Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stacked-Structure-Based Hierarchical Takagi-Sugeno-Kang Fuzzy Classification Through Feature Augmentation

In this paper, a new stacked-structure-based hierarchical Takagi–Sugeno–Kang (TSK) fuzzy classifier called SHFA-TSK-FC with both promising performance and high interpretability is proposed to tackle with the shortcoming of the existing hierarchical fuzzy classifiers in interpreting the outputs and fuzzy rules of intermediate layers. In order to achieve the enhanced classification performance, each component unit, which is a zero-order TSK fuzzy classifier, in SHFA-TSK-FC is organized in a stacked way such that all the input features of the original training samples plus the interpretable augmented features, corresponding to the interpretable output of each previous component unit, are fed as the input features of the current component unit. These augmented features can essentially open the manifold structure of the original input space such that the enhanced classification performance can be expected. In designing each component unit, its analytical solution to the consequent parts of fuzzy rules therein is obtained quickly by using the least learning machine such that SHFA-TSK-FC becomes scalable for large datasets. Its high interpretability is guaranteed by randomly selecting the input features and randomly choosing the fixed five Gaussian membership functions for the selected input features in the premise of each fuzzy rule. Experimental results on real-life datasets and an application case demonstrate the enhanced or at least comparable classification performance and high interpretability of SHFA-TSK-FC.
Valuing Petroleum Reserves Using Current Net Price

Merton H. Miller and Charles W. Upton propose the 'Hotelling Valuation Principle': producing mineral reserves can be valued by multiplying the mineral's current net price by the reserve estimate. M. A. Adelman argues that, by omitting production constraints, the Hotelling value provides an upper bound on oil reserve value. Others claim oil reserves are options on oil, with the Hotelling value being a lower bound on their value. In an optimizing model of oil production, the authors incorporate uncertainty and production constraints and find that the Hotelling value is a theoretical upper bound on value. They also find that a modified net price rule approximates reserve value. Copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press.
Human Capital and CEO Compensation During Institutional Transitions

Firms appoint CEOs with different types of human capital in order to manage resource dependencies. How CEOs are compensated thus can be conceptualized as a valuation process of how boards view the value of CEOs' human capital. Two types of human capital � international experience and political ties � have emerged as potential drivers of CEO compensation during institutional transitions. But how they impact CEO compensation has remained unclear. We develop a resource dependence-based, contingency framework to focus on the external and internal factors that enable or constrain human capital to impact CEO compensation. Because of the tremendous regional diversity within China, externally, we focus on the level of marketization of the region in which firms are headquartered. Internally, we pay attention to two corporate governance mechanisms: politically connected outside directors and compensation committee. Data from 10,329 firm-year observations at 94 per cent of listed firms in China largely support our framework. Overall, our study contributes to resource dependence research by extending this research to the context of institutional transitions with a focus on how human capital impacts CEO compensation.
Computational model of airway narrowing: mature vs. immature rabbit.

Immature rabbits have greater maximal airway narrowing and greater maximal fold increases in airway resistance during bronchoconstriction than mature animals. We have previously demonstrated that excised immature rabbit lungs have more distensible airways, a lower shear modulus, and structural differences in the relative composition and thickness of anatomically similar airways. In the present study, we incorporated anatomic and physiological data for mature and immature rabbits into a computational model of airway narrowing. We then investigated the relative importance of maturational differences in these factors as determinants of the greater airway narrowing that occurs in the immature animal. The immature model demonstrated greater sensitivity to agonist, as well as a greater maximal fold increase in airway resistance. Exchanging values for airway compliance between the mature and immature models resulted in the mature model exhibiting a greater maximal airway response than the immature model. In contrast, exchanging the shear moduli or the composition of the airway wall relative to the airway size produced relatively small changes in airway reactivity. Our results strongly suggest that the mechanical properties of the airway, i.e., greater compliance of the immature airway, can be an important factor contributing to the greater airway narrowing of the immature animal.
How Knowledge Affects Payment to Conserve an Endangered Bird

The paper reports the findings of an experimental survey conducted to determine the public's willingness to pay (WTP) for the protection and conservation of the golden-shouldered parrot in Australia. This parrot is endemic to Australia and is one of Australia's most endangered birds. The paper examines the public's knowledge of this parrot and compares it with other endangered birds as well as common birds and the public's WTP for conservation from a hypothetical allocation of money based on their current knowledge. We then examine how this allocation changes with increased knowledge about all species.
Maternal Working Memory and Reactive Negativity in Parenting

We examined the role of working memory in observed reactive parenting in a sample of 216 mothers and their same-sex twin children. The mothers and their children were observed completing two frustrating cooperation tasks during a visit to the home. The mothers worked one-on-one with each child separately. Mothers completed the Vocabulary (verbal), Block Design (spatial), and Digit Span (working memory) subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Third Edition. We used a within-family quasi-experimental design to estimate the magnitude of the association between sibling differences in observed challenging behaviors (i.e., opposition and distractibility) and the difference in the mother’s negativity toward each child. As hypothesized, reactive negativity was evident only among mothers with poorer working memory. Verbal and spatial ability did not show this moderating effect. The effect was replicated in a post hoc secondary data analysis of a sample of adoptive mothers and sibling children. Results implicate working memory in the etiology of harsh reactive parenting.
Punctuated Budgets and Governors’ Institutional Powers

State budgets are flexible: In the same year, some budget categories dramatically rise or fall, whereas others closely follow the previous year’s appropriation. Public policy scholars label a budget that contains mainly small scale changes interspersed with dramatic fluctuations as punctuated. This research seeks to identify the determinants of these punctuated budgets in the American states. What causes both incremental and large scale budgetary change? We argue that a governor’s agenda setting and veto powers increase the extent to which state budgets are punctuated. First, institutionally strong governors can dominate budgetary agendas but are subject to heightened information costs. Second, strong governors can also block legislative alternatives, but thereby induce transactions costs that hinder fiscal policy adjustments. The article analyzes these institutional constraints at the American state level using maximum likelihood estimation on panel data from 1983 to 1999. We make two contributions to the study of American public policy. First, we offer a broad empirical analysis of the causes of punctuated change. Second, we present a method by which to measure punctuated distributions over time. This method can be applied to other areas of public policy research.
What we talk about when we talk about talking: Ethos at work in an online community

This dissertation explores the rhetorical concept of ethos as it functions in contemporary online communities, via a case study of one successful online community, MetaFilter.com. A year-long virtual ethnography of MetaFilter demonstrates that understanding ethos as it functions online requires a multilayered definition that accounts for the traditional notion of ethos as vir bonus, the strict Aristotelian conception of ethos as textual element, and the pre-Aristotelian idea of ethos as “gathering place. ” It also documents the unique strategies employed by digital rhetors to establish and maintain their individual ethos, evaluate the ethos of their interlocutors, and shape the collective ethos of the communities to which they belong. Finally, it argues that ethnographic research in digital environments necessitates a mixed-methods approach for collecting, coding, and analyzing data. This study employs a limited number of quantitative measures and a variety of qualitative measures to analyze four types of data: (1) statistical information from the MetaFilter database (2) archived discussion threads from one of MetaFilter’s forums, MetaTalk, (3) survey responses by MetaFilter members, and (4) interviews with the community’s moderators. After presenting the study’s findings, the dissertation concludes by indentifying four paradoxes manifested on MetaFilter that can help researchers, practitioners, and teachers of digital rhetoric better understand online communities and the essential role of ethos within those communities.
An Almost Ideal Demand System for Housing Attributes

In recent articles, Mendelsohn [16] and Palmquist [20] use restricted versions of Rosen's [22] model of household behavior to consistently estimate demand functions for attributes of a differentiated product. Rosen's [22] model is of a single market for such a product, and he proposes a two-step technique to estimate attribute demand functions. First, a single hedonic price function is estimated for the differentiated product. Attribute prices are the first derivatives of the fitted hedonic price function with respect to the relevant attributes. Second, demand functions for attributes are estimated using the prices imputed in the first step. ' If the hedonic price function estimated in the first step is linear, then there is no price variation for attributes, and demand functions cannot be estimated. If the hedonic price function is nonlinear, then there is price variation. But, it is endogenous to households, since in a single market, price and attribute quantity are chosen jointly.2 Indeed, within market price variation will always be endogenous. In either case, without sufficient restriction on the model, the parameters of the demand functions for attributes cannot be consistently estimated using Rosen's [22] method.3 Mendelsohn [16] and Palmquist [20] assume that there are many markets for the differentiated product and that households with like preferences may be observed in the different markets. By this restriction households face price variation across markets that is exogenous, whether hedonic price functions are linear or nonlinear. If so, demand functions can be consistently estimated.4
Risk factors for maternal death in patients with severe preeclampsia and eclampsia

OBJETIVOS: determinar as principais causas de obito em pacientes com pre-eclâmpsia grave/eclâmpsia e identificar os fatores de risco associados. METODOS: realizou-se um estudo de caso-controle, com todos os casos de morte materna (n = 20) em pacientes com pre-eclâmpsia grave ou eclâmpsia (n = 2.541). Selecionaram-se aleatoriamente 80 controles (sobreviventes). Determinou-se o odds ratio como estimativa do risco relativo de morte materna, realizando-se analise de regressao logistica multipla para determinacao do odds ratio ajustado. RESULTADOS: as causas basicas de obito foram: edema agudo de pulmao, coagulopatia intravascular disseminada, choque hemorragico, embolia pulmonar, insuficiencia renal aguda, e septicemia e tres casos por causas indeterminadas. Os principais fatores de risco foram: idade > 25 anos, multiparidade, idade gestacional 110mmHg, convulsoes, hipertensao arterial sistemica cronica, sindrome HELLP, edema agudo de pulmao, descolamento prematuro de placenta, coagulopatia intravascular disseminada e insuficiencia renal aguda. As variaveis que persistiram associadas com morte materna foram: sindrome HELLP, eclâmpsia, edema agudo de pulmao, hipertensao cronica e falta de pre-natal. CONCLUSOES: os principais fatores de risco para morte em mulheres com pre-eclâmpsia/eclâmpsia sao falta de pre-natal associados com hipertensao cronica e complicacoes como sindrome HELLP, eclâmpsia e edema agudo de pulmao.
Capital Flows to the New World as an Intergenerational Transfer

The late nineteenth century saw international mass migrations of capital and labor from the Old World to the New. Factors chased each other and the abundant resources at the frontier. Demographic structure also contributed to the massive capital flows from Britain to the New World. The dependency hypothesis is confirmed by estimation of savings functions in three New World economies (Argentina, Australia, and Canada) in which high dependency rates may have significantly depressed domestic savings rates and pulled in foreign investment: in effect an intergenerational transfer from old savers in the Old World to young savers in the New.
Food Supply Chain Management and Logistics: From Farm to Fork

Chapter - 01: Introduction to food supply chains Section - ONE: Food production Chapter - 02: Food production Chapter - 03: Food manufacturing Section - TWO: Operational challenges Chapter - 04: Food retailing Chapter - 05: Food logistics Chapter - 06: Challenges in international food supply chains Chapter - 07: Collaboration and relationships Chapter - 08: Food sourcing and procurement Chapter - 09: Risk management Chapter - 10: Technology trends in food supply chains Section - THREE: Sustainability and future challenges Chapter - 11: Food regulation, safety and quality Chapter - 12: Food innovation Chapter - 13: Sustainability challenges in food supply chains Chapter - 14: Food sector and economic regeneration Chapter - 15: Food security and future challenges
CCR2-Dependent Trafficking of F4/80dim Macrophages and CD11cdim/intermediate Dendritic Cells Is Crucial for T Cell Recruitment to Lungs Infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis1

We previously reported that CCR2−/− mice are susceptible to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Susceptibility was associated with an early and sustained macrophage trafficking defect, followed by delayed recruitment of dendritic cells (DCs) and T cells to the lungs. However, the relative importance of the lack of CCR2 expression by macrophages and DCs vs T cells in susceptibility to infection was unclear. In this study, we used mixed bone marrow transplantation to create mice in which the genotype of the T cells was either CCR2+/+ or CCR2−/− while maintaining the genotype of the myeloid cells as CCR2+/+. After infection with M. tuberculosis, we found that the genotype of the macrophages and/or DCs, but not that of the T cells, was critical for both T cell and myeloid cell migration to the lungs. Further investigation revealed a critical role for CCR2 in the recruitment of F4/80dim macrophages and CD11cdim/intermediate DCs to the infected lung.
Regional Political Divisions in Ukraine in 1991–2006

This article examines determinants of persistent regional political cleavages in post-Communist Ukraine. The question is how significant the role of culture is compared to ethnic, economic, and religious factors in the regional divisions. This study employs correlation, factor, and regression analyses of regional support for the Communist/pro-Russian parties and presidential candidates and pro-nationalist/pro-independence parties and candidates in all national elections held from 1991 to 2006, the vote for the preservation of the Soviet Union in the March 1991 referendum, and the vote for the independence of Ukraine in the December 1991 referendum. This study shows that the pattern of these regional differences remained relatively stable from 1991 to 2006. Historical experience has a major effect on regional electoral behavior in post-Communist Ukraine. The legacy of Austro-Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, and Czechoslovak rule is positively associated with the pro-nationalist and pro-independence vote; the same historical legacy has a negative effect on support for pro-Communist and pro-Russian parties and presidential candidates and on the vote for the preservation of the Soviet Union.
The adoption of Japanese recruitment practices in Malaysia

Purpose - The objective of this research is to examine to what extent Japanese recruitment practices are introduced and practiced in the auto manufacturing companies in Malaysia, since the implementation of the Look East Policy. Design/methodology/approach - The process involves the gathering of both primary and secondary data, but the main method is a primary data survey. The approach is to target local enterprises as much as possible in the collection of primary data through a set of questionnaires, as well as in-depth interviews with the human resource (HR) directors and some employees of each company. Findings - It appears that the Malaysian manufacturing companies have not designed their recruitment practices after those of the Japanese. There is no one single model of recruitment practices operating in Malaysia, either among Japanese joint ventures or local enterprises. However, the findings do suggest the existence of some consistent sets of recruitment behavior among the companies, though it cannot be said with much confidence that these patterns are indeed representative of Malaysian recruitment behavior. Research limitations/implications - Research has been limited to the manufacturing industry only. Practical implications - HR practitioners can use the outcome of the study to gauge the adaptability of certain elements of Japanese recruitment practices to the Malaysian workplace. Originality/value - This paper offers an insight into the applicability of Japanese recruitment practices and offers practical help to HR practitioners embarking on new recruitment policies.
Bins, Bulbs, and Shower Timers: On the ‘Techno-Ethics’ of Sustainable Living

Domestic eco-efficient technologies, such as recycling bins and compact florescent light bulbs, are integral to the eco-modernisation project. To date, however, little research has examined their role in the production of ‘sustainable citizens’. In response, this paper explores the productivities of commonplace domestic objects. It draws on qualitative research into a Sydney-based sustainable living programme called ‘GreenHome’, to examine how participants’ environmental ethics became articulated through objects’ use. This forges a form of embodied ‘techno-ethics’ that permeates socio-material relations beyond the immediate. Therefore, this examination of the quotidian deployment of eco-efficient technologies, whilst not denying the problematic nature of technologically-dependant futures, suggests some positive outcomes from individuals’ enrolment in domestic eco-modernisation.
Susceptibility of Human Pancreatic &bgr; Cells for Cytomegalovirus Infection and the Effects on Cellular Immunogenicity

Objectives Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection has been suggested to be a causal factor in the development of type 1 diabetes, posttransplantation diabetes, and the failure of islet allografts. This effect of CMV has been interpreted as an indirect effect on the immune system rather than direct infection–induced cell death. In the present study, we investigated (i) the susceptibility of &bgr; cells to HCMV infection, (ii) regulation of immune cell–activating ligands, (iii) release of proinflammatory cytokines, and (iv) the effects on peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) activation. Methods CM insulinoma cells and primary &bgr; cells were HCMV-infected in vitro using a laboratory and a clinical HCMV strain. The susceptibility to infection was measured by the expression of viral genes and proteins. Furthermore, expression levels of Major Histocompatibility Complex I, Intracellular Adhesion Molecule-1, and Lymphocyte Function Associated Antigen-3 and the release of proinflammatory cytokines were determined. In addition, PBMC activation to HCMV-infected &bgr; cells was determined. Results &bgr; Cells were susceptible to HCMV infection. Moreover, the infection increased the cellular immunogenicity, as demonstrated by an increased MHC I and ICAM-1 expression and an increased proinflammatory cytokine release. Human cytomegalovirus–infected CM cells potently activated PBMCs. The infection-induced effects were dependent on both viral “sensing” and viral replication. Conclusions In vivo &bgr;-cell HCMV infection and infection-enhanced cellular immunogenicity may have important consequences for native or transplanted &bgr;-cell survival.
Intratumoral Lentivector-Mediated TGF-β1 Gene Downregulation As a Potent Strategy for Enhancing the Antitumor Effect of Therapy Composed of Cyclophosphamide and Dendritic Cells

Vaccination with dendritic cells (DCs) stimulated with tumor antigens can induce specific cellular immune response that recognizes a high spectrum of tumor antigens. However, the ability of cancer cells to produce immunosuppressive factors drastically decreases the antitumor activity of DCs. The main purpose of the study was to improve the effectiveness of DC-based immunotherapy or chemoimmunotherapy composed of cyclophosphamide (CY) and DCs by application of lentivectors (LVs)-encoding short hairpin RNA specific for TGF-β1 (shTGFβ1 LVs). We observed that s.c. inoculation of both MC38 cells with silenced expression of TGF-β1 (MC38/shTGF-β1) and direct intratumoral application of shTGFβ1 LVs contributed to reduction of suppressor activity of myeloid cells and Tregs in tumor. Contrary to expectations, in mice bearing wild tumor, the application of shTGFβ1 LVs prior to vaccination with bone marrow-derived DC stimulated with tumor antigens (BMDC/TAg) did not influence myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) infiltration into tumor. As a result, we observed only minor MC38 tumor growth inhibition (TGI) accompanied by systemic antitumor response activation comparable to that obtained for negative control (shN). However, when the proposed scheme was complemented by pretreatment with a low dose of CY, we noticed high MC38 TGI together with decreased number of MDSCs in tumor and induction of Th1-type response. Moreover, in both schemes of treatment, LVs (shTGFβ1 as well as shN) induced high influx of CTLs into tumor associated probably with the viral antigen introduction into tumor microenvironment. Concluding, the application of shTGFβ1 LVs alone or in combination with DC-based vaccines is not sufficient for long-lasting elimination of suppression in tumor. However, simultaneous reduction of TGF-β1 in tumor microenvironment and its remodeling by pretreatment with a low dose of CY facilitates the settlement of peritumorally inoculated DCs and supports them in restoration and activation of a potent antitumor response.