Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the Asymmetric Recognition of Good and Bad News in France, Germany and the United Kingdom

We investigate whether accounting systems recognise bad news more promptly in earnings than good news, where news is proxied by changes in share price. The analysis is based on a sample of firm/years drawn from France, Germany, and the UK during 1990 to 1998. These three countries are the originators of three distinct legal traditions. Previous studies have argued that asymmetric recognition, one manifestation of conservative accounting, is sensitive to legal background and history. We find that in all three countries the contemporaneous association between earnings and returns is much stronger for bad news (i.e. when price changes are negative) than for good news, and although the results are strongest for the UK, and then France, the inter-country differences are not statistically significant. The stronger reaction to bad news is more pronounced for firms with relatively low capitalisation. We also find that the relative persistence of profits and losses are consistent with asymmetric recognition in France and the UK, but not in Germany, and that the more timely recognition of bad news is maintained even when we control for earnings persistence. When we extend the model to include price changes from previous periods, we see that the stronger reaction to bad news decays over time. The results from this model also suggest that 'pervasive' conservatism, unrelated to news, is observed in Germany and France, but the UK results are consistent with optimism. Although asymmetric recognition is generally strongest in the UK and weakest in Germany, and this broadly conforms to our expectations, the differences are less clear than the results from earlier periods. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2001.
Total Interpretive Structural Modeling of Continuity and Change Forces in e-Government

The concept of managing the confluence of change and continuity—balancing change by consciously and concurrently managing continuity—is an emerging approach for managing enterprise change and transformation. Although largely rooted in strategy discourses, the notion of managing continuity and change has found applications in several areas including e-government. Any attempt toward strategic management of continuity and change forces invariably require identifying and understanding relations among these forces at the outset. Besides providing a brief conceptual review of continuity and change, this article largely illustrates the use of a qualitative approach called the total interpretive structural modeling, which is an innovative version of Warfield's interpretive structural modeling technique and is used to model and structure the forces of change and continuity for greater understanding of the interplay of these forces. Further, an assessment of the models developed using total interpretive structural modeling, by a different set of domain experts is introduced as a possible innovation for enhancing the validity of the approach. In the end, the author highlights implications for practitioners and researchers. The Appendices for this article are available online as supplementary material. Go to the publisher's online edition of Journal of Enterprise Transformation to view the supplemental file.
Morphoea lesions are associated with aberrant expression of membrane cofactor protein and decay accelerating factor in vascular endothelium

One of the main features of systemic and localized forms of scleroderma is vascular damage, the mechanism of which is not yet understood. Recently, we have shown undetectable or decreased expression of complement regulatory molecules, membrane cofactor protein (MCP) and decay‐accelerating factor (DAF), in cutaneous endothelium of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). In some patients. CD59 expression in endothelium was also altered. As these molecules protect endothelial cells from damage by autologous complement, their decreased expression could be part of the mechanism of vascular damage in SSc. In the present study, we investigated the expression of MCP, DAF and CD59 in the endothelium of lesional and non‐lesional skin of patients with localized morphoea. Normal skin and lesional skin from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, and three inflammatory diseases, were included as relevant controls.
Economics and Preventing Hospital-Acquired Infection: Broadening the Perspective

Objective. To present a hypothetical model of the change in economic costs and health benefits to society that result from nosocomial infection control programs. Design. We use a modeling framework to represent how 2 types of costs change with nosocomial infection control programs: costs incurred by the hospital sector and community health services, as well as the private costs to patients. We also demonstrate how to value the health benefits of nosocomial infection control programs, using quality-adjusted life years. Setting. Hypothetical modeling to incorporate the societal perspective. Subjects. A cohort of 50,000 simulated patients at risk of surgical site infection following total hip replacement. Intervention(s). A total of 8 hypothetical interventions that change costs and health outcomes among the cohort by preventing cases of surgical site infection following total hip replacement. Results and Conclusions. We demonstrate that when infection control interventions reduce economic costs and increase health benefits, they should be adopted without further question. If, however, interventions increase economic costs and increase health benefits, then the trade—off between costs and benefits should be examined. Decision-makers should assess the cost per unit of health benefit from infection control programs, consider the impact on health budgets, and compare infection control with alternative uses of scarce healthcare resources.
On the Scope and Drivers of the Asset Growth Effect

Abstract Recent papers have debated whether the negative correlation between measures of firm asset growth and subsequent returns is of little importance since it applies only to small firms, is justified as compensation for risk, or is evidence of mispricing. We show that the asset growth effect is pervasive, and evidence to the contrary arises due to specification choices; that one measure of asset growth, the change in total assets, largely subsumes the explanatory power of other measures; that the ability of asset growth to explain either the cross section of returns or the time series of factor loadings is linked to firm idiosyncratic volatility (IVOL); that the return effect is concentrated around earnings announcements; and that analyst forecasts are systematically higher than realized earnings for faster growing firms. In general, there appears to be no asset growth effect in firms with low IVOL. Our findings are consistent with a mispricing-based explanation for the asset growth effect in which arbitrage costs allow the effect to persist.
The core and periphery of the world economy

This paper reviews three models of foreign trade, including the Heckscher-Ohlin model, the new trade theory based on increasing returns to scale, and the model of economic geography and trade with agglomeration effects. It demonstrates that gravity models perform relatively well for differentiated and non-differentiated products. This result supports Hummels' and Levinsohn's (1995) critique of the new theory foundation of the gravity equation. Furthermore, the bilateral trade relations of peripheral countries are often identified as outliers. This pattern of outliers is consistent with the model of geography and trade.
Association of Serum Phosphorus Level With Anemia in Kidney Transplant Recipients

Background. Anemia and mineral and bone disorders (MBD) are both important and common complications in kidney transplant recipients. Studies in patients with chronic kidney disease indicated a possible independent association of higher serum phosphorus with anemia, but similar associations have not been examined in kidney transplant recipients. We hypothesized that higher serum phosphorus is associated with anemia independent of other components of MBD. Methods. We examined the association of serum phosphorus with hemoglobin level and the prevalence of anemia in a prevalent cohort of 992 kidney transplant recipients in a single outpatient transplant center. Associations were examined in linear and logistic regression models with adjustment for demographic and comorbid conditions for various known risk factors of anemia, including measures of iron deficiency, inflammation, and components of MBD including serum levels of 25(OH) vitamin D, parathyroid hormone, and fibroblast growth factor 23. Results. In multivariable adjusted regression models, a 1 standard deviation (0.8 mg/dL) higher serum phosphorus level was associated with 0.26 g/dL lower blood hemoglobin concentration (95% confidence intervals −0.36 to −0.15, P<0.001) and with an odds ratio for anemia of 1.77 (95% confidence intervals 1.33–2.37, P<0.001). These associations were consistent across the entire spectrum of the physiologic serum phosphorus concentration and were more accentuated in patients with lower estimated glomerular filtration rate. Conclusions. Higher serum phosphorus is independently associated with anemia in kidney transplant recipients.
Fixed Asset Revaluations and Managerial Incentives

The study attempts to explain why Australian companies revalue their fixed assets, when a revaluation, by itself, has no discernible direct effect on cash flows and is costly to carry out. A revaluation is hypothesised to affect contracting and political costs. It may also help resolve problems associated with information asymmetries, or be used to signal information to investors. The results support the proposition that economic forces help explain the decision to revalue assets.
The Price Elasticities of Charitable Contributions: A Meta-Analysis

Tax deductibility has been recognized as a motive for charitable donations. This article considers charitable donations as purchases that consumers make, and it examines the effects of changes in the tax deductibility (i.e., the price of donating) on charitable donations. The meta-analysis includes approximately four decades of estimates of the price elasticity of charitable giving. The authors discuss implications for policy makers and the marketers of charities.
Earnings management and board activity: an additional evidence

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between earnings management behavior and the activity of both the board and audit committee. Findings - Earnings management is negatively related to both board and audit committee independence. Such negative relation is stronger when the audit committee is more active. However, this result is not valid for the board activity. Research limitations/implications - Results are limited by the accuracy of the models applied to isolate abnormal accruals. Practical implications - Results may have implications for corporate governance regulations such as board composition, audit committee composition, and their activity. Originality/value - Results of earnings management research are sensitive to the different models suggested in literature to isolate the abnormal accruals.
The Cyclic Behavior of the U.S. Lodging Industry

A recently constructed data series suggests that the hotel industry has experienced two rather large building booms from 1969 to 1994. By contrast, hotel demand seems to move closely with the United States economy, at a much higher cyclic frequency. Occupancy and room rental rates follow the slower movements in supply. A structural model is estimated over this series which displays long lags between occupancy and room rental rate changes, as well as between room rental rates and new supply. These lags create a system of difference equations that is close to being dynamically unstable. Forecasting forward with smooth economic growth, yields a new and even larger future building boom. Copyright American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.
Regional variations in the gender contract: Gendered relations in labour markets, local politics and everyday life in Swedish regions

Abstract This article delineates the spatial variations in the gender contract in Sweden. Within the framework of any national gender contract there can be substantial regional variations. By mapping regional variations in gender relations, three different gender contracts are identified in different regions in Sweden. The traditional gender contract is prevalent in forestry and industrial areas, where labour market segregation is high, where women play a small role in political life and where social infrastructure is largely provided in families. In contrast in the modernized gender contract of the metropolitan areas, especially in the Stockholm region, labour market segregation is less and women are relatively well integrated in public life. These regions are dominated by the service sector. This kind of region, where the genders are more equal and where the social infrastructure is more provided by public institutions, can also be labelled ‘escalator regions’ for women. Finally, in some peripheral and .
Voter Demands and Personalistic Parties: Explaining Legislative Voting in the Philippine House of Representatives 1987-2007

Why do politicians sometimes vote against their party leadership, which is believed to harm programmatic accountability and government performance? The pre-existing research suggests that legislators who are elected from less developed districts, in which the majority of voters are poor and less educated and thus desire pork and patronage over national public policies, are more likely to vote against their party line in order to vote with the president for access to government resources. This paper tests that theory in an extremely pork-oriented (personalistic) context—the post-Marcos Philippines. The study reveals the opposite mechanism in the exceedingly personalistic party system where almost every legislator wants to join the president’s gravy train: legislators who are elected from more developed districts (where voters often desire policy over pork) are more likely to vote against their party leadership who always want to vote with the president, and thus tend to undermine party cohesion.
Equal opportunity outcomes for women in the finance industry in Australia: Evaluating the merit of EEO plans

This paper investigates equity programs in the finance and insurance industry to identify the approach to implementing equal employment opportunity used by Australian organisations. The research uses data from organisational reports submitted to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency in order to identify issues in one industry, and link organisational approach to equal opportunity with the employment status of women. Despite the high numbers of women employed in this female-dominated industry, there are limited numbers of women in management. The findings show no correlation between the equal opportunity approach used and numbers of women in management.
Managing Overnight Corn Price Risks: E*Hedging Versus Tokyo

This study investigates whether U.S. corn merchants can effectively manage the overnight price risk of cash corn purchased after the Chicago Board of Trade closes at 1:15 p.m. on either the electronic Project A market or in the corn contract traded on the Tokyo Grain Exchange. While neither market provides a very effective alternative using traditional measures of analysis, e*hedging on Project A is more effective than hedging in Tokyo. Both could be very effective for those merchants in the market every day. However, trading of corn futures contracts on Project A remains thin and likely illiquid, limiting its usefulness.
New Evidence of Asymmetric Dependence Structures in International Equity Markets

Abstract A number of recent studies finds two asymmetries in dependence structures in international equity markets; specifically, dependence tends to be high in both highly volatile markets and in bear markets. In this paper, a further investigation of asymmetric dependence structures in international equity markets is performed by using the Markov switching model and copula theory. Combining these two theories enables me to model dependence structures with sufficient flexibility. Using this flexible framework, I indeed find that there are two distinct regimes in the U. S. -U. K. market. I also show that for the U. S. -U. K. market the bear regime is better described by an asymmetric copula with lower tail dependence with clear rejection of the Markov switching multivariate normal model. In addition, I show that ignorance of this further asymmetry in bear markets is very costly for risk management. Lastly, I conduct a similar analysis for other G7 countries, where I find other cases in which the use of a Markov switching multivariate normal model would be inappropriate.
A note on the microbiology of retail packs of prepared salad vegetables.

Retail packs of mixed, prepared salad vegetables from two different manufacturers were stored at 7 degrees C until the end of storage-life (sell-by date plus 1 d), when the microbial flora was examined. The quality of the salads was acceptable at the end of storage life. The oxygen concentrations in packs were lower, and the carbon dioxide concentrations were higher, than those in air. High numbers of bacteria were present, with Pseudomonas spp. and Enterobacter agglomerans predominating in packs of both salads, together with lactic acid bacteria in one of the salads. Significant numbers of pectolytic bacteria including Pseudomonas spp. and Erwinia carotovora were detected. Despite the presence of high numbers of coliform bacteria, Escherichia coli was not detected in batches of one salad, and was detected in relatively low numbers in batches of the other. Yersinia spp. , predominantly environmental strains of Yersinia enterocolitica, were isolated by enrichment from all samples tested; Staphylococcus aureus and enterococci were not detected.
Direct Selection of IS903 Transposon Insertions by Use of a Broad-Host-Range Vector: Isolation of Catalase-Deficient Mutants of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans

ABSTRACT Transposon mutagenesis in bacteria generally requires efficient delivery of a transposon suicide vector to allow the selection of relatively infrequent transposition events. We have developed an IS903-based transposon mutagenesis system for diverse gram-negative bacteria that is not limited by transfer efficiency. The transposon, IS903φkan, carries a cryptic kangene, which can be expressed only after successful transposition. This allows the stable introduction of the transposon delivery vector into the host. Generation of insertion mutants is then limited only by the frequency of transposition. IS903φkan was placed on an IncQ plasmid vector with the transposase gene located outside the transposon and expressed from isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG)-inducible promoters. After transposase induction, IS903φkaninsertion mutants were readily selected in Escherichia coliby their resistance to kanamycin. We used IS903φkan to isolate three catalase-deficient mutants of the periodontal pathogenActinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans from a library of random insertions. The mutants display increased sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide, and all have IS903φkan insertions within an open reading frame whose predicted product is closely related to other bacterial catalases. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the catalase gene (designated katA) and flanking intergenic regions also revealed several occurrences of an 11-bp sequence that is closely related to the core DNA uptake signal sequence for natural transformation of Haemophilus influenzae. Our results demonstrate the utility of the IS903φkan mutagenesis system for the study of A. actinomycetemcomitans. Because IS903φkan is carried on a mobilizable, broad-host-range IncQ plasmid, this system is potentially useful in a variety of bacterial species.
Structural analysis of the sequence coding for an inducible 26-kDa protein in human fibroblasts.

When human fibroblast cells were stimulated with poly(I) X poly(C) in the presence of cycloheximide for the production of interferon-beta (IFN-beta), a 26-kDa protein could be immunoprecipitated by antiserum raised against partially purified human IFN-beta [Content, J., De Wit, L. , Pierard, D. , Derynck, R. , De Clercq, E. & Fiers, W. (1982) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 79, 2768-2772]. In our hands this 26-kDa protein showed no antiviral activity. Other investigators have, however, reported the presence in the same conditions of a second type of IFN, a so-called beta 2 species [Weissenbach, J., Chernajovsky, Y. , Zeevi, M. , Shulman, L. , Soreq, H. , Nir, U. , Wallach, D. , Perricaudet, M. , Tiollais, P. & Revel, M. (1980) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 77, 7152-7156] of which the mRNA structure and protein characteristics strongly suggests identity with the 26-kDa product. In this paper we describe the nucleotide sequence of the 26-kDa cDNA and part of the corresponding genomic clone. The cDNA clones were isolated from a library made with mRNA from induced human fibroblasts. As, however, the information thus obtained was still incomplete, genomic clones were isolated from a total human DNA library. In this way, the entire region coding for the 26-kDa protein was established, as well as the neighbouring sequences including the inducible promoter area. From the deduced polypeptide sequence a number of characteristics of the 26-kDa protein can be explained. It turns out that the 26-kDa protein gene and the so-called 'IFN-beta 2' gene are identical. However, extensive homology searches indicate that the 26-kDa protein does not show statistically significant sequence homology with any known interferon species. Hence, the question of whether the 26-kDa product represents a novel IFN species remains open.
Pricing VIX options with stochastic volatility and random jumps

This study presents an analytical exact solution for the price of VIX options under stochastic volatility model with simultaneous jumps in the asset price and volatility processes. We shall demonstrate that our new pricing formula can be used to efficiently compute the numerical values of a VIX option. While we also show that the numerical results obtained from our formula consistently match those obtained from Monte Carlo simulation perfectly as a verification of the correctness of our formula, numerical evidence is offered to illustrate that the correctness of the formula proposed in Lin and Chang (J Futur Markets 29(6), 523–543, 2009) is in serious doubt. Moreover, some important and distinct properties of VIX options (e.g., put-call parity, hedging ratios) are also examined and discussed.
Central Cities as Engines of Metropolitan Area Growth

The paper analyzes the role of central cities as engines of economic growth in their metropolitan area. We wonder if there are increasing returns to central city growth at the metropolitan level arising from the positive externalities associated with the unique features of central cities. To answer this question we analyze the causality between the economic growth of Spanish central cities and the growth of the other jurisdictions belonging to their metropolitan area (i.e., the suburbs). The analysis uses population and economic activity data for a sample of 28 Spanish metropolitan areas during 35 years. We use a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) framework to estimate long-run equilibrium relationships between the growth of central cities and their suburbs. The combination of panel data and a VECM is an innovative approach that is still being developed in econometrics. The results suggest that central city growth has a long-run positive effect on the growth of the suburbs. We also inquire as to whether or not this positive effect depends on the size of the central city. The results suggest that the effect is much higher in the case of the largest cities, but that it is also important in the case of the smaller ones.