Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Competence building in foreign subsidiaries : The case of new EU member states

This article examines patterns of competence-building in foreign subsidiaries located in new member states of the European Union. Among the theoretical foundations of this paper are the concepts of dynamic capabilities and subsidiary-specific advantages. We consider subsidiary competences as a combination of distinctive competences built into particular business functions. Furthermore, we examine sources of competences, and complementarities between these sources. We use a proprietary database to examine the research topic and find distinctive uneven growth of functional competences over time, distinctive patterns of complementarities between different functional competences and specific patterns of access to sources of competence. Finally, we discuss managerial and policy implications.
A New Look at the Fama-French Model: Evidence Based on Expected Returns

We test the Fama-French three-factor model for a large international data set using an alternative proxy for expected returns - the implied cost of capital (ICC). The implied risk premiums of the three factors are all highly significant. Also, the cross-country variation of each of the three factor risk premiums is much smaller compared to their counterparts based on realized returns. For all countries, we find the cross-sectional variation in expected stock returns not only to depend on the stock’s market risk but also to be driven by its exposure toward the implied size and value factors. Moreover, even though portfolio intercepts for the three-factor model display significant alphas, they are very small from an economic perspective. We conclude that the Fama-French three-factor model is an appropriate asset pricing model using this alternative proxy for expected returns.
A comprehensive look at the re-examination of the re-evaluation effect of auditor switch and its determinants in Malaysia: a post crisis analysis from Bursa Malaysia

This study examines economic rational for auditor switch and its impact on share revaluation of 51 switched firms main board of Bursa Malaysia for the post crisis period (1997-2002). This study adopted both logistic regression model and event study methodology to examine the determinants of auditor switches and its impact to share price. Findings show that the auditor switch decision of Malaysian listed firms for post crisis period has been partly explained by audit report, turnover growth and firm's performance. While, findings suggest no significant evidence of wealth effect from auditor switch announcements once switches were divided along the line of auditor switch type, different findings emerged.
Arbitrage and the Existence of Competitive Equilibrium

A general equilibrium model of markets for commodities and assets is considered. The author develops the notion of a price system that admits no arbitrage opportunity and demonstrates the fundamenta l role of this concept for the theory of the existence of a competiti ve equilibrium. A price system admits no arbitrage opportunity for a consumer if every bundle of desired commodities has a positive market value. The author proves that the existence of a price system that a dmits no arbitrage opportunity for all consumers is sufficient for th e existence of an equilibrium. Copyright 1987 by The Econometric Society.
From Pablo to Osama: Counter-terrorism Lessons from the War on Drugs

In wars on drugs and terrorism, states confront daunting adversaries: transnational networks of criminals and terrorists that carry out illegal activities, while avoiding government efforts to destroy them. These illicit enterprises share numerous similarities, including compartmentalised structures, flat decision-making hierarchies and an aptitude for organisational adaptation. While the US and its counter-terrorism partners have achieved substantial results against al-Qaeda, similarities among traffickers and terrorists, and lessons from two decades of war on drugs suggest a number of difficulties in dismantling terrorist networks. If policymakers hope to achieve lasting victory in the war on terror, they must move beyond a strategy based on leadership interdiction and devote greater diplomatic, political, and economic resources to addressing the 'demand side' of terrorism.
Is the January effect still alive in the futures markets?

Abstract The January effect concerns the fact that small capitalization stocks have historically outperformed large capitalized stocks in January. We analyze evidence as to whether this anomaly can be exploited in the futures markets as a speculative investment or to add risk-adjusted value to portfolio performance. We find that the January effect is still alive in the futures markets on the Value Line minus S&P 500 spread trade, but that the marginal liquidity of the Value Line stock index futures contract has made it very risky to exploit the effect. Historically from 1982/3 to 2004/5, the trade has been profitable. This anomaly was also exploitable through a Russell 2000 minus S&P 500 spread trade from 1993/4 to 2004/5.
Nasal Eosinophilia and Serum Soluble Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 1 in Patients with Allergic Rhinitis Treated with Montelukast Alone or in Combination with Desloratadine or Levocetirizine

Background Because intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM) 1 and recruitment of eosinophils are crucial in supporting allergic inflammation, their down-regulation may bring additional benefits in patients’ recovery. We have assessed nasal eosinophilia and serum soluble ICAM-1 (sICAM-1) concentrations in relation to nasal symptoms in patients with persistent allergic rhinitis (AR) treated for 6 weeks with either desloratadine, levocetirizine, montelukast alone, or in combination. Methods In this single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover, two-arm study, 40 patients with persistent AR were randomized to receive either montelukast and/or levocetirizine or placebo (n = 20) or to receive treatment with montelukast and/or desloratadine or placebo (n = 20). Nasal eosinophilia and concentration of sICAM-1 in peripheral blood were assessed before and on the last day of each treatment period. Results All active treatments in both arms of the study resulted in the decrease of sICAM-1 and nasal eosinophilia, which correlated with the severity of nasal symptoms. In the montelukast/levocetirizine arm, montelukast decreased nasal eosinophilia more significantly than levocetirizine, whereas in reduction of sICAM-1 all active treatment options were equally effective. However, in the desloratadine/montelukast arm, the resulting improvement of combination therapy of sICAM-1 and the influx of eosinophils was not statistically significant. Conclusion The improvement of nasal symptoms in patients with AR treated with antihistamines, with or without montelukast, may additionally result from the reduction of sICAM-1 and nasal eosinophilia. Because the combination therapy may bring inconclusive benefits in this area there is a strong need of further studies to find mechanisms that favor combination therapy.
Market Timing and Security Market Line Analysis

The measure of Jensen (1968) is not only the most commonly used performance measure, but also the most heavily criticized one. Jensen (1972) and Grinblatt and Titman (1989), (1995) blame security market analysis to overestimate the beta of a market timing fund, and therefore to underestimate its performance. Admati and Ross (1985) and Dybvig and Ross (1985) show that this can occur even if the fund manager chooses a trading strategy which is efficient with respect to her superior information. The contribution of our paper is to show that both criticisms are misleading. Neither does the Jensen measure provide an upwardly biased estimate of the outside systematic fund risk nor does it blame successful market timers to be poor performers. We first show that the "bias-in-beta" reported by Jensen (1972) and Grinblatt and Titman (1989), (1995) is not an estimation bias, but a second risk factor arising in external performance evaluation. Second, we prove that the Jensen measure of a market timer is positive if she has superior market timing information and uses this information in the interests of her shareholders. Third, the Jensen measure is shown to be the larger the better the fund manager's information is. Our results suggest that research on mutual fund performance based on security market line analysis is unbiased, regardless of whether funds are market timers or not.
Welfare regime and social class variation in poverty and economic vulnerability in Europe: an analysis of EU-SILC

In this paper we address a set of interrelated issues. These comprise increasing concerns about reliance on nationally based income poverty measures in the context of EU enlargement, the relative merits of one-dimensional versus multidimensional approaches to poverty and social exclusion and the continuing relevance of class-based explanations of life chances. When identifying economically vulnerable groups we find that, contrary to the situation with national income poverty measures, levels of vulnerability vary systematically across welfare regimes. The multidimensional profile of the economically vulnerable sharply differentiates them from the remainder of the population. While they are also characterised by distinctively higher levels of multiple deprivation, a substantial majority of the economically vulnerable are not exposed to such deprivation. Unlike the national relative income approach, the focus on economic vulnerability reveals a pattern of class differentiation that is not dominated by the contrast between the self-employed and all others. In contrast to a European-wide relative income approach, it also simultaneously captures the fact that absolute levels of vulnerability are distinctively higher among the lower social classes in the less comprehensive and generous welfare regimes while class relativities are significantly sharper at the other end of the spectrum.
Managerial approaches towards service quality: the case of three service organisations

Using a multiple case study, this paper is concerned with assessing the impact of senior management's approach and attitudes on service quality and its implications for middle and firstline managers. Date from 52 semi-structured interviews representing a variety of managerial levels suggests that there exist many conflicts and differences in senior management's orientation and approach towards quality management (QM) with that of middle and firstline managers. The results further indicate that getting such consistency appropriate to the needs of top, middle, and firstline management, and of the QM itself, is one of the key problems of current management of service quality. However, the findings highlight that where there is consistency between senior managers' underlying approaches towards service quality goal with that of middle and firstline managers, service quality programmes will highly likely produce expected results. Finally, the implications of these findings as well as future research are put forward.
Renewable energy RD&D expenditure and CO2 emissions in 15 European countries

Purpose – Renewable energy (RE) is an important component to the complex portfolio of technologies that have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions and to enhance the security of energy supplies. Despite RE's potential to reduce CO2 emissions, the expenditure on renewable energy research, development, and demonstration (RERD&D) as a percentage of total government energy research, development, and demonstration (ERD&D) investment remains low in developed countries. The declining ERD&D expenditure prompted this research to explore the relationship between CO2 emissions per capita and RERD&D as opposed to ERD&D.Design/methodology/approach – An econometric analysis of annual CO2 emissions per capita during the period 1990‐2004 for the 15 pre‐2004 European Union (EU15) countries was carried out. It was hypothesized that the impact of RERD&D expenditure on the reduction of CO2 emissions would be higher than that of ERD&D expenditure, primarily due to several RE technologies being close to carbon neutral. Country.
Fostering Self-Determination in Higher Education: Identifying Evidence-Based Practices.

Research on the transition of students with disabilities and their post-school outcomes continues to move the field of special education in the direction of evidence-based practices. As special education professionals work to better recognize the impact of instructional and environmental characteristics to prepare youth for their transition, so must postsecondary education professionals. There is a need for a unified research agenda in the field of higher education and disability to conduct rigorous studies on evidence-based practices in the college environment that support self-determination and to identify evidence-based predicators that correlate with improved outcomes in retention, graduation, and further education or employment.
What city amenities matter in attracting smart people

This paper applies a migration choice model to examine what city amenities matter in attracting smart people. I find that young people with different education levels prefer cities with more population, a lower population density, more educated residents, a racially diverse population, lower income inequality, and a warmer winter. In contrast, less crime and better schools appear to be unimportant city amenities for each education group. Moreover, I also find that there is significant heterogeneity in the estimated marginal willingness to pay for some city amenities.
Bridging the post-school institutional gap in sport: evaluating champion coaching in Nottinghamshire

Drop out from youth sport is a world-wide phenomenon and concern (de Knop et al., 1996). This study examines the outcome from participation by 11-14-year-olds in Nottinghamshire Sports Training, a scheme to encourage young people to taste, train, improve and become excellent in a range of sports in nine local authorities, with 80 venues and 200 coaches. Postal surveys of 352 children and 300 parents and interviews with managers, coaches and club officials showed a very high satisfaction rating with the quality of organization coaching and care in clubs, but also concerns including two out of five children claiming not to have information about 'exit routes' from the schemes for continuing to play; and a disproportionately small number from deprived areas. This poses a challenge for new youth sport schemes in the UK.
When is good news really good news?

The impression management literature suggests that managers often resort to biased disclosures. However, there is little systematic evidence on what types of strategies management uses to achieve this bias. Do managers simply lie? Or, do they use more subtle ways of introducing positive bias into corporate narratives, such as selecting specific information items which result in a more positive impression (‘selectivity’) or by keeping their narratives vague and general (‘vagueness’)? In order to differentiate between the two scenarios, I re-examine the positive forward-looking statements examined by Schleicher and Walker (2010) and compare, across firms with improving and deteriorating financial performance, the managerial choices made in relation to eight forecast attributes. I make two observations. First, there are significant differences in the characteristics of good- and bad-news firms’ positive statements. In particular, bad-news firms’ positive statements involve more non-specific time horizons, more segmental forecasts, and more references to conditions and aims and objectives, but fewer directional forecasts, fewer numbers, and fewer reinforcing qualifiers. Second, the identified differences in good- and bad-news firms’ positive statements can be exploited for classification purposes: including into a classification model additional regressors that measure a positive forward-looking statement's level of selectivity and vagueness significantly increases the model's ability to separate firms with improving financial performance from firms with deteriorating financial performance. Overall, my results are consistent with (a) impression management operating predominantly through selectivity and vagueness and (b) selectivity and vagueness being an important signal for future financial performance.
Treatment Goals of Depressed Outpatients: A Qualitative Investigation of Goals Identified by Participants in a Depression Treatment Trial

Treatment goals and preferences of depressed patients are important, but they are rarely empirically studied. Although clinicians are likely to discuss goals with individual patients, research that clarifies overall patterns in the treatment goals of depressed patients could be useful in informing new interventions for depression. Such research could also potentially help address problems such as poor adherence and psychotherapy drop-out. In this preliminary qualitative investigation, we examined treatment goals established by depressed outpatients in the context of a trial of behaviorally oriented psychotherapy. The treatment goals that were most commonly articulated included improving social and family relationships, increasing physical health behaviors, finding a job, and organizing one's home. These results underscore the fact that, in addition to improvement in the symptoms of depression, functional improvements are viewed as key treatment goals by depressed individuals. (Journal of Psychiatric Practice 2010;16:425–430).
Urocortin II: A member of the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) neuropeptide family that is selectively bound by type 2 CRF receptors

Here we describe the cloning and initial characterization of a previously unidentified CRF-related neuropeptide, urocortin II (Ucn II). Searches of the public human genome database identified a region with significant sequence homology to the CRF neuropeptide family. By using homologous primers deduced from the human sequence, a mouse cDNA was isolated from whole brain poly(A)+ RNA that encodes a predicted 38-aa peptide, structurally related to the other known mammalian family members, CRF and Ucn. Ucn II binds selectively to the type 2 CRF receptor (CRF-R2), with no appreciable activity on CRF-R1. Transcripts encoding Ucn II are expressed in discrete regions of the rodent central nervous system, including stress-related cell groups in the hypothalamus (paraventricular and arcuate nuclei) and brainstem (locus coeruleus). Central administration of 1–10 μg of peptide elicits activational responses (Fos induction) preferentially within a core circuitry subserving autonomic and neuroendocrine regulation, but whose overall pattern does not broadly mimic the CRF-R2 distribution. Behaviorally, central Ucn II attenuates nighttime feeding, with a time course distinct from that seen in response to CRF. In contrast to CRF, however, central Ucn II failed to increase gross motor activity. These findings identify Ucn II as a new member of the CRF family of neuropeptides, which is expressed centrally and binds selectively to CRF-R2. Initial functional studies are consistent with Ucn II involvement in central autonomic and appetitive control, but not in generalized behavioral activation.
Diverse gene sequences are overexpressed in werner syndrome fibroblasts undergoing premature replicative senescence

Genes that play a role in the senescent arrest of cellular replication are likely to be overexpressed in human diploid fibroblasts (HDF) derived from subjects with Werner syndrome (WS) because these cells have a severely curtailed replicative life span. To identify some of these genes, a cDNA library was constructed from WS HDF after they had been serum depleted and repleted (5 days in medium containing 1% serum followed by 24 h in medium containing 20% serum). Differential screening of 7,500 colonies revealed 102 clones that hybridized preferentially with [32P]cDNA derived from RNA of WS cells compared with [32P]cDNA derived from normal HDF. Cross-hybridization and partial DNA sequence determination identified 18 independent gene sequences, 9 of them known and 9 unknown. The known genes included alpha 1(I) procollagen, alpha 2(I) procollagen, fibronectin, ferritin heavy chain, insulinlike growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), osteonectin, human tissue plasminogen activator inhibitor type I, thrombospondin, and alpha B-crystallin. The nine unknown clones included two novel gene sequences and seven additional sequences that contained both novel segments and the Alu class of repetitive short interspersed nuclear elements; five of these seven Alu+ clones also contained the long interpersed nuclear element I (KpnI) family of repetitive elements. Northern (RNA) analysis, using the 18 sequences as probes, showed higher levels of these mRNAs in WS HDF than in normal HDF. Five selected mRNAs studied in greater detail [alpha 1(I) procollagen, fibronectin, insulinlike growth factor-binding protein-3, WS3-10, and WS9-14] showed higher mRNA levels in both WS and late-passage normal HDF than in early-passage normal HDF at various intervals following serum depletion/repletion and after subculture and growth from sparse to high-density confluent arrest. These results indicate that senescence of both WS and normal HDF is accompanied by overexpression of similar sets of diverse genes which may play a role in the senescent arrest of cellular replication and in the genesis of WS, normal biological aging, and attendant diseases.
Measuring Socio-Economic GENDER Inequality: Toward an Alternative to the UNDP Gender-Related Development Index

This paper assesses the United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) Gender-Related Development Index (GDI). Although the GDI has increased attention on gender equality in human development, it suffers from several limitations. A major problem is that it conflates relative gender equality with absolute levels of human development and thus gives no information on comparative gender inequality among countries. Using the same indicators as the GDI, the paper constructs a Relative Status of Women (RSW) index, which demonstrates how using a measure of gender equality that abstracts from levels of development results in very different country rankings. However, the RSW is not an ideal measure of gender inequality. The GDI indicators are not the most appropriate ones for measuring gender inequality and hence both the RSW and the GDI have limited validity. The paper concludes by offering a conceptual framework that provides the basis for an alternative measure of gender inequality.
Internet anonymity as a reflection of broader issues involving technology and society

It's a remarkable piece of apparatus. F. Kafka, "In The Penal Colony" The hurricane of social change wrought by information technology can be viewed along with the development of permanent agricultural communities, urbanization, and industrialization as among the great transformations of civilization. It is also important, however, to ask how social and cultural factors affect the forms and processes of information technology, especially across cultures and time periods. We must avoid falling into the reductionist trap of technological determinism which involves a failure to appreciate the extent to which human choices have an effect on technical forms and impacts. This paper contains a discussion of anonymity and information technology to illustrate some general conclusions about why the issues of information technology and society are so complicated and do not lend themselves to easy solutions, and why they support neither the rhetoric of technophiles who optimistically view information technology as the solution to societal problems, nor the technophobes who pessimistically view it as a source of societal problems.