Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing Urban Travel Patterns: An Analysis of Traffic Analysis Zone-Based Mobility Patterns

Information and communication technology development has yielded large-scale spatiotemporal datasets, such as mobile phone, automatic collection system, and car-hailing data, which have resulted in new opportunities to investigate urban transportation systems. However, few studies have focused on regional mobility patterns. This study presents a multistep method for exploring traffic analysis zone (TAZ)-based mobility patterns and the corresponding relations with local land use characteristics. Based on a large-scale mobile phone dataset from a major mobile phone operator in Beijing, we applied the K-means clustering algorithm to the hourly aggregated trip data to create clusters of TAZs with similar temporal mobility patterns. Land use characteristics were then derived and correlated with the temporal TAZ-based mobility patterns. Four clusters of TAZs with the similar patterns and intensities of urban activities during given time windows were identified. Land use indicators, such as residence and commercial and business area indicators, were correlated with specific temporal TAZ-based mobility patterns. The proposed multistep method could be applied in other cities to enrich relevant analyses and improve urban design and transportation planning.
Shocked into Service: Free Trade and the American South’s Military Burden

ABSTRACT Free trade has gradually shifted the burden of military service onto the American South. While trade shocks generally lead to local increases in US Army enlistment, there are two different regional dynamics that concentrate this effect in the South. First, trade-related job losses are disproportionately concentrated in this region, where manufacturing jobs gradually migrated during the second half of the twentieth century. Second, the South’s “military tradition,” a relatively youthful population, and weak labor unions, combine to translate trade shocks into larger spikes in Army enlistment than the rest of the country. This paper uses county-level data from 1996–2010 to demonstrate the importance of meso-level, regional factors for understanding the location of trade shocks, as well as how communities adjust to such economic dislocations. We find that trade-related job losses account for roughly 7% of the South’s over-representation in the Army during our period of study.
Systematic Reviews of Sport for Development Literature: Managerial and Policy Implications

Abstract This paper reports findings of two systematic reviews of Sport for Development (SfD) evidence, with a particular focus on managerial and policy implications. We suggest that the outcomes of the systematic reviews yield significant insights regarding the current state of the SfD literature, particularly with respect to the diversity of interventions, the importance of scale and context, and the general paucity of rigorous, empirical analyses. In turn, we propose that several managerial and policy implications and recommendations can be gleaned from these assessments, including the importance of an ongoing and even renewed commitment to theory and context, and critical considerations of the structure of the SfD field itself. We also use the results of the reviews to make suggestions about the importance of future research in this area, as well as the kind of research that is needed, in both policy and programming terms.
The impact of board composition on the level of ESG disclosures in GCC countries

This paper aims to investigate the impact of board composition on environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting in the Gulf countries. Despite the vast literature on the significance of ESG disclosure on firms’ performance, trust and reputation, there are relatively few studies on the influence of board structure on ESG disclosure in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Gulf countries are witnessing a fast growing capital markets and having serious efforts to attract foreign investments to divert their economies from the oil and gas reliance. This could be facilitated by illustrating firms’ good citizenship and communicating the fulfillment of their social obligation. ,The study examines publically listed companies between 2008 and 2017. Thomson Reuter’s database is used to collect the ESG disclosure scores and governance information. The authors apply multiple panel data regressions and sensitivity testing to ensure the robustness of the results. ,Examining publically listed companies for a 10-year period shows that higher board independence and female board participation facilitate the transmission of a firm’s positive image by improving social responsibility. Independent boards of directors and participation among women serve as catalysts to strike an effective balance between firms’ financial targets and social responsibilities. In contrast, boards chaired by chief executive officers are less supportive in executing a social agenda and consequently reporting their ESG activities. ,The results suggest that firms that appoint a sustainability and/or governance committee tend to engage in more impactful social and environmental activities and communicate their societal engagements more effectively. ,The paper recommends that policymakers, executives and shareholders in the GCC countries support board participation among women, independent directors and formation of sustainability committees to facilitate engaging in effectual social activities. ,Empirical evidence regarding the relationship between board composition and ESG disclosure in the Gulf countries is limited. Prior literature mainly provides results on developed countries in which the governance system is mature and well structured. This study provides useful evidence regarding the Gulf countries that lack privatization and where corporate boards tend to be dominated by families and governments.
Plural Inheritance Laws, Practices and Emergent Types of Property—Implications for Updating the Land Register

Sustaining up-to-date land registers in the global south is an increasing concern for the protection of tenure, development of land markets and long-term sustainable planning practices and policy. It requires both the prompt reporting of land transfers and also an alignment between prevailing land rights and official recording systems. The literature on land registration highlights some effects of inheritance practices on the land register and land development. Taking these studies a step further, our research investigates how such effects evolve from the rules that guide inheritance practices using a qualitative research approach. We found that normative practices of inheritance mostly lead to communal property through numerous processes which have implications on the timing and likelihood of possible registration. Also, we found that the significance of land and buildings in the social context transcends the physical property per se and includes dimensions of spirituality and social identity. Our findings explain the misalignment between the official and social logics of property and suggest likelihood of non-reporting. We conclude that flexibility is required in recording communal rights in rural areas and that the transition to individual property is more likely in peri-urban and urban areas where the social logics of property have broken.
Which Sectors Really Matter for a Resilient Chinese Economy? A Structural Decomposition Analysis

This study explores the structural effect of economic resilience with a case of China by examining the extent to which the major economic sectors contribute to the relative resilience of China’s overall economy. By applying a time series analysis, we use the Hodrick–Prescott filter to delineate China’s national economy on a quarterly basis and reveal different performances in responding to two recent economic crises in 1997 and 2008. Using quarterly data pertaining to eight economic sectors (including agriculture, industry, and major service sectors) and the national GDP from 1993Q1 to 2017Q2, we examine their effects on China’s economic resilience by simulating the responses of the national economy to a unit shock from each sector. Results show that the construction, real estate, and financial services have the greatest potential to “disturb” the national economy whereas the industrial sector has the greatest potential to “stabilize” it. The findings correspond with the understanding that extensive infrastructure development and the real estate boom have driven China’s rapid urban development and created economic prosperity, whereas the sectoral decomposition of economic resilience compels a critical reflection on the risks of this growth model.
Resisting the Culture of Poverty Narrative: Perspectives of Social Assistance Recipients

ABSTRACT The assumption that “welfare dependency” is passed from generation to generation is persistent in public attitudes. We explore intergenerational transmission of social assistance through perceptions of those in receipt of social assistance for more than one generation through data drawn from interviews with 31 participants from Hamilton, London and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We explore qualitatively the meanings participants assign to receipt of social assistance and their views of intergenerational transmission. Recipients were found to resist notions of intergenerational transmission for themselves, even as they use a deserving/undeserving standard to distinguish between responsible and irresponsible use of income support for others.
The Diminishing Hedging Role of Crude Oil: Evidence From Time Varying Financialization

Abstract Using daily data from 1999 to 2019, we document a diminishing hedging role that crude oil plays for the stock market as a result of growing financialization. With interest rates driven near zero after the crisis of 2007-2009 and the extreme volatility of oil prices, vector autoregressions (VARs) suggest larger roles of oil prices in explaining stock returns during the 2007-2009 crisis and afterwards. We also find increased co-movement between stock and oil during the post-crisis period. Our results indicate that more short positions in crude oil are required to hedge long positions in equity markets during the post-crisis period, i.e., it costs more to use crude oil investments as a hedging tool compared to pre-crisis period. Therefore, investors holding a mixed portfolio of stocks and oil enjoy lower diversification benefits.
Pricing for the Stars

Maintaining good ratings increases the profits of sellers on online platforms. We analyze the role of strategic pricing for ratings management in a setting where a monopolist sells a good of unknown quality. Higher prices reduce the value for money, which on average worsens reviews. However, higher prices also induce only those consumers with a strong taste for the product to purchase, which on average improves reviews. We provide conditions under which the latter effect dominates so that ratings management leads to an upward pressure on prices. This upward pressure increases in the sensitivity of the aggregate rating to incoming reviews. As a consequence, recent changes to rating systems may have harmed consumers by increasing long-run price levels.
Effect of Monascus Fermentation on Aroma Patterns of Semi-Dried Grass Carp

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of Monascus fermentation on the aroma pattern of semi-dried grass carp. Semi-dried fish was fermented using Monascus purpureus GDMCC3.439. The volatile flavor substances present in fresh fish, semi-dry fish and Monascus fermented semi-dried fish were compared by simultaneous distillation and extraction combined with gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The results showed that alcohols, aldehydes and ketones were the main components of the flavor of the unfermented and fermented semi-dried grass crap. Monascus fermentation could significantly affect the volatile flavor substances of semi-dried grass carp. Moreover, the processing of semi-dried fish fermented by Monascus could not only effectively improve the fishy smell of fresh fish, but also make up for the defect of the pickled flavor of semi-dried fish. Eighteen of the main volatile components in semi-dried fish fermented by Monascus were identified by relative odor activity value (ROAV), as follows: 1-octene-3-ol, phenylethanol, hexanal, heptanal, nonanal, (E)-2-octenal, 3-Methyl-1-butanal, benzaldehyde, (E)-2-nonenal, (E,E)-2,4-heptadienal, (E)-2-Decenal, phenylacetaldehyde, (E,E)-2.4-decadienal, tetradecanal, 2,3-butanone, 2,3-octanedione, alpha-pinene, 2-pentane furan.
Environmental performance and corporate cash holdings

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of environmental performance on corporate cash holdings. Following Cho and Patten (2007), we use ratings of bad environmental activities (i.e. environmental concerns) as the proxy for environmental performance. We rely on the agency motive of corporate cash holdings to predict a negative relation between environmental concerns and the level of cash. Using a 24-year panel sample with 22,724 observations representing 2,787 unique firms, we find that firms with worse environmental performance hold less cash, supporting the agency motive. Our results still hold after a battery of additional tests.
Food in Retailers’ Commercial Offer – Possibilities of Building Relationships with Consumers

The purpose of the article is to identify the possibility of building relationships with consumers in the area of shaping the food offer in retail trade. The subject of the article also concerns consumer needs and changes in their behaviors essential to building these relationships. A critical analysis of the literature of the subject and case study were used to implement the purpose of the article. A diagnosis of solutions implemented by retailers show that the scope and form of activities conducted in the area of building relationships with customers depends on the retail format. Relationships are mainly built on the basis of physical proximity, but also by referring to key consumer needs and trends in their behaviors (mainly “health”, “comfort”, “convenience”, and “new family model”). Retailers in the creation of the food offer refer to the needs of consumers as being related not only to selecting and buying food, but also to their future purchases.
Can an Increase of Infrastructure Spending Contribute to Higher Potential Output in the Medium and Longer Term?

This discussion on recent economic literature concerns some issues on potential output and related policy implications. It is not clear to what extent potential output growth has been affected by the recent crisis. Then the actual stabilization policies—based on the existence of output gaps and public debt sustainability—might not be appropriate to mitigate effectively cyclical fluctuations and to stimulate economic growth. The recent empirical evidence on the determinants of potential output—i.e. the origin of cyclical fluctuations—leads to a higher uncertainty on potential output measurement. Moreover the existing methods to estimate potential output present some weaknesses reducing reliability of the estimation results. Focusing on European case, the measure of potential output is considered as an useful guidance for policy. In particular, Stability and Growth Pact and Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union refer to the concepts of potential output, output gap and structural budget balance. Recently academics and some policy makers have criticized these measures and the related austerity policy because they worsened the economic situation. According to recent theoretical and empirical contributions it is important to rethink at the role of fiscal policy, focusing on fiscal stimulus and in particular on additional infrastructure spending because it can positively affect GDP as well as potential output. A part of this literature discusses extensively how public capital affects the economy. Under certain conditions such as a good institutional framework and sound projects, a higher spending on public infrastructure has a high economic impact.
Educational research in primary care in Portugal: the need for renewed effort now

family doctors do because this is the basis of the health care system. The questions that arise are what to teach and when to teach it. There has been a movement across Europe to introduce family medicine to all medical students at the beginning of their training in Early Clinical Exposure programs. A recent survey of teachers conducted by the European Academy of Teachers of Family Medicine (EURACT) shows how widespread these programs are. We need to look at this issue in Portuguese medical schools, to assess what is being taught and when, to see how this influences the attitudes of our medical students to family medicine, and perhaps even their career choices. All medical schools in Portugal have clinical rotations in Family Medicine for senior medical students. These programs may differ in their content and duration and we need to explore those differences. There also commonalities that reflect the universal elements of primary care. A mixed qualitative and quantitative study of what medical students value in their education in primary proved to be a valuable exercise for the school conducting the study and to other quoting this paper and applying these lessons. This exercise could certainly be replicated to good effect here. A controversial aspect of many teaching and training programs is the issue of the assessment methods used to determine if the teaching objectives of the program were met. Assessment methods are often bound up in tradition and culture, often in conflict with existing research evidence. For example, vocational training in Portugal uses a labour-intensive, time-consuming assessment process relying in part on oral examinations. Studies on oral examinations show that they lack validity and reliability and measure other things we may not wish to study like speech fluency. Perhaps the vocational training schemes in this country are interested in exploring newer more efficient assessment methods *Associate Professor, Community Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Minho John Yaphe* Educational research in primary care in Portugal: the need for renewed effort now
Fossil carbon fraction of industrial waste incineration and optimal cycle for measurement

This study aimed to measure the fossil carbon fraction in industrial waste incineration facilities to determine its characteristics and the optimal time cycle for measurement. The analysis of the fossil carbon fraction in the industrial waste incineration facilities in Korea showed that the fraction in industrial waste incineration facility A was in the range of 51.58–68.18%, while the fraction in industrial waste incineration facility B was in the range of 40.00–64.66%. In this study, it was shown that a non-parametric method of statistical analysis was most suitable for the data of fossil carbon fraction in the industrial waste incineration facilities. The Kruskal–Wallis test indicated the same distribution of the mean for the monthly, quarterly, semiannual, and annual data from both industrial waste incineration facilities, suggesting that the optimal cycle for measuring fossil carbon fraction in the industrial waste incineration facilities is the annual cycle, corresponding to the longest cycle for measurement. This study provided fundamental data of fossil carbon fraction in industrial waste incineration facilities that can be used as a reference for emission estimation. Additionally, the significance of the study includes suggesting a statistical method for determining the optimal cycle for the measurement of fossil carbon fraction and having determined the optimal cycle.
Migrant Workers in Beijing: How Hometown Ties Affect Economic Outcomes

Migrant networks have long been regarded as helpful for facilitating migration and assimilation. However, research examining the influence of migrant networks on labour market outcomes for migrants has provided mixed results. This article investigates the impact of hometown ties on migrants’ labour market outcomes in the context of Chinese internal migration, by utilizing data from migrants in Beijing to perform statistical analyses of income and informal employment (i.e. employment without legal documents). After adjusting for the potential bias that results from the workers’ self-selectivity into the use of hometown ties in finding jobs, the analyses show that the hourly income of migrants is lower if they depend on hometown ties to find jobs. Also, migrants who rely on hometown ties for jobs are more likely to be informally employed, which has a detrimental effect on their overall welfare.
Ethnic Consumer Markets and Movie Marketing: An Empirical Study on Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’ and Predictive Analytics of Ethnic Consumer Behavior of Moviegoers

The purpose of this study was to examine the movie, Marvel’s Black Panther and the predictive analytics of ethnic consumer behavior of moviegoers We examined box office receipts and trends on movies and box office successful films. The problem identified as a basis for this study is to examining marketing strategy and tactics of movie marketing in terms of traditional and non-traditional media strategy to moviegoers. This study is a continuation of the researchers' prior research on movie marketing and strategy and regression model predicting box office revenue. The overall objective of this research is threefold. First objective we examine what are the key ad variables that influence movie goers to see the movie. Second, the objective examined, how many key ad factors are a major influence on movie goers to see the movie. Last, the objective examined was how many key ad variables were an influence both online and offline ticket sales to see the movie. The study sample was taken across the country. We used a three-step process in the research design. This study had a protocol of studies. First, researchers conducted a pilot study with a (N = 147) moviegoers. Second, the formal was conducted on a larger size sample (N = 372) of moviegoers. The researchers used three statistical test designs: (a) descriptive statistics; (b) principle component analysis (PCA); and a (c) structural equation modeling (SEM). The results revealed two key findings. First, there were three factors that influence movie goers of the Black Panther movie: (1) Combination PR Activities; (2) Traditional Movie Marketing Ads and (3) Current and Future Movie Preferences. Second, we found that using the movie ad variables as endogenous variables, they were strong influences on moviegoer frequency. The use of social media to get information about movies was prevalent in the data.
Optimal green energy source selection: An eclectic decision

Various researchers have suggested many qualitative and quantitative criteria for green energy management, which are mostly operational in nature and specific to a particular application. The main aim of this investigation is to develop an innovative integrated analytical framework as a benchmark for selecting the optimal green energy source under various sustainable dimensions. Nine major areas likely; energy management, source selection, environmental dimension, social dimension, economic dimension, technical dimension, institutional dimension, sustainability and importance measurement have been considered for this study. The proposed framework for green energy source selection is relatively innovative as the various key factors are integrated for sustainability level of constructs (environmental, social, economic, technical and institutional) with expert judgment levels (both strategic and tactic). The framework helps to identify the optimum green energy source (solar energy) for cleaner future using analytical hierarchy process. The research can potentially help energy managers, policy makers as well as decision makers to measure and improve the utilization of green energy sources for sustainable future.