Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reply to Discussant's Comments on "Evidence of Non-Big 6 Market Specialization and Pricing Power in a Niche Assurance Service Market"

Elliott and Pallais (1997) indicate the importance of finding an appropriate market niche when entering the assurance services market. They discuss the notion that the pricing of these assurance services can be based on the value of the services to the market, and provide an example of such pricing in a regulatory compliance setting. Auditing requirements in the pension plan audit market extend beyond those required by GAAS to include assurance regarding compliance with relevant regulations. Additionally, the Big 6 CPA firms have a fairly small market share (about 10 percent) in this market (Cullinan 1997). The pension plan environment, therefore, provides an opportunity to examine whether smaller CPA firms can establish a "brand name" in a niche assurance service market to distinguish their expertise, and thereby receive higher fees. This study examines the effects of industry expertise on audit fees in the multi-employer pension plan context. Results indicate that non-Big 6 firms with industry expertise (as measured by market share) receive fee premiums over nonspecialist firms. Big 6 firms with larger market shares do not receive fee premiums in this market. These results suggest that non-Big 6 firms may be able to obtain, and benefit from, market positions in certain nice assurance service markets.
Likelihood approach to small T dynamic panel models with interactive eects

This paper considers dynamic panel models with a factor analytic error structure that is correlated with the regressors. The model is rooted in both micro and macro econometrics. In microeconometrics, for example, the observed wage is a function of observable characteristics and unobserved innate ability. The innate ability is potentially correlated with the observables, and moreover, is priced at each period (or is repriced occasionally) so its eect on wage is time varying. In macroeconometrics, the motivation is that unobserved common shocks have heterogeneous eects on the cross-section units, and resources employed in the production are also aected by the common shocks. Each consideration leads to a factor analytic error structure that will be correlated with the explanatory variables. A dynamic panel model constitutes a simultaneous equations system with T equations. With a small number of periods (T ), consistent estimation requires a suitable formulation of the reduced form for the rst observation and appropriate control for the correlation between the eects and the regressors. We use the method of Mundlak (1978) and Chamberlain (1982) to control the latter correlation. Under the factor error structure, the system implies parameter constraints between the mean vector and the covariance matrix. We explore the constraints through a quasi-FIML approach. The EM algorithm and its variants ECM and ECME and the associated closed-form solutions are elaborated for the maximization problem. With a small T, the factor process is treated as parameters and it can have arbitrary dynamics. The model also permits unit roots.
Trade Openness and Manufacturing Growth in Iran

In this study, the relationship between Trade openness and the manufacturing growth in Iran has been examined in the framework of Annual data from 1961 to 2006. The existence of the long term relationship between these two variables has been examined using Bound Test developed by Pesaran et al. (2001) and the existence of a co-integrating relationship between the series has been detected following the test result. The results suggest that in the long-run, trade openness is positively related to manufacturing growth in Iran. Therefore, the policy direction for Iranian manufacturing sectors should focus on long term trade openness policies. Nevertheless, to ensure sustainability, emphasis should be placed on how (which manufacturing sub-sectors) or when openness is actually important. Importantly, policy makers and scholars should understand that leveraging the benefits of openness also depend on whether the liberalized sector has the comparative advantage.
Processing bound grammatical morphemes in context: The case of an aphasic patient

This study investigates the ability of an aphasic patient (DE) to process bound grammatical morphemes in normal sentential contexts. A word monitoring task examined the patient's sensitivity to the contextual appropriateness of derivational and inflectional suffixes. The results show that he is differentially sensitive to derivational and inflectional morphology. He is able to process derivational suffixes normally, but cannot discriminate between contextually appropriate and inappropriate inflectional suffixes. These findings are discussed with respect to current views on the processing of morphologically complex words in context.
Current mode read-out circuit for infrared photodiode applications in 0.35 μm cmos

Infrared focal plane arrays have a wide range of military, medical, industrial and scientific applications, where high resolution and high performance read-out integrated electronics are required. This work advances a regulated cascode current mirror (RCCM) amplifier in 0.35 ¼m CMOS technology for application in hybrid CMOS-InGaAs implementations. With an output impedance of 236 k©, the RCCM produces and output noise power of 8.06 nA (RMS), to achieve a SNR of 77 dB and a dynamic range of 60 dB at -40 dB THD. Comparisons with alternative approaches considering key performance parameters are presented.
Consistent Testing for Structural Change at the Ends of the Sample

In this paper we provide analytical and Monte Carlo evidence that Chow and Predictive tests can be consistent against alternatives that allow structural change to occur at either end of the sample. Attention is restricted to linear regression models that may have a break in the intercept. The results are based on a novel reparameterization of the actual and potential break point locations. Standard methods parameterize both of these locations as fixed fractions of the sample size. We parameterize these locations as more general integer valued functions. Power at the ends of the sample is evaluated by letting both locations, as a percentage of the sample size, converge to zero or one. We find that for a potential break point function, the tests are consistent against alternatives that converge to zero or one at sufficiently slow rates and are inconsistent against alternatives that converge sufficiently quickly. Monte Carlo evidence supports the theory though large samples are sometimes needed for reasonable power.
A Flexible Architecture for Wide-Area Service Discovery

Users of networked services traditionally have to know the network address of the desired service. As the network evolves from a simple infrastructure offering basic services (e.g. printers) into a sophisticated programmable infrastructure that supports a rich set of services such as virtual reality games, realtime video transcoding, and content providers, manual configuration of services becomes impractical. The Service Location Protocol (SLP) provides a dynamic configuration mechanism for the discovery of networked services. While simple SLP solutions have proven to be effective in local-area networks, solving the problem in the wide-area environment turns out to be very challenging. In this paper, we present an architecture for wide-area service discovery. Our architecture utilizes both the push and pull techniques for scalable distribution of the service information, and uses different types of Directory Agents to help the search process. Service providers and clients can find each other through a “service discovery market” which operates on our architecture.
Ant Colony Based Approach for Solving FPGA routing

This paper is based on an ant colony optimization algorithm (ASDR) for solving FPGA routing for a route based routing constraint model in FPGA design architecture. I n this approach FPGA routing task is transformed into a Boolean Satisfiabilty (SAT) equation with the property that any assignment of input variables that satisfies the equation specifies a v alid route. The Satisfiability equation is then modeled as Constraint Satisfaction problem, which helps in reducing procedural programming. Satisfying assignment for particular route will result in a valid routing and absence of a satisfying assignment implies that the layout is unroutable. In second step ant colony optimization algorithm is applied on t he Boolean equation for solving routing alternatives utilizing approach of hard combinatorial optimization problems. The experimental results suggest that the developed ant colony optimization algorithm based router has taken extremely short CPU time as compared to classical Satisfiabilty based detailed router (SDR) and finds all possible routes even for large FPGA circuits.
Simple Process for Sidewall Modification of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes with Polymer Side Chain Radicals Generated by Ultraviolet-Induced C-Cl Bond Dissociation of Polystyrene Derivatives

In this work, we investigated a simple one-step process for the formation of chemical bonds between multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and benzyl-type side chain radicals generated by UV photolysis of polystyrene derivatives containing the chloromethyl (–CH2Cl) group. Poly(4-chloromethyl)styrene, or styrene/4-(chloromethyl)styrene random copolymer, was mixed with MWCNTs in 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone and irradiated with ultraviolet (UV) light. Films of polymer/MWCNT mixtures before and after UV irradiation were fabricated, and then examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy. According to the XPS analysis, the amount of Cl atoms in the mixture was found to decrease upon UV irradiation, indicating that the Cl atoms generated by photolysis of chloromethyl groups escaped from the reaction system in the form of gaseous Cl2. The structural change of CNTs after UV irradiation was also observed by comparing the G/D ratios (the intensity ratio of the G to D bands) of the Raman spectra obtained before and after UV irradiation. Similar phenomena were also confirmed in the case of the polymer/MWCNT mixture containing hydroxylammonium chloride as a dispersant of MWCNTs. These results confirmed the UV-induced covalent bond formation between polymer side chains and MWCNTs.
Constrained framespace interpolation

This paper aims to consistently blend different types of motions after establishing automatic correspondence between their salient features. Framespace interpolation is a consistent forward kinematics motion transition technique that uses weights from input spline curves to warp and blend motions. Its application has been limited to interactive interpolation of two or four cyclic motions. Though based on principles that minimize violations like sliding of supporting end-effectors, it does not guarantee slide-free motion. This paper extends the application of framespace interpolation to an unlimited chain of cyclic and acyclic motions, via an improved coordination warp and constraints on transition curves. Inverse kinematics has been seamlessly used to correct slide-violations on the fly. These extensions have opened up exciting possibilities in real-time cyclification, blending and concatenation of a wide variety of human motions.
Mean energy, strength, and width of triple giant dipole resonances

We investigate the mean energy, strength, and width of triple giant dipole resonance using sum rules. We point out that the transition operator for the triple giant dipole resonance must be modified from the naive choice ${D}^{3}. $ With the modified transition operator, the strength and mean energy calculated in the Tomonaga model agree with the harmonic limit, and the width is larger than $\sqrt{3}$ times that of the giant dipole resonance. Had we adopted the naive choice, we would have obtained unphysical results for these quantities. Assuming the absence of a charge-exchange component in the nuclear interaction, we derive model-independent relationships between the mean energies and strengths of multiple giant dipole resonances, which are an extension of relations derived previously for the double giant dipole resonance.
High Breakdown Linear Discriminant

The classiication rules of linear discriminant analysis are deened by the true mean vectors and the common covariance matrix of the populations from which the data come. As these true parameters are in general unknown, they are commonly estimated by the sample mean vector and covariance matrix of the data in a training sample randomly drawn from each population. These sample statistics are however notoriously susceptible to contamination by outliers, a problem compounded by the fact that the outliers may be invisible to conventional diagnostics. High breakdown estimation is a procedure designed to remove this cause for concern by producing estimates that are immune to serious distortion by a minority of outliers, regardless of their severity. In this paper, we motivate and develop a high breakdown criterion for linear discriminant analysis and give an algorithm for
Towards a Resource-safe Java for Service Guarantees in Uncooperative Environments

Denial-of-Service (DoS) might only be an annoyance while browsing the Web. In the emerging breed of mission-critical Internet systems, however, service guarantees are mandatory and DoS attacks can be fatal. Increasingly, such systems are being built in Java, for which vulnerability to DoS attacks is inherent in the JavaSoft Java Virtual Machine (JVM) specification. For instance, objects with different levels of trust are required to withdraw memory from a unique heap; furthermore, their threads must compete for CPU cycles with scheduling and synchronization policies that are undefined. In this paper, we describe JVM extensions and new APIs for partitioning memory and CPU resources among untrusted, mutually suspicious applications coexisting within the same JVM. Non-interference properties apply to a new formulation of name-space that includes: exclusive access to a resource budget, an API to negotiate such a budget, real-time thread control, an independent garbage collector, and the system’s capability to asynchronously terminate the name-space itself. We survey the solution space, discuss our approach, describe the implementation, and finally report on our experience in applying our technology to a Javabased environment for Active Networks.
A Deg-protease family protein in marine Synechococcus is involved in outer membrane protein organization

Deg-family proteases are a periplasm-associated group of proteins that are known to be involved in envelope stress responses and are found in most microorganisms. Orthologous genes SYNW2176 (in strain WH8102) and sync_2523 (strain CC9311) are predicted members of the Deg-protease family and are among the few genes induced by copper stress in both open ocean and coastal marine Synechococcus strains. In contrast to the lack of a phenotype in a similar knockout in Synechocystis PCC6803, a SYNW2176 knockout mutant in strain WH8102 was much more resistant to copper than the wild-type. The mutant also exhibited a significantly altered outer membrane protein composition which may contribute to copper resistance, longer lag phase after transfer, low-level consistent alkaline phosphatase activity, and an inability to induce high alkaline phosphatase activity in response to phosphate stress. This phenotype suggests a protein-quality-control role for SYNW2176, the absence of which leads to a constitutively activated stress response. Deg-protease family proteins in this ecologically important cyanobacterial group thus help to determine outer membrane responses to both nutrients and toxins.
Comparison of passive rectifier circuits for energy harvesting applications

Recent developments in the design of low-power circuits have allowed Energy Harvesting (EH) systems to feed electronic circuits that execute complex processes, permitting that such systems play an important role in different application areas (e.g. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), biomedical devices, Internet of things (IoT), among others). Due to the low power output presented by these systems (in the range of μW to mW), the reduction of any potential losses presented in the circuits that form the EH system is a mayor issue; therefore, a careful selection of the circuits and its components may improve the performance. In this work, a comparison of various rectifier circuits found in the EH literature is presented. Based on the operation of each rectifier, the modeling of the power losses of each circuit will be introduced. Finally, the simulation results of the considered circuits are presented with the aim to measure parameters, like the efficiency, and perform a quantitative comparison.
Scheduling periodic and aperiodic tasks in hard real-time computing systems

Scheduling periodic and aperiodic tasks to meet their time constraints has been an important issue in the design of real-time computing systems. Usually, the task scheduling algorithms in such systems must satisfy the deadlines of periodic tasks and provide fast response times for aperiodic tasks. A simple and efficient approach to scheduling real-time tasks is the use of a periodic server in a static preemptive scheduling algorithm. Periodic tasks, including the server, are scheduled at priori to meet their deadlines according to the knowledge of their periods and computation times. The scheduling of aperiodic tasks is then managed by the periodic server during its service time. In this paper, a new scheduling algorithm is proposed. The new algorithm creates a periodic server which will have the highest priority but not necessarily the shortest period. The server is suspended to reduce the overhead if there are no aperiodic tasks waiting, and is activated immediately upon the arrival of the next aperiodic task. After activated, the server performs its duty periodically until all waiting aperiodic tasks are completed. For a set of tasks scheduled by this algorithm, the deadlines of periodic tasks are guaranteed by a deterministic feasibility check, and the mean response time of aperiodic tasks are estimated using a queueing model. Based on the analytical results, we can determine the period and service time of the server producing the minimum mean response time for aperiodic tasks. The analytical results are compared with simulation results to demonstrate the correctness of our model.
Proving trust in systems of second-order processes

We consider the problem of proving correctness properties for concurrent systems with features such as higher-order communication and dynamic resource generation. As examples we consider operational models of security and authentication protocols based on the higher-order /spl pi/-calculus. Key features such as nonces/time stamps, encryption/decryption, and key generation are modelled using channel name generation and second-order process communication. A temporal logic based on the modal /spl mu/-calculus is used to express secrecy and authenticity. Extensions include function space constructions to deal with process input and output. Contravariant recursion can be dealt with in two different ways, of which one, an iterative solution, is discussed in the paper. We propose a predicate of trust in a monotonically increasing set of channels as an example, and establish structural decomposition principles for this predicate for concurrent composition and local channel declaration. On this basis a type system for trust inference can be derived quite easily.
A CKF based GNSS/INS train integrated positioning method

Train positioning with high precision and integrity is crucial to train control system. For conventional positioning methods in multi-sensor integration frame could not meet the performance requirements, a GNSS/INS integrated positioning system architecture is built, in which the cubature Kalman filter is analyzed and employed to solve the problem of nonlinearity and computation efficiency, and the integrity design is realized by the principal component analysis based fault detection and diagnosis. Validation with practical measurement and results of simulation demonstrate that the CKF approach earns a high accuracy and efficiency ability than traditional UKF and PF solutions, and the integrity performance of the train positioning system could be improved by the PCA based FDD strategies.
The Growth Effects of 1992

This paper demonstrates that several types of dynamic trade effects can be easily quantified, at least roughly. These dynamic effects on output are found to be much larger than the static effects measured by existing empirical studies of trade liberalizations. The paper exposits and measures the Ricardian dynamic trade effect (the link between trade and steady-state level of productive factors). It also exposits and measures the Grossman-Helpman dynamic trade effect (the link between trade and the steady-state rate of accumulation of productive factors) by calibrating two of the "new" growth theory models.
Mitochondrial DNA Variant Discovery and Evaluation in Human Cardiomyopathies through Next-Generation Sequencing

Mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) may cause maternally-inherited cardiomyopathy and heart failure. In homoplasmy all mtDNA copies contain the mutation. In heteroplasmy there is a mixture of normal and mutant copies of mtDNA. The clinical phenotype of an affected individual depends on the type of genetic defect and the ratios of mutant and normal mtDNA in affected tissues. We aimed at determining the sensitivity of next-generation sequencing compared to Sanger sequencing for mutation detection in patients with mitochondrial cardiomyopathy. We studied 18 patients with mitochondrial cardiomyopathy and two with suspected mitochondrial disease. We “shotgun” sequenced PCR-amplified mtDNA and multiplexed using a single run on Roche's 454 Genome Sequencer. By mapping to the reference sequence, we obtained 1,300× average coverage per case and identified high-confidence variants. By comparing these to >400 mtDNA substitution variants detected by Sanger, we found 98% concordance in variant detection. Simulation studies showed that >95% of the homoplasmic variants were detected at a minimum sequence coverage of 20× while heteroplasmic variants required >200× coverage. Several Sanger “misses” were detected by 454 sequencing. These included the novel heteroplasmic 7501T>C in tRNA serine 1 in a patient with sudden cardiac death. These results support a potential role of next-generation sequencing in the discovery of novel mtDNA variants with heteroplasmy below the level reliably detected with Sanger sequencing. We hope that this will assist in the identification of mtDNA mutations and key genetic determinants for cardiomyopathy and mitochondrial disease.
Distributed Multimedia Information Retrieval Manner Based on the Statistic Information with Privacy

We propose and clarify the manner in which a distributed information retrieval (IR) is conducted using a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) technology that has approximately the same accuracy as a current index-integrated search engine with the statistical information calculated from the contents We need to solve the following problems to develop distributed IR services for distributed objects in peers without indices centralized servers. The first issue is efficient IR strategies that are highly accurate services by using the statistic information for indices using the collaboration among distributed peers (nodes). The second issue is the prevent strategy from flow of object information icluded personal information and shared information in groups to unknown peers as the result of IR service. We discuss the generating the statistics information and the scalability of service by using simulations and emulations. The dynamic privacy derivation manner of objects is generated based on the information entropy from catchwords. Our proposed stategy is required and suitable for P2P based peer services.