Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A programmable CCD signal processor

A charge-coupled-device (CCD) signal processor based on a vector-matrix product-computing algorithm is described. The processor is structured to perform the generic weighted-sum operation required in a neural network, and to compute the inner product of two matrices needed for two-dimensional spatial filtering. Used as a neural net processor, the chip provides 2016 programmable interconnections between 144 input nodes and 14 output nodes, performs 2.8-billion arithmetic operations/s and dissipates less than 2 W at a 10-MHz clock rate. The CCD device consists of analog tapped delay lines as input buffers, multiplying D/A converters (MDACs), and on-chip memory for storing the digital weights. <<ETX>>
Lessons from a Failed Airline Auction

In 1995, USAir placed itself for sale in an English auction. Interestingly, no bids were placed. This does not imply that the available firm is not a valuable acquisition. If losing reduces profits, firms wish to avoid a profit-reducing bidding war. However, in a sealed-bid auction (with no credible nonparticipation commitments), firms place profit-reducing bids in equilibrium. Also, a novelty of our analysis is the specification of the loser's profit rising with the price that the winner pays. This highlights an important explanation of bidding wars because a firm may bid simply to make the eventual winner pay a higher price. (JEL L1, L9) Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.
Simple anterior pelvic external fixation.

BACKGROUND Unstable pelvic ring disruptions are often associated with significant morbidity and mortality, especially in patients with multiple injuries. Early pelvic fixation provides stability and should diminish ongoing hemorrhage. A simple anterior single-pin pelvic external fixator can be applied rapidly and accurately to stabilize pelvic ring injuries as a part of the initial patient resuscitation of such patients. Simple anterior pelvic external fixation (SAPEF) frames can be used as either temporary, definitive, or supplementary fixation depending on the pelvic injury pattern. METHODS Over a 32-month period, 41 patients with unstable pelvic ring disruptions were stabilized using a simple anterior pelvic external fixator. Eight patients had open pelvic ring injuries and 13 others had genitourinary system disruptions. Fluoroscopic imaging was used to insert all of the fixation pins into the iliac crest between the iliac cortical tables to a depth of at least 5 cm. Each patient had closed manipulative reduction of the pelvic ring using external methods before SAPEF application. RESULTS One patient died less than 24 hours after injury because of torrential hemorrhage. Clinical evaluations and serial radiographs, including postoperative computed tomographic scans, were available for the other 40 patients postoperatively. Seventy-five of the 80 (94%) pins were completely contained between the iliac cortical tables, according to the computed tomographic scans. The initial pelvic closed reductions were maintained until the fixators were removed in 37 of 40 patients (93%). Only one deep pin track infection developed, mandating early frame removal and intravenous antibiotic therapy. CONCLUSION Simple anterior pelvic external fixation can be applied rapidly using fluoroscopic guidance to direct accurate pin insertion and closed manipulative reduction of the pelvis. Depending on the specific pelvic ring injury pattern and clinical scenario, SAPEF can serve as a resuscitative temporary fixation device, as definitive pelvic treatment, or as a supplement for pelvic internal fixation implants.
Are Non-Standard Neural Behaviors Computationally Relevant?

An idea that has recently appeared in the neural network community is that networks with heterogeneous neurons and non-standard neural behaviors can provide computational advantages. A theoretical investigation of this idea was given by Kampakis (2013) for spiking neurons. In artificial neural networks this idea has been recently researched through Neural Diversity Machines (Maul, 2013). However, this idea has not been tested experimentally for spiking neural networks. This paper provides a first experimental investigation of whether neurons with non-standard behaviors can provide computational advantages. This is done by using a spiking neural network with a biologically realistic neuron model that is tested on a supervised learning task. In the first experiment the network is optimized for the supervised learning task by adjusting the parameters of the neurons in order to adapt the neural behaviors. In the second experiment, the parameter optimization is used in order to improve the networkâs performance after the weights have been trained. The results confirm that neurons with non-standard behaviors can provide computational advantages for a network. Further implications of this study and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Has the Effect of Asset Securitization on Bank Risk Taking Behavior Changed?

In this paper, we examine whether the relation between securitization and bank risk changes after the financial crisis of 2007 to 2009. Using different measures of risk, we find that prior to 2007, securitization increases bank risk. We find no evidence that securitization increases bank risk after 2009. Our findings are robust to different characterizations of securitization, the time periods used to measure the changes in bank risk, as well as to different estimation approaches. Our findings suggest that the economic losses that the banks suffered during the financial crisis and the new rules put in place in its aftermath have diminished the incentives for banks to engage in risk taking via securitization.
Space, Time, and Local Employment Growth: An Application of Spatial Regression Analysis

Local and regional employment growth is generally studied either by searching for local qualitative explanatory factors such as governance, synergy between firms, and milieu effects, or by searching for general growth factors using statistical techniques. The body of work that relies on this approach has tended, in keeping with economics’ nomothetic tradition, to assume that local and regional growth factors are constant over space. The focus of this paper is on exploring the spatial stationarity of employment growth factors in Canada, but it also seeks to clarify some of the broad principles behind spatial regression techniques in order to provide a point of entry and a conceptual framework for empirical researchers. To do so, we apply a recently developed technique, Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR), and we explore the method's advantages and limits for answering our research question. We find evidence that growth factors differ across Canada, but we also conclude that the GWR technique, given the number and shape of regions available for our analysis and given certain limitations that are currently inherent to the method, can only provide tentative and exploratory results.
The Yeast Paf1-RNA Polymerase II Complex Is Required for Full Expression of a Subset of Cell Cycle-Regulated Genes

ABSTRACT We have previously described an alternative form of RNA polymerase II in yeast lacking the Srb and Med proteins but including Paf1, Cdc73, Hpr1, and Ccr4. The Paf1-RNA polymerase II complex (Paf1 complex) acts in the same pathway as the Pkc1-mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade and is required for full expression of many cell wall biosynthetic genes. The expression of several of these cell integrity genes, as well as many other Paf1-requiring genes identified by differential display and microarray analyses, is regulated during the cell cycle. To determine whether the Paf1 complex is required for basal or cyclic expression of these genes, we assayed transcript abundance throughout the cell cycle. We found that transcript abundance for a subset of cell cycle-regulated genes, including CLN1, HO, RNR1, and FAR1, is reduced from 2- to 13-fold in a paf1Δ strain, but that this reduction is not promoter dependent. Despite the decreased expression levels, cyclic expression is still observed. We also examined the possibility that the Paf1 complex acts in the same pathway as either SBF (Swi4/Swi6) or MBF (Mbp1/Swi6), the partially redundant cell cycle transcription factors. Consistent with the possibility that they have overlapping essential functions, we found that loss of Paf1 is lethal in combination with loss of Swi4 or Swi6. In addition, overexpression of either Swi4 or Mbp1 suppresses some paf1Δ phenotypes. These data establish that the Paf1 complex plays an important role in the essential regulatory pathway controlled by SBF and MBF.
Comparison of 2 quality-of-life questionnaires in women treated for breast cancer: the RAND 36-Item Health Survey and the Functional Living Index-Cancer.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE A variety of health status questionnaires have been used in physical rehabilitation studies involving women with breast cancer, but the usefulness of these questionnaires as measures of physical, mental, and social well-being has not been firmly established in this population. This study was conducted to assess the convergent and discriminative properties of the RAND 36-Item Health Survey and the Functional Living Index-Cancer (FLIC). SUBJECTS Both questionnaires were administered concurrently to 110 outpatients treated surgically for breast cancer at a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. METHODS Bivariate correlations and a multi-trait-multi-method matrix were used to evaluate convergent validity between summary and subscale scores from both questionnaires. Discriminative validity was assessed by testing for expected differences between women who were treated for breast cancer with and without secondary lymphedema. RESULTS Correlations between overall quality-of-life scores produced by both questionnaires were modest, indicating that the instruments focus on somewhat different aspects of health-related quality of life. Global quality-of-life and physical well-being scores were lower among women with lymphedema secondary to breast cancer. The FLIC demonstrated greater sensitivity to group differences in emotional well-being. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The results suggest that neither questionnaire can be replaced by the other in studies of women treated for breast cancer. Both questionnaires were able to distinguish physical functioning deficits in women with lymphedema secondary to breast cancer, but symptom- or treatment-specific measures may be required to assess more subtle difficulties related to the emotional aspects of health and functioning in this population.
Does Transparency of Central Banks Produce Multiple Equilibria on Currency Markets?

A recent strand of literature shows that multiple equilibria in models of markets for pegged currencies vanish if there is slightly diverse information among traders; see Morris and Shin (2001). It is known that this approach works only if the common knowledge in the market is not too precise. This has led to the conclusion that central banks should try to avoid making their information common knowledge. We develop a model in which more transparency of the central bank implies better private information, because each trader utilises public information according to her own private information. Thus, transparency makes multiple equilibria less likely.
Returns to Education and the Transition from School to Work in Syria

Young people in Syria are facing large difficulties in entering the labor market, due to labor supply pressures and weak labor demand from both public and private sectors, leading to persistently high levels of unemployment among the youth. Apart from tabulations of existing data, published research on the Syrian labor market is practically non-existent. This study provides unique analytical insights into the education-employment link in Syria. Using data from the 2001 and 2002 Labor Force Surveys, we describe the current labor market situation, estimate returns to education, and analyze the transition from school to work for young people. We find that rates of return to education are low by international standards, but increase with the level of educational attainment. We find evidence that higher education is attractive because it increases the chances of finding a job, decreases queuing times for sought-after jobs in the public sector, and increases the opportunities for working abroad. Prior to 2001, graduates of intermediate institutes were guaranteed jobs in the public sector where government-set pay scales dictate wages. As a result, over 80 per cent of intermediate institute graduates work in the public sector. In 2001, the Syrian government stopped guaranteeing jobs to graduates of higher institutes, who now have to look for jobs in the private sector that do not necessarily match the training they received. Indeed, we find that the rates of return to schooling are especially low for male graduates of intermediate institutes working in the private sector, indicating little benefit in terms of skills demanded.
After content: the business of information in the postcopyright age

It is argued that the age of print is coming to a close more rapidly than had been predicted in the 1990s and that the system of ownership and control of content, embodied in the concept of copyright, will not survive into the digital age. Examples include the recent US legal rulings regarding the Napster (www.napster. com) and MP3 (www.mp3.com) Web sites for exchanging music, that have revealed the inadequacies of the US Copyright Act in the context of a modern communication model. In the post-copyright world of the Internet and World Wide Web, intellectual property will be traded in a different and, arguably, a more rational way. It is stressed that those who have argued most fervently about the primacy of content have not been the authors, artists or originators (the owners of the copyrights), but those who have only had access by licence. It is argued that the debate is not one about the ultimate ownership of content, but about its tradable status and the emphasis is quickly switching away from content and towards context. Some of the new, emerging business models are discussed including: free information acting as promotion for commercial services; advertising and sponsorship; vertically organized information services; and users-as-publishers. Concludes that in the mixed economy of the Web all of these models are likely to survive. In these networked content environments, the legal framework of exchange will be contract and licence while content and copyright will become forgotten concepts.
Individual and school environment factors associated with overweight in adolescents of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract Objective To identify the association of individual and school environment factors with overweight among adolescents. Design Cross-sectional study. Sociodemographic and behavioural information was collected using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. Indicators on human and physical resources of the schools were based on information collected in interviews with school principals. Overweight was defined based on the BMI Z-score for age and sex recommended by WHO. Logistic regression models were used for statistical analysis. Setting Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Subjects By means of a two-stage (classrooms and students) probabilistic sampling, subjects comprised 1632 students enrolled in the last year of primary education of the municipal public school network, stratified by city region. Results The mean prevalence of overweight at schools was 17·2 %, ranging from 0 % to 50 %. Adolescents more likely to be overweight were those who attended schools without knives and forks or ceramic/glass plates for students in the school refectory (prevalence odds ratio (POR) = 1·40; P = 0·04), those whose head of household had completed between 8 and 10 years of schooling (POR = 1·46; P = 0·03), those who did not live with both parents (POR = 1·24; P = 0·06) and those who had not practised physical activity outside school on at least 1 d in the 7 d before the study (POR = 1·56; P = 0·04). Conclusions Sociodemographic and behavioural variables of adolescents and school characteristics were associated with overweight, confirming individual and context effects on this health disorder. Studies such as the present one, identifying variables in context, may support actions to prevent overweight among adolescents.
Supranationalism between the nation-state and international cooperation

On one hand, supranationalism is a level of international cooperation while on the other hand it is a model of institutional structure present in the European studies, or, in a broader view, in international relationships, as well as a method of cooperation, or integration rather, which depends on positioning the international interactions on the supranational level. The purpose of this article is to examine supranational level higher than inter-state level in the European integration. Particular focus is given to models of supranationalism and its mechanics of creation in several stages: establishing of international institutions, delegating national competences and emancipation of delegated powers. Author adopts the “deliberative” model of supranationalism. Since supranationalism is a third dimension between the national state and international cooperation and more importantly, it is intentionally and voluntarily created (as a result of tests, experiments and research) by national states, it means that it offers better, that is, more effective instruments to execute the state’s preferences than the ones that are traditionally used by national states. At last supranational community is a project that is more challenging than “unity”, but it is also more ambiguous. It is more challenging because it redefines the notion of borders among nations and between the nation and the state, or even within the nation itself. The project is more radical because, on one hand, it demands more from the actors of such community but, on the other hand, it imposes more limitations on them. Key words: International relations, theory of international relations, European integration, supranationalism, theory of European integration
Accounting Accruals, Future Operating Performance, and Public-Listing Age

This paper investigates the impact of public-listing age on the future operating performance of Chinese firms making initial public offerings (IPOs) during the period 1998-2010 and examines whether accounting accruals contribute to this impact. We found that, on average, public-listing age has a negative incremental effect on future operating performance in China and that accounting accruals do play a role in postissue underperformance. However, our industrial analysis reveals that the listing-age effect does not persist in industry-specific models; this implies that listing age has heterogeneous effects on post-IPO operating performance and that these effects deserve further attention.
How Well Do Hospital Mortality Rates Reported in the New York State CABG Report Card Predict Subsequent Hospital Performance?

Background:The use of mortality report cards as the basis for hospital choice assumes that a hospital's current performance is predicted by its past performance. Objective:To assess the accuracy of hospital risk-adjusted mortality rates reported in the New York State (NYS) coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) report card for predicting subsequent hospital mortality. Methods:We performed a retrospective study based on hospital mortality measures for CABG surgery (n = 37 hospitals) in NYS, which are publicly reported by the NYS Department of Health. Feasible generalized least squares was used to examine the association between a hospital's past quality ranking (high-quality, intermediate-quality, low-quality) and its subsequent performance, as measured using the ratio of the observed-to-expected mortality rate (O-to-E ratio). Results:Hospitals identified as low-mortality hospitals using 2-year-old data had subsequent O-to-E ratios that were 16.8% lower (95% confidence interval, 8.9–24.8; P < 0.001) than average-mortality hospitals, whereas hospitals identified as high-mortality hospitals had subsequent O-to-E ratios that were 31.8% higher (95% confidence interval, 3.69–59.9; P < 0.05) compared with average-mortality hospitals. Hospitals identified as high-mortality hospitals using 3-year-old data were indistinguishable from average-mortality hospitals. Conclusion:Hospital ranking based on 2-year-old data is a strong predictor of future performance. Report cards based on 3-year-old data may not be useful for identifying low-performance hospitals. We recommend that the CABG report cards in NYS should be based on 2-year-old data, as opposed to the current practice of basing them on either 2- or 3-year-old data.
PIN Auxin Efflux Carriers Are Necessary for Pulse-Induced But Not Continuous Light-Induced Phototropism in Arabidopsis1[W][OA]

Auxin efflux carrier PIN-FORMED (PIN) proteins are thought to have central roles in regulating asymmetrical auxin translocation during tropic responses, including gravitropism and phototropism, in plants. Although PIN3 is known to be involved in phototropism in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), no severe defects of phototropism in any of the pin mutants have been reported. We show here that the pulse-induced, first positive phototropism is impaired partially in pin1, pin3, and pin7 single mutants, and severely in triple mutants. In contrast, such impairment was not observed in continuous-light-induced second positive phototropism. Analysis with an auxin-reporter gene demonstrated that PIN3-mediated auxin gradients participate in pulse-induced phototropism but not in continuous-light-induced phototropism. Similar functional separation was also applicable to PINOID, a regulator of PIN localization. Our results strongly suggest the existence of functionally distinct mechanisms i.e. a PIN-dependent mechanism in which transient stimulation is sufficient to induce phototropism, and a PIN-independent mechanism that requires continuous stimulation and does not operate in the former phototropism process. Although a previous study has proposed that blue-light photoreceptors, the phototropins, control PIN localization through the transcriptional down-regulation of PINOID, we could not detect this blue-light-dependent down-regulation event, suggesting that other as yet unknown mechanisms are involved in phototropin-mediated phototropic responses.
China's Cadre Transfer Policy toward Tibet in the 1980s:

This article focuses on the personnel transfer policy of the Chinese government in the 1980s and on the politically and strategically sensitive personnel (i.e. cadres) transferred to Tibet.This article portrays various aspects of the governments transfer policy.by discussing the procedures and methods of transferring Chinese to Tibet as well as its explicit and implicit purposes. It also looks at transfers out of Tibet.Chinas cadre transfer policy with respect to Tibet in the 1980s seems to have been targeted and selective: it focused on educated and technical personnel and purposely restricted the transfer of political functionaries and ordinary workers. Also in the 1980s the Chinese government pursued an equally conscious and systematic policy of withdrawing a large number of Chinese cadres from Tibet especially those who performed political functions. (EXCERPT)