Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting : A Literature Review and Synthesis of Related Market Information Research

Congress passed into law the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act in 1999 and a mandatory pricing reporting system for livestock and meat began in 2001. The implementation was problematic. It is also difficult to find any research prior to the legislation that demonstrated inadequacies in the voluntary price reporting system that had been in existence since the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946. Thus, there is little evidence upon which to evaluate the new system. Available research suggests mandatory price reporting increased transparency and information at the national level and across cash and non-cash market choices, reduced price information in regional markets, and increased spatial and vertical market integration. Research shows diverse opinions on the success of the new system. Research also shows the potential for retail meat scanner data to significantly improve the accuracy of reported retail meat prices. Related research suggests clear benefits of the new system will be hard to measure. A primary conclusion from the literature is that benefits were unforeseen and unintended consequences were large. And that continued cost/benefit oriented research of the policy and legislation would be
Complexity Estimation Approach for Debugging in Parallel

Multiple faults in a software many times prevent debuggers from efficiently localizing a fault. This is mainly due to not knowing the exact number of faults in a failing program as some of the faults get obfuscated. Many techniques have been proposed to isolate different faults in a program thereby creating separate sets of failing program statements. To evenly divide these statements amongst debuggers we must know the level of work required to debug that slice. In this paper we propose a new technique to calculate the complexity of faulty program slices to efficiently distribute the work among debuggers for simultaneous debugging. The technique calculates the complexity of entire slice by taking into account the suspiciousness of every faulty statement. To establish the confidence in effectiveness and efficiency of proposed techniques we illustrate the whole idea with help of an example. Results of analysis indicate the technique will be helpful (a) for efficient distribution of work among debuggers (b) will allow simultaneous debugging of different faulty program slices (c) will help minimize the time and manual labor.
The Research on School Marketing: Current Issues and Future Directions – An Updated Version

This review provides a synthesis of the scholarship that has sought to expand understanding of educational marketing practice in schools. The following research questions guided this review: (1) what are the common themes and characteristics that emerge from research about marketing in schools? (2) What remains underdeveloped in the characterization of the school marketing and what are the topics for future research? Based on 25 studies identified as pertinent for the current review, the following topics are discussed: marketing perceptions, marketing planning, marketing strategies, and promotion. The chapter concludes by providing an analysis of the limitations of the current research and discussing future directions for research on school marketing.
Discussion of An Analysis of the Theories and Explanations Offered for the Mispricing of Accruals and Accrual Components

In an interesting and provocative paper, Kraft, Leone, and Wasley (henceforth, KLW) conduct an in-depth analysis of Sloan's [1996] earnings fixation hypothesis as a causal explanation for the accrual anomaly. The earnings fixation hypothesis predicts that abnormal returns are high (low) following low (high) accruals. A testable implication is that a strategy that buys the decile of stocks with the lowest accruals, and sells the decile of stocks with the highest accruals, earns excess returns. These apparently predictable excess returns following readily observable components of earnings are puzzling from a market efficiency perspective, and there is a variety of hypotheses to explain them. However, as Sloan [1996, p. 314] first observes, these returns "do not necessarily imply investor irrationality or the existence ofunexploited profit opportunities. " Trading costs, arbitrage risk, or other risk mismeasurement may explain the returns without contradicting market efficiency (Kothari
The value of information systems for product recovery management

This article sheds light on the role of information systems in product recovery management. We first develop analytical models and then provide a numerical example to determine under what conditions investments in Information-intensive Product Recovery Systems (IPRS) are economically justifiable for manufacturers and when policy-makers need to consider facilitating their implementation. The results of the analytical models indicate that the recovery network (collection) structure and product characteristics determine if precision improvements or increased sorting speed associated with IS investments will lead to higher profit gains. Manufacturers should carefully assess conflicting impacts of current manufacturing and recycling technology trends on the value of IPRS. Implementing IPRS might end up reducing manufacturers' profits under a highly time efficient decentralised collection structure. We show that negotiations with competitors about IPRS implementation may lead to a win–win situation and allow consumers to enjoy the lowest product price if the binding force of the agreement is strong. Otherwise, some manufacturers follow free-rider strategies. This article has immediate application to manufacturers' IS strategy and to government policy-makers considering investing in and/or structuring product recovery closed-loop supply chain processes within their jurisdictions. It also opens a potential stream of research concerning the role of IPRS to automate, informate and transform closed-loop supply chains for eco-efficiency.
Continuous monitoring of cerebrovascular pressure reactivity allows determination of optimal cerebral perfusion pressure in patients with traumatic brain injury

Objectives To define optimal cerebral perfusion pressure (CPPOPT) in individual head-injured patients using continuous monitoring of cerebrovascular pressure reactivity. To test the hypothesis that patients with poor outcome were managed at a cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) differing more from their CPPOPT than were patients with good outcome. Design Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. Setting Neurosciences critical care unit of a university hospital. Patients A total of 114 head-injured patients admitted between January 1997 and August 2000 with continuous monitoring of mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) and intracranial pressure (ICP). Measurements and Main Results MAP, ICP, and CPP were continuously recorded and a pressure reactivity index (PRx) was calculated online. PRx is the moving correlation coefficient recorded over 4-min periods between averaged values (6-sec periods) of MAP and ICP representing cerebrovascular pressure reactivity. When cerebrovascular reactivity is intact, PRx has negative or zero values, otherwise PRx is positive. Outcome was assessed at 6 months using the Glasgow Outcome Scale. A total of 13,633 hrs of data were recorded. CPPOPT was defined as the CPP where PRx reaches its minimum value when plotted against CPP. Identification of CPPOPT was possible in 68 patients (60%). In 22 patients (27%), CPPOPT was not found because it presumably lay outside the studied range of CPP. Patients’ outcome correlated with the difference between CPP and CPPOPT for patients who were managed on average below CPPOPT (r = .53, p < .001) and for patients whose mean CPP was above CPPOPT (r = −.40, p < .05). Conclusions CPPOPT could be identified in a majority of patients. Patients with a mean CPP close to CPPOPT were more likely to have a favorable outcome than those whose mean CPP was more different from CPPOPT. We propose use of the criterion of minimal achievable PRx to guide future trials of CPP oriented treatment in head injured patients.
New developments in productivity measurement and analysis

Reading a book is also kind of better solution when you have no enough money or time to get your own adventure. This is one of the reasons we show the new developments in productivity measurement and analysis as your friend in spending the time. For more representative collections, this book not only offers it's strategically book resource. It can be a good friend, really good friend with much knowledge.
Choice modelling approaches: a superior alternative for environmental valuation?

In this paper, we examine some popular "choice modelling" approaches to environmental valuation, which can be considered as alternatives to more familiar valuation techniques based on stated preferences such as the contingent valuation method. A number of choice modelling methods are consistent with consumer theory, and its focus on an attribute-based theory of value permits a superior representation of many environmental management contexts. However, choice modelling surveys can place a severe cognitive burden upon respondents and induce satisficing rather than maximising behavioural patterns. In this framework, we seek to identify the best available choice modelling alternative and investigate its potential to "solve" some of the major biases associated with standard contingent valuation. We then discuss its use in the light of policy appraisal needs within the EU. An application to the demand for rock climbing in Scotland is provided as an illustration. Copyright 2001 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd
Occurrence of a Snail Borne Disease, Cercarial Dermatitis (Swimmer Itch) in Doon Valley (Uttarakhand), India

Abstract Background ‘Cercarial dermatitis’ also known as swimmers itch (Skin allergies) is caused by a trematode parasite, Schistosoma which has two hosts - an invertebrate (snail) and a vertebrate (livestock, human being). Although the availability of both vector snails and pathogens at the selected site the Doon Valley in northern India has already been confirmed but there was a hazy picture of the disease, whether it is due to entrance of cercariae or due to wild variety of grass (Parthenium hysterophorus). The present study is an attempt to provide a way forward towards the vector snails and snail borne diseases in the study area. Methods Snail sampling and identification was done by applying standard methods / using Keys & Catalogues. Associated parasites and cercariometry in snails has been worked out by cercarial shedding. Human involvement at zo-onotic level has been performed in collaboration with Health centers and socio- economic aspect of inhabitants of study area. Results The snail diversity encountered 19 species including the vector species such as Indoplanorbis exustus, Gyraulus convexiusculus, Melanoides tuberculata and Lymnaea acuminata. The cercarial diversity comprised Furcocercous, Monostome, Amphistome and liver fluke / Xiphidiocercaria. During the study (2009–2010), 0.173% was found with cercarial dermatitis among human population in the selected area. The symptoms of disease recorded were red spots and swellings on effected parts of skin. Frequent visits of livestock to the water body and presence of vector snails provides a clue in completing the life cycle of the parasite of the family Schistosomatidae. Conclusion Cercarial dermatitis has been considered a potential risk at those places where warm blooded and snail’s hosts share a link with aquatic bodies with particular emphasis to temperature and time of year.
An Equilibrium Analysis of Debt Financing under Costly Tax Arbitrage and Agency Problems

IN HIS RECENT PAPER, Merton Miller [12] extends the notion of tax-induced differential returns on securities into a general equilibrium framework in which firms make adjustments in the supply of corporate debt. In an environment of progressive personal taxation, the interest rates on taxable corporate bonds are greater than rates on tax exempt securities so as to compensate investors for the associated tax burden. On the supply side, value-maximizing firms have an incentive to issue additional debt so long as the personal tax-induced compensation is less than the tax savings from interest-payment deductions at the corporate level. Miller argues that in the final equilibrium, the interest rate differential between taxable and tax-exempt bonds exactly reflects the tax advantage of debt financing at the corporate level. Thus, the tax subsidy disappears in its entirety, and we are back to an environment in which corporate leverage is inconsequential to the value of any particular firm. What emerges in equilibrium is merely an optimal debt-equity ratio for the corporate sector as a whole.1 Miller derives this invariance proposition under the following assumptions: (1) progressive personal tax rates reach a maximum at a level beyond the corporate tax rate; (2) no tax arbitrage by individuals and firms is allowed; (3) there is a personal tax rate differential in favor of income from stocks; and (4) the opportunity for riskless borrowing and lending exists.2 Indeed, Miller's equilibrium analysis is based on a zero effective personal tax rate on income from stocks, but
How Well Sentence Embeddings Capture Meaning

Several approaches for embedding a sentence into a vector space have been developed. However, it is unclear to what extent the sentence's position in the vector space reflects its semantic meaning, rather than other factors such as syntactic structure. Depending on the model used for the embeddings this will vary -- different models are suited for different down-stream applications. For applications such as machine translation and automated summarization, it is highly desirable to have semantic meaning encoded in the embedding. We consider this to be the quality of semantic localization for the model -- how well the sentences' meanings coincides with their embedding's position in vector space. Currently the semantic localization is assessed indirectly through practical benchmarks for specific applications. In this paper, we ground the semantic localization problem through a semantic classification task. The task is to classify sentences according to their meaning. A SVM with a linear kernel is used to perform the classification using the sentence vectors as its input. The sentences from subsets of two corpora, the Microsoft Research Paraphrase corpus and the Opinosis corpus, were partitioned according to their semantic equivalence. These partitions give the target classes for the classification task. Several existing models, including URAE, PV--DM and PV--DBOW, were assessed against a bag of words benchmark.
Swedish inter-organisational learning network: outcomes in three dimensions

Based on findings from a national Swedish competence development project, known as krAft, this study focuses on the relevance of inter-organisational learning networks set up to support managerial competence development in SMEs. The networks that comprise the project are coordinated by a University consortium made up of four Universities in Sweden. Owner-Managers from SMEs in this project were combined into various networks, where a primary focus placed on learning. Interpretations of data from interviews with participants from one of these learning networks suggest constructed inter-organisational network an effective method to support learning of Owner-Managers from SMEs. This paper categorises learning outcomes, as cognitive (knowledge), psychodynamic (emotion), and social (collaboration). A synthesis of these three types of learning outcomes can be used to further develop one's business. The analysis demonstrates that the network method in relation to more traditional learning methods has strengths in developing psychodynamic and social outcomes.
Party finance and political scandal in Italy, Spain and France

Understanding the recent explosion of political scandals in certain European countries requires a close analysis of why previously tolerated practices of party financing became the object of scandal. This article has twin objectives. The first is to understand why the market for ‘corrupt exchange’ surrounding party finance became so extensive in Italy, Spain and France in the 1980s. This we explain by identifying political opportunity structures particular to this group of countries. The second is to understand why formerly routine (albeit covert) corrupt practice became scandalous in the 1990s. This we attribute to a process of ‘competitive mobilisation’ among political, judicial and media elites.
Vocational upper-secondary education and the transition from school

This article addresses two main questions: do young people leaving vocational upper-secondary education make more successful transitions to employment than leavers from academic upper-secondary education, or than leavers from lower-secondary education? And does this 'vocational effect' vary systematically across countries? The article distinguishes two ideal types of transition system, based on the strength of linkages between vocational education and employment, and governed respectively by an 'employment logic' and by an 'education logic'. The vocational effect is predicted to be stronger in systems governed by the employment logic. This prediction, together with other hypotheses based on the ideal types, is tested using school-leaver survey data for the Netherlands (representing the employment logic), Scotland (representing the education logic), and Ireland and Sweden (representing intermediate cases). The ideal types are broadly supported, subject to limitations of comparability of the data.
Attracting Shoppers to Shop Online—Challenges and Opportunities for the Indian Retail Sector

The purpose of the current research is to understand the influence of normative beliefs, age, and gender on online shopping attributes and consequently on consumers' online shopping behavior. Data was collected through mall intercept technique in three cities of India (Delhi, Noida, and Gurgaon). Indian consumers' attitude toward online shopping being “convenient” is determined by their “perceived usefulness” and “ease of use” of the Web site. Online shopping behavior is moderated by normative beliefs and gender. Consumers' attitude toward online shopping differs across age categories and a Web site's “ease of use” attribute. The findings can enable online retailers to improve consumers' perceptions toward a Web site's “convenience” attribute. Online retailers targeting Indian consumers should make the Web sites user friendly and easy to understand.
Asymmetric Action Abstractions for Multi-Unit Control in Adversarial Real-Time Games

Action abstractions restrict the number of legal actions available during search in multi-unit real-time adversarial games, thus allowing algorithms to focus their search on a set of promising actions. Optimal strategies derived from un-abstracted spaces are guaranteed to be no worse than optimal strategies derived from action-abstracted spaces. In practice, however, due to real-time constraints and the state space size, one is only able to derive good strategies in un-abstracted spaces in small-scale games. In this paper we introduce search algorithms that use an action abstraction scheme we call asymmetric abstraction. Asymmetric abstractions retain the un-abstracted spaces' theoretical advantage over regularly abstracted spaces while still allowing the search algorithms to derive effective strategies, even in large-scale games. Empirical results on combat scenarios that arise in a real-time strategy game show that our search algorithms are able to substantially outperform state-of-the-art approaches.
Rising student employment: the role of tuition fees

In 1979, less than 30% of full-time university students in Canada worked for pay during the academic year. By the mid-2000s, this had risen to 45%. This trend to increasing work among full-time students is also evident in other countries, and may be a concern if it reduces students' investment in human capital during their studies. I find that, controlling for the demographic characteristics of the student population, the only economic variable that explains a substantial portion of the increase in students' work is higher tuition fees.
Multimodal learning and inference from visual and remotely sensed data

Autonomous vehicles are often tasked to explore unseen environments, aiming to acquire and understand large amounts of visual image data and other sensory information. In such scenarios, remote sensing data may be available a priori, and can help to build a semantic model of the environment and plan future autonomous missions. In this paper, we introduce two multimodal learning algorithms to model the relationship between visual images taken by an autonomous underwater vehicle during a survey and remotely sensed acoustic bathymetry (ocean depth) data that is available prior to the survey. We present a multi-layer architecture to capture the joint distribution between the bathymetry and visual modalities. We then propose an extension based on gated feature learning models, which allows the model to cluster the input data in an unsupervised fashion and predict visual image features using just the ocean depth information. Our experiments demonstrate that multimodal learning improves semantic classification accuracy regardless of which modalities are available at classification time, allows for unsupervised clustering of either or both modalities, and can facilitate mission planning by enabling class-based or image-based queries.
Interaction between heat shock factor and hsp70 is insufficient to suppress induction of DNA-binding activity in vivo

The intracellular level of free heat shock proteins, in particular the 70-kDa stress protein family, has been suggested to be the basis of an autoregulatory mechanism by which the cell measures the level of thermal stress and regulates the synthesis of heat shock proteins. It has been proposed that the DNA-binding and oligomeric state of the heat shock transcription factor (HSF) is a principal step in the induction pathway that is responsive to the level of 70-kDa stress protein. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the association between HSF and 70-kDa stress protein by means of a coimmunoprecipitation assay. We found that 70-kDa stress proteins associate to similar extents with both latent and active forms of HSF, although unlike other 70-kDa stress protein substrates, the association with HSF was not significantly disrupted in the presence of ATP. Gel mobility shift assays indicated that active HSF trimers purified from a bacterial expression system could not be substantially deactivated in vitro with purified 70-kDa stress protein and ATP. In addition, elevated concentrations of hsp70 alone could not significantly inhibit induction of the DNA-binding activity of endogenous HSF in cultured rat cells, and the induction was also not inhibited in cultured rat cells or Drosophila cells containing elevated levels of all members of the heat shock protein family. However, the deactivation of HSF to the non-DNA-binding state after prolonged heat stress or during recovery could be accelerated by increased levels of heat shock proteins. Hence, the level of heat shock proteins may affect the rate of disassembly of HSF trimers, but another mechanism, as yet undefined, appears to control the onset of the oligomeric transitions.