Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal dividend strategy with transaction costs for an upward jump model

In this paper, we consider the optimal dividend problem with transaction costs when the incomes of a company can be described by an upward jump model. Both fixed and proportional costs are considered in the problem. The value function is defined as the expected total discounted dividends up to the time of ruin. Although the same problem has already been studied in the pure diffusion model and the spectrally negative Lévy process, the optimal dividend problem in an upward jump model has two different aspects in determining the optimal dividends barrier and in the property of the value function. First, the value function is twice continuous differentiable in the diffusion case, but it is not in the jump model. Second, under the spectrally negative Lévy process, downward jumps will not cause any payment actions; however, it might trigger dividend payments when there are upward jumps. In deriving the optimal barriers, we show that the value function is bounded by a linear function. Using this property, we establish the verification theorem for the value function. By solving the quasi-variational inequalities associated with this problem, we obtain the closed-form solution to the value function and hence the optimal dividend strategy when the income sizes follow a common exponential distribution. In the presence of a fixed transaction cost, it is shown that the optimal strategy is a two-barrier policy, and the optimal barriers are only dependent on the fixed cost and not the proportional cost. A numerical example is used to illustrate how the fixed cost plays a significant role in the optimal dividend strategy and also the value function. Moreover, an increased fixed cost results in larger but less frequent dividend payments.
Internationalizing SME Nontraditional Exporters and Their Internet Use Idiosyncrasies

This study focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of Ghanaian nontraditional exporters (NTEs) in the handicrafts, agricultural, and semiprocessed/processed NTE sectors. Specifically, the study focuses on the relationship between Internet utilization and (1) age of the NTE, (2) export performance, and (3) type of export organization in internationalizing NTEs. The age of an exporting firm had a significant effect on its Internet use. Export volumes and the type of company ownership had no significant influence on Internet use among exporting firms. Analysis of age of the firm and Internet use indicated that firms that have been in existence for a long time adopt the Internet slower.
Twenty‐year disease and treatment‐associated mortality rates of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma of clinical stages IIIB and IV prospectively treated with 3‐month anthracycline‐based chemotherapy followed by extended high‐dose radiation

In 1981, the authors developed an original strategy combining 3 cycles of doxorubicin (adriamycin), bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) or ABVD‐like chemotherapy and extended high‐dose radiation for treating patients with clinical stages IIIB and IV Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). In the current study, the authors analyzed the 20‐year results of this treatment as applied to 213 patients according to 2 successive trials.
A Multi Product Joint Ordering Model with Dependent Setup Cost

A multi product, continuous review inventory model with dependent setup cost is studied and a joint ordering policy is defined. The development of the model is based on the independent (R, Q) policy. A can order point is derived for each product such that if the inventory level of one product drops to its reorder point, all products with inventory level less than or equal to their can order points are ordered together. The analytic results are given for the unit Poisson demands. Simulation experiments are used to compare the joint ordering policy with the independent ordering policy for the case of Stuttering Poisson demands. It is learned that the joint ordering policy achieves a substantial saying in total cost over the independent ordering policy.
Electrochemically active biofilms: facts and fiction. A review

This review examines the electrochemical techniques used to study extracellular electron transfer in the electrochemically active biofilms that are used in microbial fuel cells and other bioelectrochemical systems. Electrochemically active biofilms are defined as biofilms that exchange electrons with conductive surfaces: electrodes. Following the electrochemical conventions, and recognizing that electrodes can be considered reactants in these bioelectrochemical processes, biofilms that deliver electrons to the biofilm electrode are called anodic, ie electrode-reducing, biofilms, while biofilms that accept electrons from the biofilm electrode are called cathodic, ie electrode-oxidizing, biofilms. How to grow these electrochemically active biofilms in bioelectrochemical systems is discussed and also the critical choices made in the experimental setup that affect the experimental results. The reactor configurations used in bioelectrochemical systems research are also described and the authors demonstrate how to use selected voltammetric techniques to study extracellular electron transfer in bioelectrochemical systems. Finally, some critical concerns with the proposed electron transfer mechanisms in bioelectrochemical systems are addressed together with the prospects of bioelectrochemical systems as energy-converting and energy-harvesting devices.
Critical success factors for TQM implementation and their impact on performance of SMEs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success factors of TQM implementation, to evaluate their impact on the primary measures as expressed by the operational performance and the secondary measures as expressed by the organizational performance, and to find out the effect of the operational performance on the organizational performance of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Qatari industrial sector using the structured equation modeling (SEM) approach.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was designed and distributed to 297 SMEs in the Qatari industrial sector. Of the 297 questionnaires posted, a total of 139 were returned and were used to test the theoretical model. In particular, hypotheses were developed to evaluate the impact of TQM implementation on the operational and organizational performance of the SMEs.Findings – The empirical analysis demonstrates several key findings: data analysis reveals that there is a substantial positive effect of the TQM impl.
Lessons from NAFTA for Latin America and the Caribbean

Analyzing the experience of Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 'Lessons from NAFTA' aims to provide guidance to Latin American and Caribbean countries considering free trade agreements with the United States. The authors conclude that the treaty raised external trade and foreign investment inflows and had a modest effect on Mexico's average income per person. It is likely that the treaty also helped achieve a modest reduction in poverty and an improvement in job quality. Finally, the study provides some lessons for the structure of such agreements. In particular it illustrates the shortcomings of some aspects of the NAFTA treaty, specifically those related to the rules of origin which have severely limited the capacity of Mexican firms in many sectors to take advantage of NAFTA preferences, and related to the supervision panels that do not appear to have made a major impact on the incidence of disputes and the effectiveness of their resolution either before or after NAFTA. This publication belongs to the Latin American Development Forum Series (LADF), sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the World Bank.
No Effect of Antioxidant Supplementation in Triathletes on Maximal Oxygen Uptake, 31P-NMRS Detected Muscle Energy Metabolism and Muscle Fatigue

A double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over trial was undertaken to evaluate the effect of antioxidant supplementation on maximal oxygen uptake during bicycling, 31-phosphorus nuclear magnetic response spectroscopy (31P-NMRS) detected muscle energy metabolism during plantar flexion and muscle fatigue evaluated by 1-s electrical stimulation at low (10 Hz) and high (50 Hz) frequency. Seven male triathletes received daily oral antioxidant supplementation in capsule form including 100 mg coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), 600 mg ascorbic acid and 270 mg alpha-tocopherol or placebo over a 6-week interval. Serum concentration of CoQ10 was significantly higher in the antioxidant phase (1.80+/-1 microg x ml(-1), mean +/- SD) than control (0.9+/-0.21 microg ml(-1)) or placebo phase (0.9+/-0.3 microg x ml(-1)) (P<0.01). Maximal oxygen uptake was 63.8+/-3.0 ml x min(-1) x kg(-1) in the control phase, and did not change significantly in the antioxidant (67.6+/-10.8 ml x min(-1) x kg(-1)) or the placebo phase (61.9+/-4.5 ml x min(-1) x kg(-1)). The combined 31P-NMRS/low frequency fatigue test (plantar flexion of the foot) did not show differences in the gastrocnemius muscle pH (6.77+/-0.14), phosphocreatine reduction at the end of exercise (23+/-14% of rest) and half-time for recovery of phosphocreatine (33+/-12 sec) between the placebo and the antioxidant trial. No difference in muscle fatigue at 10 Hz electrical stimulation was found between the three phases. In conclusion, the results demonstrate no effect of antioxidative vitamin supplementation on maximal oxygen uptake, muscle energy metabolism or muscle fatigue in triathletes.
CRYSTALS - Kyber: A CCA-Secure Module-Lattice-Based KEM

Rapid advances in quantum computing, together with the announcement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to define new standards for digitalsignature, encryption, and key-establishment protocols, have created significant interest in post-quantum cryptographic schemes. This paper introduces Kyber (part of CRYSTALS – Cryptographic Suite for Algebraic Lattices – a package submitted to NIST post-quantum standardization effort in November 2017), a portfolio of post-quantum cryptographic primitives built around a key-encapsulation mechanism (KEM), based on hardness assumptions over module lattices. Our KEM is most naturally seen as a successor to the NEWHOPE KEM (Usenix 2016). In particular, the key and ciphertext sizes of our new construction are about half the size, the KEM offers CCA instead of only passive security, the security is based on a more general (and flexible) lattice problem, and our optimized implementation results in essentially the same running time as the aforementioned scheme. We first introduce a CPA-secure public-key encryption scheme, apply a variant of the Fujisaki–Okamoto transform to create a CCA-secure KEM, and eventually construct, in a black-box manner, CCA-secure encryption, key exchange, and authenticated-key-exchange schemes. The security of our primitives is based on the hardness of Module-LWE in the classical and quantum random oracle models, and our concrete parameters conservatively target more than 128 bits of postquantum security.
Intracarotid Delivery of Drugs: The Potential and the Pitfalls

The major efforts to selectively deliver drugs to the brain in the past decade have relied on smart molecular techniques to penetrate the blood–brain barrier, whereas intraarterial drug delivery has drawn relatively little attention. Meanwhile, rapid progress has been made in the field of endovascular surgery. Modern endovascular procedures can permit highly targeted drug delivery by the intracarotid route. Intracarotid drug delivery can be the primary route of drug delivery or it could be used to facilitate the delivery of smart neuropharmaceuticals. There have been few attempts to systematically understand the kinetics of intracarotid drugs. Anecdotal data suggest that intracarotid drug delivery is effective in the treatment of cerebral vasospasm, thromboembolic strokes, and neoplasms. Neuroanesthesiologists are frequently involved in the care of such high-risk patients. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the applications of intracarotid drug delivery and the unusual kinetics of intracarotid drugs.
Central Role of Fibroblast α3 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor in Mediating Cutaneous Effects of Nicotine

Smoking is associated with aberrant cutaneous tissue remodeling, such as precocious skin aging and impaired wound healing. The mechanism is not fully understood. Dermal fibroblasts (DF) are the primary cellular component of the dermis and may provide a target for pathobiologic effects of tobacco products. The purpose of this study was to characterize a mechanism of nicotine (Nic) effects on the growth and tissue remodeling function of DF. We hypothesized that the effects of Nic on DF result from its binding to specific nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) expressed by these cells and that downstream signaling from the receptors alters normal cell functioning, leading to changes in skin homeostasis. Using RT-PCR and Western blotting, we found that a 24-hour exposure of human DF to 10 μm Nic causes a 1.9- to 28-fold increase of the mRNA and protein levels of the cell cycle regulators p21, cyclin D1, Ki-67, and PCNA and a 1.7- to 2-fold increase of the apoptosis regulators Bcl-2 and caspase 3. Nic exposure also up-regulated expression of the dermal matrix proteins collagen type Iα1 and elastin as well as matrix metalloproteinase-1. Mecamylamine (Mec), the specific antagonist of nAChRs, abolished Nic-induced alterations, indicating that they resulted from a pharmacologic stimulation of nAChRs expressed by DF. To establish the relevance of these findings to a specific nicotinergic pathway, we studied human DF transfected with anti-α3 antisense oligonucleotides and murine DF from α3 nAChR knockout mice. In both cases, lack of α3 was associated with alterations in fibroblast growth and function that were opposite to those observed in DF treated with Nic, suggesting that the nicotinic effects on DF were mostly mediated by α3 nAChR. In addition to α3, the nAChR subunits detected in human DF were α5, α7, β2, and β4. The exposure of DF to Nic altered the relative amounts of each of these subunits, leading to reciprocal changes in [3H]epibatidine-binding kinetics. Thus, some of the pathobiologic effects of tobacco products on extracellular matrix turnover in the skin may stem from Nic-induced alterations in the physiologic control of the unfolding of the genetically determined program of growth and the tissue remodeling function of DF as well as alterations in the structure and function of fibroblast nAChRs.
Estimating the degree of interventionist policies in the run-up to EMU

Based on a theoretical monetary exchange-rate model in continuous time, this article establishes a sequential estimation framework which is capable of indicating central bank intervention in the run-up to a currency union. Using daily pre-European Monetary Union (pre-EMU) exchange-rate data for the countries of the current Euro zone, we find mixed evidence of active pre-EMU intervention policies (so-called institutional frontloading strategies). Our estimation framework is highly relevant to economic and political agents operating in financial markets of the upcoming EMU accession countries.
Anomalous User Activity Detection in Enterprise Multi-source Logs

Security is one of the top concerns of any enterprise. Most security practitioners in enterprises rely on correlation rules to detect potential threats. While the rules are intuitive to design, each rule is independently defined per log source, unable to collectively address heterogeneity of data from a myriad of enterprise networking and security logs. Furthermore, correlation rules do not look for data events beyond a short time range. To complement the conventional correlation rules-based system, we propose a user activity anomaly detection method. The method first addresses data heterogeneity of multi-source logs by designing a meta data extraction step for event normalization. It then builds user-specific models to flag alerts for users whose currently observed event patterns are sufficiently different from their own patterns in the past.
Soft Dollars and the Brokerage Industry

Large investors frequently receive some type of research service in return for sending an equity trade to a specific brokerage firm. The commissions so directed are associated with the term "soft dollars. " This study employs a survey of institutional managers and a sample of their trading records to examine the effect of soft dollars on the structure of the brokerage industry and finds that these effects have been significant in redirecting order flow to different types of brokers. Additionally, there is some evidence that investment managers tend to send their easier orders to brokerage houses providing research for soft dollars and their harder orders to more traditional brokerage houses that are more likely to commit their own capital to facilitate a trade. Furthermore, investment managers tend to be less pleased with the quality of execution for certain types of soft dollar transactions.
Cerebral palsy and multiple births.

AIM: To compare the birthweight specific prevalence of cerebral palsy in singleton and multiple births. METHODS: Registered births of babies with cerebral palsy born to mothers resident in the counties of Merseyside and Cheshire during the period 1982 to 1989 were ascertained. RESULTS: The crude prevalence of cerebral palsy was 2.3 per 1000 infant survivors in singletons, 12.6 in twins, and 44.8 in triplets. The prevalence of cerebral palsy rose with decreasing birthweight. The birthweight specific prevalence among those of low birthweight < 2500 g was not significantly different in singleton than in multiple births. Among infants weighing > or = 2500 g, there was a significantly higher risk in multiple than in singleton births. The higher crude cerebral palsy prevalence in multiple births is partly due to the lower birthweight distribution and partly due to the higher risk among normal birthweight infants. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple birth babies are at increased risk of cerebral palsy. There is also an increased risk of cerebral palsy within a twin pregnancy if the co-twin has died in utero.
An empirical study of perceived strategic value and adoption constructs: the Ghanaian case

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the link between the determinants of perceived strategic value (PSV) of e‐commerce and e‐commerce adoption among Ghanaian small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), defined as businesses that employ a maximum of 200 employees.Design/methodology/approach – The authors randomly sampled SME owners/managers from the membership of the Ghana Club 100 (GC 100) and non‐traditional exporters (NTEs). Established databases are not the norm in Ghana, and GC 100 and NTEs had membership databases that were accessible to the local co‐author. Investigating e‐commerce adoption issues among these companies was warranted. The authors used a structured instrument developed and validated in prior studies to collect the data in a face to face interview. A pilot study was conducted to ascertain the clarity and reliability of the questionnaire. Of the SME owners/managers: 200 were contacted; 112 agreed to participate in the study; 107 responses were obtained – represen.
DEVELOPMENT OF SELF HEALING RESIN MATRICES FOR COMPOSITES

An ideal self-healing matrix composite which is capable of being monitored for damage events in the matrix so that they can be healed in a thermal cycle to restore the material’s performance without negatively affecting the properties is discussed. A novel technique employing a solid-state matrix repair system for a thermosetting resin that has been shown to be capable of healing of its pre-fracture strength. This paper will describe the concept of a solid-state healable system and its efficiency. In an attempt to optimise the system for processing into composites, the effects of linear polymer with different molecular weight, physical ageing and phase separation have been studied.
PROCUREMENT RISKS AND STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE QUALITY CONSISTENCY IN WHEAT SHIPMENTS

Consistency of functional characteristics in wheat is a concern confronting buyers and sellers. This research analyzes the cost and risk of different procurement strategies for importers. A stochastic simulation model is used to determine the probability of a functional characteristic being satisfied subject to quality targets and costs for alternative purchase strategies (purchase by protein only, variety, location, variety by location, or functional tests). Joint probabilities of meeting specifications and costs were determined for the alternative purchase strategies. Stochastic dominance was used to determine which purchase strategies dominate others, and stochastic efficiency was utilized to determine the degree of preference. Results indicate that, as more specific characteristics are incorporated into a contract, the probabilities of meeting end-use requirements increase. Requirements of specific characteristics come with a higher cost, due to increased testing costs related to identity preservation. Risk premiums for alternative strategies were derived.
Effects of supplementation with a combination of antioxidant vitamins and trace elements, at nutritional doses, on biochemical indicators and markers of the antioxidant system in adult subjects.

OBJECTIVE To test the impact of supplementation with nutritional doses of antioxidant nutrients on biochemical indicators of vitamin and trace element levels. DESIGN A randomized double-blind trial was performed comparing two groups receiving daily either a combination of vitamins (beta-carotene, 6 mg; vitamin C, 120 mg; and vitamin E, 30 mg) and trace elements (zinc, 20 mg; and selenium, 100 micrograms); or a placebo. SUBJECTS 401 subjects (166 males aged 45 to 60 years and 235 females aged to 35 to 60 years). MEASURE OF OUTCOME: Biological markers of vitamin and trace element status and free radical parameters were measured initially, 3 months, and 6 months after supplemention. RESULTS Mean serum concentrations of alpha-tocopherol, vitamin C, beta-carotene, zinc and selenium increased significantly after 3 months of supplementation in the group receiving multivitamins associated with minerals. At baseline, 18.2% of the men and 5.1% of the women had low concentrations of serum vitamin C (< 20 mumol/l): 2.4% of the men and 17% of the women presented low concentrations of serum retinol (< 1.4 mumol/l): 18.7% of men and 10% of women had serum beta-carotene < 0.30 mumol/l. None of the study subjects had serum alpha-tocopherol concentrations below the limit cut-off point (< 9.3 mumol/l). Low serum zinc concentrations (< 10.7 mumol/l) were found in 15.1% of men and 23.8% of women. Low serum selenium concentrations (< 0.75 mumol/l) were found in 6% of men and 6.4% of women. A significant increase in plasma and red cell GPx activity was observed in groups receiving supplementation. No modifications were observed after 6 months of supplementation for malondyaldehyde. CONCLUSION This study demonstrates the efficacy of an intake of antioxidant vitamins and trace elements, given at nutritional doses, on biochemical indicators of vitamin and trace elements status.