Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Standards and export decisions: Firm-level evidence from developing countries

Standards and technical regulations set in importing countries have become a rising concern to exporters, especially to those in developing countries. This paper examines the importance of various types of standards in developing-country firms' export decisions. Drawn from the World Bank Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Survey database, we find that different types of standards exhibit sharply distinct relations with firms' intensive and extensive margins of exports. Quality standards are positively correlated not only with firms' average export volume across markets and products but also their export scope, measured by the number of export markets and products. A similar relationship is found between labeling requirements and export scope. Certification procedures, however, are associated with a significant decline in the number of export markets and export products. Our results suggest that different approaches should be taken to address each type of technical regulations. Not all standards need to be negotiated away to boost trade, but negotiations on certification procedures with the aim of reaching Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) can help firms improve economies of scale and scope.
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy: Why Democracies Fail

Abstract:Based on a new data set of democratizations occurring between 1960 and 2004, this paper explores the reasons for reversals in young democracies. Adverse initial conditions including poverty, inequality, and ethnic fragmentation are associated with the failure of democracy, but the relationship is not deterministic. Likewise, numerous young democracies have survived in spite of disastrous economic performance. Political institutions play a key role in preventing a return to authoritarianism, but the effectiveness of constraints on executive power appears more important than whether the regime is parliamentary or presidential in structure. These findings suggest a need for greater coordination between democracy promotion assistance and aid intended to foster economic development.
Involvement of the Endosomal-Lysosomal System Correlates With Regional Pathology in Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

The endosomal-lysosomal system (ELS) has been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of prion diseases. The purpose of this study was to examine how experimental observations can be translated to human neuropathology and whether alterations of the ELS relate to neuropathologic changes. Combined with stereologic techniques, we examined components of the ELS in human sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease brains. We immunostained for the early endosomal marker Rab5 and lysosomal enzymes cathepsin D and B. We determined neuron-specific changes in their expression and correlated these with the severity of neuropathologic changes. In regions with mild pathology and scant abnormal prion protein (PrPSc) deposition, neurons showed an increased volume of Rab5-immunopositive early endosomes. In contrast, neurons in regions with prominent pathology had an increased volume of cathepsin D- or B-immunoreactive lysosomes. The intraneuronal distribution of cathepsin D and B diverges between Purkinje cells and frontal cortical neurons in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease brains. We demonstrated focal intra- and perineuronal colocalization of cathepsin D and PrPSc. Our results indicate that effects in the ELS correlate with regional pathology. Overloading of this system might impair the function of lysosomal enzymes and thus may mimic some features of lysosomal storage disorders.
Lean Manufacturing, Non-Financial Performance Measures, and Financial Performance

In the last 30 years, many U.S. firms have adopted lean manufacturing strategies. Despite evidence of variation in firms' success with lean strategies, few studies have examined firms' management accounting systems (MAS) as a potential source of the variation. This study uses structural equation modeling to examine whether one MAS component - the use of non-financial manufacturing performance (NFMP) measures - mediates the relationship between lean manufacturing and financial performance. Consistent with the view that firms' MAS must fit their operational strategies, the results indicate that lean strategies' financial performance effects are indeed mediated through the utilization of NFMP measures. The study also reports confirming results from regression-based tests examining the mediating role of the use of NFMP measures in the lean manufacturing/financial performance relationship.
Geek hierarchies, boundary policing, and the gendering of the good fan

Even though mainstream cultural constructions of geeks (and, through it, fans) have been changing recently, they remain heavily gendered. I describe how fans internalize these concepts, and how gender and gendering of fannish activities continues to affect interand intra-fannish policing. What underlies much of this border policing is a clear sense of protecting one’s own sense of fan community and ascribing positive values to it while trying to exclude others. Fans replicate negative outsider notions of what constitutes fannishness, often using similar feminizing concepts. Accusations of being too attached, too obsessed, and too invested get thrown around readily, and all too often such affect is criticized for being too girly or like a teen. Particularly interesting here is the gender bias that not so subtly pervades much cultural conversation surrounding fan discourses and that is more often than not predicated on unruly sexualities and queer bodies, both of which get policed within and without fan spaces.
A Time-Series Perspective on Convergence: Australia, UK and USA since 1870

Texts of the convergence hypothesis or the tendency for per capita income levels to narrow over time have generally utilized cross-sectional data and have usually found conflicting evidence. In this study, the authors utilize time-series data on Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States for the period 1870-1992 and time-series tests to consider both 'catching-up' and 'long-run convergence. ' The paper finds evidence in favor of long-run convergence in per capita income levels for the United Kingdom and Australia for the period 1892-1992 and catching-up in the case of the United Kingdom and the United States, and Australia and the United States, giving some support for the exogenous approaches to economic growth. Copyright 1995 by The Economic Society of Australia.
Institutional Ownership, Diversification, and Riskiness of Bank Holding Companies

We examine the relationship among the level and stability of institutional ownership, diversification, and riskiness of publicly traded bank holding companies. We find that large and stable institutional ownership is associated with a higher (lower) level of geographic, revenue, and nontraditional banking (asset) diversification and lower risk, suggesting that institutional investors are prudent and favor risk‐reducing diversification strategies. The association between institutional ownership level and diversification is more pronounced under deregulation and during the crisis, suggesting a substitution effect between regulation and market discipline, and a greater level of monitoring and/or advising by institutional investors during the crisis, respectively.
“Saying One Thing and Doing Another”: Examining the Impact of Event Order on Hypocrisy Judgments of Others

This study investigated whether the temporal order of people’s expressed statements and their behaviors affected others’ judgments of hypocrisy, and why. It was proposed that hypocrisy would be greater when a statement establishing a personal standard preceded a behavior violating that standard as opposed to the reverse order. This order effect occurred in three studies, generalizing across two topic areas (healthy living and safe sex) and for both normative and nonnormative statements (pro/anti–safe sex). Mediation analyses indicated that the reverse order mitigated against hypocrisy because the target’s inconsistency was attributed to dispositional change. The discussion addresses additional variables likely to affect hypocrisy and the relationship of this research to hypocrisy paradigms in dissonance.
Value to the Customer

Argues that TQM falls short as a vehicle for implementing excellence. Asserts that value to the customer is a much better means for delivering excellence than a customer‐led TQM with its inherent limitations and tendency to complex jargon. Discusses the use and abuse of quality. Considers that excellence implies all that is best, not only quality. Contends that quality does not equate to fitness for purpose. Concludes that value implies the optimizing of effectiveness and efficiency. Contends that being competitive in the delivery of value to the customer is a better vehicle for delivering excellence.
The Effect of Variability in Price on Consumer Brand Choice

Grocery store managers change prices on a weekly basis either as part of price promotions or in response to changes on their supply side. Consumers experience this price variability and may respond to it. Even though behavioral literature suggests that price variability affects consumers' decisions, most brand choice models have not focused on the consumers' response to such variability. This study attempts to remedy this omission and examine the effect of price variability on consumer brand choice. We use scanner data to show that price variability affects consumer's price sensitivity. We also find that accounting for the effects of price variability in brand choice models improves the model fit over conventional benchmark models. Our finding has important managerial implications for the strategic use of price variability.
No evidence of mitochondrial genetic variation for sperm competition within a population of Drosophila melanogaster

Recent studies have advocated a role for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in sperm competition. This is controversial because earlier theory and empirical work suggested that mitochondrial genetic variation for fitness is low. Yet, such studies dealt only with females and did not consider that variation that is neutral when expressed in females, might be non‐neutral in males as, in most species, mtDNA is never selected in males. We measured male ability to compete for fertilizations, at young and late ages, across 25 cytoplasms expressed in three different nuclear genetic backgrounds, within a population of Drosophila melanogaster. We found no cytoplasmic (thus no mtDNA) genetic variation for either male offence or offensive sperm competitiveness. This contrasts with previous findings demonstrating cytoplasmic genetic variation for female fitness and female ageing across these same lines. Taken together, this suggests that mitochondrial genes do not contribute to variation in sperm competition at the within‐population level.
Excess Fatality from Desipramine and Dosage Recommendations

Higher case fatality rates (CFR) were previously reported from desipramine than for 3 other tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs): amitriptyline, nortriptyline, and imipramine. The database of the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) Toxic Exposure Surveillance System (TESS) for the 20 years 1983–2002 was used to evaluate the CFR of desipramine and the other TCAs. The CFR of desipramine was 2.25-, 2.31-, and 2.62-fold the CFR for amitriptyline, nortriptyline, and imipramine, respectively (P < 0.001). Mechanisms of desipramine toxicity and its dosage recommendations are discussed. Desipramine and nortriptyline have higher distribution volumes and erythrocyte/plasma ratios than their parent compounds imipramine and amitriptyline. This implies lower therapeutic plasma levels and reduced doses for desipramine and nortriptyline compared with their parent compounds. Such adjustments have been done for nortriptyline, but not for desipramine. The authors suggest that the high CFR of desipramine might be reduced by lowering its dose, therapeutic plasma level, and maximal pill content.
Africa's Statistical Tragedy

While Africa may have overcome its growth tragedy, it is facing a statistical tragedy, in that the statistical foundations of the recent growth in per‐capita GDP and reduction in poverty are quite weak. In many countries, GDP accounts use old methods, population censuses are out of date, and poverty estimates are infrequent and often not comparable over time. The proximate reasons have to do with weak capacity, inadequate funding, and a lack of coordination of statistical activities. But the underlying cause may be the political sensitivity of these statistics, and some donors' tendency to go around countries' own National Statistical Development Strategies (NSDS). Greater openness and transparency of statistics, and a higher profile for the NSDS, possibly with “naming and shaming” of those who try to circumvent it, may help Africans turn around their statistical tragedy.
Social and Family Policies in Italy: Not Totally Frozen but Far from Structural Reforms

This article analyses the main shifts in the political and public discourse about families, children, elderly people, care needs and women-friendly policies in Italy over the last two decades. It shows that while family and gender relationships have become an ideologically highly charged public issue, policies at the practical level have remained largely stagnant, marginal and fragmentary. At the same time, important institutional changes (such as the constitutional reform of 2001, which introduced a form of federalism) have created new problems of governance. The authors argue that in the face of inadequate policies, the recourse of individuals and families to old (family solidarity) and new (migrant labour) solutions may cause new tensions and inequalities.
TÜRKİYE’DE FIRSATÇI VE PARTİZAN POLİTİK KONJONKTÜREL DALGALANMALAR: 1950-2010

Politik Konjonkturel Dalgalanmalar (PKD) Teorisi, siyasal karar alma surecinde yer alan politika yapicilarin ekonomik degiskenler uzerinde dalgalanmalara yol actigini iddia etmektedir. Bu calismada Turkiye’de firsatci ve partizan modellere gore PKD analiz edilmistir. 1950-2010 donemindeki kamu harcamalarinin seyrinde politik amacli bir sapmanin olup olmadigi otoregresif hareketli ortalamalar yontemi ile test edilmistir. Elde edilen bulgulara gore Turkiye’de firsatci ve partizan politik konjonkturel dalgalanmalar gecerlidir. Bununla birlikte partizan modele iliskin kanitlar net degildir.
Does Internal Audit Function Quality Deter Management Misconduct

ABSTRACT: Standard-setters believe high-quality internal audit functions (IAFs) serve as a key resource to audit committees for monitoring senior management. However, regulators do not enforce IAF quality or require disclosures relating to IAF quality, which is in stark contrast to regulatory requirements placed on boards, audit committees, and external auditors. Using proprietary data, I find that a composite measure of IAF quality is negatively associated with the likelihood of management misconduct even after controlling for board, audit committee, and external auditor quality. This result is robust to a variety of other specifications, including controlling for internal control quality and separate estimation during the pre- and post-SOX time periods. A difference-in-differences analysis indicates that misconduct firms have low IAF quality and competence during misconduct years and improve IAF quality and competence in the post-misconduct years. These findings suggest that regulators, audit committees.
An exploratory study of employing blogs as a platform for English learning beyond the classroom

With their wide application in the Web 2.0 era, blogs have drawn increasing attention of educators and teachers in educational circle. More and more teachers use them as a pedagogic tool in instruction. This paper describes how a class blog can be integrated into the study of Comprehensive English Course for English majors in China in an attempt to provide an out-of-class space for language practice and for sharing course-related ideas and information. It summarizes the strengths and setbacks of using blogs with out-of-class English learning on the basis of the observation and analysis of the students' blog contributions and their responses to two surveys. This study shows that blogs play a significant role in students' language learning in a variety of ways: promoting learners' sense of authorship, fostering collaboration among learners, producing more interaction among learners and between learners and teachers, producing more comprehensive output, enhancing students' sense of class community. However, setbacks preventing learners from making full use of Blog as a learning tool are also found, such as: online distraction, network speed, blogging topic, online reading habit, etc. To solve these problems, some suggestions are given to tackle them. In all, to make full use of this virtual space for English learning, more efforts and time are needed to be devoted to the blog activities both on the part of learners, and on the part of teachers and school administration.
Effects of a cochlear implant simulation on immediate memory in normal-hearing adults

This study assessed the effects of stimulus misidentification and memory processing errors on immediate memory span in 25 normal-hearing adults exposed to degraded auditory input simulating signals provided by a cochlear implant. The identification accuracy of degraded digits in isolation was measured before digit span testing. Forward and backward digit spans were shorter when digits were degraded than when they were normal. Participants’ normal digit spans and their accuracy in identifying isolated digits were used to predict digit spans in the degraded speech condition. The observed digit spans in degraded conditions did not differ significantly from predicted digit spans. This suggests that the decrease in memory span is related primarily to misidentification of digits rather than memory processing errors related to cognitive load. These findings provide complementary information to earlier research on auditory memory span of listeners exposed to degraded speech either experimentally or as a consequence of a hearing-impairment.
Functional outcomes following treatment for advanced laryngeal cancer. Part I--Voice preservation in advanced laryngeal cancer. Part II--Laryngectomy rehabilitation: the state of the art in the VA System. Research Speech-Language Pathologists. Department of Veterans Affairs Laryngeal Cancer Study Gr

This two-part investigation assessed functional outcomes related to communication (including amount of speech therapy), swallowing and eating, and employment status for patients who received one of the two treatment modalities for advanced laryngeal cancer (stage III or IV laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma) in Veterans Administration Cooperative Study #268. One hundred sixty-six patients were randomized to primary surgery (laryngectomy) and radiotherapy (RT), and 166 to induction chemotherapy (CT) and RT. The first investigation dealt with examining and comparing functional outcomes for patients in the two treatment arms of the main study. Results showed clearly that patients with advanced laryngeal cancer are better off from the standpoint of speech communication if they can be treated for this disease without removal of the larynx. In contrast, there were few significant differences between patient groups for other non-speech-related measures. The second investigation focused on communication-related outcomes associated with the rehabilitation of total laryngectomy patients. Results revealed that only relatively small percentages of total laryngectomy patients (6%) developed usable esophageal speech or remained nonvocal (8%), and that a majority of patients ended up as users of artificial electrolarynx (55%) or tracheoesophageal (31%) speech. The results from both investigations are discussed with respect to factors that can influence the rehabilitation process and long-term outcome status of patients who are treated for advanced laryngeal cancer with these two strategies.
Is Group Affiliation Profitable in Developed Countries? Belgian Evidence

Manuscript Type: Empirical Research Question/Issue: It is fairly well established that business group affiliation can compensate for relatively weak institutions in emerging markets, and in Japan. However, business groups are also common in the EU, and there have not yet been any studies of business group affiliation and firm performance in the EU. Consequently, we investigate how business group affiliation affects firm performance in Belgium. Research Findings/Insights: We find that operating profitability of group companies is significantly lower than that of stand-alone companies, while group companies have more volatile profits than stand-alone companies. Operating profitability of group companies does not depend on the extent of group diversification. Internal capital markets transfer funds from good performers to poorly performing group companies. The impact of group affiliation on profitability does not depend on group age or group ownership. Theoretical Implications: Our study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to investigate how affiliation with a business group affects company performance in a developed country other than Japan. The results raise the question why business groups endure in so many developed countries with good investor protection and well-developed capital markets. Some explanations proposed in the literature are not confirmed. Practical Implications: Our study offers insights to policy makers and practitioners on the value and the role of business groups in developed countries. The results raise doubts about the value of these groups in such countries and suggest that policy makers may want to consider dismantling business groups in EU countries.
Single Activity Accidents

T ADITIONALLY, tort law has been viewed as having two functionsdeterrence and compensation. Taxes and fines also serve the first purpose while private and social insurance join in the second (and naturally affect the first). Accidents fit neatly into the economists' framework of externalities, and the role of taxes and insurance has been examined in an equilibrium framework in this context. The purpose of this essay is to begin the extension of equilibrium models to include tort liability for accidents. Thus, the models developed represent an attempt to examine some of the elements of the way tort law affects resource allocation. This is not an analysis of the development of tort law nor a serious putting together of all relevant questions in a way appropriate for policy analysis. Any work in this area must be greatly influenced by the work of Guido Calabresi,1 and I started this project as an attempt to set Calabresi to mathematics, although the logic of my approach has drawn me away from that definition of the task. While the paper concentrates on developing successively more complicated mathematical models, I have attempted to make it readable by someone who omits the mathematical derivations, although he must follow the setting up of the models. The paper analyzes equilibrium behavior of all the participants in an activity, where participation exposes one to the possibility of accidents involving two (and only two) persons. For a world of risk-neutral expected-utility maximizers who do not engage in side transactions, equilibrium in the activity is related to the parameters (particularly the standard of due care) determining the outcomes of the tort law system. The focus is on the nature of equilibrium rather than the complexities of judicial decision-making. Although much of the paper is devoted to simple cases where equilibrium can be made