Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measured probabilities of detection for 1- and 2 bitstreams of 2-port car-roof antenna in RIMP and Random-LOS

Autonomous cars will in a near future drive around in cities and on highways. Antennas will then be needed to secure the wireless connection to these cars. To be able to test the antennas we have defined two edge environments: the Random Line-of-Sight (LOS) and the Rich Isotropic Multipath (RIMP). This paper shows a throughput performance comparison between measurements and simulations of a car-roof (shark-fin) antenna mounted on a ground plane in both of these environments. The comparison is done for both one and two bitstreams in a 2×2 MIMO system. The analysis is based on probability of detection (PoD) curves representing the throughput performance with digital threshold receivers.
Additions to S&P 500 Index: not so informative any more

Purpose - There is empirical evidence that a firm's addition to S&P 500 results in significant abnormal returns and an increase in a stock's liquidity. The purpose of this paper is to argue that changes in the information environment after the year 2000 due to the implementation of Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD), decimalization and Sarbanes Oxley Act, should result in reduced abnormal returns in the post-2000 period. Design/methodology/approach - The authors compare the abnormal returns and liquidity changes around the announcement day of firm's addition to S&P 500 in the pre- and post-2000 periods. Univariate and multivariate tests are used to control for factors that research shows affect the abnormal returns around additions to S&P 500. Findings - It is found that the reduction in informational asymmetry in the post-2000 period has resulted in a significant decrease in the abnormal return on the announcement day of additions to S&P 500 index and changes in the stock's liquidity in the post announcement period are now marginal. Originality/value - Existing literature related to changes in the abnormal returns around additions to S&P 500 does not account for changes in the information environment in the two sub periods, pre- and post-2000. The results may have implications for studies related to additions to S&P 500 where the sample period spans over the two sub periods.
Immigrant Earnings Adjustment: The Impact of Age at Migration

Human capital theory, in conjunction with Chiswick's (1978) and Borjas' (1998) work, implies the post-migration path of immigrant earnings is likely to depend on the age at migration. An adaptation of Borjas' (1998) model of immigrant wage determination is presented which predicts, for a given stock of human capital at the point of migration, lower initial earnings for younger arrivals, but faster earnings growth with time in the destination country. Empirical tests on data for Australian immigrants provide qualified support for the hypothesis that initial wages are, ceteris paribus, increasing in age at migration and the rate of wage growth is decreasing in age at migration. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd/University of Adelaide and Flinders University of South Australia 2003.
Immunization with an adjuvant hepatitis B vaccine after liver transplantation for hepatitis B‐related disease

Patients who undergo transplantation for hepatitis B virus (HBV)‐related diseases are treated indefinitely with hepatitis B hyperimmunoglobulin (HBIG) to prevent endogenous HBV reinfection of the graft. Active immunization with standard hepatitis B vaccines in these patients has recently been reported with conflicting results. Two groups of 10 liver transplant recipients on continuous HBIG substitution who were hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive and HBV DNA negative before transplantation were immunized in a phase I study with different concentrations of hepatitis B s antigen formulated with the new adjuvants 3‐deacylated monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) and Quillaja saponaria (QS21) (group I/vaccine A: 20 μg HBsAg, 50 μg MPL, 50 μg QS21; group II/vaccine B: 100 μg HBsAg, 100 μg MPL, 100 μg QS21). Participants remained on HBIG prophylaxis and were vaccinated at weeks 0, 2, 4, 16, and 18. They received 3 additional doses of vaccine B at bimonthly intervals if they did not reach an antibody titer against hepatitis B surface antigen (anti‐HBs) greater than 500 IU/L. Sixteen (8 in each group) of 20 patients (80%) responded (group I: median, 7,293 IU/L; range, 721–45,811 IU/L anti‐HBs; group II: median, 44,549 IU/L; range, 900–83, 121 IU/L anti‐HBs) and discontinued HBIG. They were followed up for a median of 13.5 months (range, 6–22 months). The vaccine was well tolerated. In conclusion, most patients immunized with the new vaccine can stop HBIG immunoprophylaxis for a substantial, yet to be determined period of time. (Hepatology 2003;38:811–819).
Market Segmentation, Price Disparity, and Transmission of Pricing Information: Evidence from Class A and H Shares of Chinese Dual-Listed Companies

This paper examines the transmission of pricing information and the volatility of dual-listed stocks between class A and H shares of Chinese companies. First, using firm level data, we show that there is a large price discount for H shares relative to the A shares. Second, when we divide the firms into a high price disparity group and a low price disparity group, we find that the high price disparity group’s pricing information transmission is stronger than the low price disparity group during the pre-liberalization period (in terms of significant mean coefficients). Third, when we divide the entire sample period into a pre-liberalization period and a post-liberalization, we find that the mean value spillover is stronger during the post-liberalization period for the low price disparity group. Finally, we report that during the post-liberalization period, the volatility spillover increases from A shares to H shares while it decreases from H shares to A shares. This implies that there is an information advantage of H shares, disappearing with the liberalization of A shares.
Development of multi-agent systems with distributed solutions for energy problems

In modern conditions, the functioning and management of electric power systems requires the creation of a computational model for large-scale schemes based on methods for estimating the state. Such schemes are not fully observable, data may be distorted, their synchronization is poor and, as a consequence, the adoption of incorrect decisions based on the calculation model. At present, the agent approach is not applied to the development of systems aimed at solving problems in the field of electric power industry and assessing the states of electric power systems in particular. The proposed approach to the development of multi-agent systems should enable the interaction of agents created on different software platforms, create new ones and edit existing algorithms in the system through agent scenarios. An approach to creating multi-agent systems for estimating the states of electric power systems with the possibility of cross-platform interactions and agent scenarios is developed. The proposed approach was tested on a test system, and at the moment a system is being developed for assessing the state of electric power systems.
Explaining SME engagement in local sourcing: The roles of location-specific resources and patriotism

This article draws upon the attention-based view when investigating how local sourcing is influenced by the personal resources and values of key decision makers within small firms. We argue that such firms are more likely to engage in local sourcing when key decision makers have access to location-specific human and social capital and strongly identify with their country. Using data from 204 Ontario-based restaurants regarding their decision to source local wines, we find evidence for the enabling role of location-specific resources and patriotism. In addition, we find that patriotism invigorates the effect of location-specific social capital such that local sourcing is stronger when key decision makers exhibit higher levels of patriotism.
Dynamic Pricing and Inventory Management with Dual Suppliers of Different Lead Times and Disruption Risks

It is common for a firm to make use of multiple suppliers of different delivery lead times, reliabilities, and costs. In this study, we are concerned with the joint pricing and inventory control problem for such a firm that has a quick‐response supplier and a regular supplier that both suffer random disruptions, and faces price‐sensitive random demands. We aim at characterizing the optimal ordering and pricing policies in each period over a planning horizon, and analyzing the impacts of supply source diversification. We show that, when both suppliers are unreliable, the optimal inventory policy in each period is a reorder point policy and the optimal price is decreasing in the starting inventory level in that period. In addition, we show that having supply source diversification or higher supplier reliability increases the firm's optimal profit and lowers the optimal selling price. We also demonstrate that, with the selling price as a decision, a supplier may receive even more orders from the firm after an additional supplier is introduced. For the special case where the quick‐response supplier is perfectly reliable, we further show that the optimal inventory policy is of a base‐stock type and the optimal pricing policy is a list‐price policy with markdowns.
MEK Kinase 1 Interacts with Focal Adhesion Kinase and Regulates Insulin Receptor Substrate-1 Expression*

MEK kinase 1 (MEKK1) has been shown to contribute to the regulation of cell migration, whereas focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a major player involved in both cell migration and integrin signaling. Here we show that MEKK1 and FAK are co-immunoprecipitated from mouse fibroblasts. Moreover, the association between MEKK1 and FAK appears to be physiologically relevant, as it is enhanced by treatment with epidermal growth factor (EGF). Targeting FAK to the membrane also enhanced its association with MEKK1, indicating that MEKK1 is localized to a membrane-related subcellular domain, perhaps focal adhesions. Interestingly, the expression of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) was diminished in MEKK1-deficient fibroblasts, which is similar to an earlier finding in FAK-deficient fibroblasts. Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1)-induced ERK activation was diminished in MEKK1-deficient cells, but phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt activation was not. Although integrin reportedly regulates the transcription of the IRS-1 gene via FAK-mediated JNK activation, no impairment of fibronectin-stimulated activation of FAK, ERK, or JNK was observed in MEKK1-deficient cells. Reconstitution of MEKK1 expression restored IRS-1 expression as well as IGF-1-induced ERK activation. Taken together, these findings indicate that MEKK1 interacts with FAK in focal adhesions and regulates IRS-1 expression.
Public funding for family planning sterilization and abortion services FY 1980-2006.

This report presents the results of a survey of FY 2006 public expenditures for family planning client services family planning education and outreach activities sterilization services and abortion services. We look at expenditures nationally for each state and for each funding source. We also compare FY 2006 data for family planning client services with those from a series of prior surveys between FY 1980 and FY 2001. As in past reports we also look at data on abortion utilization; because of restrictive reporting requirements and other policies around abortion it is the only of the services for which reasonable estimates of utilization are universally available. The data in this article represent the most complete summary of public funding available. Given the methodological concerns mentioned below however the data (along with data from prior surveys) should be considered an approximation rather than a precise accounting. (excerpt)
Minority Governments in Parliamentary Democracies

Minority cabinets account for about 35% of all governments in 15 parliamentary democracies since 1945. Conventional explanations associate minority government formation with political crises, instability, polarization, factionalization, and failures of interparty bargaining. Such explanations are tested and found lacking in empirical support. Instead, minority governments are explained as rational solutions under specified conditions. Minority cabinets form when even oppositional parties can influence parliamentary legislation, and when government participation is likely to be a liability in future elections. This rationalist explanation receives substantial empirical support in tests against competing hypotheses. The results suggest important modifications to theories of government and coalition formation.
The Procyclical Leverage Effect of Collateral Value on Bank Loans - Evidence from the Transaction Data of Taiwan

"We investigated the empirical relationship between firms' collateral values and land-secured loans over asset price cycles. A simultaneous equation model of loan demand and supply was estimated using a transaction-level data set from Taiwan. The data set contains collateral information and identifies lenders and borrowers. We found that the value of collateralizable assets has positive and significant effects on loan amounts and that the leverage effect of collateral is procyclical to asset price cycles. Firms in the electronics industry, the star industry in the sample period, are found to borrow more than other firms do at each marginal dollar of collateral". ("JEL" C50, E30, G20) Copyright 2006 Western Economic Association International.
Hotel development in China: a review of the English language literature

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer an overview of the existing English literature concerning the development of China's hotel industry by means of reviewing the topic from three academic online databases.Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews published studies found in refereed journals that can be accessed online via Emerald Management Review, ProQuest Basic Search and EBSCO Host Web. A total of 66 refereed journal papers were found over the period 1984‐2007. They were grouped into four major themes: strategy and development; marketing; service quality and human resources management.Findings – Research on China's hotel development grew rapidly with the rise of China's hotel industry, reflecting the situation, problems, challenges and opportunities affecting hotel development. Strategy and development is a dominant theme, accounting for 43 per cent of all papers.Practical implications – The paper summarises research on China's booming hotel industry, offers a general review of its hi.
Factors affecting job performance within small indigenous retail businesses operating along the Irish border

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between workplace stress and work performance, with job satisfaction, motivation and innovation acting as possible mediators of this relationship. The sample comprises of 109 retail employees (22 males, 87 females) aged 18 to 61 years working in small indigenous retail businesses located in cross border counties of Derry (Northern Ireland) and Donegal (Republic of Ireland). MPlus (Muthen and Muthen, 1998-2009) is used to specify a model explaining the relationship between all factors. The results show significant direct effects of workplace stress on job satisfaction, motivation and innovation, with indirect effects evident for workplace stress on job performance. The results provide an interesting backdrop to discussions around employee effectiveness and productivity in indigenous SMEs in the current challenging economic climate.
SUSTAINING EAST ASIA'S ECONOMIC DYNAMISM: THE ROLE OF AID

Foreign aid in East Asia has a history of over half a century. It has become an important feature of economic development in the region perhaps since the early 1970s when countries in Southeast Asia began to step up their development efforts. They have been inspired by the achievements made by their Northeast Asian neighbors, Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Hong Kong. Many of these countries have made use of foreign aid in their development. Japan, for instance, drew on funding from the World Bank from 1953 to 1966. South Korea and Chinese Taipei received substantially large sums of aid from the United States during the Cold War. They all benefited from the development of large economic infrastructures, such as roads, ports, power generation, as well as irrigation, financed to a large extend by foreign aid. This had helped to create the foundation for economic take-off as those economic infrastructures stimulated and facilitated large investments in resources extraction, industrial production activities, and exports. Since 1951 Western countries have given developing countries more than US$ 1 trillion in development assistance, including humanitarian aid. Total ODA (official development assistance) from OECD countries to East Asia since 1960 amounted to US$ . (in 2001 prices).
“Can We Seal the Deal?”: An Examination of Uncertainty in the Development Process

Studies of firm location decisions suggest that an organization’s desire to reduce the uncertainty associated with operating in a new or unfamiliar location plays a role in determining where it will choose to locate. To date, however, little attention has been paid to the experience of uncertainty in the preoperational phase (i.e., during the development process). When the development process in a given municipality is rife with ambiguity or unpredictability, it may deter firms from moving there, even if the location is attractive on the basis of its long-term operating economics. This study draws on in-depth interviews to explore how real estate professionals experience uncertainty while navigating the development process. The findings reveal that real estate professionals’ conceptualizations of uncertainty reflect five related, but distinct, themes: municipal support, community opposition, process, cost, and feasibility.
ESTABLISHING AN INTERVENTION MODEL TO EXAMINE THE IMPACT OF POLICY GUIDANCE ON TRANSPORTATION DEMAND

This paper discusses the mechanism (technique) with which the impact of policy guidance on transportation demand is examined. Through developing a multivariate ARIMA model encompassing transfer function and intervention analysis capability, the impact of the intervention policy could be examined by simultaneously considering the dynamic regression effects of other explanatory series on response series. After empirical data analysis, it shows that the policy launched by Taiwan Government in 1987 to lift the ban on family visits to Mainland China has a significant and positive impact on the demand for air transport service on Taipei-Hong Kong route, while simultaneously taking the possible effect from the change in national income per capita into consideration. Moreover, model estimation also shows a pattern with impact that is gradually rising at initial, and lasting long afterwards.
Control of non-isothermal chemical reactors based on a potential representation

The paper studies the problem of nonlinear feedback control design of non-isothermal Continuously Stirred Tank Reactors (CSTR). The objective is to construct a feedback controller such that a desired equilibrium of the closed-loop dynamic is asymptotically stable and such that the closed-loop vector field is a conservative vector field of a particular type, i.e., a gradient system. Properties of gradient systems in terms of dissipativity and their importance in the study of interconnected systems in the context of plantwide process control will be briefly discussed. The proposed technique is based on a decomposition of the open-loop vector field in terms of a dissipative part and a non-dissipative part. The latter is then cancelled through state feedback, in such a way that the closed-loop vector field associated to the system is divergence free. A numerical example is used to illustrate the proposed approach.
EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS ON POLITICAL STABILITY IN SOUTH ASIA

▪ Abstract Despite high mass poverty, illiteracy, and religious and linguistic heterogeneity, the states of South Asia enjoy a moderately high level of orderly and democratic government. This contrast to other comparable parts of the world is explained to some extent by the cultural, institutional, and social legacies of British colonial rule and the orderly transfer of power in these successor states. However, 50 years after decolonization, one needs to look beyond colonial rule for explanations. The essay develops a general model based on a rational choice perspective to explain political stability through institutional arrangements. In its application of this model to South Asia, the chapter suggests that political stability is conditional (a) on the capacity of the postcolonial state to innovate new institutions and (b) on the ability of its new political elites to integrate modern and premodern political structures and values within the institutional set-up and to consult the masses periodically thro.
Characterization of silicone pressure-sensitive adhesive episcleral implant for drug delivery

Abstract The development of an effective sustained ocular drug delivery system remains a challenging task. The objective of the present study was to characterize a silicone pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) episcleral implant system for transscleral drug delivery. Silicone PSA implants for dexamethasone, atenolol, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were prepared at different polymer-to-drug mass ratios. Implant adhesion to human cadaver sclera was measured. Drug release experiments were conducted in well-stirred containers in vitro. The results were then analyzed using a pharmacokinetic model and in vitro–in vivo data comparison from previous studies. The silicone PSA episcleral implants in the present study had an average diameter of 3.5 mm and a thickness of 0.8 mm. Drug release from the silicone PSA implants was influenced by drug solubility, implant polymer content, and implant coating. Drug release from the implants was observed to follow the receding boundary release mechanism and was solubility dependent with the higher water solubility drug showing higher release rate than the low-solubility drug. Increasing polymer content in the implants led to a significant decrease in the drug release rate. Coated implants reduced the initial burst effect and provided lower release rates than the uncoated implants. These implants provided sustained drug release that could last up to several months in vitro and demonstrated the potential to offer drug delivery for chronic ocular diseases via the transscleral route.
Planning and Implementation of an Infection Control Training Program for Healthcare Providers in Latin America

Objective. The lack of well-trained, dedicated infection control personnel prevents optimal control of nosocomial infections in Latin American pediatric oncology centers. We collaboratively planned and implemented a multinational training course in San Salvador, El Salvador, to address this need. Methods. The course relied on its organizers' experience in training international healthcare providers, the availability of the International Training Center for Nurses, previous infection control collaboration with the Hospital Nacional de Niños Benjamin Bloom, and resources available at the University of El Salvador. The 4-week course consisted of lecture sessions combined with practical laboratory and hospital experience. Results. Two courses, one conducted in 2005 and one in 2006, trained 44 professionals from 15 Latin American countries. Evaluations showed that course content and teacher performance met the trainees' needs and that all trainees acquired the necessary knowledge and skills. Conclusions. The course met the need for the training of Latin American infection control practitioners. Our experience can serve as a model for other organizations interested in strengthening infection control and prevention at international sites.