Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monetary Policy Analysis and Forecasting in the World Economy: A Panel Unobserved Components Approach

This paper develops a structural macroeconometric model of the world economy, disaggregated into thirty five national economies. This panel unobserved components model features a monetary transmission mechanism, a fiscal transmission mechanism, and extensive macrofinancial linkages, both within and across economies. A variety of monetary policy analysis, fiscal policy analysis, spillover analysis, and forecasting applications of the estimated model are demonstrated, based on a Bayesian framework for conditioning on judgment.
Social Welfare Versus Inequality Concerns in an Incomplete Contract Experiment

We study a situation where two players first choose a sharing rule, then invest into a joint production process, and then split joint benefits. We investigate how social preferences determine investments. In our experiment we find that even the materially disadvantaged player cares more for social welfare than about inequality. Behavioral preferences of disadvantaged players actually increase inequality. We also investigate when players give up an advantageous sharing rule. Power-sharing can be successful in the experiment, even when it is not in a selfish world.
Does National Culture Influence the Firm’s Choice of Debt Maturity?

Debt is an effective mechanism to mitigate agency costs in relieving manager–shareholder conflicts. Similarly, debt maturity choice allows the firm to discipline entrenched managers. In this paper we show cross-country evidence that national culture, along with corporate governance factors, influences the lender’s (or the borrower’s) debt maturity choice. Uncertainty avoidance index, masculinity, and long-term orientation indices are negatively related to overall debt maturity in a country. This implies that the risk-averse lenders offer (or, borrowing firms use) short-term debt when the surrounding economic environment becomes more uncertain and ambiguous. This is consistent with the extant literature that national culture plays a critical role in determining financing decisions in the presence of uncertainty and ambiguity. We argue that national culture is one of the last factors to influence the significant variation of debt maturities across firms in different countries. The relative effect of national culture and corporate governance on firms’ debt maturity selection depends on whether a country’s financial system is a bank-based economy (e.g. Japan and Germany) or a market-based economy (e.g. the US and the UK).
A Comparative Analysis of Government Social Spending Indicators and Their Correlation with Social Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper analyzes trends in social indicators in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and their correlation with the three most widely used scaled measures of government social spending: in per capita terms, as a percentage of GDP, and as a percentage of total government expenditure. On the basis of a regional data set matching health and education outcome indicators with government spending on those sectors, cross-country statistical analysis shows spending both per capita and as a percent of GDP to be of some relevance to social outcomes, but not the share of social spending in budgetary allocations. The policy implications concern not only governments in the region, but also the international donor community for its role in supporting social programs in SSA.
Delay-dependent stability criteria for linear systems with multiple time-varying delays

This paper is concerned with the delay-dependent stability analysis of a class of linear system with multiple time-varying delays. By using appropriate Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and integral inequality lemmas, a simple delay-dependent stability criterion is proposed in LMI framework to estimate the maximum allowable bound/range of the time-delay within which the system under consideration remains asymptotically stable. The simplicity of the criterion stems from the fact that neither any terms are ignored in the analysis while dealing with the cross product terms, nor any free-weighting matrices are introduced in the theoretical derivation to counter them. Hence the resulting LMI (stability criterion) has no additional matrix variables apart from those used in the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional. This, in turn, makes the proposed approach less conservative as well as computationally attractive. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed stability criterion, the systems considered are i) a networked control system with dynamic output and static state feedback, and ii) a multiple delay system with two time-varying delays.
Factors Influencing Faculty Participation & Retention in Online & Blended Education.

Faculty members play a central role in the development, implementation, and long-term sustainability of online and blended education programs. Therefore, faculty recruitment and retention strategies for these programs must align with the needs of the faculty. This article highlights the results of an institutional study conducted at a public comprehensive university in 2012 that examined factors influencing faculty participation and retention in online and blended education. This article also provides a comparative overview of the results of a similar institutional study conducted at The George Washington University (GWU) in 1997 that examined factors influencing faculty participation in distance education. The original surveys from the 1997 GWU study were updated for the 2012 Armstrong study. The results revealed that while technology and learning platforms have continued to evolve over the past 15 years, many of the needs and concerns of faculty are relatively similar. The results also revealed that faculty involvement is quintessential in the development and expansion of online and blended programs as well as in the design of faculty development initiatives.
The American Voter Revisited

The presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 will be remembered as two of the most contentious and polarizing political events in American history.In an attempt to understand what happened during these historic elections, "The American Voter Revisited" recreates the outstanding classic from 1960, "The American Voter", following the same format, theory, and mode of analysis as the original. "The American Voter Revisited" examines how contemporary voters decide, using the lens of the 1960 text, which was based on the presidential elections of 1952 and 1956. In this new volume, the ideas and methods of "The American Voter" are tested against presidential election surveys from 2000 and 2004. In a fascinating account, the contemporary American voter is found to behave politically in a fashion surprisingly similar to voters of the 1950s. Yet, some things have changed. For one, the recent intense polarization of the two leading political parties has heightened the ideological tenor of American politics.The organization of "The American Voter Revisited" follows closely the original book. Its fifteen chapters - about political attitudes, the political context, the social and economic context, and the electoral decision - parallel chapters in "The American Voter", from the title itself to the style to the analytical framework. The aim is to reproduce the theory and the tables of the original but with an entirely new and up-to-date data set. In particular, where "The American Voter" concentrated on an understanding of voters through examination of the National Presidential Election Surveys of 1952 and 1956, this book studies the National Presidential Election Surveys of 2000 and 2004. In addition, each chapter includes a Comment and Controversy section, which brings the reader up-to-date on the numerous scholarly and political questions that the material of the chapter has generated over the years.Just as "The American Voter" turned out to be a model text, "The American Voter Revisited" is sure to become a classic in the study of voter behavior and psychology.
The potential of proton beam therapy in paediatric cancer

A group of Swedish oncologists and hospital physicists have estimated the number of patients in Sweden suitable for proton beam therapy. The estimations have been based on current statistics of tumour incidence, number of patients potentially eligible for radiation treatment, scientific support from clinical trials and model dose planning studies and knowledge of the dose-response relations of different tumours and normal tissues. It is estimated that in paediatric cancers, proton beams are of potential importance in 80–100 children annually in Sweden. About 20 of the patients have medulloblastoma. The main purpose is to reduce late sequelae, but these are also increased chances to avoid myelosupression during e.g. concomitant chemo-radiation and to further intensify the chemotherapy.
Estimating Bacterial Production in Marine Waters from the Simultaneous Incorporation of Thymidine and Leucine

We examined the simultaneous incorporation of [3H]thymidine and [14C]leucine to obtain two independent indices of bacterial production (DNA and protein syntheses) in a single incubation. Incorporation rates of leucine estimated by the dual-label method were generally higher than those obtained by the single-label method, but the differences were small (dual/single = 1.1 ± 0.2 [mean ± standard deviation]) and were probably due to the presence of labeled leucyl-tRNA in the cold trichloroacetic acid-insoluble fraction. There were no significant differences in thymidine incorporation between dual- and single-label incubations (dual/ single = 1.03 ± 0.13). Addition of the two substrates in relatively large amounts (25 nM) did not apparently increase bacterial activity during short incubations (<5 h). With the dual-label method we found that thymidine and leucine incorporation rates covaried over depth profiles of the Chesapeake Bay. Estimates of bacterial production based on thymidine and leucine differed by less than 25%. Although the need for appropriate conversion factors has not been eliminated, the dual-label approach can be used to examine the variation in bacterial production while ensuring that the observed variation in incorporation rates is due to real changes in bacterial production rather than changes in conversion factors or introduction of other artifacts.
Arterial Hypertension Determined by Ambulatory Blood Pressure Profiles

OBJECTIVE—Arterial hypertension is a key player in the development of diabetes complications. We used a nationwide database to study risk factors for abnormal 24-h blood pressure regulation and microalbuminuria in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was performed in 2,105 children and adolescents from 195 pediatric diabetes centers in Germany and Austria. Individual least median squares (LMS)-SD scores were calculated for diurnal and nocturnal systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP), and mean arterial (MAP) blood pressure according to normalized values of a reference population of 949 healthy German children. The nocturnal blood pressure reduction (dipping) was calculated for SBP as well as DBP. RESULTS—In diabetic children, nocturnal blood pressure in particular was significantly elevated (SBP +0.51, DBP +0.58, MAP +0.80 LMS-SD) and dipping of SBP DBP, and MAP was significantly reduced (P < 0.0001). Age, diabetes duration, sex BMI, A1C, and insulin dose were related to altered blood pressure profiles; dipping, however, was only affected by age, female sex, and A1C. The presence of microalbuminuria was associated with nocturnal DBP (P < 0.0001) and diastolic dipping (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS—Our observations revealed a clear link between the quality of metabolic control and altered blood pressure regulation even in pediatric patients with short diabetes duration. Nocturnal blood pressure in particular seems to mainly contribute to diabetes complications such as microalbuminuria.
Globalisation in the defence industry: An exploration of the paradigm for us and European defence firms and the implications for being global players

This paper explores some of the key issues associated with the restructuring of the defence industry. A comparison is made between the US and the European Defence Industrial Bases in terms of the drivers for change and the paradigms within which change has taken place. Having shown that some very important differences exist, the paper then explores the approaches that have been adopted for industry consolidation and references them to the academic literature on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and strategic alliances (SAs). Given that most of the key defence players recognise the need to be global players, the paper presents an argument that the European firms’ experience of operating with a wide range of forms of corporate alliance will serve them in good stead for operating on a global defence scale. US firms, in contrast, have focused largely on M&A activity.
Indoor Corridor Wideband Radio Propagation Measurements and Channel Models for 5G Millimeter Wave Wireless Communications at 19 GHz, 28 GHz, and 38 GHz Bands

This paper presents millimeter wave (mmWave) measurements in an indoor environment. The high demands for the future applications in the 5G system require more capacity. In the microwave band below 6 GHz, most of the available bands are occupied; hence, the microwave band above 6 GHz and mmWave band can be used for the 5G system to cover the bandwidth required for all 5G applications. In this paper, the propagation characteristics at three different bands above 6 GHz (19, 28, and 38 GHz) are investigated in an indoor corridor environment for line of sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) scenarios. Five different path loss models are studied for this environment, namely, close-in (CI) free space path loss, floating-intercept (FI), frequency attenuation (FA) path loss, alpha-beta-gamma (ABG), and close-in free space reference distance with frequency weighting (CIF) models. Important statistical properties, such as power delay profile (PDP), root mean square (RMS) delay spread, and azimuth angle spread, are obtained and compared for different bands. The results for the path loss model found that the path loss exponent (PLE) and line slope values for all models are less than the free space path loss exponent of 2. The RMS delay spread for all bands is low for the LOS scenario, and only the directed path is contributed in some spatial locations. For the NLOS scenario, the angle of arrival (AOA) is extensively investigated, and the results indicated that the channel propagation for 5G using high directional antenna should be used in the beamforming technique to receive the signal and collect all multipath components from different angles in a particular mobile location.
Serological studies of antigenic similarity between Japanese spotted fever rickettsiae and Weil-Felix test antigens

Acute and convalescent-phase sera obtained from 10 patients infected with a Japanese strain of spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsia were tested by the indirect immunoperoxidase test, the Weil-Felix test, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and immunoblotting. By the Weil-Felix test, the reactivity of these sera to the OX2 antigen was higher than those to the OX19 antigen, as is the case with sera from persons infected with other SFG rickettsiae. By ELISA, the titers of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies against OX2 corresponded to the Weil-Felix test titers of these sera against OX2 but not to the titers obtained with IgG antibodies. The reactivity of the patient sera with the OX2 antigen in the Weil-Felix test was probably due to IgM antibodies against antigens which OX2 and SFG rickettsiae have in common. By immunoblotting tests, both IgG and IgM antibodies from the patient sera reacted with lipopolysaccharides from SFG rickettsiae and Proteus strain OX2. These results may show that these lipopolysaccharides contain similar epitopes.
Does Knowledge Management "Fit" Matter to Business Performance?

Purpose – Drawing on the concept of fit, this paper aims to propose a knowledge management (KM) fit model within which KM strategy, IT strategy, and HRM strategy are coaligned and to empirically test this model with empirical data.Design/methodology/approach – Data for hypotheses testing are collected from top‐ranked companies in Taiwan; yielding 161 valid samples. Performance implications of fit are examined using multiple perspectives with covariation and matching approaches.Findings – The findings show that the holistic perspective of fit as covariation supports the fit relationships on business performance. In addition, with the reductionistic perspective of fit as matching, the findings also show their bivariate relationships have significant impacts on business performance.Research limitations/implications – A successful KM project must take various attributes into account, to ensure a positive outcome. In such a context, organization, process, human resources, and IT are thought to be the key eleme.
Comparison of the NMR solution structure and the x-ray crystal structure of rat metallothionein-2.

Metallothioneins are small cysteine-rich proteins capable of binding heavy metal ions such as Zn2+ and Cd2+. They are ubiquitous tissue components in higher organisms, which tentatively have been attributed both unspecific protective functions against toxic metal ions and highly specific roles in fundamental zinc-regulated cellular processes. In this paper a detailed comparison of the NMR solution structure [Schultze, P., Wörgötter, E. , Braun, W. , Wagner, G. , Vasák, M. , Kägi, J. H. R. & Wüthrich, K. (1988) J. Mol. Biol. 203, 251-268] and a recent x-ray crystal structure [Robbins, A. H. , McRee, D. E. , Williamson, M. , Collett, S. A. , Xoung, N. H. , Furey, W. F. , Wang, B. C. & Stout, C. D. (1991) J. Mol. Biol. 221, 1269-1293] of rat metallothionein-2 shows that the metallothionein structures in crystals and in solution have identical molecular architectures. The structures obtained with both techniques now present a reliable basis for discussions on structure-function correlations in this class of metalloproteins.
Geometric Mean Approximations of Individual Security and Portfolio Performance

The objectives of this paper are to derive the relationship of the geometric mean of a distribution of positive values to the conventional first four moments — arithmetic mean, variance, absolute skewness, and absolute kurtosis — and to empirically evaluate certain approximations involving these four moments for estimating the geometric means of monthly and annual holding period returns for individual stocks and for portfolios. The geometric mean is shown to be positively related to the arithmetic mean and absolute skewness and negatively related to variance and absolute kurtosis. In the case of a normal distribution a very good approximation to the geometric mean is revealed to be a function of just the arithmetic mean and variance. Additionally, empirical evidence indicates that even though a number of the monthly and annual distributions deviate significantly from normality, the approximation involving only the mean and variance produces quite accurate estimates of the geometric means of these distributions.
Volunteering for nature: Motivations for participating in a biodiversity conservation volunteer program

Abstract Understanding volunteer motivations for participating in nature conservation programs is an important element in the design and provision of programs intended to harness the increasingly important talents and labour that volunteers bring to conservation programs. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the motivations of participants in Volunteer for Nature, an Ontario-based nature conservation program. The study was framed within a social psychology theoretical perspective and qualitative methods were used. The participants were female and male volunteers ranging in age from 17 to 63 years old. Key motives for participating in the volunteer conservation vacation program included: 1) pleasure seeking, 2) program “perks,” 3) “place” and nature-based context, 4) leaving a legacy, and 5) altruism. The study reinforces much of the theoretical literature already existing on volunteers including volunteering as a leisure activity and motives associated with volunteering. However two unique points are explored: 1) the distinctive nature-based volunteering context, and 2) the “value-added” nature of volunteering vacations. Further, conceptual linkages with concepts such as serious leisure are discussed. An increased understanding of volunteer tourists who participate in nature conservation programs is the greatest contribution of this study.
Persistence of isolated antibodies to woodchuck hepatitis virus core antigen is indicative of occult infection

Antibodies against virus nucleocapsid (anticore) normally accompany hepadnaviral hepatitis but they may also occur in the absence of symptoms and other serological indicators of the infection. This situation can be encountered following a clinically and serologically unapparent exposure to hepatitis B virus (HBV) or after recovery from hepatitis B. In this study, woodchucks inoculated with woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) were investigated to determine the relationship between anticore detection and the molecular status of virus replication in a primary WHV surface antigen (WHsAg)‐negative infection or long‐after resolution of WHV hepatitis. Serial, parallel samples of sera, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and liver tissue, collected for more than 5 years after inoculation with virus, were examined for WHV DNA by highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR)/nucleic acid hybridization assays. Sera were also tested for WHV DNA after DNase treatment and for WHV DNA and WHsAg after concentration in sucrose. Liver and PBMC were examined for WHV covalently closed circular DNA and viral RNA transcripts by PCR‐based techniques to assess virus replication status. The study showed that anticore antibodies existing in the absence of other serological markers are a reliable indicator of occult WHV infection. This state can be accompanied by traces of circulating particles behaving as intact virions and by intermittent minimal‐to‐mild liver inflammation. In conclusion, the long‐term presence of anticore antibodies alone is a consequence of sustained restimulation of the immune system by virus nucleocapsid produced during low‐level hepadnaviral assembly. (HEPATOLOGY 2004.)
Using $k$-way Co-occurrences for Learning Word Embeddings

Co-occurrences between two words provide useful insights into the semantics of those words.Consequently, numerous prior work on word embedding learning has used co-occurrences between two wordsas the training signal for learning word embeddings.However, in natural language texts it is common for multiple words to be related and co-occurring in the same context.We extend the notion of co-occurrences to cover k(≥2)-way co-occurrences among a set of k-words.Specifically, we prove a theoretical relationship between the joint probability of k(≥2) words, and the sum of l_2 norms of their embeddings. Next, we propose a learning objective motivated by our theoretical resultthat utilises k-way co-occurrences for learning word embeddings.Our experimental results show that the derived theoretical relationship does indeed hold empirically, anddespite data sparsity, for some smaller k(≤5) values, k-way embeddings perform comparably or better than 2-way embeddings in a range of tasks.