Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deterministic and Stochastic Optimization of a Reservoir System

Abstract Stochastic Dynamic Programming and Deterministic Dynamic Programming techniques are used in this study to optimize a reservoir system under a max-min type of objective function to maximize the on-peak firm energy generation. This paper shows that SDP is not appropriate for the optimization as it significantly overestimates the firm energy targets while DDP resulted in very reasonable on-peak firm energy targets. An advantage of this objective function under DDP optimization is that it facilitates the sequential optimization of complex reservoir systems and successfully avoids the problem of dimensionality. The local optimum achieved by the sequential optimization is comparable with the global optimum. Implicit stochastic schemes are used to incorporate the stochastic behavior of the system in optimization. Simulation of the system with the optimum on-peak firm energy targets and synthetic flow series have resulted in high reliabilities for targets from DDP while those from SDP are very low.
The Political Economy of Reform during the Ramos Administration (1992-98)

This paper is one of several case studies prepared for the World Bank. The objective of the case studies is to provide the Commission on Growth and Development insights on the policy reform process in developing countries that give rise to economic growth. In contrast to other countries where economic reforms ushered in a long period of sustained growth, there is no such episode in Philippine economic history. Since the restoration of democracy in 1986, the Philippines under the Ramos administration came closest to breaking out of its 'sick man of Asia' image. The confidence generated by the administration among local and international players and analysts resulted from wide? ranging reforms rooted primarily in a sound macroeconomic and investor? friendly regime as well as global competitiveness. This study is not intended as a scorecard of the Ramos Administration. Rather, it concentrates on three specific sector reforms during the Ramos administration that demonstrate the elements of successful reform processes. These reforms not only helped to free up demands on public finances then- considered, in today's parlance, the 'binding constraint' on needed public investment and reduced risk premium to encourage private investments-but over time brought gains, some unforeseen and broader in terms of positive spillover effects on the rest of the economy, and linkage to overall growth today.
International timber markets and tropical deforestation: the evidence from prices

Some scholars suggest that global timber markets, especially those involving high value species, are a leading cause of tropical deforestation. Despite limited empirical evidence, this hypothesis rests on the assumption that global timber markets respond to a common equilibrating mechanism that provides strong enough incentives for loggers in the tropical regions of the world. This article develops a simple model and taps into a unique data set on timber prices of hardwood and softwood in leading markets to test the global timber markets hypothesis. While we find evidence of a global equilibrating mechanism with potentially significant economic incentives to affect tropical deforestation, our results do not endorse the common conjecture in the literature that timber price shocks in developed countries lead to a homogeneous response in terms of deforestation everywhere in the tropical world. Instead, they invite further development of structural global timber market models to assess the linkages between markets and the consequences of such linkages to deforestation.
Single Germanium Quantum-dot Placement Along With Self-Aligned Electrodes for Effective Management of Single Charge Tunneling

We demonstrated the controlled placement of a Ge quantum dot (QD) along with tunnel-junction engineering in a self-organized approach for the effective management of single charge tunneling. In this approach, a single-Ge-QD ( ~ 11 nm) self-aligning with nickel-polycide electrodes is realized by thermally oxidizing a SiGe nanorod that bridges a 15-nm-wide nanotrench in close proximity to electrodes via a spacer bilayer of Si3N4/SiO2. The fabricated Ge-QD single-hole transistor exhibits clear Coulomb oscillation and Coulomb diamond behaviors at T = 77 K-150 K, providing a way to analyze the electronic structure of the Ge QD.
The Impact of Treasury Bill Rate and Interest Rate On The Stock Market Returns: Case Of Ghana Stock Exchange

Several studies have suggested that macroeconomic variables affect Stock market returns using Treasury bill rate as a measure of interest rate. The study examines the joint impact of interest rates and Treasury bill rate on stock market returns on Ghana Stock Exchange over the period between January 1995 and December 2011. Using Johansen’s Multivariate Cointegration Model and Vector Error Correction Model the study establish that there is cointegration between Interest rate, Treasury bill rate and stock market returns indicating long run relationship. On the basis of the Multiple Regression Analysis (OLS) carried out by Eviews 7 program, the results show that Treasury bill rate and interest rate both have a negative relationship with stock market returns but are not significant. These results lend support to the idea that interest rate and Treasury bill rate has both negative relationship but weak predictive power on stock market returns independently. The study conclude that interest rate and Treasury bill rate jointly impact on stock market returns in the long run. Understanding the effects of both Treasury bill rate and interest rate dynamics on stock market returns will help investors, fund and portfolio managers and firms make better investment decisions.
Peak oxygen uptake in arm ergometry: effects of testing protocol.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if a new proposed arm ergometer protocol was advantageous in eliciting higher peak oxygen uptake (peak VO2) when compared with two protocols currently referred to in the literature. Ten male subjects were tested on three different exercise protocols; a discontinuous test (DT), a continuous test (CT) and a new proposed jump-max test (JMT). The CT began at a work rate of 33 watts (W) (40 rpm) with the power output (PO) being increased 16 W every 3 minutes. The DT began without resistance on the ergometer flywheel (50 rpm) and the work rate was increased by 25 W every 3 minutes with a 1-minute rest between stages. The JMT began with a 3-minute pretest to determine a PO which elicited a HR of 120 +/- 5 beat min-1. After a 2-minute rest, subjects began exercise at the predetermined work rate (80 rpm) with the PO being increased 20 W each minute of the test. Oxygen uptake was measured minute by minute via open circuit spirometry. Peak VO2 was higher (p less than 0.05) in the JMT (mean +/- SEM = 2.36 +/- 0.06 l.min-1) when compared with either (means +/- SEM = 2.16 +/- 0.07 l.min-1) or the CT (means +/- SEM = 2.04 +/- 0.10 l.min-1). No difference (p greater than 0.05) existed in peak VO2 between the CT and the DT. These data suggest that the proposed JMT may result in a higher measured peak VO2 in subjects when compared with either DT or CT of moderate to long duration.
Increased relapse activity for multiple sclerosis natalizumab users who become nonpersistent: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND Natalizumab disease-modifying therapy for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) is efficacious in randomized controlled trials. Few studies have estimated the association between real-world natalizumab persistence behavior and relapse-related outcomes. OBJECTIVES To (a) examine the impact of using natalizumab consistently (i.e., persistent) on relapse-related outcomes as compared with transitioning to inconsistent natalizumab use (i.e., nonpersistent) and (b) examine the impact of other treatment patterns on relapse-related outcomes for those who initiated natalizumab. METHODS Using the IMS PharMetrics Plus claims database (years 2006-2012), we identified MS subjects who initiated natalizumab (no natalizumab claims in year prior) and had at least 2 years of follow-up. Persistence in annual follow-up periods was defined as no 90-day or greater gap in natalizumab therapy. Relapse was an MS-related hospitalization or outpatient visit with intravenous or oral steroid burst claim within 7 days. Analyses compared observations based on changes in natalizumab persistence and natalizumab nonpersistence status from 1 year to the next (e.g., transitioning from persistent to nonpersistent), estimating differences in mean annual relapses and mean annual relapse-related costs. RESULTS A total of 2,407 natalizumab initiators had at least 2 years of follow-up, yielding 4,770 year-to-year natalizumab treatment patterns where each subject contributed 1, 2, or 3 year-to-year treatment patterns. In the year prior, 3,187 treatment patterns were persistent; 731 (22.9%) of these transitioned to nonpersistence. The remaining 1,583 treatment patterns were nonpersistent in the year prior; 132 (8.3%) of these transitioned to persistence. Persistent to nonpersistent treatment patterns were associated with a mean relapse-rate increase of 0.23 (95% CI = 0.12, 0.35), and a mean increase in relapse-related costs of $1,346 (95% CI = $97, $2,595). Nonpersistent to persistent treatment patterns were associated with a mean relapse-rate decrease of -0.15 (95% CI = -0.32, 0.017) and a mean decrease in relapse-related costs of -$1,369 (95% CI = -$2,761, $23). CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest that real-world persistent natalizumab users who become nonpersistent have statistically significant increases in annual relapses and relapse-related costs. Those who transition from nonpersistent to persistent have nonsignificant reductions in relapses and their associated costs.
Small-Scale Shrimp Grower–Collector Relationships: The Case of Thua Thien Hue Province, Central Vietnam

Small-scale shrimp-culture is an important livelihood for rural residents in Thua Thien Hue (TTH) province, central Vietnam. However, they are facing the risk of exclusion from the food system due to globalization and trade liberalization. To keep these farmers in modern supply chains, their relationships with other chain actors, foremost the collectors, need to be improved. Thus, this study explores the characteristics and constructs of the relationships between the small-scale shrimp growers and their collectors. Data was based on a survey on 83 small-scale shrimp growers, together with 16 unstructured interviews with growers (10) and collectors (6). It was revealed that the relationships between small-scale shrimp growers and collectors in TTH province are short-term and price-driven and are influenced by the power of collectors. The relationship strength was measured by five intercorrelated constructs including reliability, willingness-to-maintain, desire-fulfilment, negotiation capacity, and discussion capacity. Although some constructs were positively correlated, the strength of the relationships was weak. Both business linkages and social connections affected the grower-collector relationships. Female traders had stronger relationships with collectors than males. Therefore, interventions should be focused on business and social linkages as well as females’ involvement in shrimp trade.
Korean American women's community activism and their response to domestic violence in Philadelphia

Existing standard supportive services for domestic violence in the United States do not adequately address the cultural context for abused Korean immigrant women, and hence, results in further marginalization for this vulnerable population. For decades, Korean American women activists have been constructing support networks in their communities in response to this need. Nonetheless, scholarly literature has failed to capture the work and experiences of Korean American women activists who respond to and address domestic violence in their local community. Therefore, this study aims to give voice to one group of Korean American women activists and illuminate their experiences regarding domestic violence cases. In collaboration with a local Korean American women’s community activists association in one Northeastern U.S. city, this study explores their experiences with two data sources:(1) Korean counseling records of abused Korean immigrant women between 1986-2012, and (2) semi-structured interviews with the activists. Findings presented explicate the experiences of Korean American women activists focused on their response to domestic abuse within their community. This research can be used to guide the development of a model to provide contextually competent support for abused Korean American women in the U.S. and highlights the importance of collaboration between health care providers and ethnic minority community supportive services. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Nursing First Advisor Anne M. Teitelman
Bosnia after Dayton : nationalist partition and international intervention

Since 1996, Bosnia & Herzegovina has been the site of a remarkable project of political engineering. A complex consortium of international agencies backed by Western governments have been transforming a devastated, ethnically partitioned, post-war territory into a multiethnic, democratic and economically viable state. Despite an enormous investment of personnel and resources, six years later BiHs post-Yugoslav future remains tenuous. Did the engineering project work? In an era when countries from Somalia to Afghanistan are confronting questions of state legitimacy amidst international intervention, Bosnia after Dayton is a fascinating study in the dilemmas of the post-Cold War international order. How effective are international peace-building interventions in fractured states? Is the preservation of a multinational state desirable-or even possible-where the majority of citizens only reluctantly acknowledge its legitimacy? Drawing on the authors extensive field experience, this book takes a hard look at the issues that Bosnia continues to face. Juxtaposing big-picture analysis with an intimate knowledge of the region, Bose situates the international community's extensive program of state-building and democratization in BiH since the Dayton Peace Agreement in the context of Bosnia's and the former Yugoslavia's complex historical legacy of coexistence and conflict. Bose tells the gripping story of the divided city of Mostar, and analyses the institutional structure and process of Dayton Bosnia. He dissects the making of the Dayton peace accords through American-led coercive diplomacy, and provides a constructive critique of international peace-building. A fascinating study of democratization in a divided society, this book promises to be a landmark in the literatures on former Yugoslavia, and international intervention.
Training and Educating U.S. Intelligence Analysts

In the United States, the training and education of national security intelligence analysts in both government and academia is undergoing significant changes. Most of them are associated with efforts to improve the quality of analysis in the wake of the 11 September 2001 (9=11) terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., and the controversy over the accuracy of intelligence regarding Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs. Additional changes are likely as analytic training is subsumed into a broader national effort to professionalize the country’s analytic corps.
Cyber attack impact on critical Smart Grid infrastructures

Electrical Distribution Networks face new challenges by the Smart Grid deployment. The required metering infrastructures add new vulnerabilities that need to be taken into account in order to achieve Smart Grid functionalities without considerable reliability trade-off. In this paper, a qualitative assessment of the cyber attack impact on the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is initially attempted. Attack simulations have been conducted on a realistic Grid topology. The simulated network consisted of Smart Meters, routers and utility servers. Finally, the impact of Denial-of-Service and Distributed Denial-of-Service (DoS/DDoS) attacks on distribution system reliability is discussed through a qualitative analysis of reliability indices.
Constitutional choice and the balance of power : case study of the Chilean electoral system

The goal of this report is to examine how the relative balance of power between competing elites affects institutional choice in new democracies and the consequences this may have on democratic stability. I first develop a theoretical framework around the hypothesis that if the newly established democratic institutions to some degree safeguard the interests of the outgoing elites, they are less likely to defy them and find unconstitutional means through which to protect said interests. Given that elites ousted from power in a democratic transition are rarely rendered powerless by the process, this report works under the assumption that democratic reform is to some degree implemented by the outgoing ruling elite groups that at the same time stand to lose from it. If we assume these elite groups behave rationally, they will act strategically to protect their interests and thus will prefer institutions that are compatible with the upholding of such interests even when their political opponents are in power.
Isolation of 15 single nucleotide polymorphisms from coastal steelhead, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Salmonidae)

We describe 15 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) isolated in coastal California populations of steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). SNP loci were developed using a ‘gene‐targeted’ approach, which involved the development of primers from functional genes in O. mykiss that were deposited in GenBank or in the published literature. These markers show a wide range of variability in three coastal steelhead populations, and will be useful in population genetic studies and in pedigree reconstruction. Potential applications include evaluation of population structure, introgression between native and hatchery trout, and evaluating reproductive success.
Pricing U.S. North Atlantic bluefin tuna and implications for management

Bluefin tuna is regarded as a high-quality product in the Japanese market and is characterized by an unusual marketing system by seafood industry standards. Each fish is individually inspected for various quality attributes before being flown to Japan for the fresh tuna market. The first objective of this study is to formally evaluate the degree to which the price of U.S. fresh bluefin tuna is determined by quality attributes of each fish, rather than by just the quantity supplied. This is accomplished using a Hedonic model. The results support the hypothesis that the fresh bluefin tuna price is, in fact, significantly influenced by the quality attributes of the fish, including the freshness, fat content, color, and shape. Interesting implications for public management of this highly valued resource arise from the results. lEcon-Lit citation: L150, L190, L660r © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Does quality management foster or hinder innovation? An empirical study of Spanish companies

According to some authors (Flynn et al., 1994; Baldwin & Johnson, 1996), the implementation of a Total Quality Management (TQM) system could foster the innovation process in companies due to TQM elements such as continual improvement or customer focus. However, there is also literature where TQM is seen as a management system that can hinder the innovation process, limiting it to just incremental innovation or reducing it to the present customers' desires (Prajogo & Sohal, 2001). The objective of the present paper is to clarify the relationship between TQM and organizational innovation. A model of the relationship was developed and tested using a sample of 451 Spanish companies. Information was collected from personal interviews with general managers of companies in the selected population, following a structured questionnaire. Structural equation modelling was applied. Clear evidence that TQM promotes innovation within companies is provided. There is also evidence that companies that apply TQM and companies that develop organizational innovation get more benefits than companies than do not. The managerial implications are that companies that operate in sectors where continuous innovation is a necessity should not only see TQM as a good way of improving quality but also as a way to facilitate the innovation process.
Resistance of Sézary cells to TNF‐α‐induced apoptosis is mediated in part by a loss of TNFR1 and a high level of the IER3 expression

Abstract: Failure to execute an apoptotic programme is one of the critical steps and a common mechanism promoting tumorogenesis. Immediate early responsive gene 3 (IER3) has been shown to be upregulated in several cancers. IER3 is a stress‐induced gene, which upregulation leads to reduction in production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) protecting malignant cells from apoptosis. We observed that malignant lymphocytes from patients with Sézary syndrome (SzS) were resistant to pro‐apoptotic dose of tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α). The aim of this study was to investigate the role of IER3 in the mechanism of such resistance. CD4+ CD26− lymphocytes from the peripheral blood of patients with SzS and healthy controls were negatively selected using CD4 and CD26 magnetic beads and analysed for expression of TNFR1, TNFR2, IER3 expression, and ROS production in response to TNF‐α at an apoptotic dose. Sézary cells with a higher level of IER3 expression retained their viability to TNF‐α. IER3 upregulation correlated with a decrease level of intracellular ROS and low TNFR1 expression on malignant cells. Targeting IER3 could be of interest for the development of future therapeutic strategies for patients with SzS.
The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Assurance in Investors’ Judgments When Managerial Pay is Explicitly Tied to CSR Performance

SUMMARY: While corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports are intended to faithfully represent CSR performance, voluntarily disclosed CSR information tends to be positive, and demand is rising for both independent assurance and integrated reporting of CSR. However, the supply of CSR assurance is not widespread in the United States, and CSR performance information remains largely separated from supporting and governance information. We thus examine the role of CSR assurance when information on CSR investment level is integrated with information on whether managerial pay is explicitly tied to sustainability. While a firm may report a high level of CSR investment to indicate an authentic commitment to CSR, investors may become skeptical of reported information if managerial pay is explicitly tied to CSR performance. Such pay-for-CSR-performance provides managers with greater incentives to overinvest in CSR and thereby report strong CSR performance. In turn, investors will seek CSR assurance as a disclosur.