Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implementing Regulatory Reforms in Multi-Level Governance Systems: The Case of the Reform of the Water Sector in Italy (1994-2006)

So far relatively few studies have explicitly addressed the issue of how are regulatory reforms implemented (Gonenc et al., 2001; Eisner, 2004; Durant, 1984; Hanf, 1982). In particular, little attention has been placed so far on how the multi-level governance systems – as the institutional and polity context (Hooghe and Marks, 2001; 2003) in which regulatory reform implementation takes place – can affect the transition from a non-regulatory to a regulatory system. This research addresses this issue by investigating the case of the implementation of the 1994 water reform in Italy, in the period from 1994 to 2006. This case shows how a given configuration of multi-level governance system – partly constituted by Italy's system of intergovernmental relations – affected the design of the implementation process, the effort of actors involved, and ultimately the ways in which sub-national governments regulated this particular infrastructural service.
In vivo phosphorylation patterns of key stressosome proteins define a second feedback loop that limits activation of Bacillus subtilis
 σB

The Bacillus subtilis stressosome is a 1.8 MDa complex that orchestrates activation of the σB transcription factor by environmental stress. The complex comprises members of the RsbR co‐antagonist family and the RsbS antagonist, which together form an icosahedral core that sequesters the RsbT serine‐threonine kinase. Phosphorylation of this core by RsbT is associated with RsbT release, which activates downstream signalling. RsbRA, the prototype co‐antagonist, is phosphorylated on T171 and T205 in vitro. In unstressed cells T171 is already phosphorylated; this is a prerequisite but not the trigger for activation, which correlates with stress‐induced phosphorylation of RsbS on S59. In contrast, phosphorylation of RsbRA T205 has not been detected in vivo. Here we find (i) RsbRA is additionally phosphorylated on T205 following strong stresses, (ii) this modification requires RsbT, and (iii) the phosphorylation‐deficient T205A substitution greatly increases post‐stress activation of σB. We infer that T205 phosphorylation constitutes a second feedback mechanism to limit σB activation, operating in addition to the RsbX feedback phosphatase. Loss of RsbX function increases the fraction of phosphorylated RsbS and doubly phosphorylated RsbRA in unstressed cells. We propose that RsbX both maintains the ready state of the stressosome prior to stress and restores it post‐stress.
Effect of Nasal Surgery on Sleep‐Related Breathing Disorders

Objective/Hypothesis Single cases of patients who have experienced obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and who recovered completely after nasal surgery have been described in various studies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of only nasal surgery 1) in a group of patients with obstructive sleep apnea and 2) in simple snorers.
The Effects of US Hospital Consolidations on Hospital Quality

Abstract The spate of hospital consolidations that occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s had a profound impact on the US hospital industry. However, only two published studies using data from five states examined the effects of these consolidations on inpatient quality of care. This paper examines the impacts of hospital consolidations that occurred in 1999 and 2000 in 16 states on 25 measures of quality using pre–post, difference‐in‐differences models. We categorize hospitals participating in consolidations as acquiring institutions, target institutions, or participants in a “merger of equals”. We find that the quality effects of consolidations differ by the hospital’s role and the quality measure used. Acquiring hospitals experienced significantly improved quality with respect to iatrogenic pneumothorax and postoperative hemorrhage or hematoma, but the quality impacts for target hospitals and “mergers of equals” were mixed. Hospital consolidations appear to have complex, inconsistent effects on quality, as measured using all‐payer administrative data, suggesting the need for antitrust agencies to conduct prospective and retrospective reviews of individual mergers.
SEC Market Risk Disclosures: Implications for Judgment and Decision Making

In this paper, we draw on judgment and decision‐making research to examine the behavioral implications of the SEC's Financial Reporting Release No. 48 on market risk disclosures. While these disclosures have been examined using archival data, no research has investigated how these disclosures might affect individual users of financial statements. The purpose of our paper is to draw on research in the judgment and decision‐making arena to identify and analyze the behavioral implications of the new risk disclosures. We offer three conclusions. First, FRR No. 48 users may have more complex evaluations of risk than perhaps anticipated by the SEC. Second, the flexibility accorded firms in FRR No. 48 will adversely affect users' risk judgments. Third, because the Release does not require disclosure of certain quantitative information that is important to risk assessments, inappropriate risk assessments may result. We believe our insights can help others conduct research in this important area and can help the S.
Employment Effects of Foreign Direct Investment in Central and Eastern Europe

The paper starts with a discussion of the development of the number of manufacturing sector jobs in the framework of economic transformation and industrial restructuring in Central and Eastern Europe. Over the past decade, domestically-owned manufacturing companies reduced the number employed while foreign-owned enterprises expanded that number. Job losses due to FDI have resulted from restructuring of privatized state-owned companies. A reduction of employment has also resulted from foreign companies cutting domestic supplier linkages after taking over state-owned enterprises. A database with indicators of foreign affiliates allows to identify countries and industries with various levels of foreign penetration and employment development. Foreign affiliates show higher labour productivity and better capital endowment and use more up-to-date technology than domestic companies; as a result, they tend to increase the performance in the host economy as a whole. Ownership-specific differences in productivity are clearly reflected in relative wages. Young skilled workers employed by foreign enterprises have higher wages relative to both their unskilled and skilled older colleagues and also relative to their counterparts in domestic firms. The more efficient matching of new technologies and new skills in foreign than domestic enterprises has benefited younger generations. A major question for the future is whether the present high regional concentration of FDI within the countries is likely to diminish. Agglomeration effects work against this happening, while improvements in transport and telecommunications make it more feasible. Thus, for instance, larger towns in peripheral regions have started receiving more FDI after becoming accessible by motorway. In the second part of the paper, empirical results from a gravity model are discussed; these suggest that FDI in non-manufacturing sectors tends to be of a horizontal type, while this is less the case in manufacturing. With a modest pace of convergence towards the level of GDP per head in the EU-15, non-manufacturing FDI is likely to remain constant or even decline, except in the Czech Republic, where non-manufacturing FDI would grow at a similar rate as in manufacturing. With stronger convergence, FDI in non-manufacturing is likely to show more robust growth. Further econometric analysis suggests that FDI is a significant determinant of the skill composition in the new EU members and is biased against skilled manual workers (i.e. FDI results in more employment of high-skill non-manual workers and low-skill workers). The magnitude of this effect is, however, modest and partly offset by other factors.
Financial modelling of the potential cost of ovine Johne's disease and the benefit of vaccinating sheep flocks in southern New South Wales.

OBJECTIVE To develop an enterprise gross margin (GM) model that predicts the on-farm financial impact of ovine Johne's disease (OJD) for various sheep enterprises in Australia. In addition, to estimate the benefits and costs of control through the use of the Gudair vaccination, including a breakeven point. DESIGN AND POPULATION Data for the model was gained from an observational study conducted over a 3-year period from 2002 to 2004 using sheep from 12 OJD-infected flocks from southern New South Wales. Flocks ranged between 3500 and 20,000 sheep, with owner estimates of 5% or greater OJD mortality at the start of the study. PROCEDURE A GM model was developed to predict the on-farm financial impact of OJD for various sheep enterprises in Australia, comparing non-infected, infected (status quo) and infected (vaccination) disease scenarios. RESULTS Vaccination breakeven points are achieved within 2 to 3 years for breeding enterprises if OJD mortalities are high, rising towards 7 years for a Merino ewe enterprise if OJD mortalities are low. CONCLUSION The GM model demonstrates the returns to investment of vaccination for Australian sheep producers with OJD-infected flocks.
Exchange rate uncertainty and the level of investment in selected South-east Asian countries

The effect of real exchange rate uncertainty on aggregate private investment in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand is examined using time series data from 1972–2000. Since the use of non-stationary time series data may produce spurious results, the data series are tested for stationarity using the augmented Dickey–Fuller and Phillips–Perron tests. After establishing the stationarity of the data series, cointegration tests are performed. The cointegration test results reject the hypothesis of no cointegration. Therefore, an error correction model is developed and estimated. The estimated results point to an inconclusive empirical relationship between real exchange rate volatility and aggregate private investment.
Stable classes of technical trading rules

Technical analysis includes a huge variety of trading rules. This fact has always been a serious hindrance to the large number of market efficiency studies implemented either to demonstrate the profitability of market-beating systems or to deny their operational feasibility. For evident reasons it is practically impossible and theoretically weak to systematically analyse the entire body of all trading rules. We therefore propose a novel method to form natural classes of trading rules which are found to be robust to changing market scenarios. In particular, groups are formed adopting a similarity measure based on the investing signals of the trading rules. Our clustering methodology adopts a Markov chain bootstrapping technique to generate differentiated scenarios preserving volume and price joint distributional features. An application is developed on a sample of 674 trading rules. Results show that six groups (here identified as trading styles) are sufficient to explain the large portion of the investing signals variance. We also suggest applications of our results to fund performance measurement and the analysis of financial markets.
Business Networks and Transnational Corporations: A Study of Hong Kong Firms in the ASEAN Region

In recent years, the question of how business firms are embedded in society and space has received serious attention in economic geography. Arising from empirical research into the transnational operations of Hong Kong–based firms in Southeast Asia, this paper is concerned with the organizational processes of transnationalization—that is, how transnational operations are accomplished through networks of personal and business relationships. A network perspective specifies that three dimensions of transnational organizations—extrafirm, interfirm, and intrafirm networks—must be addressed simultaneously. Based on personal interviews with top executives from 111 headquarters and 63 subsidiaries of Hong Kong transnational corporations operating in the ASEAN region, I argue that social and business networks are necessary mechanisms of transnationalization. Political connections at the highest level enable Hong Kong entrepreneurs and business firms to tap into extrafirm networks and to penetrate local markets in Southeast Asia. Business connections and personal relationships are cornerstones of interfirm transactional governance structures through which Hong Kong firms establish their ASEAN operations. At the intrafirm level, personal trust and experience are keys to coordination and control in transnational operations. By showing how these Hong Kong firms and their ASEAN operations are socially and culturally embedded in networks of relationships, this paper serves also as a critique of economistic arguments and transaction cost analysis commonly found in leading international business research.
Modelling of σ Scorpii, a high-mass binary with a β Cep variable primary component

High-mass binary stars are known to show an unexplained discrepancy between the dynamical masses of the individual components and those predicted by models. In this work, we study Sigma Scorpii, a double-lined spectroscopic binary system consisting of two B-type stars residing in an eccentric orbit. The more massive primary component is aβ Cep-type pulsating variable star. Our analysis is based on a time-ser ies of some 1 000 high-resolution spectra collected with the coralie spectrograph in 2006, 2007, and 2008. We use two different approaches to determine the orbital parameters of the star; the spectral disentangling technique is used to separate the spectral contributions of the individual components in the composite spectra. The non-LTE based spectrum analysis of the disentangled spectra reveals two stars of similar spectral type and atmospheric chemical composition. Combined with the orbital inclination angle estimate found in the literature , our orbital elements allow a mass estimate of 14.7±4.5 M⊙ and 9.5±2.9 M⊙ for the primary and secondary component, respectively. The primary component is found to pulsate in three independent modes, of which two are identified as fundamental and second overtone radial mod es, while the third is an l = 1 non-radial mode. Seismic modelling of the pulsating component refines stellar parameters to 13.5 +0.5 −1.4 M⊙ and 8.7 +0.6 −1.2 M⊙, and delivers radii of 8.95 +0.43 −0.66 R⊙ and 3.90 +0.58 −0.36 R⊙ for the primary and secondary, respectively. The age of the system is estimated to be∼12 Myr.
The returns to medical school in a regulated labor market: evidence from admission lotteries

We estimate the returns to medical school by exploiting that admittance to medical school in the Netherlands is determined by a lottery. Using data from up to 21 years after the lottery, we find that doctors earn at least 20 percent more than people who end up in their next-best occupation. Estimated earnings profiles suggest that the life-time difference is even much larger: 21 years after the lottery the earnings difference exceeds 60 percent. Only a small fraction of this difference can be attributed to differences in working hours and human capital investments. The returns do not vary with gender or ability, but are higher for the less motivated.
A Survey on Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer

This paper presents a comprehensive study related to simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) in different types of wireless communication setups. Harvesting energy using SWIPT is an appealing solution in the context of extending battery life of wireless devices for a fully sustainable communication system. Strong signal power increases power transfer, but also causes more interference in information transfer, causing realization of the SWIPT challenging problem. This article provides an overview of technical evolution of SWIPT. A survey and qualitative comparison of the existing SWIPT schemes is provided to demonstrate their limitations in the current and 5G networks. Open challenges are emphasized and guidelines are provided to adapt the existing schemes in order to overcome these limitations and make them fit for integrating with the modern and emerging next generation communication networks, such as 5G systems.
The Caenorhabditis elegans K10C2.4 Gene Encodes a Member of the Fumarylacetoacetate Hydrolase Family

In eukaryotes and many bacteria, tyrosine is degraded to produce energy via a five-step tyrosine degradation pathway. Mutations affecting the tyrosine degradation pathway are also of medical importance as mutations affecting enzymes in the pathway are responsible for type I, type II, and type III tyrosinemia. The most severe of these is type I tyrosinemia, which is caused by mutations affecting the last enzyme in the pathway, fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (FAH). So far, tyrosine degradation in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has not been studied; however, genes predicted to encode enzymes in this pathway have been identified in several microarray, proteomic, and RNA interference (RNAi) screens as perhaps being involved in aging and the control of protein folding. We sought to identify and characterize the genes in the worm tyrosine degradation pathway as an initial step in understanding these findings. Here we describe the characterization of the K10C2.4, which encodes a homolog of FAH. RNAi directed against K10C2.4 produces a lethal phenotype consisting of death in young adulthood, extensive damage to the intestine, impaired fertility, and activation of oxidative stress and endoplasmic stress response pathways. This phenotype is due to alterations in tyrosine metabolism as increases in dietary tyrosine enhance it, and inhibition of upstream enzymes in tyrosine degradation with RNAi or genetic mutations reduces the phenotype. We also use our model to identify genes that suppress the damage produced by K10C2.4 RNAi in a pilot genetic screen. Our results establish worms as a model for the study of type I tyrosinemia.
The compatibility of one‐factor market models in caps and swaptions markets: Evidence from their dynamic hedging performance

This study examines the dynamic hedging performance of the one‐factor LIBOR and swap market models in both caps and swaptions markets, using a procedure similar to the way that these models are used in practice. The effects of different calibration methods on model performance are investigated as well. The LIBOR market models and the swap market models are calibrated to the cross‐sectional Black implied volatilities for caps and swaptions respectively; the test is based on their effectiveness in hedging floors and swaptions that are not used in the calibration. We find that the LIBOR market models outperform the swap market models in hedging floors and perform as well as the swap market models in hedging swaptions. Our results also show that incorporating a humped volatility structure into these models does not significantly improve their hedging performance. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 28:109–130, 2008
The Determinants of Union Attitudes among Community College Professors

As the growth of faculty unions peaked in the mid and late 1970s, so did the number of studies on professorial union attitudes. With only a handful of studies of faculty union attitudes in the last 20 years, this topic has been seriously overlooked. To counter this problem, this article explores the union attitudes of professors in Kentucky’s community college system. After addressing some of the current trends in academic work conditions, this article applies four theoretical models to a sample of 329 community college professors. In using the assertions of C. Wright Mills [1] and more recent studies as a theoretical framework, this work tests the effects of four explanatory models (social demographics, union contacts, political orientations, and perceptions of campus conditions) on union attitudes. After running several multivariate regressions, this work concludes that issues of social backgrounds, everyday teaching complaints, or matters of faculty pay do not govern union sentiments. Instead, pro-union sentiments are influenced by the way administrators share power, belong to union-friendly social networks, perceive union efficacy, and maintain a liberal or progressive social identity.
Numerical comparisons of cooperative spectrum sensing algorithms over Rayleigh fading channel

In cognitive radio network (CR), spectrum sensing (SS) is regarded as a critical component. Several local SS schemes have been studied well in the literature to locate spectrum holes for reusing it. However, the system's performance will be degraded seriously over the fading environment. The cooperative spectrum sensing techniques were proposed to improve performances of signal sensing. In this paper, we mainly focus on the close form mathematical expressions and present simulation comparisons of cooperative SS based soft decision (Selection Combining - SC, Equal Gain Combining - EGC) and hard decision (k-out-of-n, OR, AND, and MAJORITY rule). The numerical results shown that the performance of cooperative SS were improved significantly and matched well with the theory analysis.
Persistence in Capital Budgeting Reinvestment Decisions - Personal Responsibility Antecedent and Information Asymmetry Moderator: A Note

In this study we examine the effects of personal responsibility and information asymmetry on managers’ tendencies to escalate their commitment to poorly performing investment projects. Consistent with the recommendations by critics of the escalation literature (e.g. Bowen, 1987), we provided subjects with unequivocal negative project feedback. However, counter to other recent conflicting studies adopting Bowen’s recommendations, we reverted back to Staw’s (1976) original methodology and incorporated “free-choice” into our personal responsibility construct. Our results confirm Staw’s (1976) original proposition of a positive relation between a manager’s personal responsibility for a poorly performing project and his/her subsequent escalation of commitment to the project. Further, we proposed that information asymmetry moderates the relation between the level of personal responsibility and escalation of commitment. Our results did not confirm this proposition. As such, results from our study re-establish personal responsibility as an important antecedent variable to escalation of commitment.
Differences in Decline: Quantile Regression Analysis of Union Wage Differentials in the United Kingdom, 1991-2003

Wage premia related to union membership and coverage are examined over 1991-2003, a period involving first decline, then stabilization, of unionization. Differences in union premia across workers and over time are studied using individual-level British Household Panel Survey data and quantile regression techniques allowing for endogeneity of the membership decision. Raw differentials suggest the presence of large positive membership and coverage premia that are stronger at the bottom of the wage distribution in both private and public sectors. After controlling for other factors influencing wages, union asymmetries are no longer apparent in the private sector. When endogeneity of union membership is taken into account, the private sector union wage premium disappears, indicating that individuals positively select into unions. In contrast, the public sector total union wage premium remains significant – entirely due to a coverage effect; it is stronger at the bottom among males, while for females the premium is constant across workers and substantial over the whole period, reflecting the continuing strength of public sector unions. Once we control for endogeneity, the membership premium is nowhere significant; there is no free rider puzzle in the private sector, as there is no coverage premium, but the puzzle persists for the public sector.