Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A pragmatic approach to management accounting research: a research path

Purpose – This paper traces an eight‐year journey along a research path in identifying the need for conception, development, and pragmatic evaluation of a new capital investment appraisal model – the financial appraisal profile (FAP) model. In many cases, existing research in developing new financial models is limited to theoretical conception rather than testing of these models in the real world. This papers sets out to address that issue.Design/methodology/approach – The research methodology draws heavily on philosophical pragmatism. The paper traces a clear path, starting from the firm foundation of earlier studies, questionnaire feedback from presentations of the model, and two case studies.Findings – The three‐stage pragmatic evaluation of the FAP model establishes the support for the model in both the academic and practical world.Research limitations/implications – Although the first two stages in the evaluation of the model may be susceptible to systemic bias, the final evaluation in practical appl.
Sacred cows, rational debates and the politics of the right to buy after devolution

The introduction of policy instruments such as the Right to Buy (RTB) led to prophecies of the demise of the welfare state in Western Europe. Yet it is increasingly apparent that a welfare state will survive, albeit in a restructured form. This paper examines the place of RTB in the restructuring of social rented housing in the UK and accounts for recent changes to it. A new politics of RTB has arisen from the restructuring of social housing. As the politics of welfare shifted its focus from the scale of welfare provision to reorganising, adjusting and ‘modernising’ what remained, RTB came into question. This, along with political devolution, has created a new set of conditions that have called RTB into question in different parts of the UK while paradoxically it continues to be widely perceived as inviolable. RTB now occupies an ambiguous and slightly troublesome position as a feature of a residualised social rented sector that is more secure in its role of meeting social needs, as well as being seen to provide a route to owner occupation.
A compact 3D representation for multi-view video

This paper presents a methodology for obtaining a 3D reconstruction of a dynamic scene in multi-camera settings. Our target is to derive a compact representation of the 3D scene which is effective and accurate, whatever the number of cameras and even for very-wide baseline settings. Easing real-time 3D scene capture has outstanding applications in 2D and 3D content production, free viewpoint video of natural scenes and interactive video applications.
The effects of joint reward system in new product development

Purpose – This study purports to examine the effects of a joint reward system (JRS) under a new product development (NPD) setting by identifying four neglected aspects of JRS that contains a procedural view (participation of reward decision and reward contingent on NPD phases) and a monetary view (risk-free to participate and over-reward incentive) in a conceptual model, and then to empirically test their effects on knowledge sharing and NPD performance. Design/methodology/approach – Using regression analysis, the proposed model was tested on 233 valid respondents (112 in R&D, 50 in marketing, and 71 in manufacturing), including 92 from electronics firms, 87 from semiconductor firms, 29 from biotechnology firms, and 25 from pharmaceutical firms in Taiwan. Findings – The results indicated that risk-free to NPD project members is the most salient aspect of JRS on knowledge sharing and NPD performance. Joint determination of reward allocation was found to be a favorable JRS for only marketing and NPD performance. Rewards contingent on NPD phases have shown conflicting results between R&D and marketing. No relationship was found for over-reward incentive on knowledge sharing and NPD performance. Despite the mixed effects of JRS, knowledge sharing is a strong predictor of NPD performance. Originality/value – This study extends understanding of the complexities of rewards on knowledge sharing and NPD success by decomposing and testing four unique aspects of JRS, which sheds a new light on NPD researches.
Validating gravitational-wave detections: The advanced LIGO hardware injection system

Hardware injections are simulated gravitational-wave signals added to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). The detectors' test masses are physically displaced by an actuator in order to simulate the e�ects of a gravitational wave. The simulated signal initiates a control-system response which mimics that of a true gravitational wave. This provides an end-toend test of LIGO's ability to observe gravitational waves. The gravitational-wave analyses used to detect and characterize signals are exercised with hardware injections. By looking for discrepancies between the injected and recovered signals, we are able to characterize the performance of analyses and the coupling of instrumental subsystems to the detectors' output channels. This paper describes the hardware injection system and the recovery of injected signals representing binary black hole mergers, a stochastic gravitational wave background, spinning neutron stars, and sine-Gaussians.
The impact of WIC dental screenings and referrals on utilization of dental services among low-income children.

PURPOSE This cross-sectional study examined whether referrals from nondental health professionals impacted utilization of dental services by low-income populations. METHODS A sample of 309 mothers enrolled in the Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) clinic in Jackson County, Missouri, completed a self-administered, 32-item questionnaire to assess the mother and child's oral health behavior and past use of dental services. Dental utilization, the primary dependent variable, was defined as whether or not the child had ever been to a dentist. RESULTS Findings showed 27% of the children in the sample had been referred for dental care. Bivariate analysis indicated that a dental referral, age of the child, age of the mother, mother's perceived dental need for the child, household size, number of children in the household, and dental insurance for the child were associated with a child having a dental visit. Logistic regression, however, indicated that only age was significantly related to utilization. CONCLUSION The results showed a strong effect of increasing age being related to dental utilization, while additional research is needed to clarify the importance of WIC referrals.
Privatising the public university: the case of law

yses. Economic geography, these authors write, has much to gain from incorporating concepts from evolutionary economics. History matters. Geoff Hodgson is cited (‘The role of institutions and organizations in shaping radical innovations’) as subscribing to the view that routines are ‘metahabits’ which diffuse across populations of organizations within an institutional environment, an insight he is said to borrow from evolutionary biologists such as Ernst Mayr (see Mayr, 1992), and which may owe something to Veblen. There is much else in these rich volumes which cannot be given justice in a brief review. They deserve a place in any well-stocked university library.
Centre on Regulation and Competition Working Paper Series Fear Factor: How Political Insecurity Shapes the Diffusion of Financial Market Deregulation

1 Nearly 30 years after " financial repression " was flagged as a major problem in developing countries, nearly all nations have at least partially liberalized their financial systems. Explanations for this spread of financial market deregulation have emphasized either " top down " mechanisms (globalization, pressure from IOs and the U.S.) or " bottom up " mechanisms focusing on domestic coalitions (derived from configurations of economic interests). In contrast to these broadly structural approaches that de-emphasize the choices of agents, this paper focuses on the micro-foundations of diffusion by emphasizing the incentives facing office-seeking leaders. I argue that politically insecure leaders are potent agents of diffusion because they are particularly likely to " learn " the lessons of financial market reform and emulate the liberalizing practices of others for two reasons. First, the hefty economic boom often associated with financial liberalization provides a tempting way to attempt to buttress their near-to medium-term grip on power. As they observe other nations in their region experiencing a boom, leaders fearful of losing office will be quick to learn the lesson and particularly eager to jump on the liberalization bandwagon, accelerating regional deregulation cascades. Second, insecure governments may be particularly susceptible to pressure from international organizations: they have motivated biases both to believe the efficiency claims of liberalizers and strong reasons to seek the " seal of approval " for their policies. Either way, politically insecure leaders will be quick learners about the benefits of liberalization. To assess these arguments, I estimate hazard models of political survival to generate a proxy for political insecurity. With this proxy for insecurity in hand, time-series cross-sectional logit models of the timing of reforms are estimated. The argument implies that while politically insecure leaders may speed diffusion, their depth of commitment will be shallow, and that reforms motivated partly by fear of losing office will be more likely to unravel than those taken out of deeper conviction.
Canadian CPI announcements over the disinflationary cycle: evidence from the foreign exchange rate market

Previous announcement studies have focused primarily on market reactions to money announcements. This study examines the behaviour of exchange rates to Canadian CPI announcements. The reaction to the monthly CPI announcements provides a unique opportunity to test hypothesis whether the Bank of Canada gained credibility after it announced a change in objective of price stability in January 1988 and in February 1991. The post-1988 spot and forward exchange rate actions are found to be conistent with the policy anticipation hypothesis, suggesting that the Bank did gain credibility. Whenever inflations is larger than anticipated, the Canadian dollar appreciates because markets expect the Bank to counteract the inflaction shock. An interesting result is that the announcement effect is found to by aymmetric.
Half-Against-Half Multi-Class Support Vector Machines in classification of benthic macroinvertebrate images

In this paper we investigated how Half-Against-Half Support Vector Machine (HAH-SVM) succeed in the classification of the benthic macroinvertebrate images. Automated taxa identification of benthic macroinvertebrates is a slightly researched area and in this paper HAH-SVM was for the first time applied to this application area. The main problem in HAH-SVM is to find the right way to divide the classes in a node. We solved the problem by using two different approaches. Firstly, we applied the Scatter method which is a novel approach for the class division problem. Secondly, we formed the class divisions in an HAH-SVM by a random choice. We performed extensive experimental tests with four different feature sets and tested every feature set with seven different kernel functions. The tests showed that by the Scatter method and random choice formed HAH-SVMs performed from classification problem very well obtaining over 95% accuracy. Moreover, the 7D and 15D feature sets together with the RBF kernel function are good choices for this classification task. Generally speaking, HAH-SVM is a promising strategy for automated benthic macroinvertebrate identification.
Balassa-Samuelson Effect in Transition Economies: The Case of Slovenia

Paper presents a first-hand examination of the Balassa-Samuelson effect in Slovenia. Different measures of real exchange rate are presented in order to provide arguments for the Balassa-Samuelson effect estimation using external real exchange rate measure. It is argued that on average one percent increase in productivity differential between labor productivities in industry and services appreciated external real exchange rate by almost 1.5 percent in the period from 1993:1 to 2001:2. At the same time, one percent increase in productivity differential caused about 1.7 percent increase in CPI. The results are in line with other studies on real exchange rate behavior in transition economies.
The effect of viscosity on the perception of flavour.

A trained sensory panel assessed flavour and sweetness intensity in solutions containing varying concentrations of hydroxy propyl methylcellulose (HPMC), sugar and flavour volatile. The flavour and sweetness of the viscous solutions were rated using magnitude estimation with a controlled modulus. In addition, the concentration of volatile released on the breath was measured using MS Nose. For low concentrations of HPMC (<0.5 g/100 g), perceived flavour intensity remained the same; however, a steady decrease was noted at higher concentrations (>0.6 g/100 g). The change in perceived intensity occurred at the point of random coil overlap (c(*)) for this hydrocolloid. The perceived sweetness of the solution showed a similar pattern with increasing HPMC concentration, although the inflection at c(*) was not so obvious. Despite the change in perceived flavour intensity, the actual concentration of volatile measured on the breath was not affected by the change in HPMC concentration. Low-order polynomial models were produced to describe perceived flavour intensity and sweetness in viscous solutions containing HPMC and potential explanations for the changes in perception are discussed.
Hormone replacement therapy in hypopituitarism

Hypopituitarism is a disease complex characterised by varying pituitary hormonal deficiencies. The causes and manifestations of hypopituitarism are diverse, the most common being the presence of or treatment of a pituitary adenoma. Pressure effects from the tumour itself on normal pituitary tissue, together with the effects of surgical resection, results in variable degrees of hypopituitarism. The latter precipitates end-organ failure leading to a variety of symptoms and signs, which are often nonspecific and vague. The broad aims of managing patients with hypopituitarism are to provide amelioration of the symptomatology associated with the condition, to avoid potentially acute life-threatening complications and to protect against long-term sequelae that may include osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. This is achieved through lifelong therapeutic replacement of target hormonal deficiencies, such as corticosteroids or sex hormones, or replacement of the pituitary hormones themselves (i.e., growth hormone and vasopressin). Although the general principle of replacing missing hormones seems straightforward, in reality, existing hormonal therapeutic regimes often result in unphysiological replacement. Furthermore, there may be problems associated with their administration and routine monitoring. There is now little doubt that the hypopituitary state is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality. However, the precise underlying mechanisms responsible have not been fully elucidated, but probably include untreated growth hormone deficiency and/or unphysiological replacement of other target hormones. An effective strategy of tailoring hormonal replacement regimes to individual needs remains a challenge but is imperative if the increased morbidity and mortality associated with hypopituitarism is to be addressed.
THE SOURCES OF UNEMPLOYMENT: A SIMPLE ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS

At the time of this article unemployment had reached levels not experienced since the great depression of the 1930s. The economic costs of this situation are discussed including; loss of income, lower saving, lower investment. Social costs are also discussed including; damage to family life, increased pressure on social services and government budgets, depreciation of human capital. The objective of this paper is to test whether high real wages, low productivity or inadequate economic growth provide an adequate explanation of unemployment. This paper examines macroeconomic influences on unemployment and the implications of the econometric results for possible economic solutions to the unemployment problem.
Development of RP-HPLC for analysis of human insulin

The objective of the present work is to develop a simple and sensitive method for analysis of human insulin injection by using reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography technique. A reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography method with UV-detection at room temperature has been developed for the analysis of insulin from formulation. Hypersil BDS C-18 was used as stationary phase, and mobile phase consisted of 60 volume of 1 mmol sodium sulphate and 0.2% triethylamine in water, pH 3.2 adjusted by phosphoric acid, and 40 volume of acetonitrile. The eluent was monitored with a UV detector set at 214 nm with a flow rate of 1 ml/min, and sample size of 20 µl were carried out at room temperature all over the study. The method produced linear response over the concentration range of 10-100 µg/ml, with a mean recovery of 97 ± 0.31% as well as average intra- and inter-day variations of 1.35 and 5.13% respectively. The limits of detection and quantitation of the method were 0.25 and 0.75 µg/ml respectively. Considering the analysis specifications, the system is suitable for direct analysis of routine formulations and stability studies.
“Speed of Replacement”: Modeling Brand Loyalty Using Last-Move Data

The authors study brand loyalties for durable goods using automobile survey data that are peculiarly censored and track only elapsed times since transitions but not the transition times themselves. This censoring problem is typical of commercially available durable goods survey data. However, little attention has been paid to such “last-move” data in the statistics or marketing literature on the analysis of transition times. The authors propose a multistate, continuous-time, nonstationary Markov model with a parsimonious brand loyalty structure and also propose an estimation approach to recover the parameters of the proposed model using the automobile survey data. The proposed model fits observed brand choice outcomes even better than a model with a fully unrestricted (and, therefore, highly parameterized) transition structure. The authors also obtain several substantive findings. For example, Chrysler is significantly “weaker” than General Motors and Ford insofar as it has the lowest brand loyalty during the study period. The authors illustrate the managerial implications by predicting time-varying market shares of brands in periods subsequent to the period of analysis.
Fluid Milk Purchase Patterns in the South: Effects of Use of Nutrition Information and Household Characteristics

Abstract This study measures the impacts of use of nutrition information and household socioeconomic characteristics on market participation and amount purchased of whole-fat and low-fat milks in the South. Data are from the 1987-88 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey. The results showed that use of nutrition information had little effect on purchase levels, but did affect market participation. Results suggest promotion of milk purchases on the basis of nutritional benefits through health professionals and product packaging are useful tools for the dairy industry to attract market participation.
MYST Family Lysine Acetyltransferase Facilitates Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM) Kinase-mediated DNA Damage Response in Toxoplasma gondii*

The MYST family of lysine acetyltransferases (KATs) function in a wide variety of cellular operations, including gene regulation and the DNA damage response. Here we report the characterization of the second MYST family KAT in the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii (TgMYST-B). Toxoplasma causes birth defects and is an opportunistic pathogen in the immunocompromised, the latter due to its ability to convert into a latent cyst (bradyzoite). We demonstrate that TgMYST-B can gain access to the parasite nucleus and acetylate histones. Overexpression of recombinant, tagged TgMYST-B reduces growth rate in vitro and confers protection from a DNA-alkylating agent. Expression of mutant TgMYST-B produced no growth defect and failed to protect against DNA damage. We demonstrate that cells overexpressing TgMYST-B have increased levels of ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) kinase and phosphorylated H2AX and that TgMYST-B localizes to the ATM kinase gene. Pharmacological inhibitors of ATM kinase or KATs reverse the slow growth phenotype seen in parasites overexpressing TgMYST-B. These studies are the first to show that a MYST KAT contributes to ATM kinase gene expression, further illuminating the mechanism of how ATM kinase is up-regulated to respond to DNA damage.
A New Technology for Automatic Identification and Sorting of Plastics for Recycling

A new technology for automatic sorting of plastics, based upon optical identification of fluorescence signatures of dyes, incorporated in such materials in trace concentrations prior to product manufacturing, is described. Three commercial tracers were selected primarily on the basis of their good absorbency in the 310-370 nm spectral band and their identifiable narrow-band fluorescence signatures in the visible band of the spectrum when present in binary combinations. This absorption band was selected because of the availability of strong emission lines in this band from a commercial Hg-arc lamp and high fluorescence quantum yields of the tracers at this excitation wavelength band. The plastics chosen for tracing and identification are HDPE, LDPE, PP, EVA, PVC and PET and the tracers were compatible and chemically non-reactive with the host matrices and did not affect the transparency of the plastics. The design of a monochromatic and collimated excitation source, the sensor system are described and their performances in identifying and sorting plastics doped with tracers at a few parts per million concentration levels are evaluated. In an industrial sorting system, the sensor was able to sort 300 mm long plastic bottles at a conveyor belt speed of 3.5 m. sec-1 with a sorting purity of ~95%. The limitation was imposed due to mechanical singulation irregularities at high speed and the limited processing speed of the computer used.
Implementing the third generation research paradigm in policy implementation research: An empirical assessment

A comprehensive literature review a few years ago found, contrary to a commonly held belief, research on public policy implementation to be still alive and have developed further well into the 21st century in quantitative terms. We pursue this line of inquiry by asking whether this conclusion also applies to progress in qualitative terms. All articles published in core journals in political science, public administration/management and public policy under the label implementation or implementing were used to investigate this research question. Key defining features of the plea for a more rigorous third generation research paradigm was used as benchmark to measure progress or lack thereof in the policy implementation literature over more than four decades of research. Our investigation basically supports conclusions from more intuitively based earlier state-of-the-art reviews: (1) policy implementation research has reached a relatively mature stage of development, (2) more progress has been achieved on met.