Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning in Hierarchies

The formal hierarchical structures of organizations can be expected to affect the organizations' behavior in many different ways. One kind of impact is that their structures may affect how their knowledge is organized. This is important because the different ways in which knowledge can be organized may affect what the organizations' decision makers learn from the information that their organizations have gathered, stored, and processed. However, rigorous testing of this general argument would not be easy, and so it would be useful if a preliminary means of assessment could be found so that we can better judge whether a full-scale test is warranted. Hammond (1993) noted that a library catalogue is also a formal structure for hierarchically organizing knowledge, which means that different kinds of cataloguing systems represent different ways of organizing knowledge. Two different kinds of cataloguing systems — the Library of Congress classification and the Dewey Decimal classification — are widely used in US libraries, and Hammond conjectured that these two different cataloguing systems will tend to bring different sets of books to the attention of library users; this in turn should be expected to have consequences for what the library users can most easily learn from the library. This article tests Hammond's conjecture in two university libraries, focusing on 40 classic books in political science. The results provide strong empirical support for the conjecture: although the two cataloguing systems do not appear to organize knowledge in completely different ways, what differences they do have nonetheless appear to have a striking impact on what users can most easily learn. Support is thus provided, albeit indirectly, for the general argument that how organizations are structured hierarchically should be expected to affect what organizational decision makers are able to learn.
Are Stock Markets Really so Inefficient? The Case of the 'Halloween Indicator'

The old and simple investment strategy “Sell in May and Go Away” (also referred to as the “Halloween effect”) enjoys an unbroken popularity. Recent studies suggest that the Halloween effect even strengthened rather than weakened since its first publication by Bouman and Jacobsen (2002). We implement regression models as well as Hansen’s (2005) “Superior Predictive Ability” test to analyze whether stock markets are really so inefficient. In line with the predictions of market efficiency, our results reject the hypothesis that a trading strategy based on the Halloween effect significantly outperforms.
Informational Efficiency and Interchange Transactions in Alberta’s Electricity Market

This paper aims to investigate the informational efficiency of the Alberta electricity market and also the issue of whether interchange transactions (power flows between markets) are becoming increasingly significant factors in electric power markets. In doing so, we use hourly data for all hours, peak hours, and off-peak hours over the period from January 1st, 1999 to July 31st, 2005. In testing the efficiency of the Alberta power market, we use a statistical physics approach - namely the ‘detrending moving average (DMA)’ technique, introduced by Alessio et al. (2002) and further developed by Carbone et al. (2004a, 2004b), and recently applied to energy futures markets by Serletis and Rosenberg (2007). In analyzing the relationship between power imports and exports and pool prices, we assess whether regulatory changes have modified the causal relationship between import/export volumes and the pool price. According to our results, the electricity market in Alberta is highly inefficient and cross-border trade of electricity between Alberta and neighbouring jurisdictions helps predict the price dynamics in Alberta’s electricity market.
Aggregation of demand side flexibility in a smart grid: A review for European market design

The increased share of renewable generation and the integration of Distributed Generation (DG) require more electricity system flexibility. One way to increase this flexibility is to use the potentials of demand response (DR). In order to activate the full range of customers in DR, a new market intermediary actor is needed to aggregate the resources in an adequate technical and economical format. These actors, so called “aggregators”, can act as flexibility providers to support security of supply considering network, generation and consumers constraints. However, despite their technical and economical utility, aggregators are not self-emerging in many European countries. Consequently, this paper aims at identifying the main barriers accounting for this lack of aggregators in Europe. Eventually this paper provides a policy review for European market designs that support aggregation.
Thin-Film Photovoltaic Proton and Electron Radiation Testing for a Meo Orbit

A radiation test plan for thin-film photovoltaic technologies focused on a MEO flight experiment is outlined. The proton and electron radiation response of thin film, amorphous Si solar cells and CuInGaSe 2 solar cells, with and without space coatings, is presented. The degradation of the photovoltaic output under penetrating and junction-damaging proton irradiation, and 0.6 MeV and 1 MeV electron irradiation, is measured and examined. The experimental data are presented and analyzed. These data will form the basis for an on-orbit prediction model as applied to a high-radiation MEO orbit
The impact of government funding reforms on the strategic planning of Malaysian public universities

The purpose of this study was to investigate the shift in funding reforms at Malaysian public universities. Previous research has shown that shifts in new funding to public universities are more likely to result in a behavioural change at such institutions. This research used agency theory as a practical theoretical framework to analyse relationships between the principal (government) and the agents (public universities), and to predict the effects a change in government funding would have on teaching and research performance in institutions of higher education. In the context of Malaysia as a developing country, this theory has been used to establish a framework for determining the extent to which such institutions meet the Ministry of Higher Education objectives stated in the National Higher Education Strategic Plan beyond 2020. This research design employed a quantitative survey for major data collection, and subsequent qualitative focus group interviews to enable in-depth analysis of the survey findings.
Patterns of neighborhood transition in a multiethnic world: U.S. Metropolitan areas, 1970–1980

Ethnic diversity within metropolitan neighborhoods increased during the 1970s, and all-white tracts became less common. The simple presence of a minority group did not precipitate turnover, but as the minority proportion rose, the probability of racial and ethnic transition increased. Tracts with multiple groups became much more common during the decade and were especially prone to transition. Distinctively, black neighborhoods displayed a bipolar clustering at both ends of the distribution of minority presence. Multivariate models showed that white loss was increased by the presence of multiple minority groups, by a higher minority proportion, and by location near existing minority areas.
Improved peripheral cortical bone geometry after surgical treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism in postmenopausal women.

CONTEXT Cortical bone geometry is one of the most important components of bone strength. Excess endogenous PTH or intermittent PTH administration affects cortical bone geometry; however, the changes in cortical bone geometry in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) after parathyroidectomy (PTX) remain unknown. OBJECTIVE The present study was performed to examine the longitudinal effects of treating endogenous PTH excess on cortical bone geometry in postmenopausal patients with pHPT by using peripheral quantitative computed tomography. PATIENTS Twenty postmenopausal pHPT patients and 30 postmenopausal control subjects matched for age participated in this study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD), cortical bone geometric parameters, polar strength strain index, and polar cross-sectional moment of inertia were measured using peripheral quantitative computed tomography at the radius during the year after PTX. RESULTS After 1 yr, total and cortical vBMD significantly increased after PTX in the pHPT group (2.9 and 1.6%, respectively), whereas they significantly decreased in the control group (-2.1 and -1.3%, respectively). Significant decreases in cortical thickness and area were observed in the control group (-3.0 and -2.5%, respectively). In contrast, the pHPT group showed increases in cortical thickness and area (8.5 and 7.6%, respectively) as well as polar strength strain index 1 year after PTX. CONCLUSION The present longitudinal study showed significant beneficial changes in volumetric BMD, cortical bone geometry, and bone strength index after PTX in postmenopausal women with pHPT.
Incrementalism and strategic change: a university's experience

Purpose – The processual interpretation of strategic change has been often applied to private companies searching for a logic behind their apparent chaotic transformation. The purpose of this paper is to report on an experience in a public organisation, an Italian university, where this perspective is exceptionally reflected, entailing a refining process towards a new strategy.Design/methodology/approach – The longitudinal case study was carried out analyzing different subunits within this institution, investigating the way in which top managers have tried to re‐position the organisation, taking advantage of the increased autonomy given by a series of reforms of the academic system.Findings – The results show an incremental process towards autonomy and accountability, through which top managers have transformed the organisational structure, identified responsibilities, and introduced a new set of managerial techniques.Originality/value – This study shows how the combination of three elements – logic, incr.
Induced Institutional Change or Transaction Costs? The Economic Logic of Land Reallocations in Chinese Agriculture

Abstract The communal land rights system in China, which combines individualised farming with periodic land reallocations, provides a good case for testing the economic logic of land reallocations. Analysis of the results of a unique village survey reveals that a village's choice of land reallocation type – partial or large in scale – is significantly affected by transaction cost considerations, which vary according to village topography and size, rather than concerns for economic efficiency (tenure security), the latter of which is a proxy for the theory of induced institutional change. More specifically, villages with complex topographies tend to favour partial land reallocation, whereas larger settlements tend to reallocate land more thoroughly.
Individual demands from household aggregates: time and age variation in the composition of diet

This paper uses non-parametric regression with smoothness induced by imposition of a roughness penalty to estimate time-dependent relationships between age and intakes of energy, total fat and saturated fatty acids employing data on household food acquisitions from a continuous survey covering the period 1975-94. A discrete analogue of the bivariate thin plate spline smoother is used to smooth the estimates across age and time. With age and calendar time-specific estimated intakes in hand it is possible to track changes with age within cohorts. Of particular interest in this application are estimates of the change through time and across age in measures of dietary composition which figure in many governments' dietary targets such as the proportion of energy derived from fat. The method used here can be applied in any situation in which household aggregate data are available on consumption of private goods and there is a need to model the demands of household members or to control for household composition, opening the way to the construction of individual pseudo-panels from household aggregates. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Crisis and turnaround management in SMEs: a qualitative-empirical investigation of 30 companies

During their life cycles, many companies are confronted with crisis. The aim of this paper is to empirically test theoretical approaches in the case of 30 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) from Germany. The presented explorative study contributes gaining a deeper insight how these companies deal with crisis. The interviews were analysed by the qualitative method GABEK that transforms abstract individual unstructured and unorganised texts onto a collective level. Among others, the results show that the personal contact to stakeholders is an added value of SMEs because of their size in order to manage and overcome crisis. Finally, it is shown that crisis can be best overcome by focusing on the core business and growth, in addition to job cuts and reduction of working time.
FOMC forecasts as a focal point for private expectations

We explore empirically the theoretical prediction that public information acts as a focal point in the context of the US monetary policy. We aim at establishing whether the publication of FOMC inflation forecasts affects the cross-sectional dispersion of private inflation expectations. Our main finding is that publishing FOMC inflation forecasts has a negative effect on the cross-sectional dispersion of private current-year inflation forecasts. This effect is found to be robust to another survey dataset and to various macroeconomic controls. Moreover, we find that the dispersion of private inflation forecasts is not affected by the dispersion of views among FOMC members.
Cytogenetic and environmental factors in the etiology of the acute leukemias in adults.

This review focuses on familial and cytogenetic factors and on environmental exposures that play a role in the etiology of the leukemias. Differential prognosis and treatment responses as well as new cytogenetic assays suggest that acute lymphocytic and acute nonlymphocytic leukemias are each comprised of different diseases with similar appearance. Risk factors, including exposure to ionizing radiations, benzene,cigarette smokes, electric currents, antineoplastic agents, petroleum products and pesticides are discussed. 149 references.
The Stability of Party Identification in Western Democracies

The concept of party identification is widely thought to be of limited utility outside the United States, where partisan attachments are regarded as unstable. The authors argue that estimating the stability of party identification outside the United States requires attention to problems of dimensionality and measurement error. The authors develop a model for estimating the stability of partisanship that addresses these problems, and they apply the model to eight panel surveys drawn from Great Britain, Canada, and Germany. The results suggest that partisanship has been extremely stable in each country, with the exception of recent developments in Canada. The model and findings presented here suggest the need for refinement in the way partisanship is measured, and partisan stability assessed, in multiparty systems.
Attendance at Religious Services and Physical Functioning After Stroke Among Older Mexican Americans

The purpose of this study was to examine the association of attendance at religious services and change in physical functioning among older Mexican Americans who report residual physical limitations due to stroke. Using data from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly (H-EPESE), generalized linear models were used to evaluate change in physical function over 3 years in persons with stroke aged 65 and older, controlling for demographics, medical conditions, health behaviors, and physical mobility. The results showed frequent attendees at religious services had significantly fewer declines in activities of daily living (ADLs) disability compared to infrequent attendees. The frequent attendance group also showed less decline in lower body function compared to the infrequent attendees. Findings are indicative that church attendance prestroke is associated with better physical function poststroke in older Mexican Americans.
Socially Responsible Mutual Funds – A Profitable Way of Investing

Abstract In the presented paper there is analyzed the idea, essence and strategies of socially reponsible investing, there is also made a review of socially responsible mutual fund market worldwide and in the Baltics, and made a research on the relation between financial and social performance of mutual funds. Finally, there are presented results of a comparative analysis of S&P 500 TR and Index Morningstar Moderate Target Risk to their benchmarks. The presented results show the trends of socially responsible market and the effectiveness of socially responsible mutual funds comparing to their benchmarks. The specifics of socially responsible mutual market in the Baltics and research of the link between financial and social performances of mutual funds may lead to the further scientific researches.
Signal or Noise? Uncertainty and Learning about Whether Other Traders are Informed

We develop a model where some investors are uncertain whether others are trading on informative signals or noise. Uncertainty about others leads to a non-linear price that reacts asymmetrically to news. We incorporate this uncertainty into a dynamic setting where traders gradually learn about others and show that it generates empirically relevant return dynamics: expected returns are stochastic but predictable, and volatility exhibits clustering and the “leverage” effect. The model nests both the rational expectations (RE) and differences of opinions (DO) approaches and highlights a link between disagreement about fundamentals and uncertainty about other traders.
Respiratory syncytial virus infection and immunoprophylaxis for selected high-risk children in Central Australia.

BACKGROUND There are limited data on the epidemiology and viral aetiology of bronchiolitis in Central Australia and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) immunoprophylaxis in an Australian population. OBJECTIVE To (i) determine the incidence and the viral aetiology of bronchiolitis hospitalisations and (ii) report on the usage of RSV immunoprophylaxis in selected high-risk infants and children in Central Australia. METHODOLOGY A retrospective review was performed of all hospital separations for bronchiolitis for a three-year period, 1998-2000. Respiratory viruses in the nasopharyngeal aspirates were identified from the cases in the year 2000. A combined retrospective chart review and prospective follow up study was undertaken of all the infants and children who received RSV immunoprophylaxis at the Alice Springs Hospital, Central Australia. RESULTS Incidence of bronchiolitis hospitalisation in infants for 1998, 1999 and 2000 were 176, 200 and 180 per 1000, respectively. Nine high-risk children had RSV immunoprophylaxis on a total of 46 occasions and there were two mild RSV-related illnesses in them. None had severe lower respiratory tract illness. CONCLUSION The incidence of bronchiolitis in Central Australia is extremely high. The usage of RSV immunoprophylaxis may be justified in selected high-risk children living in high endemic areas.
Tumor cell-selective regulation of NOXA by c-MYC in response to proteasome inhibition

The proteasome controls a plethora of survival factors in all mammalian cells analyzed to date. Therefore, it is puzzling that proteasome inhibitors such as bortezomib can display a preferential toxicity toward malignant cells. In fact, proteasome inhibitors have the salient feature of promoting a dramatic induction of the proapoptotic protein NOXA in a tumor cell-restricted manner. However, the molecular determinants that control this specific regulation of NOXA are unknown. Here, we show that the induction of NOXA by bortezomib is directly dependent on the oncogene c-MYC. This requirement for c-MYC was found in a variety of tumor cell types, in marked contrast with dispensable roles of p53, HIF-1α, and E2F-1 (classical proteasomal targets that can regulate NOXA mRNA under stress). Conserved MYC-binding sites identified at the NOXA promoter were validated by ChIP and reporter assays. Down-regulation of the endogenous levels of c-MYC abrogated the induction of NOXA in proteasome-defective tumor cells. Conversely, forced expression of c-MYC enabled normal cells to accumulate NOXA and subsequently activate cell death programs in response to proteasome blockage. c-MYC is itself a proteasomal target whose levels or function are invariably up-regulated during tumor progression. Our data provide an unexpected function of c-MYC in the control of the apoptotic machinery, and reveal a long sought-after oncogenic event conferring sensitivity to proteasome inhibition.
Market power versus capital structure determinants: Do they impact leverage?

Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between market power and capital structure. This study will further provide a logical explanation towards the factors affecting capital structure. This study analysed 176 non-financial Pakistani companies listed on Karachi Stock Exchange over the period of 2003–2012. Capital structure has been tried to investigate with a different perspective by investigating its association with market power. It has been seen that there is a significant and positive relation between market power and capital structure. Size and liquidity remained significantly negative with capital structure, whereas profitability and dividend payout remained significantly positive with capital structure. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the relationship between market power and capital structure in any developing economy by employing the data of non-financial Pakistani firms.
A Novel Configuration for Phase-Matched Second-Harmonic Generation in LiNbO$_3$ Waveguides

We present a feasibility study of a novel technique for continuously phase-matched second-harmonic generation in proton-exchanged lithium niobate waveguides. We demonstrate that a periodic variation of the nonlinear coefficient along the transverse direction with respect to the propagation one permits for efficient conversions. Comparison with the conventional first-order quasi-phase-matching interactions are then presented in front of unavoidable imperfections of real devices whenever Czochralski off-center technique is exploited in the fabrication process