Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reflecting on Islamic Development Process and Sen's Capabilities Approach

This paper aims to develop a novel Islamic development framework based on a rigorous critical discourse analysis of Islamic development process and Sen’s capabilities approach. The framework explains how human wellbeing is formed by the system objectives as knowledge, work, and social welfare through enabled freedom, and functioning. Sens’s Capabilities Approach (CA) provides an important theoretical framework while reflecting upon Islamic development. Development in the context of Sen’s CA is not measured through mere rise in income per capita, or increase in consumption, health and education measurements but as an expansion of choices and capability, which focuses on value judgement made explicitly but in many cases through engagement of public debate. This approach to development refrain from providing a set of fix dimensions to measure development like approach to development in Islam; hence comparison between these two approaches to development can be easily established. A unified framework based on both Sen’s CA and Islamic development can inform a policy that is normatively desirable and positively pragmatic.
The Public Corporation - Friend or Foe of Professional Ethics? Ownership and Ethics in Securities Brokerage

Professions have long debated the desirability of outside investment and public ownership in particular. The traditional view holds that outside investors undermine professional ethics, and this fear underpins bans on public ownership. Others argue such restrictions are a way to reduce competition and that public ownership may improve adherence to professional ethics. I address this debate both conceptually and empirically. Conceptually, I develop several arguments both “for” and “against” public ownership and its effect on professionally ethical behavior. I also identify hypotheses to distinguish among these various arguments. Empirically, I test the hypotheses by assessing the incidence of professionally unethical behavior in the US securities industry across different ownership modes. I measure unethical behavior with a database of broker-client disputes resolved through arbitration. Using models with firm fixed effects to partially mitigate endogeneity concerns, I find that transitions to public ownership are followed by higher rates of ethical violations. Additional findings suggest the adverse effect on ethical behavior arises either because of public investors’ short-term preferences or the visibility of public firms’ performance. The results suggest that the regulators of a profession might indeed want to be cautious about liberalizing ownership rules or at least design disclosure and monitoring policies that acknowledge a greater risk of ethical violations at public firms. Public ownership should also be investigated as a predictor of organizational misconduct more broadly.
Understanding Macroeconomic Disagreement

We propose a new measure of macroeconomic disagreement, using dispersions of forecasts of a wide range of financial, activity and inflation variables from both household and professional surveys at various frequencies. With a mixed-frequency state-space model, we construct macroeconomic disagreement estimates of the one-year ahead expected state of the economy. Impulse responses show disagreement shocks lead to a contraction in economic activity, and monetary policy expansion reduces disagreement, implying that endogenous disagreement is an additional channel for countercyclical monetary policy.
Drivers and Sources of Supply Flexibility: An Exploratory Study

Purpose - There has been much research on manufacturing flexibility, but supply chain flexibility is still an under-investigated area. This paper focuses on supply flexibility, the aspects of flexibility related to the upstream supply chain. Our purpose is to investigate why and how firms increase supply flexibility. Methodology/Approach - An exploratory multiple case study was conducted. We analyzed seven Spanish manufacturers from different sectors (automotive, apparel, electronics and electrical equipment). Findings - The results show that there are some major reasons why firms need supply flexibility (manufacturing schedule fluctuations, JIT purchasing, manufacturing slack capacity, low level of parts commonality, demand volatility, demand seasonality and forecast accuracy), and that companies increase this type of flexibility by implementing two main strategies: "to increase suppliers' responsiveness capability" and "flexible sourcing". The results also suggest that the supply flexibility strategy selected depends on two factors: the supplier searching and switching costs and the type of uncertainty (mix, volume or delivery). Research limitations - This paper has some limitations common to all case studies, such as the subjectivity of the analysis, and the questionable generalizability of results (since the sample of firms is not statistically significant). Implications - Our study contributes to the existing literature by empirically investigating which are the main reasons for companies needing to increase supply flexibility, how they increase this flexibility, and suggesting some factors that could influence the selection of a particular supply flexibility strategy.
Do Physiological and Spiritual Factors Affect Economic Decisions?

We examine the effects of physiology and spiritual sentiment on economic decision-making in the context of Ramadan, an entire lunar month of daily fasting and increased spiritual reflection in the Muslim faith. Using an administrative data set of bank loans originated in Turkey during 2003-2013, we find that small business loans originated during Ramadan are 12 to 17 percent more likely to become delinquent within two years of origination. We find no Ramadan effect for personal loans which are mostly automated, or large business loans where approval decisions are made by credit committees. Loans originated in hot summer Ramadans, when adverse physiological effects of fasting are greatest, and those approved by the busiest bank branches perform worse. Charitable lending does not appear to be a key driver of the Ramadan effect. Despite their worse performance, Ramadan loans have lower credit spreads.
Cooperation or Collusion? Rents in Relational Contracts for Teams

We consider relational contracts for teams in which the agents monitor each other. We demonstrate that providing rents to the agents strengthens peer sanction endowed within the agents' ongoing relationship, which may have a negative effect to induce unproductive collusion as well as a positive effect to establish a productive working practice. An optimal relational contract could establish cooperation through peer monitoring even under relative performance evaluation, which outperforms working environments operated by a multitasking single agent. Our result also suggests an implication on how privately observed individual signals should be aggregated to a commonly observed team signal.
Volatility and Dispersion of Hourly Electricity Contracts on the Epex Spot Continuous Intraday Market

In the past few years, the trading volume has steadily increased on the continuous intraday market of EPEX Spot, one of Europe's most important exchanges for short-term electricity trading. This is to a significant extent due to renewable energies in the form of solar and wind power, whereby interday trading is particularly well suited for the rebalancing of such energy production. We analyze the volatility and dispersion of individual hourly contracts, taking into account the particularities of the market, due to which the standard volatility measure from financial time series cannot be applied. We suggest and analyze five measures for the dispersion of intraday prices for a single contract. The different measures are similarly well suited for electricity contracts. We then identify fundamental drivers of price fluctuations. The relative share of wind in the overall mix, the traded volume, the absolute difference between the day-ahead auction price, and the volume-weighted intraday price increase dispersion. The traded volume between the German market and a foreign market decreases dispersion.
Shadow Economy Index for Moldova and Romania 2015-2016

This report presents estimates of the size of the shadow economy in Moldova and Romania during the years 2015-2016. The estimates are based on surveys of entrepreneurs in both countries, following the method of Putniņš and Sauka (2015). The components of the shadow economy captured by this approach include misreported business income, unregistered or hidden employees, and ‘envelope’ wages. Our estimates indicate that the size of the shadow economy in Moldova and Romania was approximately 29.7% and 33.3% of GDP in 2016, respectively. In both countries the estimated size of the shadow economy decreased in 2016 compared to 2015: in Moldova only slightly (0.1%) and in Romania by 2.3%. The contraction is mainly driven by a small decrease in underreporting of business income, which is the largest component of the shadow economy in both economies.
Effects of recent ecosystem changes on the recruitment of young-of-the-year fish in western Lake Erie

We compared the variability in forage fish recruitment over the last 27 years against major ecological changes that occurred in Lake Erie over the same time period. During a period of high adult walleye abundance and declining phosphorus loading (1976-1982), we observed a decline in the abundance of later hatching forage fish species (e.g., July) and those species that did not shift their diets from zooplankton to benthos during the summer of their life. During years of high young-of-the-year (YOY) white perch abundance (1983-1990), forage fishes whose hatching dates and (or) diet overlapped with YOY white perch declined in abundance. When the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) became abundant (1991-1995), most forage fishes showed no change in abundances. Given a YOY's ability to switch to benthos during summer, the date on which this occurred was determined by a combination of zooplankton abundance and fish size. Hence, the dates individual taxa of fish hatch relative to seasonal cycles of zooplankton abundance and the size at which they can undergo an ontogenetic diet shift to benthos and (or) fish could be influencing fish growth and recruitment and need to be incorporated into YOY recruitment models. Resume : Nous avons compare la variabilite du recrutement des poissons fourrage depuis 27 ans en regard des principales modifications ecologiques survenues dans le lac Erie durant le meme laps de temps. Pendant une periode de forte abondance de dore jaune adulte et de baisse de la charge en phosphore (1976-1982), nous avons observe une baisse de l'abondance des especes fourrage a eclosion tardive (p.ex. juillet) et des especes qui ne passaient pas d'une alimentation zooplanctonique a une alimentation benthique pendant l'ete. Pendant les annees de forte abondance des jeunes de l'annee de baret (1983-1990), les poissons fourrage dont les dates d'eclosion et/ou la nourriture recoupaient celles des jeunes barets ont accuse une baisse de l'abondance. Quand la moule zebree (Dreissena polymorpha )a commence a abonder (1991-1995), on n'a observe aucun changement de l'abondance chez la plupart des especes fourrage. Etant donne que les jeunes de l'annee peuvent passer a une alimentation benthique pendant l'ete, la date d'occurrence de ce phenomene a ete determinee par une combinaison de l'abondance du zooplancton et de la taille des poissons. En consequence, les dates d'eclosion des divers taxons de poissons par rapport aux cycles saisonniers d'abondance du zooplancton, et la taille a laquelle ils peuvent subir le passage ontogenique a l'alimentation benthique et (ou) piscivore, pourraient influer sur la croissance et le recrutement, et doivent etre integrees aux modeles du recrutement des jeunes de l'annee.
Civilization in Color: The Multicultural City in Three Millennia

How should democratic societies and the cities that propel them respond to increased social diversity? Surprisingly few studies compare cities on their capacity to manage social diversity or offer historical views of the bases for co‐existence among identity groups. Studies of this crucial theme that do offer comparative reach are limited to higher‐level analyses (e.g., of race and nation making in the modern global order) or partial views (e.g., of economic inequality by race or ethnic politics in contemporary cities). This study, an exercise in theory building, examines three large, history‐making, and famously diverse cities that relied on distinct designs for society to accommodate diversity: ancient Rome, medieval Cordoba, and contemporary Los Angeles. Comparisons across such huge spans of time and major culture shifts yield lessons obscured in current debates over inequality, multiculturalism, or the need for tolerance. Three of the most important lessons relate to the power of integrative societal projects much larger than cities; the co‐existence throughout history of separatism or cultural mosaic patterns alongside active cross‐cultural exchange and hybridization; and the need to bound pluralistic ideals within a strong, locally viable public order. In earlier periods of history, autocracy provided such order for standout pluralist cities and the civilizations they led. Come, come whoever you are. Ours is not a caravan of despair. —Rumi, 13th‐century Persian poet
Biological control of Aphis fabae and Bemisia tabaci by the native isolates of Beauveria bassiana in Kerman province

In this research, we isolated the pathogenic strain, KB512, of entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana from soil and insects, which produced aerial and submerged conidia and blastospores in the laboratory conditions. We investigated the best conditions for the production and utilisation of the spore suspension to spray Aphis fabae and Bemisia tabaci, which are two important pests in Kerman province (Iran). The pathogenicity test was carried out with direct spray. To bioassay the isolates, three concentrations of the spore suspension were prepared as follows: 1 × 108, 1 × 107 and 1 × 106 conidia/ml. The pests were sprayed by aerial conidial suspension, which was prepared by 0.01% Tween-80 in distilled water, and the controls were sprayed by 0.01% Tween-80 in distilled water. After spraying the pests, the plates were incubated at 25 ± 1°C and 80% of relative humidity. Then the treated pests were monitored every day for the fungal growth and mortality. After nine days, mortality in the insects treated with 1 × 108 conidia/ml was 42.4% and 34% for Aphis fabae and Bemisia tabaci, respectively. Nowadays, biological control methods, especially the use of microbial agents, are believed to be environmentally friendly and safe for non-target organisms. Therefore, such biological agents can be mass produced to control the pests.
Non-Uniform Nested Simulation Algorithms in Portfolio Risk Measurement

In this paper we deal with the computational burden for estimating quantile based risk measures such as Valueat- Risk using Monte Carlo simulation. The estimator is a conditional expectation type estimator where two stage simulation are needed to compute the risk measure : an outer simulation for risk factors and inner simulation are used to reprice the portfolio conditioned on the risk factors. We propose a new set of algorithm based on a non uniform distribution of the computational budget between risk factors scenarios. The algorithms give more importance to scenario that are more likely to have a direct impact on the value of the estimator. At the end, we demonstrate using simple experimental settings that our set of algorithm outperforms the uniform one and results in a lower variance and bias with the same initial settings and resources.
The Impact of Global Financial Crisis on Japan's Construction Industry

We investigate the role of financial ratios in Japan’s construction firms in explaining the propagation of financial shocks during the 2007 to 14 financial crisis. For our analysis, we applied the new approach of contagion test developed by Fry-McKibbin et al (2016) to test for contagion effect from the US stock market to 47 Japan’s construction firms. To investigate how the crisis spreads, the crisis severity index is constructed to measure how vulnerable the Japan’s construction industry are to financial crisis. The empirical result shows all 47 Japan’s individual construction firms were affected by financial crisis. More specifically, about 23% of the construction market was significantly affected. At the firm level, construction firms with poor profitability, turnover, leverage ratios prior to the crisis were more strongly affected by the crisis. This research contributes to the Japan’s construction firm performance literature by demonstrating the contingent effect of external economic conditions.
Financial inclusion, at what cost? : Quantification of economic viability of a supply side roll out

The paper focuses on supply side funding gaps inherent to financial inclusion schemes that threaten their efficacy and sustainability. We model the double bind problem that providers of banking services for the poor face as they struggle to achieve economies of scale to drive down average fixed financial infrastructure costs, while average account balances are low due to insufficient income. This model is applied to the Prime Minister Jan-Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) financial inclusion scheme in India, that was started in 2014. An innovative approach based on cross sectional bank level data from 2014 till 2017 is used to quantify the incentives and costs involved in targeting unbanked households. This gives a monetary estimate of the economic shortfalls or surpluses for participating banks, measured as bank balances relative to outlay costs and subsidies per PMJDY beneficiary. A lack of economic viability of PMJDY accounts is found in the majority of Indian public sector banks, a matter which is problematic in view of their extant financial fragility. We provide evidence for cross subsidization of rural bank accounts by urban accounts. We use fixed effects panel methods to determine what cost public sector banks bear and also quantify the extent to which account ineffectiveness is ameliorated by exogenous factors, primarily the tie up of PMJDY accounts with bio-metric Aadhar cards and electronic direct benefit transfer of G2P payments.
Determining Boundaries between Abundance Biozones Using Minimal Equipment

The areal extent of a biological community is usually determined using statistical techniques that only give reliable results where samples contain similar and high numbers of specimens. This paper presents a simple, inexpensive method for determining the geographical limits of biological communities applicable where adjacent samples contain widely differing numbers of specimens. The method is a development of SHE Analysis, which discerns boundaries between adjacent abundance biozones (ABs), an AB being an area with a distinct community structure. As originally conceived, SHEbi (SHE Analysis for the identification of Biozones) commences with species' absolute abundances and works best with large samples of equal sizes. If the variance in 𝑁 (per sample) is high, SHEbi may place AB boundaries in unexpected locations. A modification, based on proportional abundances, is developed here using species' proportional abundances (𝑝𝑖=𝑛𝑖/𝑁) for each sample where 𝑛𝑖 is the number of specimens in the ith species in the sample. For intertidal foraminifera from the Caroni Swamp, Trinidad, where 𝑁, the number of specimens, fluctuates widely between samples, the modification (SHEbip) gives ecologically more sensible results than does traditional SHEbi.
The Risk Premium Overlaps with FVA and KVA

We consider the derivatives pricing problem in credit risk. By assessing a market price to the hedged risks and a Capital Asset Pricing Model price to the unhedged part, we derive a generalized pricing formula that nests both the classic “Capital Markets” and “Corporate Finance” models. An efficient mathematical formulation based on the semi-martingale processes has been found emphasizing the overlap between the classic FVA-KVA formulation and the risk premium generated by the unhedged risks.
Developing a Novel Approach of rpoB Gene as a Powerful Biomarker for the Environmental Microbial Diversity

Use of the rpoB gene (the encoding the β-subunit of RNA Polymerase gene), a potential alternative biomarker to the 16S rRNA gene, has been limited to environmental microbial investigation for a long time because of the lack of effective primers. Here we developed a novel rpoB gene-based approach using a newly designed primer pair and tested it in three different environmental water samples with the traditional library method. The results showed that our novel approach presented different microbial diversity patterns from the different environmental samples. Compared to previous rpoB gene based reports, the first retrieved groups in our approach included mainly α-Proteobacteria, δ-Proteobacteria, Planctomycetes, Verrucomicrobia, Firmicutes, Chlorofexi and Actinobacteria, which greatly expanded the potential ability of the rpoB gene approach for environmental surveys. Most importantly, the use of the traditional clone library approach with the novel rpoB gene primers greatly supplement the microbial diversity based on the 16S rRNA gene approach with the universal primer pair (27f and 1492r), at all phylum, class, order, family and genus levels, indicating a powerful complementary method and a potential alternative biomarker of the current popular NGS (next-generation sequences) technologies for the environmental microbial investigation.
Palynology of the Eocene Kitsilano Formation, southwest British Columbia

Approximately 55 genera and 75 species of plant microfossils are illustrated and described from the Kitsilano Formation of southwestern British Columbia. The general composition of the flora suggests a humid, warm temperate climate prevailed at time of deposition. Previous work on plant megafossils indicates a late Eocene to possibly early Oligocene age. Plant microfossils recovered in this study support a probable middle to late Eocene age for the Kitsilano Formation.
Decrypting Cryptoassets: Introduction To An Emerging Asset Class

This paper, which is intended for a nontechnical audience, aims at explaining the blockchain technology and addressing misconceptions about crypto-assets. We define crypto-assets as all assets that are based on a distributed blockchain. The greatest misunderstanding consists of the fact that not all crypto-assets are cryptocurrencies. It is true that each distributed blockchain has a native currency. However, it primarily serves as an incentive mechanism for individuals to maintain and update a network. Crypto-assets can also be used as a means of cloud storage or cloud computing. Understanding how different crypto-assets interact with blockchain and what other purpose (if any) the native currency fulfills is key to establishing a comprehensive classification. Crypto-assets present two main categories: blockchain and protocol crypto-assets. Each main category presents several subgroups that are discussed in detail throughout this paper.
Risk Analysis of Pension Fund Investment Choices

Using a sample of monthly asset classes from January 1990 to December 2016, we provide a comprehensive and more consistent approach to analyse and compare the risk-return relationships of Australian superannuation investment options. In estimating the risk profiles of the investment options, we allow for the movement of the asset classes over time by employing a varying coefficient panel estimation technique. We find that while risk increases across different investment options from moderate to aggressive options, using different percentages of identifying a balance fund does not impact the long-term risk measurement. We equally find that the risk-return relationships of investment options are not sensitive to the modelling framework, except for the crisis analysis, in which the Fama-French five-factor model provides greater sensitivity.