Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Switching Costs and Price Discrimination by European Frequent Flyer Programmes

This thesis presents the two hypotheses that airlines use their frequent flyer programmes (FFPs) to introduce switching costs to combat competition by increasing the percent discount of the value of the points their FFP members receive, and that they use their FFPs to support price discrimination by offering business travellers more value for their travel choices. Economic theory to support these hypotheses is offered and real life data is collected for a number of routes from five major European airlines. The percent discount and value received by frequent flyers is regressed on price, competition level, and other relevant variables to determine their predictive strength and interdependence. The results and following analysis confirm the hypothesis that airlines use their FFPs to support price discrimination since there is a strong connection between the price passengers pay and the value of the points they receive. The hypothesis that airlines use their FFPs to introduce switching costs when facing competition is only partially confirmed since only two airlines increase the percent discount they offer their FFP members when competition is high. The remaining three airlines instead lower the percent discount as they face increased competition. To accurately determine the reason for this difference, more detailed analysis is required.
The mixed H2/H∞ initial controller for enhancing the Youla parameterization via LMI optimization

In this paper we propose a initial controller for Youla parameterization defined by the convex combination of the two initial controllers such as H2 and Hinfin. Our objective is to design a controller stabilizing the system with defined several specifications via LMI optimization for an multi-objective optimization of the output feedback design in discrete time and use different Lyapunov functions. Another objective of this work is to reduce the LMI conservatism.
Mass-Produced Food: the Rise and Fall of the Promise of Health and Safety

The greater awareness of the negative environmental and health-related externalities of the large-scale food industry is directly responsible for the diminished confidence of the quality of its products. Using the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions (Geels, 2004; 2010), I argue that the initial impetus for the emergence of mass production was the presence of threats to health and safety in the broader societal context. Rather than simply serving economic considerations, the scale and scientific expertise of mass production functioned as a credible signal due to its relationship to these threats. The declining health and safety of the food industry represents, however, a consequence of the changing relationship of scale and quality due to the emergence of new threats to health and safety. Scale as a signal of credibility is no longer sufficient to guarantee these qualities, however. Absent the incentives to undertake costly investments in quality production, the criteria of productivity and efficiency become duly emphasized to the detriment of health and safety. Hence, the continued emphasis on scale now represents a limitation to improving health and safety. Instead, further quality innovation demands the development of a costly signal appropriate to the extant social context.
Developing a Model To Explain Student Persistence in Tertiary Agricultural Study.

Drawing on data collected from students attending Australian ruraland urban-based universities, structural modeling was used to test the validity of a model of student persistence and satisfaction in agricultural courses. The model placed personal and environmental factors as predictors of student persistence and satisfaction and was comprised of seven constructs. The two entry constructs (data collected at the beginning of the first year) were knowledge of agriculture and future orientation (goals and career); the three intervening constructs were fit with the course, fit with the ideology (values and beliefs), and self-efficacy; and two dependent constructs (data collected towards the end of the first year) were level of student satisfaction and student intention to persist with agricultural study. Results indicated that constructs in the model, including self-efficacy, knowledge of agriculture, future orientation, fit with the ideology, and fit with the course were predictors of student persistence and satisfaction. Some implications for current educational practice, industry, and professional engagement in tertiary education were suggested. (Contains 53 references, 3 figures, and 2 tables.) (YLB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Developing a model to explain student persistence in http://www.nexus. edu.au/TeachStud/arera/research/Quin.htm Developing a model to explain student persistence in tertiary agricultural study Petrina Quinn and Brian Hemmings School of Education, Charles Sttirt University
Regional heterogeneity in consumption due to current income shocks: New evidence from the Permanent Income Hypothesis

In the light of new theoretical and empirical work on the Permanent Income Hypothesis we tackle earlier findings for German data, which reject its validity given a large fraction of liquidity constrained consumers. Starting from a standard short run approach we do not find evidence for excess sensitivity and thus liquidity constrained households in the context of a dynamic panel data model for German states between 1970 and 2006. Our preferred specification relates changes in consumption to a 'surprise' term in permanent income as well as past values of consumption growth. We can interpret this specification as a solution to a consumer's optimization problem with habit persistence. Different from earlier findings changes of income growth measuring the excess sensitivity of consumption with respect to income changes and thus the degree of liquidity constrained households turn out insignificant. To check the robustness of these results we also combine the long- and short-run perspective in a co-integration model. Here we specify a Panel-ECM and look at its short run adjustment to judge about the share of liquidity constrained households. We find a significant but much lower fraction of constrained agents as in the earlier literature. Since we employ different estimators including (pooled) mean group estimation, we are also able to check for the asymmetry in the income-consumption path for German regions both with respect to the long and short run adjustment dynamics. Here we borrow from the literature on Poolability tests and search for macro regional clusters with similar adjustment paths. The findings show that for the sample of West German states between 1970 and 2006 both for short and long run parameters the assumption of poolability of the data cannot be rejected. However, we find a clear distinction in the short run path of the East German states since 1991 (which nevertheless converge to the same long run co-integration as the Western counterparts). One likely interpretation for the observed lower sensitivity of East German states to income shocks is the smoothening characteristics of income transfers to the East. As a robustness check we also apply the Panel-ECM with spatially filtered variables.
Modulating Neuroinflammation to Treat Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Neuroinflammation is recognised as one of the potential mechanisms mediating the onset of a broad range of psychiatric disorders and may contribute to nonresponsiveness to current therapies. Both preclinical and clinical studies have indicated that aberrant inflammatory responses can result in altered behavioral responses and cognitive deficits. In this review, we discuss the role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders and ask the question if certain genetic copy-number variants (CNVs) associated with psychiatric disorders might play a role in modulating inflammation. Furthermore, we detail some of the potential treatment strategies for psychiatric disorders that may operate by altering inflammatory responses.
Electronic portfolios: balancing learning and assessment

In 2006, our university instituted a requirement that all undergraduates create and submit a digital portfolio as evidence of academic and experiential mastery of academic competencies. The rationale for this ePortfolio Program is to build a mechanism through which core competencies (Written and Oral Communication; Reasoning, Critical Thinking, and Problem Solving; Mathematical, Scientific, and Technological Literacy; Social Science and Cross-Cultural Awareness; Arts and Humanities; and Ethical Judgment) can be both demonstrated and evaluated. Although the ePortfolio was originally implemented as an assessment tool, its broader educational function is to make students’ college education more meaningful
Imaging biomarkers of cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Current clinical techniques that rely on stenosis measurement alone appear to be insufficient for risk prediction in atherosclerosis patients. Many novel imaging methods have been developed to study atherosclerosis progression and to identify new features that can predict future clinical risk. MRI of atherosclerotic vessel walls is one such method. It has the ability to noninvasively evaluate multiple biomarkers of the disease such as luminal stenosis, plaque burden, tissue composition and plaque activity. In addition, the accuracy of in vivo MRI has been validated against histology with high reproducibility, thus paving the way for application to epidemiological studies of disease pathogenesis and, by serial MRI, in monitoring the efficacy of therapeutic intervention. In this review, we describe the various MR techniques used to evaluate aspects of plaque progression, discuss imaging‐based measurements (imaging biomarkers), and also detail their validation. The application of plaque MRI in clinical trials as well as emerging imaging techniques used to evaluate plaque compositional features and biological activities are also discussed. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2010;32:502–515. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Finite-Element Model of the Grounding Electrode Impulse Characteristics in a Complex Soil Structure Based on Geometric Coordinate Transformation

This paper presents a finite-element method (FEM) based on Maxwell differential equations to analyze the impulse characteristics of the grounding system in a complex soil structure. The geometric coordinate transformation is leaded into the FEM and the soil parameters in the transformation domain are determined by comparing the original coordinates without drawing the geometric construction of the soil. The unit smoothing function with continuous partial derivative is adopted to solve the convergent difficulty caused by the resistivity jumping on the medium interface. The model is validated by comparing the results with the classic methods combined with field-circuit and simulation experiments. The simulation results show that the current dispersal proportion from the external conductors of the grounding grid, especially from the four corner points, is higher than that of the internal conductors. The resistivity of the soil that surrounds the grounding electrodes reduces under impulse current and the resistivity of the soil that surrounds the external conductors is lower than the resistivity of the soil that surrounds the internal conductors. These situations change more drastically under higher injected current.
Global Access to Safe Water: Accounting for Water Quality and the Resulting Impact on MDG Progress

Monitoring of progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) drinking water target relies on classification of water sources as “improved” or “unimproved” as an indicator for water safety. We adjust the current Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) estimate by accounting for microbial water quality and sanitary risk using the only-nationally representative water quality data currently available, that from the WHO and UNICEF “Rapid Assessment of Drinking Water Quality”. A principal components analysis (PCA) of national environmental and development indicators was used to create models that predicted, for most countries, the proportions of piped and of other-improved water supplies that are faecally contaminated; and of these sources, the proportions that lack basic sanitary protection against contamination. We estimate that 1.8 billion people (28% of the global population) used unsafe water in 2010. The 2010 JMP estimate is that 783 million people (11%) use unimproved sources. Our estimates revise the 1990 baseline from 23% to 37%, and the target from 12% to 18%, resulting in a shortfall of 10% of the global population towards the MDG target in 2010. In contrast, using the indicator “use of an improved source” suggests that the MDG target for drinking-water has already been achieved. We estimate that an additional 1.2 billion (18%) use water from sources or systems with significant sanitary risks. While our estimate is imprecise, the magnitude of the estimate and the health and development implications suggest that greater attention is needed to better understand and manage drinking water safety.
Preparation of Developing and Adult Drosophila Brains and Retinae for Live Imaging

The Drosophila brain and visual system are widely utilized model systems to study neuronal development, function and degeneration. Here we show three preparations of the brain and visual system that cover the range from the developing eye disc-brain complex in the developing pupae to individual eye and brain dissection from adult flies. All protocols are optimized for the live culture of the preparations. However, we also present the conditions for fixed tissue immunohistochemistry where applicable. Finally, we show live imaging conditions for these preparations using conventional and resonant 4D confocal live imaging in a perfusion chamber. Together, these protocols provide a basis for live imaging on different time scales ranging from functional intracellular assays on the scale of minutes to developmental or degenerative processes on the scale of many hours.
Investigations on Synperiplanar and Antiperiplanar Isomers of Losartan: Theoretical and Experimental NMR Studies

Losartan inhibits the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system by blocking the angiotensin II receptor. It is commonly used in cardiovascular diseases, such as hypertension. Several publications applied the ab initio and density functional theory methods to investigate the molecule of losartan. Only in one of them were the nuclear magnetic resonance spectra calculations carried out, and their results were correlated with the experimental values. The authors focused their attention on calculations of the anion form of losartan, taking into consideration both its synperiplanar and antiperiplanar configurations. Coefficients of determination and mean absolute deviation parameters were calculated for the experimental and calculated chemical shifts for every used basis set. They showed a noticeably stronger correlation for the anti-isomers than for the syn-isomers. Moreover, the solvation model increased the value of this parameter. The results of calculations confirmed that an anti-conformation of the analyte seems to be the preferred one, and such an orientation might be most potent within the receptor cavity, which is in agreement with the results of previous studies.
Virulence strategies for infecting phagocytes deduced from the in vivo transcriptional program of Legionella pneumophila

Adaptation to the host environment and exploitation of host cell functions are critical to the success of intracellular pathogens. Here, insight to these virulence mechanisms was obtained for the first time from the transcriptional program of the human pathogen Legionella pneumophila during infection of its natural host, Acanthamoeba castellanii. The biphasic life cycle of L. pneumophila was reflected by a major shift in gene expression from replicative to transmissive phase, concerning nearly half of the genes predicted in the genome. However, three different L. pneumophila strains showed similar in vivo gene expression patterns, indicating that common regulatory mechanisms govern the Legionella life cycle, despite the plasticity of its genome. During the replicative phase, in addition to components of aerobic metabolism and amino acid catabolism, the Entner‐Doudoroff pathway, a NADPH producing mechanism used for sugar and/or gluconate assimilation, was expressed, suggesting for the first time that intracellular L. pneumophila may also scavenge host carbohydrates as nutrients and not only proteins. Identification of genes only upregulated in vivo but not in vitro, may explain higher virulence of in vivo grown L. pneumophila. Late in the life cycle, L. pneumophila upregulates genes predicted to promote transmission and manipulation of a new host cell, therewith priming it for the next attack. These including substrates of the Dot/Icm secretion system, other factors associated previously with invasion and virulence, the motility and the type IV pilus machineries, and > 90 proteins not characterized so far. Analysis of a fliA (σ28) deletion mutant identified genes coregulated with the flagellar regulon, including GGDEF/EAL regulators and factors that promote host cell entry and survival.
Tuberculous spondylitis

Tuberculous spondylitis in the Orthopedic Department of the Charit Surgical Polyclinic in Berlin, according to the study of Bergmann'a (Arch. F. Orthop. U. Unf-Chir., 1923, XXII), during the time from 1912 to 1922 was established 342 times, which is 23% in relation to all bone-tuberculosis patients.
The island cotton NBS-LRR gene GbaNA1 confers resistance to the non-race 1 Verticillium dahliae isolate Vd991.

Wilt caused by Verticillium dahliae significantly reduces cotton yields, as host resistance in commercially cultivated Gossypium species is lacking. Understanding the molecular basis of disease resistance in non-commercial Gossypium species could galvanize the development of Verticillium wilt resistance in cultivated species. Nucleotide-binding site leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) proteins play a central role in plant defence against pathogens. In this study, we focused on the relationship between a locus enriched with eight NBS-LRR genes and Verticillium wilt resistance in G. barbadense. Independent virus-induced gene silencing of each of the eight NBS-LRR genes in G. barbadense cultivar Hai 7124 revealed that silencing of GbaNA1 alone compromised the resistance of G. barbadense to V. dahliae isolate Vd991. In cultivar Hai 7124, GbaNA1 could be induced by V. dahliae isolate Vd991 and by ethylene, jasmonic acid and salicylic acid. Nuclear protein localization of GbaNA1 was demonstrated by transient expression. Sequencing of the GbaNA1 orthologue in nine G. hirsutum accessions revealed that all carried a non-functional allele, caused by a premature peptide truncation. In addition, all 10 G. barbadense and nine G. hirsutum accessions tested carried a full-length (∼1140 amino acids) homologue of the V. dahliae race 1 resistance gene Gbve1, although some sequence polymorphisms were observed. Verticillium dahliae Vd991 is a non-race 1 isolate that lacks the Ave1 gene. Thus, the resistance imparted by GbaNA1 appears to be mediated by a mechanism distinct from recognition of the fungal effector Ave1.
Mitochondrial genome of Esox flaviae (Southern pike): announcement and comparison with other Esocidae

Abstract Pikes are fish species belonging to order Esociformes, family Esocidae, genus Esox. Species of the genus Esox are common, large, and economically important for food and fishing activities. Recently, a new species, southern pike E. flaviae, was described for a well-studied area such as Italy, using also two mtDNA markers: cox1 and cytb. A scant number of remnant populations of the species persist in Italy, threatened by habitat loss and degradation and by competition and possible hybridization with E. lucius, massively and recurrently stocked to sustain angling pressure. The availability of new mtDNA markers will possibly contribute to the conservation of the species. Currently, whole mitogenome information for the genus is available only for E. lucius and for E. reichertii. The aim of the present paper is to report novel mitogenomic information for southern pike.
Generic Protocol for Optimization of Heterologous Protein Production Using Automated Microbioreactor Technology

A core business in industrial biotechnology using microbial production cell factories is the iterative process of strain engineering and optimization of bioprocess conditions. One important aspect is the improvement of cultivation medium to provide an optimal environment for microbial formation of the product of interest. It is well accepted that the media composition can dramatically influence overall bioprocess performance. Nutrition medium optimization is known to improve recombinant protein production with microbial systems and thus, this is a rewarding step in bioprocess development. However, very often standard media recipes are taken from literature, since tailor-made design of the cultivation medium is a tedious task that demands microbioreactor technology for sufficient cultivation throughput, fast product analytics, as well as support by lab robotics to enable reliability in liquid handling steps. Furthermore, advanced mathematical methods are required for rationally analyzing measurement data and efficiently designing parallel experiments such as to achieve optimal information content. The generic nature of the presented protocol allows for easy adaption to different lab equipment, other expression hosts, and target proteins of interest, as well as further bioprocess parameters. Moreover, other optimization objectives like protein production rate, specific yield, or product quality can be chosen to fit the scope of other optimization studies. The applied Kriging Toolbox (KriKit) is a general tool for Design of Experiments (DOE) that contributes to improved holistic bioprocess optimization. It also supports multi-objective optimization which can be important in optimizing both upstream and downstream processes.
On production functions, technical progress, and time trends

We would like to thank Franklin M. Fisher, Colin Hargreaves, Lutz Kilian, JSL. McCombie, the participants of the session on Quantitative Applications at the Western Economic Association International 71st Annual Conference (San Francisco, June 28 July 2, 1996), and the participants of the Economics Seminars at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the University of Hong Kong, and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid for their comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies.
A 400-μW 3-GHz comparator in 65-nm CMOS

This paper presents a high-speed clocked regenerative comparator designed in 65-nm CMOS process. The kickback noise caused by large variations at the regeneration nodes is suppressed using an intermediate stage. An extra switch is added between regeneration nodes to further equate their voltages when the comparator is at reset phase. The measured results show that the proposed comparator is able to achieve a Bit Error Rate (BER) of 2 × 10-9 at a sensitivity of 12 mV at 1.4 GHz and 30 mV at 3 GHz. The power consumption of the proposed comparator is 75 μW at 500 MHz and 400 μW at 3 GHz.