Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monetary policy rule under financial deregulation in China

This paper examines the monetary policy rule in practice for China during the period from 1998Q1 to 2014Q2 by applying the Taylor rule and by estimating policy reaction functions. The analysis would be significant since during that period the monetary-policy instruments and targets have been more market-oriented in accordance with the progress in financial deregulation. The findings can be summarized as follows. First, the recent policy rule since 2003 has become synchronizing with the Taylor rule. Second, the response of policy-target interest rate to inflation, though identified in policy reaction functions, has been weak enough to accommodate changes in inflation, probably because the excess-reserve operation as another policy-target has worked together to respond to inflation. Third, the response to output gap has been robust in the backward-looking specification. Fourth, the response to exchange rate has been insignificant probably due to imperfect capital mobility and an increase in exchange rate flexibility.
NEGOTIATING THE 'MEANING OF HOME' IN A RESIDENTIAL HOME FOR PEOPLE WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

4 CHAPTER 1 Questions and Answers: a Background to this Study 5 CHAPTER 2 ‘When is a House a Home? ’ the meaning of home in ‘conventional’ and ‘unconventional’ homes 10 CHAPTER 3 ‘Behind Closed Doors’ issues of ethics and voice in participant observation research in the domestic setting 21 CHAPTER 4 ‘Welcome Home’ staff and Residents at 42 Oak Lane. 33 CHAPTER 5 ‘Keeping it in the Family’ the family as a model and touchstone for home life. 38 CHAPTER 6 ‘Luxury and Privacy and Space’ negotiating and defining boundaries, privacy and space in the home 53 CHAPTER 7 ‘Finding a Way Home’ conclusions and directions. 68
Differentiation-Dependent Motility-Responses of Developing Neural Progenitors to Optogenetic Stimulation

During neural tissue genesis, neural stem/progenitor cells are exposed to bioelectric stimuli well before synaptogenesis and neural circuit formation. Fluctuations in the electrochemical potential in the vicinity of developing cells influence the genesis, migration and maturation of neuronal precursors. The complexity of the in vivo environment and the coexistence of various progenitor populations hinder the understanding of the significance of ionic/bioelectric stimuli in the early phases of neuronal differentiation. Using optogenetic stimulation, we investigated the in vitro motility responses of radial glia-like neural stem/progenitor populations to ionic stimuli. Radial glia-like neural stem cells were isolated from CAGloxpStoploxpChR2(H134)-eYFP transgenic mouse embryos. After transfection with Cre-recombinase, ChR2(channelrhodopsin-2)-expressing and non-expressing cells were separated by eYFP fluorescence. Expression of light-gated ion channels were checked by patch clamp and fluorescence intensity assays. Neurogenesis by ChR2-expressing and non-expressing cells was induced by withdrawal of EGF from the medium. Cells in different (stem cell, migrating progenitor and maturing precursor) stages of development were illuminated with laser light (λ = 488 nm; 1.3 mW/mm2; 300 ms) in every 5 min for 12 h. The displacement of the cells was analyzed on images taken at the end of each light pulse. Results demonstrated that the migratory activity decreased with the advancement of neuronal differentiation regardless of stimulation. Light-sensitive cells, however, responded on a differentiation-dependent way. In non-differentiated ChR2-expressing stem cell populations, the motility did not change significantly in response to light-stimulation. The displacement activity of migrating progenitors was enhanced, while the motility of differentiating neuronal precursors was markedly reduced by illumination.
The effects of client size, audit report, state ownership, financial leverage and profitability on auditor selection: Evidence from Iran

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting the auditor selection in the listed companies of Tehran stock exchange (TSE) during a seven-year period from 2001 to 2007. Using logistic regression, the results of this research show that client size, profitability, qualified or adverse audit report in the prior year of auditor's selection and the state ownership are the main factors which affect auditor's selection. Research evidence indicates that privatization of auditing profession, motivates firms managers to select their auditors from private audit firms in order to get unqualified audit report. In this respect, large companies prefer to select private audit firms instead of audit organization (the government auditor) in Iran. Key words: Auditor selection, audit markets, competition.
Integrative and Translational Physiology : Integrative Aspects of Energy Homeostasis and Metabolic Diseases Early maternal undernutrition programs increased feed intake , altered glucose metabolism and insulin secretion , and liver function in aged female offspring

Lindsey A. George, Liren Zhang, Nuermaimaiti Tuersunjiang, Yan Ma, Nathan M. Long, Adam B. Uthlaut, Derek T. Smith, Peter W. Nathanielsz, and Stephen P. Ford Center for the Study of Fetal Programming, Department of Animal Science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming; Kinesiology and Health, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming; and Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Research, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Texas, Health Sciences Center, San Antonio, Texas
DSP implementation and performances evaluation of 1D and 2D DWT using the lifting scheme

This paper presents the implementation of a lifting scheme-based DWT architecture on a digital signal processor (DSP) (TMS320C6713) core and the simulation using MATLAB. The 5/3 and 9/7 wavelet filters used in JPEG 2000 are both implanted and executed by the DSP processor for comparisons. The algorithms proposed are optimized at source code level and memory usage. The execution time for performing both DWTs is measured for 1D and 2D-DWT for different number of level, depending on on-chip and off-chip memory.
A Hypermedia-Based Design Image Database System Using a Perceptional Link Method

We introduce a hypermedia-based distributed design image database system that can provide simple and flexible user access capabilities based on the "kansei" link method. As proof of this concept, we have developed a prototype distributed multimedia information network incorporating the DHS model. Dubbed the Textile Design Image Database System (TDIDS), this database aids designers using apparel computer-aided design (CAD) systems in different locations, collaborating or working separately, in the design of clothes, including kimonos. Our purpose has been to create a database that will allow each designer to make the best use of his or her creativity and originality-his or her "style and sensitivity to beauty," or, in Japanese, kansei.In our hypermedia system, "metanodes" are defined as abstract nodes that are dynamically organized by multimedia objects, while "metalinks" are defined as flexible kansei links. Metanodes and metalinks are combined to organize a dynamic hypermedia space from which users can easily retrieve desired design image objects by querying a knowledge agent. The knowledge agent, utilizing the knowledge base, creates links from kansei word objects provided by the user to suitable design image objects among those stored on multimedia databases distributed across the network. The knowledge agent also performs query conversion of individual users' subjective kansei (idiosyncratic, subjective use of kansei words) into objective kansei words using each user's own "user model," These objective kansei words are then converted to equivalent color values. Color value is the means by which all stored design images are characterized. This dynamic linking of kansei word objects to equivalent design images allows individual users' kansei to influence the retrieval process. The sophisticated and flexible CAD systems of the future will require multimedia database systems with cooperative supporting capabilities similar to our kansei system.
Power splitting based SWIPT in network-coded two-way networks with data rate fairness: an information-theoretic perspective

This paper investigates the simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) for network-coded two-way relay network from an information-theoretic perspective, where two sources exchange information via an SWIPT-aware energy harvesting (EH)relay. We present a power splitting (PS)-based two-way relaying (PS-TWR) protocol by employing the PS receiver architecture. To explore the system sum rate limit with data rate fairness, an optimization problem under total power constraint is formulated. Then, some explicit solutions are derived for the problem. Numerical results show that due to the path loss effect on energy transfer, with the same total available power, PS-TWR losses some system performance compared with traditional non-EH two-way relaying, where at relatively low and relatively high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the performance loss is relatively small. Another observations is that, in relatively high SNR regime, PS-TWR out-performs time switching-based two-way re-laying (TS-TWR) while in relatively low SNR regime TS-TWR outperforms PS-TWR. It is also shown that with individual available power at the two sources, PS-TWR outperforms TS-TWR in both relatively low and high SNR regimes.
Discussion of ‘Predicting firm value: The superiority of superiority of q-theory over residual income’ by Miles Gietzmann and Adam Ostaszewski

1. Background and introduction The traditional dividend capitalisation model expresses the value of the firm’s equity capital as being equal to the present value of expected future dividends. As is now well known, provided that forecasts of dividends and forecasts of accounting incomes and book values articulate with each other in accordance with the clean surplus relationship (CSR), the intrinsic value of the firm’s equity can be expressed equivalently as the book value of equity plus the present value of expected future residual incomes. The resultant valuation model is sometimes termed the residual income valuation model (RIVM). A development in the application of the RIVM is the use of linear information models (LIMs) to give valuation multiples that can be applied to current realisations to give the present value of expected future residual incomes, as in Ohlson (1995) and Feltham and Ohlson (1995) (FO). In Ohlson (1995), the present value of expected future residual incomes is represented as a multiple of current residual income plus a multiple of ‘other information’. The valuation multiple applied to residual income reflects the cost of equity and a constant residual income persistence parameter. FO use a similar but more complicated LIMbased version of the RIVM that includes an additional book value term. Managers of businesses are likely to work in settings where it is optimal to increase operating capital (invest) when conditions are above an upper threshold, decrease operating capital (disinvest) when conditions are below a lower threshold, and neither invest nor disinvest when conditions are between the upper and lower thresholds. In such settings, the current level of operating capital will
The relationship between exchange rates, interest rates and Australian bank returns

Although there has been significant research on US financial intermediaries' stock returns and sensitivity to interest yields, there has only been limited research on Australian bank stock returns and key macro variables, such as interest rates and exchange rates. The aim of this article is to examine this relationship for four major Australian banks, namely the Australia New Zealand bank (ANZ), the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the National Australia Bank (NAB) and the Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC). We use the EGARCH model and examine the relationship using monthly data covering the period 1992 to 2007. The results suggest that for all four banks: (1) there is a similar and statistically significant negative relationship between interest rates and stock returns; and (2) there is evidence of an increase in returns during the period of appreciation of the Australian dollar.
Food consumption and nutrient intake in a sample of Italian secondary school students: results from the INRAN-RM-2001 food survey

The present study was designed to estimate the average food and nutrient intake in a sample of Italian students living in the District of Rome. In the school year 1999–2000 all students belonging to the first, second or third year of nine randomly selected secondary public schools were contacted for filling in a food frequency questionnaire (3982 subjects). The next year, 233 of them (125 males and 108 females), randomly extracted, participated in a detailed food survey. Food intake was assessed on the basis of 12 (four consecutive days in three different periods) 24-h dietary records. The average daily intakes of fruit (107±100 g/day), vegetables (186±74 g/day) and legumes (16±29 g/day) were lower than recommended. The percentage of energy intake from fat (39%) and that from saturated fats (12%) were high. On the other hand, the percentage of energy intake from carbohydrates was low (45%) even if that from sugar (14%) was rather high. The students’ diet was characterized by low intakes of fibre (16±6 g/day) and calcium (710±247 mg/day) in both males and females. Iron intakes were lower than 12 mg/day in a very high percentage of females (80%), suggesting that iron deficiency may be present in this population group. Results indicate that the diet of these students is both unbalanced in terms of macronutrients and deficient for some micronutrients, suggesting the need for intervention.
The Credit Market Consequences of Job Displacement

Abstract This paper studies the role of job displacement in the household bankruptcy decision. Using an event-study methodology, I find that NLSY respondents are over three times more likely to file for bankruptcy immediately following a job loss. Using county-level data, I find similar magnitudes in the aggregate, with significant effects lasting two to three years. The results suggest that unemployment spells can have significant long-term consequences on households’ credit market outcomes.
Flocking motion control for a system of nonholonomic vehicles

The applications of nonholonomic autonomous systems, such as smart cars and wheeled domestic robots, have gained much attention in the scientific and industrial communities. The non-linearities in the kinematics and dynamics of such systems pause many challenges in stabilizing their motion. In this paper, a motion control system with local and team control objectives is introduced for a flock of nonholonomic vehicles, using bounded input-output feedback linearization. The team control objectives include a navigational control system, which is implemented using smooth state feedback control laws, and a synchronization control system, which is implemented using a smooth position dependent adjacency matrix and communication graph structures. The local control objective involves a collision avoidance scheme, which is implemented using an extended Takagi-Sugeno-Kang fuzzy model. The proposed technique is successfully validated in a numerical simulation with 10 differentialdrive mobile robots.
Cocoa and Heart Health: A Historical Review of the Science

The medicinal use of cocoa has a long history dating back almost five hundred years when Hernán Cortés’s first experienced the drink in Mesoamerica. Doctors in Europe recommended the beverage to patients in the 1700s, and later American physicians followed suit and prescribed the drink in early America―ca. 1800s. This article delineates the historic trajectory of cocoa consumption, the linkage between cocoa’s bioactive-mechanistic properties, paying special attention to nitric oxides role in vasodilation of the arteries, to the current indicators purporting the benefits of cocoa and cardiovascular health.
A strategic service quality framework using QFD

A strategic service framework that provides a global overview of the important components of different dimensions of a service system is developed. The framework is designed to reveal where the quality of service characteristics requires improvement, as highlighted by the customers. Once this is done, a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method translates the deficiencies into internal improvement needs. The Mean Square Error (MSE) criterion enables the pinpointing of the few essential service characteristics that require improvement in each service dimension. The framework was implemented in a “call center” run by a bank in orderto manage incoming product support and information inquiries from consumers. The model identified service deficiencies in five dimensions of the service system: service quality, worker s attitude, information, organization features, and technology. The recommendations that emerged from these results were that the organization should focus on investing in equipment, establish new organizational connections and take care of employee qualifications.
Seasonality in the Non-U.S. Motion Picture Industry: A Case of South Korea

In the international motion picture market, when making strategic decisions about the timing of release, it is important to consider the product's country of origin as well as demand seasonality because of their cultural orientation. However, the fluctuation patterns of underlying demand for international market have not been distinguished from that of U.S. domestic market. Here, we analyze patterns of the decay effect, which represents the diminishing attractiveness of a movie over the product life cycle, and the seasonality of underlying demand for Hollywood and non-U.S. local movies in a non-U.S. market. We find a positive effect of U.S. holidays on the seasonality of underlying demand for Hollywood movies in the non-U.S. movie market, and a negative effect for non-U.S. local movies. The authors also find that the decay effect for Hollywood movies in the non-U.S. market is greater than that for non-U.S. local movies. These findings contribute to our understanding of the effect of country of origin on product life cycle and the seasonality of underlying demand, especially in movie-importing countries where local and Hollywood movies compete.
Spatial Partitioning of Predation Risk in a Multiple Predator–Multiple Prey System

Abstract Minimizing risk of predation from multiple predators can be difficult, particularly when the risk effects of one predator species may influence vulnerability to a second predator species. We decomposed spatial risk of predation in a 2-predator, 2-prey system into relative risk of encounter and, given an encounter, conditional relative risk of being killed. Then, we generated spatially explicit functions of total risk of predation for each prey species (elk [Cervus elaphus] and mule deer [Odocoileus hemionus]) by combining risks of encounter and kill. For both mule deer and elk, topographic and vegetation type effects, along with resource selection by their primary predator (cougars [Puma concolor] and wolves [Canis lupus], respectively), strongly influenced risk of encounter. Following an encounter, topographic and vegetation type effects altered the risk of predation for both ungulates. For mule deer, risk of direct predation was largely a function of cougar resource selection. However, for elk, risk of direct predation was not only a function of wolf occurrence, but also of habitat attributes that increased elk vulnerability to predation following an encounter. Our analysis of stage-based (i.e., encounter and kill) predation indicates that the risk effect of elk shifting to structurally complex habitat may ameliorate risk of direct predation by wolves but exacerbate risk of direct predation by cougars. Information on spatiotemporal patterns of predation will be become increasingly important as state agencies in the western United States face pressure to integrate predator and prey management.
Stimulatory effect of honey on multiplication of lactic acid bacteria under in vitro and in vivo conditions

The effect of honey and sucrose on lactic acid bacteria in vitro and in rat gut was studied to determine whether these organisms were affected differently by honey compared with sucrose. Under in vitro conditions, the number of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus plantarum counts increased 10–100 fold in the presence of honey compared with sucrose. Feeding of honey to rats also resulted in significant increase in counts of lactic acid bacteria. Although there was no significant difference in the counts of lactic acid bacteria in the small and large intestines of different groups, the honey‐fed group showed a significant increase (P < 0·05) in counts over the control and sucrose‐fed animals. The results support the fact that consumption of honey has a beneficial effect on the physiological constitution of animals fed with it.
A Utility Criterion for Markov Decision Processes

Optimality criteria for Markov decision processes have historically been based on a risk neutral formulation of the decision maker's preferences. An explicit utility formulation, incorporating both risk and time preference and based on some results in the axiomatic theory of choice under uncertainty, is developed. This forms an optimality criterion called utility optimality with constant aversion to risk. The objective is to maximize the expected utility using an exponential utility function. Implicit in the formulation is an interpretation of the decision process which is not sequential. It is shown that optimal policies exist which are not necessarily stationary for an infinite horizon stationary Markov decision process with finite state and action spaces. An example is given.
The Complex Response of Monetary Policy to the Exchange Rate

We estimate a flexible non-linear monetary policy rule for the United Kingdom to examine the response of policymakers to the real exchange rate. We have three main findings. First, policymakers respond to real exchange rate misalignment rather than to the real exchange rate itself. Second, policymakers ignore small deviations of the exchange rate; they only respond to real exchange under-valuations of more than 4% and over-valuations of more than 5%. Third, the response of policymakers to inflation is smaller when the exchange rate is over-valued and larger when it is under-valued. None of these responses is allowed for in the widely used linear Taylor-type rules, suggesting that monetary policy is better analysed using a more sophisticated model, such as the one suggested in this paper.