Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Single and joint default in a structural model with purely discontinuous asset prices

Structural models of credit risk are known to present both vanishing spreads at very short maturities and a poor spread fit over longer maturities. The former shortcoming, which is due to the diffusive behaviour assumed for asset values, can be circumvented by considering discontinuous asset prices. In this paper the authors resort to a pure jump process of the Variance-Gamma type. First the authors calibrate the corresponding Merton type structural model to single-name data for the DJ CDX.NA. IG and CDX.NA. HY components. By so doing, they show that it also circumvents the diffusive structural models difficulties over longer horizons. Particularly, it corrects for the underprediction of low-risk spreads and the overprediction of high-risk ones. Then the authors extend the model to joint default, resorting to a recent formulation of the VG multivariate model and without superimposing a copula choice. They fit default correlation for a sample of CDX.NA names, using equity correlation. The main advantage of our joint model, with respect to the existing non-diffusive ones, is that it allows full calibration without the equicorrelation assumption, but still in a parsimonious way. As an example of the default assessments which the calibrated model can provide, the authors price an FtD swap.
Pallidal stimulation in cervical dystonia: clinical implications of acute changes in stimulation parameters

Background and purpose: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the globus pallidus internus (GPi) is successful in dystonia, but the role of each electrical parameters of stimulation is unclear. We studied the clinical effects of acute changes of different parameters of GPi–DBS in cervical dystonia (CD).
The value and allocation of time in high-income countries: implications for fertility

This article restates an economic theory of fertility decline in modern industrial societies that links the decline in fertility to the increase in real wages and to the increase in womens wages relative to those of men. The household demand framework assigns importance to the parent-specific time requirements of having (and enjoying) children and the distinct price effects of the opportunity value of womens and mens time in market and nonmarket production. The framework implies that if child care duties can be transferred to the market without loss of parental satisfaction then the link between the opportunity value of the parents time and the shadow price of children would be partially broken. Fertility may not therefore rebound substantially and permanently from its current trough though it may become less sensitive to womens wages for reasons indicated below. The household demand framework predicts that in traditional nuclear families in which the wife specializes in nonmarket production activities increases in the market wage opportunities for women relative to men will lead to downward pressure on desired fertility. But households will also attempt to substitute the males time for the females in some child care activities and will transfer some of these child care duties and scholling functions to lower cost providers in the market. Cross-sectional differences in US fertility and labor force participation confirm some of these patterns in industrially advanced high-income countries. Many questions remain unanswered however and most data on economic and demographic characteristics of these populations remain unalayzed.
Analysis of the Stages of Change Model of Drug and Alcohol Treatment Readiness Among Prisoners

A classification and regression tree (CART) analysis was applied to data for 237 male participants (M = 31.93 years, SD = 7.64) in a prison-based substance abuse treatment program to study the integrity of the Stages of Change model of treatment readiness. Using the Stages of Change Questionnaire (STOCQ), participants were assigned to Contemplation (102), Action (118), or Maintenance (17) groups. A CART analysis then examined differences in the overall group profiles on the basis of scores on the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking, the Situational Confidence Questionnaire, and the Carlson Psychological Survey. The assumption of discrete stages of change was not supported. Alternative models are suggested: one based on states of change and one on personality characteristics. A focus on equal attention to both cognitive and behavioral aspects of substance abuse treatment readiness is suggested.
Changes in settlement regime and the modulation of day-of-the-week effects in stock returns

During the period 1989 to 1996, the New Zealand Stock Exchange modified the settlement regime of its listed stocks on six separate occasions. These changes provide an opportunity to assess the impact of settlement practice upon day-of-the-week returns in a more meaningful fashion than has, hitherto, been the case. The time-series approach suggested avoids many of the confounding effects, pertaining to differences in market micro-structure and trading characteristics, that plague inferences drawn from cross-market analyses. The precise impact of settlement on day-of-the-week returns is assessed using a methodology incorporating orthogonal contrasts. This approach avoids issues of multiple-testing and, as a result, offers new insights into the influence of settlement regimes on day-of-the-week returns. The results indicated little support for priors determined from standard settlement arguments. However, as in other markets, a depressed Monday return was evident.
Comprehensive Investigation of the Molecular Defect in vif-Deficient Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Virions

ABSTRACT Replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in primary blood lymphocytes, certain T-cell lines (nonpermissive cells), and most likely in vivo is highly dependent on the virally encoded Vif protein. Evidence suggests that Vif acts late in the viral life cycle during assembly, budding, and/or maturation to counteract the antiviral activity of the CEM15 protein and possibly other antiviral factors. Because HIV-1 virions produced in the absence of Vif are severely restricted at a postentry, preintegration step of infection, it is presumed that such virions differ from wild-type virions in some way. In the present study, we established a protocol for producing large quantities of vif-deficient HIV-1 (HIV-1/Δvif) from an acute infection of nonpermissive T cells and performed a thorough examination of the defect in these virions. Aside from the expected lack of Vif, we observed no apparent abnormalities in the packaging, modification, processing, or function of proteins in Δvif virions. In addition, we found no consistent defect in the ability of Δvif virions to perform intravirion reverse transcription under a variety of assay conditions, suggesting that the reverse transcription complexes in these particles can behave normally under cell-free conditions. Consistent with this finding, neither the placement of the primer tRNA3Lys nor its ability to promote reverse transcription in an in vitro assay was affected by a lack of Vif. Based on the inability of this comprehensive analysis to uncover molecular defects in Δvif virions, we speculate that such defects are likely to be subtle and/or rare.
VENTURE CAPITALIST RELATIONSHIPS IN THE DEAL STRUCTURING AND POST-INVESTMENT STAGES OF NEW FIRM CREATION

Entrepreneurs often turn to outsiders for financial assistance. Venture capitalists represent an outside source of finance that generally takes an active interest in managing the firm. Two common practices within the venture capital industry are co-investing and staged financing. Responding to the call for more process research which examines the deal structuring and post-investment stages of venture capital involvement, this research utilized a case study approach to explore salient features and themes that emerged in a relationship involving entrepreneurs and multiple co-investors in a new firm start-up. Central findings of the study included: penetrating the venture capital network is a significant first step in securing financial resources and, intriguingly, relationships supersede business plans in securing these resources; paradoxically, venture capitalists establish milestones and tight time-lines yet inadvertently contribute to many of the delays experienced by a start-up firm; the operating logic of venture capital networks, constrained by the hierarchical structures of their constituents, may be incompatible with the needs of a start-up firm; activities within the deal structuring and post-investment stages are more dynamic and iterative than current models suggest; and, staged financing, when combined with multiple venture partners, requires a clear understanding of each party's collaborative role in the enterprise.
The Relationship Between Growth, Total Investment and Inward FDI: Evidence from Time Series Data

Abstract This paper explores the causal relationship between growth, total investment and inward FDI in 47 countries. Using error‐correction model, the significance, direction and sign of long‐run and short‐run causal effects between GDP, capital stock and FDI stock are investigated. The miscellaneous results echo the divergent theoretical viewpoints and the mixed empirical results of previous works. However, the evidence found in this study suggests that there are differences in growth mechanism between developed and developing countries, between various developing regions, and between oil‐exporting and non‐oil‐exporting countries. The main policy implication is that capital investment is essential for growth while FDI’s effect is uncertain in developing countries. FDI as well as total investment enhances growth only under some conditions.
Foreign firms, technology transfer and knowledge spillovers to Indian manufacturing firms: a stochastic frontier analysis

This paper uses techniques from a stochastic production frontier (i.e., the best practice technology used in the industry vis-à-vis average practised technology) and panel data literature to test for the spillover hypothesis that ‘presence of foreign-owned firms and disembodied technology import in a sector leads to higher productivity growth for domestic firms’. The study uses panel data for 368 medium and largesized Indian manufacturing firms for the period 1975–1976 to 1988–1989. The results indicate that there exists positive spillovers from the presence of foreign-owned firms but the nature and type of spillovers vary depending upon the industries to which the firms' belong. There exist significant positive spillovers for the domestic firms belonging to the ‘scientific’ subgroup provided the firms themselves possess significant R&D capabilities. However, for the ‘non-scientific’ subgroup presence of foreign firms itself forces the local firms to be more productive by inducing greater competition. However, the results change marginally when the initial level of productivity (i.e. the technology-gap) is considered.
Factors that influence the selection and utilization of children’s medical insurance

Abstract The researchers analyzed how different regions in the USA, family structure, ethnicity, and family income levels influenced the selection and utilization of medical care programs and services by American children. To prevent any possible bias in the analysis and to produce reliable results, an endogenous switching model was utilized in the study. The researchers found no statistically significant differences in the number of doctor visits and hospital stays between children with insurance and children without insurance. However, significant differences were determined regarding family structure, family income, geographic regions, and ethnicity. Children from single-parent families with insurance coverage (private, Medicaid, or SCHIP) had statistically higher rates of doctor visits and hospital stays than children from two-parent families with insurance coverage. Family income, region, and ethnicity variables all had significant impacts on the type of health insurance coverage that was reported for children.
Effects of Crude Oil Price Changes on Sector Indices of Istanbul Stock Exchange

Oil price is one of the most important economic factors directing the world economy. A small change in oil prices has positive or negative affects on all the economic factors. Aim of this study is to investigate the affects of oil price changes on Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) 100 composite index, services index, industrial index and technology index of ISE. Long-run relationship is tested by Cointegration tests and short-run relationship is tested by Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). According to the results of the study, 32.71 % of the forecasting error variance of industrial index and 16.40% is explained by crude oil prices of the forecasting error variance of ISE 100 index. About the other indices; 12.60 % of the forecasting error variance of services index, 11.82 % of the forecasting error variance of financial index and 5.38 % of the forecasting error variance are explained by crude oil prices. Consequently, investors purposing to invest in ISE Market should consider the oil prices and especially investors of ISE industrial index and ISE 100 index should follow the developments in crude oil prices.
Work Poor or Working Poor? A Comparative Perspective on New Zealand's Jobless Households

In recent years, researchers have identified a growth in both “work-poor” and “work-rich” households in several OECD countries, including New Zealand, indicating an increasing concentration of paid employment at the household level. Changes in household structure, in the economy, and in the employment patterns of men and women have contributed to these trends, which present new challenges to social policy makers concerned about the costs and benefits of various models of welfare provision and labour market regulation. Drawing on the international literature and on a newly developed household database from the New Zealand Household Labour Force Survey, we contrast New Zealand’s household employment patterns with those of the United States and the United Kingdom. In particular, we consider whether New Zealand’s relatively high level of household joblessness (or “work poverty”) would, in the United States policy context, be translated instead into high levels of working poverty. A high and growing proportion of New Zealand’s jobless households are child-rearing households, and increasingly include two-parent households. These trends reinforce the importance of contrasting the costs of household joblessness with the benefits not of employment per se, but of employment that generates sufficient income to support the individuals and families living within these households.
How much of a threat to economic growth is a mature AIDS epidemic?

The article models the impact on economic growth of HIV/AIDS when the epidemic is in a mature phase, in contrast with previous studies focused on periods of expansion as it is typically the case in African countries. Simulations for Honduras, the epicentre of the epidemic in Central America, show that AIDS is not likely to threaten economic growth neither through labour nor capital accumulation channels. Impacts are estimated between 0.007 and 0.27% points of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth annually for the period 2001 to 2010. Increasing spending on prevention, higher public treatment subsidies and increasing treatment access will not jeopardize economic growth prospects. Critical factors that slash economic growth in Africa (such as human capital reductions and shifts in relative skills) are not strong in Honduras.
Crowding Out Public Service Motivation? Comparing Theoretical Expectations with Empirical Findings on the Influence of Performance-Related Pay

This article draws on a sample of city managers, assistant city managers, and department heads in U.S. local government jurisdictions to examine whether theoretical assertions about the relationships between performance-related pay, public service motivation, and employee job satisfaction hold empirical merit. Contrary to theoretical expectations, findings from an ordered logistic regression and a series of Monte Carlo simulations suggest performance-related pay is associated with greater job satisfaction, especially among employees who possess stronger public service motives. Results also suggest variable pay may be particularly important to employees who have lower levels of public service motivation.
Modeling of 14 nm gate length n-Type MOSFET

Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors MOSFETs (MOSFETs) transistor have been scaled tremendously through Moore's Law since 1974 in order to compact transistors in a single chip. Thus, a proper scaling technique is compulsory to minimize the short channel effect (SCE) problems. In this paper, the virtual fabricated design and device's characterization of 14 nm HfO2/WSi2 n-type MOSFET device is presented. The device is scaled based on previous research on 32 nm transistors. The virtual fabrication and simulation of n-type MOSFETs are implemented using Virtual Wafer Fabrication (VWF) Silvaco TCAD Tools named ATHENA and ATLAS. From the simulation, result shows that the optimal value of threshold voltage (VTH), drive current (ION) and leakage current (IOFF) are 0.232291 V, 78.922×10-6 A/um and 77.11×10-9 A/um respectively. These simulation results are believed to be able to create a touchstone towards the optimization and fabrication of 14 nm device's gate length utilizing High-K/Metal Gate n-type MOSFET in impending work.
Anti-Semitic Prejudice in Adolescence: An Italian Study on Shared Beliefs

A study was conducted in Bologna and Venice on a sample of 427 subjects to verify whether anti-Semitic prejudice is observed in Italy, if it has direct, violent expression (blatant prejudice), or if it assumes less evident forms (subtle prejudice). The sample was chosen to represent levels of contact with the Jewish community to check the contact hypothesis (Bologna for the no-contact condition and Venice for the contact-condition) in groups of different ages (adolescents, young people, and adults). We predicted a decrease in blatant prejudice by subjects living in contact with Jews, but no differences in subtle prejudice. Also adolescents, more sensitive to polarised choices, could be less tolerant towards Jews. One-way analysis of variance indicated evidence for anti-Semitic prejudice, whose typical expression was a lack of positive emotions towards Jews. In particular, the whole sample denied negative emotions, such as disregard, annoyance, and irritation, and did not report positive emotions, such as attraction or curiosity.
Stock Splits, Broker Promotion, and Decimalization

Abstract Stock split ex-dates are associated with both an increased intensity of small investor buying and a positive abnormal return. The broker promotion hypothesis suggests that the increase in relative spread after a split induces brokers to promote splitting stocks to small investors. The trading inconvenience hypothesis ascribes the ex-split effects to inconveniences such as investors' aversion to dealing with due bills, which is unrelated to relative spreads. The reduction in the bid-ask spread due to decimalization allows us to disentangle these two hypotheses. During the 1/8th pricing period, we show that after the ex-date, the relative spread increases significantly. The average buy order size decreases and the frequency of small transactions increases after the split. After decimalization, these changes are smaller in magnitude. We observe significant positive abnormal returns around the ex-date during the 1/8th pricing period, but not in the decimal pricing period. These results support the broker promotion hypothesis.
The Use of Blanket Guarantees in Banking Crises

In episodes of significant banking distress or perceived systemic risk to the financial system, policymakers have often opted for issuing blanket guarantees on bank liabilities to stop or avoid widespread bank runs. In theory, blanket guarantees can prevent bank runs if they are credible. However, guarantee could add substantial fiscal costs to bank restructuring programs and may increase moral hazard going forward. Using a sample of 42 episodes of banking crises, this paper finds that blanket guarantees are successful in reducing liquidity pressures on banks arising from deposit withdrawals. However, banks' foreign liabilities appear virtually irresponsive to blanket guarantees. Furthermore, guarantees tend to be fiscally costly, though this positive association arises in large part because guarantees tend to be employed in conjunction with extensive liquidity support and when crises are severe.
The Motivational Bases of Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation: Relations to Values and Attitudes in the Aftermath of September 11, 2001

Research suggests that different motivational dynamics underlie right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO). These differences may be framed in the theory of basic human values. RWA may trace back to conservation versus openness-to-change values, and SDO to self-enhancement versus self-transcendence values. Based on a large-scale German survey, associations of RWA and SDO with personal values and attitudes in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, were analyzed. Results indicated that RWA related more strongly than SDO to conservation values and threat-related attitudes toward Islam as an expression of the motivational goals of social control and security, whereas RWA and SDO related equally to self-enhancement versus self-transcendence values and concern for negative consequences of military action as an expression of the motivational goal of altruistic concern. Thus, the motivational bases of RWA and SDO appear to be only partly different.
Effect of Aggressively Driven Intravenous Iron Therapy on Infectious Complications in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis

For treating end-stage renal disease–associated anemia, various strategies to achieve optimal hemoglobin levels with lower erythropoiesis stimulating agent doses are being tried. One of these involves the use of a high dose [transferrin saturation (TSAT) >30%] of intravenous (IV) iron supplementation. However, due to in vitro effects of iron on stimulating bacterial growth, there are concerns of increased risk of infection. The safety of higher iron targets with respect to infectious complications (bacteremias, pneumonias, soft tissue infections, and osteomyelitis) is unknown. This was a retrospective study of patients on maintenance hemodialysis from a single, urban dialysis center to assess the long-term impact of the higher cumulative use of IV iron, on the incidence of clinically important infections. Our iron protocol was modified in June 2010 to aim for TSAT >30% unless serum ferritin levels were >1200 ng/mL. Data from only those patients who had been on dialysis for the whole duration between June 2009 and May 2011 were included. A total of 140 patients with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis patients were found to be eligible for the study. There was a statistically significant increase in the mean TSAT and mean serum ferritin with the new anemia management protocol with a significant decrease in the mean erythropoiesis stimulating agent dose requirement. There was no statistically significant increase in the incidence of infectious complications. Although in vitro effects of iron are known to stimulate bacterial growth, a higher IV dose of iron may not increase the risk of infection in such patients.