Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the insensitivity of single field planar dosimetry to IMRT inaccuracies.

PURPOSE To report on the sensitivity of single field planar measurements in identifying IMRT plans with poor calculational accuracy. METHODS Three IMRT plans for head and neck cancer were subjected to extensive quality assurance. The plans were recalculated on a cylindrical phantom and between eight and 18 low gradient points were measured in each plan with an ion chamber. Every point measured in these plans agreed to within 4% of the dose predicted by the planning system and the plans were judged acceptable for clinical use. Each plan was then reoptimized with aggressive dose constraints so that the new treatment fields were more highly modulated than the ones from the original plans. Very complex fields can be calculated less accurately and ion chamber measurements of these plans in the cylindrical phantom confirmed significant dosimetric errors--Several of the measured points in each plan differed from the calculated dose by more than 4%, with a maximum single deviation of 10.6%. These three plans were judged unacceptable for clinical use. All six plans (three acceptable, three unacceptable) were then analyzed with two means of individual field planar dosimetry: Portal imaging with an electronic portal imaging device (EPID) and an ion chamber array. Gamma analysis was performed on each set of planar measurements with 2%/2 mm distance to agreement (DTA) and 3%/3 mm DTA criteria to try to determine a gamma analysis threshold which would differentiate the flawed plans from the acceptable ones. RESULTS With the EPID and 2%/2 mm DTA criteria, between 88.2% and 92.8% of pixels from the acceptable IMRT plans passed the gamma analysis, and between 87.5% and 91.9% passed for the unacceptable IMRT plans. With the ion chamber array and 2%/2 mm DTA criteria, between 92.4% and 94.9% of points in the acceptable plans passed the gamma analysis, while 86.8% to 98.3% of the points in the unacceptable plans passed the gamma analysis. The difference between acceptable and unacceptable plans was diminished further when gamma criteria were expanded to 3%/3 mm DTA. A fraction of pixels passing the gamma analysis was found to be a poor predictor of dosimetric accuracy with both planar dosimeters, as well as both sets of gamma criteria. CONCLUSIONS Deconstruction of an IMRT plan for field-by-field QA requires complex analysis methods such as the gamma function. Distance to agreement, a component of the gamma function, has clinical relevance in a composite plan but when applied to individual, highly modulated fields, it can mask important dosimetric errors. While single field planar dosimetry may comprise one facet of an effective QA protocol, gamma analysis of single field measurements is insensitive to important dosimetric inaccuracies of the overall plan.
THE ROLE OF HUMAN CAPITAL IN CHINA'S TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH: A CROSS-PROVINCE ANALYSIS

This paper studies the role of human capital in China's provincial total factor productivity (TFP) growth over 1985–2004. The stochastic frontier approach is employed to measure the productivity growth of Chinese provinces. Human capital is measured both qualitatively and quantitatively. In particular, enrolment rates at various levels of schooling are used to represent human capital composition. After controlling for endogeneity, we find that human capital has significant and positive effects on the TFP growth of Chinese provinces. However, when education quality is incorporated, productivity growth appears to be significantly enhanced by quality improvements in primary education only. Regional impacts of human capital are found to differ at various levels of schooling. In the eastern region of China, productivity growth is significantly associated with secondary education. TFP growth in the central region is mainly promoted by primary and university education. Yet in the western region, primary education plays the most prominent role.
Has the Okishio Theorem Been Refuted?

This paper evaluates the alleged refutation of the Okishio theorem by the Temporal Single-System Interpretation (TSSI) of Marxian value theory. The TSSI's refutation of the Okishio theorem requires not only changes in the definition of the rate of profit but also an arbitrary assumption about the time paths of labour productivity and prices. An ad hoc assumption about price changes used to disprove the Okishio theorem is meaningless because the aim of Marx's economics was to explain capitalist exploitation and accumulation without resorting to exogenously given changes on the market.
TAFTA - a dead horse or an attractive open club?

A Transatlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA) has been proposed in the mid-1990s to revitalize the economic and political ties between the United States and the European Union. This paper discusses the expected economic gains from such a free trade area for its members with respect to trade in goods and services and investment flows. It then looks at potential effects for third countries, and discusses how TAFTA fits into the WTO institutional rule system for the world economy and how a TAFTA for investment flows is to be evaluated. The paper argues to include a transatlantic effort for deeper integration into the WTO framework.
Heterogeneous behaviours and the effectiveness of central bank intervention in the yen/dollar exchange market

A nonlinear heterogeneous agent model is applied to the yen/dollar exchange rate market to discuss the channels of an effective central bank intervention. The existence of two hypothetical channels proposed by Hung (1997) and Taylor (2004, 2005) are tested and confirmed. Evidence shows heterogeneous agents are active in the yen/dollar market where the stabilizing force from the fundamentalists declines in large misalignments. Central bank intervention is effective in arousing the trend-reversing sentiment among chartists to prevent market from explosion. The intervention is also effective in strengthening fundamentalists’ confidence that the market will move toward its theoretical equilibrium. The intervention has significant effects on fundamentalists’ confidence, regardless of whether the forecasting method relies on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) only or on a PPP plus Uncovered Interest rate Parity (UIP) condition. The interest rate differential can affect the exchange rate changes through influencing demand orders of the short-run fundamentalists.
Modified Midi‐ and Mini‐Multiplex PCR Systems for Mitochondrial DNA Control Region Sequence Analysis in Degraded Samples

Two multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) systems (Midiplex and Miniplex) were developed for the amplification of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region, and the efficiencies of the multiplexes for amplifying degraded DNA were validated using old skeletal remains. The Midiplex system consisted of two multiplex PCRs to amplify six overlapping amplicons ranging in length from 227 to 267 bp. The Miniplex system consisted of three multiplex PCRs to amplify 10 overlapping short amplicons ranging in length from 142 to 185 bp. Most mtDNA control region sequences of several 60‐year‐old and 400–500‐year‐old skeletal remains were successfully obtained using both PCR systems and consistent with those previously obtained by monoplex amplification. The multiplex system consisting of smaller amplicons is effective for mtDNA sequence analyses of ancient and forensic degraded samples, saving time, cost, and the amount of DNA sample consumed during analysis.
Limited Rationality and Strategic Complements: The Implications for Macroeconomics

This paper considers the implications of heterogeneity in information-processing abilities for macroeconomic models that exhibit "strategic complements. " The latter is the same concept that has received much attention in the recent macro literature under the headings Keynesian coordination problems and positive trading externalities. We consider environments in which agents vary in terms of their ability to form expectations, and ask whether it is the "sophisticated" agents or the "naive" agents who have a disproportionately large effect on macroeconomic equilibrium. We find that if macroeconomic interaction exhibits strategic complementarity, then it is the naive agents who have a disproportionate impact.
Pengaruh Karakteristik Perusahaan terhadap Pengungkapan Laporan Tahunan

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menguji karakteristik perusahaan (liquidity, profitability, company size, and public stock ownership) yang mempengaruhi disclousure laporan tahunan baik secara parsial maupun simultan. Populasi pada penelitian ini adalah properti dan perusahaan real estate di Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI) dari tahun 2008-2009. Sampelnya adalah 62 perusahaan yang diambil melalui purposive sampling. Data dianalisis dengan menggunakan Analisis Regresi Berganda dibantu oleh SPSS 16 untuk windowsnya. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa secara simultan likuiditas, profitabilitas, ukuran perusahaan, dan kepemilikan saham publik mempe-ngaruhi disclousure laporan tahunan. Dan secara parsial, likuiditas, profitabilitas, dan kepemilikan saham publik mempengaruhi disclousure laporan tahunan, sementara itu ukuran perusahaan berpengaruh terhadap disclousure laporan tahunan. The objective of this study is to examine the firm’s characteristics (liquidity, profitability, company size, and public stock ownership) that effect on the disclousure of annual report either partially or simultaneously. The population of this reseacrh was property and real estate companies in Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) of 2008-2009. The samples are 62 companies, taken by applying purposive sampling. The data are analyzed by using Multiple Regression Analysis assisted by SPSS 16 for windows. The research result indicates that liquidity, profitability, company size, and public stock ownership influenced the disclousure of annual report simultaneously. Partially, liquidity, profitability, and public stock ownership do not influence the disclousure of annual report, while company size influences the disclousure of annual report.
A Revealed Preference Approach to Ranking City Quality of Life

This paper presents a new method for ranking city quality of life. I use data from the 1980 and the 1990 Census of Population and Housing to rank cities. My approach relaxes the standard "hedonic" method's assumptions that all city local public goods are observed and that the implicit prices of all skills and apartment attributes are equal across cities. I find that Los Angeles and San Francisco have higher quality of life than Chicago and Houston in both 1980 and 1990. I find that quality of life in New York City fell during the 1980s.
Do innovation dimensions matter in China’s cross-regional income differences?

This paper studies the interlinks between innovation inputs and outputs and between innovation outputs and economic development. Using a panel data-set from 31 regions of China, we show that the difference in regional innovation output can be significantly explained by R&D manpower and expenditure, highly educated students, and public education spending, while GDP is linked to patent, high-tech export share, and new product sales. Our findings provide support for the use of government R&D subsidies and education rebate.
Tourism in the theory of international trade and payments

In the theory of international trade tourism was never mentioned explicitly. When the first theories have been developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth century tourism has not been of any importance, so the theory of the international real exchange of goods and services became a theory of international trade. The difference between trade and tourism is the fact, that the tourist travels to another country and consumes different goods and services there, whereas trade brings goods of the foreign country to the consumer. Therefore, the explanations of the different causes for international transactions have different weights for the explanation of tourism and of trade. The theory of international payments, however, when it was applied to the real world, very soon took notice of the rising part of tourism payments in the balance of payments. Today, one can roughly guess an average part of tourism in the total exchange of goods and services of nearly 10%, and much more in some tourism countries, like Spain or Austria. Recently, the US move to include services in the GATT has given rise to studies of services in the international economy. But the differences in services — ranging from communication, interest payments, consultant fees, transport to tourism — are so great that no uniform model valid for all services can be set up.
Recovery from the depression : Australia and the world economy in the 1930s

List of authors List of figures List of tables Preface 1. An overview R. G. Gregory 2. The Australian recovery of the 1930s in international comparative perspective Barry Eichengreen 3. The recovery of the 1930s and economic policy in Britain T. J. Hatton 4. A macro interpretation of recovery: Australia and Canada Alan G. Green and Gordon R. Sparks 5. Depression and recovery in New Zealand G. R. Hawke 6. The Japanese economy and economic policy in the 1930s Tasukichi Yasuba 7. The battle of the plans: a macroeconometric model of the interwar economy T. J. Valentine 8. Australian budgetary policies in the 1930s J. J. Pincus 9. Monetary policy in depression and recovery M. W. Butlin and P. M. Boyce 10. Sharing the burden: the Australian labour market during the 1930s R. C. Gregory, V. Ho and L. McDermott 11. Manufacturing and economic recovery in Australia, 1932-1937 Mark Thomas 12. Agriculture and the recovery from the depression B. R. Davidson 13. Unemployment and the Australian economic recovery of the 1930s C. Forster 14. Government unemployment relief in the 1930s: aid or hindrance to recovery? G. D. Snooks 15. Unequal sacrifice: distributional aspects of depression and recovery in Australia Ian W. McLean References Index.
The Effect of Taxes on Corporate Debt Maturity Decisions: An Analysis of Public and Private Bond Offerings

This paper tests theoretical predictions of a relation between taxes and corporate debt maturity decisions using bond offerings (public and private) during 1988–1995. Consistent with predictions of a tax clientele effect, a positive relation between firms' marginal tax rates and the maturity term of their corporate bond offerings is found. Also consistent with tax predictions of a term structure effect, the results indicate that firms issue corporate bonds with longer maturities in periods characterized by large term premiums (for long‐ vs. short‐term interest rates). In periods with large term premiums, long‐term bonds accelerate interest deductions into the early years of the bond obligation (with the present value of pre‐tax interest payments being no more for the long‐term bond than for successive short‐term bond issues). These findings extend prior research on determinants of financing choices by providing some of the first empirical evidence that taxes are related to corporate debt maturity decisions.
Reovirus Nonstructural Protein μNS Binds to Core Particles but Does Not Inhibit Their Transcription and Capping Activities

ABSTRACT Previous studies provided evidence that nonstructural protein μNS of mammalian reoviruses is present in particle assembly intermediates isolated from infected cells. Morgan and Zweerink (Virology 68:455–466, 1975) showed that a subset of these intermediates, which can synthesize the viral plus strand RNA transcripts in vitro, comprise core-like particles plus large amounts of μNS. Given the possible role of μNS in particle assembly and/or transcription implied by those findings, we tested whether recombinant μNS can bind to cores in vitro. The μNS protein bound to cores, but not to two particle forms, virions and intermediate subvirion particles, that contain additional outer-capsid proteins. Incubating cores with increasing amounts of μNS resulted in particle complexes of progressively decreasing buoyant density, approaching the density of protein alone when very large amounts of μNS were bound. Thus, the μNS-core interaction did not exhibit saturation or a defined stoichiometry. Negative-stain electron microscopy of the μNS-bound cores revealed that the cores were intact and linked together in large complexes by an amorphous density, which we ascribe to μNS. The μNS-core complexes retained the capacity to synthesize the viral plus strand transcripts as well as the capacity to add methylated caps to the 5′ ends of the transcripts. In vitro competition assays showed that mixing μNS with cores greatly reduced the formation of recoated cores by stoichiometric binding of outer-capsid proteins μ1 and ς3. These findings are consistent with the presence of μNS in transcriptase particles as described previously and suggest that, by binding to cores in the infected cell, μNS may block or delay outer-capsid assembly and allow continued transcription by these particles.
Pre-migration adaptation of highly skilled self-initiated foreign employees: the case of an EU agency

This study analyzes pre-migration adaptation among highly skilled self-initiated foreign employees (SFEs) of the EU Chemicals Agency in Finland (N = 95). Organizational, expatriate and acculturation perspectives were integrated to develop a model of factors predicting SFEs' psychological, socio-psychological and work adaptation in the pre-migration stage. Previous international work experience, perceived organizational prestige, satisfaction with the time, information and assistance to prepare for the relocation and quality of contact with Finns during recruitment positively predicted SFEs' pre-migration adaptation. European identification, self-esteem and relocation stress acted as mediators. The study emphasized the importance of a multidimensional approach to SFE adaptation prior to relocation.
The Relationship Between Sexually Dimorphic Peripheral Nerves and Diseases

With regard to the incidence of peripheral nerve diseases and peripheral nerve damage after surgical procedures, there are reports of sexual dimorphism, no sexual dimorphism, and little sexual dimorphism. However, details of the morphology and sexual dimorphism in the characteristics of peripheral nerves have not been available in textbooks. I morphometrically analyzed peripheral nerves and clarified these issues.
An AUG initiation codon, not codon–anticodon complementarity, is required for the translation of unleadered mRNA in Escherichia coli

We determined the in vivo translational efficiency of ‘unleadered’lacZ compared with a conventionally leadered lacZ with and without a Shine–Dalgarno (SD) sequence in Escherichia coli and found that changing the SD sequence of leadered lacZ from the consensus 5′‐AGGA‐3′ to 5′‐UUUU‐3′ results in a 15‐fold reduction in translational efficiency; however, removing the leader altogether results in only a twofold reduction. An increase in translation coincident with the removal of the leader lacking a SD sequence suggests the existence of stronger or novel translational signals within the coding sequence in the absence of the leader. We examined, therefore, a change in the translational signals provided by altering the AUG initiation codon to other naturally occurring initiation codons (GUG, UUG, CUG) in the presence and absence of a leader and find that mRNAs lacking leader sequences are dependent upon an AUG initiation codon, whereas leadered mRNAs are not. This suggests that mRNAs lacking leader sequences are either more dependent on perfect codon–anticodon complementarity or require an AUG initiation codon in a sequence‐specific manner to form productive initiation complexes. A mutant initiator tRNA with compensating anticodon mutations restored expression of leadered, but not unleadered, mRNAs with UAG start codons, indicating that codon–anticodon complementarity was insufficient for the translation of mRNA lacking leader sequences. These data suggest that a cognate AUG initiation codon specifically serves as a stronger and different translational signal in the absence of an untranslated leader.
Application of Narrowband Power-Line Communication in Medium-Voltage Smart Distribution Grids

Narrowband power-line communication (PLC) over distribution networks is gaining the attention of researchers, as a communication medium in future power grids. This paper investigates the application of narrowband PLC in smart distribution grids, starting from a historical overview on the accomplished technological progress and continuing with a comparison of the advantages and drawbacks of PLC technology to other smart-grid communication solutions. The analysis shows that narrowband PLC applications are best suitable for medium-voltage (MV) networks, due to the vast and complex geographical extent. The channel and topological characteristics of MV distribution networks are examined for different operational states and configurations, since they are important for the optimal design and implementation of the PLC infrastructure. The analysis is also extended to an existing overhead MV distribution network with distributed-generation units. The obtained results and the proposed methodology are useful and comprehensive tools for the efficient implementation of PLC technology in future smart grids.
Does students’ empowerment influence their commitment?

Students' commitment plays a very important role in their academic achievement. This paper seeks to investigate how various aspects of students' empowerment influence their commitment, by investigating a sample 59 undergraduate students. Results of the study revealed that out of the four categories of empowerment, only self-determination significantly enhanced students' commitment. Hence, it was argued that to enhance students' commitment, which can consequently result in their improved sense of belongingness, schools need to enhance their students' perceived sense of having selection in initiating and regulating actions within the school setting. Findings of this study provide invaluable insights for educational administrators and school deans to enhance students' empowerment, which might be through engaging them in school affairs and involving them in some of the activities and decisions of the school.
Does finding early recurrence improve outcomes, and at what cost?

The putative goal of surveillance is the early detection of recurrence while both the cancer and patient are still treatable. To be cost and clinically effective, surveillance requires a tailored approach based on stage, tumor biology, conditional survival, and available treatment options. Although surveillance is the major component of care for cancer patients after potentially curative treatment, current guidelines for surveillance lack the high‐level data seen on the treatment side of the patient care continuum. J. Surg. Oncol. 2016;114:329–335. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Analyst following along the supply chain

We document that the likelihood of an analyst following a supplier–customer firm pair increases with the strength of the economic ties along the supply chain, as measured by the percentage of the supplier’s sales to the customer. Analysts who follow a covered firm’s customer provide more accurate earnings forecasts for the supplier firm than analysts who do not. While both types of analysts respond to and incorporate the earnings news from the customer firm into their revisions of the supplier’s earnings forecasts, supplier–customer analysts exhibit a larger improvement in their forecast accuracy for the supplier subsequent to the customer’s earnings announcements, when compared to other analysts. Overall, the evidence suggests that supplier–customer analysts benefit from the informational complementarities along the supply chain and improve their forecast accuracy as a result.