Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Revisions and Uncertainty in Professional Forecasts

This paper aims at evaluating individual expectation accuracy of professional forecasters for 57 U.S., European, and German macroeconomic indicators over the period 1999-2010. The empirical analysis shows that initial announcements are partly considerably revised, and that some revisions occur systematically. Taking into account whether announcement are revised systematically and whether economists (assumingly) aim at forecasting the initial release or the latest revision, significant differences can be observed with regard to forecasters' expectation errors. In general, forecasters that are (assumingly) aiming to predict the latest revisions of German indicators are able to form better forecasts if these indicators are revised systematically. Though to a lower extent, this relationship is also observable regarding U.S. indicators. Forecasters' disagreement about fundamentals is higher during recessions and when stock markets are volatile.
Outsourcing corporate real estate asset management in New Zealand

The outsourcing of non‐core business activities has recently mushroomed throughout the world as organisations seek reduced cost and strategic business advantage in an increasingly competitive marketplace. A component of this overall trend has been a dramatic increase in the extent to which real estate asset management functions of non‐property investment organisations have been taken over by ‘external service providers’. This study is the first in New Zealand to examine current practice and emergent trends and to identify outsourcing issues and problems in detail. Via a survey of 457 organisations, the reasons behind the trend to outsourcing are identified, as are the types of services outsourced; the basis of selection of service providers; the skills and attributes required of real estate professionals; and the success or otherwise of outsourcing experiences.
Has managed care affected physicians' income?

A nationally representative sample of 12,280 physicians was selected to investigate physician practices in 60 randomly selected communities. Multivariate analyses demonstrate that the more the physicians accept Medicare managed care patients, private or commercial insurance plans including managed care plans and the number of contracted managed care plans, the greater the physician's income. The prevailing concern that physician income declines under managed care is not supported. On the contrary, physicians participating in managed care have earned more than their counterparts.
The Augmented Solow Model and the African Growth Debate

Using panel data the question whether Africa's growth performance can be accounted for is analysed in the framework of the augmented Solow model. OLS levels results suggest that the model cannot fully account for Africa's low growth performance. However, these OLS estimates are likely to suffer from inconsistency and endogeneity problems. As our preferred estimation method we suggest the use of recently developed system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator. Our system GMM results indicate that the augmented Solow model can account for Africa's low growth performance, provided that we allow for unobserved country specific effects and the endogeneity of investment in estimating the parameters of the model. Hence, rather than concentrating research efforts on the analysis of a spurious Africa dummy, it may be more worthwhile to focus on the continent's low investment ratios and high population growth rates, which we found to be sufficient to explain Africa's low growth rates. Copyright 2002 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Management of NSCLC: focus on crizotinib

Introduction: Presence of Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) translocations identifies a distinct subgroup of NSCLC with different prognosis and therapeutic opportunities. In cancer cells, ALK gene fusion acts as oncogenic driver, representing an attractive therapeutic target in NSCLC. Areas covered: For the purpose of this review article, data from preclinical and clinical trials with crizotinib were collected and analyzed. Expert opinion: Available data demonstrated that crizotinib is the best option we can offer today to ALK-positive NSCLC not previously exposed to ALK inhibitors, irrespective of line of therapy. In two large Phase III trials, crizotinib demonstrated to improve response rate and progression-free survival when compared to standard chemotherapy, both in first- and second-line treatment. Furthermore, results from pivotal Phase I and II studies indicated that crizotinib was active even in heavily pretreated populations. In addition, crizotinib displayed a favorable toxicity profile with a broad spectrum of adverse events, most of which is easily to manage and rarely require dose reduction or interruption. Unfortunately, almost all patients became refractory to crizotinib due to emergence of acquired resistance. The optimal management of these patients has not yet been defined. Novel ALK inhibitors are under investigation.
Microbial Communities Shaped by Treatment Processes in a Drinking Water Treatment Plant and Their Contribution and Threat to Drinking Water Safety

Bacteria play an important role in water purification in drinking water treatment systems. On one hand, bacteria present in the untreated water may help in its purification through biodegradation of the contaminants. On the other hand, some bacteria may be human pathogens and pose a threat to consumers. The present study investigated bacterial communities using Illumina MiSeq sequencing of 16S rRNA genes and their functions were predicted using PICRUSt in a treatment system, including the biofilms on sand filters and biological activated carbon (BAC) filters, in 4 months. In addition, quantitative analyses of specific bacterial populations were performed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The bacterial community composition of post-ozonation effluent, BAC effluent and disinfected water varied with sampling time. However, the bacterial community structures at other treatment steps were relatively stable, despite great variations of source water quality, resulting in stable treatment performance. Illumina MiSeq sequencing illustrated that Proteobacteria was dominant bacterial phylum. Chlorine disinfection significantly influenced the microbial community structure, while other treatment processes were synergetic. Bacterial communities in water and biofilms were distinct, and distinctions of bacterial communities also existed between different biofilms. By contrast, the functional composition of biofilms on different filters were similar. Some functional genes related to pollutant degradation were found widely distributed throughout the treatment processes. The distributions of Mycobacterium spp. and Legionella spp. in water and biofilms were revealed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Most bacteria, including potential pathogens, could be effectively removed by chlorine disinfection. However, some bacteria presented great resistance to chlorine. qPCRs showed that Mycobacterium spp. could not be effectively removed by chlorine. These resistant bacteria and, especially potential pathogens should receive more attention. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that turbidity, ammonia nitrogen and total organic carbon (TOC) exerted significant effects on community profiles. Overall, this study provides insight into variations of microbial communities in the treatment processes and aids the optimization of drinking water treatment plant design and operation for public health.
Varieties of Modernization - The rambling path of public sector reform and NPM in Central and Eastern Europe

First draft - please do not quote without permissio n! Abstract Looking at Central and Eastern European member states of the EU, this paper disentangles the entwined development of the two-sided challenge of public sector reform and -modernization: to aim at re-bureaucratization (and de-politicization) and (mostly liberal) deregulation at the same time. Th e main argument posits that this interplay and possib le trade-offs heavily rest upon the formative power of a given transformation legacy. We develop the ar gument in three steps. First, we reconstruct the different starting points of the CEE states and shed light upon the diverging paths of reform. The second section focus es on the impact of Europeanization: From the mid-1990s onwards, external actors, with a predominant role of the European Union, affected the consolidation of central government structures and civil service legislation in the accession states. To explain the varying success and sustainability of s pecific reform initiatives in the region, we propos e to analyse the interplay of the impact of these extern al factors with local institutional legacies. Final ly, we review major NPM-reforms in the region to check for the appropriateness of the framework for transition countries. So far, we observe a variety of modernization processes and, with few exceptions , display the limits of western-style blueprints for the region.
Report LXXXIII: Some Experiments on Enterica, Scarlet Fever, and Measles in the Chimpanzee *

THE bacillus described by Eberth in i88o and isolated bv Gaffky. in I884 has been very generally accepted as the causal agent of enteric, fever, although it was not then possible to fulfil Koch's third postulate, and to produce with the bacillus lesions in ani-mals similar to those resulting from the disease in man. Additional evidence.was forthcoming as-to the probable responsibility of the Eberth-Gaffky bacillus for enteric fever in 1896, when I was able to show that the serum of human beings, in either the acute or the convaleseenft stage of the disease,-was often able, even in. considerable ldilitton
Value creation and division of gains in horizontal acquisitions in Europe: the role of industry conditions

In this article, we empirically investigate the industry determinants of value creation through Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and the division of M&A gains for a sample of horizontal acquisitions in Europe during the period 1997–2008. We calculate the combined abnormal return around deal announcement to proxy for M&A value creation. Our results show that industry sales concentration and the ratio of the combined target and bidder size relative to the minimum efficient scale in the corresponding industry are significantly negatively associated with M&A value creation. The relation between industry sales growth and M&A gains is U-shaped. The extent of foreign competition within the industry, industry technological intensity and industry deregulation bear no significant association with M&A wealth effects, however. Finally, the data reveal that the division of M&A gains between target and bidder investors is determined by firm and deal characteristics rather than by industry conditions.
Leveraging the network: A stress-test framework based on DebtRank

Abstract We develop a novel stress-test framework to monitor systemic risk in financial systems. The modular structure of the framework allows to accommodate for a variety of shock scenarios, methods to estimate interbank exposures and mechanisms of distress propagation. The main features are as follows. First, the framework allows to estimate and disentangle not only first-round effects (i.e. shock on external assets) and second-round effects (i.e. distress induced in the interbank network), but also third-round effects induced by possible fire sales. Second, it allows to monitor at the same time the impact of shocks on individual or groups of financial institutions as well as their vulnerability to shocks on counterparties or certain asset classes. Third, it includes estimates for loss distributions, thus combining network effects with familiar risk measures such as VaR and CVaR. Fourth, in order to perform robustness analyses and cope with incomplete data, the framework features a module for the generation of sets of networks of interbank exposures that are coherent with the total lending and borrowing of each bank. As an illustration, we carry out a stress-test exercise on a dataset of listed European banks over the years 2008–2013. We find that second-round and third-round effects dominate first-round effects, therefore suggesting that most current stress-test frameworks might lead to a severe underestimation of systemic risk.
Femtosecond Two‐photon Excited Fluorescence of Melanin*

Abstract. Fluorescence of synthetic melanin in dimethyl sulfoxide has been excited by two‐photon absorption at 800 run, using 120 fs pulses with photon flux densities 1027 cm 2 s1. The shortest main component of the three‐exponential decay of fluorescence is 200 ± 2 ps. The overall spectral shape is red‐shifted with respect to the 400 nm excited fluorescence. Two‐photon excited melanin fluorescence also has been measured from excised samples of healthy human skin tissue. Because of the selectivity of melanin excitation via resonant two‐photon absorption, it is hypothesized that fluorescence excited in this way may yield information on malignant transformation.
Considering Privacy as a Public Good and its Policy Ramifications for Business Organizations

The main objective of this study is to discuss the ramifications of considering privacy as a public good for business organizations. Using an extensive literature review, an attempt to achieve this objective is made by trying to answer the following questions: (1) What are the historical and philosophical roots of privacy? (2) How is the concept of privacy defined and what are the controversies surrounding different definitions of privacy? (3) Does an individual have a right to privacy? (4) If the answer to question three is in affirmative, what are the philosophical and legal foundations of that right? (5) How can an individual's privacy be invaded? (6) Is privacy right an individual right or does it have a societal value? (7) What are the reasons for considering privacy as a public good? Finally, the article offers prescriptive insights for organizations to successfully obtain information from consumer while respecting their privacy.
Usability and Workload of Access Technology for People With Severe Motor Impairment

Background. Eye trackers are widely used among people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and their benefits to quality of life have been previously shown. On the contrary, Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are still quite a novel technology, which also serves as an access technology for people with severe motor impairment. Objective. To compare a visual P300-based BCI and an eye tracker in terms of information transfer rate (ITR), usability, and cognitive workload in users with motor impairments. Methods. Each participant performed 3 spelling tasks, over 4 total sessions, using an Internet browser, which was controlled by a spelling interface that was suitable for use with either the BCI or the eye tracker. At the end of each session, participants evaluated usability and cognitive workload of the system. Results. ITR and System Usability Scale (SUS) score were higher for the eye tracker (Wilcoxon signed-rank test: ITR T = 9, P = .016; SUS T = 12.50, P = .035). Cognitive workload was higher for the BCI (T = 4; P = .003). Conclusions. Although BCIs could be potentially useful for people with severe physical disabilities, we showed that the usability of BCIs based on the visual P300 remains inferior to eye tracking. We suggest that future research on visual BCIs should use eye tracking–based control as a comparison to evaluate performance or focus on nonvisual paradigms for persons who have lost gaze control.
Why some regions will decline: A Canadian case study with thoughts on local development strategies*

Abstract. The authors present the case of five Canadian peripheral regions, which they argue are destined to decline. The explanation of the reasons why future decline (in absolute population and employment numbers) is inevitable constitutes the article’s central focus. The authors suggest that regional decline will become an increasingly common occurrence in nations at the end of the demographic transition whose economic geographies display centre‐periphery relationships. Such broad structural trends cannot be easily altered by public policy. The authors reflect on the implications of regional decline for the formulation of local economic development strategies. Local economic development strategies should not, they argue, be advanced as a means of arresting population and employment decline. To suggest that the regions studied in this article will decline because of a lack of social capital or insufficient number of local entrepreneurs, is not only misleading but may also be counterproductive.
Utility of Butvar support film and methylamine tungstate stain in three-dimensional electron microscopy: agreement between stain and frozen-hydrated reconstructions.

A random conical tilt reconstruction of negatively stained Saccharomyces cerevisiae fatty acid synthase was used as a model to compute a three-dimensional reconstruction from untilted stain specimens of the molecules in multiple orientations using a three-dimensional projection alignment method. The resulting structure (24 A resolution) has a more uniform resolution than the initial structure and the handedness revealed in the random conical tilt method is preserved. In a similar approach, this model was used to compute a 21-A-resolution frozen-hydrated structure from untilted specimens of the molecules in multiple orientations. Even though the reconstructions are in close agreement, the stain structure appears to enhance the protein density associated with less robust features. These procedures significantly reduce the time and effort required to obtain a three-dimensional reconstruction from frozen-hydrated data with a resolution that is comparable to the best obtained by more laborious methods. The agreement between the stain and frozen-hydrated reconstructions affords convincing evidence concerning the validity of the structure and the information afforded by the two reconstructions significantly enhances the structural analysis of the molecule.
Did Government Decentralization Cause China's Economic Miracle?

Many scholars attribute China's market reforms and the remarkable economic performance they have fostered in part to the country's political and fiscal decentralization. Political decentralization is said to have stimulated local policy experiments and restrained predatory central interventions. Fiscal decentralization is thought to have motivated local officials to promote development and harden enterprises' budget constraints. The locally diversified structure of the prereform economy is said to have facilitated liberalization. Reexamining these arguments, the authors find that none establishes a convincing link between political or fiscal decentralization and China's successes. They suggest an alternative view of the reform process in which growth-enhancing policies emerged from competition between promarket and conservative factions in Beijing.
Private security companies in the Czech Republic: Rearticulating the security field and transforming politics

This article examines the impact of the practices of private security companies (PSCs) upon the fields of security and politics in the Czech Republic. It focuses on the scandalous case of the largest Czech private security company, Agency of the White Lion (ABL)/Mark2 Corporation (M2.C), whose founder attempted to create a business-firm-party by performing a hostile takeover of an existing minor political party. By applying the global security assemblages model and drawing on the recent literature on the commodification of security, this article situates the case of ABL/M2.C within the larger socio-political-legal-economic context of the booming private security industry, whose extensive linkages with Czech politics are best characterized as a ‘reverse revolving door’ phenomenon. This phenomenon in turn suggests a possibility that the continuing absence of specific legislation to regulate the activities of PSCs is due to too much, rather than too little, political interest in the activities of these organizations. This is problematic because the practices of PSCs have already contributed to a significant rearticulation of the Czech security field by enhancing the commodification of security, while ABL’s use of security methods for political purposes has rearticulated the field of politics in a number of profoundly negative ways.
Sustainable tourism: A state‐of‐the‐art review

Abstract The topic of sustainable tourism has emerged in the last decade as a result of discussions from the report Our Common Future. This paper reviews the development of the term, beginning with a discussion of the confusion arising from the imprecise and conflicting definitions of the concept, and the need to distinguish between sustainable tourism and the development of tourism on the principles of sustainable development. The paper then reviews the environmental focus of discussions of sustainable tourism and argues for the need to ensure that the concept includes and is applied to the human environment as well as the physical environment. Attention then shifts to problems of carrying capacity, control of tourism development, and the relevance of the term to mass or conventional tourism. The paper concludes with a discussion of the future direction of sustainable tourism and the likelihood of development moving in this direction.
Socialism, Capitalism and Economic Growth

These essays were written in 1969 to mark the retirement of Maurice Dobb from the Readership in Economics an Cambridge University. The contributors are economists and historians from many parts of the world. The unifying theme, economic growth and planning under socialism and capitalism, was central to the major part of Maurice Dobb's work.
ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF COMPACT Q-EXTENSIONS

This note is a continuation of our paper [ 1 ], where we have considered nests {xa} in a topological space X such that lim f(xa) exists for all / e S. They are called S-nests. Here 5 is a non-empty subset of C = C(X), the class of all continuous and bounded functions on X. In [ 1 ] it is shown that compactness of X'\% equivalent to each of the following two conditions: every C-nest in X converges; every two-valued Baire measure on X is degenerate. It is also shown that every compactification bX can be constructed by means of an S-nest, where S = {/ | X : / 6 C(bX)}. The problem arises of studying nests {xa} c Xsuch that lim/(.xa) exists for all feS*. We call them 5*-nests. Here 5* is a non-empty subset of C* = C*(X), the class of all continuous functions on X. The results of [1 ] extend to the case of 5*-nests. Here 0-extensions of X make their appearance, which fall into disjoint classes connected in a natural way with compactiflcations of X (see Theorem 2). The spaces to be considered Tikhonov spaces and function spaces are real-valued. The notation is the same as in [1 ]. By a β-space we mean a space on which every two-valued σ-smooth Baire measure is degenerate ([2], p.88). By a β-extension of X we mean a £? -space containing X as a dense subspace. The method of nests is applied in [3] to construct iT-compactifications. There one can find the following lemma, for which we give a new proof connected with measures.