Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Paradigms and entrepreneurial networks–some methodological challenges

The use of network approaches to gain an understanding of business behaviour in general, and entrepreneurial action in particular, has increased. Research into entrepreneurial networking, however, varies considerably depending upon paradigmatic assumptions. In deterministic contexts networks mainly represent restrictions while in voluntaristic settings the network is the very instrument by which new ventures are realized. A subjectivist approach thus seems to be most able to exploit the potentials of the network metaphor in entrepreneurship research since venturing means organizing through personal networking. Yet both quantitative and qualitative tools may be adopted when mapping and interpreting the characteristics of entrepreneurial networks.
Breaking the Parliamentary Chain of Delegation: Presidents and Non-partisan Cabinet Members in European Democracies

Europe has over the past century experienced an impressive increase in the number of presidential heads of state. Many of the new democracies since the mid-1970s are semi-presidential regimes that combine a popularly elected president with the traditional features of parliamentary democracy. At the same time, the frequency of the appointment of non-partisan cabinet members has risen. Cabinet appointments are the most important personnel decisions in parliamentary systems, and traditionally such appointments have been virtually monopolized by the governing political parties. Under semi-presidentialism, however, cabinet appointments may instead become a tug-of-war between a prime minister and a president with different partisan preferences. In this article the relationship between presidential power and the incidence of non-partisan cabinet appointments is examined and a game-theoretic model of cabinet appointments in parliamentary systems with a strong president is developed. In this model the prime minister has proposal power over cabinet appointments and the president an ex post veto. This model yields three comparative statics predictions concerning non-partisan cabinet appointments. The incidence of such appointments should covary positively with the president's powers and negatively with the prime minister's electoral prospects. The likelihood of such appointments should also correlate in a non-intuitive way with the value that the president and the prime minister attach to non-partisan appointees. Based on these results, eight operational hypotheses are developed, which are tested against a sample of 134 European cabinets representing twelve semi-presidential and twelve purely parliamentary regimes in the 1990s. Significant empirical support is found for all three comparative statics results and for most of the specific hypotheses.
Impact of the Swap It, Don’t Stop It Australian National Mass Media Campaign on Promoting Small Changes to Lifestyle Behaviors

Mass media campaigns aimed at influencing lifestyle risk factors are one way that governments are attempting to address chronic disease risk. In Australia, a national campaign aimed at encouraging Australians to make changes in lifestyle-related behaviors was implemented from 2008 to 2011. The first phase, Measure Up (2008–2009), focused on why lifestyle changes are needed by increasing awareness of the link between waist circumference and chronic disease risk. The second phase, Swap It, Don’t Stop It (2011), emphasized how adults can change their behaviors. Cross-sectional telephone surveys (after the campaign) were undertaken in July and November 2011 to evaluate the Swap It, Don’t Stop It campaign and included measures of campaign awareness and lifestyle-related behavior change. Survey participants (N = 5,097) were similar across the two survey periods. Prompted campaign awareness was 62% (16% for unprompted awareness); females, younger respondents (18–44 years), those in paid employment, and those who spoke English at home were more likely to report prompted/unprompted campaign awareness. Moreover, 16% of survey respondents reported any swapping behavior in the previous 6 months, with the majority (14%) reporting only one swap; younger respondents and those in paid employment were significantly more likely to report having implemented a swapping behavior. The campaign achieved modest population awareness but demonstrated limited effect in terms of nudging behaviors. This evaluation indicates that encouraging swapping behaviors as a prelude to lifestyle change may not result from a mass media campaign alone; a comprehensive multicomponent population approach may be required.
Modeling Life Cycles of Supply Chain Relationships

The paper focuses on the development of buyer – supplier relationships over time. Although there is an ongoing debate about the nature and characteristics of relationship life cycle, the existence of some kind of life cycle is usually assumed when timely development of these relationships is investigated. The objective of our analysis is to investigate this hidden hypothesis using quantitative research methodology. The research focusing on the development of business relationships over time has mainly used qualitative research methods and to the best of our knowledge, no one have yet attempted to measure any relevant variables and the pattern of their development over time using a quantitative methodology. In order to be able to test this hypothesis the level of relation-specific investments generated in the relationship, called the explicit investment measure, was chosen. We have conceptualized and measured it and tested empirically to what extent its development over time fits the pattern of the traditional mathematical model (representation) of the life cycle, which is usually described with a logistics curve. The development of this explicit investment measure over time is a dynamic phenomenon the analysis of which is not without methodological problem. We suggest and apply a procedure developed in the field of population dynamics that makes it possible to use cross sectional data for such dynamic analysis.
Employee Turnover in the Hospitality Industry

ABSTRACT Employee turnover is reaching crisis proportions for many organizations who struggle to maintain proper staffing levels in a tight labor market (Wilson, 2000). Turnover has been a measure of performance in organizations that is expensive in terms of financial and operational effectiveness. The current study used the Commitment And Necessary Effort (CANE) model of motivation (Clark, 1998, 1999) to determine if levels of motivated thinking and behavior, indexed as choice, persistence, and effort, and influenced by self-efficacy, support, emotion, and task value, impacted employee turnover rates in the hotel and quick service restaurant segments of the hospitality industry. Using regression analysis, it was determined that the motivation component of the CANE model was a statistically significant variable when analyzing turnover in the current study. Over 96% of the variation in turnover of the 22 worksites analyzed was explained by the components of the motivation model. This research is important to industry practitioners as well as academics to help predict and lower turnover in various segments of the hospitality industry. Implications for practice are discussed regarding the components of the CANE model of motivation.
Lending Policies of Financial Intermediaries Facing Credit and Funding Risk

This paper compares the optimal lending decisions of financial intermediaries that differ in their risk exposure. All intermediaries are assumed to face a loan demand described by a random applicant arrival process with each applicant offering a unique risk-adjusted rate of return; loan demand is therefore uncertain in both quantity and quality. The intermediaries differ in terms of their risk exposure because of disparate funding practices. Intermediaries functioning as brokers minimize their exposure by borrowing funds only as demand is realized, whereas those behaving as asset-transformers borrow in advance of realizing loan demand, thereby maintaining a loanable funds inventory and sustaining the related exposure. The optimal sequential lending policy is shown to involve setting a credit standard that becomes stricter with the length of the intermediary's planning horizon and the volume of loans outstanding. Most importantly, it is shown that brokers adopt stricter credit standards than asset-transformers and therby reduce their volume of lending.
Audit Qualification, Firm Litigation, and Financial Information: an Empirical Analysis in Greece

In this study, we test the extent to which combinations of financial and non-financial information can be used to enhance the ability to discriminate between the choices of a qualified or unqualified (clean) audit report. We examined the financial statements, the opinions of the auditors, and the notes to financial statements for companies that received a qualified audit report and for those that received an unqualified audit report. The data are taken from a sample of 100 Greek companies. Logistic and OLS regression models were estimated to assess the effect of firm litigation and financial information on audit qualification opinion. The qualification decision is associated by financial information such as financial distress and by non-financial information such as firm litigation. The model developed is accurate in classifying the total sample correctly with rate 78%. This study has implications for internal and external auditors and company decision makers.
Migration to and from dry areas in Kenya.

The factors affecting migration to and from the dry areas of Kenya are examined. The author notes that since the 1970s, the dry areas have been affected by droughts, disease, and military conflicts. However, at the same time they have changed from being areas of out-migration to areas of in-migration.
Evaluation of Reverse Mortgage Programs in Korea

We analyze an actuarial model of reverse mortgage programs in Korea. Our analyses provide a comparison between the reverse mortgage loans structured with constant monthly payments to those with graduate monthly payments which are indexed to the growth rate of consumer prices. Using the total annual loan cost measure, we find that the graduate monthly payments approach is more efficient than the constant monthly payments approach. Our analyses confirm that younger age cohorts are more sensitive to the change of loan terms. We propose that the terms of the reverse mortgage programs should be structured more conservatively to the relatively younger borrower groups. The results of this study provide useful information to the reverse mortgage borrowers for their selection of payment options. The findings can also provide useful guideline to the future operation of reverse mortgage system in Korea and other countries.
Simulating the Elimination of the U.S. Corporate Income Tax

We simulate corporate tax reform in a single good, five-region (U.S., Europe, Japan, China, India) model, featuring skilled and unskilled labor, detailed region-specific demographics and fiscal policies. Eliminating the model's U.S. corporate income tax produces rapid and dramatic increases in the model's level of U.S. investment, output, and real wages, making the tax cut self-financing to a significant extent. Somewhat smaller gains arise from revenue-neutral base broadening, specifically cutting the corporate tax rate to 9 percent and eliminating tax loop-holes.
Reaction of House Prices to a New Rapid Transit Line: Chicago's Midway Line, 1983–1999

This study examines the effect of the new rapid transit line from downtown Chicago to Midway Airport on single-family house prices before and after the opening of the line. The results show that the housing market anticipated the opening of the line. House prices were being affected by proximity to the stations in the late 1980s and early 1990s-after the plans for the line were well known. The difference between the increase in the value of homes within the sample area as compared with properties farther away from the new transit stations was approximately $216 million between 1986 and 1999. Copyright 2004 by the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association
Committee Decision-making in the Council of the European Union

Committees of national officials play a major role in the decision-making of the European Union's main legislative body, the Council of Ministers. The study investigates the conditions under which bureaucrats decide on legislative dossiers without direct involvement of ministers. A statistical analysis is performed to examine this question, using an original data set of 439 legislative proposals. The results of the analysis indicate that formal institutional features such as the voting rule in the Council and the involvement of the European Parliament affect committee decision-making, whereas no effects of committee socialization and preference divergence among member states are identified. The results diminish concerns about the democratic legitimacy of Council decision-making to some extent, as the findings demonstrate that bureaucrats tend to decide only the less salient and more complex proposals.
Culture results from milk samples submitted to veterinary diagnostic laboratories from August 2003 to December 2006 in New Zealand

Abstract AIMS: To determine the pattern of isolation of major mastitis-causing organisms isolated from milk samples submitted to five veterinary diagnostic laboratories in New Zealand. METHODS: The culture results of 25,288 milk samples that were collected from dairy cows throughout New Zealand from August 2003 to December 2006 and submitted to a group of veterinary diagnostic laboratories were assembled, reviewed and summarised. Logistic regression was used to analyse the effect of year, region (i.e. North vs South Island), and season on the probability of isolating the two most common organisms. RESULTS: The most commonly isolated mastitis causing organisms from all samples were: Streptococcus uberis (23.6%), Staphylococcus aureus (23.5%), coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS; 7.2%), Strep. dysgalactiae (6.2%), Bacillus spp. (4.0%), and coliforms (3.7%). The percentage of samples with isolates of Strep. uberis or Staph. aureus was affected by island, year and season (p<0.001). For most of the year, except in late winter and early spring when Strep. uberis was much more common, the percentage of isolates of Strep. uberis and Staph. aureus were not apparently different despite the former being an environmental pathogen and the other a contagious one. CONCLUSION: The pattern of isolation of major mastitis-causing organisms, as determined from culture of milk samples submitted to diagnostic laboratories in New Zealand, has changed significantly over the last 40 years, with a substantial increase in the percentage of isolates that are Strep. uberis and a decrease in isolates of Strep. agalactiae. There is a clear seasonal pattern to the isolation of both Strep. uberis and Staph. aureus, particularly the former. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Knowledge of the aetiological agents causing bovine mastitis on a farm is of value in determining the choice of treatment. This dataset shows that, although there is seasonal pattern to the isolation of mastitis-causing organisms in New Zealand, both Strep. uberis and Staph. aureus are isolated throughout the year, so bacteriology is of value in determining aetiology even in late winter/early spring.
The effects of the Yuan-dollar exchange rate on agricultural commodity trade between the United States, China, and their competitors

The United States claims that the undervaluation of Chinese currency, the Yuan, causes U.S. exports to China to decrease and imports from China to increase. Furthermore, because the Yuan is undervalued only against the dollar, U.S. competitors have an advantage in exporting to China and China has an advantage over its competitors in exporting to the United States. This study develops a theoretical model to analyze the effect of the Yuan undervaluation on prices, supply, demand, and trade in the United States, China, and their competitors. This study applies a cointegration/error-correction model to empirically quantify the short-run and long-run effects of the devaluation of the Yuan on important agricultural commodities traded between the United States, China, and their competitors. These commodities include Chinese imports of milk, soybeans, and cotton from the United States and U.S. imports of beans, fruit juice, and fruit from China. The results show that Yuan devaluation causes Chinese imports of U.S. milk, soybeans, and cotton to decline and U.S. imports of beans, fruit juice, and fruit from China to increase in the short run and in the long run.
The role of macroeconomic instability in public and private capital accumulation and growth: the case of Turkey 1963–1999

This study investigates the empirical relationship(s) between macroeconomic instability, public and private capital accumulation and growth in Turkey over the period 1963–1999. Time series econometric techniques, such as cointegration and impulse response analysis, are used. The results of this paper suggest that the chronic and increasing macroeconomic instability of the Turkish economy has seriously affected her capital formation and growth. Furthermore, the Turkish experience indicates that chronic macroeconomic instability seems to be a serious impediment to public investment, especially to its infrastructural component, and shatters, or even reverses, the complementarity between public and private investment in the long run.
Faculty Training in Political Science: Results from a Survey of Department Chairs

In recent years, increased attention has focused on how doctoral programs prepare graduate students to become faculty members at colleges and universities. One reflection of this interest is the development of such training programs as Preparing Future Faculty (PFF), which the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the Council of Graduate Schools founded in 1993. With financial support from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the National Science Foundation, and the Atlantic Philanthropies, and with the participation of several professional associations, including the American Political Science Association, PFF has grown to include nearly 300 colleges and universities nationwide. In the recent past, 21 doctoral departments, including four from political science, have received funding for PFF. In addition to formal PFF programs, the literature on graduate education suggests that many doctoral departments have established their own training routines to assist graduate students as they prepare to teach and/or to assume faculty responsibilities.
The Toxic Effects of Multiple Persistent Organic Pollutant Exposures on the Post-Hatch Immunity Maturation of Glaucous Gulls

This study tested whether the immune system of the glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) chicks became affected by existing environmental contaminants. An experimental group was given food that mimicked the natural contaminant mixture found in food from the North Atlantic marine environment, while the control group was given the equivalent of nearly clean food. All chicks were immunized with herpes virus (EHV), reovirus (REO), influenza virus (EIV), and tetanus toxoid (TET) in order to test their ability to respond to foreign specific antigens. At 8 wk, the experimental group had 3- to 13-fold higher concentrations of hexachlorobenzene (HCB), oxychlordane, p,p′-DDE, and total polychlorinated biphenyls (ΣPCB) than did the control. The experimental group produced significantly lower antibody titer against EIV and had lower concentrations of immunoglobulin-G (IgG) and -M (IgM) in blood. Hematocrit percent and leukocyte numbers did not differ between the two groups. The ability of lymphocytes to proliferate in vitro was tested with three mitogens, phytohemagglutinin (PHA), concanavalin A (Con A), and pokeweed mitogen (PWM), and three antigens, keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), TET, and Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis tuberculin purified protein derivative (PPD). The experimental group had a significantly higher peripheral blood lymphocyte response to PHA and to spleen lymphocytes in vitro stimulated with Con A and PCB congeners 99 or 153, while the Con A, PWM, KLH, TET, PPD, and Con A plus PCB-156 or -126 showed nonsignificant differences between groups. Data indicate that the combined effect of multiple persistent organic pollution exposures occurring naturally in the Arctic negatively affect the immune system of the glaucous gull chick.
Analytical performance of the Albumin Cobalt Binding (ACB®) test on the Cobas MIRA® Plus analyzer

Abstract Recently a new biological marker, Ischemia Modified Albumin (IMA®), measured by the Albumin Cobalt Binding (ACB®) test, was introduced for detection of myocardial ischemia. During ischemia, the metal binding capacity of albumin for certain transition metals like cobalt is reduced. The precise mechanism of action for producing IMA is not known but appears to be related to the production of reactive oxygen species that modify the metal binding sites. The ACB test is a quantitative assay that detects IMA by measuring the cobalt binding capacity of albumin in human serum. We evaluated the analytical characteristics of the ACB test, and reagent and specimen stability, using the Cobas MIRA® Plus instrument. Coefficients of variation for within-run and between-run assays were <4%. No significant interference was observed for concentrations of triglycerides and hemoglobin up to 7 mmol/l and 3.8 g/l, respectively. No interference was apparent with bilirubin. Measures from paired samples of heparinized plasma and serum were not equivalent. The assay is validated for commercial use with serum, therefore our study reported results for serum specimens only. All assays were completed within 5 hours after blood withdrawal. The one-sided upper 95th percentile, calculated for the ACB test in 150 healthy subjects, was 87.00 U/ml. There was no observed difference between men and women or with age. We conclude that the ACB test adapted on the Cobas MIRA Plus analyzer is satisfactory, but strict attention to sample handling procedures is necessary to maintain stability of the analyte.
Output Stabilization and Real Rigidity

We use a simple model to show that there is a positive relationship between monetary policy preferences for output stability, real rigidity and macroeconomic persistence. This result has two non-trivial implications. First it suggests that output stabilization may be a less desirable policy target since it generates real rigidity and macroeconomic persistence. Second, it provides a theoretical rationale as to why models in which monetary policy does not respond to output have been typically unable to replicate the persistence observed in real data.
An Exploratory Study of the Valuation Properties of Cross-Listed Firms' IAS and U.S. GAAP Earnings and Book Values

Despite the increasing integration of global capital markets, there is little evidence on the valuation properties of cross‐listed, non‐U.S. firms' accounting variables. We use the relative performance of the earnings capitalization, the book value, and the residual income valuation models to explore the valuation properties of International Accounting Standards and U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles earnings and book values reported by non‐U.S., cross‐listed firms trading in a common equity market. Using non‐U.S./non‐U.K. firms whose shares trade on the International Stock Exchange Automated Quotation system in London, we find that the earnings capitalization model is the dominant accounting‐based valuation model when crosslisted firms report under International Accounting Standards. In contrast, we find that when cross‐listed firms report under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, the residual income model is the dominant accountingbased valuation model. Our exploratory study provid.