Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Equilibrium asset prices and bubbles in a continuous time OLG model

In a Yaari-Blanchard overlapping generations endowment economy, and drawing on the equivalence between Radner (R) and Arrow-Debreu (AD) equi- libria, we prove that equilibrium AD prices have an explicit representation as a double integral equation. This allows for an analytic characterization of the relationship between life-cycle and cohort heterogeneity and asset prices. For a simple distribution, we prove that bubbles may exist, and derive conditions for ruling them out.
Private Investment and Endogenous Growth: Evidence from Cameroon

This paper investigates empirically the factors that have influenced economic growth in Cameroon during 1963-96. The results, which support the endogenous-growth-type model, indicate that (1) the aggregate production function exhibits increasing returns to scale; (2) the impact of increases in private investment on growth is large, significant, and robust; (3) increases in government investment have a positive impact on growth; (4) human capital development plays an important role in output expansion; (5) positive externalities are generated by physical and human capital accumulation; and (6) growth is boosted by economic policies that foster external competitiveness and a prudent fiscal stance.
PEMBENTUKAN PORTOFOLIO OPTIMAL PADA INDEKS KOMPAS 100 PERIODE 2013-2014

This study aims to establish the optimal portfolio of Kompas 100 index. Optimal portfolio is a portfolio consisting of stocks that can generate the maximum return value to the same risks or generate the same return value with the most minimal risk. This study is a quantitative approach. This study uses the company listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange. Optimal portfolio in this study formed from stocks that are continuously enrolled in the Kompas 100 index in the period August 2009 to July 2014. Optimal portfolio is formed by using a single index model. Then the performance calculation is done using the Sharpe, Treynor, and Jensen ratio. The results of this study showed that from the 100 stocks which include in the Kompas 100 index, only 19 stocks that can form the optimal portfolio. Portfolio return value is 51.10% with the risk portfolio value is 15.47%. Based on the Sharpe ratio, Treynor and Jensen, the optimal portfolio formed by 5.271% value for Sharpe, 3.958% value for Treynor and 1.588% value for Jensen ratio. So, based on that ratio, optimal portfolio has already had a good performance and the stocks included in the portfolio can be said to be eligible to be purchased by investors.
The Image Forest Transform Architecture

The image foresting transform (IFT) is e a generic technique that uses simple variations of the same core algorithm to construct many image processing operators like watershed transforms, edge tracking, geodesic paths, among others. In this paper we propose the silicon IFT (SIFT), an FPGA-based architecture that leverages on the IFT flexibility to build a fast image processing architecture capable of implementing IFT operators in hardware. Our experiments have shown that SIFT can reach speedups of 5600 upon the correspondent software implementation. Moreover, they exhibit excellent execution times as compared to recent dedicated image processing architectures.
Adapting to health impacts of climate change: a study of UNFCCC Annex I parties

Adapting to the health effects of climate change is one of the key challenges facing public health this century. Our knowledge of progress on adaptation, however, remains in its infancy. Using the Fifth National Communications of Annex I parties to the UNFCCC, 1912 initiatives are systematically identified and analyzed. 80% of the actions identified consist of groundwork (i.e. preparatory) action, with only 20% constituting tangible adaptations. No health vulnerability was recognized by all 38 Annex I countries. Furthermore, while all initiatives affect at least one health vulnerability, only 15% had an explicit human health component. Consideration for the special needs of vulnerable groups is uneven and underdeveloped. Climate change is directly motivating 71% of groundwork actions, and 61% of adaptation initiatives are being mainstreamed into existing institutions or programs. We conclude that the adaptation responses to the health risks of climate change remain piecemeal. Policymakers in the health sector must engage with stakeholders to implement adaptation that considers how climate change will impact the health of each segment of the population, particularly within those groups already considered most vulnerable to poor health outcomes.
ERP investment analysis using the strategic alignment model

Purpose – To develop a model to assist in the analysis of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems based upon a validated approach to aligning information systems with enterprise strategies.Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a proposed analytic network process (ANP) model built on the strategic alignment model (SAM) to support the alignment of ERP investment decisions to strategies. The model developed is generic enough to be applied to a wide range of enterprises and applications while being based on the well‐documented SAM. A small illustrative example is provided to show the use and applicability of the model.Findings – The SAM is found to provide a useful framework for investment analysis. ANP provides a conceptually easy to use but decisionally robust model which can be used to operationalize the SAM for investment analysis.Practical implications – The model provides practitioners a flexible tool for making investment decisions not only for ERP systems but also for other IS investmen.
Generation of Monoclonal Antibodies against Ag85A Antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Application in a Competitive ELISA for Serodiagnosis of Bovine Tuberculosis

The Ag85 complex functions as the main secretory protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) and BCG. This complex is composed of the proteins, Ag85A, Ag85B, and Ag85C, with Ag85A thought to play the largest role within the complex. However, the lack of commercially available monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against Ag85A still hinders the biological and applicative research on this protein. In this study, we developed and identified anti-Ag85A mAbs, and five hybridoma cells were established. Using the indirect immunofluorescence test, we found that two anti-Ag85A mAbs did not cross-react with Ag85B and/or Ag85C. In addition, we showed that all of the mAbs tested in this study are able to react with endogenous Ag85A protein in BCG and rBCG:Ag85A using indirect ELISA and Western blot analyses. A competitive ELISA (cELISA) based on mAb 3B8 was developed, the analyses of clinic serum samples from cattle with bovine tuberculosis (TB) and healthy cattle demonstrated that the sensitivity of the cELISA was 54.2% (26/48) and the specificity was 83.5% (167/200). This study demonstrated that the mAbs against Ag85A will provide useful reagents for further investigation into the function of the Ag85 complex and can be used for serodiagnosis of bovine TB.
Measuring brand performance through metrics application

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the essential components of a brand metrics strategy and application of brand scorecard as an integrated approach to measure the overall performance of brands. Tools for brand performance measurement are integrated by firms into brand measurement systems, with new models for prioritizing the factors of brand influence introduced continuously. Hence, brands need to be periodically measured in terms of the impact on consumers, stimulating market demand, sustaining seasonality effects and exploring opportunities for proliferation.Design/methodology/approach – This paper determines the essential components of a brand metrics strategy conceptualizing the inter‐dependence of “Five‐A” factors which include awareness, acquaintance, association, allegiance and appraisal to measure the performance of brands. The application of a brand scorecard process as an integrated approach to measure the overall performance of brands is also discussed, explaining how different .
Derivatives Performance Attribution

Abstract This paper shows how to decompose the dollar profit earned from an option into two basic components: i) mispricing of the option relative to the asset at the time of purchase; and ii) profit from subsequent fortuitous changes or mispricing of the underlying asset. This separation hinges on measuring the “true relative value” of the option from its realized payoff. The payoff from any one option has a huge standard error about this value that can be reduced by averaging the payoff from several independent option positions. Simulations indicate that 95% reductions in standard errors can be further achieved by using the payoff of a dynamic replicating porfolio as a Monte Carlo control variate. In addition, the paper shows that these low standard errors are robust to discrete rather than continuous dynamic replication and to the likely degree of misspecification of the benchmark formula used to implement the replication. Option mispricing profit can be futher decomposed into profit due to superior estimation of the volatility (volatility profit) and profit from using a superior option valuation formula (formula profit). To make this decomposition reiably, the benchmark formula used for the attribution needs to be similar to the formula implicitly used by the market to price options. If so, then simulation indicates that this further decomposition can be achieved with low standard errors. Basic component ii) can be further decomposed into profit from a forward contract of the underlying asset (asset profit) and what I term pure option profit. The asset profit indicates whether the investor was skillful by buying or selling options on mispriced underlying assets. However, asset profit could also simply be just compensation for bearing risk—a distinction beyond the scope of this paper. Although simulation indicates that the attrivution procedure gives an unbiased allocation of the option profit to this source, its standard error is large—a feature common with others' attempts to measure performance of asssets.
Finite-Length Algebraic Spatially-Coupled Quasi-Cyclic LDPC Codes

The replicate-and-mask (R&M) construction of finite-length spatially-coupled (SC) LDPC codes is proposed in this paper. The proposed R&M construction generalizes the conventional matrix unwrapping construction and contains it as a special case. The R&M construction of a class of algebraic spatially coupled (SC) quasi-cyclic (QC) LDPC codes over arbitrary finite fields is demonstrated. The girth, rank, and time-varying periodicity of the proposed R&M SC QC LDPC codes are analyzed. The error rate performance of finite-length nonbinary algebraic SC QC LDPC codes is investigated with window decoding. Compared to the conventional unwrapping construction, it is found through numerical simulations that the R&M construction resulted in SC QC LDPC codes with better block error rate performance and lower error floors. With a flooding schedule decoder, it is shown that the proposed R&M algebraic SC QC LDPC codes have better error performance than the corresponding LDPC block codes and random SC codes. The R&M construction of irregular SC QC LDPC codes is demonstrated. It is shown that low-complexity regular puncturing schemes can be deployed on these codes to construct families of rate-compatible irregular SC QC LDPC codes with good performance.
To what extent psychiatric patients feel involved in decision making about their mental health care? Relationships with socio-demographic, clinical, and psychological variables

Background Shared decision making (SDM) is an essential component of patient-centered care, but there is little information about its use in the psychiatric care. Objective To measure to what extent psychiatric patients feel they were involved in the process and steps of decision making about treatment choice and to analyse the influence of socio-demographic, clinical, and psychological processes on this perception. Methods Cross-sectional survey involving 1100 consecutive psychiatric outpatients invited to complete the nine-item Shared Decision-Making Questionnaire (SDM-Q-9), health locus of control and control preferences, self-efficacy and drug attitude scales, as well as a questionnaire including socio-demographic and clinical variables. Results A high response rate of 77% was registered, resulting in a sample of 846 psychiatric outpatients. SDM-Q-9 total score indicate a moderately low degree of perceived participation, with differing perceived implementation of the individual the SDM process steps. Patient diagnosis evidenced significant differences in SDM perception. Patients’ perception of SDM was explained by four main variables: the older the patient, the lower self-reported SDM; having a diagnosis of schizophrenia increases the likelihood of lower SDM; a positive attitude towards psychiatric drugs favors greater SDM, as well as a higher level of self-efficacy. Conclusion The result of this study suggests that SDM is currently not widely practiced in psychiatric care. Further research is needed to examine if the low level of participation self-reported is justified by psychiatric patients’ decisional capacity.
Lone and couple mothers in the Australian labour market

While more mothers have been participating in the paid workforce over recent years, the employment rate of lone mothers remains lower than that of couple mothers. Concerns about the wellbeing of adults and children living in jobless households contribute to continuing interest in explaining the relatively low employment rate of lone mothers. This paper provides new insights into possible reasons for the different rates of employment of lone and couple mothers by examining how their employment transitions vary. A focus on transitions enables us to examine whether the lower employment rate of lone mothers is due to their being less likely to enter employment, more likely to exit employment once employed, or a combination of both. Monthly calendar data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey are used to identify and compare the rate at which lone and couple mothers move into and out of employment over a seven-year period. These data show that in any one-month period, lone mothers are less likely to be employed than couple mothers. Of those employed in a one-month period, lone mothers are more likely to transition out of employment than couple mothers; however, not-employed lone and couple mothers are no different in their likelihood of transition into employment. The analyses also consider the extent to which a selection of factors other than lone parenthood differentiate mothers in their employment transition rates. These analyses show that educational attainment, work history and age of youngest child may influence, in part, the different employment transition rates of lone and couple mothers. Image: EvelynGiggles / flickr
Spring snow cover deficit controlled by intraseasonal variability of the surface energy fluxes

Spring snow cover extent (SCE) in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased in the last four decades but with significant interannual variability. Investigations of the mechanisms that control SCE variations were almost exclusively focused on the year-to-year variability of forcing variables and SCE integrated over a certain period of the year (e.g. season). Here, we use state-of-the-art climate reanalysis dataset to analyze the contribution of different surface energy fluxes to the inception and development of below-normal spring SCE from an intraseasonal perspective. During years identified with lower-than-average SCE by the end of spring, higher-than-average net longwave radiation and sensible heat that is greater than the decrease of net shortwave radiation in the early spring snowmelt season induces the initial SCE deficit. This can be mainly explained by the finding that the increase of downwelling longwave radiation because of increased water vapor significantly exceeds the attenuation of downwelling short-wave radiation due to increased cloudiness. When a SCE deficit has been incepted in early spring, net shortwave radiation in late spring gradually becomes higher than average through snow albedo feedback, which further accelerates snowmelt. This suggests that short-wave radiation is not responsible for the initiation of negative SCE anomaly by the end of spring but acts as an amplifying feedback once the snow melt is started.
UNEMPLOYMENT DURATION, LAYOFFS AND COMPETING RISKS

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the determinants of unemployment duration in a competing risks framework with two destination states: employment and inactivity. In particular, we analyze labour market trajectories of job losers and workers without previous labour experience using data from the Spanish Labour Force Survey (EPA) for the period 1992-2004. We find that male workers, people aged 25-34, higher educated job losers in regions with low unemployment rates and workers with previous employment experience exhibit higher exit rates from unemployment into a job. On the contrary, the same variables present a negative effect on the probability of exiting from unemployment to inactivity. We also find that non-claimants of unemployment benefits exit from unemployment faster than claimants do. Finally, the existence of a dead-end job effect is detected in the Spanish labour market during the 1990s.
Do interactions among elements of knowledge management lead to acquiring core competencies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of infrastructure and strategy of knowledge management on acquisition of core competencies through knowledge management process in the Iranian automotive industry.Design/methodology/approach – For collecting primary data a questionnaire was distributed among 1,100 experts in ten companies of the Iranian automotive industry. Then, structural equation modeling was used to measure the relationship among elements of knowledge management and core competencies.Findings – Findings indicate that knowledge management strategy is directly related to core competencies and there is no significant relationship between knowledge management infrastructure and core competencies. Nevertheless, knowledge management process as a mediator variable affects the relationship between strategy and infrastructure of knowledge management and core competencies indirectly.Research limitations/implications: – The paper is limited to the Iranian automotive industry. Hence, .
Patterns and Mechanisms of the Forest Carbon Cycle1

▪ Abstract Forests are an important source for fiber and fuel for humans and contain the majority of the total terrestrial carbon (C). The amount of C stored in the vegetation and soil are strongly influenced by environmental constraints on annual C uptake and decomposition and time since disturbance. Increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen deposition, and climate warming induced by greater greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere influence C accumulation rates of forests, but their effects will likely differ in direction and magnitude among forest ecosystems. The net interactive effect of global change on the forest C cycle is poorly understood. The growing demand for wood fiber and fuel by humans and the ongoing anthropogenic perturbations of the climate have changed the natural disturbance regimes (i.e., frequency and intensity); these changes influence the net exchange of CO2 between forests and the atmosphere. To date, the role of forest products in the gl.
Alternative measurement formats for multiple comparisons across multiple image objects: A country image application

In an earlier study Jaffe and Nebenzahl (1984) compared two "traditional" semantic differential formats used to investigate country image perceptions. The present article extends this line of research by examining two additional semantic differntial formats—the graphic positioning scale (Narayana 1977) and the numerical comparative scale. The "new" numerical comparative scale is advanced as preferable to the graphic positioning scale when comparisons are required across multiple image objects. Although the study reported here uses countries as stimulus objects, the numerical comparative scale may also be useful for assessing relative perceptions of other stimulus objects across multiple image dimensions (e.g., brands, stores, etc.).
Cluster-based cooperative jamming in wireless multi-hop networks

This paper proposes a cluster-based optimal relay and jammer selection (CB-ORJ) scheme to deal with interception and improve the secrecy rate in wireless multi-hop networks in the presence of both intra-cluster and inter-cluster eavesdroppers. We first present a novel mathematical model of cluster-based secure transmission. Furthermore, we propose an on-demand relay and jammer selection approach based on the proposed model with power allocation to optimize the secrecy rate subject to a total transmit power constraint under different security requirements. To confuse the intra-cluster eavesdroppers, the cluster heads assign appropriate cluster members as jammers, while for the inter-cluster eavesdroppers, the transmitting cluster and the receiving cluster jointly select their cluster members as jammers. Finally, simulation results demonstrate that our scheme outperforms existing ones in terms of secrecy outage probability (SOP) while guaranteeing a lower desired energy consumption.
Patterns of Thermal Constraint on Ectotherm Activity

Thermal activity constraints play a major role in many aspects of ectotherm ecology, including vulnerability to climate change. Therefore, there is strong interest in developing general models of the temperature dependence of activity. Several models have been put forth (explicitly or implicitly) to describe such constraints; nonetheless, tests of the predictive abilities of these models are lacking. In addition, most models consider activity as a threshold trait instead of considering continuous changes in the vigor of activity among individuals. Using field data for a tropical lizard (Anolis cristatellus) and simulations parameterized by our observations, we determine how well various threshold and continuous-activity models match observed activity patterns. No models accurately predicted activity under all of the thermal conditions that we considered. In addition, simulations showed that the performance of threshold models decreased as temperatures increased, which is a troubling finding given the threat of global climate change. We also find that activity rates are more sensitive to temperature than are the physiological traits often used as a proxy for fitness. We present a model of thermal constraint on activity that integrates aspects of both the threshold model and the continuous-activity model, the general features of which are supported by activity data from other species. Overall, our results demonstrate that greater attention should be given to fine-scale patterns of thermal constraint on activity.