Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tone in REIT financial statements and institutional investments

ABSTRACT We investigate the response of institutional REIT investors to the abnormally (net) positive tone in REIT financial statements. For non-REIT firms, sophisticated investors have been found to respond negatively to an abnormally positive tone due to managerial incentives to take advantage of information asymmetries and use a positive tone to manipulate investor perception. However, institutional REIT investors have an informational advantage as they either directly invest in commercial real estate as part of their portfolio management strategy or, at a minimum, have access to commercial real estate market data. Thus, they are able to evaluate the abnormally positive tone in REIT financial statements against their perception of conditions in the commercial real estate and derivative REIT market. For a sample of US REITs over the period of 2001 to 2017, we find that the response of institutional investors to the abnormally positive tone in REIT financial statements is time-varying and non-linear, irrespective of whether we use variables in levels or changes. In particular, in periods of institutional REIT investor optimism (pessimism), institutional REIT investors respond positively (negatively) to an abnormally positive tone and behave as net buyers (net sellers).
Neoliberal social housing policies, market logics and social rented housing reforms in New Zealand

Abstract Neoliberal social housing policies have profoundly altered the nature and character of social housing provision internationally. These policies, involving marketisation and privatisation, have circulated via international policy networks and have been territorialised in national housing regimes. Despite the ascendency of these policies, David Clapham argues that the logical inconsistencies and problems of neoliberal housing discourses need to be exposed. This paper examines the nature and impacts of a social rented housing reform programme enacted in New Zealand post 2010. The reforms included the introduction of reviewable tenancies, changes in the regulation and governance of social housing providers and stock transfers. It is argued that underpinning the reform process was a set of market logics that framed the sector and tenants in new and contradictory ways. In addition, it is argued that the reforms also involved the restructuring of housing providers in ways that significantly altered existing practices and fundamentally challenged the notion of security of tenure that existed within the sector.
Real and Monetary Policy Convergence: EMU Crisis to the CFA Zone

Purpose – A major lesson of the EMU crisis is that serious disequilibria result from regional monetary arrangements not designed to be robust to a variety of shocks. The purpose of this paper is to assess these disequilibria within the CEMAC, UEMOA and CFA zones. Design/methodology/approach – In the assessments, monetary policy targets inflation and financial dynamics of depth, efficiency, activity and size while real sector policy targets economic performance in terms of GDP growth. We also provide the speed of convergence and time required to achieve a 100% convergence. Findings – But for financial intermediary size within the CFA zone, findings for the most part support only unconditional convergence. There is no form of convergence within the CEMAC zone. Practical implications – The broad insignificance of conditional convergence results have substantial policy implications. Monetary and real policies which are often homogenous for member states are thwarted by heterogeneous structural and institutional characteristics which give rise to different levels and patterns of financial intermediary development. Therefore member states should work towards harmonizing cross-country differences in structural and institutional characteristics that hamper the effectiveness of monetary policies. Originality/value – The paper provides warning signs to the CFA zone in the heat of the Euro zone crises.
Tratamiento profiláctico y anticipado de la infección por citomegalovirus en pacientes trasplantados renales mediante vanglanciclovir oral

Antecedentes: La enfermedad por citomegalovirus (CMV) es un problema sanitario muy importante en receptores de trasplante de organo solido (TOS). Una dosis diaria de valganciclovir ha demostrado ser tan clinicamente efectiva y bien tolerada como ganciclovir oral dos veces al dia en la prevencion de la infeccion por CMV en los receptores de TOS de alto riesgo. Metodos: El objetivo del presente estudio fue evaluar la incidencia y severidad de la enfermedad por CMV en 150 receptores de trasplante renal que recibieron tratamiento profilactico (grupo de alto riesgo, N = 66) o anticipado (grupo de bajo riesgo, N = 84) con valganciclovir oral (900 mg/dia) durante tres meses segun el riesgo basal de sufrir la misma. Se hizo un seguimiento de los sintomas clinicos de la enfermedad por CMV en los pacientes y la carga viral de CMV en plasma fue monitorizada semanalmente. Resultados: Un total de 31 pacientes (47%) del grupo de alto riesgo y 26 pacientes (31%) del grupo de riesgo estandar presentaron un resultado de PCR-CMV positivo. Doce pacientes (14,3%) del grupo de riesgo estandard que presentaron una elevada carga viral (PCR-CMV > 1.000 copias/ mL) pero que permanecieron asintomaticos recibieron tratamiento anticipado. Cuatro pacientes (4,7%) del grupo de alto riesgo, en un tiempo medio de 35 dias despues del trasplante y dos pacientes (4,5%) del grupo de alto riesgo, tras completar el tratamiento profilactico, desarrollaron la enfermedad por CMV, que fue de intensidad media a moderada en la mayoria de los casos. Aquellos pacientes que desarrollaron la enfermedad respondieron al tratamiento con ganciclovir ev durante 14 dias seguido de valganciclovir oral hasta tres meses. Conclusion: El tratamiento profilactico con valganciclovir oral para la prevencion de CMV solo es requerida en receptores de TOS de alto riesgo.
MENAKAR PERILAKU PROFESIONAL DALAM RANGKA MENINGKATKAN KINERJA APARATUR BIROKRASI

Having word about civil servants professional behavior, we are leaded to imagine good dedication, commitment to serve, fulfilling need of safety, and also protecting civil society. Actually, it is quite difficult to have civil servants professional behavior in daily life. We can also find a big hole between wishes and hope toward civil servants professional behavior. Perceiving civil servants professional behavior as a profession commitment is one effort to make the hole closer. It means that choosing civil servants as a profession need no reward punishment system. Civil servants will do their profession rationally with good dedication, and also manage their work according to the rule. These we identified as commitment. When we use that definition, we have to prepare many things as the consequences. Appropriate payment and social welfare will be among of those. Keywords: civil servants, Foucault, Authority, Professional Behavior
The global financial crisis and developing countries

Dirk Willem te Velde, Medani M. Ahmed, Getnet Alemu, Lawrence Bategeka, Massimiliano Cali, Carlos Castel-Branco, Frank Chansa, Shouro Dasgupta, Marta Foresti, M. Hangi, Lutangu Ingombe, Ashiq Iqbal, Hossein Jalilian, Luis Carlos Jemio, Francois Kabuya Kalala, Jodie Keane, Jane Kennan, Towfiqul Islam Khan, H.B. Lunogelo, Isabella Massa, A. Mbilinyi, Dale Mudenda, Francis M. Mwega, Manenga Ndulo, Osvaldo Nina, Roderio Ossemane, Mustafizur Rahman, Glenda Reyes, Sarah Ssewanyana, Leni Wild and others Overseas Development Institute
Refinancing, Profitability, and Capital Structure

We revisit the well-established puzzle that leverage is negatively correlated with measures of profitability. In contrast, we find that at times when firms are at or close to their optimal level of leverage, the cross-sectional correlation between profitability and leverage is positive. At other times, it is negative. These results are consistent with dynamic trade-off models in which infrequent capital structure rebalancing is optimal. The time series of market leverage and profitability in the quarters prior to rebalancing events match the patterns predicted by these models. Our results are not driven by investment layouts, market timing, payout, or mechanical mean reversion of leverage.
Distributed approach for Aerodynamic Model Identification of the ICE aircraft using multivariate splines

High performance control allocation methods for the Innovative Control Effectors (ICE) aircraft require accurate onboard aerodynamic models, with preferably first order continuity. Simplotope B-Splines, an extension on Simplex B-Splines, have a high approximation power by using local cost functions. However, enforcing global continuity produces computationally expensive optimization problems. This paper presents a distributed approach, using the Alternating DirectionMethod of Multipliers (ADMM), to reduce the complexity of the B-Coefficients’ estimation. ADMM decouples the simplotopes, and introduces coupling coefficients to enforce global continuity, resulting in a parallel estimation algorithm whose complexity is depending solely on the partition size, being independent of refinement of the model tessellation. Results show that for a 3D model, the distributed algorithm converges steadily to the global solution with a good approximation after a couple hundred iterations. Validation results of the distributed approach were similar to those of the global optimal solution for various noise intensities, and the continuity constraints were satisfied with maximum mismatches below 10-4. The distributed approach has been used to construct a first order continuous aerodynamic model for the ICE aircraft, which has been implemented in Simulink, and proven to perform well compared to the original model.
An investigation of the outcomes of psycho-oncology interventions : a thesis presented as partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Cancer can have a significant psychological impact on those diagnosed, and their families. The ability of psychotherapy to reduce this impact has been extensively studied internationally. However, New Zealand-based research in this area remains limited. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of psycho-oncology interventions, provided by a New Zealand psycho-oncology service, in reducing distress and improving quality of life for cancer patients and their families/whanau. Eighteen clients (patients/family members) of the service (intervention group) were recruited and matched for initial distress and wellbeing with patients/family members located in an area without a psycho-oncology service (control group). Wellbeing, wairua (spirituality), distress, impact and coping were measured pre- and posttherapy, and at follow-up. In addition, eight intervention group participants were interviewed to examine their experiences of cancer and the psychooncology service. Possible key factors influencing the effectiveness of service interventions were also investigated. The results showed that participants who had access to the psycho-oncology service showed significant improvements in all outcome measures by the end of therapy. The majority of these were maintained 3 months later. Improvements were also observed in the control group. Reasons for accessing therapy centred on diagnosis/prognosis concerns, communication with family, and talking to a non-family member about their worries. Although clients had no specific expectations prior to therapy, previous psychotherapy experiences influenced their perceptions of its potential effectiveness. Therapists’ personal and professional qualities were also viewed as crucial. Five key themes were identified as most beneficial - receiving individualised support, talking to someone who was not family, receiving expert/professional support, regaining a sense of control, and service availability/flexibility. Overall, psycho-oncology interventions had a significantly positive impact on clients’ lives, and were viewed as being extremely beneficial for those experiencing cancer-related distress. This research provides a unique contribution to the limited psycho-oncology research in New Zealand.
Marcadores neurocognitivos en el trastorno específico del lenguaje

Introduccion. Desde hace mas de dos decadas, las neurociencias han abordado el estudio del trastorno especifico del lenguaje (TEL). Han contribuido asi a la definicion del perfil diagnostico de esta patologia. Objetivo. Determinar los principales indicadores y caracteristicas neurocognitivas del TEL en una muestra de ninos espanoles a fin de replicar los datos obtenidos en investigaciones con ninos de otros idiomas. Sujetos y metodos. Se estudio a 37 ninos hispanoparlantes con este trastorno mediante nueve tareas (ejecucion continua con y sin aviso previo, comparacion de patrones, asociacion de digitos y simbolos, estimacion de tiempo, exploracion de la memoria, recuerdo de patrones, memoria espacial y clasificacion de cartas), que evaluaron un total de 17 marcadores. Los resultados se compararon con los de un grupo control de ninos de 5 a 12 anos emparejados con los ninos con TEL segun la edad y el nivel escolar. Resultados. Los ninos con TEL presentaron un rendimiento significativamente mas bajo en 11 de los 17 marcadores evaluados. Conclusion. En general, estos datos sugieren limitaciones del TEL en la atencion, la codificacion, la memoria y la funcion ejecutiva y confirman estudios previos realizados con ninos de otros idiomas. Ademas, un analisis discriminante mostro que dos de los marcadores (atencion sostenida y funcion ejecutiva en procesos de categorizacion) eran suficientes para discriminar muy eficazmente (el 77% de los casos) entre sujetos con TEL y sujetos normales. Los resultados obtenidos en este trabajo contribuyen a explicar la estructura neurocognitiva del TEL y aportan algunas estrategias para su evaluacion diagnostica. Buscar en PubMed Por autor Buiza-Navarrete JJ Adrian-Torres JA Gonzalez-Sanchez M Por palabra clave Attention. Codification. Executive function. Memory. Neurocognitive diagnosis. Specific language impairment. Ver en PubMed Este articulo Articulos relacionados
Teachers’ perspectives on the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) in two early childhood settings in New Zealand

Name of candidate: Daljit Kaur . This Thesis/Dissertation/Research Project entitled Teachers’ perspectives on the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in two early childhood settings in New Zealand is submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the Unitec degree of Master of Education.
Essays on Bounded Rationality and Information Processing

This thesis investigates the role of information processing in decision making. Chapter 1 develops a model of bounded rationality where an agent has a limited ability to combine different pieces of information. A sophisticated principal attempts to exploit this limitation by designing a complex contract: a collection of clauses, each providing information about the consequences of different actions. By carefully designing the contract, the principal manipulates the agent into believing that truth-telling is optimal. This model of bounded rationality extends to other settings and provides a theory of what it means for a problem to be difficult for a human to solve. Chapter 2 develops a revealed-preference model of information disclosure and Bayesian belief updating. One decision maker ranks information sources (Blackwell (1951) experiments) that a second decision maker processes before taking an action that affects them both. The main result is a representation theorem characterizing the decision makers as expected utility maximizers with (possibly) differing priors and utility functions. In addition, the representation characterizes the second decision maker as a Bayesian information processor. The model allows comparisons to be made between the priors and utility functions of the decision makers by examining the first decision maker’s preference over Blackwell experiments. Combined with the main representation theorem, this establishes preference for information as a useful new primitive of revealed-preference analysis. Finally, Chapter 3 characterizes Bayesian subjective expected utility maximization in a model with finitely many states and outcomes. By employing a rich set of signal-contingent preferences over (Savage) acts, beliefs and utilities can be identified and Bayesian belief updating tested. This contrasts two well-known limitations of the standard Savage (1954) framework: (i) it does not explicitly test whether individuals are Bayesian information processors, and (ii) with finitely many states and outcomes, beliefs and utility functions cannot be pinned down.
Contribution of Maternal Demographic and Medical Factors to the Risk of Prematurity in Qom Hospitals

Contribution of Maternal Demographic and Medical Factors to the Risk of Prematurity in Qom Hospitals Background. Prematurity remains the most significant cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Knowing which group of women is at risk for developing preterm labor will define a Target population for better prenatal care and Preventive modalities. Aim. The aim of this study is to determine prevalence of premature birth and to examine effect of maternal demographic features, socioeconomic state and employment in the duration of pregnancy. Material and Methods. A comparative cross sectional study designed to examine effect of obstetric and demographic features of women who delivered in the obstetric department of Qom Hospitals (Qom, Iran) between 22/5/2009 to 20/11/2009. Results. The frequency of preterm delivery among live births was 5.6%. Increasing maternal parity, short inter pregnancy interval, low Socioeconomic state, emotional stress, lack of regular antenatal care, ante partum hemorrhage, had significant relationship with preterm labor. Conclusion. Addressing prematurity in this population will require earlier initiation of prenatal care to allow for early detection and management of complications of pregnancy. Initiatives directed toward reducing the frequency of short inter pregnancy interval could have beneficial effect.
Semi-Automatic Delineation of the Mitral Valve from Clinical Four-Dimensional Ultrasound Imaging

Successful clinical treatment of mitral valve disease is dependent on understanding the complexities of patient-specific valve behavior. Mechanical models of the mitral valve, designed to predict valve closure and generated using patient-specific measurements, have proven to be effective tools for studying valve behavior. To be clinically feasible, these models need to be generated from ultrasound images, which are commonly acquired during the diagnosis and treatment of patients. However, methods of generating accurate models from ultrasound data using minimal user-input and interaction are not available. This work presents methods by which a patient-specific mitral valve model (annulus and leaflets) can be generated from three-dimensional ultrasound. The method first identifies the mitral annulus in a user-specified frame just after valve closure using only a roughly placed valve center point. We find the annulus as the location where the thin leaflet tissue intersects the thicker surrounding tissue. Comparing the results to manual delineations made by experts, we found an average RMS error of 1.81±0.78mm. A valve state (open versus closed) predictor and a constrained optical flow algorithm are then used to segment the annulus in the remaining frames in the ultrasound sequence. We compared the automated tracking results to manual delineations made by experts and found an average RMS difference of 1.67±0.63mm. The location of the leaflets in a user-specified frame just before valve closure is then automatically found by using the annulus as a means of limiting
Tax Risk and Asset Prices: Evidence from Dual-class Corporate Bonds in the Early 19th Century

This paper exploits a natural experiment from the late 1800s in which many U.S. firms had inadvertently issued both taxable and tax-exempt bonds. Investors paid income tax on taxable bonds, but firms covered income tax on investors' behalf on tax-exempt bonds. Using a unique data-set of these `dual-class' corporate bonds, we derive a novel, market-based measure for tax risk, examine its time-series properties, and investigate if tax risk is priced in asset returns. We find that tax risk is pro-cyclical, is priced in the cross-section of asset returns, and commands a statistically and economically significant positive risk premium.
Media tone, bias, and stock price crash risk: evidence from China

ABSTRACT This paper studies the effect of media tone on firm-specific price crash risk. Media tone measures the imbalance between positive and negative coverage. Using data from China, we find firms with more favorable media tone have higher crash risk. The transmission channel is through weakened media governance and the subsequent motivated managerial opportunism. Moreover, the effect is more prominent for firms having more advertising expenditures, institutional holdings, and analyst coverage. We also find only the tone of state-controlled media significantly affects crash risk. Our study suggests the existence of media bias and its economic consequence.
Representations of China in the Global Media Disocurse

News about China is ubiquitous, yet we know very little about how the global news media have represented China. This study is aimed at providing a theoretical overview of the global media representations of China. Arguably China remains one of the few countries which have been widely debated in both global media and public discourses vis-a-vis it’s growing economic and political influence in the global world order, its unique cultural and political system, and internal and external challenges. The modest attempt of the current study is to present an overreview of the dominant Western and non-Western media representations of China along with the theoretical and methodological approaches the studies utilized. The synthesis of the findings of the studies suggests that there is overwhelmingly negative and critical representation of China in the Western media often depicting China as “negative Other”. However, the non-Western media on the other hand depicted China in a favorable and nuanced ways. The findings are elaborated in the light of the forces and factors at play that might shape the media narratives on China in the cross political and cultural settings.
Causes of Corruption: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

This study explores the causes of corruption in 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa from 1996 to 2013. The sources of corruption are grouped into three main thematic areas – historical roots, contemporary causes and institutional causes to make way for subjective and objective measures. The subjective measures allow for assessment of the effectiveness of anticorruption policies. Using pooled OLS, fixed-effect and instrumental-variable approaches, and focusing on the perceived level of corruption as the dependent variable, we find that ethnic diversity, resource abundance and educational attainment are markedly less associated with corruption. In contrast, wage levels of bureaucrats and anticorruption measures based on government effectiveness and regulatory quality breed substantial corruption. Press freedom is found to be variedly associated with corruption. On the basis of these findings, we recommend that the fight against corruption on the continent needs to be reinvented through qualitative and assertive institutional reforms. Anticorruption policy decisions should focus on existing educational systems as a conduit for intensifying awareness of the devastating effect of corruption on sustainable national development.