Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CAPACITY EXPANSION AND PROBABILISTIC GROWTH

one is concerned with the interplay between economies of scale and an anticipated persistent growth in demand for capacity. The generalizations discussed here are of two types: (a) the use of probabilities in place of a constant rate of growth in demand; and (b) a study of the economies and the penalties involved in accumulating backlogs of unsatisfied demand. The possibility of accumulating such backlogs raises considerable doubt with respect to Chenery's "excess capacity hypothesis. " Surprisingly enough, generalization (b) leads to greater difficulties in analysis than (a). The use of probabilities to describe the growth process does little-if anything-to complicate matters. A probabilistic version of Chenery's model turns out to be closely related to the classical problem of gambler's ruin, and a powerful tool can be borrowed from that area-the Laplace transform for the duration of the game. Thanks to this transform, the zero-backlog probabilistic model becomes no more difficult to study than the corresponding deterministic one. A direct implication is that a probabilistic growth course makes it necessary to incur higher expected costs, and also makes it desirable to install plant capacity of a somewhat larger size than would be optimal if demand were growing at a steady rate equal to the expected value of the probabilistic increments. Uncertainty, in this sense, has a stimulating effect upon the magnitude of individual investments.
Credit Growth in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia Region

Rapid private sector credit growth in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia has been a result of strong economic growth, financial deepening, and banks' willingness to explore consumer credit markets. Economic growth, the initial ratio of private sector credit to GDP, price volatility, and nonoil exports are found to be significant explanatory variables, while oil exports and spillovers from oil exporting neighbors were not found to have any significance. The credit growth has financed consumer spending and home ownership rather than investment.
Detection of elastase production in Escherichia coli with the elastase structural gene from several non-elastase-producing strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The elastase structural gene from Pseudomonas aeruginosa IFO 3455 has been cloned and sequenced. Using this gene as a probe, we cloned the DNA fragments (pEL3080R, pEL10, and pEL103R) of the elastase gene from non-elastase-producing strains (P. aeruginosa IFO 3080, N-10, and PA103 respectively). These three Pseudomonas strains showed no detectable levels of elastase antigenicity by Western blotting (immunoblotting) or by elastase activity. When elastase structural genes about 8 kb in length were cloned into pUC18, an Escherichia coli expression vector, we were able to detect both elastase antigenicity and elastolytic activity in two bacterial clones (E. coli pEL10 and E. coli pEL103R). However, neither elastolytic activity nor elastase antigenicity was detected in the E. coli pEL3080R clone, although elastase mRNA was observed. The partial restriction map determined with several restriction enzymes of these three structural genes corresponded to that of P. aeruginosa IFO 3455. We sequenced the three DNA segments of the elastase gene from non-elastase-producing strains and compared the sequences with those from the elastase-producing P. aeruginosa strains IFO 3455 and PAO1. In P. aeruginosa N-10 and PA103, the sequences were almost identical to those from elastase-producing strains, except for several nucleotide differences. These minor differences may reflect a microheterogeneity of the elastase gene. These results suggest that two of the non-elastase-producing strains have the normal elastase structural gene and that elastase production is repressed by regulation of this gene expression in P. aeruginosa. Possible reasons for the lack of expression in these two strains are offered in this paper. In P. aeruginosa IFO 3080, the sequence had a 1-base deletion in the coding region, which should have caused a frameshift variation in the amino acid sequence. At present, we have no explanation for the abnormal posttransciptional behavior of this strain.
Dual Wavelength Imaging Allows Analysis of Membrane Fusion of Influenza Virus inside Cells

ABSTRACT Influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) is a determinant of virus infectivity. Therefore, it is important to determine whether HA of a new influenza virus, which can potentially cause pandemics, is functional against human cells. The novel imaging technique reported here allows rapid analysis of HA function by visualizing viral fusion inside cells. This imaging was designed to detect fusion changing the spectrum of the fluorescence-labeled virus. Using this imaging, we detected the fusion between a virus and a very small endosome that could not be detected previously, indicating that the imaging allows highly sensitive detection of viral fusion.
Oral health-related quality of life and associated factors in Norwegian adults

Abstract Objective. To investigate associations between oral health-related quality of life assessed with the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP)-14 and demographic factors, number of teeth present, dental visits, dental health behaviour and self-rated oral health in a representative sample of 20–80-year-old Norwegians. Material and methods. The study was conducted in a stratified random sample of 3538 individuals. Questionnaires including questions on demographic factors, number of remaining teeth, dental visits, dental health behaviour, self-rated oral health and OHIP-14 were mailed to the sample. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Results. The response rate was 69%. The mean OHIP-14 score was 4.1 (standard deviation = 6.2). No problem was reported by 35% of the respondents. The most frequently reported problems were: physical pain (56%), psychological discomfort (39%) and psychological disability (30%). When the effect of all independent variables was analysed in multivariate analysis, self-rated oral health, frequency of dental visits, number of teeth, age and sex were significantly (P < 0.05) associated with the prevalence of having problems and frequent problems. Self-rated oral health had the strongest association with having problems [odds ratio (OR) 4.5; 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.4–6.0] and with having frequent problems (OR 4.0; 95% CI 2.7–5.8). Dental health behaviour, use of floss and toothpicks and oral rinsing were not associated with having problems related to oral quality of life in multivariate analyses. Conclusion. In this Norwegian adult sample, self-rated oral health, frequency of dental visits, number of teeth, age and sex were associated with having problems as estimated using the OHIP-14.
The Rise of Urban Growth Coalitions, UK-Style?

The extent to which the period since the mid-1980s has seen the development, in UK towns and cities, of organisations comparable to the urban growth coalitions common to the USA is examined. The focus is particularly on property interests which are the dominant players in US coalitions. An attempt is first made to disaggregate the interests making up the UK property sector into its component parts. The growth-coalition concept, as applied in the USA, is then examined and brief comment made on the extent of its relevance for the contemporary United Kingdom. The third section is an examination of the key contextual factors which have triggered the development of UK variants of growth coalitions. Fourth, recent empirical work is drawn on to examine the part which various property interests have played and the strategic weight which is attached to property development in a number of recent UK public–private partnership organisations. Last, the implications for the process and impact of urban change are examined and it is asked whether the growth-coalition model, and the role of property within it, is likely to be an enduring feature of UK urban economic and political life through the 1990s.
The EROI of agriculture and its use by the Via Campesina

Via Campesina supports peasant and small farmer agriculture both in the South and in the North. Its basic doctrine is that of ‘food sovereignty’. It is a movement that defends an ‘ecological neo-Narodnism’. Among the analytical tools used by this international peasant movement is the comparison between the energy efficiency of traditional small farm agriculture and modern industrial agriculture. This article briefly recalls the history of agricultural energetics, and then looks at the use of the concept of EROI (energy return on energy input) by Via Campesina when it claims that ‘industrial agriculture is no longer a producer of energy but a consumer of energy’, and that ‘peasant agriculture cools down the Earth’. The absence in Marxism of a tradition of analysis of energy flows is also reviewed here, since it is of interest in order to bring together the classic economic concept of decreasing returns with the more recent notion of a declining EROI. The article also draws on work analysing how environmental activists use concepts from ecological economics, while at the same time ‘activist knowledge’ contributes to ecological economics in a two-way communication between activism and science.
Does hedging increase firm value? Evidence from French firms

This study investigates the relationship between corporate hedging and firm value for a large sample of French firms. The aim is to extend the existing literature on corporate hedging by empirically investigating the effect of hedging with derivatives on the market value of firm. We find, from the univariate analysis, that the derivative users have lower firm value (as proxied by Tobin's Q) than the nonusers. However, multivariate tests have not reported significant results that are consistent with the documented US sample examinations that the use of derivatives increases the firm value.
Impact assessment of microcredit on the well-being of women in Ghana. A case in Atwima Mponua District

The World Bank and other development agencies recognize the importance of women‘s access to financial resources as an important strategy in poverty reduction. Donors, therefore, continue to direct microfinance services and resources to women as a way of encouraging productivity. In spite of the proliferation of Microfinance Institutions and services (MFIs) in Ghana, poverty is still ubiquitous especially in the rural areas among women. Using a sample of 400 women in the informal sector from Atwima Mponua District of Ghana, and Ordered logistic regression analysis, this study was basically conducted to find the impact of MFI microcredit’s or loans received by women on their well-being using four well-being indicators in Ghana. The major finding was that women utilised the services of microfinance institutions, but few have access to credit or loans. The women who accessed credits had improved well-being in relation to their ability to afford quality healthcare, children’s education and comfortability in current accommodation than non-beneficiaries. This study therefore recommended that policies must be adopted to encourage the MFIs to grant more loans to more women.
Multiuser interference mitigation in time-hopped ultra-wideband Receivers

Offering a large bandwidth under strict transmission power limits, UWB communications can overcome the spectral congestion and consequent performance impairment experienced by narrowband devices operating in common unlicensed frequency bands. The impulse radio (IR) class of UWB systems typically uses time-hopping (TH) and repetition codes. The TH scheme is intended to prevent catastrophic interference between TH-UWB transmissions. However, in applications where several UWB devices are located at close range, multiple-user interference (MUI) can impair uncoordinated transmissions. In particular, a conventional receiver does not properly exploit the TH code and performs poorly in the presence of strong MUI. In this paper, the properties of MUI in TH-UWB are reviewed, and two classes of techniques for mitigation of this MUI are presented. The first class uses statistical characterizations of the MUI-plus-AWGN disturbance as a basis for receiver design, leading to improved nonlinear receiver structures. The second class uses interference-sensing techniques specifically developed for TH-UWB radio, which control combining of pulse replicas at the receiver. Both methods lead to greatly improved bit error rate performance versus the conventional receiver. Different implementations are presented for each class, and the complexity and performance of each implementation is discussed. Both types of interference mitigation can be powerfully and efficiently used in a single receiver, and composite receiver designs are shown that provide superior performance.
Vertical Differentiation, Asymmetric Information and Endogenous Bank Screening

In a model of bank lending characterized by asymmetric information, we show that banks may use an interim monitoring technology strategically to soften price competition, even though the borrowers face no moral hazard problem. The interim monitoring technology can also be used to alleviate adverse selection. The equilibria that emerge resemble those in vertical product differentiation models. We also show that because of the strategic use of interim monitoring, a bank may forego the use of a costless and perfect ex-ante screening technology.
A Novel Approach to the Assessment of Variations in the Human Platelet Count

Summary This is the first report of a method to assess the significance of numerical changes in the platelet count based upon a result exceeding the normal intra-individual variation in platelet numbers. Serial platelet counts from 3,789 subjects were analysed to determine the intra-individual variation in platelet numbers. A platelet count difference of 98 × 109/L in males was found to represent a change that would occur by chance in less than 1 in 1,000 platelet count determinations. Tables to determine the significance of platelet number variations, given N previous observations, are provided at two probability levels. The repeatability of the platelet count was calculated as 0.871 (males) and 0.849 (females) indicating that the heritability of platelet count is high and that the platelet count is predominantly genetically determined. A seasonal variation in platelet count was found with a ‘winter’ versus ‘summer’ difference of 5.10 × 109/L (males) and 5.82 × 109/L (females).
ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF CONSUMER LIFESTYLES – USING A JAPANESE ENVIRONMENTAL INPUT–OUTPUT TABLE AND THE LINEAR EXPENDITURE SYSTEM DEMAND FUNCTION

In this study, we undertake some hypothetical experiments and predict the environmental effects of some changes in consumer behavior, using the Japanese Input–Output Table and the Family Income and Expenditure Survey for 2000. We estimate the demand function in a linear expenditure system (LES) and attempt to determine how changes in consumer behavior affect the environmental load induced by household consumption, using the ‘willingness to pay’ concept. Furthermore, we define an index to show the eco-efficiency of consumer behavior. Through such a study, we can determine what action is appropriate for a ‘sustainable consumption’ society. If some change of consumer behavior greatly improved utility while increasing the environmental load, then technological progress to reduce the environmental load must be stimulated. However, if other changes in consumer behavior increase the environmental load while not improving utility very much, then such changes should be strongly discouraged.
The Direction of Technological Change: Inducement Mechanisms and Focusing Devices

Introduction One of the things which is perfectly obvious about societies which have achieved high degrees of industrialization is that they have acquired unusual skills in problem-solving activities. Industrial societies have learned how to solve certain kinds of problems, and understanding this creative capacity is basic to an understanding of the growth process. What is less obvious, however, is that the developed countries never solve more than a small fraction of the problems they are capable of solving. Rather, they solve some fraction of the problems which happen to be formulated and actively pursued. This suggests that our understanding of the process of technological change may be advanced by exploring the manner in which problems are formulated at the firm level. This paper is intended as a sort of historical reconnaissance mission. It represents an attempt to establish certain generalizations concerning the problem-solving process in industrializing countries in the past two centuries. Our interest is in the forces which provide inducements to technical change, and in examining these forces – what Hirschman has called “inducement mechanisms” – we will not confine ourselves to the more conventional framework of economic reasoning. Indeed, the present paper has been prompted in some measure by the extreme agnosticism to which one is led on the subject of technological change by recent theorizing. It used to be thought possible to explain the factor-saving bias, which inventions took, in purely economic terms.
An Investigation of National Trends in Job Satisfaction in Britain and Germany

Trends in job satisfaction in Britain and Germany are described, and potential explanations investigated. Contrary to what might be expected from popular commentary, changing job insecurity does not explain the fall in job satisfaction in either country. It is found that intensification of work effort and declining task discretion account for the fall in job satisfaction in Britain. In Germany there was a modest fall in the proportion of people working the number of hours that they wanted to. However, while working too many or too few hours is a significant source of job dissatisfaction, the changes were too small to account for the fall in job satisfaction.
Requirement for DNA CpG Content in TLR9-Dependent Dendritic Cell Activation Induced by DNA-Containing Immune Complexes1

Although TLR9 was originally thought to specifically recognize microbial DNA, it is now evident that mammalian DNA can be an effective TLR9 ligand. However, the DNA sequence required for TLR9 activation is controversial, as studies have shown conflicting results depending on the nature of the DNA backbone, the route of DNA uptake, and the cell type being studied. In systemic lupus erythematosus, a major route whereby DNA gains access to intracellular TLR9, and thereby activates dendritic cells (DCs), is through uptake as a DNA-containing immune complex. In this report, we used defined dsDNA fragments with a natural (phosphodiester) backbone and show that unmethylated CpG dinucleotides within dsDNA are required for murine DC TLR9 activation induced by a DNA-containing immune complex. The strongest activation is seen with dsDNA fragments containing optimal CpG motifs (purine-purine-CpG-pyrimidine-pyrimidine) that are common in microbial DNA but rare in mammalian DNA. Importantly, however, activation can also be induced by CpG-rich DNA fragments that lack these optimal CpG motifs and that we show are plentiful in CpG islands within mammalian DNA. No activation is induced by DNA fragments lacking CpG dinucleotides, although this CpG-free DNA can induce DC activation if internalized by liposomal transfection instead of as an immune complex. Overall, the data suggest that the release of CpG-rich DNA from mammalian DNA may contribute to the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and psoriasis in which activation of TLR9 in DCs by self DNA has been implicated in disease pathogenesis.
Evaluating Key Resources and Capabilities for Liner Shipping Services

Abstract This paper empirically evaluates key resources and capabilities in the liner shipping context. Based on a factor analysis, three resource dimensions are identified: marine equipment, information equipment, and corporate image; whereas seven capability dimensions are identified: purchasing, operation, human resource management, customer service, information integration, pricing, and financial management. The findings suggest that operation capability is perceived as the most important dimension, followed by customer service, human resource management, information integration, pricing purchasing, and financial management. Results indicate that four dimensions are found that significantly differ between shipping companies and agencies: marine equipment, information equipment, operation, and information integration. The theoretical and managerial implications of the research findings are discussed.
Designing HeartCare: custom computerized home care for patients recovering from CABG surgery

With the current trend toward discharge of cardiac artery bypass graft (CABG) patients from the hospital after 5 days, clinicians must make effective use of existing computer technology to provide more efficiently the services once available during the patient's lengthier hospital stay. This paper describes the design of the HeartCare initiative, a computerized cardiac recovery service designed to provide home-care support for patients in the first three months following CABG surgery. Capitalizing on the expansion in health resources on the Internet, and building on the lessons from the ComputerLink projects, HeartCare will employ the World Wide Web platform in the generation of personalized in-home computerized access to recovery resources. Key implementation decisions include selection of WebTV/ as the home-based device, and application of Metadata to organizing health-related knowledge resources on the WWW.
The Invisible Hand? Using Tax Credits to Encourage Institutional Investment in Social Housing

Abstract Over recent decades many developed countries have commercialised the provision of state-subsidised housing, and introduced a stronger role for market forces. Government financial support now often aims to leverage debt or equity investment. Spearheading this policy change is a quest for the ‘Holy Grail’ of contemporary social housing policy: private equity investment, sourced from large institutional investors such as banks and pension funds. For comparative housing research, this opens up exciting new territory. Recent Australian developments using tax credits to incentivise investment – based on a successful US scheme – provide a valuable opportunity for comparison. This exploratory paper contrasts the two countries’ housing tax credit schemes, highlighting outcomes for investors, tenants and the wider housing system. Foregone corporate taxes provide governments with a powerful ‘invisible hand’ to incentivise flows of private equity, replacing direct public grants. Yet despite free market rhetoric, tax credit schemes still rely on additional government intervention - especially during financial market turbulence.