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This study investigates the empirical validity of the material deprivation indices (MDIs) using a partial criterion variable, namely UHCNIR (unmet health care need due to inadequate resources). This alternative approach helps to assess absolute validity (Type I and II errors) and sources of error in the measurement of poverty for a specific aspect of poverty (in this case inability to receive adequate health care due to affordability problems). A simple mismatch analysis identifies a sizable group, around 1% of the adult EU population, missed by MDIs despite being in UHCNIR. A majority of this 1% experiences not only UHCNIR but also multiple other deprivations, commonly reports having some difficulties making ends meet, and prevalently has a disability or a chronic health problem. The analysis reveals that MDIs miss specifically those “unhealthy poor” since these measures do not include a relevant item, and thus cannot adjust for different needs and costs in health care and account for the distinct poverty experiences of these people. Therefore, the main methodological assumption of MDIs, identifying the people in poverty with only a limited set of key deprivation indicators is not supported by this empirical analysis.

Organizational ambidexterity originates from operational managers that follow together exploitative and exploratory activities. In a way from side to side which mechanisms, HR performances in Pakistan might really ease operational manager ambidexterity and further result in organizational ambidexterity is still an open question? For this, we applied (Mom, Chang, Cholakova, & Jansen, 2019) model to different sized firms of Pakistan. We hypothesize that ability and motivation enhancing HR practices effects operations manager ambidexterity through enhancing role breath and basic motivational orientation. Manager ambidexterity would further induce Organizational Ambidexterity. Moreover, Opportunity enhancing HR practices plays a complementary role in producing influencing of manager ambidexterity on Organizational Ambidexterity. A survey was directed by using a close-ended questionnaire which recognized the empirical validity. A multi-source and multilevel data were collected from 210 employees of the HR department belonging to 70 different sized firms and it was examined by means of confirmatory factor analysis and also organized equation modeling. For this, we gave 3 questionnaires to each firm. The result suggested that Ability Increasing these Practices directly and positively affect Operational Manager Ambidexterity along with the mediatory factor of Role Breadth Self-Efficacy. Operational Manager Ambidexterity in turn has a positive influence on Organization Ambidexterity. Manager and organizational Ambidexterity is also directly and positively affected by Role Breadth Self-Efficacy, Motivation Enhancing Practices, and Ability Enhancing Practices. Organizational Ambidexterity is also influenced by Opportunity Enhancing Practices. Lastly, Motivation Enhancing Practices have a positive and significant result of the mediatory factor of Intrinsic Motivation Orientation. We, however, didn’t find any significant evidence of complementarities between managers’ Ambidexterity and Opportunity enhancing HR practices in explaining Organizational Ambidexterity. The result suggests that the relationship among organizational ambidexterity along with the operational manager is liable on a firm that enhances HR practices. Along with that, our study that we scrutinized provides us important and new multilevel insights into the efficiency of strategic HR systems and in support of an individual and organizational ambidexterity.

We test the empirical validity of the three-factor model of Fama and French in the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) using monthly excess stock returns of 50 stocks listed on the EGX from January 2014 to December 2018. Our findings do not support Fama and French three-factor model, where the coefficient of the beta was insignificant. The “SBM” coefficient and the “HML” coefficient were equal to zero and insignificant, which confirms the absence of the small firm effect and book-to-market ratio effect in the market. We conclude that there is no relation between expected return and Fama-French risk factors.

We examine the spillovers from changes in public sector wages and employment on private sector wages. Using a panel VAR model, we show that changes in public sector wages have a greater effect on private sector wages than changes in public sector employment. We motivate our analysis using the Economic Adjustment Program for Greece, and a simple theoretical model. The empirical validity of these effects is verified through a series of robustness tests. These results have important implications on the evaluation of the recent EU Economic Adjustment Programs and the future design of Internal Devaluation strategies.

International audience; Machines powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) are now influencing the behavior of humans in ways that are both like and unlike the ways humans influence each other. In light of recent research showing that other humans can exert a strong corrupting influence on people’s ethical behavior, worry emerges about the corrupting power of AI agents. To estimate the empirical validity of these fears, we review the available evidence from behavioral science, human-computer interaction, and AI research. We propose that the main social roles through which both humans and machines can influence ethical behavior are (a) role model, (b) advisor, (c) partner, and (d) delegate. When AI agents become influencers (role models or advisors), their corrupting power may not exceed (yet) the corrupting power of humans. However, AI agents acting as enablers of unethical behavior (partners or delegates) have many characteristics that may let people reap unethical benefits while feeling good about themselves, indicating good reasons for worry. Based on these insights, we outline a research agenda that aims at providing more behavioral insights for better AI oversight.

International audience; Background: Within-subject biospecimens pooling can theoretically reduce bias in dose-response functions from biomarker-based studies when exposure assessment suffers from classical-type error. However, collecting many urine voids each day is cumbersome. We evaluated the empirical validity of a within-subject pooling approach and compared several options to avoid sampling each void.Methods: In 16 pregnant women who collected a spot of each urine void over several nonconsecutive weeks, we compared concentrations of 10 phenols in daily, weekly, and pregnancy within-subject pools. We pooled either three or all daily samples. In a simulation study using these data, we quantified bias in dose-response functions when using one to 20 urine samples per subject to assess methylparaben (a compound with moderate within-subject variability) and bisphenol A (high variability) exposures.Results: Correlations between exposure estimates from pools of all and of only three voids per day were above 0.80 for all time windows and compounds, except for benzophenone-3 and triclosan in the daily time window (correlations, 0.57-0.68). With one spot sample to assess pregnancy exposure, correlations were all below 0.74. Using only one biospecimen led to attenuation bias in the dose-response functions of 29% (methylparaben) and 69% (bisphenol A); four samples for methylparaben and 18 for bisphenol A decreased bias to 10%.Conclusions: For nonpersistent chemicals, collecting and pooling three samples per day instead of all daily samples efficiently estimates exposures over a week or more. Collecting around 20 biospecimens can strongly limit attenuation bias for nonpersistent chemicals such as bisphenol A.

This paper examines spillover effects among international tourism growth, economic growth and a group of major macroeconomic and financial variables in the US. The empirical results show significant interactions among tourism growth, economic growth and the selected macro-finance factors, which have notably increased following the intensification of the global financial crisis in the fall of 2008. Furthermore, international tourism growth in the US appears as the main net receiver of spillovers from macroeconomic factors, thus providing evidence contrary to the empirical validity of the tourism-led growth hypothesis for the US. However, real GDP growth is identified as a net transmitter of spillovers to the tourism growth, which supports, at least partly, the economic-driven tourism growth hypothesis for the US. Novel to the literature, global economic policy uncertainty is the most important transmitter of shocks to US tourism growth, suggesting that heightened uncertainty about economic policy may have especially harmful effects on international tourism flows. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Volume-based liquidity ratios suffer from potential measurement bias due to share restriction and may misrepresent actual liquidity. In this paper, we develop a modified metric, the free-float liquidity ratio. We argue that this measure is better suited to estimate liquidity in the presence of trading constraints as can be found in family-owned businesses or closely-held entities. Empirical testing indicates that the free-float liquidity ratio compares favorably with other volume-based methods. Furthermore, we use family firms as a of restricted share setting to demonstrate the empirical validity of the free-float liquidity ratio. The proposed metric provides potential informational gain for family leaders to aid in their strategic financing decisions and for non-family outsiders to guide their investment choice.

Open-domain dialogue generation has gained increasing attention in Natural Language Processing. Its evaluation requires a holistic means. Human ratings are deemed as the gold standard. As human evaluation is inefficient and costly, an automated substitute is highly desirable. In this paper, we propose holistic evaluation metrics that capture different aspects of open-domain dialogues. Our metrics consist of (1) GPT-2 based context coherence between sentences in a dialogue, (2) GPT-2 based fluency in phrasing, (3) n-gram based diversity in responses to augmented queries, and (4) textual-entailment-inference based logical self-consistency. The empirical validity of our metrics is demonstrated by strong correlations with human judgments. We open source the code and relevant materials.

The literature dealing with the impact of Big Data on the competitive advantage that companies can develop is based largely on the Resource-Based View as a theoretical basis for the analysis of this phenomenon. This study is based on the following observation: Resource-Based View defines the necessary conditions for resources and skills to provide a sustainable competitive advantage. Our study proposes a conceptual model based on the VRIN model (Value, Rarity, Imitability, Non-Substitution) developed by Barney in 1991, to investigate the contribution of Big Data resources and competencies to the creation of sustainable competitive advantage for firms. A future article will focus on an application of this model, through a survey whose results will shed light on its empirical validity, and thus help to better understand the paths through which Big Data could impact the competitive advantage of companies.

Aim: The total consumption model (TCM) originates from studies of the distribution of alcohol consumption and posits that there is a strong association between the total consumption and the prevalence of excessive/harmful consumption in a population. The policy implication of the TCM is that policy measures which effectively lead to a reduction of the total consumption, will most likely also reduce the extent of harmful consumption and related harms. Problem gambling constitutes a public health issue and more insight into problem gambling at the societal level and a better understanding of how public policies may impact on the harm level, are strongly needed. The aim of this study was to review the literature pertaining to empirical validity of the TCM with regard to gambling behaviour and problem gambling and, on the basis of the literature review, to discuss the policy implications of the TCM. Methods: The study is based on a literature mapping through systematic searches in literature databases, and forward and backward reference searches. Results: The literature searches identified a total of 12 empirical studies that examined the total consumption model or provided relevant data. All but one of these studies found empirical support for the TCM; that is, a positive association between population gambling mean and prevalence of excessive or problem gambling. Such associations were found both with cross-sectional data and with longitudinal data. Conclusion: There is a small but fairly consistent literature lending empirical support to the total consumption model. An important policy implication is that interventions which are successful in reducing overall gambling are likely also to reduce problem gambling incidence.

In the previous chapters, a number of different approaches to CS structural constraints were considered, and a particular approach (the FPC) was advocated. In the present chapter, the empirical validity of this approach will be examined in the context of Moroccan Arabic/French code switching. In the analysis that will be presented in this chapter, two main hypotheses made earlier (in Chapter 5) concerning the constraining of CS will be tested.

This paper examines the empirical validity of Nicolosi’s optimal strategy for a hedge fund manager under a specific payment contract. The contract specifies that the manager’s payment consists of a fixed payment and a variable payment, which is a performance-based payment. The model assumes that the manager is an Expected Utility agent who maximises his/her expected utility by buying and selling the asset at appropriate moments. Nicolosi derives the optimal strategy for the manager by assuming a Black-Scholes setting where the manager can invest either in an asset or in a money account. The asset price follows geometric Brownian motion and the money account has a constant interest rate. I experimentally test Nicolosi’s optimal strategy to investigate whether the agents invest according to the optimal strategy. To meet the aim of this paper, I compare the empirical support of the optimal strategy with other possible strategies. The results show that Nicolosi’s optimal strategy receives strong empirical support for explaining the subjects’ behaviour, though not all of the subjects follow the optimal strategy. Having said this, it seems that the subjects somehow follow the intuitive prediction of Nicolosi’s optimal strategy in which the decision-maker responds to the difference between the managed portfolio and the benchmark to determine the portfolio allocation.

Utilization of redundancy endows systems with dexterity and fault tolerance in achieving its desired output, but its utilization implies added complication which must be resolved. Input optimization using the two-norm and the infinity-norm are two methods popularly utilized to address this problem. However, each resolution criteria finds its greatest benefit in opposite circumstances. This fact has long motivated a resolution system which makes use of both norms, switching back and forth when called for. In a previous publication, we introduced and proved the continuity of the first realization of such a switching resolution system, implemented in the resolution of biarticular actuation redundancy. In this work, we demonstrate the empirical validity and utility of the switching system through implementation in a developed robotic arm equipped with biarticular actuation redundancy. It is found that resolution allows for equivalent maximum torque requirements as the infinity-norm – an improvement over two-n...

Based on intensive fieldwork in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India, fourteen papers explore the everyday religious lives of the Muslim populations in these areas. Arguing that Islam cannot be understood through the works of theologians alone, for whom it is a formal, uniform and rigid system of beliefs and practices, This book makes the claim that Islam as it is practiced by millions of Muslims in South Asia, has an empirical validity and is a dynamic process of adjustment and accommodation as well as conflict with other religions, with which it coexists.

Purpose – In the public sector, Training and Experience (T & E) exams assess prior experience and are one of the most often used methods for selecting job applicants. This study uses a KSA approach, where raters judge the quality of job relevant prior experience, not its duration or quantity. It was hypothesized that an additional rater and a consensus meeting between raters would increase reliability and validity. Design/methodology/approach – T & E and supervisory ratings were obtained over a 12-year period for 166 candidates seeking promotion to a budget analyst position. Validity was measured by the correlation between T & E scores and supervisory ratings. Consensus was required only for T & E scores differing by a specific amount (hybrid consensus). Findings – Intraclass reliability was 0.73, 0.84, and 0.95 in the one-rater, two-rater, and hybrid consensus conditions with each coefficient greater than the next (p < 0.05) showing the benefit of multiple raters and consensus for reliability. Validity was significant at 0.21, 0.26, and 0.251 for each rating condition, respectively (two-tail test; p < 0.01). Validity was greater in the two-rater condition than in the one-rater condition (one-tail test; p < 0.05). Consensus did not improve validity beyond that of two raters. For consensus T & Es (n=76), two raters improved validity (one-tail test; p < 0.05), moving from 0.112 to 0.231 but not reliability; consensus improved reliability (two-tail test; p < 0.05) but not validity. Originality/value – There has been a vacuum in T & E research for close to 20 years. Validity data are difficult to obtain but critical for meta-analysis. T & Es showed validity. Use of two raters improved validity but consensus did not increase the gain.

This article discusses the limitations of using the deviations in international prices as a measure of unequal exchange. It argues that international prices are formed in a complex manner and lower international prices for low income countries cannot simply be considered as evidence for unequal exchange. The empirical validity of the measure is also questionable.

The Coconut Palm Insurance Scheme (CPIS) is a mechanism, devised to endow effective risk management aid, to those coconut growers who are likely to be impacted by non-preventable natural factors as well as pests and diseases. This study analyses the perception of the stakeholders for drawing empirical validity, so as to appraise sustainability of CPIS as a measure towards financial inclusion. 528 samples, encompassing Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Maharashtra states, classified into three regions, were taken using multi-stage proportionate random sampling technique with a view to develop a recurrent scheme to assist the coconut growers. Analyses and inferences, based on Factor Analysis, point out that growers across the regions are convinced that the scheme is necessary for a crop like coconut and, accordingly, the scheme seems to have achieved its goal.

Information hiding is one of the key features and a powerful mechanism in Object-Oriented programming. It is critical to build large complex software that can be maintained economically and extended with ease. As information hiding improves the software productivity and promotes the software quality, it is essential to measure it. Further, the data or attribute value safety plays the vital role in the reliability of the software, which is the key factor determining the success of software. Data safety can be achieved by hiding the attribute. Hence, it is necessary and vital to measure the attribute hiding factor more accurately. This article introduces a new complexity metric called Cognitive Weighted Attribute Hiding Factor. It is defined and mathematically formulated to yield better results than the original Attribute Hiding Factor complexity metric. It is statistically proved by comparative study. Further, the new complexity metric is tested for empirical validity and applicability with a case study. The results show that the new complexity metric index due to the combination of encapsulation and attribute scoping is better, broader and truer to reality.

The Great Financial Meltdown reviews, advocates and critiques the systemic, conjunctural and policy-based explanations for the 2008 crisis. The book expertly examines these explanations to assess their analytical and empirical validity. Comprehensive yet accessible chapters, written by a collection of prominent authors, cover a wide range of political economy approaches to the crisis, from Marxian through to Post Keynesian and other heterodox schools.

Although research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in tourism has seen increased attention, few studies have focused on CSR at the micro level. In addition, while stage models of CSR development have been extensively proposed these studies are rarely examined in actual organisations and, hence, lack empirical validity. This article explores the consolidative model of CSR, mainly via employees’ but also via visitors’ viewpoints in a large heritage tourism organisation. The research locates the organisation within the broad 3 phase-model and notes that differing parts of the organisation may be at different stages. However it is more difficult to locate the organisation within the narrower 7-stage model because of heritage tourism specific characteristics such as intergenerational drivers and cliques.

International audience; A key feature of the luxury industry is its ability to sell dreams, such that consumers often refer to luxury products as desirable dream objects. This study aims to assess the empirical validity of this proposition. Does luxury actually fuel dreams? Because brands are manifestations of these dreams, this study examines if the dream value of an expansive set of brands relates directly to perceptions of them as luxury brands. More than 3,200 real luxury buyers, from six countries, participated in interviews about 60 luxury brands. The results reveal a strong correlation between luxury perceptions and the dream value of brands, across all countries. Yet, despite being categorised as luxury representatives though, many brands are not endowed with as much dream value as might be expected. Being perceived as a luxury product is not sufficient to evoke dreams and boost brand desirability. This is important for luxury brand management.

The evolution of ubiquitous smartphone devices has given rise to great opportunities with respect to the development of applications and services, many of which rely on sensitive user information. This explosion on the demand of smartphone applications has made them attractive to cybercriminals that develop mobile malware to gain access to sensitive data stored on smartphone devices. Traditional mobile malware detection approaches that can be roughly classified to signature-based and heuristic-based have essential drawbacks. The former rely on existing malware signatures and therefore cannot detect zero-day malware and the latter are prone to false positive detections. In this paper, we propose a heuristic-based approach that quantifies the uncertainty involved in each malware detection. In particular, our approach is based on a novel machine learning framework, called Conformal Prediction, for providing valid measures of confidence for each individual prediction, combined with a Multilayer Perceptron. Our experimental results on a real Android device demonstrate the empirical validity and both the informational and computational efficiency of our approach.

Bodies are currently recognized as central to organizations. However, until now certain kinds of bodies have remained largely outside the concerns of organization studies, especially the ones of the human beings who use the products/services provided by organizations. Using a conceptual framework that mixes elements of Foucault’s developments on discipline and science and technology studies, this article attempts to contribute to filling this void by proposing to see the management of these bodies as a matter of performing disciplinary devices, understanding them as sociotechnical devices designed with the explicit aim of disciplining users’ bodies in accordance with certain predetermined programs or plans. In order to explore the empirical validity of this conceptualization, the article will study the performance of disciplinary devices by Metro de Santiago, Santiago de Chile’s underground railway, during preparations for a substantive increase in the number of daily users. Making a historical genealogy based on interviews with involved actors and document analysis, the article demonstrates disciplinary devices as always existing in a double way: as inscriptions of future users that the involved actors develop during the design phase and as incorporations when human beings have to start behaving in certain ways to deal with the organization. In the daily management of such disciplinary devices, never absent of conflict and resistances, lies a central way in which organizations exerts power over human bodies.

ObjectiveTo estimate quality-adjusted life-year weights for patients with diabetic retinopathy by using various methods and to investigate the empirical validity of the different measures.MethodsThe study population comprised 152 patients with diabetes in Östergötland County, Sweden. Participants were interviewed by telephone by using the time trade-off (TTO) method and a visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) (direct valuations) as well as the EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D) and the health utilities index mark 3 (HUI-3) (indirect valuations). The quality-adjusted life-year weights were adjusted for potential confounders by using analysis of covariance. The empirical validity of the measures was examined by testing their ability to detect hypothetical differences between severity levels of diabetic retinopathy and by investigating the correlation between the measures and the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25).ResultsAll measures detected significant differences in scores between patient groups classified according to visual impairment in the better eye (analysis of covariance, P < 0.05), but only HUI-3 and EQ-VAS detected significant differences between patient groups classified according to visual impairment or pathological progression in the worse eye. HUI-3 recorded a difference of 0.43 in values between normal vision and blindness in the better eye, which was more than twice the differences captured by the other measures (0.15–0.20). In addition, HUI-3 showed the highest correlation with NEI VFQ-25 (r = 0.54; P < 0.001).ConclusionsIn cost-utility analyses, the choice of quality-adjusted life-year measure may affect whether an intervention is considered cost-effective. Furthermore, if decisions are to be based on values from the general public, HUI-3 can be recommended for cost-utility analyses of interventions directed at diabetic retinopathy.

This paper analyzes the role of financial resources, formal education, and other factors in explaining the presence and spread of rural credit cooperatives (RCCs) across Spanish provinces in the first third of the twentieth century. We first provide descriptive evidence on the evolution of RCCs and their financial activity. Then, we use panel data techniques to analyze the empirical validity of the potential determinants that we have collected.We find a negative correlation between the male illiteracy rate and both the presence of cooperatives and their credit activity. Additionally, we find that cooperatives and public granaries were likely to be located in the same provinces. The cooperatives located in the richest provinces were granted access to external funding and, in particular, to the funds provided by the Banco de Espana (Bank of Spain). Our estimates attest that the funds obtained from their members were far more relevant than the external funds in accounting for both the number of cooperatives and their credit activity. Copyright , Oxford University Press.

1. Richard Healey[1][1][⇑][2] 1. 1University of Portsmouth, UK 1. Richard Healey, Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth, Buckingham Building, Lion Terrace, Portsmouth PO1 3HE, UK. Email: richard.healey{at}port.ac.uk Many census occupational classification systems have been developed over the last 150 years. Availability of digital census data sets now means such classifications can be systematically analyzed. Examination of heavy industrial workers in the full count U.S. 1880 census, and other censuses, has revealed major problems in the attribution of occupations to industrial sectors. This is traceable to the original enumeration process, and it particularly affects generic tradesmen such as blacksmiths and carpenters, who worked in numerous industrial sectors. As a result, the imputation of industrial sector codes from recorded occupations by the North Atlantic Population Project (NAPP) is substantially in error, suggesting that re-coding of existing census records using non-census sources would be necessary for such industrial sector codes to have empirical validity. A new occupational/industrial coding system, incorporating the NAPP-modified HISCO scheme, is presented. This system is capable of supporting both future re-coding work, in a structured data warehouse environment, and the systematic coding of occupational data from a range of archival sources such as company records and city directories. [1]: #aff-1 [2]: #corresp-1

Despite the increasing interest scholarly research has shown in the study of computer-mediated communication, there is still a need to investigate the empirical validity of assumed homogeneity of language usage over the net and focus on the social diversity and variation that characterizes any communication. With this in mind, the present paper is an investigation into the stylistic choices that a particular group of email users made when engaged in a specific activity type. More specifically, it explores the variation in the discourse practices employed to open and close emails in conversation alongside the institutional power of participants and the interactional position of each email contributing to the conversation. To carry out this study a corpus of short email conversations in Peninsular Spanish was collected (n = 240). The analysis focused on the opening and closing sequences of the emails that made up the conversations and considered opening and closing linguistic conventions as discursive practices that members of a community may use strategically. The findings revealed that the discursive practices under scrutiny were subject not only to technological but also to social and interactional constraints and thus highlighted contextual variability. Further, the high degree of sociability in the electronic episodes studied was interpreted as reflecting a “people first, business second” communicative style.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between internet security and e-business competence in Jordan. The proposed conceptual model examined the antecedents and consequences of e-business competence of its empirical validity, the sample of 152 banking and exchange firms, and tests the posited structural equation model. Results consistently support the validity of the proposed conceptual model, finding that both organizations realize the importance of e- business for their business and are willing to proceed further with e- business. In this regard, businesses are highly concerned about internet security, their awareness of security hazards, and minimal internet performance, concluding that public awareness of the ICT is very low. In light of the data collected, the study has proposed certain recommendations for the interested authorities to improve e- business in Jordan.

It has been proved theoretically that correlation coefficients between future values of the trade balance and current exchange rate is positive where as those correlation coefficients between past values of the trade balance and the current exchange rate is negative, hence the S-Curve pattern. In this paper we tested the empirical validity of the curve using annual data from the period 1978–2006 of 104 industries that trade between the US and Hong Kong. We found evidence of the S-Curve in 34 industries. Included among the 34 industries one could see small and large industries as well as durable and non-durable ones.

This paper investigates the empirical relevance of a model of structural change and the growth of industrial sectors. The model analyses the process of diffusion of general-purpose technologies (GPTs) and how this affects the dynamic performance of manufacturing and service industries. The empirical analysis studies the dynamics and the determinants of labour productivity growth for a large number of sectors in 18 OECD countries over the period 1970-2005. The results of dynamic panel data and cross-sectional analysis provide support for the empirical validity of the model. Industries that are close to the core of ICT-related GPTs are characterized by greater innovative capabilities and have recently experienced a more dynamic performance. Relatedly, countries that have been able to shift their industrial structure towards these high-opportunity manufacturing and service industries have grown more rapidly.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically assess the validity of Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence (CPE) for New Zealand organisations and to identify methodological gaps.Design/methodology/approachBy means of data collected from a sample of 91 New Zealand organisations, through a self‐assessment instrument (as a proxy for the CPE) a structural equation model was studied using the partial least squares method. The measurement validity of the CPE as well as the implied causal relationships in the CPE framework was tested. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to gain additional insights.FindingsThe measurement validity of the CPE was established; of the 13 implied causal relationships in the CPE framework, 11 were statistically significant, which compared favourably with past studies. The results endorse some salient features of quality management: reliance on measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; the involvement of people; and the role of leadership in setting direction.Research limitations/implicationsAs the study was based on a small sample, this model needs to be tested with other data sets. The study revealed the need to meta‐analyse past measurement and structural models as well as measurement instruments.Practical implicationsThe study endorsed the reliability and validity of a well designed, well administered, self‐assessment instrument.Originality/valueAs the first New Zealand CPE validity study, the paper introduces the partial least squares method and shows some of its relevant versatile features, introducing some measurement perspectives not conceptualised before in CPE validation studies.

The bulk of corporate governance theory examines the agency problems that arise from two extreme ownership structures: 100% small shareholders or one large, controlling owner combined with small shareholders. In this paper, we question the empirical validity of this dichotomy. In fact, one-third of publicly listed firms in Europe have multiple large owners, and the market value of firms with multiple blockholders differs from firms with a single large owner and from widely held firms. Moreover, the relationship between corporate valuations and the distribution of cash-flow rights across multiple large owners is consistent with the predictions of recent theoretical models. The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.

In this paper we integrate the PVED, FCF, RIV and AEG valuation models and argue that the AEG model is practically and theoretically superior to their correspondents. We show that a firm’s market price is a function of its expected earnings, short and long term growth in earnings and its cost of capital. We also comment on the empirical validity of the accounting based valuation models in Brazil.

This study examines the empirical validity of claims that the composition of boards of directors and ownership structures affect firms' profitability ratios (ROE, ROA, MTB) using data from 87 European firms, which were foreign U.S. registrants during 2000–2001. Results indicate a strong positive relation between the level of relational ownership and profitability ratios, and between the portion of independent directors on the board and profitability ratios. No strong relation was found between the portion of inside directors or level of managerial ownership and profitability in continental European companies.

Currently, NCI guidelines require that the neutrophil count exceed 1500 before complete remission (CR) may be declared in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We tested the empirical validity of this formulation by comparing event-free survival (EFS) in CR in (a). 305 patients who met the NCI criteria for CR and (b). 36 patients who met all the criteria for CR except that the neutrophil count at what we considered CR was 1000-1499 (lower neutrophil group) at which time they began post-remission therapy. EFS was statistically identical in both groups. We extended these findings to 752 patients, who met the NCI criteria for CR except that some may have had circulating blasts at "CR"; 82 of the 752 were in the lower neutrophil group. These data suggest that the minimum needed to declare CR in AML be changed from 1500 to 1000.

We investigate the impact of communication in field-level networks on rates of formation of interorganizational collaborative ties, such as strategic alliances and joint ventures. After developing the concept of an organizational field network (“field-net”), we derive a set of testable propositions and corollaries that relate field-net properties, such as density, reciprocity, centralization, multiplexity, and hierarchy, to subsequent nonlinear changes in interorganizational tie-formation rates. We conclude by discussing aspects of empirical research for testing the empirical validity of these propositions.

The general aim of this study is to provide a guide to the future marketing decisions of a firm, using a model to predict customer lifetime values. The proposed framework aims to eliminate the limitations and drawbacks of the majority of models encountered in the literature through a simple and industry-specific model with easily measurable and objective indicators. In addition, this model predicts the potential value of the current customers rather than measuring the current value, which has generally been used in the majority of previous studies. This study contributes to the literature by helping to make future marketing decisions via Markov decision processes for a company that offers several types of products. Another contribution is that the states for Markov decision processes are also generated using the predicted customer lifetime values where the prediction is realized by a regression-based model. Finally, a real world application of the proposed model is provided in the banking sector to show the empirical validity of the model. Therefore, we believe that the proposed framework and the developed model can guide both practitioners and researchers. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The current article addresses the empirical validity of the Cartesian view of language by first examining a sample of the results generated by over 30 years of chimpanzee sign language studies and then examining some neurological and behavioral data that accounts for the similarity between human and nonhuman communication systems. Finally an attempt will be made to propose a unified model of language that accounts for these findings and shows how the Cartesian world view has proposed a theory of language that is incomplete.

The authors consider the empirical validity of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) as a predictor of various kinds of performance in a graduate psychology program, including 1st- and 2nd-year grades; professors' ratings of students' dissertations; and professors' ratings of students' analytical, creative, practical, research, and teaching abilities. On the basis of the triarchic theory of intelligence, the GRE was predicted to be of some use in predicting graduate grades but of limited or no use in predicting other aspects of performance. In fact, the test was found to be useful in predicting 1st-year grades but not other kinds of performance, with one exception--performance on the GRE Analytical test was predictive, but only for men. The authors conclude that there is a need to develop better theory-based tests.

This is the second of three papers dealing with the validation of three Human Reliability Assessment (HRA) techniques. The first paper introduced the need for validation, the techniques themselves and pertinent validation issues. This second paper details the results of the validation study carried out on the Human Reliability Quantification techniques THERP, HEART and JHEDI. The validation study used 30 real Human Error Probabilities (HEPs) and 30 active Human Reliability Assessment (HRA) assessors, 10 per technique. The results were that 23 of the assessors showed a significant correlation between their estimates and the real HEPs, supporting the predictive accuracy of the techniques. Overall precision showed 72% (60-87%) of all HEPs to be within a factor of 10 of the true HEPs, with 38% of all estimates being within a factor of three of the true values. Techniques also tended to be pessimistic rather than optimistic, when they were imprecise. These results lend support to the empirical validity of these three approaches.

This survey examines the role of industry policy in the industrialisation of East Asian economies since the early 1980s. The first section outlines the neoclassical' model and the interventionist literature that has arisen to challenge it. It distinguishes three strands in this literature: the ‘structuralist’ and the ‘strategic’ trade models and the ‘fair trade’ argument. The following sections evaluate the empirical evidence for Northeast and Southeast Asian economies, discuss the analytical and empirical validity of the interventionist literature and in conclusion draw attention to the diminished relevance of industry policy, given the rapid market-driven integration taking place in the Asian-Pacific region.

Recent theory has emphasized the exchange of knowledge between subsidiaries as a feature of the modern multinational. We revisit the empirical validity of this characterization. Mapping knowledge s...

This paper considers the dynamic specification of the relationship between electricity load and air temperature. It is shown that this relationship has an important dynamic component and that ignoring this appears to bias the estimated effects of temperature on load. It is also shown that forms of autoregressive specification may give a good explanation of present load even if there are no dynamics in the casual relation. The assumptions underlying effective temperature and its empirical validity are investigated. Dynamic specification of the temperature response is shown to be conditional on the time of day, which brings into question the use of the effective temperature concept.

A nine-dimensional ethnomedical model is introduced. The empirical validity of the model in information processing about disease and health-care decision-making has been demonstrated. Sickness conception, well-being criteria and recognition of health need were ranked as the three most important dimensions. These dimensions could help to focus counselling efforts. Suggestions are offered for integrating the ethnomedical approach into trans-cultural counselling using a briefcase example.

In this article, we analyze the redistributive impact of a recent reform of tuition fees in Quebec. We adapt Duclos, Makdissi and Wodon's (2005) methodology to a Generalized Lorenz framework. Many policy analysts argued that maintaining low higher education tuition fees is regressive. We take a look at the empirical validity of this argument using data from Statistics Canada's Survey of Labor and Income Dynamics. We show the importance of using data to validate this argument. The results obtained allow for the conclusion that this redistributive argument is empirically not verified for the Province of Québec.

Hysteresis vs. Natural Rate of Unemployment: One, the Other, or Both?This paper re-examines the empirical validity of the hysteresis hypothesis in unemployment rates by education level in 17 OECD countries. To this end, for an unbalanced panel, we employed Pesaran's Cross-Sectional Dependence (CD) and Cross-Sectionally Augmented ADF (CADF) tests. Our empirical findings provide evidence favorable to the non-stationarity of unemployment rates according to levels of primary and secondary education attainment in total unemployment, and therefore the existence of hysteresis for these levels of education. There is no evidence, however, of hysteresis for unemployment rates by tertiary education.

The bulk of corporate governance theory examines the agency problems that arise from two extreme ownership structures: 100 percent small shareholders or one large, controlling owner combined with small shareholders. In this paper, we question the empirical validity of this dichotomy. In fact, one-third of publicly listed firms in Europe have multiple large owners, and the market value of firms with multiple blockholders differs from firms with a single large owner and from widely-held firms. Moreover, the relationship between corporate valuations and the distribution of cash-flow rights across multiple large owners is consistent with the predictions of recent theoretical models.

A new model-based method for analyzing learning processes in so-called short-term learning tests is proposed and applied. Learning is measured by means of a two-dimensional item response theory model that incorporates two latent factors: ability level and learning ability. The model allows one to assess the impact of both variables and their correlation for given data sets in a manner that implicitly corrects for statistical artifacts that arise in conventional analyses. The model is applied to four shortterm learning tests administered to N =434 children aged five to six years. Model tests and tests for empirical validity of the model parameters succeed in establishing construct validity for one of these tests.

The effectiveness of risk adjustment in improving mortality as a performance measure for hospitals remains uncertain. New techniques of risk adjustment should be empirically tested, and health care professionals, using the data derived from such measures, should be queried before final acceptance of these technologies of measurement is warranted. The Risk Adjusted Clinical Outcomes Methodology-Quality Measures (RACOM-QM), a relatively new risk-adjustment methodology developed by the QuadraMed Corporation, was used by Maryland hospitals for risk adjustment for the first time in 1997. A research study was undertaken by the Maryland Hospital Association to determine the impact of RACOM-QM on mortality rates, its empirical validity, and its acceptance in the field. The relationship between RACOM-QM mean risk scores and mortality rates was examined using inpatient hospital mortality data for Maryland in 1996. Using these same data, the empirical relationship between risk-adjusted and unadjusted mortality by diagnosis-related group (DRG) was also investigated. Case studies were undertaken to glean information about the use and acceptability of this new methodology in 2 hospital settings in Maryland. There was a strong relationship between mean mortality risk scores and mortality rates. The analysis of the empirical relationship between risk-adjusted and unadjusted mortality by DRG yielded support for the impact of RACOM-QM in adjusting inpatient mortality rates. The case studies supported the utility of this method of risk adjustment in increasing the interpretation of mortality data and in helping to identify areas in which to investigate quality in more depth in 2 hospital settings. This study provides overall support for the usefulness of risk adjustment and, specifically, the RACOM-QM, in increasing the interpretation of inpatient mortality rates in Maryland's acute care hospitals. This study also suggests that use of the RACOM-QM improved comparative analysis of inpatient mortality rates among Maryland hospitals. Finally, the results of the case study analysis suggest that improved internal review of mortality rates and increased clinician acceptance of these rates as indicators of performance were enhanced by the use of a risk adjustment methodology.