Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Crime and Development in Africa

By itself, development seems to have nothing to do with crime. But when considered as a dynamic process of change, development and deviant behavior become in separable. As the move away from traditional society gains momentum, the traditional institutions and way of life give way to new ideas of social organization, behavior, and author ity, and many see this change as an opportunity to discard old values. The situation is further complicated by the rapidity of change which leaves little time to adjust to development problems. Industrialization accompanied by population redis tribution, dissipation of traditional forms of social control, social mobility and technological changes, and improved mass communication are some of the factors of development which tend to increase opportunities for deviant behavior. Poor housing, disorientation of family life, unemployment, rapid population growth, and special labor needs of some enter prises also are conducive to crime and delinquincy. There is a need for a determined effort to correct or remove the socio-economic imbalances that are known to be detrimental to development through systematic planning and programming.
Analysis of Non-conventional Indicators of Gender Relations: Evidence from Pakistan

Since 1980 many developing countries have adopted two major macroeconomic strategies: Stabilisation and Structural Adjustment. A generally held view regarding the impact of these macroeconomic strategies is that it led to unemployment, low investment, decline in real wages, capital flight, rise in inequality and poverty. All these resulted in deterioration in living conditions of the poor in the short run.1 In some cases, the long run benefits, if any, of these programmes are sacrificed due to the high social costs in the short run. A number of studies, examining the impact of the observed macroeconomic impact of the Structural Adjustment Policies (StAP), report mixed impact on women. For example, on the one hand, Khan (1999) found an increasing trend in feminisation of agricultural labour2, and feminisation of poverty3 while Brown (1992), on the other hand, reports employment as a key factor in determining women’s empowerment and argues that some aspects of economic reforms hold for improvement in the long-run. The argument is based on the assumption that greater economic role for women offers protection and that employment itself mitigates against domestic violence. However, the overall effect of structural adjustment is difficult to measure as it varies across countries, across sectors, and across individuals within a household.
Cost-Effective Spatial and Dynamic Management of a Eutrophied Baltic Sea

Abstract The purpose of this article is to calculate cost-effective spatial and dynamic allocations of nutrient abatement for reaching targets in a large sea with different and interlinked marine basins. A discrete dynamic model was constructed to account for measures affecting both nitrogen and phosphorus and heterogeneous and coupled marine basins within the sea. Theoretical results revealed that positive decay rates of nutrient pools in the marine basins reduce abatement costs by delaying abatement over time. The results also showed that simultaneous management of both nutrients reduces overall abatement costs as compared with separate management. An empirical application to the intergovernmental agreement on nutrient pool targets in the Baltic Sea was made by combining results from an oceanographic model with an economic model of abatement costs. The results indicate that modest changes in decay rates make a significant impact on abatement costs and that simultaneous implementation of targets for both nutrients can reduce total cost by approximately 15% compared with separate treatment. A robust result is the finding that one country, Poland, faces much higher abatement costs than the other eight riparian countries because of its relatively large discharges into a marine basin with a stringent phosphorus target and slow response to load changes. JEL Classification Codes: Q25, Q28, Q23
DIVIDEND POLICY AND NEW EQUITY FINANCING

THE PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER IS to investigate the combined effect of dividend policy and new equity financing decisions on the market value of the firm's common stock. Some basic aspects of a conceptual framework are explored, and empirical tests are performed with year-end 1968 cross sections for two industries, using a well-known valuation model. The results must be considered exploratory, but the method of analysis should prove useful in future investigations.
The impact of outward-oriented economic reforms on income inequality in China

iii LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES xi ABBREVIATIONS xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1 1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY AND METHODOLOGIES 5 1.3 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS 11 CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS 14 2.
Should Monetary Policy Respond Strongly to Output Gaps?

Much recent monetary policy analysis has featured stochastic simulations with small structural macroeconomic models that include: a spending vs. saving ( IS') sector; a price-adjustment sector; and an interest rate policy rule. The first two are frequently specified so as to reflect optimizing behavior; policy may or may not be specified as optimizing depending on the study's objectives. Some leading issues concern modifications to simple quantitative optimizing models that are needed to generate realistic degrees of persistence in inflation and output-gap variables. A major policy issue is whether it is desirable for monetary policy to respond strongly to the output gap. The paper argues that the latter is unobservable and considers the implications of using a trend-type measure while the true concept is of a type more in keeping with basic theory. In such circumstances, highly undesirable consequences are likely to ensue if policy responds strongly to the measured gap.
Representation and Inclusion in Public Organizations: Evidence from the U.K. Civil Service

Theories of workforce diversity in the public sector assume that organizations that are more representative of the population they serve are more likely to foster an inclusive work climate in which individuals from different sections of society can thrive. The authors examine this assumption by studying whether gender and minority ethnic representativeness are related to perceptions of inclusiveness and the experience of discrimination and bullying within U.K. civil service organizations. Findings suggest that gender representativeness and minority ethnic representativeness are both associated with an inclusive work climate, with each aspect of representativeness positively related to higher perceptions of inclusion and lower levels of discrimination and bullying. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Citizen Engagement in the New Normal Fiscal Environment: Time for Participatory Performance Budgeting (PPB 2.0)?

For the past few years, many developed countries have been struggling with significant fiscal challenges as a result of the Great Recession. According to the International Monetary Fund (2012), the average budget deficit of all governments jumped from 2 percent of the world’s gross domestic products (GDP) in 2008 to about 6.7 percent in 2009, and about 5.5 percent in 2010. The fiscal situation in the U.S., Spain, Japan, and the United Kingdom is relatively worse, with their national deficits reaching almost or beyond 10 percent of their GDP in 2009.
Somatosensory Anticipatory Alpha Activity Increases to Suppress Distracting Input

Effective processing of sensory input in daily life requires attentional selection and amplification of relevant input and, just as importantly, attenuation of irrelevant information. It has been proposed that top–down modulation of oscillatory alpha band activity (8–14 Hz) serves to allocate resources to various regions, depending on task demands. In previous work, we showed that contralateral somatosensory alpha activity decreases to facilitate processing of an anticipated target stimulus in a tactile discrimination task. In the current study, we asked whether somatosensory alpha activity is also modulated when expecting incoming distracting stimuli on the nonattended side. We hypothesized that an ipsilateral increase of alpha to suppress distracters would be required for optimal task performance. We recorded magneto-encephalography while subjects performed a tactile stimulus discrimination task where a cue directed attention either to their left or right hand. Distracters were presented simultaneously to the unattended hand. We found that alpha power contralateral to the attended hand decreased, whereas ipsilateral alpha power increased. In addition, posterior alpha power showed a general increase. Importantly, these three alpha components all contributed to discrimination performance. This study further extends the notion that alpha band activity is involved in shaping the functional architecture of the working brain by determining the engagement and disengagement of specific regions: Contralateral alpha decreases to facilitate stimulus detection, whereas ipsilateral alpha increases when active suppression of distracters is required. Importantly, the ipsilateral alpha increase is crucial for optimal task performance.
ESSAYS ON PUBLIC GOOD DECISIONS The Role of Context at the Micro and Macro levels

This thesis is a collection of submitted or published papers that I wrote during my four years of doctoral studies in development economics at the NADEL Institute of the ETH Zurich. The general idea for this thesis is to address how social decisions (decisions involving socially relevant goods or services) are influenced by their environmental context. The definition of the environmental context was deliberately broad to accommodate different settings, from micro-decision at the individual level to aggregated macro-analysis of economic activity. The four papers that comprise this thesis all have a strong common thread which is the influence of external environmental contexts on the optimal decisions of agents. These contexts can be the existence of risk (first paper), the influence of group decisions (second paper), the existence of environmental services (third paper) or the recognition of climate change impacts at the global level (fourth paper). In each case, the nature of the exogenous context greatly influences the optimal decisions and in turn gives information about the choices of the best policy frameworks. These papers cover the two research fields that were at the center of my research during the PhD: empirical decision theory for individuals in developing countries and the analysis of forestry and adaptation strategies in developing countries in the context of climate finance. These topics are examples of the different layers of analysis that permeate the economic analysis of social and collective decisions, from individual preferences to macroeconomic strategies. The papers comprising this thesis also share the same policy objective, albeit at different levels: how are our decisions impacting the welfare of developing countries and poor people?
Measurement of Cardiac Output in Pregnancy by Doppler Technique

Doppler technique of measuring cardiac output was evaluated during pregnancy. In a study of accuracy Doppler technique correlated well with thermodilution, (r = 0.95, y = 1.05x - 0.35). In a study of interoperator variability, the technique was found to be reproducible, (r = 0.92, y = 0.91x + 0.74).
International Inequality and Convergence in Educational Attainment, 1960-1990

The paper examines the international inequality and convergence of educational attainment from 1960 to 1990. Despite the increasing trend in educational attainment, the gap in educational attainment between the developing countries and developed countries and that between males and females increased in the period. However, the relative dispersion of educational attainment--as measured by the coefficient of variation, the Gini coefficient, or the standard deviation of log average years of schooling--declined consistently during the period by either development or gender status. Decompositions of the Gini coefficient indicate that the development gap and the gender gap were the main components for world inequality in educational attainment in both 1960 and 1990. Educational attainment exhibited beta- and sigma-convergence over the period. Copyright 2002 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Quantum Query Complexity of Entropy Estimation

Estimation of Shannon and Rényi entropies of unknown discrete distributions is a fundamental problem in statistical property testing. In this paper, we give the first quantum algorithms for estimating <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-Rényi entropies (Shannon entropy being 1-Rényi entropy). In particular, we demonstrate a quadratic quantum speedup for Shannon entropy estimation and a generic quantum speedup for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-Rényi entropy estimation for all <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha \geq 0$ </tex-math></inline-formula> values, including tight bounds for the Shannon entropy, the Hartley entropy (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha =0$ </tex-math></inline-formula>), and the collision entropy (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha =2$ </tex-math></inline-formula>). We also provide quantum upper bounds for estimating min-entropy (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha =+\infty $ </tex-math></inline-formula>) as well as the Kullback–Leibler divergence. We complement our results with quantum lower bounds on <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-Rényi entropy estimation for all <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha \geq 0$ </tex-math></inline-formula> values. Our approach is inspired by the pioneering work of Bravyi, Harrow, and Hassidim (BHH); however, with many new technical ingredients: 1) we improve the error dependence of the BHH framework by a fine-tuned error analysis together with Montanaro’s approach to estimating the expected output of quantum subroutines for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha =0,1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>; 2) we develop a procedure, similar to cooling schedules in simulated annealing, for general <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha \geq 0$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and 3) in the cases of integer <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha \geq 2$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha =+\infty $ </tex-math></inline-formula>, we reduce the entropy estimation problem to the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-distinctness and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lceil \log n\rceil $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-distinctness problems, respectively.
Financial And Monetary Autonomy And Interdependence Between South Africa And The Other Sacu Countries

The paper uses cointegration and error correction modelling techniques together with tests of weak exogeneity, and monthly interest rates for the period 1990 to 2005, to examine the degree of financial and monetary autonomy and interdependence between South Africa and the other Southern African Customs, Union (SACU) countries. The results reveal a high level of dependence of the other SACU countries' financial systems on South Africa's financial system, which suggests that a monetary unification with a single central bank (South African Reserve Bank) and monetary policy for the union is feasible. Copyright (c) 2008 The Author. Journal compilation (c) 2008 Economic Society of South Africa.
Gefitinib in non-small cell lung cancer

Gefitinib (IressaTM), an orally-active tyrosine kinase inhibitor of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), is the first approved molecular-targeted drug for the management of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Two Phase II trials (IDEAL [Iressa Dose Evaluation in Advanced Lung Cancer]-1 and -2), evaluated the efficacy of gefitinib in advanced NSCLC patients who received ≤ 2 (IDEAL1) or ≥ 2 (IDEAL2) previous chemotherapy regimens. The response rate and disease control rate in IDEAL1 and -2 was 18/12% and 54/42%, respectively. The median survival time and one-year survival rate in both studies were ~ 7 months and 30%, respectively. As gefitinib has demonstrated antitumour activity and an acceptable tolerability profile not typically associated with cytotoxic adverse events, such as hematological toxicities, combinations with cytotoxic drugs have been evaluated. Disappointingly, in chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced NSCLC, gefitinib 250 and 500 mg/day combined with platinum-based chemotherapy (gemcitabine/cisplatin or paclitaxel/carboplatin) did not produce prolonged survival, compared with chemotherapy alone in two large, randomised, placebo-controlled, multi-centre Phase III trials (INTACT [Iressa NSCLC Trial Assessing Combination Treatment]-1 and -2). Furthermore, in a recent randomised, placebo-controlled, Phase III trial (ISEL: IRESSA Survival Evaluation in Lung cancer), gefitinib failed to prolong survival compared with placebo in patients with advanced NSCLC who had failed one or more lines of chemotherapy. Subgroup analysis of ISEL suggested improved survival in patients of Asian origin and non-smokers. In addition, subset analyses of IDEAL and several retrospective studies have indicated that female gender, adenocarcinoma histology (especially bronchial alveolar carcinoma), non-smoker status and Asian ethnicity are factors which predict to response to gefitinib. Two types of somatic mutation clustered around the ATP binding pocket in the tyrosine kinase domain of the EGFR gene have been reported as possible surrogate biological markers for predicting response to gefitinib. Appropriate patient selection by clinical characteristics or genetical information is needed, both for future clinical trials of gefitinib and its routine use in the clinic among patients with advanced NSCLC.
Market orientation, HRM importance and competency: determinants of strategic HRM in Chinese firms

This study examined three factors leading to a firm's adoption of strategic human resource management (SHRM): market orientation, HRM importance and HRM competency. Using a sample of firms from China, empirical results showed that the three factors are significantly related to a firm's adoption of SHRM. Given the transitional nature of the Chinese economy, the moderating effects of ownership types and firm size were also investigated. However, the moderating effects were not as strong as predicted. Managerial implications and directions for future research of SHRM in an emerging economy context are discussed.
The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Australia

Australia is a recipient of large foreign direct investment (FDI) flows by world standards. Despite this, there is little empirical work on the determinants of FDI in Australia. We carry out an econometric analysis of the determinants of aggregate FDI inflows into Australia since the mid-1980s. We find that interest rates, wage changes, a measure of the openness of the economy and a variable representing industrial disputes are important determinants of FDI inflow into Australia over the period. The estimated model successfully explains within-sample variability but this success is greater in the beginning of the sample than at the end. Copyright 2000 by The Economic Society of Australia.
Institutions and Foreign IPO Firms: The Effects of “Home” and “Host” Country Institutions on Performance

In the current study, we develop an institutional embeddedness explanation of foreign initial public offering (IPO) performance. To explain the performance differentials of these firms, we investigate the effects of both “home” and “host” country institutional signals on IPO underpricing using a sample of foreign IPOs listed in two different institutional environments, namely, the U.S. and U.K. stock exchanges. Supporting the view that signals are institutionally embedded and that their value is not universal, we find the salience of signals associated with country of origin is contingent on the institutional environment of the listing exchange.
Ontogeny of the gut motility control system in zebrafish Danio rerio embryos and larvae

SUMMARY Using digital motion analysis, the ontogeny of the cholinergic, tachykinin and pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) control systems was studied in zebrafish Danio rerio larvae, in vivo. For the first time we show that the regular propagating anterograde waves that occur in the zebrafish larval gut before and around the onset [at 5–6 days post fertilization (d.p.f.)] of feeding are modulated by acetylcholine or atropine, PACAP and NKA (neurokinin A). At 3 d.p.f. , when no spontaneous motility has developed, application of acetylcholine did not affect the gut. However, at 4 d.p.f. , acetylcholine increased and atropine reduced the frequency of propagating anterograde waves. At 5 d.p.f. , NKA increased and PACAP reduced the wave frequency. This suggests that both excitatory and inhibitory pathways develop at an early stage in the gut, independent of exogenous feeding. Immunohistochemistry established the presence of gut neurons expressing PACAP and NKA in the proximal part of the developing gut from the first stage investigated (2 d.p.f.) and before regular motility was observed. 1 d.p.f. (PACAP) or 2 d.p.f. (NKA) stages later the whole gut was innervated. This supports physiological results that gut motility is under neuronal control during the period when regular motility patterns develop.
The relative influence of pioneer and follower price on reference price and value perceptions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to integrate literature in the pioneer brand advantage area with the literature on reference prices to examine how reference prices work in a pioneer and follower brand context. There is evidence to suggest that pioneers have a psychological advantage over follower brands, yet how that manifests in terms of reference price effects is not fully understood. The study tests whether the pioneer price and follower price have equal influence on reference prices, or whether the pioneer has a stronger influence.Design/methodology/approach – This research uses a longitudinal experiment to simulate a market of a pioneer brand followed by follower brand, and measures the relative effects of pioneer and follower prices on reference price, value perceptions and purchase intentions. This approach allows greater confidence in the causal nature of the findings.Findings – The results indicate a clear and strong causal effect for the pioneer's price on price and value perceptions of t.