Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Asymptotic Floquet Mode Investigation Over Two-Dimensional Infinite Array Antennas Phased to Radiate Near-Zone Focused Fields

This paper extends the previous work in to consider the radiation from an infinite, 2-D antenna array for the near-field focus applications. It employs the Poisson sum formula to expand the radiation into Floquet modes, which may exhibit a class of wave phenomena in terms of geometrical ray fields. This analysis automatically reduces to the conventional case of a linearly phased antenna array, and results in consistent radiation phenomena. It can be considered as a generalization of phased array analysis. Theoretical investigations as well as numerical illustrations are presented.
Corporate Governance, Ownership Structures and Investment in Transition Economies: The Case of Russia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan

In this paper we analyze interrelations between ownership structures, corporate governance and investment in three transition countries: Russia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. In contrast to most empirical papers on corporate governance, we study companies with very little exposure to public financial markets. Our empirical analysis is based on two years of data obtained through large-scale surveys of firms. Ukrainian companies appear to have the best corporate governance practices, while Russian companies – the worst. We find that the relationship between ownership concentration and corporate governance is non-linear. In Russia, the relationship between the share of the largest non-state shareholder and corporate governance is either positive or insignificant when the blockholder’s stake is below a certain threshold; however, a further increase in the blockholder’ share is associated with worsening corporate governance. We find a similar effect in Ukraine, but only for managerial ownership. In both countries, corporate governance improves as the combined share of small shareholders grows. No robust effects of the ownership structure are found for Kyrgyz firms. Further we show that the market for corporate control seems to have little relationship to the firms’ corporate governance practices. We find no link between the quality of corporate governance and either the need for outside finance or actual investments financed with outside funds in either of the three countries.
Productivity Gains from Services Liberalization in Europe

As part of the Single Market Program the European Commission commanded the liberalization and regulatory harmonization of utilities, transport and telecommunication services. This paper investigates whether and how this process affected the productivity of European network firms. Exploiting the variation in the timing and degree of liberalization efforts across countries and industries, we find that liberalization increased firm-level productivity but had no reallocation impact. Based on our estimates, the average firm-level productivity gain from liberalization amounts to 38 percent of the average total within-firm productivity gain in network industries. The results underscore the growth-promoting role of liberalization efforts.
Anteroventral Cochlear Nucleus:Wave Forms of Extracellularly Recorded Spike Potentials

Analysis of wave forms of spike potentials from neurons in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus indicates that the spikes are composed of three components. Two appear to be postsynaptic events, and one appears to be presynaptic and to be related to the calyces of Held found in that part of the nucleus.
Corporate governance and cost of debt: review of recent studies

The study was supported with the grant of Faculty of Economics of the National Research University Higher School of Economics in 2013.We suppose that the agency conflicts between shareholders and bondholders may affect the level of risk of company's debt instruments, therefore, increasing the cost of debt of the firm. A number of corporate governance mechanisms are developed to alleviate the conflicts. This paper surveys research on the relationship between corporate governance and the cost of debt. We pay special attention to the empirical papers with specific findings on cost of debt's nonfinancial determinants in emerging markets.
Lending Opportunities, Credit Standards, and Loan Sales

This article studies the relation between the stringency of banks' credit screening and their exogenous loan-origination opportunities. I develop the hypothesis that credit-screening standards can be first increasing and then decreasing in the quality of the bank's pool of potential borrowers. One key implication is that banks with lending opportunities toward the middle of the quality spectrum are likely to have loan portfolios that perform better than do the portfolios of banks with loan-origination opportunities that are either too weak or too strong. Using banks' volume of secondary-market loan sales as a proxy for the richness of the lending opportunities, I test this implication in a hand-matched dataset of banks and borrowers. Consistently, the data reveal an inverse-U shaped relation between the performance of banks' loan portfolios and the quality of their loan-origination opportunities. Furthermore, there is a correlation between loan pricing and soft information on borrower quality only for those loans originated by banks with moderate lending opportunities. The findings provide empirical evidence that credit standards vary inversely with economic outlook. The pattern deserves scrutiny for its policy implications, as many macroeconomists hold the view that countercyclical variation in credit standards may have a destabilizing effect on business cycles.
The Likert scale revisited: an alternate version

Gerald Albawn This study examined the effect of alternative scale formats on reporting of intensity of attitudes on Likert scales of agreement. A standard one-stage format and an alternate two-stage format were tested in three separate studies on samples of university students in three countries. In general, the two-stage format generated the greatest percentage of extreme-position (Le. most intense) responses across scales. A test of predictive ability showed that the two-stage format was a better predictor of product preferences. Underlying data structures did not differ much between the two.
Adult Low-Grade Acquired Spondylolytic Spondylolisthesis: Evaluation and Management

Study Design. Literature review. Objective. To discuss the presentation and evaluation of adult patients with acquired spondylolytic spondylolisthesis of low-grade severity and to review surgical treatment options. Summary of Background Data. Low-grade adult acquired spondylolytic spondylolisthesis is one of the most common forms of spondylolisthesis. Methods. Literature review. Results. Adults with symptomatic low-grade spondylolytic spondylolisthesis are treated predominantly nonoperatively, with activity modification, physiotherapy, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents, and local injections. Surgical treatment is reserved for individuals with intractable back pain and/or radicular symptoms. A number of surgical options exist, including direct pars repair, and fusion with or without decompression. Fusion can be achieved by providing anterior column support alone, posterior support alone, or a combined circumferential approach; the optimal method by which fusion should be achieved has not been established. Conclusions. The management of low-grade acquired spondylolytic spondylolisthesis requires a thoughtful and individualized approach, recognizing the frequently benign natural history of the deformity and the potentially good clinical outcomes from surgery in those select patients with intolerable back and leg pain. While fusion is the mainstay of surgical management, a prospective randomized study would be extremely useful to delineate the optimal fusion technique.
Effect of Information Technology Investments on Customer Satisfaction: Theory and Evidence

This research addresses the following questions: Do information technology (IT) investments have an effect on customer satisfaction? What are the causal mechanisms that mediate the effect of IT systems on customer satisfaction? Does the effect of IT on customer satisfaction differ across industry sectors? Based on an analysis of longitudinal data on 50 U.S. firms for the period 1994-2000, we document the association between IT investments and customer satisfaction. We find support for the hypotheses that the effect of IT investments on customer satisfaction is mediated through the effect of IT on perceived quality and perceived value. Our results also indicate that the effect of IT investments on customer satisfaction differs between the manufacturing and service sectors. While prior work on the business value of IT at the firm level focused on financial and accounting measures, our research establishes the effect of IT investments on overall customer satisfaction of a firm. We propose and validate a theory of mediation effects of perceived quality and perceived value. This proposal has the potential to synthesize information systems effectiveness and marketing literature towards an integrative understanding of the relationship between IT investments and customer satisfaction.
Information Technology Tools in New Product Development: The Impact of Complementary Resources*,†

Emergent research has examined the antecedents to using information technology (IT) in the new product development (NPD) process and the impact of IT on NPD performance. Based on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, this study hypothesizes that particular resources create IT capabilities that significantly enhance NPD outcomes. More specifically, this research extends previous work by investigating whether three complementary resources, namely an executive champion for IT, global engagement, and organizational innovativeness, influence IT capabilities (IT use frequency and IT replacement frequency), which in turn affect NPD outcomes (NPD task proficiency and NPD performance). To test the conceptual model, survey data were collected from 220 NPD and IT managers in a variety of large Japanese firms. The results show that an executive champion for IT and global engagement are predictors of both IT tool use and replacement frequency while organizational innovativeness contributes only to IT tool replacement frequency. The results also indicate that both IT tool use and replacement frequency have a positive effect on NPD task proficiency, which improves NPD performance. This research contributes to the literature by adding understanding of the role of IT in NPD at the firm level in four ways. First, it examines particular organizational complementary resources and their relationship to IT capabilities. Second, it examines the RBV and IT in the context of NPD, an important business process. Third, it measures IT usage in a more granular fashion (i.e., IT tool use frequency and IT replacement frequency) rather than simply IT usage as a dichotomy. Finally, through testing the proposed model with data collected from Japanese firms, this study provides empirical evidence from an Asian country to answer the call for more NPD research to be conducted in countries other than North American and Western European contexts. The findings of the study also provide implications for managers. Importantly, they indicate that an executive level champion for IT is a key influencer in facilitating IT usage and replacement, and likely can help generate awareness of and support for greater IT investments so the firm can create IT capabilities for effective NPD.
Interactionism in personality and social psychology: An integrated approach to understanding the mind and behaviour

In both personality psychology and social psychology there is a trajectory of theory and research that has its roots in Gestalt psychology and interactionism. This work is outlined in this paper along with an exploration of the hitherto neglected points of connection it offers these two fields. In personality psychology the focus is on dynamic interactionism and in social psychology, mainly through social identity theory and self‐categorization theory, it is on the interaction between the individual (‘I’) and group (‘we’) and how the environment (that includes the perceiver) is given meaning. What emerges is an understanding of the person and behaviour that is more integrated, dynamic and situated. The aim of the paper is to stimulate new lines of theory and research consistent with this view of the person. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Task-Based Profile of Vocal Intensity Decline in Parkinson’s Disease

This study examines intensity decay in the phonation of persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The decline in vocal intensity (determined by linear regression of the intensity envelope) was compared across the following tasks: vowel prolongation, syllable repetition (diadochokinesis, DDK), isolated sentences and conversation. In contrast to previous studies, PD speakers demonstrated no significant differences in intensity decline from healthy speakers in vowel prolongation. The vocal intensity of speakers with PD declined more rapidly than that of controls in DDK tasks. While intensity slopes in conversation were more variable in both groups, some participants with PD exhibited abrupt changes in intensity. Results indicate that the DDK is particularly useful for describing intensity decay associated with PD. However, considering the inconsistent group differences across tasks, and the discrepant findings from previous studies, intensity decay is not a robust symptom of PD.
High macrophage-colony stimulating factor levels in synovial fluid of loose artificial hip joints.

OBJECTIVE To clarify a macrophage-colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) related mechanism of aseptic loosening of artificial hip joints. METHODS Synovium-like interface tissues between bone and prosthesis, regenerated pseudocapsular tissues, and synovial fluid (SF) were collected from 9 patients with loose artificial hip joint at revision surgery. Tissue distribution, production site, and SF level of M-CSF in loose hip joints were investigated by immunohistochemistry, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and ELISA, respectively. For a comparative assessment of the M-CSF level in loose hip joints, SF of active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and mild osteoarthritis (OA) also were analyzed by ELISA. RESULTS Immunohistochemical analysis showed the presence of M-CSF immunoreactive cells mainly in the interface tissues between bone and prosthesis and inner pseudocapsular tissues, both of which were in contact with joint fluid. RT-PCR analysis confirmed the local production of M-CSF in these periprosthetic tissues. Significantly higher M-CSF level in loose hip joint fluid than in active RA and mild OA fluid was revealed by ELISA. CONCLUSION High M-CSF level in loose hip joint fluid suggests transportation of M-CSF from production sites to joint fluid. This indicates that not only polyethylene wear particles (reported to induce foreign body reaction at the bone-prosthesis interface), but also M-CSF, abundant in joint fluid, are transported to and affect the interface. Thus, M-CSF is locally produced in periprosthetic tissues of loose hip joints and possibly contributes to periprosthetic weakening and osteolysis via joint fluid, leading to prosthetic loosening.
Prevalence, Persistence, and Molecular Characterization of Glycopeptide-Resistant Enterococci in Norwegian Poultry and Poultry Farmers 3 to 8 Years after the Ban on Avoparcin

ABSTRACT Environmental reservoirs of glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (GRE) in Norway have been linked to former growth promoting use of the glycopeptide avoparcin in poultry production. We have examined the prevalence of fecal GRE in poultry and poultry farmers 3 to 8 years after the Norwegian avoparcin ban in 1995 and performed molecular analyses of the GRE population. Fecal samples from poultry farmers and their flocks on 29 previously avoparcin-exposed farms were collected on five occasions during the study period (1998 to 2003). All flocks (100%) were GRE positive in 1998. Throughout the study period, 78.5% of the poultry samples were GRE positive. Glycopeptide-resistant Enterococcus faecium (GREF) was isolated from 27.6% of the farmer samples in 1998 and from 27.8% of the samples collected between 1998 and 2003. The prevalence of fecal GRE in poultry declined significantly during the study period, but prevalence in samples from the farmers did not decline. PCR analysis revealed a specific Tn1546-plasmid junction fragment in 93.9% of E. faecium isolates. A putative postsegregation killing (PSK) system linked to Tn1546 was detected in 97.1% of the isolates examined. Multilocus sequence typing of glycopeptide-susceptible (n = 10) and -resistant (n = 10) E. faecium isolates from humans (n = 10) and poultry (n = 10) on two farms displayed 17 different sequence types. The study confirms the continuing persistence of a widespread common plasmid-mediated vanA-pRE25-PSK element within a heterogeneous GRE population on Norwegian poultry farms 8 years after the avoparcin ban. Moreover, it suggests an important role of PSK systems in the maintenance of antimicrobial resistance determinants in reservoirs without apparent antimicrobial selection.
Phase-Space-Based Fault Detection in Distance Relaying

This paper proposes an effective fault detection technique in distance relaying using phase space. This is based on an embedding theorem which shows that a time series can be mapped to a higher dimensional space called phase space through embedding. Thus, a sampled signal can be transformed in to the phase space so that its features can be more clearly viewed. The original signal is decoupled into two parts as: normal and disturbance part. The fault detection is easily achieved as the disturbance part of the signal produces an irregular shape compared to the shape produced from the normal part of the signal. The fault detection signal using phase space (FDPS), derived from phase-space transformation, effectively detects the faults in the transmission line with wide variations in operating conditions. The results from an extensive study indicate that the proposed FDPS can reliably detect the faults in distance relaying.
Regulation of the Chlamydia trachomatis Histone H1-Like Protein Hc2 Is IspE Dependent and IhtA Independent

ABSTRACT The chlamydial histone-like proteins, Hc1 and Hc2, function as global regulators of chromatin structure and gene expression. Hc1 and Hc2 expression and activity are developmentally regulated. A small metabolite that disrupts Hc1 interaction with DNA also disrupts Hc2 interactions; however, the small regulatory RNA that inhibits Hc1 translation is specific to Hc1.
Corporate social performance, innovation intensity and their impacts on financial performance: evidence from lending decisions

This study examines how loan requests for intensifying Corporate Social Performance (CSP) and loan requests for increasing innovation intensity affect loan officers� credit judgments and lending decisions. I designed an experiment by manipulating the purpose of a loan request from a pharmaceutical company in order to create four alternative lending scenarios: (1) a full loan request for intensifying CSP; (2) a full loan request for increasing innovation; (3) a loan request for a balanced investment in both CSP and innovation; and (4) a general purpose loan (control group). The findings support that CSP investment is interpreted as an indicator of superior financial performance (i.e., a risk-reducing contribution). However, it was not found a clear positive relationship between innovation intensity and lending decisions. In addition, it was not found that a balanced loan request for both CSP and R&D is interpreted by loan officers as the most favorable lending scenario.
Regret Causes Ego-Depletion and Finding Benefits in the Regrettable Events Alleviates Ego-Depletion

ABSTRACT. This study tested the hypotheses that experiencing regret would result in ego-depletion, while finding benefits (i.e., “silver linings”) in the regret-eliciting events counteracted the ego-depletion effect. Using a modified gambling paradigm (Experiments 1, 2, and 4) and a retrospective method (Experiments 3 and 5), five experiments were conducted to induce regret. Results revealed that experiencing regret undermined performance on subsequent tasks, including a paper-and-pencil calculation task (Experiment 1), a Stroop task (Experiment 2), and a mental arithmetic task (Experiment 3). Furthermore, finding benefits in the regret-eliciting events improved subsequent performance (Experiments 4 and 5), and this improvement was mediated by participants’ perceived vitality (Experiment 4). This study extended the depletion model of self-regulation by considering emotions with self-conscious components (in our case, regret). Moreover, it provided a comprehensive understanding of how people felt and performed after experiencing regret and after finding benefits in the events that caused the regret.
Paclitaxel-Based chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer: predicting the response with 99mTc-tetrofosmin chest imaging.

UNLABELLED The purpose of this study was to retrospectively predict the chemotherapeutic response to paclitaxel for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using 99mTc-tetrofosmin (TF) uptake and to detect the expression of 170-kDa multidrug resistance-mediated P-glycoprotein (MDR-Pgp). METHODS Before chemotherapy with paclitaxel, 20 patients with stage IIIb or IV NSCLC were enrolled in this study to undergo early and delayed 99mTc-TF chest imaging for calculating tumor-to-normal lung ratios (T/NL) and retention indices (RI) for assessment of the MDR-Pgp in NSCLC. RESULTS The early and delayed mean T/NLs were 1.59 +/- 0.25 and 1.50 +/- 0.25, respectively, for 10 patients with a good response and 1.09 +/- 0.09 and 1.03 +/- 0.05, respectively, for 10 patients with a poor response. The differences were shown to be significant (P < 0.001) by independent Student t tests. However, no significant differences (P = 0.801) between good-response patients (-5.70% +/- 3.67%) and poor-response patients (-5.23% +/- 4.51%) were found in RI. In addition, other prognostic factors (age, sex, tumor size, stage, and cell type) were not significantly different between good-response patients and poor-response patients. CONCLUSION 99mTc-TF chest images are potential tools for understanding MDR-Pgp expression in NSCLC and for predicting the chemotherapeutic response to paclitaxel.
Glycemic Impact and Health: New Horizons in White Bread Formulations

The challenge of provision of a much wider range of foods of relatively low glycemic response than is currently available, especially in terms of cereal products, has been highlighted in recent years and this has particular relevance to bread consumption. Although there has been some transition to brown bread consumption, white bread remains a firm feature in the typical average western diet. This review first outlines the relationship between the glycemic impact of foods and health. What is important is that relatively small differences in glycemic potency of regularly consumed starch foods have been shown to have beneficial effects on health outcomes. Second, factors affecting glycemic response with particular application to white bread formulations are discussed. Novel ways of reformulating this highly favored carbohydrate staple, by using composite flours, with the aim of developing products of reduced glycemic response are highlighted in this review. Importantly, a new and significant focus on the role of unavailable carbohydrate in glycemic improvement is emerging. This has important application in increasing accessibility to health benefits by contributing to the prevention of and management of glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, and associated chronic disease to a wider range of consumers.