Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Client Importance, Non-Audit Fees, and Abnormal Accruals

We use data on audit and non-audit fees paid to auditors, disclosed in proxy statements under SEC auditor independence rules, to assess whether client importance to auditor is associated with abnormal accruals. Our sample consists of 1,864 clients of Big-5 audit firms that revealed audit and non-audit fees in proxy statements filed between February 5, 2001 and June 30, 2001, and had data in Compustat to estimate abnormal accruals using the modified-Jones model. We measure client importance by the ratio of client fees to the audit firm's total US revenues. In view of anecdotal evidence suggesting that non-audit services are more profitable to the auditor than are audit services, we use the ratio of non-audit fees from a client to the audit firm's US revenues as a second measure of client importance. We do not find a statistically significant evidence of an association between abnormal accruals and either of the client importance measures. We also do not find evidence of a statistically significant association between abnormal accruals and client importance in subsets of the sample partitioned by the extent of client incentives to manipulate earnings (proxied by high leverage and high market to book ratio), auditor expertise (proxied by whether the auditor is the industry specialist), and insider influence on the board of directors (proxied by whether the CEO is the chairman, and by the percentage of employee directors). Thus we are unable to find evidence of any association between client importance and abnormal accruals. However, it is possible that client importance is significantly related to abnormal accruals in other cases which we have not considered, and our results should be interpreted subject to this caveat.
A comparison of release kinetics and glutamate receptor properties in shaping rod–cone differences in EPSC kinetics in the salamander retina

Synaptic transmission from cones is faster than transmission from rods. Using paired simultaneous recordings from photoreceptors and second‐order neurones in the salamander retina, we studied the contributions of rod–cone differences in glutamate receptor properties and synaptic release rates to shaping postsynaptic responses. Depolarizing steps evoked sustained calcium currents in rods and cones that in turn produced transient excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) in horizontal and OFF bipolar cells. Cone‐driven EPSCs rose and decayed faster than rod‐driven EPSCs, even when comparing inputs from a rod and cone onto the same postsynaptic neurone. Thus, rod–cone differences in EPSCs reflect properties of individual rod and cone synapses. Experiments with selective AMPA and KA agonists and antagonists showed that rods and cones both contact pharmacologically similar AMPA receptors. Spontaneous miniature EPSCs (mEPSCs) exhibited unimodal distributions of amplitude and half‐amplitude time width and there were no rod–cone differences in mEPSC properties. To examine how release kinetics shape the EPSC, we convolved mEPSC waveforms with empirically determined release rate functions for rods and cones. The predicted EPSC waveform closely matched the actual EPSC evoked by cones, supporting a quantal release model at the photoreceptor synapse. Convolution with the rod release function also produced a good match in rod‐driven cells, although the actual EPSC was often somewhat slower than the predicted EPSC, a discrepancy partly explained by rod–rod coupling. Rod–cone differences in the rates of exocytosis are thus a major factor in producing faster cone‐driven responses in second‐order retinal neurones.
Effects of Price, Brand, and Store Information on Buyers’ Product Evaluations

The authors report a study of the effects of price, brand, and store information on buyers’ perceptions of product quality and value, as well as their willingness to buy. Hypotheses are derived from a conceptual model positing the effects of extrinsic cues (price, brand name, and store name) on buyers’ perceptions and purchase intentions. Moreover, the design of the experiment allows additional analyses on the relative differential effects of price, brand name, and store name on the three dependent variables. Results indicate that price had a positive effect on perceived quality, but a negative effect on perceived value and willingness to buy. Favorable brand and store information positively influenced perceptions of quality and value, and subjects’ willingness to buy. The major findings are discussed and directions for future research are suggested.
Knowledge of cardiovascular disease risk factors and the risk of death in middle-aged residents of Krakow.

BACKGROUND Providing knowledge of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors is the main component of prevention pro-grammes, which aim to reduce the exposure to these factors and decrease CVD incidence and mortality. However, evidence linking knowledge of CVD risk factors and the risk of death is scarce. AIM The aim of the study was to assess the relation between knowledge of CVD risk factors and the risk of death from all causes in middle-aged residents of Krakow and to assess whether this relation depends on the level of education. METHODS The study sample included 1756 men and 1788 women selected from a population of Krakow residents at age 45-64 years. Knowledge of CVD risk factors was assessed for every risk factor separately using a standard questionnaire. Results were summarised by calculating the "knowledge index" (from -15 to 15 points). Information on deaths was obtained from the registry of Krakow residents. Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the relation between knowledge of CVD risk factors and all-cause mortality. RESULTS At baseline examination the participation rate was 66% in men and 65% in women. The proportion of participants with secondary or higher education was 61% in men and 66% in women. Distribution of knowledge index was right skewed, and the median was 11 (interquartile range: 9-13) in both sexes. Median time of follow-up was 14.35 years (interquartile range: 14.30-14.39). There were 307 deaths in men and in women. Men with a low level of knowledge of risk factors had a higher risk of death. However, adjustment for education attenuated the association. After stratification by the level of education, in men with secondary education or higher, an inverse relation between the knowledge of CVD risk factors and the risk of death was found. In this group, men with a low level of knowledge of CVD risk factors had about a 60% higher risk of death, compared to men with high knowledge. In men with low education and in women the risk of death was not associated with knowledge of risk factors. CONCLUSIONS In a Krakow population characterised by a high proportion of residents with secondary or higher education, the association between knowledge of CVD risk factors and the risk of death depended on sex and the level of education. A lower level of knowledge of risk factors was associated with a higher risk of death only in men with secondary or higher education.
Good Corporate Governance and Earning Management Practices: An Indonesian Cases

This research is done for the purpose of finding out the effect of Good Governance practice can reduce earnings management practice done by company. This research uses companies registered in manufacture sector in Indonesia Stock Exchange observation period 2005-2007 as samples. Last sample used in this research is 384 years of observation. This research uses OLS method. The result shows that only two variables have significant effect to Earning Management practice which is CEO Duality and controlling shareholder existence. Other independent variables such as independent commissioner and audit committee and also shareholder coalition outside the controlling shareholder don’t have any effect to earning management practice in the company. Control variable like coverage analyst and debt don’t have any effect either, to earning management practice existence.
Commitment and Trust as Drivers of Loyalty in Logistics Outsourcing Relationships: Cultural Differences Between the United States and Germany

This study examines differences in loyalty formation within logistics outsourcing relationships between Germany and the United States. A model of loyalty formation on the basis of commitment and trust is developed and differences between Germany and the United States are hypothesized. They are tested based on 795 logistics outsourcing relationships in the two countries using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that these relationships differ depending on cultural traits relating to trust and commitment. The findings are relevant for practitioners and academics as they paint a more globally informed picture of loyalty formation within logistics outsourcing relationships in which to base both managerial decisions and future research.
Spiritual Organization: A Path to Organizational Sustainable Excellence

In searching for quality and competitiveness, a steadily increasing number of governments and businesses have adopted "business excellence models" and "national quality awards" frameworks. Most of these were based on the American, European, Canadian or Japanese models. Organizational excellence is at crossroads today. Performance management systems and business excellence models and frameworks have given little to no consideration for social, environmental, human and ethical dimensions of organizational performance. Moreover, organizations have been confronting many unsurmountable challenges, changes and pressures that make it very necessary to look for an organizational excellence alternative, namely spiritual organization. This paper provides a framework for building spirituality-based organization that can harvest sustained excellence.
Is Anybody Listening? The Literature on the Dialogical Process of Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure Reviewed

We conducted an exploratory review of the current literature on child sexual abuse disclosure in everyday contexts. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of relevant publications on the process of child sexual abuse disclosure, in order to generate new directions for future research and clinical practice. The findings of the exploratory review show that disclosure is a relational process, which is renegotiated by each interaction and evolves over an extended period of time. The characteristics and reactions of the interaction partner appear to be as critical to this process as the behavior and words of children themselves. Methodological limitations of the review and the publications are discussed, as well as directions for future research and implications for practice.
Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche Università degli Studi di Firenze

A buyer needs to procure a good from either of two potential suppliers offering differentiated products and with privately observed costs. The buyer privately observes the own valuations for the products and (ex ante) decides how much of this information should be revealed to suppliers before they play a first score auction. We show that the more significant is each supplier’s private information on the own cost, the less information the buyer should reveal. Part of our analysis is linked to the comparison between a first and a second price auction in an asymmetric setup with a distribution shift. ∗Acknowledgments: We thank Giancarlo Spagnolo and Steve Tadelis for useful comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies. This paper is part of a research project on Mechanism Design and Auctions supported by the Italian Ministry of the University. ∗∗Please send mail to Domenico Menicucci, Dipartimento di Matematica per le Decisioni, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via delle Pandette 9, I-50127 Firenze, Italy; e-mail address: domenico.menicucci@dmd.unifi. it; phone: +39-055-4374666; fax: +39-055-4374913.
Malawi's Infrastructure: A Continental Perspective

Infrastructure contributed 1.2 percentage points to the annual per capita growth of Malawi's gross domestic product (GDP) over the past decade, thanks mainly to the revolution in information and communication technology (ICT). Raising the country's infrastructure endowment to that of the region's middle-income countries could further boost annual growth by 3.5 percentage points per capita. Today, Malawi's basic infrastructure indicators look relatively good when compared with other low-income countries in Africa, although the performance of that infrastructure could be significantly improved. Malawi is one of the few African countries to have already reached the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water, almost a decade ahead of the target. The private sector has made Global Management System (GSM) telephone signals widely available without public subsidy. A substantial road investment program has raised the average condition of the country's road network, and a foundation for institutional reform has been laid in the ICT, power, and road transport sectors. Even if those inefficiencies could be eliminated, Malawi will still face an infrastructure funding gap of almost $300 million a year. This could be lessened to $100 million by engaging in regional trade of electricity, using lower-cost supply modalities in water supply and sanitation, and adopting appropriate technologies for road sector development. As long as efficiency gains are captured and spending sustained at the levels of the recent past, the country's infrastructure targets could be reached within 16 years.
Unpacking the Influence of Sexual Stigma on HIV Risk: Results From a Prospective Study of Men Who Have Sex With Men in Beijing, China

Objective: We examined the mediating roles of coping, depression, anxiety, and encountering difficult sexual situations in explaining the association between stigma against men who have sex with men (MSM) and HIV risk. Methods: We conducted path analyses using longitudinal data collected from 493 Chinese MSM in Beijing at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months from 2011 to 2013. Results: MSM stigma, specifically anticipations of stigma, had a marginally significant, protective total effect on unprotected anal intercourse at 12 months. This overall association, however, was the byproduct of 5 significant, indirect associations (3 risk enhancing, 2 protective) that routed through coping, anxiety, and difficult sexual situations. Of note, heavier use of avoidant coping principally had a protective effect on risk behavior by decreasing difficult sexual situations. Conclusions: Interventions to reduce avoidant coping would be an important tool for improving the emotional well-being of Chinese MSM. Such interventions, however, must be paired with biomedical or behavioral HIV prevention strategies to ensure that their benefit is not undermined by unintended increased HIV transmission risk in response to reduced social isolation among MSM.
The impacts of brand equity, brand attachment, product involvement and repurchase intention on bicycle users

The 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen was over on 19 December 2009. Undoubtedly, people will pay more attention to global warming and green life in the future. Enhancing protection of ecology is a key point in future development of world bicycle industry. Bicycle industry in Taiwan has complete upper, middle and lower systems. As bicycle companies in Taiwan gradually focus on medium and high end bicycles and total export reached USD1.2 billion in 2009. This shows increasing added values. In such a competitive environment, bicycle brands must offer various product types to meet needs of different consumers. Brands are important intangible assets to a company and under great attention of major world players. Therefore and this study aims at impacts of brand equity, brand attachment, product involvement and repurchase intention on bicycle users when selecting bicycle brands and engaging in activities. Target included users in bicycle recreation on bicycle lanes in areas north of Taichung. A total of 400 questionnaires were issued in convenience sampling; 350 valid questionnaires were collected and verified with LISREL. The conditions were: brand equity has positive influence on brand attachment, repurchase intention and product involvement; product involvement has positive influence on brand attachment and repurchase intention and indirect influence on brand attachment through product involvement. Through product involvement and brand attachment, it has indirect influence on repurchase intention. Suggestions were proposed against the preceding conclusions as reference on marketing strategies and operation management in developing own brands by bicycle companies in Taiwan. Key words: Bicycle, brand equity, brand involvement, brand attachment, repurchase intention, Structural Equation Modeling.
The Evolving Role of Mergers and Acquisitions in Competitive Strategy Research

This chapter intends to investigate the role of strategic mergers and acquisitions (hereinafter MA under this regard, they contribute to gain or renew sustainable competitive advantages. Despite the huge number of empirical researches carried out so far, the evaluation of M&As performance for the acquiring firm is still an open issue. We adopt a process approach to M&A and suggest that acquisition performance is the outcomes of all sub-processes in which can ideally be split the whole acquisition process, each of which is alone necessary, although not sufficient, to grant overall acquisition success. Integration features are discussed in details, with a particular emphasis on acquisition performance metrics.
Evolving Patterns of Organizational Beliefs in the Formation of Strategy

By examining marketing's strategic role through the lenses of managers operating throughout the organizational structure, researchers and strategists can gain special insights. Adopting a structural-cognitive perspective, the authors employed a longitudinal design, coupled with snowball sampling, to explore the beliefs and changes in beliefs of key actors in a major strategic decision. The results show a dramatic conflict across functions in the interpretation of a proposed new strategy and its consequences. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of the results for the study of managerial thought worlds, organizational learning, and strategy development.
Effect of Inhibition of Acetoclastic Methanogenesis on Growth of Archaeal Populations in an Anoxic Model Environment

ABSTRACT Methyl fluoride is frequently used to specifically inhibit acetoclastic methanogenesis, thus allowing determination of the relative contribution of acetate versus H2/CO2 to total CH4 production in natural environments. However, the effect of the inhibitor on growth of the target archaeal population has not yet been studied. Therefore, we incubated rice roots as an environmental model system under anoxic conditions in the presence and absence of CH3F, measured the activity and Gibbs free energy (ΔG) of CH4 production, and determined the abundance of individual archaeal populations by using a combination of quantitative (real-time) PCR and analysis of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism targeting the 16S rRNA gene. It was shown that CH3F specifically inhibited not only acetoclastic methanogenic activity but also the proliferation of Methanosarcina spp, which were the prevalent acetoclastic methanogens in our environmental model system. Therefore, inhibition experiments with CH3F seem to be a suitable method for quantifying acetoclastic CH4 production. It is furthermore shown that the growth and final population size of methanogens were consistent with energetic conditions that at least covered the maintenance requirements of the population.
Export Behavior and Board Independence in Colombian Family Firms: The Reverse Causality Relationship

In the context of greater market liberalization in Latin America, one issue that merits greater attention for empirical investigation is the international expansion of family-owned business. Specifically, the relationship between export behavior, family control and board composition in the Latin American context is absent in the literature. Using a large and unique database from Colombian firms (33,249 firms in the period of 2008 to 2013), one may find insightful information on the determinants of export behavior of family firms in emerging markets. Our empirical test confirms an endogenous relation between boards' composition (specifically the presence of independent members) and export behavior in family firms. Firms with a higher participation of independent board members are more likely to exhibit higher levels of exports. A “virtuous cycle” was also detected whereby the introduction of independent members on the board can be expected to boost export behavior, which in turn will encourage the increase of independent members on the board of private firms.
Do star analysts make more profitable recommendations because they are skilled, influential, or connected?

Using 1994–2009 data, we find that for investors with advance access to analyst recommendations, All-American (AA) analysts’ buy and sell portfolio alphas significantly exceed those of non-AAs by up to 7% per annum after risk-adjustments. For investors without such access, top-rank AAs still earn significantly higher (by 4%) annual alphas in buy recommendations than others. AAs’ superior performance exists both before and after they are elected, is not explained by initial announcement effects, and is not significantly eroded by RegFD. Collectively, these results suggest that the AA outperformance at least partially reflects their superior skill; neither better connection to management nor market influence alone can explain these results. While client investors with advance access are positioned to profit from AAs’ recommendations, other investors’ ability to do so is somewhat limited. Election to top-AA ranks predicts performance in buy recommendations above and beyond other observable analyst characteristics. We further present evidence that institutional investors—who elect the AAs— actively evaluate analysts and update the AA roster accordingly.
Multifluid MHD study of the solar wind interaction with Mars' upper atmosphere during the 2015 March 8th ICME event

We study the solar wind interaction with the Martian upper atmosphere during the 8 March 2015 interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) by using a global multifluid MHD model. Comparison of the simulation results with observations from Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft shows good agreement. The total ion escape rate is increased by an order of magnitude, from 2.05 × 1024 s−1 (pre‐ICME phase) to 2.25 × 1025 s−1 (ICME sheath phase), during this time period. Two major ion escape channels are illustrated: accelerated pickup ion loss through the dayside plume and ionospheric ion loss through the nightside plasma wake region. Interestingly, the tailward ion loss is significantly increased at the ejecta phase. Both bow shock and magnetic pileup boundary (BS and MPB) locations are decreased from (1.2RM, 1.57RM) at the pre‐ICME phase to (1.16RM, 1.47RM), respectively, during the sheath phase along the dayside Mars‐Sun line. Furthermore, both simulation and observational results indicate that there is no significant variation in the Martian ionosphere (at altitudes ≲ 200 km, i.e., the photochemical region) during this event.