Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Political Connections and Related-Party Transactions: Evidence from Iranian Firms

The present study aims to investigate the association between political connections and related-party transactions for the firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Sample includes the 485 firm-year observations from companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the years 2013 to 2017 and research hypothesis was tested using multivariate regression model based on panel data.We find that political connections are negatively associated with related-party transactions. In other words, politically connected firms are less inclined to exercise opportunistic behaviours by related-party transactions in comparison to other firms. Moreover, additional analysis reveals that the negative relationship between political connections and related-party transactions is more pronounced in larger firms.Our findings not only extend the extant theoretical literature concerning the stock political economy in developing countries including emerging capital market of Iran, but also help investors, managers, capital market regulators, policy makers and accounting standard setters to make informed decisions.
Minimum Wage Employment Effects and Labor Market Concentration

Why is the employment effect of the minimum wage frequently found to be close to zero? Theory tells us that when wages are below marginal productivity, as with monopsony, employers are able to increase wages without laying off workers, but systematic evidence directly supporting this explanation is lacking. In this paper, we provide empirical support for the monopsony explanation by studying a key low-wage retail sector and using data on labor market concentration that covers the entirety of the United States with fine spatial variation at the occupation-level. We find that more concentrated labor markets – where wages are more likely to be below marginal productivity – experience significantly more positive employment effects from the minimum wage. While increases in the minimum wage are found to significantly decrease employment of workers in low concentration markets, minimum wage-induced employment changes become less negative as labor concentration increases, and are even estimated to be positive in the most highly concentrated markets. Our findings provide direct empirical evidence supporting the monopsony model as an explanation for the near-zero minimum wage employment effect documented in prior work. They suggest the aggregate minimum wage employment effects estimated thus far in the literature may mask heterogeneity across different levels of labor market concentration.
Women Authorship of Scholarly Publications in STEMM: Authorship Puzzle

The continued underrepresentation of women in scholarly activities slows down the scientific progress of any country. Several studies have analyzed the women representation in authorship of scholarly publications in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM). Women account only 30% of overall authorship of scholarly articles. Prestigious authorships like first-, last- and corresponding authors also show significant underrepresentation of women. Women as first authors are significantly increasing since last decades; however, growth of last authors is not significant and share of corresponding authors not changed. Women show low overall impact of scholarly publications due to lower productivity but not for quality of publication. This gender authorship puzzle can be solved by adopting gender responsive planning and management. Therefore, systematic efforts to understand the gender disparities in scholarly publications, authorship citations and collaborations require for achieving significant positive change in the share of women in academic authorship, impact and career. The field is new, active, attractive and interesting area of research to achieve gender equality in scientific research and publications for social welfare.
Impact of population growth on Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emission: empirical evidence from Nigeria

This paper seeks to examine the impact of population growth on carbon dioxide emission in Nigeria. Time series data from 1975 to 2016 was adopted. Variables such as population, affluence and technology were used as independent variables which were extracted from the IPAT equation. Econometric tools such as Ordinary Least Squares were adopted. The findings show that there is a positive association between CO2 emission, population and technology whereas affluence has a negative relationship with CO2. The study concluded that the population growth has a marginal impact on the level of CO2 emission. The paper recommended that there is need for the government to adopt a climate friendly technology that will minimize the increasing CO2 emission, improve on its GDP alongside controlling her population growth.
Influence of team members’ characteristics on the sustainability of continuous improvement initiatives

This article aims at examining the influence of teams’ characteristics on the sustainability of Continuous Improvement (CI) initiatives. To achieve that, two identical manufacturing cells undergoing CI implementation and subordinated to the same leadership were investigated through a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. While one team has shown a sustained and increased performance, the other could not maintain improvements and worsened its performance. As the only factor distinguishing cells is team composition, we verify which team characteristics impact on CI sustainability. Results indicate that workers’ seniority in company and in team, as well as their age positively influence team behaviour regarding the sustainability of CI initiatives. Long-term sustainability of CI initiatives has been a major concern in most companies. Although previous studies have approached the subject from different and complementary perspectives, the understanding of how specific characteristics of team members may influence the sustainability of CI is still vague and imprecise.
Political disagreement and vote volatility: the role of familism across different European countries

Abstract Interpersonal influence shapes political behavior and attitudes. So far, however, little efforts have been devoted to testing this mechanism comparatively in Europe. This paper aims at explaining differences in influence patterns in three European countries (Italy, Germany, and the UK). Based on works in demography, we argue that in Mediterranean cultures (characterized by high degrees of familism), people are more prone to be affected by attitudes and behaviors of their relatives with respect to other strong ties (e.g., spouses), while in continental, northern Europe, and the UK, this effect is less important. We test this argument using longitudinal data. Consistent with expectations, results show that the influence of relatives in familistic contexts is stronger than in non-familistic ones. At the same time, the spouse effect (namely, the effect of an intimate, non-relative discussant) is particularly strong in non-familistic contexts (and vice versa). In sum, we demonstrate that public opinion studies can be strengthened by theories developed in other social sciences, such as demography.
Role of Social and Technological Challenges in Achieving a Sustainable Competitive Advantage and Sustainable Business Performance

In the postmodern era of industrialization, sustainable business performance is vital for success in a competitive environment. In order to attain sustainable business performance, Malaysian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are facing various social and technological challenges. The objective of this study was to examine the roles of social and technological challenges in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage and sustainable business performance. To accomplish this objective, first-hand data were collected from Malaysian SMEs. Opinions of managerial staff of these SMEs were preferred regarding the roles of social and technological challenges in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage and sustainable business performance. An email survey was carried out to collect data. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed among managerial staff of SMEs. Questionnaires were distributed by using simple random sampling. By using structural equation modeling, findings of the study revealed that social and technological challenges played major roles in boosting sustainable competitive advantage and sustainable business performance. Moreover, strategic alignment was a key in reflecting the positive roles of social and technological factors on sustainable competitive advantage. Findings of the study are beneficial for practitioners and will allow their strategies to reflect sustainable competitive advantages and sustainable business performance.
Analisis Pengaruh Kualitas Pelayanan, Harga, dan Brand Image Terhadap Kepuasan Konsumen Restoran Pizza Hut Cabang Jember

This study aims to knowing the influence of service quality, price, and brand image. This study is explanatory research. Population is all Pizza Hut customer Jember branch. The sampling method for this study was doing with nonprobability sampling with purposive sampling technique and it got 120 respondents. Data analysis method is multiple linear regression with confirmatory approach. The hypothesis of research is there was influenced service quality toward customer satisfaction, there was influenced price toward customer saisfaction. , and there was influenced of brand image toward customer satisfaction on Pizza Hut Restaurant Jember Branch. The result of study showed up that service quality has influenced customer satisfaction. It indicates that given service by Pizza Hut Restaurant Jember branch according to the customer's hope, and the given service is enough satisfy. In order that, highly service quality will increase customer satisfaction. Price is not influenced customer satisfaction. It cause estimated price in receiving session and normally price is not same as decision from Pizza Hut Jember branch. Brand image is not influenced toward customer satisfaction. It cause brand image which Pizza Hut's got, it has not influenced to positive and negative direction. Keywords: Brand Image, Price, Customer Satisfaction, Service Quality.
Paul Samuelson’s ways to macroeconomic dynamics

Abstract Samuelson kept optimisation-based problems separated from macroeconomic dynamics in his Foundations, where dynamics was defined in terms of difference and differential equations. Despite some criticism of his “correspondence principle” of stability analysis by D.F. Gordon, D. Patinkin and others, it was only in the 1970s that Samuelson’s separation was effectively challenged, particularly by R. E. Lucas. After the Foundations, Samuelson developed dynamic optimisation models, sometimes featuring representative agents, but he did not extend that to the study of macroeconomic fluctuations. Neither did he accept market clearing inter-temporal maximisation as a solution to the micro-foundations problem that beset his models of macroeconomic dynamics. His 1988 nonlinear non-optimising business cycle model was his last contribution to dynamics. Eventually, Samuelson disentangled his 1965 “efficient market hypothesis” of financial economics from rational expectations and claimed that the former should form one of the pillars of macroeconomic dynamics, together with imperfectly competitive markets for goods and labour.
Hydrodynamic Dispersion of Solute under Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Reactions

Received: 28 July 2017 Accepted: 7 May 2018 The present investigation deals with Taylor dispersion of reactive species in Casson liquid in an oscillatory flow because of the pulsatile pressure gradient. The solute is considered to be chemically active at the boundary and also participate a first order reaction within the bulk flow. To evaluate transport coefficients, Aris-Barton moment technique is considered. The solute transport process is discoursed in detailed with respect to yield stress, chemical reaction parameter, Womersly number etc. The study reveals that both wall absorption and bulk flow reaction have a significant response on dispersion phenomena. Both the chemical reactions agree to diminish the negative exchange coefficient and the apparent dispersion coefficient, however, increases the negative convection coefficient. The negative exchange coefficient is independent of yield stress but a significant variation is observed due to yield stress in the cases of negative convection coefficient and the apparent dispersion coefficient. The axial distribution of mean concentration is approximated by using the Hermite polynomial representation of central moments as a function of reaction rate parameters, wall absorbing parameter, yield stress etc. The present article may be useful for the studies related to physiological blood flow analysis.
In search of politically feasible policy-packages for sustainable passenger transport: insights from choice experiments in China, Germany, and the USA

The main obstacle to making the transportation sector ecologically more sustainable is political feasibility. Effective policy-interventions usually encounter strong public opposition as they interfere in costly ways with people’s daily lives, unveiling a dilemma between political feasibility and environmental policy effectiveness. Evidencing the existence of this dilemma, the literature on attitudes towards different policy instrument types maintains that so-called push measures are less supported by citizens than pull measures, and that market-based instruments tend to be less supported than non-market instruments. While these findings may uphold when considering single policy instruments, whether they continue to do so when considering policy-packages, that is, simultaneously implemented policy-interventions consisting of several policy instruments, remains unclear. To identify politically feasible and effective policy-packages aimed at greening the transportation sector we use choice experiments with representative samples of citizens from China, Germany, and the USA (N = 4′876). Contrary to existing literature, we find that public support does not necessarily depend on the instrument type but rather on specific policy design and is highly context dependent. Moreover, despite significant differences between the three country contexts considered, various combinations of policy measures appear to be both potentially effective and supported by most citizens. Altogether, these results suggest that carefully bundled policy-packages may allow governments to employ instruments that would not be politically feasible if introduced in isolation.
Platform Logic: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Platform-Based Economy

Digital platforms are not just software-based media, they are governing systems that control, interact, and accumulate. They also solidify markets; that is, social networks of exchange that do not necessarily leave data traces, into infrastructure, that is, material arrangements of traceable activity. This article examines the forms of domination found in this digital platform model, and corrects some existing simplistic theoretical conclusions about digital platforms. It first provides a schematic overview of digital infrastructures of governance, and the attendant systemic mechanics they engender. It then argues that we need a more syncretic, interdisciplinary approach to the platform-based economy. The shifting emphases of different academic disciplines in relation to digital platforms are only partially grounded in their different normative biases; they can also be attributed to use of different disciplinary lenses. The field of information systems management and design studies is chiefly concerned with direct, technical interplatform affordances and connections, and with providing observations of certain systemic attributes of digital platforms. Critical political economy, by contrast, mainly considers the emerging transnational, geopolitical formations of platform capitalism. The interplay between these different systemic mechanics is summarized and presented here in the concept of “platform logic. ”
The impact of dividend policy on firm performance: A case study of the industrial sector

A dividend is a part of the profit that is distributed among the shareholders. When there is more profit, it increases the dividends which, in turn, increase the stock price of the firm and vice versa, when there is less profit it decreases the dividend payment and the stock price. In Pakistan the companies have no standard policy, therefore, they are open to decide about the dividend payment. The main objectives of the research are aimed at analyzing and investigating factors which affect firm performance such as dividend policy, capital structure short and long term, firm size and firm growth. In this research, the effect of dividend payment policy on the firm’s future performance of the Karachi stock exchange (KSE) listed companies (specifically cement sector) is analyzed. For this purpose, 5 hypotheses are developed and tested. The analyses are carried out by the econometric model (linear regression). The result shows that dividend policy, capital structure long term and firm size influence the performance of the firm (ROE).
A contribution to the basic understanding of nucleate boiling phenomena : generic experiments and numerical simulations

Since Nukiyama's pioneering experiment and findings in the 1930s many researchers have further investigated the boiling process and developed empirical or semi-empirical methods to predict the boiling heat transfer coefficient. However, several details of the local heat transport phenomena are still not fully understood. The heat transfer from the heated wall to the bulk fluid is extremely complex and many aspects are involved: nucleation, dynamic wetting characteristics, surface tension and other fluid properties, gravitation, bulk subcooling, etc… Only in the recent years experimental methods reached spatial and temporal resolutions that allow observing the boiling process on the scales of these individual aspects and local dynamic phenomena in the two-phase boundary layer. Similarly, numerical methods reached a level of robustness and resolution that allows studying the influence of these aspects and phenomena in a computer simulation. This work will give an overview on recent developments and modern experimental and numerical methods nucleate boiling heat transfer research, Results from combined generic experiments and numerical simulations are presented. They give a deep insight into the local and transient transport phenomena in the two-phase boundary layer.
Cost-Benefit Analysis of Leaning Against the Wind

Setting interest rates higher than macroeconomic conditions would warrant due to concerns about financial stability is called 'leaning against the wind'. Many recent papers have attempted to quantify and evaluate the effects of this policy. This paper summarises this research and applies the approach to Australia. The papers we survey see the benefit of leaning against the wind as avoiding financial crises, such as those that affected Australia in 1990 or other countries in 2008. Most of the international research finds that interest rates have too small an effect on the probability of a crisis for this benefit to be worth higher unemployment. Using Australian data, we find similar results. We estimate the costs of leaning against the wind to be three to eight times larger than the benefit of avoiding financial crises. However, research has not yet quantified the increased resilience of household balance sheets, which may be an extra benefit of leaning against the wind.
Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) and Multidimensional Poverty Index: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria

The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on poverty reduction in Nigeria. Data were obtained from 432 small and medium entrepreneurs of Niger State in eight Local Government Areas selected through a cluster sampling technique. Using a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), the measurement model fit was determined, the outer loadings the structural model are highly significance at 0.05 level. The results indicate that all paths in the model are significant i.e. all their β are positive and p-values are < 0.05, and the four hypotheses proposed are supported. The result shows that there are positive changes in the poverty status of the people due to their involvement in SMEs activities of employment, innovation, human capital development and income. The result implies that policy makers, government and their agencies should create an enabling environment through the provision of facilities such viable credit support, reduction in corporate taxes and the infrastructures needed for the opportunities in the SMEs to be harnessed optimally.
Pengaruh Gaya Kepemimpinan Terhadap Kinerja Karyawan (Studi Kasus: Pt Pandu Siwi Sentosa Jakarta)

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh gaya kepemimpinan terhadap kinerja karyawan. Metode yang digunakan adalah kuantitatif, data yang diperoleh melalui riset dan penyebaran kuesioner dengan pengukuran skala Likert, sampel sebanyak 30 responden dari 89 karyawan. Teknik analisis data yang digunakan uji koefisiensi korelasi, uji koefisien determinasi dan persamaan regresi. Berdasarkan perhitungan koefisien korelasi sebesar 0,874 menunjukkan tingkat hubungan yang sangat kuat antara gaya kepemimpinan terhdap kinerja. Hasil koefisiensi determinasi sebesar 76,5% . Artinya variabel Gaya Kepemimpinan terhadap Kinerja Karyawan sebesar 76,5% dan sisanya sebesar 23,5%. Berdasarkan perhitungan regresi sederhana di peroleh persamaan Y= 12,537+0,707X yang menunjukan tanpa adanya gaya kepemimpinan, maka hasil kinerja karyawan sebesar 12,537 dan jika X naik atau turun 1 angka atau jika gaya kepemimpinan di naikan atau di turunkan 1 maka akan menaikan atau menurunkan kinerja karyawan nilai kepuasan 0, 707
Main Beam Controlling Planar Antenna Array Design and Synthesis for Square Kilometre Array and Satellite Applications

Abstract Antenna arrays are currently being used for ultra sensitive radio observations in the project called Square Kilometre Array (SKA). In this paper, a planar array has been proposed to match high spatial resolution and high sensitivity requirements of the SKA, and satellite applications. The proposed design offers a well-controlled and elliptically shaped main beam. In addition, optimized thinned configuration provides minimum side lobe peaks and high directivity by applying modified binary Genetic Algorithm (GA). Design-induced modification in GA with a double-stage uniform crossover operation has been proposed. Array factor, forming the cost function with the constraint of uniform side lobe pattern, has been derived. At first, the design has been examined for side lobe peaks, side lobe pattern, and directivity in the orthogonal planes (φ = 0 and φ = π/2). For direction-specific optimization, design offers a directivity of 32 dB and a peak side lobe level of −25 dB. A comprehensive investigation involving optimization in all the planes (φ from 0 to π) has been carried out, giving a side lobe peak of −20 dB and a directivity of 30 dB. The achievable 3-dB beam width is 0.088, evidently fulfilling the high-resolution requirement of SKA applications. A performance comparison with several state-of-the-art synthesis methods shows that the proposed design in combination with the modified heuristic approach can provide high directivity and low beam width, well-controlled main beam, and a radiation pattern with quite competitive side lobe peaks.