Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Auditor Provided Tax Planning and Tax Compliance Services on Effective Tax Rates and Tax Risk

This study examines associations between auditor-provided tax compliance and tax planning services and three primary tax objectives that the Tax Council Policy Institute (2006) and Ernst & Young (2006) highlight as significantly important in the current tax environment. These objectives include effective tax rate reductions, cash tax savings, and tax risk management. Collectively, our results suggest that companies paying their auditors for tax planning advice are more effective tax planners (in terms of reductions in effective tax rates and higher cash tax savings without increases in tax risk) than firms who do not engage their auditor for tax work. However, our tax rate minimization and cash tax savings results hold only when firms also engage their auditors for tax compliance work, which is consistent with auditors seeking to minimize reputation threats. Our study’s unique hand-collected panel dataset provides a more precise and longitudinal perspective on the role auditors play in designing and overseeing tax outcomes that helps to bridge the disconnect between academic research and policy debates regarding auditor provided tax services (APTS).
Job Security and Severance Pay Exemption in Recession-30 OCT 2012

This paper presents a policy analysis to ecure jobs in times of recession. We study a unique feature of Dutch labor market that focuses on the probability for firms to obtain severance pay exemption in times of distress. A bas ic theoretical equilibrium model is presented to analyze the policy’s effects. The mode l pr dicts that as long as the wage elasticity of labor demand does not exceed the inve rse of the replacement ratio a system of severance payment exemption is less costly than the al ernative of additional unemployment benefits. The likelihood that this condition holds increases when a firm is hit by a negative shock. A novel data set identifies key differences in procedural durations and firing costs distributions with and without the exemption policy for individual dismissal cases during the period 2006-2009. We claim that these differences f orm the most important reasons to explain the outstanding performance of the Dutch labor mark et compared to other EU countries in the past decade.
Anxiety , depression , and functioning among a population struck by recurrent floods in Uttar Pradesh , India

Purpose The present study set out to examine the immediate impact of recurrent floods on mental health and functioning among an affected population in the rural district of Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, India. Methods A cohort survey was carried out in in which a group that has been repeatedly struck by floods (n=318) was compared with a control group in the same region (n=304). Mental health was assessed by the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25), and functioning was assessed by the Short Form-12 (SF-12). Results The affected group showed large to very large differences with the control group on anxiety, depression and total distress. Further, the affected group scored lower on most domains of psychological and physical functioning than the control group, but especially on emotional well-being. There was no relationship between indicators of mental health and functioning in the affected group, whereas this relation was present in the control group. Women scored only higher on anxiety and total distress in the affected group. Conclusions The findings clearly show a substantial negative impact of the recurrent floods on mental health outcomes and psychological functioning. Although, we caution against early pathologization of mental health problems in the affected region, the results advocate a need to address mental health problems and impaired functioning by means of primary and secondary interventions, which have been absent in the region thus far.
Can Business Groups Survive with Institutional Development? Theory and Evidence*

In this paper, we attempt to understand how business groups can sustain their dominance with improvements in institutional environment, especially with increased product market competition. This question comes at a time when there is growing awareness that business groups dominate product markets even in developed markets (Boutin, 2013). Such evidence calls for revisiting the Institutional Voids theory (Khanna and Palepu, 2000) that attributes business group dominance to lack of institutional development. We develop a simple model to show that business group model is efficient when they diversify into unrelated product markets and this holds even with increase in product market competition. Such strategy also improves consumer welfare. We test these propositions on Indian market that is not only undergoing significant institutional development but also underwent a major change to improve product market competition. Using Indian data of around 38,000 firm year observations spanning 23 years (1990-2012), we find that business group affiliated firms sustain their value dominance against standalone firms for over 23 years of market development. However, business groups that diversify into related areas in the post-competition regime lose market value. Also, on average, business groups in India expand more aggressively in unrelated areas and their deep pockets adds value only when competition is high. Taken together, our results indicate that business group structure is sustainable and dominant even with institutional development. This explains why they dominate in some developed markets. JEL Classification: G38, L25.
Statistical foundations of ecological rationality

Abstract If we reassess the rationality question under the assumption that the uncertainty of the natural world is largely unquantifiable, where do we end up? In this article the author argues that we arrive at a statistical, normative, and cognitive theory of ecological rationality. The main casualty of this rebuilding process is optimality. Once we view optimality as a formal implication of quantified uncertainty rather than an ecologically meaningful objective, the rationality question shifts from being axiomatic/probabilistic in nature to being algorithmic/predictive in nature. These distinct views on rationality mirror fundamental and longstanding divisions in statistics
An Investigation on the Accuracy of Pushover Analysis for Estimating the Seismic Perfarmance of Steel Plate Shear Walls Subjected to the “TOHOKU Eearthquake”

AISC-341 provides requirements for designing of SPSWs by means of a capacity-design method in which boundary elements are designed for forces corresponding to the fully yield strength of the web plate. This paper investigates the potentialities of the pushover analysis to estimate the seismic deformation demands of steel plate shear wall (SPSW). Reliability of the pushover analysis has been verified by conducting nonlinear dynamic analysis on 9,6 & 3 story frames subjected to “STRONG MOTION RECORDS FROM THE 2011 OFF THE PACIFIC COAST OF TOHOKU EARTHQUAKE”. The analysis utilizes a finite element method involving both material and geometric nonlinearities. It is shown that pushover analysis with predetermined lateral load pattern provides questionable estimates of interstory drift, lateral displacement and base shear.
Cold and Mortality in a Cross-Sectional and Lifecycle Perspective: Evidence from Competing Models

This paper models the relationship between cold and mortality using two competing modeling techniques and two unique datasets from Sweden. The first dataset is the Swedish mortality statistic at the county-month level by cause of death. Linear fixed effects models simulate the dominant modeling approach in the economics literature and serve as a benchmark. The second dataset comprises entire life spells of 30,150 Swedes who were born between 1930 and 1935. Along with daily temperatures over 84 years from 1930 to 2013, we then model the impact of exposure to extreme temperatures on cause-specific mortality over humans’ lifecycle through competing risk models. In contrast to linear models, these models consider that temperatures can affect health through more than just one disease channel. Thus, the models allow time-varying temperature indicators to have competing effects on death due to heart diseases, respiratory diseases, and cancer. Although competing risk models have rarely been applied to this context, we show that they are a complementary modeling approach to study extreme temperatures and human health. Both modeling approaches find that extreme cold significantly increases the risk of dying from heart attacks. We compare both approaches and discuss possible biological mechanisms.
Submitted to the Annals of Applied Probability RANDOM WALK ON RANDOM WALKS : LOW DENSITIES By

Abstract: We consider a random walker in a dynamic random environment given by a system of independent discrete-time simple symmetric random walks. We obtain ballisticity results under two types of perturbations: low particle density, and strong local drift on particles. Surprisingly, the random walker may behave very differently depending on whether the underlying environment particles perform lazy or non-lazy random walks, which is related to a notion of permeability of the system. We also provide a strong law of large numbers, a functional central limit theorem and large deviation bounds under an ellipticity condition.
Design of Low-Pass Digital Differentiators Based on B-splines

This paper describes a new method for designing low-pass differentiators that could be widely suitable for low-frequency signals with different sampling rates. The method is based on the differential property of convolution and the derivatives of B-spline bias functions. The first order differentiator is just constructed by the first derivative of the B-spline of degree 5 or 4. A high (>2) order low-pass differentiator is constructed by cascading two low order differentiators, of which the coefficients are obtained from the nth derivative of a B-spline of degree n+2 expanded by factor a. In this paper, the properties of the proposed differentiators were presented. In addition, we gave the examples of designing the first to sixth order differentiators, and several simulations, including the effects of the factor a on the results and the anti-noise capability of the proposed differentiators. These properties analysis and simulations indicate that the proposed differentiator can be applied to a wide range of low-frequency signals, and the trade-off between noisereduction and signal preservation can be made by selecting the maximum allowable value of a.
Leisure Complementarities in Retirement

I estimate the value of joint retirement of elderly Danish households using a collective structural life cycle model of consumption and retirement. The model encompass non-separability between consumption and leisure and income uncertainty, correlated across spouses. I nd positive valuation of joint retirement of both males and females and point estimates indicate that males tend to value joint retirement more than their female counterpart. To illustrate the importance of the value of joint retirement, I compare policy responses from changes in nancial incentives from the collective model with nested unitary models. Labor market responses predicted by the two groups of models diverge and the unitarian models seem to overestimate policy responses.
ON THE INNER RADIUS OF UNIVALENCE FOR AN ANNULUS SHINRYO NONIN AND TOSHIYUKI SUGAWA

For the annulus fz 2 C ; 1 < jzj < emg; 0 < m 1; we give estimates of the inner radius of univalence with respect to Schwarzian derivatives. The estimates have sharp order when m tends to 0 or +1: 1. Main result Let D be a domain in the Riemann sphere b C with at least three boundary points. Then D inherits the hyperbolic metric D(z)jdzj of constant negative curvature 4 from its universal covering space D = fjzj < 1g with the metric D ( ) = 1=(1 j j ): The Bers space B2(D) is de ned as the complex Banach space of holomorphic functions on D with the hyperbolic norm k'kD = sup z2D j'(z)j D(z) : For a non-constant meromorphic function f on D; if kSfkD < +1; then f must be locally univalent. The remarkable result due to Beardon and Gehring [1] states that kSfkD 12 holds for an arbitrary univalent meromorphic function f on D: Here, the number 12 is sharp even when D is simply connected. Note that this result extends the Kraus-Nehari theorem stating that kSfkD 6 for a univalent function on the unit disk D : Consider the quantity (D) = inffkSfkD; f is non-univalent meromorphic in Dg; which is called the inner radius of univalence of D: In other words, (D) is the possible largest number 0 with the property that the condition kSfkD implies the univalence of a meromorphic function f on D: For a simply connected domain D; it is well known that (D) > 0 if and only if D is a quasidisk. Note that the quantity (D) can be regarded as the distance from the point Sf to the boundary in the universal Teichm uller space. Also, explicit values of the inner radii of univalence are known for several domains such as (round) disks, sectors, Euclidean triangles and regular polygons. Note also that the inner radius of univalence is a Mobius invariant, namely, (L(D)) = (D) for any Mobius transformation L: For these facts and more information, see [5]. On the other hand, only few things are known for multiply connected domains. Amongst them, the following result is probably most important. Theorem A (Osgood [6]). For a nitely connected domain D; the inner radius of univalence of D is positive if and only if each boundary component of D is either a quasicircle or a singleton. Date: December 5, 2001. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classi cation. Primary 30C62; Secondary 30C55, 30F60.
Epidemiology of Thyroid Cancer in Oman

Thyroid cancer is the most common form of primary endocrine cancer: it occurs to patients worldwide and shows geographic variations in its respect to incidence rates, pathological types, affected age group, sex, race, etc. Reports from the United States and many other parts of the world shows a relentless increase in the number of incidents, particularly of differentiated thyroid cancers with a stable mortality rate.
Private stochastic convex optimization: optimal rates in linear time

We study differentially private (DP) algorithms for stochastic convex optimization: the problem of minimizing the population loss given i.i. d. samples from a distribution over convex loss functions. A recent work of Bassily et al. (2019) has established the optimal bound on the excess population loss achievable given n samples. Unfortunately, their algorithm achieving this bound is relatively inefficient: it requires O(min{n 3/2, n 5/2/d}) gradient computations, where d is the dimension of the optimization problem. We describe two new techniques for deriving DP convex optimization algorithms both achieving the optimal bound on excess loss and using O(min{n, n 2/d}) gradient computations. In particular, the algorithms match the running time of the optimal non-private algorithms. The first approach relies on the use of variable batch sizes and is analyzed using the privacy amplification by iteration technique of Feldman et al. (2018). The second approach is based on a general reduction to the problem of localizing an approximately optimal solution with differential privacy. Such localization, in turn, can be achieved using existing (non-private) uniformly stable optimization algorithms. As in the earlier work, our algorithms require a mild smoothness assumption. We also give a linear-time optimal algorithm for the strongly convex case, as well as a faster algorithm for the non-smooth case.
Cerrado remnant in northeastern brazil

—Breeding anurans are commonly used for assessing biodiversity and identifying priority areas for conservation. Here we describe the diversity, composition, calling phenology, and habitat use of anuran species in a poorly known area of the Cerrado biome in the south-central portion of the state of Maranhão in northeastern Brazil, and examine the influence of environmental and climatic factors on activity patterns of the species observed. Between December 2013 and February 2015, we surveyed seven sites every two months using active visual search and auditory census. We recorded 31 anuran species from five families and 11 genera: Leptodactylidae (14 species), Hylidae (12), Bufonidae (three), Microhylidae (one), and Phyllomedusidae (one). In general, environments with greater heterogeneity had greater species diversity. We found high replacement of species (β diversity) among the different water bodies sampled. Similarity analysis revealed that species differed in use of calling sites and identified six groups of species with various degrees of overlap. Abundance was correlated with minimum temperature in the week prior to data collection, whereas species richness was not correlated with any climatic variable analyzed. We observed a marked decrease in species richness, abundance, and vocalization, however, during the dry season (June and August). Our study provides important data on the occurrence and activity patterns of anurans in the northern portion of the Cerrado, especially in the state of Maranhão. This region has high biodiversity and is currently threatened by the advance of agriculture. Thus, our data will be useful in formulating management plans and supporting future conservation strategies in the region.
FLOW BEHIND A TWO-DIMENSIONAL BLUNT-TRAILING-EDGED BODY; PART I: OVERALL ANALYSIS

Some initial results of a numerical investigation of the flow about a two-dimensional blunt-trailing-edged body are presented. The ultimate objective of this research is to undertake a systematic study of the geometry in question, considering attached and detached splitter plates aligned with the undisturbed flow, detached splitter plates normal t o the direction of the undisturbed flow, base bleed, among othe r influences. We shall try to investigate and compare many aspects that are, in a way, scattered in the literature. A DNS (Direct Numerical Simulation) code, a modern computing tool that incorporates most of the state-of-the-art strate gies, is applied in the calculations. A series of experiment s were performed in order to assess the many interesting fluid-mech ani al phenomena that happen to be present in this kind of physical situation. The Reynolds number, , based on the body base height, ranges from subcritical valu es up to about , but most of the data here presented corresponds to a value of . A large assortment of parameter distributions is obtained and compared with classical experiments. The ai m of this paper is to present an overall analysis of the data, and, therefore, mean values of parameters are used. The focu s in this article is on the formation region, and distributio ns of pressure and velocity fluctuation will be used in its analy sis and definition.
EFL Student’s Writing Skills: Challenges and Remedies

Among the four English skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), writing is commonly known as the most difficult but the least liked skill although it plays a crucial role in language production. At the University of Economics and Business Administration – Thai Nguyen University (TUEBA), Writing is one of the compulsory subjects in the English curriculum for the high-quality training program to promote students' English commands for their academic training and future career development. Actually, there are numerous factors influencing EFL student's learning processes that shape the learning results. The purposes of this study are to look into the challenges the students encounter when learning to write English, and identify factors hindering their writing skills. Especially, this research focuses on obtaining flexible and proper recommendations for improving student’s writing skills. The research was carried out through survey questionnaires with TUEBA's freshmen of the high-quality training program and the error analysis of their writing samples. The findings showed the major problems in student's writing are the lack of vocabulary, the limited knowledge of grammar and the insufficiency of writing skills. These challenges are affected by various factors as the materials, the teaching methods and the students themselves. The study suggests remedial measures such as raising student's awareness and motivation, developing writing materials, improving the English curriculum and boosting teaching methods with the application of technology in managing student's work and giving correction and feedback.
Conjugated linoleic acids ( CLA ) , trans fatty acids , and lipid content in milk from Holstein cows fed a high-or low-fiber diet with two levels of linseed oil

A light-weight equine artificial vagina (AV) incorporating reusable gel packs (Consolidated Products and Services, Inc. Braintree, MA) as the heat source was constructed and tested for use in teaching breeding laboratories. A Missouri model AV was fitted with a specially constructed leather outer case which housed reusable gel packs. Gel packs were microwaved in order to achieve an internal AV temperature of at least 44◦ C. The internal size diameter was adjusted using air. Five trials were conducted to compare the length of time that the internal AV temperature remained in breeding range (44 to 52◦ C) for the gel-pack AV vs. a Missouri model AV. Both AV models were set up with approximately the same internal diameter and placed outside together in ambient temperatures which ranged from -2 to 8◦ C. The experiment started when the internal AV temperature reached between 44 and 46◦ C. A thermometer (Animal Reproduction Systems, Chino, CA) was placed 30 cm inside each AV and the time that each AV remained in the breeding range was recorded. Data was analyzed using student t-test GLM, SAS. The gelpack AV held its internal temperature longer (p < .01) than the Missouri model AV with means of 39.8 ± 7.2 and 18.4 ± 2.7 minutes respectively. Additionally the gel-pack AV weighed 2.8 kg when adjusted for breeding while the Missouri model weighed 4.4 kg. , an increase of 57%. Although breeding trials were not conducted, the gel-pack AV was used several times during semen collection with no observable problems. This modified AV offers an alternative to the traditional AV models. Its lighter weight and increased heat retention may be beneficial for students learning collection techniques or on farms where personnel is limited and the AV must be set up in advance.
Experiences of Cooperating Teachers on Teaching Practice Supervision in Eswatini, Swaziland

Cooperating teachers (CTs) are key participants in ensuring a valuable experience for the student teacher (ST) during teaching practice. Surprisingly, their voices largely remain absent in the extant literature. Thus, the purpose of the study was to investigate the experiences of CTs during teaching practice supervision in Eswatini. A descriptive research design using a census of 46 CTs for student teachers (STs) who did teaching practice in the 2015/16 academic year of the University of Eswatini in the Department of Agricultural Education was used. A self-administered questionnaire was used for collecting data. A five-point numerical scale and six-point Likert-type rating scale were used to measure the variables. Three lecturers from the Department of Agricultural Education and Extension and two agriculture teachers established content and face validity for the questionnaire. Inter-item reliability from a pilot study was . 78. Findings of the study revealed that CTs were supported by the University through the supervisors and Teaching Practice Handbook. The CTs noted that establishing rapport with the STs was essential and head teachers needed to visit the STs in the respective classes they teach. STs were good in developing, organizing and using instructional materials but had challenges in disciplining learners. The study recommended that CTs should be provided with trainings and incentives so that they can effectively discharge their duties during teaching practice. Keywords: cooperating teachers; in-service teachers; student teachers; teaching practice; teaching practicum