Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contesting Time: International Comparisons of Employee Control of Working Time

The authors hypothesize that three broad factors affect the degree of workers' control over the timing and the total hours of their work: the institutional and regulatory environment within the country, labor market conditions, and management and labor union strategies. Drawing from their interviews in 2000 with managers, public sector policy-makers and administrators, and union leaders, as well as from previous literature, they illustrate how these factors actually affected working time and employee control over working time in the United States, Australia, Japan, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Their comparative analysis shows that in some countries, employers and labor unions negotiated contracts that increased employee control over working time and provided employers with greater flexibility; in others, employee control over working time remained unevenly distributed across the occupational spectrum.
Earnings Management Using Real Activities: Evidence from Nonprofit Hospitals

ABSTRACT We extend the literature on earnings management through real operating decisions by providing insight into the types of expenditures (core versus noncore and operating versus non-operating activities) affected by earnings management. We partition a sample of California nonprofit hospitals based on their earnings management incentives. We find that expenditures on non-operating and non-revenue-generating activities appear to decrease in hospitals with incentives to engage in such behavior, while core patient care activities remain unchanged. We also find evidence of earnings management in non-core operational expenses. Second, we analyze real earnings management related to pay-for-performance incentives and find that hospitals with stronger performance incentives exhibit a significant incremental decrease in expenditures. Finally, we examine two different kinds of behavior to discriminate between earnings management and good operational decisions and provide weak evidence to support opportunism ra.
Property investment in peripheral regions

Suggests that capital investments normally flow to economic sectors and regions which produce the highest returns within certain risk parameters. Therefore geographical areas perceived to be peripheral to the core economy of a certain country, region or city suffer when attracting institutional investment. Investigates investment flows into real estate in two peripheral economies: Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Analyses data from the Investment Property Databank (IDP) and market participants in terms of regional and sectoral performance, and assesses institutional investors′ perceptions of investment activity in Ireland as a peripheral European region. Also compares investment performance of institutional property holdings in Ireland to returns in the UK.
Further evidence on business cycle asymmetries in G7 countries

This paper tests for business cycle symmetry in G7 countries during the post-World War II period using a number of tests, each reflecting alternative definitions of business cycle asymmetry. The tests are applied to monthly coincident economic indicators of business cycles. This found that business cycles in the US are characterized by both longitudinal (deepness) and transversal (steepness and sharpness) asymmetries: further, it is found that asymmetric transition probabilties and time irreversibility are due to nonlinearities. On the contrary, business cycles in Germany exhibits a symmetric behaviour. Between these extremes are the other countries, for which at least one of the tests here considered rejects the null of cyclical symmetry. Particularly, business cycle is characterized by deepness and sharpness in Canada, asymmetry in persistence in France and Japan, and asymmetric transition probabilities in France and United Kingdom.
[123I]β-CIT SPECT imaging of dopamine and serotonin transporters in Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy

Summary Aims: Definition of the regional pattern of dopamine transporter (DAT) dysfunction in advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) and evaluation of a potential correlation between DAT binding and symptoms; elucidation of the role of DAT imaging in the differential diagnosis of PD and multiple system atrophy (MSA); assessment and comparison of serotonin transporter (SERT) binding in PD and MSA. Methods: [123I]ß-CIT SPECT was performed in 14 patients with advanced PD, 10 with moderate MSA and 20 healthy persons. Specific to nonspecific tracer binding ratios (V3’’) were calculated via ROI analysis of uptake images at 4 h (SERT binding) and 24 h (DAT binding) p. i. Results: In PD bilateral reduction of striatal DAT binding (63-70%) was seen. The caudate ipsilateral to the clinically predominantly affected side showed relatively the least impairment. Significant correlations (r = -0.54 to -0.64) between DAT binding and Hoehn and Yahr stage, UPDRS-scores and duration of disease were found. In MSA DAT binding was less reduced (40-48%) targeting the putamen contralateral to the side of clinical predominance. Significantly lower SERT binding was observed in PD midbrain and MSA hypothalamus compared to controls – and in MSA relative to PD mesial frontal cortex. Conclusions: In advanced PD striatal DAT binding is markedly reduced with the least reduction in caudate ipsilateral to the clinically predominantly affected side. In moderate MSA with asymmetrical symptoms DAT dysfunction is predominant in the contralateral putamen, a pattern seen in early PD. The reduction of SERT in the midbrain area of PD patients suggests additional tegmental degeneration while in MSA the serotonergic system seems to be more generally affected.
Exploring the professional journeys of exemplary expatriate field leaders in the international aid sector

ii List of Figures and Tables viii List of Abbreviations ix CHAPTER ONE: Introduction 1 The International Aid Sector 2 Why is there a need for this study? 4 The Researcher 5 The Research Topic 7 Occupational Complexities of the International Aid Sector 7 Research Question 10 Contribution to Knowledge 12 CHAPTER TWO: Context and Current Debates 14 Meanings of Professional 16 The Professionalisation of International Aid 19 Parallels with the Professionalisation of Social Work 21 Old Issues, New Context 23 Conceptualising Professionalisation in International Aid 25 Competency-Based Frameworks 28 Competency frameworks in the professionalisation process 31 Two departures from standard practice 35 Professional Identity Formation 37 Role identities 38 Identity standards 40 Identity formation and transformation 41 Organisational Learning and Professional Development 46 Leadership in the International Aid Sector 50 Reflections on Resilience 52 The challenges of measuring resilience 54
The effects of country-of-origin image on consumer product involvement: a Pakistani university teachers’ perspective

This study aims at investigating the consumer behaviour (of University teachers) in Pakistan with reference to the effects and association of country-of-origin (COO) image on consumer product involvement. In order to have in-depth insights, the construct of COO-image is studied in terms of the country’s economic development and in a certain product category. The study explores the effects and association of the two phenomena. Furthermore, the effects of the COO-image in terms of country’s economic development and COO-image in a product category on low and high consumer product involvement are studied. Finally, the study measures the moderating effects of consumer ethnocentrism and consumer intention to adopt (in terms of innovativeness) on the effects of COO-image in a product category and COO-image in terms of economic development on low and high consumer product involvement. Due to the nature of study, a positivist approach is adopted and followed a quantitative research strategy. The data is collected using survey technique based on questionnaires. The study sample population is university academicians. 1509 university academicians from various cities in Pakistan took part in the study by completing the questionnaire. The data is then analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression analysis. The study establishes that highly educated and affluent Pakistani consumers are so strongly influenced by the COO-image (especially in terms of country’s economic development) that their ethnocentrism and intentions to adopt lose significance in order to contribute in shaping their attitude and behaviour related to both low and high involvement products (food and drinks, and automobiles respectively). The current study is one of few similar studies conducted in a developing country, especially Pakistan. The current study offers valuable empirical insights into the effects of the COO-image (especially with reference to a developing country perspective). The findings will be significant to the COO research as well as the businesses operating in developing countries such as Pakistan.
IS THERE SOLID EVIDENCE OF POSITIVE EFFECTS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

In this paper we illustrate the use of a strict standard for evaluating evidence on programs and strategies designed to improve outcomes for high school students. We explain what we mean by solid evidence, and present examples from multi-site evaluations of three programs. After that we examine some of the evidence on high school size, and explain why clear inferences about cause and effect remain elusive. We also look at examples of studies that use data for the whole student population in large districts, as an approach to reduce possible selection bias. We conclude with a predictable recommendation for more rigorous evaluation, and a programmatic suggestion. Although we concur that random-assignment studies provide the best support for inferences about cause and effect, we reject the idea that random assignment should be the method of all or most educational research. Before a program, strategy, or intervention can be tested by random assignment, it has to be formulated from exploratory research, and tried out in non-experimental settings. History, ethnography, case study, design study, and other kinds of research all contribute to the understanding of educational phenomena and the development of new ideas. Even at the final stage of testing the effectiveness of a particular intervention, qualitative information about the experience of participants is useful in suggesting why effects do or do not occur, and how the program or strategy might be further improved. Also, as mentioned below, some hypotheses do not lend themselves to testing by random assignment. 4 Cautionary tales " Over the past 30 years, more than two dozen comparison-group studies have found hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women to be effective in reducing the women's risk of coronary heart disease, by about 35-50 percent. But when hormone replacement therapy was finally evaluated in two large-scale randomized controlled trials –– medicine's 'gold standard' –– it was actually found to do the opposite: it increased the risk of heart disease, as well as stroke and breast cancer. " (U.S. Department of Education 2003, section I.C.2; emphasis in original) 1 Education, more than modern medicine, is notoriously susceptible to fads. Remember the school-to-work movement? At one high-level meeting in the mid-1990s, the front of the conference folder had " The School-to-Work Movement " printed on stick-on labels that were not quite firmly attached. The labels covered what had first been printed on the folder by mistake: " The School-to-Work Moment. " In …
Acquisition of resources, formal organization and entrepreneurial orientation of new ventures

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of the acquisition of resources and formal organization on entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of new ventures.Design/methodology/approach – The research was conducted using an original data set of 199 new ventures in China. The data were analyzed through regressing models.Findings – It was found that new ventures experiencing difficulty in acquiring resources have higher levels of EO; formal organization is associated with the proactiveness dimension of EO significantly and positively.Research limitations/implications – First, the measures of EO were mainly used to study established firms. The measures of EO may need to be modified to take into account new ventures' uniqueness. Second, this study focused on new ventures operating in a specific geographical region, China.Practical implications – New ventures should build their formal management systems so that they can integrate as organic organizations to engage in entrepreneurial activities. New v.
Assessing the Forecasting Performance of Regime-Switching, ARIMA and GARCH Models of House Prices

While price changes on any particular home are difficult to predict, aggregate home price changes are forecastable. In this context, this paper compares the forecasting performance of three types of univariate time series models: ARIMA, GARCH and regime-switching. The underlying intuition behind regime-switching models is that the series of interest behaves differently depending on the realization of an unobservable regime variable. Regime-switching models are a compelling choice for real estate markets that have historically displayed boom and bust cycles. However, we find that, while regime-switching models can perform better in-sample, simple ARIMA models generally perform better in out-of-sample forecasting. Copyright 2003 by the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association
Banking and Asset Bubbles: Testing The Theory Of Free Banking Using Agent-Based Computer Simulations And Laboratory Experiments

BANKING AND ASSET BUBBLES: TESTING THE THEORY OF FREE BANKING USING AGENT-BASED COMPUTER SIMULATIONS AND LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS William Howard Alford McBride, PhD George Mason University, 2010 Thesis/Dissertation Director: Professor Daniel Houser Throughout much of the 18 and 19 centuries, many countries practiced free banking, i.e. competitive note issue without control by a central bank. Modern day proponents of free banking argue it is capable of limiting asset bubbles by making for a more stable relationship between the volume of base money present in an economy and corresponding levels of credit and aggregate spending. The main contribution of this dissertation is to provide a novel test of this claim by using the canonical laboratory double auction asset trading market (CLDAATM) initiated by Vernon Smith and others, which tends to generate asset price bubbles. Chapter 1 describes an agent-based model and simulation of CLDAATM using three types of trading strategies: value, momentum, and speculative. The results closely resemble the asset price bubbles generated in the laboratory. Chapter 2 augments the design of Chapter 1 by adding an agent-based model and simulation of banking, with the purpose of comparing both free and central banking to CLDAATM. The results indicate that both free and central banking reduce the tendency to bubble as compared to CLDAATM, and free banking is most effective in this regard. Chapter 3 describes a laboratory experiment design which augments CLDAATM using simulated trading and banking agents.
α1‐Antichymotrypsin/Alzheimer's peptide Aβ1–42 complex perturbs lipid metabolism and activates transcription factors PPARγ and NFκB in human neuroblastoma (Kelly) cells

Amyloid‐beta peptide (Aβ) and the serpin proteinase inhibitor α1‐antichymotrypsin (ACT) are components of the amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Aβ exists in soluble monomeric and oligomeric forms and in an insoluble polymerised fibrillar form, but it is not clear which of these plays the most important role in the etiology of AD. In vitro, Aβ1–42 interacts with ACT, and as a result of this, ACT loses its proteinase inhibitor activity and polymerisation of Aβ1–42 is promoted. Here we provide evidence that new molecular forms resulting from incubation of ACT with Aβ1–42 have multiple cellular level effects on neuronal cells. The mixture of soluble Aβ and an ACT/Aβ complex formed by 2 hr incubation at a 10:1 molar ratio of Aβ:ACT strongly induce cellular proliferation and expression of transcription factors peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor‐gamma (PPARγ) and NFκB, and also increase uptake and depress degradation of native and oxidised low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) by cells. Similar but less pronounced effects are seen when cells are exposed to the Aβ peptide alone preincubated for 2 hr. Aβ1–42 and to a lesser extent ACT/Aβ1–42 complex mixture prepared by 2 hr incubation both inhibit association of native LDL with cells. Neither ACT alone nor the Aβ1–42 and ACT/Aβ1–42 forms prepared by 24‐hr incubation show any significant effects in these assays. We propose that specific molecular forms of Aβ1–42 and ACT/Aβ1–42 complex mixture, both dependent on the abundances of Aβ1–42 and ACT/Aβ1–42 in vivo and on their time of exposure to each other, have cellular effects which are important for the initiation and progression of the pathologies associated with AD. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Alcohol and cancer: a review for psycho‐oncologists

Researchers have documented a link between alcohol consumption and the development of certain types of cancers. In addition, the prevalence of alcoholism and comorbid psychiatric disorders has been well‐documented both the general population and medical settings. The role of the psycho‐oncologist in the assessment and management of alcoholism and comorbid psychiatric disorders is crucial to improving both treatment adherence and the quality of life of the patient. This paper will provide psycho‐oncologists with a review of: (1) the relationship of alcoholism to cancer; (2) psychiatric comorbidity frequently encountered in alcoholics, as a key to assessment and management; and (3) the goals and strategies of management of alcoholic cancer patient. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The use and abuse of housing tenure

Abstract This paper examines the concept of housing ‘tenure’ and its use in housing research. We argue that this concept is in fact misused. This occurs in two ways. First, it is frequently assumed that taxonomic collectives of tenure like ‘owner‐occupation’ necessarily correspond with significant concrete categories such as housing quality or social status. Second, abstract categories like ‘housing class’ or ‘consumption cleavages’ are identified with specific tenures. In both cases ‘tenure’ is taken well beyond the relations of occupancy and ownership which the term actually describes, and in both cases this leads to severe loss of information and of analytical sensitivity. The paper challenges the use of tenure as some overall shorthand and ends by considering some alternative ‘shorthands’ which better describe the social relations of housing.
Investigation of green marketing tools' effect on consumers' purchase behavior

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of green marketing tools on consumer's actual purchase behavior in case of Penang (Malaysia). Design/methodology/approach – A survey was carried out on 250 Chinese, Malay, Indian and other races that represent the Penang population. Factor analysis, Cronbach alpha and multiple regression were used to identify factors impact on Penang consumers actual purchase behavior.Findings – The result revealed that customer's trust in eco‐label and eco‐brand and their perception of eco‐brand show positive and significant impact on their actual purchase behavior.Practical implications – The paper provides practical information for green marketers and producers of green products in Malaysia.Originality/value – This paper offer helpful guideline for government to formulate the green policies such as providing promotional incentives to green products manufacturers and encouraging public to buy products with eco‐label.
Effects of floor area allowance on performance of growing pigs kept on fully slatted floors

The experiment compared four different space allowances for growing pigs housed on fully slatted floors. Space allowance ( A m 2 ) was defined in relation to live weight ( M kg) of the pigs according to the equation A = kM 0·67 , using values for the constant (it) of 0·024, 0·027, 0·030 and 0·034. Six replicate pens of 12 pigs were housed on each treatment in a controlled environment building. Food was given ad libitum and from 34 kg until slaughter at 85 kg pigs were individually weighed each week and the pen size was adjusted according to the appropriate equation. Increasing space allowance increased live-weight gain (844, 862, 883, 897 (s.e.d. 14·4) g/day). Differences in killing-out proportion reduced the effect on final carcass weight (63·3, 63·9, 64·1, 64·5 (s.e.d 0·82) kg). Daily food intake was unaffected by treatment but food conversion ratio was significantly poorer at the lowest space allowance (2·70, 2·56, 2·60, 2·59 (s.e.d. 0·043) kg/kg). Economic analyses of the results indicated an adverse effect on profitability of space allowance less than that defined by the equation A(m 2 ) = 0·027 M 0·67 (kg). A minimum allowance defined by the equation A (m 2 ) = 0·030 M 0·67 is recommended in commercial practice for pigs in fully slatted housing.
An assessment of the safety of pediatric ibuprofen. A practitioner-based randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that ibuprofen increases the risk of hospitalization for gastrointestinal bleeding, renal failure, or anaphylaxis among febrile children. DESIGN Randomized double-blind acetaminophen-controlled trial. SETTING Outpatient pediatric and family medicine practices. PATIENTS A total of 84,192 children. INTERVENTION Patients were randomly assigned to receive 12 mg/kg of acetaminophen, 5 mg/kg of ibuprofen, or 10 mg/kg of ibuprofen. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Hospitalizations for acute gastrointestinal bleeding, acute renal failure, and anaphylaxis. RESULTS A total of 277 patients (0.3%) were unavailable for follow-up. Overall, 795 participants (1%) were hospitalized, primarily for infectious diseases; hospitalization rates did not differ according to treatment group. Four children had diagnoses of acute, nonmajor gastrointestinal bleeding (two in each ibuprofen dosage group); among ibuprofen-treated children, the observed risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, 7.2 per 100,000 (95% confidence interval, 2 to 18 per 100,000), was not significantly different from the risk among acetaminophen-treated children (P = .31). There were no hospitalizations for acute renal failure or anaphylaxis; the upper 95% confidence bound for the risk of either of these outcomes was 5.4 per 100,000 ibuprofen-treated children. Among a number of other possibly serious adverse drug events, low white blood cell count was marginally associated with ibuprofen treatment. Because this association was observed in the setting of multiple comparisons and white blood cell counts may have been low before treatment, causation is unclear. CONCLUSIONS The risk of hospitalization for gastrointestinal bleeding, renal failure, or anaphylaxis was not increased following short-term use of ibuprofen in children. These data, however, provide no information on the risks of less severe outcomes or the risks of prolonged ibuprofen use.