Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dual band polarization-insensitive wide angle metamaterial absorber for radar application

In this paper, an ultra-thin dual-band polarization-insensitive metamaterial absorber with wide-angle characteristics has been presented. The unit cell geometry comprises two circular rings with the inner one cross-connected. Simulated results show two discrete absorption peaks at 2.90 GHz (S-band) and 6.13 GHz (C-band) with absorptivities of 99.66% and 99.83% respectively, which can be used for surveillance and air defense radar applications. The proposed structure is polarization-insensitive and shows high absorption (over 80%) for wide incident angles upto 60 degree for both TE and TM polarizations. The proposed structure has been fabricated and measured, showing good agreement with the simulated responses.
INFORMATION CONTENT OF INSIDER TRADING VOLUMES IN COLOMBO STOCK EXCHANGE

The information asymmetry between insiders and outsiders suggests that insiders may trade in large volumes when they have access to unpublished information that cannot be accessed by outsiders. Insiders may purchase (sell) securities in large volumes when they are aware of good (bad) news. Hence, the market could perceive that higher the trading volumes of insiders, higher would be the level of information content that underlies it underlies. Accordingly, this study examines whether high trading volumes of directors’ are more informative than low trading volumes of directors’ and whether the market adjusts the security prices for this information immediately. This study analyzes a sample of high volume and low volume directors’ purchases and sales reported to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) during September, 2004 to August, 2012 using the standard event study methodology. The findings of the trading volume sample are consistent with the hypothesis that high volume directors’ purchases (sales) are associated with more positive (negative) abnormal returns. However, only the excess abnormal returns of high volume directors’ purchases are positive and significant on the event day. Further, the evidence implies that the market has reflected the high trading volumes of directors’ purchases in security prices immediately around the event day and has reflected the high trading volume directors’ sales during post event windows. The high trading percentage directors’ purchases and sales have not been significantly informative on the event day as hypothesized whereas high trading percentage directors ‘sales have been significantly informative with a delay. Keywords: Abnormal trading volume, Abnormal returns, Information asymmetry, Insider trade, Market efficiency For full paper: fmscresearch@sjp.ac. lk
The impact of the largest metastasis size on nodal tumor burden in colorectal carcinomas: implications for the sentinel lymph node theory in cancers of the large intestine

Successful sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy has been reported in colorectal cancer (CRC), but its results are still controversial. The SLN theory suggests that there is an orderly spread from the primary tumor to the SLNs first, and from the SLNs to further nodes later. This study examines the influence of nodal metastasis size on further nodal involvement.
Options Pricing and Optimal Contracting in B2B Markets: Background and Introduction to the Literature 1

This paper provides a brief survey and background reading on the underlying theory and practice in the use of options and other derivative contract forms in support of commodity hedging in B2B markets. Such derivatives play an important role in integrating long-term and short-term contracting between multiple buyers and sellers in commodity markets. A primary question of interest in this context is hedging commodity risk exposure associated with commodity procurement decisions. In the usual context, Sellers compete to supply Buyers in a market in which, in the short run, capacities and technologies are fixed. Buyers can reserve capacity through contracts for physical delivery obtained from any Seller and Buyers can also hedge these contracts through financial contracts on the same underlying indices from financial intermediaries. Output on the day can be either obtained through executing such contracts or in the associated spot market. Such contract-spot markets have become prominent under e-commerce (e.g., Geman, 2005), and include commodity chemicals, electric power, natural gas, metals, plastics, agricultural products and basic foodstuffs.
Study of urban expansion simulation on the condition of ecological environment protection: — A case study in Dianchi Basin in Kunming

Rapid urban expansion in the surrounding area is a major reason of ecological environment deterioration. This research adopted SLEUTH model and imported the result of ecological environment analysis as the excluded layer by building multi-factor comprehensive decision model, therefore, realized a loose couple of urban growth model and ecological environment analysis. The result indicates that this methodology is able to simulate urban expansion on the condition of effective ecological environment protection, thus proposes a relatively new idea and foundation to evaluate the existing land use situation and assist future land use planning.
Porosity sensor by using quartz crystals and two excitation signals

In response to a need for a more accurate porosity measuring method for small solid samples (approximately 1 g in mass) the porosity measurement sensor using a sensitive capacitive-dependent crystal was developed. This paper presents the new sensor and the probe sensitivity, frequency dependence on the volume. In addition, the new idea of excitation of the entire sensor with stochastic test signals is described, and the porosity measuring method is provided. The latter includes the influence of test signals on the weighting function uncertainty. The experimental results of the porosity determination in volcanic rock samples are presented. The uncertainty of the porosity measurement is less than 0.1 % in the temperature range 10-30 /spl deg/C.
An overview of the Hanford controversy.

In 1964, the Atomic Energy Commission agreed to sponsor "a study of the lifetime health and mortality experiences of all employees of AEC contractors. " The commission put in charge of this study a physician (Thomas Mancuso) who had recently shown how the U.S. Social Security system could be used to identify the dates and causes of death of all insured workers. As director of the AEC project, Mancuso was at liberty to include any or all the postwar offshoots of the Manhattan Project. His master plan included workers from Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, and Hanford, but it soon became apparent that his attempts to link radiation exposures to subsequent events were proving more successful at Hanford than elsewhere. The authors of this paper, who participated in the study, review the controversy surrounding its eventual publication.
Determinants of continuance intention of RFID in Australian livestock industry: An empirical study

The purpose of this study is to develop and refine a theoretical framework to examine the continuance intention of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in Australian livestock industry. A mixed-method research approach, consisting qualitative and quantitative, has been taken for this study. The findings of this study show that the continued RFID usage intention is influenced by satisfaction from current use, and confirmation of expectations. As a practical contribution, the findings of this study can be addressed by the Australian agricultural agencies as an acid-test of its current and future mandatory RFID policy. Policymakers can compare their experience with the findings of this study, evaluate the past, and reassess the future. As a theoretical contribution, this study is a first of its kind considering and incorporating 'adoption' in a confirmation-satisfaction framework to examine the continued usage behaviour of RFID.
Social question and answer sites: the story so far

Purpose Social question and answer (SQA) site is one of the factors that boosted up and popularized the vision of social web. It enables community members to post highly valued answers to globally asked questions and information seekers to grab intellectual information in a contextual, concise, and meaningful format at the cost of investing a few minutes. The purpose of this paper is to present a common architecture, history, and a comprehensive review of such sites. Design/methodology/approach A critical and analytical investigation of the state-of-the-art SQA sites and relevant literature has been carried out with the intention to explore the noticeable features of such sites. Findings By studying relevant literature, and analysing a number of existing systems, a number of research challenges are identified and a generic architecture of SQA sites is contributed. Practical implications The review contributes a comprehensive knowledge about SQA systems and aims to be helpful to new researchers who want to get a broad picture of SQA systems on a single platform. The domain is in its infancy and requires tremendous efforts from the research community to explore its salient aspects with respect to the human world. Originality/value The study inspects SQA sites on a large scale and makes an original contribution by presenting a comprehensive review, future research challenges, and a generic architecture of SQA sites.
Deficits in reaction times and movement times as correlates of hypokinesia in monkeys with MPTP-induced striatal dopamine depletion.

1. We quantitatively assessed deficits in the initiation and execution of arm movements occurring after destruction of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons by systemic administration of MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) (Sigma). Three monkeys performed a reaction time task in which they reached toward a single and constant target for food reward. 2. After administration of MPTP, all three monkeys showed hypokinesia necessitating dopamine precursor or receptor agonist treatment. The partial recovery of one animal from initial akinesia after 19 days permitted discontinuation of dopaminergic drug therapy, although marked hypokinesia remained present. The two other animals displayed additional, intermittent phases of rigidity and activation tremor and needed continuous dopaminergic drug therapy for most of the postlesion period. 3. Administration of MPTP significantly prolonged EMG reaction time in prime mover muscles and arm movement reaction time by 47-225% and 18-129%, respectively, on the six sides of the three animals, compared with control measurements before the lesion. EMG and arm movement reaction time increased over consecutive trials in most sessions comprising 110-130 movements, the first 20 movements showing almost normal values. The delay time between onsets of EMG and arm movement showed unsystematic changes. These deficits in movement initiation were observed both with and without dopamine precursor therapy. They lasted during the whole testing period of several months. 4. Linear correlations between arm movement onset and EMG onset in the two prime mover muscles, the extensor digitorum communis and the biceps, showed coefficients of mostly 0.7-0.9, both before and after MPTP. These data suggest that the temporal relationship between onsets of arm movement and EMG were not substantially affected by MPTP. 5. Arm movement time was divided into two phases. The duration of movement between the resting key and the target, a small food-containing box located ahead of the animal, was denoted as reaching movement time. The following hand manipulation inside the food box was measured as box movement time. After MPTP, both measures were significantly prolonged by 10-103% and 12-251%, respectively, on the six sides of the three monkeys. These deficits in movement execution were observed both with and without dopaminergic drug therapy and during the whole testing period. 6. Task performance after MPTP treatment was studied in one monkey in the absence of dopaminergic drug therapy. EMG and arm movement reaction times recovered partially over several weeks, while the prolongations in reaching and box movement times remained unchanged. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Toward a Conceptually Consistent Debt Capacity Measurement

Knowledge of debt capacity is central for the appraisal of the risk involved in debt financing. Such knowledge is indispensible for rating agencies, credit enhancement banks, debt issuers, and institutional investors. In this paper, we synthesize extant, disjoint literature in order to inductively generate a set whose non-collectively exhaustive elements may characterize a debt capacity measure that is capable of separating among different types of debt issuing firms. In this respect, we are mainly motivated by the rather scant literature concerning debt capacity measurement and explanation given the significance of the subject in the course of the current international financial crisis. Our exposition is thus inductive in nature, however, we offer a possibility for future positive research concerning parsimoniously specifying debt capacity.
Practical feature-based simultaneous localization and mapping using sonar data

A practical feature-based SLAM is proposed for applications in indoor environment using sonar data. Line features are extracted from groups of sonar data using hybrid Hough transform and least square (HTLS) algorithm. To meet the real-time requirement, an efficient implementation of HTLS algorithm based on slide window is introduced. Besides, the standard formulation of EKF-SLAM is extended to 2D-line case where the practical plant and observation model is constructed and then employed. To illustrate the performance of the proposed algorithm, experiment results on a Pioneer mobile robot are provided, which demonstrate that the constructed SLAM technique exhibits superior practicality and simplicity.
Monetary Policy and Bank Hetrogeneity: Effectiveness of Bank Lending Channel in Pakistan

We investigate, using vector autoregressions (VAR) and Panel Data Analysis, the role of banks in monetary policy transmission in Pakistan. Empirical evidence suggests that the 'bank lending channel' is at work at the aggregate level. Loans, deposits and government securities all reduce after a shock to the monetary policy. When we examine bank heterogeneity in terms of size, liquidity and capitalization, the results are mixed. Size is found to be a relevant characteristic. Capitalization, measured by excess capital, is also somewhat effective. Thus, small sized and capital constrained banks respond more to monetary policy signals. Liquidity and the traditional measure of capital, on the other hand, are found to be weaker characteristics. Moreover, the results suggest that the market for loans has a stationary size distribution (no monopolistic tendencies) in Pakistan.
Impact of downsizing and restructuring decisions and processes on organisational knowledge and organisational effectiveness: Implications for perceived success

This study examines the impact of downsizing/restructuring decisions and processes on perceptions of organisational effectiveness, together with perceived levels of organisational knowledge after the downsizing/restructuring event in successful and unsuccessful organisations. The study hypothesises that the impact of these decisions and processes on levels of organisational knowledge are a key determinant of effectiveness in successful post-downsizing and restructuring organisations. The findings show, however, that the significance of these variables is to be found in unsuccessful organisations, rather than their successful counterparts.
Quality Disclosure in Sustainability Reporting: Evidence From Universities

Attention towards sustainability reporting is very high with reference to higher education. The paper aims to assess the maturity level of sus-tainability reporting and to measure its quality by evaluating the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators currently disclosed. The research was carried out using the inductive method. We de-limited the study to universities and we evaluated the quality of sustainability reporting by analyzing the indicators disclosed in 2012 reports accord-ing to GRI guidelines. The research gives an overview of sustainability reporting in universities by evaluating the quality level of their disclosure. The results confrm previous research by high-lighting the necessity to improve sustainability reporting. Moreover, the results show there are differences between universities that are con-nected to the peculiarities of each country. They also enable us to draw up an initial classifcation of universities. The paper provides one of the frst in-depth studies of sustainability reporting quality for universities included in the GRI database.
Mitochondrial-Targeted Antioxidant Maintains Blood Flow, Mitochondrial Function, and Redox Balance in Old Mice Following Prolonged Limb Ischemia

Aging is a major factor in the decline of limb blood flow with ischemia. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. We investigated the role of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) with regard to limb perfusion recovery in aging during ischemia. We performed femoral artery ligation in young and old mice with or without treatment with a scavenger of mitochondrial superoxide, MitoTEMPO (180 μg/kg/day, from pre-operative day 7 to post-operative day (POD) 21) infusion using an implanted mini-pump. The recoveries of cutaneous blood flow in the ischemic hind limb were lower in old mice than in young mice but were improved in MitoTEMPO-treated old mice. Mitochondrial DNA damage appeared in ischemic aged muscles but was eliminated by MitoTEMPO treatment. For POD 2, MitoTEMPO treatment suppressed the expression of p53 and the ratio of Bax/Bcl2 and upregulated the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in ischemic aged skeletal muscles. For POD 21, MitoTEMPO treatment preserved the expression of PGC-1α in ischemic aged skeletal muscle. The ischemic soleus of old mice showed a lower mitochondrial respiratory control ratio in POD 21 compared to young mice, which was recovered in MitoTEMPO-treated old mice. Scavenging of mitochondrial superoxide attenuated mitochondrial DNA damage and preserved the mitochondrial respiration, in addition to suppression of the expression of p53 and preservation of the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) in ischemic skeletal muscles with aging. Resolution of excessive mitochondrial superoxide could be an effective therapy to recover blood flow of skeletal muscle during ischemia in senescence.
Hepatitis C Virus Transmission Bottlenecks Analyzed by Deep Sequencing

ABSTRACT Hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication in infected patients produces large and diverse viral populations, which give rise to drug-resistant and immune escape variants. Here, we analyzed HCV populations during transmission and diversification in longitudinal and cross-sectional samples using 454/Roche pyrosequencing, in total analyzing 174,185 sequence reads. To sample diversity, four locations in the HCV genome were analyzed, ranging from high diversity (the envelope hypervariable region 1 [HVR1]) to almost no diversity (the 5′ untranslated region [UTR]). For three longitudinal samples for which early time points were available, we found that only 1 to 4 viral variants were present, suggesting that productive infection was initiated by a very small number of HCV particles. Sequence diversity accumulated subsequently, with the 5′ UTR showing almost no diversification while the envelope HVR1 showed >100 variants in some subjects. Calculation of the transmission probability for only a single variant, taking into account the measured population structure within patients, confirmed initial infection by one or a few viral particles. These findings provide the most detailed sequence-based analysis of HCV transmission bottlenecks to date. The analytical methods described here are broadly applicable to studies of viral diversity using deep sequencing.
Total quality management in developing countries: A case of pharmaceutical wholesale distribution in Pakistan

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success factors of total quality management (TQM) in pharmaceutical wholesale distribution companies in Pakistan. The paper also seeks to contribute to reduce the existing lack of TQM studies in developing countries.Design/methodology/approach – A 29‐item survey questionnaire is sent to 90 pharmaceutical distributors. Response rate is 56.7 per cent. Confirmatory factor analysis deletes one item in the scale purification process.Findings – Data analysis reveal that “process design” (PD) is critical TQM success factor in pharmaceutical wholesale distribution companies in Pakistan. Like other studies in developing countries, top management in pharmaceutical wholesale distribution companies in Pakistan does not adequately support the TQM implementation.Research limitations/implications – The research is based in Pakistan only. Convenience sampling is done. The response size of the study is small (n=51) though the response rate and significance ar.
Isolation of Salmonella typhimurium Tn5 Mutants Defective for Survival on Egg Shell Surface Using Transposon Footprinting

The objective of this study was to screen the genome of Salmonella typhimurium for genes potentially required for survival on egg shell surfaces using a novel transposon footprinting method based on a previously developed Tn5 mutagenesis technique. Since the amplified DNA fragment length should usually be unique for each mutant, the polymerase chain reaction products separated on an agarose gel generate a transposon footprint with each band in the footprint representing the corresponding Tn5 mutant. By comparing the footprints from the pools of S. typhimurium Tn5 mutants before and after inoculation on egg shell surfaces, Tn5 mutants not recovered after selection were rapidly identified for potential isolation and genetic analysis.
Molecular, Genetic, and Cellular Pathogenesis of Neurofibromas and Surgical Implications

Neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) is a common autosomal dominant disease characterized by complex and multicellular neurofibroma tumors. Significant advances have been made in the research of the cellular, genetic, and molecular biology of NF1. The NF1 gene was identified by positional cloning. The functions of its protein product, neurofibromin, in RAS signaling and in other signal transduction pathways are being elucidated, and the important roles of loss of heterozygosity and haploinsufficiency in tumorigenesis are better understood. The Schwann cell was discovered to be the cell of origin for neurofibromas, but understanding of a more complicated interplay of multiple cell types in tumorigenesis, specifically recruited heterogenous cell types such as mast cells and fibroblasts, has important implications for surgical therapy of these tumors. This review summarizes the most recent NF1 and neurofibroma literature describing the pathogenesis and treatment of nerve sheath tumors. Understanding the biological underpinnings of tumorigenesis in NF1 has implications for future surgical and medical management of neurofibromas.