Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investors’ Expectations of the Improvement in the Credibility of Audit Opinions following PCAOB Inspection Reports with Identified Deficiencies

ABSTRACT: Following high-profile accounting scandals (e.g., Enron), Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which established the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The PCAOB conducts regular inspections of audit firms and issues inspection reports that describe audit deficiencies identified during the inspections. One purpose of these reports is to improve public confidence in auditor credibility. We conduct a between-subjects experiment to provide initial evidence concerning investors’ perceptions of audit opinion credibility following PCAOB inspections. While we find an overall increase in perceptions of the credibility of future audit opinions, the degree to which perceptions increase is a function of three salient characteristics of PCAOB reports. Specifically, we find that investors anticipate more (less) improvement in the credibility of future opinions when: (1) inspections contain high (low) severity deficiencies; (2) firms respond to the reports with concessions (denials); and (3.
Bit error rate reduction by PSO in indoor wireless communication

In this paper, a new ultra wideband (UWB) circular antenna array (UCAA) combining particle swarm optimizer (PSO) to minimize the bit error rate (BER) is proposed. The novelties of our approach is not only choosing BER as the object function, but also consider the antenna feed length effect of each array element. The strong point of the PSO is that it can find out the solution even if the performance index cannot be formulated by simple equations. Simulation results show that the synthesized antenna array pattern is effective to focus maximum gain to the LOS path. As a result, the BER can be reduced substantially in indoor UWB communication system.
From Monetary Policy Instruments to Administered Interest Rates: The Transmission Mechanism in Canada

The authors investigate interest-rate aspects of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy instruments in Canada, focussing on the stability of the relationships between some key interest rates and the instruments of monetary policy. To determine what shifts may have occurred in recent years, they describe movements in rate differentials, apply cointegration tests and estimate error-correction […]
An Analysis of the Wealth Effects of Japanese Offshore Dollar-Denominated Convertible and Warrant Bond Issues

Abstract Offshore dollar-denominated equity-linked issues were a more important source of funds for Japanese companies during the 1980s than domestic equity and straight debt issues combined. Using a sample of Japanese equity-linked offshore issues from 1977 to 1989, we find that the announcement of these issues is accompanied by a significant positive abnormal return. This contrasts with evidence that U.S. equity-linked issues have a significant negative stock price reaction. We provide an explanation for the difference in stock price reactions between U.S. and Japanese issues that is based on the greater influence on managers' security issue decisions of long-term investors and banks in Japan than in the U.S.
Comment---Managing Channel Profits: Comment

In a recent paper in this journal, Jeuland and Shugan Jeuland, A. , S. Shugan. 1983. Managing channel profits. Marketing Sci.2 Summer 239--272. proposed a quantity discount schedule as a way of coordinating a channel. As they put it on p. 253 of their paper, “a quantity discount schedule which would fix the retailer's and hence the manufacturer's profits to some fixed linear function of total channel profits would lead the channel to maximize profits. ” The purpose of this note is to show that a quantity discount schedule is not necessary for channel coordination.
A Dynamic Model of Money, Credit, and Consumption: A Joint Model for the UK Household Sector

Previous research has investigated consumers' expenditure and money demand as separable equations. We estimate them jointly as driven by the same influences. Credit is also included as a potential third variable that might provide a source of additional information about the monetary transmission mechanism. Consumption, money, and lending equations are modelled as an interdependent system, and the significance of lending for consumption andmoney is tested. Theresults using UK household sector data show that a stable credit equation does exist in parallel with money demand and consumption equations, and that interactions modelled in a conditional vector equilibrium correction system are favoured over independent equations.
Children in Housing Disadvantage in Australia: Development of a Summary Small Area Index

The importance of suitable, affordable housing in promoting the well-being of children is widely acknowledged. However, despite growing interest in geographic differences in child well-being, little is known about the spatial distribution of characteristics associated with housing disadvantage for Australian children. This paper seeks to develop knowledge in this area by creating a headline indicator of child housing disadvantage. It uses spatially disaggregated Census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census of Population and Housing 2006 capturing overcrowding, public housing tenure and dwelling type, and creates synthetic estimates of housing stress using spatial microsimulation techniques. These variables are then combined into a single index of housing disadvantage. Next, the spatial microsimulation techniques and index creation methodology are described, and the results of the validation process, including sensitivity analysis of alternative index creation approaches, are presented.
Optimal educational choice and redistribution when parental education matters

Higher education plays an important role in determining lifetime earnings. In turn, the decision to become educated depends to a large extent on family characteristics, such as wealth and education. In this paper, we focus on the interaction between fiscal policies and educational choices when parental education matters. We derive optimality conditions for a linear income tax and a lump-sum subsidy for education in a dynamic framework in which generations are linked by educational background. The factors that determine their sign and magnitude include concerns for redistribution, efficiency, and the educational externality on future generations. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.
Examining the Retention of African American Males in Ninth Grade as a Roadblock to Graduation: Charting Student Perceptions

In the United States, more students are being retained in the ninth grade than in any other year in their K-12 school experience (Blackwell, 2008). In addition, African American males are retained more than any other group (Morrison, 2014). Studies show that when students, especially African American males, are retained in ninth grade there is an increased probability that they will drop out and consequently, fail to graduate from high school. The limitation of the majority of the prior studies on ninth-grade retention is their focus on urban districts. Thus, it is unknown if the probability of ninth-grade retention and the impact of that setback is significant in suburban, integrated settings where African Americans make up smaller, yet emerging percentage of the student population. While the gravity of these issues is documented, there have been few studies on the barriers to the academic success of African American students in suburban, integrated environments. The purpose of this study is to examine the ninth grade experiences of African American males in a high school in a suburban community of New York City. The study participants consisted of three African American males who were retained in ninth grade, and three African American males who successfully completed ninth grade and are currently enrolled as 10th and 12th grade students. The study provides insight to what these students report about the factors that contributed to their academic achievement and barriers to their success. A qualitative research design was employed, utilizing in-depth interviews and the students’ school records as the main sources of data collection. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Education (EdD) Department Executive Leadership First Supervisor Frances Wills Second Supervisor Shelley Jallow Subject Categories Education This dissertation is available at Fisher Digital Publications: http://fisherpub.sjfc. edu/education_etd/218 Examining the Retention of African American Males in Ninth Grade as a Roadblock to Graduation: Charting Student Perceptions
Southern Politics In State and Nation

More than thirty years after its original publication, V. O. Key's classic remains the most influential book on its subject. Its author, one of the nation's most astute observers, drew on more than five hundred interviews with Southerners to illuminate the political process in the South and in the nation.Key's book explains party alignments within states, internal factional competition, and the influence of the South upon Washington. It also probes the nature of the electorate, voting restrictions, and political operating procedures. This reprint of the original edition includes a new introduction by Alexander Heard and a profile of the author by William C. Havard. "A monumental accomplishment in the field of political investigation. " Hodding Carter, New York Times "The raw truth of southern political behavior. " C. Vann Woodward, Yale Review "[This book] should be on the 'must' list of any student of American politics. " Ralph J. Bunche V.O. Key (1908-1963) taught political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Harvard universities. He was president of the American Political Science Association and author of numerous books, including American State Politics: An Introduction (1956); Public Opinion and American Democracy (1961); and The Responsible Electorate (1966). "
HEDGING AND PRICING IN INCOMPLETE MARKETS: THEORY AND APPLICATIONS

This thesis consists of three essays in financial econometrics. In the first part of the thesis, motivated by different applications of hedging methods in the literature, we propose a general theoretical framework for hedging and pricing. First, we review briefly different strands of literature on hedging which have been developed in various fields such as finance, economics, operations research and mathematics, and then try to come up with a tractable way for hedging and pricing in this paper. By introducing different market principles, we study conditions under which the hedging problem has a solution and pricing is possible. We will conduct an in-depth theoretical analysis of hedging strategies with shortfall risks as well as the spectral risk measures, in particular those associated with Choquet expected utility. We show that asymmetric information results in incorrect risk assessment and pricing. In the second part of the thesis, we will apply our results in the first part to construct an economic risk hedge. We also introduce a general method to estimate the stochastic discount factors associated with different risk measures and different financial models. The third part of the thesis modifies the speculative storage model by embedding staggered price features into the structural model of Deaton and Laroque (1996). In an attempt to replicate the stylized facts of observed commodity price dynamics, we add an additional source of intertemporal linkage to Deaton and Laroque (1996), namely speculation in intermediate-good inventories. The introduction of this type of friction into the model is motivated by its ability to increase price stickiness which gives rise to an increased persistence in the first and higher conditional moments of commodity prices. By incorporating intermediate risk neutral speculators and a final bundler with a staggered pricing rule in the spirit of Calvo (1983) into the storage model, we are able to capture a high degree of serial correlation and conditional heteroskedasticity, which are observed in actual data. The structural parameters of both Deaton and Laroque (1996) and our modified models are estimated using actual prices for 8 agricultural commodities. Simulated data are then employed to assess the effects of our staggered price approach on the time-series properties of commodity prices. Our results lend empirical support to the possibility of staggered prices.
PUBLIC SECTOR AUDITING: A CASE OF CONTESTED ACCOUNTABILITY REGIMES*

tag=1 data=Public sector auditing: a case of contested accountability regimes. by Linda English and James Guthrie tag=2 data=English, Linda%Guthrie, James tag=3 data=Australian Journal of Public Administration, tag=4 data=50 tag=5 data=3 tag=6 data=September 1991 tag=7 data=347-360. tag=8 data=ACCOUNTING%PUBLIC SERVICE tag=10 data=Important aspects of public accountability under the Australian system of government have recently been questioned by the executive arm of the federal government. tag=11 data=1992/4/1 tag=12 data=92/0028 tag=13 data=CAB
Curbing The Consumption of Distance? A practice-theoretical investigation of an employer-based mobility management initiative to promote more sustainable commuting

iii Acknowledgements . iv Chapter 1 Automobility and the consumption of distance . 1 1.1 The road to unimodality: The hegemony of automobility and its effects . 3 1.2 From sustainable development to sustainable transport. 8 1.3 Researching the consumption of distance . 10 1.4 Key features of the study . 14 1.5 Structure of thesis . 21 Chapter 2 Theories of human behaviour and behavioural change . 24 2.1 Key determinants of behaviour . 26 2.2 Actor-centric theories . 34 2.3 Structuralist or contextualist explanations of human behaviour . 45 2.4 Implications for change strategies and transport policies . 47 2.5 Concluding remarks . 52 Chapter 3 Practice theories . 55 3.1 An introduction to practice theory . 57 3.2 The first wave: Traditional practice approaches . 58 3.3 The second wave: Contemporary practice approaches. 61 3.4 Practice approaches in consumption studies . 71 3.5 Research on the transformation of consumption practices . 73 3.6 Theoretical framework of this study . 76 3.7 Concluding remarks . 84 Chapter 4 Capturing change? Methodological reflections on the investigation of the consumption of distance and its transformation . 86 4.1 Researching consumption practices . 86 4.2 Mobile methods . 88 4.3 Researching commuting practices in the West of Ireland . 90 4.4 Concluding remarks . 111 Chapter 5 Channelling cars into the fast lane: Transport policy and site analysis . 113 5.1 The road to car-dependency – Irish transport policy . 114 5.2 Paving the way for cars – transport policy-making in Ireland . 118 vii 5.3 Galway – setting the scene . 122 5.4 Employer under investigation . 126 5.5 Concluding remarks . 134 Chapter 6 Mapping differences: A typology of commuting practices and their performance . 136 6.1 Driving as the norm: practice-related manifestations of a car-based culture . 139 6.2 Performances of a car-based commuting practice . 150 6.3 Alternative active commuting practice . 159 6.4 Concluding remarks . 162 Chapter 7 Qualitative evaluation of Earth Day and Smart Moves Initiative . 166 7.1 Earth Day Initiative . 168 7.2 Smart Moves Challenge . 177 7.3 Help or Hindrance? 184 7.4 Concluding remarks . 195 Chapter 8 Competing for sustainability? The social context of changing commuting routines 198 8.1 The social and material construction of car-dependency. 202 8.2 Competing for sustainability? Meso-level initiatives for sustainable transport . 212 8.3 Researching the consumption of distance and its transformation. 217 8.4 Concluding remarks . 225 Chapter 9 Conclusions, future research and policy recommendations . 227 9.1 Summary of the main arguments and findings . 227 9.2 Contributions to existing and emerging areas of sustainability research . 231 9.3 Potential Avenues for Future Research . 235 9.4 Policy recommendations . 237 Bibliography . 241 Appendices . 252
The Dynamics of Party-System Supply and Demand in Poland, 1997–2007. Cleavage Change or Shapeless Shifting?

The 2007 Polish general election confirmed a significant shift in patterns of elite political competition, as the inherited ‘regime divide’ was superseded by a ‘transition divide’ defined by the ‘liberal-orthodox’ model of post-communist reform. However, the existing literature on Polish voting behaviour lacks diachronic analyses of the changing relationships between structures, attitudes, party preferences and voting behaviour. This article seeks to fill that gap. It finds that there was no clear evidence of cleavage change over the period: there was more consistency than flux in preferences, and limited shifts in the influence of particular variables on voting behaviour.
Portfolio management for new product development: results of an industry practices study

Portfolio management for product innovation – picking the right set of development projects – is critical to new product success. This article reports on the new product portfolio practices and performance of a large sample of firms in North America. Reasons why portfolio management is important are identified, followed by the relative popularity of the different portfolio techniques: financial methods are first, followed by business strategy methods, bubble diagrams and scoring models. Next, how the various portfolio methods fare in terms of six performance metrics is probed. Financial methods, although the most popular and rigorous, yield the worst results overall, while top performing firms rely more on non-financial approaches – strategic and scoring methods. The details of how some of these more popular methods are employed by firms to rate and rank development projects are also provided. Finally, managerial implications, including suggestions for making portfolio management more effective in industry, are outlined.
Effect of External Potassium and Ouabain on Sodium Efflux from Frog Sartorius Muscle∗

Summary Using paired muscles from the same animal, the effect of external K, in concentrations ranging from 2.5 to 15 mM, on the efflux of 24Na from frog sartorius muscles (previously enriched in Na by overnight soaking at 5° in a K-free medium) was investigated. In agreement with the results reported by others, it was found that external K ions, over the concentration range studied, increased the rate of loss of 24Na from the muscle fibers. The ratio of the rate coefficient for 24Na efflux in high K media to that observed in a normal K medium (2.5 mM) was a linear function of external K concentration throughout the concentration range investigated. In media containing 2.5 mM K, ouabain (1 × 10-6 M) completely inhibited the stimulatory effect of K on Na efflux. With 5 mM K in the medium, inhibition was incomplete and, in media containing 8 mM K or more, no significant inhibition by ouabain of the efflux of 24Na was noted. These results are compatible with a competitive inhibition by ouabain, at the concentration used, of the stimulating effect of K on Na efflux in muscle.
The Reconfigurable Streaming Vector Processor (RSVP

The need to process multimedia data places large computational demands on portable/embedded devices. These multimedia functions share common characteristics: they are computationally intensive and data-streaming, performing the same operation(s) on many data elements. The Reconfigurable Streaming Vector Processor (RSVP TM ) is a vector coprocessor architecture that accelerates streaming data operations. Programming the RSVP architecture involves describing the shape and location of vector streams in memory and describing computations as data-flow graphs. These descriptions are intuitive and independent of each other, making the RSVP architecture easy to program. They are also machine independent, allowing binary-compatible implementations with varying cost-performance tradeoffs. This paper presents the RSVP architecture and programming model, a programming case study, and our first implementation. Our results show significant speedups on streaming data functions. Speedups for kernels and applications range from 2 to over 20 times that of an ARM9 host processor alone.
The impact of NPM on the job satisfaction of a range of Australian public sector employees

Most western democracies have undertaken significant public sector reform with the aim of getting their public sector organisations to adopt new public management (NPM) reforms. NPM refers to the adoption of private sector management tools by public sector organisations and its implementation has led to change in the work environment of most public sector employees - both professional and other employees. This paper compares the level of satisfaction with the work experiences of three groups of public sector employees: nurses (N = 91), police (N = 178) and administrative employees (N = 115). The findings suggest that professional employees have a significantly different work experience compared with other public sector employees. Moreover, the research findings suggest that recent reforms have led to breaches in the professional dimension of professional employees delivering essential social services. These breaches are likely to impact negatively on their productivity, thereby negating the stated official goals associated with implementing public sector reforms.
Impact of international emission reduction on energy and forestry sector of Indonesia

We extended the MERGE model to develop a set of energy projections for a reference and various mitigation scenarios to the year 2100. We included coal as a tradable good. In Indonesia, oil imports will increase while coal exports will decrease. If the OECD countries reduce their emissions, oil price would fall, Indonesia would import more oil but less gas and its per capita income would fall slightly. With international trade in emission permits, Indonesian energy development is similar to the earlier scenario, but Indonesia would gain some income. If all countries reduce their emissions, Indonesia would export more coal and would substitute coal by gas and carbon free technologies in energy consumption. If Indonesian commits to emissions reduction, per capita income would slightly fall. Population and economic growth are the driving forces of deforestation. In the reference scenario, deforestation increase by 60% in 2020 relative to today, indicating that Indonesia has large potential to mitigate emissions in the forestry sector. International climate policy would slightly increase the deforestation rate, mainly because of more rapid economic growth. Indonesia would gain from the sale of emission permits from reduced deforestation.
The impact of the net percentage growth rate in the number of small firms on differential state-level employment growth rates in the US: an exploratory empirical note

ABSTRACT This brief exploratory empirical note seeks to identify key determinants of geographic differentials in the percentage growth rate of state-level employment in the US, with the primary focus being on the percentage net growth rate in the number of small firms (i.e., those with fewer than 20 employees) in each state, where this variable serves as a de facto reflection of ‘entrepreneurship’. In the interest of identifying other key factors that influence state-level employment growth rates, the effective income tax rate in each state, quality of life elements and labour market considerations are also included in the analysis. The study period runs from the year 2000 to the year 2007, ending just prior to the ‘Great Recession’. The estimation results imply that the state-level employment growth rate in the US was an increasing function of the percentage net growth rate in the number of small firms in each state. Thus, it appears that the small firms growth rate may in fact be a significant source.