Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Test of the Convergence Hypothesis Allowing for Cross‐Sectional Dependence

A large empirical literature has investigated whether per capita output converges around a common trend across national and regional economies. The methods used in this literature assume no cross‐sectional dependence even though it is likely to be present and might be important in practice. Chang has devised a promising method of testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels with cross‐sectional dependence. We apply her method to test whether convergence takes place across three samples of economies: 15 advanced industrial countries; a broader group of 57 countries; and the 48 contiguous US states. We find evidence of convergence for the 15 advanced industrial economies but no evidence of convergence across either the broad group of countries or the US states.
Digital implementation of biologically inspired Wilson model, population behavior, and learning

Spiking neurons, as a computational unit, are the main part in biological information processing systems. This paper presents a digital hardware implementation of a biological neuron on a field‐programmable gate array due to its high accuracy and high speed, especially for large‐scale simulations which is a key objective in the neuromorphic research field. Although this is a computationally expensive task, the use of more biological realistic system results in higher accuracy in mimicking biological behaviors of neural networks. Given that, the Wilson model is one of the most important biological neuron models that can be used in the architecture of spiking neural networks. To be closer to biological systems, a method is proposed to test the possibility of implementation of the Wilson neuron model on digital platforms. The results of the hardware implementation of the Wilson neuron and a spiking network on a field‐programmable gate array, capable of character recognition with supervised learning algorithm, are presented in this paper; moreover, population behavior of this model is simulated. In large‐scale implementation of 2000 Wilson neuron model, population capability, feasibility, and costs are investigated.
Digoxin and Amiodarone on the Risk of Ischemic Stroke in Atrial Fibrillation: An Observational Study

Purpose: The present study compared the risk of ischemic stroke in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients receiving digoxin and amiodarone. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the longitudinal population-based database of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance program. Patients with AF who received amiodarone or digoxin and were considered to have exposed to study drugs consecutively over 180 days during 2000–2010 were enrolled and divided into three groups: those who received amiodarone, digoxin, and amiodarone plus digoxin. All patients were followed from the index date to the occurrence of ischemic stroke, death, withdrawal from the insurance program, or December 31, 2011. Cox proportional hazard regression models were applied to determine the risk of ischemic stroke and associated risk factors. Results: The amiodarone, digoxin, and amiodarone plus digoxin cohorts comprised 797, 1419, and 376 patients, respectively. Overall, the patients who received digoxin (HR = 1.80; 95% CI = 1.41–2.31) or amiodarone plus digoxin (HR = 2.00; 95% CI = 1.49–2.68) had a higher risk of ischemic stroke, compared with those who received amiodarone. This risk was particularly at CHA2DS2VASc score of 2–5, but disappeared in those who received clopidogrel in the digoxin cohort. The risk of ischemic stroke in the amiodarone plus digoxin cohort did not differ significantly from that in the digoxin cohort (HR = 1.14; 95% CI = 0.90–1.44). Conclusion: Atrial fibrillation patients receiving digoxin are associated with a higher risk of ischemic stroke than are those receiving amiodarone. It is prudent to assess the stroke risk prior to applying treatment strategy for patients with AF. Strengths and Limitations of This Study - This study is a population-based design with a completeness and accuracy of data, national coverage in both study and control cohorts. All insurance claims were double-checked by medical specialists for peer review. - Information about serum levels of the drugs, coagulation status, and types of AF were unavailable in this administrative database.
Realized Returns on Common Stock Investments: The Experience of Individual Investors

Over the last decade and a half, individual investors in the aggregate have consistently been net sellers of corporate common stocks; simultaneously, the holdings of equities by mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies, and bank trust funds on behalf of individuals have increased dramatically (Soldofsky 1971; U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 1971; Board Virtually all existing empirical studies of the American capital market deal with the investment performance record of institutions. The present paper offers data on the investment experiences of a large and representative sample of individual investors, based on a 7-year history of actual trading behavior. Those experiences suggest some reasonable skill in security selection, particularly in connection with shortterm trading cycles. Transactions costs, however, have a substantial impact on realized net returns, rendering the overall performance results observed similar to those available from passive investment strategies over corresponding calendar periods. Financial support for the investigation was provided by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Investment Company Institute (ICI), the Purdue Research Foundation, the College of Business at the University of Utah, and the brokerage house from whose customer group the investor sample was drawn. The computations were performed at the computer centers of Purdue University and the University of Utah. A substantial portion of the requisite securities price data were obtained from the Wells Fargo Bank of San Francisco, which made available its stock data file to Purdue for the research. Particular thanks are also due: William Elbring of Purdue for his contributions to the computer programming effort; Robert Lipsey and Christine Mortensen of the NBER for their counsel and administrative support; Alfred Johnson of the ICI; James Lorie, Myron Scholes, and Lawrence Fisher of the University of Chicago, for the opportunity to review the findings at seminars sponsored by the Center for Research in Security Prices; James Jenkins, Donald Farrar, and Ramon Johnson of the University of Utah; Edgar Pessemier, Frank Bass, and Donald King of Purdue University; John Lintner of Harvard University; and Marshall Blume of the University of Pennsylvania. The responsibility for the findings is, of course, the authors' alone. While the paper represents a segment of an NBER project, it has not undergone a full critical review by the NBER and should not be considered an official NBER publication.
Severe Nonpurulent Encephalitis with Mortality and Feather Lesions in Call Ducks (Anas platyrhyncha var. domestica) Inoculated Intravenously with H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus

Abstract One-day-old, 2-wk-old, and 4-wk-old call ducks (Anas platyrhyncha var. domestica) inoculated intravenously with the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus A/chicken/Yamaguchi/7/2004 isolate (Ck/Yama/7/04) were examined clinically, pathologically, and virologically. Clinically, the birds exhibited mild-to-severe neurologic signs and corneal opacity. All birds in the 1-day-old group and one bird in the 4-wk-old group died within 4 days after the virus inoculation. Histologic changes were characterized by severe nonpurulent encephalitis and necrotic lesions of feather epithelium on day 3 postinoculation (PI) or later. Focal necrosis of myocardial cells, pancreatic acinar cells, skeletal myocytes, and corneal epithelial cells was observed. Viral antigens were detected in association with necrotic changes. Viruses were isolated from all examined organs including the skin with many feathers. Serum antibody against the virus was detected in all surviving birds on day 10 PI by hemagglutination-inhibition tests. These results suggest that Ck/Yama/7/04 has a pathogenicity that causes neurologic sign, nonpurulent encephalitis with mortality, and feather lesions for call ducks. Feather lesions with viral antigens and the virus isolation from the skin suggest that Ck/Yama/7/04 has a predilection for feathers in call ducks.
DEA performance evaluation based on BSC indicators incorporated: The case of semiconductor industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan, which is the main economic life‐line in Taiwan. Operational performance is normally deemed as a key factor in industry. The importance of this issue can be measured through performance indices to observe the operational performance of Taiwan's semiconductor industry.Design/methodology/approach – A combination of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the balanced scorecard (BSC) was employedFindings – This study finds that the efficiency of every domestic semiconductor manufacturer is generally good, and concerning the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard, the most important for the domestic firm is the financial perspective, second is the internal process perspective, third the learning and innovation perspective, and most unimportantly customer perspective.Research limitations/implications – Owing to the difficulties in data collection and the widespread ranges of the four major aspects, t.
The Impact of Wage Structure on Trends in U.S. Gender Wage Differentials 1975-1987

The U.S labor market experienced two dramatic developments over the past twenty years: a falling male-female pay gap and a rising level of wage inequality. This paper uses Michigan Panel Study on Income Dynamics (PSID) data for 1975 and 1987 and Current Population Survey (CPS) data for 1971 and 1988 to analyze how this dramatic decline in the gender gap was achieved in the face of shifts in overall wage structure that were increasingly unfavorable to low wage workers. The decrease is traced to a rise in women's relative experience levels and occupational status, and a larger negative impact of de-unionization on male than female workers. In addition, there was a substantial decline in the 'unexplained' portion of the pay gap. These 'gender-specific' factors were more than sufficient to counterbalance changes in both measured and unmeasured prices which worked against women. Using a simply supply and demand framework, we find that the net effect of supply and demand shifts was unfavorable for women as a group: shifts in the composition of demand during this period favoring female workers were more than offset by the rising relative supply of women. However, supply and demand changes match up fairly well with observed relative changes in the gender gap among skill groups, specifically a faster closing of the gap at the bottom of the skill distribution than at the top. Moreover, our analysis of the sources of the greater progress at the bottom than at the top is consistent with the operation of demand and supply forces.
Comparison of scattered signal waveform recovery techniques under low SNR for target identification

Target identification from scattered electromagnetic waves is a difficult problem especially at low SNR levels, which prevents extraction of distinguishable information. When a scattered signal is corrupted by noise, it should be recovered before further processing such as feature extraction and classification. This recovery can be performed in time domain, frequency domain or via time-frequency analysis. In this study, three important techniques are used for distortion correction and their performances are compared. The analyses are performed with both simulated and measured data from various conducting and dielectric targets having different size, geometry and material type.
Molecular Characterization of a TEM-21 β-Lactamase in a Clinical Isolate of Morganella morganii

ABSTRACT A clinical isolate of Morganella morganii, with reduced susceptibility to expanded-spectrum cephalosporins and aztreonam, was found to produce an extended-spectrum β-lactamase with a pI of 6.4. The nucleotide sequence of the encoding gene was that of the gene encoding TEM-21. This is the first molecular characterization of an extended-spectrum β-lactamase in M. morganii.
Data Processing Delay Optimization in Mobile Edge Computing

With the development of Internet of Things (IoT), the number of mobile terminal devices is increasing rapidly. Because of high transmission delay and limited bandwidth, in this paper, we propose a novel three-layer network architecture model which combines cloud computing and edge computing (abbreviated as CENAM). In edge computing layer, we propose a computational scheme of mutual cooperation between the edge devices and use the Kruskal algorithm to compute the minimum spanning tree of weighted undirected graph consisting of edge nodes, so as to reduce the communication delay between them. Then we divide and assign the tasks based on the constrained optimization problem and solve the computation delay of edge nodes by using the Lagrange multiplier method. In cloud computing layer, we focus on the balanced transmission method to solve the data transmission delay from edge devices to cloud servers and obtain an optimal allocation matrix, which reduces the data communication delay. Finally, according to the characteristics of cloud servers, we solve the computation delay of cloud computing layer. Simulation shows that the CENAM has better performance in data processing delay than traditional cloud computing.
Removal of Atrazine Herbicide from Contaminated Water Using Molecularly Imprinted Nano-polymer

In the present work, molecularly polymeric nanoparticles were synthesized by miniemulsion polymerization procedure using Atrazine (ATZ) as imprinting molecule. Three different monomers and two different crosslinkers were investigated. The MIPs obtained were subsequently characterized in detail with rebinding investigation by HPLC-DAD UV. The results indicated that the polarity of both monomer and crosslinker play an important role for affinity and retention behavior to ATZ. The affinities of the polymers to ATZ increased with the decreasing polarity of crosslinker. It is illustrated that the monomer is much more important than the crosslinker, and that the hydrophobic interaction and π -π interaction between analytes and the MIP play a key role in the release process. This work focuses on synthesis of nano-particles and application of toxic contaminant material in water purification and using miniemulition polymerization method. Molecularly imprinted nanospheres (nanoMIPs) adsorbent for micropollutants were prepared using non-covalent templating technique. MIP nanoparticles has particle size about 140 nm were synthesized in toluene by using ATZ as a template, Itaconic acid (ITA) as functional group, and EDMA as the crosslinker polymer. The efficiency of the non-covalent molecular imprinting was examined by rebinding experiments and quantified by HPLC-UV. When compared with the non-imprinted polymer, the MIP shows an excellent affinity towards ATZ in the aqueous solution with imprinted factor (IF) 4.15 and the maximum capacity was about 20μg/mg.
Optimal Contracts under Costly State Falsification

We examine an exchange economy with two agents: one risk neutral with a certain endowment and a second risk averse with a random endowment. The realization of the endowment is public but can be falsified by the second agent at a cost. For a broad class of falsification cost functions the optimal no-falsification contract is noncontingent on a left-hand interval and strictly increasing with a slope strictly less than one on a right-hand interval. Under a mild further restriction, optimal no-falsification contracts are, in addition, piece-wise linear. Optimal contracts may in general require falsifying the state, but for a set of the highest endowment realizations there is no falsification. We find simple conditions under which the optimal contract is a no-falsification contract. The model has applications that include financial, insurance, and employment contracts and tax policy.
Effect of Adenomyosis on In Vitro Fertilization/Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Outcomes in Infertile Women: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Aims: To study the effect of adenomyosis on in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) outcomes in infertile patients. Methods: We performed a retrospective, database-searched cohort study based on 10,268 patients undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation and IVF/ICSI between 2009 and 2011 in our unit. Adenomyosis was diagnosed by transvaginal ultrasound. A high-quality matched cohort study with strict inclusion criteria was conducted. We compared the basic characteristics and main IVF/ICSI outcomes between the two groups. Results: We identified 83 patients with adenomyosis, of whom we included 77, and strictly matched them to 77 patients without adenomyosis. Higher day 3 estrogen levels and a longer duration of gonadotropin stimulation days were found in women with adenomyosis compared to control subjects. Patients with adenomyosis had a nonsignificant trend toward a lower clinical pregnancy rate and a higher miscarriage rate (p = 0.103 and 0.09, respectively). The delivery rate was significantly lower in the adenomyosis group in comparison to the matched controls (p = 0.022). Conclusions: Within the limitations of a retrospective study (albeit with a remarkably large number of observations), our results suggest that transvaginal ultrasound-diagnosed adenomyosis could have a negative impact on the main IVF/ICSI outcomes. Improving the diagnostic validity and scoring of disease severity in patients with adenomyosis is suggested.
A portable class of 3‐transistor current references with low‐power sub‐0.5 V operation

This work proposes a new class of current references based on only 3 transistors that allows sub‐0.5 V operation. The circuit consists of a 2‐transistor block that generates a proportional‐to‐absolute‐temperature or a complementary‐to‐absolute‐temperature voltage and a load transistor. The idea of a 3T current reference is validated by circuit simulations for different complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor technologies and by experimental measurements on a large set of test chips fabricated with a commercial 0.18 μm complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor process. As compared to the state‐of‐art competitors, the 3T current reference exhibits competitive performance in terms of temperature coefficient (578 ppm/°C), line sensitivity (3.9%/V), and power consumption (213 nW) and presents a reduction by a factor of 2 to 3 in terms of minimum operating voltage (0.45 V) and an improvement of 1 to 2 orders of magnitude in terms of area occupation (750 μm2). In spite of the extremely reduced silicon area, the fabricated chips exhibit low‐process sensitivity (2.7%). A digital trimming solution to significantly reduce the process sensitivity is also presented and validated by simulations.
Technical, Allocative and Scale Efficiencies of REITs: An Empirical Inquiry

This paper empirically explores various efficiency aspects of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in light of their remarkable growth in the 1990s. We find clear evidence of considerable technical inefficiency in REITs, though not much indication for allocative or scale inefficiency. The results also suggest that an increasing number of REITs has been operating under diseconomies of scale since the late 1990s primarily due to the recent wave of consolidation and merger activities. As creatures of the US tax code, REIT's have undergone several changes to their operating status, and our results suggest that the prevalent regulatory environment appears too onerous for the industry and may have contributed to the REITs' poor efficiency performance. In particular, further cuts or total elimination of the dividend restriction on REITs could provide much needed relief and stability in the US real estate market. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2005.
Excretion of purine derivatives by ruminants: effect of exogenous nucleic acid supply on purine derivative excretion by sheep

The present study examined the relationship between the supply of exogenous nucleic acid (NA) purines and their recovery as the derivatives hypoxanthine, xanthine, uric acid and allantoin in urine. Six lambs, totally nourished by intragastric infusions of volatile fatty acids (VFA) and casein (i.e. no rumen fermentation), were given by abomasal infusion a microbial NA concentrate at six levels (from zero to 24·5 mmol purines/d). The true digestibility between the abomasum and terminal ileum of the NA purines was measured in a separate experiment using three lambs. The relative proportion of urinary allantoin increased, and that of other derivatives decreased, as the amount of NA infused was increased. The relationship between total excretion of purine derivatives (Y; mmol/d) and exogenous purines absorbed (X; mmol/d) was Y = 0·84 X + 0.150W0·75e-0.25X, where W is body-weight (kg). This implies that the endogenous contribution to the total excretion of derivative decreased as the supply of exogenous purines increased, with an associated progressive replacement of de novo synthesis by exogenous purines. The model also implies that 0·16 of the purines were eliminated through routes other than derivative excretion in urine. Once excretion exceeded 0·6 mmol/kg W0·75 per d, endogenous excretion was effectively zero and thus Y = 0·84 X. In normally fed sheep, derivative excretion should therefore relate to the microbial purines and, hence, microbial protein absorbed according to these models. The changing proportions of allantoin and other derivatives in urine were probably due to changes in the relative importance of endogenous and exogenous purines as precursors.
Another look at competition: a regime–switching aproach

Measuring the level of competition in an industry is an empirical task with a lengthy history. Many of the traditional measures offer a snapshot of the industry, where the distribution of market share is examined at a given point in time. The purpose of this inquiry is to utilize a regime-switching model which highlights the importance of intra-industry movement. The empirical results suggest that even in an environment where the distribution of market share is improving, an industry can still be persistently dominated by the same collection of leading firms.
Diversity and Immigration

One of the economic benefits of immigration is that the diversity of the population is enhanced. Diversity, it is argued, enriches the environment in which individuals live and trade and may contribute to greater creativity. What does diversity mean? Do current immigration policies enhance diversity? To the extent that there are gains from diversity, they come through the interaction of individuals from one culture or background with individuals from another. A good partner in the interaction has different skills, has skills that are relevant to one's own activity, and is a person with whom one can communicate. The argument in favor of diversity is evaluated both theoretically and empirically using the 1990 Census. Diversity cannot be the justification of U.S. immigration policy. Indeed, current immigration policy fails to promote diversity. Further, the results suggest that our immigration policy has resulted in differences in the characteristics of immigrants that reflect the effects of selection as much as they do the underlying characteristics of the populations from which the immigrants are drawn. Balanced immigration, perhaps implemented through the sale of immigration slots, would do more to enrich the diversity of the US population.