Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hedging the Equity Risk of High-Yield Bonds

High-yield bonds contain a significant component of embedded equity. Because of this equity component, one can use equity-related investments as hedging vehicles to control the total risk of high-yield bonds. A composite hedging strategy, for example, is based on the proposition that a high-yield bond is a dynamic combination of equity and riskless bonds. Yet another hedging strategy involves shorting an equivalent portfolio of long stocks and short calls to eliminate the equity risk of high-yield bonds. The composite hedging technique performs well at the portfolio level, suggesting that any portfolio of high-yield bonds constructed to track a diversified high-yield bond index would be a suitable candidate for a composite hedging strategy. If the portfolio of high-yield bonds is not concentrated in a specific equity sector, however, it is likely to be less influenced by its equity component and can be hedged simply with interest rate futures. Hedging results for the bonds of three individual firms suggest the potential for molding risk-return tradeoffs by focusing separately on equity risk or interest rate risk. A statistical investigation of the market's perception of impending default indicates that market parameters signal a default up to 10 months before the event. This should give investors enough time to work out of a long position in the bonds or to short enough stocks to protect against a precipitous decline in bond and stock prices.
Short Arbitrage, Return Asymmetry and the Accrual Anomaly

We find a positive association between short-selling and accruals during 1988-2009, and that asymmetry between the long and short sides of the accrual anomaly is stronger when constraints on short-arbitrage are more severe (low availability of loanable shares as proxied by institutional holdings). Short arbitrage occurs primarily among firms in the top accrual decile. Asymmetry is only present on NASDAQ. Thus, there is short arbitrage of the accrual anomaly, but short sale constraints limit its effectiveness.
How institutional environments facilitate co-operative negotiation styles in EU decision-making

Thinking of the European Union's (EU's) Council system in terms of institutional environments can help generalize the scope conditions under which co-operative styles of negotiation develop and become durable over time. Analytically, we expect to find that those institutional environments which code higher on a set of four independent variables should exhibit more robust patterns of co-operative negotiation; that is, are highly insulated from domestic audiences, transact with wide scope, high interaction intensity, and/or maintain a high density of norms and group standards. This in turn offers a concrete application of the sociological argument that EU institutions not only matter, but shows how, by building legitimation and appropriateness standards into the negotiation process, institutional environments can place limits on instrumentalism.
Transmission of business cycle shocks between the US and the euro area

We analyse the transmission of structural shocks between the US and the euro area within a two-country Vector Autoregressive (VAR) framework. For that purpose, we simultaneously identify cost-push, demand and monetary policy shocks for both countries using sign restrictions. Our results show that domestic shocks explain the largest share of the forecast error variances for Gross Domestic Product (GDP), consumer prices and interest rate in both countries in the short run, whilst spillovers from the other country and global factors gain importance in the medium run. The strength of the shock transmission between the two countries is quite symmetric. Our approach to the identification of structural shocks allows us to construct confidence bands that account both for estimation and identification uncertainty. We find impulse responses to domestic shocks to be significant while spillovers across countries are insignificant.
Technological revolutions and financial capital : the dynamics of bubbles and golden ages

This work traces the long-term historical relationship between technical change and the behaviour of financial markets. Based on Schumpeter's theories of the clustering of innovations and with illustrations from the past two centuries, it explains why each technological revolution gives rise to a paradigm shift and a "New Economy" and how these "opportunity explosions", focused on specific industries, also lead to the recurrence of financial bubbles and crises. By analyzing the changing relationship between finance capital and production capital during the emergence, diffusion and assimilation of new technologies throughout the global economic system, this book sheds light on some of the puzzling economic phenomena of our times.
The linkage between supply chain integration and manufacturing improvement programmes

Purpose – While the attention of most OM scholars has shifted to supply chain management, there is still a need to understand how supply chain strategies are linked with internal manufacturing strategies. The literature shows some studies in this field, but a deep investigation of the linkages between these two areas is still missing. The purpose of this study is to investigate on an empirical basis the relationship between two supply chain integration dimensions – the integration of information flows and the integration of physical flows – and two manufacturing improvement programmes – lean production and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.Design/methodology/approach – Evidence is drawn from a sample of 297 European companies from the third edition of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey. Data are analysed using exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical regression.Findings – Results show that the adoption of the lean production model has a strong influence on the integration of both.
Off-balance sheet activities and cost inefficiency in Taiwan's Banks

In this study, we adopt a stochastic cost frontier method to investigate the influence of off-balance sheet (OBS) activities on the cost efficiency of Taiwan's banks. We estimate and compare cost inefficiency with or without OBS outputs of 46 Taiwanese commercial banks during the period, 1998 through 2001. The conclusions of this empirical study are as follows. First, omitting off-balance sheet outputs in estimating the cost frontier function of banks results in an underestimation of bank efficiency by approximately 5 per cent. Second, large banks are associated with a higher cost efficiency and have an increased ability to develop OBS activities. This is consistent with Taiwan's regulatory policies, which focus on promoting efficiency in the banking industry of emerging markets. Banks with higher employee productivity are also more cost efficient. Finally, we observe evidence of economies of scale in both models with or without OBS specification in Taiwan's bank industry. Economies of scope between loans and OBS outputs are also observed.
Work stress among health care providers.

According to data from the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), nearly one in three employed Canadians, about 5.1 million, reported that most days at work were “quite” or “extremely” stressful. This article focuses on workers entrusted with providing health care to Canadians. Clearly, the wellbeing of this group of workers, which includes not only doctors and nurses, but also occupations such as ambulance attendants, technicians and therapists, is an important concern. The analysis compares levels of work stress—a factor that has been linked to poor physical and mental health and to occupational injury—among various types of health care providers.1,2 Associations between stress and selected job-related, socio-demographic and personal characteristics are also described.
On the adoption of new technologies

We investigate the incentives of private firms to adopt new technologies. Econometric investigation is performed on a pooled sample of individual US airline firms over the period 1971 to 1986 for which extensive information on available jet aircraft technology and fleet choice have been recorded. Given the incidence of successive commercial aircraft innovations and variation in production attributes across firms, we are able to consider a wider array of 'time-dependent' and 'time-independent' adoption influences than in previous firm-level studies. To the extent that our study provides useful general insights into adoption decisions by firms, the results have implications for US global competitiveness policy. One key finding is that firms subject to increased product market competition exhibit a higher propensity to adopt technological innovations.
Evaluating E-HRM success: A Validation of the Information Systems Success Model

While a considerable amount of research has been conducted on information systems success models, little research has been carried out to address the conceptualization and measurement of e-HRM success within organizations. Whether or not traditional IS success models can be extended to assessing e-HRM success is rarely addressed. This study provides the first empirical test of an adaptation of DeLone and McLean's IS success model in the context of e-HRM. The model consists of six dimensions: information quality, system quality, service quality, use, user satisfaction, and perceived net benefit. Structural equation modelling techniques is applied to data collected by questionnaire from 104 Human Resources (HR) managers and HR employees from a large Jordanian governmental ministry. The hypothesized relationships between the six success variables are significantly supported by the data. The findings provide several important implications for HR research and practice. This paper concludes by discussing the limitations of the study, which should be addressed in future research.
The psychosocial quality of work determines whether employment has benefits for mental health: results from a longitudinal national household panel survey

Objectives Although employment is associated with health benefits over unemployment, the psychosocial characteristics of work also influence health. We used longitudinal data to investigate whether the benefits of having a job depend on its psychosocial quality (levels of control, demands and complexity, job insecurity, and unfair pay), and whether poor quality jobs are associated with better mental health than unemployment. Method Analysis of seven waves of data from 7,155 respondents of working age (44,019 observations) from a national household panel survey. Longitudinal regression models evaluated the concurrent and prospective association between employment circumstances (unemployment and employment in jobs varying in psychosocial job quality) and mental health, assessed by the MHI-5. Results Overall, unemployed respondents had poorer mental health than those who were employed. However the mental health of those who were unemployed was comparable or superior to those in jobs of the poorest psychosocial quality. This pattern was evident in prospective models: those in the poorest quality jobs showed greater decline in mental health than those who were unemployed (B = 3.03, p<0.05). The health benefits of becoming employed were dependent on the quality of the job. Moving from unemployment into a high quality job led to improved mental health (mean change score of +3.3), however the transition from unemployment to a poor quality job was more detrimental to mental health than remaining unemployed (−5.6 vs −1.0). Conclusions Work of poor psychosocial quality does not bestow the same mental health benefits as employment in jobs with high psychosocial quality.
Risk, kinship and personal relationships in late eighteenth-century West Indian trade: The commercial network of Tobin & Pinney

Which strategies enabled merchants to sustain commercial expansion in the risky context of Atlantic trade? This study evaluates the role of kinship and long-term relationships as solutions to the problems posed by long-distance trade, when there is a common national and legal framework. Tobin & Pinney did not rely much on family connections to develop and support their operations. As former planters themselves, they took advantage of the contacts and ‘friendships’ they had established with planters and agents in Nevis before setting up in the commission trade in Bristol, and their success was based on repeated interaction and their former proximity to the Nevis planter class. This risk reduction strategy however limited the partners' ability to expand their business beyond Nevis.
Flexible Transbronchial Needle Aspiration for the Diagnosis of Sarcoidosis

To determine the value of transbronchial needle aspiration biopsy in the diagnosis of sarcoidosis, we reviewed a 1-year experience of consecutive patients with sarcoidosis presenting with hilar and/or paratracheal adenopathy. The sensitivity of transbronchial needle aspiration biopsy in obtaining specimens of noncaseating granulomas was 90%. This yield exceeds that of most published reports of transbronchial lung biopsy and bronchial mucosal biopsy and suggests that transbronchial needle aspiration biopsy may be a valuable diagnostic tool in the evaluation of these forms of sarcoidosis.
Does Human Capital Matter for Growth in OECD Countries? Evidence from Pooled Mean-Group Estimates

This paper presents empirical estimates of human-capital augmented growth equations for a panel of 21 OECD countries over the period 1971-98. It uses an improved dataset on human capital and a novel econometric technique that reconciles growth model assumptions with the needs of panel data regressions. Unlike several previous studies, our results point to a positive and significant impact of human capital accumulation to output per capita growth. The estimated long-run effect on output of one additional year of education (about 6 per cent) is also consistent with microeconomic evidence on the private returns to schooling. We also found a significant growth effect from the accumulation of physical capital and a speed of convergence to the steady state of around 15 per cent per year. Taken together these results are not consistent with the human capital augmented version of the Solow model, but rather they support an endogenous growth model a la Uzawa-Lucas, with constant returns to . Ce document presente des estimations d’equations de croissance etendues pour tenir compte du capital humain estimees sur des donnees de panel pour 21 pays de l’OCDE pour la periode 1971-98. Le document est base sur des series revisees de capital humain et une procedure econometrique nouvelle qui reconcilie les hypotheses d’un modele de croissance avec les contraintes des regressions de panel. Contrairement a plusieurs etudes precedentes, nos resultats suggerent un impact positif et significatif de l’accumulation du capital humain sur la croissance de la production par tete. Selon nos estimations, une annee supplementaire de niveau moyen d’etudes dans un pays aurait un effet positif a long terme sur la production (de 6 pour cent approximativement), ce qui est en accord avec l’evidence microeconomique sur le taux de rendement prive de l’investissement en education. On trouve egalement des effets significatifs de l’investissement en capital physique sur la production est une vitesse de convergence vers l’equilibre a long terme de 15 pour cent par an en moyenne. Dans leur ensemble, ces resultats ne sont pas coherents avec le modele de Solow etendu pour tenir compte du capital humain. Cependant ils sont compatibles avec un modele de croissance endogene a la Uzawa-Lucas, avec des rendements d’echelle constants par rapport au capital.
Slow food versus fast food: A Zimbabwean case study of hotelier perspectives

Prior to the last three years, hotels dominated the tourist food market in the resort town of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. However, in recent years, fast food restaurants have begun penetrating the resort. Facing the threat of losing market share, hoteliers have been panicking and hotels are waging a war against the new entrants. Victoria Falls has thus become, to a significant extent, a ‘slow food versus fast food’ battleground. This study adopts hermeneutic phenomenology to investigate how this plays out from the viewpoints of the decision makers in this battle, namely, hotel food and beverage managers. The underlying objective is to explore how the contemporary slow food–fast food contention is enacted in an African case study context.
Openness, Wage Floors and Technology Change

This paper argues that the effect of openness to trade on process innovations and skill premia importantly depends on the structure of labor markets in developed countries. Openness to trade with less developed countries is often modelled as a fall in the relative price of unskilled-labor intensive goods. We show within the model of Acemoglu (2003b) that such a fall in the relative price can make wage floors more binding and trigger costly process innovations that increase the productivity of unskilled workers. Empirical evidence using an industry panel for the US and Germany in the 1970s to 1990s supports this hypothesis: (i) embodied technology change seems distorted towards unskilled-labor intensive industries in Germany where wage floors are more important and (ii) embodied technology change in the 1980s is associated with an increase of the share of skilled labor in the wage bill of 15 percentage points in the US whereas the corresponding increase in Germany is much smaller at 3 percentage points.
Executive Compensation in Socially Responsible Firms

This study examines chief executive officer (CEO) compensation and turnover in socially responsible (SR) firms. We compare characteristics of SR firms with a matched sample of firms based on industry and size. Analysis of CEO compensation indicates that the link between CEO pay and firm performance is weaker for SR firms than for non-SR firms. CEO turnover tests indicate that SR firms are more likely to experience CEO turnover following poor performance. Stock option grants to CEOs of SR firms do not appear to result in future risk-taking behaviour, whereas such grants are significantly related to future risk at non-SR firms. Copyright (c) 2006 The Authors; Journal compilation (c) 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Vagal branches involved in inhibition of bradykinin‐induced synovial plasma extravasation by intrathecal nicotine and noxious stimulation in the rat.

1. Stimulation of cutaneous and spinal visceral nociceptive afferents and intrathecal nicotine reduces bradykinin‐induced plasma extravasation (BK‐induced PE) in the knee joint of the rat. This depression is mediated by the hypothalamo‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) axis and is potentiated by subdiaphragmatic vagotomy. It is believed that activity in vagal afferents tonically inhibits ascending impulse transmission in the neuraxis projecting to the hypothalamus. Vagotomy, by removing such inhibition, allows greater depression of BK‐induced PE. In this study we determined whether the vagal afferents which negatively regulate activities of the HPA axis are present in all branches of the abdominal vagus nerves or only in specific branches. 2. We measured the depression of BK‐induced PE elicited by graded stimulation of spinal visceral afferents with intraperitoneal capsaicin and by intrathecal nicotine in vagus‐intact rats and in rats in which specific vagal branches were selectively interrupted. (i) Interruption of the coeliac branches mimicked the effect of total subdiaphragmatic vagotomy in potentiating the depression of BK‐induced PE generated by intrathecal nicotine and by stimulation of spinal visceral afferents. (ii) Interruption of the gastric and hepatic branches of the abdominal vagus nerves together or individually did not affect the depression of BK‐induced PE generated by the two stimuli. 3. These results indicate that afferent activity in coeliac and accessory coeliac vagal branches is involved in the regulation of the nociceptive system‐initiated depression of BK‐induced PE. The afferent fibres in these vagal branches involved probably monitor physiological events in abdominal visceral organs.
The Effect of Income Growth on the Mix of Purchases between Disposable Goods and Reusable Goods

With each passing year consumers find more and more disposable goods for sale in the market place. Even goods that were considered to be reusable goods just a few years back are now disposable goods. As a result the American economy has been labelled a throwaway society. This paper examines a main underlying cause for this trend by linking growth in consumer income with the purchases of disposable goods. More specifically, the model proposes that as incomes rise, consumers will purchase more of both reusable goods and disposable goods. However, as incomes rise, consumers will naturally substitute purchases away from reusable goods and into disposable goods. The shift towards disposable goods occurs because it becomes too costly for consumers to spend their time repairing and maintaining products. Their time is better spent in more productive endeavours. It is simply cheaper (in terms of opportunity cost of time) to dispose of old products and replace them with new products.
Fast 3D point cloud segmentation using supervoxels with geometry and color for 3D scene understanding

Segmentation of 3D colored point clouds is a research field with renewed interest thanks to recent availability of inexpensive consumer RGB-D cameras and its importance as an unavoidable low-level step in many robotic applications. However, 3D data's nature makes the task challenging and, thus, many different techniques are being proposed, all of which require expensive computational costs. This paper presents a novel fast method for 3D colored point cloud segmentation. It starts with supervoxel partitioning of the cloud, i.e., an oversegmentation of the points in the cloud. Then it leverages on a novel metric exploiting both geometry and color to iteratively merge the supervoxels to obtain a 3D segmentation where the hierarchical structure of partitions is maintained. The algorithm also presents computational complexity linear to the size of the input. Experimental results over two publicly available datasets demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art techniques.
Aid to Charities

The position of charities in the UK has become a topic of growing concern. The House of Commons Expenditure Committee in its Tenth Report for the Session 1974–75 reviewed the role of the Charity Commissioners and their accountability. The Goodman Committee reported in 1976 on charity law and voluntary organisation and the report of the Wolfenden Committee in 1978 has stimulated further interest. However, constraints on public expenditure have given the whole question a more topical interest, and particularly within the context of how voluntary organisations might best be stimulated. In the Government's budget for 1980 and 1981 tax relief changes exemplify the interest in encouraging voluntary effort. In 1980, for example, tax relief for payments under deed of covenant was extended to the higher rates of tax subject to a ceiling of £3,000 a year, and the effective minimum period was reduced from seven to four years. Tax exemptions for bequests were doubled and exemption was allowed from development land tax for all disposals of land. In 1981 there was a widening of capital tax relief for trusts for disabled people and an increase in value added tax relief for charities serving the disabled.