Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Évolution des inégalités salariales en France : Le rôle des effets de composition

This paper investigates the recent changes in the French wage structure from 1990 to 2008. To do so, we disentangle the impact of changes in employment probability, changes in the levels of education and experience and changes in the price of labor. Unlike other developped countries, we find that upper and lower tail inequality decline between the first and the last decile for male and female. The recent period thus could be described as a period of “great compression” of wages between the first and the last decile. As a result, the decline in education and experience returns has produced one of the most egalitarian wage structure ever observed in France since the 1960s. Classification JEL : J3, D3
Myelin stains reveal an anatomical framework for the representation of the digits in somatosensory area 3b of macaque monkeys

Brain sections cut parallel to the cortical surface revealed myelin‐light septa that isolated representations of the digits and parts of the face, teeth, and tongue in area 3b of adult and infant macaque monkeys. The widths of the bands of cortex representing individual digits, as measured by the distances between isolating septa, were proportionally similar in infant (2–4 week) and adult monkeys. However, the bands for digits 1–3 were somewhat narrower in infant than adult monkeys. There was little variation in absolute widths across individuals in the infant or adult groups, or between left and right hemispheres of the same group. Widths for digits 1–4 progressively decreased. The results suggest that these isomorphs of digits emerge in prenatal or early postnatal development and typical variations in postnatal hand use have little impact on subsequent development. As the hand representation in somatosensory cortex of monkeys may be significantly altered after the partial loss of peripheral nerve inputs, the physiological representation is not completely constrained by the isolating septa. Instead, the septa may serve as a persistent marker of normal organization in studies of cortical reorganization. J. Comp. Neurol. 477:172–187, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Creating Fama and French Factors with Style

This paper utilizes Frank Russell style portfolios to create useful proxies for the Fama and French (1992) factors. The proxy-mimicking portfolios are shown to represent a pervasive source of exposure across U.S. industry portfolios and to generally possess similar properties to those utilized in the finance literature. Further, a set of multivariate asset-pricing tests of the three-factor Fama and French asset-pricing (FF) model based on the proxy factors fails to reject the model. However, these tests do not reveal strong evidence of significantly positive risk premiums, particularly in the case of the size and book-to-market factors. Copyright 2003 by the Eastern Finance Association.
The Effects of Tolerance for Ambiguity and Uncertainty on the Appropriateness of Accounting Performance Measures

This article examines how task uncertainty, environmental uncertainty and tolerance for ambiguity (TFA) affect managerial opinions about the appropriateness of accounting performance measures (APM). Based on accounting and psychology literature, this study argues that task uncertainty and environmental uncertainty differ in their direct effects on the appropriateness of APM, and furthermore that the relationship between uncertainty and the appropriateness of APM is moderated by managers’ TFA. Hypotheses are developed, and tested with data from a survey study among 250 managers in eleven organizations, using partial least squares (PLS). Overall, the results show that the two types of uncertainty have opposite effects on managers’ opinions about the appropriateness of APM, and that these effects are moderated by TFA, which confirms expectations. No direct effect of TFA on the appropriateness of APM was found. Overall, these findings provide an explanation of the inconsistencies in the extant behavioural management accounting literature that has addressed the appropriateness of APM under uncertainty.
Understanding Self-Regulated Learning and Its Implications for Accounting Educators and Researchers

Recommendations by the AICPA (1998, 2000), AAA (1986), and AECC (1995) have focused on the need for the accounting professional to be a lifelong learner. Attributes and skills connected with lifelong learning may be promoted in accounting classroom instruction by drawing from the work of educational theorists and researchers interested in similar goals. This paper introduces the concept of self-regulated learning and its related attributes and processes that are being studied as a means to promote self-motivated, independent, lifelong learning. Research in education theory and psychology from outside the field of accounting has found that the classroom environment can support the development of self-regulated learning and stimulate active involvement in one′s own learning. This paper discusses the major findings of this research and provides guidance to accounting educators for classroom applications, and to accounting education researchers for studying the effectiveness of approaches to promoting self-re.
STATE PER CAPITA INCOME CONVERGENCE SINCE 1950: SHARECROPPING'S DEMISE AND OTHER INFLUENCES*

Prevailing theories wrongly attribute post-1950 convergence of state per capita incomes to (1) neoclassical adjustment mechanisms, (2) institutional sclerosis, and (3) southern industrialization. But convergence-essentially a weakening of southern poverty–resulted mainly from the South's overcoming its legacy of slavery: the sharecropper-tenant system, agricultural dependence, high black population percentages, poor education, and low wage rates. Sharecropping was the dominant feature; abject poverty among sharecroppers dragged southern income to its knees. Sharecropping's collapse and attendant South-to-North migration affected the legacy's other features in ways that raised income. Manufacturing growth and transport improvements caused relative income in the West to decline.
Pricing to Market and a Volatile AUD

There are two features of exchange rate behaviour that are difficult to explain with conventional theoretical explanations. First, exchange rates are very volatile relative to fundamentals, and, second, departures from ‘fair value’ are very persistent. In this paper the implications of pricing-to-market models for exchange rate behaviour are examined. It is found that these models do better at explaining exchange rate behaviour than traditional models, though it would seem that there is still some way to go before we have a full understanding of high-to-medium frequency fluctuations in the exchange rate.
The State of the Art on Process Virtualization: A Literature Review

The growing world-wide globalization and the possibility to use new innovations of the digital economy leads to the fact that more and more processes and services are being virtualized. The purpose of this paper is to describe, synthesize, evaluate, and integrate the results of prior research on Process Virtualization Theory by conducting a systematic literature review. We selected six academic databases and search engines as adequate with respect to the IS field, covering the period of time from 2008 to date. We created an initial catalogue of existing research and approaches that focus on process characteristics or characteristics of the IT-based virtualization mechanisms. We categorize, consolidate, and discuss the relevant papers accordingly. The results show that empirical studies of Process Virtualization Theory are lacking and the theoretical research is still the most used method.
The Effects of Fiscal Policies When Incomes are Uncertain: a Contradiction to Ricardian Equivalence

This paper shows that when earnings are uncertain the substitution of deficit finance for tax finance or the introduction of an unfunded social security program will raise consumption even if all bequests reflect intergenerational altruism. Thus, contrary to the theory developed by Barro and a number of subsequent writers, an operative bequest motive need not imply Ricardian equivalence. Since there is no uncertainty in the present analysis about the date of each individual's death, this conclusion does not depend on imperfections in annuity markets. Nor does it depend on the existence of non-lump-sum taxes and other distortions. Rather it follows from the result derived in the paper that, when an individuals future earnings are uncertain, his future bequest is also uncertain and his consumption therefore rises more in response to an increase in his current disposable income than to an equal present value increase in the disposable income of his potential heirs.
Peripheral Refraction in Myopic Patients After Orthokeratology

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to characterize the central and peripheral refraction across the horizontal meridian of the visual field before and after myopic corneal refractive therapy (CRT) with contact lenses. Methods. Twenty-eight right eyes from 28 subjects (mean age ± SD = 24.6 ± 6.3 years) were fitted with Paragon CRT contact lenses to treat myopia between −0.88 and −5.25 D of spherical equivalent. Along with a complete set of examination procedures to assess suitability for treatment, the central and peripheral refractions were measured along the horizontal meridian up to 35° of eccentricity in the nasal and temporal retinal area in 5° steps. Results. Baseline central average spherical equivalent (M) measured by subjective refraction changed from −1.95 ± 1.27 D to −0.38 ± 0.67 D. Changes in M component ranged between 1.42 ± 0.89 D at center and 0.43 ± 0.88 D at 20° in the temporal retina (p < 0.002). At 25° to both sides of the central refraction measurement, peripheral refraction after treatment was not statistically different from baseline values (p > 0.351). Beyond the 25° limit, M component changed in the myopic direction up to −1.11 ± 0.88 D at 35° in temporal retina (p < 0.001). Treatment induced was symmetric between nasal and temporal visual field along the horizontal meridian (p > 0.05 for all eccentricities). Furthermore, the degree of myopic increase in spherical equivalent for 30° (r2 = 0.573, p < 0.001) and 35° (r2 = 0.645, p < 0.001) eccentric refraction was highly correlated with axial spherical equivalent at baseline. Conclusions. CRT inverts the pattern of peripheral refraction in spherical equivalent refraction, creating a treatment area of myopic reduction within the central 25° of visual field, and a myopic shift beyond the 25°. In peripheral refraction for 30° and 35°, the amount of myopia induced in terms of spherical equivalent has an almost 1:1 relationship with the amount of baseline spherical equivalent refraction to be corrected.
A Cross-National Investigation of the Measurement Equivalence of Computerized Organizational Attitude Surveys: A Two-Study Design in Multiple Nations

Multinational organizations frequently administer employee surveys online. This process is accompanied, however, by concerns about the psychometric equivalence of measures administered by different modalities. Using data from a large multinational organization (N = 57,861 in Study 1; N = 105,734 in Study 2), the present research examined cross-national generalizability of the measurement equivalence of an organizational attitude survey administered by computer and paper-and-pencil. Results of multiple group confirmatory factor analysis indicated psychometric equivalence of the test modalities in disparate national samples. Implications for the cross-national use of computerized organizational attitude surveys are discussed.
Sources of contrarian profits and return predictability in emerging markets

Acknowledging a gap in the literature, the study performs an investigation on short-term contrarian profits and their sources for the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE). The methodology is based on Jegadeesh and Titman (Review of Financial Studies, 8, 973–93, 1995); however, this paper employs annually rebalanced size-sorted subsamples instead of a one-off arrangement throughout the sample period. Other key contributions relate to: (a) testing the effect on the empirical results of the choice of an equally as opposed to a value weighted index as a proxy for the market portfolio, and (b) testing for the January effect following the ongoing discussion and disagreement in the literature on seasonality. Empirical findings suggest that short-run contrarian profits are present in the ASE. Furthermore, although both underreaction to common factors and overreaction to the firm-specific return component, appear to contribute to profits; the contribution of overreaction is much larger than that of underreaction. Not only so, but any contribution of the later is restricted to the month of January. Seasonality however has no effect on firm specific overreaction. The selection of a value weighted or an equally weighted index does not alter the main findings, and thus does not explain predictability for this market.
CANADIAN CONSUMERS' PERCEPTIONS OF PRODUCTS MADE IN NEWLY INDUSTRIALIZING EAST ASIAN COUNTRIES

This article presents the results of a survey of 250 Canadian male consumers. In this study consumer judgements of products made in both highly and newly industrializing countries were obtained in a multi‐attribute and multidimensional context. The results show that younger and less affluent respondents react more favorably towards products made in newly industrializing East Asian countries. The country‐of‐origin image of East Asian countries is less negative for products that generate a medium level of involvement (e.g., a VCR). This negative image of East Asian countries is attenuated by providing other product‐related information to consumers such as brand name and warranty. East Asian countries are perceived more negatively as countries of design than as countries of parts and assembly. In comparison with products made in highly developed countries, products made in East Asia are perceived to be poorer in terms of performance, quality and originality but more economical.
Mediation of social cognitive theory variables in the relationship of exercise and improved eating in sedentary adults with severe obesity

Results from behavioral treatments for obesity have been disappointing due to an inability to sustain healthy eating. The concurrent use of theory, research, and practical application has the potential of reducing overeating through innovative treatments. When overweight individuals begin an exercise program their eating tends to improve, however, the basis of this relationship is not determined. If the psychosocial mediators of the relationship between exercise and improved eating are better understood, supported exercise may be a key component for improving the efficacy of behavioral weight management treatments. In Phase 1 of this research, psychosocial variables derived from social cognitive theory were tested as possible mediators of the relationship of exercise participation with increased fruit and vegetable intake in severely obese adults initiating a 26-week treatment of supported exercise and standard nutrition education (n = 161). Change in self-regulation for healthy eating and self-regulation at treatment end was a strong mediator; with the addition of mood and self-efficacy for healthy eating being additional mediators that notably increased effect ratios. In Phase 2, participants in a cognitive-behavioral nutrition treatment tailored to improve the identified mediators (n = 163) were contrasted with the original group. The cognitive-behavioral nutrition treatment was associated with significantly greater increases than standard nutrition education in self-regulation, p = 0.023, CIs [4.69, 6.48], and [3.19, 5.02], respectively; self-efficacy, p = 0.013, CIs [19.72, 29.41], and [11.70, 20.71], respectively; and a marginally significant decrease in negative mood, p = 0.062, CIs [−14.26, −9.36], and [−10.90, −6.45], respectively. Findings served to inform treatment designs concerning the use of supported exercise and cognitive-behavioral means to derive better outcomes related to nutrition and weight loss in individuals with severe obesity.
Determinants of performing arts attendance in Taiwan: a multivariate probit analysis

This article uses data collected from a telephone survey of Taiwanese residents to investigate the live performance attendances at four types of performing arts: contemporary drama, traditional theatre, dance and music. We estimate a Multivariate Probit (MVP) model to characterize the audience for each type of performing arts and to find out the pairwise correlations across performing arts. The audience of traditional theatre appears to be quite different from that of the other three types of performing arts. We also show significant and positive correlations across attendances at all four performing arts, with the correlation coefficient between dance and music being the highest. This indicates that performing arts are complements and audiences tend to be ‘omnivorous’ rather than ‘univorous’.
Subsidy to Promote Girls' Secondary Education: The Female Stipend Program in Bangladesh

The brief summarizes the subsidy to promote girls secondary education: the female stipend program in Bangladesh. The intervention started in 1994. Girl's grade 6-10 received the stipend once a year. Secondary school enrollment rates in the developing countries are usually lower for girls than boys, especially in rural areas. In the mid 1990's a female school stipend program was introduced to subsidize girls' secondary education in rural Bangladesh. Although all of rural Bangladesh was eventually covered by this program, it was not introduced at the same time in all areas and to all class cohorts. This variation in timing is the source of parameter identification in the analysis. Using two different datasets and school and village-level fixed effects, the author estimate the effects of this stipend program on school enrollments. The analysis based upon two cross-sectional household surveys covering a common set of villages finds that the female stipend program increased girls' secondary education substantially, but had no discernible effect on the schooling of boys. The analysis performed with an annual panel of school-level data also finds a significant effect of the stipend program on girl's enrollment and reduced the enrollment of boys in coeducational secondary schools.
tDCS Modulates Visual Gamma Oscillations and Basal Alpha Activity in Occipital Cortices: Evidence from MEG

Transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) is now a widely used method for modulating the human brain, but the resulting physiological effects are not understood. Recent studies have combined magnetoencephalography (MEG) with simultaneous tDCS to evaluate online changes in occipital alpha and gamma oscillations, but no study to date has quantified the offline (i.e., after tDCS) alterations in these responses. Thirty-five healthy adults received active or sham anodal tDCS to the occipital cortices, and then completed a visual stimulation paradigm during MEG that is known to elicit robust gamma and alpha oscillations. The resulting MEG data were imaged and peak voxel time series were extracted to evaluate tDCS effects. We found that tDCS to the occipital increased the amplitude of local gamma oscillations, and basal alpha levels during the baseline. tDCS was also associated with network-level effects, including increased gamma oscillations in the prefrontal cortex, parietal, and other visual attention regions. Finally, although tDCS did not modulate peak gamma frequency, this variable was inversely correlated with gamma amplitude, which is consistent with a GABA-gamma link. In conclusion, tDCS alters gamma oscillations and basal alpha levels. The net offline effects on gamma activity are consistent with the view that anodal tDCS decreases local GABA.
Environmental Product Differentiation: Implications for Corporate Strategy

Political demands for environmental improvement create obligations for managers that can conflict with shareholder value creation. While differentiating products along environmental lines is a conceptually straightforward way of reconciling these apparently conflicting demands, not all attempts to do so have succeeded. This article describes three requirements for successful environmental product differentiation. Firms must discover or create a willingness in consumers to pay for public goods; they must overcome barriers to the dissemination of credible information about the environmental attributes of their products; and they must defend themselves against imitation. More broadly, environmental strategy must be integrated with the overall strategy of the business. The appropriate environmental strategy depends, like the business's overall strategy, on the fundamental economics of the industry and the business's internal capabilities—basic constraints that have often been obscured in the academic debate about business and the environment.
Biomechanical Comparisons of Three Posterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Procedures with Load-Controlled and Displacement-Controlled Cyclic Tests

Background: Biomechanical behaviors of posterior cruciate ligament reconstructions under cyclic loading have not been sufficiently clarified. Hypothesis: Biomechanical behaviors of the reconstruction that involves use of flexor tendons and an Endobutton are significantly different under cyclic loading from behaviors of the two standard reconstructions in which bone-patellar tendon-bone graft is used. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: In a porcine model, the tendon/Endobutton reconstruction, the tendon-bone/interference screw reconstruction, and the tendon-bone/tibial-inlay reconstruction were biomechanically compared by using two cyclic tests. In each group of 15 specimens, 5 knees underwent tensile testing without cyclic loading, and the remaining 10 underwent the same tensile test after 5000 cycles of load-controlled or displacement-controlled loading. Results: At the 5000th cycle, the peak displacement or the peak load was affected by each type of cyclic loading to a significantly greater degree in the knees with the tendon/Endobutton procedure than in the knees reconstructed with the other two procedures. Conclusions: Plastic deformation occurred more easily during cyclic loading in the knees with the tendon/Endobutton reconstruction than in the knees with the tendon-bone reconstructions. Clinical Relevance: When the tendon/Endobutton reconstruction is used, a longer period of postoperative immobilization is necessary.
Early events in T-cell maturation.

The thymus is the major ifnot the sole site of maturation ofT lymphocytes from committed hematopoietic progenitors. The end products of this maturation-the T lymphocytes-are well equipped to survey the entire lymphoid system for the appearance of foreign antigens ; within the lymph­ oid organs they initiate, regulate, and play a direct role in at least a part of the immune response to antigens. T lymphocytes are highly diverse in terms of their immune functions, their surface phenotypes, their MHC recognition or corecognition capabilities, and their migration behaviors.
Why Africa Journal of Management and Why Now?

In this article, we provide the background as well as the rationale for the decision to establish the Africa Journal of Management. We begin by telling the story of the genesis of AFAM and its aspirational mission. Next, we discuss the forces and realities that make it the right time to introduce a journal dedicated to management and organizations in Africa. Thereafter, we describe our views on the challenges of doing research on management in Africa. We close with AFAM's aspirations for Africa Journal of Management.