Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Revisiting the prescription of corporate governance standards: a panacea for big players and SMEs in the German financial industry alike?

Bad corporate governance has been criticised as one reason for the failure of financial companies in the current crisis. Nevertheless, this discussion almost exclusively referred to big players so far. Our paper investigates and compares both, big players as well as SMEs in the German financial sector. We find remarkable differences between the two sub-samples concerning compliance with German corporate governance standards. Furthermore, considering the impact of compliance with German corporate governance standards on performance, we surprisingly do not find differences between both groups with respect to total shareholder return, but big companies with high compliance rates demonstrating a significantly impact on return on equity which we cannot find for SMEs. This opens a discussion whether the existing standards of ‘good’ corporate governance in Germany are even able to help SMEs to lower their agency costs.
Dynamics of Domestic Labor Across Short- and Long-Distance Family Relocations

Family relocations within developed countries are argued to have gendered consequences for paid employment, with men's careers improving and women's careers deteriorating. However, little is known about their potential relationships with outcomes in other life domains, including partnered men's and women's relative shares of domestic labor. The authors addressed this gap in knowledge by theorizing and examining how within-couple gender gaps in domestic work evolve across short- and long-distance family relocations over the life course, paying attention to the over-time dynamics before and after event occurrence. To accomplish this, they used 12 years of panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey and panel regression models. The results indicated that family relocations widen the within-couple gender gap in weekly housework hours, largely because of shifts in women's employment situation and fertility episodes that accompany residential relocations.
Benchmarking Greek Corporate Governance Against Different Standards

The rapidly increasing worldwide focus on corporate governance has resulted in a proliferation of rating systems that proxy for governance quality. This study develops a governance rating for Greek listed companies by benchmarking their governance structures against three levels: (a) the minimum requirements under Greek regulation (lower level); (b) the incremental recommendations of the Greek code (middle level); and (c) the additional international best practices, prescribed by the UK Combined Code (higher level). Using available data on 274 out of 340 Greek listed companies in 2003 and based on information collected primarily from annual reports, we find that the average governance rating at the lower level is 65.5 per cent; this scoring reduces significantly as we move to the middle and higher level. The average governance rating is 44 per cent. Second, governance scores increase with firm size. Although there may be good reasons explaining these patterns, we find that Greek companies do not provide explanations, i.e. do not practice the "comply or explain" recommendation. Third, our middle level aggregate governance rating is much lower than that reported by prior research that uses a different data gathering and weighting approach. This divergence has important methodological implications. Finally, we document a relatively high lack of transparency in relation to Greek governance practices. This is a sign of "bad governance". Copyright (c) 2007 The Authors; Journal compilation (c) 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Investor Information Processing and Trading Volume

Examining the impact on NYSE trading volume using a sample of global cross-listed firms and distinct information sources from the U.S. and primary market countries, I show that investor utilization of information varies significantly with language, distance-to-source and visibility. Specifically, for firms with greater information processing frictions such as those in non-English speaking countries, located a greater distance from the trading venue and with higher information asymmetries, investors rely on news from the firms’ home market when making their trading decisions rather than U.S. news, whereas those with fewer information processing frictions utilize both sources of news.
Stability analysis of networked systems with similar dynamics

The paper concerns systems that are composed of subsystems with similar dynamics. A method for analyzing the stability of such systems is developed, where the subsystems are decomposed into nominal models with identical dynamics and individual models describing the deviation of the subsystems from the common nominal models. The analysis is divided into three steps. First, the stability of the network controlled and physically interconnected nominal subsystems is checked by a state transformation based on the structure of the interconnection. The second step is to find an upper bound for the dynamics of the deviation model. The third step is to prove the stability of the overall system by considering the stabilized nominal system and the error bound. A sufficient condition for the stability of the overall system is derived and the method is demonstrated by proving the stability of platooning vehicles.
A Novel Tel1/ATM N-Terminal Motif, TAN, Is Essential for Telomere Length Maintenance and a DNA Damage Response

ABSTRACT Tel1/ATM, a conserved phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related kinase (PIKK), acts in the response to DNA damage and regulates telomere maintenance. PIKK family members share an extended N-terminal region of low sequence homology. Sequence alignment of the N terminus of Tel1/ATM orthologs revealed a conserved, novel motif we term TAN (for Tel1/ATM N-terminal motif). Point mutations in conserved residues of the TAN motif resulted in telomere shortening, and its deletion caused the same short telomere phenotype as complete deletion of Tel1 did. Overexpressing Tel1 TAN mutants did not rescue telomere shortening. The TAN motif was also essential for the function of Tel1 in the response to DNA damage, as TAN-deleted Tel1 was indistinguishable from the complete lack of Tel1 in causing reduced viability and signaling through Rad53 upon DNA damage. Strikingly, TAN deletion reduced recruitment of Tel1 to a double-strand DNA break. Together, these results define a conserved sequence motif within an otherwise poorly defined region of the Tel1/ATM kinase family proteins that is essential for normal Tel1 function in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Effective Tax Rates in the Moravian-Silesian Region

Abstract The aim of this work is to evaluate the effective corporate tax rate in the Moravian-Silesian Region in the Czech Republic on the basis of a backward-looking micro view. The results obtained are then compared with other methods of measuring the tax burden, especially with the corporate tax quota and effective corporate tax rate based on a backward-looking macro view and its components. The tax burden will be evaluated for the period 2007-2010 in order to capture the effects of the economic crisis. It is clear that the effective tax rate computed according to the backward-looking micro view and corporate tax quota confirms the results of a number of empirical studies because, in comparison to an effective marginal tax rate based on the macro view, they reflect fluctuations in business cycles.
The Bottom Line: Accounting for Revenues and Expenditures in Intercollegiate Athletics

This paper examines the profitability of Division I athletic programs at colleges and universities in the United States under a variety of accounting definitions of profit. The data identify several broad themes. First, a majority of athletic departments rely heavily on direct and indirect subsidization of their programs by the student body, the institution itself, and state governments in order to balance their books. Without such funding, less than a third of BCS athletic departments and no non-BCS departments are in the black. Second, athletic programs rely heavily on contributions to balance their books. Donations to athletic departments may serve as a substitute for donations to the rest of the university, lowering giving to other programs. Third, football and men’s basketball programs are generally highly profitable at BCS schools, but below this top tier, fewer than 10% of football programs and 15% of men’s basketball programs show a profit by any reasonable accounting measures.
Accident Law: Efficiency May Require an Inefficient Standard

Abstract In a world with risk-neutral agents in which accidents occur with a positive probability, liability rules will only induce efficient behaviour if these rules impose the full (marginal) costs of an action on the parties. However, institutional restrictions or bilateral activity choices can prevent the full internalization of costs. A mechanism is proposed which guarantees an efficient outcome: monetary fines which are not related to the occurrence of an accident. Such a mechanism requires individuals to violate the standard of care in order to trigger the fine payments. Hence, efficiency requires an excessive standard.
Tourism entrepreneurship and regional development: example from New Zealand

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the entrepreneurial behaviour of small tourism businesses and their ability to contribute to regional development in the context of a transitional economy.Design/methodology/approach – The research, by combining in‐depth interviews and a survey, reports on a case study of Wairarapa, a region of New Zealand that has recently seen a large expansion in the tourism sector.Findings – The paper identifies a number of important criteria for the effective interaction of private‐public sectors as well as illustrating how small tourism firm owners are facing challenges in one of the most liberal economic environments whilst taking action to ensure periphery endurance.Originality/value – Inductive theory or a bottom‐up model for regional development provides the conceptual structure for the research. The paper argues that the related paradigm is increasingly underpinned by entrepreneurial behaviour of a multiplicity of stakeholders in rural localities where tourism i.
Institutions, ownership, andfinance: the determinants of profit reinvestment among

Johnson et al. (2002. American Economic Review 92 (5), 1335–1356) examine the relative importance of property rights andexternal finance in several Eastern European countries. They findproperty rights to be overwhelmingly important, while external finance explains little of firm reinvestment. McMillan andWood ruff (2002. Journal of Economic Perspectives 16 (3), 153–170) further conjecture that as transition moves along, market-supporting (financial) institutions shouldbecome more important. This paper reexamines those issues in the context of China in 2002, when the transition hadmovedfar. We also findthat secure property rights are a significant predictor of firm reinvestment. However, in line with McMillan andWood ruff, we findthat access to external finance in the form of bank loans is also associatedwith more reinvestment. Following Acemoglu andJohnson (2003. Unbundling institutions. Unpublishedworking paper 9934, National Bureau of Economic Research,
Families Living with Blood-Borne Viruses: The Case for Extending the Concept of “Serodiscordance”

The concept of “serodiscordance” (mixed infection status) is primarily associated with epidemiological concerns about HIV transmission risk in couples. We make the case for extending this concept to include families with mixed HIV and viral hepatitis status. Social research on couples with mixed HIV and hepatitis C status has laid an important foundation for illuminating how experiences of serodiscordance within intimate partnerships are much broader than concerns about risk. This body of work attests to serodiscordance holding promise as a valuable concept for understanding viral infections as socially situated and intensely relational phenomena. However, serodiscordance is still limited as a concept because of its near universal focus on couples. It is rarely applied to wider relationships, including family networks beyond the couple. Despite evidence in the literature that families are affected by blood-borne viruses in multiple social, emotional, financial, and generational ways, the concept of serodiscordance does not capture these broader dynamics. Making serodiscordance more inclusive is an important step in recognising the diverse ways families' everyday lives, relationships, and futures can be entangled with HIV, hepatitis C, and hepatitis B, and for understanding how today's era of effective treatment options might shape the “family life” of viral infections.
Socioeconomic Status, Social Support, Age, and Health

This study examines the hypothesis that aspects of social relations moderate the relationship between SES and health; that is, this association varies with differences along four major dimensions of social relations: instrumental, emotional, and negative support, and network structure. In 1992, 923 white and black respondents aged 40 and over were interviewed as part of the Survey of Social Relations. 1 The sample was drawn from a stratified probability sample in the Detroit metropolitan area. Social relations variables included the number of people in social network, perceived instrumental support (whether spouse and child would provide care if respondent was ill), emotional support (whether respondent confides in spouse and child), and negative support (whether spouse and child get on the respondent’s nerves). Respondents rated all social support variables on a five-point scale (1, strongly agree; 5, strongly disagree). Education level was used as an SES indicator. Years of education were split into three groups: less than high school, high school, and more than high school. Health was measured by a global self-rated health question (5, poor; 1, excellent). Following Baron and Kenny, 2 we assessed the moderating impact of the social relations variables on the relationship between SES and health by regressing health on (1) the independent SES variable (education level), (2) the social relations variable that is hypothesized to be the moderator, and (3) the interaction of (1) and (2). A significant interaction term implies that the social relations variable is moderating the impact of SES on health. Analyses were conducted separately for each of two age groups: 40–59 and 60–93. Findings indicate that there is no interaction effect of SES and social network size on health. However, interaction effects are evident for instrumental, emotional, and negative support. These are summarized in T ABLE 1. Graphs of the significant interactions suggest complex associations among SES, social relations variables, and health. For example, F IGURE 1 demonstrates that respondents aged 40–59 with more than a high school education and who confide in their spouse are healthier than those who do not. This relationship was reversed among respondents with less than a high school education. However, in the 60–93 age group, health is about the same for all respondents who confide in their spouse. Among those in this age group who do not confide in their spouse, education level has a negative effect on health: people with less than a high school education report poorer health; those with more than a high school education report better health. A consistent pattern that emerged was that respondents in the middle education group (high school) were the least likely in both
Bottlenecks in domestic animal populations can facilitate the emergence of Trypanosoma cruzi, the aetiological agent of Chagas disease

Faeces-mediated transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi (the aetiological agent of Chagas disease) by triatomine insects is extremely inefficient. Still, the parasite emerges frequently, and has infected millions of people and domestic animals. We synthesize here the results of field and laboratory studies of T. cruzi transmission conducted in and around Arequipa, Peru. We document the repeated occurrence of large colonies of triatomine bugs (more than 1000) with very high infection prevalence (more than 85%). By inoculating guinea pigs, an important reservoir of T. cruzi in Peru, and feeding triatomine bugs on them weekly, we demonstrate that, while most animals quickly control parasitaemia, a subset of animals remains highly infectious to vectors for many months. However, we argue that the presence of these persistently infectious hosts is insufficient to explain the observed prevalence of T. cruzi in vector colonies. We posit that seasonal rains, leading to a fluctuation in the price of guinea pig food (alfalfa), leading to annual guinea pig roasts, leading to a concentration of vectors on a small subpopulation of animals maintained for reproduction, can propel T. cruzi through vector colonies and create a considerable force of infection for a pathogen whose transmission might otherwise fizzle out.
Reframing Teacher Professional Learning: An Alternative Policy Approach to Strengthening Valued Outcomes for Diverse Learners

This chapter engages in the debate about what counts as professional knowledge from the perspective of improving outcomes for diverse learners. We begin by highlighting the importance of assumptions about appropriate roles for teachers and how those assumptions have shaped the debate about what teachers need to know. Then we consider some myths and evidence about teacher agency that have contributed to a recent international shift in policy attention to the importance of teacher knowledge and, more particularly, how to develop teacher agency and capability. The main focus of the chapter is on a policy approach to building a multidisciplinary evidence base in education that both identifies the kinds of teacher knowledge that has a positive impact on a range of student outcomes and, at the same time, develops that knowledge through a national collaborative knowledge-building and knowledge-use strategy. The approach described is the New Zealand Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis (BES) Programme, which deliberately and systematically draws on and develops a rich multidisciplinary knowledge base in education. We situate our account of this program within (a) a comparison of a range of international policy approaches to strengthening the evidence base informing what teachers need to know, (b) a vision of the role of teaching as responsive to diverse learners and the evolving challenges of the 21st century, and (c) a touchstone of effectiveness as defined by impacts on a range of valued learner outcomes. We present the findings of a new synthesis of the evidence from 97 empirical studies that identify the development of the kinds of teacher knowledge that have a demonstrated positive impact on outcomes for diverse learners. The
Course Bidding at Business Schools

Mechanisms that rely on course bidding are widely used at business schools in order to allocate seats at oversubscribed courses. Bids play two key roles under these mechanisms: to infer student preferences and to determine who have bigger claims on course seats. We show that these two roles may easily conflict, and preferences induced from bids may significantly differ from the true preferences. Therefore, these mechanisms, which are promoted as market mechanisms, do not necessarily yield market outcomes. We introduce a Pareto-dominant market mechanism that can be implemented by asking students for their preferences in addition to their bids over courses.
A unique gene expression signature is significantly differentially expressed in tumor-positive or tumor-negative sentinel lymph nodes in patients with melanoma

The purpose of this study was to learn whether molecular characterization through gene expression profiling of node-positive and node-negative sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in patients with clinical stage I and II melanoma may improve the understanding of mechanisms of metastasis and identify gene signatures for SLNs+/SLNs− that correlate with diagnosis or clinical outcome. Gene expression profiling was performed on SLN biopsies of 48 (24 SLN+ and 24 SLN−) patients (T3a/b–T4a/b) who underwent staging of SLNs using transcriptome profiling analysis on 5 &mgr;m sections of fresh SLNs. U133A 2.0 Affymetrix gene chips were used. Significance analysis of microarrays was used to test the association between gene expression level and SLN status. Genes with fold change more than 1.5 and q value less than 0.05 were considered differentially expressed. Pathway analysis was performed using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. The Benjamini and Hochberg method was used to adjust for multiple testing in pathway analysis. We identified 89 probe sets that were significantly differentially expressed (1.5–27-fold; q<0.05). Upon performing the pathway analysis, it was found that 25 genes were common among the most significant and biologically relevant canonical pathways. The molecules and pathways that achieved differential expression of highest statistical significance were notably related to melanoma and its microenvironment and to signaling pathways implicated in immunosuppression and development of cancer. A 25-gene signature is significantly differentially expressed between SLN+ and SLN− and is related to melanoma oncogenesis and immunosuppression. The identified expression profile provides a signature of melanoma nodal involvement. These findings warrant further investigation into the mechanisms of metastasis, melanoma metastasis diagnosis, and prediction of outcome.
Effect of Freezing and Type of Mucosa on Ex Vivo Drug Permeability Parameters

The porcine esophageal mucosa has been proposed as a substitute for the buccal mucosa barrier on ex vivo permeability studies mainly due to its large surface area as well as its easier preparation. Therefore, this study compared the ex vivo permeability parameters of two drugs (carmabazepine (CBZ) and triamcinolone acetonide (TAC)) with different permeabilities and physicochemical properties through buccal and esophageal mucosae using a Franz diffusion cell system and HPLC as detection method. The freezing effects on drug permeability parameters were also evaluated by comparing them when fresh and frozen tissues were used. The barrier properties were not affected by the freezing process since the obtained parameters for both drugs were similar in frozen and fresh tissues (buccal and esophageal mucosae). However, an increase of CBZ retention was shown in frozen tissues. Fresh and frozen esophageal mucosae provided higher permeation of TAC than on buccal mucosae while the obtained permeability parameters for CBZ were similar on both mucosae. According to our results, porcine esophageal mucosa could be used as a substitute for buccal mucosa on ex vivo studies involving CBZ but not TAC. Frozen tissues could be used as substitute for fresh tissues in both cases. However, any substitution should be done with care and only if previous tests were performed, because the results could differ depending on the tested drug.
The exchange rate, the trade balance and the J-curve effect in South Africa

We find that for the period 1994-2011 there is robust statistical evidence that, in the long run, net exports are boosted by a weaker real effective exchange rate. However, this effect does not hold in the short run. We thus find empirical evidence supporting the J-curve effect for South Africa.