Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Costly Contracting and Optimal Payout Constraints

groups whose interests can conflict. This paper concentrates on the conflict between the two major groups-the stockholders and the bondholders-and derives an optimal set of contractual arrangements which minimize the costs of this conflict. In our model, these contracts will determine endogenously the optimal investment levels and the dividend policy of a levered firm. Myers [12] has argued that stockholders, who control the firm, could attempt to transfer wealth from the bondholders even by rejecting profitable investment projects. In other words they can choose policies which reduce the market value of the firm. He has indicated that constraints on dividend payouts', self-imposed by stockholders, are a possible solution to the problem of underinvestment. The details of such constraints are documented and anlayzed by Kalay [8, 9], who examines a large random sample of bond indentures. Kalay models the choice of the "tightness" of the effective dividend constraint and finds it to depend on the investment opportunities facing the firm and its leverage ratio. His analysis provides a possible explanation for dividend payments even when they involve transaction and tax related costs. This paper presents a rigorous theoretical analysis of the form and optimality2 of constraints on dividend payouts to be self-imposed by the shareholders of a levered firm in debt contracts. These optimal contracts are derived endogenously
The retrieval practice effect in associative recognition

is presented that retrieval in- terference occurs in associative recognition as well as recall. In Experiment 1, subjects studied pairs of category exemplars. Retrieval practice followed, during which some pairs appeared in a cued recall test. A final test of associative recognition (with remember–know judgments) found lower accuracy and hit rate for nonpracticed pairs belonging to retrieval-practiced categories. In Experiment 2, sub- jects studied noun pairs from overlapping sets, with study duration manipulated between subjects. Retrieval practice was manipulated by presenting some members of a set in a previous block during the recognition test. With long study duration, retrieval interference was evident in both recognition and remember judgments. With short study duration, it appeared only in remember judgments. These re- sults support a dual-process account in which retrieval interference is specific to recollection and be-comes evident in recognition performance only when recollection is sufficiently dominant.
CEO-shareholder incentive alignment around SEOs

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to examine CEO wealth changes around seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) to explore the shareholder-manager incentive alignment in major corporate equity financing decisions. Design/methodology/approach - – The authors decompose CEO wealth into three major components: price effect, board compensation grant, and CEO’s own portfolio adjustment. The authors then compare SEO-event sample vs non-event samples; and evaluate the dynamic and long-run CEO wealth effect. Findings - – The authors find when market reacts negatively to SEO announcement leading to losses in CEO’s existing firm-related wealth, CEO gets additional grants to offset the losses. Although this appears to be a rent-seeking activity, the authors find that the additional grants are mainly in the form of stock options which would have no value if stock price failed to pick up in the future. In this sense, the additional grants align the interests between shareholders and managers. Consistent with this argument, the authors show that the additional grants motivate CEOs to promote the stock performance, benefiting themselves as well as shareholders in the long-run. Originality/value - – The study explicitly calculates the contribution of each wealth component to CEO total wealth effect. The results improve the understanding of CEO compensation policy change after major corporate event and contribute to the literature of the optimality explanation of prevailing compensation policy.
A dynamic joint clustering scheduling algorithm for downlink CoMP systems with limited CSI

In downlink coordinated multi-point (CoMP) systems, full cooperation among the base stations (BSs) in the network is unfeasible because of bandwidth and latency constraints in the backhaul and imperfect channel knowledge at the BSs. To deal with these issues BSs can be organized in clusters and perform CoMP transmission towards the user equipments (UEs) in their coverage area. In this work we develop a greedy dynamic joint clustering scheduling algorithm for the downlink of CoMP systems by assuming that the set of candidate clusters is limited and predetermined, based on UEs measurements. The set of non-overlapping selected clusters and the UEs scheduled in each cluster change dynamically at each time slot and are optimized by maximizing the system weighted sum rate. We evaluate the performance of the developed method by considering different criteria to select the set of available clusters and different policies to schedule the UEs in each cluster. Numerical results show the gain of the developed approach with respect to both single cell processing systems, i.e. when no coordination among the BSs is allowed, and CoMP systems with static clusters composed by the BSs belonging to the same site.
The Bologna Process in German Educational Federalism: State Strategies, Policy Fragmentation and Interest Mediation

The article provides an impact assessment of the current European higher education reform (Bologna process) in the context of German educational federalism. The goal is to come to grips with the puzzling observation that the reforms have had a large impact, even though the joint decision-making trap of German educational federalism has continuously impeded structural changes in previous decades. It suggests that the reason why the Bologna process has been so influential is its openness, ambiguity, and the complete absence of binding commitments. These characteristics of soft governance dovetail with the strategy of the central government and the federal states to protect their political autonomy against potential threats resulting from inter- and transnational political cooperation as well as the national reform of the constitutional principles of federalism at home. However, drawing on empirical examples of policy fragmentation, understood as the co-existence of partly incompatible reform islands, illustrates the costs of soft governance in the national implementation process.
Pathogenesis of Steroid-Resistant Airway Hyperresponsiveness: Interaction between IFN-γ and TLR4/MyD88 Pathways 1

Chronic inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) in asthmatics are usually managed effectively by treatment with glucocorticoids. However, a subset of patients remains refractory to therapy. The underlying mechanisms are largely unknown, although recruitment of neutrophils (rather than eosinophils) is strongly correlated, suggesting a role for nonallergic host defense responses. Increased levels of IFN-γ and endotoxins are also related to severe asthma and because these activate host defense pathways, we investigated a possible common etiologic link to steroid-resistant disease. To be able to unravel the complexity of asthmatic inflammation, we used two model systems which permitted dissection of the relevant molecular pathways. In the first of these, we transferred transgenic OVA323–339 peptide-specific IFN-γ-producing Th1 cells into mice. These animals were subsequently challenge via the airways with OVA323–339 peptide and/or LPS. Challenge with both components, but not with either one individually, induced AHR. Importantly, AHR was resistant to treatment with dexamethasone. Development of AHR was dependent on IFN-γ, inhibited by depletion of pulmonary macrophages (but not neutrophils) and abrogated in TLR4- or MyD88-deficient mice. In contrast, in the second model in which we transferred OVA323–339 peptide-activated Th2 cells, eosinophilic inflammation and AHR were induced, and both were suppressed by steroid treatment. We conclude that cooperative signaling between IFN-γ and TLR4/MyD88 constitutes a previously unrecognized pathway that regulates macrophage-dependent steroid-resistant AHR.
Using Virtual Reality for Cognitive Training of the Elderly

There is a pressing demand for improving the quality and efficacy of health care and social support services needed by the world’s growing elderly population, especially by those affected by mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-type early-stage dementia. Meeting that demand can significantly benefit from the deployment of innovative, computer-based applications capable of addressing specific needs, particularly in the area of cognitive impairment mitigation and rehabilitation. In that context, we present here our perspective viewpoint on the use of virtual reality (VR) tools for cognitive rehabilitation training, intended to assist medical personnel, health care workers, and other caregivers in improving the quality of daily life activities of people with MCI and AD. We discuss some effective design criteria and developmental strategies and suggest some possibly useful protocols and procedures. The particular innovative supportive advantages offered by the immersive interactive characteristics inherent to VR technology are discussed.
Modelling skewness and kurtosis with the skewed Gauss–Laplace sum distribution

An asymmetric extension of the recently proposed (symmetric) Gauss–Laplace sum distribution for stock returns is developed, motivated by the fact that many stock return distributions display significant asymmetries. The properties of the new distribution, insofar as relevant for estimation, testing, and the modelling of skewness and kurtosis, are derived. An application to three major US stock return indices shows an excellent fit of the model, which outperforms many popular alternatives.
Starke Rechnungsprüfungskommissionen: Wichtiger als direkte Demokratie und Föderalismus? Ein erster Blick auf die Daten

Politico-economic analyses of democratic governance neglect the influence of independent audit institutions. While it is almost impossible to investigate their effect in a crosscountry design, we focus at the Swiss local level where audit courts play an important role. We collect cross-cantonal data on the strength of audit courts and econometrically analyze their impact on political outcomes, in particular on the tax burden and government spending. The results are astonishing: Powerful audit courts systematically lead to lower tax burden and government spending. The size of the effect is large especially if compared to other institutions such as referenda and local autonomy.
Fine-Grained Analysis of Compromised Websites with Redirection Graphs and JavaScript Traces

An incident response organization such as a CSIRT contributes to preventing the spread of malware infection by analyzing compromised websites and sending abuse reports with detected URLs to webmasters. However, these abuse reports with only URLs are not sufficient to clean up the websites. In addition, it is difficult to analyze malicious websites across different client environments because these websites change behavior depending on a client environment. To expedite compromised website clean-up, it is important to provide fine-grained information such as malicious URL relations, the precise position of compromised web content, and the target range of client environments. In this paper, we propose a new method of constructing a redirection graph with context, such as which web content redirects to malicious websites. The proposed method analyzes a website in a multi-client environment to identify which client environment is exposed to threats. We evaluated our system using crawling datasets of approximately 2,000 compromised websites. The result shows that our system successfully identified malicious URL relations and compromised web content, and the number of URLs and the amount of web content to be analyzed were sufficient for incident responders by 15.0% and 0.8%, respectively. Furthermore, it can also identify the target range of client environments in 30.4% of websites and a vulnerability that has been used in malicious websites by leveraging target information. This finegrained analysis by our system would contribute to improving the daily work of incident responders. key words: compromised website, drive-by download, redirection graph, program trace
Causes of privatization in China

We test five hypotheses regarding the causes of privatization in China by using firm-level panel data collected in 11 cities in the period 1995-2001. We have found that privatization is positively linked with hardened firm budgets and the extent of market liberalization, but is constrained by excessive debts and worker redundancy. Firm efficiency and state-owned enterprises' financial liabilities imposed on local governments are not factors of influence. These findings match the broad flow of events in China and highlight the role of market building in bringing about efficient institutional changes. Copyright (c) 2005 The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
COMPARATIVE MANUFACTURING MANAGEMENT IN THE PERSONAL COMPUTER INDUSTRY

The United States has been experiencing economic change in many ways, particularly in the form of manufacturing competition from Asia. East Asia is emerging as the dominant region of the world for the manufacturing of computers. Most, if not all, major companies in the personal computer (PC) industry have manufacturing facilities in Southeast Asia. These include U.S. firms such as IBM, Apple, Compaq, and Hewlett‐Packard, Taiwanese challengers such as Acer and Mitac, and Japanese firms such as NEC. Still, some PC manufacturing operations remain in the U.S. despite large differences in labor costs, cost of capital, and tax structures. Clearly, the establishment of a production facility is not a simple matter of cheap labor or being close to markets. The decision is a complex one involving many variables. This paper addresses some of these variables, and how PC companies deal with them, in considering manufacturing as an issue in corporate strategy.
Prokaryotic Communities at Different Depths between Soils with and without Tomato Bacterial Wilt but Pathogen-Present in a Single Greenhouse

The characterization of microbial communities that promote or suppress soil-borne pathogens is important for controlling plant diseases. We compared prokaryotic communities in soil with or without the signs of tomato bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. Soil samples were collected from a greenhouse at two different depths because this pathogen is present in deep soil. We used samples from sites in which we detected phcA, a key gene regulating R. solanacearum pathogenicity. The pyrosequencing of prokaryotic 16S rRNA sequences in four soil samples without disease symptoms but with phcA and in two soil samples with disease symptoms indicated that community richness was not significantly different between these two soils; however, microbial diversity in the lower soil layer was higher in soil samples without disease symptoms but with phcA. A difference in prokaryotic community structures between soil samples with and without bacterial wilt was only observed in the upper soil layer despite apparent similarities in the communities at the phylum level. Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Verrucomicrobia, and several Archaea were more abundant in soil samples without disease symptoms, whereas taxa in another eight phyla were more abundant in soil samples with disease symptoms. Furthermore, some prokaryotic taxa were abundant specifically in the lower layer of soil, regardless of whether disease was present. These prokaryotic taxa may suppress or accelerate the pathogenesis of bacterial wilt and are good targets for future studies on disease control.
1,4‐butanediyl‐bismethanethiosulfonate (BMTS) induces apoptosis through reactive oxygen species‐mediated mechanism

Although methane sulfonate compounds are widely used for the protein modification for their selectivity of thiol groups in proteins, their intracellular signaling events have not yet been clearly documented. This study demonstrated the methane sulfonate chemical 1,4‐butanediyl‐bismethanethiosulfonate (BMTS)‐induced cascades of signals that ultimately led to apoptosis of Jurkat cells. BMTS induced apoptosis through fragmentation of DNA, activation of caspase‐9 and caspase‐3, and downregulation of Bcl‐2 protein with reduction of mitochondrial membrane potential. Moreover, BMTS intensely and transiently induced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and ROS produced by BMTS was mediated through mitochondria. We also found that a reducing agent dithiothreitol (DTT) and an anti‐oxidant N‐acetyl cysteine (NAC) inhibited BMTS‐mediated caspase‐9 and ‐3 activation, ROS production and induction of Annexin V/propidium iodide double positive cells, suggesting the involvement of ROS in the apoptosis process. Therefore, this study further extends our understanding on the basic mechanism of redox‐linked apoptosis induced by sulfhydryl‐reactive chemicals. J. Cell. Biochem. 108: 1059–1065, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Dosimetric Validation of Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) Using AAPM TG-119 Benchmark Plans in an Upgraded CLINAC 2100CD for Flattening Filter Free (FFF) Photon Beams

Background: Recently we have upgraded our Varian Clinac 2100CD with a 6MV FFF beam, this upgrade being the first of its kind in our country. Even though the dosimetric characteristics of FFF beams have been reported both in experimental and Monte Carlo studies, application in planning and delivery is complex. The aim of this study was to validate the commissioning of upgraded FFF beams dosimetrically using AAPM TG-119 bench mark plans for VMAT and to make a comparison with IMRT plans for both flattened filtered and FFF beams. Materials and Methods: AAPM TG-119 proposes a set of test clinical cases for testing the accuracy of IMRT planning and delivery systems. For these clinical cases we generated four treatment plans using IMRT FF, IMRT FFF, VMAT FF and VMAT FFF on a Varian Clinac 2100CD machine equipped with a millennium 120 MLC in Eclipse treatment planning system. Dose prescription and planning objectives were set according to the TG-119 goals and plans were scored based on planning objectives. Plans were compared using dose coverage, the conformity index and the homogeneity index. Point doses were measured at points recommended by TG-119 using a CC13 ion chamber. Planar dosimetry was accomplished using Imatrix and gamma evaluation was conducted using Omnipro IMRT software. Results: Dose distributions of FFF beam based plans were comparable to FF plans for both IMRT and VMAT. Our planning results matched TG-119 planning results. Measured point doses were within ±2% of planned doses and planar dosimetry gamma values were <1 for >95% of data points for all plans. Conclusion: We found a reduction of 40% treatment time for FFF against FF beams for sliding window IMRT. Upgraded FFF beams were in good agreement with TG-119 benchmark plans and goals.
HRM and Ethics

Human resource management (HRM) – as a field of research, study, and practice – has been immersed in ethical issues from its inception. By its very nature, the management of humans as resources raises ethical considerations. Surprisingly, ethical analyses of HRM have been limited in scope and prominence. Traditionally, ethical examinations of HRM have tended to focus at the microlevel: justice-based principles of fairness and equity have been applied to specific HRM practices (e.g., recruitment and remuneration) and rights-based principles have been considered with respect to employment issues (e.g., privacy and whistle-blowing). In contrast, attempts at macrolevel ethical analyses of HRM have developed critiques of “soft” and “hard” HRM and advanced a pragmatic pluralist approach using stakeholder theory. More recently, internationalization of labor markets, shifts in employment (and concomitant employee experiences), and the prevalence of strategic human resource management (SHRM) have brought about a rejuvenation of interest in the ethical analysis of HRM. Future research is likely to focus on the experiences of HR practitioners; the role, meaning, and position of HR in the organization; the relationship between HRM and local/global society; and the interplay among these. Keywords: ethics; ethical HRM; critical HRM; ethical theory; rights; justice; socio-political; societal context
2012 IEEE Visualization Contest Winner: Visualizing Polarization Domains in Barium Titanate

The winners of the 2012 IEEE Visualization Contest combined methods from molecular, flow, and scalar data visualization to reveal the characteristics and processes in the contest data. Because the simulated material didn't behave according to theory from textbooks, one challenge was to find meaningful visualizations to facilitate exploratory analysis. The contest winners created an interactive visual-analysis application based on MegaMol, their visualization framework. The tailored visualizations revealed data characteristics such as thermal vibrations and the spatial distribution of polarization domains. Domain expert knowledge verified the results. This video at http://youtu.be/RXnNKekY7VE shows the dataset used and the development of vector clusters over time.
Ferucarbotran-Enhanced 3.0-T Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using Parallel Imaging Technique Compared With Triple-Phase Multidetector Row Computed Tomography for the Preoperative Detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Objective: To compare diagnostic performance of ferucarbotran-enhanced 3.0-T magnetic resonance (MR) imaging using parallel imaging technique with that of triple-phase multidetector row computed tomography (MDCT) for the preoperative detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: Eighty-six consecutive patients with a total of 128 surgically proven HCCs were enrolled in this study. All patients underwent ferucarbotran-enhanced 3.0-T MR imaging using parallel imaging technique and triple-phase MDCT before hepatic resection. Three experienced radiologists independently analyzed each images on a segment-by-segment basis. The accuracy of these techniques for the detection of HCC was assessed by performing a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of 104 resected hepatic segments with at least 1 HCC and 113 resected hepatic segments without HCC. Results: The mean value of the area under the ROC curve (Az) of the ferucarbotran-enhanced 3.0-T MR imaging (0.990) was significantly higher than that of the triple-phase MDCT (0.964) (P = 0.00). The mean sensitivity of the ferucarbotran-enhanced 3.0-T MR imaging (98.1%) was significantly higher than that of the triple-phase MDCT (92.9%) (P = 0.00). The higher sensitivity was largely attributable to a greater ability of the 3.0-T MR imaging to detect small HCC (≤1 cm) (92.6% in 3.0-T MR imaging and 37.0% in MDCT; P = 0.00). No significant difference was found for their mean specificities (98.2% in 3.0-T MR imaging and 97.6% in MDCT; P = 0.86). Conclusions: Ferucarbotran-enhanced 3.0-T MR imaging using parallel imaging technique is a more accurate diagnostic tool than triple-phase MDCT for the preoperative detection of HCC. Ferucarbotran-enhanced 3.0-T MR imaging has a higher sensitivity than triple-phase MDCT, especially for small HCCs (≤1 cm).
A resistor-based temperature sensor for a real time clock with ±2ppm frequency stability

A temperature sensor based on the temperature-dependence of integrated poly-silicon resistors is used to stabilize the quartz-crystal of a 131kHz real-time clock (RTC). After a 3-point calibration, the sensor achieves an inaccuracy of less than ±0.12°C (min-max) from -40°C to 85°C, which translates into a frequency stability of less than ±2ppm. The sensor also achieves 2.8mK (rms) resolution in a 32ms conversion time, which corresponds to a state-of-the-art resolution FOM of 8pJK2.