Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Collaboration as a pathway for sustainability

Conventional individualistic behaviours with their quest for profit maximization and wealth accumulation have created economic, environmental and social imbalances in today's world. These imbalances threaten to become worse in the coming years, decades and centuries. Calls and efforts towards sustainable development (SD) seek to establish a dynamic equilibrium among these elements. One of the key elements in the transition towards more sustainable societies is collaboration. This research presents three game theory tools to help rationalize that collaborative behaviours offer better results than individualistic ones. The first presented is the prisoners' dilemma. The second is the tragedy of the commons, a tool similar to the prisoners' dilemma but with more actors increasing the complexity. The third, the Nash equilibrium, offers a mathematical way to attempt to reach a system's optimum, i.e. to obtain the result that would in a totality benefit all the players. The tools are linked to SD problems. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Insurance Taxation and Insurance Fraud

It is common practice in the United States to impose a sales tax on insurance premiums. Insurance benefits are not taxed, and it is typically argued that they should not be taxed because they compensate for a loss. In this paper I present a case where the taxation of insurance benefits is preferable to the taxation of premiums. When insurance fraud is present--in the form of ex post moral hazard--a tax on insurance premiums increases the number of fraudulent claims in the economy, whereas a tax on insurance benefits may reduce fraud. More importantly, however, policyholders are made better off with a benefit tax than with a premium tax. Copyright 2000 by Blackwell Publishing Inc.
Intergenerational Mobility and Marital Sorting

We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel Survey to estimate the extent of intergenerational economic mobility in a framework that highlights the role played by assortative mating. We find that assortative mating plays an important role. On average about 40-50% of the covariance between parents' and own permanent family income can be attributed to the person to whom one is married. This effect is driven by strong spouse correlations in human capital, which are larger in Germany than Britain. Copyright 2006 The Authors. Journal compilation Royal Economic Society 2006.
Attitudes, Intentions and Participation. Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth. Research Report No. 41.

This report looks at the relationship between students’ attitudes to school and intentions to participate in education and training, and how these attitudes and intentions influence participation in Year 12 and in further education and training. Students’ attitudes to school, educational intentions and attainments are examined within the context of earlier school achievement, social background, geographic location, language background and gender. Findings suggest that: 87 per cent of those who indicated that they planned to proceed to Year 12 did so; 79 per cent of those who indicated that they planned to leave school before Year 12 did leave school before Year 12; the correlation between intention to proceed to Year 12 and actual participation is very high (r = 0.80); 52 per cent of those who intended to enter university did participate in university; only 14 per cent of those who indicated that they did not intend to proceed to university eventually participated in university; the correlation between intention and entry to higher education is moderately strong (r = 0.59). The results indicate that intentions for continuing with education as expressed in junior secondary school are important indications of actually continuing in education. These intentions are influenced by a range of factors, including attitudes to school. The contents are: Executive summary; Introduction; Theory, models and data; Results from the model estimations; Conclusion. Included as appendices are: The attitudes to school scale; Analytic methodology; Data.
Electropalatography treatment for articulation impairment in children with dysarthria post-traumatic brain injury

Primary objective: Dysarthria with severe articulatory impairment is a common and debilitating sequelae following severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Eectropalatography (EPG) is an instrumental treatment technique allowing visual feedback of tongue to palate movement during real time articulation. The present study investigated the effectiveness of EPG in treating the articulatory component of dysarthria post-TBI. Study design/methods: The articulatory component of dysarthria post-TBI was treated once per week with EPG over a 10-week period in three adolescents (aged 14 years 10 months–15 years 1 month). A multiple case series ABA treatment design was used. Perceptual (articulation, intelligibility) and EPG (spatial, durational) assessments were conducted pre- and post-treatment to determine outcome. Results/discussion: Perceptual improvement was noted for phoneme precision and length. Spatial EPG measures confirmed increased precision of phoneme production. No clear pattern of change for phoneme duration occurred. Intelligibility increased at word and sentence level, with little change reported in everyday speech intelligibility. Conclusion: This preliminary study indicates that EPG treatment may be effective for improving speech at the isolated phoneme, word or sentence level of articulation. These preliminary results are encouraging, being the first study to report speech changes post-treatment in participants with severe TBI and persistent dysarthria. Further research is required, however, in order to understand the regenerative capacity of articulatory function post-brain injury and to determine optimal treatment parameters for achieving generalization of therapy to everyday connected speech.
Changing contributions of different agricultural policy instruments to global reductions in trade and welfare

Abstract Trade negotiators and policy advisors are keen to know the relative contributions of different farm policy instruments to international trade and economic welfare. Nominal rates of assistance or producer support estimates are incomplete indicators, especially when (as in many developing countries) some commodities are taxed and others are subsidized, in which case positive contributions can offset negative contributions. This paper develops and estimates a new set of more-satisfactory partial equilibrium indicators of the relative contribution of different farm policy instruments to reductions in agricultural trade and welfare. It does so by drawing on the trade restrictiveness index literature and a recently compiled database on distortions to agricultural prices for 75 developing and high-income countries over the period 1960 to 2004. Results confirm earlier findings that border taxes are the dominant instrument affecting global trade and welfare, but they also suggest declines in export taxes contributed nearly as much as cuts in import protection to the trade and welfare effects of agricultural policy reforms since the 1980s.
Distinct Roles of Glycogen Synthase Kinase (GSK)-3α and GSK-3β in Mediating Cardiomyocyte Differentiation in Murine Bone Marrow-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells*

The signaling mechanisms facilitating cardiomyocyte (CM) differentiation from bone marrow (BM)-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are not well understood. 5-Azacytidine (5-Aza), a DNA demethylating agent, induces expression of cardiac-specific genes, such as Nkx2.5 and α-MHC, in mouse BM-derived MSCs. 5-Aza treatment caused significant up-regulation of glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3β and down-regulation of β-catenin, whereas it stimulated GSK-3α expression only modestly. The promoter region of GSK-3β was heavily methylated in control MSCs, but was demethylated by 5-Aza. Although overexpression of GSK-3β potently induced CM differentiation, that of GSK-3α induced markers of neuronal and chondrocyte differentiation. GSK-3 inhibitors, including LiCl, SB 216743, and BIO, abolished 5-Aza-induced up-regulation of CM-specific genes, suggesting that GSK-3 is necessary and sufficient for CM differentiation in MSCs. Although specific knockdown of endogenous GSK-3β abolished 5-Aza-induced expression of cardiac specific genes, surprisingly, that of GSK-3α facilitated CM differentiation in MSCs. Although GSK-3β is found in both the cytosol and nucleus in MSCs, GSK-3α is localized primarily in the nucleus. Nuclear-specific overexpression of GSK-3β failed to stimulate CM differentiation. Down-regulation of β-catenin mediates GSK-3β-induced CM differentiation in MSCs, whereas up-regulation of c-Jun plays an important role in mediating CM differentiation induced by GSK-3α knockdown. These results suggest that GSK-3α and GSK-3β have distinct roles in regulating CM differentiation in BM-derived MSCs. GSK-3β in the cytosol induces CM differentiation of MSCs through down-regulation of β-catenin. In contrast, GSK-3α in the nucleus inhibits CM differentiation through down-regulation of c-Jun.
Does Television Crowd Out Spectators?

This paper examines the impact of live television coverage on attendance at Scottish Premier League soccer matches during the 2002—2003 season. The authors exploit a rich data set which distinguishes match-day attendance into three groups: season ticket holders, pay-at-the-gate home team supporters, and pay-at-the-gate visiting team supporters. This examination of these categories is the first study of its kind. The results indicate matches broadcast live reduce pay-at-the-gate home team supporters by 30%. These results suggest that league administrators and club owners must consider the impact on clubs' traditional supporters when negotiating future broadcasting rights.
Heterogeneity effects from market interventions

The aim of this paper is to test whether the European Commission activities generate a heterogeneity effect on the merging parties. A sample of 74 firms involved in 45 contested merger and acquisition operations during the years 1990 to 1999 is used. The methodology is based on the GARCH framework. The main result is that, globally, the DGC interventions seem not to reduce significantly the heterogeneity among investors, except for the operations where it takes strong decisions like prohibition. In these last cases, the signal coming from the DGC encompasses valuable information and is well understood by market participants.
Neuroprotective effect of asymmetric dimethylarginine against 1‐methyl‐4‐phenylpyridinium ion‐induced damage in PC12 cells

1. Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is a well‐known endogenous nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor. Although it has been shown to be a novel risk marker in cardiovascular medicine and chronic kidney disease, we speculated that in some states associated with excess of nitric oxide (NO), such as 1‐methyl‐4‐phenylpyridinium ion (MPP+)‐induced neuronal injury, ADMA might be protective by limiting the toxic effect of high concentrations of NO.
On the Role of Urban‐to‐Rural Remittances in Rural Development

The postulations presented concerning the role of urban to rural remittances in agricultural devleopment stem from a new theoretical approach to rural to urban migration. At the core of this approach lies the utility maximizing family in its specific agricultural context. The easing of the surplus and risk constraints becomes a crucial conditions for carrying out desired technical change. It is rural to urban migration of a family member (i.e. a son or daughter) that by bypassing the credit and insurance markets who are biased against small farmers facilitiates the change. This migration succeeds in accomplishing by means of its dual role in the accumulation of surplus (acting as an intermediate investment) and through diversification of income sources in the control over the level of risk. From the perspective of the question at hand the implication of the new theoretical approach is manifold. First it is clear that urban to rural remittances cannot capture the total effect that rural to urban migration bears on rural development. Secondly urban to rural remittances cannot be assumed to account for the total accumulation of surplus consequent upon migration. In principle a farm produced surplus and an urban produced surplus account in different situations with differing weights for the total accumulation of surplus consequent upon migration. Urban to rural remittances cannot account for the impact of rural to urban migration on agricultural development or for its total surplus accumulation effect yet it is important to attempt to quanitify these remittances. 2 serious problems are inherent in the usage and interpretation of existing evidence. The 1st problem stems from the intertemporal changes in the magnitude of the urban to rural remittances flow and the second arises from the prevalence of a counter flow. There is no reason why remittances (and migration at large) should not be manipulated to become a vehicle of rural propensity even if they were not conducive to agricultural development in the past. This may require some minimal institutional intervention. Sufficient evidence exists to suggest that rural to urban migration and urban to rural remittances can and have been used to transform agricultural modes of production. What a constructive approach should do is try to analyze why in other cases urban ro rural remittances have been less instrumental to agricultural development.
Cynicism Starts Young: Age and Entrepreneurship over Transition

Studies of self-employment determinants in developed market economies comprise the effects of business cycle, changing social structures or legal framework, industrial organization regulations and government policies. This paper contributes to the literature by analysing the cyclical patterns of self-employment determinants taking into account both the trends associated with the transition and the variability induced by economic and labour market fluctuations. We construct a consistent panel of entrepreneurship choice models based on consecutive quarterly labour force surveys for Poland - a country with nearly highest self-employment rates in CEECs and the EU - across the time span 1995q1-2008q4 and trace changes in the marginal effects estimators. We find that the notion of self-employment as survival strategy emphasised previously in the literature exhibits stronger in the periods of the labour market contraction. We also demonstrate that young university graduates prefer wage employment to entrepreneurship.
Relationship between Franking Credits and the Market Risk Premium: A Reply

We have previously documented an inconsistency between the dividend yield implied by the Officer (1994) model with standard Australian regulatory parameters and actual dividend yields of Australian companies. We have shown that, within the Officer framework, this inconsistency can be resolved by setting the assumed value of franking credits (γ) to zero, consistent with the practice of Australian firms and independent valuation experts. Truong and Partington (2008) and Lally (2008) recognize this same inconsistency and propose alternate ways of resolving it. In this paper, we demonstrate that these proposals are outside the Officer framework. The standard set of regulatory parameters cannot be resolved with observed dividend yields within the Officer framework. Whichever method is used to resolve the inconsistency, the effect will be an increase in the estimated after-tax cost of equity.
Investigation of the Cost-Price Squeeze for Individual Agricultural Commodities

The relationship between prices paid and prices received by farmers for individual agricultural commodities was examined using cointegration analysis. A Johansen and Juselius cointegration test between prices paid and prices received for barley, corn, wheat, and sorghum indicated that the series were cointegrated. Therefore, we do not reject a long-run correspondence between prices paid and prices received for these commodities. The results of this study validate the authors’ previous findings at the aggregate farm price level.
Improving the Design of Financial Products in a Multidimensional Black-Scholes Market

Abstract Using various techniques, authors have shown that in one-dimensional markets, complex (path-dependent) contracts are generally not optimal for rational consumers. In this paper we generalize these results to a multidimensional Black-Scholes market. In such a market, we discuss optimal contracts for investors who prefer more to less and have a fixed investment horizon T > 0. First, given a desired probability distribution, we give an explicit form of the optimal contract that provides this distribution to the consumer. Second, in the case of risk-averse investors, we are able to propose two ways of improving the design of financial products. In all cases, the optimal payoff can be seen as a path-independent European option that is written on the so-called market portfolio. We illustrate the theory with a few well-known securities and strategies. For example, we show that a buy-and-hold investment strategy can be dominated by a series of power options written on the underlying market portfolio. We also analyze the inefficiency of a widely used portfolio insurance strategy called Constant Proportion Portfolio Insurance.
A model for interest rates near the zero lower bound: An overview and discussion

Operating monetary policy when interest rates are already at or near zero comes with many challenges, as many countries have discovered in recent years. One aspect is that, if effective easing beyond a zero policy rate is desired, the policy rate constrained at zero will no longer conveniently summarise the stance of monetary policy and its typical transmission into the yield curve (longer-maturity interest rates) and the economy. In this note, I show how a framework for representing yield curve data in a zero lower bound (ZLB) environment can still allow monetary policy to be conveniently summarised in terms of an effective policy rate.
Reduced orienting to audiovisual synchrony in infancy predicts autism diagnosis at 3 years of age

BACKGROUND Effective multisensory processing develops in infancy and is thought to be important for the perception of unified and multimodal objects and events. Previous research suggests impaired multisensory processing in autism, but its role in the early development of the disorder is yet uncertain. Here, using a prospective longitudinal design, we tested whether reduced visual attention to audiovisual synchrony is an infant marker of later-emerging autism diagnosis. METHODS We studied 10-month-old siblings of children with autism using an eye tracking task previously used in studies of preschoolers. The task assessed the effect of manipulations of audiovisual synchrony on viewing patterns while the infants were observing point light displays of biological motion. We analyzed the gaze data recorded in infancy according to diagnostic status at 3 years of age (DSM-5). RESULTS Ten-month-old infants who later received an autism diagnosis did not orient to audiovisual synchrony expressed within biological motion. In contrast, both infants at low-risk and high-risk siblings without autism at follow-up had a strong preference for this type of information. No group differences were observed in terms of orienting to upright biological motion. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that reduced orienting to audiovisual synchrony within biological motion is an early sign of autism. The findings support the view that poor multisensory processing could be an important antecedent marker of this neurodevelopmental condition.
Üretim sektöründe örgütsel güven, adalet algıları ve örgütsel bağlılık arasındaki ilişkilerin incelenmesi

Uretim sektorunde faaliyet gosteren alti firmadan 224 calisan uzerinde gerceklestirilen bu arastirma ile, adalet algilari, orgutsel guven ve orgutsel baglilik arasindaki iliskiler arastirilmaktadir. Orgutsel guven yoneticiye guven ve orgute guven olarak, orgutsel baglilik ise devam bagliligi ve duygusal baglilik olarak kavramsallastirilmistir. Aciklayici faktor analizleri orgutse baglilik ve orgutsel guvenin boyutlarini desteklemistir. Bu calisma ulkemizde orgut ici iliskilerde guveni gelistirmeyi ve bir butun olarak orgute guveni arttirmayi amaclayan yoneticiler icin onemli bulgular saglamaktadir.Yapilan coklu regresyon analizleri ile prosedurel adaletin (procedural justice) yoneticiye guveni, dagitimsal adaletin ise daha cok orgute guveni etkiledigi ortaya koyulmustur. Diger taraftan orgute guven, devam bagliligini ve duygusal bagliligi yoneticiye guvenden daha fazla etkilemektedir.
Implications of business process management for operations management

Addresses how organizations are approaching Business process management. Following interviews in “leading edge” organizations, qualitative analysis has revealed key themes which may help inform others at an earlier stage in developing their approach to business process management. Presents research propositions, based on these themes, and on a categorization of business processes into operational, support, direction setting and managerial processes. There are implications for operations management in both the probable order of addressing these process categories and in the applicability of techniques and concepts from operations management.
Parenting and money making: sex work and women’s choices in urban Uganda

Based upon detailed life histories of 96 Ugandan sex workers, this article documents the pathways women take into prostitution through marital separation and the subsequent need to support children via rural-urban migration to obtain wage work in Kampala. The money women receive from selling sex and other work helped them to independently pay for their housing children's school fees, and food for their family without receiving support from partners. In their narratives women portrayed themselves as mothers, wives, partners, friends and workers with self-esteem and the hope of improvement in their lives through their own efforts 2 .
The break-up of Indonesia? Nationalisms after decolonisation and the limits of the nation-state in post-cold war Southeast Asia

One noteworthy feature of the political crisis in Indonesia, which followed the Asian financial crisis of 1997 was the speed with which the collapse of the Suharto government was subsumed by a wider crisis of the Indonesian nation-state. One aspect of this crisis is the strengthening of secessionist movements in several regions of Indonesia, calling into question the country's national boundaries, themselves a legacy of the Dutch colonial era. This article examines the tensions in the nation-building efforts of the Indonesian state by focusing on the three territories where secessionist movements have been strongest: East Timor, which has already successfully broken away from Indonesia, and Irian Jaya and Aceh, where long-standing secessionist movements experienced significant growth in the aftermath of the resignation of President Suharto on 21 May 1998. Our analysis emphasises that these secessionist movements arose in direct response to the ways in which the Indonesian state, especially during the Suharto period, went about the tasks of nation-building. In particular, each movement was to a large degree fuelled by brutal and indiscriminate state violence. At the same time, each has been greatly affected by global trends of decolonisation, the Cold War and its aftermath. The distinct timing and manner of each territory's incorporation into the Indonesian nation-state has had a profound influence on the character of, and appeals made by, each movement, as well as on their prospects for gaining support from the wider international system.