Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The implementation of Corporate Governance in Germany and Brazil: A Comparative Case Study

The recent promotion of best corporate governance standards by several different government institutions and non-for profit organizations resulted in the implementation of more sophisticated governance mechanisms. As consequence to the separation of ownership and control the concept of agency theory arose. Agency theory argues that without out proper control mechanism managers would behave exploit owners due to information asymmetry. Regulators have promoted corporate governance mechanisms in order to address this issue. This paper aims to contrast the implementation of best corporate governance practices in Germany and Brazil on the example of two practical examples. With this purpose in mind, this paper analyzed two companies listed in the main stock exchange in Germany and Brazil throughout a period of 5 years. In order to measure the degree of corporate governance practices implemented 3 different parameters have been chosen. In line with great part of the literature the parameters considered to be relevant are; composition, procedures and deviation from the local corporate governance code. The comparison of the data revealed that board composition in the two analyzed companies is similar regarding the proportion of independent representatives but does distinguish in size. While committees are related to the same topics it can be implied that Natura’s board is more involved in the actual management of the company. Lastly, Beiersdorf has been able to comply to a larger extend with the recommendations of the local German code than Natura to the recommendations published by Brazilian code of the IBGC.
Concept-based and relation-based corpus navigation : applications of natural language processing in digital humanities

Social sciences and Humanities research is often based on large textual corpora, that it would be unfeasible to read in detail. Natural Language Processing (NLP) can identify important concepts and actors mentioned in a corpus, as well as the relations between them. Such information can provide an overview of the corpus useful for domain-experts, and help identify corpus areas relevant for a given research question. To automatically annotate corpora relevant for Digital Humanities (DH), the NLP technologies we applied are, first, Entity Linking, to identify corpus actors and concepts. Second, the relations between actors and concepts were determined based on an NLP pipeline which provides semantic role labeling and syntactic dependencies among other information. Part I outlines the state of the art, paying attention to how the technologies have been applied in DH.Generic NLP tools were used. As the efficacy of NLP methods depends on the corpus, some technological development was undertaken, described in Part II, in order to better adapt to the corpora in our case studies. Part II also shows an intrinsic evaluation of the technology developed, with satisfactory results. The technologies were applied to three very different corpora, as described in Part III. First, the manuscripts of Jeremy Bentham. This is a 18th-19th century corpus in political philosophy. Second, the PoliInformatics corpus, with heterogeneous materials about the American financial crisis of 2007-2008. Finally, the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB), which covers international climate summits since 1995, where treaties like the Kyoto Protocol or the Paris Agreements get negotiated.For each corpus, navigation interfaces were developed. These user interfaces (UI) combine networks, full-text search and structured search based on NLP annotations. As an example, in the ENB corpus interface, which covers climate policy negotiations, searches can be performed based on relational information identified in the corpus: the negotiation actors having discussed a given issue using verbs indicating support or opposition can be searched, as well as all statements where a given actor has expressed support or opposition. Relation information is employed, beyond simple co-occurrence between corpus terms.The UIs were evaluated qualitatively with domain-experts, to assess their potential usefulness for research in the experts' domains. First, we payed attention to whether the corpus representations we created correspond to experts' knowledge of the corpus, as an indication of the sanity of the outputs we produced. Second, we tried to determine whether experts could gain new insight on the corpus by using the applications, e.g. if they found evidence unknown to them or new research ideas. Examples of insight gain were attested with the ENB interface; this constitutes a good validation of the work carried out in the thesis. Overall, the applications' strengths and weaknesses were pointed out, outlining possible improvements as future work.
The Experience of Autonomy with Durable Products

A study to understand the experience of autonomy with durable products was undertaken based on qualitative research. The study involved thirteen participants, who selected a durable product that enhanced autonomy. Using in-depth interviews, the map of experience and interaction properties the experience was studied. Our findings indicate that there are three structures involved in the experience of autonomy: orchestration, control and product integration. The three structures are described in detail. It was also identified that the experience of autonomy enhances positive experiences and stimulates wellbeing. Designers can apply the three structures of autonomy to underscore design decisions.
The Spillover Effects of Hospital Closures on the Efficiency and Quality of Other Hospitals

Problem definition: The recent trend in the U.S. hospital closures can have important impacts on the healthcare sector by changing the operational efficiency and quality of care of the remaining hospitals. We investigate the impact of hospital closures on the surrounding hospitals’ operational efficiency and quality, and study how such hospitals respond to the closure of their neighboring hospital. Academic/Practical Relevance: Understanding how hospital closures impact the way the remaining hospitals operate can allow policymakers to utilize more effective policy levers in order to mitigate the negative consequences of hospital closures. Methodology: We analyze more than 14 million inpatient visits made during 11 years to over 3,000 hospitals in the U.S. (before and after various closures), and utilize causal methods to evaluate the spillover effect of hospital closures on the nearby hospitals. We also conduct counterfactual analyses to evaluate policy interventions that could have been used by policymakers. Results: Hospital closures have both positive and negative spillover effect. When a hospital closes, its nearby hospitals improve their operational efficiency. However, they do so via a speed-up response (i.e., by reducing their service durations to accommodate the increased demand) instead of an effort to lower their average bed idle time. This speed-up response negatively affects some important aspects of the care quality provided, including the 30-day mortality rate. The spillover effect of a hospital closure is highly heterogeneous: hospitals in markets where patients have limited choices of hospitals (e.g., less competition, fewer resources) and hospitals that are more desirable (e.g., high-quality, urban, teaching, and large) tend to experience greater spillover effects. Managerial Implications: Our analyses suggest two effective policy levers: (a) bailing out specific hospitals (e.g., rural or less desirable than neighbors) from potential closures, and (b) eliminating the speed-up response of specific hospitals (e.g., rural or more desirable hospitals). In addition to helping policymakers, our results help hospital administrators: our findings help them to better understand the consequences (or the absence) of their strategic responses to a neighboring hospital closure, and thereby, adopt more suitable management strategies.
A Novel Template for Understanding Priced Factors

We introduce a novel template which allows for robust inference when attempting to distinguish priced from unpriced risks in factor portfolios. This is of interest since factor portfolios are prone to unintended and potentially unpriced risk exposures. We demonstrate this template by decomposing industry risks for the style factors Value, Quality, Momentum, Low Volatility and Size on a global large- and mid-cap universe over 1994-2018. Our methodology reintroduces the notion of monotonicity into the discrete question at hand whether a factor is priced within and/or across industries, serving as a new perspective on this commonly researched topic. We present empirical evidence that Value is priced within industries over a wide variety of factor definitions, with no premium for industry-selection. We find no clear industry decomposition for Quality and show that different factor definitions vary in potential for earning within- and across-industry premiums. The Low Volatility and Momentum style factors do show consistent within- and across-industry premiums. The Low Volatility anomaly appears to be most pronounced within industries, whereas the Momentum anomaly is most consistent across industries. The evidence for Size points to a within-industry premium, whilst it is unpriced across industries.
A strategic approach to failure mitigation: A study of project and quality management in five projects

The causes of operational failure remain unclear to those tasked with both delivering projects and managing operational assets. Greater awareness of the owner and their supply network capabilities to mitigate failure could reduce significant quality costs that can amount to many millions of pounds. This thesis investigates why assets handed over to the owner have failed during operation, and proposes new ways that capabilities can be integrated to reduce and prevent potential operational failure from arising. An abductive reasoning with a grounded theory approach was used over a three-year period, and involved quarterly expert research steering group meetings to validate the iteration between literature and empirical observation to obtain new insights. The first workshop and questionnaire phase of the study created a Cost of Quality (COQ) framework; this was then tested on five multi-case study and subsequently developed within a single expert owner organisation using semi-structured interviews, card sorting and a Delphi review. The results show that the owner and the multi-organisational supply network capabilities are fragmented in addressing operational failure. By identifying and measuring quality cost failure, owners and their supply network will learn and be able to procure more integrated capabilities in failure mitigation for reducing quality cost failure. This will be achieved with better understanding of the relationship between owner’s strategic requirement, technical project delivery and functional operations management capabilities, which is summarised in a capabilities cycle model. The model illustrates the need for a strategic project and quality management approach to integrate capabilities within each phase of a project’s lifecycle. An integrated capabilities approach is proposed for the owner and its multi-organisational supply and operator network to integrate and collaborate in relation to the capabilities required to equally share project risk and quality cost in mitigating the failures.
Payments and Central Bank Policy

This paper examines the role of interchange fees, transfers from merchants’ banks to consumers’ banks when card payments take place, when consumers do not face card transaction fees. Without transaction fees, interchange fees work differently than is conventionally assumed. Banks always set interchange fees at or above the social optimum, resulting in too few card payments. There exists an optimal fee which depends only on the cost of producing payments. Finally, surcharging does not neutralize interchange fees. The findings may help explain card usage patterns across countries and have implications for the regulation of interchange fees.
The impact of Board structure on control rights and equitable treatment of stockholder (The case of saudi )

The primary purpose of corporate governance is to ensure transparency and equality between a corporation and its shareholders. This study examines the impact of board structure on Control Rights And Equitable Treatment Of Stockholder, four board characteristics (board composition, board size, board ownership and CEO duality) have been identified as possibly having an impact on Control Rights And Equitable Treatment Of Stockholder. Findings from the study show that there is strong positive association between board size and corporate financial performance. Evidence also exists that there is a positive association between outside directors sitting on the board and corporate financial performance. However, a negative association was observed between directors’ stockholding and firm financial performance measures. In addition, the study reveals a negative association between ROE (measured as the proportion of Profit after tax to issued share capital)and CEO duality, while a strong negative association was observed between ROCE (measured as the proportion of profit after tax to issued share capital plus reserves)and CEO duality. The study suggests that large board size should be encouraged and the composition of outside directors as members of the board should be sustained and improved upon to enhance corporate financial performance. The impact of Borad structure Dr . Samy Mahmoud Morad 20/6/2017 Scientific Journal for Economic& Commerce 636
Minimum covariance determinant and extensions

The minimum covariance determinant (MCD) method is a highly robust estimator of multivariate location and scatter, for which a fast algorithm is available. Since estimating the covariance matrix is the cornerstone of many multivariate statistical methods, the MCD is an important building block when developing robust multivariate techniques. It also serves as a convenient and efficient tool for outlier detection. The MCD estimator is reviewed, along with its main properties such as affine equivariance, breakdown value, and influence function. We discuss its computation, and list applications and extensions of the MCD in applied and methodological multivariate statistics. Two recent extensions of the MCD are described. The first one is a fast deterministic algorithm which inherits the robustness of the MCD while being almost affine equivariant. The second is tailored to high‐dimensional data, possibly with more dimensions than cases, and incorporates regularization to prevent singular matrices.
Substance Use and Romantic Attachment Among African American and Black Caribbean Adult Males

Substance Use and Romantic Attachment Among African American and Black Caribbean Adult Males by Shaun Hutton MS, Pace University, 1996 BA, Binghamton University, 1994 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy General Educational Psychology Walden University May 2019 Abstract Individuals from unfavorable environments tend to carry maladaptive patterns of attachment from infancy through adulthood. Empirically, these styles have been shown to be intergenerational. Substance use disorder has been linked to maladaptive patterns of attachment among adults. However, limited data exists regarding this phenomenon with African American and Black Caribbean males. Bowlby’s attachment theory andIndividuals from unfavorable environments tend to carry maladaptive patterns of attachment from infancy through adulthood. Empirically, these styles have been shown to be intergenerational. Substance use disorder has been linked to maladaptive patterns of attachment among adults. However, limited data exists regarding this phenomenon with African American and Black Caribbean males. Bowlby’s attachment theory and Ainsworth’s patterns of attachment were the theoretical frameworks applied to this quantitative study. The purpose was to determine the effect of ethnicity and alcohol use on anxious and avoidant attachment patterns among a sample of 151 adult males. Using the Experience in Close Relationship and two alcohol use measures, a (2x3) factorial MANOVA showed that the majority of participants reported secure attachment in romantic relationships with moderate alcohol use patterns. There were no significant differences between ethnicity and either attachment patterns, alcohol use and the attachment patterns, or ethnicity and alcohol use and the combined attachment patterns. However, future research using quantitative and qualitative approaches could capture a richer understanding of African American and Black Caribbean males and romantic attachments. The implications for positive social change include the significant benefit that can be derived from learning to create new internal working models. Clinicians working with African American and Black Caribbean males identified with insecure attachment can facilitate change in expected outcomes of interactions with others. Over time, these individuals could benefit from healthier, more adaptive attachment with others, including in romantic relationships. Substance Use and Romantic Attachment Among African American and Black Caribbean Adult Males by Shaun Hutton MS, Pace University, 1996 BA, Binghamton University, 1994 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy General Educational Psychology
INSTITUTIONAL STAFFING CAPACITY AND INTERNAL EFFICIENCY OF TECHNICAL TRAINING INSTITUTIONS IN BUNGOMA COUNTY, KENYA

This paper investigates how institutional staffing processes influence internal efficiency of public technical training institutions in the county of Bungoma, Kenya. The study was guided by resource dependence theory. The target population involved public TTIs tutors, principals of the TTIs and resource mobilisation officers in the four institutions located in the county of Bungoma; Sangalo Institute of Science and Technology, Kisiwa, Matili and Musakasa Technical Training Institutes. The study adopted mixed method research which was cross-sectional in nature. The data collection instruments involved use of questionnaires, interview schedules and document checklist. Qualitative data was transcribed and presented in verbatim with the use of content analysis method. Quantitative data analysis was done using descriptive (frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation) and inferential (Multiple Linear Regression) statistics. The results in Table 4.5 show that there exist a moderate positive relationship (r=0.473 and p=0.00) between institutional staffing capacity at the four public TTIs in Bungoma county. The relationship appears to be significant at 99% confidence level. The study recommends that there is need for public TTIs to consider collaborating with other institutions within and outside the country for benchmarking of staff exchange programmes that could be important in improving skills and knowledge among the staff. Article visualizations:
ICBSI 2018 International Conference on Business Sustainability and Innovation FACTORS INFLUENCING BUSINESS PERFORMANCE AMONG SMALL BUSINESS OPERATORS

The development and contribution of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are crucial for Malaysia to achieve high income country in the year of 2020. It is reported that the SMEs comprise 98.5% of total establishments in 2014, has contributed 32.7% of the Malaysian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. This research focused on determining the significant factors that impact business performance among small business operators in a local university. As the research framework, six independent variables (Cost leadership strategy, Differentiation strategy, focus strategy, Entrepreneurial orientation, Business location and Productivity propensity), a dependent variable (Business performance) and a moderating variable (University support) were selected through the synthesizing previous studies. Data was collected via structured questionnaires from the 75 business operators within the University in Malaysia. Data was then analysed using SPSS17, and SmartPLS 3.0. Cost leadership strategy, Differentiation strategy and Productivity propensity were found to have significant impact on business performance of the small business operators; and University support had negative significant moderating effect on the relationship between Cost leadership and Business performance with an overall large effect size. As the contribution from this study, the business operators could focus on developing significant business strategies such as Cost leadership strategy and Differentiation strategy. On the other hand, the University could focus on its policies related to costs in order to ensure sustainable business performance of the small business operators and eventually contributes to the development of SMEs in the country. © 2019 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy. org.UK
Long-Run Underperformance on Seasoned Equity Offerings: An Evidence from Indonesia

The research aimed to analyze the underperformance phenomenon following Seasoned Equity Offering (SEO)in Indonesian context. Samples were all firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange with the right issue in the observed periods, were chosen by purposive sampling with several criteria. In total, there were 109 issuing firms from 2009-2014 that were analyzed using performance benchmarking approaches. The approaches consisted of market-based, size-based, growth-based, and industry-based benchmarks. The market-based was constructed using a market return. Then, the size and the growth benchmarks were constructed on the basis of closest market capitalization and closest price-to-book value respectively. Then, the industry benchmark was based on a closest combined of market capitalization and Price to Book Value (PBV) of matched firms within the first-second digit of Standard Industry Classification (SIC). The test was conducted using standard t and Wilcoxon tests by examining the benchmark-based abnormal returns over various spans ranging from 3 to 36 months following the right offerings. Like several findings in developed countries, the results also confirm the underperformance phenomenon following right offerings in Indonesia. The negative abnormal returns are found for all benchmark performances, but they are only significant for the market benchmark and partially significant for the size and the growth benchmarks. Behavioral explanations need to be modeled to reveal the intuitions behind the results.
D.S. Sense’s “On My Detroit Everything”: Self-Articulating Black Girl Magic

Long before the hashtag #BlackGirlMagic was popularized on social network sites Black women in Detroit have been employing art in their processes of self-articulation and efforts to deal with the complexities and challenges of life in the city. The scripts of African American women that dominate the commercial hip hop industry and their impacts on girls and women have received thorough analysis in academia; yet, the practices, representations, and discursive articulations of independent, Black women hip hop artists remain underexplored. In particular, this essay draws on Deidre “D.S. Sense” Smith’s spoken word poem “On My Detroit Everything” to illuminate the counter-narratives and scripts that Black women have been creating to document, validate, and voice their experiences at a critical point in Detroit’s history as it underwent and continues to deal with the after effects of bankruptcy. Hip hop artists who use cultural production to accomplish grass roots community-building offer alternative visions of what it means to do political work. More than a strategy, we argue that such practices serve as the foundation for a movement that is significant and worthy of documentation in the contemporary neoliberal moment where in policies are accelerating the continued disenfranchisement of people of color in cities such as Detroit.