Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Probabilistic self-stabilizing mutual exclusion in uniform rings

A system is self-stabilizing if it can correctly start from any possible configuration. To prove that a system self-stabilizes to a specification P, we must find a subset Z of its configurations, called legitimate configurations, and show that P is satisfied by every execution starting from C E L (correction) and that, starting from every configuration, the system eventually reaches a configuration of ,C (convergence). This paper deals with the self-stabilizing mutual exclusion on rings of size n (n > 2). [Dij74] obtained a 3-state solution where each process, on the bidirectional ring, has an identificator. For uniform n-rings, deterministic solutions are not possible when n is composite. [BP89] first proposed a deterministic protocol that uses approximately (nz/ in n) states for each process in a unidirectional uniform ring of prime size. [Hua93] obtained a 3n-state solution with a bidirectional ring. Probabilistic uniform solutions have been given by [Her90] for synchronous unidirectional odd rings and by [IJ90] for bidirectional rings with distributed daemon.
Exploring Skill Ecosystems in the Australian Meat Processing Industry: Unions, Employers and Institutional Change

This article discusses the concept of the skill ecosystem in the context of the network oriented literature on learning and skill acquisition. Three critical features of skill ecosystems are identified and then applied to an analysis of the abattoir sector of the Australian meat processing industry. The analysis highlights the important role of the employee union in the skill ecosystem, including maintaining a flow of new entrants into the sector. The article then examines the impact of major institutional change, through the deregulation of industrial relations, on the ecosystem. It concludes by discussing the applicability of the skill ecosystem concept to a mature, low-skill industry such as meat processing and then draws some conclusions about the limitations of the skill ecosystem concept itself.
Bringing E-Democracy Back In

The author argues that contemporary digital information communication technologies (ICTs) facilitate new forms of e-government-enabled public sector policy making that enshrine some of the important norms and practices of e-democracy. The potential for linking e-democracy in civil society with e-government at the level of the local and national state is far from straightforward but nevertheless achievable. Following a consideration of the democratization effects of e-democracy and e-government, the author outlines how their norms and practices are converging in four principal areas: online consultations integrating civil societal groups with bureaucracies and legislatures, the internal democratization of the public sector itself, the involvement of users in the design and delivery of public services, and the diffusion of open-source collaboration in public organizations. These now feature as some of the core areas for research in this field and our broader understanding of how ICTs are reshaping governance, the state, and democracy.
Resource and Skill Transfers in Subcontractor SME Acquisitions: Influence on the Long‐Term Performance of Acquired Firms

This paper investigates the link between resource and skill transfers and the long‐term performance of acquisitions. Rather than taking the more common acquirer's perspective, this research emphasizes the point of view of the acquired firm and focuses on a little‐studied type of business, namely, small and medium‐sized subcontractor firms. Through 14 case studies of subcontractor acquisitions, we show that those acquired firms can improve their long‐term performance in terms of turnover, profitability, number of employees and reduced dependency, if they receive certain types of new resources and skills from acquirers. Particularly, post‐acquisition performance is more closely related to the transfer of managerial and functional skills than to operational resources. Three factors (e.g., geographical, business and cultural proximity) also help facilitate some types of transfers. However, the degree of post‐acquisition integration does not play a key role in those transfers.
Executive Strength, Executive-Legislative Relations, and Budget Deficits

Why do different countries experience varying levels of budget deficits? Common pool resource theorists argue that budget deficits tend to be low if the executive, who considers total tax burdens, suppresses the narrow incentives of individual legislators, who only consider partial tax burdens. Policy inertia theorists argue that a decrease in the number of veto players is associated with a low level of budget deficit. In this article, we combine the two approaches and offer a conditional common pool resource theory that predicts budget deficits to decrease as the executive strength vis-a-vis the legislature increases under parliamentarism because of the lack of legislative veto power. Under presidentialism, however, this effect is not likely to be significant because of the presence of legislative veto power. We support the argument through an analysis of cross-national data on budget deficits of 49 countries from 1995 to 2011.
Platform Owner Entry and Innovation in Complementary Markets: Evidence from Intel

This paper draws on a detailed history of Intel's strategy with respect to the complementary markets for microprocessors to explore the usefulness of the current theoretical literature for explaining behavior. We find that as the literature predicts, Intel invests heavily in these markets, both through direct entry and through subsidy. We also find, again consistent with the literature, that the firm's entry decisions are shaped by the belief that it does not have either the capabilities or the resources to enter all possible markets, and thus that it believes it is critical to encourage widespread entry. As several authors have pointed out, this imperative places the firm in a difficult strategic position, since it needs to attempt to commit to potential entrants that it will not engage in an ex-post "squeeze", despite the fact that ex post it has very strong incentives to do so. We find that the fact that the complementary markets in which Intel competes are complex, dynamic and multilayered considerably sharpens this dilemma. We explore the ways in which Intel attempts to solve it, highlighting in particular the organizational structure and processes through which they attempt to commit to making money in the markets which they choose to enter while also committing not to making too much. Our results have implications for both our understanding of the dynamics of competition in complements and of the role of organizational structures and processes in shaping competition.
The innovative performance of German multinationals abroad: evidence from the European community innovation survey

This article analyzes cross-country differences in innovation behavior of subsidiaries of German multinational enterprises. The analysis is based on data from community innovation survey (CIS4) and covers 16 European countries. We find considerable differences in innovation input intensity and innovation output intensity between German subsidiaries located in different European countries. Multivariate analysis reveals that these differences are largely related to firm characteristics. A significant relationship between firm-level innovation and host country characteristics can only be found for innovation output. Copyright 2011 The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved. , Oxford University Press.
Delay in Bargaining with Externalities

This paper studies infinite-horizon bargaining between a seller and multiple buyers when externalities are present. We extend the analysis in Jehiel & Moldovanu (1995a), by allowing for both pure and mixed equilibria. This extension is warranted, since under some circumstances,the complexity of the equilibria with bounded recall they analyze tend to infinity as players become very patient. We show that stationary subgame perfect equilibria always exist. Moreover, a characterization of the stationary subgame perfect equilibria in generic games is presented. Equilibria with delay exist only for strong positive externalities. Since ach buyer receives a positive payoff when the seller agrees with some other buyer, positive externalities induces a war of attrition between buyers. Furthermore, the results when analyzing mixed stationary equilibria are different than when focusing on pure strategies with bounded recall as Jehiel & Moldovanu (1995a). Specifically, they find delay only when externalities are negative.
Consumers’ Pro-Environmental Behavior and Its Determinants in the Lodging Segment

Sustainable consumption of hospitality products and services has become an increasingly important topic of interest in both hospitality academia and practice. Inducing pro-environmental behavior (PEB) in individuals has been recognized as one of the major challenges on the path to sustainable hospitality consumption. This research examined customers’ PEB in hotel settings. Based on a survey with a sample of 537 participants representing a broad range of demographic strata, this study identified seven dimensions of PEB as manifested in hotel settings (green consumerism, recycling, reuse, conservation, reduction, curtailing, and compromise) and examined the associations of psychological determinants with the seven PEB behavioral types. The results show that hotel customers display the least PEB when compromise of personal comfort is involved. The findings further suggest that the major determinant of PEB in hotel settings is nonenvironmental concerns, such as time and effort involved in PEB. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.
Exposure of magnetic bacteria to simulated mobile phone-type RF radiation has no impact on mortality

The interaction of mobile phone RF emissions with biogenic magnetite in the human brain has been proposed as a potential mechanism for mobile phone bioeffects. This is of particular interest in light of the discovery of magnetite in human brain tissue. Previous experiments using magnetite-containing bacteria exposed directly to emissions from a mobile phone have indicated that these emissions might be causing greater levels of cell death in these bacterial populations when compared to sham exposures. A repeat of these experiments examining only the radio frequency (RF) global system for mobile communication (GSM) component of the mobile phone signal in a well-defined waveguide system (REFLEX), shows no significant change in cell mortality compared to sham exposures. A nonmagnetite containing bacterial cell strain (CC-26) with similar genotype and phenotype to the magnetotactic bacteria was used as a control. These also showed no significant change in cell mortality between RF and sham exposed samples. Results indicate that the RF components of mobile phone exposure do not appear to be responsible for previous findings indicating cell mortality as a result of direct mobile phone exposure. A further mobile phone emission component that should be investigated is the 2-Hz magnetic field pulse generated by battery currents during periods of discontinuous transmission.
Utilizing individual alpha frequency and delta band power in EEG based biometric recognition

Brain activities are inherently determined by a person's unique pattern of neural pathways and are closely associated with his/her genetic personality traits. Brain activity recorded by electroencephalogram (EEG), has recently been regarded as potential candidate in future generation biometric systems. In this paper, a biometric identification system is proposed, combining subject-specific alpha peak frequency, peak power and delta band power values to form discriminative feature vectors and templates. A public dataset of EEG signals recorded from 109 healthy subjects during eyes open/closed (EO/EC) relaxed rest states, has been analyzed here. Using simple similarity measurements based on correlation and distance measures of the test EEG sequences from the template vectors, an average recognition rate of up to 90 % is achieved, by combining spectral features from delta and alpha bands extracted from selected 19 EEG channels. Experimental results explicitly show the usefulness of combining subject-specific alpha and delta bands in future biometric recognition systems. Further investigation is essential to precisely analyze the system and to improve recognition accuracy.
Longitudinal Investigation of the Relationship between Breast Milk Leptin Levels and Growth in Breast-fed Infants

BACKGROUND It has been shown that leptin is present in breast milk and human mammary epithelial cells are able to synthesize leptin. It has been suggested that leptin in human milk might be involved in the regulation of postnatal nutrition and growth. AIMS To investigate whether there is a relationship between leptin levels in human milk and weight gain in the postnatal period and to compare variations of milk-borne maternal leptin concentrations for small for gestational age (SGA), large for gestational age (LGA) and appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants. INFANTS AND METHODS Forty-seven healthy lactating women aged from 17-38 years and their infants were included in the study. The infants were separated into three groups according to birth weight as SGA (n = 11), LGA (n = 14) and AGA (n = 22). All infants were fed with breast milk during the study period. Anthropometric measurements were performed on the 15th day of life and at 1, 2, and 3 months of age, and the body mass index (BMI) of the infants' mothers was calculated. Breast milk leptin levels were analyzed by radioimmunoassay. RESULTS Breast milk leptin levels were found reduced in the SGA group and increased in the LGA group compared to the AGA group at 15 days of life (13.4 +/- 2.2, 28.5 +/- 4.4 and 18.4 +/- 2 ng/ml, respectively; p <0.05). At 1 month of age, leptin levels in breast milk were significantly lower in the LGA group than in the AGA group (15.5 +/- 4.9, 19.4 +/- 1.7 ng/ml, respectively; p<0.05). There was no difference among the three groups at 2 and 3 months of age (p>0.05). There was a positive correlation between birth Weight and breast milk leptin levels on the 15th day (r = 0.47, p = 0.001). A negative correlation was found between weight gain during the first 15 days and 1 month of life and breast milk leptin levels on the 15th day (r = -0.44, p = 0.002; r = -0.40, p = 0.005, respectively). No relationship could be determined between breast milk leptin levels and BMI of the mothers. CONCLUSION Maternal milk of SGA, LGA and AGA infants had different leptin levels, especially during the first month of life. More rapid growth was shown in the SGA infants during the first postnatal 15 days compared to AGA and LGA infants, and human milk leptin levels were significantly reduced in the SGA group. However, LGA infants gained more weight during the second 15 days of life and breast milk leptin levels were dramatically decreased in LGA and increased in SGA infants at the end of first month of life. These findings suggest that the presence of leptin in breast milk might have a significant role in growth, appetite and regulation of nutrition in infancy, especially during the early lactation period, and the production of leptin in breast tissue by human mammary epithelial cells might be regulated physiologically according to necessity and state of the infant.
Biliary secretion and actin-cytokeratin filament distribution in rat hepatocytes during phalloidin-induced cholestasis.

The relationship between bile secretion (bile flow, bile acids, phospholipids, and cholesterol) and distribution of actin microfilaments (MFs) and cytokeratin (CK) intermediate filaments (IFs) was examined in hepatocytes of rats injected with a single low dose of phalloidin. This treatment induced a transient cholestasis characterized by a rapid development period (0-90 min postinjection) and a slow recovery period (24 h and 5 days postinjection). No significant changes were observed in bile acid secretion during the 5-day period. The phospholipid output dropped to less than 25% at 90 min and was back to the normal value at 24 h postinjection. In a parallel way, the cholesterol secretion dropped to 30% but came back to only 60% of the control level. Nile Red staining demonstrated a concomitant accumulation of lipids both in the cytoplasm and at the surface membrane. Immunostaining of the actin MFs and CK IFs showed that, in contrast with controls where both cytoskeletal networks were preferentially and uniformly localized at the surface membrane (i.e., sinusoidal, basolateral, and canalicular regions), the toxin treatment led to a major targeting of actin to the pericanalicular region at 24 h and a massive accumulation of well-preserved CK IFs in the cytoplasm at 5 days. Interestingly, this accumulation of CK IFs was not linked to any significant variations in CK isoforms. Together, these data indicate that a selective binding of the toxin to sinusoidal membrane actin at the time of injection triggers a sequence of events that culminate in delayed accumulation of actin MFs at the canalicular pole and of CK IFs in the cytoplasm. Moreover, the reversible perturbation of the bile secretory activity implies a functional adaptation of the hepatocytes that parallels the phalloidin-induced reorganization of both cytoskeleton networks.
Transparência, condução da política monetária e metas para inflação

Given that several countries have adopted inflation targeting, and that the main objective of this regime is to function as a guide for the inflationary expectations of economic agents, transparency in the handling of the monetary policy becomes a prerequisite for the success of this regime. This paper presents a survey of the evolution in the theoretical and empirical research concerning transparency in handling monetary policy. The main conclusion suggests that transparency must be understood as a mechanism that, if used in correctly, can favor a rise in credibility in the handling of monetary policy.
Expatriates social networks: the role of company size

This study is an extension as well as a test of Caligiuri and Lazarova's model (2002) for the influence of support provided by different network partners (supervisors, co-workers, friends, spouses) on received socio-emotional and instrumental support. We extended this model by examining this relationship in connection with company size. Ninety expatriates were questioned during their foreign assignment: 45 from small and medium-sized enterprises and 45 from large companies. Consistent with our hypothesis expatriates who received support from their co-workers during their foreign sojourn also received more instrumental support. In addition, the type of company moderated the relationship between the network partner friends and socio-emotional and instrumental support. Implications for expatriate adjustment research and practice are discussed.
Hypoxia-inducible Factor and Its Biomedical Relevance*

Oxygen homeostasis is a cornerstone of both the physiology and intermediary metabolism systems. Despite the explosion of knowledge brought about by recombinant DNA technology, links between classic physiology and molecular biology are often fragmentary and tenuous. However, during the past decade, there has been enormous progress in understanding adaptation to hypoxia at the molecular level. A growing number of physiologically relevant genes are up-regulated by falling intracellular oxygen tension via a novel mechanism for oxygen sensing and signaling that triggers the activation of the hypoxia-inducible transcription factor HIF. The importance of this pathway is suggested by its presence in virtually all cells within virtually all higher eukaryotes from flies and worm to man. In this Minireview we summarize a large body of recent information on the oxygen-dependent regulation of the subunit of HIF, by both ubiquitin-proteasomal degradation and by transcriptional activation. In addition we review some of the biomedical aspects of HIF-dependent gene expression, particularly those that impact angiogenesis and tumor biology.
Heterogeneity in the Speed of Adjustment Toward Target Leverage

Estimating the speed of adjustment towards target leverage using the standard partial adjustment model assumes that all firms within the sample adjust at the same (average) pace. Dynamic capital structure theory predicts heterogeneity in adjustment speed due to firm-specific adjustment costs. Applying an estimator designed to be unbiased in the context of unbalanced dynamic panel data with a fractional dependent variable (DPF estimator), we conduct an extensive analysis of cross-sectional heterogeneity in the speed of adjustment of firms. We find evidence for pronounced heterogeneity, where speed of adjustment is the highest for firms with high default risk or expected bankruptcy costs, and if opportunity costs of deviating from a target are high. Our evidence is consistent with the general relevance of the trade-off theory.
Are There Contagion Effects in the Diffusion of IT Outsourcing?

Growth in the IT outsourcing industry during the past ten years has been exceptional. In this study, we theorize about and analyze the growth patterns of IT outsourcing at the level of the industry and at the firm level. We analyze a data set of firms using a lognormal model as a means to gauge the presence of over-dispersed diffusion and contagion effects that seem to drive outsourcing. A critical aspect of our research methodology is to study instances of outsourcing events - especially mega-deals - that are likely to have affected decision-making by other firms in an industry. Our results suggest that during the periods where a rapid increase in the number of announcements following mega-deal announcements occurred, there is a hierarchical contagion effect. The diffusion of IT outsourcing is not distributed lognormally, which suggests the presence of other underlying dynamics. Our analysis shows the presence of other underlying drivers that do not permit the diffusion pattern to be lognormal. The diffusion pattern for smaller firms appears to depend on the extent of outsourcing diffusion among the larger firms.
Bacterial noncoding Y RNAs are widespread and mimic tRNAs

Many bacteria encode an ortholog of the Ro60 autoantigen, a ring-shaped protein that is bound in animal cells to noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) called Y RNAs. Studies in Deinococcus radiodurans revealed that Y RNA tethers Ro60 to polynucleotide phosphorylase, specializing this exoribonuclease for structured RNA degradation. Although Ro60 orthologs are present in a wide range of bacteria, Y RNAs have been detected in only two species, making it unclear whether these ncRNAs are common Ro60 partners in bacteria. In this study, we report that likely Y RNAs are encoded near Ro60 in >250 bacterial and phage species. By comparing conserved features, we discovered that at least one Y RNA in each species contains a domain resembling tRNA. We show that these RNAs contain nucleotide modifications characteristic of tRNA and are substrates for several enzymes that recognize tRNAs. Our studies confirm the importance of Y RNAs in bacterial physiology and identify a new class of ncRNAs that mimic tRNA.