Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the Differential Behaviour of National and Multinational Firms: A Within‐ and Across‐Sectors Approach

This paper looks for different patterns of behaviour of national firms and multinational enterprises (MNEs). Its main contribution is the use of a computable general equilibrium perspective to analyse firms’ performance. The model is calibrated for the case of the Czech Republic, which has been a very attractive foreign direct investment location in the last three decades. We replicate the arrival of MNEs to different sectors of this country in turn and analyse the responses of both types of firms across the 20 different sectors in which the Czech economy has been split. Our results grasp the short‐run impact. The higher labour intensity of national firms leads them to different patterns of production and labour demand, compared with MNEs operating within the same sector. The demand side of the model (particularly, exports and private consumption) drives the evolution of production and labour demand across sectors. Regarding prices, we also find a differential pattern between both types of firms within and across sectors. Our analysis offers detailed evidence on how the impact of MNEs will differ depending on the sector to which they arrive. Finally, the aggregate results suggest that a completely different microeconomic panorama may underlie rather similar macroeconomic outcomes.
Unemployment and the open economy wage-price spiral

We present a dynamic model of real wages in the open economy that encapsulates the well‐known “competing claims model” or “incomplete competition model” of real wage determination. In general, the model determines the development of inflation, real wages and the real exchange rate for any given rate of unemployment. Inflation, rather than unemployment, is the “conflict solver” in the unrestricted model. However, a supply side determined equilibrium rate of unemployment is subsumed as a special case. A re‐appraisal of the empirical literature shows that there is little evidence in support of the “natural rate” restrictions.
Motives to engage in sustainable investment: a comparison between institutional and private investors

The current study compares motives to invest in accordance with socially responsible criteria among different groups of investors. In total, 60 employees from 19 investment institutions, 453 private investors and 71 institutional investors participated in a questionnaire study. While socially responsible investment (SRI) among private and institutional investors was guided by self-transcendent values (environmental and social values), this was not the case among fund managers working in investment institutions. Fund managers in investment institutions were affected by beliefs about long‐term returns of SRI. Private investors were, in addition, influenced by beliefs about long‐term returns, whereas institutional investors were motivated by an effort to reduce financial risks. Finally, investment institutions tended to overrate the importance of financial returns among their beneficiaries (private and institutional beneficiaries) and underestimate the importance of ethical, environmental and social aspects for beneficiaries. The results indicate that private and institutional investors/beneficiaries give a wider interpretation of fiduciary duty than investment institutions do. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
From total quality management to total quality environmental management

Total quality management (TQM) was developed at the same time as the interest in environmental issues began to emerge and, as such, it has built in the same concepts as those regarding issues relevant to the environment. Suggests the acronym in use today, TQEM (total quality environmental management), clearly reflects its genesis and the existing parallelism between quality and environmental problems. In the vision of a TQM‐oriented company in which, by striving for continuous improvement, quality is deployed to everybody, the analogy with the environmental programme is demonstrated by the fact that it is not necessary to convince anyone of the need to operate in a “greener” manner because each person is already convinced of his/her own role in this domain both as an individual and as an employee of the company.
Derivative spectral unmixing of hyperspectral data applied to mixtures of lichen and rock

Spectral mixture analysis (SMA) has been used extensively in the hyperspectral remote sensing community for the subpixel abundance estimation of targets. However, the task of defining every endmember can be difficult, as evident from the importance attributed to the topic in the recent literature. The effectiveness of SMA can be compromised when the required spectral endmembers are not well constrained in terms of their spectral magnitude and shape. The spectral magnitude of the endmembers is more difficult to obtain than their spectral shape, in part because the effects of the atmosphere and topography are difficult to constrain. This paper presents a derivative spectral unmixing (DSU) model, which is an extension of the spectral mixture analysis and derivative analysis. Using a DSU approach, it is possible to estimate the fraction of an endmember characterized by one or more diagnostic absorption features despite having only a general knowledge of the spectral shapes of the remaining endmembers. The DSU is assessed using spectral data acquired for a lichen-covered rock sample, and the estimated fractions of lichen and rock are assessed against that obtained from a high spatial resolution digital photograph. The results of the laboratory experiments suggests that the DSU is a promising algorithm for the quantitative analysis of hyperspectral data, but experiments on airborne/spaceborne imagery are now required to assess its value for geological mapping.
Investigating the neurobiological basis of cognitive rehabilitation therapy with fMRI

The neurobiological changes occurring during cognitive rehabilitation therapy (CRT) have yet to be systematically studied. In the present study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to demonstrate brain plasticity in response to CRT (n = 5) following mild traumatic brain injury. Neuropsychological tests and two fMRI activation tasks, a visually guided saccades and a reading comprehension task, were employed pre- and post-CRT. CRT was used to systematically address the identified deficits in visual scanning and language processing. As hypothesized, changes in the pattern and extent of activation within expected neuroanatomical areas occurred post-CRT. Changes in fMRI activation are discussed for each subject and related to changes on neuropsychological measures. This study demonstrates how fMRI can illustrate the neurobiological mechanisms of recovery in individual subjects. The variability in subject responses to CRT supports the notion of tailoring rehabilitation strategies to each subject in order to optimize recovery following brain injury.
Testing Models of Pure Exchange

We reanalyze the experimental data of Michener et al. (1975, 1977) to explain behavior in pure exchange situations. The data were compared to predictions of various cooperative bargaining models and to the predictions of a bilateral exchange model developed in the present paper. The bilateral exchange model fitted well and performed best. The model could explain asymmetries in actors' exchange outcomes as commonly observed in exchange networks, and that generalized exchange hardly occurred in the experiments. However, systematic deviations from predictions of the bilateral exchange model and other models of rational behavior were observed; actors tend to focus on their absolute preferences rather than on their relative preferences. These deviations could be explained by a boundedly rational model of exchange, assuming that actors use heuristics to detect profitable exchange opportunities.
Stress and depression-induced immune dysfunction: Implications for the development and progression of cancer

The persistent activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary axes in chronic stress response and in depression impairs the immune response and contributes to the development and progression of some types of cancer. This overview presents results from experimental animal models, human studies, and clinical evidence that various cellular and molecular immunological parameters are compromised in chronic stress and depression. At the cellular level, stressed and depressed patients had overall leukocytosis, high concentrations of circulating neutrophils, reduced mitogen-stimulated lymphocyte proliferation and neutrophil phagocytosis. At the molecular level, high levels of serum basal cortisol, acute phase proteins, specific antibodies against herpes simplex virus type 1 and Epstein Barr virus, plasma concentration of interleukins IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-α, and a shift in the balance of Th1 and Th2 immune response were observed. Both stress and depression were associated with the decreased cytotoxic T-cell and natural killer cell activities affecting the processes of the immune surveillance of tumours, and the events that modulate the development and the accumulation of somatic mutations and genomic instability. DNA damage, growth and angiogenic factors, proteases, matrix metalloproteinases, and reactive oxygen species were also related to the chronic stress response and depression. Behavioural strategies, psychological, and psychopharmacotherapeutic interventions that enhance effective coping and reduce affective distress showed beneficial effects in cancer patients. A better understanding of the bidirectional communication between the neuroendocrine and immune systems could contribute to novel clinical and treatment strategies in oncology.
Internationalization of private firms: environmental turbulence and organizational strategies and resources

Profiles of exporting and superior-performing private small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are presented. Multivariate regression evidence suggests that SMEs focusing upon an offensive and market differentiation strategy of product/service protection is associated with the propensity and the intensity of exporting. Exporting SMEs are also associated with younger and manufacturing firms as well as firms with product or service quality and/or technology resources. The perceptions by SMEs of external environmental turbulence were not significantly associated with the exporting-dependent variables. Most notably, variables associated with exporting SMEs are not the same as those associated with superior firm performance. Moreover, exporting firms did not report superior levels of performance. Implications for policy-makers, practitioners and researchers are discussed.
From a Technocratic Solution to a Fragile Grand Coalition: The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Parliamentary Government in Italy

Italy is an interesting case to be included in a comparative analysis of the effects determined by the recent financial crisis on the European political systems, because of the distinctiveness characterising the recent development of this parliamentary democracy. The processes of making and breaking governments, in particular, have been particularly unusual: the end of the governmental experience of Silvio Berlusconi and the formation of the technical government led by Mario Monti have been strongly influenced by external factors, as well as the recent formation of the government guided by Enrico Letta, supported by a broad coalition including the former competing centre-right and centre-left cartels. The paper focuses on the practices of executive–legislative relationships in Italy between 2008 and the 2013 elections. Its basic puzzle is to understand the effective impact determined by the economic crisis over the core mechanisms of parliamentary democracy. Comparing the impact of the governmental policy agenda set by the technocratic cabinet vis-à-vis the previous ‘political’ executives, and measuring the reactions of the different parliamentary actors, it is possible to test a number of empirical propositions concerning the transformation of the adversarial mode that emerged in past years into a more or less consensual parliamentary atmosphere.
High-performance energy-efficient arithmetic circuits using Weighted Logic

In the following paper, a new approach for de signing high-performance arithmetic circuits based on the new “Weighted Logic” family is presented while demonstrating the new technique's performance advantage an d relatively low-energy characteristics. It will be shown by the means of a 64-bit comparator and a 64-bit adder that using the new approach, arithmetic functions can be implemented more efficiently than state-of-the-art designs in terms of speed and energy consumption.
Bigger groups have fewer parasites and similar cortisol levels: a multi‐group analysis in red colobus monkeys

If stress and disease impose fitness costs, and if those costs vary as a function of group size, then stress and disease should exert selection pressures on group size. We assessed the relationships between group size, stress, and parasite infections across nine groups of red colobus monkeys (Procolobus rufomitratus) in Kibale National Park, Uganda. We used fecal cortisol as a measure of physiological stress and examined fecal samples to assess the prevalence and intensity of gastrointestinal helminth infections. We also examined the effect of behaviors that could potentially reduce parasite transmission (e.g., increasing group spread and reducing social interactions). We found that cortisol was not significantly related to group size, but parasite prevalence was negatively related to group size and group spread. The observed increase in group spread could have reduced the rate of parasite transmission in larger groups; however, it is not clear whether this was a density‐dependent behavioral counter‐strategy to infection or a response to food competition that also reduced parasite transmission. The results do not support the suggestion that gastrointestinal parasitism or stress directly imposed group‐size‐related fitness costs, and we cannot conclude that they are among the mechanisms limiting group size in red colobus monkeys. Am. J. Primatol. 70:1072–1080, 2008. © 2008 Wiley–Liss, Inc.
Bridging the Gap Between Imitation Learning and Inverse Reinforcement Learning

Learning from demonstrations is a paradigm by which an apprentice agent learns a control policy for a dynamic environment by observing demonstrations delivered by an expert agent. It is usually implemented as either imitation learning (IL) or inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) in the literature. On the one hand, IRL is a paradigm relying on the Markov decision processes, where the goal of the apprentice agent is to find a reward function from the expert demonstrations that could explain the expert behavior. On the other hand, IL consists in directly generalizing the expert strategy, observed in the demonstrations, to unvisited states (and it is therefore close to classification, when there is a finite set of possible decisions). While these two visions are often considered as opposite to each other, the purpose of this paper is to exhibit a formal link between these approaches from which new algorithms can be derived. We show that IL and IRL can be redefined in a way that they are equivalent, in the sense that there exists an explicit bijective operator (namely, the inverse optimal Bellman operator) between their respective spaces of solutions. To do so, we introduce the set-policy framework that creates a clear link between the IL and the IRL. As a result, the IL and IRL solutions making the best of both worlds are obtained. In addition, it is a unifying framework from which existing IL and IRL algorithms can be derived and which opens the way for the IL methods able to deal with the environment’s dynamics. Finally, the IRL algorithms derived from the set-policy framework are compared with the algorithms belonging to the more common trajectory-matching family. Experiments demonstrate that the set-policy-based algorithms outperform both the standard IRL and IL ones and result in more robust solutions.
Strain identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by DNA fingerprinting: recommendations for a standardized methodology

DNA fingerprinting of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been shown to be a powerful epidemiologic tool. We propose a standardized technique which exploits variability in both the number and genomic position of IS6110 to generate strain-specific patterns. General use of this technique will permit comparison of results between different laboratories. Such comparisons will facilitate investigations into the international transmission of tuberculosis and may identify specific strains with unique properties such as high infectivity, virulence, or drug resistance.
Development and Validation of a Predictive Model for Spontaneous Hemorrhagic Transformation After Ischemic Stroke

Background: Hemorrhagic transformation (HT) after reperfusion therapy for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) has been well studied; however, there is scarce research focusing on spontaneous HT (sHT). Spontaneous HT is no less important with a relatively high incidence and could be associated with neurological worsening. We aimed to develop and validate a simple and practical model to predict sHT after AIS (SHAIS) and compared the predictive value of the SHAIS score against the models of post-Reperfusion HT for sHT. Methods: Patients with AIS admitted within 24 h of onset were prospectively screened to develop and validate the SHAIS score. The primary outcome was sHT during hospitalization (within 30 days after onset), and the secondary outcomes were symptomatic sHT and parenchymal hematoma (PH). Clinical information, laboratory, and neuroimaging data were screened to construct the SHAIS score. We selected six commonly used scales for predicting HT after reperfusion therapy and compared their predictive ability for sHT with the SHAIS score using Delong's test. Results: The derivation cohort included 539 patients (mean age, 68.1 years; men, 61.4%), of whom 91 (16.9%) patients developed sHT with 25.3% (23/91) being symptomatic sHT and 62.6% (57/91) being PH. Five variables (atrial fibrillation, NIHSS score ≥ 10, hypodensity > 1/3 of middle cerebral artery territory, hyperdense artery sign, and anterior circulation infarction) composed the SHAIS score, which ranged from 0 to 11 points. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.86 (95% CI 0.82–0.91, p < 0.001) for the overall sHT, 0.85 (95% CI 0.76–0.92, p < 0.001) for symptomatic sHT, and 0.89 (95% CI 0.85–0.94, p < 0.001) for PH. No evidence of miscalibration of the SHAIS score was found to predict the overall sHT (p = 0.19), symptomatic sHT (p = 0.44), and PH (p = 0.22). The internal (n = 245) and external validation cohorts (n = 200) depicted similar predictive performance compared to the derivation cohort. The SHAIS score had a higher AUC to predict sHT than any of the six pre-Existing models (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The SHAIS score provides an easy-to-use model to predict sHT, which could help providers with decision-making about treatments with high bleeding risk, and to counsel patients and families on the baseline risk of HT, aligning expectations with probable outcomes.
The innovative future of service industries: (anti-)globalization and commensuration

This paper is about the innovative future of service industries, with a focus on knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). The authors discuss the unique characteristics of service industries, the effects of internet technology and standardization in the realm of globalization and the future global knowledge based society. The paper analyses the link between the assessment of KIBS – by both stakeholders and clients – and commensuration, which is defined as comparing different entities to a common metric and measurement. This conceptual paper argues that the temptation to ‘quantify’ the value of KIBS as if they were commodities in global free markets is mistaken and especially problematic in a knowledge based society and that the necessary conceptual framework will include commensuration and possibly concepts from the sociological study of exchange and gift-giving.
Prior data for non‐normal priors

Data augmentation priors facilitate contextual evaluation of prior distributions and the generation of Bayesian outputs from frequentist software. Previous papers have presented approximate Bayesian methods using 2×2 tables of ‘prior data’ to represent lognormal relative‐risk priors in stratified and regression analyses. The present paper describes extensions that use the tables to represent generalized‐F prior distributions for relative risks, which subsume lognormal priors as a limiting case. The method provides a means to increase tail‐weight or skew the prior distribution for the log relative risk away from normality, while retaining the simple 2×2 table form of the prior data. When prior normality is preferred, it also provides a more accurate lognormal relative‐risk prior in for the 2×2 table format. For more compact representation in regression analyses, the prior data can be compressed into a single data record. The method is illustrated with historical data from a study of electronic foetal monitoring and neonatal death. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Associations Between Self, Peer, and Teacher Reports of Victimization and Social Skills in School in Children With Language Disorders

Previous studies have shown that teachers and parents of children with language disorders report them to have higher victimization scores, a heightened risk of low-quality friendships and social difficulties, and may be more vulnerable to peer rejection than control peers. However, there are few studies of bullying in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and reading difficulties (RD), and none has considered the mutual relationships between teacher reports, the perceptions of classmates, and children’s self-reports. We analyzed the experiences of bullying and peer relationships in primary school students with DLD and RD as compared to their age-matched peers using teacher reports, peer reports, and self-reports on victimization. Additionally, we explored how these three perspectives are associated. Results indicated lower levels of peer-rated prosocial skills in DLD and RD students compared to their peers, as well as higher levels of victimization as assessed by peers for students with DLD. In the same line, the teachers’ ratings showed that students with DLD presented poorer social skills, less adaptability, and more withdrawal in social interaction. Contrastingly, self-reports informed of similar rates of interpersonal relationships, social stress, and peer victimization between the three groups. Consequently, we found significant correlations between measures of peer reports and teacher reports that contrasted with the lack of correlations between self and other agents’ reports. These findings stress the importance of using self-reports, peer reports, and teacher reports at the same time to detect bullying situations that might go unnoticed.