Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Dynamics of Service Delivery and Agricultural Development in India - A District-Level Analysis -

This paper uses district-level data from India for the Census period 1991-2001 to investigate the nexus between agricultural sector development and service delivery in education, health, transportation, and communication. It asks whether local differences in public service provision cause some districts to fare better in terms of agricultural and ultimately rural development than others. In order to control for regional heterogeneities in agro-ecological conditions and consequent heterogeneities in agricultural potential and development, district agricultural sector performance is approximated with the yield level of district-specific commercial and field crops. The evidence from visualization and standard regression techniques shows that district dissimilarities in crop yield and ultimately agricultural development are not attributable to district differences in the endowment with infrastructure facilities. That is, the number of infrastructure facilities does not explain agricultural development. What seems to be more important instead is the quality of rural services. This paper concludes that progress in agricultural and ultimately rural sector performance does not require more infrastructure facilities, but the effective utilization of existing ones. To this end, the supply side of service delivery needs to be investigated in greater detail, especially with respect to the governance challenges of public service provision and the difficulties arising from, for instance, complex administrative structures or manpower, financial, political, and capacity constraints.
A 630MHz direct digital frequency synthesizer with 90dBc SFDR in 0.25/spl mu/m CMOS

Multipartite table methods are used in the implementation of a direct digital frequency synthesizer. Two quadrature 13b outputs are produced with a SFDR >90dB and a frequency resolution of 0.15Hz at a 630MHz clock frequency. The 0.25mum CMOS chip occupies 0.063mm2 and dissipates 76mW from a 2.5V supply at 630MHz
Evidence for Association between SH2B1 Gene Variants and Glycated Hemoglobin in Nondiabetic European American Young Adults: The Add Health Study

Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is used to classify glycaemia and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Body mass index (BMI) is a predictor of HbA1c levels and T2D. We tested 43 established BMI and obesity loci for association with HbA1c in a nationally representative multiethnic sample of young adults from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health [Add Health: age 24–34 years; n = 5641 European Americans (EA); 1740 African Americans (AA); 1444 Hispanic Americans (HA)] without T2D, using two levels of covariate adjustment (Model 1: age, sex, smoking, and geographic region; Model 2: Model 1 covariates plus BMI). Bonferroni adjustment was made for 43 SNPs and we considered P < 0.0011 statistically significant. Means (SD) for HbA1c were 5.4% (0.3) in EA, 5.7% (0.4) in AA, and 5.5% (0.3) in HA. We observed significant evidence for association with HbA1c for two variants near SH2B1 in EA (rs4788102, P = 2.2 × 10−4; rs7359397, P = 9.8 × 10−4) for Model 1. Both results were attenuated after adjustment for BMI (rs4788102, P = 1.7 × 10−3; rs7359397, P = 4.6 × 10−3). No variant reached Bonferroni‐corrected significance in AA or HA. These results suggest that SH2B1 polymorphisms are associated with HbA1c, largely independent of BMI, in EA young adults.
Field Evaluation of the gag-Based Heteroduplex Mobility Assay for Genetic Subtyping of Circulating Recombinant Forms of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

ABSTRACT The gag-based heteroduplex mobility assay (gag-HMA) was evaluated for its ease and reliability in subtyping circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in Côte d'Ivoire. One hundred thirty-two plasma samples were analyzed blindly for HIV-1 subtypes by sequencing the pol gene and by gag-HMA. DNA sequencing was used as the “gold standard. ” Of the 132 samples sequenced, 108 (82%) were CRF02_AG, 14 (11%) were pure subtype A, 5 (4%) were subtype G, 3 (2%) were subtype D, 1 was CRF01_AE, and 1 was subtype H. The gag-HMA correctly classified 126 (95.5%) of the samples. Of the 108 samples that were classified as CRF02_AG by DNA sequencing, 107 (99%) were correctly identified by gag-HMA, resulting in a positive predictive value of 96.4%. The gag-HMA seems to be a valuable tool for understanding the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 CRF02_AG in Côte d'Ivoire and West Africa, which could be important for developing and evaluating AIDS vaccines, although DNA sequencing remains necessary for accurate molecular epidemiology.
A theoretical and experimental analysis of the received signal from disturbed blood flow

A theoretical and experimental study of the received ultrasonic signal from calibrated stenotic flow phantoms is presented. A finite element analysis of the velocity profile for 30, 50, and 80% stenoses provides a basis for the study of the experimental results. High-resolution images of the returned signal obtained from a unique experimental system and a high volume concentration of scatterers are then presented. The authors show that in the presence of 30 and 50% stenoses, particularly for the low velocities which would be associated with diastole, the duration of the signal correlation increases in a region which is distal to the stenosis and near the vessel walls, rather than the expected decrease. This results from the decrease in the mean velocity and velocity spread within this region. In the presence of high velocities associated with systolic flow, the magnitude of the reverse flow component increases as does the peak velocity in the center of the vessel. These changes produce an increase in the radial velocity gradient, a shift in the gradient peak, and a decrease in the correlated signal interval in comparison with laminar flow. Thus, the spatial variation in the mean velocity and velocity gradient, and spatial variation in the signal correlation can be used to detect the change in the flow profile. <<ETX>>
Protein Sorting by Transport Vesicles

Eukaryotic life depends on the spatial and temporal organization of cellular membrane systems. Recent advances in understanding the machinery of vesicle transport have established general principles that underlie a broad variety of physiological processes, including cell surface growth, the biogenesis of distinct intracellular organelles, endocytosis, and the controlled release of hormones and neurotransmitters.
Local government internal audit compliance

Local government councils (LGC) rely on a number of funding sources including state and federal governments as well as their community constituents to enable them to provide a range of public services. Given the constraints on these funding sources councils need to have in place a range of strategies and policies capable of providing good governance and must appropriately discharge their financial accountabilities. To assist LGC with meeting their governance and accountability obligations they often seek guidance from their key stakeholders. For example, in the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW), the Office of Local Government has developed a set of guidelines, the Internal Audit Guidelines. In 2010 the NSW Office of Local Government issued revised guidelines emphasising that an internal audit committee is an essential component of good governance. In addition, the guidelines explained that to improve the governance and accountability of the councils, these committees should be composed of a majority of independent members. To maintain committee independence the guidelines indicated that the Mayor should not be a member of the committee. However these are only guidelines, not legislated requirements and as such compliance with the guidelines, before they were revised, has been demonstrated to be quite low (Jones & Bowrey 2013). This study, based on a review of NSW Local Government Councils’ 2012/2013 reports, including Annual Reports and associated disclosures, assesses the level of compliance with the 2010 revised guidelines, specifically in relation to internal audit committees, to determine if the guidelines are effective in improving local government council governance.
Synaptic microcircuitry of tyrosine hydroxylase‐containing neurons and terminals in the striatum of 1‐methyl‐4‐phenyl‐1,2,3,6‐tetrahydropyridine‐treated monkeys

A population of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)‐containing neurons that is up‐regulated after lesion of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway has been described in the primate striatum. The goal of this study was to examine the morphology, synaptology, and chemical phenotype of these neurons and TH‐immunoreactive (‐ir) terminals in the striatum of 1‐methyl‐4‐phenyl‐1,2,3,6‐tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)‐treated rhesus monkeys. TH‐ir perikarya were small (10–12 μm), displayed nuclear invaginations, and received very few synaptic inputs. On the other hand, TH‐containing dendrites were typically large in diameter (>1.0 μm) and received scarce synaptic innervation from putative excitatory and inhibitory terminals forming asymmetric and symmetric synapses, respectively. More than 70% of TH‐positive intrastriatal cell bodies were found in the caudate nucleus and the precommissural putamen, considered as the associative functional territories of the primate striatum. Under 10% of these cells displayed calretinin immunoreactivity. TH‐ir terminals rarely formed clear synaptic contacts, except for a few that established asymmetric axodendritic synapses. Almost two‐thirds of TH‐containing boutons displayed γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) immunoreactivity in the striatum of parkinsonian monkeys, whereas under 5% did so in the normal striatum. These findings provide strong support for the existence of a population of putative catecholaminergic interneurons in the associative territory of the striatum in parkinsonian monkeys. Their sparse synaptic innervation raises interesting issues regarding synaptic and nonsynaptic mechanisms involved in the regulation and integration of these neurons in the striatal microcircuitry. Finally, the coexpression of GABA in TH‐positive terminals in the striatum of dopamine‐depleted monkeys suggests dramatic neurochemical changes in the catecholaminergic modulation of striatal activity in Parkinson's disease. J. Comp. Neurol. 40:453–469, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Credit where it is due: drivers of loyalty to credit cards

Purpose – In a fiercely competitive industry, credit card issuers need to develop a loyal customer base and motivate their card holders to use their cards at a sufficient level to assure profitability. The purpose of this article is to propose a consumer model of customer loyalty in the credit card industry.Design/methodology/approach – A model of customer loyalty incorporating service quality, value and involvement is developed theoretically and validated empirically through SEM using data collected from a global sample of 114 credit card holders.Findings – The loyalty model proposed was validated, showing that the independent variable, i.e. customer involvement, had path loadings of 0.32 and 0.26 on quality and value, respectively, while both service quality and value had direct effects on loyalty, with path loadings of 0.30 and 0.51, respectively.Research limitations/implications – Customer involvement has been shown to directly influence both service quality and value, and it should be further investi.
Procyclicality of Banks - The Indian Experience

Supervisors and policy makers pay increasing attention to the possible procyclical nature of banks’ behaviour. To ensure macroeconomic and financial stability, it is important that regulators understand whether, and to what extent, banks are affected by the macroeconomic and lending cycles. This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive investigation of these issues using a dataset of Indian commercial banking sector over the period 1996-2007. By estimating static panel data model, it tries to investigate whether loan loss provisions and non-performing assets show a cyclical pattern. The estimated relations are studied to analyse the sector wise (public sector banks, foreign banks and private sector banks) behaviour of Indian banks to assess the effects of macroeconomic shocks on banks’ balance sheets.
Probe based radiation pattern measurements for highly integrated millimeter-wave antennas

This paper presents the existing measurement solutions for integrated millimeter-wave antennas as well as the novel measurement assembly at the authors' institute. This setup allows probe based radiation pattern, gain and return loss measurements of antennas in the frequency range between 50 and 110 GHz. In the setup a far field distance of 60 cm is achieved that allows the characterization of antenna arrays as well as complete packaging solutions that include a dielectric lens or a parabolic reflector. The use of a VNA and a custom made wafer chuck makes it possible to measure the antenna's return loss in the same setup. A custom made bended waveguide and a horn antenna can be used to achieve a proper gain calibration. Using two rotary stages a receive antenna can be rotated around the antenna under test to measure its 3D radiation pattern.
Anti-Ad Blocking Strategy: Measuring its True Impact

The increasing use of ad blocking software poses a major threat for publishers in loss of online ad revenue, and for advertisers in the loss of audience. Major publishers have adopted various anti-ad blocking strategies such as denial of access to website content and asking users to subscribe to paid ad-free versions. However, publishers are unsure about the true impact of these strategies [2, 3]. We posit that the real problem lies in the measurement of effectiveness because the existing methods compare metrics after implementation of such strategies with that of metrics just before implementation, making them error prone due to sampling bias. The errors arise due to differences in group compositions across before and after periods, as well as differences in time-period selection for the before measurement. We propose a novel algorithmic method which modifies the difference-in-differences approach to address the sampling bias due to differences in time-period selection. Unlike difference-in-differences, we choose the time-period for comparison in an endogenous manner, as well as, exploit differences in ad blocking tendencies among visitors' arriving on the publisher's site to allow cluster specific choice of the control time-period. We evaluate the method on both synthetic data (which we make available) and proprietary real data from an online publisher and find good support.
Quality deployment for the management of customer calls

Customer calls confer accessibility for promoting sales opportunities. It is the key element of a company’s customer service system. Presents a methodology for quality management of customer communication through telephone, e‐mail and Web support for both internal and external customers. The concept of a customer call centre is introduced and quality dimensions of customer call services are established with call status coded and problem severity issues being addressed.
Securitization and Credit Quality

Banks are usually better informed on the loans they originate than other financial intermediaries. As a result, securitized loans might be of lower credit quality than otherwise similar non- securitized loans. We assess the effect of securitization activity on credit quality employing a uniquely detailed dataset from the euro-denominated syndicated loan market. We find that, at issuance, banks do not select and securitize loans of lower credit quality. Following securitization, however, the credit quality of borrowers whose loans are securitized deteriorates by more than those in the control group. We find tentative evidence suggesting that poorer performance by securitized loans might be linked to banks reduced monitoring incentives.
High performance on multiple domains : Operationalizing the stakeholder approach to evaluate organizations

The stakeholder approach to evaluating organizations has been enthusiastically received by both organizational performance and effectiveness scholars. Despite the strong endorsement, we see a conspicuous restraint in terms of empirical studies. This paper operationalizes the stakeholder performance approach for evaluating small and medium-sized ICT service firms. We used multiple, stakeholder-specific evaluation criteria and multiple information sources. Moreover, we combined perceptual with objective performance data. Results indicate that in organiTational contexts where the practical relevance and instrumentality ofa stakeholder perspective is widely acknowledged and where the number of relevant stakeholders is fairly restricted, one is likely to find a group of firms that succeeds in realizing a high perforrnance score on multiple stakeholder
"Infinite Bandwidth" long slot array antenna

This work deals with the properties of a long slot array fed by an array of periodically located feeds spaced at a Nyquist interval. The study begins with the rigorous Green's function (GF) of a single long slot which was extended to an infinite array structure. After this, the input impedance properties of the array when fed by an array of /spl delta/ sources are described by simple formulas, which explicitly show a theoretically unlimited bandwidth when there is no backplane.
A partial least squares model for SCM strategy, willingness for external collaboration, competitive performance and relative performance: Effects of marketing and logistics performance in the palm oil industry

This research investigation is concerned with whether in the palm oil business, marketing performance and logistics performance influence supply chain management (SCM) strategy, external collaboration willingness, competitive performance and relative performance. The analysis proceeds by means of the structural equation model (SEM) so as to determine causal relationships in regard to the factors just mentioned. Data were collected from palm oil establishments in the southern part of Thailand. Findings indicate that marketing performance and logistics performance are necessary for an organization to exhibit good SCM strategy, external collaboration willingness, relative performance and competitive performance in the palm oil business. It was also found that marketing performance exerted a high level of influence on these four factors while logistics performance influence only on SCM strategy and willingness for external collaboration.
Prospects for applications of hybrid lines in RF generation

In recent years there has been great interest in the study of nonlinear lumped element transmission lines for applications in high power RF generation. Normally, the LC nonlinear line is studied using only one nonlinear element, a variable capacitor (i.e. with capacitance dependence on the voltage applied) or a saturated inductor. In particular, the objective of this paper is to focus on the prospects for applications in RF generation of a special line, called as hybrid line and less investigated up to date, in which both nonlinear elements L and C are used at the same time.
Molecular Profiling of Prostate Cancer to Determine Predictive Markers of Response to Radiation and Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Therapy

Abstract : Ionizing radiation(IR)induces the activation of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, which in turn regulates endothelial cell viability during treatment with radiotherapy. Inhibition of this pathway by receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKIs) enhances the cytotoxic effects of radiation in tumor vascular endothelium resulting in improved tumor control. There is significant evidence that multiple receptor tyrosinse kinases may be aberrantly activated in the prostate cancer cells. Therefore, we sought to study the effects of broad spectrum small molecule TKIs in the prostate tumor models. We demonstrate that inhibition of this pathway results in improved control of prostate tumor treated with IR via dual effect on both the tumor cells, and its microvasculature. Using innovative proteomic technology, we plan to identify the molecular profiles that are predictive of response to TKI and IR therapy. Our goal is for these results to provide insights in designing clinical studies aimed at taking these promising pipeline compounds to help treat patients with high risk prostate cancer.
Clinical and Pharmacological Studies of Ticarcillin in Gram-Negative Infections

Twenty-seven patients with serious gram-negative infections were treated with ticarcillin in an average daily dosage of 237 mg/kg (range, 174 to 307 mg/kg). Ticarcillin was bactericidal for all infecting organisms in concentrations ranging from 31.2 to 125 μg/ml. Five of 8 patients (62%) with overwhelming Pseudomonas pneumonia were cured or improved, and 9 of 12 (75%) were cured of pneumonia caused by other gram-negative organisms. Of six extrapulmonary infections caused by Pseudomonas, five (83%) were cured or improved. In seven cases, the infecting organism reisolated during therapy was more resistant to ticarcillin than the primary isolate. The serum half-life of ticarcillin in three patients with renal failure was 11.2 ± 1.0 h, and during hemodialysis it decreased to 6.3 ± 1.8 h. There were two episodes of superinfection with resistant organisms. Thirteen patients (48%) manifested eosinophilia, one of whom had severe urticaria. Prolongation of bleeding time was attributable to ticarcillin in two patients. Ticarcillin appears to be effective for therapy of serious gram-negative infections in dosages 30 to 50% less than those recommended for carbenicillin.
L'actionnariat salarié dans les entreprises familiales du SBF250:un outil de création de valeur ?

The present study investigates the impact on wealth creation for shareholders when businesses are both family-owned and have ESOPs. Using data for 109 large quoted French firms from the SBF250 index, the study tends to confirm that family-controlled firms create more shareholder value but open their capital to non-management employees less often than non-family businesses do. The supposed positive impact of non-managing employee ownership on wealth creation is not confirmed. It is interesting to observe that the principle shareholder possesses a weaker block of power when there is a non-management employee ownership. This fact tends to show the instrumentation of non-management employee shareholders in order to entrench the family ownership and control.
Mismatch Repair in Escherichia coliCells Lacking Single-Strand Exonucleases ExoI, ExoVII, and RecJ

ABSTRACT In vitro, the methyl-directed mismatch repair system ofEscherichia coli requires the single-strand exonuclease activity of either ExoI, ExoVII, or RecJ and possibly a fourth, unknown single-strand exonuclease. We have created the first precise null mutations in genes encoding ExoI and ExoVII and find that cells lacking these nucleases and RecJ perform mismatch repair in vivo normally such that triple-null mutants display normal mutation rates. ExoI, ExoVII, and RecJ are either redundant with another function(s) or are unnecessary for mismatch repair in vivo.