Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Career Development Programming Strategies for Transitioning Incarcerated Adolescents to the World of Work.

Formerly incarcerated adolescents with disabilities face additional barriers to a successful transition to adulthood when released from the youth correctional facility often with societal expectations of transitioning directly to adulthood. Employment and post-secondary enrollment may serve as protective factors and reduce the likelihood of future crimes by the individual. This article provides an example of a facility-to community transition project, Project SUPPORT, targeting incarcerated adolescents with either a special education or mental health disorder. The service delivery model along with the phases of services is described. Specifically, this article targets career development strategies for use by the transition specialist, a primary component of the service delivery model. Strategies described include: (a) the role of a Transition Specialist in job development and the service delivery model, (b) youth-focused planning and job matching, and (c) job recruitment strategies. Societal expectations of all youth when they approach adulthood include the ability to: (a) live independently, (b) establish a career path, (c) obtain and maintain competitive employment and/or continuing education, and (d) participate in healthy social relationships and leisure activities (Halpem, 1985; Lehman, Clark, Bullis, Rinkin, & Castellanos, 2002;). Work is viewed as a central responsibility and a benchmark for an adult in our society (Quintanilla, 1990). Work provides individuals with benefits in terms of money, self-direction and fulfillment, life structure, and "position" within our culture. This societal expectation is fundamental to the way an individual as well as others view themselves (Osipow, 1983, Quintanilla, 1990). In the current global economy, fewer choices will be available to those not prepared for meeting the demands of the changing workplace.
Governance, investment beliefs and dynamic asset allocation *

The investment beliefs of funds (whether explicit or implicit) tend to fall into two groups - those that imply there should be very little deviation from listed markets benchmarks and those that imply that the asset allocation and risk-profile should be allowed to deviate substantively to capture expected excess risk-adjusted returns. In practice, however, most funds do not deviate substantively from their benchmarks, regardless of their investment beliefs. Based on discussion with our asset managers and peer funds, we attribute the main reason for this is that it is difficult to sustain strategies that result in losses relative to benchmarks even if ex-ante the strategy is expected to add-value given sufficient time. Drawing on the case of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, this paper argues that the sustainability problem can be significantly reduced with prior investment beliefs in the strategies and with governance that has clear accountability, reporting and decisionmaking structures.
Accrual-Based and Real Earnings Management in Dynamic Settings

This paper develops a simple model to examine the dynamic relationship between earnings management and accounting regulations. In this model, current accrual-based earnings management affects the tightness of future regulations and managers rationally choose the levels of both accrual-based and real earnings management. We compare this dynamic model with the static one where the tightness of regulations is not affected by past levels of accrual-based earnings management and is, thus, constant over time. Our analysis reveals that accounting regulations directly affect relative costs of accrual-based and real earnings management in both static and dynamic settings, which is consistent with prior empirical and analytical studies. More importantly, we find that the impact of the change in manager's time horizon may be different for static and dynamic models of regulations. We also find that the initial state of the economy affects how managers adjust the levels of earnings management over time.
Advertising Effects on Consumer Processing of Brand Extensions: Applying the Categorization Model and Framing Theory

This study proposed and tested a conceptual model of consumer processing of brand extensions. The sequential flow of this model is described as follows: (1) consumer exposure to a brand extension spontaneously activates a parent brand category and its extension product category associated with the brand extension; (2) this activation will trigger two types of holistic evaluation, involving consumer assessment of the parent-brand image and product-feature fit between the parent brand category and its extension product category; (3) this holistic evaluation will facilitate either a category-based or a attribute-based judgment of the similarity between the parent brand and its brand extension; and (4) the process of such judgment will result in either a heuristic category-based or an analytical piecemealbased evaluation to help shape consumer attitude toward and intention to purchase the brand extension. Based on testing the conceptual framework, Experiment 1 found that perceived fit of product features between a parent brand and its extension product category increased perceived similarity between the parent brand and its brand extension and consumer attitude toward the brand extension. By contrast, perceived fit of brand/product image between the parent brand and its extension product category decreased correct recall of the product-feature related attributes of the brand extension. In addition, there was a positive relationship between perceived similarity of the parent brand and its brand extension and brand extension attitude. Experiment 2 investigated how advertising techniques to frame parent-brand image specific associations and product-feature related attributes of the brand extension could contribute to consumer processing of brand extensions. The results showed that such advertising techniques did not influence consumer processing of brand extensions with either a high parent-brand image/high product-feature fit or a low parent-brand image/low product-feature fit. However, by excluding the productfeature related description of the brand extensions in the ad, a brand extension with a high parent-brand image/low product-feature fit was found to increase perceived similarity between the brand extension and its parent brand. By comparison, for a brand extension with a low parent-brand image/high product-feature fit, the ad headlines that framed the parent-brand image increased consumer intention to purchase the brand extension. Advertising Effects on Consumer Processing of Brand Extensions: Applying the Categorization Model and Framing Theory
Stock Market Illiquidity, Funding Liquidity, and Bond Risk Premia

In this paper, we study the link between government bonds and cross-section of stocks. We provide new evidence that links the stock market liquidity to sovereign bond risk premia. We find that the stock market illiquidity variable adds to the well-established Cochrane-Piazzesi and Ludvigson-Ng factors. It explains 10%, 9%, 7%, and 7% of the one-year-ahead variation in the excess return for two-, three-, four-, and five-year bonds respectively and increases the adjusted R2 by 3-6% across all maturities over Cochrane and Piazzesi (2005) and Ludvigson and Ng (2009) factors. The effects are highly statistically and economically significant both in and out of sample. We find that our result is robust to and is not driven by information from open interest in the futures market, long-run inflation expectations, and dispersion in beliefs. We argue that stock market illiquidity is a timely variable that is associated with the state of funding liquidity.
On the Use of Data Envelopment Analysis in Assessing Local and Global Performances of Hedge Funds

This paper aims to show that Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is an efficient tool to assist investors in multiple criteria decision-making tasks like assessing hedge fund performance. DEA has the merit of offering investors the possibility to consider simultaneously multiple evaluation criteria with direct control over the priority level paid to each criterion. By addressing main methodological issues regarding the use of DEA in evaluating hedge fund local and global performance, this paper attempts to provide investors sufficient guidelines for tailoring their own performance measure which reflect successfully their own preferences. Although these guidelines are formulated in the hedge fund context, they can also be applied to other kinds of investment funds.
Innovation Capabilities: Comparing Science and Engineering Employment in Canadian and U.S. Cities

In recent years, cities have become increasingly interested in their ability to generate, attract and retain human capital. One measure of human capital is employment in science- and engineering-based occupations. This paper provides a comparison of the employment shares of these specialized occupations across Canadian and U.S. cities by using data from the Canadian and the U.S. censuses from 1980-1981 and 2000-2001. The paper, therefore, provides a perspective on how Canadian cities performed relative to their U.S. counterparts over a twenty-year period. It also seeks to evaluate how cities of different sizes have performed, because large cities may be advantaged over smaller cities in terms of factors influencing both the demand for, and supply of, scientists and engineers.
Determinants of e-library services’ use among university students: A study of John Harris Library, University of Benin, Nigeria

Provision of e-services in Nigerian academic libraries has been around for some time. However, while studies of user satisfaction with traditional modes of library services in these libraries are countless, those focusing specifically on user satisfaction with their e-services are rare. This study therefore investigated the factors that determine students’ use of and satisfaction with the e-services sponsored by a multinational telecommunication firm in a Nigerian university library. The design for the study was both quantitative and qualitative, involving a multistage sampling technique. A questionnaire was used to sample 400 registered students of the library, while 40 students who are non-users of the library’s e-services were interviewed. The 382 valid responses were analysed statistically while the interview responses were analysed thematically. The study found that among those who use the e-services, their level of use was significantly predicted by all the examined e-library service factors (system quality, service quality and information quality), e-library environment, students’ gender, computer/IT self-efficacy and satisfaction with e-services. However, students who were not using the e-services mentioned the following factors, amongst several others, as responsible: lack of awareness of the services, inadequately skilled ICT manpower to support users, absence of user training, inadequate ICT infrastructures including inadequate Internet access and unreliable campus network. Needed to boost the use of and user satisfaction with the e-services are attention to the services, these resource availability factors and the investigated service delivery factors.
Performance of a packet switch with input and output queueing under unbalanced traffic

High performance in advanced packet switches can be achieved by providing queuing both at the input and the output ports. The author studies the performance of this class of switches under nonuniform traffic. Two different output queuing arrangements are considered, namely, the case where dedicated queues are provided at each output port, and the case where the output queuing space is shared among all the output ports. An analytical approach is presented for the performance study of these two schemes in the case of operation with fixed-size packets and under various degrees of traffic imbalance at the inputs or the outputs. The measures investigated include the average delay, the maximum throughput of the switch in the case of output traffic imbalance, and the saturation load in the case of input traffic imbalance. Analytical results for these measures are derived for the case of a switch with a large number of input and output ports. Numerical results for the maximum throughput and the saturation load are presented. It is demonstrated that the scheme of output sharing performs better than the scheme of dedicated output queuing. <<ETX>>
Accuracy of Predicted Ear Canal Speech Levels Using the VIOLA Input/Output‐Based Fitting Strategy

Objective: The Visual Input/Output Locator Algorithm (VIOLA) is a software‐assisted method for prescribing amplification targets and selecting a hearing aid to match the targets. Although the procedure calls for selection and fitting of hearing aids in terms of their pure‐tone input/output functions in a coupler, it is assumed that a hearing aid that matches the coupler prescription targets will produce specific amplified speech levels in the patient's ear canal. This investigation evaluated the validity of that assumption. Design: Six hearing aids were evaluated. They were representative of linear and compression processing as well as single‐ and 2‐channel designs. The"subject" was a KEMAR manikin with realistic assumed hearing loss and loudness perception characteristics. Each hearing aid was configured to match the subject's VIOLA prescription as closely as possible. Predicted ear canal speech levels were determined using the prescription rules and modified by the differences between coupler prescription targets and coupler performance of the actual hearing aids. With the subject wearing each hearing aid coupled to an unvented earmold, continuous speech was presented in the sound field and measured, after amplification, in the ear canal. The match between observed and predicted levels of amplified speech indicated the validity of the VIOLA assumptions under examination. Results: The match between predicted and observed levels was good for soft speech input levels. As speech input levels increased, the differences between observed and predicted levels also increased, with the largest differences seen for loud speech inputs. When differences were seen between observed and predicted levels, they were always in the direction of lower than predicted ear canal levels. The differences between observed and predicted levels were attributed to the effects of limiting, effects of compression ratio in wide range compression, the individual subject's field‐to‐microphone transfer function, and the subject's individual real‐ear‐to‐coupler level difference. Conclusions: Ear canal speech levels were reasonably close to predicted values, and the deviations from predicted levels were plausibly accounted for by consideration of hearing aid performance. Thus, the approach used by the VIOLA procedure holds considerable promise for extending clinical control over the complex and interactive parameters of nonlinear hearing aids. The results of this study indicate that selection and fitting of hearing aids using the current VIOLA procedure usually will result in the generation of lower than predicted ear canal speech levels, especially for loud speech inputs. However, the accuracy of the procedure could be improved substantially by modification of the software to account for the effects of limiting and those of the compression ratio in systems with compression thresholds lower than the level of unamplified loud speech.
Review of bulimia nervosa in males.

OBJECTIVE The authors describe the distribution of bulimia nervosa among males and identify characteristics that distinguish male bulimics from their female counterparts. METHOD Potential references were identified through an English-language literature search using MEDLINE (1966 to April 1990) and through extensive manual searching of textbooks and reviews. All published works with original data or hypotheses concerning bulimia in males were included. RESULTS Bulimia affects approximately 0.2% of adolescent boys and young adult men, and males account for 10%-15% of all bulimic subjects identified in community-based studies. Compared to their female counterparts, male bulimics appear to have a later age of onset; higher prevalences of premorbid obesity, homosexuality, and asexuality; and less concern with strict weight control. These findings are discussed from biological, psychological, and cultural perspectives to develop a fuller understanding of the pathogenesis of bulimia in males. CONCLUSIONS Bulimia in males has received relatively little attention in the literature. Future research should focus on more rigorous analytic studies that include matched comparison groups of female bulimic and male nonbulimic subjects. Such studies would not only benefit male bulimics but might provide insight into the nature of bulimia in both sexes.
The Role of Private Equity Investments in Public Firms: International Evidence

This paper compares the raising of external equity capital from private equity investors via private investments in public equity (PIPEs) and seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) using a sample of 456 PIPEs and 1,910 SEOs drawn from nine Asian countries. Consistent with the idea that insiders attempt to time the markets, firms issuing SEOs are preceded by a significantly higher run-up in stock price compared with those issuing PIPEs. This result is consistent with the undervaluation hypothesis that states that firms are more likely to issue PIPEs when they perceive their stock to be undervalued. In contrast to the United States where this undervaluation appears to be driven by financial distress and asymmetric information, the results show PIPE and SEO issuers to be statistically undistinguishable from each other. The announcement of a PIPE offering is on average associated with a significantly higher stock market reaction compared with an issue of a SEO, suggesting that private equity investors may play a certification or monitoring role. However, a comparison of PIPE issuers' operating performance and stock market returns in the pre-issue and the post-issue periods does not detect any significant improvements.
Localization of angiotensin in rat brain.

cytes, posterior pituicytes, third ventricular tanycytes, and some cells within the spinal trigeminal tract. Preincubating the All antiserum with excess angiotensin I and antidiuretic hormone did not affect this distribution while pre-incubation with All abolished it. Cross-reactivity of All antiserum with angiotensin I, dog renin substrate, and synthetic renin substrate, tetradecapeptide was less than 1%. However, the antiserum showed 70% cross reactivity with angiotensin III (Al! ); therefore this immunohistochemical map could also correlate with the presence of Al! This morphology of the All/All! localization in the rat brain when correlated to the known patterns of All/All! receptors within brain suggests angiotensin may be transported to sensitive brain sites by both neurons and vascular channels.
Separation of arteries and veins in 3D MR angiography using correlation analysis

Multiphase contrast‐enhanced 3D MR angiography (MRA) data sets allow the separate visualization of the arterial and venous pulmonary vasculature. However, due to short arterial‐tovenous bolus transit times in the lung, the generation of pure venograms without arterial overlay is difficult. To suppress arterial signal in venograms, early arterial phase data are typically subtracted from peak venous phase images. In this study, a correlation algorithm is used to postprocess the multiphase 3D MRA data sets. The cross‐correlation between a measured arterial or venous reference function and the local signal‐time course is computed which highlights image locations with a similar signal‐time curve as the reference function and suppresses constant signal. Conventional maximum intensity projections (MIP) are generated from the arterial and venous correlation maps. In a study with five volunteers, an increase in SNR by a factor of 2.1 (1.8) of arterial (venous) correlation MIP images over subtraction MIP images was observed. Magn Reson Med 43:481–487, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Mutual Fund Separation and the Fama, French, Carhart Factors

I estimate a mean-variance efficient (MVE) portfolio assuming that the MVE frontier is spanned by optimal portfolios that fund managers offer to heterogeneous investors. Consistent with predictions of mutual fund separation, the estimated MVE portfolio can price the cross section of portfolios and of individual equities (and, consequently, of other anomalous portfolios such as idiosyncratic volatility) significantly better than the Fama, French, and Carhart (FFC) factors. First, the cross-sectional alphas for test portfolios drop from a significant 15.6% per year for the FFC factors to an insignificant 1.08% per year for the mutual fund separation factor. Second, the risk premia of the mutual fund separation based factor is significant after controlling for characteristics such as size and book-to-market - an important test to rule out mis-specified factors. Last, while the normal R2 are comparable, enforcing the intercept to be zero in the calculation makes the FFC R2 negative but the MVE R2 are not affected. I find that the FFC factors proxy for the MVE portfolio, but are mis-specified because paired portfolios - such as value and growth - hedge heterogeneous risks for heterogeneous investors and should be considered separately, not as a long-short factor.The evidence is consistent with mutual fund separation in an incomplete market economy with heterogeneous investors (as in Constantinides and Duffie (1996)), who hold different optimal portfolios due to different exposures to nontradable risks such as industry-specific human capital. A specification that includes aggregate consumption growth, labor income variance, and the orthogonal component of the MVE portfolio has an adjusted R2 of 84% for the FF 25 portfolios.
A differential pursuit/evasion game of capture between an omnidirectional agent and a differential drive robot, and their winning roles

ABSTRACT This paper addresses a differential pursuit/evasion game. The players are an omnidirectional agent (OA) and a differential drive robot (DDR). They move in an obstacle-free environment; the DDR is faster than the OA but it can only change its motion direction up to a bounded rate. First, we analyse the scenario in which the OA has as objective to capture a DDR in minimum time and the DDR wants to retard the capture as long as possible. We present the time optimal motion primitives of the players to achieve their goals. Later, we allow the agents to change the roles, namely, the DDR is allowed to play as the pursuer and the OA is allowed to play as the evader. This later analysis allows one to establish which is the winner role for each agent, based only on the initial position of the players and their maximum speed.
Identification of phenotypic discriminating markers for intervertebral disc cells and articular chondrocytes.

OBJECTIVE The present study was conducted to improve our knowledge of intervertebral disc (IVD) cell biology by comparing the phenotype of nucleus pulposus (NP) and annulus fibrosus (AF) cells with that of articular chondrocytes (ACs). METHODS Rabbit cells from NP and AF were isolated and their phenotype was compared with that of AC by real-time PCR analysis of type I (COL1A1), II (COL2A1) and V (COL5A1) collagens, aggrecan transcript (AGC1), matrix Gla protein (MGP) and Htra serine peptidase 1 (Htra1). RESULTS Transcript analysis indicated that despite certain similarities, IVD cells exhibit distinct COL2A1/COL1A1 and COL2A1/AGC1 ratios as compared with AC. The expression pattern of COL5A1, MGP and Htra1 makes it possible to define a phenotypic signature for NP and AF cells. CONCLUSIONS Our study shows that NP and AF cells exhibit a clearly distinguishable phenotype from that of AC. Type V collagen, MGP and HtrA1 could greatly help to discriminate among NP, AF and AC cells.