Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Same or different? A comparison of anthropometry, physical fitness and perceptual motor characteristics in male and female youth soccer players

ABSTRACT Objectives: Little is known about the key performance characteristics of female players throughout adolescence, and how they compares to male players. The aim of this study was to compare performance assessments for male and female youth soccer players aged 9-18 years. Methods: Anthropometry, physical fitness, motor competence, dribbling performance and decision-making were assessed in 77 female and 182 male athletes from three developmental stages (sampling stage: 9-11y; specialisation stage: 12-14y; and investment stage: 15-18y). Results: MANOVA revealed significant interaction effects for age and sex on anthropometry, motor competence & physical fitness (p<0.001, η2p=0.131-0.216), while only main effects of sex and age were revealed for decision-making and dribbling (p<0.001, η2p=0.053-0.250). Females had better mean scores for most variables in the sampling stage, whereas males in the investment stage outperformed the females. Greater performance scores for decision-making and dribbling were evident for males at all ages. These results reveal that male and female soccer players’ generic performance-related characteristics differ very little at a young age, whereas performance in soccer-specific assessments do. Conclusions: Hence, this study argues that in order to maximise the size of talent pools in soccer and increase skill development, young male and female players could train and play together until the end of the sampling stage (~12y).
Croatian Adaptation of the Revised Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET)

The aim of this research was to translate and adapt the revised version of the "Reading the mind in the eyes test" (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001) to the Croatian language, and to provide preliminary data on its reliability, factor structure and convergent validity in a healthy population of Croatian students. After translation and adaptation, the Croatian version of the RMET was administered to 146 undergraduate and graduate students (84 female and 62 male participants). Together with the RMET, we administered the Emotional Empathy Scale (Raboteg-Saric, 1993). Results show low internal consistency reliability of the Croatian adaptation of the RMET and adequate reliability measured with maximal reliability H coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis marginally supports the unidimensional model. Convergent validity was marginally confirmed by a significant positive correlation between REMT and empathy. Additionally, we created a short version of the RMET, showing adequate fit indices, but containing only seven items. Internal consistency reliability and composite reliability for this scale were satisfactory. We propose further investigation of psychometric properties of the Croatian adaptation of the RMET with research in general, more representative population. We also propose investigating test-retest reliability, as well as discriminant validity of the test.
Legal Techniques for Rationalizing Biased Judicial Decisions: Evidence from Experiments with Real Judges

Judges rarely reveal their real reasoning in their opinions when they are influenced by factors that they know they should not consider. The natural next question is how, when a judge is improperly influenced, he or she reasons to justify a biased decision. In a set of experiments using incumbent Chinese judges, we first replicated the findings of previous studies that showed judges can be influenced by extra&#8208;legal factors. More importantly, we showed that judges may employ a range of legal techniques to rationalize decision biases: they interpret legal standards and legal concepts strategically, finesse the applicability of law, infer or deny causation and foreseeability, and draw different conclusions from facts. Our findings provide a more realistic understanding of how judges behave, and cast doubt on reasoned elaboration as a guarantee of judicial transparency and trustworthiness.
The Effects of Board Independence on Busy Directors and Firm Value: Evidence from Regulatory Changes in Sweden

Research Question/Issue: This paper examines the impact of changes in board independence on the market valuation of Swedish firms. I exploit an exogenous change to the rules of corporate governance in 2005, which requires large firms to have majority independent boards, as a quasi‐experimental setting.Research Findings/Insights: I use a regression discontinuity design and a difference‐in‐differences approach to capture the reaction of the market to the new governance rules, taking advantage of the fact that only large firms are required to comply with the code. The results indicate that (a) the market reacts negatively to the enactment of the new governance rules and (b) target firms that complied with the independence requirement witnessed larger decreases in their market valuation compared with the rest of the firms in the sample. The busyness of independent directors is a potential explanation for the estimated negative effect of the increased board independence on the market valuation of target firms. For instance, I find that independent directors in target firms experienced a larger increase in their busyness compared with their peers in nontarget firms. This increase in busyness is also more pronounced for independent directors of complying target firms.Theoretical/Academic Implications: The findings of this paper are in line with theoretical models that find that imposing quotas on the number of independent directors might not be optimal for all firms.Practitioner/Policy Implications: This paper identifies board busyness as an important consequence of requiring board independence in the Swedish context. The results of the paper have implications for corporate governance policies that impose quotas on board independence without limiting board busyness, especially when the supply of directors is limited. (Less)
One Concept, Many Opinions: How Scientists in Germany Think About the Concept of Bioeconomy

The official bioeconomy strategies in Europe and Germany pursue a technology-based implementation pathway and stipulate a wide range of objectives to be achieved with a bio-based economy. Reviews of the scientific and societal debate have shown that the technology fix meets criticism and that there is a controversial discussion about possible ways to shape the transition process. Against this background, an online survey was carried out among scientists involved in a regional bioeconomy research program in southern Germany in order to gain insight into their understanding of a bioeconomy. Moreover, the survey provides information about cooperation and major challenges in the future development of three biomass utilization pathways: biogas, lignocellulose, and microalgae. The analysis showed that a resource-oriented understanding of a bioeconomy is favored. The political objectives for a European bioeconomy are widely accepted, and it is expected that ongoing research can significantly contribute to achieving these goals. The two different pathways for shaping the bioeconomy that are discussed in the debate—the technology-based approach and the socio-ecological approach—are considered compatible rather than contrary. Up to now, scientific cooperation has prevailed, while cooperation with societal stakeholders and end-users has played a minor role.
Teacher Identity in an After-School Engineering Club

Educational policies seek to integrate engineering instruction within elementary school settings. This becomes challenging for elementary school leaders and teachers, as few have previous teacher preparation or professional development experience with engineering content or processes. Although studies have considered teacher identity in relation to new teachers’ experiences teaching unfamiliar STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) content, few consider the experiences of veteran teachers, especially regarding teaching of engineering. Utilizing the lenses of brokering and boundary crossing, this 2-year interpretive case study explores the ways in which 3 veteran teachers reflected on teaching engineering and the engineering design process in a newly formed after-school elementary engineering club. Teachers’ reflections elucidate how they mediated their experiences in becoming familiar with new engineering content by navigating boundary crossing and drawing from and expanding on their teacher identities while enacting real-world practices of teaching and working with children.
The Effect of Working Capital Management on Dividend Policy: An Empirical Analysis of Listed Firms in Ghana

Relying on more recent data spanning 2007-2016, this paper investigates the impact of working capital management (WCM) on dividend policy of listed non-financial firms in Ghana. Specifically, the study assesses the effect of cash conversion cycle (CCC), days inventory outstanding (DIO), profitability, and firm growth on dividend policy. Employing the ordinary least squares (OLS) analytical technique, the findings reported that working capital management (in terms of cash conversion cycle and days inventory outstanding) and dividend policy are positively related, with DIO having a significant effect on dividend policy. The results also established a positive association between the control variables (profitability and firm growth) and dividend policy albeit insignificantly. Based on the findings, the study concludes that working capital management in terms of days inventory outstanding (DIO) is a critical factor influencing firms’ dividend policy decisions. The study extends the inconclusive empirical evidence on the determinants of dividend policy and fills the lacuna in existing literature by focusing on how working capital management practices influence dividend policy of firms in Ghana. The findings are also useful to the board of directors of non-financial firms in deciding an appropriate dividend policy, and to the shareholders in making investment decisions.
Malicious URLs Detection Using Decision Tree Classifiers and Majority Voting Technique

Abstract Researchers all over the world have provided significant and effective solutions to detect malicious URLs. Still due to the ever changing nature of cyberattacks, there are many open issues. In this paper, we have provided an effective hybrid methodology with new features to deal with this problem. To evaluate our approach, we have used state-of-the-arts supervised decision tree learning classifications models. We have performed our experiments on the balanced dataset. The experimental results show that, by inclusion of new features all the decision tree learning classifiers work well on our labeled dataset, achieving 98-99% detection accuracy with very low False Positive Rate (FPR) and False Negative Rate (FNR). Also we have achieved 99.29% detection accuracy with very low FPR and FNR using majority voting technique, which is better than the wellknown anti-virus and anti-malware solutions.
Competition, Status, and Markets

OF DISSERTATION COMPETITION, STATUS AND MARKETS Extant research within competitive dynamics recognizes a positive relationship between high levels of competitive activity and firm performance, but the cognitive and psychological antecedents to competitive activity are far less clearly understood. I explore the role of a specific psychological antecedent status, in impacting firms’ motivations to launch competitive moves against rivals. The key question, which extant literature does not seem fully equipped to answer, is when and under exactly what circumstances lower-status firms become motivated to launch action against higher-status ones and vice-versa. I use the stimulus-response model in social cognition to build theory which helps to answer the question by considering structural properties of market engagement. The specific structural property of market engagement that I focus on is market commonality, or the extent to which a rival is a significant player in markets important to a focal firm. I predict that a rival’s market commonality with a focal firm and its status relative to the focal firm have independent and positive effects on the extent to which the focal firm pays attention to the rival, that a rival’s market commonality with a focal firm and its status relative to the focal firm interact negatively to predict the focal firm’s motivation to launch action against that rival, and that a rival’s relative status and market commonality with a focal firm interact positively to predict the extent to which the focal firm pays attention to the rival. I test theory through a field study on gourmet food trucks in Lexington and an experiment through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk tool. Results provide broad support for the hypotheses. Three consequences follow from my study – that high-status firms are likely to come under attack from lower-status firms with whom they do not compete in markets, that they are unlikely to be paying attention to those lower-status firms when first attacked, and that they are likely to become aware of and motivated to act against those lower-status firms only after the lower-status firms have occupied key markets. My study contributes to the literatures in competitive dynamics, status, multi-market contact, and entrepreneurial action.
ECONOMIC GROWTH MODELS AND GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE IN SOUTH AFRICA: A DISAGGREGATED IMPACT ANALYSIS

This study examined the effects of government expenditure on different components of economic growth in South Africa. The six key policy variables employed in the analysis were derived from the Solow neoclassical growth model and the New Growth Path (NGP), a macroeconomic framework designed to address the main challenges (unemployment, poverty and inequality) facing the economy as a result of its political past. The analysis of the relationship was carried out using the cointegration model, longrun estimates and the VECM, because assessing the effects of government expenditure on economic growth goes beyond the short-term period, due to the fact that it takes time before government outlays have an effect on the economy. The findings from the analysis revealed that though there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables with the cointegration results, the long-run estimates showed that aggregate private consumption expenditure and employment-to-population ratio are significantly, but negatively, related to economic growth, while net inflows of foreign direct investment and gross fixed capital formation are negatively related to gross government expenditure. This implies that government needs to direct most of its spending towards human capital development, in order to overcome the challenges. However, government expenditure needs to be monitored, since excessive public capital expenditure might reduce the positive impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth. The study therefore suggests that government should consider increasing its expenditure on the significant variables that support labour and capital development, in order to enhance economic growth in South Africa.
The Decades‐Long Dispute Over Scale Effects in the Theory of Economic Growth

The so-called ‘new growth theory’ is characterized by the now Nobel Prize winning insight that ideas are a non-rival input to and output from endogenous investment in innovation. Non-rivalry implies increasing returns to scale, but this also unintentionally creates an empirically-disputed scale effect that a growing population implies an ever-increasing growth rate. Empirical evidence supports fully-endogenous growth without scale effects, but theoretical issues sustain the decades-long dispute over exactly how to negate the scale effect. This article surveys theoretical approaches to resolving the scale effect and shows how four generations of endogenous growth theory are defined by the maturing of modeling techniques for constraining increasing returns. The synthesis suggests that the dispute over scale effects is really a narrative about how the powerful application of increasing returns has followed a standard theoretical development pattern. This implies that a fourth generation is now emerging that negates the scale effect while retaining fully-endogenous growth without relying on assumptions of linearity. Instead, the market response to excessive increasing returns to innovation constrains explosive growth by expanding the market, rather than by a linear assumption. This latest class of endogenous growth models may be the final chapter to resolving the long running dispute.
Citizen engagement in public services in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A mixed‐methods systematic review of participation, inclusion, transparency and accountability (PITA) initiatives

Background How do governance interventions that engage citizens in public service delivery planning, management and oversight impact the quality of and access to services and citizens’ quality of life? This systematic review examined high quality evidence from 35 citizen engagement programmes in low‐ and middle‐income countries that promote the engagement of citizens in service delivery through four routes: participation (participatory priority setting); inclusion of marginalised groups; transparency (information on rights and public service performance), and/or citizen efforts to ensure public service accountability (citizen feedback and monitoring); collectively, PITA mechanisms. We collected quantitative and qualitative data from the included studies and used statistical meta‐analysis and realist‐informed framework synthesis to analyse the findings. Results The findings suggest that interventions promoting citizen engagement by improving direct engagement between service users and service providers, are often effective in stimulating active citizen engagement in service delivery and realising improvements in access to services and quality of service provision, particularly for services that involve direct interaction between citizens and providers. However, in the absence of complementary interventions to address bottlenecks around service provider supply chains and service use, citizen engagement interventions alone may not improve key wellbeing outcomes for target communities or state‐society relations. In addition, interventions promoting citizen engagement by increasing citizen pressures on politicians to hold providers to account, are not usually able to influence service delivery. Conclusions The citizen engagement interventions studied were more likely to be successful: (1) where the programme targeted a service that citizens access directly from front‐line staff, such as healthcare, as opposed to services accessed independently of service provider staff, such as roads; (2) where implementers were able to generate active support and buy‐in for the intervention from both citizens and front‐line public service staff and officials; and (3) where the implementation approach drew on and/or stimulated local capacity for collective action. From a research perspective, the review found few studies that investigated the impact of these interventions on women or other vulnerable groups within communities, and that rigorous impact evaluations often lack adequately transparent reporting, particularly of information on what interventions actually did and how conditions compared to those in comparison communities.
Challenges and Expectations towards Information Literacy Skills: Voices from Teachers’ Training of Scientific Writing

This research was aiming at analyzing information literacy skills (ILS) among teachers, the challenges of mastering ILS, and the expected ILS training. The study involved 58 secondary school teachers in East Java, Indonesia. The questionnaire and the information literacy test were administered after the training to capture the data. The data were then descriptively analyzed with NVivo 12 and Minitab 16 Windows. The results have shown that more than half of all participants had scores below the standard of 70. The other findings indicated that the teachers were good at determining types of information and understanding research terminologies. However, they were still not successfully extracting what was important in mastering ILS determined by eight other indicators. To employ ILS, teachers should deal with the challenges, such as time management, motivation, and knowledge of writing. To sum up, the teachers still need more training sessions which focus on the continuity of making scientific articles for professional development. This training can even build some foundation to improve ILS to teachers. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.18. 7. 7
Humanitarian migrants, work and economic security on the urban fringe: how policies and perceptions shape opportunities

Australia is in the midst of a national conversation about population growth and immigration, with a focus on social cohesion and integration. At the same time, Australia's humanitarian program has shifted towards an emphasis on temporary protection, place-based resettlement and prioritising the economic contributions of refugees and people seeking asylum. Fast-growing urban fringe localities, with significant pressure on services and infrastructure, are often at the forefront of dealing with these challenges. We draw on 23 interviews with service providers, local government personnel, policymakers, employers and community-based organisations in the City of Hume. We asked them about their perspectives on policy and regulatory influences on the economic security of humanitarian entrants, and local responses to humanitarian settlement.
The efficiency impact of uncertain taxes: an experimental study

ABSTRACT Uncertainty is generally assumed to have negative economic effects, but they are difficult to quantify due to measurement and definitional issues in the real world. We use a carefully controlled laboratory experiment to examine policy uncertainty and its impact on economic efficiency. We employ a double-auction design and compare the efficiency of a market with a known tax to that of a risky tax (of known probability) and an uncertain tax (of unknown probability). We find that the uncertain tax generates more deadweight loss than a risky tax of equal expected value.
The effect of peer observation on consumption choices: evidence from a lab-in-field experiment

ABSTRACT We investigate the impact of peer observation on consumption decisions using a lab-in-field experiment. Respondents make consumption decisions either alone or under peer observation. We find evidence for peer effects. We are able to study these further by looking into the mechanism and performing detailed heterogeneity analysis. Concerning the mechanisms, we find evidence for an information channel. Further, we show that the consumption choice is influenced by how many people made the same decision previously, but not by who those people are, hence finding evidence of a psychological channel. Respondents with higher cognitive ability are less susceptible to peer effects, while people living in small villages are more susceptible.