Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
American leadership of the Atlantic alliance post-Kosovo

Abstract Although American leadership of NATO had been a constant over the entire postwar period, after the Soviet threat evaporated in the 1990s Americans began a process of reassessing the necessity and desirability of this leadership as well as the American return on its investment in NATO. Europeans, in turn, enjoyed a policy emancipation allowing them to follow the U.S. lead, resist (or reject) it when American policies violated European interests or, as a precautionary measure in the event of American abandonment, acquire strategic autonomy within the European Union. The persistence and credibility of American leadership of NATO after Kosovo, as well as episodic European challenges within and outside NATO, cannot be understood without reference to the structural and institutional factors preventing the American abdication of its leadership role within NATO or the European ability to reject it unconditionally. I find that material conditions for American leadership remain unimpaired, but the credibility of American leadership as it pertains to the confidence the allies have in U.S. willingness to fulfill its Article 5 commitment has suffered potentially irreversible damage. Yet it is institutional factors, particularly the institutional stickiness bonding the American foreign policy elite to a NATO-centric security system and the positive externalities attending institutional negentropy, that have played an outsized role in maintaining NATO’s cohesion and legitimacy. They have also raised the cost of substituting European strategic autonomy for American leadership or the abandonment of it. The Europeans have sought a precautionary defense autonomy to cope with non–Article 5 threats of peripheral interest to the United States but they have remained willing to follow the American lead on matters touching collective defense and deterrence in Europe. Future American grand strategy, currently undergoing vigorous debate inside and outside government, will have a fundamental impact on NATO’s centrality to U.S. foreign policy calculations as well as the desirability or necessity of U.S. leadership, independent of a European desire for or acquisition of strategic autonomy. The choice of strategy poses the greatest threat to NATO’s long-term cohesion, American willingness to remain entangled in European affairs, and American leadership in Europe.
Political Effects of the Internet and Social Media

How do the Internet and social media affect political outcomes? We review empirical evidence from the recent political economy literature, focusing primarily on work that considers traits that distinguish the Internet and social media from traditional off-line media, such as low barriers to entry and reliance on user-generated content. We discuss the main results about the effects of the Internet in general, and social media in particular, on voting, street protests, attitudes toward government, political polarization, xenophobia, and politicians’ behavior. We also review evidence on the role of social media in the dissemination of fake news, and we summarize results about the strategies employed by autocratic regimes to censor the Internet and to use social media for surveillance and propaganda. We conclude by highlighting open questions about how the Internet and social media shape politics in democracies and autocracies.
A problem‐based approach to understanding public support for referendums

Abstract A prominent explanation of widespread popular support for referendums is dissatisfaction with the functioning of representative democracy. In this article, the aim is to gain a better understanding of how dissatisfaction affects support for referendums. Drawing on previous research, it is argued here that citizens follow a problem‐based approach in their support for referendums, in that referendums are considered a suitable solution to address some specific problems in a political system but not all. Survey data from the 2012 European Social Survey (29 countries; N = 37,070) is used to show that citizens’ expectations towards and evaluations of representatives relate to support for referendums. In particular, dissatisfaction with the ability of governments to listen to their citizens is associated with higher support for referendums. In contrast, citizens dissatisfied with the government's ability to lead are less supportive of referendums. Furthermore, the relationship between dissatisfaction with governments’ ability to listen varies across countries depending on the level of experience with decision making via referendum. In countries where referendums are used more often, the expectation of referendums being able to solve the problem of unresponsive government is weaker. This study offers important insights into the different ways in which preferences and evaluations of representative practices relate to popular support for referendums.
The Infrastructure–Growth Nexus in Nigeria: A Reassessment

This article re-examines the link between infrastructure development and output growth in Nigeria for policy formulation and implementation. The article employed the Granger causality test based on the time series vector error correction model (VECM) to reinvestigate the nexus between infrastructure investment and economic growth in Nigeria, using quarterly data from 1997:Q1 to 2017:Q4. This study, therefore, interrogates and accepts the infrastructure–growth hypothesis that increased financial infrastructure and infrastructure stock stimulates long-run real economy expansion in the Nigerian context. JEL Classification: H54, E23, C23
Technology transfer: economic factors that influence transferor and transferee’s choice*

ABSTRACT This research presents itself as one of the earliest studies to consider economic factors that influence decision making in an international technology transfer while considering the perspectives of the transferor and transferee individually. Unlike previous studies, this study takes a multi-variable analysis approach in considering these factors through the development of a common analytical framework that can be applied to similar studies. The methodology used herein is quantitative and involves a multiple regression analysis, which combines variables examined unilaterally in earlier studies. The results show that economic factors that influence a transferor’s choice of a transferee include inflation rate, currency exchange rate, and foreign direct investment while in the converse relationship, the results prove that in addition to inflation rate, currency exchange rate, and foreign direct investment, official development assistance was also relevant.
Evaluation of graduate dental students’ knowledge on the therapeutic approach of dental avulsion

Introduction and Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the knowledge level of students graduate in Dentistry of Sao Leopoldo Mandic/SP – Porto Alegre/RS on the therapeutic approach in cases of dental avulsion. Material and methods: For this, we applied a questionnaire to graduate students. Of the 214 students enrolled at the institution, 159 (74%) answered the questions. Results and Conclusion: Through analysis of the responses, it could be observed that, while 99.37% of participants have already received instructions about the subject, there was significant variability of opinions. With the application of Chi-square test, at a significance level of 5%, it could be observed that there was no significant difference in responses regarding to the time of graduation. As for the type of splinting, the professionals who graduated between 5 to 10 years were associated with the use of semi-rigid splint and those who graduate after more than 10 years with the rigid splint.
A Study of Employment Opportunities for Myanmar Graduates of Assumption University with Special Reference to Myanmar’s Labor Market

In the past, the vast majority of Assumption University’s (AU) Myanmar graduates have tried to achieve better employment and higher socio-economic positions in other countries. English proficiency is a strength for AU graduates to obtain proper jobs, not only in Myanmar but also in other countries. Significant political reforms and economic developments in Myanmar have emerged since 2010. As a result, more employment opportunities have induced more AU graduates to work in their home country. On the other hand, these graduates have encountered many challenges in Myanmar’s working environment. Nevertheless, some graduates have achieved high positions with attractive remuneration in multinational or local enterprises while some returnees are running their own businesses successfully.
Racism, precariousness and resistance : development-aid-funded PhD training in Sweden

There is a growing interest from states in the global north and NGOs worldwide in building research capacity in countries of the global south through development-aid-funded research training (United Nations, 2015). In this context, little is known on the social and intellectual positioning of development-aid-funded students in relation to other groups of students that are studying in the global north under other social and economic conditions. This article deals directly with this issue by focusing on how Tanzanian and Mozambican students and Swedish supervisors participating in Swedish development-aid-funded programmes for building research capacity through postgraduate training in low-income countries make representations of academic work relations, compared to other students and supervisors in Sweden. In particular, the article focuses on the complex, shifting and sometimes dual layers of precariousness and resistance that are (re)produced and the lessons that can be learned from the perspective of policy development. In total, 91 interviews were collected, with those with women representing 26 per cent of the sample. The result show that the positionalities made available to students are constructed at the complex intersection between predefined parameters such as contractual agreements and how supervisors and departmental colleagues in Sweden manage and negotiate power structures relating to ‘competition’, ‘production’ or ‘development’. For Tanzanian and Mozambican development-aid funded students, this means that their precariousness and resistance differs from Swedish students and other international students, particularly Asian students, and is constructed along a lack of recognition of their work as academic work. Their resistance is articulated through opposing the subject position of a passive object of capacity building. The lessons learned for policy is ‘Situated policy development’, ‘Policy development from below’ and ‘Policy development through institutional responsibility’.
Utility of Lipoprotein (a) as a Marker of Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Hypothyroid Patients

Aim: The aim of our study was to assess the utility of lipoprotein (a) as a reliable cardiovascular risk marker in hypothyroid patients. This involved estimation and comparison of lipoprotein (a) levels between hypothyroid patients and healthy adults. To correlate lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] with thyroid stimulating hormone was the other objective of this study. Case-control study. Methodology: Forty one individuals aged between 18 and 55 years, who newly diagnosed with hypothyroidism were our cases. Twenty nine age and sex matched healthy volunteers constituted the controls. Serum Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), Free Thyroxine (FT 4 ), Serum total cholesterol (TC), serum low density lipoprotein (LDL), serum high density lipoprotein (HDL), serum triglycerides (TGL) and serum Lipoprotein (a) were estimated by standard methods in cases and controls. The anthropometric data included measurement of weight and height of study subjects in order to calculate their body mass index (BMI). Results: The mean ± SD of the lipid parameters (TC, LDL, VLDL, HDL and TGL) in both the groups were almost same and were at the upper limit of the reference range. The mean ± SD levels of Lp(a) in cases was 39.4±26.5 mg/dl and 18.1±7.4 mg/dl in controls. There was no correlation between lipoprotein (a) and thyroid stimulating hormone in both cases and controls. Conclusion: Lipoprotein (a) levels are elevated in hypothyroidism and it can be considered as a reliable marker to detect cardiovascular disease risk in hypothyroid patients when estimated by a standard method.
Computed Tomography for Primary Headache

Objective: Headache is one of the most common physical complaints. Although headaches are generally benign, neuro-imaging studies are frequently performed to exclude serious underlying disease. In this study, we aimed to determine the frequency of abnormal computed tomography (CT) scans of the brain in the evaluation of patients with headache who present without neurological signs. Material and Methods: A retrospective study was performed in order to evaluate the frequency of abnormalities detected by CT in 191 patients presenting in the Neurology Outpatient Clinic between January 1998 and November 2003 with complaints of tension-type and chronic daily headache, migraine and migrainlike headache, as well as mixed-type headache. Results: CT scans was normal in 87.4% of the patients. Some abnormalities were encountered in about one out of eighth patients. Among the abnormalities, the most commonly seen were; lacunal (2.1%), inflammatory sinus disease, polypoid mass and retention cyst (1.6%), cortical atrophy (3.1%), cavum septum pellucidum (1%), calcification (1%), and others (3.6%). None of the patients had clinically significant lesions. Conclusion: We found no clinically significant abnormality in headache patients with normal neurological examinations.
Does Large-Scale Neighborhood Reinvestment Work? Effects of Public–Private Real Estate Investment on Local Sales Prices, Rental Prices, and Crime Rates

ABSTRACT During the 1990s, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded over $6 billion in competitive grants (HOPE VI) to spur neighborhood redevelopment. We add to HOPE VI research by examining the impacts of a large set of public–private real estate investments, including HOPE VI, made over a 16-year period in a distressed neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Hill District). We estimate the effects of $468 million additional public–private investments that Hill District received compared with a demographically similar neighborhood on sales prices, rental prices, and crime. We find large, statistically significant impacts of these investments on residential sales prices, commercial sales prices, and on rental prices, and a marginally significant yet meaningful decline in nonviolent arrests. For each $10 million of public–private investment, we find a 0.95%, 2.7%, and 0.55% increase in residential sales prices, commercial sales prices, and rental prices, respectively. Given the accumulated difference over 16 years of $468 million in these investments across the two neighborhoods, the percentage increases amount to large changes in prices over that time. Cities should anticipate the potential impacts of major neighborhood investment on low-income households, especially unsubsidized renters who most directly experience the brunt of rising rents.
MANAKAH INDIKATOR TERPENTING STABILITAS SISTEM KEUANGAN?: PERSPEKTIF MAKROPRUDENSIAL

In general there are two indicators of financial system stability, namely microprudential and macroprudential. Among macroprudential indicators are economic growth, balance of payments, inflation rate, interest and exchange rates, crisis contagion effect, and many others. Different from the previous researches concerning financial system stability measurement, this research will use the financial and banking practitioners’ perspective regarding the leading indicator in measuring financial system stability thus we can presumably determine the real leading financial stability indicator for the current situation using Analytic Network Process (ANP) method.The results show that based on the results of interviews with experts/banking practitioners, the 3 (three) most important aspects are the Debt aspect (0.225), Macro Indicator (0.222) and the Balance of Payment aspect (0.217). An important indicator of financial system stability from the next macroprudential aspect is related to Contagion Effect (0.178) and the last Aspect Labor (0.159). The Macroprudential Policy issued by Bank Indonesia as the central bank that has full authority, play an important role in maintaining Financial System Stability (SSK) in Indonesia.
Entanglement of Top-Down and Bottom-Up: Sociotechnical Innovation Pathways of Geothermal Energy in Switzerland

By looking at deep geothermal energy in Switzerland, this article illustrates how innovation pathways in federal countries take entangled forms between top-down and bottom-up. The Swiss federal government presents deep geothermal energy as an important technology to decarbonize electricity production. Setbacks in early projects have slowed these efforts. Despite strong policy incentives from the federal government, no electricity is being produced from geothermal projects in Switzerland in 2019. Based on four case studies, we analyze how some cantons and cities have taken different pathways: Rather than implementing federal objectives, they favor heat production instead of electricity generation. The relative success of these initiatives led federal authorities to modify their approach to promoting geothermal energy. This study shows that federal mechanisms and instruments alone are not enough to make energy infrastructures acceptable locally. To learn from bottom-up experiences and adapt federal policies to local reality, better coordination between the federal and subnational levels is needed.
Risky Short Positions and Investor Sentiment: Evidence from the Weekend Effect in Futures Markets

Theoretical predictions and empirical results are ambiguous about the effect of short sale constraints on security prices. Since these constraints cannot be eliminated in equity markets, we use trades from futures markets where there is no distinction between short and long positions. We find that even with frictionless short selling, there is an upward bias in prices around weekends. The bias is stronger in periods of high volatility when short sellers are unwilling to accept higher levels of risk. On the other hand, riskiness of long positions does not seem to have a similar impact on prices. Thus, evidence in the paper shows that security prices may be biased upwards even without constraints on short selling due to asymmetric risk of short and long and positions.
The Effects of Competitive Environment and Strategic Factors on US Firm Performance Before and After the Global Financial Crisis

Abstract We developed a model that examines the effects of competitive environment, investment decisions, and competitive position on firm performance before and after the 2008 global financial crisis. As a result, we identified that, in the period before the crisis, firm performance was determined by both the competitive environment and as also by firm’s competitive position. Regarding the period after the crisis, firm performance was determined by both the competitive environment and firm competitive position, in combination with the effects of investment decisions.
Does the Acquirement of Knowledge Prevent Diabetes- Related Foot Problems?

Introduction: Diabetes related foot problems are one of the complications leading to poor quality of life, hospitalization, disability, economic burden and mortality. Patients’ self-management of diabetes need support from health providers. Patient education and follow-up are important elements of communication for health providers. Methods and objectives: This case control study compares 199 diabetes patients with diabetes-related foot problems (cases) and those without (196 controls) to find out whether the acquired knowledge or the follow up visits to the Family Health Centers prevent foot problems. Results and conclusions: The results suggest that being on insulin therapy, forgetting to take medication and reduced attendance to the health care center are risks for foot problems. Although the level of knowledge acquired is satisfactory, there is a gap between knowledge level and attitude / practice. A relative high knowledge did not have impact on reduction of obesity or glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C). Some knowledge items such as risk related to diabetes complications need to be stressed on. The education of people with diabetes needs to address more knowledge gaps and to link to patients’ attitudes and practices.
The Nexus between Loan Portfolio Size and Volatility: Does Banking Regulation Matter?

Since the global financial crisis and the related restructuring of banking systems, bank concentration is on the rise in many countries. Consequently, bank size and its role for macroeconomic volatility (or: stability) is the subject of intense debate. This paper analyzes the effects of financial regulations on the link between bank size, as measured by the volume of the loan portfolio, and volatility. Using bank-level data for 1999 to 2014, we estimate a power law that relates bank size to the volatility of loan growth. The effect of regulation on the power law coefficient indicates whether regulation weakens or strengthens the size-volatility nexus. Our analysis reveals that more stringent capital regulation and the introduction of bank levies weaken the size-volatility nexus; in countries with more stringent capital regulation or levies in place, large banks show, ceteris paribus, lower loan portfolio volatility. Moreover, we find weak evidence that diversification guidelines weaken the link between size and volatility.
The attractiveness of local and national list labels: the role of socio-economic inequalities on the success of electoral lists

ABSTRACT According to the nationalisation hypothesis, it is sometimes argued that electoral lists competing at local elections under a national party label are more likely to win. Yet, in many countries, local lists are still much present. This article seeks to assess the attractiveness of local and national list labels at local elections. Following Rokkan’s hypothesis of the nationalisation of local politics, we test the role of socio-economic inequality on the success of electoral lists across local polities. Based on an original dataset distinguishing the labels of 1.012 electoral lists – be they local, mixed or national – in the 262 Walloon municipalities in Belgium, the multilevel regression demonstrates that local and mixed labels present a significant electoral advantage vis-à-vis national party labels. However, the article shows that this electoral gain decreases as economic inequalities increase: national labels, especially left-wing parties, attract more voters as inequalities rise.
The Effects of Stricter Regulation on the Going Public Decision of Small and Knowledge‐Intensive Firms

This paper studies the impact of increased securities regulation on the IPOs of small and high-tech, knowledge-intensive firms. We take advantage of the adoption of European SOX-like provisions, staggered at different dates across European countries, to test its influence on the going public decision. Starting from the population of European private firms during 1995–2012, we find that the likelihood of going public has decreased among small and high-tech, knowledge-intensive firms. Consistently, we document a 6% and 8.5% decrease in the industry-adjusted Tobin's Q of small and knowledge-intensive firms that go public after the regulatory change.