-hydroxyphenylacetate, and alanine—was identified. This panel was capable of distinguishing depressed subjects from healthy controls with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.81 in the training set. Moreover, this panel could classify blinded samples from the test set with an AUC of 0.89. These findings demonstrate that this urinary metabolite biomarker panel can aid in the future development of a urine-based diagnostic test for MDD.