Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE DEFENCE-DEBT NEXUS: EVIDENCE FROM THE HIGH-INCOME MEMBERS OF NATO

The literature in defence economics has tended to focus on the relationship between defence spending and economic growth. Studies examining the linkage between defence spending and government debt have been relatively rare. Given the recent Global Financial Crisis, originating in the developed economies, and the changed international security picture since 9/11, it is timely to reconsider the defence-debt nexus in the rich economies. This study pays particular attention to developing an empirical strategy which is both soundly based on economic theory concerning the evolution of public debt and which uses econometric methods that are welladapted to the dynamic aspects of the relationship. From the standpoint of economic theory, if a government seeks to minimize the distortionary costs of taxation, then taxation will follow a random walk. Unexpected shocks (war and recession) will cause debt. Other idiosyncratic national-level political considerations that affect the evolution of debt can be factored out by the use of a dynamic panel estimation method. Employing the Arellano–Bond dynamic panel model to the data available from members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and North Atlantic Treaty Organization over the periods 1988–2009 and 1999–2009, this study finds that the defence burden is a statistically significant and economically important determinant of public debt.
Investor Sentiment and Pro Forma Earnings Disclosures

We examine the influence of investor sentiment on managers’ discretionary disclosure of “pro forma” (adjusted) earnings metrics in earnings press releases. We find that managers’ propensity to disclose an adjusted earnings metric (especially one that exceeds the GAAP earnings number) increases with the level of investor sentiment. Furthermore, our analyses suggest that, as investor sentiment increases, managers: (1) exclude higher levels of both recurring and nonrecurring expenses in calculating the pro forma earnings number and (2) emphasize the pro forma figure by placing it more prominently within the earnings press release. Additional analyses indicate that the association between investor sentiment and managers’ pro forma disclosure decisions at least partly reflects opportunistic motives. Finally, we find that managers’ own sentiment‐driven expectations also play a role in their pro forma disclosure decisions.
The Relationship Between Stock Market Returns and Rates of Inflation

FOLLOWING SOME RECENT RESEARCH published in the Journal of Finance (Bodie [1], Jaffe & Mandelker [4] and Nelson [7]), this paper examines the relationship between inflation and the rates of return on common stocks using British data. As with the articles by Jaffe & Mandelker and Nelson the basic hypothesis being tested is 'that expected rates of return on common stocks consist of a "real" return plus the expected rate of inflation and that the real rate of return is independent of the expected rate of inflation'; this hypothesis has been referred to as the 'Fisher effect', (see Jaffe & Mandelker [4]) following the work of Irving Fisher [3]. The results for the recent past show that, contrary to American studies based on similar periods (Bodie [1], Fama & Schwert [2], Jaffe and Mandelker [4], Lintner [5], Nelson [7] and Oudet [8]), stock market returns in Britain do provide some support for the 'Fisher effect'. Additionally there was no statistically significant evidence that publicly available information on rates of inflation could be used to earn superior stock market returns.
The impact of aligning supply chain and information system strategies on performance

Supply chain (SC) strategies and information system (IS) strategies in implementing supply chain management (SCM) processes have been individually regarded as vital to SCM performance. However, in empirical research, it remains unclear what kinds of IS strategies should be implemented under what particular SC strategies. The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical understanding of the alignment between SC strategies (caretaker, marketeer and innovator) and IS strategies (efficiency, flexibility and comprehensiveness) and then to investigate its impact on SCM performance. A profile deviation approach is utilised to compute the alignment between these two strategies. A survey was conducted on 151 manufacturers. Our results indicate that the correct alignment between SC strategy and IS strategy contributes a positive effect to the overall SCM performance.
Endometrial progesterone and estradiol receptors in patients with recurrent early pregnancy loss of unknown etiology--preliminary report.

INTRODUCTION It is not possible to identify the cause of the recurrent early pregnancy loss in approximately half of the cases, and different results have been reported according to estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR). The objective of this work was to evaluate the PR and ER levels in the endometrium of patients with recurrent early pregnancy loss, and to compare them with those of patients with proven fertility. MATERIAL AND METHODS Endometrial receptors (R) for estrogen and progesterone as well as estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P) levels were determined in patients with recurrent early pregnancy loss, and compared with patients with proven fertility. RESULTS The E2 and P levels, and the E2/P ratio did not show significant differences among the groups. Estrogen receptor in the cytoplasm and nucleus was lower in those with miscarriages, but without significant differences between the groups. However, the cytoplasmic PR was lower in those with pregnancy loss (p < 0.04), while nuclear PR was lower in the control group (p < 0.04). CONCLUSION Maybe low PR levels can be the cause of early pregnancy loss of unknown etiology, but this deserves further investigation.
Region, Local Context, and Voting at the 1997 General Election in England

There has been considerable debate in recent work on voting patterns in Great Britain regarding the importance of regional effects: are these “real” or are they simply statistical artifacts of decision‐making processes at smaller spatial scales which are aggregated up to the regional scale if not incorporated directly into any modeling? Using a multilevel model design, this article reports on analyses of survey data for the 1997 general election in England which allows tests of whether regional variations are no more than aggregation effects. Individual voters are nested within households, neighborhoods, constituencies, and regions and when all of the smaller‐scale spatial levels are included in the model, the observed regional effects are statistically insignificant. At the 1997 general election, at least, regional variations within England in support for the three main parties—basically, a north‐south divide—are aggregation effects.
Beneficial Effects of Anti-Interleukin-6 Antibodies on Impaired Gastrointestinal Motility, Inflammation and Increased Colonic Permeability in a Murine Model of Sepsis Are Most Pronounced When Administered in a Preventive Setup

Background and Objectives During sepsis, gastrointestinal ileus, mucosal barrier dysfunction and bacterial translocation are accepted to be important triggers that can maintain or exacerbate the septic state. In the caecal ligation and puncture animal model of sepsis, we demonstrated that systemic and colonic interleukin-6 levels are significantly increased coinciding with an impaired colonic barrier function. We therefore aimed to study the effect of therapeutic or curative administration of anti-IL6 antibodies on overall GI motility, colonic permeability and translocation of intestinal bacteria in blood and mesenteric lymph nodes in the mouse caecal ligation and puncture model. Methods OF-1 mice were randomized to either the preventive or curative protocol, in which they received 1 mg/kg of antibodies to interleukin-6, or its IgG isotype control solution. They subsequently underwent either the caecal ligation and puncture procedure, or sham-surgery. GI motility was assessed 48h following the procedure, as well as colonic permeability, serum and colon cytokines, colonic tight junction proteins at the mRNA level; cultures of blood and mesenteric lymph nodes were performed. Results Preventive administration of anti-interleukin-6 antibodies successfully counteracted the gastrointestinal motility disturbances and impaired colonic barrier function that could be observed in vehicle-treated septic animals. Serum and colonic levels of proinflammatory cytokines were significantly lower when animals were preventively treated with anti-interleukin-6 antibodies. A repetitive injection 24h later resulted in the most pronounced effects. Curative treatment significantly lowered systemic and colonic inflammation markers while the effects on transit and permeability were unfortunately no longer significant. Conclusions Caecal ligation and puncture resulted in septic ileus with an increased colonic permeability. Antibodies to interleukin-6 were able to ameliorate gastro-intestinal motility, suppress inflammation and normalize the permeability of the colonic wall, with the preventive administration combined with a repeat injection being far more efficacious than the sole preventive or curative one.
Work return rates after childbirth in the UK - trends, determinants and implications: a comparison of cohorts born in 1958 and 1970

During the 1980s a significant growth in the proportion of women returning to work quickly post-childbirth became apparent. It was observed, however, that a polarization of opportunities was emerging, with professional women becoming the main beneficiaries of change - a trend that was predicted to accelerate during the 1990s. Comparing two cohorts of women born in 1958 and 1970, this article indicates that the trend toward faster returns continued but that the experiences of professional and non-professional women converged.The predictors of return rates also changed over this period: while occupational class was an important determinant of return timing in the 1980s, by the mid-1990s this was no longer the case. Instead the financial burden of mortgage debt was pushing women into early work returns. Associated with these changes, a reduction in the incidence of downward occupational mobility, was observed, with the greatest improvements experienced by clerical and secretarial workers.
Sensitivity of Executive Pay to Accounting Performance Measures in All-Equity Firms

We investigate the relation between chief executive officer compensation and accounting performance measures as a function of the firm's capital structure. We specifically analyse pay-performance relationships for all-equity firms relative to high-levered firms. We find a significant positive association between return on equity and the level of compensation for all-equity firms. Consistent with optimal contracting theory, we cannot discern any such relationship for high-levered firms. Because of agency costs of debt, managerial compensation in high-levered firms plays the role of a precommitment mechanism in addition to its conventional role of aligning management incentives with shareholder interest. Copyright 2005 Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand.
Sunk in space: the economics of the European satellite industry and prospects for liberalization

European satellites Damien Neven, Lars-Hendrik Roller and Leonard Waverman The EC Commission is proposing significant liberalization of the European satellite industry, relying on competition in operations in space to generate lower prices for end-users and lower costs for manufacturers on earth. However, since both manufacture and operation entail scale economies, full liberalization may be inefficient. We construct a model of both the manufacture and operation of satellites, and calibrate it with real data. We then simulate different policies. We conclude that, although some form of liberalization should be welcomed, existing satellite operators will then make losses. Some exit will be required (mainly the government-owned PTTs) even though, with lower prices, the market will expand. Further consolidation of satellite manufacturers is also required if European producers are to compete with those in the US. Cogent policies need to be designed to safeguard competition whilst preventing predation.
Environmental accounting and change in UK local government

Purpose – This paper aims to explore environmental accounting in terms of long‐term societal transition towards “sustainable development”. Design/methodology/approach – Accordingly, the paper uses an abstracted and generic framework of antecedents to “deinstitutionalisation” (the erosion or discontinuity of institutionalized organisational activities or practices) to analyse a case study of how a UK local government council is responding to an environmental agenda in the context of an array of gradual political, functional and social pressures to change its activities.Findings – The findings of the study indicate how, in different ways, environmental accounting is pressed into use to promote such change.Originality/value – Contrary to other frameworks which emphasise how environmental accounting is potentially constructive/empowering or captured/colonized, drawing on this case study the paper argues that environmental accounting may in contrast be mobilised to contribute to a process of deinstitutionalisat.
English pronouns in the writing of some Batswana students

This paper examines the morphological and syntactic differences between English and Setswana pronouns, and how these differences manifest in students usage of English pronouns at the University of Botswana. It also discusses some of the ways by which the learners may be assisted to become more proficient in using English pronouns. An analysis of 542 essays written by second and fourth year students of the Department of English reveal the following categories of pronoun errors: the intrusion of an independent subject pronoun between a subject and its verb, the conflation of the standard expression the onethe other into the otherthe other, inter substitution of they/there/their, lack of gender and case distinctions, use of pronouns without antecedents and pronoun referent agreement errors. In terms of the sources of these errors, the paper shows that the first six types of errors seem to relate directly or indirectly to the morphological and syntactic structures of Setswana pronouns while the last type is largely intralingual. The paper recommends that policy planners should recognise the existence of Botswana English and its influence on learners acquisition of English, and appropriately reflect this in language teaching policy, tests and exams in the country. It also suggests that teachers should raise their awareness of Botswana English in order to be able to distinguish between learners usage that are unpredictable and those that have become systematic localisms, and delegate more learning responsibility to the learners themselves.
Getting on or Getting By? Women, Social Capital and Political Participation

This article considers the utility of the concept of social capital in explaining differences in patterns of political participation among women and men, with particular reference to local politics and governance in Britain. It investigates whether women have access to the same quantity of social capital as men, whether their social capital is of the same type, and whether they use their social capital in the same way as men. Taking forward the ‘capital’ analogy, the article looks at how rich women are, and the extent to which they invest their social capital in political activity. As well as providing new insights into women's political behaviour, the analysis illuminates key issues for the broader social capital debate—regarding the distribution of social capital within communities, and the nature of the link between networks of sociability and patterns of political engagement.
What determines obesity in oil-rich UAE? New evidence from survey data

We conduct a survey on university undergraduate students and use the novel data set to investigate the possible determinants of overweight and obesity in the UAE. Our results indicate that being male, married, rich and non-national is associated with higher BMI and students with these features are in greater risk of overweight/obesity. For students originating from MENA countries, we find a positive effect for eating out, income and computer use.
Pore selectivity analysis of an aquaglyceroporin by stopped‐flow spectrophotometry on bacterial cell suspensions

Background information. Transport of water and small neutral solutes across plasma membranes is facilitated by AQP (aquaporin) and aquaglyceroporin channels, which belong to the MIP (major intrinsic protein) family. So far, more than 800 MIP proteins have been identified on the basis of sequence homology, but only less than 10% of them have been functionally characterized. In most studies, the channel properties of MIP proteins have been determined by using Xenopus oocyte swelling assays or stopped‐flow spectrophotometry on proteoliposomes. As both methods sometimes present disadvantages, we developed an alternative method for analysing MIP function.
Do Investors Ignore Dividend Taxation? A Reexamination of the Citizens Utilities Case

Abstract Citizens Utilities Company (CU), Stamford, CT, has two classes of common stock, one paying cash dividends and one paying stock dividends. Unless CU shareholders ignore dividend taxation, the price of the cash dividend shares should increase relative to the stock dividend shares after the 1986 tax change. Contrary to this hypothesis, we find that the relative valuation of these two classes of shares was not permanently affected by the tax change. We do observe a pricing change around the time of the tax reform, but the effect is only temporary—the relative valuation before the tax change (1982–1984) and after (1987–1989) is almost equal. Two possible explanations for the observed valuation of the two stocks are clientele effects and differences in liquidity. We find that neither of these explanations can account for the relative pricing of the shares.
A Model of Regulated Open Access Resource Use

Abstract This paper develops a model of regulated open access resource exploitation. The regulatory model assumes that regulators are goal oriented, choosing target harvest levels according to a safe stock concept. These harvest quotas are implemented by setting season lengths, conditioned on the industry fishing capacity. The industry enters until rents are dissipated, conditioned on season length regulations. Harvest levels, fishing capacity, season length, and biomass are determined jointly. Using parameter estimates from the long-regulated North Pacific Halibut fishery, predictions of these variables from the regulated open access model are compared to predictions that arise from the Gordon model.
Revealed preference analysis of red wine attributes using polarisation

Purpose – The usual method of analysis of product attributes in marketing is to fit a multinomial logit model within a stated choice experiment, to determine the impact of attributes on the choice probability, which is equivalent to market share. The market share is intuitive and is based on each single choice in the study. However, revealed preference allows for a study into repeat purchase and loyalty, which can also be rich constructs for determining consumer preference.Design/methodology/approach – The authors introduce a loyalty measure, polarisation, and show results based on a wine data set of revealed preference. Polarisation is a function of the beta binomial distribution (BBD) and can also be a function of the Dirichlet multinomial distribution (DMD). The DMD provides a standardised or average loyalty effect for each attribute (such as wine variety), and the BBD an individual effect for each attribute level (such as cabernet) within the attribute. While the DMD results provide a rich “first‐pass.
Capital Mobility, Consumption Substitutability and the Effects of Monetary Policy in Open Economies

Abstract I use a dynamic general equilibrium two-country optimizing model to analyze the implications of international capital mobility for the short-run effects of monetary policy in an open economy. The model implies that the substitutability of goods produced in different countries plays a central role for the impact of changes in the degree of international capital mobility on the effects of monetary policy. Paralleling the results of the traditional Mundell-Fleming model, a higher degree of international capital mobility magnifies the short-run output effects of monetary policy only if the Marshall-Lerner condition, which is linked to the cross-country substitutability of goods, holds.
Neoliberalization, decentralization and community-based natural resources management in Malawi: The first sixteen years and looking ahead

This article reviews the paradoxical gap between theory/policy and reality from 16 years of community-based natural resources management (CBNRM) in Malawi’s fisheries, forestry and wildlife sectors, focusing on influences of imported neoliberal blueprints. The article argues that CBNRM has created shifting institutional hybridities melding neoliberal principles and modern institutions with neo-patrimonial institutions, producing more challenges than opportunities. Recent gains and bias toward revenue generation have not been matched by practical measures for ecological sustainability. Synthesis of trends, challenges, lessons and opportunities through an institutional choice lens contributes to understanding of relative costs and benefits of CBNRM in delivering ecological and socio-economic goals.
The Cost of Unemployment and its Effects on Gdp Growth in Nigeria

Majority of the works done on the relationship between unemployment and output growth focused on the development economies relativity, few have focused on unemployment and output growth in developing countries. In view of that, the most recent of these works was done by Orji U. (2011) but he failed to capture the effect of structural adjustment programme in his work. He equally included inflation and real gross domestic product which are not supposed to enter into his model at the same time. As a result, this study tends to find out the magnitude of the impact of unemployment on output growth as well as capture the effect of structural adjustment programme. To effectively achieve these objectives, the ordinary least square techniques will be employed. The sample size used in this regression analysis is 40 observations. The technique of data collection was purely secondary from the Central Bank of Nigeria, 2012 version. The result of the analysis showed that unemployment has a negative relationship with the real gross domestic product in Nigeria. This result was in line with the postulation of Arthur Okun (1962). This work equally shows that structural adjustment programme has inverse relationship with unemployment in Nigeria.
Abnormal Returns and Expected Managerial Performance of Target Firms

We argue that the association between abnormal returns and expected managerial performance of target firms reveals alternative motives behind acquisitions. We test for the disciplinary motive by regressing abnormal returns against the earnings forecast revisions of target firms. A negative slope coefficient is consistent with disciplinary acquisitions because gains from disciplinary actions are likely to be high when target firms’ managerial performance is expected to decline in the future as stand-alone firms. A positive coefficient is consistent with non-disciplinary acquisitions because unexpected increases in targets’ performance as stand-alone firms imply higher expected gains associated with better investment decisions. Our results indicating higher abnormal returns for targets with negative earnings forecast revisions suggest that investors are more optimistic about disciplinary rather than non-disciplinary acquisitions.