Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Unionism on Fringe Benefits

This study analyzes the impact of unionism on fringes paid to production workers, using data on individual establishments. It compares fringe expenditures in establishments having the same level of compensation per hour and finds that unionism raises the share of compensation allotted to fringes, particularly to pensions, vacation pay, and life, accident, and health insurance. In addition, since unionism also raises the straight-time wage rate, itself a prime determinant of expenditures on fringes, unionism has a very sizeable impact on total fringe expenditures, as well as on the fringe share of compensation. The union fringe effect exceeds, in percentage terms, the union wage effect and is sufficiently large to suggest that standard union wage studies understate the union effect on total compensation. The study also compares the fringe expenditures of production and non-production workers within the same establishment, controlling for within-establishment pay policies. The findings suggest that the presence of a union among production workers in an establishment may have a sizeable spillover effect on the fringes paid nonproduction workers in that establishment.
Corporate Disclosure Quality: Lessons from Australian Companies on the Impact of Adopting International Financial Reporting Standards

For annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2005, Australian companies were required to comply with the Australian equivalents of International Financial Reporting Standards (AIFRS). To ensure a smooth transition, a broadly defined standard (AASB 1047) mandated pre-adoption company disclosures of the AIFRS' impact. The standard provided managers with the opportunity to exercise considerable discretion in complying with the underlying disclosure requirements. We examine how this discretion impacted on the quality of pre-adoption AIFRS disclosures provided by a sample of large Australian companies. Using a disclosure quality index, we find considerable evidence of a cross-sectional variation in disclosure quality that varies according to differences in the AIFRS financial impact, size, industry and profitability factors. Importantly, we also observe individual Big 4 audit firm influences on disclosure quality. These findings highlight consequences of mandating corporate disclosures based on broadly defined principles.
Let Many Civil Societies Bloom: The Rise of Consultative Authoritarianism in China

Abstract In this article, I analyse civil society development in China using examples from Beijing to demonstrate the causal role of local officials' ideas about these groups during the last 20 years. I argue that the decentralization of public welfare and the linkage of promotion to the delivery of these goods supported the idea of local government–civil society collaboration. This idea was undermined by international examples of civil society opposing authoritarianism and the strength of the state-led development model after the 2008 economic crisis. I find growing convergence on a new model of state–society relationship that I call “consultative authoritarianism,” which encourages the simultaneous expansion of a fairly autonomous civil society and the development of more indirect tools of state control. This model challenges the conventional wisdom that an operationally autonomous civil society cannot exist inside authoritarian regimes and that the presence of civil society is an indicator of democratization.
Portfolio Optimization Using a Block Structure for the Covariance Matrix

Implementing in practice the classical mean-variance theory for portfolio selection often results in obtaining portfolios with large short sale positions. Also, recent papers show that, due to estimation errors, existing and rather advanced mean-variance theory-based portfolio strategies do not consistently out perform the naive 1/N portfolio that invests equally across N risky assets. In this paper, I introduce a portfolio strategy that generates a portfolio, with no short sale positions, that can outperform the 1/N portfolio. The strategy is investing in a global minimum variance portfolio (GMVP) that is constructed using an easy to calculate block structure for the covariance matrix of asset returns. Using this new block structure, the weights of the stocks in the GMVP can be found analytically, and as long as simple and directly computable conditions are met, these weights are positive.
The London 2012 Olympic Games announcement and its effect on the London Stock Exchange

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reaction of the London Stock Exchange to the announcement of the city hosting 2012 Summer Olympic Games. The expectations of the Olympic Games are the anticipation of massive economic boosts to the host cities. These expectations are presumed to be translated into positive stock price returns. This research examines the London Stock Exchange industrial indices reactions to this announcement in July 2005. Design/methodology/approach - In order to evaluate the returns the paper employs simple conventional OLS methodology technique, event study methodology and GARCH models with appropriate dummy variables. Findings - The empirical results indicate a very limited number of significant indices impacted by such an announcement. A consistent finding to all the alternative estimations is that the oil and gas industry seem to be negatively affected by the Olympic Games announcement. Practical implications - Findings are strongly recommended to practitioners, financial investors and portfolio managers dealing with British Stocks. Originality/value - The contribution of this paper is that findings are in contrast to relevant studies, like Athens' Olympic Games, since enthusiasm is diminished.
What Prospects for the Lifting of Technical Trade Barriers in the Mediterranean? Insights from the Turkish Case

This article assesses the potential of mutual recognition agreements proposed by the European Union to Mediterranean partner countries (MPCs) to bring about convergence around EU technical regulations and standards in the Euro-Mediterranean zone, thus lifting technical barriers to trade. In doing so it contributes to the study of policy convergence and region-building in the EU's neighbourhood. It first presents the reasons to believe that, prima facie, trade considerations are too weak an incentive for the MPCs to effect across-the-board alignment with EU technical legislation. It then illustrates this point by a study of Turkey's alignment with EU technical legislation, arguing that such alignment was largely motivated by the external incentive of accession. Finally, it shows that these findings match with initial developments in the MPCs, draws lessons for regional policy convergence prospects, and assesses these from a normative perspective.
Nanoresonant signal boosters for carbon nanotube based infrared detectors

We report the development of a sensitive carbon nanotube (CNT) infrared detector whose signals are boosted by nanoantenna-like features. This assembly is fabricated using nanoassembly of CNTs and a standard photolithographic process, together with nanoantenna-like features that are designed to create a resonance structure necessary to boost the electric field intensity at the CNT sensor. A novel approach is employed to find the near-field effect of the antenna. As a result, these effects are verified and demonstrated experimentally in this paper. The first experimental demonstration of a practical infrared device with nanoantenna-like structures is reported; it shows that the photocurrent is increased by an order of magnitude. The proposed fabrication and design process enables a ready integration of resonance structures into the manufacture of infrared devices, and opens the possibility of developing high fidelity infrared sensors with wide sensing range.
Testing regimes, accountabilities and education policy: commensurate global and national developments

This paper focuses on outlining, contextualising and theorising the rise of global and complementary national modes of test-based, top-down accountability in schooling systems. The effects of these infrastructures of accountability on schools, teachers’ pedagogical work, on the width of curriculum and on the goals of schooling are also alluded to. These developments are theorised in terms of rescaling of the policy cycle globally, as a well as the topological turn that sees the globe reconstituted as a single space of comparative and commensurate measurement of the performance of school systems, as part of the move to new global forms of networked governance. We argue that we are seeing a new global panopticism, with national school systems variously positioned within the global market place and global educational policy field with important effects within national policy-making. The analysis and theorising provided serves as a contextual backdrop and introduction to the papers included in the special issue of the Journal of Education Policy on the theme of Testing Regimes, Accountabilities and Education Policy. We argue, and the papers demonstrate, the significance for policy sociology today of recognising testing as a, perhaps the, major policy steering systems and the work of schools today.
Micromechanics of base pair unzipping in the DNA duplex

All-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of DNA duplex unzipping in a water environment were performed. The investigated DNA double helix consists of a Drew–Dickerson dodecamer sequence and a hairpin (AAG) attached to the end of the double-helix chain. The considered system is used to examine the process of DNA strand separation under the action of an external force. This process occurs in vivo and now is being intensively investigated in experiments with single molecules. The DNA dodecamer duplex is consequently unzipped pair by pair by means of the steered MD. The unzipping trajectories turn out to be similar for the duplex parts with G⋅C content and rather distinct for the parts with A⋅T content. It is shown that during the unzipping each pair experiences two types of motion: relatively quick rotation together with all the duplex and slower motion in the frame of the unzipping fork. In the course of opening, the complementary pair passes through several distinct states: (i) the closed state in the double helix, (ii) the metastable preopened state in the unzipping fork and (iii) the unbound state. The performed simulations show that water molecules participate in the stabilization of the metastable states of the preopened base pairs in the DNA unzipping fork.
Epidemiologic research using administrative databases: garbage in, garbage out.

tears of the external anal sphincter, and were ineligible for inclusion. Of the remaining three patients in the overlapping group who were excluded, one actually had an intact external anal sphincter below a large second-degree tear, and two had previous third-degree tears. None of these patients should have been randomized, and none of them received the randomization treatment. We would argue that the only way a bias could have been introduced is if there were ineligible patients who were included (of which there were none), not if there were ineligible patients who were excluded. The second group that was excluded was multiparous women, 11 in the end-to-end group and 14 in the overlapping group. These patients were originally enrolled in the study because they had undergone cesarean delivery for their first delivery, and they were considered to have pelvic structures unaffected by previous vaginal delivery. The authors decided at the time of analysis that any possible confounding factor should be excluded to make the study population as pure as possible. The multiparous women were thus excluded from the analysis. When we include this group, the primary outcomes of the study are unchanged (overlapping compared with end-toend; flatal incontinence odds ratio 2.3, confidence interval 1.2, 4.6; fecal incontinence odds ratio 1.3, confidence interval 0.5, 3.7). Thus, their exclusion did not influence the results. We would argue that the above exclusions were made for good reasons, and did not affect the “power of randomization to reduce selection bias for known and unknown factors. ” Our principal focus was on outcomes in a pure group of nulliparous women; thus, multiparous women were excluded. Eight women in total were lost to follow-up, one in the overlapping group and seven in the end-to-end group. It was well documented by our research nurse that the reasons for the loss to follow-up were, in all cases, relocation of residence. To show that our exclusion of these women did not measurably distort the statistical significance of our results, we can assign outcomes to them that dilute the strength of the evidence favoring endto-end repair, and instead favor the null hypothesis. We do this by replacing the one woman who was lost in the overlapping group by two women(one continent and one incontinent), and by replacing the seven women who were lost in the end-to-end group by eight women (four continent and four incontinent). Therefore, the outcomes of these additional 10 women tend to favor the null hypothesis. By this conservative inclusion strategy for women who were lost to follow-up, the two-sided P-value comparing the incontinence rate in the two surgical repair groups changes from P . 015 to P . 020.
Regime-switching behaviour in European stock markets

This paper examines the empirical relationship between five European stock market indices and the US market in a smooth transition regression (STR) framework. Due to globalization of economies the motivation is that the New York market has exerted substantial influence on international markets in post-October 1987 period. The results show that the US market plays indeed an important role and determines stock market asymmetric behaviour in Europe, though non-linearity is not particularly strong.
Anomalous Aortic Origin of a Coronary Artery

Background: Anomalous aortic origin of a coronary artery (AAOCA) is a common congenital heart lesion that may be rarely associated with myocardial ischemia and sudden death in the young. Evidence-based criteria for managing young patients with AAOCA are lacking. The Congenital Heart Surgeons Society (CHSS) established a multicenter registry of patients with AAOCA aged ≤30 years to develop these criteria. Methods: All institutional members of the CHSS are eligible to enroll patients. Patients were enrolled retrospectively if diagnosis of AAOCA occurred between January 1, 1998, and January 20, 2009, and prospectively from January 20, 2009 forward. The first phase of analysis explored possible associations between demographics, symptoms, coronary anatomy, and management using correlation analysis and logistic regression. Results: As of June 2012, 198 patients were enrolled from CHSS member institutions (median age at diagnosis = 10.2 years; 64% male). Data were extracted from clinical records. Fifty-four percent were symptomatic at presentation (most commonly chest pain, N = 78). The AAOCA was diagnosed at autopsy in two patients who presented with sudden death (one with anomalous aortic origin of the left coronary artery [AAOLCA]; one with a single ostium above a commissure giving rise to both left and right coronary arteries). Imaging reports documented anomalous aortic origin of the right coronary artery (AAORCA) in 144 patients, AAOLCA in 51 patients, and AAOLCA/AAORCA in 1 patient. Surgery or autopsy without surgery was performed in 106 patients (71 AAORCA [67%]; 31 AAOLCA [29%]; and 4 AAORCA/AAOLCA [4%]) at a median age of 12.6 years. Overall, 52% of patients with AAORCA versus 67% with AAOLCA had surgery. Most surgical operative reports described an intramural segment of the coronary artery with anomalous origin. Surgery correlated with symptoms, older age, and presence of an intramural segment in the setting of AAOLCA. Conclusions: Management decisions, including surgical referral, are associated with patient symptoms and coronary morphology. Information derived from annual follow-up of surgically and nonsurgically managed patients enrolled in the registry will eventually form the basis for development of evidence-based protocols to address the spectrum of risk and inform clinical decision making in this heterogeneous population of young patients.
Flagellin from an Incompatible Strain of Pseudomonas avenae Induces a Resistance Response in Cultured Rice Cells*

The host range of Pseudomonas avenaeis wide among monocotyledonous plants, but individual strains can infect only one or a few host species. The resistance response of rice cells to pathogens has been previously shown to be induced by a rice-incompatible strain, N1141, but not by a rice-compatible strain, H8301. To clarify the molecular mechanism of the host specificity inP. avenae, a strain-specific antibody that was raised against N1141 cells and then absorbed with H8301 cells was prepared. When a cell extract of strain N1141 was separated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunostained with the N1141 strain-specific antibody, only a flagellin protein was detected. Purified N1141 flagellin induced the hypersensitive cell death in cultured rice cells within 6 h of treatment, whereas the H8301 flagellin did not. The hypersensitive cell death could be blocked by pretreatment with anti-N1141 flagellin antibody. Furthermore, a flagellin-deficient N1141 strain lost not only the induction ability of hypersensitive cell death but also the expression ability of the EL2 gene, which is thought to be one of the defense-related genes. These results demonstrated that the resistance response in cultured rice cells is induced by the flagellin existing in the incompatible strain ofP. avenae but not in the flagellin of the compatible strain.
Smooth Symmetric and Lorenz Models for unimodal Maps

For a given unimodal map F:I→I on the interval I, we consider symmetric unimodal maps (models) so that they are conjugate to F. The question motivated by [Gambaudo & Tresser, 1992] is the following: whether it is possible for symmetric model to preserve smoothness of the initial map F? We construct a symmetric model which is proved to be as smooth as F provided F has a nonflat turning point with sufficient "reserve of local evenness" at the turning point (in terms of one-sided higher derivatives at the turning point, see Definition 2.4 and Theorem 2.7). We also consider from different points of view the relationship between dynamical and ergodic properties of unimodal maps and of symmetric Lorenz maps. In particular, we present a one-to-one correspondence preserving the measure theoretic entropy, between the set of invariant measures of a symmetric unimodal map F and the set of symmetric invariant measures of the Lorenz model of F (Theorem 3.5), where by Lorenz model of F we mean the discontinuous map obtained from F by reversing its decreasing branch. Finally we extend for nonsymmetric unimodal maps, the result of Gambaudo and Tresser [1992] on Ck structural instability of the maps whose rotation interval has irrational end point (answering a question from [Gambaudo & Tresser, 1992]).
The Backgrounds of Canadian Youth and Access to Post-Secondary Education: New Evidence from the Youth in Transition Survey

This paper exploits the unprecedented rich information available in the Youth in Transition Survey, Sample A (YITS-A) to investigate issues related to access to post-secondary education (PSE). The release of these data make it possible since the cohort was age 19 at the time of the third wave of survey in 2004, and therefore at the point of making decisions with respect to participation in PSE. The questions we ask are basically two-fold: i) What are the various influences of early background on access to PSE, including high school grades, social/academic “engagement”; parental influences, etc.? and ii) How does including such a more extensive set of variables than has been possible in previous studies change the estimated effects of the conventionally measured family/parental influences, including family income and parental education, on access to PSE, and thus indicate how much of the latter influences operate through the broader set of variables, thereby isolating the direct – as opposed to indirect – influence of these traditional measures on access? Utilizing multinomial logit models to address the choice of level of PSE (i.e., college versus university) we find that parental income is positively related to university – but not college – attendance, although its importance is diminished once parental education is included in the estimation. Similarly, the importance of parental education on university attendance is diminished once high school grades, academic participation, and standardized reading test scores (i.e., PISA results) are included. In general, university attendance is much more sensitive to the included variables compared to college attendance. This result may not be surprising given the nature of the PSE system in Canada. In any case, background variables are an important inclusion into the model of PSE choice. How these characteristics are developed and the mechanism(s) by which they are transferred from parent to child is likely where future research, and resources, should be targeted.
Releasing executive directors for outside directorships - the governance implications

Sir Adrian Cadbury (1993), commenting on the Cadbury Report, highlights not only the importance placed on outside directors for improved governance but also three areas of concern, namely the appointments process, the availability and the independence of outside directors. The strengths required for the role of outside director in a quoted PLC are considerable, and suggests that outside directors of listed UK public limited companies require the skills and experience that only existing executive directors of similar PLCs are likely to possess. Release by companies of their directors for outside duties raises its own governance issues. Should shareholders rather than internal management approve such appointments? Who has the right to the director’s fees, the company or the individual? Based on the response of 33 companies, this research finds that a majority (73%) have formal policies covering these governance issues but that between companies there are numerous policy differences.
Winning a competition predicts dishonest behavior

Significance Competition is prevalent. People often resort to unethical means to win (e.g., the recent Volkswagen scandal). Not surprisingly, competition is central to the study of economics, psychology, sociology, political science, and more. Although we know much about contestants’ behavior before and during competitions, we know little about contestants’ behavior after the competition has ended. Connecting postcompetition behaviors with preceding competition experience, we find that after a competition is over winners behave more dishonestly than losers in an unrelated subsequent task. Furthermore, the subsequent unethical behavior effect seems to depend on winning, rather than on mere success. Providing insight into the issue is important in gaining understanding of how unethical behavior may cascade from exposure to competitive settings. Winning a competition engenders subsequent unrelated unethical behavior. Five studies reveal that after a competition has taken place winners behave more dishonestly than competition losers. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that winning a competition increases the likelihood of winners to steal money from their counterparts in a subsequent unrelated task. Studies 3a and 3b demonstrate that the effect holds only when winning means performing better than others (i.e., determined in reference to others) but not when success is determined by chance or in reference to a personal goal. Finally, study 4 demonstrates that a possible mechanism underlying the effect is an enhanced sense of entitlement among competition winners.