Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Financial Integration Increase Welfare? Evidence from International Household-Level Data

Despite a vast empirical literature that assesses the impact of financial integration on the economy, evidence of substantial welfare gains from consumption risk sharing remains elusive. While maintaining the usual cross-country perspective of the literature, this paper explicitly accounts for household heterogeneity and thus relaxes three restrictive assumptions that have featured prominently in the past. By making use of international household-level data and a subjective measure of financial well-being, the analysis takes into account idiosyncratic shocks to the household, allows for a household-specific evaluation of labor income risk and facilitates explicit tests of the underlying insurance channels. Using two balanced panels of more than 17,000 and 31,000 households from up to 22 European countries over the periods 1994-2000 and 2004-2008, respectively, I first document a negative welfare effect arising from labor income risk. I then show that financial integration significantly mitigates this effect for the average household in the sample. Finally, I examine the underlying insurance channels and find that, during the 1990s, the benefits of financial integration occurred primarily in the form of better access to credit for households with only weak ties to the financial system. During the 2000s, however, the largest gains from financial integration emerged on the asset side and benefited in particular households that had already invested in financial markets.
Wide distribution of interspecific stimulatory events on antibiotic production and sporulation among Streptomyces species.

antibiotic production and/or aerial mycelium formation in a variety of Streptomyces speciesl~~3\ Most of these factors which contain a y-butyrolactone ring have been discovered by intraspecific feeding experiments, in which an extract of the culture supernatant of one species stimulated antibiotic production and/or cellular differentiation of the same species. The regulatory mechanisms by which these
Distortion arising from polar to PWM/PPM conversion in an all digital upconverter for switching rf power amplifier

Existing 3G base stations require high efficiency linear radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers (PAs). Switch Mode PAs can have improved efficiency but require a pulse train as a drive signal. This paper studies the unwanted spectral components that arise when baseband polar signals are upconverted to RF using pulse width modulation and pulse position modulation (PPM) in sigma delta based modulators. The dominant distortions are shown to be third order and image components generated in the PPM circuit. In a single carrier environment, an increase in offset frequency increases the unwanted spectral components. Offsets less than 10 MHz are required to keep unwanted components 40 dB below the signal level Also, the effect of distortions on adjacent channel powers is quantified using an OFDM input signal.
Loss provisions and bank charge-offs in the financial crisis: lesson learned

The enormity of the recent financial shock was not fully apparent until well into the crisis. One result was that banks did unusually low levels of pre-reserving against eventual loan losses. Much of that underreserving was related to the extraordinary decline in real estate values that led to outsized losses on mortgage loans. This experience highlights the limitations of the bank provisioning process and the need to guard against worse-than-expected economic conditions through higher capital levels.
The importance of waiting staff in restaurant service

This study seeks to examine one of the keys to a successful restaurant – the waiting staff. Their backgrounds are investigated, together with the skills and expertise which they are expected to possess by employers and customers. This is compared to the training offered, so that recommendations can be made to the trade about the role of the waiter and waitress in the process of food enjoyment. A range of eating establishments are considered, and the views of the proprietors, their staff and customers taken, so as to offer the views of those involved.
Determining Critical Project Success Criteria for Public Housing Building Projects (PHBPS) in Ghana

Successive Public Housing Building Project (PHBP) attempts have been unsuccessful due to a number of reasons. Among these is the lack of clearly defined success criteria which guides and measures PHBP success from inception to closure. The adoption and application of project management practice and project success criteria is to deliver projects successfully, attain enhanced output, develop framework to help track key project results and to enable the appropriate allocation of resources. This paper aimed to establish critical success criteria for PHBPs in Ghana. A questionnaire survey was employed to elicit the views of experienced professionals on 13 project success criteria identified from literature. Mean score analysis and factor analysis were conducted on the data collected. The results showed that PHBP practitioners perceive ‘cost of individual houses’ and ‘extensive use of local materials’ as the most critical success criteria with ‘risk containment’ emerging as the least critical criteria. It also revealed the following as the major underlysing factors for critical project success criteria for public housing projects in Ghana;‘Time, Cost and Quality Management’, ‘Satisfaction, Health and Environmental Safety’, ‘User Affordability and Design Consideration’ and ‘Cost of Individual Units and Technology’. These two findings are essential for developing a framework which will enable project managers involved in PHBPs in Ghana to channel appropriate efforts and behaviours towards ensuring the attainment of success on their projects.
Peruvian Maca: Two Scientific Names Lepidium Meyenii Walpers and Lepidium Peruvianum Chacon – Are They Phytochemically-Synonymous?

Using Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LCMS) , profiles of the two isotypes labelled under the same common name Maca deposited in the Medicinal Plant Herbarium, in Australia and Poland, but identified under two different scientific names Lepidium meyenii Walpers (L. meyenii) and Lepidium peruvianum Chacon (L. peruvianum) are presented. The two isotypes correspond to two holotypes of Peruvian medicinal herb known under the same common name “Maca”, as originally deposited in the Herbarium of San Marcos University in Lima, Peru dated back to 1843 and 1990 respectively. The results demonstrate distinct differences in taxonomy, visual appearance, phytochemical profiles and DNA sequences of the two researched Maca isotypes, suggesting that the two Maca specimens are dissimilar and formal use of the term “synonymous” to L. meyenii and L. peruvianum may be misleading. On the basis of presented results the scientific name L. meyenii, used since 1843 up-today for cultivated Peruvian Maca by numerous reference sources worldwide, including Regulatory Bodies in the USA, EU, Australia and most lately in China, appears to be used in error and should be formally revised. It is concluded, that the isotype of cultivated Peruvian Maca labelled under its scientific name Lepidium peruvianum Chacon, provides all the characteristics peculiar to this historically-documented herb grown in Andean highlands, which may be linked to its traditional use and accepted functionality, confirmed in recent clinical study to be relevant to its present day use for expected dietary, therapeutic and health benefits.
Pricing practices of service organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the pricing policies that service companies adopt along with the pricing information that they gather to set their prices. Despite previous authors' suggestions regarding the need for a coherent process when setting prices, there seems to be a lack of empirically‐based theory on how pricing policies and pricing information might be interrelated.Design/methodology/approach – Following 26 in‐depth exploratory interviews, additional personal interview data were collected from 170 companies operating in six different services sectors in Greece.Findings – The paper finds that “list pricing” is the only policy that is adopted by the majority of the surveyed companies. Further, they tend to collect more than one type of information giving particular emphasis on market‐based information. The “customer‐based” information was found to be associated positively with the policy of “cash discounts”, while the “competition‐based” information with the policies of “trade d.
The implementation of the organization performance index excellence model and business performance in Kenya

Business Excellence Models are the new path to comp anywide quality management. Over the years, quality management has evolved from being reactive to being proactive; evolving from inspection to business excellence (BE). Quality management is no longer about the final product, but about daily processes. Research shows a strong correlation betw een BE and positive financial performance, future competitiveness and long-term goals. Despite these benefits research indicates that successful implementation of BE is a challenge and that TQM or BE many times falls short of its promise. Because of this success and failure managers long to know t he secrets of success and the factors impeding implementation of BE. The introduction of the OPI a pproach which is modeled on international BE adopted for the market has given Kenya companies an d other companies in East Africa an opportunity to embrace a BE approach. This study determines the factors contributing to sin the implementation of business excellence in a cross-section of Kenyan companies t hat have participated in the Organization Performance Index (OPI). It sets out to describe an d examine, through the manager’s perspective, elements that should be in place for the successful implementation of BE. It also seeks to establish the extent to which OPI has contributed to improved per formance in the selected Kenyan companies. The findings of the research show the factors that lead to successful implementation of a business excelle nce model and that implementation of a business excelle nce approach can lead to improved business performance. The findings of the research can be us eful to companies planning to implement a BE approach and to those that have implemented BE with out much success. The results can be used to prioritize implementation and on keeping an eye on factors with a positive impact. Limitations of the study include perceptual responses from managers in Kenyan companies only. The study is conducted amongst managers in companies that have participate d in the OPI and not necessarily companies that have won. Future research should be conducted among st companies that have won.
Establishment and maintenance of planar epithelial cell polarity by asymmetric cadherin bridges: A computer model

Animal scales, hairs, feathers, and cilia are oriented due to cell polarization in the epithelial plane. Genes involved have been identified, but the signal and mechanism remain unknown. In Drosophila wing polarization, the action of a gradient of Frizzled activity is widely assumed; and cell–cell signalling by cadherins such as Flamingo surely plays a major role. We present a computer model where reading the Frizzled gradient occurs through biased, feedback‐reinforced formation of Flamingo‐based asymmetric intercellular complexes. Through these complexes neighboring cells are able to compare their Frizzled activity levels. Our computations are highly noise‐resistant and reproduce both wild‐type and all known mutant wing phenotypes; other phenotypes are predicted. The model puts stringent limits on a Frizzled activation signal, which should exhibit unusual properties: (1) the extracellular Frizzled signalling gradient should be counterdirectional—decreasing from proximal (P) to distal (D), whereas during polarization, the intracellular Frizzled gradient builds up from P to D; (2) the external gradient should be relatively weak and short‐lived, lest it prevent inversion of intracellular Frizzled. These features, largely independent of model details, may provide useful clues for future experimental efforts. Developmental Dynamics 235:235–246, 2006. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Analysis on Formation Reasons and Hidden Dangers of Safety Accidents in Logistics Enterprises' Road Transport

Along with the development of our country's economy,growing need for logistics,logistics road transport business month more. The road transportation accidents in logistics industry also increases,Large trucks accident has become a problem hindering the development of the social economy. The article through the three years in a given area of Fujian province traffic accident data analysis,summing up the main cause of freight car accident, and application of Delphi method the mining accident cause the safe hidden dangers. The aim is to help the persons in charge of safety in logistics enterprise to recognize the formation reasons and hidden dangers of truck accident, advance warning,prevention,reduce the incidence of road transportation production safety accidents.
Guthkelch and Riley TABLE I Aetiology and Quality of Survival in Surgically Treated Infantile Hydrocephalus

Modem surgical treatment of infantile hydrocephalus results in a significantly increased expectaon of life for patients so treated over those in --whom a conservative policy has been adopted. But in order to give as accurate a prognosis as possible, one must inquire whether the results bear any rdation to the aetiology of the condition. One of us (Guthkelch, 1967) has recently described his technique of ventriculo-atrial drainage for this conditon, and assessed the expectation of life, intelligence, and numbers of secondary operations required in an unselected consecutive series of 166 infants so treated. This communication analyses the results in the same series with particular reference to cause. It is conventional to distinguish between the congenital and acquired forms of infantile hydrocephalus. In our series, congenital cases fall into A groups: (1) associated with spina bifida, (2) associated with cranium bifidum, (3) due to aqueduct stenosis occurring otherwise than as part of the Arold Chiari malformation, and (4) consequent upon exit (atresia of the foramen block foramina of Luschka and Magendie). As to the cases in which the hydrocephalus appeared to have been acquired after birth, in some there was a clear antecedent history of bacterial meningits, while the remainder were simply examples of communicating hydrocephalus without any history of infection. The likely aetiological factors in this latter group will be discussed later.
Photon upconversion through triplet–triplet annihilation

Photon upconversion (UC) is a process that fuses the energy of two low energy photons to generate one photon of higher energy. It is not hard to imagine many applications for such a process, and indeed photon upconversion has attracted a lot of attention in the last decade. Triplet–triplet annihilation (TTA) is one popular way of achieving photon upconversion. Since 2012 the annual number of articles related to TTA-UC has increased fivefold. Accordingly, the present chapter aims to summarize the progress in the field over the 2012–2019 period.
A new bound on the generalization rate of sampled convex programs

This paper deals with the sampled scenarios approach to robust convex programming. It has been shown in previous works that by randomly sampling a sufficient number of constraints among the (possibly) infinite constraints of a robust convex program, one obtains a standard convex optimization problem whose solution is 'approximately feasible', in a probabilistic sense, for the original robust convex program. This is a generalization property in the learning theoretic sense, since the satisfaction of a certain number of 'training' constraints entails the satisfaction of other 'unseen' constraints. In this paper we provide a new efficient bound on the generalization rate of sampled convex programs, and show an example of application to a robust control design problem.
Exploring the forms of dysfunctional customer behaviour: A study of differences in servicescape and customer disaffection with service

Abstract Although wide agreement exists between scholars and marketing practitioners concerning the prevalence of dysfunctional customer behaviour, to date empirical research into this phenomenon is lacking. This article aims to identify empirically grounded categories of dysfunctional customer behaviours and examine the extent to which customers' perceptions of physical servicescape environments, social facets of servicescape, and customer disaffection with service differ for each category. Based on a quantitative sample of 380 consumer perpetrators, cluster analysis reveals three clusters of dysfunctional customer behaviour forms labelled ‘petty norm infringements’, ‘felonious norm infringements’, and ‘belligerent norm infringements’. Subsequent variance analysis assesses the perceived differences between perceived physical servicescape, social servicescape, and customer disaffection for each identified form cluster. Specifically, the study findings reveal statistically significant differences between the forms of dysfunctional customer behaviour that are perpetrated across different service environments. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the study for theorists and practitioners.
Logistics behaviour of small enterprises: performance, strategy and definition

Progressively acknowledged as a systemic function and an organizational integration factor, logistics is slowly becoming a major strategic issue for organizations. Small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), defined as enterprises with fewer than 500 employees and management centralized mainly in the person of the owner‐manager, who has a high degree of control over activities, specifically seek to improve their performance and efficiency through logistics. Suggests that logistics appears to play two roles in SMEs: an adaptation role, helping the enterprise adapt to changes in external conditions, and an integration role at the various organizational levels. In fact, clearly observes, a growing need for logistics and the heterogeneity of the strategic behaviours indicates that logistics (as a performance factor) should be developed according to the distinctive advantages of the SMEs concerned ‐ for example, the technological and organizational structure or the management style of the owner‐manager. Logistics is an overall concern in small enterprise strategy. It evolves from the transformation of structure, behaviours and internal expertise towards efficiency and effectiveness zones for very integrated SMEs, and efficiency zones for the others.
The distribution, density and seasonal prevalence of Aedes aegypti in West Africa.

DISTRIBUTION Regional Aedes aegypti occurs throughout West Africa from sea-level up to at least 4000 feet (1220 m) in Nigeria and from the coastal swamp zone to Northern Guinea savanna. It breeds both in the cocoa belt of Ghana and in the Northern Ashanti region 1200 feet (360 m) above sea-level in savanna country (Berner, 1947; Surtees, 1958; Boorman & Porterfield, 1957). It is widely distributed in Nigeria. It is a common species in natural breeding-sites in the coastal freshwater swamp zone (Dalziel, 1920; Dunn, 1928; Kumm, 1931) and is also found as isolated populations in village clearings in the southern rain-forest belt (Surtees, 1959b). It breeds in the more open savanna country around Ibadan, 90 miles (145 km) inland, in the Niger Delta, on the higher ground of the central plateau, in northern Guinea savanna and in the northern province of Sokoto (Mellanby, 1956; Boorman & Service, 1960; Hanney, 1960; Boorman, 1961; Service, 1965; and Kuhlow, 1960). It is generally distributed in Liberia (Fox, 1958; Peters, 1957), Upper Volta (Hamon, Sales & Eyraud, 1963) and in Sierra Leone (Lewis, 1956). It is found in urban areas in the western Cameroon mountains (Mouchet, Garou & Hamon, 1960).
Long-term follow-up results of the multicenter phase II trial of regorafenib in patients with metastatic and/or unresectable GI stromal tumor after failure of standard tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy.

BACKGROUND This investigator-initiated trial provided the justification for the phase III GRID study resulting in worldwide regulatory approval of regorafenib as a third-line therapy for patients with metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). We report the genotype analyses, long-term safety, and activity results from this initial trial of regorafenib in GIST. PATIENTS AND METHODS The trial was conducted between February 2010 and January 2014, among adult patients with metastatic GIST, after failure of at least imatinib and sunitinib. Patients received regorafenib orally, 160 mg once daily, days 1-21 of a 28-day cycle. Clinical benefit rate (CBR), defined as complete or partial response (PR), or stable disease lasting ≥16 weeks per RECIST 1.1, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), long-term safety data, and metabolic response by functional imaging were assessed. RESULTS Thirty-three patients received at least one dose of regorafenib. The median follow-up was 41 months. CBR was documented in 25 of 33 patients [76%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 58% to 89%], including six PRs. The median PFS was 13.2 months (95% CI 9.2-18.3 months) including four patients who remained progression-free at study closure, each achieving clinical benefit for more than 3 years (range 36.8-43.5 months). The median OS was 25 months (95% CI 13.2-39.1 months). Patients whose tumors harbored a KIT exon 11 mutation demonstrated the longest median PFS (13.4 months), whereas patients with KIT/PDGFRA wild-type, non-SDH-deficient tumors experienced a median 1.6 months PFS (P < 0.0001). Long-term safety profile is consistent with previous reports; hand-foot skin reaction and hypertension were the most common reasons for dose reduction. Notably, regorafenib induced objective responses and durable benefit in SDH-deficient GIST. CONCLUSIONS Long-term follow-up of patients with metastatic GIST treated with regorafenib suggests particular benefit among patients with primary KIT exon 11 mutations and those with SDH-deficient GIST. Dose modifications are frequently required to manage treatment-related toxicities. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER NCT01068769.