Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Overview of the Liquidity of the South African Vanilla Debt Market

The issue of illiquidity is well known in the South African exchange traded debt market. Lack of trade leads to out-of-date data and stale market prices, which in turn implies unrealiable and dated credit spreads. The problem is heightened by the fact that the derivatives market (such as swaps and FRAs) are OTC based and are traded directly with a bank or prime broker. In addition, the coverage of credit ratings across the South African debt market is poor. This paper illustrates the extent of the illiquidity in the South African debt market (focussing on vanilla bonds) and the adverse effect this lack of trade has on credit spreads. It is the introductory section of a PhD thesis, motivating the need for alternative modelling of credit spreads, which the subsequent chapters of the PhD aim to address.
Anastomosis grouping and variation in virulence among isolates of Rhizoctonia solani associated with dry bean and soybean in Ohio and Zaire

Anastomosis groupings (AG) of 290 Rhizoctonia solani isolates from diseased dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and soybean (Glycine max) roots and/or hypocotyls and foliage in Ohio (the United States) and Zaire (Africa) were determined. Virulence of 60 isolates, representing 12 isolates each from one of five origin/host/anastomosis-group categories, was studied on dry bean cv. Great Northern and soybean cv. Williams. Variation in virulence was assessed by inoculating roots, hypocotyls, and leaves. Ohio dry bean and soybean hypocotyl/root isolates were AG-2-2 IIIB, Zaire dry bean hypocotyl/root isolates were AG-4, and Zaire dry bean and soybean foliar isolates were AG-1 IB []
Chromosome complements in the spermatogenesis of two penaeid prawns, Penaeus merguiensis and P. esculentus.

Although the fisheries for, and mariculture of, penaeid prawns are of major commercial importance, there has been relatively little research undertaken on the chromosome number, structure and composition in the Penaeidae. One reason for this is due to the relatively small size and large number of chromosomes, which makes production of histological material difficult. In this paper, we report a simple and effective technique for determining chromosome complements during spermatogenesis in two species of penaeid prawns, Penaeus merguiensis and P. esculentus in Australia. The first estimates of the number of chromosomes in these species are given.
Predicción del Fracaso Empresarial. Una Contribución a La Síntesis de Una Teoría Mediante el Análisis Comparativo de Distintas Técnicas de Predicción (Business Failure Prediction. A Contribution to the Synthesis of a Theory, through Comparative Analysis of Different Prediction Techniques)

<b>Spanish Abstract:</b> Este artículo ofrece un análisis comparativo de la eficacia de ocho métodos de pronóstico populares: univariante, regresiones lineal, discriminante y logit, particionamiento recursivo, rough sets, redes neuronales artificiales, y DEA. Nuestros objetivos son: aclarar el equilibrio complejidad-efectividad de cada metodología; identificar un subconjunto de variables como predictores significativos independientemente de la metodología; y discutir y relacionar estos hallazgos con la teoría financiera, para ayudar a consolidar las bases de una teoría del fallo financiero. Nuestros resultados indican que, cualquiera que sea la metodología, se pueden emitir predicciones fiables usando cuatro variables, que contienen información acerca de rentabilidad, estructura financiera, rotación, y flujos de caja. <b>English Abstract:</b> This paper offers a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of eight popular forecasting methods: univariate, linear, discriminate and logit regression; recursive partitioning, rough sets, artificial neural networks, and DEA. Our goals are: clarify the complexity-effectiveness balance of each methodology; identify a reduced set of independent variables that are significant predictors whatever the methodology is; and discuss and relate these findings to the financial theory, to help consolidate the foundations of a theory of financial failure. Our results indicate that, whatever the methodology is, reliable predictions can be made using four variables; these ratios convey information about profitability, financial structure, rotation, and operating cash flows.
Factors Contributing to Cardiovascular Diseases among African Societies

Background: CVDs before were thought to be diseases of high economy populations, this simply meant that cardiovascular diseases were basically affecting industrialized countries in relation to decreased human activity, over-consumption of fat foods. <br><br>Problem statement: Worldwide, it is estimated that 16.6 million deaths are encountered as a result of non-communicable diseases in low and middle income countries which is far higher than 5.7 million of deaths due to infectious diseases. In this review paper five research articles were reviewed, discussing factors of CVD from different parts of Africa. According two different studies conducted in Ghana and Nigeria, aimed at “Cardiovascular diseases in Ghana within the context of globalization and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors among School attending adolescents in Rural Nigeria indicated that age, high blood pressure (hypertension), smoking, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, overweight or obesity, lack of exercise and family history of heart disease were leading CVD factors in respective study population, in addition to researchers recommendations also African governments and researchers to establish appropriate approaches to prevent and treat CVD in such affordable and accessible manner and further more education can be used to already existing cases, since most cardiovascular conditions are influenced by lifestyle changes. Catherine Lawrence assessing women’s perception on modifiable risk factors of CVD in Kenya, women perceived CVD risk factors as independent health conditions as there’s no link with cardiovascular disease. The additional argument was that government should establish a clear strategy of disseminating information to the population, via media enough coverage can be ensured. According to Demetrius A. Abshire in the study cardiovascular disease risk factors among emerging adults in college” abdominal obesity and dietary behaviors, environmental and lifestyle behaviors (smoking) to be significant risk factors of CVD, call all policy makers to take part in this journey, scheduling exercises, dietary talks in the colleges would help to improve situation was suggested during the review. According to the study carried out by Gabriel Uche Pascal Iloh and his colleagues with the objective of determining the frequency of cardiovascular risk factors in adult Nigerians with family history of non-communicable cardiovascular disease, we urged by saying that screening for CVD risk factors in old ages, won’t help to prevent the rising burden of CVD, rather screening in early is essential and this can to exclude non modifiable factors.
The ‘Rule of Four’

Recently we have found ourselves, like so many people, preoccupied by deficits and debt. This is a difficult subject, both to understand and about which to write simply and clearly. <br><br>Moreover we have found that, perhaps because it is so complicated a matter, many policymakers failed to appreciate how serious a situation they would find themselves in were economic growth suddenly to slow, public sector deficits sharply to increase, or the state become obliged to take chunks of private debt on to the public books. The costs of that unawareness are evident today, and will be measured as having been, over a run of years, in the tens of percentage points of GDP. <br><br>This raises the question whether some simple ‘rule of thumb’ could warn of impending trouble. And this thought led us to remember such a rule, that one of us (Qvigstad) first espoused many years ago: that, at least where budget deficits and current account deficits are concerned, there is for most OECD economies a magic number: ‘Four’.
Qualitative Research in Organisations: A New Perspective

The use of qualitative research methods is being extensively used in organisations nowadays. The main reason underlying this argument is that not everything can be quantified, for example human behavior is random and can be compared to Jazz musicians playing random notes and chords. Hence, qualitative analysis is a means of understanding things that cannot be explained solely by quantitative research methods. Therefore, qualitative analysis is an important tool for organisations. This paper attempts the asses the extent to which qualitative analysis is useful in organisations and how different approaches to qualitative research are used to obtain information.
A Quantitative Analysis of the U.S. Housing and Mortgage Markets and the Foreclosure Crisis

We present a model of long-duration collateralized debt with risk of default. Applied to the housing market, it can match the homeownership rate, the average foreclosure rate, and the lower tail of the distribution of home-equity ratios across homeowners prior to the recent crisis. We stress the role of favorable tax treatment of housing in matching these facts. We then use the model to account for the foreclosure crisis in terms of three shocks: overbuilding, financial frictions, and foreclosure delays. The financial friction shock accounts for much of the decline in house prices, while the foreclosure delays account for most of the rise in foreclosures. The scale of the foreclosure crisis might have been smaller if mortgage interest payments were not tax deductible. Temporarily higher inflation might have lowered the foreclosure rate as well.
Board Reforms and Dividend Policy: International Evidence

Abstract We study the impact of board reforms implemented in 40 countries worldwide on corporate dividend policy. Using a difference-in-differences analysis, we find that firms pay higher dividends following the reforms. The increase in dividend payouts is more pronounced for firms with weak board governance in the pre-reform period and those in countries with strong external governance mechanisms. Our findings corroborate the dividend outcome model, which postulates that board reforms strengthen the monitoring role of the board and empower outside shareholders to force management to disgorge dividends.
Parameterized Rough-Fuzzy Classification Using Two Thresholds - Algorithms and Implementations using C

To improve the efficiency and quality of Pawlak’s Rough Sets Model, Parameterized RS Model and Variable Precision RS Model are being used in technical applications. Considering the importance of Parameterized RS Model, in this paper, we propose three algorithms to index the records of a decision table with fuzzy decision attributes using two thresholds under Parameterized Rough Computing and we implement these algorithms using C.
Contests for Bads and Applications

This paper studies situations where individuals compete to avoid a bad, using the reverse lottery contest model introduced by Fu et al. (2014). We study an application in which a government needs to allocate a dump in a region and wants to maximize lobbying. The government decides either to divide this dump in smaller pieces or not, considering that lobbies influence the government to avoid such bads in their region. We show that lobbying is maximized when the government does not divide the dump. We also compare the properties of the reverse lottery contest with the conventional lottery contest. In a framework in which individuals compete to win many prizes and avoid many bads, we show that aggregate effort is higher using the conventional (reverse) lottery contest when there are more (less) prizes than bads.
A Re-examination of Accruals Quality Following Restatements

Empirical research from the first years following SOX suggests that firms improve accruals quality following restatements, but both the number and materiality of restatements have declined since then. This decline may affect firms’ responses to restatements and hence we re-examine whether restatements are associated with subsequent improvements in accruals quality in a more recent sample. This paper uses a robust multivariate difference in- difference research design to compare the changes in accruals quality of firms restating between 2000 and 2014 with that of a control group matched with propensity score matching. We do not find that firms improve accruals quality more than the control group following a restatement, even when we isolate the types of restatements considered most material. However, we do find that restatements followed by the most negative stock market reactions are associated with a relative increase in accruals quality, indicating that only restatements deemed very severe by investors lead to subsequent improvements in accruals quality. This paper hence suggests that firms’ responses to restatements have changed concurrently with the trend of fewer and less material restatements in recent years.
Factors Influencing Donation Behavior: The Role of Seasonal Effects

The aim of this research is to better understand the factors that influence donor behavior regarding monetary donations and how those factors are applicable within an eastern context. More specifically, this study focused to measure the effect of religious occasions like Ramadan on donor generosity and behavior in a majority Muslim society. For this, a cross sectional survey was conducted on 200 respondents from Karachi, Pakistan by means of close ended questionnaire. The same survey was conducted at two different intervals, one before Ramadan and one afterwards. peoples’ sentiments are heightened during the donation season and they feel more strongly for the less fortunate during the donation season. Such feelings motivate people to engage in activities that are related to charity or helping other. When comparing correlation results for pre and post-season, we can see that the number of variables with a correlation value of 0.4 have increased from 49 to 84, which is almost double. This shows that there are more significant variables having an impact on donation behavior in post-season than pre-season. The regression results provide evidence that peoples’ sentiments are heightened during the donation season and they feel more strongly for the less fortunate during the donation season. Moreover, the regression analysis suggests that altruism, empathy and forgiveness are the most significant variables under the psychological factors that have a significantly positive impact on donors’ behavior. According to the overall results of both pre-season and post season, social class, marital status and educational level under the demographic factors had a significantly positive impact on monetary donations. Overall, there is low to moderate impact of demographic factors on the donations. The results showed that donation seasons like Ramadan have a major impact on donor behavior.
Laboratory evaluations of emulsifiable and encapsulated formulations of malathion and fenitrothion on soft red winter wheat against attack by adults of four species of stored-product insects.

Emulsifiable and encapsulated formulations of malathion and fenitrothion were applied to soft red winter wheat at doses of 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, and 10 ppm AI. The wheat then was stored 12 mo to determine relative effectiveness of residues against adult rice weevils, Sitophilus oryzae (L.). lesser gain borers, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), red flour beetles, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), and confused flour beetles, T. confusum Jacquelin duVal. Fenitrothion was more effective than malathion against all species. No significant differences in relative effectiveness were found between the encapsulated and emulsifiable formulations. Residues were determined by CLC analysis. There were no significant differences in the amounts of residue deposited on the wheat by the encapsulated and emulsifiable applications.
Inside the Impossible Triangle: Monetary Autonomy in a Credible Target Zone

This paper examines the trade-off between exchange rate stability and monetary autonomy for a target zone. Using the guilder-mark target zone in the pre-EMU period as a case study, we empirically estimate how much policy discretion the Dutch central bank still enjoyed and how much had been ceded to the German central bank. The sum of these two measures is an estimate of the policy autonomy under a free float. We find that the narrow guilder-mark target zone still permitted a modest degree of policy independence. This result suggests that intermediate exchange rate regimes may offer an attractive trade-off compared to the corner solutions (free float and monetary union), which is consistent with the 'fear of floating' phenomenon.
Collective Turnover and Unit Performance: Exploring a Dynamic Relationship

Drawing on context-emergent turnover theory, we empirically investigate the relationship between changes in collective turnover rates and unit performance and the moderating roles of the quality and quantity of departed, remaining, and newly hired employees, turnover dispersion, and pay dispersion over time. Using insurance company data for 2,988 sales agents within 126 units across 55 months, we found that changes in turnover rates were negatively related to changes in unit performance after accounting for baseline turnover rates. A high turnover rate at baseline mitigated the negative relationship between changes in that rate and unit performance. Adjusting turnover variables for the quality of employees strengthened those relationships. Furthermore, high quality and a large quantity of replacement hires, high quality of remaining employees, high turnover dispersion, and high vertical pay dispersion mitigated the relationship between changes in turnover rates and unit performance. Implications for context-emergent turnover theory and human capital resources are discussed.
Influence of the storage conditions on some physicochemical and mycological parameters of honey

The authors studied the changes in yeast and mould counts, pH, free and lactone acidity, colour and sugar composition undergone by honeys with water contents of 169, 188 and 220 g kg-1 on storage at refrigeration temperature (4–7°C), room temperature and 28°C for two years. Of the solid culture media assayed, honey agar and osmophilic medium fostered yeast growth while malt-extract agar and yeast-extract-malt-extract agar allowed for better development of filamentous fungi. The yeasts isolated belonged to the genera Saccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces and Zygosaccharomyces, while filamentous moulds were of the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium and Alternaria. The honeys studied underwent no visible microbial alternations under any of the conditions tested, although yeast population increased significantly with time. Free and lactone acidity increased slightly but the pH was practically constant. The honeys darkened gradually with time, the effect increasing with the storage temperature. The analysis of various sugars carried out by capillary column gas chromatography of their trimethylsilyloxime derivatives indicated that all of them changed significantly after 2 years. Levels of fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose, kojibiose, isomaltose and trisaccharides decreased with time whereas those of maltulose and turanose increased over the same period.
The Intensive Margin of Technology Adoption - Experimental Evidence on Improved Cooking Stoves in Rural Senegal

Today 2.6 billion people in developing countries rely on biomass as primary cooking fuel, with profound negative implications for their well-being. Improved biomass cooking stoves are alleged to counteract these adverse effects. This paper evaluates take-up and impacts of low-cost improved stoves through a randomized controlled trial. The randomized stove is primarily designed to curb firewood consumption but not smoke emissions. Nonetheless, we find considerable effects not only on firewood consumption, but also on smoke exposure and smoke-related disease symptoms - induced by behavioural changes at the intensive margin affecting outside cooking and cooking time due to the new stove.
Evaluating the Employment Impact of a Mandatory Job Search Programme

This Paper exploits area-based piloting and age-related eligibility rules to identify treatment effects of a labour market program - the New Deal for Young People in the UK. A central focus is on substitution/displacement effects and on equilibrium wage effects. The programme includes extensive job assistance and wage subsidies to employers. We find that the programme significantly raised transitions to employment by about five percentage points (about 20% over the pre-program base). The impact is robust to a wide variety of non-experimental estimators. We present some evidence suggesting that this effect may not, however, be as large in the longer run.
The European Internal Energy Market’s Worth to the UK

This article proposes a two-country model of electricity trade under peak-load pricing. We apply the model to France and the UK to assess the benefit to the UK of trade within the European internal energy market (IEM). Calibration and simulations of the model aimed at simulating bilateral trade in the market coupling process at electricity exchanges show the following. First, the occurrence of gains from trade for both countries is highly dependent on whether imported electricity affects the price in the local market and whether imports alleviate scarcity. Second, the main effect of importing electricity is a shift in welfare from domestic producers to domestic consumers of the importing country. Finally, the UK’s membership in the IEM generates additional welfare for the UK of up to 900 M€ per year across a range of scenarios in which the number of on-peak periods are exogenously varied in a conservative way relative to the actual data.