Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Knowledge Spillovers, Externalities and Regional Economic Growth in the EU : Theories and Empirical Evidences

Cohesion and competitiveness are the two main objectives of the EU regional policy. It seems however that improving competitiveness will benefit developed regions more, implying a less cohesive Europe. Is that a contradiction? This work answers this question by studying three related topics. The first concerns the determinants of regional growth in Europe. The second is about the importance of interregional knowledge spillovers for the regional innovative activity. The third is related to the way knowledge infrastructures can shape regional innovative activity. The main results can be summarized as follows. The higher growth in least developed region is important but not sufficient to catch-up. Growth, in the long-run, is determined by investments in knowledge, which produce increasing returns. The lack of development of lagging regions could be accordingly ascribed to the existence of knowledge gaps which are not as easy to be filled. Knowledge externalities, the essence of the more than proportional returns, are extremely localized and do not necessarily spread across the economies. However knowledge is not only produced through R&D. The promotion of economic restructuring of lagging regions toward a knowledge-based economy should deserve special attention to external knowledge sources like, alongside universities, Knowledge Intensive Business Services.
DESIGN OF BIOETHANOL SUPPLY CHAINS INCLUDING COMMODITY MARKET DYNAMICS AND MULTIPLE DEMAND SCENARIOS

Biofuels blending with fossil ones is mandatory according to European Directives. Bioethanol is the most used biofuel in some countries of the world (e.g. U.S.A., Brazil) but it is still not widespread in Italy. The establishment of a bioethanol supply chain in northern Italy will be simulated in this work by evaluating its spatial explicit layout, the used technologies for ethanol production, biomass production sites, transport network and its financial performance. The economic details are based on the forecasted price dynamics of all the commodities related to ethanol production. Four price forecast models will be compared in order to assess the supply chain robustness to changes in price evolution dynamics, so that the risk for investors is mitigated. Furthermore, the optimal supply chain layout according to the European Commission proposal amending the existing Directive on ethanol blending will be presented. The economic impact on taxpayers and fuel consumers of the proposed modifications will also be assessed. This work will prove that the bioethanol supply chain is not a profitable investment, whatever the commodity prices evolution path. Nevertheless, the optimal supply chain layout does not significantly changes with alternative price evolution dynamics. Italian customers will benefit of cheaper fuel even if they had to repay for the supply chain losses; furthermore the obtained fuel would have an appreciable buffer effect on gasoline price shocks. The European Commission proposal effectively promotes the recourse to second−generation ethanol (i.e. more sustainable one). The overall economic performance is still negative, but significant improvements compared to the current demand scenario are registered. The bioethanol supply chain based on agricultural residuals (e.g. corn stover) presents interesting economic features, too. The reduced quantity of bioethanol in the blended fuel, according to this proposal, makes the final price more dependent on gasoline price, therefore the energy security effect of biofuels is seriously questioned.
Importing, exporting and productivity in Irish manufacturing

y Abstract The impact of international trade on rm productivity is tested by accounting for rms' import as well as export status for a large panel of Irish manufacturing rms. Two-way traders and exporters-only are found to be the most productive rms, with a gap between them and importers-only and non-traders. tfp is calculated using a modied version of the Olley and Pakes (1996) estimator, taking account of a four-category trade status. Selection of the most productive rms
Performance Improvement of Axial Compressors and Fans with Plasma Actuation

This paper proposes the use of plasma actuator to suppress boundary layer separation on a compressor blade suction side to increase axial compressor performance. Plasma actuators are a new type of electrical flow control device that imparts momentum to the air when submitted to a high AC voltage at high frequency. The concept presented in this paper consists in the positioning of a plasma actuator near the separation point on a compressor rotor suction side to increase flow turning. In this computational study, three parameters have been studied to evaluate the effectiveness of plasma actuator: actuator strength, position and actuation method (steady versus unsteady). Results show that plasma actuator operated in steady mode can increase the pressure ratio, efficiency, and power imparted by the rotor to the air and that the pressure ratio, efficiency and rotor power increase almost linearly with actuator strength. On the other hand, the actuator's position has limited effect on the performance increase. Finally, the results from unsteady simulations show a limited performance increase but are not fully conclusive, due possibly to the chosen pulsing frequencies of the actuator and/or to limitations of the CFD code.
Corporate Governance, Illiquidity, and Valuation Issues in Privately-Owned Corporations

Investors in private corporations face unique problems relating to corporate control, illiquidity and valuation of securities. In this research, we survey a large sample of US corporations. Our sample includes both private and public firms. Major findings of our research are as follows: Private firms use written shareholder agreements for safeguarding ownership interests and dividend payments. Family owned firms dominate the ownership structure of private firms. Insiders of private firms own a much larger proportion of common stock than insiders in public firms, and the CEOs of private firms often happen to be the largest stockholders.
Two-Tier Bargaining

Two-tier bargaining structures, in which plant-level wage negotiations supplement industry-level wage setting, are present in a number of EU countries, as unions resist pressures for greater decentralization in wage determination. In principle, these two-tier structures could reconcile macroeconomic stability with a closer link between productivity and pay. Evidence from an ECB firm-level survey suggests, however, that two-tier regimes may end up getting the worst of either fully centralized and fully decentralized systems, as they do not allow incentive schemes to operate downwards, reduce the participation of firms to collective bargaining, and do not seem to improve either microeconomic and macroeconomic adjustment to shocks.
A Rational Inattention Perspective on Equilibrium Asset Pricing under Heterogeneous Information with Structural Breaks and Market Efficiency

In this paper we present a new model of how information travels within financial markets and present empirical evidence that the concept of attention driven information efficiency is more conjugate with market data as compared to the prevailing concept of efficient markets. Augmenting our model by a shift component made it possible to explain shifts in asset prices by a lack of attention on small permanent changes in the fundamentals. This can also be seen as a micro-level explanation of the momentum effect. By a further augmentation of the model through the introduction of heterogeneous information processing capacities we are able to give a fundamental interpretation of the financial services industry as providers of information processing capacity. Moreover, the burst of the housing bubble in the US and the successful bet of John Paulson against it are shown to be prime empirical examples of our framework.
Fluidization Behavior in a Gas- Solid Fluidized Bed with Thermally Induced Inter-Particle Forces

In this work, a new approach for increasing and controlling inter-particle forces (IPFs) was applied. This method used a spherical inert particle coated with a polymer material having a low glass transition temperature. Since IPFs depend on the temperature of the coated particles, they can be easily controlled by the temperature of the inlet air. For this reason, the temperature of the system was varied uniformly near the glass transition temperature of the polymer, between 20 – 40C, to investigate the effect of IPFs on fluidization behavior at low and high gas velocities.
Why Do CEOs Survive Corporate Storms? Collusive Directors, Legal Jeopardy, and Costly Replacement

We re-examine why CEOs remain in power in over half of the firms that intentionally misreport earnings. The failure of directors to use CEO dismissal as a reputation-cleansing device is even more puzzling after SOX, as regulators adopt non-prosecution policies for firms that selfpolice. We find that CEOs are more likely to remain when conventionally independent directors and CEOs appear to collude. That is, when both benefit from selling as insiders before the delinquent accounting is revealed, and when directors ratify one or more value-destroying mergers during the restatement period. We find retention is less likely when the misreporting is more severe and directors fear greater penalties from owners, lenders, and the SEC. Our results are robust to controlling for explanations based on the cost of replacing CEOs, the effectiveness of corporate governance, and the use of CFOs as scapegoats—that have been offered in prior research. Overall, our analysis of directors’ personal incentives increases the explanatory power of the retention decision by approximately 30%. It suggests collusive trading and merger ratification as additional (and observable) means of assessing the independence of outside directors.
Separating Winners from Losers: Composite Indicators Based on Fundamentals in the European Context

Our work tests the usefulness of score measures based on fundamental signals in an out-of-sample study during the past two decades. While previous research, primarily focused on the US, demonstrates that fundamental signals derived from financial statements allow for future abnormal stock returns, our European sample documents that Xue-Zhang’s FSCORE2 and Wahlen-Wieland's PEIS do not serve as a source of market anomalies. By contrast, other fundamental signals—Piotroski’s FSCORE and Mohanram’s GSCORE—still allow for abnormal returns in our sample and period. We also contribute to the market efficiency debate by documenting the role of idiosyncratic volatility, transaction costs and noise trader risk in the persistence of market anomalies, supporting the existence of limits to arbitrage for these investment strategies.
A Social-cognitive Model of Environmental Risk Information Seeking in China : Toward A Better Public-oriented Risk Communication

Title A Social-cognitive Model of Environmental Risk Information Seeking in China : Toward A Better Public-oriented Risk Communication [an abstract of dissertation and a summary of dissertation review] Author(s) 李, �惟 Citation 北海道大学. 博士(国際広報メディア) 甲第12013号 Issue Date 2015-09-25 Doc URL http://hdl.handle. net/2115/60093 Rights(URL) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.1/jp/ Type theses (doctoral abstract and summary of review) Additional Information There are other files related to this item in HUSCAP. Check the above URL. File Information Yiwei_Li_abstract. pdf (論文内容の要旨)
Filling the North Sea Basin: Cenozoic sediment sources and river styles (André Dumont medallist lecture 2014)

1. IntroductionThe recognition that the present landscape is a product of the long-term interaction of tectonics and climate is one of the fundamental concepts in historical geoscience. Determining the response of the environment to these changes has been further emphasised by attempts to understand the relationship between rates of tectonic activity and sedimentation or erosion and the interplay of these factors with climate change (e.g. Cloetingh et al., 2005). Moreover, the dynamic linkage of erosion and tectonics results in major impacts on changes of the Earth’s climate through the evolution of major continental topography and vice versa.The form of the Earth’s topography actually results from the net interaction of processes operating at a wide range of time scales. These include long- and short-term tectonic uplift, subsidence, phases of glaciation, and climatic and environmental changes. In northern Europe, these processes, operating simultaneously through the Cenozoic, have left a record of changing conditions that have determined the form of the present landscape. The emphasis recently has been on relatively short-term interactions involving quasi-simultaneous uplift followed shortly by incision, paced alongside Late Pleistocene marine isotope stages, and interacting with climatic fluctuations. Here we take a longer view, that of Cenozoic uplift centres changing in intensity and location, and thus sediment feeds and alluvial styles, feeding into a depositional basin
Dietary effects of different live prey on growth and functional development in ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) larvae and juveniles

Ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) is a new species in aquaculture, the newly initiated intensive production is a response to the increasing demands for wrasse as cleaner fish in salmon and trout farming. The dietary requirements of the ballan wrasse larvae are largely unknown. The nutritional quality of the live feed commonly used in the farming of marine larvae today, rotifers and Artemia sp. , may be suboptimal to the dietary need of developing ballan wrasse larvae, and contribute to the problems with growth, survival and skeletal anomalies currently observed in the rearing of this species. Copepods are the natural feed for pelagic marine larvae. To use intensively cultivated copepod nauplii in the farming of marine species, either as a supplement to, or instead of rotifers or Artemia sp. , have lead to improved growth and normal development, earlier onset of ossification, and less skeletal anomalies. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of four different feeding regimes from 4 to 30 days post hatch (dph), on larval growth, development and quality. The larvae in the Copepod and Cop7 treatments were fed cultivated copepod nauplii of the species Acartia tonsa from 4 to 30 dph, and from 4 to 10 dph, respectively. The larvae in the RotMG and RotChl treatments were fed enriched and unenriched rotifers (Brachionus ibericus Cayman), respectively. All groups were fed Artemia fransiscana nauplii from 24 to 51 dph, and formulated feed from 40 to 61 dph. The experiment was terminated on 61 dph. Growth and survival was recorded, and the quality difference between the larvae from the different treatments was assessed through several quality parameters; observations of larval behaviour, response to handling stress, bone ossification, and skeletal anomalies. The larvae fed copepods instead of rotifers showed better growth and stress tolerance, were more effective predators, showed earlier onset of ossification of the axial and fin ray skeleton, and had significantly less skeletal anomalies per larvae compared to the larvae fed rotifers, when the most common anomaly (twisted arches) was excluded. Larval size was consistently more related to degree of ossification than age. Growth was the parameter most notably affected by the diet, and significant differences in dry weight, standard length and myotome height was found already on 8 dph.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COLLISION HISTORY AND A COMPUTERIZED ASSESSMENT OF VISUAL AND COGNITIVE SKILLS IN A SAMPLE OF SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS

The objective of this study was to explore whether measures of visual and cognitive performance in a safe computerized driving environment were associated with collision involvement and the cost of collisions in a sample of professional motor vehicle operators. One hundred and nine school bus drivers in a large metropolitan area were asked to take a 15-minute interactive computer-based driving assessment. The skills included visual target identification, scanning in four directions, divided-attention, reaction time, steering smoothness, false positive responses, and evasive maneuvers. An overall score validated in previous research summarized each driver's performance. Each driver's collision history over the last three years was then compared to the driving assessment scores. Collision data included collision type, frequency, and damage cost associated with each incident. Drivers with collisions (n=27) were compared to drivers with no collisions (n=82). Drivers with collisions had significantly lower overall scanning and steering smoothness scores than drivers without collisions. Drivers with collisions also had significantly higher braking and target false-positive scores, indicating disorientation. The total cost of collisions for the lower 40th percentile test scores was $42,261, whereas the cost for the upper 60th percentile was $10,314. The results indicate that drivers who are prone to become disoriented and overwhelmed in a high-demand computerized assessment were more likely to have had collisions on the road. The relationship between collision cost/incidence and test scores suggests that a sufficiently complex and rapidly paced computerized assessment has utility in identifying drivers who would benefit from remedial training.
Shifts in Bird Migration Timing in North American Long-Distance and Short-Distance Migrants Are Associated with Climate Change

Bird migration is a synchronized event that has evolved over thousands of years. Changing temperatures due to climate change threaten the intricacies of migration timing for birds; however, the extent of these changes has only recently begun to be addressed. Utilizing data from the citizen-science website eBird and historical temperature data, we analyzed bird migration timing in two states warming quickly (Alaska and Maine) and one warming gradually (South Carolina). Using linear regressions, we looked at relationships between different temperature indices and year with bird migration timing from 2010 to 2016. Bird migration through all three states, regardless of warming rate, showed similar rates of alterations. Additionally, in every state over half of the birds that had altered migration timing were long-distance migrants. Furthermore, we performed feature selection to determine important factors for changing migration timing of birds. Changes to summer resident and transient bird migration were most influenced by state. In winter resident migration, departure date and length of stay were most influenced by maximum temperature, while arrival date was most associated with minimum temperature. Relationships between changing temperatures and migration timing suggest that global climate change may have consequential effects on all bird migration patterns throughout the United States.
Nonlinear oscillations and collapse of elongated bubbles subject to weak viscous effects: Effect of internal overpressure

The details of nonlinear oscillations and collapse of elongated bubbles, subject to large internal overpressure, are studied by a boundary integral method. Weak viscous effects on the liquid side are accounted for by integrating the equations of motion across the boundary layer that is formed adjacent to the interface. For relatively large bubbles with initial radius R0 on the order of millimeters, PSt=PSt′∕(2σ∕R0)∼300 and Oh=μ∕(σR0ρ)1∕2∼200, and an almost spherical initial shape, S∼1, Rayleigh-Taylor instability prevails and the bubble breaks up as a result of growth of higher modes and the development of regions of very small radius of curvature; σ, ρ, μ, and PSt′ denote the surface tension, density, viscosity, and dimensional static pressure in the host liquid while S is the ratio between the length of the minor semiaxis of the bubble, taken as an axisymmetric ellipsoid, and its equivalent radius R0. For finite initial elongations, 0.5⩽S<1, the bubble collapses either via two jets that counterpropagate.
Determinants of Employees Performance in Corporate Sector: Case of an Emerging Market

The question of how to retain the existing employees is answered by attractive compensation, friendly leadership, balance between work life conflicts and healthy work environment. This study looks into this phenomenon by seeking empirical justification in this regard and considering the work-life conflicts, compensation, leadership and working conditions as main contributory factors towards employees’ job performance. The goal of this research work is to answer the queries which prevail in the minds of employers in corporate sector of Pakistan due to various organizational factors which significantly influence the employees’ job performance. The study identifies the those independent variables whose factors have significant effect on employees’ motivation level and that in turn improve employees’ job performance using original data collected from employees in eight companies. A 5-point Likert scale rated questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. The scales used in the study were adopted from past research works and were based on five-point Likert scale. Convenience sampling technique was used to collect data from two hundred and forty respondents in Lahore, Pakistan. Out of two hundred and forty questionnaires distributed, only two hundred questionnaires were received back (Response rate = 83%) which are used in the data analysis. The analysis entails that all the variables of the study prevail in corporate sector of Pakistan except the effect working conditions on employee job performance as shown by the insignificant correlation (.094) among working conditions and employee job performance. Independent variables such as leadership and compensation had a significant positive impact on the dependent variable, employee job performance (.198** & .157* respectively), whereas the independent variable of work-life conflicts had a significant but negative correlation (-.147*) with employee job performance. The most important evidence which this study purports, as far as it relates to an emerging market economy, is that working conditions has a weak an insignificant relation with employees’ job performance.
An Investigation of a Podcast Learning Project for Extensive Listening

This paper investigates a podcast learning project integrated into an English speaking and listening class for the purpose of promoting extensive listening and fostering independent learning. The study collected data through a questionnaire, students’ podcast diaries, and observation notes on student project presentations, seeking to examine students’ learning experiences as well as their views of using podcasts for pedagogical purposes. Results suggested that students were strategic in choosing podcasts suitable for their interests and proficiency levels. Overall, they found learning from podcasts not only convenient but also useful in enhancing their language proficiency and world knowledge. Their general satisfaction with the experience can be attributed to factors including freedom of choice, meaningful practice, and close integration with the syllabus. However, students also experienced frustration with podcasts containing unscripted authentic content delivered at a fast speech rate.