Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal control strategy for cascaded STATCOM under unsymmetrical power system conditions

This paper presents a optimal control method for cascaded STATCOM under unsymmetrical conditions by power faults. Cascaded H-bridge multilevel converter is considered suitable for power system application. Since unsymmetrical faults have much higher probability than symmetrical faults in power system, it is importance for STATCOM to operate continuously under unsymmetrical conditions. While isolated capacitors in each H-bridge makes it more difficult to balancing 3-phase dc voltage. The mathematical model of cascaded STATCOM and its operation principle under unsymmetrical power conditions are analyzed. A optimal control method based on energy balance of 3-phase dc capacitors, including selection method of 3-phase current reference to ensure dc voltage stability and continuous operation. The validity is examined by digital simulation under ±50Mvar cascaded STATCOM connected to 110kV power grid.
Top Class Competitors: How Nations, Firms, and Individuals Succeed in the New World of Competitiveness

Acknowledgements. Credits. Prologue. 1 Competitiveness: Changing the Mindset. 2 The Long and Winding Road to Competitiveness. 3 Working out National Competitiveness: The Cube Theory. 4 The Extended Enterprise. 5 Competitiveness and Work: A Love-Hate Relationship. 6 Competitiveness and Value Systems. 7 Competent People and Competitive People: They Are Not The Same. Epilogue: A Beautiful, Competitive Mind. References. Index.
An Investigation into the Determinants of Innovation in the New Zealand Biotechnology Sector

This thesis synthesises theoretical and empirical knowledge from four strands of the innovation literature and then uses this knowledge to develop a framework for analysing the determinants of innovation. The framework is tested on one part of the New Zealand economy the biotechnology sector an area of rapid technological change where innovation is of particular significance. Theoretical approaches to the economics of innovation and technological change are reviewed with particular reference to the neo-classical, endogenous growth, evolutionary and systems of innovation approaches. Alternative methods of measuring innovation output and innovation rate are also discussed. This is followed by a series of hypotheses regarding the determinants of innovation and a review of their place in the innovation literature. The thesis includes a detailed description of the New Zealand biotechnology sector based on a re-analysis of the first comprehensive (1998/99) survey of biotechnology in New Zealand, data from an original (2002) survey conducted by the author, data from interviews with senior management in a sample of biotechnology firms and a detailed review of secondary sources. This material is used in chapter 5 to address the question ‘Does New Zealand have an innovation system for biotechnology? ’ Count data regression models and data from the 1998/99 and 2002 surveys are then used to test the framework’s innovation hypotheses. Hypothesis testing focuses on the effects of several determinants (firm size, firm type, conduct of R&D, involvement in modern biotechnology, specialisation, and alliances) on innovation output and the innovation rate. Results relating to the effect of demand, technological opportunity and appropriability are also reported. The analysis in this thesis confirms the importance of most of the innovation determinants included in the framework. It also provides a detailed examination of the biotechnology sector and empirical insights into the innovation behaviour of biotech enterprises in New Zealand. Prior to the analysis in this thesis, knowledge of the sector’s parameters was very limited or absent.
MR imaging of overuse injuries of the Achilles tendon.

OBJECTIVE This study was conducted to illustrate and classify the abnormalities found on high-resolution MR imaging of symptomatic Achilles tendons in athletic adult patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS One hundred patients with 118 painful Achilles tendons were imaged with a 1.5-T magnet. The tendon, peritendinous tissues, tendon insertion, and musculotendinous junction were examined on MR imaging. Twenty-eight patients underwent surgery, and histopathologic samples were taken in 13. Long-term follow-up was performed, on average, 3.4 years after MR imaging. RESULTS Of 118 painful Achilles tendons, abnormalities were detected in 111. These were in the tendon (n = 90), surrounding structures, or both. Fifty-four tendons had a focal area of increased intratendinous signal, best detected on axial high-resolution T1-weighted gradient-echo MR imaging. Histopathology confirmed abnormal tendon structure. Of the 21 surgically proven foci of tendinosis, 20 were revealed on MR imaging. At the level of the insertion, changes were found in the tendon in 15%, in the retrocalcaneal bursa in 19%, and in the calcaneal bone marrow in 8% of the studies. Abnormalities in peritendinous soft tissues were detected in 67%. More than one type of abnormality was found in 64% of the studies. CONCLUSION Lesions in the Achilles tendon and in the peritendinous structures can have similar clinical presentation. MR imaging detects and characterizes these changes. A more specific diagnosis and prognosis can be made with the use of MR imaging than with clinical examination alone.
Spectrophotometric determination of pyrantel in pyrantel pamoate bulk samples and pharmaceutical formulations.

A spectrophotometric method for the determination of the pyrantel content of pyrantel pamoate bulk, oral suspension, and chewable tablets is described. This method involves the following sequence of steps: (a) dissolution of the sample in ammoniacal 1,4-dioxane solution; (b) removal of pamoic acid by precipitation with perchloric acid; (c) isolation of the pyrantel content by a twostage extraction procedure; and (d) measurement of the pyrantel content of the final extract by UV absorption spectrophotometry. This analytical procedure for pyrantel circumvents any interference from pamoic acid and the potential degradation products [i.e., (E)-N-(3-methylaminopropyl)-2-thiopheneacrylamide and the cisisomer of pyrantel] of this anthelmintic agent.
Conditional Conservatism and the Cost of Equity Capital: Informational Fundamental and Behavioral Effects

Prior studies report negative or insignificant relations between conditional conservatism and the cost of equity capital, arguing that conservatism reduces information risk. Using equity cost measures that control for cash flow news and accounting-based conditional conservatism proxies, we document a significantly positive association between conditional conservatism and cost of equity, and detect three channels for the equity premium to conditional conservatism: information precision and information asymmetry effects, behavioral effect, and effect of earnings downside risk. Using the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) as a natural experiment, we confirm that the positive relation disappears in the post-SOX period, consistent with diminished informational, behavioral, and operational risks engendered by SOX regulations.
Voltage‐induced slow activation and deactivation of mechanosensitive channels in Xenopus oocytes

1 The relationship between stretch and voltage activation of mechanosensitive (MS) channels from Xenopus oocytes was studied in excised patches of membrane using the patch clamp technique. 2 As is characteristic of MS channels in oocytes, stretching the membrane by applying negative pressure to the patch pipette at −50 mV activated the MS channels rapidly. The channels then deactivated rapidly when the stretch was removed. The stretch‐activated MS channels entered a main conductance level (45 pS) and one or more subconductance levels in the range of about 75–90% of the main conductance level. 3 In the absence of stretch, a depolarizing step from −50 to +50 mV activated apparent MS channels after long delays of typically 1–20 s (range, 100 ms to 6 min). Upon repolarization, the channels deactivated slowly with a single exponential (mean time constant of 4 s) or double exponential (mean time constants of 0.8 and 3s) time course. 4 Delayed activation with depolarization and slow deactivation upon repolarization were also observed for apparent MS channels in on‐cell patches. 5 The voltage‐activated channels were cation selective and had the same selectivity and conductance levels as the stretch‐activated MS channels. Applying stretch during voltage‐induced channel activity did not activate any additional channels, and the same maximal number of channels were typically activated by either stretch or by voltage. These observations suggest that voltage activates the same MS channels that are activated by stretch. 6 The opening of MS channels following steps to +50 mV occurred in an apparently co‐operative manner in 70% of the excised patches containing multiple MS channels. 7 In the absence of stretch, the opening frequency and open probability of MS channels increased with depolarization in the examined voltage range of −60 to −20 mV. 8 Applying a brief stretch during the delay to activation at +50 mV activated the MS channels rapidly, which then remained active when the stretch was removed. In contrast, applying a brief stretch during the slow deactivation induced by stepping from +50 to −50 mV abruptly terminated the voltage‐induced channel activity upon release of the stretch and inhibited subsequent depolarization‐induced activity. 9 Depolarizing steps from −50 to +50 mV inhibited any spontaneous channel activity that was present before the depolarizing step. If the potential was stepped back to −50 mV before the channels activated at +50 mV, a delayed activation could occur at −50 mV, followed by normal deactivation, indicating that the depolarizing step initiated activation processes that were initially masked by inhibition. 10 These observations suggest that voltage and stretch can induce different functional gating configurations of MS channels with associated structures, and that these different gating configurations can interconvert.
The Reversal Median Problem

In this paper, we study theReversal Median Problem (RMP), which arises in computational biology as a basic model for the reconstruction of evolutionary trees. Givenq genomes, RMP calls for another genome such that the sum of the reversal distances between this genome and the given ones is minimized. So far, the problem has been considered too complex to derive mathematical models useful for its analysis and solution. We provide a powerful graph-theoretic relaxation of RMP, essentially calling for a perfect matching in a graph that forms the maximum number of cycles jointly withq given perfect matchings. By using this relaxation, we can show the complexity of RMP as well as design effective algorithms for its exact and heuristic solution. We report the solution of a few hundred instances associated with real-world genomes.
Identifying Individual and Group Effects in the Presence of Sorting: A Neighborhood Effects Application

Researchers have long recognized that the non-random sorting of individuals into groups generates correlation between individual and group attributes that is likely to bias naive estimates of both individual and group effects. This paper proposes a non-parametric strategy for identifying these effects in a model that allows for both individual and group unobservables, applying this strategy to the estimation of neighborhood effects on labor market outcomes. The first part of this strategy is guided by a robust feature of the equilibrium in vertical sorting models - a monotonic relationship between neighborhood housing prices and neighborhood quality. This implies that under certain conditions a non-parametric function of neighborhood housing prices serves as a suitable control function for the neighborhood unobservable in the labor market outcome regression. This control function transforms the problem to a model with one unobservable so that traditional instrumental variables solutions may be applied. In our application, we instrument for each individual’s observed neighborhood attributes with the average neighborhood attributes of a set of observationally identical individuals. The neighborhood effects model is estimated using confidential microdata from the 1990 Decennial Census for the Boston MSA. The results imply that the direct effects of geographic proximity to jobs, neighborhood poverty rates, and average neighborhood education are substantially larger than the conditional correlations identified using OLS, although the net effect of neighborhood quality on labor market outcomes remains small. These findings are robust across a wide variety of specifications and robustness checks.
Modelling non‐normal first‐order autoregressive time series

We shall first review some non-normal stationary first-order autoregressive models. The models are constructed with a given marginal distribution (logistic, hyperbolic secant, exponential, Laplace, or gamma) and the requirement that the bivariate joint distribution of the generated process must be sufficiently simple so that the parameter estimation and forecasting problems of the models can be addressed. A model-building approach that consists of model identification, estimation, diagnostic checking, and forecasting is then discussed for this class of models.
Bioimaging of Fluorescence-Labeled Mitochondria in Subcutaneously Grafted Murine Melanoma Cells by the “In Vivo Cryotechnique”

The microenvironments of organs with blood flow affect the metabolic profiles of cancer cells, which are influenced by mitochondrial functions. However, histopathological analyses of these aspects have been hampered by technical artifacts of conventional fixation and dehydration, including ischemia/anoxia. The purpose of this study was to combine the in vivo cryotechnique (IVCT) with fluorescent protein expression, and examine fluorescently labeled mitochondria in grafted melanoma tumors. The intensity of fluorescent proteins was maintained well in cultured B16-BL6 cells after cryotechniques followed by freeze-substitution (FS). In the subcutaneous tumors of mitochondria-targeted DsRed2 (mitoDsRed)-expressing cells, a higher number of cancer cells were found surrounding the widely opened blood vessels that contained numerous erythrocytes. Such blood vessels were immunostained positively for immunoglobulin M and ensheathed by basement membranes. MitoDsRed fluorescence was detected in scattering melanoma cells using the IVCT-FS method, and the total mitoDsRed volume in individual cancer cells was significantly decreased with the expression of markers of hypoxia. MitoDsRed was frequently distributed throughout the cytoplasm and in processes extending along basement membranes. IVCT combined with fluorescent protein expression is a useful tool to examine the behavior of fluorescently labeled cells and organelles. We propose that the mitochondrial volume is dynamically regulated in the hypoxic microenvironment and that mitochondrial distribution is modulated by cancer cell interactions with basement membranes.
The EU’s Adoption of IFRS and the Implication for China : In the Perspective of Accounting Quality and Information Comparability

Globalization has led to the growth of international financial markets, as one of the results, the EU adopted IFRS in 2005 to meet the need of accounting globalization and harmonization. This action has triggered a debate about whether the adoption of IFRS is beneficial to accounting quality and information comparability. Meanwhile, China, playing a key role in the global economic development stage, realizes the importance of accounting harmonization and attempts to move towards the IFRS as well. However, to reach the goal that the Chinese companies produce financial statements that are the same as those that apply IFRS, there is still a long way to go. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the adoption of IFRS by EU has enhanced the quality of financial reporting and accounting information comparability. Additionally, the thesis further identified the seminal undertakings for the convergence of IFRS in Europe and pointed out the implication for China’s convergence with IFRS. The empirical findings in this thesis were obtained through qualitative interviews.The empirical findings suggest that accounting quality and information comparability has been enhanced with EU’s strong and full enforcement with IFRS. With the confidence in IFRS which is gained from the success of the EU’s adoption of IFRS, a coherent result was found that the convergence towards IFRS would also benefit China in accounting quality and information comparability, and further lead to more international investments. However, when it comes to the question whether China should emulate EU’s example to adopt IFRS directly or keep CAS (Chinese Accounting Standards) which is similar to IFRS, two mixed opinions were obtained basically from Europe side and China side. Through in-depth analysis with these empirical findings, the conclusion is that it is necessary for China to take steps to build intensive programs to enhance its capacity of the adoption of IFRS, so that it could adapt itself to the fact that the IFRS is already making its way around the world as a single set of high quality global accounting standards.
The Impact of Medicare Part D on Pharmaceutical R&D

Recent evidence suggests that Medicare Part D has increased prescription drug use among the elderly, and earlier studies have indicated that increasing market size induces pharmaceutical innovation. This paper assesses the impact of Medicare Part D on pharmaceutical research and development (R&D), using time-series data on (a) the number of drugs in clinical development by therapeutic class, and (b) R&D expenditures by firm. We demonstrate that the passage of Medicare Part D was associated with significantly higher pharmaceutical R&D for drug classes with higher Medicare market share, and for firms specializing in higher-Medicare-share drugs.
Contribuição para a análise crítica do sistema de custos ABC através da avaliação de direcionadores de custos

The aim ofthis work is to present a methodology for the evaluation of cost drivers in order to contribute to criticaI analysis and improvements ofthe Activity Based Costing approaching. Such methodology considers and applies concepts and techniques, which are usually used in a isolated manner. The system cost accuracy, which is directly related to the utilisation ofthe eost drivers, is evaluated according to: 1st) from analysis ofthe distortions provoked by groups of activities and resources, which are done by equations with no need of the historieal data; 2nd) statistical tools used to evaluate the relationship between the eosts of aetivities/resources and the consumption factors of their drivers. Another contribution refers to the intangible characteristie related to the users inference, which is analysed with the multieriterial AHP support. The several eharaeteristies sueh as aeeuraey, behaviour inferenee and the ABC measuring eost are evaluated altogether, providing the prioritisation of drivers. Finally, the methodology for implementation in an industrial eompany validates the importanee of sueh an evaluation. APENDICEA Uso do F de Snedecor para teste do coeficiente de correlação A Análise de Variância pode ser utilizada para testar a correlação entre duas variáveis. Pretende-se, neste apêndice, demonstrar como este teste pode ser feito de forma simples, porém com base teórica consistente. A figura A.I mostra uma reta de regressão onde DA é a variável independente e GA é a variável dependente. GA . ----------------------------. GAj GA A GAj Variação Explicada DAj DA Fig. A.I Reta de regressão A Variação Total é a soma dos desvios de cada observação de GA e o valor da média de todas as observações de GA. dada por: Apêndice A O uso do F de Snedecor para 000 151 n L(GAj GA) j = I (AI) A Variação Não explicada é a soma dos desvios de cada observação de GA e o valor estimado pelo modelo de regressão, dada por: n •••••••• L(GAj GA;) j = I (A2) Pode-se verificar que: Variação Total = Variação Não-explicada + Variação Explicada A estatística F é expressa pela seguinte relação: F Variância Explicada (A3) Variância Não explicada o valor da variância é obtido pela divisão da soma dos quadrados dos desvios pelo número de graus de liberdade correspondentes. O número de graus de liberdade da Variância Explicada é igual ao número de amostras menos I (um), k I, onde k é o número de amostras. Para a Variância Não-explicada, o número de graus de liberdade é igual ao número n de observações da amostra menos o número k de amostras, ou seja, n-k. o valor de F pode ser calculado por: Apêndice A O uso do F de Snedecor para 000 152 t(GAi GA)2 r2 i = I -----F k 1 k 1 (A.4) = J n 1 I(GAi~ GA;)2 ri = I n k ---n k Como no caso da regressão linear simples são duas amostras, assim k = 2 . O grau de liberdade da variância explicada é constante e igual a 1 (um). Enquanto que, para a variância não-explicada, o número de graus de liberdade é igual a n 2. O valor de F pode, então, ser obtido por:
Tyrosine-assisted preparation of Ag/ZnO nanocomposites with enhanced photocatalytic performance and synergistic antibacterial activities

In this paper, Ag/ZnO metal–semiconductor nanocomposites were prepared through a facile one-pot hydrothermal method with the assistance of tyrosine. The synthesized samples were structurally characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was shown that the added tyrosine served both as a shape conductor for the formation of ZnO faceted nanorods and as a reducing agent of Ag+ ions. In the reaction process, the complexation of Ag+ with NH3 and OH− decreased the redox potential of Ag+/Ag, which prevented the formation of isolated Ag nanoparticles in solution. The prepared Ag/ZnO nanocomposites showed potential applications in photodegradation of organic dye pollutants and destruction of bacteria.
SHORT COMMUNICATION: A phantom extinction? New insights into extinction dynamics of the Don‐hare Lepus tanaiticus

The Pleistocene to Holocene transition was accompanied by a worldwide extinction event affecting numerous mammalian species. Several species such as the woolly mammoth and the giant deer survived this extinction wave, only to go extinct a few thousand years later during the Holocene. Another example for such a Holocene extinction is the Don‐hare, Lepus tanaiticus, which inhabited the Russian plains during the late glacial. After being slowly replaced by the extant mountain hare (Lepus timidus), it eventually went extinct during the middle Holocene. Here, we report the phylogenetic relationship of L. tanaiticus and L. timidus based on a 339‐basepair (bp) fragment of the mitochondrial D‐loop. Phylogenetic tree‐ and network reconstructions do not support L. tanaiticus and L. timidus being different species. Rather, we suggest that the two taxa represent different morphotypes of a single species and the extinction of ‘L. tanaiticus’ represents the disappearance of a local morphotype rather than the extinction of a species.