Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A novel low-temperature NO removal approach with •OH from catalytic decomposition of H2O2 over La1-xCaxFeO3 oxides

Background In industrial boilers, the flue gas temperature was below 200 °C. The activated temperatures of conventional NO removal approach such as SCR was over 300 °C, limiting its application in industrial boilers. In this study, a novel low-temperature NO removal approach with hydroxyl radicals (•OH) from catalytic decomposition of H2O2 over La1-xCaxFeO3 oxides (x = 0, 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5) was proposed. With respect to four as-prepared catalysts, the catalytic performance was presented and the mechanism was proposed. Results The catalytic activities of LaFeO3 was higher than the other three catalysts, achieving 89.9% of NO removal efficiency under the optimal operation condition. With the Ca stoichiometry increased, the surface hydroxyl group density and the oxygen vacancy concentration increased while the changes of specific surface area was not monotonic. With respect to the as-prepared catalysts, the oxygen vacancy played a main and negative role in •OH generation and NO removal. The oxygen vacancy accelerated the catalytic decomposition of H2O2 but not generated •OH. The main N-contained products after oxidation were NO2 and HNO3. Conclusion This study demonstrated the high activity of LaFeO3 oxides in NO removal and elucidated the correlation between surface property and catalytic performance.
The Impact of Genetic Diversity of Executive Board Directors on Corporate Misconduct: Evidence from US Banks

We examine the link between the genetic diversities of executive board members and bank financial misconduct. The premise is that genetic diversity results in different perspectives, skills, and abilities that impact on the effectiveness of executive board guidance and monitoring, including with respect to misconduct. Employing a panel of US banks over 1998-2019 we find that adding directors from countries with different levels of genetic diversity is negatively associated with financial misconduct as measured by enforcements and class action litigation against banks by the main regulatory agencies. In addition, the relation between genetic diversity and misconduct is hump-shaped, suggesting that there a trade-off between the beneficial and detrimental effects of genetic diversity on board monitoring and guidance. These results are robust to controlling for bank specific variables, including other board characteristics, and to the use of instrumental variables.
Strategic Default and Tunneling by Firms: An Empirical Investigation

Strategic default by firms remains a global concern. Although the theoretical literature studies this phenomenon, empirical evidence is scant as data categorizing defaults as strategic or distress-driven is unavailable. We use unique data from India to investigate how firms that strategically default on their debt differ ex-ante in their behavior from distress-driven defaulters. We find that strategic defaulters tunnel cash by making large loans to related parties and these loans are significant ex-ante predictors of strategic default as against distress default. Strategic defaulters make these loans despite their own need for external financing. Further, these loans carry lower rates of interest and are repaid over significantly longer periods than loans made by distress defaulters and non-defaulters. Thus, the magnitude and contractual features of related party loans contain information on the giver’s intent to strategically default on external debt.
Seasonal Anomalies

This chapter is a survey of seasonal anomalies. Ziemba has been involved in the re- search and trading of such anomalies as the January turn-of-the-year effect since 1982. His research plus that of other academics plus the very useful practitioner research of Yale Hirsch’s Stock Trader’s Almanac starting in 1972 is reviewed. (We academics reference Hirsch but the Hirsches operate in a closed economy, not referencing others.) The discussion begins with an assessment of why the seasonal anomalies are so controversial but valuable and discusses some survey papers and books. Then beginning with the seminal anomaly, the January small firm effect, we discuss various other anomalies and their use in strategies including the construction of seasonality calendars that rank the various trading days of the year. The treatment is selective not exhaustive of this huge topic and does not cover all topics such as weekend and daily effects.
Trust in Islamic Business-to-Business Relationships: Evidence from Indonesia

We explore the role of trust in Islamic culture in business to business relationship by exploring the link between bank managers’ trust in business customers and their financing decision. In line with our expectations based on the fact that Islamic culture is characterized by a collectivistic approach, weak rule of law, and clan-based social structure, we find that value-based trust is more important than competence-based trust. Moreover, we find that these results are amplified in the case of small organizations. These results support the argument that business relationships in Islamic culture ground more on principles, values, norms that a partner bring into the relationship than in its business skills. Our results are robust to endogeneity and multilevel issues.
Does GDP Manipulation Affect the Cost of Equity?

We use satellite night lights data to estimate the extent of provincial-level gross domestic product (GDP) manipulation in China and show that firms located in provinces with greater GDP manipulation have higher cost of equity. This effect is significant for local state-owned enterprises (SOEs) only; furthermore, it is more pronounced when local government officials face greater promotion pressure and when institutional ownership is lower. We also document a negative association between future earnings and GDP manipulation. Overall, our findings suggest that Chinese local governments intervene in local SOEs’ decisions to manipulate GDP figures which may cost shareholders.
Covariance Forecasting Methods for Dynamic Asset Allocation

The focus of this work involves a comparison of the performance of a covariance regression model (CovReg) and a vector heterogeneous autoregressive (VHAR) model for the development of a dynamic portfolio allocation framework in equity index strategies. The performance of each method is assessed based on various statistical and financial metrics such as Mean Square Error (MSE), Sharpe ratio, Omega, Sortino, and maximum draw-down. The forecast covariance matrices from each class of model are used to establish a global minimum variance (GVM) class of strategies for the asset allocation in the asset universe of global equity indices. To enhance these dynamic allocation methods further, we also incorporate a machine learning methodology based on early stopping which is used to reduce over-fitting and potentially protect against strategy sensitivities that result in practical shortcomings such as portfolio churn and frequent large re-balancing costs.
Aggressive Boards and CEO Turnover

This study investigates a communication game between a CEO and a board of directors where the CEO's career concerns can potentially impede value-increasing informative communication. By adopting a policy of aggressive boards (excessive replacement), shareholders can facilitate communication between the CEO and the board. The results are in contrast to the multitude of models which generally find that management-friendly boards improve communication, and help to explain empirical results concerning CEO turnover. The results also provide the following novel predictions concerning variation in CEO turnover: (i) there is greater CEO turnover in firms or industries where CEO performance is relatively more difficult to assess; (ii) the board is more aggressive in their replacement of the CEO in industries or firms where the board's advisory role is more salient; and (iii) there is comparatively less CEO turnover in firms or industries where the variance of CEO talent is high.
Secondary Education, Economic Growth and Finance

The purpose of this research is to determine the relationship among education, education finance and economic growth on the basis of secondary education. In the research, the number of students enrolled in secondary education is the indicator of education, net government education expenditures per student is the education finance variable and per capita GDP is the growth variable. The research included on 30 countries participating in the PISA 2015 exam. The data cover between the years 1998-2015. Since the study has unit and time data, panel model was preferred and cointegration test was applied. DOLS and FMOLS methods were used to estimate the coefficients. Our findings suggest, there is a negative relationship between education and education finance across the panel. However, there is a mutual positive relationship between 'finance and growth' and 'education and growth'. In countries that have higher scores than the OECD average, the situation is the same as that of the overall panel. In countries that have lower scores than the OECD average, it has been obtained no relationship between growth and education. According to the results we get before the crisis of 2008, education finance affects both education and economic growth negatively. At the same time economic growth only has a positive effect on education finance. Likewise, we were found a positive relationship between education finance and economic growth after the crisis of 2008. This relationship is mutually positive. This study contributes to do relevant literature on the fact that secondary education is financed by the public, reducing the inequality of opportunity in education and contributing to human capital positively affecting economic growth.
Heterogeneous Policy Distortions and the Labor Share

I develop an extension of the neoclassical growth model in which firms are heterogeneous both in terms of labor share and productivity. In this model, distortions in the allocation of resources across firms can impact the labor share of national income. Using administrative firm-level data to calibrate the model, I show in particular that a removal of policies reducing the output price of more productive firms can generate a sizable decrease in the aggregate labor share (between 1 and 4 percentage points). My results suggest that the recent decline in the global labor share of income is both qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with an improvement in resource allocation across firms.
Did Expected Credit Loss (ECL) fair for Banks in COVID-19?

In this paper, we explore the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the accounting practices associated with the ECL approach by PSAK 71. Given the complexity of the pandemic, the neutral application of existing accounting standards is of more importance than ever as it ensures objective decision-useful information that serves comparability, maintenance of a level playing field and transparency. Worldwide interventions by banking regulators, however, have considerable potential to interfere with these fundamental contributions of financial statements. The result is that for banks under PSAK 71 it is not even entirely clear what assessments banks can and will use in their calculations estimating the effects of COVID-19.
A Peace Baby Boom? Evidence from Colombia’s Peace Agreement

Violent environments affect household fertility choices, demand for health services and health outcomes of newborns. Using administrative data from Colombia and a difference-in-differences strategy, we study how the end of the 5-decade long conflict with the FARC insurgency affected fertility outcomes in areas traditionally affected by FARC’s violence relative to the rest of the country. We find that, after the start of a permanent ceasefire in December 2014, Colombia’s secular reduction of the total fertility rate slowed down in treated municipalities. In particular, the aggregate fertility rate differentially increased in these areas by 2.6 percent. The differential increase in fertility rates is larger in municipalities with higher levels of landmine victims and expelled internally displaced people at baseline, and it is not driven by the behavior of any particular age-specific fertility rate. We interpret this evidence as consistent with an increased optimism to raise children in a better environment.
Home Location Choices and the Gender Commute Gap

Using administrative records of home mortgages in Beijing, we show that dual-income households systematically choose to buy homes that are closer to the wife’s workplace. The wife’s commute from the newly purchased home is on average 11% shorter by distance than the husband’s. We estimate a discrete home location choice model and find that households derive substantially larger disutility from the wife’s commute than from the husband’s. Through the lens of a simple collective household model, we show evidence that the gender commute gap reflects the intra-household division of labor and relative bargaining power.
Should Developed Economies Manage International Capital Flows? An Empirical and Welfare Analysis

At least since the euro area sovereign debt crisis, it is evident that country risk premium shocks have adverse economic effects, not only in emerging economies, but advanced economies as well. Using a Bayesian Panel Vector Autoregression model, we find that increases in the risk premium lower output under monetary union, yet not in countries with flexible exchange rates and independent monetary policies. We study the transmission mechanism in a two-country New Keynesian model and show that capital controls substantially attenuate the effects of risk premium shocks. However, the welfare gain of imposing capital controls hinges on the nature of the shock and the prevailing exchange rate regime.
Changing Consumer Behavior: Segmenting Consumers to Understand Them Better

Retailing has undergone transformation since the last decade. There has been lot of closure of retail stores which had been successful in the past. The closure of the stores are related to low footfalls in the stores. This is due to the change in the consumer behavior in the present day. Consumers have a choice to shop in any retail store as the number of stores started to multiply. It is a matter of concern to keep the consumers loyal to a store. It is important to understand consumer behavior to design proper strategies and make crucial decisions. Understanding customer behavior and psychology helps segment the customers into segments based on their attitudes and buying behavior. Segmentation helps design proper segments for better policies for the target customers. The researcher here uses psychographic segmentation and behavioral segmentation variables to segment customers of a retail store. Attitudes of customer towards the store assortment, instore service, value added service, store environment, satisfaction level, store patronage and loyalty are used to segment the customers. Cluster analysis was used to segment the customers based on their responses.
Propagation of Positive Effects of Postdisaster Policies through Supply Chains: Evidence from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

This study evaluates the impact of “group subsidies,” a policy intervention to repair and reinstall damaged capital goods and facilities of small and medium-sized enterprises after the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami. In addition to their direct effect on firms that received the subsidies, we estimate their indirect effect on firms that did not receive the subsidies but were linked with recipient firms through supply chains. Employing a propensity score matching and analysis of variance approach, we find a positive effect of the subsidies on small recipient firms’ postdisaster sales and employment. We also find a positive indirect effect of the group subsidies on firms in disaster-hit prefectures that did not receive any group subsidy but were linked through supply chains with a recipient firm. Our results indicate the propagation of postdisaster policy effects through supply chains, which are often ignored in the academic literature and the policymaking arena.
PILOT STUDIES ON OZONE-BIOLOGICAL ACTIVATED CARBON PROCESS FOR TREATING MICRO-POLLUTED RAW WATER IN HUANGPUJIANG RIVER

A pilot study was done on the mechanism and performance to remove pollutants using ozone-biological activated carbon(O3-BAC) process.The results showed that removal rates were 24% for CODMn,35% for UV254,31% for trihalomethane formation potential,and 63% for AOC.Moreover,the process had a broad-spectrum effect in removing organic matter with various molecular weight distributions.On one hand,the O3-BAC process can effectively remove organic pollutants and disinfection by-product precursors,reduce chlorine dose,and decrease disinfection by-products,to ensure chemical safety in drinking water.On the other hand,the O3-BAC process can remarkably reduce the concentration of assimilable organic carbon(AOC),to enhance biological stability in drinking water.
Crowdfunding Strategy with Word-of-Mouth Communication

Bank financing is a traditional source of capital for small businesses, whereas crowdfunding has recently emerged as an alternative fund-raising solution to support innovative ideas and entrepreneurial ventures. We investigate the equilibrium relationship between a firm's funding choice and word-of-mouth (WOM) communication among consumers, and its consequent impact on product quality, consumer surplus, and social welfare. Depending on what kind of information is transferred via social interactions, we look at two types of WOM: informative (where WOM expands awareness of the product in the retail market) and learning (where WOM helps consumers to learn the product's true quality in the crowdfunding market). We find that more active WOM communication always benefits the firm and favors crowdfunding adoption. However, product quality may either increase or decrease as WOM expands. More importantly, consumer surplus and social welfare always increase in informative WOM, but may decrease in learning WOM. Lastly, expansion of the crowdfunding platform (i.e., attracting more consumers as platform users) always enhances the value of crowdfunding under informative WOM, but it could discourage crowdfunding adoption under learning WOM.
Upward Pricing Pressure in Oligopoly With Competitive Fringe

Farrell and Shapiro (F&amp;S, 2010) proposed an Upward Pricing Pressure (UPP) approach to merger screening between two symmetrical firms. According to them, this UPP approach is more practical than concentration-based methods. However, it fails because it does not incorporate all the theoretical effects which set the price. This article sets out to close two specific gaps in the UPP. First, the case of the industry which has a set of firms with asymmetric costs is addressed. Mathiesen et al. (2012) show that UPP screening could present a false-positive in asymmetric cases. To correct this, the study includes a competitive fringe in the feedback effects, and thereby rectifies the symmetric and asymmetric effects in pricing pressure. Second, when the asymmetric effect comes from only dominant side, the lack of representativeness of demand is then addressed. The study shows that the model presented by F&amp;S is valid only for cases where the elasticity of demand is unitary. If that is not the case, the original model is biased. Finally, after filling both gaps, the validity of the relevant-market term in industrial organization is discussed and was concluded to be out of date. For the authors, the regulator just needs to set a channel between products in a convex set to establish a merger screening.
Foreign Direct Investment, Military Expenditure and Foreign Aid in Sub-Saharan Africa (Panel Data Analysis)

In this study, we tried to see the impact of military expenditure and foreign aid on foreign direct investment in Sub-Saharan Africa using a panel data analysis. Based on the results obtained from the fixed effect estimation model, Net Official Development Assistance (ODA) can increase the inflow of foreign direct investment in Sub-Saharan African countries. Military expenditure can also increase the inflow of FDI. The result from the estimation is aligned with the argument of some researchers (like Anyanwu (2012) and Jakobsen (2010)) that foreign aid and military expenditure can increase the inflow of foreign direct investment to developing countries, including Sub-Saharan African countries.
The Financial Determinants of Corporate Cash Holdings: Does Shariah-Compliance Matter?

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the difference between the determinants of cash holdings of shariah-compliant and non-shariah-compliant firms, for non-financial corporations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). <br><br>Methodology: The data includes all non-financial firms listed in six GCC markets over the period 2005 to 2016. The Ideal Ratings database is used to identify shariah-compliant firms in the GCC. To examine the determinants of cash holdings, static model is used. To confirm the applicability of the method applied, the Breusch-Pagan Lagrange Multiplier (LM) and Hausman (1978) are employed to choose the most efficient and consistent static panel regression. <br><br>Findings: The Results show that, for shariah-complaint firms, the relevant determinants of cash holdings are leverage, profitability, capital expenditure, and net working capital. For non-shariah-compliant firms, the only relevant determinants of cash holdings are leverage and net working capital. The findings suggest that cash holding decisions of shariah-complaint firms can be best explained using the pecking order theory. This reveals that shariah-compliant firms use liquid assets as their first financing option since, due to the shariah regulations. <br><br>Research limitations/implications: Future studies may investigate the optimal levels of cash holdings and compare the adjustment speeds toward target cash holdings of both the shariah-compliant firms and their conventional counterparts. <br><br>Originality/value: This study is the first to investigate the difference between the determinants of cash holdings of shariah-compliant and non-shariah-compliant firms.
Co-Creation Experience of Customers and Brand Loyalty

The intent of this study is to investigate the relationship between co-creation experience and two-dimensional (attitudinal and behavioral) brand loyalty and to validate the six dimensional co-creation experience scale in the hotel and restaurant services business settings. The analysis is done on 200 regular customers’ usable responses of some renowned hotels and restaurants of Pakistan collected using survey-based approach. All dimensions of co-creation experience are found to be valid and reliable measures of co-creation experience. In path model, the significant relationship of co-creation experience to behavioral and attitudinal loyalty is found. This study is contributing contextually and theoretically, by validating the dimensions of co-creation experience in a new contextual settings and investigating an unexplored path model of co-creation experience with two dimensional brand loyalties. This study has significant managerial implications since it is suggesting managers to employ co-creation strategies with greater confidence during customer engagement to gain brand loyalty.