Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Can State and Local Pensions Muddle Through

The finances of state and local pension plans are headline news almost daily.1 Indeed, although these plans were moving toward prefunding their promised benefits, two financial crises in 10 years have thrown them seriously off course. Measured by the standards of the Government Accounting Standards Board, between 2008 and 2009 the ratio of assets to liabilities for our sample of 126 plans dropped from 84 percent to 79 percent. But this decline is only the beginning of the bad news that will emerge as the losses are spread over the next several years. Furthermore, the funded levels are closer to 50 percent if liabilities are discounted by a riskless rate, as recommended by economists and financial experts.2 What do these numbers imply for the future of these plans? Here’s what’s happening. States and localities have increased contributions and extended retirement ages for new employees, but these changes will take a long time to have any substantial effect. In most states, constitutional protections and court rulings have prohibited public employers from cutting benefits for existing employees. Thus, the only option for a quick fix would be an infusion of tax revenues. But the recession has decimated tax revenues and increased the demand for state and local services. Thus, the question is whether these plans have enough assets to muddle along until the economy and the stock market recover. Or do they face a liquidity crisis? That is the subject of this brief. The discussion is as follows. The first section looks at the simple ratio of assets to benefits over time and across plans in 2009. The second section moves to a more dynamic approach and investigates two concepts for estimating when plans would run out of money. Under a “termination” concept, where benefits earned to date and plan assets are put in an “old” plan and normal cost payments cover all future accruals, most plans have enough assets to last for at least 15 years. Under a more realistic “ongoing” framework, where normal costs are used to cover benefit payments, most plans have enough for at least 30 years.
Three worlds of welfare capitalism or more? A state-of-the-art report

This paper surveys the debate regarding Esping-Andersen's typology of welfare states and reviews the modified or alternative typologies ensuing from this debate. We confine ourselves to the classifications which have been developed by Esping-Andersen's critics in order to cope with the following alleged shortcomings of his typology: (1) the misspecification of the Mediterranean welfare states as immature Continental ones; (2) the labelling of the Antipodean welfare states as belonging to the `liberal' regime type; (3) a neglect of the gender-dimension in social policy. We reconstruct several typologies of welfare states in order to establish, first, whether real welfare states are quite similar to others or whether they are rather unique specimens, and, second, whether there are three ideal-typical worlds of welfare capitalism or more. We conclude that real welfare states are hardly ever pure types and are usually hybrid cases; and that the issue of ideal-typical welfare states cannot be satisfactorily answered given the lack of formal theorizing and the still inconclusive outcomes of comparative research. In spite of this conclusion there is plenty of reason to continue to work on and with the original or modified typologies. Nous présentons un état des lieux des débats qui ont entouré la typologie des Etats providences proposée par Esping-Andersen ainsi que des typologies modifiées ou alternatives qui ont été présentées par la suite. Nous nous limiterons aux classifications qui ont été proposées par les critiques du travail d'Esping Andersen qui visaient à dépasser les «prétendues» limitations de sa typologie.1) une mauvaise spécification des Etats Providence méditerranéens comme des Etats providences continentaux inachevés 2) la labelisation des Etats providences des Antipodes comme appartenant au régime de type «libéral» 3) la non prise en compte de l'effet «genre» dans les politiques sociales. Nous avons reconstruit différentes typologies d'Etats Providences afin d'établir, tout d'abord si la réalité des Etats Providences est unique ou si certains sont fort semblables et ensuite s'il existe trois idéal type d'Etats providences ou davantage? Nous sommes arrivé à la conclusion que: premièrement les Etats providences réels sont rarement des cas purs mais constituent bien plus des hybridations. En deuxième lieu, on ne peut répondre de manière satisfaisante à la question de savoir le nombre d'idéal types d'Etats Providences du fait de l'absence de théorisation adéquate et parce que les résultats des recherches comparatives ne permettent pas de conclure dans un sens ou un autre. Troisièmement, en dépit de cette conclusion, il existe de multiples raisons pour continuer à travailler sur et à partir des typologies originales ou modifiées.
The Role and Operations of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee

This paper describes the way in which the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England seeks to meet the tasks it has been given under the new arrangements for the conduct of monetary policy. It starts with the definition of the tasks, then describes the activities that lead up to the MPC's decisions and the publication of its Inflation Report.
The Long-Run Performance of Initial Public Offerings

The underpricing of initial public offerings that has been widely documented appears to be a short-run phenomenon. Issuing firms during 1975-84 substantially underperformed a sample of matching firms from the closing price on the first day of public trading to their three-year anniversaries. There is substantial variation in the under performance year-to-year and across industries, with companies that went public in high-volume years fairing the worst. The patterns are consistent with an initial public offering market in which (1) investors are periodically overoptimistic about the earnings potential of young growth companies, and (2) firms take advantage of these "windows of opportunity. " Copyright 1991 by American Finance Association.
Destination Price Competitiveness: Exchange Rate Changes versus Domestic Inflation

The price competitiveness of tourism is an important determinant of inbound visitor numbers. Price competitiveness indices can be used to explore questions of how a destination changes in this respect over time and the causes of any changes. A method of constructing tourism price competitiveness indices is outlined here. The method allows the various determinants of tourism price competitiveness, such as exchange rate and price changes, to be highlighted and their influence on the indices to be identified. The method also allows for comparison of a destination’s tourism price competitiveness relative to domestic tourism in origin markets and for its overall price competitiveness relative to major competitors. Results are presented for 19 tourism destinations during the period from 1985 to 1998 using Australia as a base case.
The Role of the Region for Innovation Activities of SMEs

SMEs innovate in a different way to larger firms. They command fewer resources, have less R&D, and they generally face more uncertainties and barriers to innovation. These weaknesses could partly be overcome by their integration into networks and innovation systems. Due to the fact that interactions of SMEs are often informal and trust based, the region should be an important interaction and support-space for the innovation activities of SMEs. According to the empirical findings of a European TSER project (SMEPOL) this was not fully confirmed: SMEs are less often engaged in innovation networks than larger firms and if they have innovation partnerships they are primarily concentrated on business partners. Because relations to science and technology transfer are rare, SMEs make only limited use of the full potential of their respective regional innovation systems.
Civic Actions after September 11: Exploring the Role of Multi-level Storytelling

Interpersonal and media storytelling were crucial to information dissemination about the September 11 tragedies. The storytelling processes through which urban residents are transformed into members of a broader community are illustrated by their connections to media and their participation in neighborhood discussions and community organizations after September 11. This study demonstrates how a communication infrastructure approach contributes to understanding participation in civil society after September 11.
Infectious cDNA Clone of Hypovirus CHV1-Euro7: a Comparative Virology Approach To Investigate Virus-Mediated Hypovirulence of the Chestnut Blight Fungus Cryphonectria parasitica

ABSTRACT We report the construction of a full-length infectious cDNA clone for hypovirus CHV1-Euro7, which is associated with reduced virulence (hypovirulence) of the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica. Field strains infected with CHV1-Euro7 are more virulent and exhibit less severe phenotypic changes (hypovirulence-associated traits) than strains infected with the prototypic hypovirus CHV1-EP713, for which the first infectious cDNA clone was developed. These differences exist even though the two hypoviruses show extensive sequence identities: 87 to 93% and 90 to 98% at the nucleotide and amino acid levels, respectively. The relative contributions of viral and host genomes to phenotypic traits associated with hypovirus infection were examined by transfecting synthetic transcripts of the two hypovirus cDNAs independently into two different virus-free C. parasitica strains, EP155 and Euro7(−v). Although the contribution of the viral genome was clearly predominant, the final magnitude and constellation of phenotypic changes were a function of contributions by both genomes. The high level of sequence identity between the two hypoviruses also allowed construction of viable chimeras and mapping of the difference in symptom expression observed for the two viruses to the open reading frame B coding domain. Implications of these results for engineering enhanced biological control and elucidating the basis for hypovirus-mediated attenuation of fungal virulence are discussed.
Okul Müdürlerinin İletişim Sürecindeki Etkililiği

Good management of schools which have important place to meet education needs of the society is a subject affecting the success of educational system. Communication is one of the main tools for managers to achieve organizational goals. In order to perform their mission successfully for schools, principals should be effective in the communication process. In this study, the principal effectiveness in the communication process, according to the teachers’ perceptions, is examined. The sample of the study is 191 primary school teachers working in ten schools in the province of Ağrı on the April 2008. To gather the data “The Scale of the Principal Effectiveness in the Communication Process” is used. Frequency, percentage, mean, t test and variance analyze are used in statistical analyses. As a result of the study it is found out that the principal effectiveness in the communication process is well percept by the teachers.
Positional, Metric, and Curvature Control for Constraint‐Based Surface Deformation

We present a geometry processing framework that allows direct manipulation or preservation of positional, metric, and curvature constraints anywhere on the surface of a geometric model. Target values for these properties can be specified point‐wise or as integrated quantities over curves and surface patches embedded in the shape. For example, the user can draw several curves on the surface and specify desired target lengths, manipulate the normal curvature along these curves, or modify the area or principal curvature distribution of arbitrary surface patches. This user input is converted into a set of non‐linear constraints. A global optimization finds the new deformed surface that best satisfies the constraints, while minimizing adaptable measures for metric and curvature distortion that provide explicit control of the deformation semantics. We illustrate how this approach enables flexible surface processing and shape editing operations not available in current systems.
The Interaction of Top Management Group, Stakeholder, and Situational Factors on Certain Corporate Reputation Management Activities

This study examines when a firm's members are most likely to promote and defend its reputation. Building on past research in impression management theory and the upper-echelons perspective, I argue that firms facing increased visibility among different stakeholder groups will increase corporate reputation management activities towards those groups and decrease activities towards other groups. I further argue that top management group characteristics will moderate these relationships, suggesting that certain top management groups are more attuned to the situational needs of reputation management. A set of hypotheses are tested using pooled cross-sectional time-series data on a set of "Fortune 500" companies. Results indicate that firms generally directed reputation management activities towards their more visible stakeholders. However, the type and extent of reputation management behaviour varied. Specifically, for firms whose top management groups were more highly educated or output oriented, highly visible situations with the media were more likely to be associated with a higher use of press releases. Moreover, those same firms devoted more resources to mass media advertising under situations of high consumer visibility compared to firms whose top management groups were less educated or throughput oriented. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006.
Effects of late castration, zeranol and breed group on growth, feed efficiency and carcass characteristics of late maturing bovine males.

A total of 280 young bulls representing five breed groups with an average age of about 1 yr were assigned to five experimental treatments as follows: (1) emasculator castration at d 0, (2) surgical castration at d 0, (3) intact, (4) intact and implanted at d 0 and 70 with 36 mg of zeranol and (5) intact and implanted at d 0 with 72 mg zeranol. All animals were slaughtered and carcass data were collected after a feeding period of 141 d. Method of castration did not affect rate of gain. Intact males not implanted with zeranol gained 38.6% more (P less than .01) during the 141 d period than castrate males. Intact males from the two zeranol implant treatment groups did not differ from each other in gain, but averaged 11.1% more (P less than .01) during the 141 d period than males from the intact treatment group not implanted. Castrate males required 40.4% more (P less than .01) metabolizable energy (ME) and dry matter (DM)/kg gain than intact males not implanted, but intact males implanted with zeranol did not require less (P greater than .05) ME or DM/kg gain than intact males not implanted. Males castrated at about 1 yr showed a progressive decrease in secondary sex characteristics during the 141 d feeding period, while males from the three intact treatments showed a progressive increase. Zeranol did not have an effect on testicular weight or on aggressive male behavioral characteristics. Castrate males had greater (P less than .01) fat thickness at 12th rib, higher (P less than .01) marbling score and lower (P less than .01) cutability and retail product percentage than the males from the three intact treatments, which did not differ (P greater than .05) from each other in traits associated with carcass composition. The effect of treatment on lean color score, though significant, was not of major importance; all treatments produced meat of acceptable color. The longissimus muscle of castrate males had a finer texture (P less than .01) than longissimus muscle from males from intact treatments, which did not differ from each other (P greater than .05).
Uniform Inequalities: Institutional Differentiation and the Transition from Higher Education to Work in Post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe

This study explores how patterns of institutional differentiation in higher education systems are linked to educational inequalities at the transition from higher education to work. We measure institutional differentiation within countries along two dimensions: degree level that mainly structures educational inequalities in occupational status attainment, and occupational specificity that mainly structures educational inequalities in labour market entry dynamics. We argue that convergence processes have lead to similar patterns of institutional differentiation in higher education across the five post-socialist Central- and Eastern European countries studied here. Educational inequalities at the transition from higher education to work should, therefore, also follow similar patterns across countries. Our empirical results show that degree level is a central determinant of occupational status in respondents’ first job, with university master graduates reaching the highest occupational positions, followed by university bachelor and vocational college graduates. In terms of labour market entry dynamics, the slowest transitions into first employment are observed among graduates from least occupation-specific programmes, but overall the relationship between occupational specificity and labour market entry dynamics is more complex. Altogether, we find considerable similarities across countries in patterns of institutional differentiation and educational inequalities at the transition from higher education to work.
Ultralow Power Nonlinear Response in an Si Photonic Crystal Nanocavity

Optical nonlinear response and bistability behavior are observed in a fabricated silicon photonic crystal three defect-long (L3) nanocavity. The L3 cavity, which is coupled with a photonic crystal waveguide, has a quality factor of 60 000. Optical nonlinear response of the L3 cavity is observed at 4.65- μW input power, and the threshold power for optical bistability in the L3 cavity is 26.1 μW, which are the lowest values for silicon L3 cavities. A nonlinear coupled mode model is established to analyze nanocavity characteristics systematically. Numerical simulation results indicate that the ultralow power nonlinearity is due to the high Q factor and large thermal resistance of the nanocavity.
Chronic intrauterine exposure to endotoxin does not alter fetal nephron number or glomerular size

A reduced nephron endowment early in life adversely impacts on long‐term functional reserve in the kidney. A recent study has shown that acute exposure to chorioamnionitis during late gestation can adversely impact on nephrogenesis. The present study aimed to examine the effects of chronic, low‐dose endotoxin exposure in utero, during the period of nephrogenesis, on nephron number and glomerular size in preterm lambs. Ewes were administered either endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide; 1 mg/day) or saline at 110–133 days of gestation (term approximately 147 days) via surgically implanted osmotic minipumps within the amniotic cavity. The ewes were induced to deliver preterm at 133 days gestation and the kidneys of the lambs were analysed at 8 weeks after term‐equivalent age. Nephron number per kidney was determined using a combined optical disector and fractionator stereological approach; renal corpuscle size was also measured stereologically. At 8 weeks after term‐equivalent age there was no significant effect of in utero exposure to endotoxin on bodyweight or kidney weight and there were no significant differences in nephron number, nephron density or renal corpuscle volume between groups. We conclude that chronic intrauterine inflammation during the period of nephrogenesis may not adversely impact on the number of nephrons formed within the kidney or on the volume of the renal corpuscle.
Simulation of Eolian Saltation

Saltation is important in the transport of sand-sized granular material by wind and in the ejection of dust from the bed both on Earth and on Mars. The evolution of the saltating population and all its characteristic profiles is calculated from inception by pure aerodynamic entrainment through to steady state. Results of numerical simulations of single-grain impacts into granular beds are condensed into analytic expressions for the number and speeds of grains rebounding or rejected (splashed) from the bed. A model is combined with (i) this numerical representation, (ii) an expression for the aerodynamic entrainment rate, and (iii) the modification of the wind velocity profile by saltating grains. Calculated steady state mass fluxes are within the range of mass fluxes measured in wind tunnel experiments; mass flux is nonlinearly dependent on the shear velocity. Aerodynamically entrained grains in the system are primarily seeding agents; at steady state, aerodynamic entrainment is rare. The time for the entire system to reach steady state is roughly 1 second, or several long-trajectory hop times.
Does the Institutional Quality Matter to Attract the Foreign Direct Investment? An Empirical Investigation for Pakistan

This study investigates the role of the institutions as a determinant of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the case of Pakistan by applying the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) cointegration technique. The results demonstrate that the institutional quality exerts long-run impact in determining the FDI inflows. The findings suggest that institutional quality is an important determinant of the FDI in Pakistan. The joint impact of institutional quality and trade openness is also significant and positively contribute to attract FDI in the short run as well as in the long run. The findings strongly support the hypothesis that simultaneous implementation of policy mix, that is, reducing trade barriers and improvement in institutional quality, play significant role in attracting FDI in a developing country like Pakistan.
An anatomy of calendar effects

This article studies the interaction and profitability of the five most well-established calendar effects: the Halloween effect, January effect, turn-of-the-month (TOM) effect, weekend effect and holiday effect. We find that Halloween and TOM are the strongest and most profitable effects. The equity premium over the sample 1963–2008 is 7.2 per cent if there is a Halloween or TOM effect, and −2.8 per cent in all other cases. An investment strategy based on these two effects gives higher net risk-adjusted returns than a passive buy-and-hold strategy. These findings are robust across different sample periods, market segments and international stock markets.
Submillimeter Wave  ${\rm S}$-Parameter Characterization of Integrated Membrane Circuits

We demonstrate S-parameter characterization of membrane circuits in the WR-03 frequency band (220-325 GHz) utilizing thru-reflect-line (TRL) -calibration technique. The TRL calibration kit design features 3 μm thick GaAs membrane circuits packaged in E-plane split waveguide blocks with the reference planes inside the membrane circuit structure. A 300 GHz membrane ring resonator filter circuit has been characterized by applying the proposed calibration kit, showing good agreement with simulations.