Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Network Structure of an AIDS-Denialists Online Community: Identifying Core Members and the Risk Group

Background: With the rapid growth of online social network sites (SNS), the issue of health-related online communities and its social and behavioral implications have become increasingly important for public health and healthcare. Unfortunately, online communities often become vehicles for promotion of pernicious misinformation, for example, alleged harm of vaccination or that HIV-virus is a myth (AIDS-denialism). This study seeks to explore the social structure and participants' behavior of the AIDS-denialists online community to identify and estimate the those who potentially are most susceptible to AIDS-denialists arguments - “the risk group” in terms of becoming AIDS-denialists. Methods: Social network analysis was used for examining the most numerous AIDS-denialist community in the most popular Russian SNA “VKontakte”, which numbered 13 000–15 000 members during the various stage of analysis. Qualitative content analysis was also used for collecting relevant for this study members’ attributes, such as HIV status and the extent of belief in AIDS-denialists arguments. Two datasets were collected to analyze friendship relations between community members and their communication relations. Results: Using social network analysis combined with content-analysis we have identified the core of online community - cohesive and dedicated AIDS-denialists, and the risk group, which is not equal in composition to all peripheral members appeared in the online group. The risk group is the circle of users who engage with core members through online communication and may be more susceptible the AIDS-denialist propaganda. Analysis allowed to significantly reduce the target audience for possible intervention campaign and simultaneously increase the accuracy of user selection into the risk group (1369 users from the risk group is more than 10 times less than whole online group population counting over 15 000 users). Thus, online information interventions should be aimed at this risk group audience in the first place to prevent their adoption of AIDS-denialism beliefs, further spread of AIDS-denialism, and pernicious health consequences associated with being an HIV-positive AIDS-denialist. Conclusion: More research on influence of AIDS-denialism on HIV-positive online group members is needed. Of particular interest are longitudinal or case control studies that could detect the size of effect of AIDS-denialist propaganda that is communicated from hard-core denialists to the risk group, different factors associated with higher or lower susceptibility to AIDS-denialist views, and real health behavior change that occurs with becoming an AIDS-denialist.
School quality and labor market earnings: some new results on an old debate

ABSTRACT This study addresses an open debate in the literature about the direct effects of measures of school quality on workers’ earnings in the labor market. Card and Kureges (1996) argue that the young sample that Betts (1995) uses understates the effects of the measures of school quality on earnings. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of the measures of school quality on earnings at older age, using a recent version of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The replication of Betts’ analysis show that the measures of school quality did not affect earnings when workers were young. However, the estimation shows that the percentage of teachers with a graduate degree significantly affects workers’ prime-age earnings. The findings support Card and Krueger’s claim that the measures of school quality affected workers’ earnings at older age. More importantly, the results reconcile different findings from two strands of studies in the literature using state-level and individual-level data.
The Institutional Determinants of Private Equity Involvement in Business Groups – The Case of Africa

This study examines the governance attributes of post-IPO (initial public offering) retained ownership of private equity in business group constituent firms in contrast to their unaffiliated counterparts, in 202 newly listed firms in 22 emerging African economies. We adopt an actor centered institutional-theoretic perspective in rationalizing institutional voids and the advantages of maintained governance by both business angels (BA) and venture capital (VC) private equity. Our findings reveal private equity retain higher post-IPO ownership in business group constituents compared to unaffiliated firms and that this is inversely moderated in the context of improving institutional quality. Our result adds to the literature on multifocal corporate governance mechanisms.
Managerial Influence in Performance Measurement System Design: A Recipe for Success?

Allowing business unit (BU) managers to influence the design of their performance measurement system (PMS) is generally thought to be beneficial. It increases user satisfaction, improves system quality, and ensures consideration of managers’ functional expertise. However, we argue that giving managers this influence is not always a good strategy. We examine whether and when granting BU managers influence in the design of their PMS either exacerbates or partially mitigates PMS failure (i.e., the BU managers’ perception that it does not contain adequate information to enable decision making and control within the BU). In certain circumstances BU managers may not possess either the breadth or depth of functional expertise needed to design a successful PMS. Their level of influence may be incongruent with their level of expertise. Using survey data from 313 BU managers, we find that that the effects of incomplete translation of goals and the information advantage of the manager (relative to superior) on PMS failure are partially mitigated when BU managers have more influence in the design of the existing PMS. Hence, increasing BU managers’ influence under these circumstances is a ‘good’ strategy. We also find that interdependencies and the information advantage of the employees (relative to the BU manager) are not significantly associated with PMS failure unless BU managers are involved in the design of the existing PMS. Under these circumstances increasing managers’ influence is a ‘bad’ strategy.
Institutional Distance and Subsidiary Debt: The Spillover Effect of Home Country Institutional Quality

This study examines the spillover effects of home country institutional and cultural characteristics on the subsidiaries operating in France while they are in the process of making capital structure choices and debt maturity choices. We document that while subsidiaries financing choices are partially explained by standard determinants, at the same time, these choices are impacted by cultural distance factors such as economic, financial, and political distance. Namely, cultural distance is one of the essential determinants of the long-term debt proportion in the total amount of debt used for the financing of foreign subsidiaries in France.
DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS OF INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIABLE WEST INDIAN MANATEES (TRICHECHUS MANATUS) IN FLORIDA

Photographs of distinctively scarred manatees (Trichechus manatus) were taken at aggregation sites throughout Florida and assembled into a catalog for identifying individuals. Resightings of known manatees in different years or at different locations enabled us to document site fidelity and long-distance movements. Of the 891 individuals included in the catalog as of August 1986, 470 (53%) were resighted at least once. We documented 219 cases of seasonal returns to specific aggregation sites and 98 instances of movements between areas. Movements in excess of 820 km were documented for individuals on the east coast of Florida. Rapid movements south during early winter, as well as northerly spring movements, verify a seasonal migration pattern for many individuals along Florida's east coast. The wide-ranging migratory habits of manatees in Florida must be considered if meaningful management strategies are to be developed and implemented.
Crude Oil Price Dynamics with Crash Risk Under Fundamental Shocks

Abstract Our paper presents a crude oil price model in which the price is confined in a wide moving band. A price crash occurs when the price breaches the lower boundary where a smooth-pasting condition is imposed. Using an asymmetric mean-reverting fundamental (supply/demand) shock, the solution derived from the oil price equation for the model shows the oil price follows a mean-reverting square-root process, which is quasi-bounded at the boundary. The oil price dynamics generates left-skewed price distributions consistent with empirical observations. A weakened mean-reverting force for the price increases the probability leakage for the price across the boundary and the risk of a price crash. The empirical results show the oil price dynamics can be calibrated according to the model, where the mean reversion of the price dynamics is positively co-integrated with the oil production reaction to negative demand shocks, and with the risk reversals of the commodity currencies, the Canadian dollar and the Australian dollar in currency option markets. The results are consistent with an increased price crash risk with negative demand shocks and negative risk reversals. The forecasting performance of the oil price model is better than the futures-spread models and random walk models during the crash periods. While the price of oil was above the lower boundary for most of the time, the conditions for breaching the boundary were met in 2008 and 2014 when the price fell sharply.
PLANKTONIC DIATOMS FROM THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA AND COASTS OFF BAJA CALIFORNIA: THE GENERA RHIZOSOLENIA, PROBOSCIA, PSEUDOSOLENIA, AND FORMER RHIZOSOLENIA SPECIES

Net plankton samples from the Gulf of California and coasts off Baja California were analyzed for species of Rhizosolenia, Proboscia and Pseudosolenia, as well as other species of “Rhizosolenia” which do not belong to the genus. Twenty taxa were found: 18 species, one variety and one form. These are briefly described and illustrated by light and electron (both scanning and transmission) microscopy. A new taxonomie combination, Proboscia indica (H. Peragallo) Hernandez-Becerril, is proposed. New morphological observations include a large pore open to the outside at the tip of the proboscis and the absence of spinulae. Details of a structure analogous to the contiguous area of typical Rhizosolenia species are given for “Rhizosolenia” pungens; this structure develops as part of the valvocopula rather than the valve. Four new records for the Gulf of California are reported: Rhizosolenia clevei var. communis, Rhizosolenia debyana, “Rhizosolenia” crassispina, and “Rhizosolenia” pungens. The most widely distribu.
Floristic composition of crustose coralline algae from the St. Peter and St. Paul Archipelago, a summit of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Crustose Coralline Algae (CCA) are important constituents of tropical coral reef environments throughout the world’s oceans, acting as structural reinforcement and recruitment cues. Despite their importance and their ubiquity, very little is known of the biodiversity of CCA in remote areas of the world’s oceans. On the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago (SPSPA), located in the central equatorial Atlantic Ocean, CCA occur abundantly in intertidal rock pools and the surrounding subtidal zones. This study represents the first attempt at detailing the CCA species composition for the archipelago along a depth interval between 0 to 70 m. Seven taxa of CCA were identified: Corallinaceae sp. , Hydrolithon rupestre, Hydrolithon sp. , Lithophyllum johansenii, Lithothamnion muelleri, Mesophyllum engelhartii, and Titanoderma pustulatum pustulatum . A decrease in CCA species richness and change in species composition was seen from shallow to deeper zones that can be explained by a significant reduction in temperature and photon irradiance observed bellow 30 m depth.
Experience and Perception of Social Mobility – A Cross-Country Test of the Self-Serving Bias

Perceptions of social mobility in society are one of the most important determinants of individuals' preferences for redistribution and tolerance for economic inequalities. What shapes these perceptions is however so far little understood. In this paper, I propose and empirically test a behavioural model of social mobility perceptions based on the self-serving bias, using the ISSP Social Inequality Cumulative. The self-serving bias states that people blame external circumstances for their failures and take excessive credit for their successes. The results of my analysis indicate, in line with the expectations of the self-serving bias, that personal experiences with social mobility only influence people's perceptions of societal mobility if the experiences were negative or stagnating. Conversely, those who experienced positive mobility overestimate their personal contribution and, therefore, do not extrapolate from their experience onto perceptions of society at large. Instead, their perceptions are primarily related to their political orientation, with those towards the right of the political spectrum being more optimistic about social mobility and those towards the left being more pessimistic.
Revision of the genus Leptopilina Förster, 1869, with notes on the status of some other genera (Hymenoptera, Cynipoidea: Eucoitidae)

The genus Leptopilina Forster is revised on a world basis. The identity of 31 nominal species, including type species of four other genera, is discussed and 15 lectotypes are designated. Valid species of Leptopilina are L. longipes (Hartig) [type species], L. clavipes (Hartig) n. comb. , L. heterotoma (Thomson) n. comb. , L. fimbriata (Kieffer) n. comb. , L. rufipes (Cameron) n. comb. , L. atraticeps (Kieffer) n. comb. , L. mahensis (Kieffer) n. comb. , L. boulardi (Barbotin et al.) n. comb. , and L. cupulifera (Kieffer) n. comb. Leptopilina heterotoma is the valid name for the well-known Drosophila parasitoid currently referred to as Pseudeucoila bochei (Weld). Leptopilina is not synonymous with Ganaspis Forster. Tryhliographa Forster is a senior synonym of Episoclu Forster n. syn. and of Pseudeucoila Ashmead (synonymy confirmed). Leptopilina is described and compared with related genera (Cothonaspis, Rhoptromeris, Odonteucoila) . L. victoriae n. sp. is described from the Seychelles. The five Leptopilina occurring in Europe are redescribed on modern material and a key is given to them.
Response of Antioxidative Enzymes in Cucumber Chloroplasts to Cadmium Toxicity

Abstract Solution culture experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of cadmium (Cd) toxicity on growth of cucumber seedlings, chlorophyll content, and net photosynthetic rate in leaves, activities of antioxidant enzymes, and contents of glutathione (GSH) and ascorbic acid (ASA) in purified intact chloroplasts. Results showed that lengths of main root and hypocotyl, weights of shoot and root, the root/shoot ratio, chlorophyll content, and net photosynthetic rate decreased significantly with increasing Cd level from 0 to 100 µmol L−1 in nutrient solution. Levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), H2O2, and O2 ·− in chloroplasts increased with increasing Cd concentration in solution. In the antioxidant defense system of chloroplasts, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and glutathione reductase (GR), and the contents of GSH and ASA decreased with increasing Cd concentration in the nutrient solution. The results suggest that Cd interferes with the growth of cucumber seedlings by destroying chloroplast membrane integrity and decreasing chlorophyll content and net photosynthetic rate in leaves.
Information Design to Facilitate Social Interactions on Service Platforms: Evidence from a Large Field Experiment

As digitization enables service platforms to track users’ footprints and control information design, important questions arise about how digital service platforms should disseminate customer-related information to service providers to shape user behavior in the desired direction. We contribute to this understanding by examining the impact of a novel information design — providing customer-related information to facilitate interaction between service providers and customers at the beginning of a service encounter — on service capacity and quality. We evaluate this strategy via a field experiment on a live streaming platform that connects individual broadcasters and viewers. When viewers entered shows, we provided information about viewers to broadcasters that were randomly assigned to the treatment condition (but not to control broadcasters). Our analysis involving 49,999 broadcasters confirms that our intervention increased the interaction between broadcasters and viewers by 8.66% during the first minute after viewers entered a show. Furthermore, treatment broadcasters expanded their service capacity by 8.74% via increasing both the frequency (by 3.96%) and length (by 7.52%) of shows. This is not because treatment broadcasters could or believed they could earn more per minute of service but rather because they felt more connected with viewers and enjoyed performing more. Moreover, our intervention increased experienced service quality (as measured by viewers’ watch time) by 5.85%, without affecting willingness to pay. The increase is not simply driven by treatment broadcasters’ expanded service capacity. Instead, viewers were more likely to ``follow" treatment broadcasters and watch their future shows, suggesting that our intervention made viewers feel more connected with broadcasters. Our low-cost information-based intervention has important implications for digital service platforms that do not have control over service providers’ work schedules and service quality.
Monetary Policy Autonomy: Identification and Cross-Country Evidence

This paper revisits the definition of monetary policy autonomy and develops a new method to identify autonomy regimes for a set of countries. Compared to the traditional identification approach, which only focuses on correlations among domestic and foreign interest rates, monetary policy autonomy in this paper is jointly determined by how the domestic interest rate responds to domestic inflation and real GDP in addition to its sensitivity to foreign interest rates. Furthermore, such an identification approach does not rely on the exchange rate regime or capital control indices. Using a Markov Switching model for the monetary policy function, I estimate policy responses in two regimes, and obtain measures of monetary policy autonomy in the process. Applying the method to the data from a set of advanced countries, I find monetary policy autonomy decreases when the exchange rate is fixed or capital controls are loosened. These results are consistent with the open economy trilemma.
Empirical Analysis of the Hold-Up Problem in Debt Financing: Evidence from Japanese Listed Firms

We provide causal empirical evidence that, even among publicly traded firms that seemingly suffer less severe information asymmetries, some firms experience hold-up problems in debt financing. Based on the prediction in Rajan (1992), we examine how changes in the ratio of short-term bank loans affect firm leverage and investment behavior. We confirm that, while bank-dependent firms face reduced leverage and investment as the ratio of short-term loans increases, firms with access to the public debt market can mitigate or offset these adverse effects. This finding, consistent with Rajan (1992), suggests that, as many Japanese firms lack access to the public market because of the absence of public debt issuance under the BBB rating, even publicly traded firms, no matter how large or well known, face potential hold-up problems in their relationships with banks. This paper's results help explain why firms without access to public debt consistently have lower leverage than do firms with such access and provide possible reasons for the phenomenon documented in the previous studies.
How Do Taxes Affect the Trading Behavior of Private Investors? Evidence From Individual Portfolio Data

How do taxes affect the investment behavior of private stock-market investors? We exploit a large reform of capital-gains taxation in Germany combined with confidential portfolio-level daily panel data to study the causal effect of capital-gains taxes on individual stock-trading behavior and the disposition effect. We find substantial spikes in selling probabilities around an intertemporal tax discontinuity, and no such spikes after the abolishment of the discontinuity. Using difference-in-bunching methods and non-parametric regressions, we quantify the tax effect and identify interesting patterns of heterogeneity. Asset holding periods exhibit a tax elasticity of 0.368 for gains and -0.435 for losses. Because the theoretical tax effect on trading behavior runs in opposite direction to the well-established disposition effect, we further study the interaction between taxes and the disposition effect. We find evidence that the disposition effect is strongly affected by the tax discontinuity through tax motivated selling of both gains and losses. <br>
Corporate Tax Avoidance and the Real Effects of Taxation: A Review

The tax literature of the past two decades has been dominated by empirical studies on corporate tax avoidance. What this literature lacks, however, are a quantitative synthesis of these studies and an in-depth discussion of potential convergences and divergences in empirical findings. To thoroughly evaluate empirical results, we provide a comprehensive theoretical framework that allows us to not only organize the vast tax avoidance literature, but also identify under-explored yet fruitful research areas. Specifically, we derive theoretical predictions on how various determinants affect the tax avoidance decision of a profit-maximizing firm. We further theoretically assess the consequences and real effects of tax avoidance. In a subsequent step, we link our theoretical predictions to a quantitative synthesis of all empirical tax avoidance studies published in the top accounting, finance, and economics journals over the last two decades. Combining theoretical predictions with a quantitative synthesis allows us to identify potential empirical inconsistencies and areas for future tax research.
Generalized Morality, Institutions and Economic Growth, and the Intermediating Role of Generalized Trust

Generalized morality reflects ethical norms in society about the inappropriateness of behaviors that can cause harm to others. Generalized morality may be an important factor affecting the economic performance of countries. An indicator of generalized morality is constructed from data from the World Values Survey. One question examined is whether generalized morality is correlated with economic growth rates in per capita GDP across a sample of countries, controlling for institutions and other factors expected to affect economic performance. A second question examined is whether the path by which generalized morality affects growth is direct or indirect through generalized trust. The findings reveal that generalized morality is moderately correlated with economic growth, but its effect appears to be manifested through generalized trust when economic institutions are weak.