Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Economic Trade-Offs in the Audit Opinion Decision: An Empirical Analysis

We extend existing audit opinion models by incorporating economic tradeoffs that arise in the auditor's qualification (modification) decision. Prior qualification studies (e.g., Dopuch, Holthausen, and Leftwich [1987]; Bell and Tabor [1991]) do not investigate whether the opinion issued is influenced by particular trade-offs facing an auditor. On the one hand, the audit firm faces the risk of losing the client if it issues a qualification, and on the other, failing to qualify exposes the auditor to lawsuits and reputation loss. We model the auditor's qualification decision as a two-stage model. We estimate a bivariate model that breaks down the probability of qualifying into two components: (1) the probability that the client deserves a qualified opinion based on the audit and (2) the probability that the auditor reports a qualified opinion, given the auditor considers that the client deserves such an opinion. We hypothesize that the second-stage decision to qualify or not is influenced by factors such as the auditor's risk of litigation, the type (Big Six or not) of auditor, the extent of outsider ownership, the share of public debt in total debt, the relative importance of the client in the auditor's portfolio, and the future growth rate of the client. Our results indicate that the auditor's litigation risk, the extent of outsider ownership, the relative importance of the client in the auditor's portfolio, and future growth are important factors in the audit opinion decision. Estimated mean and median probabilities indicate significantly higher values of reporting probabilities for qualified as compared to unqualified firms, suggesting that the second stage is an important component of the qualification decision.
Gentrification and Social Mixing: Towards an Inclusive Urban Renaissance?

Nearly 30 years ago now, Holcomb and Beauregard were critical of the way that it was assumed that the benefits of gentrification would 'trickle down' to the lower classes in a manner similar to that hypothesised in the housing market. Nevertheless, despite fierce academic debate about whether or not gentrification leads to displacement, segregation and social polarisation, it is increasingly promoted in policy circles both in Europe and North America on the assumption that it will lead to less segregated and more sustainable communities. Yet there is a poor evidence base for this policy of 'positive gentrification'-for, as the gentrification literature tells us, despite the new middle classes' desire for diversity and difference they tend to self-segregate and, far from being tolerant, gentrification is part of an aggressive, revanchist ideology designed to retake the inner city for the middle classes. In light of this, it is argued that these new policies of social mixing require critical attention with regard to their ability to produce an inclusive urban renaissance and the potentially detrimental gentrifying effects they may inflict on the communities they intend to help.
Age Discrimination in Employment in Canada

Issues pertaining to age discrimination in employment in Canada are analyzed with a view toward highlighting lessons that may be learned from the Canadian experience—an experience that is taking on increased policy importance. Reasons for the increased attention to age discrimination issues are outlined, followed by a portrayal of the age discrimination legislation and court interpretations in Canada, especially as they pertain to mandatory retirement. Enforcement aspects are discussed, as is the evidence on age discrimination in employment and the effectiveness of legislation with respect to age discrimination and mandatory retirement. The article concludes with a discussion of the lessons to be learned from the Canadian experience, especially with respect to the poorly understood but complicated relationship between age discrimination and mandatory retirement. Policy recommendations for strengthening age discrimination legislation are also outlined. (JEL J14, J24, J71)
Cranial base in newborns with complete cleft lip and palate: radiographic study.

In a 1993 study, Mølsted and colleagues found an increased width of the spheno-occipital synchondrosis in newborns with complete clefts of the lip, alveolus, and palate compared with newborns with incomplete clefts. As the spheno-occipital synchondrosis represents remnants of the early chondrocranium that later ossifies and incorporates in the cranial base, it is possible that an inborn alteration, such as a deviant growth of cartilage, or a delayed maturation in the early development of the cartilaginous cranial base, can affect not only the length and the width of the cranial base, but also the petrous portion of the temporal bone and the nasal septum, as these structures also have a cartilaginous origin. The purpose of the present study was to measure the cranial base width, including the width of the maxilla, and to measure the bilateral angulation of the petrous portion of the temporal bone and the sphenoid bone in 3-month-old children with complete clefts and in 3-month-old children with an incomplete cleft of the lip, and to compare the two groups. Fifty-two children with complete clefts (CLP) without associated malformations comprised the test group. Forty-eight children with a minor, incomplete cleft lip (CL) constituted the control group. The results of the comparison showed marked differences between the CLP and CL groups. In the CLP children, the cranial base width and the bilateral angulation of the sphenoid bone increased. An increased angulation was also seen between left and right sides of the pars petrosa. Furthermore, increased maxillary width was found. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Contingent Valuation and Collective Choice

Contingent valuation (CV) is a widely used but controversial survey-based technique for estimating the nonmarket benefits of environmental goods and services. This study is the first to compare the outcome of a self-contained CV survey with the outcome of a collective decision, by contrasting hypothetical willingness to pay with willingness to pay inferred from aggregate voting returns and tax liability distributions. The empirical dataset is from a CV survey and a referendum on a proposition to increase financing for landscape and heritage protection in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Voting-based willingness to pay was only a small fraction of stated willingness to pay, indicating an inflation in values due to the hypothetical context.
The Welfare Expenditure Debate: ‘Economic Myths of the Left and the Right’ Revisited

Just over 20 years ago, Fred Gruen (1982) reviewed debates about the level of welfare expenditure in Australia, noting them as being motivated on the one hand by the view that ‘more is better’, and on the other hand by the view that ‘too much’ is dangerous. Despite Gruen's debunking of many assertions about the Australian welfare state, the debate continues, with arguments on the one hand, that Australian welfare state spending is ‘mean’ compared to other countries, and on the other hand, that Australia has a significant problem of welfare dependency and increasing welfare spending. This paper presents the results of recent OECD studies that provide the most-up-to-date comparative information on the relative performance of Australian welfare arrangements. The paper looks at: (i) the trends in the level of social expenditure in Australia compared to other OECD countries, and explanations for differences across countries; (ii) the level of benefit receipt among people of working age; (iii) the impact of social expenditure on income distribution; and (iv) the relative generosity of benefits and implications for incentives. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy conclusions that might be drawn from these comparisons.
Preferences for redistribution in an aging economy

It is one of the most controversial issues whether and to what extent population aging affects the size of redistribution. Introducing some kind of altruism into a simple overlapping generations model with endogenous labor supply, we examine the relation between population aging and a redistributive tax rate in a voting equilibrium. We can observe the relation tends to be negative in models of intergenerational altruism, but the relation is not monotonic but complex in many cases. It suggests the puzzle of Razin et-al. (2002) may be attributed to luck of information about individual preferences for redistribution.
Evaluating the Impact of Educational Expansion on the Occupational Status of Youth

This paper exploits the remarkable increase in the average educational attainment of Australian youth during the 1980's to evaluate the role of education in labour market performance. Rather than focus on the impact of schooling on wages, however, we examine changes in the occupational distribution of recent labour market entrants. The evidence indicates that the educational expansion appears to move all individuals up the educational ladder without altering their relative position. The results indicate that while the second cohort obtained substantially more education than the first cohort the occupational distribution of the two cohorts were almost identical. Furthermore, there was no evidence that the increased education counterbalanced changes in the structure of labour demand or manifested itself in higher wages. Copyright 1999 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd/University of Adelaide and Flinders University of South Australia
Imbalance of Fecal Microbiota at Newly Diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes in Chinese Children

Background:Recent studies have indicated that an imbalance of gut microbiota is associated with the development of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and there is no literature regarding it in Chinese children yet. The aim of this study was to evaluate the alteration of gut microbiota between children with newly diagnosed T1DM and healthy controls and to determine if gut microbiota could partly explain the etiology of this disease. Methods:A case-control study was carried out with 15 children with T1DM and 15 healthy children. The fecal bacteria composition was investigated by high-throughput sequencing of the V3–V4 region of the 16S rDNA gene and analyzed by the estimators of community richness (Chao) indexes. Results:There was a notable lower richness of fecal bacteria in T1DM group than controls (156.53 ± 36.96 vs. 130.0 ± 32.85, P = 0.047). At the genus level, the composition of Blautia was increased in T1DM group than control group whereas the composition of Haemophilus, Lachnospira, Dialister, and Acidaminococcus was decreased. In addition, we found that the percentage of Blautia was correlated positively with HbA1c (&rgr; = 0.40, P = 0.031), the numbers of T1DM autoantibodies (&rgr; = 0.42, P = 0.023), and the titers of tyrosine phosphatase autoantibodies (IA-2) (&rgr; = 0.82, P = 0.000) in the study. Conclusions:This study showed that gut microbiota was associated with the development of T1DM by affecting the autoimmunity, and the results suggested a potential therapy for T1DM via modulating the gut microbiota.
The British Economy Since 1945: Economic Policy and Performance, 1945–1990 . By Alec Cairncross. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992. Pp. xiii, 338. £12.99. The Development of the British Economy: 1914–1990 . By Sidney Pollard. London: Edward Arnold, 1992. Pp. ix, 437. £15.99.

leftovers. War (and subsequently the cold war) provided a clear and essentially defensible priority ranking of sectors, one the population could understand and accept. Peacetime—that is, the post-cold war period—did not, but changing the priority ranking proved politically infeasible. Moskoff fits together in this welcome volume another important piece of the puzzle of Soviet economic history. His work has the virtue of not having been made obsolete by the disintegration of the Soviet economy. It represents, instead, a first step toward a better understanding of the peculiar history of the Soviet command economy, one that now takes its place with national socialism as a transient specimen of an economic system.
Can Tax-Loss Selling Explain the January Effect? A Note

THE JANUARY EFFECT REMAINS an unexplained phenomenon in financial economics. That the month of January has consistently shown higher mean stock returns than other months has been documented by several researchers, beginning with Rozeff and Kinney [19]. Additional research by Keim [14] showed that approximately half the annual "size effect" is attributable to abnormal returns in January.1 Roll [18] confirmed Keim's results, as has subsequent research such as Lakonishok and Smidt [15]. 2 The most often-advanced explanation for the January effect is tax-motivated transactions.3 First proposed in 1942 by Wachtel [21], the tax-loss-selling hypothesis is frequently advocated in the popular press as a major influence on stock price behavior. Essentially, this hypothesis states that investors seek to reduce their taxes by realizing losses at year end, thereby depressing stock prices. Stocks return to equilibrium levels after year end, providing abnormally high returns in January. Despite the popularity of the tax-loss-selling hypothesis, it is difficult to justify upon serious reflection. Justification requires acceptance of the proposition that speculators are prevented from purchasing tax-loss candidates before year end with the intention to sell them after year end. No theoretical justification has been presented for the hypothesis. Instead, using both theoretical and empirical approaches, Constantinides [5] argues that such action cannot explain the January effect if the market is efficient.4 His results imply that empirical studies supporting the tax-loss-selling hypothesis provide evidence of market inefficiency. As for the empirical evidence, Branch [3], Dyl [8], Roll [18], Reinganum [17], and Givoly and Ovadia [10] have provided support for the tax-loss-selling hypothesis.5 Recently, Schultz [20] tested the tax explanation by examining the
Environmental enrichment extends ocular dominance plasticity into adulthood and protects from stroke-induced impairments of plasticity

Significance Experimental animals are usually raised in small, so-called standard cages, depriving them of numerous natural stimuli. We show that raising mice in an enriched environment, allowing enhanced physical, social, and cognitive stimulation, preserved a juvenile brain into adulthood. Enrichment also rejuvenated the visual cortex after extended periods of standard cage rearing and protected adult mice from stroke-induced impairments of cortical plasticity. Because the local inhibitory tone in the visual cortex of adult enriched mice was not only significantly reduced compared with nonenriched animals but at juvenile levels, the plasticity-promoting effect of enrichment is most likely mediated by preserving low juvenile levels of inhibition into adulthood and thereby, extending sensitive phases of enhanced neuronal plasticity into an older age. Ocular dominance (OD) plasticity in mouse primary visual cortex (V1) declines during postnatal development and is absent beyond postnatal day 110 if mice are raised in standard cages (SCs). An enriched environment (EE) promotes OD plasticity in adult rats. Here, we explored cellular mechanisms of EE in mouse V1 and the therapeutic potential of EE to prevent impairments of plasticity after a cortical stroke. Using in vivo optical imaging, we observed that monocular deprivation in adult EE mice (i) caused a very strong OD plasticity previously only observed in 4-wk-old animals, (ii) restored already lost OD plasticity in adult SC-raised mice, and (iii) preserved OD plasticity after a stroke in the primary somatosensory cortex. Using patch-clamp electrophysiology in vitro, we also show that (iv) local inhibition was significantly reduced in V1 slices of adult EE mice and (v) the GABA/AMPA ratio was like that in 4-wk-old SC-raised animals. These observations were corroborated by in vivo analyses showing that diazepam treatment significantly reduced the OD shift of EE mice after monocular deprivation. Taken together, EE extended the sensitive phase for OD plasticity into late adulthood, rejuvenated V1 after 4 mo of SC-rearing, and protected adult mice from stroke-induced impairments of cortical plasticity. The EE effect was mediated most likely by preserving low juvenile levels of inhibition into adulthood, which potentially promoted adaptive changes in cortical circuits.
Compensating mutual fund advisers: a return to the basics of properly structured performance fees

Purpose – The article seeks to outline the requirements under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “Investment Company Act”), the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”) and related US Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) rules and interpretive guidance for structuring performance‐based fees for investment advisers and sub‐advisers to registered investment companies (or mutual funds). Design/methodology/approach – The article discusses the appropriate structure and timing for performance fees and describes in detail how SEC standards for structuring performance fees have evolved over time. The article explains recent SEC enforcement actions against investment advisers for improperly structured performance fees, and notes that the use of performance fees has once again become a focus of SEC scrutiny.Findings – The article concludes that, despite a common perception that performance fees create an effective incentive to improve fund performance by more closely aligning the interests.
Identifying the Moderator Factors of Financial Performance in Greek Municipalities

The use of financial ratios is a widespread method for assessing the financial performance of private sector companies. However, the application of an analogous exercise in the public sector is a less straightforward one. In the later case it is a multifaceted task that involves judgments about the interplay of complex social, organizational and financial factors. In this paper we use accrual end of the year financial statements data of Greek Municipalities for the period 2002-2004 to compute nine commonly used performance assessment financial ratios. We find corroborative evidence that factors, which are exogenous to the municipalities control, such as their wealth and size, have statistically significant impact on ratio values. Thus, as financial ratios are significantly influenced by socio-economic factors like municipal wealth and size, cross sectional comparisons on the basis of these ratios should be made with caution and performed for municipalities that exhibit similarities in terms of size and wealth.
Goal Confidence and Difficulty as Predictors of Goal Attainment in Junior High School Cross-Country Runners

This study examined the influence of confidence in a goal and difficulty of the goal on the attainment of self-set goals regarding time and position. 63 junior high school cross-country runners (M age = 13.5 yr., SD =.5 yr.) completed a 6-item Race Goals Questionnaire approximately 24 hr. prior to a 2-km race. Attainability of a goal was assessed by categorizing runners into either a Performed to Expectation (Time, Position) or an Underperformed group (Time, Position). A 2 × 2 multivariate analysis of variance indicated significant differences between the two groups on Time for Confidence in goals and on Difficulty of Goals. There were no differences between the two groups on Position. Discriminant function analyses to predict time goal performance indicated that 47 (74.6%) participants could be correctly classified into the groups by Time on the basis of Confidence in Goals, and Difficulty of Goals. Discriminant function analyses to predict performance in terms of Position indicated 38 participants (60.3%) could be correctly classified on the basis of Confidence in Goals, and Difficulty of Goals. The results concur with previous proposals that goals regarding time and position have a differential influence on performance.
THE ROLE OF CXC CHEMOKINES AS REGULATORS OF ANGIOGENESIS

The regulation of angiogenesis is fundamental to a variety of physiological and pathological processes. Although a number of factors have been identified that induce neovascularization, it is becoming increasingly apparent that endogenous angiostatic factors may play an important role in the regulation of angiogenesis during wound repair, chronic inflammation, and growth of solid tumors. In this review, we demonstrate that the CXC chemokine family of cytokines display disparate angiogenic activity depending upon the presence or absence of the ELR motif, a structural amino acid motif previously found to be important in receptor ligand binding on neutrophils. CXC chemokines containing the ELR motif are potent angiogenic factors, inducing both in vitro endothelial chemotaxis and in vivo corneal neovascularization. In contrast, the CXC chemokines that lack the ELR motif, PF4, IP-10, and MIG, not only fail to induce significant in vitro endothelial cell chemotaxis or in vivo corneal neovascularization, but are found to be potent angiostatic factors in the presence of CXC chemokines containing the ELR motif. These findings suggest that the CXC chemokine family can display disparate angiogenic activity that depends upon the presence or absence of the ELR motif. Furthermore, these studies support the notion that the net biological balance in the magnitude of expression of angiogenic and angiostatic CXC chemokines at either the site of wound repair or during tumorigenesis may be important in the regulation of net angiogenesis.
A General Derivation of the Jump Process Option Pricing Formula

Abstract The following paper presents a general derivation of the jump process option pricing formula. In particular, a general jump process formula is derived via an analysis of the limiting behavior of the binomial option pricing formula. In deriving the formula, a very simple central limit theorem known as Poisson's Limit Theorem is applied. The simplicity of the analysis allows the establishment of precisely the connections between the specification of the underlying binomial stock return process and the specific form of the corresponding continuous-time jump process formula. Several examples are provided to illustrate these connections.
The influence of molecular weight of chitosan on the physical and biological properties of collagen/chitosan scaffolds

Biopolymer blends between collagen and chitosan have the potential to produce cell scaffolds with biocompatible properties. However, the relationship between the molecular weight of chitosan and its effect on physical and biological properties of collagen/chitosan scaffolds has not been elucidated yet. Porous scaffolds were fabricated by freeze-drying the solution of collagen and chitosan, followed by cross-linking by dehydrothermal treatment. Various types of scaffolds were prepared using chitosan with various molecular weights and blending ratios. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy proved that collagen and chitosan scaffolds at all blending ratios contained mainly electrostatic interactions at the molecular level. The compressive modulus decreased with increasing the concentration of chitosan. Equilibrium swelling ratios of approximately 6–8, determined in phosphate-buffered saline at physiological pH (7.4), were found in case of collagen-dominated scaffolds. The lysozyme biodegradation test demonstrated that the presence of chitosan, especially the high-molecular-weight species, could significantly prolong the biodegradation of collagen/chitosan scaffolds. In vitro culture of L929 mouse connective tissue fibroblast evidenced that low-molecular-weight chitosan was more effective to promote and accelerate cell proliferation, particularly for scaffolds containing 30 wt% chitosan. The results elucidated that the blends of collagen with low-molecular-weight chitosan have a high potential to be applied as new materials for skin-tissue engineering.