Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human Resource Management Practices and Ethical Climate in the Pakistani Banking Industry: The Role of Corporate Sustainability and Organizational Trust

Events involving ethical scandals in companies such as AIG, Countrywide Financial, and Lehman Brothers. Researchers point at dysfunctional ethical environments as one of the main reasons for illegal or unethical behavior, However, past research leaves several gaps in our understanding of organizational conditions and managerial interventions that can affect the establishment of ethical climates. In particular, the role of human resource management (HRM) practices was not fully explored. Hence, this study aims to examine the impact of firm HR practices on the ethical climate in the banking sector of Pakistan. We proposed a theoretical framework, by modifying Guerci et al. (2015) model to include a mediatory role of Corporate Sustainability and Organizational Trust, and applying it to the banking sector of Pakistan. HRM practices were classified as ability-enhancing (i.e. recruiting, selection and training) and opportunity-enhancing (i.e. job design, industrial relationships, and employee involvement), and motivation-enhancing (i.e. performance management, compensation, and incentives). These HR practices improve Corporate Sustainability, sustainable businesses would develop their trust within their employees, and this trust makes the employee more secure in standing up to their morals. Hence, the ethical climate would improve from egoism towards Benevolence and Principled organization. Hence, the Ethical climate was classified into Egoism, Benevolence, and Principled organization. Empirical validity was established by conducting a survey using a close-ended questionnaire. Data was collected from 349 bank employees and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structured equation modeling. The result suggested that all three forms of HR practices seem to positively affect both benevolence and egoism at the same time. Moreover, motivation enhancing HR practices also positively affects the level of principled organization. Findings also showed the first-order mediation of Corporate Sustainability and second-order mediation of trust in the effect of ability and opportunity on principled organization relationships. Ability also directly affects trust in Corporate Sustainability and that would both make the organization more principled. Results also suggested an insignificant effect of motivation enhancing HR practices on corporate sustainability, and Corporate sustainability and trust on benevolence and egoism. Hence, to achieve an ethical climate, banks should focus more on recruiting, selection and training as compared to motivation-enhancing practices (i.e. performance management, compensation, and incentives)
Restoring the EU Citizenship for Tax Purposes

Citizenship-based taxation has become insignificant due to high mobility of individuals, which are completely detached from their polities. The lack of political, social and cultural bonds of the individual with the states has shifted the focus to the concept of tax residence. This contribution sheds light on the concept of supranational citizenship in clear opposition to the nation-state citizenship, for the purposes of legitimizing levying a tax on EU citizens. The ongoing concept of EU citizenship anchored firstly in the principle of mutual recognition and secondly in the emergence of democratic and pluralist values under the so-called “European way of life,” yields certain imbalances and asymmetries derived from a steep distinction between economically active and economically inactive EU citizens. In the author’s view, levying a tax upon EU citizens would enhance the demos and solidarity within the current withered EU integration project.
Reinforcement Machine Learning Robots With the Reset Policy and Leptokurtic Noise

It is well-known that the market return follows a leptokurtic (fat-tail) distribution rather than a normal distribution. The reverting outliers are both salient and more frequent than the investors might expect, and it is thus crucial for investors to understand how to deal with the reverting outliers in financial markets. Here, we proposed an investigation through reinforcement machine learning techniques and human experiments. Building on Huang (2016), we found that potential algorithm bias embedded in the reinforcement learning robots might undermine the validity and effectiveness of algorithms. Through introducing the reset policy, in which reinforcement robots get reset to their default state after accumulating excessive mistakes, we showed that the reset policy can bring down the algorithm bias to a great degree and improve the robots' performance. Meanwhile, we also found the consistent results that human participants generate a lower level of prediction errors and less volatile the outcome when they reset more frequently.
Study the Impact of the International Financial Reporting Standards on Auditing

Accounting is shaped by economic and political forces. It follows that increased worldwide integration of both markets and politics (driven by reductions in communications and information processing costs) makes increased integration of financial reporting standards and practice almost inevitable. The connection between tax and accounting is a complex topic with many dimensions. One explanation for this is changes within accounting on the international level. This creates a challenge for Auditing and a need to revisit the theoretical and practical foundations for the use of accounting as a starting point for audit of companies. <br><br>International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is a standard format of financial reporting that is gaining momentum worldwide and is a single consistent accounting framework and is likely to become predominant Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (GAAP) in times to come. The aim of this study is to research International literature to gain an insight into the basis and form of divergence between accounting transactions and auditing in relation to International Financial Reporting Standards.
Search for Profits and Business Fluctuations: How Banks' Behaviour Explain Cycles?

This paper develops and estimates a macroeconomic model of real-financial markets interactions in which the behavior of banks generates endogenous business cycles. We do so in the context of a computational agent-based framework, where the channeling of funds from depositors to investors occurring through intermediaries is affected by information and matching frictions. Since banks compete in both deposit and credit markets, the whole dynamic is driven by endogenous fluctuations in their profits. In particular, we assume that intermediaries adopt a simple learning process, which consists of copying the strategy of the most profitable competitors while setting their interest rates. Accordingly, the emergence of strategic complementarity in the behavior of banks - mainly due to the accumulation of information capital - leads to periods of sustained growth followed by sharp recessions in the simulated economy.
The Influence of Aviation Disasters on Engine Manufacturers: An Analysis of Financial and Reputational Contagion Risks

Abstract One of the key sub-sectors in the aviation industry includes that of engine manufacturers, who have long led technological advancement and the battle to reduce airline carbon emissions. However, these same companies have been susceptible to a number of issues that have been central to international airlines due to higher costs and competition pressures. When an aviation disaster occurs, there is widespread allocation of blame and responsibility, which has left engine manufacturers exposed until the true cause is identified. This can generate many issues with regards to reputational damage and ability to generate finance. We set out to analyse such interactions over time and region. Our results indicate that engine manufacturers have had to contend with substantial income and financial leverage issues in the aftermath of a major aviation disaster, irrespective of whether they have been identified as a causation factor in the incident itself. Further, we clearly identify that there exists an average one day loss of 1.64% in the immediate aftermath of aviation incidents. Substantial corporate instability is found to persist without the company being in any way responsible for the incident. Shortly thereafter, contagion effects increase as speculation diminishes and more factual evidence arrives. The role of social media is examined as a potential contributory factor.
UNDERSTANDING BRAIN DRAIN: THE INFLUENCE OF EMIGRATION ON CORRUPTION by GIOVANNI RIGHI

This paper studies one method by which the emigration of skilled workers contributes to the emergence of corruption. It first builds on a political agency model and connects that to a simple model of media investigation. In doing so, it formalizes a conception of public scrutiny and helps explain the remarkable convergence in rankings of corruption and output. The paper then takes a step towards estimating the aggregate effects of emigration on corruption with the Ferraz and Finan Brazilian audit data. The estimation and theoretical contribution are incomplete because I do not test the media investigation mechanism. Nonetheless, the estimated effect points in the expected direction. Index words: Corruption, Emigration, Journalism UNDERSTANDING BRAIN DRAIN: THE INFLUENCE OF EMIGRATION ON CORRUPTION
Polymeric Scaffold Based Gene Delivery Strategies to Improve Angiogenesis in Tissue Engineering: A Review

ABSTRACT Gene delivery is a potent alternative in comparison with angiogenic growth factor delivery to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels in tissue constructs. The combining of polymeric scaffolds with gene delivery is a promising strategy to achieve controlled, localized, and sustained release of vectors carrying genes encoding angiogenic growth factors (GF) into the target site. This can overcome the limitations of both direct delivery of growth factors and genes encoding them. Recently, various gene delivery based strategies have been used to improve angiogenesis. In this regard, surveying and discussing these studies along with their theoretical principals is required for the full understanding and exploring the great potential of this approach. To this aim, we have provided an illustrated and comprehensive review, which first explains the basic principles of the vascularization in the body and then the importance of the vascularization in tissue engineering. This has been followed by a systematic survey of gene delivery methods, the mechanism of gene uptake by cells and polymeric carrier preparation and loading methods. It can be concluded that in spite of some promising results, gene delivery based angiogenesis is still in its infancy, requiring further investigations to explore the potential of this strategy.
Biotechnology Entrepreneurship

Biotechnology is one of the strongest growing industries of the twenty-first century. Yet, the sector is still young and many biotechnology firms are at an early stage of their life cycle. Thus, biotechnology and entrepreneurship are intrinsically linked together, and over the last years a substantial number of articles in the entrepreneurship literature have studied biotechnology at the regional, firm, and individual level of analysis. This article reviews the literature on biotechnology entrepreneurship. First, at the regional level, we focus on innovation networks and biotechnology clusters. Second, at the firm level, we illustrate strategies and business models of biotechnology firms and the determinants of their success. We also elaborate on strategic alliances of biotechnology ventures, and on mergers and acquisitions in the biotechnology industry. Third, at the individual level of analysis, we review the literature on strategic decision making in the biotechnology industry and the role of the management team for biotechnology ventures’ development. We conclude our review by offering future research opportunities within and across levels of analysis for scholars interested in the field of biotechnology entrepreneurship.
Concentration Level of Lead (Pb) in Plants and Soil of Faisalabad Irrigated with Waste Water

Mega cities have been experienced with a common practice of vegetable farms irrigated with waste water. Wastewater is a rich source of organic and inorganic material vital for the growth of plant along with heavy metals that might be fatal for humans and animals if the concentration of those metals exceeds from prescribed acceptable limits set by WHO. To screen this state, a study was carried out to determine the heavy metals accumulation heavy metals into the agricultural farms due to the irrigation with wastewater and their permutation in to the vegetables. For this purpose, during samples of vegetables (leaf edible portion), soil and waste water samples (Cauliflower, spinach and tomato) were collected from different area of Faisalabad district. The collected samples were processed to analyze contents of Pb. The results revealed that almost 100% of the wastewater samples were higher in Pb concentration than WHO acceptable limits while Pb concentration was in safe limit in soil samples, surprisingly. In vegetable, all the collected samples of leaf and fruit samples were polluted and heavy metals translocation was above than the WHO/FAO recommended tolerable limits. Another trend was found that leafy vegetables and leafy part of vegetables were affected with higher metal concentration as compared to the edible portion of the vegetables. Results revealed that continuous utilization of these waste water irrigated vegetables will definitely cause severe health issues especially in those areas where these vegetables are directly consumed by the local population.
Apollo Food Holdings Berhad: The Relationship between Performance and Internal, External Determinants

The aim of this study is to determine the overall performance of Apollo Food Holdings Berhad with firm specific risk factors and macroeconomic factors on profitability performance. The data used in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) in developing the ordinary least square relationship between profit and risk is obtained from annual report of Apollo Food Holdings Berhad from year 2013 to 2017. The overall performance of Apollo Food Holdings Berhad is measured by using the liquidity, debt to income and operating ratio in 5 years. This paper utilizes liquidity (current ratio), debt to income, operating ratio, GDP, inflation and exchange rate to study the relationship between risks factors and the profitability of Apollo. The linear regression analysis suggests that credit risk (deb to income ratio) is the most significant firm specific factor which has the highest impact on the profitability. Meanwhile, the liquidity, operational and all of the macroeconomic variables are not significant to profitability and thus, have low impact on the profitability of Apollo.
Consistent Taxation in a Cashless Society

While taxation affects everybody who lives in a modern society, existing systems suffer from inconsistencies, operational imperfections, and high running costs. Amounts of tax paid by taxpayers are highly independent of the benefits received in return, which provides great freedom for policymaking. Despite that, no taxation model has emerged yet that would be able to efficiently address the problems mentioned above. In this paper, I show that there is an extremely simple taxation model that could overcome these issues. However, it requires all local (national) currency holdings to be fully recorded live at all times. <br>
Opportunity Costs of Unpaid Caregiving: Evidence from Panel Time Diaries

We examine the association between unpaid caregiving by older Americans and time allocated to labor supply, home production, leisure, and personal care. After controlling for time-invariant heterogeneity using panel time diaries, we find that older caregivers reported reduced time allocated to each domain fairly evenly overall. However, women showed a stronger associated decline in personal care and labor supply while men showed stronger declines in time devoted to home production. Gendered differences are more pronounced with intensive and non-spousal care. Results highlight time-cost differentials that could be driving observed gender gaps in health and labor market outcomes among unpaid caregivers. The study also underscores the serious endogeneity concerns between caregiving and broader time allocation patterns and highlights the need for additional research.
Textual Sentiment and Sector Specific Reaction

News move markets and contains incremental information about stock reactions. Future trading volumes, volatility and returns are a ected by sentiments of texts and opinions expressed in articles. Earlier work of sentiment distillation of stock news suggests that risk prole reactions might differ across sectors. <br><br>Conventional asset pricing theory recognizes the role of a sector and its risk uniqueness that differs from market or rm specic risk. <br><br>Our research assesses whether incorporating the sentiment distilled from sector specic news carries information about risk proles. Textual analytics applied to about 600K articles leads us with lexical projection and machine learning to classication of sentiment polarities. <br><br>The texts are scraped from offcial NASDAQ web pages and with Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, such as tokenization, lemmatization, a sector specic sentiment is extracted using a lexical approach and a nancial phrase bank. Predicted sentence-level polarities are aggregated into a bullishness measure on a daily basis and fed into a panel regression analysis with sector indicators. Supervised learning with hinge or logistic loss and regularization yields good prediction results of polarity. <br><br>Compared with standard lexical projections, the supervised learning approach yields superior predictions of sentiment, leading to highly sector specic sentiment reactions. The Consumer Staples, Health Care and <br><br>Materials sectors show strong risk prole reactions to negative polarity. <br>
Socially Responsible Newsvendor

We consider a socially responsible firm that is concerned with its profit as well as consumer surplus, following the preference of pro-social executives or a government shareholder. Specifically, we study the decisions faced by a newsvendor whose objective is modeled as a weighted average of the expected profit and consumer surplus, with the weight on consumer surplus referred to as the corporate social responsibility (CSR) level. Our model includes the pure profit-maximizing and non-profit firms as two extreme cases. We study the firm's optimal inventory decision in the base model and the optimal joint price and inventory decisions in an extension. Our results show that the socially conscious executives (or the government as a shareholder) would face less resistance from the shareholders (or the firm) when imposing a lower CSR level, yet with which it enjoys a more significant improvement in boosting consumer surplus at the cost of a marginal profit loss by the firm, in both relative and absolute terms. This structural property is robust in a variety of extensions and implies that a little CSR can go a long way. We also provide demand-distribution-free guarantees on the performance of enduring profit loss in exchange for consumer surplus achieved by a CSR level. Moreover, we show that the same level of demand variability has a less negative impact on the firm's objective when its CSR level is higher; under normal demand, with a little CSR, such a negative impact has a larger reduction for a product with a higher coefficient of variation or a lower critical ratio. Finally, one of our numerical studies using practical data demonstrates that for an influenza vaccine of Afluria Quadrivalent, a CSR level of 10% enables the firm to improve consumer surplus by 17.8% (of the maximum improvement) at the expense of a profit loss of only 1.2% (of the maximum loss) for a typical demand's coefficient of variation level of 0.4.
Governmental Environmental Action: Legal Bases and Restraints

Governments are environmental actors, both as regulators and as contributors to environmental impacts. In both capacities, governmental action tends to be regulated by, and based on, different legal bases as compared to private action. Since governments are capable of acting in ways that individuals cannot (for instance through the exercise of police power), governmental action is held to different standards and has to take place within specific mandated parameters. However, as the distinguishing differences between ‘public’ and ‘private’ actors and actions are becoming less pronounced, we may need to reconsider the existing restrains on public and private actors and actions.
Impact of Social Capital on the Intention of Job Seekers to Use Social Networking Websites (SNWs) for Searching Jobs

This paper proposed a theoretical framework that will bridge a segment of the research-practice gap that exists in regard to the use of SNSs in recruitment. We modified Fang (2015) model to include the Professionalism and Credibility of SNW in a framework that explains how social capital affects the preference and Credibility of SNW. Cost factors (i.e., privacy concern) and benefit factors (i.e. perceived usefulness) are hypothesized to mediate the relationship between social capital factors (i.e., social information and social reference capital, and Professionalism) and preference and Credibility. To test our model, a survey of 200 valid questionnaires was conducted and 200 current profiles were collected from university students. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structured equation modeling. Results suggested, perceived usefulness has a positive influence on jobseekers’ use of job-seeking SNS, whereas social information capital, RJP and social reference capital positively affect users’ perceived usefulness and SNWs privacy moreover the social information capital of jobs has an insignificant impact on the user’s privacy concerns regarding SNWs Moreover, both cost and benefit factors seems to mediate the relationship positively and significantly. The study focuses on the need for individual users to enhance their professional and career success by using technologies such as social media.
Bank Intermediation and Economic Growth in Nigeria

The study is carried out to examine the macroeconomic determinants of bank intermediation and to explore its contribution to the growth of the Nigerian economy, using secondarily sourced time series data spanning from 1970 to 2004. From the available literature reviewed, it was explicit that the results obtained from cross-country studies are not able to address this issue satisfactorily and highlight the importance of country-specific studies. The time series study based on the Distributed Lag Method of Cointegration (DL-ECM) and Regression Analysis finds firm and colossal evidence suggesting that some form of financial determinants like ratio of Liquid liabilities to GDP, Domestic Credit to the Private Sector relative to GDP, Branch expansion of deposit money banks (DMBs) and Interest Rate Spread as well as macroeconomic variables such as inflation, investment and trade openness has indeed contributed to bank intermediation and economic growth. This study drew the conclusion that better bank intermediation has a distinct significant positive impact on intermediation financial development leads to economic growth. in the context of the empirical findings above, the researcher advanced several recommendations for policy.